We're filled with joy that God answered our desperate prayers and the prayers of so many friends and family and is indeed allowing us to go to meet our sweet girls in Haiti NEXT WEEK!! The U.S. Embassy in Haiti confirmed this morning that we can have our necessary appointment there next week and so all systems are a go for us to leave in just 6 short days!
We'll leave from Rochester in the afternoon on Monday, May 20th and fly to Chicago and then to Miami. We have a "short" overnight layover in Miami and then get on a plane first thing in the morning on Tuesday, May 21st bound for Port Au Prince. We'll be on that flight with 2 other families from the US that are also adopting from our orphanage and will also be preparing to meet their children for the first time. It'll be great to get to experience all of this with 2 other couples that are at the same stage in the process.
We arrive in Port Au Prince at 8:40 am (7:40 am CDT) and someone from the orphanage will come to pick us up, along with the other 2 couples. I believe that the orphanage is about 1 1/2 hours from Port Au Prince. I have no idea what will happen when we do finally get to the orphanage but I assume that within a fairly short time of arriving at GLA (God's Littlest Angels orphanage), we'll FINALLY be able to meet, hug, kiss, talk to, and try not to cry all over Chelley and Naika. We can't even begin to imagine what that will be like but we've heard that it won't feel real. I heard this week that even years from now, those first moments with them will feel like they were all a dream, like we weren't really even there but just imagining it. Regardless of how it feels, it WILL BE real and we'll be that much closer to being able to bring them home.
While we are in Haiti, we'll be staying in the guest house at the orphanage. We will spend most, if not all, of Wednesday the 22nd back in Port Au Prince at our US Embassy appointment and waiting to appear and sign paperwork in the Haitian courts. On Thursday, the 23rd, we'll have a brief trip and appearance in front of a local judge near the orphanage. In between those trips, we'll spend every possible minute with Chelley and Naika, although they will need to stick to their usual schedule as much as possible and we'll need to respect that for their sakes. As you can imagine, this is very difficult for them and the more we disrupt their routines, the more trouble they'll have when we leave. We want to soak up our time with them but also join the orphanage staff in protecting their hearts through this process. Bottom line, this really isn't about us, as much as it feels like it could and should be. This is about those girls that are about to have their world turned upside down and that need us to protect and nurture their hearts in the process. More about that later...
Then on Friday, May 24th, the moment will come when we'll need to say goodbye to those girls that have already planted themselves so deeply in our hearts. God has spared me from dwelling on that moment and I know He'll provide the grace and comfort we need in that moment to be able to do what we need to do. Countless other parents and children have done this very thing and have lived to tell about it, so I know we will too. We do covet prayers for every aspect of our trip, but especially for this moment that is bound to be very difficult and painful. We know that God is with us every step of the way, every minute, and that He is the God Who Sees. He sees ALL of our needs and provides abundantly for us out of His endless grace.
We will fly out of Port Au Prince on Friday afternoon, with a stop in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and then an overnight in Chicago before arriving back in Rochester on Saturday morning, May 25th. Then another round of waiting begins, as we wait another 3-6 months for the rest of the Haitian legal process to finish it's course before we get word that we can go to pick up Chelley and Naika and bring them home.
And so....the adventure continues...
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