The following pictures are of the 48 hours from the time we left the airport on January 25, 2010, at 11:30 p.m. to the time we came home on January 27, 2010.
This picture got me giggling...all the flights (except 1) to Port-au-Prince are cancelled.
We waited for hours at the airport, then go a quick glimpse of Joshua as he was carried by the charter bus we were waiting in to one of the vans from HIS House just ahead of us. After traveling about half an hour to HIS House and starting our paperwork with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health, we were told at 3:15 a.m. that we should go back to our hotels and get a good night's sleep. At first we were all dismayed and discouraged, but then Chris got up and said, "If you love your children you will go back to your hotels, sleep, and come back in the morning. This is the first time in two weeks your children have slept in a bed. Please let them sleep." How we can we say no to that plea???
So, we did. We went back to our hotels...it was probably around 4:30 a.m. before we got to ours and we wanted to leave by 9:30 to get back to HIS House by 10:00. We slept for about 3.5 hours.
Once we got to HIS House, it was a little more waiting until they finally called Joshua's name and we were able to go see this face...
When we first got to the cottage he was in, he was in the arms of one of the workers. As soon as he saw me he said, "MAMA!" and reached out for me. So I took him. And then he started crying...and why did he start crying? Because I took him away from his food of course!
We thought we had to wait at this cottage until they came to get us. We learned later that wasn't true, but while we waited, we enjoyed...
...this laughter
Mommy time....
and Daddy time...
And when we did go to the main building, we had some playtime...
And then they called his name to get his picture taken for his refugee paperwork...
And then we were headed home...
And so on January 26, 2010. 4:30 in the afternoon, we were declared Joshua's guardians and were free to...
...GO HOME!!!!
We spent that night at a hotel in Miami before heading home on January 27, 2010, to two very excited children (and their grandparents of course).
Unfortunately, the camera was packed and we didn't think to take it out to take pictures of Joshua waiting at the airport, on the plane, and getting to the airport to see his siblings and meet his grandma for the first time (grandpa was at home with the stomach flu...we met him the next day).
But we did get some pictures at home.
We had begun to wonder if this day would ever happen...
the day we would say all three of our children hanging out on our couch, in our home, in our little midwestern town....
Princess N obviously took to her youngest brother very quickly. She was so excited she could pick him up and hold him!
Quarterback busied himself trying to show Joshua all of the toys and stuffed animals Joshua had accumulated over the years....many from CHRISTmas, like this fish.
And we finally had the first dinner we would share as a family of 5.
A long time coming...both having Joshua home and posting pictures. All in all though, I think it was worth the wait!!!
Always hoping. Always trusting. Always praying. Always.
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