In transit...

All is well so far as far as traveling goes! They have boarded their flight from Miami to Chicago and should be landing before too long!

Yes, I said Chicago- it turns out the flight has changed and they now fly through Chicago rather than Dallas!
This also means they will be arriving earlier.

THE ARRIVAL TIME IS NOW 4:30 at the Knoxville airport!

We are trying our best to get the word out to everyone interested in being there dothat they dot show up an hour late! Please help us spread the word!

Thanks y'all!

Kylie

And the traveling continues....

The whole crew left from the Port Au Prince airport around 5:50 this evening and landed successfully in Miami around 8:30.

All went well and they made it through customs and are now headed to the hotel to try and get some rest for a busy day of traveling tomorrow. They leave for Knoxville via Dallas (this makes a lot of sense AA!) at 10 am and will arrive in Knoxville a little before 6 pm tomorrow night!

Wow. Cant believe it is really and truly happening! I mean, I really can't.

Thanks for all your support and prayer!
Keep it comin!!

Kylie

Fini!

I am thrilled to announce that everything is officially finished (or fini in Creole)!!!! It's hard to believe, but I think I'll believe it in full when they are both here in their forever home at last (IN 4 DAYSSSS)!

They got the Visas in hand yesterday shortly after I posted and I just got a call from Mom saying that they had the exit (travel) papers in hand now!

We can all let out a sigh of relief! Thank you Jesus!

Since they don't fly into Miami until friday they get to rest and enjoy time with friends in Haiti for the next few days. They will be staying with a friend of ours, Megan Boudreax, who runs Respire Haiti in nearby Gressier (I highly recommend her blog blessedwithaburden.wordpress.com- its literally the only blog I follow). We love Megan and they are excited to have this down time with no worries for a few days before traveling.

While we are so thankful that the journey is virtually over, there is still the hassle of traveling and all that comes with it.

Please pray for a restful few days leading up to Friday. Pray for safe travels on Friday and Saturday. Pray for ease at the airport especially when going through customs! Also please pray for the many transitional aspects we are all about to experience (I listed a lot of them in "Joy in the Journey", an earlier post).

Thanks again, and I'll keep the updates coming in the next few days as I get them!

Also, if you are able we would love to have your support at the Knoxville airport Saturday at 5:30 pm (flight arrives at 5:50)!

Kylie

Safe and Sound

Lots of people have asked over the weekend about Mom, Dad, Kahler and Kiki's safety in the midst of the tropical storm.
They are completely fine! Just got hit with a lot of rain.
However, Haiti itself isn't quite so fine. The tent cities were hit hard. Lots of loss for those living in these communities due to flooding, etc.
Mom and Dad visited one yesterday and were able to help provide diapers and other immediate needs to a group of mothers with young children.

On the adoption front, everything should be wrapping up this week. We are hoping to have the visas in hand today and if not today should have them tomorrow. Then we wait for the travel papers which should only take a day or 2. And then (FINALLY- Mom and Dad are experiencing the longest 12 days of their lives!) they will all hop on a plane to Miami for the night on friday and head back to Knoxville Saturday (arrival time 5:50 pm).
Pray that all goes well this week and comes together quickly!

The kids left their home of the last 4 years, Children of Hope, yesterday for good! It was a bittersweet moment. The orphanage director was very sad to see them go, understandably so as she has loved and cared for them every day of the last 4 years. Kahler Ann was sad leaving her best friends behind. And Kiki just seemed happy to be with Mommy and Poppy (who knows how much he really understands the situation).

They are all in Port Au Prince now awaiting retrieval of the visas.
We (Brady, Colby and I) got to FaceTime with them last night and it was such a treat to see their faces (and their curiosity of the whole face-to-face chatting thing!).
Cant wait to finally be with them face-to-face!!!

Thanks for all your continued prayer and support! We couldn't do this without it! I have been overwhelmed by the continuous support and offers of help I have received since my parents left! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

5 DAYS TO GO!!!

Kylie

Approved!

