Exciting Announcement!

Debbie and Charline

I have been excitedly waiting to make this announcement and have finally received the permission to do so. Our dear friends Jim and Debbie are adopting Charline (14) of HFC!!!! I'm so excited for all of them! It was really neat to be there and witness God bringing this Mother and Daughter together. It's not really something you can explain...just a really neat God given bond to each other. The whole team witnessed it and we all felt certain that Charline was going to become Debbie's daughter!

I met Debbie for the first time about 1.5 years ago on the baseball field for the first day of practise for our sons new baseball teams. We were the first ones to arrive and began chatting. We were instant friends. I told her about our adoptions (then just 3 children) and she told me how she also has wanted for many years to adopt or foster care. Debbie had decided months ago to start praying about adopting and one teen age boy from HFC had really touched her heart and she spent months in prayer about him. God closed the door on this adoption and she knew it was not meant to be but continued to pray for and love this boy. This began a real opened heart towards adoptions and specifically for a boy to share a room with her only son as she has one son and two daughters.

One night at a bible study we were at together I announced that I was going to be able to go on a mission trip to Haiti. Debbie told me "I'm going with you!" What??? I was SO excited!!! I've already shared a little about how she met Charline but will refresh your memories. As we all got off the tap tap and had finally arrived at the orphanage everyone got off the tap tap and started heading towards our children (the mission team was made up of adoptive mothers and family and friends). Debbie got out of the tap tap and was standing there unsure where to go or what to do. She said a prayer asking God "Why am I here?" and right after praying that Charline walked up to her and slipped her hand in to Debbies. That was all it took! It was an instant bond that everyone could see taking place. Debbie knew that this girl was meant to be her daughter (much to her surprise as she was expecting a son). Once home she was able to talk and pray with her family about it and the results are that they do all believe the Lord is leading them to adopt Charline and the process to do so has begun.

They are so happy, and I'm just thrilled for them all!!! Congratulations my dear friends... It's a GIRL. :)

4 Months seizure free!!!!

For my family and friends that have been tracking this great miracle I would just like to announce that today I hit the 4 months seizure free mark!!!! Hooray! Each month I am just amazed by. Praise God!!!

My Primary Care doctor has okay'd me to have my drivers license back but I first must get an okay also from the Doctor I saw in the Epilepsy Center. He can be difficult to get in to see and I REALLY want to have my license back before our children come home so please continue with your prayers. Thanks so much!

To Sacrifice or Obey

I am a grown child blessed beyond words by the parents God has given me. My father is a Pastor and I am often able to be spoken to so clearly by my Heavenly Father in the voice of my Earthy Father. It's a pretty incredibly thing! It's a gift to have his love, wisdom, and encouragement as a man who loves me and more importantly loves our God! Today I read in my comments some encouragement from him that really hit home. He encouraged me to read 1 Samuel 15:22:
22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

I will admit going and staying in Haiti long term would have required a long list of sacrifices from our family, it was sacrifices we were very willing to make and were worth it but still sacrifices. It was very difficult for me to hear the Lord tell me no to something I felt so excited about and I admittedly had to pray through some rebellion. I immediately accepted God's answer but not with a good attitude. I do believe that letting go of my hopes and trusting in God's answer has been more difficult then the sacrifices seemed. When I was put in the position to argue with God or willingly accept His answer an example of a great man came to mind... My Father and one of his experiences he shared with me years ago.

It's not my story to tell so I will not go into too much detail but when I was a teenager my Dad found a great passion....something he loved to do. To pursue this passion he spent years of many hours and lots of money to pursue it. It was not a bad thing at all...something he enjoyed and was excited about. After working many years and spending so much money (I'm thinking it was somewhere around 10 years of hard work and certain it was thousands and thousands of dollars) towards his goal he found himself one step away from achieving all he had been working towards for so many years. The night before his dream became a reality he was spending time with God and God told him that if he continued with his plans it was going to take time away from what God had planned for him. He had gone a long ways out of town to take this last step and when God spoke those words to him he packed up and drove the long drive home....leaving all of the work, sacrifices, and dream behind wanting to serve God more then he wanted to persue this dream.

