About a month ago, I got an email from a lady in another part of the world. She'd seen a picture of Daniel that I posted on an Eastern Europen adoptive families site, announcing the completion of his adoption.
She recognized our boy. She'd been at his orphanage about a year and a half ago, adopting her son. While she was there, our little man would go up to see her, smile, and make contact. They'd made a connection, and he'd made an impression on her. She was so thrilled to know he now has a family.
I can't help but wonder when families like hers came through, did he wonder "when will it be my turn?"
And I can't help but wonder how many others that are still there are thinking the same thing.
Please take a few minutes and watch this video. And pray how you can make a difference in the life of an orphan.
Hope is Fading – Orphan Sunday from Allan Rosenow on Vimeo.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Bio-Search
I've received a couple of comments, asking who we hired to do our bio-family searches.You can visit his website HERE, or email him HERE. Let him know we sent you!
If you're interested in doing a bio-family search for your Ukrainian born child, we highly recommend Gene!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Q&A
Finally! Here are the questions we received, and our answers. We received a few questions that I chose not to answer. They were not rude or offensive in any way, and I hope my lack of response does not cause offense, but there are some things I'm just not comfortable discussing in a public forum like this.
Just Another Day In Paradise said...
What led you to adopt? Good question! But it’s more like who. Back in 2002, after 4 years of marriage, we felt we were ready to start a family. (Little did we knew, there was a baby boy that had just been born in a country we knew nothing about – our William!). We tried getting pregnant without any luck. I consulted a fertility doctor a couple of times, but neither of us felt like that was the route for us. There were several things that happened over those few years that we know was God preparing our hearts for adoption, including meeting several adoptive families, attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert, etc. In late 2006, we said it was time to make a decision, one way or the other. We talked with several families that had adopted both domestically and internationally. But it was a meeting with a family at our church that ‘sealed the deal.’ I don’t believe in coincidences or chance meetings. It was all God – if I were to go into all the details, you’d see that the timing of things was intricate and beyond anything of this world.
Why Ukraine? Again, God. We were never insistent on babies or biology. We wanted to be parents, we wanted a family. For quite sometime we would joke “if we can’t have a baby, we’ll adopt from the Ukraine!” We didn’t know where this country was… and we didn’t know that it wasn't “THE” Ukraine :) Not sure why we talked about that country as opposed to others, except that God was obviously already working on our hearts. We did look into other countries, and considered domestic, but Ukraine seemed like the right fit for us. We were okay with the child being older than an infant. We liked the timeline and the financial side of Ukrainian adoption. We liked the fact that it could be done in one trip. And when that one family at church met with us – along with their 3 Ukrainian-born children – we knew where God was leading us.
How long did it take you from "thinking about adoption" to filling out the paperwork? It was several years of God planting seeds. But once we started seriously asking questions, praying, and talking to people, it was just a few weeks.
Think you’ll do it again? Never say never! We are to the point now where we’re beginning to find our groove as a family of four. But I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere down the road, God led us down the path again!
Mama of 2 and Counting... said...
How supportive was your family the first time around? Overall, our family was very supportive – friends, too. One set of parents was shocked & speechless at our announcement. The first question they asked (and a question that many have since asked) was “why don’t you adopt from America?” We talked about our decision, about how we came to it, and about how the bottom line was we felt God’s calling to go to Ukraine. Overall, things went well. We of course got the horror stories. I know most people mean well, but we didn’t just wake up one morning and say “I’m bored – let’s adopt!”
Did you ever just feel exasperated with the lack of support and enthusiasm showed by family and friends? We've received amazing support in both adoptions. No really rude comments to us directly. There are some people whose lack of response surprised me, but really, an experience like this shows you who your true friends are!
It breaks my heart when I hear of families who pursue adoption and receive harsh criticism and rejection from friends, and especially from their own families. But I believe that if you’ve prayed over the decision, if you’ve sought Godly counsel, if you’ve gotten all the facts, if you’re ready for the fact that there will likely be struggles not common to biological children, if you have a peace about your decision, then you don’t need to defend your decision over and over. You can handle the situation with kindness, but ultimately, the decision is between you and God.
Christine said...
