A pyramid of cousins Marcus in September
Night Swimming

We are wrapping up our fun filled summer. I thought I would post a couple pictures of our camping trip to Pentwater. The girls absolutely loved hanging out with their cousins by the beach.

We are now in the full swing of fall. Seems our days are filled up with school, and evenings with various activities. Bri is loving Potter's House pre-K. She is growing up before my eyes. Matea enjoys "doing school" with Mom. She is working hard at writing her own name. The girls are both into crafts so if you happen to receive random scraps of colored paper in the mail, they just might be from us. . .

Here is the latest picture of Marcus as well. No new progress in our case to report.

A little update about Marcus and Haiti in general.

Haiti has been facing some real struggles lately with all the recent hurricaines. This was posted on the Orphange website earilier this week. Please keep them in your prayers. It is especially hard knowing our son is part of this without his mom and dad to cuddle him during the storms.

"Hurricane Hannah brought destruction to Haiti last night , September 2nd. Gonaive had flooding with some deaths reports. Our area sustained downed trees, toppled brick walls, and roads blocked. People are already out cutting the trees blocking the roads. Our metal roofs got blown off the house and we lost the internet dish at the Toddler House. The wind was blowing so hard the rain came in around the closed windows of the orphanage and flooded our dining room table and floor! There seems to be as many leaves inside the house as outside! Thankfully, we are all safe and God kept us from harm. Now we just have to clean up from the storm. This was much worse than any storm we have personally seen in the 17 years we have lived in Haiti."

The adoption process seems to be going a bit quicker lately, so we are prayerful that Marcus could be home in the spring/early summer. Our case has not even gotten into the courts in Haiti yet because they are still gathering all the information/paperwork that they need before submission. Pray that this can be completed soon. The good news is that some of the paperwork needs to be completed in Haiti now so we are hoping to make a trip to see Marcus some time this winter.

Here is the update we got on Marcus in August, sounds like he will fit in this family just fine.

"Roodley continues to do so well and to make progress developmentally. Roodley has started putting weight on his legs, and he really enjoys doing that. He is trying to stand on his own, although he needs someone else to help support him. Roodley is also a very social little boy! One day when I went into the nursery I saw him in his crib. Roodley had his arm out of the crib, reaching over toward the child in the crib next to him. The other child just kind of looked at him like, “what are you doing?” but Roodley definitely wanted the contact with others. He loves playing with other children and adults."

Thanks for your support and prayers. God is good, all the time.

Now, formally introducing. . . Marcus Woodley Deters. What with all the changes in our lives in the past month, we are finally wrapping our arms around the idea that this handsome guy is going to be part of our family. We are optimistic in hoping he could be home next summer.
Thank you all for your prayers. We ask that you pray for the orphanage, God's Littlest Angels as well. With adoptions taking so much longer, the cost of caring for these kids is increasing drastically. They are really struggling right now. Somehow it becomes a little more personal when you know your sons caregivers are strapped for cash. We know that they are good stewards of what they have and faithful to God so we rest assured. But prayer is really powerful, as we know.

Introducing. . .
Okay we have no name yet. But, here he is, our long awaited son. He is 14 months old, healthy and as handsome as can be. (Although we may be biased.)
In less than a year, he should be tearing it up with his sisters here in Michigan. Thank you all for your prayers and we will keep you posted on the continued process to bring him home. I will put more specifics up later. Thanks again for all your love and support.

We just got home from a 2 week vacation. I was really hoping we would get a referral while we were gone. Somehow I got in my head that it COULD happen. I continue to wonder why I let myself hope for these timeframes. But no such luck.
We did have a wonderful vacation and spent a good deal of time enjoying God's beautiful creation on the road from Texas to Michigan.
The good news is we think we have settled on a name for our son. Unless we really like his given name. Wouldn't you all like to know. . .

Clearly, we did not get one of the referrals from that last batch. Apparently only 3 of 20 went to Bethany families. So we are now going on waiting for 8 months. We are in a giant phase of apathy. I feel like you can only stay excited for so long when nothing is happening. Some friends just got a referral this week and they turned in their paperwork three weeks before us, so you never know, it could happen.
The girls continue to pick out names for "our little brother." The latest is "Jeff." I have to say it is better than Matea's last option "Pepperhead."
At least they are keeping their excitement. . . We continue to trust that all will happen in God's time. Without that assurance, I don't know how we would survive.

Prayer Needed

We found out this weekend that the orphanage is going to give out 22 referrals this month, several of which will go to Bethany families. We are fervantly praying that we will be one of these families.
We are struggling right now with a little frustration and lack of patience. So you can pray for that as well. We are continually faced with the dicotamy of the huge orphan crisis in the world and our seemingly unfruitful waiting. Thus, patience is needed.
Please join us in praying that we will be matched up with our son this month.
Crystal