We are a family

On the way to U.S. Embassy in Haiti to apply for visa.

I know I need to post something to the blog, and I have a lot to say, but I just don't know where to start. We are home - all THREE of us. Vivine is napping in her bed. She has been asleep for almost two hours. Is that normal for a 4 year old? Should I wake her up? Is she even still breathing? Will she cry when she wakes up and I'm not in the room? Maybe I should just go in there and wait for her to awaken. Thoughts like those have been flooding my brain ever since we crossed through the security checkpoint in the Haitian airport and were on. our. own.

The trip to House of Hope was the best we have ever had. (Maybe because all we did was hang out with Vivine and the girls and not do any work. I'm not going to feel guilty for that.) We had a little scare on Friday when we went to pick up her visa. The printer was broken, and wouldn't be fixed until Monday, two days after our scheduled departure. I asked if we could wait another hour to see whether the printer could be fixed now. Lo and behold, we had the visa 20 minutes later. That's Haiti for you.

Vivine seemed to really enjoy the trip home. She slept through most of the two plane rides. In the airports, we kept her occupied with coloring books, fruit snacks, and a Magna Doodle, which, in my opinion, is the most wonderful invention in the history of the world. Seriously, I now hold the Magna Doodle in higher esteem than the Internet, cell phone or printing press.

Being Vivine's mom feels very natural to me, like this is what I was meant to do my whole life. I can't imagine another framework for parenting. What do people who don't adopt children from Haiti do? All I want in life is for her to be happy. She might never be as happy to be our daughter as we are to have her for our own, but I'm going to work really hard to try to get close.