The Beginnings of our Adoption Journey- The Dream

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

Haiti

Our team

I have been waiting for a week to try to bring some clarity and words to our experience but I am still having a hard time... so here are some of the pictures we took and a few of our experiences...

arriving at the airport to faces of desperation..not waiting for anyone in particular but for anyone who can give them anything...

a street in Port-au-Prince

the streets are lined with people selling stuff but no one is buying anything...

signs of the earthquake and devastation are everywhere

tent cities fill the city and provide shelter for some of those who lost their homes

we arrived at the orphanage where 70 beautiful children live

the older ones take care of the younger ones

Kelly connected with Berson, a young man (21 years old) who became a believer in February. Now he has started a Bible Club (he has gathered many of the kids in the area) and they meet every week. Kelly went and spoke to them and had a really encouraging time.

the house where all the girls live

the house where all the boys live

Jean-Mark was looking intently at the ground so i went over to see what he was looking at. I eventually realized that he had planted some seeds in the ground. i started helping him clear the rocks out of the way and make a little "bed" for the seeds (look closely at the bottom left corner of the picture). He took a picture that day and then a few days later he took another picture...

we met every day to water them and take care of them. He was very proud of his little plants and I was very proud of him!!!

the boys were thrilled to have a picture taken in the bus

this is a school house. we arrived to all of the kids clearing out of it so we could set up our medical clinic for the afternoon.

Here is Doctor Jefferson and Kelly, his right hand man! These two were quite the pair- it was really neat to watch them work together!

some of the kids from the school

Kelly playing soccer at the orphanage
this is where we all slept (the rooster's and dogs were quite the symphony throughout the night..)

kids we saw while driving around

this was the 3rd medical clinic we put on at a nearby church. we ended up seeing about 500 people who received treatment and got medications. We also had a dentist doing extractions and fillings.

we drove through Port-au-Prince and this is the government building (Palace) where the President used to live.
looking down a main street (most of the streets were much narrower and busier).
we walked past this man (who was blind) and his son. he was singing about the earthquake and how Haiti would never forget.
The priest of this catholic church died in the earthquake.
this man was chipping away at the rubble of what used to be his home. many people are still looking for loved ones.

I got to know Michaelange throughout the week and she is such a loving person. She was cooking for us all week and I learned lots from her!
here are some of the kids when they got home from school
we played "keep away" games and the girls did lots of braids in my hair but they never stayed in because we didn't have elastics!

our team spent half a day measuring and bagging rice and beans. 200 people from the surrounding communities came on the second last day that we were there to receive some food and water.

...lining up for food

The people we met were so resilient, strong, talented, loving, positive, and faith-filled despite their circumstances- we are so thankful to have shared a bit of their lives!

What a time...What a Grandma!!!

Even though our time with Ellen was short it was so refreshing to be together again! She got a whirlwind tour of the important places on the island and had her first ever driving experience from the other side of the car, driving on the other side of the road! She is such a trooper! I will have to get the boys to blog on their experience with Grandma while we were gone, so you get more of the details, but what I did see was evidence of a full week of fun and bonding with Grandma!