I thought I’d give a little update on what is happening with our adoption. I cannot remember whether or not I mentioned that one of the directors for our agency was in America having her baby for almost two months, I believe. While she was away, IBESR was not allowing the other director or any other staff from our agency to pick up files. Everyone with our agency were anxious for her return and were hoping that good news awaited many of us. Our director returned just before Carnival, which didn’t benefit anyone, due to the fact that IBESR was closed down for a whole week to observe Carnival. We all waited patiently for that week to pass, only to find out that IBESR would still not see... more

We had a fantastic time at Disneyland. It was wonderful to be in California where there is so much racial diversity. The weather was beautiful and made it hard to return to cold and snowy Utah. We loved being with Tana's family. We were comfortable with each other right away. I've known Tana for some time now, but our husbands had yet to meet, and it had been awhile since our children had seen each other. It didn't take long for our kids to find a buddy in Tana's family and before I knew it, I was watching my kids walk hand-in-hand with their new best friends. Tana gives a terrific run-down of our trip, so you can read more about it there.... more

Continued from Part One...

When we were in Ethiopia, Beth told us that she was older than the orphanage claimed she was. We adjusted her birth year, making her 5 months younger than Sahara.

Adopting three kids at once was an event in and of itself, nevermind having three new kids of varying ages blend into our family. Our adjustment issues were more about our new kids fitting into our family, more than age-related problems.

Then we decided to adopt again. We found out about our daughter, Georgia in Haiti. We did not know what her birth date was at first, only that she was about... more

Adopting out of birth order is a hot topic in the adoption community. Should it be done or not? You will find advocates for either side of the coin. Like most situations in life, I believe that it depends on the family involved. We have adopted out of birth order a couple of times. It has worked out well for our family for the most part.

Our first three adoptions were of babies. We adopted our daughter, Sahara first. When she was almost three years old, we started our son, Ryland’s adoption. When Ryland was five years old, we adopted our daughter, Claire. We stayed in birth order and life was fine and normal. Then we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. Ryland was feeling the... more

In two days, my husband and I will head to California with our six children for a visit to Disneyland. Ever since we brought our three kids home from Ethiopia two and a half years ago, we have been promising a trip to Disneyland. We thought about the trip many times, but it never panned out. Then my friend, Tana mentioned that she and her family were going to Disneyland, and it suddenly seemed like the perfect time to go.

I look forward to seeing Tana again. I can’t wait for our husbands to meet, or our kids to get to know each other better. I look forward to enjoying the happiest place on earth with a family so similar to my own.... more

Continued from Part Four...

The day we returned home, I flew to Idaho for a reunion for another orphanage. I had become acquainted with and developed a friendship with their wonderful, intuitive orphanage director. She invited me to meet some of the board members and staff because I was considering becoming a volunteer for their orphanage. One perk would also be to meet Mr. Cadet and his assistant. I asked him why he did not sign our... more

Continued from Part Three...

On his 6th birthday, we met for the first time. The moment my eyes met his, I knew him though I feared that I would not recognize him. Oh, to hold him was a sweet experience. The same as when I held my newborns for the first time at their births. This was our birth, our first meeting. I was able to spend four glori-ous days at the hotel with Nathaniel.

I studied Kreyòl before I arrived, but it was not enough.... more

Continued from Part Two...

The following week, John asked to see the photos of the children on the website. As we went through the photos, he saw Nathaniel's photo, and he exclaimed, "Him! I want him to be my brother!" That was enough to initially cause me to take notice, but I brushed it off as a coincidence believing that I must have influ-enced John in some way. However, Ellen asked to see the children's photos the next day, and her experience could not be rationalized nor denied.

When she saw Nathaniel's photo, she exclaimed, "That is my brother right there, and I am going... more

Continued from Part One...

A few months later I met with a family who was adopting a group of four sib-lings. One child was with them on a medical visa due to a heart defect, but the other three were still in Haiti. While I visited with them, we talked a lot about adoption, which kept moving back toward adopting in Haiti. Later that evening, I went to a website where their children's photos were located among others at their orphanage. These children... more

Here is the first of hopefully many Haitian adoption stories. It is written by my friend, Becky:

Our youngest was not quite four months old in when I first felt the inclination to assess our options regarding adoption. Megan was only our third child via birth, but my pregnancies were progressively more painful than the last due to a ge-netic anomaly with my hip. We were considering whether our family was now complete or whether we would continue welcoming children into our family via adoption.

Once I overcame the initial exhaustion of the newborn months, I knew that our family was not complete though subsequent pregnancies were not an option. I knew our other... more