Some of the Other Children

Here are some photos of Louie in pictures with the other children in the orphanage.  It is nice to have photos of him with his friends because he will miss them very much when we bring him home.  

These 3 are known as the three Musketeers.  The little boy on the right was brought home in November.  Louie and the boy on the left should come home around the same time.     

Our agency does not do adoptions for children over 5 because they have found that kids older than 5 have a more difficult time adjusting and bonding.  The kids that are over 5 are kept until a good orphanage that takes care of older kids can be found.  A few months ago the agency was working on raising funds for a school that an orphanage for older kids used.  The school had no roof so the children could not go when it was raining.  The agency raised the money and the LDS missionaries installed it.

DRC

These are just a bunch of facts or things that I find interesting about the Democratic Republic of Congo:


The capital of the DRC is Kinshasa
The estimated population of the DRC in July of 2012 was 73, 599, 190.
The population of Kinshasa is 8.4 million.  Kinshasa is where the orphanage is located and where we will be traveling to.
The population of Bukavu is 806,940.  Bukavu is the city where the orphanage that Louie was orignally found at.  It is on the eastern border of the country.  The children were flown from Bukavu to Kinshasa because it would take 6 days to drive.  The jungle is so dense and the roads are so bad that it is unrealistic to drive very far.
Life expectancy is 55 years.  US is 77 years.
The DRC has the 2nd highest infant mortality rate in the world.
1 in 5 children die before the age of 5.

The DRC was the second most industrialized nation in Africa until 1996 when war broke out between the DRC and several surrounding countries.
The country is very rich in minerals and ore.  There is a lot of potential for economic growth and stability but because of the war many mines have shut down, are poorly managed or other countries are coming in and looting the mines.
The average annual income is $300.  They have a saying in Kinshasa that means "Eat today but not tomorrow."  It is so familiar for people to only be able to afford eat every other day.
Only 9% of the population has access to electricity.

The official language is French.  In Kinshasa the people mainly speak Lingala.  In Bukavu they speak Swahili. So Louie will have gone from Swahili, Lingala sprinkled with French to English in the year that most kids are beginning to speak.  It'll be pretty confusing for him.

The DRC has the highest frequency of thunderstorms.
Some places receive more than 80" of rain per year.
We will be traveling in the rainy season.  So we expect to be very wet the entire time we are there.
Tomorrow Kinshasa is forecasted to have high of 91 and a low of 77.  The website says that it will feel more like 104 and 82 with the humidity.  They are supposed to get .62" of rain tomorrow.
Tomorrow here it is forecasted to be 35 for a high and 17 for a low.
Last week we had temperature in the negatives for highs.  Louie could be coming home to a 100 degree temperature difference.

The interior of the country where Bukavu is located is a very dangerous and violent place.
The M23 rebels and LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) regularly attack villages maiming and massacring people, raping the women and kidnapping the children to be soldiers.
The DRC is called the rape capitol of the world because 1 in 3 women have been raped.
Recently the M23 rebels overtook Goma, which is just North of Bukavu.  They have pulled out now but, are threatening to return.


The DRC is home to gorillas, rhinos, zebra, lion, leopards, hippos, cheetahs, elephants and chimpanzees.
Unfortunately we are not on a sight seeing trip.  We may be able to go to a chimpanzee reserve if we have time and if there is someone who is willing to take us.

Singing Videos

Louie is in the bottom right corner of the screen.  He is wearing light yellow overalls.  There is a good shot of him at about 40 seconds and again at 1 minute 20 seconds.

When people go to the orphanage they bring little gifts for the kids.  It looks like this group brought over head bands, that is probably why Louie is wearing one.  The kids are just so excited to have something new.  When people bring stickers you see pictures of them covered from head to toe with the stickers. Since there is no paper they stick them on each other.

He is in the same yellow overalls.  

These videos were taken by people who are at the orphanage to pick up their child.  They upload them on to Dropbox or Facebook for us to download.  Generally there are hundreds of photos and several videos that we go through to find the ones with Louie in them.  When we go we will be taking lots of photos and videos for the parents who are waiting to go and pick up their child.

Louie is siting on a green chair in the middle of the row of chairs. He is wearing a white long sleeved shirt, dark shorts and 1 shoe.

All of these videos were taken at the previous orphanage.

Orphanage

Our agency has a main orphanage in Kinshasa they are in complete control of, it is called Arms of Love.  There are many ways that children are brought into the orphanage.  Louie came with a group of about 15 children from an orphanage in Bukavu.  Louie's group was the first brought from Bukavu.  The agencies social worker was saddened by the condition of the orphanage when she visited for her first time in April. The crumbling building had no electricity or running water. The children had no clothes, adequate food or clean water.  She quickly got to work buying clothes and finding food for the children.  Since then many improvements have been made at the Bukavu orphanage.  

Louie was first transferred to the ZAPE orphanage which was a huge improvement.  He had clean water, regular meals, clothes and even a few toys.  Other amazing changes: his diet is supplemented with vitamins, the children sleep in mosquito nets, the caretakers are continually being trained on child development, and a teacher has been hired to teach the children some English.  

In October the agency opened Arms of Love.  It is like a palace for these kids.  We are so happy with the improved living conditions that Louie has been able to enjoy while we wait to bring him home.  One of the best things about the new orphanage is that they have 24 hour security.  The new orphanage includes 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, electricity, running water, and lots of space to play inside and out.

The agency has made many improvement plans for Arms of Love.  They would like to be able to plant a garden and raise chickens in order to be able to afford to feed the children more fruits, vegetable and protein.  They would also like to be able to buy a swing set for the court yard.  We are so excited about the continued improvements.  The children deserve them and so much more.

