Happy Holidays and NEWS

It has been a long time since I posted. We really didnt have anything we were ready to add, but now that we have contacted all family, I am ready to share some news.

After returning from Haiti and seeing the Holt Fontana Orphanage and meeting our new hero, Mansour, we knew we wanted to adopt from haiti again. We applied for and have been accepted as parents to Jean and Jeanette. Lovely 1 year old twins, brother and sister.

We are thrilled. A bit shocked and sometimes a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having 5 children. We just chose to try for the twins and if God and Holt matched us then we would trust we could do it. We have had such joy since knowing they are ours.

Our file for Vialancia remains in Parquet and we are praying that we will move soon. For now we continue to be thankful for the sense of peace created by our visit to Haiti.

May God bless you this holiday season! I will post more often as the new year rings in!

Much Love

Amy

A new way to Help us!

I found the coolest way for all family and friends to help us! You can also support the rights of children and get people thinking!

http://everychildsright.wordpress.com

This website is run by folks who want to help families pursuing internationall adoption. If you purchase one of their great shirts for $22.00 they will deposit $5.00 in a paypal account for our adoption fund!

We havent really done the fundraising thing because it is a bit weird feeling for us. Our families and some friends have definitely contributed. We just think this is a chance to spread the word about the international plight of children and help us too!

Check out the site. I will be wearing my shirt soon! Order now and you will have the shirt for holiday gifts!

Home from Haiti

Our trip to Haiti was amazing! It was really a whirl wind of a trip, but truly life altering. Thomas had traveled out of country before, but I never had. One thing I will never forget in the future is that you must have information about where you are going in order to get through customs! Yikes! We only knew that Mansour would be waiting for us. We didnt have a phone number or address. This landed us in the immigration office. Then Thomas left me to go with an official to find Mansour. AFter 10 very stressful minutes he returned and off we went. So note to self: Put Kaliko resort on the form, no one will question it!

Driving through Port Au Prince and Haitian countryside is an act of faith on the one hand and a devastating emotional journey on the other. The rules of the road in Haiti are simple, there are none. You can pass 3 wide, drive 70 or 15mph, honk and pass, anything goes. The view out the car window is like nothing I have ever seen before. It goes beyond making you count your blessings.

Meeting Vialancia was more wonderful and powerful than I could have imagined. When she looked at us and waved it was as if the Dr was there saying, 'its a girl.' Truly it was that kind of moment. She lets us hold her and hug her right from the start. Playing with the children and taking their photos was super fun and heart warming. Thomas's hat, sunglasses and and my hair were quite the attraction.

Tuesday we headed to court. We watched as our names and passport numbers were recorded in a spiral notebook and set aside. The office and environment of the courthouse helped me to understand how files get lost and why the process takes so long. No one in the US has worked in such conditions in decades and quite honestly wouldnt tolerate it. Yet here it is an upper level job. The court official even went to retrieve fresh bottled water for us and just gave it to us. This was a lovely gesture considering everything is so costly.

We spent the entire afternoon on Tuesday with our lovely girl. I will remember next time to bring snack food items and interactive toys, maybe even a blow up toy for the pool. I will also ring my teva sandals as the beach isnt soft and sandy. Fruit gushers were like candy to her and that would have been good to have. We had coloring books and paper and stickers, so I will definitely bring more items like that. Bringing gifts to the Orphanage was awesome so I will definitely bring gifts for the kids again. My mother insisted on sending a doll and a couple outfits and if she hadnt I wouldnt have had anything like that. We made a pillow with her name and photo of her sisters on it, but I brought nothing for her to play with! I know now that you can bring toys to play with, clothes for her to wear, etc.

Leaving her behind wasnt hnearly as difficult as I thought it would be. She is in a loving caring environment and Mansour is doing all he can to get her home to us. I know that in my heart and therefore I left with a sense of peace.

We met the Platt family and went through the whole process together. That was a huge help. Auline said that God's timing is perfect. I am holding on to that nugget of advice.

God Bless,

Amy

Eve of the trip...

