WE ARE HOME!!!

Sorry to be slow.....ok, only one day slow! We arrived home last night about 9:00 p.m. WITH Marie Vierge and Berto! THEY did great! Berto was a bit anxious about the airplane but we fixed that with some M&M's! So, with each flight (three all together) we took off with M&M's and all was well! In the pictures you can see Marie biting her fingernails before we got on the plane too.......I guess her daddy will have to teach her how to kick that habit.

We arrived in Haiti on Sunday morning. Our flight was delayed one hour. Our flight getting into Miami the night before was delayed two hours so we ended up paying $122 bucks to sleep for less than two hours Sat. night.......oh well, better than sleeping in the Miami airport! So, we were kind of zombies on Sunday......but that was ok!

We went to church and met the kids! They were a bit quiet - which is normal for them. They seem to be very reserved around other people. After church the smiles came freely from both of them!!! We stayed at Auberge du Quebec on Sunday. We had our friend Spencer make a reservation for us while we were in Chicago at CHA! Thank goodness for friends who speak french! He was even able to arrange for us to have one of the newer rooms! The minute we got to the room the kids started to undress......they wanted to go swimming! So - off to the pool for a swim! Of course, first we ordered our lunch because the restaurant needs at least an hour to prepare spaghetti! After lunch - Mark slept and I played with the kids.....we had fun blowing bubbles and coloring. Later that evening we met up with Kate and her children and had dinner.

Monday a.m. we all packed into the van.....Kate, her teenage daughter traveling with her, her 5 children she is adopting and Mark, me, Marie and Roberto all in the back of the van WITH all our luggage.......off on a wild ride that puts Mr. Toad's ride to shame.........John Henry sure knows how to drive and fast on some pretty beat up roads!

After Kate was dropped off at the airport - we met Mansour (the orphanage director for Holt) and he took us out to the Holt Fontana village. We visited for a bit, snapped a few pictures then went over to the Kaliko so we would'nt miss lunch. The Kaliko was nice for swimming, throwing rocks in the ocean and having a nice dinner with Mansour. It was wonderful to visit again......and yes, I kept an eye out for evil Haitian officials! Thank goodness we didn't encounter any creeps this time!

Tuesday a.m. we were up at 4:45 and out the door to the airport by 5:15 a.m. The hour plus drive to the airport was filled with images of Haiti and its people. Images I don't expect to find in America. Those images can be defined as beautiful, sad, funny, completely heartwrenching, encouraging, overwhelming, painful, full of hope, nerve wracking (although the image of a bus blarring its horn coming straight for us - on OUR side of the road didn't raise my heartrate this time) ...all of this and more can be found in a one hour drive to the airport! Haiti has some of the most remarkable people who find joy in their world - a world I would struggle to survive in. I am lucky to have the privilege of my experience in Haiti and of the many fine examples of determination - even if it is found in a split second from an image of a young boy on the street as we race by. Mark and I decided for sure, horns are equal to engines for every vehicle driving the roads in Haiti! You can't be without one!

We arrived plenty early for our flight and three guys "helped" us *HAUL* our three bags in. WOW.....that only cost us $20. Neither one of us was up for arguing so we gave 'em twenty bucks and stood in line where another guy pulled our cart under the rope and put our bags on the scale and yep......he needed a tip too. I have never experienced an airport quite like the one in Port au Prince!
We made it through without any one giving us grief and I was happy about that. I was so happy just to get on that plane! Arriving in Miami was easy! We made it through immigration in 20 minutes and our little ones are now Americans!!! Gotta love that IR3 visa! (NOW that we have it!) Of course, we did have to re-check our luggage, go thru security again and walk to the farthest possible gate.......and then stand in a long line for seat assignments......but I will take that kind of stress anyday! WE MADE EVERY FLIGHT and the kids didn't have one problem! They eat just about anything and Berto eats more than most adults (so we really need to figure out why he only weighs 31lbs) He is just tiny.....but smart and cute as can be! So is Marie.....they are both just darling!
So far our biggest trial is trying to convince both of them that Louie and Maggie are NOT GOING TO EAT THEM! They literally climb the closest object (or person) the minute they see either dog.......and they completely freak out like they just saw the meanest, badest monster on planet earth! I'm not quite sure what we are going to do about that..........however, it does solve the problem I envisioned before we went, of two little kids running crazy in the house and "breaking into" the pantry every 10 minutes......because as long as the dogs are free, they prefer playing with toys in their room! So........we will have to work on the dog thing. EVEN having the dogs leashed to the dining room table doesn't seem to calm them .....they just keep their eye on the dogs to make sure there is "good distance" between them! AND the pool was the same.....poor Berto just royally freaked out because Louie was circling the pool while we were trying to swim this evening......Oh....I do hope this is our biggest challenge! :)

We feel very blessed! They are amazing little children and we are all very happy (and relieved) they are finally home!!! Our thanks to all of you for your prayers....as our prayers will continue for all of our friends still waiting to bring their children home!

