What can you do?

I borrowed this video from my neighbor, Laurie (Visit her Blog-The Unit.) Laurie, hope you don't mind! It is just so moving, I felt like I needed to also spread the word and put it on my blog as well. Many people wonder why we are adopting from a third world country (we don't have any fertility issues, we have two beautiful little boys, etc.) Even some of our own extended family members wonder, why? Why Haiti? What about China? or Russia? We don't second guess our decision for a second, and when I see videos like this, I know we have made the right decision.

Even though this video isn't from Haiti, it is from another third world country, similar in poverty and need to Haiti. After watching this video, it will leave you thinking, what can I do? I must admit I wonder that often, can we adopt one more? Can we send money to the Orphanage? But then we get side tracked in our daily activities and get caught up in our everyday routine...we would have adopted two children, if we had more money. We would have adopted two, if we didn't have a large financial crisis going on right now in our own lives. (A house full of mold out of state that we can't sell for 2 years now!)

So after you watch this video, maybe you'll feel moved to help just one child...

Merry Christmas from Avery!

One more little Christmas greeting...A new photo of our little one in Haiti
We are relieved to see that even though she is a without us on Christmas, she looks so happy!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours...

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Avery 2008

The Duggars

When we lived in Arkansas 2 years ago, I was surprised to find out the Michelle Duggar and I had the same doctor! When I went to my doctor appt, and I met her for the first time, I said, "Your the doctor on that TV show who delivered the Duggars 17th child!" She looked at me with a strange smile and said, "Yes, that's me....definitely interesting!" That's all she said.

Anyway, what is interesting is that if Josh Duggar, (who is now married) has a child, and Michelle Duggar continues to have children, some of her children will be younger than her grandchildren! Santa must need two sleighs for the Christmas delivery to this household!

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tontitown, Ark., had their eighteenth child Thursday – Jordyn-Grace Makiya, who joins the rest of her J-named siblings. Jordyn-Grace was born via C-section at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers, weeks before her due date of Jan. 1. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 3 oz and was 20 inches long. "Mother and baby are resting and doing well," says a rep for the Duggar family, whose crowded house is featured on the TLC network show 17 Kids & Counting. The newest Duggar has a lot of names to keep straight. The other kids – who range in age from 20 years to 17 months – are Joshua (who married Anna Keller in September and says he is looking forward to the "blessing of children" of his own), twins John-David and Jana, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, twins Jeremiah and Jedidiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah and Jennifer. Their parents married when Michelle was 17 and Jim Bob was 19. (Her mother had to officially sign permission.) After birth-control pills were blamed for a miscarriage, the couple decided to throw them out. They've had a new baby approximately every 18 months since.

December Update Photo

Well, we only got one this time, but one is better than none! Looks like someone got a little too crazy with the hair clippers at the O! Where did all her cute little hair go? She still looks so sweet though! We didn't get an updated weight or anything, but maybe that will come later. It still amazes me how different and older she looks in each photo.

Happy 4th Birthday, Baby P!

Today was Preston's 4th birthday! He wanted all things Batman. Batman cake, napkins, plates...and he got a Batman mask, shirts, toy pinball machine, and Batman pj's. We had a little party (he misses out every year on a real kiddie party because I am too preoccupied with Christmas) and he had a lot of fun! Right now he is upstairs SCREAMING in the bathtub, so Mike went upstairs to see what the problem was. Of course, he is just yelling for no reason, but how can you get mad at a bare naked 4 year old sitting in the bath with a batman mask on?

