HAPPY EASTER- HE IS RISEN!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a blessed day and celebrated in your favorite traditional way. We colored Easter eggs yesterday after the Easter egg hunt at church. This morning the kids searched for their baskets and eggs that the Easter Bunny hid throughout the house during the night. Then we all got dressed and went to church for a beautiful outdoor service to celebrate the true meaning of the day- the joy of our Christ's resurrection from the dead and the forgiveness of our sins so that we can come to Him in peace knowing that He accepts and loves us just as we are. He is a loving God who cares about our needs and our peace. He is not a God who expects perfection, nor does He sit at a distance, unreachable. He is present and ready for relationship.

John 3:17- For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

Joshua set up and preparing to color his eggs, and yes, he's dressed for making a mess!

And the masterpieces begin!

Look at these beauties! That cute face is my favorite part!

Matthew's turn! Christina and her friend Alexis did some too.

Found my basket!

Matthew's basket was hidden in the oven. That silly Easter Bunny! We also got some awesome crafts from Lolli and Pops!

The boys clean and ready for Church. They don't stay that clean for long so I catch a picture when I can!

"Christinaaaa.....please come out for a picture." "Wait Mom, I'm still straightening my hair."

Classic moments in our conversations. She's probably the most awesome teenager a mom could ever have.

My 3 kiddos- I love 'em!

Annie and Jacob

EASTER EGG HUNT!

Today, Jacob and I and the boys went to the annual Easter egg hunt at our church. Christina had other plans. Here are the pictures I took. So I told Jacob that I would love a new camera for Christmas. This camera we have has been fine for the past many years, but I want one that will take high quality pictures, and I need it to be affordable. And by saying that I want it affordable, I actually have done absolutely zero research yet and have no idea what the costs are or what I need! Do any of you awesome picture taking blogging moms have any recommendations?

Joshua is ready for some egg hunting!

Matthew and Josh had some fun climbing in this old tree while we waited.

Waiting for the signal to go.

And he's off!

There are lots of kids here, it's open to the community.

Not sure what Joshie's doing, but dad sure looks cute!! xoxoxo

Me and my boys!

MOBILE UPLOADS? OF OUR MINI-VACATION TO THE NOT-SO-EXOTIC WATERPARK HOTEL :)

Yes, I did say "mobile uploads" of our visit to the water park hotel, because I forgot my camera and Christina had to take them with her cell phone. Boo :( I hate when I forget my camera! However, the quality of pictures with the cell phone about equal the quality of the "resort" we stayed at on Monday and Tuesday.... LOL! We did wait to the last minute to plan a little get-away because we were working around our work schedule and were able to plan a couple days off. We first thought to go to the beach, but trying to get a somewhat affordable room just days before spring break was next to impossible. So then we thought, let's find a fun resort where we can relax and the kids can have fun. We found rooms available at the Clarion WaterPark Resort in Kissimmee online with good reviews and we headed out. When we arrived and drove up, I was thinking, "oh no, this is NOT AT ALL like the pictures online". Needless to say, they did a great job presenting the "resort" online, but it was bare and uninviting at first glance. Well, we decided we were going to stay and have fun no matter what, and you know what??? We had a great time!!! The water park included a couple of big slides, which was a hit for Matthew, a couple of baby slides and waterfalls, which Joshua loved and a lazy river for all of us. Jacob and I enjoyed some fruity cocktails and we all relaxed in the sun a got sunburns! We had burgers at the poolside, pizza in our room in the evening, the kids played in the arcade, and we enjoyed family time away. This was not the exotic resort of my dreams, but we made it work and it turned out to be the perfect getaway.

The slides were a lot of fun!

Matthew and Joshua in the lazy river and the big slide, even Jacob and I did the slides

Matthew and Josh on the lazy river

Christina and Joshua

Mom and Josh relaxing- he said he was my "tour guide" on the lazy river

Look dad, I can walk all the way around the river!

Joshua in the Frog slide- hows these two slides can give hours of fun, I will never know!