When my Dad told me this I had cried because I know how much what he walked away from meant to him! I was so moved by his obedience to God in such a big way that it impacted me more then my Dad could ever know and served as such a great example. I thought of it again yesterday when I was feeling disappointed. Then to see the comment from him today sharing this verse.... It was sent to me by a man I know truly understands and has lived out that verse!

One of the feelings of frustration I really struggled with yesterday was that I didn't understand was that it seemed to me that God had put the idea in my heart and mind. I did not talk to my husband about it until praying about it, every detail seemed to fall in to place in ways we couldn't believe and were so excited about. We planned to get the airline tickets and passports today and everything was working out so smoothly. Then to tell me not to go at the last minute...why let me get so excited and think it's going to happen in the first place? Now I can see how much I learned from allowing it to happen just the way it did and I thank God for it! Next time I pray I can not only accept God's answer but that I will do it gladly and immediatly with a thankful heart.

My parents make the command Honor your Mother and Father so easy to obey. I am so blessed and I'm grateful that my children will have them as Grandparents and role models!

Our Sweet Son Jaco

What I wish I could be doing right now: hanging out with our sweet son Jacques (Jaco)
Ready to shoot some hoops. We recently added a basketball hoop to our back yard and when I hear Jim and the boys shooting hoops outside I wish so much for Jacques and Jude to be out there with them!

Jacques with my friend Debbie

It does not matter if I fly all the way to Haiti from America....I still can not compete for Jacques attention if there is a soccer game going on. Just kidding-- I wouldn't try to keep our soccer superstar from a game! Jacques is the one closest to the ball. :)

Jacques sitting on his bed. It is a very small room with 3 sets of bunkbeds. So there are 6 boys in his room. It was such an honor to "tuck him in" at nights in the hotel and he might be a teenager but I've never been able to tuck him in before so I did it anyways! :)

Hanging out in another room at the boys house. Jacques is the one in the white shirt with red writing. You can tell he has lots of friends and is very well liked by everyone.

Being silly: check out the shoes. He put on my very girly shoes to be silly and I took a picture. Then I accidentally deleted the picture and he's such a good sport that he put them back on and let me take another picture.

Showing off :)




I miss Jacques so much. It's as if I have known him forever. God's so good the way He can give you that kind of love and bond for someone. I am so very proud of him and can't think of one single thing I don't totally love about him. He is so smart, kind, thoughtful, and helpful. We also could not ask for a more wonderful big brother. He is so kind to Lovenie, Jude, and Stephanie and I have no doubt at all that he will bond very quickly to his American brothers too. I could have never imagined God bringing him into our lives and am so very honored that God would allow us to know and love him. After spending more time with him I still insist that I find it remarkable how much he reminds me of his Dad!!!

An encouraging verse when you need one

I admitted being a bit pouty today and a friend reminded me of a verse I love. It's pretty hard to stay down after being reminded of this:

Psalm 42:11. "but, oh my soul,don't be discouraged. Don't be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise Him for all that He will do. He is my help! He is my God!"

This door has closed so that others can be opened

Hi all,

This morning I spent some quiet time with God. Over the last couple of weeks I have been so excited about the opportunity for me to move with our boys to Haiti. A couple days ago I spoke to the director of the orphanage and it sounded (to me) like it was a go ahead...we just needed to work out the details. So everything started falling into place so wonderfully! We found tickets for the days we wanted to go at prices we couldn't believe. I had so much support and encouragement from my husband, family, and friends. The days I was to arrive was just a couple days after other missionaries were leaving so that the room I wanted to stay in would be open to us. Two out of three of our sons wanted to go, and then to our surprise the third also got excited about it. Now to just get an okay on the details so that we could move forward!

