You guys!! You prayed, didn't you?!?!
Today we had our home visit and our home study social worker said our home study would probably be done ONE AND A HALF WEEKS from now. Say wha...?! Like she's moving faster than me! Now I'm scrambling to get a few things done this week to keep up with her. Keep praying! We have a few documents hanging out there (background clearances and a letter from my doctor) that need to come for her to finish it. Then we need a few letters from specialists so that we can complete the next step the second that home study is finished!
And right now we're working on the possibility of finding a donor near XT who would be willing to donate blood so we can pay for some extra transfusions while he waits. When I first thought of this idea, I didn't even pursue it because it seemed like such a long shot. But with the encouragement of some other moms with kiddos with the same condition, I sent out some emails and made a few phone calls and now we just wait to see if everyone is in agreement that this is something that can happen.
Oh my heavens, people, keep praying!!
**On a side note, when the home study worker walked into our house, the first thing Camden said was, "This is our cat, Lucy. She's really mean and she bites people." Sheesh! She bit one person once like a year ago and she really isn't mean. Later when we were giving her the home tour, Camden insisted that she look inside our bedroom closet. Literally the only closet I didn't organize last week. The closet I shoved all the dirty laundry and miscellaneous items in. That kid!
Monday, December 28, 2015
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Please, please pray.
Please, please, please pray for our little guy. We got an update on him two days before Christmas and it was not what we wanted to hear. If you haven't read about his condition yet and would like to, click here.
Our biggest concern is how long he is going between blood transfusions. His hemoglobin levels are so low, he is at risk for cardiac arrest. And because of lack of medication, his organs are enlarged and he is losing his hair. I had been so hopeful that this wouldn't be the case for him and it hit me for the first time that he really could die before we get to him. After a day of crying, Mark and I had some very good talks. We reminded each other that God can sustain him though any health struggle. He can keep his little body functioning at a level you and I could never survive. So that is our prayer. While we will trust God whatever the outcome, we so badly want to bring him home. We want to see what good medical care will do for him. We want to see him happy, see him smile, see him live and thrive.
We have been considering naming him Josiah, which means "Jehovah has healed". I like it because it is past-tense. We believe this promise. Either God will completely heal him by taking him to heaven, or we will get to participate in his healing here on earth.
We are trying to expedite his adoption. If the expedite works, we could be leaving as early as April to go get him. But, unfortunately, most of the process is not dependent on how quickly we can do things, but on how quickly others do things and whether or not the right people approve the expedite. So here are our specific prayer requests. Will you pick one and lift it up to God right now for us? And as you think of us and our little guy, lift it up to God again and again?
1. Pray our home study worker will complete our home study FAST (this is our first step). Along with that, that there will be no delay in the paperwork that goes along with the home study.
2. That God will sustain our little guy until we can get him. That the lack of medical care will not do permanent damage to his organs.
3. Pray that U.S. immigration will approve the expedite. This will shave a lot of time off of the process if they will approve it. I've heard rumors that they are not currently allowing expedite for kids with thalassemia. Whether or not that's true, we believe God can allow it to happen!
4. Pray that we will not have any snags in getting our China paperwork together. And pray that China will agree to expedite. (And that our agency will assist us in all of this.)
5. Pray for our finances. Adoption is expensive, really expensive. And I know some people think that you shouldn't do it if you can't afford it. But I can't even go there right now. No, we can't afford it and we especially can't afford it in a 4 month span of time. But we know God has all the resources in the world and we need Him to provide for us.
Thank you sincerely for each and every prayer. It means so much to us! Here is a recent picture of him. It's a sad picture and it breaks my heart because I know how sick he must feel.
We have been considering naming him Josiah, which means "Jehovah has healed". I like it because it is past-tense. We believe this promise. Either God will completely heal him by taking him to heaven, or we will get to participate in his healing here on earth.
We are trying to expedite his adoption. If the expedite works, we could be leaving as early as April to go get him. But, unfortunately, most of the process is not dependent on how quickly we can do things, but on how quickly others do things and whether or not the right people approve the expedite. So here are our specific prayer requests. Will you pick one and lift it up to God right now for us? And as you think of us and our little guy, lift it up to God again and again?
1. Pray our home study worker will complete our home study FAST (this is our first step). Along with that, that there will be no delay in the paperwork that goes along with the home study.
2. That God will sustain our little guy until we can get him. That the lack of medical care will not do permanent damage to his organs.
3. Pray that U.S. immigration will approve the expedite. This will shave a lot of time off of the process if they will approve it. I've heard rumors that they are not currently allowing expedite for kids with thalassemia. Whether or not that's true, we believe God can allow it to happen!
