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!)