PRAY FOR HAITI AND THEIR ORPHANS (click on this title to go to the Red Cross homepage and donate!)

If you have not heard of the devastation in Haiti due to the 7.0 earthquake, all you have to do is tune into any news station and hear of this horrible tragedy. I spent a good portion of the day yesterday watching the heartbreaking coverage. I have often been saddened by the condition of Haiti - this is an extremely impoverished country. I had recently read about how mothers have to make "mud cakes" for their children to eat- taking mud, straw, oil, salt and baking small cakes to fill their hungry children's bellies. I have many coworkers who come from Haiti, who are praying for their families there right now. Many of these people come here and work for many years until they can afford to have their families join them. They speak of the poverty, unbelievable hunger, violence, and their deep fear of "black magic" which is steeped in their society. Over the past 15 years, thousands of poor, homeless and orphans are sought out and shot by violent men who are instructed to eliminate the "waste" of society. Orphanages had to keep their gates chained from intruders.

Please take a minute and pray for the people in Haiti. I pray that the world will see their need, act in a big way, and perhaps Haiti can be rebuilt even stronger than it was before. I pray that anyone still living who is buried, will be found. I pray that parents and children will not be separated in the chaos and will be kept safe from violence. I pray that all of the convicted felons who escaped will be found. And I pray that God will bring relief to all of the hurting people's needs.

On a positive note, I have read of 4 orphanages having much damage, but not a single injury to the children. I am hoping to hear more good news like this.

Let's be active in giving at this time to help this country rebuild and heal!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!

Matthew turned 11 this week! He is a sweet natured and easy going son. He brings us so much joy.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

LESSON IN CHINESE!

As I mentioned on an earlier post, I want to learn some Mandarin Chinese for our adoption. I know taking on the task of learning an Asian language will be very difficult without formal classes with a Chinese instructor to help me with accenting. (very different from the latin root languages) My husband got me the most wonderful gift for Christmas to help me get started- it's called, "Simple Language Chinese For Adoptive Families". It is a book and CD specializing in learning phrases that pertain to our situation in particular! The book has the phrases written out in English, and the official written chinese with the English alphabet, and also phonetically. Following along with the CD and the Chinese instructors accenting slowly. I am aware that I may not master it, but this will be a fun project and who knows, maybe I will learn a little! After all, we have a couple of years of waiting to do! Even my kids have learned several phrases as we drive in the car. Once I feel comfortable with more of it and since I work at Epcot (WDW), I will go and ask some friends from the China pavilion to help me out!

Here are some of the phrases I've memorized just in the past few weeks:

I am your mommy. Wo shi ni de ma ma. Waw shir nee duh mah mah.

I am your daddy. Wo shi ni de ba ba. Waw shir nee duh bah bah.

This is your sister. Zhe shi ni de jie jie. Juh shir nee duh jyeh jyeh.

This is your brother. Zhe shi ni de ge ge. Juh shir nee duh guh guh.

You are my daughter. Ni shi wo de nuu er. Nee shir waw duh new er.

You are my son. Ni shi wo de er zi. Nee shir waw duh er dzuh.

We love you so much! Wo men fei chang ai ni! Waw mun fay chahng eye nee.

You are so precious. Ni shi bao bei. Nee shir baow bay.

Don't be afraid. Bu yao hai pa. Boo yaow hi pah.

Don't worry. Bu yao dan xin. Boo yaow dahn sheen.

It's okay. Mei you guan xi. May yo gwan shee.

Can I hold you? Wo bao ni hao ma? Waw baow nee how mah?

Are you hungry? Ni e ma? Nee uh mah?

Are you thirsty? Ni ke ma? Nee kuh mah?

Yes. Shi. Shir.

No. Bu shi. Boo shir.

Hello. Ni hao. Nee how.

Goodbye. Zai jian. Tsai jyan.

How are you? Ni hao ma? Nee how mah?

Good. Hao. How.

Bad. Huai. Hwhy.

Please. Qing. Cheeng.

