The Shelton Family

Thankful Thursday!

2009-12-10T01:02:00.009-06:00

Please pray...

2009-11-17T00:52:00.008-06:00

...for my friend and co-worker, Shawn. She is having surgery early Tuesday morning to remove a large brain tumor. Click here for her CaringBridge site. Please join us in praying for Shawn's surgery to go PERFECTLY, AMAZINGLY well and for a speedy recovery. Thanks!

UPDATE
From Shawn's CaringBridge page:
Shawn is out of surgery, and doing quite well. They were able to get the whole tumor out, and as of right now, thinks only her speech may be affected, and that she would be able to get that back. She has spoken a little bit already, and is able to get out about half the words, which is a very good sign. Additionally, her speech has improved since already over the 10 minutes that she has been awake. She is a little weak on her right side, but the doctor seemed very positive and not at all concerned. So, overall a very positive prognosis. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers (clearly they are working!) and we will keep you updated.

Another update: Shawn's tumor is cancerous. Stage 3. She has already started chemo and radiation. See above for the CaringBridge link.

Two Years Ago Today...

2009-12-07T21:01:00.003-06:00

I saw this face for the first time. I would have NEVER imagined that she would not be home yet, nor that we would not have any idea at all when she would be home. Adoption is hard. It downright stinks sometimes. But for those adopting from Haiti, you know that it is different than other countries...it is indescribable. I heard one woman, who was adopting from Ethiopia, state that she was very eager for her kids to come home because they had been at their orphanage for almost six months (her kids were coming home within a month of her saying that). I know that any amount of time in an orphanage is too long, and I know that any wait for any child or any adoptive parent is too long, but there are kids who have been in institutions for years. Some perhaps have spent their entire lives there. Patricia has been at her orphanage since March 2006 and Philippe has been there since March 2008. Too long. They have been matched with us since January 2008 (Patricia) and March 2008 (Philippe). It is crazy to me that the entire time Philippe has been there he has been matched. Lord have mercy on all the children MATCHED with families and still languishing in orphanages and even more, bless the children waiting for a match.

Lord, we plead with you to move the paperwork mountains for all the kids who are waiting for their mommies and daddies to tuck them in. It is hard to even pray to ask to bring these kids home because it feels like the prayers fall on deaf ears. But we ask anyway. Even though it feels impossible. Even though we sound like broken records. Even though our faith is small. Even though...

Kissing Cousins

2009-12-01T21:25:00.005-06:00

Olivia just LOVES her cousin, Isaac. When she sees him she practically leaps out of my arms to get down to hug and kiss him. We are so happy that they have a special friendship and can grow up together! Here they are at church.

Four Months Together!

2009-11-13T22:26:00.000-06:00

We love you so much, Olivia!

Miss O Walking on Her Own!

2009-11-11T20:45:00.000-06:00

From the Mouths of Babes

2009-11-06T13:37:00.004-06:00

Dawn and I have joked that when Olivia babbles it sounds a lot like she's speaking Chinese. Well, I just read an article at Times Online suggesting that might actually be the case:

We didn't meet Olivia until she was one, which means she had already been learning for about a year and nine months. She's a bright kid, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if she really is speaking Chinese!

Halloween

2009-11-05T00:12:00.002-06:00

On the journey to Olivia, I put a post-it note on my monitor with a quote by Jean de la Bruyere - "Out of difficulties grow miracles" (it's still there - we need a few more miracles). Never did I imagine that a flower this beautiful would grow out of that long, difficult wait.We went trick or treating with (who else!?) my great-nieces and great-nephew and of course Jenny. Another friend joined us later. Jenny's kids are all from Wizard of Oz (poor Minnesotan kids have to wear coats over their dresses!) We have Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch and Toto. We decided that Olivia was a poppy from the poppy field so that she fit the theme :)
What a fun night! Jenny brought homemade wild rice soup, we sipped apple cider, we all ate too much candy and the kids fell asleep all over the house while Jenny and I talked and the Daddies watched football. Just look at that face! I get and give a thousand kisses a day and I LOVE my little blossoming flower!

Haiti Trip #2

2009-11-01T21:47:00.018-06:00

In case you missed it, we, along with several other families, had to go to Haiti on short notice to appear in court, in order for our adoptions to proceed. We were told we would meet with a judge, but if he was in the room, we didn't know it. We all signed blank pages in a notebook...a smidge unnerving! Thankfully, folks were discussing how many times they signed while we all waited and it turns out that both spouses were to sign TWICE per child that you are adopting. Two families, us included, discovered that we had not signed enough times and we went back in. We are so glad that this was discovered while we were still in Haiti. Can you imagine if we hadn't caught that?

