Reformation Day

Our church held a Reformation Day learning about the Reformer John Huss. He was a cleric from the turn of the 14th century 80 years before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the cathedral doors at Wittenberg. Huss was the "Grandfather of the Reformation." Costumes are not required but most wear costumes. We made four Knight costumes and two princess costumes. I learned how to look at clothes in a new light as I scoured the racks at Goodwill to envision skirts and drapes becoming capes and bathrobes becoming a dress. I also visited our local fabric shop a couple of times to gather necessary fabric. Elizabeth and Matthew were quite a help. Elizabeth sewed some seams and ties together while Matthew made crosses and ironed them on.

A fun day was had by all!

After A Hard Day at Work

Dan rests after a hard day at work while Josiah makes sure that Dad does not fall off the couch!

Cooking!!!

I thought this posted last week, but it didn't. Oops. We are enjoying the blessings of teaching our children to cook at an early age!! Matthew seems to cook dinner at least once a week! Elizabeth cooks dinner every 10 days or so! We are enjoying many new tasty dishes! Our church has a potluck every Sunday; he and Elizabeth have been bringing the required dishes for our family! Elizabeth and Nathaniel make Dan's lunch for him. The other day Elizabeth had Hannah and Nicholas helping her cut potatoes for soup. It was so cute! I am blessed with much help!

A picture of Nathaniel making eggs for egg sandwiches. Elizabeth is in the background making soup.

Elizabeth makes quesadillas! Yum!

Matthew loves to bake!

Nicholas makes salad!

Benjamin steals pieces of lettuce from Nicholas!

Hannah looking cute!

Josiah helps by holding the wooden spoon! It's never too early to learn!

WHOOPS!! DON'T COOK THE BABY!! ( Just kidding! Though Josiah really is sitting in a pot!)

Blessings on your week!

A Miracle

We are experiencing a miracle here in our home! We have had at least a WEEK with Hannah that has been so pleasant. The typical is 2-3 somewhat nice days that lead to 12-14 days of raging. She was diagnosed in the spring with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and Disorganized Anxious Attachment.

I haven't blogged too much about it because it has been so draining. We know Hannah belongs to us. We are so sad for her obvious neglect the first 22 months of her life. Someone recently remarked unbelief at how much that would affect her life as she was away from us for under two years. My comment was, "That's how severely traumatized she was those first 22 months of her life to be still facing those fears a little over a year later."

A little example of how far we have come. A few days ago Matthew accidently bumped her very lightly. When we first came home, this little incident would have sent her into a full-blown tantrum, kicking, screaming, full body on the ground for, at minimum, 15 minutes. Even a couple of weeks ago, she would have responded with screaming and stomping madly with her feet. Her response that day to Matthew's, "Oh, I am sorry, Hannah" was "That's ok." The key thing was that it really was ok and she was able to move on and let it go! We have come so far. I know from friends who have children with RAD and our experiences with Hannah, thus far, is that we will most likely go back into the valley, but for now, I am counting His blessings, as always, and thankful for each day, good or bad, knowing that His mercies are indeed new every morning.

Catching Up

These are pictures that I took in the spring. Not quite sure why it is so blurry. I thought our children looked cute with the boys in matching shirts, compliments of my Mom, and the girls in matching jumpers that I made. Elizabeth picked the fabric, and I sewed.

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. That's what little boys are made of......

Sugar and spice and everything nice. That's what little girls are made of.......

First Day of School

We had our first day of school on Wednesday, September 16. Here is our annual first day of school picture.

Here is Josiah taking a short catnap on the couch. As you can see, he is doing the cat stretches in anticipation of waking up.

I was praying about our first day of school the night before. My prayer was that we would begin the year well. I had my doubts with Josiah not wanting to be put down and not napping. I was wondering how I was going to meet everyone's needs as each year gets more demanding for me as each child's school work gets more demanding. God met me! Josiah took two long naps in his infant seat that day giving me time to help everyone! It was an affirmation from God that He is indeed in charge of and blessing our school year.

Josiah Gabriel

Here's an "old" picture of Josiah Gabriel. He was born on July 27, 2009. He was 7.2 pounds and 20 inches long. He loves to be held ALL day long.....thus the lack of posts. We are simply LOVING having a baby in our home again!

I am sure that the person who coined the term to "sleep like a baby" did not have any babies! To sleep like a baby means to sleep in very short intervals tricking your Mommy into thinking that she might be able to one of her chores without interruption. I am thinking that perhaps they got the terms to "sleep like a baby" and "catnap" mixed up! The analogy should be: "sleep like a baby is to cats" as "catnap is to babies." Yes, that looks about right to me!

