Stopped Short

Dear Miss Jess,
Yesterday I was driving home from work and thinking about what had happened in Haiti a short year ago.  I was remembering the images that came over the news and the fear that came as we realized how thorough and complete the devastation was.

I was thinking about all the prayers and hoping and pleading and miracles that occurred to get your brother and the other children home.  I was thinking about the ache when we realized that you wouldn't be coming home.

A car pulled in front of me just then.  In the back window was a bumper sticker across the back window that said "Pray4Jessica".

And my heart broke all over again.

"I do," I thought.  I pray for you every day.

I'm not alone.

After I posted about you a few weeks ago, I had a lot of people send me very special messages that reminded me again what a powerful, beautiful, wonderful soul you are.  You have touched and changed lives and you continue to do so.

I thought I'd share some of them with you.  I know you'll never see this.  But it makes me feel better to pretend that you do.

M says:
"I thought maybe it was time to share with you that N prays for Jessica every single night.  Even if I forget in the turmoil of getting the girls to go to bed, she does not, and she always asks me to pray for her.   Since the news showed the cholera epidemic, she has added a special rider concerning that to her prayer.   She does NOT want Jessica to have cholera.   It both fills me with joy and breaks my heart at the same time that she has such faith and remembers Jess so fondly."

T&T say:
" I feel extreme 'survivor guilt' in reference to Jessica. It's like a part of me feels guilty for being happy because so much of me is sad that she's not with you and if I let the sunshine fill my whole body then I will in some way be betraying her....I can tell you in all honesty that I, personally, pray for Jessica each day. I pray for the Lord's will to be done. I pray that He will heal that empty part of your heart. And as we get ready to mark the anniversary of the earthquake I pray that He will relieve the suffering of his people by strengthening our hands and our backs -- by touching the hearts of those that have the means & minds to truly make things happen. I know He can. I know it."

K says:
"Nathan and Jessica have put a face to Haiti and helped me realize life’s struggles and many blessings... I pray that this is the year that real change happens! Not just in Haiti, but for all struggling countries, states, cities, families, and people. I pray that life’s blessing outshine its struggles. I pray that the joy Nathan feels every morning when he wakes up next to his Mama, is joy that hundreds more Haitian babies will feel this year."

R&R said:
"Jessica is missed by all who met her"

M says:
"Jess weighs heavy on my heart, the people of Haiti weigh heavy on my heart and we do not do enough. We pray for little Jess and Haiti daily, we pray that Harry will have the strength to face everyday with courage."

Aunt TiTi says that Collin prays for you every night as well.

I find myself wondering what the future will hold for both of us, Miss Jess.

I think of you so often and I'm so glad I had you in my life.  I will always wonder why we lost you and Malot and Lexi.  Why only Nathan was allowed to come home.

I love you, Miss Jess.  I always will.
Lori

Today We Heard Those 3 Little Words: "Got Humanitarian Parole"

The last email we received from our adoption coordinator looked a little like this:

WE HAVE HUMANITARIAN PAROLE, IT IS OFFICIAL!!

We are bringing the kids home!!

Our thanks to the people of JCICS, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security who have worked out the details to make this possible.

What this means:
It means that they're working with adoption agencies to get as much proof as possible of which parents were matched with which children in Haiti. (This means you really need to go register your adoption if you haven't - see jcics.com/haiti.htm for details or message me and I can forward more information to you.)

It means that if we can prove that our adoptions meet the criteria (which are very reasonable considering all the circumstances) we will be able to bring our children home. They won't have automatic US citizenship like they would have if we'd finished the process the "normal" way, but they'll be home. We'll work out all the rest of the paperwork on their citizenship and to formalize their adoptions later.

NOW - we just need to find them.

We did receive word that several of the children that were unaccounted for have been found. Connections are so spotty and communication so rare that it's hard to get much information.

For now, please keep praying for Collin, Vania, Abi, Joey, Jordan, Nathan and Jessica to be found. Pray for them to be brought to the Petionville LDS Chapel (which has become a makeshift safe haven). Pray that the doctor we sent the funds down with will make it to them soon. He has run into all sorts of problems trying to get there. The last word we got was that they were going to fly into the Dominican Republic and DRIVE to PAP. That's a LONG trip without a catastrophic earthquake. Pray that their way is sped and they are able to get to the people who need their skills and who need the funds we've sent with him.

Pray they're able to find Jessica - that her birth father is able to find Harry in this disaster. We had received word that he wanted to bring her back - that they were working that out with him before this hit. Please pray for angels to guide that process.

Pray, continually, for the men and women from so many countries, who are risking their own lives to be there on the ground lifting those who cannot lift themselves. Pray they can find those who are still living. Pray the supplies reach the people who need them most. Pray that those giving aid - in all the many ways they are serving - are sustained and given the strength they need to keep working.

Pray the world does not forget next week when "compassion fatigue" sets in. Pray that our sister, Haiti, stays on our minds.

Great News on Most of the Kids!

We just got this fabulous news about some of the children and our orphanage. Harry has spoken to Nadia. He knows where she is and he is arranging for the children to be brought to the LDS Church where they have supplies and shelter.