4. Pray that we will not have any snags in getting our China paperwork together. And pray that China will agree to expedite. (And that our agency will assist us in all of this.)
5. Pray for our finances. Adoption is expensive, really expensive. And I know some people think that you shouldn't do it if you can't afford it. But I can't even go there right now. No, we can't afford it and we especially can't afford it in a 4 month span of time. But we know God has all the resources in the world and we need Him to provide for us.
Thank you sincerely for each and every prayer. It means so much to us! Here is a recent picture of him. It's a sad picture and it breaks my heart because I know how sick he must feel.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Living Sacrifice
This past fall, I started feeling a stirring in my soul. I felt unsettled. Something was missing or maybe I was missing something. I started dreaming about my days living and working in China. My mind and my soul then went further back and I remembered the desires I had for my life as a teenager and young adult. I started contemplating then on my personal spiritual growth in the past few years. I can feel and see that God has constantly been pruning me to be a better mother. To love more. To sacrifice more. And I realized that motherhood....motherhood has been my calling. Before I ever dreamed of being a world traveler, I dreamed of being a mother. When I became a mother, I honestly wasn't great at it. I got really irritated at my kids, I resented them sometimes when I felt like they were sucking the life out of me, and I starting experiencing heightened depression and anxiety. But God kept teaching me, changing me, challenging me, and healing me. It's becoming more natural to put myself and my desires aside for my children. It's been surprising to experience increased joy with increased sacrifice.
This past fall, when I started aching for more, I knew it had to do with my calling of motherhood. I started tentatively and nervously approaching God: "Adoption again? Are you sure?" Because, you know, it's expensive, and Mark's going to think I've lost my marbles, and our house is small and we don't even have a mini van. But my heart kept aching. I kept thinking, "God, if a boy such-and-such age with such-and-such special need becomes available, I'm not going to be able to say no to him."
So then one morning, I saw there were some new children listed on our old agency's Facebook page. AND THERE HE WAS. A boy. Such-and-such age with such-and-such special need. Out loud, I cried, "No! No! No! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" because I KNEW I was going to have to have to tell Mark! I'd have to admit I wanted to do it again and he was going to tell me I was crazy. And HE DID...at first. But then we had several days of talking, and talking, and more talking, and asking questions, and answering questions, and praying, and crying (me), and more talking. And then we both agreed..."Yep, boy of such-and-such age, with such-and-such special need...he's ours."
And then, in one instant, an unknown face becomes so much more. More than a gender. More than an age. More than a special need. He becomes our son. And I wonder why God would give ME such an incredible calling. Being a mother means being a living sacrifice. And I've been learning to give more and more. And to my new son, I say...All I have is yours. My heart, my energy, my time, my everything - it's yours. And already, I love you.
Here he is. Isn't he a love? He's 2 1/2 and he has a medical condition that will take up a whole blog post on it's own, so more on that later. (We don't have a name for him yet, but I will call him XT on this blog until we do.)
This past fall, when I started aching for more, I knew it had to do with my calling of motherhood. I started tentatively and nervously approaching God: "Adoption again? Are you sure?" Because, you know, it's expensive, and Mark's going to think I've lost my marbles, and our house is small and we don't even have a mini van. But my heart kept aching. I kept thinking, "God, if a boy such-and-such age with such-and-such special need becomes available, I'm not going to be able to say no to him."
So then one morning, I saw there were some new children listed on our old agency's Facebook page. AND THERE HE WAS. A boy. Such-and-such age with such-and-such special need. Out loud, I cried, "No! No! No! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" because I KNEW I was going to have to have to tell Mark! I'd have to admit I wanted to do it again and he was going to tell me I was crazy. And HE DID...at first. But then we had several days of talking, and talking, and more talking, and asking questions, and answering questions, and praying, and crying (me), and more talking. And then we both agreed..."Yep, boy of such-and-such age, with such-and-such special need...he's ours."
And then, in one instant, an unknown face becomes so much more. More than a gender. More than an age. More than a special need. He becomes our son. And I wonder why God would give ME such an incredible calling. Being a mother means being a living sacrifice. And I've been learning to give more and more. And to my new son, I say...All I have is yours. My heart, my energy, my time, my everything - it's yours. And already, I love you.
Here he is. Isn't he a love? He's 2 1/2 and he has a medical condition that will take up a whole blog post on it's own, so more on that later. (We don't have a name for him yet, but I will call him XT on this blog until we do.)
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