Thankful for News!!

We are in MOI, Ministry of the Interior.  We have to stop and ask ourselves how did we get here?  A year ago I (Melanie) was still recovering from major surgery and was very unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary documents needed for our dossier.  We struggled for several months just to get our home study done! Seriously what takes most families 3-4 months took us 10 LONG months.  So to be here is SO surreal!

We ordered a specific investigation to be done on our children to ensure they are truly orphans and provided that investigation doesn't take more than a minute our children should be home very soon!  Very soon to us is before the Holidays.  We had hopes the children would be home by October 15 so Monique could be home for her birthday.  Our God is a God of miracles but that is only 2 weeks away.

In the mean time we are looking at another fund raising event!  We are getting so close to bringing the children home and so close to our financial need!  Can you believe we raised almost $30,000 in just 8 SHORT months?  We can!  Because of your commitments financially, prayerfully and just walking with us God has answered and He is providing one dollar at a time!!  Thank you will never be enough!

Our next project?  We are hopeful we will be doing a both hands project.  This organization teams the adoptive family up with a widow.  We will send out letters requesting donations for the supplies and costs to repair her home.  The hope is we will have all the supplies donated, the funds donated will far exceed the costs, we have enough on deck hands to help and it will be a win/win/win situation!  The widow will have her much needed repairs, our kids will be funded and all donations are of course tax deductible!

We will need volunteers; the much appreciated ones who will donate, people who will write letters to their friends and family on our behalf, people who will help get supplies donated and of course the hard workers those of us who will do the actual repairing.  Please contact us at heavensenthaitians@gmail.com if you are interested in helping in any way with our adoption.

There are lots of ways you can help with our adoption besides prayerfully and financially.  This is the hard part for us, don't like asking for help and this help goes deeper.  Adopting takes a team of players, period.  Typically adoptive families have mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, and... the Colson's well we just have us and a few dedicated friends.  So we are looking for support team members.  The people who want to be apart of the adoption once the kids are home.  To help with getting settled into a daily routine, tutoring, encouragement, respite care and...  Basically this is loving us on the good days and well the not so good days and then the truly honestly horrible days.

Don't forget we are also selling gear through our "support us" tab and you can window shop on www.147millionorphans.com and then purchase through us via email or phone 615-594-9954 and a portion of each purchase goes towards feeding an orphan and our adoption.  I know 147 gear makes great Christmas and birthday gifts.

You all are fabulous and we are honored by each of you walking with us.

Blessings,
The Colson's
Steve, Melanie, Amanda, Joshua, Monique, Junior and Frantzy-Frantz!

Grieving the Loss of a Living Loved One

Well today we sit at 15 weeks out...  Out of IBESR.  It has been 13 weeks and 2 days (93 days or 2,242 hours) since we last held our precious Heaven Sent Haitians.  We miss them and grieve for them.

13 weeks and 3 days ago

Do you see the space in the back of this picture?  The space between me and Steve?  Yep, Amanda and Josh belong there.  They would fit perfectly.  I have considered photo shopping them in but... One day we will retake this picture and we will be one whole family and it will be a perfect picture no photo shopping necessary.

We have been patient through this journey or so we believe and like to think we are being patient.  But honestly, our hearts ache and they ache nearly every moment of every day. Not just mine, Steve's, Josh's and Amanda's.  Conversations start with "when the kids get home..." or they end with "I hope the kids will like doing this too." "Will the kids be home in time to watch one of my games this year?" "I am afraid the kids won't be home for enough time before I go to college."  Every prayer ends with the pleading for God to bring our children home and sometimes with tears.  This is a real life journey for each of us and we pray this is not too much for our 5 children.  We know and trust "this" is all in His hands.

If we have been asked once, we have been asked 100 times, "when will your kids come home?"  Our general response is we are one day closer today.  It's true we are, every day we are one day closer to bringing our precious children home.  The next question usually asked is "whose fault is this wait, they should be home already right?" We blame no one.  We can't control governments and how they process paperwork.  America has it's issues as well as Haiti and every other government on this planet we call Earth.  Yes, in our opinion our kids should be home already but we are selfish and want what we want.  Do we want them home at the expense of incorrect paperwork?  NO!  Do we want them home at the expense of anything? NO! So they shouldn't be home yet because the paperwork isn't right yet.

There is a lot to juggle in life, struggles, over comings, blessings and just every day life.  We are doing all these things with the hope we will be blessed soon with "that" e-mail.  Until then we covet your prayers, encouragement and if you feel led to contribute please see the information to the right of this post for immediate donations and tax deductible donations.  We also sell items on our "support us" tab.  You may also shop 147 Million Orphan gear through us (view on their website contact us to purchase).  We are so blessed by those who have already given, those who continue to give and those who continue to pray diligently.  God has an awesome plan and we will continue to do our best to be patient waiting on His plan.

In Him,
Steve, Melanie, Amanda, Joshua, Monique, Junior and Frantz
One day soon we will be ONE family under ONE roof!

Isaiah 41:13
I am holding you by your hand - I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, "do not be afraid, I am here to help you."