Orphan Sunday

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan. We are a people called to defend the fatherless…to care for the child that has no family…to visit orphans in their distress.

From many sources, one voice. Hundreds of events across America and beyond, all sharing a single goal: that God’s great love for the orphan will find echo in our lives as well.

Each as they are led. Sermons and small groups, concerts and prayer gatherings—each rousing believers with God’s call to care for the orphan…and what we can do in response.

November 8, 2009. Orphan Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan.

I am helping to organize an Orphan Sunday event at our local church. There will be several families telling their own adoption story and bringing awareness to Orphans. We will also honor those that have adopted and have information on what can be done NOW to help. Chuck and I will be sharing our heart for orphaned children too.

Maggie

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

LOA !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We received our LOA today ! We are so excited and filled with JOY !

Let me introduce you to our daughter -
Maggie Caroline !

 

Maggie's referral picture (around 6 months old).

 

11 months old and ADORABLE !!

 

Why I love HOME-SCHOOLING

It really is feeling like fall here. Yesterday, we awoke to very cool temperatures. It was around 60 degrees at 8:00 AM, and who wouldn't want to have school outside ?







The boys took a little break to practice their archery.




Reading a good book outside is so much more enjoyable !

We did most of our subjects on the back porch while we listened to birds sing, woodpeckers hammer on a tree and lizards scurry up the brick wall. It is days like these that I feel completely BLESSED ! I certainly don't deserve to have all that I have been given, but God in His Grace has allowed all my DREAMS to come true.

But by the Grace of God I am what I am... 1 Corinthians 15:10

The Apron Dress

 

 

I am in LOVE with sandi henderson's
PORTABELLAPIXIE dress patterns and fabrics.

I finally, found the apron dress pattern at a very nice fabric store and picked out these delicious fabrics. It took me three days to complete the dress. It is definitely for the adventurous sewer ! But, I was determined to at least try my best. I think it turned out pretty good. In fact, I am so completely astonished that I actually made this dress.

I first saw the apron dress on ETSY and knew that I loved this whimsical style. Well, now I am going to try the pants with a ruffle at the bottom. My confidence is boosted and I am on a sewing high. It is so fun to imagine our little Maggie in all these dresses, but we are really ready for the real thing !!

Maggie updates !

We used Ladybugsnlove to make an orphanage phone call for us. We were able to get four new photos of Maggie, updated measurements and asked ten questions about Maggie.

It was wonderful and amazing to see how Maggie has changed. The only photos we had were her referral ones and they were taken when she was about six months old. She looked like such a little angel baby. In the new photos, she is standing in her walker (one of her favorite things to do) and looks so big ! She is almost 11 months old now and she is able to sit and stand by herself. She is clutching a little toy and it is obvious that she LOVES to play ! Her cheeks are so big and round and it looks like she has no problem eating !! We have been praying that she has found favor in the orphanage and with the Nannie and from looking at her healthy cheeks - we believe she has found favor with someone responsible for the feedings. Maggie also has the most beautiful rose bud lips I have ever seen ! Seriously, her lips are so pretty ! We can't wait to see a big SMILE on her face. Oh, and she has four teeth.

Her updated measurements at 11 months are :
Height: 28 in
Weight: 16.5 lbs
Foot: 4.7 inches ( I think she would be in a childs size 3 shoe)

Like cold water to a weary soul, is good news from a distant land.
--- Proverbs 25:25

Fall Break

(Picture taken Fall 2005)


The "Beams of Light" Home-School is taking a Fall Break !!
We are taking a small break from school to spend some time with our family and friends, go fishing,sew,eat too much and relax.

We have been schooling for 8 weeks now and we are loving our SonLight Curriculum !!
This has been our best year of schooling and even the boys have commented on how "fun" school has been this year. Thanks to SonLight, I am so much more organized and consistent. We are so pleased with the readers and read a-louds. The boys BEG for me to keep reading ! Geography is taught in such an interesting way, and we nearly always go to the globe or map with every thing we are studying.

I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home and snuggle on the couch with my boys and read about missionaries in China like Gladys Aylward or timeless poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. We have seen the fruit of having family Bible study time in the morning and eating meals together around our kitchen table. I see my boys developing into best friends and enjoying each others company. My heart is filled with GRATITUDE and CONTENTMENT for such an amazing opportunity to home-school.


Be still and rest in the Lord... Psalm 37:7

Sew Fun !

Here are some more dresses (size one)I made for Maggie.

I am not sure what size she is in, so all these dresses may not fit her.

