Eyberg, Party of 5

Nothing much has happened in the last month.

Yeah, right!

I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog in so long. It's been quite a ride the last few weeks.

January 12, 2010, a massive quake shook Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Thank God we found out within hours that all the children at the orphanage were safe. There had been damage at the orphanage, and injuries to a nanny.

January 11 was the last night I had a decent night's sleep.

From that point on, I was on my land line, my cell phone, on the computer either trying to contact the government, NGOs, the media -- ANYONE -- who could get supplies to the orphanage and/or relaying information to other families. Talk about feeling helpless.

BTW, thank God for the media. The orphanage was without supplies and no one I contacted was able (ie, willing?) to contact anyone on the ground in Haiti to get the kids water, food and formula. Fox News was in the area and heard the kids singing. They did extensive reporting from the orphanage, helping to bring supplies. Later CNN covered the facility and the kids' trips to the Embassy.

The walls surrounding the orphanage collapsed, leaving the 133 children and mostly female staff open to looters and other bad elements.

After nearly two weeks of no sleep, nail biting, lobbying government officials, stress beyond imagine, we heard it was a possibility that our kids could be coming to the U.S. on humanitarian parole. Secretary Napolitano granted parole, and the kids from our orphanage, Maison des Enfants de Dieu, were among the first Haitian orphans to head into the U.S.

The children arrived in Florida, January 23, via military cargo plane. They were processed through immigration there. Then the Colorado kids (a large group) were loaded onto a commercial jet and flown to Colorado, thanks to Governor Ritter, on Sunday, January 24.

We were instructed to meet at a private hangar near Denver International Airport, where we awaited the arrival of our children, along with most of the Colorado Springs families adopting from Maison, and others from throughout Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Charis, Jodie and Mark with Gov. Ritter.

We weren't at the hangar long before the United jet arrived and the children were escorted off. The owner of our homestudy agency was on the plane as one of the escorts.

Our first glimpse of Esther (Islande) being carried off the plane. The woman to the right is Marj Bluder, who owns our homestudy agency.


Charis and Jodie greet Islande, Mark greets Katiana.

Greeting Katiana.

We were so glad to see that someone provided warm clothing for the girls.

Sisters.

Mark and Katiana.

More sister-love. The girls hadn't seen each other since June 2007.

Eyberg, Party of 5, with Marj and Natalie, our rockin' social worker.

Thus begins the new chapter in our lives ...