Haiti Families get together October 23

I remember entering this adoption journey thinking we would be going this alone as Haiti was not a popular country to adopt from. There were not hundreds of families adopting from there like China or Ethiopia.

What I did not know is that God had two wonderful families that each live within two ours of us, going through the same process from the same orphanage even.

Through this process I have learned so much from both families and they understood how we were feeling and what we were experiencing...What a blessing. We even had the awesome opportunity to travel with one of the families to Haiti.

The bond is strong with these families and I hope we continue to do these get together.

Adoption was finalized and Names legal changed!!

Offically Introducing the Lisle Family, As the girls names are now legally Macy Widline Lisle and Mylee Widelene Lisle.

Wow what an emotional day! The end of a 2 year process with the girls, was finalized in court today. It was hard to answer the questions, without getting emotional. We are so glad that God saw fit to bring these girls here and we love them so much.

Judge Cobb was so great with the kids.

I was so proud of Dakota and Gage, as they both decided to say how they feel about having the girls in our family.

The Dallas County Court house is so beautiful.

Yesterday The Girls started Dance Lessons

They were so excited. They will be learning both Tap and Ballet

Next we went to the Renaissance Fair

Everyone got into the act. It was a fun day!

What we have been up to!!!

First we built the girls their first tent out of blankets. Boy did they love this!

August 3 Home for 6 months

Wow, the girls have already been here for 6 months! How time flies...
Update on Mylee - We are really happy with the progress that Mylee has been making. Her crying and whying has decressed so much. She takes correction so much better. She is fitting in the family and loves her biggest brother Dakota so much.
We had a momement this weekend that almost brought me to tears. Dakota smashed his foot when we were outside. Mylee went over to him right away and hugged him so tightly. You could see that she just wanted him to feel better. It was so precious.
We love our spunkey, funny, full of life girl.

Update on Macy,,, Macy is doing very well, she has fit into the family without skipping a beat.
For those of you thinking that an older child is harder to adopt. Macy would change your mind.
Macy from day one acted like she has always been apart of our family.
Macy makes faces sometimes when she does not get her way, and you know eactly what she is thinking.. Macy is so easy to love and so loving. I would say that Gage and her are closets togther and they have a love hate realtionship.. like any other brother or sister.
She has lost 4 teeth since being home. She can not wait for school to start.

Holy Ambition

Ever since returning from Haiti, my heart has been changed. I pray that it continues....
I remember when I wanted to excell at work, move up and keep going higher. Now this is so less important to me. What I want to be important now can not be bought with any amount of money, or any degree.
I want to help others and want to follow the path God has created me for.
My heart is in Haiti and I pray every day that God will show me what I can do for him next. Does this mean going back to Haiti, helping Haiti from here or ??????

Only time will tell, I pray that I will know what he wants me to do and do it!

The great book I am reading for the 2nd time right now is Holy Ambition by Chip Ingram.
If you are wanting to do big things for God and step out of your comfort zone then this is the book for you.

Ransom

I read this on another adoption site and thought WOW this is a neat way to think about the money we all spend to adopt!

These are all questions we can ask until we are blue in the face. These are the things that when I wake up from my own snoring in the middle of the night staring at the ceiling fan I angrily think about to myself. If not for money we would have more children than we do, that is a fact. These however are all things we cannot change. I can’t hit the lotto if I’m not in the game, until there is reform … until there is a “Cash for Children” program instead of “Cash for Clunkers” then unfortunately everyone trying to adopt is going to have to deal with the economics of adopting either domestically or abroad. A wise person once told us as we were lamenting the cost that we were not “buying children”, that we could not look at it that way. We had to look at the cost of adoption as “ransom.” Think about it. Anyone of us would give up everything we had if one of our children currently in our home were held for ransom. We would pay whatever it took. Family would join in, friends would join in, strangers would line up to help. No one would think “well that kid deserves being held for ransom because of XYZ” … the thought is terrifying.

Look at adoption costs the same way. You are potentially stealing the future away from these children. But in a good way. There is a child being born in the US right now who needs a family so they do not grow up without hope! There is a child living in an orphanage where they share a 10x12 room with 15 other children at night who needs your help! There is an HIV positive child in a far away land who if they could only make it to the US would live a long and happy life because of all the breakthrough medicine. There is an older child that once they are aged out of the system will surely be forced into prostitution! Pay the ransom for these children, please … I humbly beg of you.

As an adoptive mom this really hits home. I also think this is a neat way to explain it, when someone asks about the expenses that are involved in adopting.

Mothers Day 2010

As I was getting ready for church this morning I was pondering how wonderful it was that all 4 kids were here for this mothers day. Only a few months ago this was not even thought to be a possibility.