Well, 1 step down. 1 to go!

This morning Mom and Dad took the kids to their Visa appointment at the embassy. All went well and they were approved! Praise God!

Now we wait to get the visas in hand and take them to get travel papers made. This should all happen at some point next week.

If all goes well (fingers crossed, praying hard!) they will ALL hop on a plane to Miami on Friday, August 31st. They will spend the night there and head back to the great state of TENNESSEE (Go Vols!) the next day (arrival time 5:50)!

Please pray for a speedy process with the visas and travel papers. Also, as you most likely know, Tropical Storm Isaac is headed directly to them in the next day or two. Luckily all that is expected is 20" of rain. Man that's a lot! So pray for safety amidst that storm as well!

Thanks for your support and I'll keep the updates coming as I get them!

So Close!

Well... It's really happening!

Mom and Dad left at 6:00am Haiti-bound this morning! They have arrived safely and are spending the night at the orphanage with the kids and some friends who are returning home with their son in just a few days.

I spoke with Mom tonight and she said that the kids were glued to their sides (in a good, not annoying way!). They were able to sit down and (FINALLY!) explain to the Kahler Ann and Kiki that they will never have to leave them again and that they will be going home with them this time! Unreal. They told them, via translator, about their new school, their teachers, etc. They seem very excited although they really have no idea what to expect.

The visa appointment at the embassy is Thursday (the 23rd) morning. Please be praying that all goes well and smoothly there.
Next comes several (2-5) days of waiting for the visas and travel papers. Again, please pray that there are no issues with getting them! This is literally the last step aside from getting them on the airplane home!

The boys and I are holding down the fort here at home. Preparing rooms, cleaning, trying to imagine what the next several weeks will look like.

We are so close! Please continue to be in prayer with us through this last week and a half of the actual adoption process as well as in the months to come adjusting to the incredible change in our family!

Their flight lands in Knoxville at 5:50 pm on Sept. 1st (which just so happens to be my 20th birthday...greatest gift ever!).
We would love for anyone and everyone who is available to join us in celebrating their homecoming at the Knoxville Airport that night! What a sweet picture it could be of the community these precious children are entering into!

I'll continue to post updates as I get them!
Thanks again for all of yall's support! We love and appreciate you!

Kylie

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

Wow!  Has is really been six months since I have sat to update our blog?  Time is such a strange thing.  It passes so quickly when you are with your favorite people, children growing, sharing wonderful time with loved ones and it passes sooo slowly when you waiting, waiting, waiting on something.  The last six months have been filled with wonderful times and gut wrenching times.


Our adoption is almost complete and yet not yet complete.
Renee' and Kylie and Kelsey spent three days with Kahler Ann and Kiki in the parking lot of the Haitian immigration office to try to get the passports finished in February.(along with Melissa Hogue and Mike Smith and their adoptive children)  Well...suffice it to say that nothing really happened those days.  We left empty handed and disappointed.  The passports were issued about a month later.
Renee' returned alone in May to check on the papers at the Embassy but there was really no progress made and she did not get to spend time with the children.  She did however have some wonderful God appointed time with others while she was there.(God's timing is not ours again!)

In the meantime, we have had our fingerprints updated and getting ready to update our home study.

We are waiting on one of the Haitian passports to be re-printed because of a spelling error.  We are waiting on one document that was inadvertently left out of our file.  All of our papers are at the US Embassy awaiting the last two pieces of paper to be approved and passed on to the consulate.  We should then receive our visa appointment and be able to bring Kahler Ann and Kiki home at last.
Until then...we wait.

Please pray for their hearts and all of ours as we all wait.

Kahler Ann is now 9 years old and Kiki turns 6 June 10th. 
Brady, Cooper, Colby and I(Renee') are set to travel down to spend a week at the orphanage in July.
We look forward to our time together and dread the goodbyes...

Thank you for loving us well and being in this for the long haul!

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!)