New friends

We went to our first "Parents of Down Sydrome" support group tonight. Parents were very informative and helpful (and the kids adorable!). Our kids talked all the way home about all the little friends they met. They cannot wait to have their sister home! I am thankful for new friends who have already done all the grieving, question-asking, researching....so we don't have to. I am amazed at the resources these kids have available to them. I have a whole list of acronyms to Google tonight...education, therapy, sports programs, Special Olympics. There was a man with DS who was our speaker. He is 32 years old, and spoke about Special Olympics had helped him become who he is today. He seemed so....INTELLIGENT....and then he came and sat down by his mom, gave her a big kiss on the cheek, and then turned around in his seat and started smiling and making faces at a set of infant twins behind him. Such a sweet, sweet man! I was so glad to see this person, whose life some may not value, making such an impact on the lives around him. What a privilege it was to meet Chris tonight!

LOOK!!!!

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/sponsorurban.htm

We knew as soon as we made the commitment to adopt Ava that God would provide every penny of the finances. I'm not sure why we were so confident, we just knew that He would. Honestly, we began to think of ways to "save" up some money...John working another job on the side, possibly selling one vehicle. We got on a budget and started trying to cut out any spending that was not really necessary. We decided to have a garage sale, and had several friends, neighbors and some family members donate items to sell, and we even had a couple of people walk up to us and hand us cash towards the adoption!!! Well, we were so grateful! And then, out of the blue we received an email from a christian family whom we had never met!They heard about our plans to adopt a child with special needs. They were impressed to help us! It sounded too good to be true, and yesterday.... a check for $4,000 was deposited into our Reece's Rainbow account!!! (Yes, $4,000 from ONE family wanting to honor God by giving towards our family's adoption of Ava!!!). We are so humbled by God's goodness to our family, and this "anonymous" family's obedience to Him. He really does answer prayers.... Thank you God!

First Day of School!!

Here are the kiddos on their first day of school...ever! We have homeschooled from the very beginning, and for some reason, felt that this was the year to experience "real school". Looking back now, I believe the Lord knew that we all needed a little break, and I am looking forward to spending some time bonding with Hope before the new little one arrives. Also, with traveling overseas, we will be glad someone else will not have to be responsible for homeschooling in addition to everything else!

Why are we doing this??!!

One of the things I hope to accomplish through this blog is to answer some questions that some may have....mainly, "Why would you want to adopt a handicapped child when you have 4 healthy children already ?" A few have asked outright, and many more have probably just wondered. Number one, we believe God has not called us to seek a life of ease and comfort, but rather a life of serving others. It is very plain in scriptures that we are to "lay down our lives" (Jn. 15:12-13) for others, and "honor one another over ourselves"(Rm 12:10). We believe there is not a better way to practice that than by having a special-needs child in our family. We can't change the whole world, but hopefully by obedience to God we can impact one child's life...forever.

It is estimated that there are 150,000,000 orphans in the world!!! (Yes 150 million). Here in America we cannot grasp that concept. I just have to believe that if there really are 150 million orphans, there HAS to be 150 christian million families open to receiving just one child into their family.  Ps. 68:5 He sets the lonely in families. We hope that by receiving a handicapped child into our family, maybe others will be moved to receive a healthy one into theirs. After all Matthew 18:5 says, "Whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes Me." I do not believe adoption is for everyone, but I read a statistic that only 4-6% of those who have considered adoption ever go through with it. It is sad to think of the 94% of christian families who are missing their calling, and the millions of orphans who suffer because of it. 

The girls doing their part

The girls are selling lemonade and soda at the garage sale, hoping to help bring their sister home. I was moved as each of the kids went through their favorite toys and brought them to the garage to help bring their sister home (I shouldn't mention that they ate all the snacks that they were supposed to be selling). :)

Our adoption fundraiser garage sale

We asked a few friends and neighbors to donate unwanted items from their attics or garages toward our "adoption fundraiser" garage sale...We made $1,700 when it was all said and done!!! Thank you to friends who donated! I am so glad John thought to take a couple of funny pictures of our yard Saturday at 6 am! What a garage sale it was!!!

Our home study

Here is Hope imitating our social worker during our home visit.

Frogtopia

Liesel and a friend collected little tiny frogs today, and built a "Frogtopia" sandcastle. They had a wedding, complete with the "JUST MARRIED" sign....Hoppy Loves Anna. She even trained the little one to "wink" at her when she held it just right. Here is a picture of Hoppy.

