The Three Deadliest Words in the World: It’s a Girl

The Three Deadliest Words in the World: It’s a Girl

Read this with tears in my eyes! This happens and this IS real! Dear God, please help us and these precious girls!

Not Forgotten

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ~ Luke 12:6-7

 

143 million orphans world wide.

 

Yes, 143 million.

 

Think about that number for a minute....

 

let it sink in....

 

(Many of them have special needs)

 

 

 

These photos here are the faces of two former special needs orphans.

 

 Beloved, treasured, cherished every moment of every day.

 



I know, simply stunning right?

They ALL are.

 

 

I know not all of us are called to adopt, but we are called to help, to make a difference, to change this world... their world.

 

I know many of you have thought about this before, and many of you have helped us bring home our own priceless treasures, or have brought home or bringing home your own or have even help someone else. Trust me when I say we are FOREVER grateful to all of you.

 

But, I am asking you all to think about it again...

 

143 MILLION....

 

Please, think about how you can help.

 

Talk about it.

 

Ask about it.

 

Pray about it.

 

 

These kids NEED us!

 

We need to be a voice for the unheard. We need to bring light to the unseen.

 

We need to let them know that they are NOT  forgotten.

Matthew 25:42-45

⁴⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’











(Photos taken by Stacey Clack Photography)

 

 

 

 



Living Life

We have had a lot of questions about how we are doing and how Aliyah is doing.
 Some have even wondered if we are crazy...

I know that it has been a bit since I have updated my blog. I honestly have so much to say and so much on my heart and not near enough time. It is all swirling around in my head and I hope to get  some of it out without typing a jumbled mess. I have typed and deleted, typed and deleted...

When we first met Aliyah her eyes were dark and empty... there was nothing but sadness. She was shut down and lethargic. She did not want to eat or drink. Her feet never hit the floor and it took days for her shoes to come off - she desperately wanted them on. She clung to Joel for dear life. She was terrified and scared.

Now, she is doing well, for the most part. She is a very social girl who loves her siblings. She adores her daddy. She seems to like me now too. She is a very easy going child who sleeps well. All of that seems and sounds great but the truth is she has no idea that we are her parents and she has no idea what having parents even means. She is not attached or bonded to us yet. So, we are working hard at keeping her world small and working on forming a solid attachment. That can be tough at times, especially when the rest of the worlds sees a cute, happy, social girl.

 

Trust is such a fragile thing. It is lost in an instant and it can take many years to get it back. It may take a long time for Aliyah to trust us (and probably even longer for Dane).

 

So, Are you crazy??

Yes. Yes, we are! We are crazy in love with our God who has brought us down this path.We are crazy in love with all of our beautiful, wonderful children...ALL of them! We are crazy in love with all the orphans in this world. We are crazy in love with China, Korea and the USA. . There are days, yes, when I an tired and beat. When life and the pain that comes with it seem too much. When the pain of my children's past seem daunting and the behaviors that result are hard...when my love does not seem like enough. There are moments I cry to God begging for His help. The dark nights when I lay awake wondering if we have made the right choices...when we look at our savings account statements and realize there is not much there. There are times when I wonder if we should have recovered a bit more financially after Joel lost his job almost 9 yrs ago. We struggled for many years after that. The second he started making more money we started working on bringing Dane home...and then a year later Aliyah. Moments when I wonder why we are still in this dated house (that we cannot seem to sell). Moments when I am jealous of what others have and wish we had it too. Moments when I want to hoard all the eartly posessions I can. There are times, like in China, when I just wanted to quit; the pain of my daughter rejecting me stung and hurt so deep.

There was nothing that prepared me for that. I knew it was possible, I had read the stores. Even heard the stories. Heck, Joel lived thru it with Dane. But oh my, everything in me hurt like never before. I had prayed for her, longed for her, cried many tears over her, dreamt about holding her and hearing her laughter... and she  h.a.t.e.d  me. Nothing, I mean nothing, prepared me for that moment. It seemed as if God had turned His back. I felt like He left me. I questioned myself and questioned God. My tears just flowed.

 

But the moments come.
 

Out of no where.
 

When the smiles start to show.
 

And the laughter returns.
 

When the trust starts to form.
 

When love starts to make a difference.
 

And the peace and contentment come.

