Ladies and Gentlemen, we have made it over the $30,000 hump!! A delightful surprise in the form of a $500 grant check came in the mail today from Families Outreach!! They were out of grant funds when we applied in 2013, but were able to hold our application until now!! Not enough exclamation points for this good news! AND, just a couple weeks ago, the mail brought us a blessing in the form of a $200 check from some friends of Mom & Dad's!
If you are checking out our thermometer (right side of the blog), we are now less than $13,000 away. Still a big amount, but look how far God has brought us!!!!
Friday, January 24, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Hudson, Party of SEVEN!!!!
It is official - Oliver will be coming home PLUS ONE!!!! We have a daughter in China!! It seems like we should be pinching ourselves to wake up from this dream where God has blessed us with five fabulous children who make our hearts burst with love!
Thursday, January 16th we received her referral. My goodness did she instantly steal our hearts! She is almost two years old, and currently is fashioning an adorable haircut that involved putting a bowl on her head and cutting around! Seriously, even with the haircut, she is A-DOR-A-BLE! Her smile, her cute frown of concentration, and the way she cocks her head when she is trying to figure something out is super stinkin' precious! We received 7 pictures and 5 videos!
She is listed as "Special Focus" (for more info on that, read this post) because she had oxygen deprivation at birth. It is suggested that she has cerebral palsy, but our doctors feel it is mild or inaccurate. Either way, we are ready and committed to providing any medical procedures, therapies, or treatments needed. We continue to research resources available to help this little one thrive. She has an MRI that does show definite damage from the oxygen deprivation that will possibly manifest itself in learning or developmental delays, but there is no way to predict exactly how or when it might affect her.
The list of names we formulated before seeing her were: Violet, Ruby, Sophia, Zoey, Lucy, Poppy, Laney, Bella, Madison (Maddie for short), but none of those seemed to truly fit her little face and personality. Name meanings are also incredibly significant and important to us. We ended up narrowing it down to Henna (grace of God), Lily (lily), and Kali (beautiful). Actually I really wanted Kalloway, calling her Kali for short, but no one else in this household would bend to my persuasion. Lol!
Finally, we chose Kali Faith, although we may change the spelling of her first name. It's pronounced Kal-ee, the same as if you shortened California and said 'Cali'. Her first and middle names mean "beautiful faith", which is completely symbolic of this journey. Not to mention she's gorgeous!
Now our kiddos names have or mean Grace, Joy, Peace, Peace, and Faith, and they all fill us with LOVE!
Thursday, January 16th we received her referral. My goodness did she instantly steal our hearts! She is almost two years old, and currently is fashioning an adorable haircut that involved putting a bowl on her head and cutting around! Seriously, even with the haircut, she is A-DOR-A-BLE! Her smile, her cute frown of concentration, and the way she cocks her head when she is trying to figure something out is super stinkin' precious! We received 7 pictures and 5 videos!
She is listed as "Special Focus" (for more info on that, read this post) because she had oxygen deprivation at birth. It is suggested that she has cerebral palsy, but our doctors feel it is mild or inaccurate. Either way, we are ready and committed to providing any medical procedures, therapies, or treatments needed. We continue to research resources available to help this little one thrive. She has an MRI that does show definite damage from the oxygen deprivation that will possibly manifest itself in learning or developmental delays, but there is no way to predict exactly how or when it might affect her.
The list of names we formulated before seeing her were: Violet, Ruby, Sophia, Zoey, Lucy, Poppy, Laney, Bella, Madison (Maddie for short), but none of those seemed to truly fit her little face and personality. Name meanings are also incredibly significant and important to us. We ended up narrowing it down to Henna (grace of God), Lily (lily), and Kali (beautiful). Actually I really wanted Kalloway, calling her Kali for short, but no one else in this household would bend to my persuasion. Lol!
