MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cool Slideshows

Well, it was sad to go through the Christmas season without even knowing who are children will be, but we had a good Christmas all the same. As Christmas isn't a day--it's a person!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”- Isaiah 9:6

I'm so thankful for God's greatest gift of Jesus Christ and the salvation to all humanity that is found in Him. Because we are imperfect and sinful we can not approach or dwell with the perfect heavenily Father--but that Father loves us so much He provided a way for us to draw near to Him.

From the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 10--

"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God'".
*****
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
*****
"And this is what he promised us even eternal life."
--from the Book of 1 John chapter 2 verse 25

Our family's wish for all who read these words would be eternal life in heaven through Christ Jesus the Lord. Now THAT would truly be a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Antique Chairs

A very generous friend of mine gave us 6 beautiful antique cane bottom chairs to sell for our adoption fund. Trouble is, I'm not sure who wants them. I decided I would post them here in case some reader would come along who was looking for just this type of chair! They are in good shape and have had the caning redone. I have close up pictures if you are interested. My friend was told when they were recaned several years ago that they are worth about $60 each. I'd like to get $300 for them. They are such fun chairs, I'd almost love to keep them! But those cane bottoms would last about 6 months in my home! That is why my friend is parting with them too! I think cane bottom chairs were one of the reasons Victorians were so strict with their kids!
Blessings, God is so GOOD! Debbie :-)

God is good

God provides encouragement when we need it most. I came home from work a few days ago to read this in "Shaohannah's Hope Today"

"You aren't waiting on man, you are waiting for God.
God isn't going to send you where he is absent.
God is not bound by geography, timelines, politics, or finances.
God hasn't asked you to walk this path alone. Not only will he remain with you each step of the way, He has prepared many warriors to go into battle with you. You'll be amazed at who he uses to meet your needs.
Don't put serving the King on hold. Waiting doesn't equate to idleness. Invest in the wait, don't waste it.
God's gifts to us are never late. They are always on time and far beyond what we could ever imagine."

Amen to that.

The Waiting Game

These past couple of weeks have been really hard for me to be patient. I just want to know when we might get a referral so I can start making plans for next year. I'm starting to wonder how possible it would be to teach ESL in Taiwan. . . At this point I doubt we will have the kids home by this summer,so I could go to Taiwan then, teach, learn some Mandarin, and be a little closer to my siblings- and even meet them when we do get a referral. :) I have a feeling they will be home by next summer though, which would mean that if I wanted to be back at home when they were home, I couldn't stay for a year, which means I can't get a visa to teach. . . Oh well. I know God has a plan, not only for my siblings, but also for me. Faith is all about trusting even when the way isn't clear, and that is what I need to practice doing. God has not brought us this far and worked so clearly in this adoption only to leave us here. His plans may not be what I would have chosen, but He is good and omniscient and his plans are infinitely better than any I can make, so I must learn to trust, and to patiently wait.

I-797C? I thought we were awaiting an I-171H!

Well it finally came! Yes,it came last week in the mail, that long awaited envelope from the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. I had tears in my eyes! :-) And, although it was a different number form than we expected, it was correct! We've been approved to adopt 2 children from Taiwan! It even came with a note of congratulations! That was unexpected. The paperwork from USCIS does not make it seem like the type of agency that would congratulate people.

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”- 1 Chronicles 16:8

Face to Face Interview and Learning Along the Way

A face to face interview with a U.S. Immigrations officer sure sounds official and intimidating. Since my second set of finger prints were rejected I was notified by phone on Oct. 31 that I would need to have the “Face to Face Interview”. It was nice of them to call, since they’d scheduled my appointment for the following week at 11 AM. on my son, Daniel’s, 7th birthday! I was super glad I could go to the nearby field office and did not have to go into the main office that is hours away!

It was an adventurous morning for me in more ways than one. What if they asked some question I couldn’t answer? What if the police department had mixed up someone else’s record for mine? What if I couldn’t find the place--after having been there twice I wouldn’t think that would be a problem, but maybe I knew something. . .

Just as I left the house I looked on line to get the directions and of course I could not find the right page and ended up leaving later than anticipated with just an extra 5 minutes to spare. So when I passed the exit I knew I was in trouble! When I got off the next exit to turn around and realized I was on a one way street heading downtown--I knew I was in REAL TROUBLE! It was at this point I should have paid more attention to that “still, small, voice” For that voice kept reminding me that this was all in God’s hand and His plans and NO plan forged against His plan can win. Well that OTHER voice kept telling me, “you are going to be so late, you are going to miss the appointment, they are going to reject the petition, you are going to be entangled in some legal battle for failing to report. . .” My very bright, now 7 year old son, quickly informed me when he heard the story that, " that VOICE was Satan." Wish I’d realized it sooner.