Thank you. Xie xie ni. Shyeh shyeh nee.

I'll add more phrases in a few weeks and we can all learn together!

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!

We're having such a fun and busy Christmas and I hope you all are too! I don't at all want to put a damper on all of the Christmas fun, shopping and celebration, because that is such a special part of the holiday! This video I am posting is not to make us feel bad, but I just thought is was so poignant and really has made me think about the true meaning of the holiday and to also rethink my spending!

My sister in law, Susanna, works as a writer for Living Water International, (click on post title above to go to their website) , which is a ministry that builds wells for fresh water for people in need world wide! Watch this video, it will change they way you think about Christmas shopping. Every year, I am striving to spend a little less on indulging ourselves in many gifts. I'm still working on it and getting better, but still find myself overspending, ugh! I hope I can continue to improve in my choices and keep giving to those in need! Please take 2 minutes to watch this video-(sorry- you'll have to first scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause my blog music, then begin the video to hear the audio!)

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS!

I love Christmas and preparing for the season! Here are some fun pics. This is our house all festive, okay it doesn't snow in Florida- but oh well!

Joshua is having fun decorating the tree! It was quite warm that evening!

He's a cutie in his Santa Hat!

Jacob and I on the night of our yearly Christmas party- One of my favorite traditions!

Our tree. Jacob spends a lot of time putting on a gazillion lights!

Here is some of the food I prepared for the party.

Christina's Dance studio performs in Celebration where it "snows" every night during the Holiday Season. She is doing a Ballet number.

She is a beautiful dancer.

Christina and her best friend, Alexis. They are growing up so fast! (and no they don't wear this much make-up in real life - only for performances!)

This is Joshua and Matthew playing in the "snow" at Celebration, Fl. It is so warm this night that the "snow" suds are even melting as soon as they hit the ground!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MANY BLESSINGS!

I AM A GUARDIAN AD LITEM. WHAT IS A GUARDIAN AD LITEM?

Exactly what is a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL)? Throughout my life, I have wanted to do something to help children in need. I knew, if I just looked around, there was something I could do close to home. Having attempted to adopt from foster care years ago, and finding that the sweet tiny girl we wanted (only 6 years old mind you) was so badly abused that she could not be placed in a home with siblings, I was shockingly introduced to the world of abused children. It was a world more common than I had realized. WHO would touch a child with intention of harm like that? Don't people know how innocent they are? When you see your own child get a genuine fear come over them, perhaps about a stranger, or a situation where they feel lost, you can see their helplessness and sensitivity. What parent would intentionally harm them or ALLOW or worse yet ENCOURAGE someone in their home harm them in ways that would make ours hearts sick? When the child completely and utterly depends on that parent to protect them? It's almost too much to bear and I know many people who say to me, "Don't tell me about it, I don't want to know." Well, we HAVE TO know, because it is happening all around us. The children cannot protect themselves.

Last year I became a volunteer Guardian Ad Litem. A GAL is a person who advocates for the rights of abused and neglected children in the foster care system. I did 30 hours of training, and pretty much had my first case given to me immediately. I learn most as I go along! I am now on my 3rd case of a sibling group. I visit them a couple times a month. Talk with them, visit their school, observe situations, homes, care-takers and watch for signs of problems. Make sure they are getting the care and protection they need. I attend court with them when needed. It sounds like a lot, but I really only spend a few hours a week working on my case. I promise you, anyone can do this. The reward is establishing a relationship with these broken children. They love for me to visit! They talk and enjoy the attention. I still keep in touch with my first case regularly, even though he is in another county now.

I never thought I would be driving around through the back roads of my county visiting old shambled trailers and finding little sad children inside. Or perhaps a child readjusting in a big beautiful foster home. Or a child trying to find his place in a group home. All of the families welcome me, no matter what has happened. They know I am there for the child's best interest. If you are interested in being a volunteer in your immediate community, consider being a GAL. The program supervisors will work with you and only give you what you can handle. Even if it is just one child who you have to visit occasionally. Or as many as you want, because there are THOUSANDS in your county. It is so rewarding and they need us!

