PRECIOUS RESCUE

OVERVIEW on WEDNESDAY

2010-05-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Hello to you at the end of this absolutely GORGEOUS day in mid-May!!! I'm loving the sun we're getting lately!! Mark and the boys took in a baseball game last Sunday. Charissa and I took in a beautiful praise and worship concert. I'm a hibernator normally during the winter (actually anything under 70 degrees ;) so these sporadic warm Spring days are fun for me to see the SUN!!!

Some of you will remember that about 15 months ago I wrote of how God had been working in our hearts and challenging us to step out in faith and open our hearts and home to older orphans, so very close to being put out on the streets on their own to fend for themselves. We truly thought our family growing days were over until that time of hosting an older orphan from the Ukraine and God speaking to us through her and the others on the hosting adventure trip. We realized that while we no longer felt we needed more children, there were about a bazillion children also residing on this big blue ball with us that truly NEEDED PARENTS!! So, we embarked on a very different faith walk, stepped out and said, "Here am I, LORD."

Our first and greatest hurdle was the reality that our hosted "summer sister" was one of four sisters. We took several months just searching our hearts to see if we really felt we had it in us to raise a total of 8 children!!! We decided that if He took us there, then He'd be faithful to carry us through. After all, in the Word it says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Well, no sooner had we begun our paperwork, than a friend contacted us from the Ukraine (she was there adopting her son) to let us know that "our girls" were being adopted by another family from the states. We were shocked but happy that the girls had found their forever family so soon after being freed for adoption.

After that, we just sat back and waited. Were we being called to the Ukraine? Or were we being called to older child rescue? We explored several different options while waiting to hear His voice down one of the paths we were exploring. Then, one day last October, the 27th actually, our dear friend, Amy, called to tell us she and her husband were home from Russia with their new son, Alex. (Amy was our Daniel's foster Mom when he was an infant.) She then proceeded to tell us that their biggest regret was having to leave his best friend behind. She told us how heart wrenching it was watching their final good-bye. Then, she proceeded to ask us if we'd go get her!! Okay God, we're thinking we just heard your voice...

After many hours spent with Amy and Dan looking at photos and discussing their trip, we discovered that Alex's best friend also had another friend, the same age, there in the orphanage. And, that it was quite a small orphanage, so that if we brought home Alex's dear friend, we'd be leaving this little girl without a buddy her age and developmental level. So, as of this time, we're open and seeking to bring home two 11 year old girls with a seizure disorder. We've been working on this since that day back in the fall, but just a couple weeks ago had our homestudy approved in the wake of all that is going on in Russian adoptions. So, we wanted to share our news with you!!

In International adoptions, it is wise to be prepared, so we have actually been approved to adopt four children, just in case... There may be siblings to one of our girls. And, as a rule, Russia prefers not to break up sibling groups. So, we are just trying to be ready for wherever the Lord leads. No, we still can't imagine parenting a family of 8, in case you were wondering! But, we'll learn as we go, if need be. We've got some time between now and then to also get some additional education in regarding the issues we'll most likely be dealing with adopting older children, such as attachment issues.

Well, to keep you updated on how our work is coming on our orphan rescue project (aka: older child adoption ;) I'm updating my blog. See Penny type :) Our friend that directs an adoption agency recommended I start a blog last year to help keep friends, family and fellow orphan-hearted peoples up to date on what is the latest haps and prayer needs. Please stop in frequently and keep in touch. I love to hear from you!

When Dan and Amy were in Russia still, they met a man who feels so very strongly about getting Alex's buddy home to the States that he has been working hard to help us raise the funds needed. We have received a little over $28,000 so far. But, I am really excited because we've come up with some great ideas just brainstorming with friends!! As I've said, there is no way we could do this on our own and we really are hoping you'll join our orphan rescue team!! Do you have any creative ideas for raising funds?? A homeschooling family that are our friends held a bake-sale for us and made $170 for the girls' adoption fund!!! Are you or your teens involved in a group that would be interested in doing some sort of fundraiser for us?? There are so many types and we can send you flyers or pics, whatever you need to help promote your project. Are you involved in a youth group, service club, couples group, etc. that would pull together and do a dinner, movie night, car-wash, bake-sale or silent (or not so silent) auction, or pass out flyers for a fundraiser "day" at any of the many food places that participate in those very generously?? Can you designate some of your eBay sales to this rescue of precious human lives? Many high schools require service hours for graduation, could you or someone you know "adopt" the girls for your/their hours?? Our adoption agency is a non-profit 501(c)3 agency. So, we qualify for tax-deductible donations. Speaking of taxes, have you considered giving a gift or tithe from your income tax refund?

We truly cannot proceed in this adoption without a team effort. If you've ever felt the tug to help orphans, but were not sure how or were not going to adopt yourselves, we'd love for you to jump on our bandwagon and give us a hand in this concert!!! The more the merrier!!! The more beautiful music we can make together. There are so many types of instruments in a band and everyone has a distinct part. If your part is prayer, please pray. If your part is having a garage sale for Russian orphans, THANK YOU! If your part is collecting recyclables for the girls over the next 3-6 months, you go!! If your part is hosting a lasagna dinner in your home for 5 couples, enjoy!! (to do this simply: buy a Costco lasagna, salad and bread, charge each couple $20 and you've just made $100 for the girls, WHEE!!!! And had a date night, too!!) What about getting your Sunday School class together to hold a huge garage sale, or bake sale or both?? How about skipping a few lattes for the saving of a life? Can you send this blog address along to others in your circle? Now, that's an easy one! Will your church allow a pocket change collection for the adoption?? (Tape their pics on a large water bottle and set it out each time the church is open.) One girlfriend hands me her pocket change every time we run into each other!! How awesome is that? Do you have a hobby that could make a little extra money to bring home some girls in need of a family?? Not everyone is a piano player. Just find your instrument and play and we will sing our THANKS as we proceed because the Lord asked you to help in this way or that, and you did.

We already, so early in this process, feel the love for these orphans from so many of you as you stop and ask "How's it going?" Thank you for your care!
We love you and so appreciate your hearts, Penny

P.S. Will you please send this blog address to those in your address book?? If everyone helps a little, through prayer, giving and spreading the word, they'll be home in no time. Also, if you know of companies looking for tax-deductible donations, we'd love to be considered ;) We have a formal proposal packet to offer to potential large donors. Let us know if you need one.
And, another thing: you can reach the Daytons at a8662774@juno.com
On Facebook, we are at Jewel's Adoption Extravaganza.

P.P.S. I, personally, am sending this note to almost 500 of my closest kin and countrymen ;) If each of those receiving it, just from me, would collect/donate/raise $88, our rescue fund account would be complete, the girls will be home in no time and EACH donor would be a forever hero!! We realize that some of you can give $8.80 and some of you can give $880 or even $8,800. We gratefully appreciate any amount you can share to help save these precious lives!!!

Will you please help these children become a part of a forever family that they
may no longer be called orphans, but, rather, chosen children?
If you can help, please send a check (no amount is too small!) to:
God’s Waiting Children
1865 Herndon Ave., Suite K125
Clovis, CA 93611
and put a note designating it for “Dayton” in the envelope
www.godswaitingchildren.com
Most of all, we ask you to
please pray for us to be able to bring home the rest of our family soon.

We Are The Truth

2010-04-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that bloggers all around the world are sharing the truth about adoption. Unfortunately, the occasional bad seed spoils the world's impression of adoptive families and this has been one of those weeks. Sadly, a seven year old boy was put alone on a plane headed for Russia this past week by his adoptive "mother." There are so many resources available to families in pain, whether adoptive, foster, or biological. Apparently this family may not have sought out the care that they truly needed. I, as so many others, have my opinions, but I was not there so I'm not blogging about my thoughts on that tragic decision. Instead, in response, those of us with successful adoptions are responding and crying out with our fingers to let the world know: WE ARE THE TRUTH!!!!

Let me tell you our story. Grab a mug of your fave drink and relax. I type slow but I have hours until my bedtime and I have a story to tell. Enjoy...

I told my mom when I was a young child that someday when I grew up I was going to have a large family just like ours (I was fourth out of five children) but one of MY children was going to be adopted because I wanted to give a home to a child without one. We knew no one adopted, I have no idea where that idea came from! Was World Vision doing their television

specials back in the mid-1970's?? Your guess is as good as mine!

Fast forward a decade and I am 18 years old, graduated from high school and in the Philippines on a short term mission trip with Teen Missions http://www.teenmissions.org/ . During the week, we are building a 2 story cinderblock addition on the back of a church which will become a Christian school. And on the weekends, we are singing and doing puppet shows at churches and in orphanages. I fell head over heels for those children with their big chocolate eyes!! Just wanted to pack them all up in my suitcase and whisk them home with me right then!! I did resist the temptation and instead filled my bags with seashells and such. But, only because the staff at the orphanage explained to me that most of the children there actually had parents that were a part of their lives. They just could not afford to raise them at home. So, several times a week, one or both parents would come for tea with their children living in this "home." I found that all out by asking if I could return in a few years and adopt from their orphanage after I was married. That summer, I also had the blessing of getting to know a child sponsored by World Vision http://www.worldvision.org/ . She was nearly my age and lived next door to the church, so we saw her and visited with her quite a bit. She was so very thankful for all the opportunities that World Vision had offered her growing up as a sponsored child.

About 18 months later, I went on a weekend trip down to visit a couple of orphanages in Ensenada, Mexico, with some friends from our church. One of the orphanages we visited was http://www.elsauzal.org/ . My fiance, Mark, was also on the trip and together we fell in love with America (say it with a Spanish accent, BEAUTIFUL) a precious, musical preschooler!! Every time we saw her, she had a musical instrument in her hand!! We talked about what it would be like to have a child older than the length we'd be married, of all the funny topics to bring up! We then talked to the orphanage staff and found out that, basically Americans were not allowed to adopt from Mexico. And, certainly they would never be allowed to pick out their child! So, home we went, with no further thought or plans to adopt. After all, we were getting married, we were young and healthy, we'd be having children "of our own" (a phrase I now dislike, because of how it is used to discount adopted children as if they are NOT my own!!)

A few months after our Mexico trip, Mark, my high school sweetheart, and I married. He was 24 years old and I was a ripe old 20! Seeing as we were getting old fast, we decided to let God work in our lives and be willing to have children from the day we wed. Or maybe by our first anniversary, or maybe it'll be our second, or third, or ......... We finally conceived our first biological child when we'd been married 17 and a half years! Our precious Glory has a blessed story all his/her own and is currently and forever more dancing and singing and praising God on those Golden Streets. Someday, we'll hold Glory as we've given Glory to God in the highest, on Earth peace on whom His favor rests, and in that we rest.

