2010 came and went....

This year started off with our family living 4 hours away from each other. Shane, Nathan and Evan were living in Center Point...working on the double-wide we had just purchased on 12 acres, while the girls and I were still in Houston, waiting for our house to sell.

January 12th brought devastation to the home country of half of our children. Haiti experienced a huge earthquake that destroyed much of Port au Prince, killing thousands. I remember my mom coming downstairs to tell me she just saw that Haiti had an earthquake. I was on the phone with Shane at the time, so I jumped online to check it out. I read to him the news I was getting off the internet. It just made us sick. For days...weeks, we prayed non-stop for our friends and family in Haiti, and the people who were going through so much suffering. I wanted to go. Right then. But I couldn't. Not having any nursing ability, I would have just been in the way.

February brought our family together again, as our house in Houston sold and we were all able to move to Center Point. My parents moved into our double-wide with us as they waited for their own house to be set up on our property.

We got news from Haiti that we could try to get Christopher out on Humanitarian Parole. I had met him in August of 2009 while working at his orphanage. We knew he had Sickle Cell disease and was at risk staying in Haiti. The next several months were consumed with paperwork and phone calls....jumping through several hoops trying to get this sweet boy out of Haiti, only to be told in the end that he was denied Humanitarian Parole because of the original wording on his Birth Parent Relinquishment paper. The form that the orphanage used for birthparents to sign stated they were giving their child to the creche so they would be "lavished with care" instead of saying they would be available for adoption. EVEN THOUGH...a creche is an orphanage that is licensed to adopt out children. EVEN THOUGH... his birth mother had already had 2 other children adopted out through this orphanage. EVEN THOUGH...other children with the same wording on their paperwork had been released on humanitarian parole. EVEN THOUGH...Christopher has a disease and Tulane University Medical Center has promised him medical treatment upon arriving in the States. Sometimes...well....most of the time, the decisions made by U.S. government officials baffle me. How on earth does it make sense to prevent this child from coming home to a family that is ready to love and care for him, and to deny him the medical care that he needs, leaving him to wait for a year or more while the paperwork for an adoption goes through?

We started the full adoption of Christopher, the fundraising that is needed to pay the $10,000 Haitian fee and sent our full dossier to Haiti in August. Currently, our paperwork is in the Haitian system and we are waiting for it to be processed. We've been blessed to have some people traveling to Haiti send us photos of Christopher. He turned 3 in October.


July brought a visit from my 2 sisters and their kids. We had SO much fun visiting. We were able to go to New Braunfels and stay in a time-share for a few days. We took a day trip to San Antonio. Spent a couple days playing at the river. I hated to see our time together end.


Shane and I were part of a group of parents who started a new ACE/Christian school after the school our boys were attending (and the one Shane graduated from) closed in May. As we worked with this dedicated group of parents we were both drawn more and more to the vision of the school. We decided after much prayer to put our resumes in for the teaching positions. We were offered the job and accepted it. In September Grace Academy of Kerrville opened with Shane teaching the 7th to 12th grades and me teaching the 1st to 6th grades. We love it. It is so great to be working together and having all the kids (minus Nathan) with us. It is just a really neat experience for our family.

Nathan turned 18 in September and just finished his Associates Degree this Christmas. He has been accepted to Schreiner University and offered their highest scholarship. He will began classes in January. As of now, he has chosen Exercise Science as his Major. We are really proud of him.

Evan turned 16 in October and got his driver's permit. He plays basketball for Grace Academy and is still playing the guitar.
Jairtzi was able to participate in a summer Track program where she ran the hurdles and did the long jump. She also played Volleyball for Grace Academy this fall and loved it.



Jazmin is continuing her love of information and knowledge. She reads constantly and retains everything! She still has a goal of becoming a doctor and going to Haiti to help her people.


Allie is still everything Horses. She LOVES horses. I've long since given up the thought that this is a passing phase. I pray that she will get the opportunity to be around horses, as this is obviously a God Given love.


Widnie is enjoying attending school and making new friends. She is doing great academically. She has grown so much since coming to the U.S. We laugh when we look at her photo of first coming home and how short and small she was. Now she is much taller than Allie who is 7 months older than her.

Francia is still our monkey. She flashes those dimples at us and we can't help but smile. She is a tease through and through. She LOVES monkeys and says she wants to be a zookeeper and a teacher when she grows up.

Eliana continues her adjustments and settling into our family. She has gown and matured. It is so good to see all that she has accomplished. She is doing very well in school and we continue to steer her in the right direction when making social decisions. She has taught us so much as parents.


Shane and I celebrate 20 years of marriage on Dec. 27th. Wow! What a ride! We never would have thought that 20 years could contain so much change for us. I am SO thankful that God has brought us closer together through every trial and every blessing.

Adoption is still very much a part of our lives and vision for our family. God has really placed the desire on our hearts to start adoption ministries in churches. We have been able to talk to some people about this and were even featured in the local newspaper regarding this issue. Unfortunately at this time, no churches have responded to our emails or newspaper article. We will not give up though. We will continue to pray and let God guide us to where we need to go with this mission.

2010 was another year of big changes for our family. God brought us through once again. He has never failed us. I pray that 2011 will bring Christopher into our home, see Adoption Ministries pop up in churches through-out our community and bring our family closer together.