Regarding our case, we are not going to share it all on the blog. If you want to know more, please email us privately and we will be happy to discuss it with you, but for the purposes of this open blog, we are simply asking for prayer over our kids and their adoption cases. We were told that they were likely about six months from coming home, but with some recent developments, their homecoming date is unsure.

Here are our photos:

Arriving in Haiti

A school girl, in uniform, walking home

Philippe swimming with Mama - by the last day he was going underwater and was much more gutsy

Three of us - Patricia learned how to swim on our last trip and she did great again, even wanting to take off her water wings...we let her but she had to stay by the edge in the shallow end!

Love it! This is one of our favorite things - watching our kids sleep. Can't wait until they do this at HOME

Our babes...We had a rough start, with lots of attitude and them pretty much flat out ignoring us. Even though we know they understand a lot of English, we asked a translator to sit down with us for a moment, just to make SURE they understood. We asked him to please explain to the kids that we know it is hard to have us come for such a short time and then have to leave. We know it must be confusing. That we want to take them home right now, but we have to wait for the paperwork. That we have only TWO days together and that we can make it a great two days, or it can be miserable. We expect them to look at us and answer us when we speak to them. We want to have fun with them. That we want to have a wonderful visit, but they need to help make that happen.

I guess this worked, because they were totally different after that!

I was asking one of the older girls about how to do Patricia's hair, and then before I knew it, I was actually DOING her hair. Here it is in transition...

Self-portrait by Philippe - eating a gummy worm

Another self-portrait :)

Philippe took some (many!) pictures of his gift from us...

Philippe pushing Patricia out of the bed! Just like last time!

Our dear ones...once again, check out that hair...those twists were done by me! Not too bad for a "blanc" lady! I need to get better, but when I finished, Patricia said, "Thanks Mama!"

Overall we had a great visit with the kids, those representing us and other adoptive parents. We left a bit downtrodden over our adoption process, and a few other things that happened, but the Lord blessed us with safe travels and good health. Last time we ended up in the ER upon returning home!

Please, PLEASE lift up our kids, their orphanage and the staff, and all the kids waiting to go HOME. We need to pray for paperwork to MOVE as it is such a WASTE to have children who are matched with families sit in institutions. Blessings to all the waiting families and thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Olivia (Almost) Walking on Her Own!

2009-10-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

We hope she doesn't fully learn how to walk until we're back from Haiti!

Three Months Together!

2009-10-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

Our Log In Date (LID) was 3-13-06. As the time dragged on to meet our daughter, I began to dread the 13th of the month. Marking that date was just a constant reminder of how long it was taking. Ironically, the day that we met our Olivia was July 13th, so now the 13th is a very happy marker for our family. It has been three months since we were united as a family of three. We still wait to be a family of five.

Here are pictures of our first meeting and pictures from September and October.

The first moment Olivia is handed to me - like my friend Beth said, "Those first few moments of ultimate joy and sadness colliding". That is exactly how I felt. We were so happy and she was so sad. Our tears of joy quickly ceased as we shifted our focus on comforting her.
Back on the bus

Who ARE you?

We recently received these photos from someone seated behind us - they bring tears to my eyes! Our poor baby. So confused. So tired. So shell-shocked. The girls had a six hour drive to get to us that day already and then to be handed to complete strangers who look different and sound different. It was so jarring.

Proud Papa. And finally she sleeps.
Back at the hotel, peering over the mattress (her crib was right next to my side of the bed). Such sad eyes. She didn't cry unless we picked her up. She just stared. At us. At the toys in front of her.

The very next morning she is like a different child and never seems to go back to that sad baby. She slept for hours and hours and it must have been what she needed. I find it so interesting how her eyes changed from day one to day two. From fearful to peaceful. Click here, here, here or here for more posts, or search back for even more, if you need to get caught up!
------------------------
Here we are in September. I just love this picture of Olivia with my Dad!

She likes playing with these rain boots that are too big for her so I couldn't resist adding the hat!

At her Aunt Sharla's wedding

She LOVES the computer.

She also loves Nutella...

Just before her first bite of Wild Rice Soup (she IS a Minnesotan, after all!)

And it's a hit! She devoured it!

At the dealership the day we bought the van. What a good baby...it took so much longer than we planned. Thankfully they had a play area!