Meanwhile, on the adoption front... After we'd been married several years and I'd been volunteering as a Crisis Pregnancy counselor for years, we realized biological conception was not in the plan for our family. Dontcha just love the irony of our lives sometimes??? God has quite the sense of humor! So, we conceived another plan! Adoption! Novel thought in our families as we still didn't know any adoptive families, or at least realize that we did. We were told we had no infertility insurance and that the test needed would cost on the realm of $5-7K. "Well," we thought, "we could give a child in need a home for that much money, why spend it on a test that could tell us, 'This is why you may not be conceiving and it may or may not be solved by doing this and it will cost this much, da da da da da da!!' " So, we took the question to our parents and laid it on the table... And, were told to take the test. So, we started adoption proceedings! Leave and cleave and all that jazz! Never mind that counsel of the wise thing, we threw that out with the bathwater ;) The whole biological link thing did not really speak to Mark and I. It was really never something that bothered us at all. However, offering our home to an orphan, now that got us charged up. We loved the idea!!

So, we embarked upon our journey of faith. We saw this as a way to grow our family but also as our mission in life. I opened up my huge Crisis Pregnancy Resource folder, flipped to the section marked adoption agencies and called around California trying to find the cheapest international home study we could find. We were, after all, living on a carpenter's wages. We chose an agency down in Orange County, about a 2 hour drive from here, but were assured that distance didn't really matter. We completed our home study and asked them not to find us a child. We had friends all over the world as missionaries and had put out the word and were just sure that one of them would find our baby. In our mind, we always thought we'd have four little girls right in a row. Our own little women. And, in our mind's eye, our little girl had black hair and beautiful chocolate skin! And these thoughts were pre-adoption planning!! Pretty funny coming from a green-eyed Scot and a lanky blonde hair blue-eyed Dutch boy!

While we waited on God's hand, we had many false starts. We've lost many children over the years and know, for the most part, it is all in God's hands and have faith and trust in Him, even when we don't understand. There are 4 precious girls out there, Amanda, Jeannie, Mary, and Connie, that do confuse us when we think of the why's, but it is not all for us to know on the underside of this weaving we call life. When we get to the top and can look down upon the weaving He Masterfully wove and called our life, we will see that we needed the dark thread, the dark shadows to make the brights stand out all the more!! And, again we will give Him the weaving and lay it at His feet giving Him the praise and the glory.

On Palm Sunday, 1994, we were walking across our church campus when along comes a friend, Laura, and she says, "Amy's in the church, and I think she has your son with her." We looked and one another and continued on. Along comes a second friend, Carol, and she says, "Amy's in church, at the back, to the left, and I think your son is with her." Hmmm... So, we head for Amy, wouldn't want to miss this date with our future son, of course! When we walked up to Amy, she was engaged in conversation with someone else so we headed straight for the double stroller. I come around the stroller, lay my eyes on this little baby boy and my heart fluttered! God spoke to me so very clearly in that moment and I knew, "This is my son!" Mark, on the other hand, thought, "That is the ugliest baby I've ever seen!" Sitting next to him in the stroller was a GERBER baby and we didn't even notice him until Amy turned around and told us he wasn't available as his family was getting him back soon. We were like, "What other baby?" Hadn't even seen the poster child. Daniel's biological mother had used Methamphetamines for the entire pregnancy and the poor thing was just so frail and small and going through withdrawals at that point with a shock of dark brown hair going every which way due to about 76 cowlicks! So began our love affair with Daniel! He was 3 weeks old. On Monday, we called our agency and told them that we'd found our son in our own town and asked them to please issue us a foster license in case we can get him moved over to our house. That foster license cost us $400 and before it even arrived in the mail, for various reasons, we found out it would not help us in Daniel's case. We felt so bad, as if we'd misused funds God had entrusted to us. However, the story was not yet over.

Late in July on a Friday afternoon, the day after our Foster License actually arrived in the mail, we got a phone call from our adoption agency. They were apologetic in their tone as they said, "We know we are not supposed to be looking for a child for you. But, would you be interested in a little preschool age boy from Russia? He has blonde curly hair and blue eyes." Hmmmm, sounds like Mark, I think. Long story short: they had just gotten home from Russia with all of their families that had been ready to adopt. One of the families had ended up with a very sick Mommy while they were travelling and when they arrived home, the family doctor told them to give the children (they'd adopted 2, girl & boy) back to the agency as he tried to make his point that she was dealing with a chronic illness that wasn't going away. They had a bio-son so gave the boy back to the agency. That is our precious Drew!! We picked him up on Monday. When we walked into the room, I was shocked at how petite he was! He weighed 18 pounds! I went over to where he was standing, very interested in the puppies outside the glass doors and he turned to me and reached his arms right up to me and raised his face and looked at me! The ladies in the room were completely in awe. I was clueless! He was extremely autistic-like and had not, in the three weeks they'd known him shown interest in any person, only the vehicles. He'd never been outside of the orphanage and later, we came to believe he'd never been out of his crib! He looked at the world with his chin on his chest and out of the side of his eyes. We were told he had a club foot and had been born at 25-26 weeks as the result of an attempted illegal abortion. He actually had Cerebral Palsy and Mild Mental Retardation, Children's Hospital would eventually tell us. Our personal belief is that he got the CP at birth due to the trauma, the MMR in the orphanage due to malnutrition, and the autistic behavior in the orphanage due to lack of stimuli and also vaccinations due to his weakened immune system just not being able to handle the preservatives/aka mercury in the vaccines. But, we love him to pieces just the way God made him!!

The day after we got Drew began the longest year of my life. I wholeheartedly know that God delivered Drew on that day on purpose. I was already head over heels for Daniel, now 3 months old, and his biological mother had been granted reunification and visitation beginning the day after Drew's arrival. So, every Friday, Amy and I and our 3 children under 2, Drew, Daniel and Angie (Amy's other foster baby, now adopted and a miracle to be alive at 16 because of her genetic disabilities,) all with special needs loaded up and made the all day journey to Long Beach for visitation. Sometimes the bio-mother showed but mostly she didn't over the following year. And, had I not been so completely wrapped up in Drew's medical care at that point, I know I would have been a basket case going through that year of visitation! Amy made this huge commitment and sacrifice to us to make the drive to Long Beach every Friday because Daniel's Social Workers kept trying to get him moved closer to Long Beach. Amy believed as strongly as we did that Daniel was meant to be our son, it was just a matter of time. The week before court, the bio-mother tossed her hands in the air and goes, "If I just KNEW there was a family out there that would love him as their own, I'd give up this charade!" I was sitting just across the livingroom from her and slowly raised my hand in the air like a timid student and said, "S_____, that is why we're here. We love him to pieces! He and Drew already think they are brothers. That is why we've been here weekly for the past year." Her jaw dropped and she was shocked that with Drew's special needs we'd even consider adding Daniel to our family. On court day, we all loaded up again, drove down to Long Beach, picked up both bio-parents and took them to court. The judge made a miraculous decision based on the fact that we were Daniel's secondary caretakers, even though we weren't on L.A. County's waiting list and bl/bl baby boys were their most requested child. He made it VERY clear to the SW's that this was not about a waiting list but a child!! HEAR HEAR!! Sure enough, Drew and Daniel are 51 weeks apart in age and arrived in our home 51 weeks apart from one another, both at almost 17 months old.

Christian came along when Daniel was 18 months old to Daniel's bio-mother. She fully intended to give him to us at birth right up until the birth went so smoothly and she said, "The birth was so easy, maybe raising him will be also." So, we committed to long distance mentoring of her parenting him. She was 10 years older than us but needed the guidance and support. We would send hand-me-downs and photo coupons with just enough cash to get his portrait taken. Stuff like that. And, when he was 13 months old, we were invited to her younger sister's wedding. So, we got to meet Christian, but were very sad to see that the wedding attire she had him in was a size 4 sweater with the sleeves rolled up triple! He was a cutie, nonetheless! Ten months later, she phoned us and asked if I'd come pick him up for a while. "It's so hard being a single Mom, I just need a break." So, I loaded Drew and Daniel up and we went to get Christian. He did not know me but went with me without complaint. We stopped on the way into town to buy him some shoes. His birthday passed without even a call. This saddened me to no end! A couple weeks later, we heard from her again and she was ready for him back. This continued for 6 months. Each time, buying him shoes. The third time, the store was closed when we pulled into the parking lot and at 2.5 years old, he knew the routine and started crying because he couldn't get his shoes. One of those calls had been on Daniel's birthday, she had no clue. I just told her we were a bit busy with other plans that day, but we'd be down first thing in the morning. As it turned out, she'd been able to stay sober from about 3-4 months pregnant, when she found out she was expecting again right up until he weaned himself that first weekend she called me. She could not remain sober for herself, even after 28 months sober, the draw was too strong. Just after Christian's 3rd birthday, he was officially a Dayton!! Barney boots and all!!

Have you noticed we weren't doing too well on our plans?? Our four black haired brown-eyed girls, had morphed into God's 3 blonde hair blue eyed boys!!! This actually caused us to go through some grieving as we let go of our dreams and embraced God's plan. I always wanted people to ask me if I'd adopted. Having children that look just like you doesn't tend to lead to those conversations. So, I began them myself!! We loved the way God had built our family and let our children know how blessed we were by their presence in our lives.

Several years passed and several losses occured. Some so painful, we asked our County Adoption Social Worker to toss our file, not willing to deal with the pain. However, she was very wise and chose to put it away in a drawer instead. She was a veteran, one of the rare ones that stuck around for many years!! In fact, our Charissa was almost Chiarra after her!! One day we did call her and say we truly did want to try again for a daughter. We specified Asian or Hispanic, under 3. Because she had filed our file instead of tossing it, we were put at the top of the list because of the approval date on our file. One day, a worker for the day calls us with a Safe Haven newborn. Loooooooooooooooooooong day and long story, but the mother changed her mind and we didn't get her. I haven't mentioned it but we had also decided years ago that we bonded so well with toddlers that we would leave the newborns to those families feeling so desparately the need for a newborn. So, while we were frustrated with the day we'd just lived through, we breathed a sigh of relief. Not a newborn, ahhhhhhhhh. We'd been married 17 years, had preteen boys, etc. etc... Then, not two days later, we get a call from our Laura Chiarra and she says, "We think we found her and she's both!" Woohoo!! We knew it was her!! She was 23 months old and Asian and Hispanic!! Perfect, just what we asked for!! I picked her up early the next morning in L.A. She was asleep when I took her. And didn't wake up until weall stopped for a snack an hour later. No fuss at all. She just looked at me and I unbuckled her and took her into the restaurant. Where she proceeded to clean the tables and windows with all the littles napkins she could get a hold of!! I called my girlfriend and told her and she said I'd adopted a mini-her, instead of a mini-me!! She is my dear dear friend and she's Mexican and when we're camping and stuff together, Stef takes care of my disorder ;) Thus, the mini-her comment!!