The two children in Transitional care are with him now. The rest of the kids are coming.

I think this means we just need to find Jessica! We should have confirmation on each specific individual child that is with Nadia tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued prayers! Thank the Lord for Miracles. Pray these continue throughout this country and with all her people!!


Dear Hope families,

I just heard from Harry and although the bulk of the email is still somewhat vague, I do have good news that Avrie and Wyclef are ok.

Harry finally talked to Nadia today and this is his quote “I am so happy to hear from Nadia and to know that most of the kids been safe”. He says that he is going to go and get them and bring them to the church so he can take care of them. He said that he has Fabrice and Schnider with him, I don’t know if he has had them with him or if he just got them. But either way we know for sure that they are ok and with Harry. I sent Harry a list of all the kids,
I asked him to please go get them all if possible, and then to give me a check mark by every child and tell me how they are.

I will let you know, I am hoping that he will have them or at least see them all tomorrow.

Keep praying!

Chareyl
(Wasatch Adoptions)

If Halloween Were Tomorrow, I'd Want to Be Anderson Cooper...

Or Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

They "get" that the secret is not just in the telling... it's in the doing as well.

So do the members of the LA Fire Department who have fearlessly and tirelessly been working in the rubble to free people. And that rescue team from Iceland... I love them.

The soliders. The urban rescue workers. They "get" it.

So do the doctors and nurses who have flown to Haiti on a moment's notice and are working around the clock in unbelievable conditions.

We seriously need prayers. The kind you mean. Not the kind you tell to someone's face when you hear that something difficult has happened to them and you say, "We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers."

We need knee-bending, heart-changing prayers.

Please, pray for whatever miracles it's going to take to get the ports and the single-strip airport operating to full capacity. Pray for safety for all the relief workers. Pray for strength and angels to lift up those who are trapped. Pray that the dogs will be able to find what they need to find to lead people where they need to be led to save lives. People's lives.

Pray that someone will find the kids from our O and get them supplies and the funds we've sent down before terrible things happen to these babies because they're exposed in this 91 degree weather without water. Pray that God leads people to Avrie and Jessica and Wyclef. Pray that roads can be cleared and food and water and medical supplies delivered to those who need them.

THESE are the people the Lord meant when He talked about doing "Unto the least of these..." It doesn't get any more "least" than orphans in devastated Haiti. It doesn't get any easier to help than to Pray.

And mean it.

Do the Best You Can With What You Have Where You Are

I have decided that news commentators have some sort of sick game going on trying to see who can ask the dumbest question.

Michelle says maybe they get commission for the person who asks the dumbest of the day.

I'm really tired of people on the news talking about Haitians as if they are a bunch of lawless, random, ignorant fools.

Haitians are strong. They are proud. They are patriotic. They are giving.

I've met more people who would "give you the shirt off their back" in Haiti than in America. And many of those people may only have THAT SHIRT, but they'd give it to you anyway.

Remember the LA Riots? Americans aren't so awesome during crises sometimes either. The "natural man" tends to get desperate when pushed to the edge.

I think the thought that sums up the people I have met in Haiti is people who are doing the best they can with what they have where they are.

And I think they deserve your respect, Mr. Highly Paid Reporter.

Please continue to pray. Pray for Jessica. We have no idea where she was when the earthquake hit - we just know she wasn't at the orphanage. Pray for the families, for the children, for the injured. Pray for the rescuers. Pray for the governments. We need so miracles to come out of this. I can't stop to think about what's happened to all the paperwork they'd been compiling for our adoption for the last 27 months. We need a miracle, Lord. We need a miracle.

Pray for those that are stuck in the rubble and trying to hang on. Pray for the workers and their safety. Pray they'll have the ingenuity to figure out how to make do with what they have and still save lives in less than ideal conditions.

Pray that the world doesn't forget about this next week when some celebutante does something stupid.

Pray for the children.

Word on Harry and Some of the Children...

We received this from our Coordinator:

I just received first hand news from Haiti just a few minutes ago from Harry Mardy. Both Harry and his brother Guesno are okay. Harry has not been able to reach Nadia the orphanage director. He did get in touch with one of the Nannies at the new orphanage and all the kids there are okay. As you know Hope for the Little Angels was in the process of moving to another city and another orphanage. We know that some of the children were still at the old orphanage, I do not have word on these children and I do not have the names of these children. Also we had a couple of kids in foster care and I have no word on those kids. Harry did say that him mother did not make it and his sister Kenia did not make it. I think that some of you have met Kenia she has come to the hotel during the parent trips with Harry's wife Pascal. I am so grateful for the news we received today and I will continue to pass on information to you as I get it.

Port-au-Prince is PEOPLE! It's People!

Quick update - we haven't heard word if our children are safe. Isabelle, if you read this please email me @ lolorosen at rapidwave dot net

Our creche is called Hope for Little Angels of Haiti. It's very small - only 68 children. ONLY 68 children.

It's located in Carrefour. That's where the epicenter of the quake was.

