This little smidgeon of a boy-child…

…was generously “showered” by some lovely lady friends this week…

…decided to have a big growth spurt…

C’mon you guys, can’t you see I’m starving?!

…and had his passport photo taken and expedited passport application sent in…

Because he’s going with Daddy and Mommy and Joseph on a big travel adventure in only three more weeks!

Yay!!

Hurray!!!

The Hidden Treasures auctions take place every other month on the first seven days of that month.  These fun online auctions were begun in the fall of 2011 to help families who are committed to adopting children from Katie's old orphanage in Pleven, Bulgaria.]

Hello Sweet Friends!

Spring is zipping by!! We are only two short weeks away from our next auction that will support the Dan and Sharon Robbins family in bringing home their precious treasures from Pleven.

Ethan, turning 12 this year~

Elaina, turning ten this year~

We need your help with this auction!

I know, with all of the activities that surround the end of the school year, it is a busy time. As always, gift cards are a wonderful donation that are quick, easy, and inexpensive to mail.

I love all of your creative ideas; please let me know what you may be thinking of. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your faithful support of our Hidden Treasures families. Each and every one of these children is precious, loved, and in desperate need of joining their forever families. When you donate or bid, you are not just participating in an auction. You are changing lives forever. Thank you in advance!

Have questions? Let me know how I can help!

Be blessed!

Amy Rainey
Hidden Treasures Coordinator
hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com

YES, YES, YES!!!

YES, we have received our official travel dates!

YES, Joseph decided to travel with us!

And YES, God is timing this perfectly, as He can always be trusted to do!

Not only did I get two solid weeks to rest from Benjamin’s birth before life picked up pace again, but…

We’d kept the first two weeks of June free and made medical appointments for Tommy during the second half of June and beyond.

Now we’ll get the first week of June to pack.

And the second week of June…???

WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!  Breaking that boy OUT of the orphanage and bringing him HOME!!!

Did you know?

A friend of mine was visiting her child in Tommy’s orphanage during the first week of June last year.  I asked if my friend could inquire about Tommy while she was in his orphanage.  We thought he might be about ten years old, and wanted to find out his legal status if possible.  Was he registered for adoption?  If not, maybe we could help get that ball rolling for him.  We didn’t qualify to adopt that year, but since he had time and we needed time, maybe, just maybe, in a few years…

I described Tommy to my friend and she in turn described him to the orphanage staff.  They took her first to one boy and then to another.  None of them was Tommy.

I emailed her Tommy’s photo.

With one day to spare…

June 7, 2012~

“Hi Susanna,

Ok, we found him–we just went to the head nurse and she sent us right to him.  I took my laptop this afternoon so we could identify the boy in the picture you sent.  (We told her that to get the file from the government we needed his date of birth.)   She called ahead and gave them permission to let us see him. 

He will be 16 next March, so if there’s a family they will have to move quickly.”

Shock.

Crushing finality.

Immediate, enormous, heaving, gut-wrenching raw grief…

Oh God!  Send him a mother who loves him as much as I do!

Determination to advocate for him until God sent him a family…and they needed to love him, not just desire to save him from an adult mental institution…horrific as these human dumping grounds are…

Did you know?

The day we bring Tommy home for the first time in his life is an anniversary.  Check out the date on this post.

June 15, 2012~

URGENT:  The boy with the million-dollar smile

Did you know?

A few weeks after writing that post, I sent an email to a friend inquiring about adopting Tommy.

Read it and marvel with us.

July 4, 2012~

“K—-, how wonderful to hear from you!

Have you seen the Youtube video from June, 2011, with Tommy on it? That was our second look at Tommy, the first being the photos and video our friend S—- took of him when she went to his orphanage in March of 2011.

I cannot watch him without a terrible ache in my heart, as I had hoped so much he would be ours. He is absolutely a precious, gentle, pleasant, beautiful soul. I saw him in his bed when I first visited his orphanage. He was on the top floor, and at that time was in the next room to V——-, literally on the other side of the wall from her.

Just lying in his bed.

He responded to me with his huge, bright eyes when I leaned over his crib and talked to him. I had NO idea he was so old.

I saw him again in his orphanage a few months later. Have you seen the photo of him sitting on his baba’s lap?  If you look at the edge of that photo of him, you can see the corner of my black coat. I could hardly walk away, knowing it may be the last time I ever get to see him again. I felt like I was abandoning him.

He is such a treasure and my heart will stay broken that we cannot be his family. I am jealous for him, and pray that any family who adopts him will do it because they love this treasure with all their hearts!

Thanks for listening and caring, K—-, and for all you are doing to look into adopting him. All my hope for him is pinned on God, and I don’t want you to feel pressure from me that you have to choose Tommy. I am trusting God to lead you and pleading with Him to rescue Tommy, and I know He will do what He deems best.

Love,
Susanna”

Oh, the joy.

Oh, the abundant goodness of God.

January 10, 2013~

Question:  I’m wondering if you might consider doing a post on being open to pregnancy after having a special needs child. I know that you are nearing the end of your child bearing years, but I have several friends who have had special needs children as their first or fifth, and they are now struggling with the issues of having more while caring for their little one.

Answer:  I first received this question nearly a year ago.  Guess I waited too long to answer it, didn’t I?  *grin* 

From what I’ve observed, I think it may have been tougher for us if Verity had been our first child, or had been born when our oldest was still quite young.  As it was, she was born into a “village,” with multiple ages, personalities, and talents all part of the mix.  And as parents with young adult children, we were operating more and more from a trust in God and less and less from some pipedream of parental perfection.

Verity and Katie have brought only good to our family, and it has been only good for both of them to be in our big family.  We had no question about whether we wanted more children, our question had to do with when.  For more on that question, read on.

Question:  I just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying following your journey, and how encouraging your story is to me. We have three small children, all adopted.  I wondered, if possible, and if you have time, if you could answer a question for me.  Your children with special needs, are they good sleepers? Our special needs child suffers from excessive muscle tone at night, and it is resulting in not a lot of sleep for everyone. It does get me discouraged as I would love to have more children…but we are so weary right now. I’d love your thoughts.

Answer:  Bless your heart, thank you so much for writing! You are in one of the most difficult mothering seasons, that of having all your children be very dependent. Even without having a child with special needs, the years when all the children are very young and dependent are exhausting ones, as I well remember.  But those years move so quickly, and are all the more precious for being so fleeting.

About the sleep, that is a hard one I know. We’ve been through seasons of severe, long-term sleep deprivation–for almost two months after having the twins and for weeks after Verity was born–and it is very difficult. We would just encourage you not to make any permanent decisions during the hardest times.

Remember that just because you might decide this year that you’re not ready to add another child doesn’t mean your decision will still be the same next year.  Or other issues may arise that make that decision still the best one five years from now. You don’t have to decide the next five or ten years at this moment. Right now you and your husband can decide for right now.  At the same time, we’d urge you to keep your hearts open to God and any changes He makes to your plans.

We believe that these decisions, and your underlying motives for making them, are between you, your husband, and God.

Question: This may be too personal a question (or just not relevant enough) and I will understand completely if you choose not to answer it, but it’s something I’ve always wondered about.  I am guessing from your family size that, at least prior to Katie’s adoption, you were of the “open-to-life” or “quiver-full” (for lack of a better term) persuasion.  I am wondering if God’s call to adopt has changed your perspective on welcoming further biological children at all.  In particular, what advice would you give to a family who is typically open to pregnancy whenever, but are in the process of adopting and could potentially delay or even derail their adoption process if they were to become pregnant?

Answer:  Even before we were married we hoped for the privilege of rearing many children.  So a few years ago, we were surprised to learn that “quiverfull” was a movement and that according to the official rules of the club, we did not qualify to be members!  We found this amusing, considering that we were the parents of eight children with another one on the way.

We’ve always deliberately planned space between our children for breastfeeding purposes and a couple of times for health reasons.  We’ve taken it one child at a time, and waited until we both felt ready to try for the next baby. 

At the same time, we deliberately hold our plans in open hands, knowing that God could change them at any time.

We see it a little like gardening.  One year, we might plant an acre of vegetables, while another year, we might consider that we could do justice to just a few rows.  Or we might not plant anything at all.

We can bear witness to the fact that if God chooses to bless us with more increase than we’d previously thought we could handle, He is very free to do that, and indeed has done that.  We wouldn’t have Joshua, Peter and James (our twins), or Benjamin if God hadn’t superseded our plans.

Conversely, one year we planned our garden and He sent a scorching drought.  He allowed us to lose one of our unborn children and then kept my womb closed for nearly a year when I was still young and yearning for more children.  He taught me first to honor Him in my grief, “I am just as worthy of praise now when you are hurting as when you are rejoicing.”  And then, gently but firmly, to relinquish my stubborn grip on my own vision for my life, and begin to learn to live life open wide to whatever He chooses for me.

Our trust is set firmly on Him to put our family together just as He pleases.  As we have stayed open to Him, He has often chosen to stretch us way beyond comfortable.  And then we get to see what He can do–so much greater than our plan for what we can do.

How does this relate to pregnancy during adoption?  He’s in charge of that just like He’s in charge of everything else.  He can use a pregnancy to delay an adoption for His own purposes.  Or He can bring both to fruition as He did with Tommy and Benjamin, using agencies that judge each case separately and do not have automatic rules against pregnancy while adopting.

“No problem with pregnancy during adoption. Full speed ahead!” read the email I will never forget.

While I don’t see child-bearing or adoption as a “duty,” I am commanded to do everything without complaining or arguing.  I am commanded to trust and not be afraid.  I am commanded to rejoice always.

At times during these past months, I have needed to deliberately turn my eyes away from my own limitations and my ears away from the hateful lies of our critics, and soak in the truth of who my heavenly Father is and what He has promised to His sons and daughters.

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;

Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.

And if need be, purposefully choose to open my mouth and sing the truth out loud.

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,“
This the pledge to me He made.

To all the mothers who are reading this–Happy Mother’s Day!

With much love,
A happy mother of children

Wait for our travel dates to bring Tommy home…

Wait to see what our oldest son Joseph decides about traveling with us…

Wait to find out the results of the closed hearing regarding the former director of the Pleven baby house…

Wait with many adopting friends through long delays…

Wait with hope and prayers to see whether this little Brandi-girl has a family…[oh Lord, may it be so!!]…

While we wait for things to come, may I share a little of our present joy?

He’s eating well and sleeping well, and so am I.  He’s growing, I’m shrinking.  <Aaaaah>  All is as it should be.

We find it remarkable that such a very new and miniature person comes forth with such a knowing look and so sure of himself.

He’s curious, a people person, and focuses on our faces as though he’s reading us through and through.

He’s a master of expressive faces.  But he cries rarely and reluctantly, as though it’s not his native language and must be forced.  And only as a last resort.

He first smiled at me at five days old, and he’s practiced his smile a little every day since then, a response of delight to my delight in him.

He looks like he belongs to this family.  But none of our other babies looked just like Benjamin.  He has his very own face and his very own personality.

And that is our Benjamin.  Our present joy.

And maybe next time, I’ll have some of the news we’ve been waiting for!

There’s someone I’d like you to meet, and I’d like you to meet her today.

This is Sasha.

I first met Sasha a couple of years ago in the waiting room at the Clinic for Special Children.  From the moment I met her, I was impressed with Sasha’s quiet dignity, and guessed her to be four or five years older than she actually was.

Sasha was helping take care of her little sister Ellianna during the doctor’s appointment.  Spunky Ellianna has cerebral palsy and significant developmental delays.

Not long before, Sasha and her mom Stephanie had returned from the Philippines with little Avi, and they had brought her to the Clinic for some much-needed medical attention.  Avi has cerebral palsy, was very malnourished, and has severe developmental delays.

Two years after coming home, just look how sweet Avi has flourished!

Many of you will recognize another one of Sasha’s younger sisters–

When we first saw her, Lina was Katie’s roommate on the top floor of Pleven.  Lina has cerebral palsy and was profoundly malnourished and developmentally delayed.

Lina has been home for almost a year now.  Will you look at the change in this child!  Can you detect the mischievous glint in her eye?!

Now their family is working hard to bring home two more little girls, Olyvia and Rachele.  They are still waiting in their orphanage beds, so all I have to show you now is their “before” pictures.

The way they are living now can scarcely be called living.  They are so precious in the eyes of God, and I can hardly wait to see how He uses the nurturing love of their family to transform them.

Rachele has cerebral palsy and is very malnourished and severely developmentally delayed.

Olyvia has spina bifida, is very malnourished and has severe developmental delays.

“Wait a minute!” you might protest.  “What does Sasha think of her parents adopting all these very needy children?”

There’s something you need to know about Sasha, and I want you to hear it the way I heard it.

In Sasha’s own words–
 I was adopted from Russia at 17 months old. My birth mom was 16 years old.

I am so grateful for my family that God placed me in, words can’t even begin to describe how I feel. I know He has a plan for my life–one so much greater than I can even imagine right now! My dad always says, “God plucked you out of that orphanage for a reason, Sasha,” and I believe that is true.  I believe He wants me to serve Him and to tell others my story.