This morning during prayer I felt a feeling that God had news for me. I was hoping that it would be the news that we could stay in the orphanage and could book our tickets. I prayed and told God that I would trust Him and His answer no matter what it was but I just really wanted a very clear answer. I even prayed specifically that if it were the Lord's will that I go or stay that I would get it by way of email from the orphanage director today. This may not sound like an unusual prayer request but I will say I didn't expect to hear back from the director for quite some time because he has way bigger things to take care of then getting back to me about our trip weeks away. But God is good and answered my prayers. This very morning there was an email for me from the director. I excitedly opened it knowing that it was what I had just prayed for just moments before! Then as I read on I found out that the answer was pretty much a no at this point and I knew then that the Lord had clearly answered my question. I will admit to crying a flood of disappointed tears. It's not that I don't trust God's answer, I do... It's just that I had wanted so much to be with all of my children and experience this together. I know with God clearly telling me no to this plan that He still has great purpose in our families life over the next few months and believe that I will understand His answer as time goes on. Staying gives us the opportunity to serve Him here in ways we could not if we did not stay. I know that the closing of this door only serves to lead to the opening of other doors we couldn't walk threw if we were not listening. I am feeling hurt and disappointed now but know that I can also be praising God and trusting in His wisdom. I've insisted that I just want to serve God how and where He wants me to serve Him... now is the time to not just say the words but to live them.

Switched-on Schoolhouse Fun

First day of school (info from the USA)

Johnny works on his first day of 2nd grade. He is using Olpha Omega's LifePac Christian Private school Curriculum. It is the same that Kyle used when he was in 2nd grade. Johnny did excellent in reading but still struggles with his writing skills and this curriculum is very writing intensive so will really be terrible or great...we will see. For 6 years old and his trouble focusing and writing due to his ADHD and mild Autism I'm just so impressed with how well he is doing and how smart he is! Luke is working very seriously in his big Pre-school workbook. He LOVES being involved in school time and continues to amaze us in how well he's doing for just turning 4!
Johnny completed his school work and is rewarded with some time for computer play. We have a computer station with 3 computers and the sound of Johnny's games was distracting Kyle from his work so we grabbed a couple of headphones and all was settled.

Recess: Don't ya just love home school life? We took a nice long lunch break and then recess was spent in fun play (myself included) in the pool to wake up and refresh us all. How many other teachers get to spend recess in a pool soaking up sun on an air mattress?

"Oh no, having a 4 year old is not distracting for his brothers at all!"

(yeah, right!)

Kyle is so excited about his school this year. He begged to start school today and after recess was anxious to get back to it. This will be his first year using Alpha Omega's Swithched-On Schoolhouse where most of his learning, tests, and grades will all be done on the computer. It has lots of fun games to really help the lessons sink in. It's a tough curriculum and Kyle is just 8 but in 4th grade (as of today). He was learning things that I'd never even heard of before! Here is an example of just some of his spelling and vocabulary: archipelago, isthmus, hemisphere, Bethsaida (Peter's home town), and many many more tough words. I'm pleased to say he scored 100% on every lesson and LOVED the program!

Playing AlphaOmega 14- the vocabulary/spaceship game. This was his favorite of the many games that went with the lessons. Please see the video as he plays and narrates through this fun game. Kyle gives this curriculum 2 thumbs up and would suggest it to anyone. He's excited about this school year and looking forward to school tomorrow. (I still can't believe he's in 4th grade!!!!)

Why start school in July you might ask? As some of you know we are hoping to spend at least 6 weeks in Haiti during September and October. We decided to get started on school so if we want to take that as a vacation time or just do light school work in Haiti we can do as we please. Again, loving the flexibility of home school life!

Our Princess Stephanie

What I wish I could be doing right now, hugging our sweet Stephanie. She's so kind, affectionate, and sensitive. The sad face is because it is almost time to say our goodbyes. The boys usually don't cry until I'm actually leaving but Stephanie begins getting very sad and tearful the night before. It breaks my heart to see such a sweet happy girl so sad.