I believe that this is the first of many looks saying, "Oh, MOM!"

At music class

Just a happy baby!
Such a good sleeper! We feel so lucky!

First pickle...not a fan.

This was after successfully pulling herself up on the couch. You can just see the look of accomplishment and pride, can't you?

Hanging out at the Mall of America

Music class again

She just loves it

And first snow. She isn't too sure what to think at first...(we aren't sure either! It is so early! But it was a pretty snowfall...)

But then she makes up her mind!

Olivia is a beautiful baby and we feel so blessed that she is our daughter. She is something else! For being a mere 15 months old, she seems to know exactly what she wants and when (no, she doesn't always get it!) She is tenacious, resilient and oh-so-feisty, but she is well matched. Bring it on, Olivia! hee hee! She loves music and taps her hands in her lap, claps and bops her head whenever she hears any music. She is walking with help (down to one hand now!) and says many words. She says, "Mama", "Dada", "dogga", "all-da" (all done), "guh ger" (good girl), tee tew (thank you), ett (eat), "dow" (down), "hi", and has said some other words along the way. She has grown a couple of inches and gained a fair amount since we got home and she just moved up a shoe size (stay little! stay little!) We love Olivia!! Thank you, Jesus, for this baby and for our many blessings!

There Are No Orphans of God

2009-10-08T07:11:00.000-05:00

Olivia's Dedication Weekend

2009-10-06T23:44:00.019-05:00

On September 13th (yeah, I'm behind on blogging!) Olivia was dedicated to the Lord at our church, Bethlehem Baptist, in downtown Minneapolis. My sister, Janie, flew from San Diego for the dedication and we had a great visit. It also marked the two month anniversary of the date that we met Olivia.

Here is Janie and Olivia.My dad, my sister and I kept the visit a surprise from my mom (she is the BEST person to surprise!) Here she is, seeing my sister for the first time. I wish I had a video, too, as she screamed four times. It was hilarious!

Here are my folks (looking quite fab, I must say!) at our church

We were so surprised and pleased to have our head pastor, John Piper, do the dedication. Other pastors often do them, so we felt honored that it worked out this way!

Olivia and I wore our Chinese outfits

Even though I took this picture of Pastor John and Lee's Aunt Lynn (visiting from Mississippi and a fan of Piper's books), it didn't occur to me to get one of him with Olivia! **sigh** oh well.
Me with my girls! :) (Olivia and her cousins)

Here is a sampling of who was there...once again I missed some great pictures. We had Lee's sister Christy and her family, my two sisters, my parents, Lee's mom and his Aunt Lynn, our dear friend Bev, and Matt and Jenny and the kids.
Lee's sister, Christy, was in town from Phoenix for his other sister's wedding, but we reaped the benefits, too!

"Sooooo big"

Whenever a Shelton child comes home, we will plant a tree in their honor. Here is my bro-in-law, Greg, helping out

and Lee

and my dad

And it's planted! We planted an appropriately named tree: The Rose Tree of China, also known as Flowering Almond or Double-Flowering Plum

Here is a sweet picture of Olivia saying goodbye to her Aunt Janie, who she got to know quite well on the long weekend. We affectionately call this "forehead hugs" or "forehead lovin'".

Haiti Adoption Update

2009-09-30T22:17:00.006-05:00

Will post more when we know a bit more but for now we are just asking for prayer for "OPPeration Shelton Family" (O for Olivia and PP = Patricia and Philippe :) -- I just made that up! haha!). We have hit a few bumps in the road on the journey to our big kids, but we WILL NOT GIVE UP. We love our kids sooooo much.

Here are some verses my sister Janie emailed me today:

'I will direct your steps.' Prov. 3:5-6

'I have not given you a spirit of fear' 2 Tim 1:7

'I will supply all your needs' Phil.4:19

'I will never leave you or forsake you' Heb 13:5

'Cast all your cares on Me' I Pet. 5:7

For children to be languishing in orphanages when they are matched with families while other children are literally dying while waiting to get IN to orphanages, is just plain RIDICULOUS. The Haitian adoption process is more difficult than any other country that we know of (we are on the Board of Directors for the LYDIA Fund, so we talk to MANY adopting families, on top of the blogs and articles that we read, etc, etc). Please pray for the evil of that country to be bound. Pray that the hearts of officials processing our paperwork will soften. That laws will change for the better. Please pray that paperwork moves across desks and that children can come home to their families! We know people who are going on three years of waiting. Three years of a child's life is so very significant! Three MONTHS is significant. These kids all NEED TO COME HOME.

