Hi. This post is from Bethany's mom.

Troy and I received one of our best Christmas presents on Friday.

We received Christmas cards from Manthania and Nicot in the mail!!!!!

There were new pictures of both of them and handprints and footprints.

It really touched our hearts. If we couldn't spend Christmas with them-the cards were GREAT!!

I realize that Manthania and Nicot didn't address the envelope and take the cards to the post office and they weren't even mailed from Haiti-BUT IT SURE FELT THAT WAY.

Thank you, thank you, thank you whoever had a hand in this!!!!

As Troy and I have been shopping for our other three children, I have to admit I have been a little sad thinking about the fact that I won't be able to spend the holiday with all of my children. I have been praying about it. I don't want to be even a little sad on Jesus' birthday. I want to be filled with the Joy and Hope that His birth brought to this world!!!

The cards from Manthania and Nicot are going to help me do that!

Thank you Lord for your birth and what it means in our lives. Thank you, also, for such thoughtful friends!!!

Love you all and Merry Christmas!!!!

The Story goes on!

I can't believe it. One year ago this week I was seeing Haiti for the first time. I was holding the children that I now love more than I can ever put into words for the first time! It doesn't seem like a year has gone by but it has. Yesterday the 11th was my birthday and I had intended to post this then but I got sidetracked and so now it is after midnight, o well. I just can't believe it has been a year since I shared magic popcorn, hehe, that You-You made, with some of the children that hold my heart. Most days I miss the children like crazy. I miss the feel of them in my arms, their laughter in my ears, and I just mis being with them. I miss Haiti like crazy, I miss everything about it and would pack up and leave tomorrow to go if I could. But today God reminded me that a year can fly by. Even though the day may be hard to get through the time will go quickly. Soon it will be my time to go, it will be my turn to help the children everday, to pray with, play with them, laugh with them and love with them. Until then I will remember that God has a plan bigger than mine and he knows and will help me each to see that the time will go by quickly until I can go home to Haiti. Thanks God for one more year, One more amazing year, a year in which I grew closes to you in more ways than I ever imagined!

One more year behind but so many more still to come. I can'tt wait till next year, maybe then You-You we can share some more birthday popcorn!

17 Letters

Ok it is now 12:14, by the time I post it will be later than that. Michelle I hope the volume on your computer is turned off, hehe. Well anyway I have been sitting here in my living room looking up at the Happy Thanksgiving sign my brother made earlier and hung up for tomorrow. It simply says happy thanks giving and then above each letter is a name.

Pop=our grandpa

Meme= our grandmother

Terryl=our great uncle

Troy

Cathy

Kristina

Todd

Bethany

Alyssa

Jessica

Kaleb

Megan

Lillie

Manthania

Jonas

Nicot

Ellie

They exact number of people that we have thanksgiving with each year is the same number of letters in the words Thanksgiving. And that is only 17 reasons why I am thankful. Looking at this simple sign has made me realize that I have more to be thankful for the number of people that will sit in my church on Christmas play sunday.

I do want to say that I am very thankful that Jesus is my best friend. He is amazing. He has placed a desire in my heart for a counrty and for children that a little over a year and a half ago I knew nothing about. He took a little girl who asked God to please call me to be anything but a missionary and turned her into a girl that could think of nothing else. Thank you Jesus for your compassion and never ending love. And thank you for playing more than 17 letters in my life. Thank you for the children like Daniel that hold mt heart. Thank you for holding me when I cry and giving me scripture to read. Thank you for dying so I could live, Live for you.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope that you all can find as many things to be thankful for as I have.

Love always in Christ.

The Entrance!?!?!

We finally made it!!!

We are now in IBESR. We have been for a few days and I haven't got to post about it yet. God has moved on behalf of us and our files and finally put us in IBESR. We don't know how but God does.

So my new favorite numbers are now 15923 and 15924.

With each passing day we are closer to the day Matu and Nicot will come home and our family will be together.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us over the past year and four months. Please do not stop praying! We love you all.

The month in recap!

Since I can remember my best friends name was April. Our mothers were friends and so it was destined that we too would be best friends. We have been there for each other through the tough times but also through the fun times. We have been friends for so long and are families are so close you might as well consider as sisters. That is what she is to me, my sister, the person I share everything with. For everything we have in common, there is one thing that has always made us closer and that is our faith in God. God blessed April with finding a wonderful guy named Brooks. Well in July Brooks proposed, so for the last three months we have been planning and putting together the wedding of a lifetime. Last friday night on October 26, 2007 at seven o'clock my best friend got married. I am so so so happy for her. I do have to tell you that it was a very strange thing signing the marriage license, knowing that my best friend has a new best friend, her husband. But as I had realized before hand I didn't loose my best friend, I gained a new friend. Brooks is a good guy and is always fun to have around. April, I am so glad that God provided you with a great guy, a guy who not only loves you but loves God. I pray that God provides me with a guy that loves me as much as Brooks loves you and who also loves God. Congrats again and I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