Here are some pictures of Louie's current home.

The entrance.  The barbed wire and strong door provide some security along with the hired 24 hour security.

They now have bunk beds instead of sleeping on mats on the floor.  You can also see some of the mosquito nets.

This is where they eat their meals.

The kitchen.  Mostly it provides storage room for food.  The cooking is mainly done outside. 

This is where they cook and wash dishes.

They wash all the laundry by hand and air dry it.

We have had several people ask how they can help Louie and the orphanage.  The agency is collecting donations for the swing set, plants, chickens and many other projects.  Anyone interested in giving to the orphanage and children can send a donation to:

Wasatch
1140 36^th Street
Ogden, UTAH 84430

Make sure you mark what you would like the money to be spent if you have a preference.  

Another way that you can make a donation is by sending supplies over.  When we travel we will pack very little clothes or personal items so that we can use most of our allowed luggage space and weight for donations.  Usually people take over infant formula, diapers, small toys (like bubbles, matchbox cars, dolls and balls), first aid items, sheets and towels.  We will let you know what the agency asks us to collect if any one wants to send donations with us.

Hello Louie!

Spencer and I have known that we wanted to adopt a 2-3 year old little boy from Africa for a long time.  After years of looking into different agencies and country programs we found what we were looking for, the Democratic Republic of Congo seemed to be the best match.  We started the process last October with our first home study  After lots and lots of paperwork and trying to be patient we received a match in the beginning of April.  The agency had an adorable 2 year old boy that was ready for adoption.  We accepted the referral and began the process of making him ours.  Originally everything was supposed to be finalized in September.  The date has been moved back several times.  Right now we are waiting for some additional paper work that the orphanage needs to complete.  

This is the first photo we received of Louie.

We love receiving photos and videos whenever people go to pick up their children or the social worker goes to help out.  It is nice to be able to get updates on our little guy. 

We are anxious to get to know him.  We asked one of the social workers who has visits the orphanage  often to tell us a little bit about him.  She says that he is very observant and hangs back until he is sure of what is going on.  But then, she says, that he jumps right in and has a good time.  

This has been an incredible journey for us and we still have so much ahead of us.  Spencer and I will travel to get him and stay for a couple of days while we wait for his exit letter as soon as he gets his Visa.  We are hoping we will be able to go before the end of February but with all the delays we've endured we know that it could be several more months.  

We have kept this fairly quiet because we knew there would be delays.  We also knew it would be a difficult wait for Boston so we waited until it was closer to tell him. We thought we were going to be able to travel before the end of December so we told him a couple of weeks ago.    Now, every time the phone rings he wants to know if its the people calling to tell us we can go to Africa and get his brother.

Boston loves looking at pictures of him and telling everyone that he is getting brother.  Like most kids he has always wanted a brother.  He wishes for a brother on his birthday candles, last Christmas he asked Santa for a brother, he asked me last year  if he could save up his money to buy a brother and instead of an imaginary friend he had an imaginary brother.  And the night before we told him as I was putting him to bed he said, "Mom, I really really want a brother.  Do you think I'll ever get one?"

There is so much that I can tell you about Africa, adoption and Louie.  It'll take a couple of posts to get through just a portion of it.  

Sledding

Our 2013 snow hill.

 Hopefully we get more snow and can make some improvements.

December Papers

Can you find ..

his picture of the Death Star

letter to Santa asking for a remote control back hoe

a Christmas tree

a note saying "I luv u"

a picture of a garbage bag

a couple of drawing of ornaments

a picture of a watermelon covered with bugs

His imagination goes on and on ...

Crazy Ideas

Boston has the craziest ideas.  This is the picnic that Boston made for us one morning before school.  He made me stay in my room while he finished up. We had Cheetos, a mint frosted brownies, and a peanut butter and shredded mozzarella sandwich.   Crazy kid!

Roasting Marshmallows

Boston's music teacher told his class how her family likes to roast marshmallows with a candle on cold nights. Boston felt very strongly that he needed to try it. Since we've been down to -17, I thought there was never a better time.  We do not have any candles except for birthday so, we had to make do.

Notes

Can yoo cum ausid?

Can you come outside?

Boston wrote 5 of these notes to take around to his friends.  I've never seen him so dedicated to writing anything.

Dentist

Boston got two tokens at the dentist for being so good and having such clean teeth.  He got this funny mustache and a beautiful ring for me.

Happy Birthday Boston!

We were excited to see that the Grizzlies had a game on Boston birthday.  They had a hot air balloon in the parking lot advertising for a future event.  When we walked over to check it out they invited Boston to come into the basket.

 Boston thought it was great for the first 2 time periods and then he was ready to go.  Since he was the birthday boy we headed home.

That's my boy.  He wants to read the book before he plays with the toys.

Boston is not afraid to think outside of the birthday cake box.  This is the 3rd year in a row that he has chosen something other then cake for his birthday.  

We did our traditional birthday/New Years Eve fireworks before heading home.

We are so happy to have such a great 6 year old.

Family Birthday

Boston wanted a "Storm Trooper" cake.  I was so happy to find these little guys at the store and let him decorate his storm trooper cake.

Boston got a lot of great presents.  Baby Jackson (who is officially taller then Bos) was enjoying everything Boston opened.  They are to the age where they love the same toys and love to play together.  

Boston wanted to the put the candles on all by himself.  This year I did not get relighting candles and the blowing out of the candles went very smoothly.   

Grand and Grandpa, Nessa Justin and Tanner, Grandma and Grandpa Riggs, John Sharon Jackson and Bradley, Mari and Lily and Joe Jonathon and Jacob were there to help us celebrate.