Today is Dec. 2 and our hopes and dreams of having the kids here by Christmas are seeming slim to none.  Renee' is in Haiti as i write and got to spend the day and night with the kids yesterday. She was at the American Embassy Monday morning to try to stir the waters on our papers and found out that they were not there to be stirred. After a phone call to our orphanage and our Haitian lawyer we found out that we had been given wrong information. Our stuff was dropped several weeks ago at Haitian immigration not US immigration. That was a real disappointment to say the least. THe short story is that we hope to have them at USICS by end of next week of the beginning of the following. We hope that is the case. It can still take many weeks (according to some, 60-75 days) once on there.  We are hoping for less but know it could be more.

This I do know: - It will happen eventually, the kids are in a good place in the meantime, God is in charge, I'm not crazy about His timing but have total trust in Him in this, waiting is hard, we are all ready to have these 2 little ones in our home.

Longing for the near future and the forever...

It has been quite some time since we have updated.  We have had lots of things going on in our world.

Today I am thankful for our hope in Christ for our future life...
As many of you know, my mom went home to be with the Father recently and we all miss her soo much!  She has left such a loving legacy in our family.  It does break my heart to know that our children from Haiti will never know Grandma Ann.  She was a Godly, Kind, Thoughtful Grandma!
We are so excited to announce that our 8 year old daughter's name is:  Kahler Ann Giflore Moldrup
We named her Kahler to honor our friends, Glenn and Nancy Kahler and well...it just fits with Kylie and Kelsey nicely.  The Ann is in honor of my mom and my sister Rita Ann who got to meet the Father first!
(and we do live in the South where you really should have a double name:)

The passports are final, the passports are final!  Yea!  Yippee!  Its about time!!
We are so thrilled that the kids Haitian passports have been issued and now all of their paperwork has been deposited at the US Embassy for final approval and visas.  We are in the home stretch now but know that it could still be a while.  Weeks?  Months?  We really don't know.  Please pray for our kiddos to get approval quickly and be able to be home soon.

Every time I go to visit, they have grown an inch!  Every time I go, I hope it will be the last time that I have to leave without them.

We are all trying to be patient but it is so hard.  Please pray for our friends, the Hogues who are bringing Wilby home to Kansas City.  Their paperwork got hung up in immigrations and they have not received his passport yet, even though it was submitted before ours.  We want Wilby home as much as our own!
 
I will post some pictures soon from Steve and I's last trip in September.  It was a very short visit but I was so thankful that Steve got to connect with the kids again.

Thank you for your prayers, we greatly covet them. We are so thankful for all of your encouraging words and prayers, they are helping to hold us up!  We know that these children are HIS and we are thankful that HE has them in His hands on this journey and always!

Renee' (A longing mama)

More Baby Steps...

Our papers continue to move forward little by little.  We have had quite a few steps taken since our last posting.(sorry it has been so long)    I(Renee') had an appointment at the US Embassy at the beginning of August to file our official papers there.  Everything went very well and was approved by the officials.

All of our papers have been through the legal systems now and are being translated into English so that they can all be taken to the US Embassy for the parental interview.  It is set for late September.
We will then apply for their Haitian passports and then wait for final approval from US and Visa to travel.  Not too many more baby steps and we will have our children home!

We are confident in God's timing but of course would love for it to be speedy.  All that to say, even though we don't have too many more steps...they all take time.

Great News!!

We received the e-mail that we have been waiting for from the orphanage director today...our papers are out of the first major step, IBESR and have moved on to the judicial courts in Haiti.  We are so thankful for this news and for steps forward to bringing those sweet kiddos home!  I will be seeing the kids for a day in August and can't wait to wrap my arms around them again.  Someday, it will be each night as they go to bed that we all get to wrap them in our arms.  I'll end with that hopeful thought! 
Thank you for your continued prayers, we need and appreciate them more than we can say!

MOVEMENT!

We just received an e-mail from the orphanage director today that said, "Our papers should be approved and out of IBESR(Haitian Social Services) soon and on to the Judicial Courts."  I hope that soon isn't too long!
We are not really dependent on a "time-line" at all, we are just so happy for movement.
Please pray with us that the process could possibly be swift from here on out!  Our adoption advocate and the orphanage directors have been amazing about keeping things headed in the right direction.
Yeah God!  We are resting in his peace today...
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

To LOVE Deeply is to Hurt Deeply

I know that I can do this for as long as it takes to get our sweet kiddos home but...it is breaking my heart.  Each time that I go to visit, there are always tearful goodbyes, I leave a piece of myself across the ocean in that small town with the two children that live way too far away from us.  We are all aching for them to be home with us but...it is a long journey.
Today, I am thankful for and humbled by a Lord that has chosen us to be parents to seven wonderful children!  Today I am so deeply saddened that we are not all in one place-yet.  Today I am believing that one day we will be.  Today I am wondering just how long it might take.  Today I am thankful that we have a God that holds each one of us, no matter where we live and loves us in a mighty way.
May you love deeply and embrace the love of our Father deeply today.