Over the next 6 weeks, I lost 17 pounds trying to keep up with this little wind turbine! We said she reminded us of the Tasmanian devil, zipping around destroying EVERYTHING in her path!! Another girlfriend jokes that when she had us over for the 4th of July a few weeks later, she lost 10 pounds in a couple of hours trying to keep up with her!! Her name at the time was Serenity. That was between the hours of midnight and 6a.m!!! After she'd been here for a while, one day it just hit me like a 2x4, the simplest of facts pulled together to show me the handiwork of God!! This was early summer after our Glory had moved on to glory! Glory was named that because of the verse mentioned above. Before we ever knew we were miscarrying, God kept placing that verse on my heart: Give glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace on whom His favor rests. When we did miscarry over Thanksgiving, we had such unbelievable peace, truly a peace that passes all understanding! You'd think we'd have been wrought with grief, after 17 years, finally conceiving, etc. etc. However, we'd lost several precious children here on this Earth andthey went to families that had we seen them in the park, we'd have packed up and found another park! This precious child was being delivered straight into the hands of the most perfect Father EVER!!! We had confidence that this child was completely safe, unlike our others. So, we felt God had given us such amazing peace here on Earth, and that we were giving Him our Glory, thus the name chosen. Fast forward about six months and we add a new daughter into our lives and just before her birthday, I realize her 2nd birthday falls on our baby's due date! And then I realize, all in the same split second, that her name means PEACE, her name is Serenity!!! God not only gave us spiritual peace, He gave us a little girl named Peace that shares the same birthdate with our Glory in Heaven!!! WOWOWOWOWOW!!! is exactly what came out of my mouth at that moment and then my hubby thought I'd lost it :)

Needless to say, WE ARE THE TRUTH. We are not living a fairy tale life, but don't tell our Princess that. We have three teenage boys and a little pipsqueak that thinks she rules those big boys! All from adverse backgrounds. And, we are now on our way to Russia to rescue more children. It is not an easy life, but God doesn't promise us an easy life! He promises never to leave us or forsake us. Family is about commitment. Carry on.

Fotos, Fotos, Fotos, ahhh! Flying out the door on Friday again!

2010-03-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Just found this sign at a discount store a couple weeks ago!
What a find, only wish I'd had this when my 3 sons were small
and we had social workers in our house at least once a week!!

I tend to be a procrastinator in some areas of my life. And, have found that I get things done at the last minute pretty well, though I do realize I add stress to the family this way and need to resolve this unbalance somehow as I grow up, whenever that happens. As if the time crunch helps spur me on or something! Weird, I know! Anyhow, that's what happened last Friday (3/19/10) when I was trying to get out the door to our little church's Spring Women's Retreat. I wasn't planning to go to the retreat this year, much to my dismay, as it was our 22nd wedding anniversary on Friday, so I thought I should honor my hubby and hang out with him. Only, he knew how much I long for these retreat times away in God's Country, with the conversation of ladies and crisp mountain air, a nice hike, etc, etc. So, he leaned over in church on the Sunday prior and said, "Just go, we can do dinner anytime. The retreat's only once a year." WOOHOO!!! You don't have to tell me twice! Thanks!!!

Just the two of us! We can make it if we try, just the two of us, You & I!

(Grover Washington, Jr, circa 1981 :)

Meanwhile, we needed about 10 photos of different areas of our home and of the residents of our home, aka: THE FAMILY to submit to the judge in Russia!! Sooooo, the first photo I sent to both of our social workers from both the placing and homestudy agencies, was the one up top, lol!! I sent it on a Monday morning, just to help them start out the week with a giggle! It worked!!

We are family!

For the next almost 2 weeks we worked on getting just the right photos figured out, posed (or rooms cleaned,) taken and processed to submit to the judge in Russia. Just as I thought I had it all figured out, I decided to send, via e-mail, the photos I thought we'd use, to our agency and ask what they thought. I sent what I thought would be a great set, only to find out I needed to scrap about half of the shots and redo them. Our little dog had been helping me with the photos and showed up in most of them. I was the only one home when I took the photos and being quite a social critter, she was right along side me! Well, actually, she'd go plop on the couch or bed or wherever I was aiming at, waiting for me to be ready to move on. Turns out, we shouldn't share our love of our pup with the judge JUST IN CASE she/he doesn't share our love for the canine in our picture! By the time I'd thought of asking our coordinator whether or not this "great" set would work and found out they wouldn't work, of course, we'd lived in the rooms again :) Back to square one! Where's my sign?!?

So, on Friday, I was going about my business of packing and mothering and had been told by Mark that he'd come home early so I could get off "work" early and head up the hill to the retreat. I had completed the retakes of the photos and wanted them in the mail, but wasn't too worried about it as I knew our Social Worker wasn't totally ready for them yet, so I wasn't going to worry about them on what was to be my first day off in a while.

However, that all changed with one phone call! I called our placing agency's Russian coordinator (referred to as social worker earlier in the post) to check in to see how things were going on her end as I'd asked her to look into some details for me over in Russia and in the midst of the conversation, she casually mentions that our Jewel is in the hospital following a seizure episode. Now, in Russia, an orphan may be hospitalized for something that here, as families, we can care for them at home under the same diagnosis. Simply because the orphanage staff doesn't have enough arms to mother, nurse, feed, educate, etc. But, in this case, we don't know if that's the case. Perhaps it is serious. Perhaps Jewel is quite ill and is all alone and feeling miserable. We don't know. Regardless of how she's doing, she is only 10 years old and in the hospital without any loved ones there to reassure her of their love for her and to comfort her fears and insecurities. To simply let her know she's loved and missed back at home! This did not hit me until about 10 minutes after we hung up and THEN it hit me like a ton of bricks! I started crying and there would be no leaving for the retreat until I had completed my next step of the adoption paperwork! Regardless of the homestudy social worker's speed, I was getting the photo documents in the mail that afternoon! So, I collected my photos, my paper, some rulers, and my adhesive and set to work, making two identical sets of 10 photos each spread over 5 sheets of plain white paper. When they say identical, I take that literally, so I had rulers going every which way to make sure all of my borders were equal. Once all was said and done, I was off on another of my Friday night dashes! And off to the retreat! But, first I updated my Facebook and Jewel's Facebook pages in order to rally the prayer support throughout the weekend! I may never know how she weathered this experience, now that she has a loving team over here willing to lift her up in prayer. But, that's okay, our Heavenly Father knows and cares and is taking care of her.

This I do know, without a doubt.

He also knows we need another nearly $45,000 to complete this rescue and I believe He has that in someone's pockets here on earth just looking for a treasure to invest it in. We just need to meet, I know of a Jewel that is priceless!

Fast Fingerprinting for the FBI last Friday

2010-03-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (3/5/10), as we were hurriedly trying to get out of the house for a quick camping/dirtbiking weekend, we went and got our fingerprints done first. Now, this is quite the big deal for us because getting the six of us out of the house for a weekend is usually quite the ordeal, (we think we're doing good just getting to church before the first song ends on a Sunday morning. Once the new little ones arrive, I guess we'll just have to start the night before getting ready, oh wait, we already do that ;) so we never plan extras into those days that we're leaving town!! Doesn't make for a pleasant Mommy and Daddy if we are feeling time pressure along with the added pressure of a long drive ahead after an already long day. And, for this trip, we were both going to be driving so that Mark's fun 1947 JEEP WILLYS could come along, also. It doesn't fit on the trailer so it needs it's own tow-vehicle. Which, by the way, gives Mom a bit of a chance to catch up on my reading (currently on Autism) via audiobook since all the kiddos want to ride in the RV. WooHoo!!(Don't tell them I said that ;)
However, we'd chosen our agency, been accepted as clients, and knew that those fingerprints were going to take a loooooong time to get processed at the FBI so we really wanted them on their way before we were on our way. And, we did it!! We'd already lost 6-12 weeks processing time on this adoption while we were in discussions with another agency that we were hoping to use. They got cold feet and we had to move on and find another agency to get these girls home.

Mark and I met, children in tow, at the fingerprinting place, which also serves about a hundred other functions apparently, such as mail boxes, money orders, various shipping modes, local billboard and on & on and on & on... Our man Saul was very gracious with our small crowd in his small storefront on top of his normal business crowd for a Friday afternoon. And, as soon as we were done and had laid down our cash, the dash began. Mark and the children went home to finish the dirtbike trailer pack-up and I went over to UPS to try and ship our fingerprints.I did say, "TRY," right?? Of all the funny things, the main UPS hub in our area doesn't have the capability to print a pre-paid return envelope, which I was told to include with our prints in order to help with the return shipping timeline!! Both of the people that work there are friends of mine, one from church and one through Special Olympics and church. So, I always choose to go there if I have anything to ship so I can have a little catch-up time. We all agreed that it seemed a bit odd that they could not do something that a contracting location could do! So, we had a bit of a visit, a bit of a chuckle and back to my dash! Found a UPS Store, did my business, including writing
URGENT: ADOPTION on the outside of the envelope in big fat red pen! Hopefully that finds us mercy and puts us near the top of someone's pile!!

Ran home, having been gone longer than I'd hoped and realizing I needed to feed my family which has become a bit of a challenge, one I'm up to, Thank you, Jesus! Last time I did a massive dietary change was 20 years ago and I was the chronically ill one! This time we're attacking all the little critters that are disturbing my Autistic, ADD, ADHD, and prenatally exposed children! See: http://www.noharmfoundation.org/index.html

if you are curious. The evidence amazed us! And we are working the protocol as a family.

ROLLERCOASTER WEEK

2010-01-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

The ups and downs of adopting had me going every which way emotionally this past week, and a bit physically, too!! It felt just like being on a roller coaster many times as the week progressed. Wanna ride with me? Do you get queasy?? Hold on tight ~~~~~~~~~~here ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we ~~~
gooo
ooooooooo
ooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

SATURDAY'S ELATION: As in running for the coaster, first ride of the day, gotta beat the crowds, high five-ing your friends...

Our meeting with our Home Study Social Worker went great!! Everything seems to be in order and she actually liked us, or did a great job acting the part ;)
It is amazing the difference in feelings I'm dealing with this time around. We've adopted many times and been thru myriads of home studies and I have always been very nervous. I don't know if it's age that's relaxed me, or experience, or the fact that int'l home studies seem to be a bit more laid back during the interview portion as opposed to County. But, I actually felt a bit of confidence rather than gut-wrenching nervousness. And, definitely more relaxed. Didn't even get a migraine after we waved good-bye!! Now, that's progress...

