Joy In The Journey

It is truly unbelievable to think how close we are after feeling so far away for so long!

Mom and all three boys went and spent a week at the orphanage early/mid july. This was sweet time for the boys to spend with Kahler Ann and Kiki bonding before they come home. During this trip Mom was able to pick up the newly printed passport for Kiki and help to clarify which paper was still needed. This brought us one step closer!

Dad and Mom both spent about a week and a half in Haiti the last week of July. Dad had brought his summer interns to Gressier to work with a friend at Respire Haiti and Mom was there on business with Haiti Serve. Thankfully, during this time she was able to obtain the last paper needed and turn it in to the embassy. Meanwhile, stateside, Kelsey and I scrambled to get the last few things done. Since Kelsey turned 18 in June we had to have our home study updated and she had to get her fingerprints done in Nashville. Thanks to Bob Corker and his colleagues, the print appointment was expedited by about a week! The same day (friday) that she had her appointment, I got the final draft of our home study and fedexed it to its final destination! This meant that EVERYTHING was out of our hands and all there was to do was wait.

That brings us to today, August 2nd. This morning my mom got the following email:

This means that all we are waiting on now is our Visa date. We should be getting the date in about a week. Once we have the date, Mom and Dad will buy tickets to PAP, go to the Visa appointment, wait for the Visa and travel papers to be printed and hop on a plane to bring our family together under 1 roof!! 

It is so hard to wrap our minds around the fact that after 2 1/2 years of ups and downs and joys and sorrows it is finally happening! There is truly Joy in the Journey!

While the past couple years have seemed like an eternity it has also been such a sweet opportunity to invite you all into our journey. We are so thankful for your prayers, donations and support!

This being said, I want to invite you all into prayer with us in the weeks leading up to their homecoming and the years to follow! Below is a list of requests we have specifically for the coming weeks and years:

• Kahler Ann and Kiki's transition from third world to first world, from Creole to English, from being with tons of friends all day to having a forever family and making new friends, and all the other trillion details that will take getting used to in this new world!
• The adjustment for us from family of 7 to family of 9. That we would love them well, out of Christ's love for us. 
• That they would feel the comfort of Christ as they are in a new, unfamiliar world away from their "family" at the orphanage (the only one they've known for the past 4 years of their lives).
• That the Lord would bless us with wisdom and understanding to relate to where they are at as best as possible.
• That they would feel immediately at home and make friends quickly.
• Their transition into American school, in a different language and probably at a higher level than they're used to.

Again, Thank you! We can't wait to bring them home and share our lives here with them. We also can't wait for the hundreds of people who have been praying for them all along to meet the kids we have fallen in love with!

There have been so many bumps in the road of this adoption. So many that it seems that they highlight the path more than the triumphs do but I am so expectant for the day when we see the fruit of every hiccup; when we see just exactly why God had it planned to happen in such a seemingly difficult way! Because, I know, there is a reason for every single high and low of the journey we have been on. Some have been revealed already, some will be days, weeks, even years down the road and some never will be. But regardless, the journey has been purposeful. Every last bit of it. 

Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 18:19
>>>Thank you for coming alongside us to pray for the Father to bring them home!

For He will rescue the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
Psalm 72:12-14

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Psalm 82:3

-Kylie