The Moldrup family - all 9 of us together

We had the great privilege 2 weeks ago, on our spring break, of taking our whole family to Haiti.  We cashed in all our frequent flyer miles and got creative but were able to all be there together.  It was Cooper's first time in a plane and the boys first time in another country.  More importantly it was their first time to meet Kiki and Giflore. We stayed and worked at The Apparent Project - one of our favorite ministries there in Haiti. Check them out at http://www.apparentproject.org/. I won't bore you with the details but I will give you some highlights for me (Steve).

About 2 weeks before the trip Kylie posted on her Facebook page that she couldn't wait to have all the Moldrups together for the first time - all 9 of us!  That was really the first time that it hit me - all 9 of us together! What a joy.

We got to have the kids with us for the entire week from Sunday to Friday. On Monday we figured out that Giflore had chicken pox. She had them all 5 days but for 2 days she was miserable and wanted to crawl out of her skin.  We felt so sad and helpless. Highlight? Kylie loved that little girl so well - scratching, holding, calamining, bathing, sleeping with, reading to this poor little girl for 5 days.  It was a really sweet picture of her love for G motivated out of her love for Jesus. Rich!

Brady is a kid magnet - always has been.  He is so good with little kids and they absolutely love him.  Kiki was no different.  Brady was so excited to meet him for the first time. I explained in my broken Creole that this was "fre" - brother. Brady and Kiki connected. Another Brady image in my mind was in a neighborhood that we were in to help create and attach gutters on a church and some houses that AP has built for some of their artisans. At one point I looked at Brady with 7 little Haitian kids climbing all over him and him wrestling with them all with such love. Beautiful!  Brady was broken and weeping as we dropped the kids back at the orphanage on Friday. Very sweet and makes a dad very proud. He came back and, on his own, has set up his room for Kiki -bed and all.  I think that is one of the coolest prayers to the Father to make this happen quickly.

Kelsey Belle was excited to have her first overnights with the kiddos.  She is so natural and loving with all children!  Her highlight with the kids was getting to know their personalities over the few days that we were together.
Watching Cooper and Colby engage with and love their new sister and brother was really cool too.  They were both so sweet and kind.  They are genuinely excited about our growing family and pray with more depth for this process to happen quickly. I'm thrilled because at some level I somehow think that God listens to their prayers more closely than mine.

We got to celebrate Giflore's 8th birthday with a cake and a little party.(her first ever) Picture below.

As we left Children of Hope we took a Moldrup family photo (posted above) It's a great pic and hope to be taking one in Knoxville soon!

We just got word tonight that our papers are on their way to the government offices. Such good news. We have no real clue how long it will take but we are thrilled for the movement. Will keep you posted.

Steve

Relief and Overwhelmed by love and support!

Wow!  Passing off the papers to the attorney in Haiti was such a great feeling of forward movement.  Please, please pray with us now that they will not sit stagnant in any one's office, but that they will continue to move through each step.  Our children will be taken to Port-au-Prince this week to be psychologically, and physically examined to make sure that they are healthy.  Please pray that this will be a time for them to be away from their normal routine and have a good time.  I do not want it to be a time of fear or anxiety for them.  The attorney is telling us that our papers should be legalized and matched up with the children's Haitian papers and turned into the government within three weeks.  Then the waiting begins...  We really don't know how long but it could be up to a year still.... So thankful for the moments that we get to spend with our kids while we all wait to be together.  Here are a few new pics.

 Kiki and Giflore opening their Valentine talking book from our family.  She was so proud of it and showed all of the other children!  I just wish that they ALL had families to look forward to going home to!  Maybe someday...

 Giflore Age 7

Kiki Age 4


The Bebo concert on Friday night was AMAZING!  There is no way that we can ever thank Bebo and everyone else that made the evening happen enough!  It was such a huge blessing and encouragement to our family to be with so many of you and feel your love and support for our growing family.  One of the coolest things about the concert was how God worked the numbers. We both, (the Smiths and us) made almost exactly what we needed for our initial payments to our lawyer in Haiti - 2 different amounts but exactly what was needed. Nice touch.
We are so grateful for the community and the support and love that we were shown that night. It makes this long process a little easier and a whole lot more fun.  We have raised just about half of what we will need to complete the process. Thank you again!

Lookens, Giflore, Kiki and Kensley (All Knoxville bound!)

it's officially out of our hands

We got up at 4:00 Wednesday morning to get Renee' and a 8 others to the airport for a 6:00 flight.  She carried a stack of papers 6" thick (our dossier - every piece of paper we have worked on here for the last 9 months in triplicate) and a big ol' wad of cash (half the fee for our Haitian lawyer).  It is FINALLY out of our hands from this side.  That is a relief and a big step forward.  Now comes, in my mind, the hardest part....the wait.  It could be 6-8 months or it could be 12-18 months. Would you pray with us for a third option, one that has a much smaller number in it.