SUNDAY'S BREATHER: A time of refreshment, catch your breath, knowing there's another thrill around the corner...

A great day in church and lunch at Costco, our favorite bistro ;)

Then, the guys went out to play in the mud in Dad's 1947 Jeep Willys and on Drew's quad. Charissa and Mom rested a bit and then watched the beginning of Hans Brinker/The Silver Skates, a classic we'd never seen. A friend called and before we could even get into conversation, she remembered we weren't supposed to be on the phone! We were supposed to be on our way to church! She was working in childcare and we were supposed to be on our way to drop Charissa off so the rest of us could attend a special winter class on God's Design for the Family. Okay, so it wasn't that much of a breather but when you're on a roller coaster, do they EVER give you enough time to really catch your breath between loops?!?!?!

MONDAY'S DROP: I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry...
This roller coaster is not gonna beat me, I'm braver than anything it can throw at me.
That was what I kept telling myself anyway...

The phone rings and it's the Founder/Director of the placing agency that we've chosen to work with. This is a huge agency but they don't act like it. And, they are the best, so I'm waiting on pins and needles for their answer as to whether or not they'll accept us as clients. The founder's sister has, at this point, told me it's a go, but I've received no contract so I'm still shaky~bakey (can you tell I live in the California desert by that phrase? ;). I answer the phone and after she identifies herself, I'm thinking, "This could be very good or very bad."

Yeah, it was very bad! She was calling to tell me she just didn't see how they could do my adoption for me and weren't willing to take my $$ if they didn't feel they could succeed. The problem is that the region our Jewel lives in REALLY does not like the paperwork from the region I live in. And, it is one of the most difficult regions to work with, period, regardless of where you live. I took a deep breath, fearing I was careening right off the track I was on and was very careful to listen and make sure I got the message. Then, I repeated what I thought I'd heard to make sure we were communicating properly and if what I was hearing was correct.

I was hearing right, shucks! Another deep breath... and, out comes, "So, my girlfriend that lives 10 minutes down the road from me just did this with an agency that did not know their business near as well as you and she succeeded and they've been home for 3 months now. WHAT IF I go over to her house and we copy every piece of paper that she was required by the judge to submit in order to succeed? And, I send it to you? Would that help you consider helping us?"

"Well, just three months ago?? Same judge?? YES, That very well might help." she says. I am holding on tightly to this track and not letting go this easily! I knew from the beginning that this would NOT be an easy adoption. But, is it worth the life of a child? What's a few months of inconvenience in exchange for the life of a precious child destined for doom in just a matter of a few years??

So, I get on the phone and call my girlfriend and she just had an appointment cancel so we plan to spend the day together on Tuesday going through her paperwork like good track inspectors would!

TUESDAY'S CLIMB: Once you've dropped, it's a lot of work to get back up to ground level on those large coasters!

So, chugging right along, we read, analyzed, organized and photocopied a mountain of paperwork! We worked for 6 hours straight, while corralling kiddos. I came home, fixed dinner for the family and then headed out the door to a 2 hour appointment with our Chiropractor discussing a new nutritional plan (for the ADD, Autism, OCD spectrum) we're going to be embarking upon shortly. Back home and on the computer by 9p.m. in order to type up an organized Dossier documents list to go with everything we'd photocopied. I work till midnight and have only completed my responsibilities list, I still have to do the one for the home study agency tomorrow. After an 18 hour climb, I head back into the depot for some rest.

WEDNESDAY'S EXCITEMENT, JITTERS AND PANIC: Finding joy in these loops, for the most part, because I know every one brings me closer to the Jewel at the end!!

I spend a good part of Wednesday morning organizing and typing up the Home Study Agency's responsibilities list that the judge required in my friend's adoption case. Yes, this is all stuff that the placing agency is supposed to do for me, but I'm doing what I can to convince them to represent us as clients in Russia. There aren't very many agency's working in the region we're going to and this one is top notch!!

As we straighten up the house for the Social Worker's return visit tonight, my strong-silent-type son asks in a slightly jittery way, "What is she going to ask us?" I tell him she'll most likely ask what he thinks of his parents adopting another sister. His answer floors me as if I'd scripted it myself for him, "I'll say I think it's cool we're going to rescue a kid out of one of those orphanages and it's good to be getting our sister a sister." Great answer, hold onto that thought!!

So, does she ask him that?? No, too predictable! She wants to know how they'll help their new sister adapt to a busy household with 3 big brothers and 1 little sis! They answered as a team and came up with they'd be practicing some Russian, helping her learn English, how to ride a quad, how to surf, etc. etc. Then along comes Princess Charissa and gives a huge list including teaching Jewel how to be a princess; mermaid; fairy; work in the kitchen, both real and imaginary, dance ballet, read English, and on and on and on and on...

After she leaves, I sit down to read the next of my online adoption training classes and all the guys leave for lap swimming. I get Charissa to bed and sit back down and am only going for a few minutes when I have this feeling that I need to look for Jewel online. I know that, supposedly, countries frown on their children being posted all over the net, but for some reason I cannot resist the feeling that I need to search for her. And, I am no computer whiz!! So, why I thought I could attampt to find an orphan from the other side of the world is beyond me, unless it was a little Holy Spirit prompting. You see, it has been 3 months since we found out about her, yet still don't know officially if she is adoptable. So, all of this work could, potentially, be in vain. However, I found her in just a few minutes, just THREE websites later, and immediately felt, "I'm gonna throw up!" My emotions were just so shocked by seeing her much younger face, and were already on overdrive by all that had happened earlier in the week and there I am looking at her face in an old pic! She's been waiting on that database and in that orphanage for her forever family for YEARS!! And, I still cannot believe I, with my simple computer knowledge, was able to track her down that fast. But, at least we now have the confirmation we desired, she's listed as adoptable!!

It's 12 a.m. I've been going since 7 a.m. time to shut down! I will finish this ride later...

First Social Worker Call!

2010-01-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! Tonight at about 5p.m. our social worker calls to introduce herself and see if we can get together on Saturday for our first meeting. Okay, so we're supposed to be on our best behavior with social workers writing up our homestudy to be read by anybody and everybody involved in this rescue right?!? Soooooo, how do I answer? "Hold on just a second while I get out of bed and check my calendar." AAARRRGGGHHH! I burst into laughter realizing what I'd just said and that she probably had immediate first impressions of me on the not-so-favorable side of the scale and quickly explained that our heater was broken, it was below freezing outside as we'd experienced a bit of snowfall already today, and that I'd decided the bed was the warmest place in the house and I'd just declared I wasn't going anywhere until my hubby had fixed the heater. And, now I was joyfully getting out of bed because of her call! Thankfully, she joined me in laughter!!

We celebrated the phone call with Blueberry pancakes; real maple syrup; my friend, Missy's homemade wild blackberry syrup; and smoothies!!! Of course, when I handed Mark his smoothie while he was working his little heart out on the heater thermostat, he says, "It's freezing outside and in, don't ya think hot tea would have been more appropriate?!!?" HA HA!! Don't rub it in...

So, we are on our way!! Our SW comes out Saturday and I'll try and keep my foot out of my mouth. Wish I could keep a few other feets out of mouths around here, also. But, I'll just have to leave that in the Lord's hands and a have little flesh colored duct-tape on hand. :o) Or, maybe those big red wax lips?? Hmmm...

So, I'm sitting here at the computer a few hours later as all of the children were mostly in bed (Charissa and Daniel's beds have springs just like Tigger's tail in them and they get tossed out several times each evening before getting themselves successfully tucked in for the night) and Mark had said, "Be right back." I'm thinking he just ran back to the Depot for another heater part and I sit down to work on one of my online education classes necessary to complete this adoption homestudy. After a bit, he walks in with a space heater!! Does this mean my heater is NOT getting repaired tonight?? YUP!! He gets it all set up in the hall, blocks off the livingroom and kitchen doors, explains to the children that they have to leave their doors open tonight and goes to bed! So, I'm sitting here typing away completely bundled up in the cold living room and I go down and ask him if we're practicing for our first trip to Russia. "Nope, it'll never get cold enough here to say we're practicing for Russia." Oh, thanks, that really makes me anticipate our first trip which will, most likely, be in winter!

Charissa wants to know if we can roast marshmallows on the space heater tomorrow!!
Nope, we won't be home, we'll be at the dollar movies or in the thrift stores seeking out central heating so our noses won't be blue when Dad gets home from work :o)
That is, if the kids can convince me to get out of bed and get dressed in this igloo we call home! Wait, I know! I'll have one of them move the heater into my room and get it toasty before I venture out...

Paperwork Pregnancy

2010-01-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

I've heard the term "PAPERWORK PREGNANCY" tossed around in regards to all of the crazy paperwork that needs to be done in order to become parents when you adopt. It is really quite unnerving to think of all of the hoops we have to jump through in order to help out children in need. (And, don't get me started on how immature, irresponsible or even dangerous parents are either producing numerous children they cannot provide for, or getting their children back out of foster care at alarming rates! And without even a hint of the level of paperwork and training that foster parents have to go through in order to care for those same children.) I'm all for protecting children and I totally "understand" that that is the purpose of our flaming hoops. But, I've jumped through these hoops so many times, you'd think they would give you a few less hoops if you are a repeat offender, (oops!) I meant rescuer! For instance, I've been told that during the course of this adoption, we will have to repeat our fingerprint/criminal clearance process several times. Is that just in case that over the course of the next 6 months we decide we don't like our normal little My Three Sons (and a princess) lifestyle and up pops a latent urge to just pop over into the COPS realm so we can really shine on TV?? No, no. It's because not all of the people, or better yet, gov't bureaucracies, involved in helping us rescue an older orphan or two don't believe in trusting one another on whether or not we're "cool". Or "sick" as I've recently been informed by my boys is the new "cool!" Ugh!

So, we're jumping through flaming hoops at a remarkable rate according to our home study agency, Chrysalis House, Inc. We're in our first trimester and I'm watching my waistline, hoping it shrinks, rather than grows throughout this pregnancy!!! I'm also hoping and praying for a premature delivery date! Our friends' agency took 18 months to get their son home and we are feverishly working to do EVERYTHING in our power to get Jewel home before her 11th birthday early this summer!!

My biggest CHRISTmas gift this year was calling Kaiser on Dec. 23rd, the first day I had my paperwork packet in hand, to schedule our required physical exams and having them return my call having made room for all FOUR of my children to have their physicals done within about 2 hours of my original phone call!!!! Whoa Nellie!!! Never could I have imagined that amazing gift!!

