That's What I Heard

You've got this Karena…..

You can do this….

It is time

Those words… That’s exactly what I heard. On Friday morning July 13^th 2012 I was in my car and I was headed to Indianapolis to visit the secretary of state’s office. You see I had ordered the wrong birth certificates for our dossier. I didn’t realize they were wrong until I was putting everything together… A few weeks before vacation we learned that our dossier needed to be in Haiti by July 15^th that was the deadline being set by our agency. I thought to myself I can do that no problem… Most of our stuff had been translated already and I just had a few things to finish up… Well not exactly I needed to make some more changes to our home study I needed to rewrite out IBESR letter and I needed to get a letter from my OBGYN stating the pregnancy complications I had with both the boys. So I got started on things right away. The person we were going to use for translations ended up not able to help us so I was searching for someone. I luckily found a wonderful lady on o desk and she did all my translations. I sent her everything and found out the translations that had been done by the agency in Texas weren’t that great and needed a little help! So she translated everything for us!! She was super-fast and did our entire dossier the week I was in Florida. While in Florida I learned that our birth certificates were wrong! At this point I thought there was no way we would make the deadline we needed to make. I went ahead and ordered our new state birth certificates from Vital Check.com and paid the extra for faster delivery. At this point there really wasn’t anything left I could do.. So we tried to have a good time but in the back of my mind was the thought of not making the deadline! We can home and I had to verify identification with vital check and wait wait wait for our birth certificates… We got everything else finished up and were just waiting on these birth certificates. The birth certificates arrived on Thursday afternoon! Thankfully the UPS guy knows us and he took them to my mom’s next door because they required a signature! So I immediately called down to Indy and found out the Secretary of State opened at 9am and if I was there first thing they could have them done in about 5 minutes so ok… We then called the consulate in Chicago and made an appointment with them at 1:30pm eastern time. So this means I needed to leave my house by 7am to get to Indy which is 90 miles south of my house get my authentications then head back home pick up Zach and head 90 north of my house to Chicago… from the point when I got to Indy I had about 4 hours left to get my authentications and then drive the 3+ hours to Chicago… Not leaving much time for error!

As I set off on my early morning trip to Indy I really wasn’t sure if this was all going to happen.. There was so much that could go wrong I honestly just didn’t know but we were going to give it a chance! I had just gone through Lebanon through all the road construction and then I heard these 11 words… It was like nothing I had ever experienced.

You’ve got this Karena

You can do this

It is time

It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on… I truly feel it was god speaking to me. A huge since of relief came over me and I said to myself yes I can do this! I remember smiling thinking YES It Is Time!

Well I made it to Indy, couldn’t find a place to park got lost in the huge State building but remained calm. Found the secretary of state’s office got my authentications and then I was on my way! I made it home by 11 and we had 2.5 hours to make it to Chicago… not just Chicago but down town Chicago… Well we made that to with about 20 minutes to spare!! Traffic was crazy and we made it to Chicago right in the middle of the taste of Chicago! I honestly didn’t think our Expedition EL was going to fit in the parking garage but quickly learned that our vehicle is not an oversized vehicle!! Miss BeauBouff at the Haitian Consulate was wonderful! I love Haitian people!! She was truly a breath of fresh air! She told us she would do it quick for us so we just waited.. Took about 30 minutes and she was done!! Done our dossier was finally ready to go to Haiti. We drove home made copies and I was then ready to hand deliver it on Saturday morning the 14^th of July!

You see up until this point Friday the 13th of July 2012 something has always happened with our dossier / beginning process and we haven't be able to complete it! This was a huge victory for us! We have had to change home study agencies, change adoption agencies, rewrite our home study, make changes to things in our dossier, and get everything translated again… You name it there has been hurdle after hurdle to jump honestly I could probably start jumping them with my eyes closed! But the true joy has been the outcome of all those hurdles. Sure it felt like the end of the world when bad things happened but our god has never let us down. The outcome of these hurdles has always been better than we could ever imagine! I remember asking for prayer after we had learned of a really high hurdle we needed to jump... I ask for prayer on facebook didn't give a lot of details still won't give a lot of details.... I was simply asking for doors to be opened.. We had decided we were going to knock and knock and knock until the right door opened! Well friends I didn't even know this verse existed and the very next morning I got this email from a blog I follow and here was this verse! Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."  Matthew 7:7-8 ~ Go God what a verse to restore my faith!! The truth is doors had already started to open that very night that I ask for prayers for doors to be opened I heard back from 3 different people all with a different door for us to knock on!! Wow Baby as Pastor Ted would say!! 

