Brown, beautiful and ours!

Just a quick update... We went to the Canadian Reception Center last night @ 1030pm and the flight was on time. Jayna was paired with a volunteer attendant from air transat who went with her the whole way... So awesome to talk with her about some things she learned during their flight from Haiti... What food jayna liked, some of her personality, and just knowing there was someone who really cared about jayna was good to know. What a blessing!

Jayna was kinda stonefaced for the first 45mins with Amanda, then had a short cry and started eating mum-mums. Immigration had a pretty good set up for processing all the kids from temporary citizenship to medical checks. An incredible team of volunteers and paramedics literally carried us through the process. Thank you - Fiona, Lily, Ben and Erin and all the others who made the crazy evening a real joy and celebration. We were blessed by your care and attention!

After all that, we went back to the hotel and started "our life" with jayna. She realy wasn't too excited to do much else but watch the crazy talking white people... But after a while, we go her laughing. Really, this was the real bonding moment for jayna and I. And what a beautiful smile and laugh! Yikes! She's really ticklish, once she warms up to ya... She'll fit right in with our other crazy kids. She's so much fun and a total goof, just like Amanda...

Jayna and Amanda shared a bed and she slept so well, Amanda was on mom sleep, waking with every movement, so if she woke up she wouldn't be really freaked out. I slept great, and having set my phone alarm for 550 Alberta time... :P , but jayna woke up at 645 and we hustled into our first full day together. Jayna went into stoneface mode again once we got into the taxi, and until we were sitting at the WJ gate, she didn't show any expression. But we got her laughing again and she seemed to be pointing at something on the tarmac and saying something... My toddler ceole is pretty sketchy... But she spoke!!

The fantastic people at westjet decided to cover our flight to calgary, and coupled with the fact that they're brewing a coffee double strength for me makes them the very best company in the world. Ok, one of the goodest. They have made the whole process very easy, and fun!

We are arriving in calgary after lunch and so looking forward to finally going home and just being home.

In the last week, we have experienced so many highs and lows, and we are so blessed to walk this journey in God's hands and take every step with friends and family like you! Thank you for loving and serving us in so many ways.

Jayna fell asleep on the flight to TO and is still sleeping, we are blessed with another very sound sleeper. Dang, she is so pretty just sleeping. God is good.

Grace and peace!!!
Jake and Amanda
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Family of 5!!!

She's here! Lotsa checkups and paperwork to go through. Can't email now.

Grace and peace
Jake and Amanda and jayna
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Is it really today?!

Sitting on the westjet flight to ottawa (thanks Jenni and Keith!) writing this update. Its so wierd to think that my little girl is flying to the same city to meet us! What a journey this has been...

From having the discussion with Amanda about possibly having another kid and then proposing adopting to her... Thinking that it was a nice idea, but never would Amanda go for it... All the pre paperwork and fees and emails and phoning and changing orphanages and crying and wondering if we have completely lost our minds... Finally seeing the beautiful picture of Edmara Gilles on the proposal document and praying for her... Feeling sad for her losing her mom and trying to fathom the horrible decision her father had to make to give her up for her good his other kids.

Then spending those days in Haiti, saddened by the state of this beautiful country and its people. Feeling so helpless and knowing that there is so much that needs to be done... What a week that was... It truly broke my heart and made me fall in love with Haiti. Seeing how things work in Haiti has helped us keep our heads straight through the rest of the adoption... It ain't Canada, things happen when they happen...

