Twins

I know a lot of adoptive families read my blog and I wanted to bring something to their attention. There are twin girls at Lilly's orphanage that really need a home. They will be 7 years old the day after Lilly's turns 2. They are not at the orphanage yet, until they find a family. The girls mother passed away and their father is not involved at all in their life. They live with a family in their village that they are not related to. These people say they cannot afford to care for them anymore. I worry about what will happen to them if they do not find a family soon. Slavery and child prostitution is not a uncommon thing in Haiti. They are beautiful girls with big smiles. I pray that they can find a safe and loving home soon. If anyone has an interest in these girls of knows of anyone who could be interested please take a look at the PAC site for more information.
www.littleangelshaiti.org

Thanks
Heidi

Busy packing

Sorry I haven't been updating! We have been diligently trying to pack up the house to make it presentable for the real estate market! I never realized that you shouldn't live in your house when selling it! The girls are down to 1 basket of toys and a excersauser and a bouncy riding zebra thing that says YAHOO! and gallops. Lilly adores this thing! My little cowgirl! Now she just needs a pink cowboy hat and to start singing Kenny!
Not much else is happening this week. Oh yeah I turn 32 on Sunday. All my friends wanted to take me out. I however convinced them that it would be much more fun to come over and have wine and paint! I want to get this house sold fast! What can I say. I was thinking last night about how excited I am to get to have all our girls together. We all miss Alexei. Lilly kisses her picture when she sees it. Oh wait now we have no pictures. We are ghosts! No one lives here!!!!

We Are Moving!!!

Brandon was offered a management position at The Weather Service in Long Island. So we are moving back to NY! We should be there sometime in Nov./Dec. We will miss out Utah friends deeply. This is a great move for us however, this is 2 hours from Alexei lives. She will get to see her sister all the time! Brandon is closer to his reserve location for the NAVY and it will be easier to see both of our families.

Getting settled

Everything here is getting back to a more normal routine. Lilly and Rory are getting used to being together. Now if we could just get them sleeping in the same room! Sleep is still varied. One night Rory will sleep through from 10 to 7, and the next night she is up every hour. We don't want them to wake each other but it is starting to drain our energy!
We were supposed to be on out Free dining Disney trip this week. It is sad thinking where we should be right now. However I am not too sure it would have went well for Rory. Stability is good for her right now. It does give me a chance to start planning another trip. I am planning a huge PAC reunion trip for next fall. I am very excited to see all those Haitian babies at Disneyworld! How cute will they be! I am also trying to figure out a way to go in February or April. I am having withdrawal symptoms!
And on a happy note, I am so thrilled to tell you that 2 children from PAC came home last week. Jeff and Jon both went home with their families.
Also this week Tamar and Tessa will be going home to Georgia with their family!
I am so happy for them.
WELCOME HOME GUYS!!!
Heidi

For those in the adoption comunity

I feel that recently I have been hearing of a lot of people not wanting to adopt from Haiti because their families or they themselves are worried about travel etc. So anyway I posted this on RQ site (a china adoption site that has other countries on it now as well) There was a discussion about how you shouldn't adopt from Haiti because of various reasons stated above. This just breaks my heart.

I have to proudly state that I completely disagree with everything that has been said. I spent a total of 5 weeks in Haiti during the adoption process. I felt safe the whole time. Haiti is very poor and it is sad what you will see. However the people are AMAZING! We have been to the beach, to Church, to the shopping area and to the grocery store MANY times. As far as no trips back I have been twice and already am thinking of taking Lilly back to visit. I speak to the Orphanage director as well as other moms from the Orphanage that Lilly is from daily. We know if we adopt again it will be a haitian child and from the same orphanage. Another important thing to note is that Very often you can meet the birth parents. You will know more about your childs medical history and you can keep in contact with their birth family!
We had our baby home 8 months to the day I first called about her. Most people have a year to a year and a half wait to bring their child home. Yes, you do know who your child is most if not all of that time. However you will usually get your referral when or even before your dossier is turned in. So the wait is still half that of China if not a third of China's wait. Knowing your child and not being their every minute is torture for you in one respect. However there are no questions about how they are or what they are doing all day. Depending on the orphanage you choose to work with, it is possible to visit whenever you want. We have parents at our orphanage that visit once a month. And there are always new pictures and information about your child. You will see them grow. Lilly had NO adjustment issues when coming home. I spent a month their when I went to pick her up. Yes, that is longer than normal. However I think being with My DH and I and going to the Orphanage daily really made a difference in how she dealt with leaving. By the time we left I WAS HER MAMA and she was totally ready to go home. You can always ask questions about your child. Even if I called today and said when you had her did she do ..... they could tell me. In China we got nothing. Absolutely nothing! They handed us Rory and left. We figured it out, and after 3 days of screaming and greiving so much we were worried about her stability as well as our sanity. It did get better. But man I wish I could ask them questions over there!

