When God first called us to Haiti, we didn’t have a clue what was in store for us. We didn’t know the joy and contentment we would find in this place. We didn’t know the heartache and despair that was waiting for us either. Our lives here have been more intense, more joyful, and more difficult than we imagined. We thought we would be here a year, maybe two.  We have been living here for 16 years now, and one thing we have learned is this. God had a plan all along. Nothing has taken Him by surprise. And one thing we know without a doubt,  even in our darkest moments here in Haiti, He has never left us or forgotten us. This is a fact that I am clinging to, in these difficult days of our adoptions. That He knows, and that His timing is perfect.

The Beginning 

When we arrived in January, 2003, we came intending to open a boys home. maybe 10-20 boys, and no babies. We spent the next few months learning Creole, and getting the boys home ready. We had no idea, there were two precious moms in the countryside, each one expecting her 6th baby.


In March, the first mom gave birth at home, in her stick hut, to a baby girl, and named her Chrisstianette. We don’t know if the mom knew, but she was already dying of tuberculosis. We do know that she did her best to care for Chrissy, until the end. But we didn’t know any of this yet.


At the end of May, the second mom, in another village, gave birth in a hut,  to a baby girl, and called her Wideline Alen, (Alina). Everything seemed good, but the next day the mom got a severe headache and died. The father heard that in a town, 20 miles away, some people were opening a children’s home. After the funeral, when the baby was 4 days old, he wrapped her up, and walked the 20 miles to Pignon. He had no hope of keeping her alive, no way to obtain milk for her. She was fed sugar water. He arrived on our doorstep with this small 4 pound bundle, hoping that we would be able to care for her. 


And it was at this moment that our lives changed, but we still did not have a clue what was in store for us.


It was soon obvious that Alina was very sick. Unfortunately, the sugar water she had been given was made with dirty water, and she had contracted typhoid fever. Alina spent 5 days in the local hospital, and nearly died several times. We still came close to losing her after she was discharged. We were feeding her with an eye dropper around the clock. She was having multiple seizures everyday. We basically cocooned her, kept her home in a semi dark, quiet environment, and did a lot of praying. When she was six months old, she was a perfectly healthy, fat, baby! And we were settling into a happy routine with her.



But little did we know, our world was about to get turned upside down again!


Chrissy’s mom, the first mom I wrote about,  had been struggling to care for her. Her milk had dried up, and she was going to a local clinic for help. She was so thin, skeletal, so it was no wonder that she was unable to nurse Chrissy. It was at this clinic that this family was brought to our attention. The mom knew her time was running out, and was desperate to have her baby in a safe situation before she died. She knew that once she was gone, no one would be able/willing to take care of Chrissy. She came and asked us if we would take Chrissy. 




We were delighted when it worked out that we could do that for her. Chrissy was 8 months old(?), and weighed 9 pounds. She was very sick, was suffering from malnutrition, had double pneumonia, and a bad case of scabies. She loved us from day one, but was scared of everyone else. She had many fears and phobias that we spent the next few years working thru.



So we were once again, taking care of a very sick baby girl, in our home.

The Next Phase

By now, we had the boys home open, and had about ten boys living there. But because we had no plans for opening a girls home, Alina and Chrissy continued to live in our home. When we did decide that we needed a girls home, Alina and Chrissy were nearly two years old. Because they didn’t know anything but us, they truly were our babies, they continued to live with us, even after the girls home was open.



After much soul searching and praying, the decision was made to formally adopt the girls, to finalize on paper what was already finalized in our hearts. We naively went into this, imagining that it would be done in a couple of years. 


We started down the path of paperwork, with lots of starts and stops along the way. Tons of paperwork, hunting down originals, correcting papers that had mistakes, the heartbreak of turning things in only to be lost. Then you had the government that was barely functioning, offices that were shut down for months at a time, and when they opened back up, had months of backlog to catch up. Natural disasters would shut things down, protests and violence in the capital would shut things down.  It was not going well. But we kept working at it.


Now fast forward to 2012. There was another mom, in yet another village, getting ready to give birth to her 7th baby. But this pregnancy was not going well, the mom was having severe mental problems. At one point, the mom was driven to attempt to cut open her stomach. The father put her on a donkey, and walked the eight miles to the hospital, where the doctors performed a C-section, to try to save the mom and baby. The baby girl was safely delivered, and two days later they were discharged. Once home, the mom ran away. The dad was literally left holding a tiny, premature baby, with no means to feed her. No one expected this tiny one to survive, so they waited. She was not named, and there was nothing to feed her. They waited ten days. Ten days with no milk, and no name.


After ten days, the dad made the decision to come here, to see if we could help. She weighed just under two and a half pounds, and my first thought was that she was too small to save. But when offered a preemie bottle, she vigorously drank it down. Surprised all of us! Her father raised his hands and praised God, and immediately named her Lavi, which means Life, because God had given her life.



We agreed to take care of her, and planned on reuniting her with her family when she was healthy enough. Because of extenuating circumstances with her family, her father felt the safest place for Lavi was with us.  So she stayed, and she thrived.


We never really thought too long about adopting Lavi. It didn’t make sense when we couldn’t get our other two adoptions to go thru. So now our hearts were being torn, knowing that if the adoptions moved forward, we would be leaving behind someone we loved. But the adoptions were stuck, had been for some time. 



One day God touched our hearts, and we made the decision to try to adopt her too. Forty eight hours later, we heard that other two adoptions were suddenly moving forward. And in six weeks, Lavi’s paperwork was caught up with Alina’s and Chrissy’s. What a divine confirmation that was, it still gives me chills when I think about it!



That was 4 years ago, and again, there have been plenty of starts and stops. But there is an end in sight now, and we are pushing to finish them now.

 The Final Push

So there you have it. The whole story, of how God divinely placed Alina, Chrissy & Lavi in our home, and in our hearts. After 16 years of full time ministry in Haiti, we are feeling the tug to go back home. Both of our moms are getting older, and we would like to be there for them. I am also looking forward to the day when we can be together as a family, including Jesse, whom we have dearly missed. We are already planning the things we will be able to do as a family.


This process has taken longer than we ever imagined. It has been more heart wrenching than we ever thought possible. And it has cost more money than we thought it would. There are many friends have have lovingly given to make this happen, and it is thru those gifts that we have made it to this point.  We are so grateful for every prayer lifted up, every word of encouragement spoken, and every dollar given. You know that we have never publicly asked for help with our adoptions before. We now believe we are getting closer to the end, but we need help with the rest of the lawyer fees, court costs, etc. We estimate $15,000 to finish the three adoptions.  

We are asking for your help to finish the adoptions; please help us bring the girls home!