He has “truly” made everything beautiful in HIS time ~ Ecclesiastes3:11

Our HOPE is in HIM ~ we fully 100% trust in the lord and what his plans are for us.. Sure sometimes crazy talk gets to us but we just have to remind ourselves that our hope is in him! People are always asking us when the kids are coming home and it stinks when they ask us that question! In fact most times I want to scream when I know something you will know something! But I bite my tongue and smile and say no we don't know anything! Our hope is in him and we TRUST that HIS timing is perfect just like us finishing our dossier it was perfect and god made it beautiful in HIS time!

Currently our dossier is in Haiti it went on Monday July 15^th with our agency. It going through Pre IBESR steps now and then will be ready to meet up with the kids dossiers and start the rest of the process. We still have a long ways to go and we have no idea how long it will take.

Right now we are just celebrating the huge victory of getting our dossier to Haiti!!

 Praise be to god!!

For now the real waiting begins.. We now don’t have any “busy” work to do our dossier is complete and in a since we are now officially in the second stage of this pregnancy the "waiting stage" before our dossier was done we were "paper pregnant" we have now delivered the dossier so now we move to "waiting stage" and begin to wait on the process in Haiti. I will be honest with you it stinks we know who our kids are we have seen their faces, we have held them and kissed them and we LOVE them! We love them just as much as we love our biological boys but they just aren’t currently living with us in our home! They live in our hearts!! We can not wait for the "delivery" Their bedrooms are ready and we are ready for them. But we also know that god doesn't think we are ready just yet! Some days I would love to argue with him but I know my arguing won’t do me any good! We know in gods time he will make all of this beautiful.. He has already made so much beauty come out of this… More than we could have ever imagined! If you knew me a year ago you would of known that we had never flown or left the country.. Well over the course of this year we have been on 16 flights and to Haiti 4 times! Wow I would have never guesses that! We also went to Haiti a year ago to meet our one daughter and we now have two daughters in Haiti and one son in Haiti! The way they each individually came into our life was a total god thing! I would have never imagined it that way or planned it that way.. But it was perfect! A year ago we weren't regular church goers... We were lucky to go once a month I really hate to admitt that now! But now through adoption we have needed god so much we have wanted to seek him and we have found ourselves in a new wonderful church! It honestly feels like we have been there for ever!  We couldn't be happier and when we miss a sunday we really do miss a sunday we feel it in our hearts we see the difference our week has with church or with out church... You see I like plans I like things to go a certain way. Boy oh boy god is teaching me something with all of this! We have made new friends no not just friends we have made new family members all of the other adoptive parents  and children we have come to love! We have seen the beauty of a country that is broken and we have conquered fears! We are excited to see what else god has in store for us on this wild adoption roller coaster ride and we will continue to trust and follow him.



I just want to close with a favorite saying in our house “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” that’s in the bible you know.. it is one of my kids favorite verses! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us  Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

So we will continue down this adoption road and we will take whatever comes our way and we aren't going to throw a fit! For we know this is god's will for us in Christ Jesus..

Everyday Holds The Possibility Of A Miracle 

Dossier all Stamped and ready to go to Haiti 

3 amazing kiddos waiting on us in Haiti! 

I'm A Working Mom

Yes I am a working mom and I am proud of it!! Let me just start off by saying I have no problem with stay at home moms... I think it is wonderful if that works for your family. I have plenty of stay at home mommy friends! We recently got a phone call from our adoption agency with some disturbing news. Its seems that the agency we have been working with has a vision. The founder of this agency has a vision to place children in home with Stay At Home Mothers. Now we have been working with this agency since October of 2011 and just now April of 2012 they are telling us that they won't be able to continue working with us because I have a job and I am not a stay at home mother! Yes you read all of that right because I have a job they won't be able to continue working with us! They have known all along that I had a job they have called me at my work. It is on our application form that I work I have a letter from my employee for our dossier. We  have read over all of the papers we signed with this agency and no where does it say anything about placing children in homes with stay at home moms. Its talks about placing children in homes with loving caring christian families which we are.  I think the fact that upsets me the most is that there are over

147 MILLION ORPHANS WORLDWIDE 

and because I am not a stay at home mom this agency won't work with us...??...  Does this make since to you?? I know it sure doesn't make since to me. With a number like 147,000,000 I think finding families with stay at home moms would be the least of my worries if I were an agency. (which may happen someday but that's another blog post and will have to wait until my kids come home) 

I think placing them in loving, caring christian families would be my most important goal! 