I hope to get some updates on her soon !!

Kisses In The Wind

I found this beautiful poem. It says exactly what we are feeling at this time of waiting and wanting to travel to get Maggie so bad. The boys have been blowing Maggie kisses since we got her referral.....

KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

--- © Pamela Durkota, written for Josh

Draw.Write.Now.

The boys have been shut sick in the house now for four days.

That is a LONG time for my very active and energetic boys (and momma) to be inside.

They have watched WAY too much TV and played WAY too much computer games.

So, tonight they got creative. Finally.

They pulled out their Draw.Write.Now books out and stated drawing...quietly, peacefully..


AHHH !!!

The Flu !

I have walked around all weekend with a thermometer in one hand and a medicine dispenser filled with Motrin in the other. Fever, chills, headaches and all kinds of stomach issues abound.... How did this happen ?

I tried so hard to protect us from this dreaded sickness..The Flu. I also tried to not get prideful when everyone around us has had it and we didn't. I thought we might be safe, maybe get through this 'flu season' without the flu.

Although it is not confirmed, I am pretty sure the boys and Chuck have the Swine Flu. Thank God, I have been well and able to take care of everyone. I can not imagine what it would be like if Momma is sick too.

I am thankful that we had a restful weekend watching football (War Eagle !!!) and eating home-made soup and cornbread. The boys have loved that they get to drink Sprite and Coke when they are sick and watch their favorite movies. We have been reading our Sonlight readers on the couch and having lots of snuggle time. Hopefully, though, the boys will be over the FLU soon and back to their normal, running around selves !

Golden dragon Acrobats

Last night we saw the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats perform at Auburn University !

The Golden Dragon Acrobats are an internationally famous troupe from Hebei, China. The company has traveled to over 65 countries on five continents. They have won several major awards over the company's history, including the National Association of Campus Activities Entertainer of the Year Award and the Campus Activities Today's Performer of the Year Award.

They were amazing !!! Of course, I forgot to bring my camera....

The last act was the most incredible and nerve racking thing I have ever seen. An acrobat man climbed I think 10 chairs and did some amazing acrobat stunts at the top of the tower of unstable, very high chairs. Amazing,Amazing, Amazing !!! Did I say the acrobats were amazing ?? And the Chinese woman were all so beautiful and graceful. We really enjoyed the night. If you get a chance to see this * amazing * performance you will be so AMAZED !

Maggie's Room

 

This was our Guest Room.

Soon it will magically change into a pink, shabby chic nursery for Maggie. Hopefully, I can get it painted soon, get the crib out of storage and start the transformation. It has been so fun to look for bedding and paint for her room.

I knew I wanted to do something calm and feminine for her. Shabby Chic seemed to be a perfect fit and I love that it is very girly, with cabbage roses and mismatched florals. I wanted to be able to use my grandmother's dresser that is already in the guest room and some old glass lamps I have. The big, functional ceiling fan is going out and a white cottage style chandelier with shades is going up. I was so fortunate to be able to buy her crib bedding second hand from a friend. It is exactly what I was wanting, and much cheaper.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is GOOD;
His Love endures forever. Psalm 118:1

PA !!!!

We received our PA ( pre- approval) today !!!

This means that our application to adopt Gao En Xiao ( Maggie) has been submitted and received by the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA).

What next ?

We wait on our Referral Acceptance (RA) which confirms that the CCAA has approved our family's request to adopt Maggie. This is also known as the Letter of Acceptance
( LOA).

When will we travel ?

Since our Dossier was already in China when we sent our Letter of Intent( LOI), and our Dossier went directly to the Special Needs Department, we will wait an average of 2-6 months for our RA. From then, we will wait some more for our Travel Acceptance (TA). The average wait time seems to be about 4 months for an RA.
So, we really don't know when we will travel.
I can't wait to hold our little Maggie ! (which by the way, is what part of her name means - "little").

Maggie's Finding Ad

This information was taken from Research-China.

"Since 1999, the orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. We call them "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. Originally these were text-only ads, but most provinces now include photographs in their ads. These photographs are usually the earliest available pictures of the children, some from as young as a few weeks old ".

Maggie is less than a month old in her finding ad picture. We feel so blessed to have the original paper that her finding ad is in. The orphanage will post a childs picture one time in a provincial newspaper. (They usually post about six times a year). We used Research-China and they were wonderful.

So What Do The Boys Think ?

I am OFTEN asked ' So, what do the boys think about Maggie" ?