Packed and ready to leave, should be going to bed. We leave at 5a.m. tomorrow to head to Port Au Prince to meet our little Vialancia. By this time tomorrow I will have seen her for the first time. I will see where she lives and how she plays. Hear her voice and see her smile. I cant wait.
I will update the blog with photos and information as soon as I can.

Keep praying for us.

Amy

I finished the 1/2 marathon and HOLT raised 3, 595.00 for Ethiopia!

Starting Over!

Ok- I havent really posted on here in a long while! Since July to be exact. I promise I have not stopped running. In fact on Saturday is the marathon and i have been fundraising for HOLT.

Perhaps the biggest news is that Thomas and I will be traveling to Haiti to sign the papers in the court that will make Vialancia legally ours. We leave on OCt 5 and return Oct 7.

I will be posting new photos after that trip.

Keep praying for us!
Amy

More News!

Hello Family and Friends!
We learned quite a few things this week:

1. Our darling Vialancia has learned about us! She has our family photo album and knows where the little packages come from. We dont know what her reaction to all this is, but we hope to learn soon.

2. Her bowel health has improved enough that she doesnt need any more colonoscopy treatments for the time being. We are so happy about that for her.

3. We have entered Parquet and the process to name her Vialancia Becker has begun. This phase is usually 2-4 months.

I havent been keeping up with the blog as much as I should in terms of the running log, but we have been putting in a lot of miles. I will get back on track with that soon.

Keep Praying!
Amy

Saint Philomena- a post by Mary Beth

Novena Prayer to Saint Philomena

O Faithful Virgin and glorious martyr, St. Philomena, who works so many miracles on behalf of the poor and sorrowing, have pity on me. Thou knowest the multitude and diversity of my needs. Behold me at thy feet, full of misery but full of hope. I entreat thee to charity, O Great Saint! Graciously hear me and obtain from God a favorable answer to the request which I now humbly lay before thee…(To get Via home quickly and safely). I am firmly convinced that through thy merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and the death thou didst endure, united to the merits of the Passions and death of Jesus, thy Spouse, I shall obtain what I ask of thee, and in the joy of my heart I will bless God, who is admirable in His Saints. Amen.

Good News

On Monday, June 8 we received word that our file had received the Presidential Dispensation needed to move on. Thank the Lord! We are grateful to all of you who pray for us and for our darling in Haiti.

We will update the blog as soon as we have more news!

Amy

5/17

Hello Family and Friends,

No news to report, just miles. The girls and I are almost out of school and Thomas is done, so summer is fast approaching.

Amy- 25
Thomas- 20
Anna, Sophie, Rachel- 12
Cristina- 15
Nana- 15

Week Total: 82

Trip Total: 1303.5

Cardio Log 5/10

Hello All!

I am back from visiting the Hogans in Michigan. Anna and I went and had a wonderful time! It was great way to celebrate Mother's Day. Friday night while in MI I checked email and we got 3 new Via photos. She continues to look healthy and happy and so lovely.

Lots of miles this week!

Amy- 30
Anna, Sophie and Rachel- 12
Cristina - 15
Thomas 20
LInda- 25

Total: 102

Trip so far: 1, 221.5

Love to all friends!
Amy

Update 5/3

Hello Friends!
No word from Haiti again this week. We ask for your continued prayers.

I finished a Triatholn this morning and am exhausted but pleased to have finished. Anna and I continue to log miles together which I love. Mary Beth and Thomas are working hard on their respective shows.

I saw 12 angry Men today and Thomas is amazing. I was so very proud.

Here are the miles:

Amy- 20
Anna, Rachel Sophie- 10
Nanna- 15
Thomas- 8
Cristina- 15

Total: 68
Trip total- 1,119.5

God Bless Everyone!

Amy

Cardio and Prayers 4/26

Hello Family and Friends-

Before updating our miles I wanted to let everyone know that the last of 3 masses was said last night for our adoption process and for bringing home all Haitian children to their forever families. I will have more masses said again this summer. Friends who are working toward an adoption, know that we are continuing to pray.

Anna has started running to train to complete 2 5 K runs this spring. ONe on May 5 and the other on May 16. So she is added miles along with two friends. That has been fun.