Speaking of my dad, I thought I should share one more thing. A few months ago, my dad and I went to see the movie October Baby. It is about a girl who finds out she was adopted and the victim of a failed abortion.  Just recently, we watched it again with my mom at home.  It is a great movie, with a powerful story of forgiveness. However, my favorite scene is at the end.

Hannah is heading off to college, and she and her parents are saying their goodbyes. She turns and starts to walk away with her friend. Then, you see her look back over her shoulder, at her dad.

She runs back to him, and they wrap each other in a hug. She says, with tears and a smile on her face, “Thank you so much, Dad.”

He replies, “For what, sweetheart?” And Hannah says,
“For wanting me.”

Both times I have watched the movie, it moved me to tears. That part reminds me so much of my relationship with my own dad, and my love for him. I love him so much, and am so blessed that my Heavenly Father chose him to be my father here on Earth. And I’m so thankful he saw the potential in my life…

And Wanted Me.

Psalm 68:5-6

Why did I want you to meet Sasha today?

Today holds a significance that most other people of Sasha’s age completely miss.

She turns 16 today.

There will be a celebration!

And she doesn’t take this celebration for granted.

She understands in a way that most of us never will…

…that if she had not been adopted, today would not be a day of celebration.

…that today would have marked the end of her last chance to live as a loved daughter.

…that today would mean that she’d lived through an entire childhood having never known what it is like to have parents and a home of her own.

…and that today, she would be sent out into the world to figure out how to survive without the foundational support of a stable, healthy, loving family underneath her.

Out of this profound and personal understanding, Sasha has a passion for other children who need the transforming love of a family of their own.

The closer she grew to her 16th birthday, the more burdened Sasha became for children who are very close to losing their last opportunity to be adopted.

And she has begun to speak up for them!

I’d love for many of you to visit Sasha’s blog, Hope for Isolde, pray for families for the older orphans she’s advocating for, and help her spread the word of their urgent need!

What does Sasha think about her parents adopting two more children with significant special needs?

She has freely received; she is freely giving.

Sasha, it’s a joyful thing to see your open heart toward God and your tender nurturing of your little sisters.  It’s thrilling to see your passion ignite for the older orphans who are so often overlooked or rejected.

Whatever God has for you in the years ahead, I know this much–

It will be good, because He is good.

And…

Happy 16th birthday!

Q:  How are you doing since the birth?

A:  In the mercy of God, this feels like one of the fastest and easiest recoveries I’ve ever had.  But because I’m planning to travel with Joe to pick up Tommy in just a few weeks, and life after that will be very full, I am taking the need to rest and heal very seriously.  We know many of you prayed that our baby would turn head down; thank you.  We are so grateful that I did not need a C-section.

We’re finished with academics for the year and have begun our three-month summer break.  The weather has been inviting the children outdoors.  We’ve had little company, and several friends have brought meals to help.  My midwife comes to our home to do the post-partum checks of mother and baby, so I’ve not needed to go out.  I’m reading my way through books I’ve been saving up for these quiet weeks.

We’re seeing the results of the hard work we put into simplifying, streamlining and organizing.  Right now, there is a refreshing absence of pressure on our family, and a peaceful leisureliness in its place.

Q:  What do Verity and Katie think of the baby?

A:  After taking a day to get used to the idea, Verity is now discovering the delights of having a real baby to hold and love.

“Pat, pat, Baby Ben,” croons Verity.

…and gives him the tiniest, tenderest baby kiss.

Understanding that Katie is cognitively around the age of 8 or 9 months old, it makes sense that the new baby hasn’t made any impression on her yet.

But she’s making some progress I want to tell you about in her very own post, one of these days.  With lots of photos I’ve saved up!

Here’s how I learned that she can now get into the bathtub by herself and pull down all the toys she can reach!  She heard the water running and that’s all the motivation she needed! 

“Haha!  Now I’m all set!” her face clearly says!

Q:  What is the word on Tommy?  Do you know an approximate travel date?

A:  Having Benjamin here makes me more eager than ever to have our whole family together!

Our in-country agency is on vacation until Monday, and then we expect to receive travel dates for early June to bring Tommy home!

“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich,
And He adds no sorrow with it.”

Blessed.

Rich.

No sorrow.

P. S.  If you haven’t done so already, may I urge you to read this post and respond by helping the Huizinga family with their last chunk of Penny’s adoption expenses?  As of right now, they lack only $1960–so close!  If you have already given, bless you!

Also, I’ve added a couple more families to the A Little Help for our Friends II post–you may want to check it out again and look for the new faces!

***Wednesday night UPDATE:  Thank you, friends!  Only $1363 left to go!!  This is so doable!!! 

If God had taken counsel of our best judgment last summer after we committed to adopt Tommy, we would have sagely declared to Him that surely 2013 was the worst of all possible times to add a new baby to our family.

Of course children are a blessing and of course we love babies, but…

…and we would have followed this up with a long list of reasons so sensible and obvious we wouldn’t have had to explain them to any other human being. 

Tiny baby Benjamin, as I smile into your eyes and you gaze into mine, trying with all your might to talk and smile back at me, my vision blurs.  But I have to look you in the eye and confess my hard heartedness to your Creator.

Just because of what my human logic considered to be poor timing…timing!…we would have missed the unique and inexpressible joy of you.

If you’ve been reading here for at least two months, you’ve been expecting this post!

Do you remember this little face?

This is 12 year old Penny.  A Penny from heaven!

Penny was born with special needs.  She has cerebral palsy like our Tommy does.

She needed extra help because of her extra needs.

But instead of receiving extra help, innocent, vulnerable, sweet-natured Penny was considered a hopeless and worthless burden and left alone in her bed on the deadly top floor of her orphanage.

She was starved, roughly handled, and unloved for 12 years.  When the babas were assigned to the other children, Penny was overlooked.  That means she wasn’t even receiving individual attention for 4 or 6 hours out of each week.  This oversight wasn’t discovered until a few months ago.

Now Penny weighs only 21 pounds and is 36 inches tall, and is suffering other effects of her lifelong mistreatment.

Twelve long years.

Did God agree that Penny’s life was hopeless, worthless, a burden?  Had God forgotten Penny?

No, He preserved Penny’s life!  He was preparing the perfect family to love her and welcome her!  And now, very soon, Penny’s time is coming!

A good friend of mine, Patti Rice, is hosting a Saving Penny Giveaway to raise the final funds for Penny’s adoption…

…into the family of some other good friends of mine, Paul and Maureen Huizinga…

…and the brand new iPad Patti is offering in her fundraiser was donated anonymously by still another good friend of mine!

Paul and Maureen have such a relatively small amount left to raise–$2267 as I write this.

I am posting this with the prayer that many of you would consider being part of Penny’s rescue team!

Please participate in the Saving Penny Giveaway, or go straight to the Huizinga’s Family Sponsorship page on Reece’s Rainbow and donate there.

And please consider passing this post on to others!

When Penny’s fund reaches $8463, her adoption will be fully funded.

Our God is mighty to save and He is saving Penny!

Benjamin Justus Musser

7 pounds

11 ounces

21 inches

We are grateful to the Giver of all good gifts.

And completely enamored.

The grass is riz…

I wonder where…

That baby is?

Taking a computer break until after baby boy Musser makes his appearance…

P. S.  In the meantime, please consider visiting this post again!  A Little Help for our Friends II

A link to this post can also be found on our sidebar.  Many new adoptive families have been added to the list, and I don’t want you to miss them!  I’m praying that you’ll open your hearts and give generously to help them bring their children home!

Where they can grow and learn and…

…be loved as a son or daughter in a family. 

What a privilege to be able to introduce these families to you!

Some of them will be familiar to all but the newest readers; some are new even to me.

[If you missed the earlier invitation, I'd love to add you to this post, which will stay on our sidebar for a while!  Please click on the above link and email your info to susanna@theblessingofverity.com!]

When I look at families who are eagerly welcoming little children with special needs into their lives through adoption, I see something both familiar…

…and transcendent.

“Let the little children come to me,” said Jesus, “and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Please take the time to learn more about these courageous families!

Some of them have a very long way to go to be fully funded.  Please reach out and surround them with support.  Pray for them, strengthen them with encouraging words, share their stories with others, and give freely to their adoption funds. 

This post was written with very much love and sent out with the prayer that God will use it to bless these families with strength and provision for their journeys!  Thank you so much to everyone who responds to this post with love and generosity!

Jared Allison and Jamie Lentz are adopting 2 year old Lillie and 6 year old Jocelyn from Eastern Europe.

Lillie has Down Syndrome and a heart defect.  Jocelyn has Down syndrome and is very malnourished.  She weighs only 14 1/2 pounds at 6 years old.

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Lillie!

…and to such as Jocelyn!

Jared and Jamie still need $15,000 in order to fully fund Lillie and Jocelyn’s adoptions.

You can donate through their Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship page here.

They are also selling handmade and hand-painted/dyed Montessori toys to help fund the girls’ adoption here.

Arturo & Jennifer Araya are adopting 11 year old Shawna from “Eastern Europe.”  Shawna has HIV+.

The kingdom of God belongs to such as Shawna!

You can help the Arayas raise the $23,801 it will take to bring Shawna home by donating to their Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund.

The “Get Involved” page on the Araya’s blog has all the details people will need to give tax-deductible donations through their church.

Arturo and Jennifer have also organized a “One Meter at a Time” fundraiser, for which they commit to run one meter for every dollar raised. Each time they cross a $5,000 threshold, they’ll run a 5K race.  Their first 5K has already been funded, and they’re working toward funding their second 5K!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul and Ashlee Beck are adopting 5 year old Misha and 10 1/2 year old Judah from Pleven, Bulgaria. Misha has pituitary dwarfism and needs daily injections of hormones. Judah has kidney issues, chronic UTIs, severe institutional autism, and possible cerebral palsy.

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Misha and Judah!

The Becks still need about $10,000 to bring Misha and Judah home.  There are many ways you can help them do this!

You can visit their Family Sponsorship page on Reece’s Rainbow to donate.

You can donate through WePay.

Here’s the Beck’s Avon fundraiser…

Their recycle fundraiser…

And a nifty coupon fundraiser that will give you a $50 restaurant.com gift card when you donate $20 to help bring Misha and Judah home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff and Molly Butler…

…are very experienced adoptive parents…

…who are adopting 6 year old “Wilson” from Eastern Europe.   This little boy has Down Syndrome and a surgically repaired heart condition which requires a pacemaker.

The kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as “Wilson!”

Jeff and Molly still need approximately $22,000 to complete “Wilson’s” adoption.

You can donate via the Butler’s Reece’s Rainbow sponsorship page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian and Stephanie Carpenter have become dear to us over the past two and a half years.  From the very beginning of Katie’s adoption, Stephanie was used by God to help and encourage us.  At that time, they were in the process of adopting their third daughter.

Now Brian and Stephanie have four adopted daughters with cerebral palsy, all of whom are thriving, and are adopting two more girls from Eastern Europe.

Five and a half year old year old “Natalee” has cerebral palsy, seizures, and vision issues, having both a convergent squint and partial atrophy of her eye nerves.

Eight and a half year old “Savannah” has spina bifida.

Both girls are very tiny and malnourished and are not receiving the care they need in order to thrive.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as “Natalee!”

…and “Savannah!”

You can help Brian and Stephanie get these girls home by donating to their Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kelly and Emily Clark are adopting 8 year old Steven from Bulgaria.  Steven has cerebral palsy.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Steven!

Kelly and Emily still need to raise about $19,000 for Steven’s adoption.

You can help by donating via the Clark’s fundraising page on this site. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daryl and Ruth Einfeld are adopting a 2 1/2 year old girl named Priscilla, waiting for them in Eastern Europe.  She has Down syndrome and respiratory issues.

Unbeknownst to the Einfelds, God used the story of Ruth and her little daughter Esther to minister hope to me the day after we learned about Verity’s Down syndrome and heart defect.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Priscilla!

MAY 2nd UPDATE:  Fully funded!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God has marvelously opened the door for passionate orphan advocate Andrea Gariepy to adopt her first child, Samuel, age 5-6ish (birthdate unknown), from Vietnam. Samuel has developmental delays and possible autism.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Samuel!

I’m not allowed to show you his sweet face, but I wish I could, because it would surely melt your heart!

Andrea still needs about $10,000-$15,000 in order to complete Samuel’s adoption.  You can help her by giving to her Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund.

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Jason and Juley Grady are adopting 12 year old Hudson from China.  Hudson has congenital heart disease, and is small for his age because his heart condition went untreated for so long.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Hudson!

Jason and Juley still need to raise about $20,000 to bring Hudson home.  You can help by using the Paypal button on their blog, Grady Crew.

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Wayne and Jen Johnson are adopting Trinity and Felicity from Bulgaria.  Jen has been a friend of mine for quite some time now.  She and her husband Wayne brought three precious little ones home from Eastern Europe two years ago, and it was no surprise to me that God is sending them back for two more!

Trinity turns 3 this year and has cerebral palsy and Turner Syndrome as well as a congenital cardiac malformation which has been surgically corrected.

Felicity just turned 2 years old and has congenital anomalies that mostly affect the facial area as well as suspected growth hormone issues.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Trinity!

…and Felicity!

The estimated amount Wayne and Jen still need to complete the girls’ adoption is $24,000.