So after a few frantic and rather rude calls home to Tim, to try and find the phone number, so I could at least be responsible and call and tell why I was a no-show, I found myself at a main intersection leading to the highway! I took the turn to the south, forgetting I’d already passed my exit, and just as I got REALLY mad at myself, I realized I was right on the road I should have exited onto! All the dumb mistakes in between had gotten me to the right place! Now I’m not advocating for dumb mistakes in life. But isn’t nice to know the God we serve can get us to where he wants us to be despite ourselves. I am so thankful to Him!

The interview went fine. I arrived at 11:02. The immigrations officer was very official and very nice and chatted with me a while after taking my sworn testimony about the criminal offenses I did not commit. So hopefully we are one step closer to our I171H and permission to bring 2 orphans into the country to adopt!

I'll keep you posted and you try to listen to that "still, small voice." Hope you do better at it than I.

An Imaginary Phone Call

The other night, my Mom and I were discussing how odd it would be to talk to the kids on the phone before we meet them. I'm really not a phone person, and I wasn't sure I liked the idea. I realized though, that my parents will call while they are in Taiwan, and won't I want to say hello to my new brother and sister then? So, I imagined a phone conversation in my limited Mandarin. It goes like this:

Ni hao. (hello)
Wo shi ni de jie jie. (I am your big sister)
Wo jiao Annie. (my name is Annie)
Wo ai ni. (I love you)
Zai Jian (good bye)

Now I need to learn how to say "come home soon" . . .

And pronounce the words well enough that someone other than my mother can understand me. . .

Change Jars

A week or so ago, when I (Rebecca) made the long pilgrimage from school to home for fall break, I had among my books and clothing a lone used cell phone and a full change jar. What turned out to be a very full change jar - it was an all time high for amounts in a change jar. This was due to an incredibly generous friend, Holly, who saved all her change over the summer, a mysterious $20 bill that showed up on my desk belonging to neither my roommate nor myself, laundry no longer consuming my few quarters, and guests at the inn I work at actually leaving me tips. The normal yield of my jar is, oh, maybe $5 at the most, so this was an exciting event. Mom just emailed me today, however, and informed me that a friend of hers has broken my change jar record. This is one record I am happy to have broken!

Before fall break, I had been feeling incredibly impatient about this whole adoption business. I wanted a little brother and sister, drat it! My impatience has slowly become less, due to a number of things. One is a freshman named Lauren. Her family has adopted two children already, and are in the middle of adopting a third. We met the day she saw me wearing my adoption t-shirt, with ‘big sister’ in Chinese characters on the front. “What’s your shirt say?” she asked. “Big sister,” I said, and one thing led to another. It’s funny how quickly it becomes obvious that others adopting understand the emotions and concerns so much better than others. Now we commiserate about paperwork problems, feeling out of the loop because we are away at college, and laugh about what the recent swarm of lady bugs might mean for our families... Other than that, life at college remains the same, adoption-wise: I save my change, pray for The Call, and hope for generous tips at work.

Agency Changes

A couple of weeks ago our Faithful Adoption agency worker emailed to say she was stepping down from coordinating our program due to some health issues. I felt bad, both for her and for us. I liked her a lot. She is a home school mom of 4 and one is a little girl they adopted at age 4. So I felt that we had much in common.

Our new agency worker, Olga, got in touch with us and had some unexpected news. Cathwell, the orphanage we thought it most likely to get our referral from, did not have ANY paperwork on us! Only our photo album, which they were not doing anything with! So we have filled out their application and our home study agency has graciously sent yet another notarized copy of our home study to Faithful. So hopefully some time this week all that will get to Cathwell in Taiwan! The good news is that they told Olga they would take into consideration the fact that we have had our album there since March. Who knows, maybe we will hear from them soon! We all feel even this seeming “error” is part of God’s plan and his timing to get “our” children to us. Keep the faith!

Count it all joy!

