Category: diary

Getting closer to starting our adoption

 

It’s unbelievable in one respect; after almost 11 months, our adoption hasn’t officially started yet…  It just seems unacceptable… it took us 4 months to get our paperwork done, it took another 6 months to get the children’s paperwork done.  However, rather than asking ‘why’, now it’s just time to be thankful that we’re almost to the starting line.

Our lawyer has a copy of the children’s paperwork and is doing a final review on it.  If it meets with his approval (please, please!), then it will go to the MOFA to be authenticated, will be combined with our Dossier, and will be submitted to IBESR.  This is where the real work begins!

Braeden has been very preoccupied with the health and safety of Christella and Jeddie (David) lately; I’m very happy, but I’m not sure why.  Even in his sleep the other night he said to Amanda:  “Don’t worry mamma Christella will be home soon” (He sleep walks worse than I do).

So anyway; this week or next we’ll hear back from our Lawyer and we’ll get an idea of when the triathlon officially starts!

Trusting & Working

Today in Church we were talking about “trusting in the Lord” and “not worrying”; but understanding the biblical idea of trust: trust with works. 

Jesus said:

"Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matt. 6:26).

Take for example our adoption.  Some people we know love their children as much as we do, and want their children to come home as much as we do; and yet, they have chosen to sit back and let the Lord do all the work – in His time and in His way.

On the surface, that seems to be the more ‘spiritual’ approach – trusting the Lord in everything; however, when I read Matt 6:26 – I think the bible is expecting a lot more out of us than just trust.

Consider the birds of the air’ they don’t plant, they don’t store up, and yet God feeds them.  However, it’s not as if God brings them breakfast in their nest – they have to go out and work and gather to survive.  God expects them to work for what He has promised them.

And so, I believe it is with our adoption.  God has put it in our heart to help needy children; we met and have fallen in love with our son and daughter, and God has given us the direction that He wants us to open our hearts and homes (It’s amazing how easy this comes once you set down that path).  Yet, God doesn’t want us ‘waiting around on Him’ – He wants us to recognize and realize that He is in control, and things work all in His timing; He wants us to rely on His love and mercy, and give Him the Glory – but He wants us out their working, toiling, committing and investing our hearts, our minds, our finances, and our abilities that He has given us to accomplish what He has directed us in.

So, for that reason, I wrote a quick verse during church today; I think it says everything that needs to be said:

 

A Call to Arms!

I trust in the Lord with all my might,

So I take up my armor to engage in the fight!

My day just became even happier!

It’s been two weeks since we have talked to our children in Haiti – we got the call today; the weather was really bad; so we weren’t able to talk very long, but it’s so great to see their little faces!

 

David’s ears are all better, and Christella has finally been able to move up with the big girls… she is growing up so fast! 

 

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The thing that I detest

I think everyone has something that they absolutely detest; something they find ugly, dirty, disgusting and abhorrent.  For me – it’s door-to-door salesmen.  I mean; I have low respect for salesmen to begin with; they prey, they con, they connive, the lie, they deceive; but to do it in MY home, I will not tolerate it.

That being said; I am usually just a few steps away from being out-right rude to people that show up on my door step and want to sell me something, however, the other day, a young man, whom I have known since he was born, and who has been struggling to get a job for a long, long time, called me to tell me that he was going to start selling Areus air sanitizer equipment, and asked if he could come to my house and show it to me.

My response to him was that I wasn’t interested in the product, but I would be willing for him to show up and give me a demo so that he would get credit for it and have a little practice.  He didn’t give me an exact date and time, but said he would be calling.

On Thursday evening, he called, we were going to go out, but decided to stay around and let him come over and give his demo.  My wife had changed into her pajamas, and we were expecting him to show up around 8:00, like we agreed.

When he showed up on my doorstep though, he had brought some other salesmen with him.  Needless to say I was very angry – I wouldn’t let these sleazy people in my house to sell me something, ever.  Don’t get me wrong, as a person, I’m sure this guy is great, he probably has a family that he wants to support, he probably is a great father, a son, a friend, but I would have more respect for him as a professional if he was a crack dealer.  And here he was, standing at my door step, expecting to be let in.

I had to let him in, I already agreed to the demo; but I was quite cold, probably quite rude at that, and I calmly told this young man that I was going to have a talk with him after, because he knew that I stressed that I would never let anyone else in my house, he knew that I stressed that I was doing it only for HIS benefit, so he could practice, and yet, he failed to mention that he was going to be bringing a salesmen for the company with him.

So, this salesmen proceeded to (like most house-to-house salesmen) insult my intelligence, insult my home, insult my family, and just act like a regular all around prick.  He informed me that the central circulation system I paid to have designed and installed into my brand new home was broken and he wouldn’t live in my house breathing the air in my house, “but if I didn’t care about what we breath, then that’s up to me”.

