The power to Believe!

5 Days to go and I’m on my way to Haiti. It still doesn’t feel real! I was checking my blog this morning and realized that we were at the 21 months on my adoption journey. I still can’t believe it’s been that long.


Yesterday, March 29, 2010,  something amazing happened thanks to a wonderful and caring person. The other day, I saw Frank McKenna on Live at 5 talking about Haiti. He was there with an organization called OneXOne. If there is one person that I can say good things about, it would be him. He has a kind heart and seems to want to help the world. This wonderful person gave me his contact email. I emailed him and told me about our adoption story. Funny thing happened was that I drafted the email last Thursday evening till 1 am in the morning and prayed real hard for the adoptions to start moving again in Haiti. I know that he knows the right people and by him being already involved trying to help out in Haiti, he could possibly make a difference for the adoption process. The next morning, I read Dixie’s blog and discovered that adoptions were opening again. I guess my email was pretty powerful!!! I decided to still send him the email and that maybe at one point he would still be able to make a difference. In that same afternoon, I got an email from his assistant saying he would get back to me. Came back from lunch and he had already responded to my email. Like I had suspected, he is a very compassionate man. He basically told me that I was on the right track. He gave me a few pointers. He said to contact him after my mission to Haiti and he would see what he could do to help us out. I am telling you, since I stopped wishing and hoping, nothing but miracles has been happening around me. I now BELIEVE and DEMAND things to happen... and they actually do! Have a good one!

On another side note, I am still receiving donations. Yesterday, I got several bags of donations from Extra-Mural. A friend of mine that will be starting the adoption process soon came to see me today at work to drop off Orajel liquid and cash donation to bring to the orphanage. Thank You Thank You to everyone that are making a difference.

Immigration update

Yesterday, we were busy flowing Nicole and Renée’s last Ringuette Tournament. They got to the finals and lost in overtime. It was a good game. After the game, we left for Memramcook to collect more donations. I cannot express how overwhelm I am with everyone’s generosity. It will feel good to arrive at the orphanage with all those suitcases full and cash donations. I am so looking forward for this mission. In 1 week, I will be on my way to Haiti.


Today, I’ve been on hold for a long period of time with Immigration. I had received a letter from them confirming that they received our request to cancel our sponsorship for Ghana; however I had not received anything for Haiti. After being left on hold for 10 minutes to read the notes on our file, the lady on the phone said everything was good and we were set as a High Priority Case!!! Ya! She said I did not have to worry.

GLA Tent City Ministry

If you have time, go check out the blog of the Tent City Ministry. You will find all kind of photos of what is still the reality in Haiti. GLA blog

Album 1 and Album 2

Out of the ditch and moving up again

I can't believe the news... As I was saying, first thing I do every morning is read Dixie’s blog. It started off with a depressing title... IBESR Refuses to give Authorization Papers for Children who have gone to their Adoptive Families…I was reading and all of a sudden got to the part that I’ve been waiting for. I started screaming at work and saying, OH MY GOD!!! Read the good part of her blog: After much talking, they did agree that we can do adoptions for NEW children who have come into the orphanage since 12 January 2010 if their parents have given them for adoption and signed before the judge. They also said if parents where deceased, then if we have a family consent for adoption we can proceed. I do not think we can do adoptions yet for abandoned children, but we do not have any abandoned children at this time.
So we will start giving proposals to families whose dossiers are already finished and in Haiti starting tomorrow.
We can start doing adoptions for any children still in Haiti. We must take those children down to IBESR for them to see the child. The orphanage will also be doing DNA on all children that are new to GLA so there can be no question that the parents are the parents. This is if we can find some place that is still doing the DNA exam!!

I am going to finish this post now because I .am too excited to stay at my desk. I am out to deliver the good news.

Here is the link of Dixie's blog.

Donations!

Donations, donations, donations... 2 stops and I have my truck full of supplies. I went at my Dr. Office and they gave me 4 large bags full of supplies. She is such a generous lady. They made me go there on their lunch break and we passed all the rooms and took what we could find. After that visit, I slipped in to the Pharmacy next door and luckily, the manager was there. I explained to her where I was going and she gladly filled 2 bags of donations at the same time that I got my Malaria prescription filled out. It doesn’t mean that I will take it... It just means that I have it.

