I remember the moment like it was yesterday. When Aidan realized he was going to share us with a sibling. He was four.
We had driven to the library and parked across the street in our little two-door coupe. Aidan was chatting with us about his sister coming home. He got all sad and weepy and said, "But you're MY mommy and daddy!" At this point we were all crying. We got into the back seat with him (no small feat) and held him and told him how much we loved him, but that we loved his sister too.
That moment happened tonight with Iona.
She was sitting up in bed, well after lights out. I walk upstairs to find out why she is calling me. She looks really sad.
Iona: Mommy, why is Brendan living in our house?
Me: What do you mean, Iona? He's not here yet, but he's coming soon to live with us.
Iona: But you're not HIS mommy. You're MY mommy!
Me (hugging her): I am Aidan's mommy and Iona's mommy AND Brendan's mommy.
We went round and round about this for a little while and then she got all goofy and got herself into trouble.
I'm so blessed by my kiddos, and I'm so honored that Iona sees me as her mommy, no questions asked. I know the questions will come one day, but I'm thrilled at her attachment to me and her starting to think through having a new member of the family.
Meanwhile, Pete and I are reading through Ann Voscamp's One Thousand Gifts, and we've both just started our "gift lists." I'm excited to see what God will do in our hearts and in our family as a result.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Spring break!
We are on spring break this week and enjoying the rest. This week we have a bunch of doctor appts, but I hope to spend some time at local parks, spring cleaning, going through the kids' clothes, and just generally goofing off and having fun with the kids.
The kids and I have started seeing a chiropractor. My neck has been in a lot of pain for a few weeks, and I've aggrevated an old injury that never fully healed. We've been sick so much this winter that I thought it would be good for all of us to go, and we have some pre-tax medical money we need to use up before we lose at the end of the fiscal year. The kids like going to the "popcorn doctor" and are responding very well to treatment. The doc also thinks he can work with us on Aidan's sensory processing disorder, so we shall see. And my headaches are gone. I still have a lot of pain, but I'm slowly getting more range of motion. We've only had 3 visits.
I'm starting to think through next year's school plans. We will continue with some curriculum and change a few things. The biggest change is that we will add Brendan and Iona into our school time. And I'm considering switching to a year-round model. But, for now, I'm making my supply lists and saving up money for new curriculum.
Definitely will use: Story of the World Vol 2 (history), Math U See Beta (math), Apologia Zoology 1 (science), First Language Lessons 2 (grammar), Handwriting without Tears gr 3-4 workbooks (handwriting), Writing With Ease 2 (writing), Harmony Art Mom grade 2 (music and art), and a literature list of books from Sonlight/Ambleside Online/other sources, Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week curriculum (for Brendan and Iona).
Considering: Spelling Workout C/Spelling Power/Sequential Spelling, Veritas Press Gen-Joshua (Bible), character and hymn study resources on Simply Charlotte Mason's site.
Pete and I are planning to go to our first homeschool convention in June, so we're hoping for some ideas and clarity and a little getaway!
The kids and I have started seeing a chiropractor. My neck has been in a lot of pain for a few weeks, and I've aggrevated an old injury that never fully healed. We've been sick so much this winter that I thought it would be good for all of us to go, and we have some pre-tax medical money we need to use up before we lose at the end of the fiscal year. The kids like going to the "popcorn doctor" and are responding very well to treatment. The doc also thinks he can work with us on Aidan's sensory processing disorder, so we shall see. And my headaches are gone. I still have a lot of pain, but I'm slowly getting more range of motion. We've only had 3 visits.
I'm starting to think through next year's school plans. We will continue with some curriculum and change a few things. The biggest change is that we will add Brendan and Iona into our school time. And I'm considering switching to a year-round model. But, for now, I'm making my supply lists and saving up money for new curriculum.