Jude and Stephanie doing what they do best: being blaze (means silly or crazy in Creole). Jude is sitting on Karla's lap. Stephanie is sitting between Karla and Kim, I don't even want to try and guess at what the kids are doing. :) Kim's got that look like "Who is the crazy one on the team that is raising these nuts?" I'm sitting next to Kim at the edge of the picture with Lovenie sleeping on my lap and did not catch what was going on in this picture.


Presenting Stephanie with her locket. Inside this pretty heart shaped locket was a picture of me on one side and a picture of her Haitian Mother on the other. Stephanie was very touched by this. It's probably the only picture she has of us both. I want her to know it's okay to love the Mom that has raised her for so many years. She will always be a mother in this family also, theres room and enough love for both of us.

Packing up on our last night together. We were both so sad. Even Jude had a moment of not smiling.

She's just radiant! When I stayed with her last time I noticed she didn't have pajamas so brought her two pairs this trip. One was a set we couldn't resist- High School Musical. She LOVES this movie! When I pulled them out she squealed and gave me a huge hug and thank you. I never did see her wear the pajama pants but wore the top with a cute skirt.

She was very excited about these girly pajama's too. They are a satin blue with pink cats all over them. She's standing up on the bed for me to get a picture of the whole pajama set (her idea). It was really cute.

Just being pretty.

Stephanie curled up in the bed we shared with Lovenie, watching a movie on my portable DVD player.

Stephanie in the storage room right after the Mary Kay make-up our neighbor gave me to take got distributed. The girls had such a blast putting it on themselves and each other. She does look very pretty but I think we will save it for "dress up" for the next several years. :)

Stephanie posing for a picture with our sweet friend Emmanuel. So I ask his Mom (who reads my blog).... You want to start talking prearranged marriage now or wait a couple years? :)


Stephanie is just such a joy to be around. I wanted so much to have at least one really girly daughter in my lifetime and well... you can not get much girlier then our princess Stephanie! She's also so full of energy. She laughs and giggles a lot and we tease each other with saying "your crazy" and "no, I'm not your crazy" back in forth in Creole (Thanks Kez for teaching me this very important creole lesson!). She is quick to give hugs and is very playful and fun. I've also been so proud of her many times as you can ask for her to help with anything at all and she gets a huge smile and does what you ask and does it really well. She is an amazing helper.

This is the day that the Lord has made

I must confess... the very first few days in Haiti (while it included some great moments) were very very difficult for me. I could not sleep on the red eye so went all night before we arrived without any sleep (usually a trigger for a seizure for me). My body hurt all over from luggage hauling, travel, and hours upon hours of bumpy tap tap. Plus the added stress and frustrations of the missing suitcases! Lovenie was sick and clingy and for the first few nights woke up again and again so I didn't get much sleep for the first few days. I felt seperated from the group because Lovenie was so fussy that I could not get near them for devotionals, finding out what the plans were, or any other reason because Lovenie was so loud and fussy no one would be able to hear each other if I joined in. It was really tough. I often fought the urge to just walk into the bathroom, lock the door behind me and just have a really good cry. I had one moment at the end of another tough day that I just fell onto the bed and laid there a moment. Jude came over and curled up next to me, gave me his big sweet grin and began to sing to me in english. He sang to me "This is the day that the Lord has made." I of course couldn't help but smile and it lifted my spirits in huge ways. I look forward to the day that I am able to communicate to Jude how much that meant to me. Even if they were tough days, they were also filled with the most amazing blessings and adventures and it is a day that the Lord has made... That makes it a really good day!

Because I knew that the kids must know how to sing this song along in English we sang it in the back of a packed tap tap and their big smiles were so precious. They wanted to sing this song for their Daddy. The problem was that the electricity was out and it was their last night with me at the guest house. (the goodbye tears had already started that night) I had hoped to get them to sing the song again in the daylight but with the next day being busy and heavy in the sadness of our goodbyes it was hard to think again about singing. Please see the video bellow for some very sweet singing by Stephanie and Jude, with Jacques trying to hold a lantern to light the video. You can't see them but hopefully the sound of their singing and giggles will be enough of a delight!

