Easter 2013

Processing the Process

So, how IS the process going?

And HOW does the process go?

It goes. And it goes slow.

Though overall I guess it is moving along.

So far we have:

Met twice with our Social Worker. 2 more meetings to go.

We have been fingerprinted by Illinois AND cleared with in 2 days.

Go Illinois! I never uttered those words in the previous adoptions.

We have had clearances come back from Illinois, North Carolina and our local police department stating we have never been arrested. Still waiting on Pennsylvania for their clearance. Boo PA, you get last place.
(this is because you have to have a letter from every place you have lived, thankfully we quit at 3 states)

We have filled out a 28 page autobiography each.

Have watched 10 hours of online training and 4 hours of in person training.

Have solicited for 5 referral letters and 2 guardianship letters.

Have copied every financial paper (taxes/insurance) in our house along with all employee letters, special doctor letters, etc and so on.

Have obtained all marriage (that would just be one) and birth certificates.

Finishing up all doctors (each person in house) visits this week and next.

We have promised and shown our smoke alarms all work, we don't have a pool, we don't have guns, our animals are vaccinated, we don't beat our children, we will give them healthy water, we will allow social workers to visit us for the next 5 years, and that we will pay an insane amount of money to do all of the above.

Check, check and check.

This part I can handle. I am a really good list maker and a fair list checker.

Once the homestudy is written, prayerfully by the end of this month, it will move on to state level to be approved. Go Illinois? (PLEASE!?)

THEN we apply for a teeny tiny very important piece of paper that I am certain is going to be my nemesis. This would issued from our federal government. Deciding if we are suitable to adopt a child. Believe me, the irony that the government decides this, in their timing, does not escape me. (adopt babies, we put you through the ringer. Abort babies, step right up. What is wrong with this world?) We will just pray. Pray hard that we would find favor quickly. But quickly is most likely months.

When that gets back, we get all of the millions of gathered papers, state certified and authenticated. Or in others words we pay a whole bunch of money to have them stamped at the capital of Illinois & the Chinese Embassy in Chicago.

After that, the papers are China bound!

When will we get matched with a child? Good question. I do have to say, since I have done things both ways, this way IS easier. With Sage we had our paperwork in, received referral. Mavery we found and THEN started paperwork. Emotionally drained us.

So, right now I am ok waiting.

And THAT is the only time you will probably EVER hear me say that.

HOW can you adopt AGAIN?

Yes, we ARE adopting.

Again.

Yes, we realize that will make 6 kids.

For some, that seems a small number.

For others, it seems CRAZY.

HOW in the world can we bring home another?

And all I keep thinking is…

HOW CAN WE NOT?

The Lord has had us on a journey of prayer these last few years. Do we adopt? Do we help others adopt? Do we MOVE to China? Do we go on mission MORE?  We have questioned and wondered. We have looked at  children's files, and God made it clear, these were not our children.

I have traveled to China THREE times to work in an orphanage. Through the first trip, and even the 2^nd I felt that maybe another adoption was NOT in our future. Maybe orphan care was what we were being called to do.

It made sense. 5 kids, 2 adoptions. A STRONG calling to be a part of that orphanage IN China. 

Because I DO realize we can’t adopt them all.

And I DO realize there is MUCH more to orphan care than JUST adopting.

Oh how I WISH that more would realize this.

I LOVE going to China and working in the orphanage. Honestly our family KNOWS it is what we are called to do.

But this trip, I also knew that the Lord was calling us to more.

How can I walk the halls of that orphanage, how can I hold those children and KNOW there are MILLIONS more just like them all around the world and then say no?

How can I pretend that I have done enough when their little souls are dying there.

Seriously DYING. 

Did you get that? There are CHILDREN sitting in orphanages. RIGHT NOW. We need to stop pretending that it is not happening.

How can we say we are too busy, too tired to poor, too ANYTHING when I have held children who ASK for a family? Who will never know anything besides life inside those 4 walls.

How can we NOT say yes to more?

We just have to say yes. 

YES to bringing home more.

YES to WHOMEVER the Lord has already chosen for our family.

YES to how we know HE is writing our story.

He has penned the pages of this story since day 1.  

He has placed a burden on us for the orphan for THIS reason.

So that we would be open to our 6^th child.

We don’t know who it is, but HE does.

And we can’t wait to find out!

A few questions answered

-We have signed a contract with Madison Adoption Agency.

-We do NOT have a particular child we are matched with.

-Yes we are going to China for a special needs child.

-We are open to boy OR girl, 0-12 years old. J

-I AM still going to China in July, of course.

-AND will continue to be connected with that orphanage. Trips will NOT stop. We just need to pray through the options. 

-Kids are thrilled, though they each have an opinion on who our new child should be. Ranging from older boys to babies that I could put inside my belly to another middle child, to kids we love and pray for and everywhere in between.

-No we do not have the money for another adoption. Remember Dave Ramsified?  Hopefully we learned enough through that to do this with little  no debt. 

-Fundraising? Am I ever NOT fundraising?? 

- We are not sure on timeline but we are guessing we will be traveling early next year. 

-YES Mark actually DID agree to this! :-) The fact that after pictures yesterday he said NEXT TIME we adopt... did not escape me. 

-How, why, WHAT, all to be answered soon! 

Here we Grow AGAIN!!!!!!!

Oh yes we are! 

We are not matched with a child.

Yet.... 

China Bound!!!

TOMORROW, I begin my journey. I will be staying overnight in San Francisco. We leave from there on Friday at noon. I can't believe in just a matter of days I will see...

 Her

 And Him

And oh yes, her! 