WE ARE GOING TO HAITI!!!

We just found out our children have visas!!! Our trip to Haiti will be short but sweet this time. We arrive on Sunday and leave on Tuesday. Just enough time to visit with our friends at Foyer de Sion http://www.foyerdesion.org/ and our friends at the Holt Fontana village http://www.holtintl.org/

The best part - we don't have to leave Marie Vierge and Roberto this time!!! They are coming HOME!!!

It is late, I am very tired and I have a ton to do before we leave but check back I'm sure to post some wonderful photos next week!

Bonne Nuit!

VISA Appointment!!!

I just found out we have a visa appointment for tomorrow! Our orphanage director will have to do it for us because we can not get to Haiti in one day!

Praying all goes well and my kids will have visas tomorrow! This will set us free to go get them and bring them home!!!

I'm speechless!

One more day...

...to wait for an appointment. Apparently the medical documents were not turned in with our other documents last week. The orphanage director will be turning them in tomorrow and hopefully getting an appointment for us.

Here is a fun picture just because they are so cute!

:)

If you will, please join us...

...in fasting and prayer. If you read this and believe in the power of fasting and prayer, we will be praying for a visa appointment for July 15 or 17th. We hope to get an answer from the Embassy on Monday. This will give us a chance at reasonable airfare and allow us to focus on preparing to bring home Marie and Roberto.

I will also need to get Marisa and Katiana ready for girls camp and Michael ready for Scout camp......so, having an answer on Monday would really help me focus.

Today we moved all of Zac's stuff into Michael's room......so they will now share rooms. We bought two twin mattresses on Thursday for Marie and Roberto so we are now ready for them to come home. I have a few clothes for the kids but find it difficult to buy from my imagination. I get confused trying to figure out what will fit them........When we first met them, the clothes I brought were way too big. Little Roberto would put TWO pairs of shorts on and then we would fold down the waist band to keep them from falling off........I'm not sure why he wanted to wear two pair but it worked. He was 5 years old and the clothes were 3T's. Marie had the same problem, she was 6 and we brought size 4T for her. I have to laugh, as I remember turning around to see her run right out of her skort! We promptly found a safety pin to fix that problem! They are so adorable! They are now 7 and 8 years old. I am so ready for them to be home. I'm ready to love them and help them overcome whatever challenges they may have. I'm just READY! For one who procrastinates..........I would say I'm way OVERDUE on being ready and I hope and pray we get a visa appointment that allows us to travel very soon.

Last Monday I finally reached the point of accepting they would be home on time. I lost all desire to argue and complain about the exhausting process this has been. I actually bought a plane ticket to attend our company tradeshow in Chicago (July 17 - 19 --and more than anything I hope my plan gets messed up). I just reached this place of TRUST - trusting God had ALL the power to bring them home and HE would bring them home on time. This realization came with a sense of peace......although, there is a portion of peace that can not come until they are with us, a part of my heart remains heavy as it has been.......its just a feeling of trust that came which allowed me some added peace. The next day I received an e-mail from the Embassy. I had to open it three times before I knew for sure it was from the Embassy and not USCIS (even though it was signed "Yours truly, Adoptions Unit, US Embassy). The e-mail said they had received our approved adoption petition and then listed the final documents needed to complete our adoptions. The last request in the e-mail was "when would we be available for an appointment". My prayers were being answered right before my eyes.

The next day, our facilitator called me to tell me she thought we had a visa appointment on Thursday morning. Of course, we couldn't get to Haiti that quickly so we hoped and prayed that the orphanage director could set a new appointment for July 8th. Things didn't work out on Thursday for the orphanage director to meet with the Adoptions Unit, although she tried, so we are now hoping Monday we will be able to confirm our appointment and arrange our travel.

Wish I had some current photos of the kids......maybe I'll just find some favorites and add them for fun. THANKS to all who joins us in prayer and fasting (or just prayer :) or just positive thinking :) We appreciate all of you!

I've been tagged (into blogging again)!

Thanks Tana........I'm writing on my blog today because of your tag ;)

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...

I just had my fourth baby boy - and my first brown eyed child!

I was a stay at home mom pinching pennies in half.

I was dreaming about my own business.

I was probably not getting enough sleep and changing alot of diapers

I was.... can't remember, that was a long time ago!


5 Things on my to do list...

Re-arrange the kids bedrooms

Buy Katiana a *PINK* bicycle helmet

Prepare for QuicKutz board meeting

Mail my mom and dads combined mothers day/fathers day presents (YES I'm very late!)

Finish reading "Three Cups of Tea"


5 favorite snacks/food

Dannon Peach/Passionfruit yogurt drink

Bananas

Pumpkin pie

Burritos

Chocolate Potatoe Cake


5 Things I would do if I was a billionaire...

Finish the Foyer de Sion orphanage in Haiti (how original, right Tana?)