Check out their iPad fundraiser–it’s going on until May 9th here: Johnson’s iPad adoption fundraiser 

You can also help with the Johnson’s ongoing Covered in Love Fundraiser.  Donors’ names will be added to a blanket for the girls.

Wayne and Jen now have a Facebook page called Just Us Johnsons you’ll want to check out to help bring their girls home!

Or you can give directly to the Johnson’s Family Sponsorship fund on Reece’s Rainbow.

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Steve and Brooke Kirk are adopting 7 year old ”Ian” from Bulgaria. “Ian” has a condition called Marfan Syndrome and a few related issues which the Kirks will be seeking treatment for as soon as they get him home.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as “Ian!”

Steve and Brook estimate that they still need around $20,000 to be fully funded for Ian’s adoption.

You can help the Kirks bring “Ian” home by donating to their AdoptTogether account.

Brooke has a facebook page called Caps for Causes where she makes and sells bottlecap jewelry, hairbows, and other personalized jewelry to help benefit ”Ian’s” adoption.

The Kirks also have an ongoing Adoptionbug Tshirt fundraiser.

You can check for future fundraisers on their blog, Walking the Narrow Path Now. 

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Grace Knuth has become a dear friend over the past year and a half. I am overjoyed to announce the news that Grace is adopting 13 year old “Tommy” from the same orphanage in Eastern Europe where she found her daughter, Samantha!

I met her sweet little boy and pled with the Lord to provide a family for him before he was too old to be adopted!

“Tommy” has Down Syndrome and is very malnourished. At the age of 12 he weighed only 26 pounds. (But now, with better nourishment provided by his orphanage’s new director, he is growing like a weed!) Now his greatest special need is a loving home and family.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as “Tommy!”

Grace’s journey toward “Tommy” has only just begun. The estimated cost of his ransom, from start to finish, is $25,000.

You can help by donating through their Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship page.

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Kyle and Kara McIntee are adopting 3 year old “Colton,” who has Down syndrome, from Eastern Europe.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as “Colton!”

The McIntees still need about $3,500 to adopt “Colton.”  You can help by donating to their Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund!

They also have an unusual and fun giveaway going on right now and you can be a part of it!  Colton’s Happiest Place Giveaway

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Kevin and Jaclyn Mitchell are adopting Adam from Pleven and Matthias from a different orphanage in Bulgaria.  Both boys are turning 6 years old this year.

When I held Adam in my arms, I was unable to hold back the tears.  He has hydrocephalus and was so malnourished and neglected for so long that he is unbelievably tiny, the size of a six to nine month old baby.  Matthias has no special needs other than delays from being in an institution, also known as institutional autism.

The kingdom of God belongs to such as Adam!

…and Matthias!

You can help Kevin and Jaclyn with the final costs of their boys’ adoptions by donating to the Mitchells’ Family Sponsorship fund on Reece’s Rainbow here.  

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Mike and Katrina Nine are adopting 3 year old Sebastian from Pleven, Bulgaria.  He has Down syndrome and hypothyroidism and recently had surgery to remove a sub-cortical brain cyst.  Sebastian felt as squishy and cuddly in my arms as Verity does!

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Sebastian!

Mike and Katrina still need $10,000 for Sebastian’s adoption to be fully funded.

To help bring Sebastian home, you can visit the Nine family’s Family Sponsorship Page on Reece’s Rainbow.

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Dan and Sharon Robbins are adopting 11 year old Ethan and 9 year old Elaina from “Eastern Europe.” I got to meet and interact with these precious children and am rejoicing that they are going to a loving and experienced family! Ethan and Elaina were both born without a rectum and anus and each required a colostomy surgery at birth. In addition, Elaina has recently been diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome.

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Ethan!

And Elaina!

Dan and Sharon could use some help with the final $8-10,000 of their adoption costs.  This figure is approximate because of variable airfare prices.

There are several ways you can help them bring Ethan and Elaina home!

Here is the Robbins’ Family Sponsorship page on Reece’s Rainbow.

You can purchase some very cute stamped silvertone bracelets for yourself or to give as gifts and help Dan and Sharon bring their sweeties home at the same time!  Bracelets for our Blessings

And Ethan and Elaina are our Hidden Treasures for the “Perfect Pair Auction” coming in June!  Many of you are familiar with how the Hidden Treasures online adoption fundraiser auction works, but if not, please take time to stop by and check it out!

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The Talley family is adopting a 2 year old girl with special needs from China.  They will be naming her Willow.  The Talleys are not able to share Willow’s photo.

The Talleys still need $13,000 in order for Willow’s adoption to be fully funded.

You can participate in the Talley’s puzzle fundraiser here.

Addie Talley is also a wedding and portrait photographer.  She’s using 100% of those profits to help bring Willow home.

You can visit Addie’s webpage here.

And her photo blog here.  Anyone who books before May will receive 50% off any wedding package.

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The Taylor family is adopting a brother and sister from an Eastern European country.

Seven year old Samuel is waiting for them in the Lost Boys institution.  He is paraplegic, and because he’s in a mental institution, he’s losing his ability to speak and interact properly.   His 8 year old sister Sara is HIV positive and is waiting in a different institution.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Samuel!

…and his older sister Sara!

The Taylors estimate that the amount needed to complete Samuel and Sara’s adoption is $24,988.

You can help bring these two home quickly by donating via the Taylor’s Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship page.

And check out the Taylor’s fundraiser sale on Etsy here.

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Brent and Amanda Unroe are adopting 9 year old Matthew, 6 year old Johnathan, and 3 year old Charity from “Eastern Europe.”

Matthew is in tragically bad shape.  He was beaten into a coma at age 4 1/2 by his birthfather and then left to lie in the orphanage bed until his joints were badly contracted.  He weighs only 18 pounds from severe neglect.  When I saw this precious child, it was very obvious that he urgently needs to come home and receive love and medical and therapeutic care.

Johnathan has hydrocephalus and a shunt.

Charity has autism and is the size of an 8 month old.  She has no developmental skills and does not interact at all.

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Charity!

…and Johnathan!

…and Matthew!

Brent and Amanda still lack about $15,000 for these three children’s adoptions to be fully funded.

Please consider donating to the Unroe’s Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund.

The Unroes’ friend is holding a fundraiser for Charity, Johnathan and Matthew’s adoptions here.

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Dave and Courtney Weal are adopting 7 year old Little “Z” from Eastern Europe.

Months after writing about Little “Z” in a post on this blog, I heard from Courtney that they had committed to adopt him! What joy!  He had not been overlooked or forgotten!

Little “Z” is blind, possibly hearing impaired, and weighs only 23 pounds.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Little “Z!”

Dave and Courtney still need $13,531 to complete Little “Z’s” adoption.

You can help by donating through the button on the sidebar of the Weal’s blog, Adding a Weal to the Bus.

Also, you can give to the Weal’s adoption fund at the For All Foundation for a tax deductible donation.

The Weals are also doing a coupon fundraiser where people can buy $50 gift cards to restaurants for $20.  For every gift card you purchase, $10 will go directly to Little “Z’s” adoption.

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Scott and Rachel Whitmire are adopting 4 year old Nicholas from Eastern Europe.  He has severe cerebral palsy, strabismus and failure to thrive, weighing only 17 pounds at 4 years of age.

For the kingdom of God belongs to such as Nicholas!

Scott and Rachel need about $15,000 more in order to bring Nicholas home.

You can help the Whitmires by donating via their Family Sponsorship page on Reece’s Rainbow.

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Glenn and Mary Winslow are adopting 6 year old Zoey and 9 year old Edward from two different orphanages in Bulgaria.

Zoey has many special needs. She has cerebral palsy and related conditions, is severely developmentally delayed and severely malnourished, weighing about 10 pounds at this time.

Edward has cerebral palsy and developmental delays as well as strabismus.

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as Zoey!

And Edward!

The estimated amount that the Winslows still need to complete Zoey and Edward’s adoption is $15,000.00.

You can help bring Zoey and Edward home by donating to the Winslow’s Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship fund.

The Winslows also have some other fundraisers on their blog:  Winslow Six

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Trevor and Jodi Young are adopting 6 year old Delia from the same orphanage in Eastern Europe where their son Niko used to live before he came into their family.  Delia has an unspecified developmental delay, possible autism, and is almost completely non-verbal.

For the kingdom of God belongs to such as Delia!

Trevor and Jodi still need about $10,000 to complete their adoption, more if they’re not able to have their first trip requirement waived.

You can help them bring Delia home by giving to their $3000 matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans, and this post on the Young’s blog gives the details of how you can do that.

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What do you see when you look at these little ones?  The least of these?

Here on earth, perhaps.

But of such is the kingdom of heaven.

An email from our Bulgarian friend this morning…

“We won’t know for several days.  It takes time for the High Court to post the hearing on their official internet website. And it was a ‘closed doors’ hearing so no one but the three judges know right now.”

So I’ll update after we hear the news.  Thank you for praying!

More than a year ago, many of you read an unforgettable story here on The Blessing of Verity, a true story written by Linda Duncan, the mother who is adopting this little girl from the Pleven orphanage.

Kolina~

Do you remember the story of the teenaged Linda Duncan visiting the state institution for mentally disabled children, falling hard for a small girl with Down syndrome named Coleen, and going back to see her over and over again?

Do you remember that Linda taught Coleen to walk and to feed herself and that little Coleen began to call her “Mama?”

Do you remember that one sad day, Linda received a call telling her she may as well not come back to the institution, because Coleen had passed away?

Did you miss Coleen’s story the first time around?  Please read it now!  Love Never Fails

Not only is this story truly remarkable in and of itself, but it led directly to the forming of an extraordinary family.  Linda is one of the wisest, calmest, most experienced and most loving adoptive moms it’s been my pleasure to learn from.

Linda first saw Kolina’s photo in this blog post, when our Katie had been home less than a week.

Not long afterward, Linda and I chatted together on the phone.  Linda told me that when she read the descriptions of the Pleven orphanage, it took her right back to her teenage memories of that state institution for mentally disabled children.

Not long after that conversation, Linda committed to adopt nine-year-old Kolina.

Last June, Linda traveled to the Pleven orphanage and met Kolina for the first time.  [While there, she played an integral part in the future of a certain young man we love.]

By June of 2012, Kolina had spent time in Tokuda Hospital, she’d been receiving better nutrition back in the Pleven orphanage, and Dr. Georgieva had been the orphanage director for one month.

 Kolina is much tinier than she appears to be in these photos~

After Linda returned home to the US, she began to run into one obstacle after another in Kolina’s adoption process, some of them major obstacles that would have made many people give up trying altogether.

I met this miniature ten-year-old girl myself!  That just made it all the more painful for me to contemplate the possibility that the mom who loves her may be unable to bring her home!

And then last week…!

Ten whole months after Linda’s first visit with Kolina…came some joyful news!

“I just wanted to let you know that…I got the Article 5 letter!!!!”

I’m asking God to move some hearts to help Linda during this last bit of what turned out to be a grueling journey!

Please pray that God would speed the rest of Kolina’s adoption along!  It will be pure joy to see her blossom at home with her mama and siblings!

And friends, when I asked Linda how much she still needed in order to cover Kolina’s adoption expenses, she was reluctant to state the full amount.  That just made me more determined to let others know about this need!

To us, it looks like a big sum of money.  To our big God, it looks like pocket change!

Can we please surround Linda with support by helping her adoption fund go from $3625 to $13,625?

You can donate via Linda’s Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page here.

And would you also be willing to help spread the word by sharing this post?  Thank you, friends!

Let’s help make that number grow and be a part of bringing this precious Kolina-girl home where she belongs!

If you have been reading here for some time, you’ll remember some shocking news we received near the end of last year regarding the former director of the Pleven baby house.

You can read it here:  This battle belongs to the LORD

And here:  More to the story 

The next action in the case is planned for THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 18TH.  Remember that Bulgaria is seven hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time.

From one of our Bulgarian friends~

“The orphanage appealed the court decree re-instituting her before the High Court (last instance). The hearing is closed (not public) and it is on the 18th.

It is for the Court to decide if there are enough causes for them to hear the case in an open hearing, later. It will technically mean automatic re-institution or a whole new court procedure at the highest court instance in Bulgaria.

Please have everyone storm the gates of heaven with prayers. Even if they re-institute her, I truly can’t see her back knowing the howls it will cause in the media.  I am ready to fight…and to lose my last drop of life and blood but not allow that monster back there.”

If you have grieved for the loss of life and terrible damage of the most vulnerable of children in the Pleven orphanage, please pray for the protection of the children still waiting there.

Pray with all your might that the director who presided over this orphanage from before the fall of Communism in 1989 will not be re-instated.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.”

Eleven years old~

“…a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench, until He brings justice to victory.”

You mean, are we ready right now, today, to bring Tommy and new baby boy home to our family?

