LOA!

No time for fancy pictures! I gotta feed the troops!

53 days for those counting.... 18 days out of translation

For those of you that do not speak Chin-adoptionese   LOA= Letter of Approval and it simply means that Ch*na has read all our documents, found them in order, and sent a letter back to us asking
"Do you want to adopt _____?"

Then we still need to finish some US immigration stuff, but that works in a generally more predictable pattern...as does the final part of issuing travel invitations etc....

So when do we travel?
Waaal, that should be October  BUT they have a national holiday at the beginning of Oct and then a wonderful trade fair the rest of the month in Guangzhou...a city that all Americans must visit
Soooo, since lodging is limited and is normally 3x the normal price...I'm guessing we will leave the very end of Oct and arrive in Guangzhou right after the trade fair people go home....

Guess we will wait and see what God has planned.

Family Camp out

Each year my family tries to do a family camp out.We set up tents in our front yard and try to do as much of the cooking over a fire as possible. Sorry there are no pictures of Fri night's feast...I was too busy licking my fingers!

Fire bread

chicken breast

sausage,

potatoes,

corn on the cob

cucumber salad

home made icecream

pies

fresh fruit

You get the idea....trust me it was good and I didn't want to get my camera greasy.

The thunder storms came early in the day and skirted north of us later in the day. God was gracious. Last year we had a flooded front yard and a flooded basement- so we cancelled.

 Totally forgot to get pictures until Saturday AM...these are the previously sleeping beauties. They slept in one tent. Their dear uncle told them that too much noise attracts bears, so they should be a bit quieter. Then a thunder storm rumbled to the north and dropped a little rain...but they all stayed snug in their beds!

 Cousins playing "what's your trade?"

And our monarch hatched....

Rush Order and Bees in the Eve

 Occasionally, Hannah the lady I work for, gets a rush order. This time...."can you possibly finish this by the end of August?  for a retirement gift"  Oh wait, we don't actually have all the fabrics together and the pattern is not quite finalized...and it is already the very end of June. Mom and I looked at each other and said "sure"

When I saw the  fabrics, I couldn't resist...a little applique and bit of embroidery and LOGO's
 I have NEVER made a quilt featuring feminine products and food and well, yeah they are all from the same company for an employee of that company.

We divided out the fabrics, each taking the parts we liked best...she took some applique to the cabin this past weekend.

 

The patterns looked like this...it is the closest we get to architectural drawings...just remember to add a 1/2 inch to the squares and 7/8" to the triangles and we will be fine.  And be sure to cut it right the first time because there is not another square featuring your favorite cake mix or any of the others.

I started with most of the components ...leaves, acorns and bears paws, applique ....assembled this morning

At 4:30 AM

Then since my children are such willing helpers. I sewed most of the day. While they did the laundry and pulled weeds in the garden.     By 9:00 PM  I had this

Mom is finishing the top border and tomorrow we will deliver it to have the quilting lines marked on the quilt. Mom plans to quilt it...and she said she will give me the money...to pay for a portion of those plane tickets!   Who's gonna argue?

Yup, that is Metamucil up there in the corner!

 While I was hard at work this evening, DH decided to get rid of a huge wasp nest that was undiscovered until last week when a little visitor noticed it...Thanks Kevon!

 Since paying for expensive exterminators is not in our vocabulary or budget....That's a shop vac,

 some plastic pipe and a bunch of duct tape...so there are not surprise pipe malfunctions...
guide the pipe up to the hole of the nest and in they go! ping, ping!

Now certain individuals were not so sure that all the bees would end up in the shop vac...so various weapons were on display.

 Apparently some of them felt a bit more confident...

Now we have a whole canister of buzzing bees in the back yard...there have been strict instructions to "Leave them alone!"

Knight in Shining Armor

I need to write about my Knight in Shining Armor. Not sure he'd approve, but any way. 

The other day he noticed that my washing machine was leaving a puddle on the floor. Me, being me, figures- as long as it works- who's to worry about a little puddle? Thank goodness he looked, the pump was leaking and our dear washing machine does not like leaks...in fact she will kill her computer if she has leaks.

We decided to buy one more pump for $130 vs go shopping and buy a brand new washer for $1000.

Got the pump- they are so easy to change, but when they add a new fangled fuse to prevent shorts in your computer....well they add a new twist...after much testing and slopping in wash water, we came to the conclusion that the new fuse was already shorted out...