The boys are so happy about having a sister. They love her with as much love that a seven and an eight year old boy can understand. They blow her "kisses" and pray she can feel them all the way in China. They pray for her, think of games to play with her when she comes home and talk about how beautiful she is. Maggie is their sister, and they are already very protective of her, as big brothers should be.

Will wrote this note the other day and gave it to me. I though it was so sweet !

Another dress for Maggie !

 

 

I am having WAY to much fun sewing these dresses. It definitely is more fun than cooking, cleaning and doing laundry !

I made a dress !

Isn't it so cute ? I wish I could say it was easy peasy, but the directions were not as detailed as I would have like them to be. I cut out the pattern wrong, and had to go back to the fabric store and buy all new fabric. But, after I got it cut out and penned together, it was pretty easy to sew. I really enjoyed putting it together and now I am a hooked on sewing these cute dresses. The fun part is picking out fabric and imagining it on our Maggie !

Sewing Project for Maggie !!

I am going to make Maggie a little A-Line jumper ! I have always wanted to sew little dresses and now I really get to. When the boys were little, I smocked them little John-Johns. My mom used to sew me clothes when I was little and my Grandmother sewed too. So, I learned a little about sewing from them. Stay tuned...I hope it turns out pretty and straight !!!

There's A Horse In Our Front Yard !

There have been many animals spotted around our house. Mostly we see deer, wild turkeys, neighborhood dogs and lots of birds. But, this was the first time we have seen a horse right out side our windows ! You see we have a neighbor that helps take care of some horses nearby. She has started exercising them in our neighborhood. She sometimes hooks them up to an old Amish type buggy and takes a nice buggy ride down our street. It is very charming to see the horse and buggy slowly trot along. She says that you really see life differently when you slow down, breathe the fresh air and enjoy the quietness and beauty of a buggy ride. I wonder just how much we miss out on by riding in cars everywhere, with our windows up and radios on......

How we celebrated !

Early Friday morning, August 14th 2009, we signed our Letter of Intent( LOI) saying yes !!!! We want to adopt Gao En Xiao ( Maggie). I slept about an hour the night before and couldn't wait to sign the papers and fax them to our agency.





Then, we cancelled school for the day and let the boys decide how we were going to celebrate getting Maggie's referral. Of course, Chuck and I were thinking Chinese food - but, the boys were thinking Pizza !!! So, we went to Shakey's Pizza and celebrated Maggie.







Then I went shopping for some little, cute, pink clothes !!



OH ! It was fun !! I got her a tiny, pink tu-tu and a little sundress for next year.
I am working on her room now and it's so fun too !!! I really had not done any shopping for our daughter prior to receiving our referral. But, now it's time !!!

Our Daughter Maggie !

We are so AMAZED that we have a daughter !! We are still pinching ourselves and staring at her pictures ! She is so beautiful ! We can't wait to see her smile - in all her pictures she has her pretty pouty lips closed with a sad expression that is so common in the photos of children in orphanages.

She was born on Oct. 29, 2008 and is actually just 9 and 1/2 months old ! She weighed 6.6 lbs at birth and at 6 months old weighed 13.5 lbs. she is described as "lively and gets on well with friends, not afraid of strangers and has a strong curiosity". She "likes sound toys, playing games with adults with great interest and happiness. She'll smile and ask for huggs." She "laughs aloud,has an active personality, a ready smile,fond of listening to music and playing with toys". How perfect for our family !
We are so in LOVE !!!!

She has three minor special needs :
1. Her right ear is under developed
2. Her Right ankle turns in
3. She has a small VSD

We do not see her as a special needs child. We see her as our daughter, complete and perfect. Her ear can be fixed if she chooses when she gets older, her heart should heal on its own or through a catheter procedure and her ankle will need either surgery,casts, braces or nothing. We have a wonderful International Adoption Clinic nearby and will have her evaluated by all the specialists there.

Looking at all the different special needs was intimidating when we decided to pursue a special needs adoption. We first started out considering only minor SN, then slowly we researched club feet, missing limbs, complex heart issues, and other SN. We researched, talked to doctors,read blogs and talked with families that had adopted SN children. But, the best thing we did was pray. It was a constant prayer in our hearts for wisdom. We also prayed specifically that we would both be in agreement when the time came. And we were in agreement on Thursday, Aug. 13th 2009 when I saw her picture for the first time and knew she was our daughter. There is so much more to her story and I am still so AMAZED how it all happened.

It's A Girl !!!!!!!!!

We have accepted a referral today of a beautiful 10 month old baby girl !!!!

God is so faithful and He knew all along who our little one was.