One big huge speed bump that is really causing issues for us is the choosing of guardians if something should happen and Mark and I cannot be here on earth to finish raising our children. It's not that there aren't completely competent amazing people in our lives that we'd trust with our children. No, it's that we've chosen to serve those children of God that have prenatal exposure issues, primarily. Our children are pretty much a special needs crew and there are a lot of them by today's standards. It's an issue we've discussed on and off for about 15 or 20 years now and have never come up with a solution. God is good and we're still here and they haven't been orphaned again, as of yet. But, we know very well that it just takes a twinkling of the eye and God can call us home. Yes, we do know this and we do know we need to prepare. We do know it's a stewardship issue. We do know all of these things, but the knowledge doesn't make it any easier. Finding someone that God has called to the same level or type of commitment to special needs orphans isn't a common occurrence and if you find them, do they already have a houseful?? It's a tough one, alrighty! However, the clock is ticking and this is the last piece of paper we have to complete in order to finish our homestudy paperwork. Definitely a difficult part of our pregnancy that has to be worked through, and, like yesterday, already!! Yikes!

On the Road Again

2009-12-30T05:08:00.000-08:00

Just can't wait to get on the road (to adoption) again! Sorry for the silence, sometimes it just felt as if we were wandering in the wilderness, not sure where we were going and not able to share where we were either. After many months of waiting on God, He has shown us the direction He would have us go in rescuing older orphans.

And, He used a dear long-time (as opposed to old ;) friend to show us where the road was heading! Amy Post and the Daytons have been friends for about 20 years. Years ago, we attended the same church and had a common love for orphans (still do share that.) It was through Amy that we adopted Daniel, our second son, though he was the first son that we met. She took him in as her foster son for the first 17 months of his life. I learned so much from her during the many hours we spent together commuting to and from Long Beach once a week when our kiddos were little and Daniel was required to go to birth-mother visits.

Amy and I would talk now and then through the years, but always had that "Just as if we'd talked yesterday" feeling to our friendship. Last year, when we started our process to adopt older orphans from the Ukraine, we discovered that Amy and her husband had found their future son in Russia and were also in the process of adopting an older, special needs, orphan. Their process moved right along it's bumpy road as ours stalled due to our girls being adopted by another family.

In October, 2009, Amy called and said, "We're home and Alex is home, too!" Charissa and I went to visit a couple days later, as Mark and the boys were hunting in Idaho, and met Alex for the first time. He is so bright and fun to be around. He has a rare disability called Arthrogryposis, which disables his limbs, but not his mind. The Post's have an older son who also has Arthrogryposis and he began asking for a brother a few years ago, so they searched the world over to find Alex! The orphanage he came from said he was the brightest child in the orphanage! We had a lot of fun playing that day and marveling at the ability that this little guy showed!

About a week later, Amy called to tell us about Jewel, her blog name as she is a precious jewel in God's eyes, and we were so surprised! Amy said that one regret they had in Alex's homecoming was leaving his best friend behind. She explained that Jewel was always with Alex. And that they were brokenhearted to know they would never see one another again. Sure enough, their photos revealed just what they told us. There was Jewel, acting as Alex's arms, when he needed it, but mostly, just being his friend. It was the extreme finances involved in foreign adoption and the strong arm of that government, because of a fluke in their paperwork, that held them back from returning for her. Amy called to see if we'd go get this precious Jewel and bring her home!

So, Russia is our new destination! Jewel is 10 years old which, interestingly enough, puts her smack dab in the middle of the 8 year gap we have between Christian and Charissa! Neat, huh?!? She comes from an institution/orphanage that is set aside for children with special needs of all sorts. When we heard her disability was a seizure disorder, another WOW! Our dear friends have a very sweet 12-year-old daughter that has had a seizure disorder for several years. The girls' given names are nearly the same name! I'm sure that they will become fast friends! The 12 year old's younger sister is our Charissa's best friend and is also 2 years older than Charissa, as the 12 year old is 2 years older than Jewel. So, not only does Jewel have a family and her best friend, Alex, to come home to, she's got a friendship circle ready to embrace her!

So, here we go. Map in hand, destination marked. Won't you join us in prayer during our journey to go get Jewel?

GOOD FOR ME

2009-03-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

I just cannot believe it's been 2 weeks since I sat down and wrote anything! We had 2 birthdays in the first third of March and one of those set a certain child a-fire attitudinally speaking. (Yes, I made that word up. It worked for me, how 'bout you? Oh, wait, I just spell-checked it and it was almost in there as a word! Woo-hoo! I invented a word already invented;) Not sure what clicked in said child but it wasn't a pretty week. And, Mom was having just a bit o' trouble functioning at the level needed by the emotional demands of the week, so the thought of putting something even remotely intelligible onto paper, er screen, just wasn't happening.

For instance, one night I had decided I was going to use up some of our spinach from our Abundant Harvest Organics produce box by attempting a Spinach Quiche. I know it's a fairly straightforward food to prepare but it isn't in my normal repertoire so it required a bit of homework on my part to figure out how to make it dairy-free for the allergy kiddos and with fresh, as opposed to frozen, spinach. Early that morning, before the emotional drain of the day had opened up, I did some online sleuthing and vaguely figured out how to approach the plan that evening. By the time evening arrived, however, my brain cells were all used up for the day so we ate spaghetti, because I can make that with my eyes shut and a hand tied behind my back... As long as I have a little help opening those cans of sliced, diced, stewed and pasted tomato products!

So, I've been very much desiring to share with you my third prayer song. Just couldn't do it while I was undergoing brain-fry week. Which I find slightly humorous now that I'm a week out and can look back at what we were going through, what parts I didn't handle well, and the words of the song I've been wanting to share with you.

I am not a "FAN" per se of people in the spotlight. I love to get to know the heart of an artist or author, for instance, and that lets me understand their motivation, their desire to serve our Lord, and their drive behind what they do or say a little better. I believe we are all created equally as His beloved children. It's just that some of His children end up serving our Lord a bit more publicly than others. I've never been an autograph seeker, photo-op kinda girl. Though I've had my fair share of opportunities over the years. In our family, our Recycling truck driver, Jonelle, is someone we admire just as much as an artist that we enjoy listening to their music. No joke, we wait at the window for her weekly!

Have you had a chance to listen to an interview with Nicole C. Mullen? I love that dear sister and you know, her ministry at home seems so much more a part of who she is, to me, than when she's singing to thousands! That girl is an amazing adoptive mom. She is a mom in ministry, just like so many of us. Her ministry just takes her out front a lot of the time.

Or, what about Bethany Dillon? I had the opportunity to visit with her one-on-one last summer for a few minutes and what a dear, sweet heart she has for her Daddy in Heaven! I had my camera with me and I am a scrapbooker, but you know, it just wasn't right. Here we were, just two sisters in Christ, sharing our hearts with one another, no need for an autograph or pic with the "star." Jesus was the star of our conversation. We were celebrating Him through our sharing of our ministry efforts while here on earth.

All that to say, the reason I'm sharing music with you in these last few posts has nothing to do with my "following" one artist or another. Normally I cannot even tell you an artist's name even though I'll say something to the effect of them being one of my fave's. Meaning: their lyrics lead me into a closer fellowship with Jesus. It has everything to do with lyrics that draw me into a closer relationship with my Lord, Jesus Christ.

And, now I'd like to introduce you to Nathan and Christy Nockels, a husband/wife duo that used to be known as Watermark. I believe Nathan is now in the production end of the music industry and Christy has solo projects nowadays. Their CD's are quite often in our players! http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/artists/watermark.html
You can hear in their lyrics their heart for Christ. And, so much of what they write has spoken to my heart over the years but during this time of seeking God's face in regards to enlarging our family through orphan rescue and the fears and worries that started rearing their unwelcome heads in my heart, this song, in particular became a cry of my heart:

GOOD FOR ME

You bring life to my bones
And a spring to my step
And a heart that knows what it means
To wait before You
And laughter to my house
And a time to sing and shout
And a heart that knows what it means
To really trust You...
And when the shadow of sorrow comes
I will fall on the only One I know
Is the Rock that won't be shaken...
Chorus
'Cause it is good for me
To lay it down at Your feet
It is good for me to lay the good and bad
In Your hand, my God...
It is good for me
To lay it down at Your feet
It is good for me

You are the constant One
When my life is overwhelmed
And You stay the same when all around is changing
And, oh, how good it is, yeah
Just to know the life You give
And my song shall ever be
That my God is faithful...
And when the shadow of sorrow comes
I will fall on the only One I know
Is the Rock that won't be shaken...
Chorus
'Cause it is good for me
To lay it down at Your feet
It is good for me to lay the good and bad
In Your hand, my God...
It is good for me
To lay it down at Your feet
It is good for me

And when I delight myself in You
You give me the desires of my heart,
When I confess that You know best
Peace flows like a river and joy comes in the morning...

Father God,
When I lay it at your feet,
could you please build a fence around it so I won't try and snatch it back?
Amen

TAKE ME 'CAUSE I WANT TO BE YOURS

2009-02-27T06:55:00.001-08:00

Before I had 3 boys of my own, I had 2 little platinum blonde guys as neighbors, one house down, in a huge neighborhood of 3 houses! I adored these little guys and they brought joy to my life at a time when we were struggling with infertility and those desperate feelings and thoughts of: "Will we ever have children of our own to enjoy??" I know their mother often thought they were "bugging" that young couple down the street. But, far from it.

They'd interrupt a moment of tears with a little giggle at the window and I'd join into their laughter. They loved spying on me at my kitchen window and though they were as sneaky as 5 & 6 year olds can be, I'd hear them coming up the dirt road, and, with my back to the window, know just the moment when they'd stick their noses up over the edge of the window sill. With that surprise move that got them every time, I'd wave a sudsy hand at them over my shoulder without ever turning around from my sink full of dirty dishes. Off they'd fly, giggling all the way back home! Their spying mission had been foiled again, but they were sure to get me the next time!!!

These boys were avid soccer players! We were all pretty sure these little guys would go on playing soccer "the rest of their lives" and earn college scholarships based on their soccer skills. However, God had a very different path that He asked them to walk. While their parents had been in music ministry, pre-children, in a very prominent church, they stepped down in order to focus on raising the children God had entrusted to them to serve Him. They did not fully step out of ministry, don't get me wrong, this family is all about serving Him!! They just set their music aside.

Along come Jr. High-ish years and these not-so-little guys start praising God through music. I always thought this was so awesome that God had brought their family full-circle, so to speak.