I love these slides, Mom

Ni-night tired baby

BAPTISM

Christina and Matthew were baptized today, Sunday. Many of you may ask, why were they not baptized as babies? Well, in some Christian denominations, the babies are "dedicated" to the Lord in a ceremony, but when they grow to an age of reason, they may make the decision to be baptized into their Christian faith and make their commitment to follow Christ on their own timing. Christina and Matthew made that decision and came to us independently, without our urging, and asked to be baptized. There are many different forms of baptism; to be "sprinkled" with water as an infant, as my husband Jacob was into the United Methodist church as a baby. I was "sprinkled" as a young teen into the Lutheran church, and there is also the good old fashioned "immersion", which is what Christina and Matthew chose, because we all now attend a non-denominational church where people of different denominational background can worship and learn together. So here are a couple of pictures. Our Pastor's father, Bill, did the ceremony. There were about 10 people getting baptized today, ranging from ages 8 - 68. It was a very heartfelt and beautiful ceremony!

Now we are off to enjoy a couple of days at a WaterPark Hotel since we are on spring break this week! Should be fun! I'll post pictures when we return. Have a great week and blessings to you all.

WAITING 4 MONTHS AS OF TODAY......

< Well, here we are 4 months into our wait for referral. It's hard to think too much about it. I try to only think about the wait once a month...... which is nearly impossible to do!!! I have been working on my Mandarin still. I have been enjoying blogs to encourage me. I follow a few yahoo groups to get info on the process and travel and other things. I try to keep myself occupied with other activities to help pass the time. I know this is the first of 2 waiting periods. The next one will be between referral, court process and travel, which also seems to be getting longer for people. We originally were told about 5 months until travel after referral. Now according to the yahoo groups I follow, it is more like 8 months!!!??? That's a crazy amount of time to wait AFTER you have a child referred to you!! Meanwhile SHE waits and grows and wonders when we are coming. Or she doesn't wonder at all and gets too used to her life as it is in an orphanage or a foster home, not even knowing it is temporary situation until she has a forever home. Then we come and disrupt her little life. But, if we don't, what possible future will she have? What can we do? It will all be worth it in the end for all of us. We will have someone to love, teach, grow, and she will have a family to depend on forever. We look forward to our little girl arriving, but for now, we wait......

WE MADE A FEW AMENDMENTS ON OUR APPLICATION- BABY OR "BIG GIRL"?

The wait for referral is becoming longer and longer the more I read about people's status in their Taiwan adoption journey. A 3 year wait is what we are looking at if we are wanting to adopt a "healthy" baby girl under 2. A couple years ago, the China adoption processes became backed up due to SARS, the Beijing Olympics, and other issues. In addition to that, Vietnam and Cambodia adoption programs closed due to corruption. So, many people began pouring into the Taiwan adoption programs. As we know Taiwan is TINY compared to mainland China, so suddenly Taiwan became overrun with applications and families hoping to adopt. Thus, the long wait for referrals from Taiwan currently. However, a possible hope according to my agency- she told me that as of a year ago, Taiwan's placing agencies quickly put a limit on each agency's applications from families. So my agency is hopeful that the referrals will start speeding up again here in the next year or so as everything balances out.

Nevertheless, we have decided to make a couple changes on our application. We have decided to increase our child's desired age from 0-24 months, to 0-48 months. We have also added some minor/correctable special needs that we would be willing to accept. Since our youngest, Joshua, will be 5 in Sept., we thought an older toddler would fit in just fine to the birth order! Our agency also believe this should speed up our wait time a bit. I'm hoping this will take a year off the wait.. or am I dreaming??

HI HO HI HO, ITS OFF TO WORK I GO TO THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH- 20 years of "Making Magic"!

I haven't been updating very much lately because I have been training into new roles and taking extra hours at work. I am so thankful that, although I can work extra hours, I am only obligated to work part time. Sometimes that is all I can do when the kids' activity schedules are packed. The fall is definitely a time when I have to work less and be home/chauffeuring more! Right now, however, I have been working extra hours because Jacob and I have been able to juggle our schedules with the kids and make it work without too much stress. When I can make some extra money, it is really helpful and of course helps me save more for the adoption! I haven't talked about my work on this blog at all, but since I have a lot of time on my hands until our adoption referral comes in, I may as well share a little. I have been working for Walt Disney World for 20 years as an actor/singer/dancer. I have done many many shows throughout the years and am still going strong (well maybe not quite as strong as 15 years ago!). I've done everything from dinner shows, park shows, street theatre, to hosting and animated voices. I also free lance outside of Disney as a commercial actor and spokes person. Now with all of that said, after all these years, I really enjoy just doing my part time schedule now and "subbing" into other shows when needed. My family is where most of my time and energy goes.