Definitely will use: Story of the World Vol 2 (history), Math U See Beta (math), Apologia Zoology 1 (science), First Language Lessons 2 (grammar), Handwriting without Tears gr 3-4 workbooks (handwriting), Writing With Ease 2 (writing), Harmony Art Mom grade 2 (music and art), and a literature list of books from Sonlight/Ambleside Online/other sources, Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week curriculum (for Brendan and Iona).
Considering: Spelling Workout C/Spelling Power/Sequential Spelling, Veritas Press Gen-Joshua (Bible), character and hymn study resources on Simply Charlotte Mason's site.
Pete and I are planning to go to our first homeschool convention in June, so we're hoping for some ideas and clarity and a little getaway!
DTC and LID
Our dossier went to China last week and we have a log-in date of 3/18/2011. We now wait 2-4 months to receive our RA, or official referral acceptance. (Since we received the referral before China approved our paperwork, they want to make sure we are good candidates for adoption before releasing our son to us.)
Once we get our RA, we'll get travel approval about 10-14 weeks later. And then we'll travel 2-4 weeks after that.
Meanwhile, we have more paperwork to complete! Our I800 and DS230 MUST be complete and ready to go when we receive our RA, so we are beginning work on those forms and supplementary materials now.
Our fundraising is going very well, but we still need more! We've raised almost $7000 of our $17000 goal for the last part of our adoption expenses. This includes our last agency payment, airfare for 3, in-country expenses, and fees we will need to pay in China when we travel (for the orphanage, etc.). We are excited at what God has done already in a few weeks! We have a few ways to give: t-shirts (reduced to $20), half-marathon, and Lifesong.
You may notice that I just became a blogger for Lifesong for Orphans. They have helped us so much with our adoptions, and we are thrilled with this opportunity to help them get the word out about ways you can get involved in orphan care.
Once we get our RA, we'll get travel approval about 10-14 weeks later. And then we'll travel 2-4 weeks after that.
Meanwhile, we have more paperwork to complete! Our I800 and DS230 MUST be complete and ready to go when we receive our RA, so we are beginning work on those forms and supplementary materials now.
Our fundraising is going very well, but we still need more! We've raised almost $7000 of our $17000 goal for the last part of our adoption expenses. This includes our last agency payment, airfare for 3, in-country expenses, and fees we will need to pay in China when we travel (for the orphanage, etc.). We are excited at what God has done already in a few weeks! We have a few ways to give: t-shirts (reduced to $20), half-marathon, and Lifesong.
You may notice that I just became a blogger for Lifesong for Orphans. They have helped us so much with our adoptions, and we are thrilled with this opportunity to help them get the word out about ways you can get involved in orphan care.
Tortilla Tuesday!!
Next Monday we will be kicking off an exciting 10 day blog-a-thon to spread the word about what's going on at Lifesong Honduras. We will be sharing personal testimonies from changed lives, peeking into everyday Honduran life, and giving some tools to spread awareness in your families.
One of these tools is a little something we like to call (da-daDAAA!):
Tuesday, March 29th we will be dedicating 1 meal to eat what the children in Honduras eat on a daily basis... and we want you to be a part of it! We will also provide some great topical questions and discussion guides for you to share with your kids on what life is like for children in another culture.
Would YOU join us?
We'll share more as we get closer to the 29th, so mark your calendars, get your camera ready and head to the store to get tortillas, rice, and beans for the whole family!
Next Monday we will be kicking off an exciting 10 day blog-a-thon to spread the word about what's going on at Lifesong Honduras. We will be sharing personal testimonies from changed lives, peeking into everyday Honduran life, and giving some tools to spread awareness in your families.
One of these tools is a little something we like to call (da-daDAAA!):
Tuesday, March 29th we will be dedicating 1 meal to eat what the children in Honduras eat on a daily basis... and we want you to be a part of it! We will also provide some great topical questions and discussion guides for you to share with your kids on what life is like for children in another culture.
Would YOU join us?
We'll share more as we get closer to the 29th, so mark your calendars, get your camera ready and head to the store to get tortillas, rice, and beans for the whole family!