Jennifer I love your new header with all the family pictures! Thanks Christine! We miss you guys. It was so great spending time with you in Ukraine. I hope your move is going well, and I hope God will allow our paths to cross again someday.
The McEacherns said...
How is William and Daniel's relationship growing? I'd love to know more about the adding a sibling dynamic, since that's what we're in the process of doing right now! Three months in, things are much better. But we still must be very aware of William’s needs – for affection, for attention, for praise. He’s pretty mature for 8 years old, but he IS 8 years old. They fight occasionally, but my brothers I and fought plenty growing up! They also play great together. We remind William that he is a leader now, and that his brother will want to copy everything he does and says (and this is SO true!). We encourage him to make wise decisions and be a good example. We remind him that when they’re with others, he needs to protect Daniel. Daniel is small and uncoordinated. He doesn’t speak English well and doesn’t really have the social norms that most kids have. So we’ve talked about the importance of not letting other kids push him around or make fun of him. We also try to give William time alone where he can play with his friends without Daniel.
Did you get any info back from your Ukrainian PI?(No need to share every detail, but curious to see if he could hunt down any info in spite of circumstances.) Yes, we did get some information and some bio-family pictures. It was money well spent, and will be helpful when Daniel gets older and has questions. We did the same thing for William back in 2008, and got a lot more information and pictures with his search, including baby pictures. Their stories and circumstances are very different from each other, but that’s the past. It’s good to be aware of things that could affect behavior and development. But both boys are now part of our family - for keeps - and we want to build them up for their futures. I won’t share details because it’s their stories, not mine. But thanks for asking!
Do you feel significantly more worn out as a mom of two? Worn out is an understatement. I’m still struggling to find the balance. It’s tough to work full time and be a mommy full time. But I’m learning to prioritize more. If I do say so myself, Zack and I make a great team. I go to work EARLY so that I can be home around the time that William gets off the bus. So Zack has morning duties. I take care of a lot of the bedtime rituals, and I pack lunches and lay out clothes to help minimize the chaos for Zack. The boys are also starting to take on little chores. William helps take out the trash, makes beds, cleans his room and sometimes the bathroom, and is learning to load and run the dishwasher. Daniel makes his bed, cleans his rooms, helps clear the dinner table, helps cook dinner (sometimes this makes it take longer, but that's okay!), and takes the napkins to the laundry room after dinner. We keep things moving and work together, and that really helps.
QmR80 said...
How do you make time as a couple? We've found that the most challenging aspect of being parents. We’re still figuring this one out! Daniel's attachment has taken a bit more effort than William's did, so we've had to stick close these first few months. In fact, we had our first evening out without kids this past weekend, when we got to attend a very special friend's birthday party :)
We try to stick to an early bedtime. When possible I start bedtime around 7:30 to give time for books, etc. They both need the rest, and it gives us some time each night to just be together without a child running around. And now that we're making some significant progress in our family unit/connections, we hope to start going out as a couple a bit more often than every 3 months!After almost 3 years of parenting, I’m still a newbie. But I am learning how to balance, how to prioritize, how to juggle. I’ve learned that I’ve got to keep myself healthy in order to be the best wife & mom I can be for my fellas. I'm still learning, and still have a long way to go, but by far my 2 favorite responsibilities are that of Wife and Mom!
John in Chicago said...
You post a lot of things about down syndrome adoptions and how people should take notice - for your second child, why did you not find "special" person to adopt? Great question, John! I was sort of expecting this one. Much of our answer involves things that are private and I am not at liberty to share here. But I can tell you that we talked about and prayed over whether we should pursue a specific special needs child or adopt an unknown child. We researched the medical conditions of a couple of specific children, but in the end we felt God calling us back to a “blind” (unknown child) adoption. We had to look at our current family situation; recognize the capacity necessary to knowingly and voluntarily bring a child into our home that would need specialized care, therapy, education, medical attention, etc; consider our current insurance coverage and what it covers (unfortunately, it leaves a lot of gaps); consider the house we live in, and whether or not it would be appropriate for certain special needs. And we had to recognize that at present, we are not able to provide for some of those needs at this time. We CAN help these children and care for these orphans by advocating for them, and so that is our role for now.
Jefferson Hunt said...