This is the day..a song for Daddy

A moment of worship in Haiti

Church time in Haiti

Dr. Bernard taking his place up front.

One of my favorite pictures: One of my best friends, Ange, sitting next to one of her daughters with her head bowed in prayer before the cross. She is such a strong woman of prayer and faith that I think this captures her so well. BTW- No I was not taking pictures during prayer time. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures during church but my kids had no problem with it so lets just say I didn't stop them and I'm grateful to have these memories.

Our team had just been introduced and it was time to SING!

Left to right: I'm in the red dress, my friend Debbie next to me, Bryn, Karla, and Julie with the microphone fearlessly leading us in worship.

It is so hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks now since this day. It seems as if it just happened! Let me tell you a little parable about a wise man. This wise man's name is Dr. Bernard (sound familiar?). He was bringing to church with him many guest this Sunday, including 12 women and many children (can you imagine getting us there on time?). As he arrived at the church and gathered together his American guests he decided now was the time to inform them that we would be expected to be involved in some way during the service. We could introduce ourselves to everyone, have one person from our team go forward and sing a song, or go forward as a team and sing to the church. The wise man just gave a split second for us to make a decision and as a team we decided to subject the unknowing victims inside to our singing. Now we had to quickly pick a song to sing with no time for practising. The day before we had all just met in the Tap Tap and I suggested we sing worship songs. We sang one song together and then it just kind of dropped as we all soaked in the adventure. I totally can not remember what song it was though, can anyone help me out? Was it Our God is An Awsome God? Since that was the only song we knew all our team members knew we decided it would be the song we would sing. With our brave song leader Julie leading us all we struggled through a couple verses and then ended the misery of the congregation. It was actually kind of fun! We had hoped it would be a song others would be familiar with and sing along in Creole or French but I don't think that happened. This wise man knew if he told us before when we had time to think about it we would chicken out.

The service: It was the longest service I've ever attended clocking in at 3 hours which I had expected since I had been told about it from someone who knew. It was a beautiful service with lots of beautiful singing, lots of prayer, a message, communion, and and more singing. They were kind enough to even give a short overview of what the message was about in English. If I remember right it was about 3 ways to forgive. There were other American visitors there as well. They went before our singing and just had one person stand up and say all their names real quick and then sit down. Most of us were secretly kicking ourselves thinking "why didn't we choose that?". The communion was just like we have here and was beautiful. What was amusing about it though was that they use real wine for communion. This took at least one of our friends who does not drink any alcohol by surprise. Later another friend told me about her brother who came to church with them in Haiti and had never touched a drop of alcohol until he downed his communion much to his surprise. ;) Welcome to Haiti, where you have to be prepared for anything---even in church! It was a really great experience.

The door is open!!! :)

So, I shared with you all my nervous excitement about maybe going to Haiti for an extended period with our boys. I spoke with the director today and his response was "I'm open to it." We just need to work out the details at this point. I'll keep you all updated. So it's not 100% definate, but very close. :)

Wanting to move to Haiti

No you do not need to check the date: I assure you it is not April 1st! :) We are trying to get a call through to speak today with the director of our orphanage to see if there is a way that me and our 3 American sons can come and live in Haiti for 2 months! We also have some other exciting news to discuss with him but I can not share it just yet (no we are not adding another child).

We feel that it would be such a wonderful experience for our children to get to live where their siblings have lived, learn creole, learn a gratefulness that even us adults learn when we go there, and so much more! It would be so wonderful to spend time with all of our kids together! We continue to pray about it and are so hopefull to have an answer soon, if possible today!

I'll keep you posted. In all we want God's will to be done so we have been praying that He would open the door to this opportunity if it is his will, or close the door if it is not. We will accept and be glad for whatever the answer is, but in our hearts we want so much for the answer to be "Yes, come stay in Haiti!"

