Sunday, May 26, 2013

Getting the Girls....

I realized today that I did not write a post about getting the girls. Lol! I put a post on Facebook and realize, not everyone reading my blog is on Facebook:) So I just wanted to write a little about how that day went.

Sarah, from CONANI, called Wednesday afternoon and told us we needed to be at CONANI at 9 am on Thursday morning. We loaded up SCORE's van and took off! It was like Christmas morning, we were all so excited! We picked up Giovanny Valdez on the way and he went with us. When we got there Tommy and I had to do an interview with the social worker. Then they brought the girls in to us a little after 10am. I think they were in shock a little. They did not know they were coming to see us until the moment they laid eyes on us! It was a very sweet moment just knowing we were picking them up NEVER to have to return them to the orphanage again!!! Oh...how we have waited for this day!! Words just can't explain. We made our 1st family photo with all of us, which is below! After we greeted them, we met with CONANI'S pediatrician and the social worker interviewed the girls one by one. The girls checked out great, they are very healthy!! Once this was complete we were off!! We loaded the van and headed to the store. We needed some groceries and the girls needed a few clothes and some shoes. They did have some bags of their clothes and all of their keep sakes with them:)

We went to Domino's Pizza for lunch and then we made a stop at one the basketball gyms (of course-lol) to watch a college girls basketball team play. This group of girls stayed next door to us for the last week and were a really sweet group!! The kids got to shoot around a little before the game started so that made them happy! Afterwards, we headed to our Dominican Home:) The girls like where we are staying and have been very content:) My kids are on cloud nine with them here...it has been really precious to watch them play together and interact! Aubree hasn't missed a beat....you would think she has known "Jada & Izzy" her whole life!

 Tommy and I are just soaking all of this in....loving every minute of how God has ordained and worked all of this out...we just continue to be humbled at how the Lord has provided for us at every turn to get us here and keep us here in the DR for 43 days! It is HIS PLAN IN HIS TIME!  We could not have known at the very first time we laid eyes on Jada in 2004 and then Izzy in 2006 that God would have had all of this in mind...but we are so incredibly THANKFUL for the children He has seen fit to give us through birth and through His provision! Six children...I would never have imagined I could be a mom to this many children (only through Christ am I able) ....I am amazed and thankful.... thankful that God chose and adopted me into HIS family. God is truly SOVEREIGN in ALL THINGS And ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!

May you all be blessed in whatever journey the Lord has you on....May you know He is Faithful to see you through whatever He asks of you...Just trust Him one day at a time to accomplish His Will for your life!

"But now, this is what the Lord says- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Isreal; Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; You are Mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God , the Holy One of Isreal, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will BRING YOUR CHILDREN FROM THE EAST AND GATHER YOU FROM THE WEST. (love this:))  I will say to the north, Give them up! and to the South, ' Do not hold them back'. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
EVERYONE WHO IS CALLED BY MY NAME, WHOM I CREATED FOR MY GLORY, WHOM I FORMED AND MADE."
                                                                                                        ISAIAH 43:1-7

Much Love,
Heather








   

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Day 8 in the DR...

Well... we have been here for 1 week.  It has been very good for the most part! The kids have done better than I would have ever dreamed...I hope it will last for another 36 days~lol! Aubree has finally settled in and is sleeping much better! The house we are in has been really good and everything is working great now! Mr. Soto, the owner, has been more than gracious and has met our every need. I love how the Lord continues to cross our paths with such amazing people that live in what seems like a world away! Mr. Soto has BLESSED our family!!

We do not have a car all of the time which has been a little challenging....of course we don't have that many places to go but it does give you a feeling of being trapped some. I am adjusting to this...as you all know we are on the go all of the time and this is Way out of our normal routine~ ha! Mr. Soto is working on getting us a golf cart and this will be most helpful!! We can use the golf cart to go down to the hotel where the kids can swim! It is about a mile 1/2 one way. We have enjoyed walking and the kids have enjoyed bike riding to the hotel so far~except for the HEAT:)) SCORE has so graciously loaned us a car or van when we have needed to go into the capital. We are SO BLESSED by the ministry of SCORE here. The missionaries here are most Wonderful and loving and really feel the gap of missing my family & friends at home:)) After all...SCORE is the reason we came to the DR in the beginning and had the opportunity to meet our baby girls here!

Izzy & Jada have been great! They are settling in really well:) It has been fun to watch my kids be so happy to have them with us! We have played lots of dominos! All the kids LOVE to play Dominos! We were able to get both girls an I-pod to bring them and they LOVE them! They love listening to music, and Izzy is enjoying Facebook and connecting with her best buds at the orphanage. Jada has every shirt and gift we have given them, she showed us her photo book that I made for her 5 years ago. Izzy got out her bible I gave her about 3 years ago. I am so humbled by the way they have held on and loved us from afar as much as we have loved them. It's such an indescribable feeling:))  I am praying for 5 more weeks of awesome bonding time as a family and am so incredibly thankful to the Lord for providing for us and blessing us beyond our wildest dreams!

I will have to admit, I am a little homesick at the moment. I am thankful to be able to use our magic jack phone to call my parents and am thankful for Face-time!! I missing all of my family and precious friends!!  If you are a verizon I-phone user I can text & we can face-time with you so text or face-time  me anyone~ please:)) Love you all!!

Heather:)

                             

Monday, May 20, 2013

Arrival in The DR Update....