Those little guys are all grown up now and, along with a few of their friends, they are known as Dizmas. They have been together for 10 years or so, and have served Him in places and shared the Gospel with people that the average person reading this blog, it's author included, could not do. Though they'd been making music together for years and were supported in prayer by us, their style wasn't really what we listen to in our home. Very God honoring and sold out to God just a different musical style than Mom prefers around here. During my time of seeking the LORD's face about orphan rescue, one of their songs, became one of my prayers.

One of my favorite radio stations ( http://www.sosradio.net/ ) was playing this song one day and it immediately struck a chord with me. I heard something about fear and giving it over to the LORD and asking Him to hold my hand through the fear, and remove the overwhelming fear I was dealing with in the thought of doubling the number of our children. And, then the song said, "Take me where you want me, take me 'cause I want to be yours," and that was what I needed to remember. I am His and He will take me nowhere He cannot handle. I told my boys, "Now that is a good song, I wonder who it is??" But the announcer didn't tell us.

So, a couple days later, I hear this announcer talking about an "up and coming band" that we, the listener's, need to be watching for and I'm thinking, "Okay, let us hear the song already..." And, at that same moment he said, "Their name is Dizmas." Another giggle for me, all these years later, since I knew this was not a new band, they'd just celebrated 10 years together. But, imagine my surprise, when the opening line started and it was the VERY song I'd wondered just 2 days earlier who it was!!! So, without further ado, please join me in prayer...

YOURS

It feels like the sky has never been so blue
But that's not the way it used to be
Because there was a time that I was without you
Before I said that I believe

Ooooh, I need a savior
Ooooh, I need a savior

I want to give this up
I want to hold your hand
Take away this fear that's like an ocean in my head
I want to tell you now, What I couldn't say before
You are everything that I was always looking for

So take me where you want me
Take me 'cause I want to be yours

I've got pride that I still have to break
It's keeping me away from you
And You stay patient while I make mistakes
I'm learning how to trust in you

Ooooh, always a savior
Ooooh

I want to give this up
I want to hold your hand
Take away this fear that's like an ocean in my head
I want to tell you now, What I couldn't say before
You are everything that I was always looking for

So take me where you want me
Take me 'cause I want to be yours

In the good and the bad times
Ooooh
It don't really matter
I want to know you

I want to give this up
I want to hold your hand
Take away this fear that's like an ocean in my head
I want to tell you now, What I couldn't say before
You are everything that I was always looking for

So take me where you want me
Take me 'cause I want to be yours.

I'm not very talented at this computer stuff,
but maybe this link to the video of YOURS will work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlSquUhZuc4

Lord, Give me your Eyes

2009-02-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

During the months that Mark and I were deliberating on whether or not to adopt again, the LORD used many different avenues to speak to my heart. No joke, it was as if every sermon took me back to: Yes! If this (whatever the topic was) was active in your life, you'd be jumping at the chance to serve His children in this manner. For example, my Pastor, Jim DeVore, of Cornerstone Church of Littlerock, is preaching on the purity and sanctity of marriage and my brain goes, "Of course you should rescue the girls, have you seen the statistics? Do you know how miniscule their chance at a pure marriage is if you don't?? Bring them home, set an example of a pure marriage for them...."

Wait, how'd the rest of that sermon go after I got carried off on my rabbit trail??

Mother's Day, 2008, with Mark's Mom at Rainforest Cafe, thus the leopard!

Anyhow, songs were another powerful tool He used to speak to me. There were about three that truly became prayers for me and when I would hear them on the radio, I would take a time out and just stop and pray. My boys started figuring out what I was doing and, if I was on the other end of the house, and one of my "prayers" came on the radio, they'd turn it up for me. I'd like to share the powerful words that stirred my soul, with you, over the next few posts. This first one had me in tears just about every time I heard it! I'd start picturing the homeless men and women down near skid row that we haven't had the time to get back to in the last year. Or the orphanage in Haiti that we supported for years when our boys were toddlers. Or, our little Christian orphanage ( http://www.elsauzal.org/ ) in Ensenada that we love so much but haven't been back to in about 3 years because of passport issues with the new rules, and sports schedules with three teen boys around here. Well, I could go on and on but then I'd have you in tears and I really want you to read Brandon Heath's words so no teary-eyes, ya hear??

At the bottom of today's post, I've tried to post the link to his video on YouTube, I do hope it works for you. If not, just search for Brandon Heath's own video of Give Me Your Eyes.

Give Me Your Eyes
by Brandon Heath

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black-top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breathe in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere, Why have I never cared?

Chorus: Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Ye-ah ye-ah ye-ah ye-ah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time
All those people going somewhere, Why have I never cared?

Chorus: Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Ye-ah ye-ah ye-ah ye-ah

I've been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving, pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well, I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you've seen the people all along

Chorus: Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see...

Lord, please give me your heart for the broken-hearted, Penny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ

BOY! This girl needs a sister...

2009-02-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Last night, our five year old is dancing, ballet style, around the house all dressed up in her princess finery blessing everything in sight with the treasured Princess Wand. Prancing on up to her 13 year old brother in the kitchen doing his Cinderella-man dish-duty, she says, "Lean down, I'm going to turn you into a Sugarplum-fairy man."

Trying hard to divert this particular personality choice from attacking his manhood, he suggests, "Nah, just turn me into a carrot."

"A CARROT!!!! There are NO carrots in fairy-tales!!" Princess Charissa informs the poor boy, obviously lacking in fairy tale etiquette.

*************************************************************

Just before I started typing this, little Princess woke up and was cuddling on my lap when she spied a picture of President Lincoln here on the desk. "Hey, we met him last week!" Referring to a field trip to Forest Lawn for a presentation that they call A Visit with the Great Presidents. We got to "meet" 3 former presidents. The next words out of her mouth really threw Mom for a loop, "And, the other was a toy-maker!"

Did you figure it out??

We met President Theodore Roosevelt and he was holding a Teddy Bear and explained to us about a toy manufacturer developing the little bear and dubbing it Teddy Bear in honor of him!

Our girls were stolen?!?

2009-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

As careful as I was last week to explain in a positive light to our five year old that "our girls" had been adopted by another family, it has come to my attention this week that our girls have been stolen!

Aliana, Christiana & Charissa

A few girlfriends have come to me this week to let me know that little Princess Charissa had informed them that someone had stolen her sisters. I have an inkling that I used the word chosen a little too frequently and in the mind of a 5 year old: chosen by someone else translated directly into stolen from her.

Picture this: Two - 5 year olds working hard to earn the last remaining super-coveted-wonderblingie out of the prize box. At last, Dot earns her trip to the prize box, only to discover that "her" wonderblingie has been "stolen!" Meanwhile, on the other side of the room sits a very happy little Darci playing with her recently "chosen" wonderblingie. As adults, we can oversee a scenario like this and completely grasp the fact that Darci earned her trip to the prize box first and thus is the rightful owner of her chosen trinket. On the other hand, we also know that little Dot just needs to look at the prizes set before her in a whole new light. Perhaps an even better prize that she has yet to discover lay before her in that prize box. However, she has to make the decision to reach in and choose it, we cannot force her.

I think sometimes that's the way it is with God watching over us. We get absolutely devastated over things because we cannot see the big picture. While God knows that if we will perservere, He has something better for us waiting on the other side of our mountain or molehill (you choose ;).

What mountain are you facing today? God has all the hiking gear you need in His Word. He loves each & every one of us dearly, but He will not force us to choose this way or that. We are not His puppets, we are His chosen children.

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD,
'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search with all your heart.' Jeremiah 29:11-13

As for me and my house, we will press on for the prize that He has waiting for us at the end of this adoption journey. All the while keeping in mind that:

The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

While we were...

2009-02-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

While reading a friend's blog last night, I found this very touching memorial written by another adoptive mom. Please read, pray, and if able, help one of these precious little ones get home.

While we were... in memory

While we were eating...
... they were hungry

While we were playing...
... they were restrained

While we were tucking our kids into bed...
... they were alone

While we turned up the heat...
... they laid in the icy cold

While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers...
... they laid in their own excrement

While we sang songs and listened to music...
... they listened to the screams and cries of those around them

While we rocked our babies...
... they silently rocked themselves

While we hugged our kids...
... they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation

While we cried over scraped knees...

... they moaned in their loneliness

While we brushed our daughters' beautiful hair...
... they had their heads shaven to stave off the lice

While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment...
... they got the flu and went Home.

No longer suffering... but so many more still are.

In memory of those that have never felt the love of a family, but have passed away alone. Today we learned of the passing of these two girls in Eastern Europe.
Margarita

Katarina

For those who have asked, please feel free to share this on your blog. Meredith Cornish

Carrying On!

2009-02-08T14:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Sunday! Many "Thanks" to my Blog-master Brooke for posting my last entry for me while my 'puter was misbehavin'!!
I'm having so many thoughts rumbling around in my brain, I'm having trouble sorting them to place them here in B & W! You'd think with several days off-line, I really could have worked this through, but alas, NO!

The bottom line is that "Our girls" opened up a new dream for us. We had not planned on growing our family any larger until meeting a great group of orphans and spending time with them last summer. We had our "Summer Sister" for 6 weeks and mid-trip did fun group activities with the other host families and their summer children. As a family, we absolutely fell in love with these children from afar that had lost everything including their home, family, friends, and possessions. What to do?????

In looking at what we have to offer, we realized once again how very rich we are. Not necessarily monetarily speaking. But, in so many ways! We have the knowledge of a loving God, our Father in Heaven; His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit, and all that He does for us. We have an intact family, both our own nuclear family here in our own home and our extended family. We have the most amazing church family, which serves truly as our family in a myriad of ways since our extended family is not very near by. We have a snug home that keeps us both warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have the vehicles we need for both practical and fun times. Our God, has indeed, supplied all of our needs.

So, now that we've been shown afresh, up-close and personal, the needs of the orphans overseas, what are we going to do about it? Our plan is to continue on with our orphan rescue "project" and see where God leads each step of the way. We'll be heading to Ukraine once the home study and all of the other state-side details are completed, with what they call a blind referral. Meaning: it'll be a great surprise to see just who God does have in mind to join the Dayton family.

We would love for you to stay on our team, or join if you haven't already. Please pray, spread the word or give as you feel led to do. We feel strongly that we are to continue, with God's help, to bring an orphan or orphans home, that they will feel the love of a forever family and that very special feeling of being wanted, no longer unwanted. May God bless your day, Penny

Best of Times, Worst of Times

2009-02-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the "Best of Times" for a sibling group of four sisters in the Ukraine. They were adopted by a loving Christian family from the Pacific Northwest. Please pray for this family as they are now in the 10 day waiting period before they are allowed to pick up the girls from the orphanage and bring them home. Pray there would be no appeals and all would go smoothly from here on out.