Thank goodness for his common sense and perseverance. He did mention that praying over washing machines doesn't hurt either.

I told the girls to take a good look...that is the kind of man they want to look for.

Faith thought she would like one with more hair!

The best story came early this morning. Around 2 AM I got up to use the bathroom and thought I heard something at the screen in our bedroom. But at 2 AM it has to be a moth right?

Around 4 AM after DH had got up to start his day, I suddenly heard more scratching at the screen and felt something plop on the bed right beside me!

My eyes flew open and I saw (no glasses) a very big moth flying around the room....

but

something did not look right with this moth's flight pattern!

A BAT!

I know they are almost harmless

BUT 

I flew out of the bed and remembered to close the door behind me

Thankfully DH was still home.

He didn't hesitate long...I heard some thuds from upstairs

someone came flying down the steps and out the front door.

DH calmly walks into the living room twirling a towel...

just threw the towel at the bat...down it went

Rolled it up and took it out the door.

Still not real sure how it got in, but any noises at the window....

I'll wake DH!

 

Trip to W-mart

 Last night I got a text from that wonderful store, saying the rip-stick wheels we ordered are finally in. My dear children have literally run the wheels of the ones we bought in Ch*na. Joseph was overheard telling his brother " I can't wait til we get the American wheels for these things."  I told him to check the "made in" label.

The other reason we needed to do a Mart run was for pickling spices. We are being over run with cucumbers, so I decided to try a refrigerator version of pickles. (will let you know how they turn out)

So we told Ezekiel that we have a very short list...wheels and pickling spices. He stayed home to do algebra.
On the way out the door, I realized that Joe should get the fabric we need for his new legs...well if they have an employee in the fabric dept. we will buy fabric...

Then I also realized that I should start watching for end-of- season clearances because two years ago I got rid of all the little dresses in our house....because we were adopting "one more time" and he was a 10 year old boy.

Yup, they had sales....can't make a dress for $3 or for $5

Yup, they had an employee in the fabric dept...never mind she was "slower than molasses in January"
we bought fabric...the tiger on the inside and the leopard on the outside (makes you run faster)

Oh, and we forgot the pickling spices......

Dancing Caterpillars

 

We brought a few Monarch caterpillars in from our huge milkweed plant. After about 3 weeks they make a chrysalis and hatch...then we let them fly off to come back another year.
Any way we discovered quite by accident that they dance to music...just some low notes, not the higher notes.  My DH thinks it is because it is close to the tones of a wasp or beetle and they are trying to be intimidating.

Public Speaking

I couldn't find a picture of a nervous person...when I do I will add it to this post.

 

guess this will do..some of us looked nervous...just before Faith arrived

About 4 weeks ago, someone from church approached us and asked if we would be willing to give a short talk about adoption....some Wednesday evening...very short service....

I teach CPR classes and an occasional adult ladies Sunday School class,but  DH says he does not do public speaking...

Well, long story short...he does and we did and he did a very good job. Made his sons a bit nervous,but that is our job!

Since the 3 youngest kids decided to come along...at first they asked "mom are you going to cry?...then I don't want to come"  But curiosity won and they were sitting in a row on the 3rd to front bench.
We talked about our personal journey, about the need...you know the # of children that need families
The validity of adoption according to Jesus and even the Old Testament scripture. I talked about loss..how even though we often thing of adoption as a win-win situation...it really is not.  Then of course the stumbling blocks that Satan will throw in our way...and finished with describing the different ways you can help a child...from sponsorship to fostering to adoption.

And since there was a virtual corn field of children in the crowd I handed out a paper with comments that we adoptive parents hear, but never know quite how to respond...that is of course until after the commenter is miles away. So here are the comments and my smart aleck answers

These comments are sort of tongue-in-cheek. I don’t feel at all like this congregation has ever even used any of these questions to us. However, I know I used these exact statements without thinking twice, that is, until I was the adoptive parent.  So just for your information….

Real Parents= the ones who blow your nose, hold the bucket when you are sick, care if you fall off your bike…they’re not fake.

How many children do you have of your own?  We didn’t steal them, they are all legally ours. OR in a way, none of our children are ours…they are all on loan from God.

Ohhh! You want to know how many times I gave birth! You could ask “How many children do you have?”  How many times have you adopted?”   If you are interested in adoption…say so.