What we're good at

As I was in the shower this morning I was trying retrace our steps toward adoption. I remember, as any good homeschooling mom would do, trying out different activities for the kids, to see what they'd excel in. We tried karate... everybody dreaded going every week. But I remember the night one of the kids in the class threw up and all my kids gathered around, bringing paper towels, trash cans and mops to help him. We tried gymnastics. I can't say anyone necessarily was a "natural gymnast" but they all wanted to befriend the boy who was born with one arm and adopted from (Korea?). Then, in soccer, I'll never forget a mother whose son was mentally retarded, came up to me, and commented how well my kids played with her son. Most kids, she said, were afraid of him, and didn't know how to respond. So as I was in the shower this morning, I realized, that through each of these activities, we learned what we as a family would be good at...caring for others in need.  I contacted pediatrician's offices, and a school for special needs kids to ask how we can be involved in volunteering with kids with special needs. Sorry, they said, everyone in our family would have to be 16 or older to volunteer. That would be a long time to wait to volunteer, I concluded. So we'll do it our own way! Adoption!

Baby Ava

Hope named her baby doll Ava. She pushes her all around in the stroller, and takes her with us on all our errands. It was especially cute watching her "change Ava's diaper". Can't wait!

God is good

We sense the Lord's hand and direction. He is blessing us beyond what we expected! We made $1,700 on our garage sale (thanks to friends, neighbors, co-workers, family who donated items from their garages). Then, out of the blue, we were contacted by a christian family who heard about our plans to adopt a child with special needs. They want to sponsor us!!! Total strangers, stirred in their hearts to bless another christian family taking a step of faith to rescue a needy orphan! THANK YOU GOD! He is so good. We really believed deep down that He would provide for us, but honestly we thought that would be by selling a vehicle, or by working overtime. Little did we know what He had in mind! :) We are humbled, and in awe, by His love and goodness towards His people.

Tears

I don't know why I'm crying all the time lately. I talked to the kids this morning about the needs at the orphanage, and how badly I want to help. I told them how sad I felt that this Christmas all the kids in the orphanage would be struggling to keep warm for lack of windows and blankets while all the kids in America are writing their letters to Santa asking for video games, wiis, toys, clothes, all the latest fads. I asked them how they felt about maybe just getting one big family present instead of a bunch of individual presents this Christmas so that we can help the orphans. I expected them to say yes, but they all said, "No"! They said they didn't want ANY presents this Christmas! They want to save ALL our Christmas money to give to the orphanage. I just burst into tears and told them how proud I am! Great kids. We are so blessed.

Dog Limo

Jude saw a dachshund dog today, and said, "Look mom, it's a Limo Dog!"

God Rocks!

Jude told me the other day, "Mom, God rocks, right? He's so powerful that he just says, 'People be created', and then they're created!!"

Tadpoles

The boys came home covered in mud the other
day....said they had been "frog hunting". I was very
upset at first. Didn't want to see them. But now
thinking about the grin on Simeon's face... He was so
proud of the tadpoles they caught and are now
"raising". I finally looked at the tadpoles today, and
they really ARE cute. I wish I could go back and
re-live that moment. I would have been more excited
about his finds. I told one of the ladies at coffee
tonight, and she said one of her favorite childhood
memories was raising tadpoles.

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12 Great Years

Here we are in Jamaica, celebrating 12 years of marriage. Thanks Uncle Mark.

Preparing the home study

We have been busy preparing the home study. Adoption is a lot of work. We have been talking with the kids about how much fun it will be to have a new sister in the house. The boys are happy, but are wondering if we'll adopt a boy later...to make it even! We'll have to ask Dad about that one...:)

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Life is exciting

It's about to get MORE EXCITING!

big brother

Today Simeon put Hope to sleep for the first time. I was busy and I asked him to help me. I could hear him singing to her. He tiptoed out of the room, and told me to go look at her. She was laying like a princess in her sister's bed, with the blankets up around her shoulders and her hair all smoothed back. What a great brother!

mushroom hunt

We are studying plants and trees in Vol 1. We went for a "mushroom
hunt" this morning and collected about 20 mushrooms. My 4 yr old put
the mushrooms in order from smallest to largest. Then we flicked some
spores onto a glass slide and compared spores to pollen under the
microscope (very cool!) While we had the microscope out we looked at a
dandelion seed we picked up on our walk, and watched the rest float
like helicopters when we blew on them. Then we dissected mushrooms and
ate them (store bought of course) for lunch!

So after our walk, my 4 year old says "Mom I know how to say mushroom
in spanish". Surprised, I asked, "Really? How?" And he said
"Mushrrrrrrroom" (rolling his r). The 8 year old said, "Then how do
you say 'tree' in spanish?". The 4 year old said, "That's
easy....trrrree-o".