This picture was taken at the end of March, 2013.   Back, left to right-Joseph, 19, holding Katie, 11, Joshua, 16, Joe, holding Stephen, 4 1/2, Susanna, holding Verity, 2 1/2, Daniel, 17 1/2, and Laura, 13 1/2

Middle-Jane, 11

Front, left to right-John Michael, 7 1/2, James, 6, and Peter, 6 

Joe

Has been energetically working his way through our list of house projects.  I guess it won’t surprise anyone who is already convinced we’re more than half crazed, but with three weeks before baby’s due, we jumped at the chance to have a friend help us replace the old bowed paneled walls and acoustical tile ceilings in our stairway and upstairs hallway with drywall.

I had to go back several years to retrieve this “before” photo, because I’ve avoided taking pictures with such an ugly backdrop.  We’re planning to re-frame those photos as needed and spray paint all the frames.

That’s my man, applying the second coat of drywall mud in spite of fever and chills.  The longest break we’ve had from sickness this winter was six weeks.

Joe’s also kept our evening routines on their usual even keel.

Like Reading Night [aka Mom's night off, when Dad and children make a simple supper and then Dad reads aloud to the children past their bedtimes], Family Night, and Date Night.

This one was a special date.  We went out for this one, and not to shop for birthday gifts, craft supplies, summer clothing for the family, or a rocking chair.  No work, no business, just…specialness.

Joe is solicitous of my needs and is the strong and reliable support under our family.  He calls me “Susie Goodwife,” takes eleven children on a field trip singlehandedly without a second thought, didn’t flinch when pregnancy news came shortly after we’d committed to adopt an older boy with severe special needs, and takes personal, hands-on responsibility for his children’s education.

A man in a million.  At least.

In case any stray reader worries that I’m an overworked, overburdened mom with an insensitive husband, or on the other hand, perceives these adoptions or the advocacy work as my own personal little calling or project, please think again!

When you look at our marriage, what you see is a shared vision and team effort, each of us contributing our energy and gifts, and making sure we all receive opportunities to take breaks from the work and just have fun.  There is no room in a special needs adoptive marriage for resentment, self-pitying martyr complexes, or “This wasn’t my idea,” when the going gets tough.

Mind you, this doesn’t look like our normal life.  A normal life date night is us in our everyday clothes, collaborating on something that’s been waiting to be discussed or previewed or decided on, with occasional time outs to be available to the children if necessary.  Date night has been known to commence after all the littlest children are in bed and our supper is cold.

But a date like this is worth working toward.  We value it all the more when we know it won’t happen again for the indefinite future!

I’m more thankful than I can say for the steady strength of this man, my husband, and for the bond that God is only making stronger between us.

Susanna

Is thrilled to be using Rob and Julia Nalle’s Biblioplan history curriculum for the first time this school year.  It provides the planning and structure so I can spend my time on the part I revel in–reading aloud, teaching, discussing, explaining, introducing the next group of children in our family to the bigger picture of history–the philosophical ideas behind the events.  I love seeing the absorbed looks on their faces when they are really taking it in, and hearing their thoughtful questions that tell me they are following the flow of ideas that are being introduced to them.

You noticed, I’m sure, that my nesting drive is propelling me to conquer my blogging to-do list, some of which has sat neglected for months.

For the friends who have asked patiently for a belly photo–the one below was taken a week and a half ago at eight months, thirty-six weeks, of pregnancy.  I’m very aware that this may be the last few weeks I have the privilege of feeling baby kicks, rolls, and stretches inside me.

I’ve been working my way through older photographs as I learn to navigate Windows 8, and found a few I’m throwing in just for fun…lest anyone erroneously conclude from the above photograph that I don’t know what it feels like to be great with child…

Pregnant with the twins.  Look familiar?  I was only four months along.  I had five more months to grow.

And grow I did, to the point of misery.  Here I’m close to the same point in pregnancy that I am right now, but only hours away from delivery.  Looking at this photo is more tolerable than posing for it was, belieeeeeve me!

But so worth it for the joy that was set before me.

Our twins, born almost a month early.  Peter on the left, James on the right, six days old~

And now, six years later, Peter on the far side, James on the near.  Sweet boys~

The pregnancy itself has been so blessedly boring.  Baby’s measuring right on target.  Great blood pressure.  Enough no-nonsense Braxton Hicks the past month to signal when I was pushing, pushing, pushing myself too hard.  I’m eagerly anticipating the mandatory two-week babymoon, coming right up.  [But hoping I get to do the painting myself beforehand...]

A couple of weeks ago, we finally settled on a name for new baby boy.  And that’s when I truly began to feel that sense of anticipation.  Another unique and interesting individual will join our family!  Who will he be?  I can’t wait to hold him in my arms and feast my eyes on his face!  It’s so strange that I’ve met Tommy across the ocean multiple times and have started to learn to know him, but the child right inside me for all these months has gone unseen and unknown.

The late spring we had outdoors this year perfectly matched our family’s state of preparation indoors.

We’re almost there.

After months of working hard on every detail we could think of that is possible to organize or streamline or complete for the next five months or so, we can see it all coming together.

And God has been providing marvelously.  It’s as if He said, “I’m the One who gave you this assignment.  Now do whatever you need to do to make it work, and I’ll see that the means will be there.”

~We’ve taken care of all known medical appointments we could possibly handle ahead of time to make space for Tommy’s appointments.  The Clinic for Special Children, DuPont Hospital for Children, and the Shriner’s Hospital are all poised to help with Tommy’s needs and will be working together when necessary.  Those who will be helping provide his therapy are just waiting for word of his travel home.

~God’s been sending a good friend to do all our ironing for months now, without charge.  That’s been a considerable amount between the great seasonal clothing switch and two older boys who have been working white-collar jobs.  She also takes care of any mending we generate.  Another good friend and her older daughters are poised to help with ironing as a back-up.

~Our household help is set to increase after the baby is born.  Not just any household help!  We are blessed with two Amish neighbor girls who already accomplish a terrific amount in six to seven hours a week.  The going rate around here is unbelievably affordable.  Their mom recently wrote in a note to me, “I feel thankful to God that they can be a help to you.” 

~All the summer clothing for all fifteen of us is sorted and ready for warm days.  Whatever needed to be purchased has been purchased.  A lot of our clothing was either given to us, handed down from older to younger, or bought at one of the nifty thrifty stores to be found in abundance in our area.  Last month I came home from treasure-hunting at one semi-annual half-price sale with four large trash bags crammed full of quality clothing and household goods for about $70.

~Freezer meals didn’t happen like I’d thought they would, mostly due to the aforementioned Braxton-Hicks.  This would ordinarily have been a matter of multiplying what I made for supper, eating one portion and freezing the others, but I’ve hardly been cooking.  Instead, we’ve been eating our way through meals we froze several months ago and utilizing other super simple options to free up energy and time for other projects.  A few good friends have already begun helping stock our freezers with meals, and our church fellowship is helping this way now rather than bringing meals after baby comes.  This is the one area I specifically asked Joe to mention if anyone asks him how they can help!

~We’re almost fully prepared with cards and gifts for birthdays and other occasions we’ll be celebrating over the next months, and most of the gifts are wrapped.

~We went searching for a large, comfy, well-built rocking chair, as I’m counting on lots of snuggly rocking time with my littlest ones during the months ahead and the last in a long succession of cheapie rockers gave up and died.  I wasn’t a bit surprised when there was one and only one perfect chair way in the back of the store at half the list price.  It’s so often how God provides for us!

Did you spot it in this Shmoo photo?  It’s wide enough for a little person to sit next to me while I hold another on my lap.  It rocks smoothly, smells lovely, is the color of a coffee bean and soft as butter.

Now to learn to actually sit in it.  As in, sitting down.  I think I’ve sat in it half a dozen times in the month since we brought it home. 

Very soon, this season of preparation will be over.  First one, then another unutterably precious life will enrich our family.

Just a few more chores to accomplish and we’ll be all set to burst into bloom.

Q:  You keep us updated about Katie and Verity.  How are the other children doing?

A:  I have to slip in a small but celebratory update about Verity first.  She has begun using some personal pronouns correctly on her own!  For instance, I might say, “Verity, are you walking?”  And she would answer,  “I’m walking.”   

Joseph, age 19

Is working long hours at two jobs–one full time salaried position, and one part time position–doing computer programming, one of the things God created him to do, and doing it exceedingly well.  He’s being sent on several business trips over the next few months.  We’re proud of how he’s stepped into a responsible adult life, and are enjoying his presence in our home while it lasts.  He’s applied for his passport in case he’s needed to help pick up Tommy.

Daniel, age 17 1/2

Has only four days of the 2013 tax season left to work for his uncle’s CPA business.  He’s also the bookkeeper for the family carpentry business and hopes to enter that business once he’s of an age to do so.  From all we observe of Daniel, we expect his giftedness with numbers and other details, readiness to serve, personable manner, and the pleasure he takes in the hands-on work to bring only benefits to the business his grandfather built.

Joshua, age 16

Is beginning to see more opportunities open up for a young man who’s tall and strong, who’s not afraid of hard work, and who understands more about growing things than almost anyone else we know.  He’s often to be found attending to some new or established gardening project, from pruning fruit trees to moving plants into or out of his cold frame.  When Joshua cares for plants, he does it right.  And can explain what he’s doing.  And why.

Laura, age 13 1/2 

Is gifted in drawing and other artwork.  She is an excellent, willing scholar and confirmed bookworm.  She has a very open, tender and nurturing nature, and genuinely loves little children.  She’s the child who came into the room last June when I was sobbing my heart out at the news that Tommy was going to turn 16 in March and needed a family who could move fast, believing that we did not qualify to adopt him.  She told me recently that she cried herself to sleep that night, too.  In addition to her predictably sweet temper, what I appreciate most about Laura at almost fourteen years of age is her utter and refreshing lack of image-consciousness or snobbiness.

Jane, age 11

Is so much like her mother, oh my.  Little did we know how appropriate her name, Susannah Jane, would turn out to be!  She enjoys academics about as much as I did, but does well with them in spite of herself.  She’s currently reading her way through the wealth of good books we have for her age.  She has a genuine knack for cooking and baking and is, like her mother was at the same age, what is commonly known as a tomboy.  For the past two academic years, she and Laura have attended art classes across the street free of charge, offered to them by a dear older Christian neighbor lady who just happens to be an artist and is teaching her own home-schooled grandchildren at the same time.  The artistic progress Jane has made over these two years amazes me.

These four wiggly monkeys…

…are nearly inseparable.  Since they’re so close in age, it works well to have Memory Time with them all together, reciting our way through passages of Scripture [right now Ephesians 1, appropriately enough], catechism Q & A’s, Shurley English grammar jingles, et cetera.

They can be found outdoors most afternoons now, clad in their boots and oldest we-live-in-the-country-and-aren’t-uptight-about-getting-dirty clothes, romping through a whole property full of spring treasures waiting to be discovered.

In many ways, they themselves are waiting to be discovered.  We pray for them, as we prayed for our older children, that God would reveal to us what He created them to do well, so we can supply them with what they need to learn excellence in their skills, bring glory to God, and be a blessing to the people around them.

John Michael, age 7 1/2

Just learned to ride a bicycle the first time he tried it!  “Bicycle for John Michael” was on our list of things to buy.  Then one of our neighbors came across the street with an almost new bicycle his grandchildren didn’t need anymore–just the right size for John Michael.  When God dropped this gift down out of heaven, He even sent it in John Michael’s favorite color, orange!  John Michael is another excellent scholar who is ahead in math and has really taken off reading chapter books this year.

Peter, age 6

Has built a reputation for being a helper boy, and loves to anticipate needs that he can take care of himself.  For example, I pulled the dishwasher out to sweep under it and noticed aloud that something sticky had dripped down its side.  His whole face lit up, and without a word he ran to grab paper towel and window cleaner and eagerly scrubbed that dishwasher.  That’s Peter, very much like his big brother Daniel was at the same age.  Peter’s plodding steadily along in his schoolwork just as he plods steadily along in every other area of life.

James, also age 6 

Does very well with any academics we give him, and has been unusually engaged while listening to our history discussions.  He has a sensitive heart that needs tender handling.  When he was a very young toddler he’d burst into tears if he saw a photo of a crying baby.  Recently, someone gave our family gourmet bread and I’d told the children they could eat it.  Later, James told me how yummy it was.  When I asked him if there was any left, his lip quivered.  He didn’t want to tell me that it was gone and I wouldn’t get to taste it.  <mama’s heart melting>

Peter in back, James in front~

Stephen, age 4 1/2

Has a special connection with Katie, and can’t go near her without kissing her and saying, “I love you, Katie!”  He’s still bigger than she is, but at the rate she’s been growing, they may be neck and neck at some point.  Stephen has a winning smile to go with his precocious and confident personality.  He’s careful in his schoolwork.  He’s excited to finish his last preschool workbook and get started on Kindergarten level work.

New baby boy, coming soon

Needs to go head down and stay there if we are to have another successful VBAC delivery, although we expect him to keep us guessing right up to the last minute, as most of our other babies have done.

The obstetrician says I’m an excellent candidate for a VBAC, but the final outcome is of course in the hands of God.  If this ends up being a C-section birth, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be accompanying Joe to pick up Tommy-boy.

New baby, we love you, although we don’t yet know you.

We thank God for you, although we did not plan for you.

We welcome you with our whole hearts, because we hold our own plans in open hands, confident that the Father’s timing is always perfect.