The truth about cite soleil

Please take a moment to view the video bellow. At least 4, possibly all 5 of our children in Haiti have lived at Cite Soleil. Stephanie and Jude lived there up until the last couple of years. Their birth mother is still living here with baby Vilner. I beg you to please keep their health and safety in your prayers and prayers for the many starving, and hurting in Haiti and around the world!

The Children of Cite Soleil

Precious Lovenie

Who will fall asleep first? I was SO tired and Lovenie was really sick. I had trouble getting her to go to sleep each night, and she would wake up many times during the night. She was so sick and I felt so bad for her. It occurred to me after I got home that it was probably the first time in her 3 years of life that someone loved and comforted her that much while being sick. It was both an honor to be there for her and yet breaks my heart to think of the many times I was not able to comfort her. I got her flu or parasite and am extremely ill. I went to the doctor yesterday for lots of labs and test and hope to hear soon what we can do to make it better. It was totally worth it!

A peaceful nap time. It was with such relief when I could get her to go to sleep and lay her down without her waking right up and yelling at me. :) Just like her American brothers when they were babies.

All Dolled up with the bows I put in her hair. Notice how wide open and alert both of her eyes are!


I tried to give her a cute little doll we got her for her birthday and she had no interest at all. She instead really liked this soccer ball. She would hold it and rock back and forth on it. And if you can notice she also had a small pack of Kleenex in her hand. It had a pretty pink cover and it was her FAVORITE thing! She loved the crinkly noise it made in her hands.

Hanging out in the room with our dear friend Job

Waiting to be dressed. You can see how thin our tiny little girl is. I still find it so hard to believe she's 3...1 maybe, but not 3!!!

Being sweet and quiet on one of the very rare moments she allowed me to put her down without a fight.

One of our first moments together again.

Just sitting looking pretty, content enough for me to just sit next to her.



What an honor it was to be there holding and loving on our little girl while she was so sick! We had really been praying for her and I was so excited to see how God had answered our prayers in such a BIG way. Just 2 months before Lovenie was not making any noises other then mimicking a crying sound and calling me "ma" once. The last update picture we got of her had us very concerned for her health and we prayed and prayed for God to heal her. I received that picture just a couple weeks before our trip. When I was with her this time she was very alert, the blankness in her eyes was totally gone! She called me "Mama" many many times while I was there (loved it!). I got to see her cry her first real tears, make her smile for the first time, and even got her to laugh out loud a couple of times!!! We have so much hope for our little girl!

She was playful with her siblings and able to play little games with them like trying to grab things out of their hands, but while we were in church if anyone tried to get too close to her Mama they would be rewarded with a kick. :) Gonna have to break that but I'll admit it was kind of funny. She likes it when I would rock back and forth while holding her. If I stopped she would rock back and forth in my arms to try and make me keep going and of course it worked. One night I was outdoors at the big guest house balcony walking back and forth, rocking her in my arms, and singing to her. When I stopped singing she patted my arm and sounded as if she was trying to sing. There were so many moments like this with her that I held back tears and praised God again and again! What a beautiful and wonderful little girl God has given to us!


I took this very short video of her making sounds and trying to speak. It may not mean much more then little girl's gibberish to someone else, but to me, the fact that she was making sounds...was one of the most wonderful miracles I've ever witnessed. Click here to share in this miracle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsXoV7zwwcc

Nanny Blessings

Tyson (Ange's son) helping assemble the Nanny gift bags.
Char and Kim during Nanny gift bag assembly

Praying over each Nanny

More prayers for each Nanny individually

Picture of Karla helping organize the delivery of gifts and prayer to the Nannies

One of the Nannies after receiving her dress, shoes, and gift bag. It must be a custom that many Haitians do not smile for photo's. However, do not be fooled. They were so warm and receptive for not only the gifts but also the prayer and we received many smile, hugs, and even kisses.

