Day 26....

Hello to everyone....Well, I have great intentions of blogging everyday but it hasn't been as easy as I thought. By the time I get food ready for everyone and feed them for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all the snacks & drinks in between and clean up....the day is almost gone! Then trying to find a moment where the kids are somewhat quiet enough for me to think and write my thoughts is the other obstacle-lol :) So here we go in giving a quick recap of the last week....

We were so blessed to take a trip last Friday to a BEAUTIFUL Resort in Samana, Dominican Republic,  with the owners of the house we are renting and their precious family! We were able to use one of SCORE's older vans to take the trip, praising the Lord for this, because it was going to cost around 500.00 to rent a van for the 4 days we were gone...Yikes!!  The van is great and seats up to 12 people....only problem is the van is a stick shift and the roads were very curvy and we went up and down mountains for about 2 1/2 hours...praise God I gave all of the kids dramamine except Aubree. She was asleep when we left and woke up about and hour into the trip. Well, about 30 min before we arrived to the resort out comes the vomit from Aubree Mae...oh my....Jackson screamed like a girl (he was sitting next to her), she was strapped in the car seat and I couldn't get to her to get her out, so we were all screaming for Tommy to pull over....Yes it was a bit of a funny nightmare-LOL!  Tommy was finally able to pull over and we cleaned all we could up with a beach towel....stripped her down and then she enjoyed the rest of the ride in the front with me:) She kept saying "I throw up, I throw up"...she never cried just kept right on as if she was fine all along. Always an adventure with the Kyle's. 

      

We reached the resort and what a beautiful sight it was! The pools were wonderful, the beach was beautiful and the company was awesome. The Soto's treated us like royalty and met our every need. The kids had such a wonderful time and the girls enjoyed it so much! My wish was for the girls to have an unforgettable experience on their island and this they did along with my other kids:) We made friends for a lifetime! I couldn't have prayed for a more wonderful time for our family...It was simply a gift from God! 

We returned home late Sunday night...yes we ALL took dramamine this time except for Tommy (our driver)....we slept very well that night:))

Monday we just hung out at the house...it stormed almost all day....made a trip to the store to restock our food and drinks (this is very important-lol!)

Yesterday Brayden was able to play in a baseball game. There is a 10 year old baseball team here on a mission trip with SCORE and they were playing in a game nearby- so we went and Bray played on the Dominican Team. He had a good time:) This was good....he needed some practice....Brayden made All-Stars back home and decided that he wanted to come home early and play. So, we decided to let him do this. My dad is flying over here this Sunday June 16, and he is taking Brayden home on Thursday June 20. This was a bit of a difficult decision for Brayden because he desperately wants to play but has struggled with anxiety of separation of me and Tommy alot this year. We have been getting some help for him with this issue. He has been doing better over the last couple of months and I am praying really hard for him that he will have a breakthrough going through with this decision to come home early. So, I covet your prayers for him as he comes home, that God would give him peace of mind and that he will continue to have faith that God is in control and with him ALL of the time. Thank you for this:)

So to wrap it up....Today has been a chilling kind of day as well....it has been quite rainy and overcast this week. I am still struggling with some homesickness but as my Jesus Calling devotion keeps reminding me....God is my strength, my trust must be in Him and Him alone and He is the provider of all that I need...moment by moment. 

One of my precious friends, Christine Pendley, mother of 4 and precious wife, fell asleep with Jesus this morning. She has battled with cancer for about 7 years and has fought a good fight of faith and courage! I am so sad that I am not there to love on her precious husband and family but I know Jesus will meet them in every moment, sustaining them for the journey He has them on. I will continue to pray for them daily! 

I continue to ask you to pray for my other dear friend and mentor, Bonnie Moore, who is struggling with recent news of re-occuring cancer. What a difficult season of life for so many families going through these situations. For this reason, I am grateful for the hope we have in Christ that this life on earth is a journey that takes us to the our REAL Home...sometimes I have to admit this is really difficult for me to wrap my brain around because of the sadness I feel of thoughts of losing those I love so much but I keep praying for God to deal with my mind and give me His perspective. This devotion I am sharing speaks to me greatly. I pray it will speak to you as well.

A Jesus calling devotion states this...

"TRUST ME,  and don't be afraid, for I am your Strength and Song. The battle for control of your mind is fierce, and years of worry have made you vulnerable to the enemy. Therefore, you need to be viligant in guarding your thoughts. Do not despise this weakness in yourself, since I am using it to draw you closer to Me. Your constant need for Me creates intimacy that is worth the effort. You are NOT ALONE in this struggle for your mind. My Spirit living within you is ever ready to help you in this striving. Ask Him to control your mind; He WILL Bless you with Life and Peace.

"Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

Isaiah 12:2

Much Love to all of you...have a blessed day!

Heather

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Day 19....

Well hello again from the Dominican!! Hope this note finds all of you well and off to a great start of Summer:) I am enjoying seeing all of the beach and pool photos of everyone on Facebook! Well...we have had a good week so far!