I just stopped by to visit and found this. We adopted, apparently, much older than you two. Have you seen fears in your children that make you wonder what made them afraid or how do you now deal with the fear you don't know the origins of? Thankfully, we haven't experienced any real fears. However, I think Halloween may be interesting, because all of the decorations seem to scare Daniel - even scarecrows! He does not like most of what is display at our local grocery store or Wal*Mart.
Do you want to maintain you children's birth heritage at all? Your family is very handsome, by the way. We make it no secret that our boys were born in Eastern Europe. They know it, and just about everyone connected to them knows it. We talk about their country openly, and that they are both Ukrainian and American. We have books about Ukraine, and many things around our house are from Ukraine. We fly a Ukrainian flag over the boys' backyard playground! We are ready to share with them as much as they'd like to know, and will allow them to embrace their heritage in whatever way they choose.
Taking William to Ukraine with us this summer was a great way to keep him connected to his background. He enjoyed seeing the sites, eating the food, and hearing the language. He also got a real picture of the living conditions the majority of people deal with, the pollution of his hometown, the work that most people do to make ends meet. He got to meet older children that aged out of the orphanage, and we talked about life is like for many teens like them.
Thanks for all the great questions!
Just Another Day In Paradise said...
What led you to adopt? Good question! But it’s more like who. Back in 2002, after 4 years of marriage, we felt we were ready to start a family. (Little did we knew, there was a baby boy that had just been born in a country we knew nothing about – our William!). We tried getting pregnant without any luck. I consulted a fertility doctor a couple of times, but neither of us felt like that was the route for us. There were several things that happened over those few years that we know was God preparing our hearts for adoption, including meeting several adoptive families, attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert, etc. In late 2006, we said it was time to make a decision, one way or the other. We talked with several families that had adopted both domestically and internationally. But it was a meeting with a family at our church that ‘sealed the deal.’ I don’t believe in coincidences or chance meetings. It was all God – if I were to go into all the details, you’d see that the timing of things was intricate and beyond anything of this world.
Why Ukraine? Again, God. We were never insistent on babies or biology. We wanted to be parents, we wanted a family. For quite sometime we would joke “if we can’t have a baby, we’ll adopt from the Ukraine!” We didn’t know where this country was… and we didn’t know that it wasn't “THE” Ukraine :) Not sure why we talked about that country as opposed to others, except that God was obviously already working on our hearts. We did look into other countries, and considered domestic, but Ukraine seemed like the right fit for us. We were okay with the child being older than an infant. We liked the timeline and the financial side of Ukrainian adoption. We liked the fact that it could be done in one trip. And when that one family at church met with us – along with their 3 Ukrainian-born children – we knew where God was leading us.
How long did it take you from "thinking about adoption" to filling out the paperwork? It was several years of God planting seeds. But once we started seriously asking questions, praying, and talking to people, it was just a few weeks.
Think you’ll do it again? Never say never! We are to the point now where we’re beginning to find our groove as a family of four. But I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere down the road, God led us down the path again!
Mama of 2 and Counting... said...
How supportive was your family the first time around? Overall, our family was very supportive – friends, too. One set of parents was shocked & speechless at our announcement. The first question they asked (and a question that many have since asked) was “why don’t you adopt from America?” We talked about our decision, about how we came to it, and about how the bottom line was we felt God’s calling to go to Ukraine. Overall, things went well. We of course got the horror stories. I know most people mean well, but we didn’t just wake up one morning and say “I’m bored – let’s adopt!”
Did you ever just feel exasperated with the lack of support and enthusiasm showed by family and friends? We've received amazing support in both adoptions. No really rude comments to us directly. There are some people whose lack of response surprised me, but really, an experience like this shows you who your true friends are!
It breaks my heart when I hear of families who pursue adoption and receive harsh criticism and rejection from friends, and especially from their own families. But I believe that if you’ve prayed over the decision, if you’ve sought Godly counsel, if you’ve gotten all the facts, if you’re ready for the fact that there will likely be struggles not common to biological children, if you have a peace about your decision, then you don’t need to defend your decision over and over. You can handle the situation with kindness, but ultimately, the decision is between you and God.
Christine said...
