Thursday, May 26, 2011

The reason I went to Haiti

There has been something in the works for the last month or so. Something so exciting and HUGE that it was very hard for me not to share. But I kept quiet, waiting for the pieces to fall into place and things to become  more real.
So, here is the story.
My sister has a friend who is adopting a little boy from Haiti, I will call her B. My sister put me in touch with B and we emailed back and forth. I had mentioned to her that we were interested in adopting a little girl who was 2-4 years old. One day, she sent me an email and all it had was a picture of a beautiful little girl. I sent it to my husband and we both agreed that we wanted to find out more about her and what her story was. So I emailed B back and asked her info. She told me what she knew about her and then sent me an email from a man named Michael, who runs Haitian Street Kids, Inc. (more about this fantastic organization later).  The email talked about this little girl and how she needed a loving, permanent home. I got chills. I knew that this was meant to be our little girl.
A few phone calls to Michael and another friend of his, R, and I was even more convinced. I stared at her picture for hours at a time and waited so impatiently for any news on her. My husband and I both fell in love with her, just by looking at a picture and hearing her story.
The opportunity arose for me to go to Haiti to meet this little girl. I would be going with B, Michael and R. People I had never met before. I was extremely nervous to go to a 3rd world country without my husband. But, we both felt this was the right thing to do. I decided to go on Sunday and by Monday night, was flying to Port au Prince!

I will post later about all the details of the trip; it was an AMAZING experience.

The most important thing was that I got to meet "our" little girl and spend 3 1/2 wonderful days bonding with her.
So, here she is. Meet Shaiena!





I am absolutely head over heals in love with this little girl, our new princess. She has the most wonderful personality and is such a happy little girl. We had a great time together!
Bella and Riley loved seeing the pics of her that I emailed home while I was in Haiti. Bella even took one to school to show her teachers and her friends!
We still have our homestudy and all the international mumbo jumbo to complete, but it will all be so worth it when we get to bring Shaiena home!
Ryan is so excited to meet her too! We are hoping to go back in the fall to spend some more time with her.

3 comments:

  1. Oh Wow!! That is a lot of information to keep secret for so long. She is absolutely stunning and looks like she fits perfectly into your family. Better get started on that paperwork quick!! :)

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  2. PS - I just thought of something but would like to chat with you privately about it - can you email me at nausfamily @ gmail .com (no spaces). Thanks!

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  3. What is the latest in the adoption? Very exciting things seem to be happening.

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