Teleconference

We had a teleconference Monday night with everybody who will be traveling with us. The teleconference was hosted by For His Glory, the Texas-based mission who runs Maison Orphanage. We started the teleconference at 9:00 that night and it didn't get done until 10:30. It was a lot of information and unfortunately, I had a hard time getting to sleep that night after taking in all they had to say.

Once again, they went over the airport situation and how overwhelming it can be. Once we get out of the terminal, we will be greeted by our adoption agency rep, Patrick and somebody from Maison. They will take us to the hotel and give us a chance to settle in and then, we will be going to the orphanage to meet our kids for the first time. They told us the nannies there take their jobs very seriously so they will not bring the kids out until they are "picture perfect". Washed up, hair done, diapers changed. The nannies take great pride in their work and want the kids looking their best. When they told us this, it brought tears to my eyes. The reward in Heaven will be huge for those ladies and I can't wait to meet them and thank them for taking care of our precious little ones.

As far as itineraries go, we don't have one set in stone. The way things go in Haiti, if you plan something, plans usually change. We have two appointments though. One will be in front of a judge where we swear to take good care of our kiddos and the other is at the Embassy. We will be filing our I-600 there (immigration papers). This step is usually done at the end of the adoption process, but to speed things up, they have changed things and are having us file this form in Haiti. They hope to take us on a driving tour of some of Haiti, but stressed that they will not travel into the slum areas. All kinds of violence and kidnappings happen in places like Cite Soleil so we won't be going there. That is fine by me. But they want to give us a chance to see where our kids are coming from.

One of the biggest things that might happen there other than meeting our children is we might have an opportunity to meet the birthmothers. Some of the adoptive families did not welcome this idea, but Stephen and I are very happy to be able to meet and talk with them.

We have purchased a little book and CD entitled Simple Creole for Adoptive Families. Stephen and I are learning how to say, "I am your mommy, I am your daddy, and I love you." It is quite entertaining. I hope we don't screw up.

Our travel group seems like it will be quite large. Along with the other 3 families from our adoption agency, there are other agencies represented on this trip. Plus, members of For His Glory (including the president) will be with us. Some of the families are even bringing their teenage children with them. We will all be in the same hotel together, going through the same things. It's nice to know we are not doing this alone.

There is a slow internet connection at the hotel so I thought twitter would be the best way to keep people updated while we are down there. I will try to post updates as much as possible. I have set up my twitter feed so it's visible on this blog. We appreciate your prayers as we are getting ready to go in ONE WEEK!