Finally, we chose Kali Faith, although we may change the spelling of her first name. It's pronounced Kal-ee, the same as if you shortened California and said 'Cali'. Her first and middle names mean "beautiful faith", which is completely symbolic of this journey. Not to mention she's gorgeous!
Now our kiddos names have or mean Grace, Joy, Peace, Peace, and Faith, and they all fill us with LOVE!
The Struggle for Control and the Battle for our Daughter
It turns out after an exhausting few weeks of frantic searching and battling to find our daughter, God had it all under control! Imagine that! However, our attempts at control over the situation has some very potentially positive outcomes . . . let me explain. This is quite a story that I'm documenting mostly for our own reflection. If you do not have time to read it all and want to know primarily about our newest blessing, read "Hudson, Party of SEVEN!!"
When adopting two children at the same time from China, the second child you are matched with must be on a list called "Special Focus". Special Focus children have more moderate to severe special needs, they might be older children, or they simply have been waiting for their family an extended period of time. In our situation, the first child we were matched with came from the Special Focus list. Sweet Oliver had been waiting so long, two and a half years, and so he was designated SF. That meant (we thought) that our second child would be on the list of children with mild special needs. This was our comfort zone considering we were moving to five children! Should've known God's plans would involve being out of our comfort zone - those are the times we have always been blown away by His power and grown exponentially in our relationship with Him.
Sometime in December, we discovered that the Chinese welfare agency was mandating that the second child you are matched with come from SF, regardless of whether your first child was or not. Unfortunately, the only little girls on the SF list at that time had major special needs we felt unprepared to tackle. Thus began our massive search for our daughter.
Many SF children are assigned to specific adoption placement agencies for a certain period of time. The benefit to having children assigned to specific agencies is that the children are actively advocated for. Each agency has a smaller, specific set of children's files that they can show are living, breathing human beings with all sorts of personality quirks. They bring life to the photos and medical jargon!
As we quickly discovered, the downfall to having children assigned to specific agencies is that the majority of adoption agencies DO NOT share their files. This means that if we would like to see the complete file of a child who is not currently assigned to our agency, it's pretty much too bad! We found this heartbreaking in many ways. Specifically, we tried to adopt Oliver's BFF at Bethel. Even though we were the first in "line" to ask for her file with complete certainty we would move ahead to adopt her, we were not with the agency to which she was assigned. We understand they have a responsibility to the families they are working with, but when you have someone definitively prepared to adopt a child and no one at your agency is reviewing that file, the concern should be first and foremost for the child. Although this was a particularly difficult blow, we are happy to report that little sweetheart does have a family adopting her. Thankfully, a family with the agency to whom she was assigned is moving forward. Thankfully, she isn't left waiting.
There were probably in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 other little girls whom we inquired about to no avail. We weren't with the agency who had their files. If we waited until the advocacy timeframes for those agencies ended, it meant Oliver would likely have to wait months because we are only traveling once to bring both children home. We weren't willing to make him wait. Families are allowed to switch agencies, but we could not because we had already been matched with Oliver through Madison Adoption Associates. (We wouldn't have wanted to switch anyway - we love Madison!!)
Through this time, God was stretching our comfort zone. Originally we had specified a daughter approximately 2 years old or younger. The realization that this was unimportant came through this experience. Our special needs checklist, where each family checks what conditions they are willing to accept, was broadening as our hearts opened and our knowledge expanded.
We came across a 4-year-old girl who is also at Bethel with Oliver. She had a heart condition that had been surgically corrected, cataracts that had been removed but still left her with low vision, and she is deaf. While she was listed with another agency who had received inquiries about her, it was our understanding there was not a family currently looking at her file. After researching the resources available to us for her care, we were ready to bring her home and determined to fight. Our agency contacted the other agency, an advocate contacted them, and we contacted them. No. No. No. They were not willing to release her file to our agency until roughly March. How is that in the best interest of this child?! When did they forget to be passionate about her having a family??? Frustrating, heart-breaking, to say the least. Our fight was fruitless. We made a decision to advocate for this little girl, and hope we have many details to share down the road about this beautiful and amazing child.
