I have a confession to make.  You are going to be so disappointed when I tell you this, but I had to be reminded about the one year anniversary of the earthquake last week.  Not that I forgot, or don't care about Haiti, it's just that I didn't realize it was so close.  I mean didn't we just have Christmas and now it's the anniversary of the earthquake.  To me it seems like this happened forever ago.  I'm sure the people in Haiti feel like it was yesterday that this happened.  They have been through so much this year and here I am  in America not realizing the anniversary of such a huge event in our lives.

I have not forgotten Haiti nor the earthquake, it is just that this past year for us has been full of ups and downs with parenting our new family members.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, 2010 was hard.  Very hard.  I can finally say with a smile on my face that it is so much better now.  We are finding a groove around here.  Amos is beginning to trust and love and feel safe around here.  When those things are happening life is good and he is happy.

Last year days before the earthquake I spent the weekend in Orlando with Kim, Tara, Paige, Kristen, Erin and Jen at the Disney marathon.  Paige and I were designated cheerleaders and the rest were raising money for Heartline by running the marathon.  Erin, Tara, Paige and Kristen headed to Haiti after the marathon and all were there when the earthquake hit.

I want so much to tell you all to not forget Haiti and not forget those that serve there daily to help the Haitian people.  If you are looking for somewhere to give money to each month (or a one time gift) that will for sure get used for the people and go to a good cause I'm gonna one more time give you the three organizations that we support through prayer and finances.  If I wasn't giving to them I wouldn't ask you to as well.

Real Hope for Haiti – these people have been in Haiti for years and are in the midst of finally building their own buildings to be able to help more people in the countryside.  The families that run this are on my list of hero's in life.  They have a clinic and rescue center that serves the people in Cazale and many many many surrounding areas.  Both of our kids stayed here before they came home.  I hope that you at least to go to their website and look around.

Compassion International – Compassion does sponsorships in Haiti and our son, Cayden sponsors a child in Haiti named Wonsli.  Cayden writes him letters a few times a year and Aaron has met and hung out with him a few times in the past few years.  Compassion offers school, medical and Jesus!

Heartline Ministries – this is an organization that our friends Troy & Tara Livesay work for, and we love getting to help support them.  We love them dearly and loved having them so close to us over the past year.  They are now back in Haiti and Tara is running their teen mom program.  This organization used to house orphans that were being adopted.  Now that they all went home they are doing a lot of medical stuff in Haiti.  They are in PAP and have some AMAZING programs set in place.

Two more things I want to share with you about Haiti and this anniversary:

Tomorow Deidox releases a short documentary of us getting Amos home.  Head over there and support them and see what they are up to.

If you want a t shirt that supports organizations in Haiti please head on over to the HELP HAITI SHIRTwebsite and get one for yourself and one for a friend!  Over $30,000 was raised last year through these shirts and it all went to 3 different organizations in Haiti!  AMAZING!

Last year we did several tv interviews about Haiti, the earthquake and getting Amos home.  Most of it was about adoption and getting Amos home.  I prayed that each interview would do one thing and that is that people would get Haiti on their mind.  Today KXAN here in Austin did a follow up interview with us.

Haitian boy's adoption, one year later: kxan.com

And lastly here's a few pictures of my kids that I want to share just because they are so dang cute!