Honduras Blitz from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.
What if every time you gave a dollar to orphans it became one more?
One more dollar towards food, education, shelter?
One more dollar towards sharing the Gospel and providing Biblical mentorship?
One more dollar towards changing the life of a child?
I love to use this platform to advocate for those in need... and thanks to a generous donor every dollar given to Lifesong Honduras will be matched… up to $120,000! We praise the Lord for this amazing gift and invite you to be a part of it.
Over the next 10 days we are teaming with Lifesong and are hoping for 100 1-year commitments of $30 a month. Just think, for about $1 a day a life in Honduras can be forever changed.
Partnering with Tree of Life Missions in Honduras, Lifesong for Orphans is able to work toward providing hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless and healing to the hurting. TOLM reaches kids through a program called Plan Escalon. (Escalon is translated "escalator" and is used to describe the children's escalator out of poverty/brokenness.)
Through this program we strive toward:
- Providing an education to the poorest of youth
- Providing food to the poorest of youth
- Providing vocational training & micro-business opportunities
- Providing free medical and dental clinics to those in need
- Training young people to give back to their communities
- Reaching people in the jungles of the Mosquito Coast
Stay tuned for stories, personal testimonies, and fun ways to spread awareness and instill a heart of giving in your kids!
Our goal is:
Will you help us? 100 commitments in ten days is no small feat, but with God it is possible. We have seen Him move mightily in His people to serve orphans and we pray that this ten weeks will be a testimony of that! Together we can make a difference in the lives of these kids! Together we can do more to bring joy and purpose to orphans!
Contact Lifesong at info@lifesongfororphans.org to make your commitment AND be sure to tell them that we sent you from our blog!
Hear personal stories & follow the progress on our blog all this week!
Check back often to hear personal stories and get updates on the progress. Please join us in prayer as we ask the Lord to raise up 100 commitments!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
sickness
Aidan, Iona, and I have been swapping sicknesses since Christmas break. It's all, thankfully, been respiratory, but it still stinks. We've had to skip activities, homeschool co-ops, and lots of church as we take turns getting better. Both kids are mostly better now, and my cold is getting worse. The weather is supposed to perk up this week, so I hope we can get outside for some Vitamin D. For the last couple of big snowstorms, the kids were too sick to play out in the snow. Boo.
School has been rough going with all the sickness around. We've been able to basically keep up, but we've definitely had some lighter workload days. I'm just glad we can keep moving forward even when sick. A few of our subjects are due to finish within the month, so pushing those back a week or two is not a big deal.
School has been rough going with all the sickness around. We've been able to basically keep up, but we've definitely had some lighter workload days. I'm just glad we can keep moving forward even when sick. A few of our subjects are due to finish within the month, so pushing those back a week or two is not a big deal.
Grants and loans
Last week we found out we received a $2500 no-interest loan for our adoption and a $3000 matching grant. We are so thankful to God! Here is the letter we are in the middle of sending out:
Dear Family and Friends,
“A father to the fatherless…God places the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:5, 6)
Many of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt another “fatherless” child into our family. We adopted Iona from Ethiopia in 2008 and brought her home when she was 6 months old and only 11 lbs. She is now a fierce 2.5-year-old bundle of energy and full of joy. Aidan and Iona adore each other, most of the time.
We have stepped back into the adoption journey and are pursuing Brendan, a 4.5-year-old boy from China. We have decided to adopt through the “waiting child” program in China, and we only waited 1 hour to be matched to our son. He, however, had been waiting one and a half years for a family of his own. Brendan has a special need called bilateral strabismus, which means he will most likely need glasses.
Why China? That’s a long story, and one we would be happy to talk more about in person! Basically, the Lord led us to pursue an older child for this adoption, and the Lord had long ago laid an Asian child on our hearts for our family. He orchestrated an amazing set of events in the past year to direct us to China, and we are excited to meet our son soon!