…may not be home with us yet, but today a judge in his country declared the boy with the million-dollar smile to be officially OURS!!!!!

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!  God WON!!!!!!!

Thomas Christian Musser, your sentence has been lifted.  For you there is now no condemnation to a future stripped of human rights, dignity, equality, purpose, hope, healing, supports, comfort, home, family, and love in an Eastern European adult mental institution.

We love you, son, more than words can express…

Have you wanted to help the children in Pleven, but haven’t found your niche yet?

Maybe you don’t qualify to adopt and don’t have the means to donate much financially to help others adopt.  Maybe, like me, you’re not a firecracker fundraiser!

But maybe you fit the following qualifications.  Just maybe God will tap you on the shoulder and say, “This is my task for you.”

The person for this job must…

1.  Be passionate about the intrinsic value of every human life.

2.  Have some extra time or be able to make time.

3.  Possess the needed qualities of persistence, creativity, graciousness, diplomacy, and a consistently positive outlook.

4.  Possess the needed skills of competent communication and organizational ability.

5.  Be willing to be the connector between the following people as necessary:

a)  Those who know what equipment is needed in the Pleven orphanage and can be accepted from the US,

b)  Those who are willing to help solicit donated items by whatever means are available to them, such as blogging and Facebooking,

c)  Those who may be able to donate the needed items (pursuing leads yourself if need be),

d)  Adoptive families who are traveling to Pleven and are willing to take hand-carry donated items with them, and

e)  Others that may become obvious as time goes on

6.  Be willing to put the necessary time and effort into getting this donation train rolling!

If you meet these qualifications and are willing to be considered for this much-needed task, thank you!  I’ve been praying for you!  Please email susanna@theblessingofverity.com.

Amy Rainey, the coordinator of the Hidden Treasures online fundraiser auction, announced the preliminary total for the Trio of Heroes auction held last week for Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity, who are being adopted by the Unroe family.

$1700!!!

A huge thank you to every individual who helped with this auction!  You are a blessing!

[To meet the June Hidden Treasures children and their adoptive family, click on the following link:  Announcing our "Perfect Pair" auction in June!]

However…

I still love to hear from you, my friends!  I cherish every text, note, letter, email, voicemail, and comment!

And please, dear special needs adoptive families–including Pleven adoptive families whose children are still waiting or already home–please keep talking to me even when I cannot write much in response!  I mean it!  It does not make me feel pressured to read your updates and if my responses are delayed and brief, I know you understand the reasons why!

The fact that I’m less able to be verbal hasn’t changed my fervent desire to remain connected with you and see how God is working in your families!

I love you all!

I’m planning another ”Little Help for our Friends” post, but–speaking from experience here–I will absolutely need help to pull it together!  If you’d like to be featured in this post, could you please email susanna@theblessingofverity.com with a family photo and photo of the child(ren) you’re adopting and the following information in the following order:

a) Your name(s)

b) The name(s) and age(s) of the child(ren) you’re adopting

c) The special need(s) of your child(ren)

d) The country you’re adopting from, if you’re allowed to state this

e) The estimated amount you still need to complete the adoption

f) Necessary information about any and all fundraiser events you want to have profiled in this post, including your Reece’s Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page, if you have one.  Please include links.

And may God bless this effort with increase!

We’re looking at the Britax Frontier 85, and would love to hear experienced feedback about that seat or others, especially from parents who have experience with larger children with special needs.

Thank you so much for any input you can offer!

Please go visit Julia’s blog, Micah Six Eight, to add your gifts, large or small, and help make this year’s Mulligan Stew even more generous than it was in 2012!

“Susanna, we are here! Thank you for all the posts. Everyone’s prayers and concern were much needed.

Anna is in the hospital in Atlanta with my husband. She just wouldn’t eat or drink. They are taking such good care of her! The head of neurology has already been in and is considering a procedure for Tuesday. They are also working on a plan for nutrition.

She is having some seizures and vomiting, but I know she is in good hands.

We are so happy to have our newest American citizen home!

And the doubts and fears are mostly gone, replaced by a feeling of being her ‘mom’ already.”

~Lydia

Please read much more from Lydia here on her blog, Eight is not Enough.

Sweet Anna in Bulgaria before traveling home~

They’re on the long and grueling trip to the US right now, so could you please keep up your prayers until you hear that they are safely home?

I have some beautiful photos of Anna from her last night in Bulgaria that I’d love to share with you, but they aren’t loading onto the blog for some reason.  She already looks healthier than when I saw her in the Pleven orphanage!

Thank you so much for praying Lydia and her sweet Anna home!

 
Hello friends,

Our Trio of Heroes auction is flying by!  Just over two days remain.  If you haven’t already, please stop by the Hidden Treasures website and check out over 100 items ranging from gift cards to quilts, jewelry to books, and knitted items to home decor.  There are so many wonderful items and each bid brings three precious children closer to home!  Please spread the word, share this with your family and friends.  Let’s shout to the world that these children matter

Amy Rainey
hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com

It is our privilege to help bring three more treasures home from Pleven!

Bulgarian beauty Charity, age 3~

Bright and active Johnathan, age 6~

When I met this precious, fragile, hurt 9 year old boy who weighs only 18 pounds, my heart welled up with gladness to know that he is going into a wonderful, experienced adoptive family with a loving and dedicated Papa and Mama Bear.  Matthew has a long road ahead of him, but I can hardly wait to see him grow and thrive and progress after he is finally being loved and cared for as he needs to be! 

]]> http://theblessingofverity.com/2013/04/time-is-running-out/feed/ 0 http://theblessingofverity.com/2013/04/time-is-running-out/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBlessingOfVerity/~3/b0J0NXDV9oc/ http://theblessingofverity.com/2013/04/squeeeeeze/#comments Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:17:35 +0000 Susanna http://theblessingofverity.com/?p=23432  

And say, “Thank You, God…”

“…for yummy supper to eat.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Did I mention the word squeezable?  “Mama has a Katie; Katie has a mama,” sings the mama to her Shmoo.

*squeeeeeeze* 

P. S.  Once upon a time, a mama made matching flannel nightgowns for her two little girls, ages seven and four.  She tucked them away in the attic, just in case God would send her any more little girls.  And now she’s glad she did.  Because He did!

The bigger immediate concern during the difficult pick-up week is actually dehydration.  So many of the older children in the Pleven orphanage, and many other children with special needs in Eastern European orphanages, are already dehydrated when their parents pick them up.  Many of them were never taught how to drink properly.  Lydia has been feeding Anna with a syringe, as she isn’t drinking a bottle.

[Although Pleven may have gone rapidly from -50 on the scale to -10, the orphanage still has a long way to go.  And the bottom line is this. The children need families.]

Sure enough, when I checked for updates on Anna this morning, my heart sank as I read the first message–

“Anna is not eating today, so please continue the prayers!!”

And then the message from several hours later–

“She ate finally…!!!!”

Lydia, you are doing one hard and fabulous job.  We love you and your sweet Anna, and will keep on praying. 

Lydia’s blog if you want to leave a comment and let her know you are part of her prayer team:  Eight is not Enough

“I am still shaky, but holding on tight to Jesus.  We are out of the hospital! Anna is napping.  It is so nice to be in our hotel room while it is light outside!  The future is so unclear that I am only looking ahead to dinner instead of next year as I am wont to do.  God must be smiling.  ‘Finally,’ He says.”

~Lydia

Friends, Anna’s mom Lydia is in the thick of it right now.  I remember very well how difficult it is to be with one’s medically-fragile child who is hospitalized in a foreign country, all while functioning with jet lag and little sleep.  God has given Lydia a tough assignment right now!

Knowing the very real, here-and-now struggles that Lydia and Anna are facing, and at the same time celebrating the power of God in raising Jesus from the dead, these words are coming to my mind again and again–

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,

[Why?]

That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

[Asking again--Why do all of us who are followers of Jesus count all things loss?]

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

Out of these truths, may I issue a challenge?  When those of you on the outside see the difficulties and sacrifices faced by adoptive families, ask not, “Isn’t this proof that this wasn’t God’s will for them?”

No!  No!  A thousand times no!  The opposite is true!  Question rather whether a life of comfort and leisure time, cushioned on all sides with non-essentials, is God’s will for His people!

Once the pain began, Jesus didn’t question whether it was really His Father’s will for Him to go through a crucifixion.  He suffered, He wept, He bled, He cried out in agony, He deliberately offered up His life out of obedience to His Father.  For the redemption of those in desperate need.

Jesus hurt as we have never hurt.  And He didn’t say, “This hurts!  That means there must have been some mistake!  My Father wouldn’t ask me to do something this hard!  I’m getting back down off this cross!”

For those of us who believe and love the Word of God, we know that hardness is a mark of a life of following Jesus, not cause for us to question the Father’s calling. 

Thank you so much to everyone who is surrounding and supporting Lydia and Anna with fervent prayer!

Lydia hasn’t updated her blog yet, but you can check in with her there and leave her a message, if you haven’t already:  Eight is not Enough

I’ll update here as soon as I hear more news.

Do any of you remember Marsha, the little girl with untreated hydrocephalus who is being adopted from Pleven?  Her family, Scott and Lydia Rosencrants, has named her Anna.  Precious tiny girl, the size of a nine month old although she is turning five years old this year.

The whole time I saw Anna, she wore a sweet smile, and she was so responsive and giggly!

I was waiting eagerly to hear news from Lydia, knowing that she picked up Anna from the Pleven orphanage yesterday!

This morning I received an email from Lydia that I have her permission to pass on to all of you–

“Sorry I haven’t emailed. We have been busy. Anna is at Tokuda. She was dehydrated and is having lots of seizure activity. She is a delight and I am believing that God’s grace is sufficient.”

Would you please ask our mighty God to strengthen Lydia, help Anna to respond well to treatment, and bring them safely home to the US next week?  Would you also be willing to take time to leave a comment here or on the Rosencrants’ blog to let them know that you are praying?  This would be a tremendous encouragement to this courageous mom and to the rest of her family.

Thank you so much, friends!

Love in Jesus,
Susanna

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that our Trio of Heroes auction for the Unroe family will kick off overnight, Easter night.  We have A LOT of gift cards this time and other lovely items as well.  We can always add more though!  I have a lot of people who have notified me over recent weeks that they intend to donate.  I know it is a busy season, and a busy weekend.  Please take a moment to send along those photos you’ve been meaning to take so that we can make this auction the absolute best that it can be for our three precious treasures!

Just a note:  Because it is Easter Weekend and we personally have more family engagements than usual, it may be Monday before some of the later donations get listed.  Rest assured, I will get them all up by Monday evening, though.  This is going to be a fun auction!  Thank you, as always, for your faithful support of our work to bless these sweet little image-bearers of God.

Have a blessed and joyous celebration of our Savior’s victory over death!
Amy Rainey
hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com

Three more of the little ones with special needs from the Pleven orphanage will be coming into a large, loving, well-prepared and experienced family.  The Unroes are eager to bring these precious three children home and help them thrive! 

Three year old Charity~

Six year old Johnathan~

Nine year old Matthew~

One of the wonderful adoptive mothers I’ve had the privilege of connecting with over the past months is a mom named Kat.

Our bond of friendship was forged over a tiny older boy with Down syndrome, waiting in Eastern Europe.

It was beautiful to witness their hearts moving toward Jonathan, a little boy similar to our Katie before she came home.  The day they committed to adopt him was a day of joy in the marvelous work of God, a God who first showed us what pure love looks like by redeeming and adopting desperately needy children.

Jonathan was moved from the relative safety of the baby house to a desolate institution for older boys with special needs.  The Lost Boys.

Recently, close to the end of their journey to bring their frail Jonathan home, they came face to face with one of the agonizing realities we first learned more than two years ago.

We, the privileged, the strong, the comfortable, the healthy–we can choose to turn away from this reality, while the most vulnerable of human beings have no choice at all but to live it.

Friends, please don’t turn your eyes away.  Please take thirteen minutes and watch this video.

My mom is pulling her hair out over switching to a new laptop and Windows 8 at the same time.  So far, she’s not impressed by the change!  Plus, her old computer isn’t talking to the new one very well.  On top of all this, she lost her camera!  She feels like she’s trying to walk down the street by hopping on one toe while lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood.  And when she asks someone for directions, they speak in a language she barely understands.  My oldest brother Joseph is really good with computers and has two jobs programming them for almost seventy hours a week now, but Mom stinks at computer stuff!

So I get a turn to blog for a change.  I have lots to tell you, and I’m not as picky as Mom about saying it just the right way, so this will give her a break.

The calendar says it’s spring, but it’s still acting like winter around here.  There aren’t any flowers or green things growing outside yet.  This winter, I haven’t enjoyed going outdoors, even when we went to a cabin in the mountains for a week.  I don’t like cold weather, and start to cry if I’m out in it too long.  It’s been a muddy, gray winter here without any good snowstorms, so I haven’t missed anything fun by staying cozy indoors.

Speaking of crying, guess what I’ve learned to do?

That’s right.

I didn’t cry to tell people I’m sad until I was home for a whole year.  Before that, I only cried when something hurt very, very much, like getting poked with a needle too many times in a row.  If I was ever upset about something, I chewed on my wrist.

