Pancakes anyone?

Tonight I was talking with Tim, a friend of ours, who said he enjoyed following the blog.  I had mentioned to him that now that we are in the waiting period, there isn't much to report so our blog updates have been few.  And so really, while there is nothing new to report on the adoption process itself, this conversation gave birth to another idea.  Receiving.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable to receive.  Whether it be a compliment or a gift, I find that I'm not always a gracious receiver.  While the process of adopting a child has stretched both Todd and myself in many different ways, one way that has been the most challenging has been relinquishing control in order to receive.  When we sent out one of our earlier letters to friends and family we struggled with mentioning anything about donating towards the adoption.  We've never been in a situation where we've raised money for personal reasons.  Not that we don't love a good fundraiser.  Boy give us a cause, whether it be the summer camp we work at or the kids PTO and we're full throttle!  But things change when we become the recipients.

After thinking about this notion of receiving, it occurred to me that when we do not allow ourselves to receive, we deprive other people the opportunity of loving us.  We deprive them the opportunity of utilizing their God given gifts.  Those gifts might be financial or they might be an act of service.  However, regardless of what they bring to us, when we receive open-handedly, a divine connection is made.  A connection to me that was part of our original design.  Thinking further upon this thought, I was drawn to the story in the Bible of the woman who came to Jesus to wash His feet.  Clearly He didn't need her to wash His feet, He was the Son of God, yet He humbled Himself to receive.  He allowed this woman to pour out her love for Him by washing His feet with her very precious and expensive oil.  She gave selflessly and He received graciously.  A divine connection.

Our family has the good fortune of being a part of a community that wants to love on our family.  Some dear friends of mine have enlisted the manpower of the Lahser Boys Basketball Team to host a pancake breakfast as a fundraiser towards the Rescue of Jaline. Of course while both Todd and I were very touched by their kindness, it was also a bit awkward, especially for Todd to, again, be on the receiving end. I had to remind him that this is how our community is choosing to love and support our family.  We cannot deprive them the opportunity to share their God given talents or we all lose the chance of experiencing that divine connection.

So if you are free Saturday January 29th at 10:30 in the morning come on over to Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills and share a pancake or two with us.  We love that so many of you have taken interest in our story. It's awesome that this journey God has taken our family on has piqued an awareness in so many on the injustice beyond our front doors, namely in Haiti.  We'd love to share the morning with you so we do hope you can make it out on the 29th.

And while I did win a pancake eating contest back in my youth when calories had no effect on my metabolism, I promise not to embarrass my kids or my husband by repeating the indulgence of my youth.

~Samantha

Happy New Year from Jaline!

Happy New Year from Jaline! 

My new dad came to visit me for a few days this week. I’m in my new orphanage now and it’s SO much better than my old orphanage!!  Actually they call it a crèche (kresh) because there are only certain orphanages in Haiti that kids can be adopted from and those are called crèches.   I’ve been here for two weeks and I’m eating really good!  Doctor Jack and Nurse Marcia, who run my crèche say I’m eating lots and I’m getting healthier.  When I was admitted, Dr. Jack examined me and thinks I’m doing very well developmentally and am quite healthy, other than being quite malnourished.  By the way, I’m up to twenty pounds now!  I was only 15 pounds in October.  They’re making sure I’m eating three good meals each day and I even get snacks twice a day.  I’ve never had so much food in my life!   I wish all my friends in Haiti could eat this well. 

Oh yeah!  Check out my picture:  I’m looking kinda bald right now.  They cut my hair off, but Daddy still says I’m gorgeous!  My hair was getting red and falling out because I’ve been so malnourished.  They say my hair will grow back a lot thicker and healthier now that I’m eating so good.  I still think it looks kinda funny and I can’t wait to get my braids back.  Daddy says I’m beautiful even without my hair.  I can’t understand everything he says, but he knows a little Creole and knows how to tell me I’m beautiful in Creole.

I’m still pretty confused. They tell me he’s going to be my new daddy and I’m going to have a new family, but he had to leave again without me… He keeps coming to visit me and they tell me I’m going to have this new family, but every time he leaves without me.  I wish I understood why I have to wait so long to go home.  I’m sure it will make sense someday but now I’m pretty confused.  My birth Mommy has even told me my new family is going to adopt me and I’m going to have a better life, but it’s all so confusing.  I’ve seen some cool pictures of my new Mommy, my sisters Shelby and Sophie, and my brother Spencer.  I get to keep the pictures by my new bed.  Did I mention I have my very own bed?  I have my own bed, with my own blanket.  My new Daddy brought me a new blanket and a teddy bear.  I’m going to share all the toys and books he brought down on this last trip, but the blanket and bear are mine. 

I’m actually the only child in my new crèche right now, since it’s brand new.  I’m hoping there will be more orphans that come to my crèche soon.  I hope they can leave orphanages like the one I was at and come to a nicer place that will take care of them, just like me.  It would be nice to have some people my own age to play with.   I’m a little spoiled right now, because everyone at my crèche is there to take care of me.  It’s not like the other place I was at before.  They have a nurse here 24 hours a day, in case anyone gets sick.  There is a lady who oversees the crèche and everyone who works here.  There is a day nanny and a night nanny.  There’s a school teacher, who is teaching me some English.  I like to go to school!  There’s a cook who prepares food for the workers and the kids, when more come.  This is in addition to Dr. Jack and Marcia, who oversee everything.  Nurse Marcia makes sure everyone is working hard and is taking good care of me.  The people here are really nice to me and take great care of me but I’m still a bit confused by everything that’s going on lately.

My new Daddy brought down some more paperwork for our lawyer.  It looks like Jean Maudrel has all the right paperwork and the paperwork is finally ready for the Haitian government.  I really have no idea what’s going on with all this paperwork and why it takes so long for kids like me to go to families that want to love and care for them.  I hear there are lots of people all over the place praying for me so I can be adopted as soon as possible.  Thanks for caring about me even though I’ve never met you!  I hope I’ll be able to meet many of you very soon.  They tell my new Daddy it could still take at least a year for me to come to my new home.  I hope not!  Please pray for me! 

Happy New Year!  They say this next year will change my life forever.  I hope this will be an amazing year for you also.  God Bless…