A precious 5-year-old with autism stole our hearts, but she was with another agency. Grrrrrr. Undeterred, we contacted them anyway! Lifeline Children's Services actually had a family reviewing her file, but still sent us all her information!!! They told us if the current family said no, they were willing to transfer her file to Madison! What?! Through our correspondence, we found this agency to be like Madison Adoption - ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN!
Then something crazy happened. Two hours after our phone conversation with Lifeline, our agency sent us a referral for a little girl named Henna! After all the searching, were we actually going to be placed in a position where we had to choose? We could not bear the thought of that. We have shed so many tears looking at the pictures and videos of these children, wondering who will have the family they deserve and who will be left to wait. To have to choose, knowing one could be left waiting the rest of their lives, was entirely too painful.
Our local pediatrician and a doctor specializing in international adoption file review looked over Henna's medical diagnosis. We spent several days in prayer. Sunday night, we decided if the morning came and there was still no decision from the family at Lifeline, we were ready to move ahead with Henna. Yesterday we accepted her referral, which means she is our daughter!! Find more about her on this blog post: "Hudson, Party of SEVEN!!"
Meanwhile, we are still praying for the little girl at Lifeline with autism. We pray the family still considering bringing her home says YES! We continue to pray for a family for the sweet one at Bethel who is deaf. Will you pray for these girls, too?
When adopting two children at the same time from China, the second child you are matched with must be on a list called "Special Focus". Special Focus children have more moderate to severe special needs, they might be older children, or they simply have been waiting for their family an extended period of time. In our situation, the first child we were matched with came from the Special Focus list. Sweet Oliver had been waiting so long, two and a half years, and so he was designated SF. That meant (we thought) that our second child would be on the list of children with mild special needs. This was our comfort zone considering we were moving to five children! Should've known God's plans would involve being out of our comfort zone - those are the times we have always been blown away by His power and grown exponentially in our relationship with Him.
Sometime in December, we discovered that the Chinese welfare agency was mandating that the second child you are matched with come from SF, regardless of whether your first child was or not. Unfortunately, the only little girls on the SF list at that time had major special needs we felt unprepared to tackle. Thus began our massive search for our daughter.
Many SF children are assigned to specific adoption placement agencies for a certain period of time. The benefit to having children assigned to specific agencies is that the children are actively advocated for. Each agency has a smaller, specific set of children's files that they can show are living, breathing human beings with all sorts of personality quirks. They bring life to the photos and medical jargon!
As we quickly discovered, the downfall to having children assigned to specific agencies is that the majority of adoption agencies DO NOT share their files. This means that if we would like to see the complete file of a child who is not currently assigned to our agency, it's pretty much too bad! We found this heartbreaking in many ways. Specifically, we tried to adopt Oliver's BFF at Bethel. Even though we were the first in "line" to ask for her file with complete certainty we would move ahead to adopt her, we were not with the agency to which she was assigned. We understand they have a responsibility to the families they are working with, but when you have someone definitively prepared to adopt a child and no one at your agency is reviewing that file, the concern should be first and foremost for the child. Although this was a particularly difficult blow, we are happy to report that little sweetheart does have a family adopting her. Thankfully, a family with the agency to whom she was assigned is moving forward. Thankfully, she isn't left waiting.
There were probably in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 other little girls whom we inquired about to no avail. We weren't with the agency who had their files. If we waited until the advocacy timeframes for those agencies ended, it meant Oliver would likely have to wait months because we are only traveling once to bring both children home. We weren't willing to make him wait. Families are allowed to switch agencies, but we could not because we had already been matched with Oliver through Madison Adoption Associates. (We wouldn't have wanted to switch anyway - we love Madison!!)