So, we will be introducing our daughter.....Maggie Caroline soon !

We can not post pictures of her yet, but let me tell you- She has the cutest little cheeks, beautiful pouty lips, and is described as being happy and curious !!!!

She is perfect in our eyes and I will share more later about her. For now, we are hanging around cloud nine for awhile !!!!

The Shared List

The Waiting Child shared list came out Wed. night some time. We have not gotten "the call" and it is a difficult time for us. However, We are praying for the babies and children on the list and thank God that they are getting a chance to be seen and reviewed, to be able to get rid of their orphan status and find a forever Family.

Praise God for all the families that have said "YES" to adoption and are stepping out on FAITH !!!

Even though we do not SEE that God is working, we know that He is working mightily in our behalf ( and our daughters ). We are willing to wait indefinitely for God - as long it takes.

We inherit the promises of God through faith and patience. (Hebrews 10:36 )

Wordless Wednesday

Back To School

We officially start back to school tomorrow at 8:30 AM. No more sleeping in for us !
I am using SonLight Curriculum this year and am so excited. All the lesson plans are already done for me !!

The boys are really ready to go back to school ( gasp !). We do A LOT of read-alouds and it makes learning fun and interesting. I am amazed at how much they remember too. The other day some one was talking about getting a surveyor to come look at some land and Walker said " hey, George Washington was a surveyor !". It's funny the things they remember.

This will be our 3rd year home-schooling and we are loving it. It's not always perfect or easy, but it has been such a blessing to all of us.

wall of memories.

i have collected a lot of pictures over the years ( before i received my wonderful, yummy digital camera).




this is the divider that my sweet and very handy hubby made the first year we started home schooling.

it divides our school room from the play room - an essential thing for two very active boys and one focused-on-getting-our-school-work-done-mom.

on the other side is a giant white board for the boys to do their spelling words, math problems, grammar rules or whatever.

i decided to put all my extra photos on the board - a kind of collage of our life.

i love pictures. they tell so many stories that i forget to tell or just plain forget.

i can't wait to hold my daughter on my hip and point to the pictures as i tell her story after story.

there are pictures of birthdays, holidays, and just plain old days (my favorite).

hopefully, our wall of memories will turn into her memories.

happy and funny memories that seem like they have always been there for her.

there is a lot of space left for pictures of her and us.

i'm sure it won't take long to fill up the board with new memories and stories !

LID !!!!!

We have a LID ! YEAH !! Our Dossier made it to the CCAA and they have us logged in!

Our LID date is 07/20/09. ( SPECIAL NEEDS only)

*** A LID just means that China has officially received my Dossier and they
have given me a date that my Dossier was received and logged in *******

seven.

Happy Birthday Will ! I can't believe my little boy is seven years old !

We had a great LEGO party last Saturday. I attempted my first LEGO birthday cake, had a LEGO assembly table for the kids, and beautiful fall like weather.

187 Million.

It is estimated that there are 187 Million orphans WORLD WIDE.

34% OF Christian families consider adoption and yet only 1% of Christian families actually follow through and adopt.


Our family was almost not part of the 1% statistic. We felt called to adopt back in 2004. We cried, felt all the emotions and talked it over a little. Then we found out we were having a baby. But, it sadly ended in a devastating miscarriage and we decided that we would not try again. Our lives were now busy with two little boys that kept me running all day to keep up with them. Our dream to adopt just lay dormant for several years.
Then, in 2007, we started talking about adopting again. But, Chuck had a job change, I came home from work to home school the boys and life just seemed to have too many changes. So we decided to wait a year. I never stopped thinking about our Chinese daughter and I talked about adopting to our sons. They were always asking me questions about adoption and Will especially was very excited about having a sister from China. He seemed to be the one always asking when we were going to adopt his sister. He seemed to be the one that held on to the hope that we really would adopt one day. It's funny how God used a 6 year old boy to bring God's perfect plan of adoption to our family.
In the fall of 2008 ( exactly one year since we last talked about it), I asked Chuck if we were ever going to adopt ? I mean we are not getting any older and if we are not adopting I needed to know !! Chuck said "yes, let's start the process and find an agency". Glory to God ! I think it was Christmas morning every day ! Chuck and I seemed to cry at the mention of any one adopting - we were so filled with LOVE for our little girl that we had never met. After more than 11 months now, we still cry when we think of her or when we read or see another orphan story. God has laid the burden of orphans on our heart and we are "pregnant" with the vision of caring for orphans.

“Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Deliver the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked.” Ps 82:3-4