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need
to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive
what he has promised.”
- Hebrews 10:35-36

I really felt encouraged by this verse the other day. We’ve had 3 minor “paperwork” snafus this week. My first set of fingerprints got rejected and when I went to have them retaken they said it looked like the 2nd set would be rejected as well. (apparently I have grainy fingers or something!). If they are rejected again I will have to take a trip to meet with the Immigrations Officer in person with certified letters from the localities where I have lived stating that I have no criminal record! Dana needs to get a bunch more paperwork certified. We need all this stuff so we can get our I171-H, which allows us to adopt an orphan from another country. And to top it off our agency changed their mailing address and some different letters etc. may not have gotten to them! Oh well, Annie and I thought the initial paperwork was a little too easy!!

Now if we get a referral, there will be all kinds of paperwork to do. But of course I’d love to get a referral anyway!

We keep praying and each day I am encouraged by the Lord that everything is in His plan and I just need to wait on Him.

. . . as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress. . .psalm 123:2

Sandwich Artists

Last Saturday was our subsale. We had fun creating a "100 foot sub"


Daniel did a great job.


Mom and Daniel together


Hard at work


Jonathan putting on tomatos (which he hates)


Say Cheese!


Annie, Daniel, Jonathan and Tim


Dad and Tim working together


The "official" Sandwich Artist (as a former Subway "sandwich artist", I was the "resident expert")


Jonathan was our master sales man. He wasn't afraid to approach anyone.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Daniel with our celebratory "$4,000 cake"

We were notified by mail today that we have recieved a $4000 grant from Shaohannah's Hope! I was so happy and overwhelmed with thankfulness that I cried! I think Jonathan and Daniel thought I was crazy. We immediately filled in another 40 circles on our Adoption Fund Chart! 140 down, only 65 more to go!

Sometimes this adoption road seems dark and the end is nowhere in sight. At times like these the road lights up and the way is clear and we know there ARE children waiting at the other end peering up the road with the same mixture of awe and excitement we have.

God only knows when our paths will meet and for today that is OK. :-)

Red Thread Day!

Yesterday was our Red Thread Walk-a-Thon, and it was a success! We had a lot of fun. A family from our church came, out-of-state friends who were visiting for the weekend walked with us and some of my friends and Rebecca's friends were able to walk as well. Here we all are before setting out on the walk





We had a beautiful day for a walk- sunny and breezy and not too hot.



Our littlest walker with her Mommy :)


Friends of ours live at about the halfway point and we left a cooler of water and some snacks in their yard. It was nice to take a break. I was surprised because the big kids had nearly finished the fruit snacks before the little kids caught up to us.




Here we all are (minus Tim who went to find water for the dog).



While we waited for the men to cook the hamburgers when we got back, we counted the money everyone had gotten from sponsors. All together we raised $2,114! I was so excited- I'd been nervous about the whole thing since I was "planning" it while I was on a different continent, but God is faithful, and abundantly blessed us. I was very happy with the whole day. Not only was it exciting to raise so much money, it was also fun to walk with our friends and picnic afterwards.

Red Thread Walk

As I figure out last minute details for my trip to Europe, I am also in the midst of planning our next fundraiser. On Saturday August 12, four days after Rebecca and I get back from Europe, we will be having a Red Thread Walk. The walk is basically a walk-a-thon with a fancy name. :) We are calling it a "Red Thread Walk" after the Chinese Proverb that says, "An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."

My Mom, sister, and I all have the goal of getting at least 5 people to walk with us. We'll make t-shirts (like we made for our extended family, but with the character for friend, Peng You, on the front) for all of our walkers who have at least 5 sponsors. I'm still deciding what to put on the back, I think the Chinese Proverb, and maybe Psalm 68:6. . .any other suggestions?

We will have friends join us at our house to walk the 3 miles around our lake. We are going to mark the path with red ribbons tied around trees to keep with the red thread theme. Afterwards we'll have a picnic. It should be a fun time! Hopefuly this time I remember to take photos and I can post some afterwards and tell how it went.

If you are interested in sponsoring one of us, let us know!

FUNdraising

Well, it actually was fun! We had our yard sale in June. We received enough donations to fill our yard and then some! My parents and sister came down from Connecticut to help and we met some nice people too. All and all it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We made enough money to feel it had been worth while, but we still have a long way to go. Much of our leftover stuff went to a Russian orphanage (clothing), a crisis pregnancy center(stroller, diaper bags, baby clothes)a homeless shelter(personal care items) and the Salvation Army (all the rest of the stuff that they were willing to take). So it was fun to feel we were helping others while others helped us!

Next month Annie and Rebecca are planning a "Red Thread Walk" and in September we are having a sub sale at a grocery store. We've also registered with Current Fundraising to raise money by selling current products online to our friends and family. You may be getting an email soon! ;-)

But the bottom line is, God will have to provide. We look forward to see how He will do this.