I also remember talking with Kerry and Mandy and Jana on the trip about needing to never forget this experience... Getting "the tattoo" as a visual reminder of the importance of serving the oppressed and giving our lives to making a difference in others lives. For me, this adoption began as the answer to my own prayer to know more of who God is and what he truly cares about. True religion... Helping widows, orphans, foreigners, the oppressed. In the last few years I have discovered that Gods plan and hopes for us is not that we would have nicer churches with bigger attendance, but that we, his creation would care enough about our neighbours all around us to live generously, graciously and hopefully in anticipation of his kingdom returning to earth... The kingdom where the last are first, the broken are healed, the hungry are fed and the lonely are loved. This excites me to be part of his work on earth... And sitting here thinking that though this all started with an idea of doing something for someone else, its crazy how God realy has shaped our hearts and broadened our understanding of his love for us and burned an intense love for a little girl that lived her whole life so far... A couple thousand miles away. It is so amazing to me how gracious God is in letting people like us be part of his bigger plans. I am struck with my own insignificance and yet so grateful that God doesn't wait for perfection to use us... He's using us right here and right now. Its brilliant!

So, maybe I have had too much time on a flight with no sleep, but there's what runs through my brain as we prepare to land and get ready to meet our little girl. Its been so long, and yet we are so not prepared for this... But, God's got us, and will continue to carry us through this next part of the journey.

Sorry for the rambling... Thank you for your love and support in all this. We are blessed.

Grace and peace.
Jake and Amanda
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

the night before christmas...

ok. this is the real deal. not exactly the way we ever thought it would be... amanda is sleeping in the foothills hospital, i am at my sisters getting baby stuff ready and trying to be prepared for a kid that i have no idea of her size or weight... and really, it still doesn't seem really real yet. are we gunna fly there and be told they forgot her or something? stranger things have happened... but in the middle of this all, i am getting excited to see her pretty little face and try get her to smile for us...

right now, she's having a huge sleepover with a bunch of other orphans in the canadian embassy and then tomorrow she gets ready to board the plane around 11am and then arrives in ottawa at 10:30pm... we board our plane from calgary @ 10:30am and arrive @ 4:30pm in ottawa, go crazy waiting (we should be much better at it by now) and then wet our pants when we see her arrive and then scare her with hugs and kisses and strange food and toys. we "sleep" in ottawa and then depart for calgary to arrive after lunch. then, it gets crazy-er. we have another little girl! we don't know what to do with her hair! (i say afro all day long, but amanda's not as keen)

so if you could keep praying for us, for health for amanda and jayna especially and clear head and an extrodinary understanding of what to do in each moment, that would be swell. the surgen that did the appendectomy said that it had actually ruptured and its amazing that she's recovering as quickly as she is... thankfully it wasn't any longer... yikes. God has our back. thank you for working with him in caring for us in so many ways... its gunna be an interesting journey.

grace and peace
jake and amanda

One step forward!

Jayna is @ the Canadian embassy in Haiti getting ready to fly out tomorrow. Amanda is recovering well and should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow morning.

Keep praying!

Grace and peace
Jake and Amanda
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Things lining up...

So, Amanda is starting to feel better, but continue to pray for her speedy recovery - if she develops a fever or something like that, they may not release her in time... YIKES. You may as well also just cut out her heart while your at it, too.

The plans seem to be falling into place for Jayna's arrival - they are bringing her to the Canadian embassy in the morning, and then on wednesday she takes the longest, scariest trip of her life. Continued prayer for her safety and care... we have had to battle for this kid for a long time, and it doesn't seem to be getting easier!!

grace and peace
jake and amanda

Another glitch... awesome!

So, in an effort to keep the blog interesting, Amanda's Dr. at Foothills has said that because her appendix had begun to "leak", they need to have her on antibiotics and she should be in for a few more days. (BTW: thanks Dr. _____ from MHR ER for dismissing her "intense lower right abdomen pain" as a ruptured cyst because you didn't wanna take that little extra step to be sure - it's only a small judgement error, no biggy) They know that she needs to be prepared to fly on wednesday possibly, and will work as hard as possible to get her up and out of there asap. (prayer request - quick healing!?!)

I will be making some calls today to sort out how close we are to getting jayna on the next plane from Haiti.

So, prayer for Jayna's health and safety as well and great communication between the embassy and orphanage in the next couple days would be appreciated. Again, prayer for Amanda's body to heal quickly and the clearance to fly would be super. Clear heads and good rest in the next couple days would be great too.

grace and peace
jake and amanda