Saturday, November 22, 2014

First Fundraiser for Gable--Mercy Shirts!!!!

Hey EVERYONE!!

I'm bursting at the seams with excitement to roll out our new fundraiser shirts!!


Read more about this design below.


WHY in the world are we doing this AGAIN????


He is why.

{Oh my heart.}

We need to get Gable home so we can properly care for his cancer. (Hepatoblastoma.)

And to love on him silly.

Oh those chubby cheeks!!

This design is something I created over the course of a few days (with some awesome feedback from a few of my peeps!) based on an image I saw in my mind from Hosea 14:3, "In You, O Lord, the orphan finds mercy." The silhouette is specifically God the Father holding our little Gable...safe and sound in His arms of love...but it is to represent the loving care He gives to EACH of our children.

And all of us who have adopted these precious treasures formerly known as "orphans" KNOW what a blessing it is that the Father has mercy on them (and us) and unites us together in heart.

What is going to make this Tshirt/hoodie EXTRA SPECIAL is that it's going to have names of YOUR beloved children on the back! What?? That's right! ALL of our precious kiddos get listed on the back en masse as orphans who've been shown mercy from our gracious God.
This is an example of what our shirt will look like with YOUR children's names on the back!

Yay!!!

The back space is going to be limited, so this will be open for your submissions and T shirt and hoodie orders only for TWO WEEKS. We want to get right on printing and shipping these out to you so you'll have them in plenty of time for Christmas giving! Cut off date for orders will be DECEMBER 7, 2014.

Order using the tab at the top "Mercy Shirts for Gable" or click HERE.

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Friday, November 14, 2014

Why Older Child Adoption is So Hard


Jesus is the Light, our Hope
Older child adoption is a beautiful thing...but at the same time it's a deeply hard thing.

And when the face of the child is SO beautiful, SO smiley, NO ONE CAN IMAGINE that it's not all sunny and rosy all the time.

But it's not.

Plain and simple.

When you've fended for yourself for ten long years, in an institutional environment, you learn to survive.

And those skills? They were reinforced again and again in her previous life. They are what made her STAY ALIVE.

You have your life whirl-winded off to another land, another culture, language...you wear different clothes, eat different foods, go by a different name, begin new things like walking, school and self care...

but the old habits are still lying underneath. Ready to rear their ugly heads.

Ready to be employed when deep emotions start to surface.

They worked before! They will work again!

But, well, not so much.

Not here. Not in a family.

My sweet friend sent me a message today. Her perspective on parenting and WHY this might be so hard:

Deeply praying for you all during what looks like a potentially long hard road with her. It's obviously a heart issue...and she's had less than one year of her 11 years of ANYONE teaching her what that even means. You're stuck/privileged (depends on the day how you see it, I'm sure) with having to make up for 10+ years of no one teaching her right and wrong and positive vs negative attention and lying and how to be in a family and the list of what we teach our kids is soooooo long!!! It's hard enough when we get to start from the beginning of their lives!
Praying for wisdom and endurance and extra measures of grace for you to give to her, and a softening and opening of her heart to all you've been trying to teach her in these last 10 months!

And isn't that the truth? It's HARD when we start with our children at birth! Let alone massive trauma at the front end! And don't forget to factor in atrocities suffered in the years while waiting for a family. How could we think that we can teach her what she needs in a few months?

We don't. But, on a daily practical basis, we expect things from her to keep our family functioning...afterall she's CAPABLE, but then again...she's not because of so many, many factors.

Older child adoption is hard because we are starting past the middle! We've lost formative years, laying groundwork and building trust. Trying to go backward to fit it in doesn't work because there are paradigms pre-existing in those places in her brain...and they were critical to her survival. I can't in one word, one week, one month, one year say ANYTHING to debunk them. 

It's a slow, plodding work.

Times like these I see the inside out yuck of my own black heart and sit in awed wonder at the grace God has on ME.

Please pray for Esty. Pray for us as her parents. Pray for her siblings. These things affect us all, wear on us all and we need to remember that we are called to this, no matter what.  (This is why adoption is intense ministry!)

We must cling to the hope of Christ in it all.


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Friday, November 7, 2014

Then and Now…the Difference a Year Makes!!



Around this time last year, I was madly fundraising and sharing this picture of Esty turning TEN years old…alone, in an orphanage.
Then...and now!

This morning, I had the thrill of surprising her at school with balloons, her favorite cookies, a party hat and a birthday sash! Tomorrow is her actual birthday, but we did a party in her class as a surprise!

And oh my...

WHAT. A. DIFFERENCE. 

One year.