Through this time, God was stretching our comfort zone. Originally we had specified a daughter approximately 2 years old or younger. The realization that this was unimportant came through this experience. Our special needs checklist, where each family checks what conditions they are willing to accept, was broadening as our hearts opened and our knowledge expanded.
We came across a 4-year-old girl who is also at Bethel with Oliver. She had a heart condition that had been surgically corrected, cataracts that had been removed but still left her with low vision, and she is deaf. While she was listed with another agency who had received inquiries about her, it was our understanding there was not a family currently looking at her file. After researching the resources available to us for her care, we were ready to bring her home and determined to fight. Our agency contacted the other agency, an advocate contacted them, and we contacted them. No. No. No. They were not willing to release her file to our agency until roughly March. How is that in the best interest of this child?! When did they forget to be passionate about her having a family??? Frustrating, heart-breaking, to say the least. Our fight was fruitless. We made a decision to advocate for this little girl, and hope we have many details to share down the road about this beautiful and amazing child.
Then something crazy happened. Two hours after our phone conversation with Lifeline, our agency sent us a referral for a little girl named Henna! After all the searching, were we actually going to be placed in a position where we had to choose? We could not bear the thought of that. We have shed so many tears looking at the pictures and videos of these children, wondering who will have the family they deserve and who will be left to wait. To have to choose, knowing one could be left waiting the rest of their lives, was entirely too painful.
Our local pediatrician and a doctor specializing in international adoption file review looked over Henna's medical diagnosis. We spent several days in prayer. Sunday night, we decided if the morning came and there was still no decision from the family at Lifeline, we were ready to move ahead with Henna. Yesterday we accepted her referral, which means she is our daughter!! Find more about her on this blog post: "Hudson, Party of SEVEN!!"
Meanwhile, we are still praying for the little girl at Lifeline with autism. We pray the family still considering bringing her home says YES! We continue to pray for a family for the sweet one at Bethel who is deaf. Will you pray for these girls, too?
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Food for Thought
Several years ago, our dear friend Gordon brought us some roasted pecans. They were so scrumptious - too much . . . maybe. :) It was a recipe passed on by his father, and he shared it with us. We used it this year to make and sell roasted pecans for our adoption expenses. They were a huge hit! After expenses, we raised
$100!!
Suckers have always been an item we have used to fundraise, and this year, without even advertising, I received a great sucker order from our church. Because I only have one mold for the design that I used, my batches made a few extras. We were able to sell all of those, too! After expenses, we raised
$57!
Friday, December 27, 2013
Christmas at Its Best: Dedicated to My Awesome Family!
Have you ever stopped in the midst of all the worldly hustle and bustle of Christmas and just fully examined the things we do? There are so many things in which we partake simply due to "tradition", "custom", our "culture", and "habit". I have found when we stop and truly investigate the ideas behind, the necessity of, and the outcome of certain activities, we are grossly disgusted at how much is lacking in the true meaning of Christmas.
My purpose in writing this blog post, however, is not to focus on what's lacking. It is to focus on what is truly and fully and beautifully wrapped up in the love of Jesus Christ. It's what we experienced with my family this year on Christmas Day. Last year, we began a new tradition amongst the adults - my brothers, my sister-in-laws, my parents, and ourselves. Rather than spending money on buying gifts for each person, we decided to pool all that money together and give it to a charity. Time was spent researching where the money would be donated, and we were all very happy with the end result. We all agreed that it was a phenomenal gift to each of us to have our family members give to those in need. It felt like it honored what Christ had done for us.
This year we prepared to do the same. Amongst illnesses, sicknesses, and adoption fundraising madness, we could not quite sit down together to select our charity. My Dad had a quadruple bypass this year, my Momma had one knee replaced, and both my Mom and future sister-in-law found they have breast cancer. Everything was so chaotic in everyone's lives. We designated Christmas night as the night to finalize our decision, when we would all be gathered together. In the background, however, a beautiful thing was happening.