Amy- 21
Anna, Rachel, Sophie- 8
Nanna- 12
Cristina- 15
Thomas- 10

Total- 66

Trip Total: 1051.5

Many Blessings to all,

Amy

Update 4/12 and 4/19

So sorry friends and family! I didnt update for a couple weeks. The powers that be met last week and no news was sent forth. It appears that once again Haitian officials met and made no progress.

Here is our cardio for 4/12
Becker girls 25
Cristina 15
Becker Dad 15
Nanna- 12
67 miles
Trip total 874

Cardio 4/19
Becker girls 27
Cristina 15
Becker Dad 15
Nanna 12
Linda (month total) 42.5
111.5
Trip Total 985.5

Cardio 4/5 Happy Easter

Happy Easter Family and Friends!
I finished the iron man challenge! Yippee!
I have also enjoyed a few days of Easter break and have tomorrow off too.

We found news online that said that 50 more cases got their PD, but it doesnt look like ours was one of them. That was hard to accept and left me pretty sad.
I hope of course for more news soon.

Cardio for the week:
Becker Girls- 25
Thomas - 12
Cristina- 15
Nanna- 15

Total: 67
Trip Total: 807

Thank you all!

Cardio 3/28

All better this week and working on the ironman competition here at school. This means I am trying to log all the miles for an ironman triatholon. ARGH- 2.4 swim, 26.2 run, 112 bike. It is the biking that is killing me. I just dont enjoy it.

No word from Holt or Haiti this week, though I hope that we will learn if we were one of the lucky files to get the PD soon. Of course I will post that!

Miles:
Becker girls- 20
Nanna- 12
Cristina 15
Thomas- 15
Total: 62
Trip Total- 740

Thank you everyone, keep moving and keep praying for us!

Amy

Cardio 3/21

Well the sinus and ear infections kept my miles down but family did get a few miles in. We are healthy this week and hoping to log more.

Becker girls- 8
Thomas- 12
Nanna- 12
Cristina- 15

Total- 47

Trip 678

Thanks to all and God Bless!

New Child Report

We have no new information on the process but we did get a new child report.
She looks just lovely, all fixed up as the Haitians do. It says she is conversing in Haitian creole and learning English at school. It also says that everyday she goes by the offices after school to tell everyone Hello! Isnt that cute!

She is on meds again for a sluggish appetite. This is the 3rd time. We have Dr. Uncle Kelly looking at the meds and such and hope to be able to ask good questions of Holt. She is growing and maturing and doing well so we have to trust Holt. We dont have much choice do we?

Love to all!

Cardio 3/14

Mary Beth- 2.5 swimming!
Anna and Mom- 21
THomas- 12
Linda F- 12.5
Cristina H- 15
MS Girls PE- 63 (they dedicated their mile run to us)
Nana- 4

Total: 130

Trip Total: 631.7!

Cardio Log 3/7

Hello Friends!

We have had a fun week of spring break and used it to exercise a lot! The girls and I swam together three times this week. It sure made it more fun for me and it really added to our miles. I also tried my first Jazzercise class with my mom. It was fun too!

Here are the miles-

Thomas- 18

Becker girls-36

Cristina H- 15

Linda F- 8.8

Julia F (Anna's friend) 15 miles (skiing in CO!)

Nanna- 9

Week total: 101.8

Trip Total: 501.47
WOW!

Super job friends and family!

Amy

Cardio log week of 2/26

No news from Haiti but we are making cardio progress anyway!
We added more friends to our crew this week too.
Becker Ladies- 25 miles
Braun Family- 20
Cristina H- 15
5th Grade girlfriends- 4
7th grade girls- 18
Linda F- 11

Total: 93

New TOTAL: 399.67

Thanks everyone!

Newest Photo!

Mike returned from Haiti and sent out new photos at the end of last week. This is our little doll! So healthy and happy.

There was some progress made in terms of standards of practice and getting the government and adoption agencies and orphanages to sign on to a set of policies that will allow some uniformity and relieve some of the stress. Without it the government fears that less than honorable intentions may be hurting Haitian children. I dont know that this will help us as we are further along in the process, but we are all for anything that will help Haitian children find loving forever homes. There is also some progress on the new Haitian law, but again this wont really help us.
Our case file remains at the President's office #17. We are hoping that it will be signed soon and we can move on to the courts and further.

