The Berrys

What a Difference 2 Years Can Make

Go Shopping! She’s coming home!

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.

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.

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

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

Dixie fights for her children

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!