On Thanksgiving Day, I cried for the first time just because I was sad about something I didn’t like, and wanted to tell my family.  I knew they could fix it for me.

Mom sees it as a big sign of progress toward emotional health that I am expressing appropriate emotions in an appropriate way.  Even though she doesn’t have any crying pictures for me to show you.

Oh yes, here’s more progress.  My family has noticed that I’m getting pickier about food.  Do you know what that means?  Only prosperous people have the luxury of being picky about food.  My pickiness is saying loud and clear that I am feeling all the way secure that there is plenty of food, more food than I need, all the time, and I don’t have to worry about being hungry any more.  So Mom is happy that I’m picky!

Hmmm, let’s see what else.

Did you know Tommy had a birthday almost two weeks ago?  He’s sixteen now!

Here’s something I did to celebrate–made a flag of Tommy’s country!

Mom helped me spread glue on the paper and then tore pieces of tissue paper for me to crumble up and press onto the glue.

I needed red, green, and white for this flag.

I’ve done this kind of project many times since school started in September, but Mom always had to make my hands do what they were supposed to.  She calls it “hand over hand.”  What makes it hard for me to learn fine motor skills is that I’m very easily distracted by all the noises and the feeling of the different textures, and that’s what I notice the most.  I’m still easily over-stimulated, and have lots of little restless hand and mouth-related habits that distract me, but I’m making progress.  Mom has to calm me down over and over again so I’m free to focus on learning skills.

I’ve also been working so hard on my new gross motor skills that I haven’t been progressing in other areas.  Mom knew this could happen because of my limited physical, emotional, and mental energy, so she didn’t panic when I stopped trying to talk or making much progress in other areas.  She just kept giving me input anyway.

So was she ever thrilled on Tommy’s birthday, because for the very first time…

…when she let go of my hand, I didn’t throw the paper down right away.  I crumpled and crumpled that tissue paper, all by myself!

I have a lot of trouble with hand-eye coordination, and still need lots of prompting to get me to look at what my hand is doing.  I respond well to auditory cues, so Mom taps on whatever she wants me to look at, and that usually works.

This time, I did a little better!  I looked at what I was doing more than I used to!

I didn’t get restless and tired of it quickly, like had before, although Mom did have to help me calm down every so often when I got over-excited.

Here I am starting on the green stripe.

Mom just got prouder and prouder of me, because…listen to what else I did!

I tried to drop the paper in just the right spot instead of just shaking it off my hand when I stopped tolerating the feeling of it!

She helped me pat it onto the glue so it would stick tight.

When she took her hand away to see what I would do, I gave it a few pats myself!

Oh my goodness, she got so excited and called to everyone around her to tell them to come see what I was doing!

I’m not sure who was happier, Mom or me!

Did any of you notice that I was only using my right hand?

Want to know why?

Because Tommy’s birthday came when I was getting my fifth IV treatment for my osteoporosis.  This time I was paying a little too much attention to the IV site and splint and tape and port that Nurse Donna always rigs up for me.  So my family kept it all taped up inside my sleeve.  That used up lots of tape in three days but worked pretty well.

It’s so much better being able to get the treatments at home than having to sit at the Clinic or in the hospital for all those hours!

Especially because I can still do all kinds of other activities the whole time!  Like celebrate Tommy’s birthday…

…with my family.  Mom’s sorry she didn’t get photos of my younger brothers with their paints or Jane icing the chocolate cupcakes with green mint frosting!

Thank you, friend D, for sending all the pretty martenitsi!  They helped make Tommy’s birthday celebration more special!

Want to know what it looks like for Mom to calm me down?  Well, it looks different at different times.

Most of the time, it’s good for me to move, move, move.  But once in a while I have to sit still and quietly, like during the prayer time or sermon on Sunday.

What helps me most then is a weighted lap blanket across my lap and legs.  Did you know that deep pressure is soothing and calming?  Dad or Mom tuck my hands under the blanket and hold me snugly in their arms.  They have little tricks to distract me if I start to get too loud.  That usually lasts pretty well, although I always spend the last bit playing in the nursery with Mom, where we can hear the rest of the sermon over the intercom.

Sometimes I only need to sit still, but don’t need to be quiet.  I’ll show you what it looked like while I was getting my hair trimmed recently.  The feel and sound of the snipping scissors and the rustling of the cape was very distracting to me.  I’d start to kick my feet and wave my arms and make noises.

Mom’s giving deep pressure input to my legs to remind me not to kick them, and saying, “Calm down, Katie,” in a slow, soothing, sing-song way, just like my family does every time I get over-stimulated.

See me listening?  It really works to help me calm back down.

This was the first haircut I ever got without a second person to help hold my head still.  It was the first time Mom tried putting me on this highchair and having me wear the smock.  I don’t understand what Mom’s doing when she cuts my hair, but I’m making progress in tolerating it anyway!

Do you see why Mom kept praising me for doing a good job?  It might not look like a big deal to most other people, but to Mom it is!

I’m learning something else I want to tell you about.  I’m making the connection between a three-dimensional object and the two-dimensional image of the same object.  Mom taps one, then the other, while saying its name.

Here I am patting the card like I saw Mom do.  She’s saying, “Drink. Drink.”

Mom had a video of me climbing up the stairs.  It was all ready to be uploaded to Youtube and posted here for you to see.  But she can’t find it and access it yet, so it will have to wait for some other day.

She wanted you to see some of the immense progress I’m making in gross motor skills!

I’ve been watching Verity walk for a while now, and my family thinks that’s helping to motivate me.  Verity’s working on balance, coordination, strength and endurance, as well as skills like kicking, turning corners, and stepping up, down, over, and across.  She can even walk sideways and backwards now.  Here she’s wearing a big brother’s boots so she has to work harder to walk.

When she walks on these tiles, she automatically narrows her base of support rather than having a wider gait (walking with her feet further apart to help herself balance more easily).

It all just looks to me like something fun that I want to do.  I’m sorry I don’t have more pictures to show you all the amazing progress I’m making in gross motor skills, but I can tell you that physical therapy is my favorite!  My mom calls me “motor-driven!”  My physical therapist sees progress every single time she visits!  I first pulled up to standing on October first, and it’s unbelievable how much I’ve learned to do since then!  I know that standing alone without support is my next big goal, and it makes me laugh when I do it for one second and Mom tells me, “Good standing, Katie!”

Maybe soon Mom will have her computer act together and a camera in her hands again, and then you can see it for yourself!  [Did I just hear her say, "Grrrrrr?"  Surely not!]

As I get more mobile and more independent, my family is seeing me enter the next natural stage and get more of a mind of my own.  Some part of me must have reached eighteen months old!  That’s how old all my siblings were when they started to ask, “So what if I don’t?”  Hee hee!  I’m easily re-directed and not stubborn, though.

Mom has something else to show you once she’s able to.  After a six-month break from trying to talk–at all!–while focusing hard on gaining gross motor skills, I’m working on mimicking sounds again!  Oh, the joy!  My brothers captured this on video a few days ago, on my eleventh birthday.

Speaking of my birthday!  Yay!  Time to show you some pictures of my birthday!

I had no idea what my birthday was all about, but my family sure had fun working together to make it special!

Here the party is about to begin.  Mom wanted to capture photos of the matching clothes our friend M gave to Verity and me.  Thank you, friend M!

I always wake up with a smile on my face, but Verity…um…takes her time to get there.

“Verity, where’s your happy face?”

We played the piano while we waited for Grandpa and Grandma to come.

I was more into it than Verity was.

I just love playing the piano, and never, ever get tired of it!

The pictures of the Bulgarian flag cake didn’t turn out well, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every bite!  Laura and Peter made me a scrumptious carrot cake.  It was the most dessert I’ve ever eaten!

I was unsure at first what was going on, and before I’d opened my last few gifts, I was getting cranky due to being tired and eating too much dessert, ahem.

But I caught on quickly to pulling the paper off the packages Jane and James and Grandma had wrapped for me.

I also caught on to the fact that something I liked was inside each one, like books, a Leapfrog Fridge Phonics toy, bubbles, some Melissa and Doug food cutting sets and a Melissa and Doug set of musical instruments, a new, smaller xylophone, and a set of squeaky mama and baby ducks for the bath.

Remember when I turned ten a year ago?  I still had a feeding tube.  And I sure wouldn’t have tolerated a party like this for long.

A little over sixteen months ago, I was just taking the first baby steps on the journey of learning to really live instead of just survive.

It’s hard for my family to imagine where I’ll be when I turn twelve next year.  There’s a lot I don’t understand.  I don’t know what “turning twelve” or ”next year” means.  But I do know this.  I’m happy to belong to my family and I’m happy to be alive!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

~Jesus

Hello!

Hints of new life all around are promising that Spring is just around the corner! Spring isn’t the only thing that is knocking at our door. Our Trio of Heroes auction to help the Unroe family bring three more children home from Pleven will kick off April first–just under two weeks away.

Charity, age three  (Presley on Reece’s Rainbow)

Johnathan, age six (Carson on Reece’s Rainbow)

Matthew, age 9  (Thad on Reece’s Rainbow)

We have some lovely items already, but we need your help to make this auction a grand success. Please consider donating a handcraft, new or gently used item, gift certificate, or gift card to help bring these precious little ones into that family that is eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Donation is simple. Send me an email with a photo of your item and a brief description.  hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com  Once the winning bidder has paid, you will receive their mailing address for shipment. We ask that the shipping cost be a part of your donation and that you carefully package and ship the item within 3 days of notification.

This is such a simple way to make a tangible difference in the life of these three children. By God’s grace, great things can be accomplished by our working together!

Bless you for your heart for adoption. Thank you for your faithful support, month after month. May God give our efforts great increase!

Blessings,
Amy Rainey
Hidden Treasures Coordinator
hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com

For more information on where and when it will be held this year, and who is welcome to attend, please email me at susanna@theblessingofverity.com.

Pssssssst!  Look who doesn’t need the harness in her gait trainer anymore!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the end of this week?

$459.14?

Can we do it?

I think we can!!

$459.14 by Saturday the 23rd of March!  Katie’s 11th birthday!  The first whole day this tiny boy’s mama will be in Bulgaria!

Remember Adam?  Many of you helped with the Awesome Adam Hidden Treasures auction last year.

Adam is the tiniest five-going-on-six year old boy I’ve ever met.  He’s like a fragile six month old.  He smiled like glad sunshine when I touched and held and talked to him.  He soaked up every drop of loving I could squeeze into him in a few short minutes.  Too short.

He has such a sweet, untouched spirit and is so ready for the mama he has never had!

If we pitch in together and raise $459.14 for Adam’s family, they’ll be completely finished paying their adoption fees, and will be all set to send in their second stage documents as soon as Jaclyn returns home.

Why does this matter so much?

I came home in January concerned about two of the children who are being adopted.

Adam is one of them.

He very badly needs to come home and receive medical attention for his cataracts to prevent further loss of vision.  If it’s not already too late.  They were left untreated for so long.

Could you pray for peace in the waiting for Adam’s family?

Then visit the Mitchell’s Family Sponsorship Page on Reece’s Rainbow, and help that number go up to $10,500!

Only $459.14 left to raise?  Let’s go for it!  That number is nothing to God!

We love you, Adam!! 

“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So here we are.

We knew it was coming.

The tough stretch.

Daniel’s in the last five weeks of tax season.

I’m in the last seven weeks of pregnancy.

My body is increasingly bulky, weighty, and awkward; it tires easily.  Every week it takes more time to get less done.  I have to be careful of my back, my round ligaments, and my ankle.  Tall strong sons lift and carry Katie for me whenever possible.

Last summer’s skinny, energetic, low-maintenance self is but a distant memory now.

A few months ago, a friend of our family asked if he could sit down with Joe and me and talk.  He hoped he would not be offensive, he said, but something was concerning him.

He observed me giving and giving and giving and giving.  And giving.  How was I making sure I was also being fed?  How was my walk with the Lord?

As usual when put on the spot in person, my words stumbled around on their way out.  I tried to explain how I saw my relationship with my heavenly Father.  I’m pathetic at long lists of “things good Christians must do,” like kneeling to pray for an hour each morning according to the acronym A.C.T.S, and putting the spiritual armor on every day.

Et cetera.

I’m more like a child with her hand in her Father’s hand.  I talk to Him and listen to Him throughout the day.  I’m not worried that He’s going to let me wander off, or that He’ll disown me if I don’t get it all right.  He keeps His grip on me, gives me what He wants me to have and takes me where He wants me to go.  I can trust Him to tell me when I’m sinning and ask Him to forgive me and purify the motives of my heart.  I’m not strong.  I’m needy.  I need protection.  I need someone to guide me along.  I need a constant diet of straight truth.  I need lots of mercy and forgiveness.  I’m His child and He has what I need.  The burden is on Him; He has told me to put it there.

The conversation stayed in my mind afterward.  There was more, something else I wish I had said.

I made careful plans for that trip, you know.  Who can blame me?  After all, I’m a planner by nature.

Tall black European-style boots would complete winter outfits to help me blend inconspicuously into the background in Tommy’s country.  My body language will demonstrate that pregnancy isn’t going to slow me down, in case anyone wonders.  An agenda is made up for every spare minute of time there.  A list of questions for the director.

