Passport Stage!

It has been 7 weeks today that Kyanne’s file is in MOI. Because of the 2 hour difference to Haiti, we normally stop checking for updates at 7pm and I did stop checking at 7pm. Renée, my step-daughter and her boyfriend Chris came to visit and we talked and laughed till 10pm. When they left I went to take a shower and was just about to go to bed and I stopped to check FB and my email was open. I saw an email from GLA... I was not really paying attention because I thought it was just the email notification that there was an update on the blog. But No! It was Melissa!!!!

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Hi Victor and Sylvie,


I am very happy to let you know that Berline's file came out of MOI today, so we will be submitting her file to Immigration tomorrow for passport printing!

There is still one paper outstanding, which I believe Immigration will require, but we will submit the file so that they can at least start reviewing it, and as soon as we receive the paper, we will forward it to Immigration.


I will be sure to keep you updated and let you know when you can start making travel plans!


Have a GREAT evening!
Melissa Friesen
Adoptions Coordinator

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So there you are... once again! I was too busy to check my emails all evening. I was busy enjoying life in the PRESENT TIME! I was having fun and I got the news.

Poor Nicole! I opened the door to her apartment on top of our garage and ran to her bed and jumped to hug her. She had just gone up a few minutes before so she had no idea what was going on.

A few other weird things that happened today...

My co-worker told me at the beginning of the week that I was going to get the news this week. Because we had passed the 4 weeks time frame, I did not want to get my hopes up so I was telling her that we will get the news when its time. Yesterday, she said that TODAY, was going to be the day. She even said it again in the afternoon.

While I was making a new batch of veggie burgers, I saw my sister-in-law walking in the yard. I called her to come over. When she came in, I asked her if the burgers were like the one she made. She looked at my funny and said, Oh! I thought you were going to give me good news!!! I said no, just wanted to talk about veggie burgers LOL! To her surprise, I sent her a FB chat with the good news a few hours later.

I can’t believe it! My baby girl is almost home!

6 weeks in MOI

Today I was on FB and saw that John from Guest House at GLA had added a new friend. Like Nicole would do, I checked out the photos of the aka... friend of John’s to see if I could find pictures of Kyanne, Théo, Nathan or Clay. To my surprise, I did find one of my sweet little Kyanne. I am not sure if it’s Nathan beside her in red or not ... Adrienne might be able to confirm on this one. When I saw Kyanne, I almost lost it. This was at the end of the day thank god. I know that Kyanne is ok. She is in the best orphanage in Haiti. I know that the staff and volunteers are taking good care of her and are loving her, however seeing this pictures and knowing that she’s my daughter... it just broke my heart. It looks like a picture they would have for an UNICEF commercial on TV. I am so fortunate that I have been to GLA twice and I know that probably 2 seconds after that photo was taken, she had a great big smile on her face. I keep telling myself over and over that God has a plan for me and Kyanne and she will be home when the time is right.

I don’t know why I feel so sad looking at that photo. This is a balcony... I think it's just the expression on her face and her little hands holding the gated balcony. Mama is coming to get you soon. Hold on tight! xoxo

On a good note, GLA updated the adoption status page and Darline, who was following the same steps as Kyanne since Attestation has gone to Passport. We were 4 in MOI and she is the only one that went to Passport. This is really good news. I know it's not my dossier that moved, but there is some work being done in MOI so it can only be a matter of time...

Adrienne, Nathan's mom just came back from Haiti to sign in front of the judge like we did back in May. She is one of the adoptive mom that I am in contact with. There is Liette, Adrienne, Kori and myself.  We've been helping each other via email/FB . I am so fortunate to have them as support. We said that one day; we will have a reunion the 4 of us with our little ones. I am also in contact with another adoptive mom that isi adopting in Haiti. She is however adopting from another orphanage. It's nice to be able to communicate with others that are going through the same emotions as I am. She is adopting a beautiful little girl as well. I sure hope we get to meet her as well one day.


Here's a pic of the 4 little buddies. They are some cute. I guess in an orphanage, colour does not matter. As long as they are clean and dry. They look so comfy in those pyjamas...



Kyanne, Nathan, Théo and Clay

Best of Friends!