Missing Avery

The O

This is where our little girl lives, until we are able to pick her up and bring her home. This is where our little girl sits in an empty crib without her mommy able to hug and kiss and care for her. Ever since I went to visit, the wait is so much harder. Before I met her, the process didn't seem as real, but now there isn't a day or hour that goes by without my mind wondering when she'll ever get here. I was searching for beach houses to rent for next summer and my mind immediately wondered if she'll get to come with us on our family vacation. Tomorrow is Preston's birthday, and I keep wondering, will Avery be here for her next birthday? Or will we miss out on that as well? The hardest part of the wait is just not knowing anything. If we had some kind of countdown, at least I would feel like progress was being made every time I crossed a day off. Our paperwork arrived in Haiti last May, and we still could possibily have more than a year to wait. There are some families that have been waiting almost 2 years to pick up their children and their kids have grown from infants to toddlers in the O. I am praying, hoping, yearning for our little one to get here before we have missed out on her "baby" milestones. She doesn't walk yet, so I still have hope, we'll see her first step. But, only time will tell...right now I would be happy with just a new photo. Anything, just a small peek into her world. I haven't seen her since Nov 5th and it seems like eternity!

One Happy Elf

Tonight we had fun going to our town's Christmas festival...half the family did anyway. Preston didn't get to attend, as he was mean to the neighbor kids. He poked a girl in the eye, was hitting, calling names, etc. Still not sure what got into him. All we were able to get out of him was that a monster entered his body, it was an accident, and that he doesn't like to have girls as friends. Anyway, he stayed home with dad and fell asleep on the couch around 7pm. Which means the only person going to get punished from this is me when he wakes up by 5am tomorrow morning.

Caden is still toting his "Elf" around town and asked for his photo under the tree with Mr. Hermie. Last night, Hermie hid in his stocking and the night before he hid in the bathroom holding Caden's lost homework pass. Tonight, Caden is writing another letter to his Elf, putting in a special request from Caden's friend, Guy. Guy would like Caden's elf to bring him a toy truck tonight. Hmm...not sure how that's going to happen!

Oh yeah, and here is our tree. Obviously I still have not mastered the camera settings. It is much brighter and merrier in person!

Christmas lights

We drove around the neighborhood tonight to see which neighbor is going to earn the highest electric bill. Looks like there is a pretty tight contest going on. I tried to get a good photo of our own house (even though it's pretty boring compared to these) but they didn't turn out. I also tried to get a photo of the tree with the lights glowing, but I guess I am going to have to breakdown and read the manual that came with the camera. I tried to turn the flash off, but it was too dark. Flash on, made our white lights look multi-colored. I did have a little fun taking photos of some of our decorations and ornaments. Am I procrasinating from the other important stuff (cleaning, laundry, Christmas cards, wrapping,etc.) Sure am! I mean, it is only Dec 8th afterall...plenty of time, right?

More Elf sightings...

How cute is this? My sister's boyfriend gave her this bouquet for a singing performance she did this past weekend! This little Elf sure is popular around here! You never know where he is going to show up!

It's all about the Elves

Elf mania hit our house this week. Let me tell you, words can not describe how obsesssed the boys are with magical elves visiting. I went out and spent $65 on two "Elf on a Shelf" packages because everyone at school had been visited by magical elves but Caden (according to him.) Basically it's a book and a small elf in a cute little box. Caden's elf is name "Hermie" and Preston's is "Squirmy". Anyway, the elves are "magical" and hide themselves at night and also report to Santa on the boys behavior. Over the past three days, Caden has not put his elf down one time (except at school where he leaves it in his bookbag with other toys so Hermie doesn't get bored.)

Yesterday, Caden came home from school and cried for 2 hours because according to the book, the elf is supposed to return to the North Pole on Christmas and not return until next year. I came up with a tale that if he takes extra special care of Hermie, he'll stay indefinitely. Now he's trying to figure out what foods to feed him (he is thinking he might like bits of pineapple.) Just to give you an idea of how much he LOVES this elf, he has crossed EVERYTHING off his Christmas list except a new bike! Preston, although he loves his elf, still would like every toy on TV and a rollercoaster.

For a quick pick me up, listen to this!

National Athlem, performed at Texas Tech basketball game last year. All the girls are 6-8 years old! The arena stays completely silent while the girls perform! I haven't heard better!

We received an early Christmas gift!