 

 

They might not last forever, but the moments come. Bringing renewed strength. Reminding us why we are on this journey.  Reminding us of the love our Father has for all of us.

 

It reignites the love, the fire and passion that I have for the least of these.

 

I look at my beautiful children, and Yes, I am crazy for them all. I am crazy for my God. They are worth more than any earthly possession I will ever own!!

 

As for us, all is well here. We are living, learning and trying new things. We have had bad days, but we have had many more good days. Yet again, we are adjusting and growing in ways we never thought. We are following the lead of our Father the best we can. We are trusting, although sometimes hard, that He is leading us to what is best. We are praising God for all he has given us.

 

 

 

 

 

 







 

 

 

 

 

 



Happy 2nd Family Day

Two years ago today, I was given a heartbroken, scared, and angry little boy--my son.

It is amazing to see how far our son has come in these two years...he is happy now. What a hard yet awesome journey it has been with him.

I am one blessed Mama!

Happy 2nd Family Day my sweet boy!! We love you more than words can say!!

Homecoming

Most of you know that adoption is not all sunshine and roses. It is filled with many losses and many tough days. There are many beautiful moments too, but most of the time those moments are not captured in a photograph or on film; they are treasured moments that we cherish in our hearts and minds.

We were so graciously blessed by a local photographer, Stacey Clack from Stacey Clack Photography, her and her husband were there at the airport and beautifully captured our bittersweet yet heartwarming homecoming.

Our homecoming is not just a homecoming to us; it is a promise to Aliyah.

We promise to never forget her birth mother or her birth culture. We promise to love her fiercely, to cherish her forever, to honor her always . We promise to laugh with her when she is happy and cry with her when she is heavy hearted. We know that welcoming her home to our family means that she had to lose so much.

I hope she will someday soon know how deeply she is loved and what a treasured blessing she is to us.

She is our precious daughter

and a sister to her siblings.

She is a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin and a friend.

She is loved.

Welcome home our darling Aliyah, welcome home.



We are home!

We are home!!

On July 9th we had our  appt. to finish up paperwork on the US side. It was fairly simple.  Later we did some shopping and had dinner that night with some friends. We had a great time.

On the 10th (Chin@ time) we started our journey home. We arrived home on the 11th, after over 24 hours of traveling. Stacey from Stacey Clack Photography graciously blessed us and was there to capture our first moments together as a family...

Aliyah did so well during our travel home. And she seems to be doing well here at home too. She is struggling with the time change, which is to be expected, but she is loving our other kids. She has been laughing and smiling lots.
She seems to be getting used to me and allows me to hold her and feed her now without any tears. I know things will just continue to get better as the days go on.

I am so thankful for the blessing that Aliyah is to our family.

Getting there...

We had a pretty good day yesterday. It started with Aliyah's medical appointment. That went as well as could be expected. She had a few tears but was easily comforted by Joel.  She was much more comfortable with Joel and Alaina yesterday than in the past few days. She played quite a bit yesterday and even sat in a highchair at lunch. It is so good to see her playing and even smiling a bit. I know things will just keep getting better and better. I cannot wait to see her blossom and see her personality unfold.

Her and I have a long way to go, but I am so thankful that she can at least take comfort in Joel. I am just dying to love on her, but we are no where near that point. I would be lying if I said that it did not hurt. But, when I think of things from Aliyah's point of view my heart just breaks. She has experienced 2 huge losses, if not more, in her life and asking her to trust me and love me is just too much for her right now...

 One of my favorite verses for her adoption is Habakkuk 2:3. God brings this verse to my mind all the time. I never knew it would come to mean so much to me.

Just because she is in our arms does not mean that our "adoption journey" is done; it is actually just beginning.

Habakkuk 2:3

 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

The healing and trust will come in time...it may seem slow to come but it will come.

Such a sweetie

Playing with Daddy

Yesterday afternoon we took a walk to Sh*mien Isl*nd. What a beautiful place! I am sure we will be back there soon. We had lunch on the island at Cow and Bridge- a Thai restaurant. It was very good too. Aliayh loved the steamed noodles.

waiting for lunch

One of the many statues on the Isl*nd- Aliyah did not want to leave Daddy's arms

We even strolled the streets of GZ by our hotel. What an experience to see. We loved seeing all the little shops.