The Lees of rural Colman pose for a family photo: Chad and Sandra Lee?s children now include, back row, Adam, Mikano, and Amanda; front row, Christopher and Daniella.

The weather outside was not like any Daniella, 4, and her brothers, Christopher, 3, and Mikano, 1, had ever experienced .

Rural Colman is a long way removed from their native Haiti, both by distance and weather. But South Dakota is their new home, and they seem to be adjusting nicely.

The three Haitian children are among the state's newest residents, arriving here only last week after being flown out of their earthquake-ravaged homeland.

The children's trip to South Dakota was speeded up by the catastrophe, but the adoption of Daniella and Christopher had been well along; Mikano was a sort of last-minute , pleasant add-on .

Adoptive father Chad Lee said the older two children had been in the orphanage for about two years, and their adoption via a non-profit agency A Love Beyond Borders was at a point where they legally carried the Lee name. But then, not long ago Mikano's mother brought him to the orphanage as well.

He was allowed to join his brother and sister for the trip to America. Adjusting to life in snowy S.D.

On a chilly Monday morning , with drifting snow making Moody County roads tough to navigate, Chad and Sandra Lee and their twins, Adam and Amanda, who are 8 this week, were enjoying a relaxing day inside with the three new members of their family.

While the older four colored and played at the kitchen table, Mikano was enjoying some rocking-chair time with Chad.

Those are the easy and fun times; but understandably, there will be some challenges and a period of adjustment that come with a family that in a moment increases by three young children. 'Typical toddler-hood '

"Getting the sleep routine down is probably the biggest thing," Sandra said. "It was the same with our twins, too: the bedtime, naptime thing."

Add to that what she called "experimenting with foods. Sandra said the three "are actually pretty good eaters." But their diet in Haiti included "a lot of rice and beans; that was their main staple."

And while the new family members don't speak English, communication has gone really well. "They learn pretty fast," Sandra said.

Chad explained, "They speak Haitian Creole, which is very similar to French."

"A lot of it is typical toddler-hood ," Sandra added as a sum-up to meshing their three new children into the family. In addition to the family bonding come some legal adoption procedures that need to be completed.

"They're here under 'humanitarian parole,'" Sandra explained. "The adoption isn't finalized. They're actually considered refugees, because the adoption process wasn't completed .

"We have to finish the adoption here to make it legal. And Haiti wants to have a part of that, too; so there's still some paperwork that needs to be done with them to legalize the adoption."

But not to worry. "They will be ours," she said. Earthquake moves up timetable

For Chad and Sandra, both 42, the adoption process has gone relatively smoothly, although there have been some changes of plans and some surprises along the way.

They expected the adoption of the two older children to be finalized in summer 2010; but the earthquake moved up the timetable by almost half a year. Mikano, whose adoption would have taken longer, has in effect arrived at his new home almost a year early.

The Lees had to make two trips to Miami before they could bring the three children home to join their new family.

Chad explained that "back in October (2009) we were planning for two, geting ready for two and then were asked about the third one. We were surprised , but we didn't have to really discuss whether we were taking him. Our whole idea for taking a sibling group was to keep the family together." Never 'Should we?'

Sandra said, "I called him at work about it. We never really talked about whether or not we should; we just both kind of knew from the beginning it was the right thing to do."

Smiling, she added that "Amanda has been thrilled" with Mikano, because she was hoping that her parents would have another baby after they adopted his older brother and sister, before he came into the picture to join them.

Laughing, Sandra said, "She says the baby's for her. She said that's why we got him, because she prayed for a baby."

Sandra explained, "We went to Miami at the end of January (2010), actually, to bring them home. And then the process got stopped up, because they put some new procedures in in Haiti; they wanted to have the prime minister sign off on all the adoptions.

"We were there for six days and came home without the kids. We went back two weeks later and just got them this past Tuesday (Feb. 16)." Looking for preschoolers

Looking back to the beginning of the process that brought them the three siblings , Sandra said, "We were looking for children that were younger than ours, to keep the birth order, kind of. And we wanted to get a couple preschoolers." Internet adoption search

They had searched the Internet with that in mind; a non-profit agency called "A Love Without Borders" caught their attention.

"The more siblings there are together, the harder it is to place them," she said.

Chad and Sandra did not have to go to Haiti to get the children; the State Department had set up the flight that brought to Miami some of the orphans that were being adopted by American parents. But the couple were not strangers to Haiti, having visited there this past December. During their brief stay, Daniella and Christopher had stayed with them in a guest house.

"That really helped with the adjustment, because they knew our personalities." Sandra said

Chad added, "And we weren't total strangers to them when they arrived (in Miami). It was a face that they knew. 'God's call for us'

At the time of the earthquake , Mikano was in Port-au-Prince , because he had needed some medical care. His brother and sister were in an orphanage in Les Cayes. The Lees hope to take the three children to visit Haiti some day when they are older, "so they can learn more about their heritage ."

Through the workings of the adoption proceedings, the Lees have been buoyed up by support from their school and their church congregation at First Assembly of God in Brookings. And they had words of appreciation for Sen. John Thune, R-S .D., and his office, who worked "to help bring them home. He contacted the State Department and made sure that our file was viewed."

Sandra said people have been giving "a lot of help, a lot of positive comments."

Chad sums up in simple terms all that has happened: "We thought it was God's call for us from the very beginning ."

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.