Monday....A friend of mine named Allison Hale, who is a missionary here, took me out for the day!! Whoo hoo....this was day 2 of some girl time for me. I loved it! She showed me, she and her husband's ministry sites in San Pedro which is a big city about 15 minutes from where we are staying. She and her husband have planted a church in San Pedro, they have also started a Christian School there and they have a Safe-House where they take in women and children off the streets and out of prostitution situations. They teach these women skills such as making jewelry and doing hair and nails, so they can earn money the right way for their families! They also teach them how to handle the money they make so that they learn to tithe, save and live efficiently. It's AWESOME!! I loved it!

Tuesday....We went to Santo Domingo to Giovanny's house and had our 1st visit with a social worker from CONANI. It went really well, she asked the girls and Tommy and I several questions about how things have been going since they have been with us. I think the girls answered favorably...hopefully not any horror stories in Spanish about how crazy we are!! LOL!!

After we finished our meeting we went to a new mall that has been built in Santo Domingo...Inside the mall they have a place called Screamland! Well..it is like a mini-six flags in the mall....the kids had a BLAST!! Of course this was the first time the girls have ever seen anything like this and they LOVED it!! It was so fun to watch them act like little kids and enjoy all of the rides and each other! We got there at 2:00 yesterday and did not leave until 10:00 last night! Needless to say we were ALL exhausted at the end of the night!! They are all begging to go back!

Today has been a chill day...we have spend a little time at the pool and I have been cleaning some!

We have been blessed by Mr. Soto (the owner of the home we are renting)! He and his family have asked our family to join them at an all inclusive resort this weekend and he is going to help cover our cost! GOD is so awesome...One of the things I really wanted to do while we are here is to visit a part of the island the girls and us have never been to. I was hoping we could go to a resort since it might be a long time before all of us could ever fly over again. I looked into it but the cost was more than we could do with 8 of us....So the Lord is definately giving me a desire of my heart through Mr. Soto and his precious family!!!

I love this insert from Jesus Calling...
"Relax in the knowledge that the One who controls your life is totally trustworthy. Come to me with confident expectation. There is nothing you need or want that I cannot Provide."
"Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song." Psalm 95:2

I am thankful that the Lord sees fit to meet our needs AND our wants to continue to show us just How BIG of a GOD HE IS!! May I praise Him each day for WHO He is and not WHAT He does for me!!

Miss and love you all!! Have a great day!!!
Heather

Day 15....

Hello to everyone! Well today is day 15 that we have been here:) It has gone by quickly in some ways and slowly in others-lol! Overall, it has been really good!! I have had a little harder week this week with homesickness but today I have felt a lot better!

*Monday we spent most of the day at the pool. It was very nice!

*Tuesday we went to Santo Domingo and met with our lawyer so she could map out the timeline of all that is ahead to finish the adoption. Here is what we learned:

Our 30 day co-habitation is over on June 21, papers will be prepared by CONANI (this will take 3-4 days) and then filed with the court in Santo Domingo to give final approval our adoption. This ruling will take up to 2 weeks to get.  Once we get the ruling, the 30 day appeal period will start. They have to allow for this by law. (Hoping this will start by July 10 or earlier.) Once the 30 day appeal period is over (Tommy will probably fly back to the DR then)  and we will then file with La Junta (Dominican Registrar)  to obtain their new birth certificate approval (this can take 4 days up to a month to receive- yes we are praying for 4 days!!! This could be around August 15), once we have this (I will probably fly back to the DR here) then our lawyer and Tommy will go La Romana (the girls' place of birth) and file for their new birth certificates and passports, then we will take these to the US Embassy to file for their VISA's and THEN WE ARE READY TO COME HOME!!!!!!! Soo...it is looking like mid to end of August before we can bring them home. I was not happy about this when I initially heard this but the Lord is continually teaching me that it is HIS WILL NOT MINE! I am just so overwhelmed with gratefulness that the end of this is truly in sight!! It is hard to believe!

The kids and I will for sure be flying home on June 30, Tommy may have to stay if the court requires one of us to be present for the final ruling. The girls will then go to stay with Giovanny and Carolina Valdez until we return in August to get them. I discussed this with Izzy today and she seems to be good with this. We are planning to enroll the girls in an English speaking class for the month of July to continue to help them with their English. They are both doing very very good so far!!

*Wednesday we chilled again at the pool:)

*Thursday was a Dominican Holiday here so Giovanny scheduled a game for my boys and his son's team to play basketball:) The boys have practiced with Giovanny's team the last 2 Saturdays and have had a lot of fun. This has been a good outlet for them while we are here!! We went to papa John's and had pizza afterwards....they had a playground inside so the kids were very happy!

*Friday I spent most of the day with Margaret Morris and a friend of hers which is now a friend of mine too named Mercy. It was a lot of fun!!! Thanks to Tommy who so sweetly kept all of the kids so I could get out for a little while!!

*Today the boys got up and went to play basketball early and we girls slept in and went to the pool. The weather has been very nice today!

Thank you all for continuing to pray for us while we are away. A very close friend and mentor of mine was diagnosed with cancer yesterday and I had a very difficult time last night not being where I could go see her, hug her and tell her I love her in person... BUT in all things God is Sovereign and I know He has her in the palm of His Hand and will continue to carry her through whatever lies ahead. I am praying for healing and strength for the days to come for her and her precious family!! I ask that you might lift her up and continue to pray that God will do a mighty work in all of our family's lives while we are here and continue to grow our faith in all the ways we need it!! I love you all! Have a blessed and wonderful day!

Heather

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

   

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:)

                             

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

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