Adoption — Page 10

8
Oct

I never knew!

October 8, 2010

But I guess I should’ve known.

Blogging has become another thing on my To Do list.

Oh No!

I have a draft list on my blog dashboard that is longer than my arm.

Well, maybe not my arm, but certainly longer than Garnet’s arm.

Perfectionism.

It’s such a nasty thing.

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On the adoption front, our dossier has safely arrived at our facilitator’s out east and for that I am truly grateful.

That long cross country trek has me on pins and needles every time we release our massive stack of dossier paperwork.

To think it has to make it all the way back across this continent.

Cross and ocean.

And make its way into the CCAA offices?

That’s a lot of travel for one tree’s worth of paper.

Ahhhh but it’ll be worth it!

God, please hold those precious papers in your hand.

You know what an important puzzle piece they are.

For Samuel.

For us.

Thank You so much for what you have done on our behalf.

Thank You so much for what You are doing right now.

Thank You for what You will do in the future hours and days.

I choose to trust You again.

1 Comment

6
Oct

I know it sounds incredible but…

October 6, 2010

We have an opportunity to help a family facing an incredible situation. One that no parent ever in their wildest nightmare wants to face.

The decision to abandon their child in order to save that child’s life.

I posted a few weeks ago about ICC and their Walk the Wall campaign.

Today they sent out a message that made me stop in my tracks.

Steve and I know in our minds that ICC is one of the good organizations. One of the ones we trust with our hard earned charitable donations. But also, they are one of the ones on the front lines, one of the organizations out there trying to make a difference to China’s abandonment crisis.

Family by family.

Family to family.

Too romanticized, you think?

Read this.

Urgent surgery for Yang Jing YuanI want to alert you to an urgent medical need in Changsha and to ask for your help.

Yang Jing Yuan is a six-year-old boy we have been working with, along with his family, at the Community Outreach Project. He has a hearing impairment, and a very severe case of Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, which is a progressive deformity of the spine that is now impacting his ability to breathe properly. The progression of the disease is becoming so serious that there is a very real concern he may not live through the upcoming winter. He has already had 20 bronchitis and pneumonia infections since birth and he may not recover from another.

We have spoken to a surgeon in Shanghai who says that Yang Jing Yuan will require multiple surgeries, including rods being inserted in his back to support his spine. The initial surgery is estimated to cost RMB 200,000 (about USD 30,000) and another surgery in 2-3 years’ time will cost RMB 10,000-20,000 (USD 1,500-3,000).

Yang Jing Yuan’s parents are unable to pay the significant costs. They are already living beyond their means providing their son with physical therapy and education at a school for deaf children. They are also under a lot of pressure from friends and family to give up trying to care for their son. They, however, refuse to abandon the hope of providing a healthy future for their son.

The Community Outreach Project was started for families just like Yang Jing Yuan’s. Its mission is to provide the support and assistance necessary to keep families together. This is the most expensive surgery that ICC has ever committed to, but the prognosis is good. We ask you to stand with us in prayer and finance so together we can continue to seek life to the full for this little boy. If you are able to help by giving a one-time gift of life to Yang Jing Yuan, contact your National Office on 604 322 3119.

Once again, we thank you for your ongoing commitment to ICC and the health of the children in its care.

God Bless

Samantha Hills
Manager, Community Outreach Project

Love, hope and opportunity for every disabled child

I firmly believe we can make a huge difference in the life of this little boy and in one Chinese family.

You can find ICC here and a direct link to their donation page here. Thank you!

1 Comment

5
Oct

Doing a peace filled happy dance over here tonight!

October 5, 2010

APPROVED!

Ahhhh that word sounds so good!

We were obedient and He has done what only He could do in the midst of the questions, the doubts, the fears and the bewilderment.

We are so thankful that our government has seen fit to approve us to move forward in making Samuel our very own.

So thankful.

And so at peace.

Today is the Day – Lincoln Brewster

3 Comments

4
Oct

Gratitude (updated)

October 4, 2010

UPDATE!

WE ARE APPROVED!!!

Just waiting for it to be mailed to our agency’s office and then we can get our Dossier mailed off to our facilitator for translation and notarization.

Tick tick tick… we just might make it on time!

🙂

(Read below for what all the hoopla is about.)

We had a very busy, very fantastic birthday here this weekend. Complete with visitors from near and far and a stage show right here in our schoolroom. I’ll post (complete with photos) later on today, but I wanted to get something else up here right away, before my day got away from me.

We are waiting to hear from our agency that our provincial approval letter has been issued. It has been under the surface in my head all weekend. This morning I decided to choose to be thankful today, no matter what the outcome of the day. And this is what He showed me:

Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all we have heard with our ears.