THE WHOLE CLAN!

OUR EXTENDED FAMILY AT OUR FAMILY CAMPING TRIP
(click on the picture to enlarge it)

We made up T-shirts for our extended family with Chinese characters denoting everyone's relationship to our new children. Annie had lots of fun finding the correct Chinese terms and typing in the characters. All our family were great sports to wear the shirts and pose for countless pictures!


HERE IS ANOTHER PICTURE OF JUST OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY


The characters are a little easier to see here. You can probably make it bigger by clicking on it. Mine says, "Ma Ma" or Mom, Dana's says "Ba Ba or Dad" Annie and Rebbecca are Jie Jie, big sister, Tim and Jonathan are Ge Ge, big brother and Daniel is Di Di, little brother.

It is fun to wonder just where in the family the new children will go and if Daniel will indeed continue to be the Di Di, because there is a small possiblity that he will be a Ge Ge :-)

Cell Phones

We are sending in our 4th batch of cell phones. I've been amazed at how quickly they have come in. As a matter of fact, as soon as my Mom had the box packed to send, I walked in the door from work with another cell phone! It's been fun to see how not only do people bring their cell phones, they get them from relatives and friends for us too. Someone at work has a brother-in-law who works at an auto auction. Sometimes people leave cell phones in their cars and never come back to claim them. I ended up with those! It is just amazing to me how God uses people you've never even met to bless you and to play a part in our adoption, however small a part that might be. So far, we have earned around $350 from collecting cell phones. Not bad for a fundraiser with no cost and very little effort involved!

What a surprise!

Well this past Thursday evening my nap on the couch was interrupted by a phone call from our Faithful Adoption agency worker! I knew the only reason she would call was if she had a referral! Unfortunately she had forgotten we wanted siblings only, and she had the referral of an 8 year old boy, thinking we could get a girl later. But we are pretty set on siblings for a number of reasons. The first is because we are a rather large family (and extended family) for children to come into and we think "there is safety in numbers"! Well really, we just feel we might be less overwhelming if they have each other too. Another reason has to do with family history. As a family we have 20+ years of memory making behind us. We feel if a brother and sister also have a history together they may feel as though the two families are combining--rather than theirs being "engulfed" by ours. Then there is the issue of bonding--perhaps a child, going through the trauma of losing parents with a sibling, as opposed to alone, may have less difficulty to bond with, love and trust others. But really, that will be God's job. . .I have been praying for this adoption for many years. . .

I think we chose a brother and a sister because that is where the desires lie within the family. It also maintains the family balance and works well for the bedroom situation. . .

It is very difficult to say "no" to a child. I felt sad when I got off the phone and confused, as if something were not right. And even this post is an effort to explain that "no". But ultimately it is in the hands of God. We hope and pray our "desires" are placed in our hearts by Him. And we wish to willing submit those desires to Him. He is an awesome God and perfectly able to work with our frail frames and bring about his divine will!

Pray for the orphans. Blessings, Debbie

The View from College

Right now, I should technically be writing an opinion essay for my New Testament class but I’m finding it very irksome. I am also having trouble figuring out what I’m going to say. (Perhaps due to the Easter candy mom left on my desk over break?) Normally when I can’t focus on assignments, I write a blog post for my personal, friends-and-family’s-keep-track-of-Rebecca blog, but I’ve wanted to write something for the adoption blog for a long time. So here it is.
Being away from my family while the adoption is progressing is very hard at times and I often feel disconnected. Daniel even told me over break that “It sort of doesn’t feel like you are part of the family anymore. But that’s okay, I still love you.” At six, he can hardly be expected to have tact... I know that not very much is happening, and may seem like nothing for the rest of my family at home, but I only find out things in chunks, and it is things like inside family jokes, expressions, and dinner time conversations that I miss. What for them is more of a gradual process for me sometimes feels like it moves in fits: Christmas break finds me clearing out my old room and moving in with Annie and discussing where we will fit our new sister’s bed. A phone call a few weeks later at school - and the quilts are chosen for the beds and I learn that they’ve begun referring to our new siblings by the Chinese words for little brother and little sister. The next week brings an email with pictures of Annie’s room transformed into ‘our’ room...with a third bed waiting for the third sister.
Of course, being at college makes the process even more exciting at times. Girls come in my room and get excited see my adoption fund chart has more colored circles, or they find me coloring them in and ask if they can help. In the middle of a paper, someone will knock and bring me a cell phone, then ask how many I have now...and before I know it, we’re hanging out and discussing international adoption, family, and future plans. People I didn’t even know knew me ask how the adoption is going sometimes. And where else can I run down the hall and find someone that will be just as excited as me about a new development? I even showed off the pictures of the three beds with their quilts...
A quick look at the clock and it appears I’d better write that essay or plan on cramming it between work study and class. And so, reader, you are mercifully spared an even longer post.