Even so......there is NOTHING quite like the smell of those sweet little babies! One of my all time favorites!

We are truly blessed!

Hannah's Surgery

Hannah's has surgery on her lip on July 1 at Oakland Children's Hospital. We (Matthew, Hannah and I) go up for her Pre-Op appointment on Tuesday morning. We'll spend the night in a hotel. Surgery will will be on Wednesday. We are planning to be able to come home on Wednesday.

I haven't written much of anything lately. I'll have to do a milestones update on our last several months. We've had several birthdays and lots of fun times.

We have been experiencing some fairly significant attachment issues with Hannah which leave me drained by the end of the day. Please pray that this surgery will not send her into a tailspin. She will be facing most of her triggers in a short period of time and will come home in no-nos which are arm restraints. Our prayer is that this surgery will help her to trust us more and be willing to allow us to love her.

Adoption Statistics

~ Every 15 seconds, another child becomes and AIDS orphan in Africa

~ Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans

~143,000,000 orphans in the world today spend an average of 10 years in an orphanage or foster home.

~ Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but every year 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans and age out of the system. 

~ Every DAY 38,493 children AGE OUT

~ In Ukraine and Russia 10% - 15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before the age of 18.

I wondered how I'd feel about the 143 million orphans worldwide after we brought Hannah home. Was my heart really softened toward them? Or was my heart softened for them only because of the paperchase that we were on to bring Hannah home? Would I just walk away and forget about them? Would I be just as on fire for the Orphan Care and Adoption ministry, Hands of Hope, that I helped to lead at our "other" church? Would I still advocate for these precious ones?

The day after we arrived home, I was going through my mail and read a newsletter from Harmony Outreach in Beijing. They have a foster home for special needs children. Tears came to my eyes as I read the stories of these children. They are victims of a fallen world. 

I look at our Hannah. She is our daughter! And yet she, too, was an orphan not that long ago. How can this be? I look at the children that our friends have adopted and wonder how can this be? How could they have been orphans? And yet, they were. Because of God's perfect plan, they have been given forever families and we have been blessed by His gift(s) to us.

But what of the others left behind? How long must they wait for families to love them? Some children will never know the love of an earthly father and mother. This reality breaks my heart. Some of these children will never get a chance to be all that God created them to be because of circumstances beyond their control. 

I don't know if you've seen the bumper sticker that goes something like this: Man says, "God, when are you going to create the guy who is suppose to cure cancer?" God replies, "I created him and you aborted him." What precious gifts are waiting to opened in these orphanages? 

The orphan epidemic is huge. I look into the faces of these children and wonder what I can do to help bring them home? What is my responsibility to them? I am overwhelmed. Incapacitated by the sheer magnitude of the issue. I am just one person. Small. Insignificant. Then, I realize that all I have to do is say yes to God and He will take care of the rest. 

That leads to the next question: "What am I saying yes to?" Do I say yes to the many organizations who advocate on behalf of orphans? Do I say yes to sponsoring a child? Do I say yes to going an serving in an orphanage somewhere? Do I say yes to a fund raising opportunity?Do I say yes to adopting another precious one? So many options. I realize that I am talking way too much and listening not to the voice of God! I am praying for the opportunity to use my gifts to serve orphans in some way be it big or small. 

Look What's Growing!!

I haven't posted lately because.......well......look what's growing inside! 

Our baby is due 8/8/09!! We are THRILLED!!

Plugged Up Toilets

We have a toilet that easily gets plugged up. Yesterday while Nicholas was on the throne, he was busy pulling the toilet paper all over the floor. After he was done, he must have added more paper to the toilet so that the toilet got plugged up when he flushed and water gushed onto the floor.  Matthew cleaned it all up with towels and Lysol while Nicholas looked on. Before going to bed, Nicholas used that same bathroom. Right before we flushed Nicholas took a few steps back and said, "Watch out, Mommy, the toilet might throw up!"