In the end, I was ready to throw him out, and throw this young man out too, as he proceeded to tell me that this 2-bit salesmen obviously new more than I did about the quality of my home and air, and knew more about the health and safety of my family then I did, and he proceeded to tell me that he felt so sure that it was all true because someone else had already bought one (great for someone else!) [here is where I roll my eyes]. 

Incidentally, my wife ran a few tests in between the regurgitation of made up and slanted statistics, and our system made a 200 point difference on my entire house in about 10 minutes, and his system made a 500 point difference in a small 9×12 room in about a half an hour – clearly, my system is designed well for my entire home.  Additionally, he pointed out that he has seen houses that are 200 times ‘worse’ than mine, and my house was only a couple hundred points higher than outside, and yet he continued to proclaim that we were breathing in poisons that were going to KILL US – but that’s not the point; obviously these door-to-door salesmen hoc products that are cheap to make, and appear like great deals, but the audacity and priggish stupidity just amazes me.

And of course, the whole time he was running his mouth about how dangerous house hold air is; alls I kept thinking was that I wanted to send this guy to Haiti for just a few minutes.  How vain and stuck on himself, as he is running around and trying to get people to spend 500$-1500$ on these air purifiers because there is tons of ‘dust mites’ in the air in people’s homes, when there are places in the world where breathing the air is like smoking 4 packs of cigarettes a day.

I will not, ever, allow one of these people into my house again.

I did it…

I’ve been procrastinating… I finally did it… I purchased my ticket’s to Haiti… a whole week all by myself in a country far, far from home.  And who says I’m not adventurous… and nervous…

Wow God!

My new mantra must become “Less of self and more of you Lord!”.

God seems to delight (for our own good I must admit) in placing us in a position where we have exhausted all human possibilities; and therefore divine intervention is all that is left; take for example, my day today.

We received our completed dossier from our lawyer and friend Clifford Knaggs, however, USPS is like a turtle, and it took 3 days for it to be shipped to us. 

Clifford is going to Haiti next week; and if we wanted to get our paperwork submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the rest of his current clients, we had to have our paperwork sealed by the Haitian Consulate before he left, giving him ample time to review the documents one last time.

So this morning we got up and waited to call the Consulate when they opened up.  They informed us that if we could be there by noon they could get our paperwork done for us today.

Boston is almost a 3.5 hour trip for us; and by the time I wrapped up what I was working on at work, and the kids were ready it was already almost 10.  We were now scheduled to arrive a little after 1 – but calling the consulate they said 1 was ok.

We got in the car and raced away.  On the way though we realized that we needed to get money out of our bank TD Bank north; so we had  stop and find a bank to get a money order.

Back in the car, we now realized that our Tom Tom said that we wouldn’t arrive in Boston until 2 o’clock.  The Consulate closes at three.  We knew that if we didn’t get the paperwork sealed today, and overnight shipped back to Clifford, there was very little chance that we would get into MOFA within the next month or two.

We were hungry, thirsty and already tired and very much stressed, and this extra revelation that we were probably not going to make it was so very frustrating and overwhelming.

You see, we have been doing absolutely everything we can in regards to time and money and effort to make our paperwork go as quickly as possible.  As an example; we took our 2 week Christmas vacation to complete our home study – what usually takes people a couple months to complete.  We’ve made numerous trips to Portland, and Boston and Connecticut and even Haiti just to try and get a few papers signed in person as quickly as possible.  We’ve paid for the best possible resources to help us work through this whole process (and it’s come at a high cost).  We’ve spent almost every ounce of vacation this year working on processing our adoption as quickly as possible, because we ache to have our children come home.  And yet, even with all of that; it is going on 8 months that we started our paperwork – we want our children home with us… it’s heartbreaking.  🙁

So, as we drove down the road today, realizing that there was a high possibility that we had another few months to go before we could get into the legal system in Haiti, Amanda began to weep; and I was choking back tears of my own. 

And at that moment, I said to God; “God, I feel assured that this is your plan for us, that you have asked us to do this, that you are with us.  Therefore, I know that everything that happens, happens for a reason.  I’m asking you, please, let this fall together, so we can continue to move ahead, but I accept your will.”

Little did I know, that through her tears, Amanda was saying the same thing.

And then, I noticed this little car that we had already passed once, that we began passing again (because it had a cross hanging in the rear view mirror).  And this time, for whatever reason, I took a closer look at this car; and on the back bumper there was a sticker that read: “DO NOT WORRY; GOD IS IN CONTROL”.  It’s like I wasn’t paying attention enough the first time, I hadn’t gotten the point; so God was giving me another chance.