Matthew 25:40

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

OFFICIALLY ON THE WAITING LIST FOR TAIWAN! THAT DEFINITELY MAKES A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BEAUTIFUL TAIWAN ABOVE AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We received an email today from our agency telling us that Taiwan has received our dossier and we are officially on the waiting list for referrals! How exciting! You know what else is interesting? Exactly 1 year ago today on Nov. 25th, I had an extremely prominent dream one night of a little Asian girl waiting for me. That is what began our journey of an international adoption of a little girl from Asia. (you can read about that dream on my very first post). Prior to this dream, I had often thought we might adopt some day (in fact I had attempted to adopt a little girl from foster care years ago, but it turned out she was not able to be placed into a home with younger siblings.) I hadn't thought of an international adoption until I had this dream. Ever since then, I have pursued it diligently. And today, one year later exactly we received our notice of officially on the list. We also received our I -171H - USCIS immigration approval to go ahead and pursue an orphan adoption. Jacob and I were very excited! That certainly is something to give thanks about! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Hebrews 10:36

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

1 Chronicles 16:34

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

FED-EX TO TAIWAN!

After a couple of last minute details and our agency's paperwork approvals, our dossier has been officially sent to Taiwan today! It is a relief to get this first half completely finished. It was nine months ago that we had put in our application for a Thailand adoption which after a couple of months fell through due to that agency closing that program. Since then, we had found a wonderful Taiwan program and in 4 months completed our home study and our stage one dossier. I guess once Taiwan receives the dossier and approves it, we will officially be put on the waiting list. And then the loooong wait begins. We've got plenty of work to do during this waiting period to save up funds for the next payment due at the time of referral. We also hope to learn some Mandarin Chinese during this time, especially if we receive a 2-3 year old who we'll need to communicate with somehow! I can speak Spanish enough to carry a simple conversation and have studied Portuguese a bit too, so I am good with languages that have a Latin root. But this is going to be a whole different ball game and I have no idea if I will accomplish anything that will really work when the time comes!!! Well we've got plenty of time to work on it, that's for sure.

ANOTHER STEP CLOSER!

Last week, Jacob and I had our fingerprinting appointments that were set up by the Department of Homeland Security at the immigration offices in Tampa. So we will await the approval of our USCIS paperwork in the next month or two. We received our completed and approved home study! We have everything ready in our dossier to mail to the agency tomorrow! Thanks to a kind and very helpful gift from Jacob's mom, we can send that paperwork off and our next fees payment a couple of weeks earlier than I was imagining. That will get our dossier off to Taiwan soon and then we will be on the waiting list for our little sweetie! Wow, to get that dossier sent to Taiwan and to be officially waiting will be a huge step in our process!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We had a great Halloween! Christina went as a baby doll, Matthew was The Joker, and Joshua was Spiderman. We have a wonderful, grandma-like babysitter, Jean, who lives in a small retirement community near us. She invited us over at 5 pm for Halloween dinner at their clubhouse. We had all kinds of wonderful home cooked hot dishes to choose from and baked goods. Of course all of the retirees oohed and aahed over the kids! After that, we came home and went trick-or-treating in the evening. Although not a lot of homes were participating this year (I guess a lot of people like to go to gatherings now), the kids still got PLENTY of candy! Did I mention it is so hot here in Florida still? 90's, Yuck! We were sweating all the way around the neighborhood! We need some REAL fall weather! Oh well, it was fun.

JUMPIN' FOR JOY!

I thought this picture of Christina "jumpin' for joy" was a fitting feeling. So happy to say that we've completed our home study paperwork and sent it off to our social worker a couple of days ago! Now we wait for the home study approval, finish our step 1 dossier compilation and we will be ready to submit our dossier to Taiwan! I think we'll be ready to do that in the next 3 weeks or so. On an earlier post, I did say that maybe I was dreaming when hoping to have our dossier ready to submit in 2 months, but I wasn't too far off. It will be just a couple weeks longer... I think. I work only part time, (guaranteed 2 days per week), but God has been blessing me with an extra day (or sometimes two) of work every week that I can put directly into our adoption account. So it will be such a relief to get this first major chunk accomplished! Just keep at it steadily. Then we will enter the waiting period.....