Well, It's Official!

2009-09-26T22:08:00.005-05:00

We're parents! Because we bought a MINIVAN today! With more repairs looming around the corner for our little Ford Focus and with Philippe and Patricia coming home...someday...we decided it was time for a trade and upgrade. It is a 2009 Volkswagen Routan, with only 9,000 miles. Isn't it just BEAU-TEE-FUL?We love it!

Every Child Deserves a Home

2009-09-24T08:14:00.000-05:00

Terrific Tuesday!

2009-09-22T20:45:00.011-05:00

We just learned that my dear Miracle Mama is STILL CANCER FREE!! What amazing news!

Here is my mom in April of 2008, after she nearly passed away

(keep in mind that I took this picture because of how good she looked at the time!!)Here is my Mom (with my Dad) last week:
Amen! Praise the Lord! Love my MAMA!!!!!!!!

And it is my Dad's 83rd birthday today! We had them over for dinner, and he and Olivia had some sweet time together. He is one of the only people she goes to without a fuss - and she stays on his lap longer than anyone else's! We signed him up for his own Facebook account so that is pretty fun! :)

Dad making a goofy face!

Blowing out his candle

Olivia was wiped out!What a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-16T19:08:00.004-05:00

This is of Olivia with her cousin, Isaac. They are total buddies! In this picture she is giving him a kiss...she has since learned to kiss with her mouth shut :) This is from the end of July and I kept meaning to post it but never got to it! I would rather spend time with little Miss O than blog. Also, I have to apologize to all the bloggers whose blogs I haven't read in so long! I will try to catch up here and there.

9/11 - We Will Never Forget!

2009-09-11T08:04:00.004-05:00

For more from us on 9/11 click HERE, HERE, or HERE.

We will never forget!

Thankful Thursday

2009-09-03T23:16:00.007-05:00

Well, it is almost Friday, but I am still eeking by here...and I am oh-so thankful, so I am trying to rush to make Thankul Thursday! We have so many pictures of this little peanut, it is crazy. We have some really fun activities that we need to blog about too, and will try to get to those soon!Last night Olivia kept saying "HI!" and so I said, "can you say, 'Hi Mama?' " and she said it! That warmed my heart as I'm sure you can understand! We are still pinching ourselves and pretty much daily just look at her and say, "Is she really here?" She is a feisty chick, lemme tell you, but she is loads of fun and has us laughing all the time. We are thoroughly enjoying her and enjoying parenthood. More pics to come soon!

And the winner is...

2009-09-01T14:13:00.004-05:00

Jennifer Flynn from Boulder City, NV. I used a third party to do the drawing. My great-nephew Isaac loaned his train conductor hat for the mission and here is my great-niece Corene proudly displaying the winner's name, which she drew.

Congratulations, Jennifer! And sorry to those whose names weren't picked out of the hat!
Thank you so much to all who bought raffle entries. We ended up with $250, which is great! We just paid the VISA bill for all of our hotels and food in China, so this is very helpful. Blessings!

Last Chance for the AWESOME Bracelet Raffle - COME ON!!!

2009-08-29T22:35:00.005-05:00

Ok, we conclude our adoption fundraising raffle on Monday, August 31! Don't you want to have a chance to win this great customized bracelet? Your photos inside and your choice of fabric for the outside. For you or for your wife, your mom, a friend...Let's get 'er done! We only have 6 entries after 6 weeks! (CORRECTION - I MEANT 6 PEOPLE ENTERED, NOT ACTUAL ENTRIES). I know we have more readers than that...and come on, how many trips to Starbucks have you made in 6 weeks? One entry is only $5!

Click HERE to learn how it works. Good luck!

Olivia Update

2009-08-25T21:29:00.007-05:00

Here is an update on our Miss O:

She seems to have adjusted very well overall
She has gained 1 lb, 2ozs and a half an inch in length in just under three weeks
She has caught on to the fact that if she drops something from her highchair, the dogs pick it up, so sometimes, just for fun she drops Cheerios for them - oh, and she sometimes lets them lick her hands...

She (YAY!) sleeps about 10 hours straight
She is crawling really fast and walking while holding two hands to help
She is used to the dogs and crawls right under them, and they walk right around or over her. They seem to have a good understanding of each other
She regularly says Mama, Dada, dogga, all-da (all done), hi, ha-o (hello) and has been heard to say Gamma, ge-ta (gentle), tayo (thank you), mo (more) and hi-go (here ya go)
She has four teeth on top now (and of course the two little ones on the bottom that she came to us with!) She continues to ~~drool~~ teethe, so there must be more on the way!

