1. What a Difference 2 Years Can Make

2. Go Shopping! She’s coming home!


3. Dixie fights for her children

 Our adoption started like so many of those who have adopted
from Haiti. I took the plunge into the realm of international
adoption starting in June of 2007. I went through all the extensive
paperwork to get my dossier ready and sent it to Haiti in April of
2008. Then I waited and waited and waited for a referral.
 January of 2010 (eighteen months later) I was told a referral was
ready for me but I did not have any of the information. I only
knew that there was a little girl waiting for me. On January
12, 2010 I had just came home from work and had turn the TV on
to watch while I made dinner. As I flipped to CNN I saw the
bulletin that there was an earthquake in Haiti. My heart just
dropped. How could this happen? I had waited for so long and I
knew nothing about my future daughter and now she could be in
danger or worse. Thank God Dixie was able to post on the internet
that everyone was all right. It was a huge relief but created a
whole new batch of worries.

4. Dixie fights for her children

 Will they have enough food or water? Will they be safe? Even
though they did not have all the information about my
daughter, Bethany decided to give me what they had about my
daughter two days later. On January 14, 2010 I saw a picture of
my daughter for the first time.
 The next step was to get the kids out. The issue is whether my
daughter would be one of them. Because I did not receive my
referral until after the earthquake there was a very good chance
that my daughter would not be included in the Humanitarian
Parole. Later I learned that Dixie fought very hard for the kids
whose referrals were pending. What a blessing Dixie is! If she
had not fought so hard I may not have my daughter with me
even today.

5. Dixie fights for her children

 The rest of the story is similar to many of us. I received a
call from my case worker on January 20, 2010 that the
GLA kids will be flown into the US the following day and
I needed to book a flight to Miami. After I rearranged my
work schedule, I had to go to the store and buy supplies
because I had nothing prepared for an infant. I did not
sleep much that night between booking flights, calling
family members, and packing the stuff I needed to take
with me. I flew out of Detroit at noon the next day and
then waited with everyone in a very cold airport for the
next twelve hours. On January 22, 2010 I met my
daughter Esperancia for the first time. It was very
overwhelming and emotional

6. Dixie fights for her children

 Esperancia is doing extremely well. When she first
came, she was not walking and saying only mama.
She was below the growth curve on both weight and
height. Almost two years later she is in
preschool, taking dance lessons, and is now at the
50% on weight and height.
 If it weren’t for GLA and the work they do, I would
not have such a great daughter that I have today.
Tania

7. If you’d like to talk about helping God’s Littlest Angels, please contact
Laurie Bickel at 719-638-4348 or lorlor@glahaiti.org or Tom Vanderwell
at (616) 884-8901 or tom@glahaiti.org. Thank you!