Proverbs 21:5 Good plans and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

MAKING BLOGGING FRIENDS! (visiting with the Dijkstra family)

Something that has been such a delight for me is having the opportunity to follow along with other bloggers who have something in common with us. It is such an encouragement to take the journey with other adoptive families. When I am feeling discouraged, all I have to do is look at some of the wonderful postings and pictures from their stories, and it makes me say, "Hey! We can accomplish this!" All of your blogs are in various stages of the adoption process - some just beginning, some several years past just enjoying their families. It is a joy to see the kids and families grow together. One of my favorite blogs, (and obviously a favorite of many people as she has quite a few followers!) is "Funky Doodle Donkey". I started following Mireille's blog early this year. Her unbelievably awesome photos keep me coming back every week! When you see them, you are going to say what I said..."I want to come and live at your house and go where you go!!!". Although Mireille and her family live in South Africa, we had the wonderful opportunity to get together when she and her family were visiting Florida. My family had the pleasure of meeting Mireille, her husband Dirk, and her two darling daughters, Jasmine and Juliet for a visit back in July. We had a great time and made a new friendship. What fun! (click on my title to visit her blog!)

BUSY YET FUN FALL FOR US!

I have been using this blog mainly as an opportunity to follow along with our adoption and to advocate for children.  But I may as well start adding more about our family and what is going on around here in our busy lives!   Pretty soon we will be waiting for a referral and that could last a long time!  Then what am I going to write about every week?   I'm sure I will have some interesting cause or discussion, but I think it will be fun to personalize our blog a little.  So today, I am posting a few pics from our past couple of months.  Christina is marching in her High School marching band her first year!  Matthew is playing peewee football and is making some awesome tackles!  And Joshua turns 4 tomorrow!  They make me so happy and I love to watch them grow and learn.  

CHIPPING AWAY!

  Jacob and I are moving along quickly completing our paperwork!  We drove to our county sheriff's office last week and got our local backgrounds checks and notarized.  So our federal, state and local- done!  We sent off our USCIS application I600 A, US immigration application.  We completed all 5 required online parenting classes, sent off for our notarized employment verification, completed our orphanage application, and will be getting our doctor's letters tomorrow.  There are many more forms we've accomplished, but I can't think of them all right now!  A fun thing we are working on is a family photo album that the birth mother and/or orphanage can view to help match us with a child.  It will be so awesome to get our paperwork completed and our dossier submitted.  I think we may be able to do this in the next 3-4 weeks!

Home Study visits!

We completed our 2 home study visits yesterday!  After getting the house organized and being a little nervous for our home study visits, we came to find it was a very enjoyable and pressure free experience!  We'd all like to say that our house is always in perfect order, right?  In fact, sometimes I feel like all I do everyday is continuously clean and pick up after my busy kids - keeping it organized is the key to peace with a busy family.  And we've read that the social worker is not looking at your house keeping abilities or how well you decorate, they just want to make sure you have what is necessary and safe to care for a child and also to get to know the family.  But, let's face it, who isn't going to go the extra mile to get everything extra clean and organized and make it look like the happiest home-making home ever for your home study?!  It's like the difference between when your just having your neighbor stop by for coffee, or when your own mom my is coming to stay.   This is like the latter, you do that extra deep dusting and scrubbing and add cookies, coffee and a smile!  So, needless to say we've had a busy week!  Of course she never even really looked inside the closets, cupboards, showers or under the beds, ha ha!  But at least we were prepared for anything.  Our social worker laughed and added that she baked cookies and had coffee for HER social worker as well, as she was going through a home study herself!  She was very nice and throughout the interviews we chatted about adoption, kids, travel and all sorts of things.  It was a great experience and now all we have to do is keep chipping away at the paper work remaining.