This is a gift that can not be bought with any amount of money and will keep on bringing me joy for the rest of my life you can not say that about much in life.

I am so thankful that God entrusts me with these children and that he is so mighty and gracious and got the girls here this year.

He made the impossible possible and made us a family of 6.

My God is an Awesome God...and he is mighty to save
Tonya

April 3 Two Months as a Family of 6

Steve labled this picture as what he does on his days off! I laughed so hard.. What a fun Dad to let Mylee do this to him...

Updates of what has been happening. Wow in only two moths we hardly ever hear a Kreole word at the Lisle household. I am happy that they picked up English so fast but also sad that they are loosing their other language. They still pray in Kreole every day and we all love to hear it. Macy started talking about the Orphanage and her Birth Parents this month. It really helped me feel close to her, by have these special talks. I will treasure them always.

Macy had her ears piericed before and they had grown shut. She let me know that she would like to have them done again. I took her to wal-mart on April 10 and got them redone. She is really proud of them.

Mylee was having a lot of discomfort in her ears. The doctors told us this was from her tonsils being so large it reverts pain to the ears. So we went ahead and had them taken out yesterday and also had the skin tag removed from her right ear. She is sore but feeling a lot better today.

She is not happy that she can not eat her favorite snack Cheetos.

She is getting special mommy and me time today as Grandma came and got the other three kids as Steve had to work. So we have cuddled and watched a lot of movies today.

I have to say after only 2 months we really are a family, there is a lot of love between all of us and even some sibling rivalry going on too. Especially with Macy and Gage. They had the most change though in birth order so it can be expected. Macy went from Oldest to middle and Gage went from Youngest to Middle. Dakota and Mylee stayed the same.

Life is busy and no one knows this better then Steve. This past week he was off and was at the doctor or dentist 5 days this week. He is such a great help and never complains about running after the kids. What a great Dad.

Haiti Still Suffers after the Cameras are gone

Please take a moment to read about what is still happening in Haiti, and please do not forget!

http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2010/03/cbs-news-article.html

Our story in the Dallas County Paper on 3/25

A lady from the Dallas County Paper was here tonight, she was writing our adoption story for the Dallas County Paper. So she said it should be in there on 3/25,which is Gage's 10th birthday.

Otherwise life has been busy and we are so glad the girls are healthy again. After Macy fight Mono and Mylee fighting double ear infection.

All is well again!

One month as a family of 6

Wow it has already been a month. Time has flown by, we have been so busy. I can not imagine our lives without the girls. We are a family, a family of 6.

I was thinking on the way home today about how many kids I wanted growing up. I would think I always wanted 2 a boy and a girls just like my mom. Although growing up I had always thought I missed out on something not having a sister. So maybe three kids would be ok.

Then Steve and I had Dakota and were so in love with him we thought this is all we need we will just have one. Then no I guess two will be good and we had Gage.

Two seemed just right for a long time. Till November of 2006, when God spoke to my heart and said it was time to think about adopting. Something Steve and I had always talked about.

So we thought Ok we would add one girl and be a family of 3 kids. Then I saw the girls waiting on line and that was the end of that we were OK with becoming a family with 4 kids. The rest is history as we are now a family of 6 with 4 kids.

No we are not perfect parents but who is! All I know is that you only live once and I do not want to regret that I did not do the things in life I know I was created to do.

We love our kids!

Beautiful Umbrella's

Steve's cousin Chantele and daughter Victoria stopped by to say HI to the girls. They brought them gifts and I would say one of their favorites are the Umbrella's. The funny thing was they saw these about a week ago a Wal-Mart and wanted them. Steve and I asked them to wait till it was warmer. So they were happy to get them.

Thank you Chantele and Victoria.

Jennifer and kids brought gifts

WOW! Jennifer a friend of ours from town stopped by tonight with her two kids and they brought the girls lots of learning tools. Books,Flash Cards, Wipe off books and the Leap Pad that helps with reading. She knew exactly what we need and was very helpful with answers on how she had already been through teaching English to older kids. Thanks Jennifer for all your help and the wonderful gifts.

The girls are really excited to go back to school tomorrow. Macy was eating popcorn and when Steve said time for bed as we have school tomorrow she jumped up and was happy to go to bed. WOW! I hope she is always like this.
Tonya

Macy's Doctor appointments

I had forgotten to go back in and let everyone know how Macy's doctor's appointments went. She Weighted 47 1/2 (Which is in the 45%) and her height is 45 inches(which is in the 10%).