Dirty Socks

Usually, Monday is spent trying to encourage children who have been out of routine for two days to remember that Monday is indeed a school day. In addition, we spend time cleaning. We do big cleanings on Fridays (to prepare for the weekend) and Mondays (to recover from the weekend); all other days we maintain. Monday morning I sat down in our family room, where lots of our schooling takes place, and glanced around to see remnants of fun. Mostly, I saw socks. Everywhere I looked, I saw socks. I counted them! I counted 13 socks! I said, "Guys, there are 13 socks on the floor! 13! Why is it an odd number? Where is the missing one?" Matthew pipes up and says, "Mom, all of them are mine......except for eleven!" The others were still laughing that there were an odd number of socks! I didn't have them clean the socks up because they were working so nicely. Later in the day, I walked in the family room, glanced around. I noticed that the socks had grown in number. I counted again. This time there were 18 socks! I announced my discovery to the masses. The response was this, "Well, Mom, at least  it is an even number this time!" I just rolled my eyes. Really, I am certain that we have a sock monster living in our house who eats all the socks. Usually, we do not have socks strewn about the house except when we are folding clothes. The sock monster must have gone on strike for the weekend as he usually eats all matching socks. Quite an improvement over when our children were younger and there really were socks found in every corner of the house. I mentioned this once to one of my friends and she shared with me that she had socks hanging from the lamps in her home! I got a kick out of that! I used get annoyed by these wandering socks. Yesterday, I was able to thank God for the messes that reflect a happy, busy home!

May your week be filled with blessings!

Catching Up---FINALLY

I am obviously not the blogger that people visit every day. I recently bought a wonderful book about Family Writing that has reminded the importance of writing daily happenings so I have been writing more frequently, just not here on our blog. I'm going to do a whirlwind of catching you up on our happenings and big events.

We celebrated Benjamin's birthday. He turned 10 on December 11. I can't believe that we have two children who are in the double digits! Where does the time go?

We celebrated Christmas early at our home. Below is a picture of Hannah's first Christmas with us. She would have been happy with just her few stocking stuffers. I think that if you click on the picture, it will blow up for you. Sorry for the blurriness.

We drove to visit Dan's Mom and Dan's brother and his family. Ten children in the house made for lots of fun! Dan's brother also has a little one also named Hannah. We called our Hannah, Hannah Mei-Mei and theirs Hannah Rebecca. The girls didn't seem to mind at all and took it in stride. I should add here that we saw them in July Hannah still preferred her Chinese name so when I would call their Hannah, Hannah, our Hannah would just stare as if to say, "Hey, I don't like my name, but you cannot have it!" Being the first time to visit Dan's Mom's home (We've seen her several times just not at her home.), Hannah didn't do so well. By Day five, she was much more comfortable.

After five nights, we drove to my parents home to visit with them and my brother's family who was visiting from Seattle. We had nine children in the house so it was a little quieter but not much. Hannah has visited my parents home several times, so she did much better here. Again, much fun and memories! 

Matthew turns 13 on January 3. We have a teenager in the house! Yikes!

After coming home for two days, we left again to attend a Memorial Service for Dan's Uncle in Santa Cruz. (Dan's Mom's older brother.) Dan hadn't seen some of his cousins for years so it was a good time of memories and catching up even though the occasion was sad. Since we were already in the area, it seemed a shame to turn around and drive back so we stayed the night. The next day, we decided to visit Point Lobos, a State Reserve. It was a beautiful day. We sat in the car and ate lunch. While we were eating, we saw MANY whales blowing their spouts! It was incredible! Evidently, this is the time when they migrate! Then, we climbed on the rocks and touched little critters in the tide pools. Dan took the older four children over some rocks to see the seals sunbathing on the other side. Then, we went to the Whaler's Museum which is in the Reserve. It was very interesting to see what used to be on that site. Here they all are sitting on a fallen tree. 

Yesterday, we went to the Modesto Courthouse for Hannah's Re-Adoption Hearing. It was a short, anti-climactic event only necessary to add to the stacks of paperwork and to generate a US Birth Certificate which helps us obtain Hannah's Social Security Number and Passport. When we got into the car, Dan asked if we were finally done with all our paperwork! Nope! More paper to obtain SS and passport. Then, in May more paper arrives for our 12 -Month Post Placement. THEN, we'll be done! 

There you have it! We are now almost back into full swing. It takes awhile after being out of routine! 

If you think to pray, please pray for two of our friends waiting referrals of their child from Ethiopia and Uganda. The waiting is UNBEARABLE knowing that YOUR CHILD is in a place where he/she may not be well taken care of and he/she could be home with you if not for the endless paper trail. Pray God's protection on each of these 143 million children who do not have a Mommy or a Daddy to tuck them in at night! Pray that God would move hearts to bring them home! 

All For HIM,

Joyce