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!