Kyanne & Théo

Mommy Group/Baby Shower

I hosted the mommy group last week. It was a baby shower for Liette and me. The girls from the mommy group are so wonderful. The morning of the baby shower, I had emailed Melissa at GLA. I had a question for the next stage when Kyanne is out of MOI. I had replied to the email that Melissa had sent me with the title of ‘Great News’. The afternoon pasted and I had completely forgotten that I had emailed Melissa. I checked my iphone around 5:30 to see if the mommies had question on how to get to my place and I see an email downloading on my phone from GLA saying Great News! I almost lost it. I actually thought that we were out of MOI. I started jumping in the kitchen and soon realized that it was the reply for my earlier question. My heart was pounding so hard. I felt so stupid! I went to get a glass of water and I dropped the glass on the floor and it all shattered in the kitchen. I then took another glass from the other side of the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine and sat down. I honestly need to get a life or something. I eventually cleaned up the mess and my heart was still going at it. How can one little email affect my life this much...

Liette was the first to arrive. I started telling her my little incident and at the end, she was looking at me in a funny way when I told her about the email. She was just smiling and noting her head. I did not know what was going on until I said... “Did YOU GET THE EMAIL????” I never saw her face light up that quickly. We again, started jumping up and down and hugging each other. It was time to pour more wine LOL! Liette got the email saying that Théo was now in MOI! This means that they are both at the same stage. What I am thinking that is going to happened is that whoever is suppose to approve the MOI stage has not touch them in several weeks because we are now past 5 weeks and nothing... I think the dossiers are all going to get done at the same time and Liette and I are going to get that next email the same day!!!! That would just be too perfect. We would be able to travel to Haiti at approximately the same time if not at the same time.

Baby Talk!

After having a pretty busy summer, I thought September was going to be more relaxed, but I was wrong. After having no plans last weekend and being depressed... I rather be busy and have no time to just think about when am I going to get the email.

I decided to invite friends from work for a baby talk! A friend of Liette and I is pregnant and we thought it would be fun to just hang out and eat. We were lucky that it was still nice out that we relaxed on the deck with a few glasses of wine. Kind of sharp that we were having a baby talk/shower and we could have a glass of wine... except Julie, however we got her something special as well and put it in a glass of wine.

ACOA Gang! Thank you so much girls!!!

Julie had to have a talk with Sam because she thought it was her teddy bear LOL!

Emotional weekend

Last week, my friend Liette who is adopting Théo was a bit disturbed by the wait time. She has been following my dossier by 2 weeks behind in almost all of the steps; however, she’s been in Courts for too many weeks now. It seems to have stalled and I don’t like it. Théo needs to come home at the same time as Kyanne!!! Thankfully I was calm and we were able pull through the week. I am so blessed that we have each other. I don’t know anyone else that could of listen to my wining and freaking out over Elaine’s emails or JR not knowing what is going on... LOL! Last Thursday, it was 4 weeks that our dossier has been sitting in MOI. Melissa said it could be 4 to 6 weeks. I was fine last week and I was able to try and cheer up Liette but hope the god she is better and I can have my week because it hit me this weekend. I feel so empty and my tummy hurts. I was probably asked 20 times over the weekend... ‘So... did you get any news? Do you have a date yet? When is she coming home? What is taking so long?’ Being so emotional this weekend and having to answer these questions... I thought I was going to lose it. Don’t people know that as soon as I have news, I am going to post it on FB and scream it out loud to everyone I know...!!!! Come on... Everyone at Home Hardware knew that our dossier was entering MOI before Victor and my mom!!! If there is one thing I can’t do is keep a secret so chances are you won’t have to ask me if I have news. I will let you know.


On another note, last night, my husband and I went for a nice dinner. Just the 2 of us! It was so fun to just sit and talk. You can probably guess what our topic was... It was Kyanne, Kyanne and Kyanne.

When I woke up this morning, I had a great big smile. I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before in other blogs, but sometimes, I can control my dreams. If I am well rested I can be conscious in my dream and be able to stop it or continue if I like the dream. Well I woke up and did not want to end my dream. I had my dad and Kyanne with me. it felt so real! We were all happy and she was home with us. My dad was standing beside me. He was happy and everything was alright. The funny thing is that I had Kyanne and I was forgetting things that a mother should know. I was feeding her food but was forgetting to give her a bottle to drink. Someone in my dream was coaching me and was telling me that she needed liquids to survive. I did not seem too stressed out but I was talking the advice... I don’t know what it all means but I sure hope I don’t forget to feed once she’s home.

