finalized
In a shocking display of government efficiency, we finalized Kembe's adoption today! I had no idea it could happen so quickly. I've been working on it for the last three months, but I wasn't sure if the judge would count his adoption as final in Haiti, or if she would make us go through the steps of a local domestic adoption. We didn't have an attorney, and the court clerks were miserably unhelpful, but with the assistance of Google, a rudimentary grasp of legal jargon, and . . .
haiti tees
We are excited to finally have our Haiti tees available for sale! We had been wanting to do a t-shirt fundraiser before Kembe came home - back when we thought we had months of waiting ahead of us . We've seen other parents do it and it seemed like a great way to cover some of the additional expenses (and debts) that have cropped up in this nearly three-year process. Now that he is in the US, we have some additional fees as we attempt to finalize his adoption here . . .
Orevwa, Creole
People often ask me how Kembe is doing with learning English. I have been absolutely amazed with his progress. He has picked it up so fast. About a month ago, he stopped speaking Creole altogether. (Of course it was right about the time that we were starting to feel comfortable with it). I started noticing that when I would ask him a question in Creole, he would answer it in English. I even noticed that when he was playing alone and "voicing" his toys, that . . .
UNICEFED
A couple weeks ago I had a talk with myself, where I said, "Hey grumpy lady, you need to stop ranting so much on your blog. Cool it with the UNICEF talk. You sound like a conspiracy theorist. Stick to safer topics that make you sound less crazy. Like poop."But I find I just can't. The mistreatment of children makes my blood boil. The corruption of power makes my blood boil. The combination of these two things together, funded by the wallets of clueless and well-meaning Americans . . . is . . .
highs and lows
It's been almost a month since Kembe came home. It's hard to believe . . . it feels like he has been here forever, and yet we still feel like we are in transition mode as a family. I definitely haven't found our "new normal" yet - so far life feels more like a triage situation, where we are just reacting to chaos and crisis as it comes. And it does seem to keep coming. I'm hoping things settle down soon.Our house is finally feeling well. Mostly well, that is. All of us fell sick over the . . .
this.
When Mark and I are "on our game" (which we are not right now), we like to do affirmations with the kids at the dinner table. Generally it involves us going around the table and saying a few things we like about each kid, and a few ways they have made us proud that day. We haven't done this since Kembe came home, and the other night as we were eating it occurred to me that we needed to include him in this tradition. I went around the table, saying the usual things. As we affirmed Jafta, . . .
Et tu, Anderson Cooper?
Dear Anderson,It's me, Kristen. Your #1 fan. I have loved you for a long time. I still do. When you decided to go back to Haiti to continue to tell their story, I was deeply moved. You are everything I appreciate in a journalist: smart, articulate, compassionate, adventurous, and quick-on-your-feet. One of the things I've always enjoyed about your show is your willingness to present multiple layers of complex issues. But last night. Oh, Andy. You made a misstep that had me considering a . . .
goodbye Keanan, hello Kembe
I know our son's name has thoroughly confused many of our friends. We had every intention of calling him Keanan, and referred to him by that name for the past two years. However, at the orphanage he was still called his birth name (Kembert), which I was reluctant to keep for fear of sentencing him to a lifetime of spelling and pronunciation issues. But now that he's home, it just doesn't feel right for us to change his name at this point.So, we've settled on Kembe. It's pronounced the way . . .
two weeks in pictures
These past two weeks have been fun, insane, exciting, challenging, sleep-deprived, painful, chaotic, loud, hilarious, joyful, difficult, wonderful, confusing, tender, entertaining, and anything but boring. . . .
nomination: world’s best use of skype
We've gotten to skype with four of the other boys from Kembert's orphanage in Haiti (two different sets of brothers). I love that all of the parents are in touch. I know these kids miss each other tremendously. They didn't say much to each other - I'm not sure they really understood that it was "real time" and that they could converse this way. But they made faces at each other and laughed and laughed. It was pretty cute. We're looking forward to skyping with more of his friends . . . . . . .
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