We were watching MSN last night and there was a video of the scene at the Presidential Plaza. It's that Plaza that gives our hotel the name LePlaza. We know these places as the camera scanned around and went down side streets.

And then, suddenly, there was the orange wall. That's our hotel. That WAS our hotel. We love those orange walls because you can pick them out from blocks away in the back of the taptap and know that we're almost home.

I want to have someone front-kick whoever the "Former US Ambassador to Haiti" dude was that was on CNN all night last night. From the sounds of it, he must have been great. To hear him talk about how the population in PAP went from the 250K mark in the 1950s to the 2 million+ mark now and for him to say that it's "all due to a lack of birth control and basic overpopulation".

Bastard.

Have you MET these people, Mr. Faux Ambassador?? They aren't fornicating rabbits. Yes, there is a lack of birth control in Haiti. There's also a lack of education. There's also an astronomically high instance of rape. There's also a lack of skills for people to farm or otherwise take care of their families elsewhere.

People live where they can get water and there isn't an infrastructure for that to be accessible elsewhere. People live where they can find a way to get food for their families (you know... the ones they created by fornicating, you big jerk). If you didn't have a skill or a trade and all you could do to try to survive with the people you love was try to find something to sell on the streets - you go where there are people there to see whatever it is you're trying to sell.

I've met some of these people, Mr. Former Ambassador. I have friends behind that broken orange wall that I saw on the news.

People like Valdimir and Jean Claude and Michael. There are staff at the hotel that I've seen more often in the last 2 years than I've seen my own family members.

When we were there last October, Vladimir brought his fiance down to meet us all.
He introduced us to Vanessa as his mother, his father, his grandmother, his son, his daughter. Because he thinks of us as family. We take care of each other. We care about each other as people, and not just as numbers of the victims in that rubble.

Somewhere in that mess is Mackenson and his family - our Haitian Roots child.

Somewhere in that mess are all the other Haitian Roots kids and their families.

Somewhere in that mess in Petionville is our friend, Harry, who is the LDS Bishop in Petionville. That means that he's told Heavenly Father he'll be responsible for the temporal and spiritual welfare for all the people in the congregation. He's also our coordinator for our orphanage. Our contacts are desperately trying to get in touch with him. We need to know that they're OK, not just because of our kids, we have friends that feel like family there. And right now, if they're OK, they're in the middle of trying to make things better for a whole lot of people.

It's not just our two children in Haiti that we're worried about. It's all the people of Haiti.

I've had many people tell us that they want to help. What can we do? Or "you're in our prayers."

Our coordinator also happens to be the Haitian coordinator for the Joint Council on International Children's Services. She's working with her resources right now to figure out where the best next steps are. She's also working with the State Department and the LDS Church Charities to see what we can do to get aid specifically to the orphanages in Haiti. We'll update as soon as we get direction.

But in the mean time, please pray for Haiti - and mean it when you say it. Pray for the people behind our beloved orange wall. Pray for the school children. Pray for the families. Pray for the leaders of all the different churches that are trying to help their congregations. Pray for the orphanages. Pray for the governments to work together. Pray for the best way to help individuals to be found. Pray for relief.

And remember that those are families in Port-au-Prince. They're people.

Two Points for the Lord!!

We received a call from Wasatch International tonight. They'd heard from our agency and reported that Lexi has made a "sudden and remarkable recovery". Harry (our liasion in Haiti) was amazed at the turnaround she made today. They'll release her from the hospital tonight or tomorrow.

We know this is directly related to the many prayers our friends and family have offered up on her behalf. We are so grateful for the love and support received by our family, and particularly our daughter.

I've been so worried about her. This is my journal entry from last night:

"We're having a family fast for Lexi today. I'm pretty worried and
really wish I had the details on what is wrong with her and that I could be
there to hold her and rock her.

I wonder all the time what she thinks of the week we were there. Does
it seem like a strange dream? Does she think about it? Does she have
any idea who we were or that we are coming back for her?

I know she doesn't have anyone to hold her at the hospital. I hope she'll somehow know how many people are praying for her right now and have combined their faith to plead with the Lord to help her heal. "

Thank you for loving us and for your continued prayers and support. We're so grateful for what we've experienced and for Lexi's improvement.

Here We Go Again...

We received a call this evening and were notified that our sweet Alexis is in the hospital again. We don't know details, but can only assume it's more complications/dehydration/etc from the parasites that have been ravaging her body.

During our time in Haiti, there were points where she was so sick and weak that Brent and I looked at each other and wondered if she was going to make it. It was that bad after they'd RELEASED her from the hospital.

Now we hear that she's back in the hospital - no more information than that. This time she doesn't have Mommy to hold her and help her feel better. And Mommy needs that as much as Lexi does. I don't want to rely on 4th-hand information from a medical center in Haiti that, while they're trying to do their best.... it just isn't aways enough.

PLEASE PRAY for Alexis Sophia, her health, comfort, her body's ability to get stronger, and for the doctors and nurses caring for her - that they will be led to the best solutions get her home and healthy as soon as possible.


Come Home Soon! Mommy and Daddy Need You!