Heading back to Haiti

This Sunday I will be heading back to Haiti to visit my sweet boy. I am really excited but also a little sad as Rob is not going with me. Because of work and so we don't strain our family babysitting resources, Rob has decided to stay home and take care of Adriana while I go. I will miss him and he will miss having his time with Hugo, but I think this begins the parental split of having multiple children. We must learn to use our time wisely especially until Hugo gets home. For both our kids' sakes. Our split though just happens to cross international waters. :)

We have no real update on our adoption. We continue to be in IBESR. We are closing in on 8 months and while we were told it would take anywhere from 4 months to 24, we were hoping to be on the lower end of that timeframe. I am really hoping we hear something soon. It is hard to go month after month without any news. But I am very thankful for these trips and that we are lucky enough to be able to go and see Hugo as much as we can. It is a blessing.

Some great news on the adoption front for some other families though. A group of families adopting from our orphanage have received their adoption decrees and that means that in the eyes of Haiti, their children's adoptions are finalized and they are awaiting for their passport and Visa to come home. I am so excited and happy for these families. Their kids are amazing and deserve to get home to their loving families. It is a great week for the adoption world as a whole. Hoping for some more good news for other families waiting too. But seeing these families complete the process brings hope to everyone waiting.

What a difference a year makes

Taken by a mission group, Grangou, that was in Haiti for Christmas and had a Christmas party for the children at the orphanage

December 2011

December 2010

Much of my time is spent on the internet. For many reasons. But I spend an insane amount of my spare time searching for pictures of Hugo on the internet. Facebook, You Tube, Blogs. All of it. Many mission teams visit Maison throughout the year and many have photo albums of the children as well as video. So much of my time is spent going through strangers photos and videos just for a glimpse of him. Our Team Haiti group is also amazing at finding new Facebook albums for us to go through. It sounds a little crazy to spend my time going through things. But it truly does make me feel connected to Haiti and the orphanage.

I have only found the above pictures of Hugo in all of these albums but it also makes me very happy to see all of the other children that live with him. To see pictures of my friend's children they are waiting to adopt and some of the faces of the kids that we fell in love with on our trips. Hugo is not the only Haitian kid that consumes my thoughts on a daily basis. I feel so much love for so many of the children there. They are all beautiful, charming, happy children and to be around them is truly a gift. I would venture to say Rob agrees with me as on our last trip, I sent him for pics and he came back with an arm full of kid. :)

The last picture above is a picture I found right before Christmas. This picture is most special to me because it was the very first picture we received of Huguenson and the picture that grabbed us, pulled us in and started the process of us falling in love with him. It was taken in December of 2010 when he was 4 months old. I absolutely love it. When we received his information the picture was in a word document and not great quality. But it is the only picture we have of Hugo before he was 6 months old. His only true baby/newborn picture we will ever have of him. So when I found it, I was very excited. It was taken by a photographer that visited Haiti and took photos for the orphanage. I contacted her to see if I could buy a digital copy or prints of this picture and any other she may have. She is such a nice lady and is going to look and see if she has anymore of him to send to me. She has no idea how much this means to me. But I will make sure she knows.

Happy New Year to all the kids at Maison. May this be the year that you get home to your families are find your forever family to love you and care for you.