Our adoption was a little different because our agency call us with a possible referral, which we weren’t even really thinking about last November. We had filled out the medical checklist with our agency -Chinese Children Adoption International- to view files of some older healthy boy in China. We were so glad that we give the chance to adopt a little girl.
A very important milestone in adoption has happened. We completed our dossier aka official paper work for our adoption. This is a process of collecting documents that have to be notarized, have a state seal, and be authenticated with a seal from the Chinese consulate. Then it was translated by our agency bound, organized and sent to China. It arrived in China last night. Here are a few links:
http://www.ccaifamily.org Our agency that is in Colorado that helped us bring home Elijah,Sneha, and soon to be Ting Yu home.
http://www.agapeadoptions.org Our home study agency in Washington
This is why adoption has such a high cost.
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All I can say is they are worth it. If anyone is interested in donating to our adoption we would appreciate it.
I will start with the good. There is so much good and I am so thankful. I am still so grateful for our little red house on the hill surrounded by beautiful trees and birds. I don’t wake to the sound of a blaring train whistle like in Sterling Colorado, or the sound of traffic, but Robins , Jays, and Crows. It is never too hot or cold and who can complain with multiple river beaches and coastal beaches are within an hour or two drive. The drive to the beach is also beautiful through forests or along the magnificent Columbia River.
The most important thing that never changes is the our God and Savior Jesus Christ is personal. He died for all and for just me, removing my sins so I could stand before the Father God on the day of judgement washed clean with the blood of Christ. My days are held in the Fathers hand with no surprises. God has already won the end of the world battle, this is true.
I am so grateful for my family near and extended. I love having five children, soon to be six. It isn’t easy, but nothing really good ever is.
The bad, things in our world are changing. With the media we have a view of the world around us and things transpiring. Enough said about that , we all know.
THE UGLY….Saturday our first official day of summer here in the Northwest. Sunday the day when our world changed and not for the better. This is a true story. Sunday morning I was awakened by my dear husband saying everyone is ok, but I need to go talk to our neighbors to the north. We have always waved back and forth and they have offered fruit off their fruit trees to us. The mother sat me down in her living room to explain that her grown daughter was brutally attacked on Saturday in the afternoon, on their front lawn. Our neighbor to the East directly straight up a hill from the bottom of our driveway. I knew his name Doug A. Jacobsen . All I knew is that he usually waved to me and was the first one to introduce himself to me when we moved in. Saturday afternoon he came up behind our neighbor, to the north, my age, choked her neck, bashed in the back of her head, cracked her jaw, and ruptured her ear drum. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY! The next scariest part is that he had wanted to do this to the lady in the red house. He was in a drunken confused rage. He mistook our neighbor for me. He was angry for leaf blowing into the street. Later I found out that two of myfamily members saw his sitting in a chair reading a book at the bottom of his drive way. He was apparently waiting for me. Saturday ,I did not walk down the drive way.
In some ways I am very brave. I will travel to unknown parts of the world, but scared to drive in city traffic. This evil will not be hidden. As many of you know I can’t hear out of my left ear, and can’t run to save my life. My family loves to sneak up on me because it is so easy. The truth is God is bigger than all the evil in the world and saved me. With all my problems this could have killed me. The crazy part is for two or three weeks I have felt uneasy, not knowing why. I am a nervous person, but this house and property has been very calming to me. My prayer for the last three weeks has been, Lord protect my family and put a hedge of protection around my home. I have been praying and reading this passage from the Bible through out the last three weeks. Now I know why.
Ephesians 6:10-17New International Version (NIV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
He spent two nights in jail and was released. THAT IS IT….. A small slap. Lowest level of assault, low bail set and released, court day in the future. Please pray for us and our neighbors to the north, fear has crept it. It disturbs our days and nights. Not our plan for summer. This had made me appreciate the good so much more. I have realized that I need to make an effort and cultivate relationships with our other neighbors. Strange things always happen when we adopt and now we know even more that our girl across the world is very important! The dark will be exposed and not kept in secret.
This pictures reveal all the change that has happened in our house since we have been in the NW. Wow does time fly and kids grow up too fast. This year I am excited for summer to start. Graedy will be in summer school part-time to stay on track for his AA and high school diploma. He will also be swimming to get his speed back. Elise might start drivers ed, I don’t know if I am brave enough to endure this so soon again. Elijah will run daily to stay in shape. Joy is going to work on progressing to read and Sneha will partake in many crafts to stay busy. We are trying to finish up our dossier for our China baby Things are moving slowly but surely. I am so glad she will be home before next year if all goes as planned. We are ready for her excitement and the joy of a young child again. We ordered a care package for her with a soft blanket, candy, nuts, a beautiful cake to share, a photo album of pictures with us and a letter.
Seizures they scare me! When it came to checking the medical conditions boxes for special needs adoption, I did not check that box! I repeat I did NOT check that box. I love Elijah and Sneha dearly, but seizures can hit the road. I thought this part of our lives was finished. When Elijah came home from China we knew that he had a stroke as an infant, but I guess I was blinded by his cute face and smile to worry about possible problems. I knew that we have great medical care in the US. What I didn’t think about was how sad it would make me to see him suffer! I am thankful we are his family to support and love him. Elijah has had 3 seizures in all now. He had one in the hospital in 2008, one at home post cranio plasty, and now this one. So we will see neurology again, have an EEG to see if his brain shows seizure activity and if so medication. I don’t want it to mess up his ability to drive, swim, and be free of fear . Sneha had her EEG last week and we hope this seizure journey is finished for her. We are thankful they live in the US and have us to back them up. Adoption saves lives, thanks be to God!
Well we have been a family of 7 for a few years now, and the kids are really growing up. Where does the time go? I guess time flies by in the everyday moments. The alarm rings at 5am and we are off and running. Last summer we were reviewing the files of different older boys files and we had to fill out a medical checklist to have on file at CCAI in order to review files of children that are available for adoption.. Little did I know that w could be called with a child match from our agency. We were in the stages of thinking and praying about another possible adoption. We found two adorable kids in Uganda, but the problem was two long trips to Africa. I tend to get very sick with travel and so hard to leave the children at home and find care. I had a secret that had been hidden in my heart for years. No one knew my secret, the dream of adoption a baby girl from China. I thought it was impossible we have had job losses, lots of moves, and already five children at home. While thinking about Uganda and praying before bed, I prayed for God’s will to be known. The next day we received a call to review the file of a baby girl. To day I sit here in awe over what God has done in our lives. Brent had surgery just a little over a month ago and his life is now so much better. We were able to find a surgeon that knew just what to do. His stomach was upside down and twisted, his appendix had ruptured and was now twisted in bowel and the floppy colon all gone. Praise be to God! A good year for surgeries Sneha’s ear is repaired and Joy no longer has an umbilical hernia. The school year is wrapping up and the kids have grown and changed. Graedy has almost finished a year of college, Elise has completed a year of high school , Sneha is about finished with middle school, Elijah will be in 8th grade, Joy will be in 3rd grade and learning more signs all the time. We are so excited to welcome our new family member as soon as we can. She is getting good care, but not the love of a family. No more being alone at night and waking up scared with no mom and dad close. No one to call her own. No one to call her beloved and chosen daughter. We can’t wait to read her books, show her how to color, and how to play with dolls. For now we wait for summer to come.
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