I am blessed everyday I walk into my work and look at all of the guests' excitement at being at the "Happiest Place on Earth". I have a great time with my funny friends and enjoy entertaining.

JOSHUA'S FIRST TIME IN THE SNOW!

I have been so busy working extra hours in rehearsals over the past 4 weeks, so I haven't any time to get on here! Anyway, since I had to work so much, Joshua had the opportunity to go to Mobile, AL and visit his grandparents, "Lolli and Pops", for 2 weeks. Well, it actually snowed on the day they were driving back to meet us and they found a place to pull over and go out into the snow and play! Lolli snapped a few shots for me. This was Joshie's first experience in the snow! My 2 older kids have had a few chances to enjoy the snow on our trips home to Colorado and to Minnesota in the past. Living here in Florida, I sometimes miss the snow. I guess I would like it if it just snowed for a few days, but I don't miss scraping my car and shoveling it out every morning in the freezing temps! I know some of my fellow Floridians are over the "cold" temps we've been having (30's-40's), but I am loving the cool weather. It is soooo hot here in the loooong hot season, I'm not in a hurry to get to it!

HERE IS AN ARTICLE BY JACKIE SEMAR OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD FOUNDATION-I wanted to write about this situation, but this article is perfect!

Dear Families & Friends,

Much has happened over the past week, and most importantly, orphans are yet again at risk due to very poor judgement on the part of advocates, in this case, a group of missionaries in Haiti. You have all no doubt read the news -- 10 US citizens were arrested and remain in custody in Haiti for allegedly attempting to take 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic, without Haitian permission. There are back stories and side stories and front stories surrounding this event. Safe to sum it up by saying that it was poor judgement to try to circumvent authorities. 10 adults were involved, they each share the responsibility. But that is where it ends. I say this because I am sure all of you as well as adoption advocates are very sick and tired of being lumping into "child traffickers" by the media or UNICEF. There are some people who have little sense or respond to a state of chaos by deciding all rules are suspended. Or they envision themselves as saviors and above the law. They are few and far between. Just as having a registered child molester living in your neighborhood does NOT mean you are a child molester, too, neither does having a small band of missionaries or adoption facilitators taking a group of children into the DR without proper authority mean that all missionaries or adoption workers or adoptive parents are child traffickers. The US is the place where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Please do not fall into the abyss of jumping to conclusions based on, God forbid, the media. Unless, of course, you want your actions to be defined by the presumptions of strangers.

Innocent until proven guilty. Say that aloud a few times. This is part of what it is to be an American, a very important part. An inestimably important part -- because failure to honor this creed and value has closed too many adoption programs. Children in need of families have found the door shut in their face, because the many have been punished for the crimes of the few. Let's not let this happen again.

What we focus on expands.

Jackie Semar

Director

International Child Foundation

ANOTHER OFTEN ASKED QUESTION-WHY DON'T WE ADOPT THE CHILDREN WAITING HERE IN THE U.S?

I have posted about this in the past, but I will do it again as I often get asked this question! As far as choosing domestic adoption first for us here in the US, there are many reasons why it isn't always the best or easiest choice for some families. Although it is an excellent option for the right families! We have already tried the domestic foster care adoption route before, which did not work out due to the child's past abuse and us having children already. If you are interested in adopting a non special needs child under the age of 5 here in the US, you would have to go the private adoption route, adopting a newborn, which is VERY expensive process- $30,000 - $40,000. There are also thousands of families waiting to do that already. Foster care adoption can bee a great option. You can check the foster care photolisings, but I have rarely ever seen any children under 5 available for adoption who are not considerable special needs or who are not a part of a sibling group which must be adopted together. So that narrows options if you are not prepared for the medical and therapy costs and time commitment of a special needs child, or if you don't have room for a sibling group. You can get a foster license with the hope to adopt, should your child become available. If you are a family who has children already, you have to be prepared that adopting from foster care is taking in a child who has been abused physically or sexually- or has been severely neglected. Social services won't place many of them, with families that have young children, for that reason. Now, there ARE many children available in foster care who are 7- 16 years. Many of these children are developing well and have caregivers who are helping them to be healthy. These children deserve a home and a family. For our family situation in particular, we have 3 school age children. It is not recommended in adoption to disrupt the sibling age order, so I makes our choices very difficult! We would definitely still consider adopting from the foster care system, if our current international adoption did not work out for some reason. All children deserve a family. At least here in the US, the orphans have a government support system, albeit not the most ideal situation, to carry the children through to adulthood. In many countries world wide, the children's future is very bleak. This is not an easy choice, and again, there are no easy or "right" answers.

