Surreal.

That’s the word Jennifer DeWitt of Tuttle uses to describe the last few days in her life.

Around midnight on Wednesday, Jan. 20, the new adoptive mother and her 7-year-old Haitian daughter, Gardina, stepped off a plane at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.

Gardina had come home to a place she had never been before.

Out of harm’s way and the destruction in Haiti.

The family had seen some anxious days, wondering about Gardina's welfare after the Jan. 12 earthquake that rocked Haiti, killing as many as 200,000.

Jennifer and her husband Jeff, who are both employed with Tuttle Schools, already have a family of four children, including Brittney, 16, Andrew, 13, Cassidy, 11 and Darci, 4.

"One boy and lots of girls," laughed Jennifer.

Now, there's yet another little girl added to the mix.

DeWitt was still riding on an adrenaline high as she described the first time she met Gardina.

After flying to Miami in a private jet with another set of adoptive parents from Kansas, DeWitt went to the hotel where Gardina spent her first night in America.

Although DeWitt was familiar with the sweet smile of her new daughter-to-be, thanks to photographs Jeff and Brittney took while they were working as missionaries in Haiti, DeWitt realized Gardina did not know her.

“I knew she wouldn’t know me, so I took a picture of Gardina and Brittney together,” De Witt said.

Upon meeting Gardina for the first time, DeWitt took out the photo and, pointing first to the picture of Brittney, DeWitt then pointed to herself and said “Brittney mama.”

Next, she pointed to herself and then to Gardina and asked “Gardina mama?”

Gardina shyly nodded yes.

“Once it was established she was mine, she wouldn’t leave my side,” said De Witt, who quickly became “Brittney Mama Gardina Mama” to her soon-to-be-daughter.

Gardina comes from Fedja, in the Republic of Haiti, a mountain village located about 50 miles from the capital city of Port au Prince, the epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the impoverished country.

She lived in the All God’s Children orphanage in Fedja with 50 to 60 other children, where Jeff and Brittney first met her when they were working as missionaries.

While attending church camp during the summer of 2008, Brittney, then 14, met a Haitian boy who had been adopted by an American family. It was then that she was inspired to go to Haiti as a missionary.



few months later, in November, 2008, Brittney and her dad found themselves in Haiti at All God’s Children orphanage, where they worked with the children for about 10 days before returning to the U. S.

“Brittney established a relationship with Gardina at that time,” De Witt said.

Later, in February, 2009, Brittney returned to Haiti with a small group of missionaries.

“While she was gone, I felt God was calling on us to adopt this little girl, I felt God impressing my heart,” DeWitt said.

At the same time, Brittney was thinking, “We’ve got to bring her home.”

Looking into the adoption procedure, DeWitt soon discovered how difficult and expensive the process can be.

“The cost was outrageous, $20,000 and up, and it is a time-consuming procedure with no guarantee it will come to fruition,” DeWitt said.

After returning Haiti in December, 2009, Brittney became even more determined to bring Gardina home to the U. S.

Two weeks later, the earthquake leveled much of Port au Prince and nearby villages, cinching the family’s decision to try and adopt Gardina,

While the earthquake did do some damage to the orphanage building, and the children were badly frightened, there were no injuries.

And, thanks to its mountain location and the foresight of others, there was a good supply of fresh water from deep, nearby wells that were in no danger of being contaminated. In addition, the orphanage had a six-week supply of food to tide them over.

However, after the earthquake hit, those still able to travel made an exodus out of the city and headed for the mountain villages for safety. When refugees arrived at the orphanage, the staff shared their food with them and the six-week supply of food was gone overnight.

“The imminent need was food and starvation was a concern,” DeWitt said. “Gas had gone from $2 a gallon to $12 a gallon and they could not buy fuel to get back and forth to buy food.”

Working with Tiffanie Lenhart, a youth minister’s wife from Oklahoma City whose husband was in Haiti at the time of the quake, the family, strengthened by its faith in God, prayed for a long shot.

“We got a call from Tiffanie on Saturday morning (Jan. 16). She asked us, ‘if we can get her out, do you want us to bring her home?’" DeWitt said. “Of course we said yes. We were told it was a long shot with a lot of red tape, but we said yes, try to get her out.”

The family had no further communication with Lenhart until Monday night when she called to say she was taking a small group of children to the U. S. Embassy in Haiti to see who she could get out of the country.

The DeWitts had no way of knowing whether Gardina was in that group.

On Tuesday morning, the DeWitts got a call from Haitian officials who were trying to establish their family’s relationship with Gardina.

“We had pictures of Jeff at the orphanage that we e-mailed to them,” DeWitt said. “At that point, we thought ‘this is hopeful.’”

But, with 7,000 people in line at the embassy and only one person working, the odds of getting Gardina out of the ravaged country were astronomical.

“We didn’t know if she was even in the group, but we knew God was going to work it out, He was going to make a way for it to happen,” DeWitt said. “But we were realistic enough to know there was a possibility we might have to wait.”



iraculously, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, they got a call from Belinda Lechtenberg who was leaving Haiti with a small group of Haitian children.

"We still had no confirmation that Gardina was with the group, but at 11:30 p.m., we got the call saying she was indeed in the group and was already in Miami," DeWitt said, overcome with emotion. "I immediately went to the kid's rooms and said 'She's in America! She's in America!'"

The next step was to go to Lenhart's home and make up a game plan.

DeWitt and Lenhart joined Lechtenberg in Miami and prepared to escort the 10 Haitian children to Oklahoma City where they would be met by their adoptive parents.

"Our goal was to keep all of the kids together on a flight to Oklahoma," DeWitt said. "We wanted them to all come together, but getting 13 seats on the same flight is difficult."

The group was able to book 13 seats on an American Airlines flight at $100 a seat, However, when they went to pay for the tickets, they discovered the bill was already covered and they owed a mere $71.

"People were so sweet and kind to us. They said 'God bless you, we're so proud of you,'" DeWitt said. "I wept because it was actually happening. I wept because we were actually getting to take them home. It was very surreal."

Once their flight landed in Oklahoma City, the group was met not only by their families, but also by others who recognized the children as Haitian refugees.

"People with no connection to the kids just stood around and watched," Jeff said. "And several families off of the previous flight waited around."

"One lady from Africa gave the kids their first American dollar. That was very sweet," DeWitt said. "They were kind people who said 'God bless you, we'll be praying for you.' It was awesome."

As for having yet another sister, big brother Andrew said he wasn't really sure because, "having four sisters is a lot." But he decided it was probably worth it.

Big sister Cassidy simply said, "I love her," while baby sister Darci just shrugged and nodded when asked if she likes her new sister. Brittney says she knew from the first time she met her that Gardina needed to come home with her.

This is just the beginning for the DeWitts, who must deal not only with a daughter who speaks no English and who is unfamiliar with life in her new country, but also with the many details of the adoption procedure.

"There's still a lot we don't know, but we do know we're thankful we brought her here. God prepared our hearts to be her parents," Jennifer said.

To which husband Jeff replied, "I think we're going to have to get that bigger washer and dryer."