If anyone has questions I am more than happy to answer then. Please don't rule out the children on Haiti because you heard that it is a scary. Inner cities are far more dangerous that a guest house in Haiti.place. Please feel free to look at my blog and read about our journey.

Heidi

Lilly's Big Day!!!

Tomorrow Lilly will officially become a United States citizen. We are completely thrilled that the final step in her adoption will be over tomorrow. From day 1, a year and a half ago there has never been any doubt in our hearts where she belonged. Tomorrow it will be complete! Her new US Birth certificate will read Lillian Chrystelle Rain. Thank you God for bringing the Lilly Monster into our lives! It will never be the same in our home. I don't know how we ever lived without attack kisses?
Heidi

At Home

I thought I would give a little update on being home. Rory is doing great. After her serious grieving in Changsha, she seems to be a new person. She is quiet and Happy. Always smiling, unless she is hungry or dirty! She loves to babble and thinks everything is great. Brandon says she is like ut dog Molly. "Oh, a block MY FAVORITE! Yeah Mommy, MY FAVORITE! Look at shoe, MY FAVORITE! It is very fun to watch her explore.
Lilly is doing much better with her sister. She is very protective over her. I did have to step into a little tiff yesterday over who's wooden spoon it was. Lilly wanted both, go figure! But overall I think they will have a good relationship.
Now for a few new Lilly adventures. While cooking dinner yesterday (I know not a normal occurrence) I turned around and there is miss Lilly STANDING IN THE CAT"S WATER! New stride rites and all. She just looked at me like it was perfectly normal. About an hour later after Brandon woke up (he worked nights this week) we are in the kitchen talking about the day and we look in the Family room and there's Lilly stirring my drink with the remote control. Needless to say we need a new remote. This one is fried now! We are looking at little kitchens now for her birthday. She loves to cook, just like her dad!

Pictures from Chicago

This is one happy sister. This picture is of Alexei meeting Rory for the first time. We were at O'hare and we had just found Alexei and April .This is Alexei with her sisters! FINALLY!

April (Brandon's mom) brought Alexei out to my Parents in Chicago. It was her first time meeting Lilly and Rory. Lilly really seems to have taken to her!

I am a bit tired after 32 hours of travel but I assure you I was very happy to be sitting in my Dad's big chair with my babies.
Rory may be a mommy's girl but these two are all about their daddy!

We took Rory to Bucks for the first time! She sure likes bread. My parents friends own Buck's pit stop and it is a very important place for Brandon and I. It is among many other things where we got engaged.

The morning of the Baptism it sure was great to have a big sister around!

Our family with Pastor Bob at the girls Baptism.

Pictures from China

This is Rory landing at LAX!
Rory in her first crib in Changsha, Hunan Rory in the pool at the Dolton with Daddy.
Isn't that the cutest thing ever!

Rory sleeping on the bus after we got her.
I think all the crying wore her out!

Us with the director from PingJiang CWI. She had an ear infection and was so upset that we were kidnapping her!

The new dads with their girls

Me trying to comfort a sick and scared Aurora Grace.
She wanted no part of it.

This is Aurora Grace's first felony! We are so proud of her. She was a US citizen for approximatly 2 minutes! We are leaving customs at LAX and wanted a picture to remember it by. After we took this the customs officer said that he would let us keep the picture/camera but to not ever take another picture in there. OOPS!