Christmas Photos

Kerby

We are close to bringing Kerby to the States!  Who is Kerby you say?  Kerby is a little boy at Hands & Feet Orphanage in Haiti where we have visited several times.  In fact one of our good friends is a short term missionary there right now.  Kerby is deaf.  We aren't sure why, and he needs to be evaluated in the States.  As you know, I love to be pushy and went right to work on getting a doctor and hospital to donate services.  Our own ENT agreed immediately to help.  We just got the hospital to agree yesterday.  So now we wait for his medical visa, but then he will come to stay with us!  I am so excited to be his host family!  I can't even describe the joy it gives me to think of this little boy being able to hear!  When all of his therapy is done here, he will return to Hands & Feet.  Then we will get to see him every year when we visit.  The picture above is Kerby with Jachin when we visited the orphanage last Spring Break.

Update

So it has been way too long since my last post. I find myself posting small things on Facebook and neglecting my blog. I love having documentation of our lives, so I will try to catch up :) I guess the last post was in April! We have done so many things since then:

Kimber's dance recital
Jachin's guitar recital
baseball for Bo and Jachin
Football camp for Bo and Jachin @ OU
Kimber's cooking class
Kimber's art class
a very HOT summer (almost too hot to swim!)
trip to the beach
trip to Disney Land
School Start
Caleb growing and growing!
Andy teaching at OU
Flag Football for Bo and Jachin
Musical Theater class for Kimber
Me getting obsessed with Chalk Paint
Caleb getting kicked out of Mother's Day Out (for being too rough)
Me telling Jachin he can hit a kid (to protect his little brother)
I ran the Warrior Dash
Finished our dossier to adopt from Haiti!

Sooo we have done a lot, and it was a good 5 months.

Our New Puppy!

We got a new puppy on Wednesday. My mom bought two puppies and gave us one. The kids are so excited. Zeba is a miniature schnauzer. She is actually pretty smart. We have been losing sleep the last few nights. It is like having a newborn again. I am ready for that part to be over.

Easter, not about the bunny

I have been looking for some good ideas to teach my kids about Easter. I was very happy when I found several sites of mom's trying to leave the easter bunny out of Easter. Here are my favorites:

1. Resurrection Garden (www.impressyourkids.org/page/3/)
2. Eight Day Easter Celebration Basket (www.katieorrblog.com/2011/03/how-to-use-easter-baskets-to-tell-about.html)
3. The Story of the Dogwood (www.themobsociety.com/2011/04/the-story-of-the-dogwood/)
4. Resurrection Rolls (www.impressyourkids.org/good-fridayeaster-food-craft/)
5. Bible Memory Verse Pillows for Easter Basket stuffers (www.etsy.com/shop/ChaChasTreasure)

Update on Haiti

As far as our family is concerned, we still feel called to adopt from Haiti despite the possibility that Haiti could tell us no. We found out not long after applying with GLA that our chances were good but not guaranteed. Apparently the old adoption law still stands that says you cannot have more than 2 children. Well, GLA said go ahead with your paperwork because you have adopted from Haiti before. We prayed about the possibility that we would get a referral and then Haiti would say no to us. Although that would be devastating, we still felt called to try to adopt. So we have been compiling our paperwork and we just completed our homestudy. Then....

We received an email from GLA stating that the new adoption law that is in the works does not say anything about how many children you have! That is amazing! So our chances look even better and we didn't waste any time waiting. I am so excited that the new adoption law is much more lenient. I am excited that we can recommend Haiti to others again. I hope that thousands of orphans are adopted!

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58:6"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."


Wow! I was very touched by this. I have been spoken to by the book of Isaiah for the last year in many ways. It is amazing how verses keep popping up for me. With these verses I was struck by the idea of fasting. Fasting is voluntarily going without food to focus on prayer and fellowship with God. So in this case God is telling them that they should be voluntarily going without for the good of the poor. In several other places in the Bible it says that you should do it in a way that is for God and not for others to see. I love that fact that God is calling us to do something active and to look for those that need our help. Fasting is not about getting something from God for yourself. Fasting is about helping others for God's glory. And the benefit of that is a relationship with our Heavenly Father that hears us because we love Him, not what He does for us.

Caleb's surgery

Caleb had tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed. He has been plagued with ear infections and congestion since 6 months of age. He even had some temporary hearing loss. His surgery went great and he is feeling so much better! How can I tell? He actually has more energy, sleeps less, and is walking everywhere. I know that is hard to believe! He is even trying to talk more which thrills me. We also switched his milk to goats milk! That sounds weird I know, but it actually helped his nose drainage before surgery. We know someone who has a goat farm and they swear by it. So they donated some milk to our family, and I really like Caleb drinking it.

Haiti Mission Trip

We took our first mission trip with Redeemer Church. We took 10 people to Jacmel, Haiti to serve at Hands and Feet Orphanage. We have been there before, but Jachin went for the first time this year. It was an amazing trip. It is always life changing for everyone involved. We plan to take many more trips with our church in the future.

Andy went to Rome!

I have to repeat that I am the best wife ever. I let Andy go to Rome for the weekend with my family and I stayed home with the kids. He had so much fun! I am so thankful to my parents for allowing him to go to the place of his dreams.

Food Bank

What sweet boys! We went to the Food Bank with our small group and the boys were so excited. This was their second time to go. They get so hyper and love the labor part of it. They make everything into a competition. I love their hearts.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Kimber and Andy went to the Daddy Daughter Dance tonight. Kimber has been talking about it all week long. She has been choosing her dress for weeks. She got an ear infection and was worried that it would stop her from going. She made sure that we kept her medicated all day so that she could make it. It was cute but scary when she said, "The dance is in two hours. I have to get ready!" We are in trouble when she is a teenager. Kimber and Andy went to eat beforehand at Panda Garden, Kimber's favorite restaurant. She saw several of her friends at the hotel ballroom. The dance was a success!

Haiti again!?!

January 18, 2011

Today GLA posted on their blog that they will begin adoptions with couples who have only 2 biological children! I am so giddy! They have said for a few months that you had to be 35 yrs old, married 10 years, with no biological children. Andy and I have been praying about adopting from Haiti again. We had decided that if Haiti ever opened up again to people with biological children we would go ahead. Honestly, I didn't know if it would ever happen, and I for sure didn't think it would happen so soon! Andy and I have struggled with some infertility issues in the past. We tried to have another biological child, and it just didn't happen with the measures we felt comfortable using. We were sad, but that is when we decided to adopt domestically. We now have a beautiful baby boy that we never would have had otherwise. And now I can see that God closing my womb to two children, actually allows us to adopt from Haiti again. Isn't God amazing! We will have to wait and see what GLA says to our application now. You never know with Haiti what the next move is. We are expecting at least 2 years for this adoption process. It could very well take a lot longer than that, with the unstable country after the earthquake. In fact, Andy has been reading about Baby Doc coming back to Haiti. He was once a horrible dictator who was exiled from Haiti. Well, he is back, which should make for a rocky road ahead.

Caleb's 1st Birthday

We had a small family birthday party for Caleb's 1st birthday. It was fun to see him dig into the cake. He actually ate most of it! I have never seen a baby that eats that cake, and doesn't just smear it around. But our Caleb loves to eat! We had cupcakes in the shape of a polar bear for everyone else. It was neat because his birthmother was able to be there for the party. Caleb had a traditional sink bath after the cake fun.