Tuesday, February 2, 2010

God Is Good

It has been a crazy 48 hours. But we FINALLY have her. We flew into Miami and arrived around 4:30 pm. We had to really scramble to get plane tickets since the pro bowl was this weekend. We were quite fortunate to get anything. Anyway, we had to rent a car and drive about 30 minutes to home for displaced children. (Some type of home for social services) They had offered it to the the Haitian refugees and took care of them until us parents could get down there. We arrived around 6 pm and witnessed a sight I will never forget. Little Haitian children of all ages running around playing with their new parents. Laughing, jumping running. They were so happy. Everyone was so happy.

We sat in a room and waited a while for a social worker to review our case. These poor people had been up for days and yet they were so gracious and kind. You could tell that they were exhausted, but were on a mission to give all they had for these kids. I handed over a couple documents and that was it. Since it was so late and Oslene had already gone to bed we didn't want to wake her and cause even more disruption, so we went back to the hotel and got a good night sleep ourselves. (and had a FANTASTIC Cuban dinner - the food down here is unbelievable)

We arrived back at the home around 10:00 am and they pulled us out of the room and said we "had a small problem". Some how my social security number was attached to another individual and they had no record of me even existing in the FBI background checks. My jaw hit the floor. I could not believe that we had come this far to have this hit us. I saw a future of mountains of corrective paperwork and having to go home empty handed. But since these guys were so tired and it was completely obvious that i was the one who belonged to that social security number, they let us have her. (Unfortunately I have to now research the possibility of identity theft. :Like I need one more thing to do.)

Once we were cleared we got in a van and drove to her little house. She was being given a bottle outside on the patio. I knew I would break down when I saw her and I did. Nothing new there. But we then went in, changed her diaper and got back into the van. From there they took a picture of her, handed us her documents and away we went. Straight to Walgreens where we spent $70 on stuff that I had totally forgotten a baby needs.

It has been hard since we don't know anything about her. She did get checked by a doctor, but they were not real thorough checks. She has quite a rattle in her chest. We had no idea what she ate or what she would like. I brought the wrong size diapers and the few clothes we brought we a bit big. But regardless, we are just thrilled to have her. As I type this she is asleep in David's arms.

I will be sending out a public service announcement tomorrow just to inform everyone the best way to handle her when they get to see her. She is obviously severely traumatized. She also has all the characteristics of a child who has been in an orphanage, so we have a lot of work to do with her. We need to address her needs as if she was a newborn until she stabilizes a bit. She hasn't had a whole lot to smile about lately, so smiles will come with time. But she has huge big eyes that take in everything like a sponge. We can see a difference in her within the first few hours.

Thank you again for your prayers! It is just awesome to see what God has done. I can't wait to see what the next chapter holds. (hopefully a little bit of emotional and physical stability, at least for a few weeks) (<;