So here I am, back in blogging action- inspired by exciting steps in our journey towards expanding our family, and desiring to capture some of it in writing (and share it with whoever will listen :)! Let's take a brief step back in time...
October 2008- We felt united in our call as a family to pursue the dream of adoption and Kelly and I took the International Adoption course right around Thanksgiving weekend here in Calgary.
January 2009- Filled out application forms to begin the process in Canada.
July 2009- Embarked on an exciting opportunity as a family as we boarded a plane to experience life in another part of the world (the Cayman Islands).
October 2009- Began the process of applying to adopt from the Cayman Islands.
May 2010- Kelly and I went on a life-changing trip with our church (in Cayman) to Haiti.
July 2010- Returned to Calgary as we prepared for the arrival of our 3rd son.
February 2011- Kiel Asher Archuleta entered the world. He won the hearts of his brother's at first sight, and continues to keep us all enthralled with his every move!
September 2011- Began application process for international adoption again :)
January 2012- Completed our home study and made a new friend (our Social worker is so fantastic)!
April 2012- We received approval from the Alberta government to adopt from Haiti.
May 2012- Connected with another family in Alberta who were at the same stage of the adoption process as we were and began an amazing journey with them- it is such a blessing to have another family to walk with!
Summer 2012- Our dossier (a huge stack of very important papers that include police checks, medical checks, intervention checks, lab work, psychological evaluations, reference letters, financial stuff, home study document, pictures, (and many more things as well) was completed- authenticated and legalized in Ottawa.
July and August- Spent the months trying to find an orphanage that fit the requirements of Alberta, our lawyer, and who would accept our application. Came up against one road block after another. We continued to pray and trust the Lord with what He had in store for us and our children (who we love to pieces even though we don't know who they are yet!) Also during the summer month we learned that Haiti was in the process of re-structuring their whole adoption process and the county was closed to any new applications for the month of July. After re-opening in August they were planning to close down again at the end of the month. We weren't sure if we would be able to make the deadline.
September 2012- Lots of phone calls, e-mails and research went into the last few months and all we came across were closed doors. Then... we learned that Haiti had extended their deadline (not once, or twice, but 3 times). We connected with a lady who was working with an orphanage in Haiti called Foyer de Sion and within a week, our dossier was on a plane to Haiti (Sept 27th)- hooray!!!
The orphanage that we are adopting from is Foyer de Sion http://foyerdesion.org
Guesno and Majorie Mardy are the Haitian couple who started the orphanage 13 years ago and they have such an amazing story. Little parts of it are on the website under "History". They are the people who are going through our dossier and matching us with who they think is a good fit for our family.
This brings us up to date and now I will try to keep up with any new developments as we wait and pray for what the Lord has in store...
Awaiting our child/children across the seas