Amanda and I both saw this; like a clear voice out of heaven, he wiped away our anxieties.

In Boston we were stuck in stupid ridiculous traffic; and got to the Consulate at about 2:15, and yet, they still agreed to do our paperwork for us!!

Also, we had been fretting about finding our TD Banknorth bank, and a FedEx to ship out the paperwork; and lo-and-behold; there was a TD Banknorth right next to the consulate and a FedEx right next to that (even though TD Bank told us there was no TD Bank in Boston… go figure).  It was like God was reminding us that He doesn’t send his workers out unprepared; that when He asks of us, He will provide.  I’ve read many books about people with the faith to know and accept this, people that would have drove right into Boston knowing that God would provide.  I don’t have that faith yet – Lord, increase my faith!

 

So, after dropping Amanda off and driving around for almost an hour; I found a parking space; and took the children into the Consulate.  They wouldn’t let me in at the front door, because it was 3:05.  However, after a call to Amanda, the Vice Consulate called and asked the front door to let us up. I got to meet and talk with the Vice Consulate General of Haiti Mr. Jean Joseph Leandre, what a nice fellow, and what an honor.

As we were leaving though, I decided to review our paperwork and found there was one piece of paper the Consulate office wouldn’t stamp because it was sealed in Florida, and convention said that we should have the Miami Consulate stamp that paper; although the Miami Consulate told Clifford that we could have it done in Boston, the Boston Consulate was not willing to do it – stating that it just wouldn’t be proper to step on Miami’s toes.

I called Clifford; who asked to speak to the ladies in the office; after some time of chatting, they handed the phone back to me and Clifford said they had agreed to do it.  Clifford is awesome!  Thank you ladies!

So we ran over to FedEx and got the papers in the mail for a 10am delivery (that’s about 9 hours from now). 

It seems like God continues to do this to us – perhaps if we learned our lesson, He wouldn’t have to.  He keeps putting us in these impossible situations, I think to make us realize that He is in control, not us; that if we do what He asks of us, but rely on Him to complete what He has started, that we wouldn’t have to feel like it all rests on our shoulder’s – that He would show that He is God, and will glorify His name.

Thank you Lord for once again reminding me.  Don’t worry, You are in control!

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God (Mat 5:3, TM).

Benediksyon pou moun ki konnen se pòv yo ye devan Bondye, paske peyi Wa ki nan syèl la, se pou yo li ye. (Mat 5:3, BibLa)

A little rain goes a long way in Port Au Prince Haiti

 

It seemed to rain almost every day in Port Au Prince, Haiti when we were there in May, 2009. Most of the time that we were out driving in the rain there was no way for me to video it; however, our friends Ernie and Wayne who were also in Haiti at the same time did get a quick video. I was amazed to see people actually driving (or walking) down streets that were completely flooded out!

 

Driving in Haiti

 

On this rainy Saturday afternoon, I decided to blog something from our Haiti trip.  This is just a quick video snippet – not much here – but plenty more where this one came from. 

 

Like so many other things in Haiti, when you get in a vehicle it is obvious that you are putting your life in God’s hands.  No real speed limits; hardly any traffic signs, road signs; the only real law seems to be “honk before you hit someone or something, or it is your fault”. 

Driving in Haiti, you cram 2-3 times as many people in the vehicles as the vehicle was intended to hold; no seat belts of course; no emissions regulations either – so you’re breathing thick black air poisonous air, your hair and skin is covered in dust and powdery black substances (soot?) when you get to your destination.

The roads are very adventurous though; huge potholes, stream beds, etc. 

 

So… why could we only fit 25 people in a 14 seat van?  See below for the answer!

Digital Rights Management… who should be protected?

I received an email from Amazon this evening saying they were refunding a series of books I had purchased by George Orwell on the Kindle.

I called them to ask them why they were refunding the books; because I had never requested the refund.

They responded in saying that they were very sorry, they had no idea why the books were being refunded, but they needed to remove them off my kindle.

I told the representative that I wasn’t so much concerned about the book & the money; I knew I could buy it again in other formats; but I was definitely concerned about the fact that Amazon at any time could decide to remove books that I had purchased off of my kindle; and they’re only requirement was to refund my money (did they really even have to do that?).

What happens when the government decides to outlaw certain books; or certain publishers decide that they want to pull all books of the book shelf (like Oceania in 1984, many organizations have done this in the recent past to erase and rewrite their own history).

This is why I have no problem circumventing DRM (when possible).  I bought the book; I own the book.  Amazon should have no ability to “steal” my purchased book back from me; even if they wanted to refund my money.

The world is a changing place… prepare yourself!