Jennifer I love your new header with all the family pictures! Thanks Christine! We miss you guys. It was so great spending time with you in Ukraine. I hope your move is going well, and I hope God will allow our paths to cross again someday.
The McEacherns said...
How is William and Daniel's relationship growing? I'd love to know more about the adding a sibling dynamic, since that's what we're in the process of doing right now! Three months in, things are much better. But we still must be very aware of William’s needs – for affection, for attention, for praise. He’s pretty mature for 8 years old, but he IS 8 years old. They fight occasionally, but my brothers I and fought plenty growing up! They also play great together. We remind William that he is a leader now, and that his brother will want to copy everything he does and says (and this is SO true!). We encourage him to make wise decisions and be a good example. We remind him that when they’re with others, he needs to protect Daniel. Daniel is small and uncoordinated. He doesn’t speak English well and doesn’t really have the social norms that most kids have. So we’ve talked about the importance of not letting other kids push him around or make fun of him. We also try to give William time alone where he can play with his friends without Daniel.
Did you get any info back from your Ukrainian PI?(No need to share every detail, but curious to see if he could hunt down any info in spite of circumstances.) Yes, we did get some information and some bio-family pictures. It was money well spent, and will be helpful when Daniel gets older and has questions. We did the same thing for William back in 2008, and got a lot more information and pictures with his search, including baby pictures. Their stories and circumstances are very different from each other, but that’s the past. It’s good to be aware of things that could affect behavior and development. But both boys are now part of our family - for keeps - and we want to build them up for their futures. I won’t share details because it’s their stories, not mine. But thanks for asking!
Do you feel significantly more worn out as a mom of two? Worn out is an understatement. I’m still struggling to find the balance. It’s tough to work full time and be a mommy full time. But I’m learning to prioritize more. If I do say so myself, Zack and I make a great team. I go to work EARLY so that I can be home around the time that William gets off the bus. So Zack has morning duties. I take care of a lot of the bedtime rituals, and I pack lunches and lay out clothes to help minimize the chaos for Zack. The boys are also starting to take on little chores. William helps take out the trash, makes beds, cleans his room and sometimes the bathroom, and is learning to load and run the dishwasher. Daniel makes his bed, cleans his rooms, helps clear the dinner table, helps cook dinner (sometimes this makes it take longer, but that's okay!), and takes the napkins to the laundry room after dinner. We keep things moving and work together, and that really helps.
QmR80 said...
How do you make time as a couple? We've found that the most challenging aspect of being parents. We’re still figuring this one out! Daniel's attachment has taken a bit more effort than William's did, so we've had to stick close these first few months. In fact, we had our first evening out without kids this past weekend, when we got to attend a very special friend's birthday party :)
We try to stick to an early bedtime. When possible I start bedtime around 7:30 to give time for books, etc. They both need the rest, and it gives us some time each night to just be together without a child running around. And now that we're making some significant progress in our family unit/connections, we hope to start going out as a couple a bit more often than every 3 months!After almost 3 years of parenting, I’m still a newbie. But I am learning how to balance, how to prioritize, how to juggle. I’ve learned that I’ve got to keep myself healthy in order to be the best wife & mom I can be for my fellas. I'm still learning, and still have a long way to go, but by far my 2 favorite responsibilities are that of Wife and Mom!
John in Chicago said...
You post a lot of things about down syndrome adoptions and how people should take notice - for your second child, why did you not find "special" person to adopt? Great question, John! I was sort of expecting this one. Much of our answer involves things that are private and I am not at liberty to share here. But I can tell you that we talked about and prayed over whether we should pursue a specific special needs child or adopt an unknown child. We researched the medical conditions of a couple of specific children, but in the end we felt God calling us back to a “blind” (unknown child) adoption. We had to look at our current family situation; recognize the capacity necessary to knowingly and voluntarily bring a child into our home that would need specialized care, therapy, education, medical attention, etc; consider our current insurance coverage and what it covers (unfortunately, it leaves a lot of gaps); consider the house we live in, and whether or not it would be appropriate for certain special needs. And we had to recognize that at present, we are not able to provide for some of those needs at this time. We CAN help these children and care for these orphans by advocating for them, and so that is our role for now.
Jefferson Hunt said...