God’s plan for that trip?  Strip away every human strength.

Suffer a sprained ankle less than two days before traveling.

Trade in the black suede boots for a last-minute Goodwill find–ugly comfortable shoes that can easily accommodate the swelling, the ankle brace, and the on-and-off process through airport security.  Find out much too late that in certain light, one shoe is black but the other is a definite navy blue.

Travel in a wheelchair.  Dependent, needy, and at times, helpless.  But never inconspicuous.

Watch my companions carry the luggage I wanted to handle myself, while I stand uncomfortably idle.

Try to keep up a stiff pace from the moment I arrive in Tommy’s country, learning to use crutches at the same time.

Meet the new director of Tommy’s orphanage as a middle-aged pregnant mom limping along on crutches, wearing unsightly old-lady shoes.

Hear His clear directive, “Let go of your agenda and list of questions.  Wait and see what I will do instead.”

Try hard all week not to inconvenience anyone.  God forbid that my needs cause anyone else to have to wait for me or help me.

Find something I can do to carry my own weight in some small way.  ”It makes you feel better to do something to help, doesn’t it?”  Her simple observation shone a sudden truthful light onto my actions.  Who was I fooling?  Was I really loving others with my pitiful and proud efforts?  Or feeding my own ego?

Why do I so dislike being needy?

To put it bluntly, I hate being dependent.  I can’t stand the inability to just take care of everything myself the way I want to.  Weakness isn’t “me.”  I’m a doer.  I’m not afraid of hard work.  If I have an addiction, it’s Getting Things Done.

But here we are once again.  We said yes to Him.  He is again hemming me in behind and before.  So, Susanna, what is true about this situation?

Do I want the power of Christ to be made perfect in me?

Did I really think that was going to happen without discomfort or sacrifice?

If I insist on keeping my life within humanly sensible, manageable, attractive, and explainable bounds, who gets the credit at the end of the story?

Would I rather have it easier if it meant missing out on seeing the surpassing power of God in my life?

Why do I go to such great lengths to avoid being in that weak place when it’s the only way I will get to see His strength flowing through me?

God asks some to be instantaneous martyrs, but not many. Is it not just as much an honor to be counted worthy to give up my life everyday for the rest of my life as it is to give it up in one moment?

Yes, God is pouring my life out as a drink offering.  That doesn’t mean something’s wrong; it’s the normal Christian life; He designed it to work this way.

Being poured out dry means that the life that flows through me is unmistakably HIS LIFE, not my own energy.  HIS LIFE, bringing forth fruit that will last.

And that’s the “something else” I wish I’d said to our concerned friend.

You can see the demands and exhaustion and discomfort and weakness and limitations.  Unimpressive as they are, I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.  Those are the jars of clay that hold the real treasure.

His grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in weakness.

P.S. to my friend who traveled hard, cried hard, and laughed hard with me that week.  Remember?  ”These shoes aren’t going to make it in the back door.  They’re hideous, they stink, one of them is navy and one is black, and I wore them the whole week in Tommy’s country.”

I kept my word…

[The link works now...]

Let’s just put it this way–

Please don’t worry!  All is well with the Mussers!  But it won’t stay that way if I don’t take an e-break for a while!

Busy beavers were here~

And here~

A little more prettiness here~

New space for baby’s things where no space was before~

One of the little boys looked at the cardboard inserts in these miniscule shoes and exclaimed, “The new baby has DAFO’s!”

This is a verse I will want to see every day this summer.  “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Yes.  And behind the scenes, we are watching this happen.  God is doing what He does best!

These photos are a tiny glimpse of the work that’s gotten done. Next major item on my to-do list is freezer meals!

So for at least a week, maybe two, I won’t be blogging, and I won’t be available by email or cell phone.

Goodbye, all you nice people! See you again after Tommy has turned 16!

YES!!!!!

Thank You, GOD!!!!!!!

My thoughts, my days, busy and full.

Busy…

Busy at home, where I most love to be.

Full…

Full of the sense of well-being that comes to a mama who sees her nest being readied for the hatchlings who are still on their way.

A mama who is decidedly in her third trimester.  [I still have how many weeks left to grow bigger?]  Enough energy for husband, children, home, and preparations for two more precious ones.  Not so much left over for…well…for much of anything else.  Enough to email a little, write a little, connect with friends a little, relax and read a little…  

Full of satisfaction at the ongoing re-organization of seemingly every detail of every practical corner of our everyday lives.  Satisfaction at seeing the new shelves that are sprouting inside closets and cupboards and along various walls.  Knowing we’re doing this for two children we cannot wait to hold in our arms.

Full of anticipation.  There’s itty bitty baby boy clothing waiting to be sorted into canvas totes on our next Girls’ Night.  There’s a big plastic bin up in our attic labeled, “Tommy.”  The clothing in there is the same size as Stephen’s, but it isn’t Stephen’s.  That bin is not just collecting Boy’s Size Four clothing, it’s collecting Tommy’s clothing.

Full of contentment seeing my man working steadily and uncomplainingly on both planned and unplanned household projects.  Knowing that his love for his Master, for me, and for our children is what spurs him on to make the most of every moment.  When I know he could have chosen a life that would allow him plenty of leisure time.

Contentment at the bond of companionship we enjoy after twenty years of adapting to one another within marriage.

Full of thankfulness.  So much thankfulness.  Today, thankfulness for the evidence of the strong, enthusiastic support of our family from close friends and acquaintances, immediate and extended family, church fellowship, neighbors, therapists, midwife, family doctor, dentist, pediatrician, other specialists, social workers, and even our local school district.

Thankfulness for a successful preliminary visa interview that took place this morning in the US Embassy in Tommy’s country.  Thankfulness for our Article 5 letter and the launching of the next stage of Tommy’s adoption process.  Thankfulness for lots of behind-the-scenes action that God orchestrated to make this possible.

Our thankfulness list has no end.  He has blessed us with more than enough.

Full of wonder at how God is holding Tommy in the palm of His hand, proving Himself to us once again in the beautiful timing of every seemingly random detail as He brings him into our family.

Full of joy in the laughter and fun that come along with a large family.

Joy in the little lovelinesses that grace my life.

Like these sweeties~

The splashing doesn’t come across in my photos very well, but let me tell you, Katie can displace a considerable amount of water!  Notice that she is strategically placed where I can draw the shower curtain against the effects of the splashing.

Speaking of the effects of the splashing…

Verity!  You can turn around!

That’s right!  Turn around!

One of the concerns some have about bringing a more disabled child into a family with a less disabled child is that the less disabled child will learn bad habits from the more disabled child.  In reality, I am teaching two girls at once as I continue to teach Verity as I did before.  We haven’t noticed any ill effects on Verity.  And Katie gets it both from me directly, and by watching me teach Verity.

She’s interacting with her environment so much more readily than she did a year ago at this time, and more appropriately, too.  Slowly, slowly, little by little, the healing continues.

And it’s the privilege of a lifetime to watch it happen.

Thank you, E, for blessing Katie with these nifty sneaks!  They’re perfect!

Is it my turn to come out now, Mama?

My friend Grace, who brought little Samantha home from Katie’s old orphanage last year, wrote a blog post titled, “I Remember.”   

A little boy appears in her post who is very close to my heart.  I’ve probably written more about him in private emails to prospective parents than about any other single child, and he’s still waiting for a family.  Could you please take time to read it, pray for him, and share Grace’s post?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After having my interest piqued by an intriguing remark on a friend’s blog, I checked out the “Best of Festival” winner at this year’s San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

This is one we will be seeing, and we hope you do, too…

Caregivers walk through the room, not stopping to acknowledge any of the children with significant special needs who lie waiting in their cribs.  One caregiver leans casually against a crib, her back to the thin child lying behind her, no toys in sight.  One small girl hears the voices around her.  Over the sidebars, we see her tiny hand on her tiny contracted wrist rise slowly upward…reaching, hoping for a response…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The strollers are crowded along either side of the corridor.  Each stroller is manned by a baba, and each one contains a small older child with obvious special needs.  There is no place to sit down, no place for an older woman to sit where she can interact face to face with a child in a stroller.  Squatting is too difficult a position for an older woman to maintain for long.  Each baba stands, silent and bored, leaning on her stroller where her assigned charge cannot see her face.  Even a baba I already know and love stands tired and unsmiling behind her stroller.  The children cannot strike up conversations or otherwise reach out for interaction.  So each child sits as silently as if he or she was alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A playroom.  One adult is present–a baba who sits with her child at the far end.

In the middle of the room is another child in a walker.  She is motionless except for a hand in front of her eyes, fingers flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The baba sits like a stone statue in the baba room.  She’s in charge of a tiny child who lies motionless, body twisted, limbs contracted, on a mat near her baba’s chair.  We strike up a conversation with the baba.  She turns out to be a decent woman, not uncaring.  But still she sits there in her chair, as if there was no child lying on the mat nearby.  Does the child respond to a loving voice and touch?  Yes, she does.  But for an hour the baba sits there in her chair, offering no interaction, no loving voice, no touch to the tiny teenaged girl she is being paid to care for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A glance through a window as we pass down the hallway.

Two small girls in a plain, bare room.

It’s playtime.

No adults are present.

No toys are present.

One of the girls lies on her belly on the floor.  She is blind.  She cannot see the wheelchair in front of her, but her hand has reached out and found it. She lies on the floor and pushes the wheelchair back and forth.  Over and over again, back and forth.

The other girl, a miniature teenager, has been placed in a child sized chair.  She can only walk if she is holding on to something, so setting her on a chair in this way effectively immobilizes her.  She sits in the silent, empty room.  She sits.  And sits.  And sits.  And sits.

While a few feet away, the small blind girl pushes the wheelchair back and forth.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look around the circular preschool-sized table, studying each beloved, familiar face.

“E, your email makes me wonder how many blog readers have an accurate picture in their heads of what Tommy’s “school” class is like when they read that post.  I put the word “school” in quotes for a reason.

About half of the children are constantly getting up and wandering from their seats, so the teacher’s biggest job is to keep them all sitting down. My therapist friend got the tiny teenage girl with Down syndrome to pay attention to a toy and reach out and touch it once after interacting with her for an hour.  Most of the children are easily over-stimulated and can’t process sensory input as most people do.  Only one child is verbal, and that child is by far the most developmentally advanced older child in the baby house, not yet at the developmental level of a child half her age.  The estimated cognitive ages of the children range from infant to maybe three years old.

It’s hard to communicate the reality to people who aren’t very familiar with older children who spent their lives having all their needs profoundly neglected without making the children sound freakish.  The starvation they suffered was also starving their brains of necessary nutrients.  There is hand flapping, tooth grinding, growling, random vocal noise, shrieks, toy-throwing, wandering, lip noises, nose blowing (no tissues), hitting the side of the head.  And none of them can help it. It was done to them. They are such pure, precious souls, E.”

I have seen it over and over again now.

It goes something like this…

They were seen as undesirable and thence never received the help they needed to thrive.

The mistreatment they received damaged them to the point that nearly all potential adoptive parents will now agree with the caregivers and see them as undesirable.

So they are still not receiving what they need in order to thrive.

Throughout the week, the conviction grows inside me that what I am seeing in the faces of these very delayed miniature older children is not an obscuring but a revealing.

Nearly everything that can be stripped away has been stripped away, until their essential personhood is revealed as it is.

No self-consciousness.

No image-consciousness.

No manipulative mind games.

No hidden agendas.

No misunderstandings.

No second-guessings.

No unrealistic expectations.

No critical, judging eyes; no prejudice or contempt.

No hate, no mockery, no desire to cause harm to others.

No falseness.

They are transparently themselves, transparently real.

And less stressful, and more restful, than any other group of people I can remember spending time with.

They are miracle children; none of them should even be alive.

And we think that children like these are the most disabled?

I disagree.

“Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said.  ”And do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Q:  How are you?  Is all well with your pregnancy?  Is your ankle healing?

A:  Aaaaah, feelin’ pretty fine!  Compared with last month, that is!

Our January was dominated by some unusual challenges, compounded by an extended bout with the flu.  It took until the end of the month for all of us to really feel normal again, in time for me to enter the third trimester.  The ankle is slowly coming along without much help from me, I’m afraid.  <grin>

Most remarkable in all this is how our household took everything in stride and continued to function calmly, accomplishing educational goals, maintaining basic cleanliness, tidiness and organization, completing adoption paperwork, steadily preparing for two new boys.

The only area of life where I’m really behind is in writing thank you notes and answering emails, but that will eventually get done, too, just like the blog journaling did.  [If you are still waiting for an email, the reason is that you've asked me good, non-urgent questions that deserve more thought and time than I can dash off quickly.  I'm caught up to January 20th now, hurray!]

Our life is so different now than it used to be.  If you had asked me way back when, I would have assumed that this kind of life was for other people, and wouldn’t have thought it possible for us to do what we’re doing now as a routine matter of course.  God is still proving Himself strong to us every single day.

And how Stephen can fall asleep surrounded by a big family singing loudly is more than I can explain!

Q:  How are Katie and Verity doing?

A:  It’s so good to see them both back to growing and learning and progressing after being on sick leave during most of January.