We are officially in love. She is a sweet little peanut and we love her to bits. We show her Patricia and Philippe's picture every day. We miss them terribly. My heart ached when Lee said, "I thought having her home would make it easier, but it just makes me want them home all the more". We know they will be home when it is right, we know, we know, but waaaaaaah.

Ok, so I gotta end this on a positive note...

Urgent Call to Action for Haiti Adoptions - PLEASE HELP

2009-08-17T10:22:00.007-05:00

This is lengthy, but for Patricia and Philippe and their fellow Haitians, PLEASE READ AND PLEASE ACT! It will only take a few minutes. Phone calls should be made today if possible, but don't have to be, and letters sent this week. PLEASE send an email to UNICEF - there is a sample below, just cut and paste and sign your name. This could directly impact when Patricia and Philippe come home!

Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

Dear Friends,

Over the past three years, the processing of adoptions in Haiti have slowed to a crawl. Abandoned children are enduring adoption processes lasting two or three years before being united with adoptive families. Not only is such lasting institutional care damaging to the children who wait and wait, but the slowed process has had a negative effect on the many desperately needy children of Haiti who are not waiting in orphanages. Orphanages in Haiti have traditionally been providers of humanitarian aid to their communities. Many support free medical clinics, schools, feeding programs and family preservation programs. Orphanages have been a resource for temporary care for children following a family crisis, such as a fire or illness. But now that children are languishing in orphanage care for years, orphanage directors report that the beds are full, the food and medicine supplies are insufficient, and the children needing temporary care are left on the streets with little prospect for life.

In a laudable effort to move towards transparent and democratic government, Haitian officials are now adhering to the Haitian Constitutional law regarding adoption, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier. While the law of 1974 places severe limitations on the size and age of those who may adopt, it does allow for Presidential Dispensation for those not meeting the family size or age limitations. Unfortunately, Haiti lacks an organized and transparent system for obtaining Dispensations. This confusion along with the absence of a sense of urgency regarding institutionalized children has caused extensive delays in the adoption process and further victimizes children who have already lost much. Haiti has a pending solution to this legal logjam. A newly proposed adoption law will clarify who may adopt, increase protections for Haitian children, their birth parents, and adoptive families, and streamline the adoption process. This legislation is supported by the United States and French governments along with the NGO community and UNICEF. The children of Haiti, the crèche directors who serve them and the adoptive families who wish to raise them need your help. We must encourage the Haitian government to pass the new adoption law and efficiently grant Dispensations in the interim.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Make five simple phone calls and write one letter.

1. Call your U.S. Senator. You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.

You can find your representative at www.house.gov Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

4. Call or fax UNICEF Haiti, or more simply, email! Ask to speak with Julie Bergeron. Their number is 011-509- 2245-3525.Their fax number is 011-502- 2245-1877. Her email address is jbergeron@unicef.org (Please note that calls and faxes to Haiti are international calls)

5. Write letters for the Haitian Prime Minister, President of the Haitian Senate, and the Minister of Social Welfare. Your letter can contain the same information as specified below. If you are an adoptive family or are close to a Haitian-born adopted child, insert a picture of the child or your family in your letter. Describe your family’s commitment to Haitian culture and the country’s well being as a result of your contact with a Haitian-born adopted child.

Mail your letter to Holt International, which has volunteered to collect letters and transport them to Haiti for hand delivery to the above government officials. Holt International Haitian Children & Families Initiative P.O. Box 2880 Eugene, OR 97402

6. Forward this message to everyone you know who cares about the welfare of abandoned children in Haiti. Individuals need not be personally involved in a Haitian adoption to let their voices be heard on behalf of children who have no one to speak for them!

When should you call? August 17th THAT IS TODAY!!!!!

What should you say or write to member of the U.S. Congress? Speak from your heart and give them the following information. Inform them that you are calling regarding Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. Inform them that the Haitian international adoption process is unreasonably delayed. Inform them that children referred to U.S. families are languishing in institutions. Inform them that the backlog of children in the process of adoption is preventing orphanages, who serve as local humanitarian aid providers, from continuing to assist their communities. Inform them that due to the interruption of services provided by the orphanages, Haitian children outside the orphanages are needlessly dying. Ask that their office to sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Sam Brownback. The letter asks that adoptions currently in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sample Statement

Hello, We are calling/writing on behalf of the Haitian Children & Families Initiative. We, as your constituents, are asking that the Senator/Congressperson sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Sam Brownback. As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed. Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions. Your office must get involved and sign the Dear Colleague letter to support the Haitian government in their effort to assist the homeless and abandoned children of Haiti.