Avery's birth parents SHOWED UP on the first try to their Embassy Interview! All went very well according to our Haiti program director! I will assume that means no DNA testing! We are so thankful and are PRAYING this means we'll get out of IBESR by the end of the month? It is the first bit of good news we've had in a long time so it seems that much sweeter!!! We still have some dear friends awaiting news about their BP interviews and I hope they receive GREAT news today as well!!!!

Hoping this will move our paperwork along...we need to get our little girl home!

Back from 'Cuse

We made it back from Syracuse after a long ride home. We drove 6 hours on Saturday night to try and get a head start on the traffic. Good thing we did. It should have been another 5 hours on Sunday, but it turned into 8 more long hours....guess a lot of other travelers had the same idea.

We had a wonderful time in Syracuse visiting Granny, Poppy, Uncle John and Marcy. Poppy hasn't been feeling too well and it was so nice to spend 5 days with him. We were all very sad to leave. The boys helped Granny decorate the tree and kept Poppy company. The were excited to see our video of Avery and of course, I always love watching those precious videos again and again and again. I think they really enjoyed having a bit of chaos at the house for a little while

The weather was typical gloomly and gray but no real snow, much to our disappointment. The boys tried to make snow balls out of the icey leftover snow from the last storm, but that wasn't much fun. Granny made her famous spaghetti and meatballs, delicious turkey dinner and her world famous French toast!

And now, back to the routine! Is anyone else a little stressed that the Thanksgiving suitcases aren't even unpacked yet and tomorrow is already December??

Oh yes, December 2nd, Avery's birth parents are scheduled for their Embassy appointment! We are praying they show up and all goes as planned...we'll keep you posted!

Adorable

There are quite a few precious children who are still waiting for a family at Avery's orphanage. If we didn't currently have a house for sale (it's been for sale for 18 months) that is full of mold (can anyone say NIGHTMARE?) I would LOVE to adopt at least one more. Given the fact we got a quote to fix the mold issue that will run us 15K-41K depending on how well we want to fix the problem, we'll be lucky to afford the one adoption we have already started! So, instead of adopting more kids, we'll paying for ugly nasty mold to be scraped off our basement walls, on the house we don't live in, out of state. The same house built by a builder who went bankrupt and moved out of state. The same house we have listed for well under what we purchased it for...and still, not a single buyer.

You'll notice there is an adorable set of 4 year old TRIPLET boys and newborn TWINS! They are all so precious...if you know anyone thinking about Haiti adoption here is the link. It would be so wonderful for all of these kids to be matched to families this holiday season.

Just for you...Isabelle

The reason for the "H" in the word wHAITIng has to do with the ENTIRE reason for our blog...if you had bothered to read it, you might have realized we are adopting, and where from. Thus, the reason to include "Haiti" in the word "Whaiting."

I am a college professor and an Ivy League graduate, so I am well aware of how to spell the word "Waiting."

Thank you for your concern (or lack there of) and you are officially the first rude person to comment on our blog. Now I know why everyone else screens their comments on their blogs...

Hmmmm....

You think we might need to go shopping for some winter coats and boots? Looks like we're going to be in for a white Turkey Day in NY! What fun....that is if we can get there!

Forecast: BANDS OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO MEANDER OVER THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE ACTIVITY MAY DIMINISH A BIT THIS AFTERNOON BUT IS EXPECTED TO RE-INTENSIFY TONIGHT ACROSS ONONDAGA AND MADISON COUNTIES.
SNOWFALL RATES OF ONE INCH PER HOUR WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE MOST PERSISTENT BANDS TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED IN THE MOST PERSISTENT BANDS TODAY... WITH AN ADDITIONAL 3 TO 5 INCHES LIKELY TONIGHT. THE LAKE EFFECT SNOWS ARE EXPECTED TO DRIFT NORTHWARD INTO ONEIDA COUNTY ON SUNDAY.
A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF LAKE- EFFECT SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. LAKE-EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS TYPICALLY ALIGN THEMSELVES IN BANDS AND WILL LIKELY BE INTENSE ENOUGH TO DROP 1 TO SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW PER HOUR FOR SEVERAL HOURS. VISIBILITIES VARY GREATLY AND CAN DROP TO ZERO WITHIN MINUTES. TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. COMMERCE COULD BE SEVERELY IMPACTED. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL... KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT... FOOD... AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

A Christmas Miracle?