What we discovered Christmas evening, orchestrated with a beautiful and loving testimony by my sister-in-law, Kennah, was that our entire family were all rallying for one another. It turns out, everyone was trying to surprise everyone else with a donation! Knowing our incredible adoption expenses and efforts to raise the funds, the family had initially (without Jon or I knowing) decided to donate to our adoption fund. But my Mom and I had been discussing how expensive it is driving back and forth to doctors appointments, in addition to paying medical bills. Because Jon and I were unaware of the adoption donation, we consorted with the other couples to surprise my brother and future sis-in-law, Bryan and Amy, by giving to their medical expenses. Meanwhile, we determined with John and Kennah that we ought to help Mom and Dad with their medical costs, too!
In the end, all our gift money was divided into three, and we received an adoption donation, and Amy/Bryan and Mom/Dad received medical expense donations. Everyone was moved to tears!! It was so cool!! We also said super sweet things to one another that were quite simply, awesome to hear! I'm super sentimental and mushy, so this is a Christmas I will never forget! :)
My purpose in writing this blog post, however, is not to focus on what's lacking. It is to focus on what is truly and fully and beautifully wrapped up in the love of Jesus Christ. It's what we experienced with my family this year on Christmas Day. Last year, we began a new tradition amongst the adults - my brothers, my sister-in-laws, my parents, and ourselves. Rather than spending money on buying gifts for each person, we decided to pool all that money together and give it to a charity. Time was spent researching where the money would be donated, and we were all very happy with the end result. We all agreed that it was a phenomenal gift to each of us to have our family members give to those in need. It felt like it honored what Christ had done for us.
This year we prepared to do the same. Amongst illnesses, sicknesses, and adoption fundraising madness, we could not quite sit down together to select our charity. My Dad had a quadruple bypass this year, my Momma had one knee replaced, and both my Mom and future sister-in-law found they have breast cancer. Everything was so chaotic in everyone's lives. We designated Christmas night as the night to finalize our decision, when we would all be gathered together. In the background, however, a beautiful thing was happening.
What we discovered Christmas evening, orchestrated with a beautiful and loving testimony by my sister-in-law, Kennah, was that our entire family were all rallying for one another. It turns out, everyone was trying to surprise everyone else with a donation! Knowing our incredible adoption expenses and efforts to raise the funds, the family had initially (without Jon or I knowing) decided to donate to our adoption fund. But my Mom and I had been discussing how expensive it is driving back and forth to doctors appointments, in addition to paying medical bills. Because Jon and I were unaware of the adoption donation, we consorted with the other couples to surprise my brother and future sis-in-law, Bryan and Amy, by giving to their medical expenses. Meanwhile, we determined with John and Kennah that we ought to help Mom and Dad with their medical costs, too!
In the end, all our gift money was divided into three, and we received an adoption donation, and Amy/Bryan and Mom/Dad received medical expense donations. Everyone was moved to tears!! It was so cool!! We also said super sweet things to one another that were quite simply, awesome to hear! I'm super sentimental and mushy, so this is a Christmas I will never forget! :)
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Part 3: May I Have An Envelope Totals!!!!!!!
Amazement is a word that properly describes how we feel at the success and provision of our envelope fundraiser.
We were hoping 50 to 70 envelopes would be claimed - the final total was 86!!
We were hoping to raise at least $3000 - the total donated was $4782!!!!
This has moved our fundraising thermometer up dramatically!! It was also incredibly fun to be able to give back to some of our supporters with small gift certificates and prizes. All five of us enjoyed taking turns drawing names. Here is the list of prize winners:
We were hoping 50 to 70 envelopes would be claimed - the final total was 86!!
We were hoping to raise at least $3000 - the total donated was $4782!!!!