I don’t think I’ve been this emotion in a long time. Could this dream of mine be telling me that she is soon going to arrive??? I think my dad let me have a sneak peak of her and let me have that happy, warm, loving feeling of knowing how it’s going to be when she gets home. This was by far the most wonderful DREAM ever!!! I know that our next email saying they are printing her passport is just around the corner. I always knew that my dad was behind this Match Made In Heaven with God. They all planed it accordingly and she is going to be home very soon.

August update

Last week we received our August update and I forgot to post it, so here it is. I cannot stop but laugh when I read the comments about her. I think she is just like her mama!!! I already feel the bond and know we are going to be an AWESOME TEAM!

As far as our dossier update... It will be 4 weeks Thursday that we are in MOI. I was told that it could be 4 to 6 weeks so Come On Dossier... Move to Passport Printing NOW!!!!

We have now completed Kyanne’s playroom, so all is ready. There is nothing left but our sweet precious baby to come home.



Here is the update:

Sleepy Greetings from God’s Littlest Angels, Victor and Sylvie!


As the summer winds down and we face another hurricane season, we feel blessed that Tropical Storm Emily and Hurricane Irene that were headed our way did not hit Haiti as predicted. Please continue to pray that the storms this season will bypass us just like Emily and Irene. Please know that if Haiti does get hit with a bad storm all the children and everyone at GLA will be safe but much prayer would be needed for the families still living in tents and the rise in cholera that tends to happen after heavy rains and flooding. Everything at GLA has been coming along well. We continue to be busy with our daily activities as well as planning a major fundraising effort. Many volunteers have come through our gate this month and they have each done a great job. They spend much of their time loving on your kids and helping to further the building process at Fort Jacques.


It seems that bedtime can go from the most stressful to the most relaxing time of the day in matter of hours or even minutes for some kids. I am going to highlight bedtime for this month’s update, as it is a special time in every child’s day, even here at GLA. Because we are close to the equator it gets dark every evening between 6 and 6:30 depending on the time of year. Lucky for us, here in Haiti, there is not a giant fluctuation in that time so getting the kids into a year round bedtime routine is fairly simple. At both the Baby House and the Toddler House bedtime seems to be marked with a loud burst of energy as all the kids are fed, bathed, and let loose to get that last bit of energy out. Then all seems to suddenly go silent as the babies and kids settle into their beds, say their prayers and are tucked in.


The nursery is a bustle of activity as the babies finish their supper and the nannies begin to get each one ready for bed. In my opinion, it is the most active part of the day in the nursery up until all the kids are in their respective cribs.


After supper is finished the nannies begin an assembly line of bathing, powdering, diapering, and clothing each baby. It is really quite a site to see. One nanny will bath, another powder and lotion, another diaper, and another put on clothes. It is a true team effort by all the nannies working. Once the babies are changed and ready in their pajamas, the smallest ones are put in their cribs with a bottle and the older one are allowed to run around on the ground while the rest of the children finish their bedtime preparation. Typically by 7:00 all the babies are placed in their cribs, some sleeping, some drinking milk, and others playing with the baby in the crib next door. This is, personally, my favorite time of day to spend time in the nursery. All the kids seem contented and happy for the most part. They will bounce up and down in their mattresses and pull them selves up to greet you with a smile and a bedtime kiss.


Berline has had a great month! She has gone from a shaky walk to a confident master. She will now race across the balcony or nursery without any hesitation on her face at all. Currently her favorite activity on the balcony is the johnny jumper. She could just bounce up and down for hours and she has even been known to fall asleep in it.


As I mentioned I love going into the nursery in the evening when the babies are in their beds. Berline has always been one of my favorite faces to see because she just lights up with her precious smile when you just talk to her. As you know she is a favorite around the nursery and she knows it. If something is not going exactly her way she will throw a little fit. She will just cry and cry until she realizes no one is paying attention to her and then she will give it up. There is not mistaking that your little girl is cute and she knows how to use it.


Going along with the sleep theme... Berline is a great napper. She takes a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon, usually a half hour to an hour each. When Berline is tired it is pretty clear to everyone. She gets quite whinny and demanding. She will be running all around with all the energy she has then all of a sudden she will just be unhappy. She loves to swing when she is tired and she always goes for a good cuddle.


Berline’s sweet smile never ceases to amaze me. I am so excited for the day you are sending me updates about how she is doing in Canada!






Berline is healthy and growing:


Height: 73 cm


Weight: 20 lb 10 oz