So I kind of jumped in on the mission trip at the last minute. It was being organized by Karla and Ange for the past year or so. I heard that a lot of their focus was on showing God's love to the nannies and doing all they can to show them love, appreciation, and even gently ways to better care for our waiting children. One team even taught baby massage and I heard they were very receptive to that. I have to admit, I was thrilled at the idea's and thought they were wonderful and so excited they would be done, but if I were to be honest my complete focus was my great love for the older children of NLL and HFC so I decide that while a majority of the team would be spending time with the nannies and babies, I really wanted to be with the teens, but God had different plans for me. :)

We were all asked to bring some small gift for the gift bags of the 30 or so Nannies. I had no idea what to bring. Just days before the trip a neighbor that I did not even know had decided to end her days as a Mary Kay Consultant. I asked her if she had any samples I could have for the Nannie gifts. She loaded me up with samples, lotions, make-up... so many great gifts. However, because my suitcases did not arrive before the Nanny bags were assembled they were not added. But I did get to go through on one of the last days and seek out the Nannies and give them yet another gift and that was fun too. They were very excited about the make-up. THEN the older girls got their hands on the large remaining amount and it was a Mary Kay party like never before!!! :) I wish I had more pictures but that was just around the time my camera was running out of battery and there was not electricity to charge it.

Sorry, back to the Nanny gifts: The Nannies were at first very resistant to coming down to the room we set up for them. With the help of our son Jacques (translating for us) we were able to get just one of the nannies to the room. We gave her the gift bag, she got to pick out a dress, or skirt and shirt, and shoes. We then took her picture and then Karla, Ange, and I prayed over her before she left. She went back up with her gifts and that's all it took for the Nannies to start pouring into the room!!! They were so excited about each gift, having their picture taken and all most all of them were extremely receptive to our praying for each of them! Karla, Ange, and I would take turns praying out loud for each Nanny while the others would pray along agreeing. Have you ever felt God's presence so strong that you get chills and have to fight back the tears? That's how it was. Ange, Karla, and I were barely getting through the prayers as we fought tears and the heaviness of God's presence in the room was certainly felt by all! We prayed asking God to bless them, bless the hands that care for so many children, let them know how loved and appreciated they are, and so much more. Most of the prayers ended with the Nannies giving us each a hug and kiss on the cheek and a big thank you. It was not only one of the greatest experiences during our time in Haiti but one of the greatest experiences of my life. God is so real and was so present! It's so great when you try to bless someone else and instead the blessing is poured out on you 100 fold! God's so good! If anyone's reading this has ever doubted if there really is a God I encourage you to ask Him to show Himself to you. I've experienced His presence in such a strong way so many times in my life that I could not ever imagine questioning His existence. He promises if we seek Him we will find Him. If you have not already done so... seek Him today and He will show Himself to you and you can always be absolutely certain that He is so very real and experience the great joy and love from knowing Him!

Our Sunshine Son-- Jude

I just stole this picture of Jude off of Ange's blog and I think she got the picture from Karla or someone else on our team. The moment I saw it I thought "This is SO Jude!!!!" This picture was taken in the back of the tap tap that we likely had been in for hours in the heat and yet Jude continued to laugh and smile, and then to see him wink for the camera....so him! He's as cute and sweet as it gets!!!!
Not too big to let Mama cuddle with him! We look just alike, don't you think? I love this precious son God gave us!

Hanging out in the room showing off how cool he is. Check out the infamous Jude smile. You will almost NEVER see him without a smile.

Playing around

Close up

Jude all dressed up for church, wearing his big smile, his watch we sent him as a gift (see the green glow on his wrist) and the sunglasses we sent him on top of his head.

"Peace" Just showing off how cool and cute he can be. This was just moments after we had been reunited the first evening.

Jude concentrating on the hand held game of Tetris we brought him. It was a huge hit. Job (watching Jude play) is friends with both Jacques and Jude so we saw quite a bit of him in our room. He's a sweetheart too! I've warned his adopting Mom that if she backs out we are going to swoop in and steal him away!! :) Jude of course shared his game with anyone that would ask.