more updates

Hi everyone -- I just received this email:

We have reason to believe that all children whose adoptions were in process prior to Tuesday will be able to come to the United States as soon as the logistics of the travel can be figured out. In order to receive the appropriate visas we need the following documents sent ELECTRONICALLY to me as soon as possible...

it continues on with what I need to send. Wow. I'm going to start packing bags just in case.

Supplies to head to our orphanage

Here is the latest:

Chances for Children Has the plane!! Actually, we now have 2 large cargo planes reserved- Haiti here we come with 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of supplies. Thank you to everyone who helped find air cargo space - especially the heros- Rob P, Micky B and Ray C!!!

Updates

It has been a busy weekend online. We have received numerous emails about getting Valencia home. She is fortunately at the end of the process and is just awaiting a US Visa. Organizations involved in adoption contacted the secretary of state, asking to allow children in orphanages a visa to enter the United States. The state department has created a website for all of us adopting from Haiti to register with them -- essentially entering in our information, who we're adopting and how to contact the orphanage. They say that once communication lines are back up and running they can start this process. And last night the Haitian Ambassador to the US said that Haiti has released these children to leave -- it is just a matter of the receiving country to allow them to enter.

It is very encouraging news and we are preparing (and hoping) for a phone call that Valencia is on her way to the states. We have seen this happen with a few other children today and yesterday from other orphanages on the news. If this does happen we have no idea how much notice we'll get but I don't think it will be much. I will try to get a post on the blog, but I'm making no promises :)

Earthquake in Haiti

As many of you have seen there has been a horrible earthquake in Haiti. We've been checking our adoption forum all evening for word on our orphanage. The U.S. side was finally able to get a hold of the orphanage and everyone is ok. Thankfully the orphanage is self-sufficient. They stockpile food and supplies and water. That will help them with the oncoming days of limited to no travel in Haiti. We have been worried all evening so this is great news. Here is what they posted:


So sorry not to post her sooner. It has been hard to connect with Gina and Lucien. But we did manage to exchange emails. Everyone at CEJ/FEJ is safe - that is the best news we could have received. However, there is significant damage to the transit house and some damage at the creche. All the children are fine. It will be some time before we have the actual assesment of the building/road/infrastructure damage. We are all so very saddened by this latest and worst disaster. Personally, I just don’t understand why so many horrible things happen in Haiti. It is very distressing. As most of you know who have been to Haiti - there is no way the shantys and shacks you pass could have survived this magnitude of an earthquake. I can’t even begin to imagine how PAP looks and how difficult it will be for rescue teams to get into areas. Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers.

On another note - we believe Valencia now has her passport, which means we are waiting for the visa appointment. The earthquake will definitely slow things down, but I am happy to wait as long as Valencia is safe.

November

Here are some pictures from our November -- whew, I'm almost caught up.

Beckett started crawling this month just before Thanksgiving.

We took a trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and hiked to a waterfall.

This is how Nala spends her day -- all day every day.



These are pictures from our Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania. It was FREEZING but the kids were able to play out in the leaves one afternoon. They had a great time together.

Halloween & Friday nights

Isn't he adorable?

I'm a little behind on my posts :) Here's our Halloween. Nala (the dog) wore the turtle costume I made for Tallie when she was 1 month old. We're one of those people now that I used to make fun of -- people that dress their little dog and take it out with them.

Tallie was Princess Bell and Beckett was a doctor.

We have an awesome gym and every Friday night is "family night". We go almost every Friday to eat pizza and play. Here are some clips from the gymnastics room of the kids.

Another Update

We heard today that Valencia's file is out of MOI and they are now working on getting her passport! All we have left is for her to be approved by US Immigration to receive her passort, and to then get her visa. They may request DNA testing for Valencia and her birth mom which would add a little bit of time, but we're almost there. It could be 3-4 weeks.