There are plenty days when I wish I was a stay at home mom but that doesn't work for us. To pay our bills and to be able to adopt it takes both of our incomes. I honestly don't know a lot of people that are stay at home moms. Most stay at home moms still work! They cook, clean, laundry, carpool, help at school the list is endless.... Yes I do all those things as well and yes some days its hard to juggle but we do it and we make the best of our crazy life!

The Census report for 2010 estimates 5.1 Million stay at home moms in the United States  yes I said 5.1 Million Stay at home moms that just 142 Million moms shy of solving the Global Orphan Crisis! 

Yes there are days when I forget things. There is even this one mom not naming any names who forgot to pick my her child up at Spanish club. This other mom threw her child's yearbook form away and ruined his life but luckily she is on PTO and pulled a few strings and got his yearbook ordered. And just today this other mom was picking up her child from preschool when another mom says to  her "are you coming to the 5th grade DARE graduation today".... What graduation she didn't know anything about it... But she did manage to leave her job and show up and surprise her child for his graduation! 

Just because I am a working mom doesn't mean I am not a good mom. Its what we choose to do and it works for our family. It also doesn't mean I won't be a good mommy to some children in Haiti that currently don't have a mommy. 

Maybe I haven't put my child to sleep in my desk drawer like this picture but I can guarantee I have sure brought my kiddos to work! And they have loved it!! Going out to the shop and seeing some Big Trucks is sure to be fun! And playing with moms pens and paper and sitting at moms desk that is the coolest!! 

I personally love this! I sale Thirty One in my free time! and this is there motto! I love it!! 

The Proverbs 31 woman is a virtuous woman.

A wife, mother and business woman...all knitted into one.

— Her character as a wife —

10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

— Her devotion as a homemaker and generous person —

12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

— Her influence as a teacher —

26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

— Her effectiveness as a mother —

27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."

— Her excellence as a person —

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Many days you might feel like this when you have been home with the kids for a few days! lol.... But we all love our kids even when they drive us crazy! 

The bottom line what I am getting at here is Yes I am a working mom and because of this we are left to now find a new agency. What does this mean for our adoption process well its another step more papers to probably fill out and the biggest thing is more money and more time! The agency we were with had a very reasonable rate and we loved that about them! We have been talking with some other agency's today at this point there is only 2 that we know of that we can work with that our orphanage will allow us to work with and it is looking like we will have to pay an additional $6-10 thousand dollars!! Yikes that is not what we wanted to hear! The funny thing is I am not mad about this obviously god wanted us somewhere else and I am trusting him if we do have to pay more money he will also provide. Understanding his plan his timing this is all something I don't think will ever make since to me however I do know that he loves us more than we can ever imagine and he loves our kids more that we could ever love them. 

He will see them home and it will be all on his timing and his plan!

Psalm 118:8

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put 

confidence in man.” 

McDonald's Happy Meals

The beloved McDonald's Happy Meal! All kids love them they can get cheeseburger or chicken nuggets french fries apples and a drink! Parents love them for the convenience. I know this stuff is not actually food but it does fill my children’s tummies when I’m in a hurry and have something to do. 

But wait we are forgetting the most important part!! The Happy Meal Toys!!!  The dreaded Happy Meal Toys!! I think every parent hates them! First off they charge extra for the silly toy and then the toy mostly causes me grief. Either the kids can’t figure it out or they didn’t get the toy that they wanted in the set. Speaking of the set why on earth do you display the whole set but only have 1 available?? 

McDonalds don’t you know this just causes a 4 year old major meltdown!!  But every child loves them!! So now as parents we are stuck with all of these lovely toys to clutter up our cars, playrooms and houses. They are played with just a few times and then tossed aside for something bigger something better something new. Then What??

What to do with all the Happy Meal Toys is the question???

Well I have an answer. Children who live in 3^rd world countries such as Haiti that have never heard of McDonalds and don’t even know what french-fries and happy meal toys are would love these toys. They would put a smile on their little faces and bring joy to their hearts! If any of you have Happy Meal Toys laying around I would gladly take them off your hands and make sure they make there way to a 3^rd world country where they will be given to some very deserving children!

