Sunday, January 30, 2011

It's a new day, a NEW BLOG!

We have moved! Come on over and join us!!!!

FIND IT HERE!




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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Stay Tuned....

I will be starting a new blog soon. For now, this one is going to be silent. :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

God Does Not Need You...

That is the truth that has been laid upon my heart. It is not a depressing, lonely truth, but a freeing one!

Acts 17:24-25 (New International Version, ©2010)

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.


Do you realize that God loves us pure and simply because HE LOVES US? He does not need us to complete Him. We can not fail Him, and we can not impress Him. He does not need us to "save the world" or "save someones life".

These things are in HIS hands alone.

When thinking of adoption, it is all to easy to think He is calling you to save the life of a child. But I don't think that is correct. He is calling you into a life of sacrifice, obedience, faith and love. He is calling you to live out your faith, and in return He is lovingly crafting a family for both you and that child.

Don't forget:
he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else


God is saving that childs life, not you. I think, often times, He may be saving your life as well.

For those of us waiting for our husbands to have a change of heart, for those of us waiting to see if adding to our family is in Gods will, for those of us praying for a specific waiting child.... GODS WILL BE DONE! GODS WILL WILL BE DONE!

TRUST IN HIM FULLY! HE HOLDS ALL THESE LITTLE ONES IN HIS HANDS! WE MUST ANSWER HIS CALL AND BE MOVED TO ACTION FOR HIM, BECAUSE OF HIM! BUT THAT ALSO MEANS WE TRUST HIM FOR THE OUTCOME, WHATEVER IT MAY BE. SOMETIMES THE OUTCOME IS WAIT, SOMETIMES IT IS NO, AND SOMETIMES IT IS GO.

NEVER LOSE SIGHT THAT IN ALL OUR PRAYERS FOR THE ORPHANS OF THIS WORLD, IN ALL OUR PRAYERS FOR OUR HEARTS DESIRE TO BE FULFILLED IN BRINGING A CHILD INTO OUR FAMILY, IN ALL OUR PRAYERS FOR THE LIFE OF A CHILD TO BE SPARED AND PLACED INTO A LOVING, CHRISTIAN FAMILY...

IT IS NOT UP TO US TO SAVE THIS CHILD OR THAT CHILD. FACE IT, WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THAT!


IT IS ABOUT BEING FAITHFUL TO GOD, SERVING GOD, LOVING GOD. IF YOU ARE LOSING SIGHT OF GODS HEART AND WILL IN THIS JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADOPTION WORLD, IF YOU ARE STARTING TO PANIC, YOU NEED TO GET BACK INTO CONVERSATION WITH HIM.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Believing.....

Meeting Yana in Jan. 2010: (please ignore ME!)


I want to share something with you. The following are sentences from Yanas referral papers before we had ever met her...


"Mild dilatation of the lateral ventricles", "follow up transfontanel echolgraphy was carried out: hydrocephalus interna, cystic formation in the right hemisphere, several smaller in the left, dilated brain ventricals", "The child is often ill with catarrh of upper respiratory tract, bronchitis, frequenstly passing with obstructive syndrome.", "Chronic carrying of Moraxella catarrhalis is established, which as been treated with out specific success".

And most specifically: "It concerns a child who is with severe lagging behind in her physical and neurophysical development. She can sit and stand with support,she crawls, does not walk does not speak, does not understand, can not eat independently. She eats only with a bottle while lying down. There is no progress in the motor development for the period of last evaluation, irrespective of the physical exercises applied to the child" "Age level of development - 7 months. Motor skills, - 10 months. Manipulative activity - 8 months. Emotional and social - 4 months. Speech-7 months."

"There are no changes in comparison to the preceding age period."

But the line that stole my heart, that made me know that this child was mine is that in spite of all these delays and supposed inability to learn "She frequently take off her shoes and socks, and those of the other children as well." It made me laugh, I still don't know why. She still has a shoe and sock fetish. :D


Yana today:


6 months home and GREAT PROGRESS has been made in all spheres of development! And she DOES understand! And she IS learning! And her motor skills ARE improving! And I still don't know what all that medical talk about her brain actually means... But I do know that her little brain is working so hard to catch up, and there is a whole little person in there that is just starting to emerge!

There are things Yana does that crack me up, amaze me, and let me see a glimpse of her personality that continues to shine more each day. Things like:

1. If you make her mad, she turns completely around and won't look at you.

2. If you give her a new sippy cup and she starts to drink it upside down, she takes it out, looks at it a second and turns it the right way.

3. She LOVES to crawl up onto our dog Kizzy and snuggle and lounge all over her.

4. She twirls everything she can. She got 2 "twirlies" from my mom and Xmas and twirls them constantly!

5. She has an obsession with licking straps (like on a backpack).

6. She spits when she is bored, mad, hungry or tired.

7. She loves to have me say "mama kisses!" and then offers her cheeks up to be kissed.

8. She pats me when I sing to her sometimes.

9. She loves to take a box or container and just push it around on the floor in circles.

10. She loves bathtime now. She dunks herself under water and then laughs. She likes to lay down and "swim" and hog the bathtub when Tavi is vieing for room... drives Tavi nuts. :)

Obviously there is much more... but these are the things that I know the orphanage didn't get to see much of or any of. And it definitely isn't represented in the referral.

Monday, January 3, 2011

It's 2011!!!

And the girls are doing so well! Yana has a best friend. Sure, she's of the 4 legged variety, but a friend is a friend! And Tavi is finding that being part of a family just keeps her smiling about all the time!

YANA AND HER BEST FRIEND... KIZZY!







And TAVI just being cute in her pigtails ...





Monday, December 27, 2010

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...





and someday I WILL get a good pic of ALL my kids together! :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

SPECsifcally cute!

LOOK whats new!


And the biggest surprise of the week is she LIKES them! She will actually leave them on for quite awhile, and she's happy! :)
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Seriously, can she look sad or what? :)