Sincerely,

(your name and contact info)

What should you say or write to UNICEF? Speak from your heart and give them the following information. Inform them that you are calling regarding the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. Ask them to support the rights of children and lend their considerable influence to ensuring that intercountry adoptions currently in-process be speedily processed to completion under the existing Presidential Dispensation clause. Inform them that many adoptions are taking two or three years to process, during which time children languish in orphanages. Inform them that due to the overextension of their resources, orphanages are no longer able to provide their traditional humanitarian aid services to their communities, such as free schools, medical care, temporary child care for families in crisis, and family preservation programs. Inform them that as a direct result of the orphanage’s inability to provide humanitarian aid due to overly taxed resources, children are needlessly dying in the streets outside the orphanages. Ask them again for their support of the Presidential Dispensation and the swift passage of the new adoption law.

Sample Statement

Hello,

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. As financial supporters of UNICEF (through our tax dollars), we are asking that UNICEF lends its support and considerable influence to the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative. As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed. Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions. UNICEF must get involved to ensure that adoptions in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation so that they can be completed in a timely manner, and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sincerely,

Can you explain the problem behind the current crisis? Here is some additional information…The current constitutional law, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier, severely restricts who may adopt from Haiti. The only method by which the Haitian government may permit adoptions to non-conforming families is via Presidential Dispensation. The lack of a defined and efficient Dispensation process has caused delays of up to three years for children in the adoption process. Prolonged institutionalization has been scientifically proven to be highly detrimental to children. As orphanages expend their limited resources caring for children in the process of adoption over extended periods, they are unable to provide their traditional humanitarian aid programs to their communities. The existing adoption law provides almost no protection for the rights of abandoned children, their birth parents, or adoptive families. It offers no safe guards against human trafficking. A proposed adoption law will alleviate the crisis by standardizing and streamlining adoptions, and will far better protect abandoned Haitian children from child trafficking.

What else can you do? In addition to your primary calls to U.S. Congress and UNICEF, you can call the Haitian Embassy: Embassy of Haiti in the U.S. 2311 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008

Office Phone 1-202-332-4090. Office Fax 1- 202-745-7215 embassy@haiti.org

Please share the message – post it to your blog, email it to your friends, add it to your Facebook page. It is time to act on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of homeless and abandoned children of Haiti.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!
With love,
Dawn and Lee Shelton

Road Trip to Des Moines!

2009-08-15T22:04:00.014-05:00

Our friends, Brian and Jen Gibson, have been in the Haitian adoption process for 29 months and they came home today with their three kids!! We just had to be there for this momentous occasion! We left our house at 7:20 am and drove to Des Moines. Before we went to the homecoming at the airport, we had lunch with former Minnesotans Chris and Linda Wilde and their daughter Ellie. It was fun seeing them, too, and they really enjoyed meeting our comic relief, Olivia.Here is the sign I made (made with more love than artistic skill) Here we are with Gibson's beautiful son, Christopher, who is friends with Patricia and Philippe. All three Gibson kids were from P and P's orphanage. We didn't count how many people were there to greet them, but I would guess 75 or so!
Here we all are! It was such a joy, such a blessing and such a miracle to witness this lovely, long-awaited for, prayed-over event!! It was our first airport party for a Haitian adoption and it brought us great comfort to know that Haitian kids DO COME HOME!!! WAHOO!! So happy for you, Gibsons!!!

Olivia did great the whole day. We knew she would after doing so well flying from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Seattle to the Twin Cities with hardly a fuss. She had breakfast and her morning nap in the car and her afternoon nap and dinner in the car, and she had a great time playing with Mama in the backseat.

Here is one of the many goofy faces...

Olivia waves hello and goodbye, gives high fives, does "SO BIG" and now, plays peek-a-boo.

Laughing, or shall I say squealing with delight over this wonderful game :)

And then, no less than two seconds after this picture -

Hmm, this looks like a good teether...
We got home at 7:20pm, exactly 12 hours to the minute from when we left! We had a great day and a fun drive. Olivia had fun crawling around for a while and playing with Daddy before she was ready for bed. She crawled over to me and wanted up and that was that! What a sweetie. Have I mentioned that we loooooove her??