The very miraculous point here is that this sibling group had only been freed for international adoption about eight weeks before becoming chosen children! Highly unusual, though they were so covered in prayer, God's mighty hand moved.

From an earthly perspective, it may seem to be the "Worst of Times" for a certain Southern California family that was hoping and planning to rescue this same sibling group. Yes, friend, "our girls" were adopted yesterday. And, while we feel the loss, this is the way of Ukraine adoptions- there is no reserving children- and it is also the answer to our original prayer that they would be adopted soon by a wonderful Christian family.

Between Then & Now

2009-02-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

Is this not PRECIOUS?? We were playing at the beach with Aliana and she'd been enjoying the sun, surfing with Daddy, stacking all the seaweed and kelp she could gather into a huge mountain, chasing down all the crabs in the tide pools and at one point I turn around and she has written "MAMA" in the sand. Now, I've done foster care and know that it is quite common for the new child in the house to use words like "Mom" and "Dad" for those in authority in the home they are living in. This is pure head knowledge. It was my heart that took this pic! For 6 special weeks in our lives, we were Mama and Daddy to this precious child of God! And, oh how very special that time is to us! It has become our hearts' desire to make real that relationship and those names, LORD willing.

So, what has occured between then and now?? Well, our entire hosting group of children returned to their orphanage in the Ukraine on August 31, 2008. And, we returned to our lives. Only it was different now. There were missing parts to our hearts. They'd gone home with the girls. Mark and I were so very uncertain about committing to move forward with adoption plans to add FOUR more precious lives to our family. That's not exactly the type of decision you make quickly, so we didn't. We "sat on it" for several months, three to be exact. And for most of that time as we went back and forth with those: "We must be crazy..." type questions running through our heads, I was nauseous. No joke. Weighing the pros and cons from all angles was unsettling me to my inner core. My dear friend told me I was experiencing adoption morning sickness and it would soon pass. Funny thing about that... It did! At three months! Funny timing. At that point, we committed to move forward and just see what the LORD had in His plan for us and be willing to walk in this path. And, all of my nausea just fell by the wayside. Interesting how those things work in our lives when we choose to TRUST AND OBEY, huh?!?

Trust and Obey
for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus
but to trust and obey!

So, for now, we are busy trying to get a small house ready to fit a few more people. Think 1950's with 9'x10' or 10'x10' bedrooms. Trying to get those procrastinated projects, of all types, done and caught up on, because we figure it is better to stop procrastinating on them now. Obviously after we have more children, it's not like we'll have more time on our hands. We are constantly thinking: as a group of 10, how would the event, situation, issue, etc. we're in right now look. Whether it's getting ready for church, driving in an 8 seatbelt vehicle, camping, cooking dinner... Whatever it is, I'm constantly re-evaluating how it will be different by necessity. We talk about the adoption ALOT! To everyone we meet. I don't remember if I've said it here or in conversation with a friend, but I feel as if I've taken on a new career. I'm a PR person for older orphans. No, I'm not a potential adoptive mom, not me. I'm in public relations. So, if you happen to end up near me (and we haven't yet had the privelege to meet face to face) just about anywhere, in line or whatever, I'm the one talking Ukrainian adoption. Just humor me and pass me your e-mail address so I can keep you updated on this exciting journey we're taking! And, just maybe, you'll choose to join us down the road in one way or another. Perhaps it'll be helping our specific orphans get home or maybe you'll feel the call to rescue a few of your own!!!

WHEE!!!! NO HANDS!!! Hmmm, what is that song my boys like..... Oh, Jesus take the wheel.

Yes, Jesus, please do. Amen

It's All About Team Effort

2009-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

Hello to you on this absolutely GORGEOUS last day of January!!! I'm loving the sun we're getting today!! I went out and cut back my roses, YAY! I'm a hibernator normally during the winter, so this warm day was fun for me to see the SUN!!! And, not be wearing three to four layers!

Well, to keep you updated on how our work is coming on our orphan rescue project (aka: older child adoption;) we've created this blog. Now, let me tell you: this was scary for me! Our adoption agency's director told me to create a blog to help keep friends, family and fellow countrymen up to date on what is the latest haps and prayer needs. My response: tears. Really, I just started crying. I'd heard the word but had no idea what a blog was! But, in a few days, when I thought I was ready, I asked a friend (oops, those nervous tears showed up again!) if one of her teens could help me. They were more than happy to and kept telling me over the next month as I was dragging my nervous little fingers... how very easy it was and I'd be fine. I tried to get my feet wet by reading about 8 other families' adoption blogs. I'm so thankful to have found them and followed along in prayer as they proceeded with their plans. Well, as you can tell, my blog is up and ready to begin to be read!!! Please stop in frequently and keep in touch.

We have raised a little over $3,000 so far. Laurel, our director, tells me that's great for the first month! I'm going to be figuring that out a little more precisely this weekend. But, I am really excited because we've come up with some great ideas just brainstorming with friends!! As I've said, there is no way we could do this on our own and we really are hoping you'll join our orphan rescue team!! Do you have any creative ideas for raising funds?? A fellow homeschooling family held a bake-sale for us last weekend and made $170 for the girls' adoption fund!!! Are you or your teens involved in a group that would be interested in doing some sort of fundraiser for us?? There are so many types and we can send you flyers or pics, whatever you need to help promote your project. Are you involved in a youth group, service club, couples group, etc. that would pull together and do a dinner, or car-wash, or bake-sale or silent (or not so silent) auction, or pass out flyers for a fundraiser "day" at any of the many food places that participate in those very generously?? Our adoption agency is a non-profit 501c3 agency. Many high schools require service hours for graduation, could you or someone you know "adopt" the girls for your/their hours??

Sunday School with "Mrs. Ocean"

We truly cannot proceed in this adoption without a team effort. If you've ever felt the tug to help orphans, but were not sure how or were not going to adopt yourselves, we'd love for you to jump on our bandwagon and give us a hand in this concert!!! The more the merrier!!! All the more beautiful music we can make together. There are so many types of instruments in a band and everyone has a distinct part. If your part is prayer, please pray. If your part is driving our boys to a class weekly while we're in Ukraine, THANK YOU! If your part is collecting recyclables for the girls over the next 6 months, you go!! If your part is helping my hubby re-roof our den so that it can become a much needed bedroom, come on over! If your part is hosting a lasagna dinner in your home for 5 couples, enjoy!! (to do this easily: buy a Costco lasagna, salad and bread, charge each couple $20 and you've just made $100 for the girls, WHEE!!!! And had a date night, too!!) What about getting your Sunday School class together to hold a huge garage sale, or bake sale or both?? Do you e-bay? Can you designate an occasional item for our "charity"? Can you send this blog address on to your contacts? Now, that's an easy one! Will your church allow a pocket change collection for the adoption?? (Tape their pics on a large water bottle and set it out each time the church is open.) One girlfriend hands me her pocket change every time we run into each other!! How awesome is that? Do you have a hobby that could make a little extra money to bring home some girls in need of a family?? Not everyone is a piano player. Just find your instrument and play and we will sing your praises as we proceed because the Lord asked you to help in this way or that, and you did.
We already, so early in this process, feel the love for these orphans from so many of you as you stop and ask "How it's going?" Thank you for your care! We love you and so appreciate your hearts, Penny

P.S. Will you please invite your friends on over to our blog?? If everyone helps a little, through prayer, giving and passing the word, the girls will be home in no time. (Just don't ask me how I feel about that comment when I'm 9 months "along"...) Also, if you know of companies looking for tax-deductible donations, we'd love to be considered;)

Orphans Need Homes

2009-01-29T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hello, hello! Well, my blog experience is all of four days old and I realize I've been trying to play catch up and pack 6 months worth of God's working in our lives into a few entries in order to bring you up to date with us. So, from now on I'll try to be a bit more succinct, though I cannot guarantee anything. I come from wordy Scottish stock.

One thing I did forget to mention is that we are using pseudonyms for the girls in order to protect their privacy.

During our hosting experience, I heard someone on the radio say, "It's not that we want more children, it's that these children need parents," speaking of orphans. Doesn't that just hit the nail on the head?!? Last week, I suppose because it's National Right to Life month and there was a lot of adoption talk on Christian talk radio, I had a girlfriend tell me what I had already heard on another radio broadcast, "If one family in every Bible believing church in America would adopt an orphan, it would clear out all of the orphanages in __________." Oops, I can't remember the rest of that quote, but I'm sure you get the idea. Right?

Well, we were pretty sure we'd done our part. After all, we've adopted four. Sounds, pious, huh? We're really not, it just looked so in print. Without Jesus, none of this family would be a unit! He put us together piece by piece and holds us together day by day. When we began adopting many moons ago, it was because we wanted to have children in our lives to raise for Christ. When we stopped adopting 3 years ago, it was because we live in a relatively small home, weren't sure where we'd put any more kiddos and my hubby was going to attempt to build us a home within the boundaries of L.A. County, doesn't get any worse, we'd been told. (Now, we're sure that was an accurate prediction!) So, we just decided it was time to halt our family growth for the sake of sanity. Years ago, we were in the process of adopting Drew and Daniel as we were paying 2 mortgages for 2 years on 2 - 50 year old homes and taking turns living in one while renovating the other to live in, and then the big move and living in our "new" home while renovating our first home to become a rental. The whole endeavor took almost 2 years. We absolutely did not want to try building a home, homeschooling, and adopting all at once, this time around. I'm sure it's been done, albeit by families of sturdier stock than us, though!

Borrowing a Sister

2009-01-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

About mid-way through our hosting we were blessed to be able to "borrow" Aliana's older sister for a week. We had begun to have an inkling of feeling that the Lord would be asking us to step in and seek to rescue these orphans from the sad future that Ukraine would offer them as they aged out of the orphanage stage of life at 16 years old. By this time, we had found out that Aliana was one of FOUR sisters, all under eight years old! The whole idea of becoming a family of TEN was earth-shattering to us when we thought we were done at a comfortable SIX! However, we did feel this could very well be an area of our life that we were supposed to follow along in faith and see just what the Lord had in store for us. So, we decided that the wise thing to do would be to spend some time looking into the heart of Aliana's oldest sister while she was here in America. After all, whatever caused them to become orphaned would be most prevalent in her little life as the oldest child, which in most dysfunctional families means: the little "mom." Christiana's host family lived about 6 or 7 hours north of us but so graciously agreed to rearrange their schedules and meet us halfway, not just once, but two weekends in a row!

