Merry Christmas 2011 Juvens & Derline

This is a Video I made for Juvens amd Derline! We are really missing them this Holiday Season.... So happy a good friend of mine told me about this song. It makes me cry every time I hear it but I still love it. Its really a song for all parents that are waiting to bring their kids home and for those children waiting to find forever families! Please take a moment to watch it and really its ok to cry!

Click on the red link for the video


Merry Christmas 2011 Juvens & Derline




Merry Christmas ~ By Third Day

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn

Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas


As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow


But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here


It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas


Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
And prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above




It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas Shirts

Maybe its just me but I sure think these boys and their Christmas Shirts are the cutest ever!! We decided to have a Christmas Shirt contest this year at my mammaw's house and this is the shirts the boys and I made they turned out so cute!! I am looking forward to this tradition continuing for many years! How fun would that be to have them bringing there girlfriends home at christmas to make our annual Christmas Shirts!!

Christmas Cards

If you didn't get one from me this year I am sorry this post is for you!!

I just love sending out our family Christmas Card its one of my favorite things to do at Christmas!! This year I was sooo far behind in ordering them that I was for sure they wouldn't make it in time for Christmas! Well I ordered them on the 20th and they arrived at my house on the 23rd! I then hurried up and addressed them and sent them on there Merry Way!! Merry Christmas Family and Friends this year has been amazing full of laughs, love, tears and new life! As we remember this Holiday Season that Jesus was born to save all of us and give us hope. We have HOPE for 2012

Christmas Blessings from the Prices! 2011 has brought our family lots of tears

an joy! Kaden is 10 in the 5th grade and still loves playing what ever sport he

can! Wesley is 4 in preschool and can't wait for his new brother and sister to

come home! Juvens is 4 and he is really the cutest sweetest haitian boy we

know!! Derline is 1 and she is our Haitian Princess!! We are looking forward

to the day when all of our kids are home and we can celebrate Christmas as

a family of 6!! For now Juvens and Derline are still in Haiti living at HIS Home

For Children Orphanage in Port Au Prince waiting for the adoption to finalize.

The Haitian adoption process is a very long drawn out process. This has

required us to rely strongly on our lord and take his hand as we walk this walk

with him. We just ask that you keep our family in your prayers as we continue

on this adoption journey. We also pray you an your family will have many

blessings in the year 2012!!

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you?

Be Strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the

LORD your God will be with you wherever you go"

Do you have room ??

As I think about our Christmas Holiday season and reflect on our Christmas Eve service it has really made me think. Our pastor talked about the innkeeper that is part of the Christmas Story… He talked about how everyone knows the innkeeper as the man who had No Room…. He is the man who made Mary and Joseph sleep outside in the barn and that is where Mary gave birth to baby Jesus. But what if that inn keeper would of known that this was Mary and Joseph and Mary was getting ready to give birth to the Christ Child would of that innkeeper done things differently?? Maybe he would have offered them his bed or even his room?? We will never know but yet we wonder… I think our lives are really a lot like this story…. Do we have room in our lives for Christ?? Or do we only have room for Christ when it fits into our busy schedules….







This story makes me think about the adoption journey we are on…. Zach and I made room we felt god calling us to adopt and we made room. Our house isn’t big by any means we felt like we were to adopt two girls and god had different plans. We made our house a little bigger so we could adopt a boy and girl based on Indiana guidelines. I still have clutter in my house my cabinets are overflowing and laundry is piling up. I can only imagine what things will be like with two more children… But we still have made room. We know that this will mean sacrifice and that things will be a little different when Juvens and Derline come home but we felt this was what god was calling us to do so we listened and we have made room. Not just in our home but we have also made room in our heart. Zach and I love Juvens and Derline as our own children and we can’t imagine our lives at this point with out them.

I think a lot of times as Christians we think we don’t have room / we don’t have time when really we do. Lending a helping hand, making someone smile, Visiting the shut ins the widowed and the elderly, opening up your home for a orphan, sending that extra monthly change you have to a starving child in a 3rd world country. These are all things god wants us to do and while doing them we are spreading his love! 1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love






So this Holiday season and this next year I want you to ask yourself… Can I make Room??? Can I make time??? What is Christ calling you to do??

I never really gave it much thought

As things have been busy I haven't had the time to blog like I would really like to.. Today I remembered that while sitting in Haiti on November 16th I wrote this in my journal... I just read it again and it still breaks my heart I really wanted to share this!