Every adoptive family wants to adopt for various reasons. All are valid. There are choices in adoption and it is wonderful to make those choices that are best for your family. Adoption is beautiful.

SOME PEOPLE ASK WHY WE SHOULD ADOPT CHILDREN FROM COUNTRIES LIKE HAITI AND TAKE CHILDREN FROM THEIR HOME CULTURE- A GREAT QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION!

Why should we adopt internationally and remove children from their home culture? In an ideal world, we wouldn't need to, or have the opportunity to do this. There are millions of orphans world wide. All children deserve a home and a loving family. The children in Haiti who have just recently been orphaned due to the earthquake, should definitely NOT be adopted out, nor will they be, it is impossible, and unethical, to adopt a child who is not legally orphaned. The huge portion of the 380,000 children in Haiti who were ALREADY LEGALLY orphans before the earthquake should be given the chance to find homes in order for the orphanages to rebuild and make room for the THOUSANDS of new orphans. This is just my personal opinion, but I also believe by each orphanage directors discretion, we should give the children humanitarian refuge until their orphanages are rebuilt and their paperwork is sorted out over the next couple years. Within the orphanage walls and gates, everyday, all day, the children are not getting the opportunity to enjoy their "culture". Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The orphanage directors are doing everything they can to get a meal into the children before they starve to death, (this was already the case before the earthquake this was happening). Yes, It would be ideal for every country to have a domestic adoption option for the local orphans to find homes. Most countries, such as Haiti and many others, do not have a good (or any) domestic adoption programs because their are no families who can afford to feed another mouth. In fact with Haiti in particular, the government does not run or support any orphanages, they are all run by philanthropic organizations who function only on donations given. Each orphanage director is literally "parents" to these abandoned and lost children. Also, in many countries, domestic adoption is looked down upon for social reasons. Families are ashamed and keep it hidden if they have to adopt. So, in a perfect world, yes, a child would do best to be adopted into their own culture. It isn't happening. These children are sent out of the orphanages and into the streets on their own at 12-14 years old if they are not adopted, to face a very bleak, or perhaps even horrific future. Starvation, trafficking, prostitution, slave labor and death are the common options at that point. I am not being dramatic, this is truth. There is no perfect answer. They can remain in their culture and face an impossible future, or they can be adopted internationally and begin a difficult adjustment process, but have a chance for education and a future, and perhaps someday they can return to their country and be a help for their future.

I do feel that families who adopt internationally should include culture of their heritage in their children's lives and make it a part of their growing experience.

HAITI ORPHANS RESCUE! (click here to read more)

I am so excited to hear that 61 Haitian orphans, who were in the process of adoption, were flown to Pennsylvania in the US yesterday and today to receive humanitarian refuge! Also 100 Haitian orphans, in the same situation, were flown to the Netherlands today as well! I thought it would never happen with all of the bureaucracy involved with adoption and immigration in our countries. I read that the children were given visas, while they wait for their paperwork to be completed, so that the would not have to be returned to their devastated country! This beautiful and innocent children were spared! Now many families who were in the process of adopting these children will be able to complete the process with the children in safe hands. Please pray and inquire of your state to reach out to the thousands of other orphanages devastated in the event. There are families ready and willing to adopt the children who are legal orphans here in the US and I imagine in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe as well. I'm not sure how that process or if that process would be possible during this time, but God can do amazing things and move mountains for the good of the innocent!

On a side thought, my last post only spoke of the negative issues in Haiti, and after reading it again, I wanted to state some positive things about the Haitian people. The Haitians I work with are beautiful, smiling, hard working people who are survivors and have a hope in God for their families left behind and for their Nation.

Deut. 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.