I just stopped by to visit and found this. We adopted, apparently, much older than you two. Have you seen fears in your children that make you wonder what made them afraid or how do you now deal with the fear you don't know the origins of? Thankfully, we haven't experienced any real fears. However, I think Halloween may be interesting, because all of the decorations seem to scare Daniel - even scarecrows! He does not like most of what is display at our local grocery store or Wal*Mart.
Do you want to maintain you children's birth heritage at all? Your family is very handsome, by the way. We make it no secret that our boys were born in Eastern Europe. They know it, and just about everyone connected to them knows it. We talk about their country openly, and that they are both Ukrainian and American. We have books about Ukraine, and many things around our house are from Ukraine. We fly a Ukrainian flag over the boys' backyard playground! We are ready to share with them as much as they'd like to know, and will allow them to embrace their heritage in whatever way they choose.
Taking William to Ukraine with us this summer was a great way to keep him connected to his background. He enjoyed seeing the sites, eating the food, and hearing the language. He also got a real picture of the living conditions the majority of people deal with, the pollution of his hometown, the work that most people do to make ends meet. He got to meet older children that aged out of the orphanage, and we talked about life is like for many teens like them.
Thanks for all the great questions!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Three Months Home
I haven't forgotten about the Q&A post, and promise to get to it soon. We received lots of good questions that I look forward to answering (if you still want to submit a question, go HERE).
I intended to blog on Thursday, as it was officially 3 months since we arrived in Georgia as a family of four. But Thursdays are busy around our house, so it just didn't happen. Then came the weekend, and it was non-stop.
But I do think it's probably about time for an update on both boys, so here goes...
WILLIAM
Our growing-up-too-fast 8-year-old is really a good big brother. He gets irritated with Daniel at times, but that's totally understandable. The thing is, when I see him lose his cool with his little shadow, I see myself. I realize I don't model the best behaviors at all times. Definitely some homework for me :) I know it's frustrating for him to have someone who follows him everywhere he goes and copies everything he does. And I know he's still struggling with sharing Daddy & Mommy, particularly since Daniel has needed a lot of attention since coming home. But things are starting to settle and we continue to try & make sure William gets his own special attention as well.
He is getting so tall. I seriously think he might catch up to me (Jenn) in the next couple of years.
William had strep throat a couple of weeks ago.This is definitely the sickest we've ever seen him, but thankfully he's feeling 100% now.
He continues to enjoy soccer, although I think it's a little different for him this year. In the past, it's been a lot of fun. But he's up an age level now and playing with some kids that are nearly 2 years older than he - and it's a lot more serious and a lot more work than before. I guess this is where we figure out if he REALLY likes soccer or not!
He is doing extremely well in school. He is getting almost all A's & 1 B - in grammar. We were thrilled, and we're so proud of him. He loves going to church and is all abot being outside riding his bike, scooters, or just running. I seriously think we have a future track star!
He seems to always have a girl or two following him around. And he doesn't seem to mind the attention. He was in the backyard the other day with Daniel. He casually said, "I wish there were some girls here to chase me." I asked why, and he said, "because I like for the girls to chase me." We are in TROUBLE!
DANIEL
My mother-in-law had knee surgery last week. The week before, she mentioned how she couldn't wait to get her knee fixed so she could keep up with Daniel. I told her I have 2 good knees, and I can't keep up with that boy. He is non-stop. He is reluctant to close his eyes at night, for fear he might miss something while he's sleeping. And the second those eyes open in the morning, the mouth is moving and so are the legs.
Like William - and like most children, I suspect - Daniel does best with structure. He's still getting used to school. His business has gotten him into trouble a couple of times, but it's nothing we can't work through. Expectations are important, and I try to remember that.
He made me laugh last week while we were at soccer practice. It was a bit cool outside, and he told me the fan made his face cold... so we then talked about the word "wind"!
He's grown almost an inch, but hasn't put on much weight yet. He has a great appetite, but his metabolism has got to be at turbo speed, as active as he is. I don't think he's going to be in the Guiness Book for world's tallest man, but that's okay!
He tests the limits of everything. We've never had a toddler, but I think we've now had the toddler experience. He has to touch everything. He'll sometimes touch something, knowing he's not supposed to, and then look to see what we're going to do about it. We bought him a shirt that says "Trouble is my middle name" - a perfect shirt for this boy.