Well, what a week it was! Christiana was a strong-willed blessing to us! She did help get her little sis in order (and vise versa) when we were having an issue and the language barrier was hindering our reasoning abilities. Normally, the one not involved in the present issue-at-hand would step in and reason it out for us in their native tongue. And, on we'd go! We found them to be very desiring of love and, for the most part, our approval. What fun it was having THREE little girls to play dress-up; watch princess movies together; splash each other in the pools around town; encourage one another to be brave at the dentist! The week, in general, opened up our eyes to rescuing older children by way of adoption. It had been over 10 years since we had last considered adopting an older child and had pretty much closed our minds to it for reasons not to be published here. During those years, we had used child sponsorship through World Vision to help older, poverty-stricken children around the world.

"But, what about the fact that there are FOUR of them?" you ask. Well, that is precisely why we began thinking in terms of a rescue adoption, at all. We were told that large sibling groups do not get adopted very often in the Ukraine and so many of the girls, after getting too old for the orphanage, enter into prostitution in order to just survive. It is so easy to go through our comfortable American lives without really considering the plight of the orphan on the other side of the earth. Sort of like scrooge says before his conversion, "Are there no poorhouses; ie:orphanages?" But, borrow an orphan for a while and no longer can a blind eye be turned upon their plight. Their eyes hold you in your memories of them. We just could not allow this large sibling group to suffer a life of being "unwanted." We don't have much, we'd say, but we have more than they have and we can share. Just ask our 5 year old, sharing is a big thing in her little life. She'll share the meal in front of her if someone else looks like they might need a bite to eat. And, with 3 teenage brothers sitting across the table, there is always someone looking like they need another bite to eat!

Orphan Hosting, What's That?

2009-01-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

One Friday in late April, no different than any other day, I, unsuspectingly, opened an e-mail forward from a friend. Those can be really dangerous and life-changing! So, watch out! It had to do with orphan hosting. I had no idea what that meant. So, on I read... Parts of it are here for you, if you are interested: Our Ukraine partner has an appt. at the passport office next week and will only be able to process documents for kids that we have host families for at that point. We have 13 host families so far but we need 20 more! I would hate for these 20 kids to be left behind while their friends or siblings travel to the US for the summer.
Please pass this info along soon, as we only have a very short while to find these host families or these kids will not be able to come. Thank you so much. As always, call us anytime with questions. We will be working all weekend to find families so you can call day or evening for more info. Please take time to look at these kids photos and pray for them individually.
Blessings,
Laurel Boylan, Director
God's Waiting Children, Inc.
1865 Herndon Ave., #K125
Clovis, CA 93611
(559) 316-4823 local
(866) 468-3089 toll free
www.godswaitingchildren.com

Well, like any good Christian woman, I thought, "Someone should do this!" Pointed my mouse and promptly sent it off to everyone in my address book!

By early Monday morning, I had been on the phone with Laurel several times trying to figure out the best way to get the hosting fee (which pays for the orphans' travel expenses) to her fast so that they would have what they needed to proceed. We'd decided it would be alot of fun for our only Princess to have another Princess to play with for the summer! So, there was one sweet little girl face left, close to Charissa in age and she looked so much like my childhood photos it was rather odd. "She's ours!!" we said. And, three months later, she was, for six weeks!!

We had a great summer. It was a lot of work since our Summer Sister, Aliana, wanted to be first in our hearts and at the same time our own Princess had been bumped over to share her throne and was not so very pleased about it! But, overall, it was great fun: swimming, camping, surfing, zoo trips, corn dogs and ice cream were top on her list!

Part of the idea of orphan hosting is to allow the orphans to see and experience life in a healthy family. It takes them out of institution life for the summer. And, with our particular agency, it is to be a Christian family. Another big part of that is advocating for older, waiting children. It is our prayer that more families will consider adopting a waiting child throughout the world. This hosting program is an opportunity to educate American families about life in the orphanages and introduce them to some wonderful children. It is GWC's hope that this experience will open many families' hearts and minds to adoption in the future. Host families play a large role in building public awareness of the needs of children living in Ukraine orphanages. Often people have a preconceived idea of what “older” children who live in orphanages are like. This experience typically changes that notion. God's Waiting Children's experience has been that the children far surpass the host families’ expectations! Part of hosting a child or children is getting them involved in a church family and/or other community activities. One thing that was helpful with God's Waiting Children was that we had T-shirts made with their 800 number on them so at the fair, zoo or wherever, a person could remain anonymous to you if they chose to, but call to ask questions about adoption from a foreign country. On the other hand, it also brought attention to our little group and so many people just came right up and asked what God's Waiting Children was all about!

Let me introduce myself

2009-01-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Well, let me introduce ourselves. This pic is a year old but I love it! So, I'm starting out with it! My hubby, Mark, and I have been married longer than I lived single now, counting from birth, that is! He works in the commercial/healthcare construction industry. Mark is almost as old as my Dad was when I was born, so, why not be thinking about adding a few more, huh? And, the bonus is we won't be starting at newborn! I'm home full time with the children and we do school here in our home and at various other locales around our valley. Starting from the left in the front row is our eldest son, Drew. Drew was born 3 months preemie due to an attempted illegal abortion in Russia, and then was followed up with NO medical care. He is our miracle baby Number 1! Doctors never expected him to walk or talk when they were first evaluating him as a toddler. He does and quite well, thank you! But, most favorite of all, he swims and rides a quadrunner! Next is Daniel, who is adopted through L.A. County foster care. His bio-mom did meth intraveneously, subliminally trying to abort. He was born addicted, but his brain today moves faster than a speeding bullet! Faster than the rest of us at home, also, sad to say. Miracle baby Number 2! She used so frequently that shortly after he was born she nearly died from the side effects of her use. Daniel, like most 14 year old boys, thinks team sports, dirtbiking, wakeboarding and skateboarding are what life is about. We're working on expanding those thoughts and this year he's learning to play a clarinet. Most of the time, we have beautiful beginner notes during practice time! My shortest son in this pic is now my tallest, about to pass me up (& I'm 5'10"!) and he just turned 13! What happened and when?!? He is Daniel's bio-sib and when his mother found out she was pregnant again, we were going thru court to adopt Daniel, and she was on prescription med's for the heart and liver damage she'd done to herself during Daniel's pregnancy. She was through the first trimester when she started seeking medical attention and 4 doctors independantly told her to abort, giving her all of the horrible scenarios that could happen to him due to the fact that the med's she was taking were normally given to very late-in-life men with heart problems, not expecting to get pregnant while on those med's.

According to them, he would be born missing limbs, with severe skin issues, possibly blind, and various other abnormalities were predicted. Rather than abort, and since she'd tried four Dr's, she just stopped everything! Stopped coming to Daniel's visits since she didn't want the county to know another one was on the way, stopped seeking medical care, stopped her prescription med's and stopped her illegal drugs, all cold turkey! While planning to give him to us at birth, the birth went so easily that she decided that raising him would be just as easy. That lasted for 23 months until he weaned himself, and then she called for the first of many "rescues" since she could not stay sober for herself alone, although she'd been sober for 2 1/2 years. "It's so hard being a single mom," she'd say and then ask me to drive 2 hours one way with 2 preschoolers to come get her toddler so that she could have a "break." Thirteen months later, he was ours!! He is a beautiful boy and has been his entire life, inside and out. No skin peeling away, no limbs departing unexpectedly. I've heard it said that this is why we say doctor's are "practicing." They are human after all, not omniscient. Christian is the healthiest (and soon to be biggest as we're sure he'll pass Dad, too!) member of our family! God miraculously protected him from major damage that had been predicted by FOUR professionals. Miracle baby Number 3! Today, he enjoys all the same stuff that his older brothers do and also, beating those same "little" brothers in all wrestling matches. Soccer is one of his passions and this past season, he played almost his entire season on a broken foot! We found out it was broken because we were at the podiatrist for something else and he decided he wanted to see an x-ray. When it came back in a few minutes, the Dr. just looked at us and said, "Did you know your foot is broken?" Christian and Mom just burst out laughing! We knew exactly when it had happened, 7 WEEKS earlier at church youth group just playing around! He'd come home and said he thought he'd really messed up his foot or something this time and {confession time} Mom said, "Suck it up, you'll be fine in a day or 2." He wasn't fine but the pain was not stopping his soccer season! No way, no how!! He even asked the doctor if he could go ahead and finish the season since it was so close to being over. The doctor didn't find as much humor in the situation as we did and the answer was, "Absolutely not!" There's always next year! And, in Daddy's arms is the Princess, Charissa. After many missed tries to adopt a daughter, Charissa moved in and went straight to adoption. Her bio name meant "peace" and we joked that that was between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. We called her Serendipity until it came time to officially name her as it fit her better than her given name. Mom lost 17 pounds in a few weeks just trying to keep up with her. Friends at church joked about Charissa being the latest diet program as it was working so well for me! Testimony time: The Thanksgiving before, we miscarried the only child we had ever conceived. Before knowing what would happen to us in the very near future, the LORD laid this verse on my heart repeatedly: Give glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace on whom His favor rests. This was in the early fall (nowhere near Christmas) and I just kept hearing that "version" of that verse in my heart, not even checking to see where it was from. Well, when we found out we were miscarrying, we had such peace from the LORD, definitely the peace that passeth all understanding! We had lost MANY fost-to-adopt daughter's over the years in very strange circumstances to bio family member's that had we seen them in a park, we would have picked up our children and found another park to play in. However, this baby was having a TOTALLY different experience! This little one was moving from my womb into the most loving arms in the UNIVERSE! Was there any better place? No. I asked Mark if we could name the baby Glory as I felt the LORD had given us, here on earth, so much peace in this loss and that we were giving our baby to God. He agreed. Fast forward 6 months. Our adoption worker calls us with a newborn and before we get to the hospital, the mother changes her mind, however noone tells us this for hours and we're sitting out in front of a hospital in a dangerous L.A. neighborhood, clueless! We basically adopt toddlers so this newborn thing was making us nervous wrecks, anyhow. So, we go home. Within a couple days, our worker phones again and says, "We found her and she's both!" (We'd asked for an Asian or Hispanic girl.) Well, you'll never believe this, but our Princess is named Peace and she shares a birthday with our Glory, had Glory been born on the due date! So, our wonderful Father in Heaven who enjoys these fun details He paints into our life stories, gives us spiritual peace to get us through a tremendous loss and a few months later gives us a physical gift in the form of a daughter named "Peace" born a couple years ahead of Glory on Glory's predicted birthdate! So, while the due date of a miscarried blessing can be quite painful as it rolls around, we were (and still do each year) celebrating the Peace He'd given us!! Give Glory to God in the Highest and on earth Peace on whom His favor rests.
Father, we do feel favored by you and thank you for your provision on so many levels in our lives day by day. As we seek to offer a home to orphans as we feel you leading, please guide our every move, thought, plan. In Jesus' name, Amen