Conleigh Tidbits

Through the grapevine, I did get just a few tidbits about Conleigh, as observed by a volunteer who was at HCH a while back. Since I don't have any new photos or any other process news to share, I'll share those tidbits instead.

When the volunteer arrived, Conliegh came marching up to her and held out her hand. (Somewhat suprising as while opinionated, Conleigh has always taken a while to warm up to new people.)

Julie (another HCH girlie who is Conleigh's age) and Conleigh got 2 small plastic chairs and were setting them one behind the other. Then Julie got a lid and turned it upside down beside the chairs. She sits down on the back chair and Conleigh sits
in the front one. Julie pretends to swipe her hands in the lid and then
gently rubs Conleighs hair! Being careful to go only the one way. She
repeated this many times and then they traded places! (Good to know that SOMEBODY in this house will know what they are doing when it comes to hair!)

Today Julie lined up the Mega blocks just so on a chair and nobody was to touch them. Then she would hand them to Conliegh who set them neatly on the bench. Then Conleigh would SMASH them off and the process would begin again. (Ahh, toddler destruction!)

This morning I looked out the window and down on the sidewalk were Daniel, Joseph, Linda, Conleigh and Julie.They had found a puddle on the sidewalk and were having the time of their lives. Julie plopped down in it and then waved her arms or fingers through it. For 5 two year olds it was great! (Puddles are such fun!)

In other Conleigh news, we just sent another document to the director of I*ESR, in hopes of getting our file released from this office. We have been in this one office for 11 months now. Apparently, since we have no bio kids, I*ESR is assuming we are infertile. Since we are not 35 which is the by the book age requirement for Haitian adoptions, I*ESR would like us to document our infertility and then sign us out as an exception to the law because of our infertility. In reality, none of this makes any sense so please don't write me and tell me how silly it all is. Trust me! After 11 months of no movement, I have a pretty good idea of how ridiculous it is to not approve us. Anyway, our processor has been trying to use our prior I*ESR approval and file number to get them to budge but they have been unwilling to release our file. So we wrote a letter to I*ESR clarifying why we want to adopt and why we chose Haiti, all while nicely saying how silly it is to refuse someone based on being too young when they were approved less than 2 years ago. Anyway, that said, I'm asking my friends and family to commit to praying for Conleigh's dossier as much as possible for the next two weeks. If you can pray every day, that would be great. I believe that perhaps in these two weeks, while our letter is being delivered, the director's heart may be changed by the prayers of many. I believe God will bring Conleigh home at a time that is right for her heart, for Kenson's heart, and for Mama and Papa's heart. But this Mama's heart would prefer sooner...