Santa has his work cut out for him this year. Both boys woke up this morning, in such sweet moods (this isn't always the case...). Caden said, "I love you mom, love you Preston, love you dad" and Preston says, "I love everyone" You get the idea. Just so sweet.

Then Caden says, "Since Santa is magical, I know what he'll bring us for sure this Christmas" I was expecting him to say Bakugans or the Nintendo DS....he says, I know Santa will definitely bring Avery to us and she'll stay forever" Preston agreed, Santa will definitely not forgot to pack Avery in a large box addressed to: Mommy, Daddy, Caden, Preston, Gramma, Papa, Poppy, Granny, Aunt Robyn, Uncle Aron, and Mer.... And when they see this box, they said they'll KNOW exactly whose inside. They figure Santa will try to disguise the box but they're already on to him...uh oh. Both boys agreed, Avery would want a princess dress to wear when she arrives.... Not sure how I am going to explain it to them, when there is no large box with a miracle inside.

Countdown..

We have a couple different countdowns going on in our house right now. The boys are counting down our trip to NY next week, I am silently counting down (sometimes I feel like it's really not going down) the months until Avery comes home, and well...let's face it...the Christmas countdown has begun. Believe it or not, there is only 37 days until Christmas.

Normally, I wouldn't panick. But, Caden has asked for 3 specific things from Santa this Christmas. It wasn't until this past weekend that I realized one of them is not available...ANYWHERE! He wants a Bakugan Battle Pack. I have never heard of Bakugan. But, yesterday, he said if Santa brings him a Bakugan Battle Pack that will make his day, I knew I had to find one.

So, I have spent the past hour bidding on Bakugan sets on Ebay, only to get sniped out by those Ebayers who love to steel the item at the last second. So, finally, I won a Bakugan Set with only 2 seconds to go. Yes, I had to pay $15 over the Walmart price, but Walmart doesn't have any in stock, so that's the way it goes!

I also just got off my weekly "Haiti" Chat group. It sounds like a couple of us were told some information that was not accurate. In my last post, I mentioned the birth parent interview, in Dec. I thought after that takes place they can no longer change their minds...but I heard wrong. The birth parents have rights to take the child back up until that child boards the plane...and considering the birth parents can say their final goodbye at the airport...well, it's very nerve wracking. However, our coordiator has said time and time again, do not worry about this. It is very rare for this to happen. But, it has happened, so that's enough to get my mind running...

When?

Since I arrived home from Haiti, everyone is asking me when she'll come home. To be honest, I don't know any more information since before I went on the trip. We are hoping next summer, but that is a longshot.

Avery's parents are scheduled for an interview December 2nd at 9am. We are of course, hoping and praying that they'll show up for this appointment. We hear it is unlikely, as usually these interviews end up having to be rescheduled a couple times...but we can still hope. If they are able to make the appointment, they'll sign some sort of paperwork (not exactly sure what) but at that point they will no longer be able to change their mind and take Avery back. I think we'll also find out if a DNA test is required, again hopfully not, as that just slows down the process. I have read about stories of birth parents changing their minds, and the adoptive families being left just heart broken. So we are still guarded, but hopeful, that Avery will remain our baby. It is rare for birth parents to change their minds (mainly due to poverty) but it does happen.

Anyway, nothing else new on the homefront. Everyone, but Mike, has colds/coughs. It has been a hard adjustment for me, coming back from Haiti, feeling sad, and losing our precious videos of her when I got home (which we were able to recover...a miracle!!!)

I miss these eyes and that smile

Some of my favorites...