Sweet Esty's Update!!!

Nothing brings more joy to a waiting adoptive Momma like pictures and video of her sweet baby girl who's waiting in an orphanage. Oh to scoop her up and draw into our family with loving arms!

We received an answer to 10 of our questions that we asked about her back in May, right after China gave us pre-approval to adopt her.

In those questions, we learned she:

 loves bunny rabbits,

can crawl around using the strength in her arms,

likes to:

paint

sing

handcraft (we have a precious video of her creating an intricate origami boat--all from memory!)

cook

and serve tea!!

She :

is very active and outgoing

loves to play with other children

and is really excited to have so many brothers and sisters!!!

And does anyone remember that I sent her a very special necklace while we were in China adopting Toby? (If not, you can read about it here.) Well, here's what was said about it:

"She keeps that necklace for herself all the time. She doesn't wear it during the daytime though as she doesn't want to break it. She cherishes it very much."

"She cherishes it very much..."

These words stick in my heart...and catch in my throat. Just like the words from her original update I read when we fell in love with her. The question was asked, "Does she want a large family or a small family?"

The answer from Esty, "I just want a family."

Those words pounded through my heart for days.

A sweet, most precious little girl, just longing for ANY FAMILY.

Oh. It makes me teary even still.

And then, to be in China and be able to send her the necklace...for it said on the back "Jeremiah 29:11"
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

God Almighty has an incredible plan for our Esty. I believe this because for the first time EVER in my life, God told me something directly in a dream. 

Our first night in Hong Kong, on the way to adopt Toby (this is even BEFORE Brian was on board to adopt her!!) I dreamt that God came to me and told me to name HanHan (her current Chinese name) Esther because He wanted her in place for the special job He has for her. I knew in the dream that that placement was in our family, in America. Not in an orphanage.

If you are not familiar with the amazing biblical story of Esther, you should really go read it.

The clincher line that has always stayed with me is when Mordecai says to Esther, "who knows if perhaps you were made queen for a time such as this?" when he bolsters her with courage to do a very important job to save her people.

Similarly, our daughter must no longer be an orphan in order to do the job she must do.

Hence, the name "Esty." (Yes, we know it's like Etsy...and even though we adore art and all things crafty, we are not naming her after that website!) hee hee

As I watched the 3 minute and 44 second video of her silently, carefully folding the paper into a paper boat I realized many things:

she is patient,

she is intelligent,

she sees things through to the end,

she is good with her hands,

she loves to create,

she takes pride in a job well done.

You might note that those are all things really necessary for a doctor. 

In her original video, shot two years ago now, she said that when she grows up she wants to become a doctor!

I don't know if that is the job the Lord has for her or not, but one thing is for sure: she won't get there sitting in an orphanage in China!

OH! We are sooooo thrilled to become her family!

I couldn't help creating this photo montage when I realized I had an image of her pointing to something else she had made:

Will you join us in praying Esty HOME???

New Toby Pictures!!!!

WOOOO HOOOOOOO!

We get to feast our eyes on this little one to whom God has called us!

ABUNDANT JOY blooms in my heart!

Just look at Toby now!!!

 And while you're here...look at the  picture in the sidebar...that was him ONE YEAR ago. He's gotten even CUTER!!! :)

Are you falling on the floor from all that CUTENESS!?!??!?!!?!?

I MELLLLLLLLLT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The update on this child is INCREDIBLE too...

1) Does Toby understand that he is being adopted? Not really, he is too young to understand that.

2) What therapy is he having for his arms and hands? We asked the doctors before. They said he needed surgery than therapy for his arms. So we haven't given him any therapy yet. But we always show him to use him hands more and more. Now he can use hands to hold food to eat with head help sometimes.

3) What are his favorite things to do? Favorite toys? He likes to play games outside. He loves play toys which his hands can handle better, not balls.

4)Does he enjoy music? Yes, he loves music. He always sings songs when he hears from TV or CD.

5) Please tell us about his personality. He is very outgoing and active. He is also very loving and likes to share. So he plays so well with other children.