Along with all of the others that hold my heart in Chenzhou. Join me over at my travel blog. www.teamchenzhou.blogspot.com. 

Makenna gets her Driving Permit

 Hard to believe that our oldest is driving. On a permit. She will not officially get her license till November. She has NEVER been behind the wheel and so we did have to FORCE her to get out there. Doesn't she look thrilled?

It did not take long for her to get comfortable behind the wheel. 

I am not sure if I will EVER get comfortable with her behind the wheel.

Praying LOTS of protection on her, and everyone else on the roads. :-) 

China on my Mind

In 26 days I board a plane to start my journey to Chenzhou.

I fly from here to Chicago to San Francisco where I will spend the night before we fly out for China the following day.

 I am a bit worried.

 This will be the first time I fly alone out of St Louis. If you know me well, you know I am a bit..directionally challenged. The GPS even confuses me. Lead a team in China? No problem. Ask me to find my way out of a parking garage, we have issues.

I am the one who has to take a picture of where I parked the car so I remember.

The one who walks out of the hotel and no matter how long we are there, I will never remember which direction the elevator is.

This could be a problem considering I have about an hour in Chicago to find my next flight.

And then I have to find my luggage in SFO and find a shuttle to take me to a hotel.

Oh well, at least here I can ask questions and be understood.

Plans are being made, suitcases are being packed and weighed to see how much more I can squeeze in. This stupid rule of one checked bag is so annoying. Though I guess in reality I will appreciate that rule this time around.

Picture me trying to handle 2 suitcases, a carry on and my backpack alone. THAT would be fun.

I have been in contact with Chenzhou who tells me "they can't wait to see us".

I can hardly stand it I miss the kids so much.

If you have not had a chance to check in at my Team Blog, please do! On the top tabs you can meet my March team. You can buy a necklace which is how we are paying our way to China TWICE this year. You can find out more information on how YOU can go with us in July. We still have room, we are praying for more people.

AND you can meet some of the kiddo's who wait at Chenzhou. OR meet the ones who won't wait much longer. My heart is full this week. Can't wait to share more.

26 days and counting!!!

Shane is here!

 My brother arrived home from China on January 4th. He has not been home in almost 18 months. Thankfully I did see him in July while in China. He is only here till mid February. As you can see, 2 little girls were super excited to see their uncle. One quietly adores him while the other bowls him over. :-) 

               
                   He is a little tired, can't even hold his eyes open. :-)

I love this. Sage is typically not one to show her feelings much, but she was so happy to have her Uncle here. 

Welcome to America, Home of the super sized portions! 

Since he has been gone for so long we have to celebrate a bunch of things. We took my parents out for their 40th anniversary and also celebrated my dads retirement from Barnes.

It is good to have him home. We are so proud of him and his commitment to the people of China. 

Happy New Year 2012

We had such a fun New Years Eve this year. My friend Christy suggested a Progressive Dinner and it was such a blast. Unfortunately I did not take pictures besides our house. We went to 4 houses. One house hosted Appetizers, where I was already stuffed for the night before I left. The next was soup and Salad and THE best lemonade I have ever had.Third house was main course with a HUGE spread of pretty much EVERYTHING. Then we ended at our house with dessert and ringing in the new year. And I should add that my friends are not so much night owls so while we got them to stay till midnight, at midnight oh one they were all rushing out the door.  I, on the other hand was up cooking breakfast at 2am. :-) It was a blast and I hope that it is a tradition to stay. 

I tried a new dessert that was HEAVENLY so thought I would share the recipe here. I found it on allrecipes, YUM! 

The only change I made was adding heath bar pieces in the layers and sprinkled on top. :-) 

1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix 1/2 cup water 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed 1 (1.5 ounce) bar chocolate candy

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares.
2.	In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 ounces whipped topping until no streaks remain.
3.	In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Merry Christmas 2012

My Family

 Annie joined our family for christmas! 

Uncle Ray shared an interactive Christmas Story. 

 My brother joined us on Skype from China! 

 The kids did the Left Right Nativity Story. It was hilarious. 

Cousins so happy to be together! 

 Christmas Jammies! 

 I am not sure when this was but she looks Christmasy. 

 Spoiled Kids. 

Crazy Kids! 

Marks family

Family Time Christmas 2012

We had a few fun family activities we did the week of Christmas. We visited the new and improved Incredible Pizza Company where we had a blast. We went in with gift cards and their machine was not ready yet. They allowed our family of 7 to enter FREE, which is a really big deal. We had so much fun playing together that day. And eating together of course, that place has the best cinnamon rolls. 

A tradition I have started with the home school kids is taking them to Cracker Barrel for breakfast right before school gets out on break. They don't get a class party so this is our party. We all look forward to the AMAZING cinnamon roll french toast. First year Makenna has not been along, we were sad.

 And our most highly anticipated tradition is our candlelight dinner we do each year. We have a fancy dinner that we would not normally have on fancy China that we never use with fancy goblets and grape juice.

                    
 The kids draw a name of a sibling and we take turns over the month shopping for that sibling. All being a surprise of who has who and who chose what. I love how much thought they put into the gifts.

 These 2 are obviously just weird. 

Ok I love all of our traditions and they are all my favorite. On Christmas Eve we have a big old slumber party in our room. It has been interesting over the years as we have brought in pack and plays for babies, toddler beds for kids who refused to sleep in anything but their own bed. I hope that the kids will always look back on these things with fond memories. Especially if they are in therapy telling about what crazy parents we are. We started our morning this year with reading the Christmas story from the Bible before we even left the bed. So sweet.