Oh and I contacted one of my high school friend that works for Air Canada to see what the situation would be if our luggage would be over the limit or extra baggage. He explained to me that Air Canada already made their contribution to Haiti by sending 7 planes filled with Cargo supplies for the residents of Haiti. As well, they let doctors and nurses fly for free to Haiti. So basically he told me that I was shit out of luck and we would have to pay the extra if we were over. Instead of getting all paranoid when I start packing, I went and bought a traveling scale. It’s small, cute and pink LOL!

To update you on the Orphanage situation, Dixie put a post for ‘Update Coordinator Position Open in Haiti’ Job description: I need a person who loves to take photos, can write a nice update about each child to send to their adoptive parents, can run the sponsorship program for school children, can work with excel worksheets for the sponsorship program and keep detailed records for the program. The position comes with a small stipend and free room and board.

Wow... I would be so perfect for that job! I have all the qualifications. I think I could pass the interview. I might just bring my résumé with me next week and see how it goes. I guess one can only dream. Hearing this is another step in the right direction. Every day, I hear some news about the adoption processes.

Amazing Day!

Got up this morning all fresh and ready to face the world. Could be because I was in bed before 9pm last night LOL. When I got to work, my Dr. Office called and said they would donate medications for me to bring with me to Haiti. She said that I could take whatever I wanted!!! My dentist office also said they will donate toothbrushes... On top of all that, I’ve been receiving several emails from family and friends that I can go pickup donations. It’s such a good day! People are so generous!

Reading on GLA blog, I found this quote that fits well for all the people that are helping me make this Mission to Haiti work... “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I read Dixie’s blog this morning and she indicated that all the orphanages in Haiti that can do adoptions have met yesterday to get all the facts together. All the orphanages expressed that they as well had trouble with UNICEF. On a good note, they are saying that IBESR are allowing adoptions!!! At this point, they are not sure if it’s only the children that were in the orphanages before Jan 12, 2010. Please continue to pray that they will soon make the big announcement that adoptions are open again.

On my lunch break, I was reading my friend Angèle’s blog. I read her last post and had tears in my eyes. Her post was about my adoption. I am very lucky to have a friend like her. Like she indicated in her blog, we met during our CompuCollege days and seemed to have kept a connection. We don’t see each other often but I still consider her one of my dearest friends. Thank you so much Angele for the kind words...

If you want to read her post, here’s the link: http://wifelawyermother.blogspot.com/2010/03/amazing-person.html

Against my beliefs!

March 23, 2010 – In 12 days, I will be leaving for Haiti. I honestly still think that it’s all a dream. Yesterday I went for my vaccines (Hepatitis A and Typhim Vi – Polysaccharide Typhoid). I did what I always said I would not do. I had 2 needles and had to drink Dukoral (for traveler’s diarrhea). I got my prescription for Malaria; however I am still considering not taking it. We’ll see. Nicole and I took our first drink of Dukoral last night and it was not too good. To continue with the meds... I had a huge headache this morning and decided to take 2 Advils. I usually don’t take any medications and deal with the pain, but with all the drugs I took yesterday, I figured that 2 extra Advils would not do much more harm to my body LOL. Oh well, if that’s the sacrifice I have to take, so be it!

Oh and... I created cute little cheat sheet for our Mission to Haiti for our flights, hotel info and contacts in Haiti. I am getting everything organized now because the weekend before we leave, I'll be a total NUT CASE!

My dossier is in MY POSSESSION!

March 17, 2010 - 18 days and I will be on my way to Haiti. I still think that it’s all a dream. The planning is working out just great. Jeanne and I have recruited 2 more to join us on our mission to Haiti, my step-daughter Nicole and her son, Daniel. I am so happy that Nicole is coming. I’ve always told her that I wanted her to come with me and now it’s really happening.