What can be accomplished in the course of a year by a MIGHTY GOD?

He raised 100% of the funds necessary for us to adopt Esty. (Another MASSIVE thank you to every one of you who helped!!!)

He allowed us to get to her in the NICK OF TIME as she was severely ill and went septic the same week we got her out of her orphanage.

He allowed us to find good healthcare in China and provided the antibiotics necessary to save her life.

He brought us home safely, in spite of nasty winter weather.

He has cemented our family together at the heart. This has not been without struggles as older children who are adopted do struggle. But we are a family who embraces one another fully, with great thankfulness to the God who has done it.

He has provided for the hundreds of hours we have spent at doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals in every way: financially, childcare, transportation, emotional and physical strength.

He has healed Esty of some massive things that have been going wrong with her body for a long time.

Esty has become a champion at all her personal care. (This is a HUGE ONE!) 

She is no longer relinquished to the corner and sitting in a wheelchair. She is walking with AFO's (ankle-foot-orthotics) and quad canes! She is riding a bicycle! 

She can put on and take off her massive TLSO (thoracic-lumbar-sacral-orthotic) (back brace!) by herself. And she never has ONCE complained about it. She wears it 20 hours daily.

God has opened her mind to receive a new language…Esty now speaks English nearly 98% of the time. (And I constantly pray that she maintains some of her Mandarin!)

God has taught her what unconditional love feels like. He has used us in this process. It has been hard, as we are so fallen, but He has done it in spite of us.

He has given her laughter. Hearing her laugh, knowing she is safe and that her future has begun is a most amazing and rewarding thing.

And so tomorrow, we celebrate our dear gift named Esty! We can't wait!

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Monday, November 3, 2014

Gable's Story…from Another Perspective


We all love a good story…and today I'm going to give you a unique opportunity to observe the adoption of Gable from another angle…my new friend Mimi's.

Who is Mimi? She's a rockstar, Jesus-loving, momma to 11 children. She has adopted some, given birth to others and is a beautiful testimony of walking with God through the hard very hard things.

She's also the momma I was connected with to learn about Gable's special need: hepatoblastoma.

Cuz I had NO CLUE what that meant. (other than "scary cancer.")

Why is Mimi an "expert-in-residence" you may ask? Because her own sweet son has this very same cancer. (Above is a picture of Mimi holding sweet baby Asa.) I received Mimi's name and contact information within 48 hours of learning about Gable. 

But read on to find out JUST HOW EXCEPTIONAL it is that we were connected!

Here's what Mimi blogged on her blog just yesterday:

I haven’t mentioned it here, but a funny little blip came across my radar two months ago.  At that point, we were truly just holding our nose above the drowning waters, knowing we were past the big waves. I got a random message from someone I know very loosely.  She knew Asa had liver cancer and asked if I would be willing to offer counsel to a family who was considering adoption of a child with liver cancer. Easy answer.  But, of course.  And I sat back and began to watch God show off.

Two years ago, not too long before Asa came along, a little boy was born to a Chinese couple, a little boy with a big liver tumor that made his belly stick out like Asa’s did.  And the same couple, I’m sure distraught with the one child policy and the thought of their only heir being imperfect, sickly, left that babe at a hospital.  Diagnosis: hepatoblastoma, the one in a million kid cancer that Asa had, the one that Texas Children’s, one of the few hospitals in the states that treats this cancer, only sees 10 cases a year from all over the southern US. But what happens next is entirely strange.  Instead of getting pitiful orphan care, this Chinese boy got top-notch, cutting-edge medical treatment.  He was stabilized, whisked in and treated with chemo-embolization – chemo straight to his liver and he went through exactly what Asa went through, the horrid secondary effects of sloughing off tumor, called tumor lysis, and he victory of all victories, survived.  It was a long hard road, but it appears, as it does with Asa, no more cancer.  He was put in an orphanage, group type home and he thrived, but no one adopted him, because that big C word, it’s scarier than a lot of more obvious physical disabilities.

But along comes a family, a family who has experienced their own loss, a family who just so happens to speak Mandarin, but God has yanked them up and dumped them in the rural central US, filled their home with a few other physical disabilities, and left them, left them a few hours from the other major hospital in the US that deals with this one in a million chance cancer.  Their house is full, very full, but along their radar comes a smiling face, a familiar face, because dark eyes and round faces are still on their hearts, and a boy named Jun Jun captures them.

And then I was called for counsel.  What is hepatoblastoma?  What does this mean?  Do you understand these medical records?  I was called, the parent of a child treated not only for this cancer, but with chemo-embolization, not a standard procedure in children in the US for this cancer.  Tony and I may be the only parents in the US at this time that would have that experiential knowledge regarding a child. Explain that. You can’t.  But God.