Hello to everyone! We arrived safely in the Dominican Friday around 1:30. We left Huntsville at 6:40am~ Yes... we had to get up at 4am which made for a LONG day for all of us:) Thanks to my dad and Leonard Morris for carrying us to the airport in the wee hours of the morning....We had 9 check in bags and all of us had at least one carry-on. Needless to say we needed 2 cars to get us all to the airport~LOL! All flights went smooth. We were picked up by SCORE missionaries who carried us to the house we are renting during our stay.

We are staying in Juan Dolio, which is about 30 minutes from Santo Domingo. SCORE International has it's own hotel in Juan Dolio and we are about 1 mile down the road from it. There is a Country Club Golf course and Hotel and around it is a neighborhood of homes. SCORE also owns a home in this neighborhood and we were able to rent the house next door to it. This is SCORE's busiest season for groups coming on mission trips so we were not able to stay in their home because it is being occupied by groups during our length of stay. The man who rented the house to us is super nice and has been very accommodating. We have been given access the hotel nearby and their pool and exercise equipment. The kids are happy about using the pool:) The house we are renting is nice. It has 3 bedrooms, den kitchen and 2 1/2 baths. I'm still not quite settled in to the realization we are here for 40 days~ I'm sure it will hit soon enough. Brayden has started the countdown everyday....40 days to go:)

We went to Jumbo's which is like Walmart here on Saturday morning and loaded up with household cleaners, pots, pans, towels, and Food of course. The oven isn't working at the moment but the microwave has been put to good use for macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles:) All of the kiddos have adjusted well so far...Aubree has had a little bit of a harder adjustment. I think her ears were bothering her from the flight and she was up most of the night the first night and cried quite a bit. This is unusual for her. She also had a rough night last night. We are praying for a good night's sleep tonight!!

Today we went to Santo Domingo~it was Tommy's first experience driving in Santo Domingo. WE SURVIVED... Praise the Lord!! It is like driving bumper cars...you just see who sticks out their bumper the farthest and honks the loudest to see who gets the right a way...NO KIDDING!! You dodge motorcycles with sometimes a family of 5 on ONE and pray you don't tattoo them-LOL!!  We went to meet with our sweet friend, Sarah at CONANI. Unfortunately, the I-800 Immigration approval for the girls has not yet arrived to the US Embassy here, so were not able to get the girls today. The electronic file is now at the US Visa Center in New Hampshire waiting to be sent off to the US Embassy here. Once it gets here they will call us immediately and we will be able to go pick up the girls. We are very anxious to get them and our kids are having a hard time understanding why we cannot. We were able to get in touch with Senator Shelby today, to ask him if he could call the VISA center on our behalf to see if he can expedite the process... but as we all know it is in God's hands.


I guess that is all I have to report at the moment. Thank you all for your prayers....We couldn't make it without them! I will update you as soon as we know when we will get the girls! Love you all!!

Heather


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Dominican Here We Come...

I am excited to let all of you know... that our Tickets have been booked and we are headed to the Dominican May 17th to start our 30 day co-habitation period!! We will return, Lord Willing, June 30.  I still cannot believe this has FINALLY COME!!!

God has proven He knows the perfect time...this will workout to be a very good time for our family as a whole to travel. Thankfully no school to accomplish, except some reading while we are there and this is a good time for Tommy to travel, ministry wise, as well. We are all experiencing a wide range of emotions. We are SO EXCITED about getting to see the girls' faces when we get there to pick them up! I can't wait for this moment!! But as any trip requires....Preparation to be gone this amount of time for a family of 8 has been quite overwhelming !! I am just praying to have enough sanity to just get on the plane in one week. My kids have been remarkable about all of this and I think they are very excited. I on the other hand have been quite the emotional wreck over the last few weeks, BUT God has been so good to me and given me a precious mother who has done more laundry for me in the last few weeks than she has probably done in 10 years-LOL! Friends who have come to help me move beds, paint and just encourage me that God is in control and He will walk us through all of this! We have been so incredibly blessed throughout this entire process... I cannot even put it into words.

So here are the details about what is to come as far as we know right now. The girls will stay with us for the 30 day co-habitation. Throughout these weeks, we have a few meetings with social workers so they can make sure we are all adjusting well together, at the end of the 30 days we will have a final court hearing which will finalize the adoption. Then Unfortunately, the girls will have to stay in the DR for another 45-60 days because they have to allow for a 30 day appeal period and all of their final documents have to be processed. (New birth certificates with their new names, and VISAS so they can enter the US.) FORTUNATELY, Giovanni and Carolina Valdez have offered to allow the girls to live with their precious family until all papers complete. We will all travel home on June 30, there is a possibility Tommy will have to stay a little longer to make sure they are getting their papers pushed through as quickly as possible!! When all is complete then Tommy and I will fly back over to the DR and BRING THE GIRLS HOME!!!!

Soo, we covet your prayers over our family as we embark on a very different way of life for 45 days- please pray that God will use this precious time to bond our family unit and grow our faith in a big way! Our specific prayer requests would be:
*That we would all stay healthy during our stay
*For a smooth transition for the girls and their emotional state
*For the emotional state of all the kiddos-that they will adjust to the culture well during this period
*That God would provide for all our financial needs while we are there-we know He will!
*Wisdom for Tommy and I as we lead our children in this process of Change

I will blog frequently while we are in the Dominican-keeping you all updated on the "Reality Show" that is taking place with the Crazy Kyle's!! There are sure to be some Big Laughs along the way!

Thank you all for your love and care for our family! I look forward to my girls getting to meet all the ones who have prayed so fervently on their behalf! You have all made an eternal investment in their lives! We are forever grateful!! God Bless all of you and your precious families! We love you!

Heather