Start a business which employs people from Haiti

Take my entire family (including parents, siblings and anyone else who claims me as family) on a Foyer de Sion service trip THEN on a fabulous cruise!

Travel the World

Buy a ranch with lots of trees and a stream going through it.....of course, horses too, maybe even a few chickens and one of those little goats that faint when startled ;)


5 Bad habits...

The opposite of "early to bed and early to rise"

procrastination (look at my to do list)

hiding clutter

avoiding the mailbox

biting my toenails.......just kidding but I couldn't think of anything else that I was willing to admit.


5 Places I have lived...

Salt Lake City, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Provo, Cedar Hills......good thing they didn't ask for 6!

5 People I'm tagging...

Jeni
Casey
Amy
Wendy.....but don't do it if your computer is packed up for your move ;)
Becky

I am back!

Well......after a very long break from blogging - I'm BACK! Life has been crazy for too many reasons around the Hixon home. Having Katiana home is NOT one of those reasons! She is simply an amazing young girl who seems to have found her place! Honestly I prepared for things to be more difficult, with all the books and experiences I was learning from. This preparation really opened my mind to the variety of possibilities and potential challenges of older child adoption. While I am grateful for the time I had to prepare I still feel some sadness over the long process that steals time away from families and children waiting. I am also filled with deep gratitude for the blessings we are receiving as our family is changing!

This week we received the MOST WONDERFUL NEWS about our little Marie and Roberto! THEY HAVE PASSPORTS!!! This really is the last step required from the Haitian government! This is such a huge step - Freedom from the process that has been part of our lives for the past 24 months!!! Really, Marie and Roberto have been part of my daily thoughts for the past 31 months....I can't believe they were only 4 and 5 years old when we started this process......now they are 7 and 8!

I requested the services of a wonderful Doctor in Haiti a couple of weeks ago. She sent me this picture of Marie and Roberto with a report from a check-up she did. She mentioned in her report that we may want to do a bone x-ray to check their ages.....as she did the same thing I did two years ago, and that is - QUESTION their ages based on their sizes. The good news is Roberto weighed in a 31.5 lbs when the last report I had said he was 29lbs. At 7 years old (if he is that) that is pretty little....... Marie is 40lbs and is 13months older than Roberto. She reported that Marie was very talkative but Roberto didn't speak a single word. Well.....this could be why Roberto doesn't gain much weight.......he is not the squeaky wheel demanding attention! The picture brings so many emotions to the surface for me. First, it resembles early pictures we received of the two of them - sad, no smiles, frail, hurting, scared.....I see all of these things in their faces. I love that Marie has her arm around Roberto.....that too has been a consistent theme in pictures we have received over the past two years. I'm sad that they don't seem happy - but I'm sure it is because they are at a DOCTOR's office and they are not thrilled about that! HOWEVER, I have really been worried about them since our last visit in September. We were only able to spend one day and night with them and I have been concerned about what ideas they must have about us. I wonder, if they wonder, what having a family *really* means? Can you even imagine having your family come visit 3 times in two years. AND this family looks and sounds different! And from their perspective.....they must really think we are kind of stupid given they talk to us and we smile with dumb eyes trying to figure out what they are saying.....they must really think they got stuck with a bunch of crazies.....as I can't imagine they are old enough to even understand the concept of a different language! It is what it is and I can't change it......but I wish some sanity would be enforced to the process of international adoption! I can't tell you how many times I have wondered where the justice is in this process! A process that should be celebrated is questioned over and over and over by every person along the way holding power. Ugh......I didn't mean to turn this into a negative post.......I'm really, really, trying to be positive as we enter the last step of getting our children's visas. Things haven't been going so good for many of my friends in this last step. I pray for them. I am also praying we get visas in a reasonable amount of time. My definition of that is 2 - 3 weeks -- unfortunately, many of my friends have been waiting 10, 12, 14 weeks! I really need your prayers......I just can't stand much more of this wondering what they are wondering!

Please join us in sincere prayers for all the families waiting to get their children home from Haiti. Please pray for the children, the caregivers, the families and the people with the power to do the right thing!

Turning 14!

...In January

Katiana had her "14th" birthday!





She got her own IPOD! Had a "Cookies & Cream" ice cream cake and had lots of fun bowling with her friends and family! AND look! She has found friends just like her!

Looking back...

...in November...

We went to California for Thanksgiving. Went to the beach - rented dorky tourist bicycles, saw a sea lion at the end of the pier, ate lots of turkey, rolls and PIE, went to see WICKED at the Pantages Theatre, L.A. Car show, shopping!, saw the movie Enchanted and just had lots of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house! AND.....we took a family picture but someone didn't feel like smiling UNTIL...

our photographer (thanks AMY) cracked a funny!

In December....we had a WHITE Christmas!

Katiana got her own PINK bicycle!

We ALL went sledding...

even the dog!