Unethical practices and adoption scams do not only happen to adoptive parents. Expectant mothers, birth parents, adoptees and adoption professionals are also at risk. The key to an ethical and positive adoption journey is to educate yourself, know who you are working with and thoroughly research your options and the laws. In order for a con to be successful, often times the con will hide under the cloak of legitimate professionals. Or simply not hide at all.
I RECOMMEND THIS for anyone planning to adopt. Please do NOT trust someone without researching. I would not advise using a facilitator without a lawyer (you trust and researched).
I know sometimes in our heart to love and help children
we can make emotional decisions. PLEASE educate yourself. Its possible you can save yourself from a disastrous
i've been one busy mama, juggling alot of tough issues with the adoption(s), and not to mention the girl has gots lots of enerG! i want to share the struggles, emotions and her stories with you. she is my sunshine girl!
since the moment we decided to adopt, we have been bombarded with many low blow hits of disctraction,family illness, financial struggle and the truth of who you can trust and call friend. i have been growing sooooo much through the very challenging moments. i want to show you my heart, its brokenness and its joys, yet i have discovered that there are those lurking who have tried to take my most cherished freedom (of expression) and use it to judge me. it has caused me to be guarded for awhile, yet dont ever take my soft spokenness or silence for weakeness......i'm a very stubborn Child of the Freedom Giver.......so go ahead make my day- i will NOT be silent long! the Truth sets me free darlin!! it might appear like i'm getting no where, but appearances are deceiving......those are just circumstances that only make me stronger!!
one of the most heartwrenching news was that our other daughter we were planning to adopt, will not after all be ours. months have passed and i of course i feel extremely selfish as i say this.... i do not want to "replace" her.
so at this moment though the future of our family is unknown... i continually draw near to my one trusted Source of Strength while the current five of us continue to grow in LOVE and unity! together we are sunshine on a rainy day!!!
the first few days she was here she didn't really have much to play with. she was not used to toys anyhow. i went home & made her a doll. she was a little unsure of it so she gave it to me to hold. i gave the doll a hug and said ohhhh love, love baby. the next day i came to see her, she was in the crib and picked up the doll to hand me as she smiled and said love! oh i just melted!! so now she is called baby love. TRULY though Dieunika is the doll named love!
she now makes her cups of tea and labouyi, does her hair (its so messy she says!), and plays with her all the time! i'll have to capture a photo of them playing.
this cute lil doll has bonded us and inspired me as well. i've drawn Love into a character based on Dieunika. i want to use Love's character to bring awareness to adoption and the issues that children have to work through with their forever family. lets also not forget adoptive parents! it is quite an emotional journey for life! you'll be seeing so much more of Love soon in a book, dolls and t-shirts! my heart leaps to know this will help us work through our emotions, as well as inspire and bond others. Love, its such a gift from the true Creator, who adopted me as well into His Majestic family. It gives a whole new deepth and understanding to life as a Child of the Most High God. we're also going to use this to help raise the much needed funds to cover our adoption. we have taken the financial challenge each step at a time. there is no reason that finances should get in the way of Love! .BE LOVE.
if you read this post, you'll get a timeline of when i first met Dieunika back in april 2008. i remember cindy talking about working on a baby's paperwork coming for surgery. i intially thought she was going to be much younger. i had offered before dieunika came to be her host family but cindy said she'd do it, being a nurse and all. i joked-fine then just hog the baby!!! lol
i remember her sitting in the port-a-crib in the eagle room at the CSA center as she looked out at the boys and i while we tried to talk to her. for sure she thought as she peeked out through the mesh we were odd ducks! she spoke only creole and mostly baby talk. she was a cutie pie even though all she kept saying was ban mwen (give me that)! if i recall it was a sticker or paper of some sort. we didn't know but two or three creole words. although cindy is fluent. my youngest was so sweet, he sat and played with her for awhile. she had came with what was only the clothes on her back. she also hadn't any toys in the office yet. then we all didn't know much about her parents and even her. her medical history was unsure of too. all we knew was that she had an colostomy and needed life saving surgery.
she arrived just barely a few months before her 3rd birthday. she was tiny for her age, malnurished. i believe her weight then was around 21 lbs. at that time she was pretty quiet and she wouldn't ask to eat. cindy would have to ask her if she was hungry. she was pretty polite asking before she did anything. it was sweet, and yet i wonder what went through her mind. she was brought to the US by a stranger and then handed off to another. she never asked for her mom or dad. i didn't get to spend but small amount of time with her then. the hurstons were busy getting her ready for surgery and bringing awareness of her story. i remember she followed cindy all around the office, they spent alot of time there. she then came to be known as her 'lil chicken'.
This blog is about Dieunika, an amazing 3 year old girl from Haiti who came to the US for life saving surgeries. The amazing Love that has bonded and changed us all through her life. Here is where our story of adopting her begins and going back to the beginning of her arrival, sharing all the joys,raw emotions,trials, errors and pure laughter that we continue to experience. Join in on this journey of LOvE. From the heart of God, to the heart of Kerry and Emmy Tofa's family and over all of you that have embraced us.
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