No Substitute

As we wait alongside our two birth children (Hunter and Baylor) for the day when our two adoptive children, Beatha (Bay-AH-tah) and Jameson, will join us at home and we hope for continuing updates regarding "our" Eldor children of Haiti, we find ourselves with a large and complicated family.  Six children in our hearts.  Two from my womb and presently in our house.  A pair with our love and our souls, always, in Haiti.  A sister-brother duo woven already into the Cluver daily talk, planning, and prayers, but who wait, eat, rest, and play in the far-away city of my own birth -- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sadly relinquishing plans for accomodating six beds, six nooks for coats and boots, and six stools around our eating space, we have gradually transitioned our minds to loving Josianna and Wendy from afar.  Our spirits are buoyed by the dream of some future day when the Cluvers and Eldors may one day sit together, bantering in fluid Kreyol with smiles and laughter for all.  

Each new day moves us forward.

Every time I hang up the phone, Hunter, Baylor, or both will ask anxiously, "Was it about Beatha and Jameson?"  And I try to sound upbeat when I have to reply, "Not yet." 

We believe that ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement) within HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) has been working diligently to collect and process carefully the documentation about the children, their birthfamilies, and the adoptive families (proposed sponsors).  As we await a final, coordinated approval by HHS/ORR; DHS/CIS (The Department of Homeland Security's United States Citizenship & Immigration Services); and DOS (Department of State, a.k.a. State Department), we pray that all parties involved will proceed with an absolute and singular focus on the immediate and long-term well-being of the children.

We, families, know for ourselves that the twelve children in Pittsburgh who entered the United States with legal permission prior to the installment of a humanitarian parole program had, indeed, been legal residents of BRESMA, a creche (adoption-focused) orphanage.  They landed in Florida on a January day with complete legal files indicating parental relinquishment of custody.  Our prayer is not to acquire children from Haiti, but rather, to parent Haitian children who are in need of a forever family, to work in earnest to maintain with them a strong connection to their native culture, and to communicate frequently via approved channels to the children's birth parents the progress of the adoption plan they made for their young ones. 

The kids are in a place of physical safety in the U.S.  We spent time with them in January.  Their health and education are being tended to in Pittsburgh.  U.S. government agencies are confirming records. 

Beatha and Jameson await their day to leave institutional care.

By the grace of God and the hearts of humanity, may good be done, and soon.

To see aditional images of Beatha & Jameson, click on this link http://www1.snapfish.com/bellsouth/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2121947017/a=143018330_143018330/

(Snapfish will ask for you to establish a username and password, but it is free of charge.)