Thank you to all of you who pray and hope with us each day!

Amy

Cardio Update 2/22

We have many new folks that are adding to our mileage! I am so excited to be joined by BT folks and next some of the girls friends will start having miles to add. This is becoming a wonderful community activity that is doing my spirits good.



We welcome new miles this week from:

Paige G- 7 miles

Linda F- 15.67 miles



Other family and friends mileage-

Becker Women- 23

Cristina H- 15

Braun Family- 20



Week Total: 80.67! Our biggest week yet!



Grand total: 306. 67

2/16 update

Hello All!
We started the week at 179 miles.

Miles this week are:
Becker 20
Gullet 7
Braun 20

So a new total of 226!
Thanks to everyone who contributes!

We are hoping for new photos from Mike's recent trip very soon.

Amy

2/9 Update

Good Afternoon friends and family!

I was so busy with the MS play that I forgot to update last week. The Beckers logged 12 miles last week and 25 miles this week. We also got 15 miles from C Hiddleston.

So we are adding 42 this week.

Our program director was in Haiti last week and we are expecting new photos soon. THat is always a mixed blessing. We love to see our girl but seeing her grow up is hard. We learned that we are case #17 in the president's cabinet, waiting for a signature. There is no way to tell how long that will take.

I promise another update soon!

Amy

Miles 1/25

Hi Friends and family!
I have no adoption news but I do think Mike is in Haiti this week. This usually means new photos! I did send off a package to Via so that was a nice way to reach out to her.

Miles for the week:
Becker family 22
Braun Family 20
C Hiddleston 15

Total so far is 137!

We are almost to KC to visit Jackie!
I am not going to update the runners chart because I am working on creating a map that we can draw our miles on!

Love to all!

Amy

Cardio Posting 1/19

A busy week of Cardio for all our friends and family...
We have miles from Carl and Kathy, Cristina, Thomas, Amy and the Becker girls.
Our total this week is 53 miles!
I am updating the cardio log as well so you will be able to click the link and see how far we have come.

We are mailing our first package to Vialancia this week: stickers, coloring pad and some homemade cards. Not a lot but it feels good to connect in some way. Soon Holt will tell her about us!

Take Care,

Amy

A bit of news...

Today our lovely wonderful social worker got us some information! Our file was delivered to Ministry of Justice the first week of December and HOLT knows that our file is currently in the President's Cabinet. That doesnt mean he will do anything with it soon, but it means he has to some time. At least that is what I am telling myself.

Mike Noah at HOLT and Celeste think that we really have at least 10 months before our doll will come home. This is a long wait on top of a long wait, but at least they are talking about a time frame.

As always, expect the unexpected and nothing is easy, but today was a day of news and part of it was good. So I call that positive!

Much Love Everyone!

Amy

Cardio Miles 1/11

Hey! I am back to working out after 5 weeks off and 2 months of having to tone down what I wanted to do. It felt great to be back at the Y and I plan to hit Lifetracks at school this week.
The Becker girls had basketball this week and Thomas ran too. So the Becker clan is logging 12 miles this week. We hope to nearly double this for next week.
Our friend Cristina added 15. So we have traveled 27 miles.

What have you all done?

Log on soon!
Amy

Presidential Dispensation

Hello Family and Friends-
I wanted to post here that I have asked HOLT to let me know what the time frame and steps are for getting the presidential dispensation that is being required for our file. We were in the Court phase and now we have been bumped out to go get the presidential sign off. I didnt get a time frame but I did get the steps the file must go through. I am copying them in here... read on only if you are prepared for some disappointment. I dont see how all these steps can be accomplished quickly.


1) The Civil Court gives the case back to the agency/lawyer handling the case.
2) The agency/Lawyer hands the case into the MOJ.
3) The MOJ then gives the file to the office of the President for him to sign off on it.
4) The office of the President then gives it back to the MOJ.
5) The MOJ then gives the file back to the agency/lawyer.
6) The agency/lawyer then hands the case back to the Civil Court.
7) The Civil Court then processes the case as usual.


On a positive note... are you logging cardio miles? let me know!