The story departs to a weird, seemingly diverted path at this point.  After all the discussion, the couple who inquired suddenly decided that they weren’t so sure that God was calling them to this child and went to prayer and as back up, they held their arms out and handed Jun Jun to us, the only other couple without gross fear of his condition.  And we were left for a week or so to wrestle in prayer for this boy, and wrestle with the fact that we are a bit older than this couple.  During that week, God turned the world upside down on behalf of this boy.  People began offering this other couple serious money for adoption expenses, expenses on an adoption they weren’t even decided upon, an adoption they hadn’t even announced.  Someone offered to take their special needs kids while they went to back and forth to China – twice.  After this and prayer, it became abundantly clear where Jun Jun was supposed to be.  And after jumping a few more hurdles, last week Jun Jun was cleared by China to be adopted by this family.

And today I sat in church and listened to a man speak about God’s heart for the widow and the orphan and I was again reminded through another story that God truly moves mountains upon their behalf and again, I saw God weave deep redemption from suffering. Dark doesn’t win.  Light does, no morbid second act where all goes wrong.  Great joy! The end game is settled. 



Did you catch that??? There was SO MUCH in what Mimi wrote…let me lay it out so you can marvel over what our MIGHTY GOD has DONE!

* Gable, an orphan, has received TOP NOTCH cancer treatments in China. Amazing. What he has had done is considered experimental in the United States. (Incidentally, he's also had a successful liver resection meaning he will not need a transplant and run the risk of his body rejecting it or being on anti-rejection drugs for his life.)

* We live just 5 hours from one of the two BEST hospitals for treating hepatoblastoma. And we already take Esty there.

* Mimi is a parent of a son who is STILL going through treatment for his hepatoblastoma. After the icky cancer treatments failed him, he was given the kind of chemotherapy that Gable had as a last resort. It is working, but it is UNBELIEVABLY RARE that I would be connected with a parent in the States who has had experience with this type of treatment. (And she loves Jesus!) At one point along the way, she asked me if I had any clue how crazy it was that I was able to talk with her about all of this. I didn't…"was it rare?" I asked. She answered, "BEYOND RARE!!" Yep. That's God at work!

* Mimi was along for the ride while Brian and I wrestled in prayer about actually adopting again. (Oh we were SO DONE. We are so busy. So overwhelmed. So spent. BUT GOD.) She was able to cheer alongside, pray alongside and root for us as we sought to say YES to God. 

* We were promised finances to bring Gable home before we ever said yes to his adoption. That has NEVER happened before!

* We have precious people who are asking us if they can stay with our children when we travel to bring him home. (As a momma, this is one of the big concerns when adopting internationally…and God has taken care of this EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.)

I thought you might enjoy hearing a little bit of the back story to how we arrived at our decision to adopt Gable…from that unique perspective that Mimi has shared.

Following God continues to prove to be a wild adventure and it is SO MUCH FUN to see how His hand weaves all the millions of details together for our good.

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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Orphan Sunday…introducing Our Soon-to-be-Son!


Source: Hope for Orphans

It's Orphan Sunday today and I am bursting at the seams to introduce you to our newest son!!!

I announced last week that we have been moved by God to adopt again, and we are branching out into a scary new special need: cancer. 

And the questions began…so let me offer up some details!

As of last week, we have officially been approved by his home country to adopt him!

He currently lives in an orphanage that partners with Half the Sky in a provincial city in China.

He is almost 2 years old. (He will be our caboose!)

He is adorable. (and we know we are a bit partial!)

He will be given the English name Gable. (Daddy named him!) Gable is an awesome name we've never heard ever (yes!!) and it means "Strong man of God."

Perfect.

And now…for his pictures:



These were the first I ever saw…the ones that Toby exclaimed, "Oh Mommy! I LOVE him!" about.
It is this non-smiling picture that I realized he was ours. That face. That sweet, sweet, uber precious face!!!!

Gable was only 14 months old in these pictures. Since then, there was a visit to his orphanage where I was able to grab this picture from the end of a video where he smiled. This was taken just this past August at 19 months of age:


WHAT. A. CUTIE. PATOOTIE. (I know!!)

So, now you have a face for whom to pray. And we will begin fundraising ASAP!

The other question people want to know is WHEN. We pray that we could get all our clearances and funds to bring him home during the summer next year. Please join us in this prayer.

So happy to have yet another orphan on his way home to his FOREVER FAMILY!!! My arms are aching to hold and snuggle this precious one!


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