~~I never really gave it much thought I guess..... the pain this cute big brown eyed 4 year old Haitian boy might really be feeling. You see all pictures we had seen of him he was all smiles and of course those big brown eyes. Well it was very clear after our first night with him of the hurt and abandonment he was feeling. He loved being with us but he was also scared to death scared we were going to leave scared to love us scared to let us in. With Derline it wasn't this was she has really never shown fear or abandonment issues with is she has just been our sweet baby girl who I feel like has always been with us but Juvens he is different and I can see it. My heart breaks for him tonight our second night with him he had a major melt down as we would call it at home. We had been playing in the room after dinner and he had got quiet and then out of nowhere he starts crying at first I think something must be wrong maybe his tummy hurts from all the food he has been eating I begin hugging him telling him its ok.... when really in less then 24 hours his mamma and pappa are getting on a jet plane and leaving him ....abandoning him just as he has felt for the last 4 years. As I am trying to get him to stop crying I start crying and my quiet prayer goes from jesus please comfort my boy allow him to feel your love tonight along with the love mamma and papa has for him then it changes to oh lord please wrap your arms around this mamma and don't let my sweet crying boy see me crying.... I did stop crying and so did Juvens I felt a since of calmness and we then decided to look at pictures from the trip on mamma computer after that we watched toy story 3 which he didn't finish and he is now asleep.... I just pray for strength tomorrow strength for our babies strength for us I know Derline will be fine but I really worry about my little boy. ~~

That passage is real it is how I was feeling at that exact moment my friends... This is hard No this just plan sucks it stinks and I want to just bring our babies home to live with us here in Indiana now! Thats me being selfish I know the lord has great plans for us and only he knows the timing and that timing will be perfect!



Be on your guard, and watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come. Mark 13: 33

As it was time to leave on Thursday I thought we would be leaving the kids at the hotel with friends and then Miss Chris would come back for them..... That isn't what happened they rode with us to the airport.... Juvens was happy to go for a ride and Derline feel asleep with Zach holding him... so sweet! As we got closer to the airport Chris told us buckle up Juvens .... She then said that way he won't try to get out at the airport when we get out..... Cry this was very sad for me to hear... Sure enough when we went to get out our sweet little Juvens tried to get out to go with mamma and pappa : ( Derline was fine Zach just passed her up to James and that was that.... I felt so sad for Juvens here we were leaving him right in front of his own eyes... so sad now we were abandoning him just as he had felt before.

For now we just Hope~ We hope that this process will go a little faster than we are expecting and we Hope and Pray for comfort for our kids as they wait to come home.

Home Addition

So whats been taking up so much of our time lately!! Well that would be turning our garage into living space!! That's right Zach my handy husband with the help of some family and friends has completely transformed our garage into 800 sq feet of living space for our kids!! 3 bedrooms and a playroom to be exact!! Take a look at the almost finished product!! We still have trim to put down.. 

Crazy NOvember

Can you say Crazy Busy!!! We sure could in the month of November!!

It's hard to believe what all we got accomplished in November!!

So as some of you may know our November was rather crammed packed with lots and lots of things going on! We were trying to finish the house which included dry walling, painting and carpeting, I had PIX Cheese balls, PIX Cookie Trays, Trip to Haiti, Home Visit, Trip to TN for Thanksgiving, I honestly at times wondered how we would get it all done!

~Lots and Lots of work to do on the house

~Dry walling


~Painting


~Wiring


~Carpeting


~Need more time in a day


~Pix Cheese balls


~Visit to the hospital for Karena Day before flying to Miami


~Friends painting our house while we are gone


~Aunt Kim’s Head putting a hole in our new drywall while we are gone


~Anniversary dinner in Miami a month late but still wonderful


~Zach getting sick in Miami


~Missing our plane to Haiti because Zach is sick and can’t fly


~Loosing hope in a hotel room in Miami

~Feeling like we should be anywhere but Miami

~Kids in Haiti waiting to see us

~Family and Friend at home working on our home while we sit in Miami

~Re booking flight cost $800 + $650 for Doctor Visit


~All of this so insurance would cover it


~Getting to Haiti 1 day late

~Finding Jackson and Big Boy at the airport …. Note to self do this every time we fly to Haiti walking out to find our ride is Soooooo much easier!!

~Rode to the hotel in Haiti with a guy who has only lived there for a few weeks

~Arrived at hotel to find out beautiful kids waiting on us!! Priceless!!

~2 quick long fun filled days with our kids bittersweet

~Back Home to have 3 days to get ready for home visit

~ Successful home visit

~ Trip to TN for thanksgiving with the family and kids

 

~ Back home to make 25 dozen cookies for PIX Cookie trays

I think this pretty much sums up our November I don’t think I left anything out but then again who knows!! We have been so blessed with wonderful family and friends and we are so thankful that they helped us get work done on our house while we were gone!! Words cannot express how thankful we are!!