Jacob's 3

On the 12th I won't have a two year old any more! Some moms are sad about leaving this age, I personally am looking forward to what this year holds for us. Jacob is getting more and more loving, fun and SO funny!

Jacob home 6 months

WOW, so Jacob's been home now 6 months and I am finally feeling like things are going smoothly with all the kids..
The kids are back in school, Jacob is taking good naps, he's not getting up at 5:45 anymore and he'll sit and watch Sesame Street for a few minutes if I need him to. These things all add up to a happy mom.
Life is good.

it's all in Haiti now!

Finally, all the paperwork is at the embassy in Haiti! Even the one document that I sent to Portland to be processed in OCTOBER!! But I finally got an e-mail from our orphanange that says the embassy has it..so not only is it there in theory, it's actually there in reality!

So, one step closer. It seems like it could be any day now that we hear, but I'm prepared to wait...because I thought it could be "any day" in December!

I just keep choosing to believe that God knows better than I do and he will not allow Jacob to stay there one more day than he is supposed to...

Jacob in August

Ok, as of today, one month waiting for Jacob's passport and counting!

Dixie at our orphanage said she's received 15 files in the last 10 days out of "passports".
We're getting excited and I'm starting to think things are going to fly from here on out considering Grace's b-day, Diane's visit for Thanksgiving, my b-day, our anniversary, Christmas and New years! These next few weeks are going to be the last calm weeks for quite awhile I think. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I'm praying we'll get an e-mail that says..

"buy your plane tickets and come get Jacob".

August pictures of Jacob

Finally, something worthy of posting!!!!!!!

Well, I got an e-mail from the orphanage and Jacob's paperwork came out of 2nd legal and is being prepared to go into MOI to wait for his passport. WHOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!
YAY! And even though this step is taking some people up to 5 long months, I am encouraged and SO excited that we are onto the last stage. When his paperwork comes out of MOI he'll get his passport printed then wait a few weeks for the visa and then we're off to Haiti to bring my sweetie home!
I can't believe it! Oh, and now, legally Jacob belongs to our family. He is ours!
Praise God!
It's really going to happen...

Bad Blogger!!!!

Ok, so obviously I'm not the best "blogger" in the world..
So here's the latest on Jacob for anyone who's actually checking.
His paperwork is in Parquet. The old adoption law from 1974 has been reinstated and we don't qualify under that law...the criteria are: over 35, married 10 or more yrs. and no bio. children.
Three strikes for us!
However the God's Littlest Angels website says that they are going to be voting on a new law soon and I am praying that we will qualify under this new law.
All that said...none of this is truly abnormal for Haitian adoptions and we are not panicked..just praying God will work it all out. Either change the hearts of the people who are holding things up, or move 'em out of office! "Change 'em or move 'em" That's what we pray in Mom's in Touch :)

Here's a verse I love.
"I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."
(I don't know where it's from right now, and don't have time to look it up, but it's either in the Old or the New Testament..he he)

IBESR

There are people coming out of IBESR (Haitian Social Services) with numbers that are only 200 away from ours!!! YAY! So there is potential for Jacob's paperwork to exit this stage anytime...OR not for awhile. They don't come out in order exactly, so litterally only God knows when his paperwork will come out. But I am hopeful and I know that Jacob needs to be with his mom and dad as soon as possible. And I know that God can do anything!
After that there are more stages, but each one should be shorter than this one.
As someone on the Haitian Angels chat group said, just like all things in Haitian adoption, "clear as mud!"
But at least every day we are one day closer to having our son come home :)

So, I am "living by faith, not by sight".
2 Corinthians 5:7

Seriously, even when he's making his little scowl, he is SO adorable!!

March update

Well, we got new pictures of our sweet boy. Finally. Six weeks was the last time we saw a new picture of him! That's a long time!
One of the nannies is spoiling him with love. That warms my soul :) knowing that he is getting the love and touch that he should be getting from his family...

Waiting

No news....just waiting. We should be getting our March updates of Jacob any day now. So I'm checking my e-mail a lot these days. I can't wait to see his cute face and see how much he's grown.
waiting.................................

Here's the pics from January.

He's pretty cute!

What a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Well, yesterday we found out that Jacob's paperwork went into IBESR!!!!!!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it is official, we are on our way. We're "in line" as Grace and Noah are saying.
I can't believe we are even in, since there was a time when we didn't even qualify.
Thank you God!
We also got cute Valentine pictures from GLA. LaDawn is so awesome :)
Whooohooo!
(and I just figured out how to change the text into different colors..watch out!)

Waiting...

Well, at the end of Jan. we got new pictures of Jacob, and he is SO cute!
I will post them when I have a chance.
We are still waiting to get into IBESR and it's a little frustrating...I thought we'd be in two weeks ago, but GLA says they haven't heard from the laywer yet...so we wait and keep praying.
At least Feb. is a short month and we'll get new pictures of him soon.
It does seem as though some of the post-IBESR process is speeding up. Any movement is good!

new criteria!

Well, the criteria to adopt from Haiti has changed back, so we "qualify" again. YAY!
Now we are waiting on one document that GLA needs, so they can take his paperwork to IBESR, where we can start that long wait.
But at least it's progress!

The year of Jacob

Well, even though we don't have any idea about when we will be able to bring Jacob home, at least now we are in the year that he'll come home. Small victories..
IBESR is closed and we're not getting any info. and it's really frustrating. I just want to know what we're going to have to do to get into IBESR since we don't meet the 1974 requirements that were reinstated on the 22nd. We are praying that God will open doors for our paperwork, (and Rebekah and Ralph's) and that we'll get in soon so at least we can watch the progress as people are coming out of IBESR. Right now nothing's happening, we are stalled.
But here's my verse I'm clinging to:
I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. Job 42:2
I believe He authored this, so I'm trusting Him to work out the details...that's all I can do.

Pics of Jacob

We finally know who he is!

On Sunday we recieved our proposal from GLA and he was a baby!!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! That's not exactly what I thought would happen.
But we love him already and he is the cutest thing.
Jacob. He's only 3 months old, born on Sept. 12th and he only weighs 6 lbs.
I'll post a picture of him later.
YIPPEE! Now, we wait.....

one month and still waiting

Well, it's been a whole month and I totally thought we would know who our new son is by now. It seems like it's been forever...
There are changes in the criteria for adoptive parents that could come into effect on Dec. 22nd. And we don't meet this criteria. But I have been told by many "veteran" adoptive parents that these things happen a lot in Haiti and to not panic. So I'm not panicking. Just praying and waiting.
UGGH!