When I go to visit the kids in Haiti I try to bring most toys back home with me so the kids have something familiar to play with on my return visits. Having some Happy Meal Toys to take would allow me to let the kids take them back to the orphanage and share with all the other children! I don’t think too many Happy Meal Toys for this project are possible. So please feel free to spread the word to your family and friends!

Lots of Happy Meal Toys = Lots of Smiles!!

If you have Happy Meal Toys that you would like to donate please let me know you can email me at

krp1021@gmail.com or you can give them to me the next time you see you or me can always mail them to me!

Thanks for all your help and support!!

Karena Price

P.O. Box 396

Wolcott, IN 47995

Class of 2019 You Are Amazing!!

So a few months back Kaden's teacher approached me about having the 5th grade students collect gifts for HIS Home Orphanage for there Christmas gift giving this year... I was very touched by this. The teachers felt this was a great opportunity to offer love and joy to others during the Christmas season!  I got the teacher a list of some items that would be good for this and then she typed up a letter and it went home with the children! As you can see by this picture we got a lot of stuff!! This stuff will now make its way to Ohio and get on the container that will go over later this year to Haiti and these items will be used for Christmas 2012! A lot of kids in Kaden's class didn't exactly realize what was going on several them told me hey Mrs. Price I already brought in my stuff for Kaden's brother and sister!! I told them that the items would be going over for all the children!!

I am just so thankful to be in such a loving and caring community our 5th grade parents and students will did an awesome job and We say thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! Words really can't express how this makes us fell to receive these things to send to the children!!

Adoption Wristband Fundraiser

Treasure The Journey

Adoption Wristband  Fundraiser

We are currently in the middle of a big fundraiser for the adoption to raise some much needed funds for our lawyer fees that we need to pay when our Dossier is ready to send to Haiti. We are praying that our Dossier is ready to go in December so we have ordered in 1,000 of these awesome wristbands and we are selling them with the help of our family and friends! The wristbands come in blue ( for Juvens)  and pink (for Derline) and say Treasure The Journey / Haiti on them. To purchase a wristband please see the details below. Also if you would be willing to help us out and take some wristbands to sell to your family, friends, co-workers or church family please let me know.  

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you ~ John 14:18

Wristbands are $5.00 Each

To Purchase wristbands please click on the donate button on the top right corner of my blog. The wristbands will mail easily in a regular envelope so I will ship them anywhere in the US! When it ask you for the Purpose put Wristbands and put the color and quantity that you want. Then the quantity of wristbands x $5.00.

Thank You so much for all your thoughts and prayers while we are on this Journey! It means so much to us to have the support of our friends and family!

“all things are possible if you believe” Mark 9:23

Chicken Pox in Haiti

Facebook Notes From Chris Nungester

Our sweet Derline is one of 18 children with Chicken pox right now! Never a dull moment in Haiti.. We are wishing we were there to hold and hug our baby girl! Please say a prayer for all the children and staff and HIS Home.

October 4 at 10:15pm ·



HIS Home kids are recovering from illnesses. Schneider had a sickle cell crisis about a month ago and has finally fully recovered. Unusual for his illness to last so long! Baby Niko was very dehydrated last week from diarrhea and we worried about possible cholera, but turned out that he was getting in a big molar and had an ear infection as well. IV is out today and continuing on oral antibiotics. He is playing and much better! Rose Berline just went back to school from chicken pox, and now Athulia has them :( First epidemic at HH had 38 kids sick at once, and a few years later had 28 cases at the same time. Can't wait to see where this is going this time... Never a dull moment!!!


October 10
Welcome to our world... We had 1 child (Rose Berline) who had chicken pox, and now we have 18 current cases :) Will include a list so you can be praying for all of these spotted little ones. Wenskesley, Sarah, Jeste Manie, Christa, Lydia, Julian, Derline, Bethany, Athulia, Gertrude, Martine, Jocelyn, Laurie, Caleb, Christla, Christella, Ketsia, and Tasha. The kids are all handling it well, and we are adding to our numbers daily... All cases are confined to the baby/girls house right now, but am guessing it is only a matter of time until it reaches our other two houses. Every new girl getting it celebrates her chance to stay home from school. Our teachers are celebrating too!