2 Samuel 7:20 (ESV)

I choose gratitude today – no matter the outcome.

Love to you all – more on that special birthday later!

4 Comments

30
Sep

Samuel Update #3 (September)

September 30, 2010

I was up far too late last night when our update came through about Samuel. It made it easier to go to sleep after having had that snippit of info about him. Every day I look for updates on the New Day blog, foster home site and their Facebook page. Getting this update once a month is like the icing on the cake! As a family, we are collectively falling in love with Samuel!

Samuel is 2 Years 7 Months Old.

Samuel’s nanny wrote this update:

Samuel is agile and cute. The day before yesterday we had a mini Triathlon in the foster home
back yard and he did very well. He jumped and crawled around in the swimming pool, splashing
water with his hands. He ended up splashing not only himself, but all of the children around him!
When Samuel got water in his eyes, he wiped his face and continued to play with the others.
Samuel did brilliantly on the race track. As soon as the signal was fired he raced to the finish as
fast as he could. After the running race we had a crawling race for Samuel and his buddy Joshua
who also specializes on his hands and knees. Samuel is so quick that he raced ahead of Joshua at
first, but he is also so thoughtful that he waited to cross the finish line until Joshua caught up so
that they could cross together. Samuel is now able to go up and down the stairs without the aid
of an adult. He can also climb onto the sofa, eat and take off his clothes independently. Samuel’s
smile and laughter brightens up any day.

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Still waiting and hoping for our provincial approval. Maybe today?

2 Comments

28
Sep

It was T-H-I-S big!

September 28, 2010

Tonight at supper Grace became very animated while telling us a story from China. I happened to have started a new novel tonight (I read out loud to the kids when Stephen isn’t home for meal time), The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Something about Ralph S. Mouse struck a chord with Miss Grace and she was off and running with a story that she had never told us before.

Apparently one day when she was still in China (at the orphanage), someone spotted a mouse.

And here is where I interject a little.

This mouse was actually quite large by the sounds of it.

(I’m thinking rat, at this point in her description.)

A couple of the grown ups came running.

One of them used an umbrella to try and hit it.

Another person grabbed a fire hose.

Again, I must interject that she was adamant that the hose was much larger than our garden hose and it was for putting out fires!

Then Grace proceeded to describe in great detail the antics surrounding the capture and killing of this mouse.

The story ends with a different grown up running to the kitchen for a pair of rubber gloves, bending over picking up the mouse by the tail and throwing it outside in some tall grass.

Seriously, I don’t know when the kids as a collective group have been so engaged in a story.

This girl’s got talent.

Or it might have been the, ahem, mouse.

😉

2 Comments

23
Sep

Signed!

September 23, 2010

Our social worker just left (yes, its evening here!) with a signed copy of our homestudy! Wooohoooooooo!

It just took many, many e-mails & phone calls and many more prayers today, but it’s done!

Now we wait for our provincial approval on our homestudy (aproximately 1 week turn around). After that we send our entire dossier (packet of all approvals, biographies, reports, etc.) to be authenticated at a notary in Ottawa and to be translated into Mandarin (it takes about a month to have it completed), and THEN, then it can be forwarded on to China!

We will be very close to our October 29th DTC (Dossier to China) deadline, but we should make it!

Samuel, we are getting closer buddy!

I’m so thankful, I can hardly handle it.

Your prayers were so incredibly appreciated!

Obviously, contrary to my worrying ways, NOTHING is too hard for the Lord. 🙂

6 Comments

18
Sep

And life moves on…

September 18, 2010

Well, after feeling like the wind got knocked out of us on Thursday, we carried on.

We continued on with our home improvements, carried on with business and connected with friends.

I also got back to settling into my school brain.

It’s a seldom talked about fact that it takes the homeschool parent just as long to get back into the swing of things as the students. I’m sure its across the board with all parents though.

Anyway, here’s my new favourite homeschool-help-type link:

Ministry to Children

Ministry to Children is an exciting new resource that I came across while looking for Bible story colouring pages awhile back. They have a whole variety of things there, my favourite being the list of easy to learn memory verses. We’ll be beginning our next week with Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God proves true.” Nice and simple for Grace to get her early English around and also simple enough for Garnet to say without stumbling over a tonne of syllables. Easy and simple. Works for me (and its not even Wednesday- ha)!

1 Comment

16
Sep

Protected: Update on our Home Visit #2

September 16, 2010

5 Comments

14
Sep

Protected: A Delay

September 14, 2010

8 Comments

Well, maybe not my arm, but certainly longer than Garnet’s arm.

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