No words

My head is spinning thinking about what the people of Haiti must be going through as I type this. It is night time there now, no power, aftershocks, people screaming, kids crying, hospital collapsed, roads are not passable. No words to describe our concern for the entire situation.

There are several of us scheduled to travel there in 10 days or so. I can't imagine our Avery going through this without parents there to console her. I can't imagine us being there, and what worry that would have caused our children here back in the US.

The only news we have so far is a nanny has been injured and the director sustained an eye injury. The building has been damaged, and I am not sure kids can even get back in their rooms. It has to be pure choas.

Please keep all the millions of people affected by this earthquake in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

The Good and the Bad

The Good: Our file has entered Parquet, which I didn't think was possible until AFTER we go to Haiti to sign the notebook. So although it's again, just one small step of many, we are elated to have our file moving forward.

The Bad: I got this off the GLA web site. This will sort of explain why adoptions take so long in Haiti. There are so many steps, I honestly don't even understand them all, and I really don't attempt to try to!

"In IBESR we need 4 signatures before the dossier is finished. In Parquet, we need signatures from different people BEFORE the dossier enters Parquet , a signature from the lawyer in charge of adoptions, and then a stamp after Parquet. In the civil courts, the head judge for adoptions must sign, the greffier must sign, the judge must sign again to legalize the signature of the greffier, and then the Parquet legalization department must sign. Now if the legalization department finds errors in wording, such as MANDATAIRE (Power of Attorney), on the document which was supposed to be removed, they send it back to the court clerk for correction. In Attestation, a clerk must type the form, another clerk must check the signature against the one on file, and then only the director of Archives can sign that the signature is a good one. For MOI, the dossiers must travel through 2 different offices and all of the documents are studied before it is signed. In Immigration, we turn the dossier into the receiving office, from their it goes to many different sections before it is returned to us as a passport! i believe there is 5 different offices that touch the dossier before it is given to us as a passport!

This does not take into consideration the Justice and Foreign Affaires offices that legalize all of the paperwork! We lose more paperwork in the Justice Legalization department than any where else in the system! We then have to ask the judge to remake paperwork that they have lost! When we turn paperwork into Legalization, it is no longer attached to the dossier but has to be taken out and individual papers given to Legalization."

MAKE SENSE???? Didn't think so! :)

2010

We are welcoming 2010 with open arms! Hoping this will be a year full of great things. Will this be the year Avery comes home? Only time will tell! It is very unlikely, but for the first time I truly believe it "could" be a possibility. We'll get a much better idea of that possibility once we see how long we "hang out " in Parquet, where our file is now (I think?)

To help keep the process moving in the right direction we are heading to Haiti in exactly 20 days to sign the notebook before the judge and visit a little with our daughter whom I haven't seen in over a year and Mike has never met. It is an exciting time but I must admit I have mixed feelings knowing how difficult it is to hand her back over to the Orphanage staff once again. I know I'll be shocked at how much she has grown over the past year.

Also, I must say the past couple weeks went by way to fast. Kids are back to school already and we are slowly putting all the Christmas decorations back in the attic. We had a nice Christmas, low-key and relaxed. Granny (Mike's mom) came to visit for a week from NY and the kids had fun keeping her entertained.

We found time to see the movie "Princess and the Frog" which the boys liked (didn't love it...too girly I think.) We also painted pottery at Meg-Art and visited a nearby science museum. Most importantly, we discovered the game of Balderdash. Seriously, it is the most fun I have had in a while. If you haven't played, it's will keep you entertained for hours on end. Says ages 12 and up but Caden (8) played it just fine and loved it! I am amazed this game remained unknown to me for so long!

Here's to a very Happy New Year to everyone!

Starting over...AGAIN

For the third year in a row, I have managed to do something I have said each year I wouldn't never do again. I swore this year, I would not do it. But I have.

I have officially not worked out since summer and now I am starting over....AGAIN. UGHHHH! Once classes start back, it's like I am running in circles (well, I need to be running in circles) and I can't seem to stay on my workout routine what-so-ever. This is how the last three years have played out...

End of summer: Clothes are starting to fit, sort of, and I am feeling in pretty good shape. I even did a triathlon just 3 short months ago and now I couldn't even finish.

Fall: Classes start, I hit the couch permanently and grade papers each night. If I am not grading I am to exhausted to do anything but sit, like a big couch potato.

Winter: Clothes tight, or don't fit. Feeling like a big, huge slug. Tired, BLAH!

Spring: Start to work out here and there...feeling the pressure of swim suit season upon me.

Summer: Crank the workouts into full force, and workout every day. I even joined the masters swim team, which I have not attended since August.

Fall: Classes start...the laziness begins again.

So, why I am writing about this?! Well, maybe if I put this out there on my blog, I'll stick to some sort of workout routine. Can someone out there in blog world hold me accountable? PLEASE??? I have a wardrobe of clothes that have been hanging in my closet that want to be worn!

So, instead of starting at the New Year, I am going to start today. I am going to workout everyday if it kills me. I feel sooooo much better after I exercise, so why is it so darn hard to find the time? No more excuses...and as Tiger says "Just do it"
Well...he did...but let's not go there.

Video from Kathy's Trip to Haiti

Our little Avery isn't so little anymore. She is now running across the room! Last time I saw her (one year ago) she could barely sit up on her own! You can see her run into the video with pink pants and a white t-shirt (that is hanging off her shoulder.) Can't wait to see those little feet in action next month when we make our trip to visit her!

My Handsome Fellas

Aren't they a good lookin' crew? Last night we headed out to the Snowland Holiday Party at the Great Wolf Lodge. What an AMAZING place. It felt a lot like Disney, which is strange given the fact its only 20 minutes from our house. The water park is like no other indoor water park we have every seen. There are plenty of water slides, a huge wave pool and little jet skis kids can ride on. We didn't get to use the water park last night, but we will be in a couple weeks when we go on a "mini vacation" to the lodge for Preston's 5th Birthday. We'll be staying 2 nights, and the kids will be sleeping in camping bunks/tents with their own TV! They are super excited! They can wear pajamas or their swim suit for 2 days straight, so they'll be in their glory. The best part is to use most the water slides kids have to be 48" tall and FINALLY Caden meets the requirement! He was thrilled to learn he won't have to sit out for height reasons for once! :)

Hopefully our next stay will go a little better than last night did. We sat down for the buffet and Caden's blood sugar was 554 (shouldn't be over 150.) Then we noticed insulin was leaking out of his pump and there was a hole in his tubing. But we had already sat to down to eat, and poor kid only got to eat protein. No pasta, no bread, no dessert. Talk about a tricky situation with a huge buffet of food staring him right in the face. He handled it well and we stayed just long enough for the boys to sit on Santa's lap and experience the fake snow (soap bubbles) that fell from the ceiling. After that, we had to high-tail it out of there before Caden got sick. By the time we got home, he was not feeling too well, so I am glad we left when we did. When we go back next time, we'll be sure to bring all his supplies with us!

Lollipop

Look how sweet these little ones are all reaching out just for a lollipop. Thanks to Kathy (who is in Haiti right now with her family signing the "notebook") we spotted our little Avery in the bottom photo (second row center ) of this photo reaching out for her share of the sweets. She sure will fit well in our family! And, we so appreciate a glimpse of our little one! Thanks, Kathy!