I'm going back

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9

The dates are being set. Plans are being made. And my excitement level is increasing. As of now, it looks like I'll be heading back to Haiti Monday, July 11th on the 6:30 am flight to Cap-Haitien. Returning Friday, July 22nd.

Those of you who expressed interest in going to Haiti, where are you at now? Are you at a point where you want to make the journey? Right now there's one other person coming along. An amazing woman that God sent my way.

Some day I'll share the cool story how Brenda and I ended up meeting. Let's just say it was a nudge from God. For both of us. Brenda was being called to Haiti and God was using a megaphone to get her attention.

* * * * * * * * * *

Yesterday Jason and I attended a workshop called Parenting the Adopted Child. It's a requirement, in Edina, so you can probably guess how excited I was to leave my kids all day Saturday to sit through what I fully expected to be hours of boring lecture by people who couldn't present. (My career is in Training & Development. I'm a very bad participant in a workshop.)

We attended with five other couples, two of whom were from Wisconsin. It was exciting, informative, and overwhelming. And I'm happy to announce that the presenters were fantastic.

We did a bead exercise that really impacted me. Everyone was given a container of beads. Yellow, brown, black, white, red, tan. The facilitator then slowly asked us about our lives and the color of skin of the people we interact with. We were first to pull out a bead that represented our family. Next was our church. School. Dentist. Doctor. Friends. The list went on and on, and we kept pulling white beads out of the container.

Then she said, "Pull out the bead the represents the child you are adopting."

My plate was filled with white beads. As I went to place the black bead on the plate with all the white ones, I felt like I was going to cry.

We're going into this adoption with our eyes and our hearts wide open. We realize that we are bringing a little Haitian girl into a very Caucasian family. We aren't color blind, and we're fully aware she will experience prejudice and we hear comments that will shock us. What hits me the hardest now is what SHE will hear and experience as she grows up. I'm already in mama bear mode, and we don't even know who she is.

The hour-long drive home was a great way to decompress and talk. We talked about the challenges we'll face, the process we're currently going through, and how adopting our little girl will impact our family. In that conversation I realized that Jason is very much with me in this process. He's excited for her to come home too.

Since I'll be back in July, I most likely will meet our daughter at that time. But I won't know that it's her. She won't be assigned to us until I get back home. That's going to be an exciting 11 days for me. Ask me in July about how I'm feeling, being back home and having to wait.

I can see her. As we all cuddled together on our bed for what we call Family Cuddle Time, I pictured her there with us giggling. She's already part of our family. And I can't wait to bring her home.