And now back to everything that happened before the wedding. I went to Haiti, my forth trip. And as with every trip I loved every single minute of it. I got to see Steven and Belle see their Mom again. I got to see my Mom with her children for the first time. I got to love on the children who hold most of my heart. I also got to experience Mother Theresa's hospital and orphanage. God opened my eyes that day for sure. Everytime I am there I fall more in love. In love with the Country, the orphanage, the nannies, the workers, the boys at St. Joe, with God. My everyday is filled ith thought of how and when I can go back "home", to the place that is my life. I have only been away from there for a few weeks but it seems so much longer. I long to be back, I long for the children to yell Bet-tany. I long for them to want to sit on my lap, I long for them to fill the emptiness when I hold out my arms. I long for thier kisses and thier smiles. I long for hearing them sing. I long to talk to Angela again, I long to try and talk to the nannies. I long for Haiti.

There you go Megan I have finally posted. I am so glad you all haven't given up on me. I promise I will post some more pictures from my trip soon!

SISTERS!!!

Three sisters! I love them all.
The day Alyssa was born I am rumored to have ran down the hall at the hospital shouting, I have a little sister, do you want to come see. And though somtimes she doesn't think so I am so proud of the person she has become. She truely has God shining from her. She is beautiful both on the outside and the inside. She is the first sister God gave me and I thank him he made her patient and just the way he did because she puts up with me like no other person can.




Then there is Amber and although she may not share my last name she my sister. Her parents are my God parents. She is not only my sister but my friend. We share everything with each other. We love the same things and always like to be crazy and have fun. She is the sister that tells me everyday that she loves me and always is the one to put a smile on your face. She is full of life and love for everyone. I love being with her and her family they are so much of the person I am.




Then there is Manthania, or Matu as I and so many others call her. The sister that God choose for me. She is so much more than I could ever imagine. Her attitude is me all over again, and yet we are so different. We may be seperated by many miles but my love for is so strong that she is here in my heart. I can hear her laugh and see her smile. Somedays I sit and watch my videos of her and the kids over and over. I miss her dearly but someday she will be here and not just be the sister in my heart but the sister in my arms.

To my three sisters. The biological sister. The God sister. The Adopted sister. The one thing is we are all sisters, and better yet the three of you are my sisters. I could not have ask for any better sisters than the ones he can me. You have helped make me and mold me into the person I have become. We have shared the worst of times and the best of times and still somehow we make it through.

Alyssa thank you for always putting up with me. For knowing how dumb I can act and how nerdy I truely am and still letting me talk to you. Thank you for not only putting up with me at home but at church to. For being quiet to make up for my loudness. For being realistic and liking reality to balace my love for all things not realistic. For laughing with me, for crying with me, for being clumsy and sometimes as silly as me. Thank you for loving God! I love you so much.

Amber thanks for loving me for who I am. Thanks for baking cookies with me and letting me sleep in your room. For always making me laugh. For being my sister friend. For knowing the underlying meaning of the word maybe even on the internet. For making me feel that I am always wanted no matter the hour or what you have going on. Nowing that no matter how dumb we are we are going to have fun. I heart you my dear dear sister.

Matu Mwen renmen ou anpil anpil! Ou tre' espesyal. Ou bel, Ou bel, Ou bel, hehe, (I was going to do this all in creole but it is one in the morning and I took a night time tylonol cold, and so my creole sentence making skills are not working so well right now.) Anyway Matu, you have such a wonderful laugh and spirit, no matter what has happened to you in the past I know that you are loved by so many now. I am so glad God choose you to be in my family and you make our family complete. I am coming soon and we will have lots of fun with Mama, Papa, and Nicot. Mwen pa janm sispann renmen ou.

The Other kids in my life

Malaki, this little boy is the only boy I think could give Fritz a run for his money.

Sophie and I, I love her so much, even when she gets mad and talks to me in German.
Alec has the most amazing eyes, and when he smiles it can light up any day.




Sophie, Lily, and Malaki looking outside.

Sage Micheal Patrick Mullen, the boy who makes going to work everyday worth it.










For as much as sometimes I hate getting up in the morning, once I get there and get to see there faces it is worth it. Some of these children come from homes where love is pouring out, whether from parents, grandparents or something even from a foster parent who just got there adoption process started. Others come from homes that are not that good. Everyday though they come together and brighten the day of anyone who walks into the different rooms where they maybe located in the Childrens Learning Center. It amazes me how much the remind me of the children at Angel House. Little things they do will remind of the out pouring of love and joy I feel when I am in Haiti.
One more thing I can be thankful for... a job, for now, with wonderful children.