This has moved our fundraising thermometer up dramatically!! It was also incredibly fun to be able to give back to some of our supporters with small gift certificates and prizes. All five of us enjoyed taking turns drawing names. Here is the list of prize winners:
Roger & Cathy Carpenter
The Doyle Family
Tanner & Whitney Brown
Gordon Wilkerson
Karen Devine
Jarrod & Sarah Malone
The Fuqua Family
Steve & Emily Danner
Jordan & Jennifer Heflin
Randy & Alicia McMain
Manuel & Jean Grey
Couples for Christ
Mike & Shelia Heflin
Amy Brust
Doris Evans
Kaye Wink
The Sapp Family
Bonnie Riley & Andrea Richeson
John & Barbara West
Jake & Hayley Basham
The Doyle Family
Tanner & Whitney Brown
Gordon Wilkerson
Karen Devine
Jarrod & Sarah Malone
The Fuqua Family
Steve & Emily Danner
Jordan & Jennifer Heflin
Randy & Alicia McMain
Manuel & Jean Grey
Couples for Christ
Mike & Shelia Heflin
Amy Brust
Doris Evans
Kaye Wink
The Sapp Family
Bonnie Riley & Andrea Richeson
John & Barbara West
Jake & Hayley Basham
We are just in awe of our great and faithful God. Even though we still have approximately $13,000 more to go, the financial burden does not feel quite as heavy. For the time being, we are taking a break.
We need it.
The pace has been go-go-go, and we feel we can at least stop to take a rest . . . breathe . . . and try to be patient as we wait for news on our precious second child. We don't have any more fundraising ideas anyway! :) In addition, we are still waiting to hear the decisions on two more grants. Although we did receive another "no" recently on one of the larger grants, we are still incredibly grateful for what we have received.
We need it.
The pace has been go-go-go, and we feel we can at least stop to take a rest . . . breathe . . . and try to be patient as we wait for news on our precious second child. We don't have any more fundraising ideas anyway! :) In addition, we are still waiting to hear the decisions on two more grants. Although we did receive another "no" recently on one of the larger grants, we are still incredibly grateful for what we have received.
When all is said and done, all the work will be beyond worth it. We cannot believe God is blessing us with our beautiful Oliver, or the other precious three we already have at home. :)
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Smile! (Photo Fundraiser)
What an honor to photograph families! I set out in this fundraiser full of nerves. I am not a professional, but have been studying photography for a couple years. Not a lot, but when I am able. I do at least three photo shoots per year (one for each child's birthday), but it's different when you are photographing your own family. My confidence was low, but I was willing to make a good faith effort. I ended up having such an amazing time with four special families, from two to eleven members!! It was incredibly fun.
The part I treasure most is what I was able to see through my camera's eyes. Zooming in and studying faces more closely than normal, I saw the brilliant colors in the eyes looking back at me. Small dimples in cheeks that I had never noticed brought the smiles in my frame a whole new light and personality. I saw love reflected in the tender glances between couples. Laughter spilled from the faces as these families enjoyed one another's company. I was so blessed to be a witness to the bond these families share! Every life is a story, and each person holds unique memories and lessons that make them who they are. I feel like I was able to glimpse a little deeper into those stories, and was just overwhelmed by the beauty there. Here are some of my faves of the beautiful families I was able to photograph. Families who helped us raise another
$410
for our son and daughter! I cannot wait to make memories with Oliver and our little girl, and find all the beauty in their little faces and lives! Thank you to the Basham Family, Parrish Family, the Hunt Family, the Fuqua Family, the Williams Family, and my Mom and Dad!!
Mom and Dad
Fuqua Family
The Williams Family
$410
for our son and daughter! I cannot wait to make memories with Oliver and our little girl, and find all the beauty in their little faces and lives! Thank you to the Basham Family, Parrish Family, the Hunt Family, the Fuqua Family, the Williams Family, and my Mom and Dad!!
Parrish Family
Kim & Blayne
Fuqua Family
Basham Family
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