Djemy and Joyce leaving for his medical visa appointment.
Here is a glimpse into the miracle of Djemy's visa... The below 2 paragraphs were written on a GLA Yahoo group last week. The host parents for Djemy have been in an adoption battle for the past year to get their twins home from GLA. To make a long story REALLY short, everything was going very smooth in their adoption of Sonia and Sonel. Well, as smooth as Haitian adoptions go... :-) They got through Parquet, where the Haitian Court Systems do a birth parent interview, and that went well, and so passports with were issued with Tuttle as their last name. They were legally Ralph and Beka's children now. The US added another birth parent interview on to the end of adoptions in the last year or so. So, at the last birth parent interview, the birth mom said, "That she had never intended on giving them up?????!!!! What???? She did not want them back, and had NO MEANS to care for them! She was in an abusive situation herself, and her children would be in grave danger if she were to ever get them back. She said that she wanted them to live at GLA forever??? So, the fight for Sonia and Sonel began February of 2007. Finally, almost one year later, the USCIS office in San Diego wrote a letter to the Consulate in Haiti to release the children to the Tuttle's, because they fully met the requirements of orphaned children. End of story, and visas were issued. Below are two messages written by Djemy's host mom, Rebekah Tuttle...
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(Written January 9, 2009)
I can't type because I am shaking from head to toe but I just had to
announce the news! God has given me the best birthday gift of all and
that is visas for Sonia and Sonel as well as a medical visa for
Djemy....all on the same day!
My wish is for everyone of you to realize that God is faithful and He
still moves mountains! Give Him ALL the glory!!!!
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised
is faithful!" Hebrews 10:23
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(Written January 13, 2009)
Hi! I just have to post even though my list of to-do's continues to
grow instead of shrinking. We are leaving on Sunday to bring our
children home! Praise God! We have been singing the Doxology over and
over because it fits our feelings of praise so well! What words can't
say, songs do.
First of all, I want to make sure that I tell all of you as a group
of friends how thankful I am for your friendships and the love and
compassion you have shown. God has blessed me 'above all I could ask
or even think' and I am so thankful! Thank you for your posts,
emails, cards, phone calls and for the incredible outpouring of
congratulations you have given. I am printing them all out to put in
our "Miracle Day" file. One of these days we are going to be able to
share with our children the process that we went through to see them
come home. If I were to have imagined the last two and a half years,
I could never had done it but God knew we were in for a bunch of
heartbreak and agony. He strengthened us and we now come out on the
other side of this with greater blessings that I could ever imagine.
You all of have been used by God to help me continue on even on those
days when I literally begged God to help me breathe. Not only did He
help me breathe but He gave me such compassion for all of you. Every
day now I wake up praying for you and your children that God will
complete what He has started and will bring your children home as
quickly as He wills. I have learned to say the Lord's Prayer and mean
it. It is really not about my will but His.
I can tell you that what God has joined, man can NOT separate. We
have several stories in the Bible that spoke to us during our wait
not only for children but also in those years we have been struggling
with the infertility (make that 14 years). Job came to mind when we
had the miscarriage of our twins. My dad passed away from pancreatic
cancer, two of my sisters were diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Ralph
was called up to go with the Marines to Iraq (God canceled that bump
in the road) and we were trying to get through medical school and the
120 work hour internship year. Those things happened within two years
of each other.
I believe now that God was preparing us for the biggest fight we
would encounter. We were in a Red Sea situation where we would drown
if we continued forward but the army was behind us and we had no
choice but to move forward knowing God had to provide and there was
no other option for us. I will never forget the day back in June or
July when Ralph walked up to me with tears streaming down his face.
He looked at me and said, "I was just sitting at the computer and God
assured me that He has answered our prayers!" God never goes back on
His promises!
One day I was praying and I had this clear picture in my head of
guardian angels hovering over Sonia and Sonel where they were sitting
in the orphanage. We prayed for so long that God would dump buckets
of joy over our heads and we believe that is exactly what has
happened.
I am not a 'signs and wonders' person but we were presented with
nothing less than that on our trip to Oregon. Remember, we have been
praying that God would send the rain and that He would complete the
work He had started in the heart of our daughter, Caitlin. Two hours
from home, the weather turned dark and the snow started coming down.
For three hours, we drove in SoCal with that kind of weather. We got
to central California and we had a rainbow literally follow us for
the entire day until it was evening. Again, the snow began to fall
and we had to stop for the night because the roads were impassible.
The next morning we got up, put the chains on our van and crept up
and over the mountain into Oregon praying we would get there in one
piece. The snow continued the entire two weeks we were gone. Oregon
has never had that kind of weather. I grew up there and this storm
broke all records.
We arrived on Tuesday, logged onto the computer and found that Ralph
was accepted into a residency program that would extend our time in
California for the next few years so we could complete Caitlin's high
school and finish the adoption that God has called us to. Before I
crawled into bed, I logged onto the computer again and found the
email telling us that it appeared we would be adopting not two more
but also a third little sister who needs to be loved and have a home
with her siblings.
Talk about a God-sighting...showing us that He always shows up on
time and is NEVER late. I know, there were times when people would
tell me that "all in God's timing" and I was not wanting to hear that
but looking back, we can clearly see that God was working even when
we could not see Him. I begged Him to show me that He loved me! There
were days that I did not post anything because I hurt too badly. That
should end the speculation that I never questioned or had absolute
faith. I didn't....but I believed God and chose to trust on days when
I didn't want to.
I have been praying for months that God would bring the twins and
Djemy home all three together. I have prayed that believing God could
do it if He chose. On my birthday, we heard that the twins were going
in for their visa appointment. It came out of the blue. It was like
Peter knocking on the door saying, "I am here," and no one believing
it even though he was standing right there. I read the words and it
just would not register. I called for Ralph who had come home to take
me out for lunch. We blinked together and then called GLA! I can't
remember much about the rest of my day except that we kept looking at
each other with a comical look of disbelief and expectant
anticipation that God had answered our prayers!
Friday morning, my phone rang and it was Dixie. She was so excited to
call with the news that was all good. Not only did we have two visas
for our twins but she also was able to pick up the medical visa for
Djemy! God not only poured out His blessings. He dumped buckets of
joy on our heads!
I can tell you that JESUS NEVER FAILS! We have two beautiful children
coming home named Sonia and Sonel who are living proof of that. This
wasn't a case of working it out or finding the right person who could
argue clearly or finding a person who wanted to be nice. The visas
were printed because God performed a miracle against all odds.
This is longer than I intended but I want to give you hope. The
adoption wait is terrible but it would be impossible without the
support of this group which Kristin started and a Friend who never
fails! Thank you, my friend and Friend!
You are all forever in my heart and I am now back at the beginning of
an adoption and most of you will have your kiddos home before I have
the next batch of three. That means I will get to root for you and
send congratulations your way when the good news comes.
"I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord." Psalms 27:13-14
God has given us back more than we would ever have dreamed. I am the
mommy of 6 children! Glory to God!
In one week, I will be hugging on my children and yours!
Love all of you,
Beka
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Here is a glimpse of a family that God made by His own hands, and He will complete...
Guerlens
Djemy
Dieuna
Sonel Tuttle
Sonia Tuttle
Be praying for the Tuttle's (Ralph, Beka, and Caitlin,16)! They leave for Haiti on Sunday, January 18th, and will arrive back in San Diego the following Friday. It will be like 'man on man defense'--3 on 3... ;-)