She got blood drawn and her TB test, she was not happy about these, but she had these laying down and now I wonder if that was most of it. As she got three shots a couple of days later in her arms and never even had one tear she was so brave.

Glad to have shots over for a little while. Macy will need more the middle of March but until then we can take a break from them.

Macy and Mylee got Mail!!!

Macy and Mylee got their first mail today. They received Valentines cards and stickers from Grandma and Grandpa Davis. They had fun opening the cards and then they stuck the stickers on paper, that are now hanging on the fridge. Please see below the new masterpieces on our fridge. Macy's are the 3 together and Mylee's are the two.

Thank you for sending the cards, they really had fun with these.

Kids had fun going to Grandma and Papa Siewert's

We took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa Siewerts yesterday. They got there first valentines presents and they had a good time riding the new 4 wheeler. Did not even seem to mind the cold. They just wanted to keep riding.
Here are some pictures of the fun.

This was there first trip to a grandparents house.

4 kids and really busy

I can not believe that the girls have already been here for a week. Having 4 kids has been really busy but oh how we love them.

Having younger kids in the house has really kept us busy and I told Steve they will help to keep us young!

It still does not seem real, that they are here, even though we waited 18 months for this to happen, we knew we were going to wait a least 12 or 18 more to get them home.

God is good! We are so blessed to be able to have them home with us already.

We had Widelene's doctor appointment today, and I felt really bad as she got 4 shots in her legs, a TB test done on her arm and blood drawn from her arm too. She did not try to get away or kick but she cried really hard.

She weighed 34 1/2 and was 40 inches tall.

Tomorrow we take Widline in for her appointment and go through this all over again.

I talked to our adoption social worker yesterday and let her know our concerns about the girls names. We love them and think they are beautiful but it is so confusing for everyone else.

So she agreed that it would be OK to change their names. She said to introduce their new name with the name now as a middle name and say them together. Then later drop of their name now and just start calling them by the new name. So we started doing this and the girls are already picking up on the new name.

Widline (7) we are calling her Widline Macy so then later she can go by Macy

Widelene(4) we are calling her Widelene Mylee so then later she can go by Mylee.

As you see it has been busy and we have already visited school too.

Here are some pictures of our trip to get the girls and some from here.

Tonya

Home as a family of 6!!!

We flew to Miami on Tuesday and arrived in Miami at 12:20 in the afternoon. We then sat in the office of refugee at the airport till they confirmed that the girls were on the plane. They landed at 6:30pm.
We then went to "His House" the shelter that would be housing the orphans till we could be granted custody of them. We were then told at 8pm that we should go back to our rooms as the kids would need to go through customs and this would take several hours so they would not allow us to see them that night. They said that at 10am the next morning they would allow us to visit with the kids while they processed the paperwork.
Around 10:30 we were taken to Widelene(the youngest), we keep asking when we could see Widline, as she was placed in one house and Widelene in another. As Widelene came there from customs at 10pm and Widline did not get there till 2am.
They would say they would bring her to us but then another hour would pass and no Widline.
Finally after about 3 hours of this I was about to go crazy! I told Steve if they do not have here to us within 30 minutes then I am going to call Holt. Steve seeing that the momma was not happy went looking for her by his self as we were not getting any answers. He found her and before he could get her down the road to me I met them half way. I was so happy to see her.
We did not get released to take them from the shelter till 3:00pm
We stopped quickly at Wal-mart thinking we would take them swimming in the pool, but was to cold. So we went to the group meeting with the other adoptive parents and then went out to eat.
The girls and I slept in bed together last night and we had to get them up at 4:30am to go to the airport to come home. So they were out at 7:30 tonight.
It has been a big day flying and seeing their brothers whom they attached to very quickly.
Life is good and so is God. It still seems like a dream that they are really here, we love them so much.

We are leaving to get the Girls!!!!

I got the call yesterday at work about 1:15, that it was time, the girls we coming to Florida tonight around 9pm. We are flying out this morning at 6:30 from Des Moines. Hope to be back on Wednesday but not sure yet. Yesterday Febuary 1st was Widline's 7th birthday and the last she will have to celebrate with out us.

Humanatarian Parole Approval

Last night around 8pm we received a call from the State Department stating the girls had been approved for Humanatarian Parole. YEAH! One more step closer to bring them home.

What we know and what we do not know

We know that Holt is in Haiti and that our paperwork has been taken to the Embassy.

We know that the girls are OK and they will be going swimming at the hotel near the orphanage this weekend. This will help them get to know the staff that will be bring them to the U.S. so they feel comfortable traveling.

What we do not know: How long it will take to get the Prime Minister of Haiti to sign off on each childs file so that they can leave Haiti and what day they will be here.