He thrives on verbal affirmation. He loves to help me in the kitchen. He will eat most anything we put in front of him, but prefers hot dogs and any type of sausage (bratwurst, kielbasa, you name it). He surprises us on an almost daily basis with the words he's learning.
His vocabulary continues to expand. He was building with magnetix the other day, and said "Look Mommy - 2 triangles!" I was extremely excited to hear this: a great attempt at putting together his own English sentence, counting objects, and recognizing a shape that we haven't worked on much at home yet (yay for preschool!).
One of our Norwegian friends attempted to teach us a Norwegian game last weekend (similar to one that Zack & I played growing up). None of us was very good at it, but it has proved to be helpful in working on new English words. Here's a video of Daniel attempting to play the game early Saturday morning...
I intended to blog on Thursday, as it was officially 3 months since we arrived in Georgia as a family of four. But Thursdays are busy around our house, so it just didn't happen. Then came the weekend, and it was non-stop.
But I do think it's probably about time for an update on both boys, so here goes...
WILLIAM
Our growing-up-too-fast 8-year-old is really a good big brother. He gets irritated with Daniel at times, but that's totally understandable. The thing is, when I see him lose his cool with his little shadow, I see myself. I realize I don't model the best behaviors at all times. Definitely some homework for me :) I know it's frustrating for him to have someone who follows him everywhere he goes and copies everything he does. And I know he's still struggling with sharing Daddy & Mommy, particularly since Daniel has needed a lot of attention since coming home. But things are starting to settle and we continue to try & make sure William gets his own special attention as well.
He is getting so tall. I seriously think he might catch up to me (Jenn) in the next couple of years.
William had strep throat a couple of weeks ago.This is definitely the sickest we've ever seen him, but thankfully he's feeling 100% now.
He continues to enjoy soccer, although I think it's a little different for him this year. In the past, it's been a lot of fun. But he's up an age level now and playing with some kids that are nearly 2 years older than he - and it's a lot more serious and a lot more work than before. I guess this is where we figure out if he REALLY likes soccer or not!
He is doing extremely well in school. He is getting almost all A's & 1 B - in grammar. We were thrilled, and we're so proud of him. He loves going to church and is all abot being outside riding his bike, scooters, or just running. I seriously think we have a future track star!
He seems to always have a girl or two following him around. And he doesn't seem to mind the attention. He was in the backyard the other day with Daniel. He casually said, "I wish there were some girls here to chase me." I asked why, and he said, "because I like for the girls to chase me." We are in TROUBLE!
DANIEL
My mother-in-law had knee surgery last week. The week before, she mentioned how she couldn't wait to get her knee fixed so she could keep up with Daniel. I told her I have 2 good knees, and I can't keep up with that boy. He is non-stop. He is reluctant to close his eyes at night, for fear he might miss something while he's sleeping. And the second those eyes open in the morning, the mouth is moving and so are the legs.
Like William - and like most children, I suspect - Daniel does best with structure. He's still getting used to school. His business has gotten him into trouble a couple of times, but it's nothing we can't work through. Expectations are important, and I try to remember that.
He made me laugh last week while we were at soccer practice. It was a bit cool outside, and he told me the fan made his face cold... so we then talked about the word "wind"!
He's grown almost an inch, but hasn't put on much weight yet. He has a great appetite, but his metabolism has got to be at turbo speed, as active as he is. I don't think he's going to be in the Guiness Book for world's tallest man, but that's okay!
He tests the limits of everything. We've never had a toddler, but I think we've now had the toddler experience. He has to touch everything. He'll sometimes touch something, knowing he's not supposed to, and then look to see what we're going to do about it. We bought him a shirt that says "Trouble is my middle name" - a perfect shirt for this boy.
He thrives on verbal affirmation. He loves to help me in the kitchen. He will eat most anything we put in front of him, but prefers hot dogs and any type of sausage (bratwurst, kielbasa, you name it). He surprises us on an almost daily basis with the words he's learning.