October 10
God is so good! He also sent a team of 21 to build a new playground for the children. The team arrived yesterday, and started working today. They take their rest breaks to hold sick kids, which the kids are eating up!!! The ones that feel better are also out trying out the new playground equip being installed. I am personally thanking God for all of the extra hands to hold sick babies!!!!

600 miles of Ocean between us but Worlds Apart

Below you will read a series of post that we have been following over the past day from the orphanage directors where Derline is at. Richemond was involved in a serious accident on Tuesday September 20. Reading these post and having been to Haiti and seeing how crazy the roads are and how cautious you have to be as a driver this is very scary... the other thing that is scary is how different things are in Haiti this is a perfect example of just how different things are.... To think that Haiti is closer to Miami than I am in my home here in Indiana and things are this different just saddens me... We are thankful that richemond is home safe with his family tonight and praying everything goes well tomorrow when they go to get the truck..

~~We have an emergency at HIS Home and are asking for your prayers! Today our driver, Richmond, was driving our large truck and 2 children ran in front of the truck. One child died and the 2nd is in the hosp. critically injurred. Richmond has been arrested and our truck is confiscated by police. Richemond is being held in City Soleil jail until his court hearing tomorrow AM. We have been warned to bring lots of cash to pay for the funeral, medical expenses, a settlement with the families, etc. Please pray for Richemond and this situation! Thanks!!!



~~Goodmorning! Just asking for continued prayers for Richemond this morning as he will be taken to court around 11AM with a police escort to keep him safe. Have had no information from him this morning. Junior and Michelet (Richemond's cousin and security guard for our ER house) will be going along with our lawyer. Security is the greatest concern as the court is being held in City Soleil, the home of the family whose children were involved.



 ~~Just spoke with Junior and the court ask for a settlement of $10,000 US for the family, but have decreased it now to $4000. We only had $3000 so Junior is trying to negotiate Richmond's release with $3000 and the remaining funds to be paid tomorrow with the release of the truck when the fee is paid. There is a big crowd outside the courtroom waiting to see that the family gets justice (money). Don't know yet what the lawyers are charging us....
 
~~Annother update... Junior called from the court and the judge has agreed to release Richemond and the truck today with a promise that we will pay the remaining $1000 tomorrow AM. The lawyer vouched for us that we would pay, so Richemond should be on his way home as soon as the police chief opens his office and returns the key to the truck. Praise God!!!! I haven't met with Richemond yet, but am thankful to know that he is safe and has been released :)



~~Richemond is back home with his family tonight and will return to work tomorrow. We will make a final payment to the court and complete some additional insurance paperwork tomorrow. In situations like this accident, it is not unusual for the crowd at the scene to kill the driver and those in the vehicle, and to burn the vehicle as a sign of revenge. It is a miracle that God protected our 3 staff in the truck, and they are all safe today. Richemond was cared for well at the jail, another miracle! This is a very expensive accident for us financially, and we are trusting God to provide what is needed financially, but no amount of money is too expensive for lives of our 3 staff.

~ ~Richemond ask me to extend his appreciation for all of the prayers for him in the past 2 days. He is thankful to be safe and was very greatful to everyone who kept him covered in prayer. Please continue to pray for the family who lost their 7 year old girl and for their 10 year old boy who is still hospitalized with critical injuries. Although the family has been granted a substantial settlement, the money will not replace their child. At the time of the accident, the mother was already at a hospital with another of their children who was in critical condition from an illness... Blessings!

HIS Home Christmas Gifts!!

A few months ago we received a message from Chris the director of Derline's orphanage about sending Christmas gifts to Ohio for the container that is going to Haiti. They have a lot of kids at the Orphanage so it will take a lot of goodies. Well I emailed my my grandma, two aunts and they went to work on this project for me!! They collected all kids of goodies for the kids at HIS Home with the help of there churches! I am happy to say that I shipped 3 big boxes of stuff to Ohio today. I am sure all the stuff that we are sending will bring some smiles to some great kids on Christmas!! In these boxes you will find love! You will find flip flops, backpacks, barbies, makeup, cars, coloring books, baby toys, balls the list just goes on... I can only imagine the smiles these little boxes will bring!

Thank You Aunt Lisa, Aunt Kim and Grandma Mary!!

In these boxes I also put 2 gifts for our baby girl. That was very sad and hard too do. We took the boys and we picked out a new baby and some learning blocks for her. The fact that she will get those on Christmas and we won't be with her just breaks my heart! She is loved by so so many people and she doesn't even know it!