Looking back 2......

I know I mentioned the time spent with Mia and Hope's birth mom and brothers. I would not trade those days for the moon! Sometimes Allemagne and I would sit for hours just watching the children play. Not having words that either one of us could understand, but knowing a love that shattered all barriers, we would sit and watch our daughters play, both smiling, both laughing, both loving.


I have so much respect for Allemagne. She truly wants what is best for her children. She loves them and though it was breaking her heart she continued to thank me for taking the girls. She told me I was their mother now and that she would pray for them, me, Jeremy and my other children too. I promised her that I would always pray for her and the girls would ALWAYS know who she was and what she did for them.


Schneider & Jovannie were amazing boys. When Jeremy was there, at first, they would offer their hand in a greeting. Jeremy would shake their hand and then pull them into a big hug which always brought the biggest smile followed by a simple, "Mesi." By the end of his stay, they would just go straight for the hug. The morning I was leaving with the girls, they were both crying. Schneider tried to hide his more as he is the man of the house, even though he is only eleven years old. He would quickly wipe his tears and act as if all was well. Jovannie being the younger of the two displayed his feelings more. He asked if I wouldn't be coming back. I assured him I would. I told him we would see each other again. Before I got in the car he came running for one more big hug and with tears in his eyes watched us drive away.


Then there's Gabby! Sweet Gabby. What a good baby he is! He would sit out front with his Mama for hours and we rarely saw or heard him cry, only if he was hungry. For those days that was completely fixable. Allemagne asked us if we would adopt him too. It was so hard, knowing their situation, to not say yes. If I could have fit him in my backpack, I would have done it in a second. To be completely honest, we would have taken all three boys if it would have been possible. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.


I could go on and on, but I will stop for now. To make a long post a little shorter, I'll just end by saying....Allemagne, Schneider, Jovannie, and Gabby, we love and miss you so much. We pray for you everyday and look forward to being with again. To everyone else....thank you for taking the time to learn about our extended family.

Splash Park Fun!

Last week I met my sister, brother, nephew and niece at the splash park. The kids had so much fun!! Sorry I haven't posted much but it's been busy as I'm sure you can imagine. Thanks for being so patient!

Looking back.....

I'm going to take a few posts to fill you in on the smaller details of my stay and coming home. These pictures are from our departure in Haiti.

It was harder leaving than I ever dreamed it would be. The girls' birth mom and brothers had been visiting off and on during my stay and we became very close. The boys were amazing and the love of this mother was so evident. The last night there they spent the night and we, Allemagne and I, worked together to get the girls dressed and ready to go in the morning. We all cried as we left and I was unsure of how the rest of the day would go. Mia cried off and on all day, but as you can see from the pictures she was at the same time excited about the idea of going 'home'.

They did great on the plane. Mia LOVES the window seat and Hope LOVES my lap. ; ) Fortunately, we were blessed with a great flight attendant leaving Haiti. He is a christian and his parents are missionaries. He was great with the girls and allowed me to sit and hold Hope even though she was past the age of a lap child. Mia kept asking me if the plane was going to fall, but upon my reassurance she felt secure that we would stay in the air.

The long flight from Miami to Chicago they slept, almost the entire flight. Hope woke up just in time for the landing and Mia slept through it. We were delayed in Chicago (shocking, I know), but eventually headed to Evansville at 9:30pm. Mia slept again during this short flight, but woke up quickly when she realized we were finally in Evansville. I said, "Mia we're here. We are home." As we walked in the airport she said, "Where is my room?" Ok, so we're not ACTUALLY 'home' but almost. : )

It was a great day that I will NEVER forget! Thank you Lord for bringing my girls home!

Fun Times

Pictures are better than words, right? Here's a glimpse into our first day yesterday and a few happenings of this morning!

Swimming fun!

Jordyn & Hope!

Camden & Mia!

Ali & Hope!

Silly faces!

Haigen (Cousin), Ali, Hope, Jordyn, Mia & Camden making silly faces!

Bee time!
We found a bunch of honey bees in our grapes so my Step-Dad came to collect them.

Papaw Doug (nice outfit)

Daddy & Mia watch from a safe distance.

Morning help!
Camden decided to help with the morning dishes!

Dress up time!!

Ali!

Hope!Mia!

They are all at church now! ; ) Apparently, we sing the ABC song at church right along with Jesus loves me, Joy in my heart, & This is the day! Jordyn and I are enjoying the music! Church is over. Here they come! Camden is complete with his cell phone and bible and Ali took her pack-n-play. The report is in and everyone sang but Camden. I love getting the play by play!

We're home!!!

I just want to take about 2 seconds to give a quick update. The girls are doing GREAT!!! It was rough leaving. We all had tears, but the closer we got to home the happier they were. I know we will still grieve but they are happily playing with their siblings! Here's a couple of pictures from the "party" as Camden called it.