Holt sent us pictures of the children today, I think they just wanted to reassure us the kids are OK. Here are a couple of the pictures they sent us.

We were excited to see Widline wearing the tinkerbell shirt we took her last month. The girls are in the front row on the right side. Widelene is in a pink dress standing next to Widline in pink shorts and white tinkerbell shirt.

The latest on bringing our girl's home

We received an email last night stating that 3 staff members from Holt are leaving for Atlanta on Monday and they should be in Haiti on Tuesday or Wednesday. We are so excited that they were able to move this quickly.

They also said that we will receive an update by email at the end of each day next week to let us know what is happening and the travel plans as soon as they have them.

Please pray for safe travel for these staff members and continued safety for Mansour, the workers in Haiti and all the children.

what we heard today

In consideration of the childrens safety, they will be sending staff to help at Holt Fontana and to help transfer the kids out of Haiti. So the way we understand it now it will still be a week or two before they get here. Although it is hard to wait we want the kids to be safe, so we will wait.
Please continue to pray.

What we know

We have forwarded all requested documents to our agency, to support us getting Humanitarian Parole for the girls. So now all we can do is wait and pray, that they get issued the parole and are in the U.S. soon. We are seeing some orphans starting to come into the U.S. so that is positive.
Tonya

Latest on the girls

From everything we are hearing we feel that the girls could be coming home soon. CNN news report with Dixie from GLA orphanage in Haiti stated that the Haitian President has signed an OK to release all orphans that had been relinquished prior to the quake and had been matched with a family to leave. So we should hear more soon on how this will be handled by the U.S.
Please continue to pray

What we are doing to bring the girls home

Today has been a busy day of emails, checking others blogs and registering our adoption process with varies authorities in hopes that they can help us.

I sent an email to Senator Tom Harkin and was impressed when a lady from his office called and talked to Steve with in a couple of hours. She asked him questions on our case and gave us her number incase we have questions in the future.

I registered our adoption at Askci@state.gov and with the Joint Council on International Children's Services.

We just keep praying that God has a plan in all of this and we will have the girls here with us soon. Please pray!
Tonya

News on Holt Fontana Village

Dear Adoptive Families,
We wanted to give you another quick update and will do so periodically as we find out more. Phone communication has not been possible yet. However, we did get a text message and also an email from Mansour this morning. He, the children and the staff at Holt Fontana are all OK.

We are thankful to God for that! He didn't mention anything about whether there had been any damage to the Holt Fontana Village structures, but we can update everyone on that later when we are able to find out more. Mansour was also able to speak with his wife on the phone yesterday, and she and their son are okay.

Holt will also be posting updates about this on our website- you can go to http://www.holtinternational.org/ and click on "blog". There will also be a link for anyone who wishes to make a donation towards meeting the need, although it may not be available until later today.

Steve and I are shaken, when we see the pictures on T.V. of the places we just saw and were at only 5 weeks ago are now laying in shambles. Please continue to pray for Haiti.

Everyone at the Orphanage is OK

Steve talked to Dan at Holt last night, and he said that they had received an email from a family that was down there, that everyone is OK at the Orphanage. We feel really blessed, but please continue to pray as we know that our Director's family lives in Port-Au-Prince. Will update more as soon as we hear more.
Tonya

Haiti 7.0 Earthquake

Wanted to update everyone as to what we know at this time. Received an email from Holt that they had spoken to Mansour the director before the earthquake but have been unable so far to reach him since it happened. The girls are around 50 miles outside of Port-Au-Prince.
Please pray for everyone in Haiti and we will update you when we know more.
Tonya

A little down today

Well anyone who has been following our adoption from Haiti understands that Haiti is not an easy country to adopt from, but the children are so worth it.

Having said that, there are times when I think I must be crazy to walk through this process but most of the time I know exactly why I am.

Today has been one of those days!

I should not look at the calendar but how do you avoid that? I see the 16th of the month is coming again soon and that made me sad, as on the 16th we will have had our paperwork in Haiti for 11 months. So for 11 months we have been waiting for the call that we are in IBESR.(for those of you not adopting from Haiti this is the first major legal step). This is not to say that nothing has been happening on the girls files. As all this time they have been working on the new requirements for the birth certificates, but does it have to take this long?

Also when we traveled to Haiti last month we got two processes completed that would of had to be done later so at that point we are ahead of the game.

I have been told you feel discouraged or want to give up right before your breakthrough. This makes me smile as I think hay maybe this means the call will be coming soon and that gives me hope again.

Please pray that the call will be soon.

Tonya

147 Million Orphans in the World

Read about an amazing young lady helping the orphans in Uganda. Read her story at kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com