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.