Today was a very busy day for me. I drove to Fredericton to get my adoption dossier. I am now in possession of our original authenticated dossier and all the copies. Youpiii!!!! I pity the person that will try to steel my dossier in my carry on suitcase while I’m traveling to Haiti LOL! We have to wait in Toronto for 9 hr to catch our flight to Miami. I won’t be leaving it unattended.


On other topic, I already have 1 full suitcase full of donations. I contacted a few doctors and they are going to prepare some supplies for me.

Well, night night. I’m calling it early.

Haiti here I come!

Haiti here I come! This is it. After talking about going to do volunteer work for more than 20 months... I am finally doing it! I have to thank Jeanne, Nicole and Renée’s aunt that has accepted to come with me. I am so gratefully. She is as motivated as I am to get down there and help as much as we can.

We leave Moncton on April 4th and will return on the 15th. Last night, March 11th, we booked our flights. It was such a relief when we received the email notification of our flights. We will be going to GLA orphanage to help out sort the donations from the storage area, distribute the donations to nearby villages that need the supplies and ... help with the children. I am very happy that it’s finally happening but at the same time I am scarred. I know that I cannot prepare myself to what I am going to be exposed to, however I will try my best to stay focus and on track of why I am going there in the first place. I am going there to help. I’ve had a strong urge to do this for a long time but just did not know how I would get about doing it. I always thought that I was too fragile and too sensitive to be going to do humanitarian work. I thought it was only the people that were strong that could do this. Since we started with the adoption process, my personality changed. Being on a super scary roller coaster ride for the past 20 months, my husband and I had to make decisions that were not always easy to make. We both became stronger. We know that good things just don’t fall out of the sky. We both know that we have to work hard for what we want. At first I personally thought that someone was out there to get me. Just recently, I realized that God already has a pre-define journey for me. I am the one that has to choose to accept it or not. I am now capable to see beyond what we would call a bad situation or bad luck. I know that it happened for a reason and along my journey of life, if I pay close attention, I will be able to make sense of why that so called situation had happened.

So basically I have less than 4 weeks to get ready for Haiti. I’m sure you’ll hear of me more often in the next few days.

This is for you Liette: Trust me... I know “Things happen for a reason” LOL

All I can say is... AMEN!

I just got out of bed on this sunny Saturday morning, March 6th, 2010. Checking Dixie's blog like every morning and found this in her last paragraph:

'We have some very good news today about the new judge for Adoptions at the Civil Court. Mrs. Jocelyne CASIMIR will be in her office on Monday and will be signing adoption papers! This is so exciting for all of us. Maybe if courts start working again. the rest of the government will start working! It has been almost 8 weeks since the earthquake and Haiti is still struggling to pull itself out of the rubble! Continue to pray for Haiti’s government and the people. It is going to take years to rebuild this country. I pray that the young professionals here in Haiti step up and take part in the rebuilding'

I am so greatful!!!! Things are really starting to move forward.

Already 365 day milestone aniversary

Another month just flew by. I just came back from my Cancun Vacation totally relaxed... so I thought.

During my vacation, it was the 1 year milestone of my dad passing away. During the evening of the anniversary, I dreamt of children. Everywhere I went, there were children. That morning, I got woken up by my cell in Mexico. My cell was in the safe. So by the time I got to open the safe, the phone had stopped ringing. 2 mins after it rang again. It was a friend of mine that was calling me about Haiti. It was really weird and it was 7:30 am.... Once I got off the phone, I told Victor that it was my dad’s sign. He was telling me that even after 1 year of him being physically gone; he was still by my side helping me. I went back to bed in peace.

Last week I went for a Reiki session. The woman told me that I was struggling. She said, I don’t know what you are fighting for but you are at the end of the rope. She said I had to slow down and take time for myself. I was really shocked to hear that because since I’ve been back from Cancun, I thought I was ok. For some really weird reason I believed her and really changed my nightly routine after all. I started going to bed really early and reading. I am taking time for myself in the evenings and relaxing. Life cannot get any better....

As far as adoption news, I don’t have any. Last I heard was that adoptions might re-open in 3 months. That was a few weeks ago. But then again it’s not confirmed, it was just posted on GLA blog. But I DO BELEIVE and know that KYANNA is COMING HOME. We just don’t have a concrete date yet.