How could I love a child I didn’t give birth to?  Did you give birth to your spouse?

What about bloodlines?  Read Ken Ham’s “One Blood” The ideas of ‘races’ and different blood is from Darwin and he is responsible for the theory of evolution. Now that is not saying that genetics might produce a child that is very different in temperament than you or your husband. Yes, that can be stretching, but who couldn’t do with a little stretching?

After all you did for him/her!    Really- compared to what God has done for us….we’ve done NOTHING.

Are they sisters?  You will usually get the answer “they are now” from me. I know what you are asking, but think about how it sounds to my daughters/sons when their relationship is questioned. The burden of the response is mostly on my shoulders. I need to learn to respond/react in a positive way.

“What kind of mother could abandon their child?” As a mother I sometimes ask that question too. BUT I have never been faced with the decisions that some mothers are faced with. What if I had no church, no family and no husband to help me? What if my child was born with a birth defect and in order to repair it, the hospital demands the funds up front?  Until we walk in their shoes, we don’t know what kind of mother we would be.

How to handle the ‘horror’ stories- I struggle with the conversations that go like this, “ Did you hear about ______’s  son….he’s adopted.”  Then usually the story goes on to tell a tale of misdeed. I’m not sure how to handle that. Does it make a difference how the son entered the family? Should people preface stories about our eldest son with “ Did you hear about Ray’s son Demetrius? He was c-section…”

To the child or to me “You are so lucky ( to have these parents)”  Do you ever tell a re-married widow/er that they are ‘lucky’ to get to marry again?  We as the parents feel blessed to be able to have the chance to parent our children. 

Do you have any to add?

Out of Translation

Good Morning! We got an e-mail from our agency that our dossier is "out
of translation"
So the next step is that someone actually reads our 13 document dossier,
including the 17 page home study.
During that process they will ask for clarification if they don't
understand something OR if we missed something.
Prayers are appreciated. We have never been asked for clarification with
the other adoptions.
But somehow KNOWING that they will be scrutinizing our documents over
the next six weeks (approx) makes me nervous.

Well Hello!

When I wasn't there...she grew up!
I missed her first steps, but she's walking, no it says she is running.
She is irascible  (gotta look that up)
She is a bit shy around strangers (that's good)
Likes to play with her foster brother.
Snacks make her calm down.
She isn't picky about her food, but she weighs a whopping 21 lbs  at 2 years old!
She is tiny  31"   and she should be able wear the  little dress I bought.
Now I can go shopping and buy some clothes...and maybe we need to check into  some hair pretties.

Sounds like she fits right in.

Two Years in a Row

 Last year on this date we made the trip to Shriner's to get this....  It was to be out patient but wasn't. We came home with a big 'ol fixator ring  and an un happy boy.

Exactly one year later finds us at the same address, but in a different room. It is time to measure for new legs already. His 'real' legs have shrunk so much that he was wearing 2 very thick socks on each leg in order to keep his prosthesis in place. The goal is to wear one thin sock....

Isn't it funny how a familiar road soon gets shorter? When we first made those trips, my hubby didn't want me to go alone. Today I took the 4 kids and off we went.  It is still crazy driving and I'm praying as we drive, but familiarity and all that....

Grants

You know it takes a village they say....to raise a child....I don't
really agree with that but I do know

That it takes a village to adopt a child!

(I'm going to vent here a bit)

When we prepared our dossier we had to have 3 reference letter/forms
filled out by a neighbor, and 2 friends and sent to our home study agency

a few months later- we had to have 3 busy people (teacher, friend, and
son) write AND notarize reference letters for our dossier

Oh and we also had to bother the "guardians" of our children to write a
letter AND reveal personal things about their family JUST IN CASE my
husband and I would not be able to care for our children AND notarize
that....never mind that we already have a legal will to take care of that.

The people were more than gracious and provided our letters.(thanks guys)
I thought I was finished bothering people for this adoption. until...

I decided maybe we should apply for some grants....because it would
help to have some of those plane tickets covered (thankfully just 2 this
time) or a portion of the 35,000 RMB until I looked at the grant forms

They TOO, want at least three reference letters from busy people.....

I don't mind doing the detailed list of how we spend our money or
writing our personal testimonies.....but bugging other people to write
nice letters about us is just hard.

So I guess I'll get back to my quilts and stop complaining..Yes it has all the brand names on it and it is for somebody in that company .