Three weekends ago I was talking with a group of college young life leaders from Georgia and Clemson about the 2 day wait between when Jesus found out about Lazarus dying and his arrival in Bethany.  How did that feel to Mary and Martha who had sent urgent word to Jesus that his good friend Lazarus was dying "and yet He stayed" in Jerusalem 2 more days. Did they feel loved and cared for or did they feel abandoned and forgotten, or worse, neglected and dismissed?  How was this love?
And yet...Jesus' very nature is love and everything he does is motivated and animated out of love, so...somehow, someway this apparently is love.  That's a hard one to get my head and heart around.  I think we are in the "2 days" that is going to be a really long 2 days.  I know that my Father is acting out of love - for me and my family and for Kiki and Giflore - even though i do not see how or why it looks like this. It's a hard but good time.

We are taking the whole Moldy clan to meet Kiki and G over spring break.  Really looking forward to this.  The boys have not been to Haiti yet or met the kids.  We are going with a bunch of college kids from UT and will stay and serve at The Apparent Project.  Really looking forward to that week!

there's the latest.  thanks for caring and for reading.
Moldy

Our Papers are Complete!!

Wow!  We have FINALLY received all of our papers back from the Haitian Consulate in Chicago.  We sent them all in to have their cute little rubber stamp put on each document with our check...they stamped all(but 2), took the check and sent them back to us.  So, we sent the two documents back to them again to be stamped and they have now stamped them, and sent them back to us again.  CRAZY!  It is amazing that anyone gets through this process.  I have to just look at our pictures of G and Kiki and say, "Yes" it is worth it a million times over.  I (renee') will be taking these documents to Haiti next week to give to our attorney there along with a wad of cash.(yikes)  Then we pray that things REALLY start moving along.  This process could take a year, maybe a little less, maybe a little more.  We are praying for the less:)
We also received word from the US government that we have officially been approved for our adoption to be completed here!  Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support!

Well, that was fast!!!

The finger prints are done.  Well, at least one thing has gone fast and smoothly!  We had such a fun day in Nashville.  Fingerprints and friends!  We got to have coffe with three old friends that happen to be in Nashville, meet a new friend that has a heart for "the least of these" (awesome web-site http://www.ordinaryhero.org/), have lunch and hang out with friends that live in Nashville and the best part was that we got to do it all with our oldest, Kylie.  What a fun day and we are one small, tiny step closer to our sweet children in Haiti.  My heart is aching to see them again!   I will get to spend a day with them in February when we take our dossier to turn in.  Thanks for all of your continued prayers and support!

Finger Prints tomorrow!

No, I'm not cleaning all of the finger prints off the walls and windows at my house.  Steve, Renee' and Kylie will trek to Nashville tomorrow to get our fingerprinting done.  One more baby step!  We will also have lunch with some great friends that happen to be helping us in a BIG way with our adoption.  Looking forward to a fun day.(Now if we could only get the sun to shine!)

Translation Complete!

We FINALLY got our dossier papers translated into French so that we can send them to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago to have approved and stamped.(At a mere $25 a page!!!)  We are thankful to have a step forward. 
Thank you, thank you so much to all of you who have purchased t-shirts to help us get these kiddos home!
We are so grateful for the help that is being brought forth on behalf of Giflore and Kiki...t-shirt sales, Bebo Norman and all the folks that will be attending the benefit concert, a friend that has promised matching funds, generous family, friends running a marathon and getting sponsors, we are truly overwhelmed by your love and support!!

The trip that was!

We finally made it!  The flights started back up into Haiti and we were able to visit our friends and children.  It was a great few days filled with gifts and encouragement!  It was such a blessing to see people face to face and wish them a Merry Christmas!  Renee's job with HaitiServe has been such a great fit with her passion to serve, we are so thankful.
We had the huge blessing of visiting Children of Hope Orphanage and bringing all of the kids stockings for them to have on Christmas morning. Thanks to all of you that gave toward the eight suitcases full of gifts that we took to all of the children and staff, the gifts were a huge encouragement to everyone!
We also got to bring our children, Giflore and Kiki with us to the city for three days.  It was a wonderful time for us to be with them.  We had our friend and translator, Wooby with us to help communicate.  The children know that we are going to be their parents and that we will be visiting them as often as we possibly can until they come home with us forever. It is so heart wrenching to take them back to the orphanage when we leave.  We really don't have a time line and are praying for miracles.  It will be a long journey.  We are thankful that our children are HIS children! We are also beyond thankful for the loving care that they receive at Children of Hope!!
We have completed all of our paper work and are waiting for them to be translated and sent to Chicago for Haitian legalization.  When this step is complete, we will be able to take them to Haiti and the attorney will begin the LONG process there. 

Please pray for our kiddo's hearts as they can't really have an understanding of this process.  Shoot, we don't even understand it!!!  Please pray for our hearts and our children at home as we long for the day that we will all be together.

Don't forget the Bebo Norman benefit concert, February 18th at the square room~more details to follow