Go Blazers... we believed.

We went to game #5 last night - it was "do or die" which meant we knew it was going to be a great game. And it was! They even pulled off a big win, so they will be going back to Houston on Thursday.

It was a fun night to be a Blazer fan! :-) The crowd was amazing...

Chancelet Update: April 09

We just received the April update and pictures! I was so thrilled when I saw that email pop into my inbox as I had just been reviewing my long, long list of work “to-do” items, feeling overwhelmed - but getting the pictures of Chancelet ALWAYS perks me up!

We will get to have our webcam session with him this Saturday, so I will blog about that this weekend!

Hmm… this was an interesting statement in the update below (we could be in for an strong-willed little guy!) Does being cute make up for that? Yikes...

“He definitely knows what he wants and he wants it now!”

Hi!

As many of you know, Melanie Wright, our adoption update coordinator, is ill with Hepatitis A and is recuperating in the USA until June. While Melanie is gone, Molly and I will be sending out the updates. For those of you that get an update from me, that means updates will be short and sweet for the month of April! J Please keep us in your prayers as we try to fill in for Melanie and keep you updated on how your child is doing! For the month of May, I have a great surprise as an update for you and I hope that you enjoy it! I will be doing the updates for May myself along with the help from one of our volunteers.

• Weight: 16 lbs
• Adoption Status: IBESR

Chancelet continues to be a happy little boy. He is crawling around with great speed now and is always on the go! He definitely knows what he wants and he wants it now! But he is also easily pleased and interested in whatever you decide to do with him. He likes to sit and be read to. He is interested in everything around him and likes to explore and find out what things are. He likes his snacks and especially little dissolving snacks, like Gerber puffs.

Blessings, Dixie

Moved into IBESR!

We just received the below email update from Bethany Christian Services. While we know we have a long way to go, it's always good to make progress!

"I have some great news for Joe and Jill! GLA received word from their attorney that the Wilkins' dossier has been submitted to IBESR! The attorney did not give the date; however, my guess would be sometime in the past week considering when GLA submitted their dossier to the attorney to have the social history done. Chancelet's IBESR number is 17785."

Q. For those who are asking the question: "what is IBESR again?"

A. IBESR is the Haitian Social Services. When your dossier is at IBESR, social workers will study it to see whether you meet the Haitian requirements to adopt a child. They also judge whether your referred child is a good match for your family. Your dossier needs 4 signatures before it can be released from IBESR. The four individuals who sign the approval are the director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the head of social services. If, for example, one of these individuals is on holidays, there is not another individual who can sign on his/her behalf, which will result in additional delays. Once all 4 signatures have been received, IBESR issues a Certificate of Authorization informing Parquet and the courts that IBESR has approved you to adopt your Haitian child. *About 500+ dossiers from various countries (U.S., Canada, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, etc.) are in IBESR at any one time.

WebCam with Chancelet

GLA is offering us the opportunity to have 3 webcam sessions with our little guy! We are so excited to be able to see him in person. I guess we are also a bit hesitant (given we have never interacted with him before) but I think the good will outweigh the bad in this situation.

We have the following sessions scheduled with him, each for 10 minutes.

• Saturday, May 2
• Saturday, May 30
• Saturday, June 13

We haven't received any new pictures for April at this point, but we really aren't expecting them until the end of the month due to Melanie's illness. We pray she is recovering.

Monthly Updates on Chancelet

This was just updated on the GLA site, so we probably won't see updated pics of Chancelet until the end of the month... you might also take time to say prayers for Melanie.

NOTICE:
Our adoption update coordinator, Melanie, is ill and will not be able to send out updates for the months of April and May. Some of the staff will continue to send adoptive families photos and VERY short updates. We will send them all at the end of each month. So do not be concerned when your update does not come as planned. You will receive it later in the month. Please keep Melanie in your prayers that she will make a quick recovery.

Go Blazers!

Last night we went to the Blazer game... final score was 113-83, so it wasn't a "great" game to watch, but I would rather have them win big (vs. playing an exciting game and then losing in the final seconds!) This picture doesn't really do our seats justice as we got to be in the "club" section, which means you eat free food and feel like a pig after the game... but as long as we don't do that too often, I guess it's okay. :-)

We had a fun time and it was nice to do that after work... (I did see my doctor yesterday afternoon as well, but will give that update on my other blog.)

I decided we need to send Chancelet a Blazer jersey. Many of you noticed the Tampa Bay jersey GLA had on him in the pictures below, so I guess we will need to update his team! :-)

My Pretzel

Regarding the adoption update: We haven't heard anymore details from Bethany/GLA on the dossier situation and getting into IBESR, so we just wait... getting very used to waiting & waiting...

"Almost" into IBESR!!

I was feeling “martyrish” this morning (I don’t think that’s a word, but I think it will convey the right message) because sometimes it just feels like things aren’t moving forward..

I had been looking at the statistics of entering into IBESR (this is the equivalent of the department of family and children's services, responsible for approving each international adoption) and in the past it has been taking about 2 months to enter, once the referral is received. However, right now we are at 3 months, and our update last week still stated “pre-IBESR.”

But we just got this email from our Bethany Christian rep:

I received an update from Stephanie at GLA today with some good news about Joe and Jill's dossier. It was given to the attorney this morning. The attorney will now have the social history completed, as well as review the complete dossier, and then will be submitting it into IBESR. I would expect that it should be submitted within a couple weeks. GLA is not usually notified immediately when the attorney submits dossiers; however, as soon as GLA is informed, they will let me know and also provide the family's IBESR number.

So… that brought me some much needed peace, and I owe God a big thank-you for the “movement.”