At this point, our dossier (portfolio of documents) is almost complete and should travel to China within the next month. We can’t share Brendan’s photo here until our dossier has been received in China and officially approved, but we carry the photos around and love to show him off! We are hoping to travel to China sometime in the fall of 2011 to bring Brendan home.
There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt; here are a few:
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27)
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)
The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $27,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $10,000. We honestly had no idea how that would all work when we began, but little by little, as we have needed each part of the funds, it has been available.
There are two ways you can help:
1. Prayer—Please pray God would tenderly care for our son in China until we are able to bring him home, that God would prepare Aidan and Iona for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise our children to know Jesus Christ. Please also pray for our first months home as we learn to communicate with Brendan and meet his needs.
2. Financial support—Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $17,000 in adoption expenses to bring our son home?
Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously given a matching grant of $3,000 to help pay the “ransom” to bring Brendan home.
If you would like to be a part of this adoption, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and April 10, 2011 to the address below. Lifesong for Orphans is a trusted organization administering the funds on our son’s behalf and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.
1. Please make checks payable to Lifesong for Orphans and put “Juvinall Adoption” in the memo section of your check.
(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong, which retains full discretion over its use but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)
2. Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Juvinall #1766 Adoption
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744
3. You may also give online via Paypal at http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html and clicking on “Make a Donation.” Please put “Juvinall #1766 Adoption” in the item line.
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances—it will be an investment with an eternal return (Matt 6:20)! We’ll send you our new family photo when we return home. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!
Dear Family and Friends,
“A father to the fatherless…God places the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:5, 6)
Many of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt another “fatherless” child into our family. We adopted Iona from Ethiopia in 2008 and brought her home when she was 6 months old and only 11 lbs. She is now a fierce 2.5-year-old bundle of energy and full of joy. Aidan and Iona adore each other, most of the time.
We have stepped back into the adoption journey and are pursuing Brendan, a 4.5-year-old boy from China. We have decided to adopt through the “waiting child” program in China, and we only waited 1 hour to be matched to our son. He, however, had been waiting one and a half years for a family of his own. Brendan has a special need called bilateral strabismus, which means he will most likely need glasses.
Why China? That’s a long story, and one we would be happy to talk more about in person! Basically, the Lord led us to pursue an older child for this adoption, and the Lord had long ago laid an Asian child on our hearts for our family. He orchestrated an amazing set of events in the past year to direct us to China, and we are excited to meet our son soon!
At this point, our dossier (portfolio of documents) is almost complete and should travel to China within the next month. We can’t share Brendan’s photo here until our dossier has been received in China and officially approved, but we carry the photos around and love to show him off! We are hoping to travel to China sometime in the fall of 2011 to bring Brendan home.
There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt; here are a few:
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27)
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)
The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $27,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $10,000. We honestly had no idea how that would all work when we began, but little by little, as we have needed each part of the funds, it has been available.
There are two ways you can help:
1. Prayer—Please pray God would tenderly care for our son in China until we are able to bring him home, that God would prepare Aidan and Iona for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise our children to know Jesus Christ. Please also pray for our first months home as we learn to communicate with Brendan and meet his needs.
2. Financial support—Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $17,000 in adoption expenses to bring our son home?
Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously given a matching grant of $3,000 to help pay the “ransom” to bring Brendan home.
If you would like to be a part of this adoption, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and April 10, 2011 to the address below. Lifesong for Orphans is a trusted organization administering the funds on our son’s behalf and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.
1. Please make checks payable to Lifesong for Orphans and put “Juvinall Adoption” in the memo section of your check.
(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong, which retains full discretion over its use but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)
2. Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Juvinall #1766 Adoption
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744
3. You may also give online via Paypal at http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html and clicking on “Make a Donation.” Please put “Juvinall #1766 Adoption” in the item line.
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances—it will be an investment with an eternal return (Matt 6:20)! We’ll send you our new family photo when we return home. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!
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