Watch Me Grow...: Meeting our Beauties

Last month we were blessed with the opportunity to go to Haiti to meet the girls we are planning to adopt. We were officially matched with them in early December only to find out a week later that the military had made plans to temporarily relocate Roger to a less desirable location...he was getting deployed. We quickly contacted our agency to find out how this might impact our progress because there are papers that need to be filed in person in Haiti.

I cannot speak highly enough about our agency's response to this matter. The director of the Haiti adoption program immediately offered us the opportunity to go to Haiti in order to meet the girls. We knew up front that we would not yet be able to file the paperwork because it wouldn't be ready. But part of the paperwork is stating that we have met the girls and that we definitely desire to adopt them, so we needed to find a time that Roger could meet them before the deployment.

Plans were quickly made and summer clothing was located for the girls because we were asked to bring along anything the girls might need for the time we were visiting with them. Finding summer clothes in January was no easy task. In fact, next year instead of complaining that swimwear is in stores by January, I'm going to ask why they don't just keep it out year round. We also brought along as many diapers and wipes as we could fit into our luggage in order to bless the orphanage. Two amazing things happened as we prepared for our trip. First, Roger's deployment was canceled just days before our trip (but our agency still said we were welcome to visit the girls) and we found out of a dire need for diapers. So, God had made a way for us to be available to meet a concrete need in addition to the opportunity to begin bonding with our girls.

The experience in Haiti was, in some ways, beyond explanation. It was exciting and unnerving; wonderful and terrible; happy and very, very sad. The girls were brought to meet us at the airport. We came out of a tiny yet chaotic international airport, across a bumpy, bustling parking area and suddenly the girls we had seen in pictures were right in front of us. I honestly don't remember much of this moment. I wish I could say it was etched in my memory, but even though I thought they might be there, it caught me off guard to have them standing in front of me.

Once we were in the car, we were offered the chance to go back to the orphanage or to go straight to our hotel with the girls. We chose the orphanage, and I am so glad we did because it was our only opportunity on this trip to see first hand where our girls live. Much of the drive to the orphanage was on bumpy but paved roads and the sites were not as dire as I had anticipated. However, just before we arrived at the orphanage, we entered an area with more evidence of poverty and the road became one that was shockingly bumpy. It may have been the roughest terrain I had ever experienced, and I grew up on a farm. Thankfully we only had to travel about a quarter to half a mile through this rough terrain.

While at the orphanage we were able to see where our girls sleep, attend classes and live their day to day life. They stuck with us like glue and seemed very happy to have us there. We did later find out that the only question they had for us was whether we had brought them dolls. Sadly we had not because we had sent them some at Christmas time, but I suspect those had already either been torn up from rough play or had become community property as we never saw them during our visit.

The orphanage was not the horror stories people hear. It was on a large piece of land with a garden, a swing set, and a basketball court. Each child appeared to have his/her own bed and there is running water for showers. There is filtered water for drinking. This is vital in Haiti where much of the water is not safe for drinking. There is a school which is not just for the children of the orphanage, but also for children in the community. There is a brand new medical clinic which is almost finished. The children are not being neglected and most were seen with smiles on their faces, and sadly, most probably don't even realize that their situations can get even better. But as we found out during our time with our girls, before it gets really better, it will probably get very scary for them because they will have to leave what they know to find out what their future can hold.

Here are a few pictures from our first day...before things got unsettled and scary...and then beautiful again.