His vocabulary continues to expand. He was building with magnetix the other day, and said "Look Mommy - 2 triangles!" I was extremely excited to hear this: a great attempt at putting together his own English sentence, counting objects, and recognizing a shape that we haven't worked on much at home yet (yay for preschool!).
One of our Norwegian friends attempted to teach us a Norwegian game last weekend (similar to one that Zack & I played growing up). None of us was very good at it, but it has proved to be helpful in working on new English words. Here's a video of Daniel attempting to play the game early Saturday morning...
Thursday, October 14, 2010
In Memory of Anne Marie
In Memory of "Anne Marie"
a precious little one who left this world just a month before her 5th birthday
She never knew the joy of having a Daddy and Mommy here on earth
But I am thankful that she now knows the joy of being in the presence of her heavenly Daddy
You can read more of her story here
To learn how you can help an orphan with down syndrome,
please visit Reece's Rainbow
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Atlanta Adoptive Families
As you may or may not know, November is National Adoption Awareness Month. And November is right around the corner!
I'm getting set to write a series of articles called Faces of Adoption, highlighting Georgia families that have been touched by adoption in one way or another. The series will appear on my Examiner page (here).
It could be that you have adopted, are thinking of adopting, you were adopted, you are a birth mother that chose adoption, or you have foster children.
If you fit the bill and would be willing to participate, please email me HERE. I'd like to focus on a minimum of 2 stories each week, and still need several more to make that happen.
Thanks!
I'm getting set to write a series of articles called Faces of Adoption, highlighting Georgia families that have been touched by adoption in one way or another. The series will appear on my Examiner page (here).
It could be that you have adopted, are thinking of adopting, you were adopted, you are a birth mother that chose adoption, or you have foster children.
If you fit the bill and would be willing to participate, please email me HERE. I'd like to focus on a minimum of 2 stories each week, and still need several more to make that happen.
Thanks!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Adoption: Are Christians wearing rose-colored glasses?
I recently read a post by a fellow adoptive mom that I found interesting. Some things were familiar to me, some made me thankful for the progress we've made, some made me hurt for the children whose scars are so deep.I though some of you might like to read it as well. Check it out HERE.
Adoption is a wonderful thing, but it is not all roses. Thankfully, the resources, support, and reality checks available to adoptive families are increasing. And thankfully, more people are beginning to realize that adoption is not the only way to care for orphans.
I read something else last week about orphan care. Dr. Russell Moore wrote a great piece on his website, talking about the fear that comes with the thought of orphan care. Are you afraid of the idea of an orphan? You can read his piece HERE on orphan care, the Good Samaritan, and loving your neighbor.
Friday, October 8, 2010
More Alike Than Different
One of my favorite quotes from this video is this: "Having Down Syndrome has not stopped me. I call it Up Syndome."
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Q&A
I don't have too much to blog about right now, other than the monotony of day-to-day life. So here's something a little different that we haven't done in a while...
I try to be honest on the blog, and I don't really hide anything. But still, after reading my posts, there might be questions you have. So here's your chance to ask.
Click on the comments section of this post, and ask any question you'd like. It can be about our adoptions, it can be about our family, it can be about our faith. It can be deep and thought-provoking (what led you to adopt from Ukraine?), or it can be light-hearted (what are you cooking for dinner tonight)?
Nothing is off limits. Okay, I will reserve the right to say no comment in the interest and protection of my family. But there's not much I won't answer. So fire away! I'll take the questions, combine them, and do one Q&A post.
(Anonymous posters, please at least provide your first name in order to be included.)
I try to be honest on the blog, and I don't really hide anything. But still, after reading my posts, there might be questions you have. So here's your chance to ask.
Click on the comments section of this post, and ask any question you'd like. It can be about our adoptions, it can be about our family, it can be about our faith. It can be deep and thought-provoking (what led you to adopt from Ukraine?), or it can be light-hearted (what are you cooking for dinner tonight)?
Nothing is off limits. Okay, I will reserve the right to say no comment in the interest and protection of my family. But there's not much I won't answer. So fire away! I'll take the questions, combine them, and do one Q&A post.
(Anonymous posters, please at least provide your first name in order to be included.)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Ukraine by the numbers
Check out THIS BLOG POST for some interesting stats about Ukraine, its orphans, and the Christian movement.
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