In the beginning of this blog, I shared an essay that my 8 year old son, Ryland had written after visiting his sisters in Haiti. I mentioned in that post that I would discuss the pros and cons of bringing children along on adoption trips in a future post. Over the last few days, my thoughts have heavily been on this subject.

Way back in 1999, I lived in Viet Nam for three months while I worked on getting Ryland’s... more

When you have adopted a child, you are faced with many issues. One of them is whether or not to share the circumstances of their adoption with others.

When we adopted our first child from Viet Nam, I remember reading a book about keeping the adopted child’s history private. It had never occurred to me to keep any information confidential prior to reading that. I was 21 years old. At the time I felt very mature and capable. When I look back on it, I realize how young I was. I made a lot of mistakes as a new mom, but I am proud to say that... more

Brief History of Haiti continued from Part Two...

Democracy continued to falter in Haiti for the next two decades until 1957, when Doctor François “Papa Doc” Duvalier was elected president. In 1964, Duvalier consolidated power, naming himself President-for-Life. Using his notorious enforcement squad, the Tonton Macoutes, thousands were imprisoned, exiled, and murdered.

Before his death, Papa Doc named his son Jean-Claude as his successor. When he... more

A Brief History of Haiti continued from Part One...

A short time after they gained independence, the people of Haiti were thrown into a fierce civil war; dividing the country for almost 20 years. Dessalines was assassinated, and an illiterate ex-slave named Henri Christophe took his place. King Christophe ruled the North, and Alexandre Petion, a mulatto, ruled the South.

In 1818, Alexandre Pétion died and Jean-Pierre Boyer, the former secretary... more

Recently I have been reading about the history of Haiti, and thought I would share a little with you all. (I will share links to the informative websites at the end.)

Haiti shares the western half of the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the world’s first Black republic, and it is the only nation to be born of a successful slave rebellion.

In December of 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola in and claimed it for the Spanish crown. He called it, “La Isla Espanola,” which was later shortened... more

Continued from September 25, 2006...

Thursday, September 28, 2006

I haven't felt like writing anything at all. It has been very hot and humid--zapping all of my energy. On top of that, Georgia has decided to show her true colors. She definitely has attachment issues. Worse than that, we feel concerned about her in other ways. I find it so upsetting, I can barely talk or even think about it. In July we met her... more

Continued from September 24, 2006...

Monday, September 25, 2006

1 am

I was awoken at about midnight to the sounds of diarrhea. Talley had had a little right before bed. She went all out this time. She was covered in poop! If that's what you could call it--it was so liquidy. I changed her, cleaned her up, re-applied the scabies medicine, got her dressed in clean clothes and comforted her until she fell asleep again.... more

September 24, 2006 continued from Part Two...

We finally made our way back to the hotel. The roads were a little flooded and so the driver couldn't see pot holes. We were bouncing all over. When we were coming up the hill to the hotel, the tires started spinning and slipping. The driver just floored it and we slowly slipped into the hotel parking lot.

We went up to our room and hung out for awhile.... more

September 24, 2006 continued from Part One...

I started feeling emotional when we pulled up to the orphanage gate. Everyone got out of the van as quickly as possible, and immediately searched out their children. I was worried that Georgia and Talley wouldn't be there yet, like last time. So I was please to see Talley sitting on a table between a man and a woman on the patio. I said, "Talley-Po!" She... more

I’m feeling a little emotional today. Our adoption coordinator and 21 adoptive parents and volunteers left for Haiti today. I was supposed to go on this trip, but a few weeks ago I suddenly decided that I should not go. Since I am feeling wistful for my daughters, I decided I would share the travelogue from our second trip to Haiti last September. We visited longer on this trip, but I hardly wrote anything in my journal. We were dealing with some issues with our older daughter, Georgia, and a part... more