A Household of Praise

Yesterday we got an email from our orphanage director letting us know the IBESR director signed off on our dossier, our lawyer was getting it to her today, and she would be taking it onward in the process--YAY!!!!  Over the next several weeks we will be in the beginning stages of Parquet Court...the next "stage" of this process.  Then we will make our second trip down to Haiti to see the Dean in courts and to file our I600 with the Embassy to continue the visa process.  We are hoping/praying for that trip to be in November.  It feels SOOO good to say we are D.O.N.E. with IBESR after being in there for 8 months (until the last few days when we get our final sign off paper to leave the country).  I spent moments off and on yesterday praising God for this movement and for answering my prayers that He would go before our director yesterday and give us answers.  Even if the answers would have been "we were still stuck there", it would have at least been an answer and I still would have been thankful...however, having that answer be wonderful news made that answer to prayer even sweeter!  I know I'm not the only one around this house spending time praising God either!

For our 6 year old, Lily, her time of waiting to get Nora in her arms will be a little less than the boys.  She is eagerly waiting for our trip *hopefully* in November because she will be joining me.  We have had many talks over the last few months about our time in Haiti--trying to best prepare her for the experience.  She has been practicing being polite to people she may not know when they ask her a question or give her a compliment because she tends to be very shy in those situations and we don't want that to come across as being rude.  She got to join me the other night for the African Children's Choir concert at our church and asked many questions about why she couldn't understand what they were saying all of the time.  I explained this is much of what it will be like in Haiti because they will be speaking a different language than us, just like the choir was, and we will not always be able to understand them.  Also, the other day as Lily ran in the front door from getting off the bus I said, "Hello, Lily!!!!"  She responded, "Bonjour, Mommy!"  It made me smile.  Yes, she is getting ready as best as she can.

Another thing I found recently while cleaning in her room makes me know Lily is ready for this upcoming trip.  It is her Prayer Journal.  This summer she participated in a summer art camp for a week where she brought home a blank booklet she made.  On the front was written "My Prayer Journal".  I never knew she had taken time since then to write on the pages of this booklet, but I was so beyond blessed to find it the other day and read through all of her prayers.  She is ready for this trip not because her bags are packed, her Creole has been practiced or because she is excited to see the mountains, but because God has a hold of her heart and she has a spirit ready for what all God wants to teach her on this trip.  She has experienced first hand in her young life what it means to be patient, to praise God, to reveal her deepest heart's desire to Him, and to rely on Him for everything.  She is ready and I am blessed to have her as a travel partner.  I am also blessed to know that as I am praising God around this house, I am not the only one...

Translation: Thank you God.  I love you so much.

Translation: God loves me in His heart!

Translation: God you are my Savior.  I love you God and I am yours.

Translation: I am thanking you for my heart and your's.

Translation: Thank you God for the wonderful things that you have given to me.

Translation: You are the King.  You are good.  You are the great and I love you God because you are that!

Translation: You are great! (love how she spelled it right but crossed it out like it was wrong-hee, hee)

Translation: You are awesome!

Translation: You are wonderful!

Lily, sweetheart, you bless me...and you BLESS GOD with your praises and adoration to Him.  I can't wait to get to Haiti with you and have you share that heart with your sister!