Finger Prints!

Well, Now I need to scratch criminal off my list of potential careers since I now have fingerprints on record and I would be too easy to catch. Good thing it wasn't near the top of my list :)

After missing the turn once, I made it to the right road. I knew I was getting close when I passed the prison. After all, doesn't it make perfect sense to have a fingerprinting place and a prison right next to each other? I must have been somewhat nervous, I'm not sure why, but when I filled out the form I put the a before the l in my last name. Oops. Cross that out and start over. Then I almost wrote 27 instead of 26 for my birthdate. Once the form was filled out I was fine.

It took forever to get my prints, I think they had to try my left thumb and ring finger at least 8 times each, but now it is done. The machine is kind of cool. They spray your fingers with water (I think it was water), then they stick them on a glass plate and roll them around a bit. Your finger print comes up magnified on the computer screen, and they save it there. It's neat seeing your finger prints enlarged so they are probably as big as your head. That sure makes comparing prints a lot easier than looking at life size prints.

My first post

I'm not really ready for my first post, but I couldn't figure out how to just "join!"
But I am very ready for 2 more children that God seems to want to bless us with.
Thanks Annie for starting the blog. Hope I'll have more to say soon!

OH, I thought of something I've wanted to share--

In our adoption education class they asked us all to close our eyes and think about our homes and family. Our houses, the things we owned, the times and people we enjoyed. Then she knocked, "KNOCK, knock, knock, KNOCK" She told us she was the people mover and it was her job to move people. It was our turn to be moved. We had 30 minutes to stuff whatever we could into a large plastic trash bag. The bag could not hold pets or people. She would then escort us to her car and told us she would be bringing us to a new family. The family was REALLY excited about our coming and loved us very much. She drove through town and past houses to a nicer part of town with bigger houses. She pulled up in front of a very nice house and took us to the front door. She knocked and the door was opened by a new family. She told us this would be our new family. They have been waiting for a new mommy/wife and were VERY happy to see us. The new family hugged us and was eager to show love and incorporate us into their lives.

The instuctor asked, "How are you feeling? What are your thoughts?"

Then she went on: Because I am a very busy people mover I was not able to get back to you for 2 years. Finally I came back, "KNOCK, knock, knock, KNOCK" and told you I would take you back to see your old family, just for a visit. Then you would move on to your "Forever Family."

How would we feel about this? What would it be like to see our "old family" after 2 years? How would we feel about leaving the "new family?" What was this about a "Forever Family".

After the visit with our old family, "KNOCK, knock, knock, KNOCK" , the people mover came and told us it was time to move on. With a happy smile she said it was time to go live with our "Forever Family". She drove us through town. We went to a nicer part of town than our "first" family lived in, but not quite so nice as the "second" family. Once again she knocked on the door of a nice house, "KNOCK, knock, knock, KNOCK" . Once again a happy family opened the door. Once again they said they had been waiting for a new mommy/wife and were VERY happy to see us. The new family hugged us and was eager to show love and incorporate us into their lives.

How would we feel? Why woud we want to get close to these people? What had happened in the past when we got close to people? How would we feel about our "first" family? The "second" family? How would we feel the next time we heard, "KNOCK, knock, knock, KNOCK"? What would we do the next time we saw the people mover, someone who looked like her, or a van like the one she drove?

And so we were introduced into the lives of the orphan, or foster care child. The world of children who do not have any control over their own lives or people to keep them safe and secure. I felt so sad and angry too that any child should have to suffer so.

I don't know where my Taiwanese children are. But I do know they are in the care of their heavenly Father. And I know that He is reaching out to them in love and with care. And our family hopes and prays He will use us to heal the early wounds and hurts in their young lives and make them into people who will love and serve Him and his loved ones.

Pray for the orphans. God bless, Debbie

Our family

When I've linked to "strangers" adoption blogs, I always wish there was an introduction to the family somewhere. It is frustrating to piece together a picture of the family when people are randomly mentioned throughout the postings, so, for any one who doesn't know us personally, here's an intro to our family (from the photo album we sent to Taiwan):