Adopting

Several have asked how we decided to adopt, so I though I would share what the Lord has done and is doing in our hearts.  Though our biological family is large with six kids, 21 - 8, adoption is something that has been on my heart for years.  My sister has a daughter that is adopted and it a wonderful picture of God's redemption of each one of us.  My husband, however, feeling the financial burden like men do, has felt like our family was complete.  So my prayers have been that if this was something God wanted us to do, that He would have to change Mike's heart.  I knew in my heart, that when that day came, it would be from God.  


A few months ago, my friend Sarah began posting blog links on her Facebook about a family who was adopting two little girls with Down Syndrome from the Ukraine.  I followed those links and subsequently ended up on Reece's Rainbow.  There I started reading about the conditions and lack of future that these children had.  It broke my heart.  I shared these facts with Mike and we both decided to start praying about it.  Then one day I came across this blog post Reckless Abandon and I sent it to him.  We both ran out of excuses and knew this was the path the God had set our feet upon. 


We then spent a couple of weeks looking at pictures and asking God, which one?  Then one day, I felt a very clear direction that Sam was the one He wanted to be part of our family.  There are many phases of the adoption process and we are in phase one, the home study.  We hope to have it done by the end of January and be onto the next phase of getting our Dossier (a large amount of paperwork) together to be submitted to the Russian government in February.  We will then wait to be told when we can travel to meet our little boy.  


Pray for us when you think about it.  Pray that the paperwork process goes smoothly.  Pray for Sam as he sits in an orphanage not even knowing that he has a family coming for him.   

Help Another Family Bring Their Son Home and Win an Ipod Touch

Click Here ---> Help Bring Home Josiah!

Merry Christmas!!

Here is a poem written by my 13 year old daughter, Analese.

The lights sparkle and glimmer in the night,
everyone is buying gifts.
In this busy time, its easy to lose sight
of what the meaning of Christmas is.

Its the night we celebrate the birth of someone great! 
Who was born in a stable.
Born to a virgin, with much on her plate,
starts what you might think is a fable.
Shepherds went and praised him 
while he lay in a manger.
the wise men came and with them,
they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

His name is Jesus Christ!
he died for your sins,
he died to give you life,
and he can come and live within.

Christmas isn't about santa or toys,
or being naughty or nice, 
its about Jesus, the Joy of Joys,
because you can't spell Christmas without Christ.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Homestudy

We had our homestudy visit this afternoon and it went very well.  She talked with all of us for a few minutes, toured the house, and then interviewed each of the children.  She was impressed with how articulate and positive the kids were.  She will interview Mike and I, individually, in her office right after the new year, and once we get our physicals and psychological evaluations done, she will be able to finish up the homestudy.  Our goal is to have it done by the end of January.  We really like our social worker and feel really comfortable with her.

You HAVE to KNOW!

Below is an e-mail I received from a mom who is currently in an Eastern European country getting ready to adopt two little boys.  I have changed the names to protect this family, but the facts are true.

I cannot post this on my blog since I don't know who is reading it. I think that is ridiculous since all I'm telling you is the truth of what I'm seeing. 
 
We have visited our boys two days now. We got to spend 4 hours with them yesterday and let me tell you all... laying rooms are REAL and AWFUL! Insititutionalization is no joke and sad to see the effects of. Both boys are wild eyed when they come to us. The haven't been out of that room EVER! Little George tries to go back. It is all he has known for 3.5 years. 
 
 The boys were wrapped in recieving blankets for diapers when we got them. Imagine wrapping yourself in a king size sheet where your legs go straight out to the side and you can't bend at the waist. The tied them up so tight I'm scared to see what thier bellies are going to look like. We took diapers and the Nannies used them but they were soaked when they came to us. I don't think their diapers are changed often. Both are severely dehydrated, their fontanelle and their eyes are sunken in, their skin is very dry, less diapers to change I guess.

 Their nails are awful; jagged, frayed, bent. One of Henry's is split down the middle. They have some kinda hard glue like residue on the ends of thier fingers. I've tried to take it off but it is very hard. 


George has only stubs for teeth where he has ground them trying to self sooth. I don't think either has ever had a proper bath or their teeth brushed. Both of their teeth are in bad shape. They don't know how to cuddle. Being rocked to sleep is completely foreign.

George is on a major sedative that really messes with him. Poor baby is so out of it and uncomfortable because of it. They are treated harshly and don't know a soft touch.

 No child should EVER be treated this way. EVER!!!!

 Adoption is hard, it is taxing in so many ways but compared to what these babies are enduring it is NOTHING! Please contiue to spread the word about orphans. About those who need families. 


 Shout from the roof tops thier situation, continue to scrape up money, pray pray and pray some more!! Because of another mom doing just this we found our babies and God willing in a couple weeks, hopefully sooner, we will be taking them out of that awful place to be orphans no more. To no longer feel hungry or alone. To learn that Mammas are made to rock babies to sleep and daddies are made to play and love. To be taken care and loved unconditionally!!


www.reecesrainbow.org

Adoption Application

Our adoption application was received by our agency today.  This is the second application, as I sent the first one to the wrong address (it was wrong on the application).  The other good news is the first one came back to us today.  Praise the Lord!  This has so much personal information in it that if it fell into the wrong hands, we could have certainly been the targets of identity theft.  Thanks for your prayers.  Our first homestudy visit is on Tuesday.  The girls will be home from college this weekend, and Christmas is upon us.  Praying that we can truly focus on the reason for the season, and looking forward to having another member of the family home by this time next year.

Why Rescue Orphans?

Because of the overwhelming need and because God directs us to do so in scripture:

There is no greater gift, one that goes 3 ways, than to adopt a child, with or without special needs.  You honor God, you are blessed with an angel in your own life, and you change the course of a child's life forever.   If you have any doubts about it, please read below:

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth"  Isaiah 43:5-6

"A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.  God sets the lonely in families.  (Psalms 68:5-6)

"He defends the cause of the fatherless"  (Deuteronomy 10:18)

"In you the fatherless find mercy." (Hosea 14:4)

"You are the helpers of the fatherless." (Psalm 10:14)

"It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14)

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27)

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Luke 18:16)

  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18)

 "Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5)

 "And Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them." (Mark 10:16)

 "Remember those…who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)

 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…let us not love with word or tongue, but with action and in truth." (I John 3:16-18)

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8,9)

 "He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)

www.reecesrainbow.org

"Paper Pregnant"

I have heard many adoptive moms call this stage of adopting as being "paper pregnant".  There certainly are a lot of papers to fill out, sign, and notarize.  Of course, doing some if it twice, doesn't help much. <G>  Today, I found out the application I sent 10 days ago is lost.  I sent it to the wrong address (the address given to me, but it was wrong).  So, today I put together a new application packet, had one of the papers notarized, and it will go into the mail tomorrow.  Our prayer now is that the original packet will come back and not fall into hands that would cause us other problems (read I.D. theft).  So, yes, we have had about a 10 delay in our process, but even this did not catch our Lord and Savior by surprise.  His timing is perfect and His ways are not our ways.  We will trust in Him.  Our older girls will be home from college for Christmas break this weekend and our first homestudy visit is next Tuesday.  God is good!

Depraved Indifference

SAM

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

WE ARE ADOPTING!!

After much prayer and discussion, we have feel  that the Lord is leading us down a new path.  He has led us to adopt a little boy from Russia with Down Syndrome.  We are all extremely excited to add Sam to our family.  We will be using this blog to chronicle our journey.  Please pray for us as we get all the paperwork together and for Sam as he sits in an orphanage not even knowing that his family is coming for him.