{oh my. "outgoing and active also very loving" YES!!! he IS my child!!}

6) Do his knees, hips or ankles have any problems with stiffness? Is he able to run as well as walk? He has no problem with his lower limbs. He can even run well.

7) Has he been healthy? If he has been sick, what sickness? He is always healthy and hardly to get sick.

8) Does he play with other children or mostly alone? He likes to play other children very much.

9) How is his language development? What words does he say? Is he talkative? His language is normal. He can say many simple words and sentences.

This is just too much happiness for me to keep all to myself!!! PLEASE SHARE!!! :) :)

And...

               ...one more picture...that I think is my all time favorite!

Just look at this boy's personality SHINE!!!

My friend to whom I showed these pictures immediately sent me a link to this picture of myself from last summer: She was saying how MUCH he is going to fit in with our crazy-sauce style of life!!

A-hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! 

Oh sweet Toby, we are coming for you!! SOON!

Dear friends, please join me in praying for the remaining finances to complete his adoption. I am beside myself with JOY over this update and pictures but also really feel the URGENCY to get his medical needs attended to. It appears they may be something "else" joining the list of his special needs. We will not have answers until we meet him and then get him in to see some specialists. 

Click here to be directed to our fundraising page.

GREAT NEWS about TOBY!!!!

There are days of celebration, and then there are

DAYS OF CELEBRATION!!!!

Today is one, my friends!!!!

This morning we got an UPDATE on our Toby!!

Now let me explain a few things so you can REALLY celebrate with us...

Toby has something called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita or "AMC." This means that his joints and muscles have been contracted and frozen before his birth. He is unable to bend his elbows (they are fixed straight) and his wrists are severely bent backwards and is unable to use his hands in the proper way. This is a permanent condition that does not progress. It was present at birth but CAN be helped with multiple surgeries.

What we DID NOT KNOW was whether Toby's other joints were involved. You see, if his hips, knees, ankles were affected...this would mean he could not walk. At least he would not be able to walk until multiple surgeries were performed over a long stretch of time. I have been told to anticipate upwards of 20 surgeries if all 4 limbs are affected. In every picture, we could see one of his knees bend, but the other remained perfectly straight.

We have been planning and operating as if Toby will not walk.

Wheelchairs.

Specialty van.

Ramps around our home.

Needing to carry him up and down stairs...

...you get the picture.

When we were praying about adopting Toby, it was clear to us that HE WAS OUR SON. After that, it didn't matter what the extent of his issues were. He was ours and we were going to embark on this journey of special needs, come what may.

But we truly didn't know how BIG this might be for us. (and really, we still don't!)

A friend of mine has also adopted a son from China with AMC. All four of his limbs are affected. She says that parenting him is very labor intensive as she must do so much for him: feed, dress, potty, carry, etc. We heard what she said, and since God made it clear that Toby was ours...we knew Toby was worth it.

We moved forward.

After we were given Pre-Approval (PA) from China to be his family, we were able to request an update. We submitted 10 questions that were translated into Chinese and we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And today...we heard back!

There were 3 glorious pictures of him!!!

BUT THE BEST NEWS:

TOBY CAN WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!

Both of his knees bend and in response to our question, "Can he walk, is he learning to walk?" The response was translated:

He walks freely.

Suddenly all the wheelchairs, ramps, specialty van and surgeries melted away.

He walks freely!!!!

I rejoice!

I feel like what a mother of a cripple back in the days of Jesus must have felt like! WOW!!!!!

There were some other amazing descriptions of our little man too...so much fun!

"He is bright, he interacts well with other children and adults, he gets along very well with them."

"He laughs easily."

"He loves to be held and cuddled."

"He has a sweet temper, occasionally he is bossy, he does not cry a lot."(...and Lord knows he is gonna need to hold his own with a DQ around here...!!!)

In response to some specific questions about how he uses his hands:
"He waves his hands and says goodbye, he will use his hands when he wants to catch something. Although he cannot play with toys freely, he can catch up his toys."

And in response to my asking if he can sit up on his own (he could not at 18 months):
"Because of his toes missing, he will be a little afraid of sitting up, but he can sit up slowly by himself."

