* LOUDNIE'S OUT - PTL! *

well, i heard today that my sister-in-law's dossier's come OUT of ibesr * they're so excited (as we all are) as this' yet another step to bringing their daughter homei knew that when my parents decided to adopt madisyn, my sister-in-law decided to adopt madisyn's sister loudnie & some dear friends decided to adopt their daughter jenna, that it'd be hard on all of them, but hard on us too * what i mean by this' that i'm the one that calls haiti on a VERY regular basis (let's just put it this way, AT&T knows me by name, okay... enough said?) * i already knew that i'd be the one 'delivering the messages', both good & bad for all 3 of them * keep in mind that i've done this for many, many couples over the years since getting to know barbara & i love it * she's always said that since i call anyway, for her it's easier to give me the messages & for me to 'deliver them' so all those families that i'll be delivering to, won't be phoning her & this way she can get more work done * i'm a talker anyway so i don't mind & we've got free long distance (for the states only) & so those families don't need to phone overseas all the time, thus saving them $ too

madisyn went into ibesr 3.28.07 & loudnie & jenna were both in AFTER dad & mom * i shared at the beginning, with all 3 families that the order you go in, doesn't always mean you'll come out in that order & even though they all 'know' that, living it's soooooo much different

i remember when we were waiting for kiara, we went in & then about 2 months later, some friends of ours went in (the browns) * lisa & i'd decided that no matter what, we'd tell each other when we got out & we'd both be excited for the other one * well, the day we got out, i was scared to phone her * even though we'd gone in first & logically we should get out first, it doesn't always work out that way & i knew lisa was so hoping to be out first & she wasn't & i almost hated sharing our wonderful news with her, for fear up her getting upset * i finally got up the courage to tell her & she was thrilled * i said, "well, i've not gotten word on you getting out, but i just know it's not going to be long" * she then informed me that they'd been out for a whole month & hadn't told us due to us going in first & them not wanting to 'hurt' us * in the end, even though they came out of ibesr first, kiara came home before their son did (go figure!)

i know when all 3 girls get home, this will all be forgotten, but for me, i think it's almost harder now than when we did our adoptions * i'm not talking about missing my children in haiti, wanting to hold them, smell them, feed them, see them again, etc., but the emotional side of it's horrible when it's family & friends going through it * my heart actually hurts for them as i know better than most, what they're going through * we'd friends that were going through it with us, but we'd just become friends so didn't 'know' each other (for kiara's adoption), but no family members really knew first hand what we were going through at all & believe me, that was so hard!

mom & cheryl, my words to you tonight would be: be overjoyed now (as i know you both already are) for ralph/sharel/loudnie, but take a few minutes to have a cry fest/pity party for yourself too as sometimes it really does help * it's sometimes good to just have a good hard cry (i know it was for me, especially with doing 3 international adoptions back to back to back - just to let you know though, when you're on your 3rd haitian adoption, it'll be just as emotional as this one is)

we're so happy for ralph/sharel & loudnie tonight as it's just one day closer to the hug fest that'll be going on when they step foot in that indianapolis airport (already got my seat reserved!!), but still hurting so much for dad/mom/madisyn & bob/cheryl/jenna as when you're going through it, it seems they'll never get home * just remember, when they all get home, time's passed & they're having 'teenage moments', we'll all be there to remind you that THIS' WHAT YOU PRAYED FOR!! (isn't that what families are for??)