The experience was completely wonderful! I was shaking as we walked through the gate and saw so many friends and family there to greet us! Thank you to all who prayed for us and thanks to those who stayed out so late to wait for our delayed and delayed and delayed plane!

Some know, some don't......

I feel it is time to share something with all of you. Some of you already know, but some do not. In October of last year, Noah's parents picked him up from the Orphanage. They wanted to try to care for him again. Since that day we have prayed and believed our son would be back and hoped and trusted it would be before we left with the girls. The Lord has different timing than we do. We don't know or understand why things have happened the way they have, but we do know a few things.

First, we know that the Lord led us to Noah. He was the first of all the children that are coming to our area. We believe and KNOW that He who called us is faithful and He will do it. We know He will complete what He began! We trust in our Lord, our strong deliverer!

Second, we know the Lord has been working during my time here. After months and months of searching for Noah's birth mom, we saw her one night on the way to dinner. It was a divine appointment. We were running late, needed gas, went a different route and in a city of sooooo many people we saw the one person we needed to see. It was not a coincidence! There she stood on a mound of rocks. We knew the Lord was working. We have had the opportunity since then to speak with her and she has decided that she does indeed want Noah to be adopted, but unfortunately it hasn't worked out yet for him to be brought back. He is currently with a relative in the country-side. His father also wants him to go with us, but again it just hasn't worked out as of today. We know, however, that our God is working and the mountains we saw before us are crumbling!

Third, today at the appointment I was a little nervous about the fact that Noah was not with us. I shared the situation with the Consular and they are keeping his file open! Praise the Lord!!!

So, although it is painful to come home and have to leave our son behind, we KNOW that he is our son and he will come home to us. Please join us in believing that our mighty and awesome God will bring Noah home!

Having explained that, I am pleased to inform you that I am to pick up visas for our two beautiful girls this afternoon and we are planning to fly out in the morning!! Our Lord is faithful!! He is so worthy to be praised!! Please rejoice with us as we take this step next step in becoming the Cundiffs, party of eight!

Guess what!

We have an appointment at 7:30am tomorrow morning! I didn't go today but made a couple of phone calls to talk to them instead. Then our Parent Liaison had to go to the Embassy anyway so I asked him to check on it. I received my e-mail this evening and our appointment is set!

Meditating both day and night!

Jeremiah 29:11-14a

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity."

I Samuel 1:10-18

"And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish........And it happened as she continued praying before the Lord,......Then Eli answered and said, 'Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him'.....So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad."

Psalm 126

"When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.' The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

Thanks again to everyone who continues to lift us up in prayer and encourage us! We are forever grateful!!

Nothing to report...

It seems silly to post because I really have nothing to report. The Embassy was obviously closed today, so no progress possible. I am going to go there on Monday and see what I can find out since I am not getting any response via e-mails. I hope to leave with an appointment scheduled!
The kids are still excited that it is almost time to go home! Mia seems to have moments of doubt and is somewhat guarded. Sort of the whole, I'm not going to get too close because you might have to leave again without me. I keep telling her I'm not leaving without her, but I'm sure it's hard to believe since I have been here a while and nothing seems to be moving. She is old enough to understand that. I continue to reassure her that it will be soon!

I have been able to talk to Jeremy everyday, which I love. I talked to the kids a couple of times on Skype. Then today I was blessed with a phone call from my AMAZING Momma! I also spoke to my sister and brother! I miss them all so much!!! Today, being the 4th of July, I would normally be with them. Every year we have a big family picnic and have so much fun! Jeremy took the kids and my sister reported that they had lots of fun! I cried as I talked to each one of them, but it was at the same time wonderful to hear their voices! I hope to see them very soon! They promised we would have another celebration just as if it were Independence Day, complete with fireworks after we all come home! I can't wait!!

I guess that's enough rambling for now. I pray you all had a wonderful day and I'll leave you with a big HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY from Haiti!

A couple of things....

First, Jeremy went home yesterday and thanks to Skype I was able to talk to him and the kids last night! It was so great! They are doing so well! They are so excited and anticipating my return with their siblings! This is what they have prayed for over the course of nearly 3 years. We are all overjoyed at the soon coming answer to our prayers.

An anonymous comment was posted yesterday questioning my being here. Suggesting that I have disrupted by family by coming. I began to post about why I came, and then I realized that I don't need to explain. Jeremy and I have always striven to make decisions based on information available and prayer. We always strive to make decisions that are in the best interest of our family. Not just our family in the US, but our entire family. We are separated by distance, but not by love. We have six children and we are forced at times to make decisions that are difficult because of the distance between us. We don't expect anyone else to understand those decisions, but I do ask that they be respected.

I hope to post some good news very soon! Thank you to all who have held us up in prayer and offered so many encouraging words! You will never know this side of heaven how much it has meant to us!