Verity’s sense of humor and fun is developing delightfully!  She loves to tease and be teased.  She understands the meaning of the words “funny,” “silly,” and “goofy!”  She belly laughs at my hair in the morning before I dry it, and says, “Funny hair!”  She gets silly when she’s tired of flash cards, and calls things by the wrong name on purpose, then says, “No!  Ha ha ha!”

After hardly uttering a word during her grouchy weeks of illness, she’s again adding words to her repertoire.  My current favorite is hearing her clear pronunciation of the word “piano.”  Or maybe asking her what the duck says, and hearing a perfect, deliberate “quack, quack” in response.

We think she’s getting pretty good at using utensils like silverware and crayons, for a two and a half year old.

We’re so proud of her readiness to cooperate in learning new skills and concepts such as pottying, her enunciation of syllables [we stress this so much as we work with her, knowing this will be a particular struggle for her with the motor planning challenges, low muscle tone, and highly arched, constricted and narrow hard palate that came along with her Down syndrome], her ability to comprehend and unhesitatingly respond to our auditory input without visual cues, and her attention span when we ask it of her.

Right now, she loves books, puzzles with small pegs, brushing her teeth with her electric toothbrush, the color yellow, holding and kissing her babies, making us laugh, and giving us tight squeezes.

This week marks three years since we first learned that our unborn baby daughter Verity had a serious heart defect and most likely had Down syndrome.  Before that momentous day, if you had told me of all that would transpire over the next several years, I would have been convinced that you had us mixed up with some other Musser family.

I wish there were words to tell you how blessed we have been by this one little Verity.  The love she draws out of us is enormous beyond description and there is not one thing we would change about her if we had that power, from her sweet-smelling softness to her spunky individuality to her clear, guileless eyes to the conquering of the next skill to the charming way she brushes the hair out of her eyes with her tiny hand.

Katie is growing and looking so much older to us these days!

Over the past few months, she’s been making the most progress in her gross motor skills, gaining strength and proficiency.  She can crawl up the stairs quickly when she wants to.  I finally captured this on video, only to discover later that I captured it sideways and will have to try, try again on another sunny free afternoon.

She’s learning to go backwards down the steps with some prompting and support, can crawl on her hands and knees very nicely, is moving beautifully from half-kneel to stand, and loves to walk with both hands held.

She’s eating and drinking very well, and is slowly continuing to progress toward a proper chewing technique.  Just the simple fact that this child eats a wide variety of food in a wide variety of textures still amazes me.

She’s also continuing to progress in her toleration of various sensory input, in showing more appropriate emotional reactions, and in her attachment and bonding to us.

She loves all sorts of music and interesting noise and rhythm!  She is easily bored and loves action and interaction!

Besides all this good stuff, she looks sweeter than ever in her new Milly-Molly-Mandy haircut.  Doesn’t she?!

Her physical therapist says this activity is good for requiring an upright standing position.  Katie loves the piano so much she doesn’t mind working a bit harder for it.

She’s not crazy about sharing it with Verity.

But that’s okay.  It’s not Verity’s favorite activity, anyway.  

Katie knows which puzzle pieces make noise, and she likes those best.   She was so sensory-deprived for so long; she can’t get enough now.

When she’s standing at a chair to play, we have to position her feet and encourage her to stand up straight and not lean.

She can cruise all the way around our living room from chair to piano to chair to chair to couch.  But her favorite spot is the piano.

You don’t have to be around Katie for very long before you realize that she’s a different sort of person!  But Katie’s favorite thing of all is no different than your favorite thing and my favorite thing.

She loves to be loved.

She soaks it up!  Drinks it in!  Never grows tired of it!  

What does it take to love a child like Katie?  Some kind of heroism?

I am more fiercely adamant than ever before that what is most needed is total acceptance.  The kind of acceptance that God gives to His own children–nothing can separate us from His love because we’re accepted in the Beloved.

Katie survived conditions so extreme none of us can adequately imagine them.

She and the other older children in her former orphanage adapted to unthinkable deprivation for an unthinkably long time, and survived.

They survived for long years what we’ve never had to survive for a single day.  It has affected them in ways that nobody truly understands, but they are different and always will be different.

In order to love these little ones, are we willing to set aside our previous paradigm for what constitutes an acceptable human being?  Are we willing to refuse to compare them with children who have had every privilege provided for them since before they were born?

God spared their lives for a purpose.

Are we willing to see them for who they are in His eyes?  Period?

Yes, Katie.  We are willing.

Q:  Could you tell me more about your impressions of Tommy?  I’d love to hear more about him!

A:  Yes, I’d be happy to!  Look for an upcoming Tommy post.

Q:  When do you think you’ll be able to bring him home?

A:  Most likely, we will be able to go get him near the beginning of June at the earliest.

Q:  How will that work with the baby coming?

A:  Baby is due to arrive around the end of April/beginning of May, so Plan A is to go get Tommy when baby boy is about a month old and take him with us.  Much sweeter than traveling with a breast pump like I did when visiting Katie and bringing her home.  <smile>

Plan B, in the event that either baby or I cannot travel, is for Joe and an older brother to go bring Tommy home.  From all we have observed, Tommy is in a very different place emotionally than Katie was in, and due to this, his transition should be much smoother than hers was, although we’re prepared for anything.

Q:  Do you think Tommy will need to be hospitalized like Katie was?

A:  No.  He is receiving better nutrition than Katie was.  Also, his emotional state is not likely to be traumatized by the travel and transition as has happened with Katie and several other older children with similar histories, who were in a similar fragile emotional state and due to that, refused to eat.

However, he’ll need to be seen as soon as possible by specialists due to his scoliosis, and we plan to set that up ahead of time.  Because of the severity of his spinal curve, it could quickly move to dangerous levels as he begins to grow if that isn’t prevented by proper treatment.  He’ll be receiving a DEXA scan as well as other tests and any necessary treatments.

If the upcoming summer unfolds as it seems that it will, it may be similar to last summer–lots of medical appointments alternating with lots of fun summertime family activities!

Katie will have the summer off from school like other eleven year olds do, and Verity will age out of the early intervention program when she turns three at the end of June, so we’ll all enjoy a timely break from therapy for a few months.

Q:  How is Tommy’s adoption process coming along?

A:  Thank the Lord that we received our I800 provisional approval this week, less than five weeks before Tommy turns sixteen years old.

Having spent only a few days with our boy, I am aching to see him again and introduce him to his daddy, brothers and sisters, extended family, and friends!  Everyone is going to love our jubilant Tommy!

Now’s your chance to look over all the gifts that were offered to help bring this little guy HOME!

From Amy Rainey–

Parents for Peyton is down to the final hours.

Have you been outbid? It is time to check-in! Bidding has heated up a bit in the past couple of hours. Thanks to everyone who has already joined-in this month. If you stopped by early in the week, please be sure to look again. We’ve had quite a few new items added, even as recently as yesterday. There are some amazing deals available, and some lovely gifts. Giving is a wonderful thing…giving with a purpose is even better! Have you ever thought of passing along the story of the family that you are blessing with a gift that you’ve purchased from Hidden Treasures? A friend just told me that she does this and I think it is a wonderful idea!

Bids will be accepted through midnight tonight, Eastern Time. Any bids that are time stamped 12:01 or later by blogger will not be valid. As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you, sincerely, for your steadfast support.
Blessings,
Amy
hiddentreasuresauction@gmail.com

Three weeks ago, we visit Tommy’s “school” class for the last time.

We have one hour.  We show his teacher all the developmental toys and books we chose for her to use with her students.  Some of the toys and books are immediate hits, like the board books with simple sound effects to match the illustrations.

A whole hour!  I sit with Tommy and see how he responds to the various toys.  This week has been a week of discovery.  Who is this boy?  What does he enjoy?  What can he do?

Suddenly, it hits me with full force.  It’s time.

I have to say goodbye to Tommy.  He doesn’t know why I’m here or why I have shown up every day this week.  He doesn’t know why I won’t show up tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week, or the next month, or the next five months.

When I come back again, will he remember my face, my voice, my touch, my scent?

I will remember his.

Time is running out.  We only have a minute left.  I cannot give in to the tears now.  Someone, please get one more photo?

One more quick video…

One more quick photo…

And it’s time to turn and walk away.

We only have so much time until we must be at the bus station.  The director wants to see us once more before we leave.  On our way to her office, I tell the others that what I really want to do is give her a big hug, but she doesn’t seem to be the hugging type and I don’t want to overstep any personal boundaries.

As we enter the director’s outer office to bid her goodbye, lo, what sight greets our eyes?

Again, an unexpected gift.  We get to see the coats!

A whole pile of coats, each one chosen for an individual child.

Not orphan rags.

Beautiful, warm, new coats for little treasures who not too long ago were hidden away, labeled “malformations,” profoundly unwanted and profoundly neglected.

Children who are now beloved to many.  People who love and care for the children paid for these coats.

“Can you believe this?!”  

We walk with the director back to her inner office and sit down together one more time.  She asks us for feedback from what we’ve observed this week.

We don’t want to overwhelm her with negatives.  We know her well enough now to understand that she is keenly aware of the grievous situations that have occurred and still occur in the orphanage.  She already feels heavily responsible for them.  This is a rebuilding time.  There is still so much work to be done, and it won’t be done quickly, but we know that she will do all in her power to make it happen if she is allowed to continue here.  It will all come to pass in its time.  God will see to it that the job is not left unfinished.

We want to leave her strengthened, unequivocally confident that we and many others are behind her 100%, and that she has our admiration and appreciation for the unbelievable amount of work she has managed to accomplish in a few months’ time.

So we briefly mention only a couple of small, manageable ideas that are not overwhelming in their scope.  We spend more time detailing the positives we’ve noticed.

We are running out of time, and stand to take our leave.

It’s time for the final words we didn’t want to leave unsaid.

And receive one more unexpected gift.

With tears in her eyes, she enfolds us each in a long, warm, tight hug that says what words can’t begin to communicate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On our way back to the capital city, I have a favor to ask of Maggie, our facilitator.  We will want some “bridge” words, words that we can say to Tommy in his language before saying something similar in English.

I ask her what she has commonly heard in her experience as an adoption facilitator in many orphanages.  What is Tommy most likely to hear throughout his day?

“Of course!” says Maggie, and as the striking mountain scenery passes by our bus windows…

…she obligingly jots down almost three dozen words and phrases in the language of Tommy’s country, with their translations, in just the way she has often heard orphanage caregivers speak.

“We are changing the diaper.”

“We are washing hands.”

“Hungry?”

“Come on!”

“Let’s eat!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had said goodbye to Tommy and left him behind, but that wasn’t the end of the week.

My therapist friend and I had left his orphanage with a determination to do what we could right away to validate the director’s decision to allow what she had allowed.  The therapist had made a list of therapeutic items that are much needed by the children.  As an immediate demonstration of good faith, what could we purchase from that list and send back to the orphanage before we left the country the next day?

Our hospitable friends in the capital city had again cleared their schedule and made themselves available to serve us in any way they could.  This time, they helped us find the items we sought, and arrangements were made to deliver them to the orphanage within a few days’ time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the large entry room of Tommy’s orphanage, there hangs a picture.  Who deemed this choice appropriate for this baby house?  When was it hung?

It speaks the truth.

The hero has come, bringing justice and defending the cause of the most vulnerable.  He has dealt the death blow to the cruel one who preys on the weak.  The enemy thrashes about violently, claws flailing, to do all the damage he can on his way out.

But he has already lost, and he knows it.  The real hero of the story has won.

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live, I will praise the LORD! 
I will sing praises to God while I have my being!

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God!

Who keeps truth forever,
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry!
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners!

The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down!

Praise the LORD!

GO!!!!!

Over to the Hidden Treasures website, that is!

Bidding has just opened for the Parents for Peyton fundraiser auction, but keep checking back in as Amy adds more donations!

There are some items listed that just may surprise you.  The Hidden Treasures donors are some pretty creative people!  What a fun way to shop for gifts and help bring this handsome little guy home from the Pleven baby house to his family.

To quote my friend, “…my heart is so in the place of adopting a child who has little chance of finding another family.” 

But while they’re waiting eagerly to see whether God opens that door, they are not sitting passively on their hands!  Far from it!

Dalas has been hard at work on a plan to help forty waiting children into families.

Yes, forty.

In her own words,

“My goal is to raise $20,000 for 40 children during Lent.  I call it Forty Days to Forever.

[NOTE: For those like our family who don't observe a traditional church calendar, Lent this year begins on Wednesday, February 13 and ends on Saturday, March 30.]

Here is how it works.  We will be posting a daily Lenten devotional and giveaway.  Each day we will be featuring a different child with the goal of raising $500 a day.  80% of whatever is raised on the day a child is featured will go toward that child’s adoption.  The other 20% will go toward our “Honored Guest” which is the child we are focusing our fundraiser on for the campaign.  This year we will be advocating for Lina on Reece’s Rainbow.”

Tiny Lina is not getting the care she needs to thrive, and her condition is deteriorating rapidly~

Wow!!!  This is not a small dream…but our God is not a small God, either!

Please go to the Forty Days to Forever website and read more about the many ways you can be part of this work of compassion.

Then be ready to pray, fast, give, share, and volunteer.