My little conqueror is already mastering the sit-up!! AND DID I MENTION THAT HE IS WALKING!?!??!?!? Hahahahhahahaha!!! BURSTING WITH JOY!!!

And of course, some NEW PICTURES!!! Just in time for our birthday!

Feast your eyes on our little man:

Oh! I'm giggling like crazy! Do you see that sweet smile? Do you see that sideways glance? He's getting READY for some SIBLINGS!!! OH YEAH!!!! :) :) :)

April Update on our Adoption

I have been posting about others lately...and I think my blog is broken, but I honestly haven't had the time to look into figuring out how to fix it! If you have an idea why things that should click and link don't, please help me out! Send me a message on Facebook (my badge is below) and I'll be your friend forever!!

Perhaps our adoption process appears from afar to just be static. In reality, I work tirelessly toward the end goal. There are an incredible amount of ups and downs that truly, if I shared them all with you, you'd probably quit reading out of boredom! Many people are bottom liners...so the bottom line is: we are still waiting.

What are we waiting on?

Our home study. This is the official write up by the social worker who has interviewed us and our children, trained us, inspected our home, our finances, etc. The word is that it should arrive any day. This matter has been very drawn out and quite ridiculous, honestly. Most people get their home studies complete in 1-2 months. Ours has been FIVE and its still not here! At times I have been completely exasperated and every effort I make is simply futile. (I cannot control people's illness or vacation schedules!) Other times I see how fortunate we are that it's not yet done so we can make necessary amendments based on the things God shows us. One of these days...SURELY one of these days we are going to get this enormous stack of notarized home studies that we can begin to mail around the country and around the world! Who wants a copy?? haha


We are also waiting on the results to an ongoing orphan investigation for the 2 children we are hoping to adopt. I have been silent on so many fronts because, honestly, it just changes so quickly. However there is much need for prayer in this situation, so I ask you, even without many details, to please intercede for these children. At this writing, we should know something within 3 weeks. How's that for helpful? Sorry!

We are excited to celebrate Easter with our families and enjoy the goodness of God's great gift. What a wonderful season it is! That grace that our Father pours out on us is so incomprehensible. I am at a loss for words when I consider the gift that Jesus bought us through His death and that marvelous resurrection!

I wish you all a great Easter! Be blessed in His love!

Update and Tee Shirt Sale!!!

NEW UPDATE!! (May 2011)

We have been given a FURTHER extension to sell our Wild Olive tee shirts for our adoption! YAY!!! 


Check it out with the button to the right!
Wild Olive tees has put many new wonderful tee shirts into the adoption fundraising section!!


Be sure to mention our family code when you place your order: SHAW0305


Happy shopping!!


Great news!!! Our fundraiser has been given 4 more weeks!! You can order shirts until April 30th!!!  Mother's day, Easter and birthdays are all GREAT occasions to purchase these shirts for the women in your lives! Please help us bring home our precious littles from Uganda!!!

Many people have asked us how it's going so I thought I'd give a quick update and introduce our new fundraiser.

We have completed our home study...ALMOST! (I can't wait to just say it's done!) In Ohio, the document we are waiting on to complete the study takes up to 4 months. Each state has it's own pace, Texas gets it done in 1-2 days!! We have been waiting on this since the end of November. It should arrive in our mailbox any day now! You'll probably hear my shouts of joy when it arrives!

Once we have our home study completed, signed by the necessary people and sent to our agency, we will then begin the application with the United States Immigration. Then we wait for another two months while those papers are processing.

Key word: Wait!

In the meantime we have some time to raise the necessary funds for the next step. We are about 1/2 way there and would love your help, if you would like to become part of the story. Here's what's next:

Our friends at Wild Olive have opened a family fundraising account for us! We have FOUR WEEKS to sell as many tees as possible (see below for the fun patterns to choose from!)

If we sell more than 50, we will earn more per shirt! If you would like to help out our adoption fund, please consider buying for yourself...and then think about Mother's Day, birthday gifts, Easter gifts (the Hope shirt!). If your are connected to a church, will you consider inviting the youth group to "get their verse on" too?

We have 4 weeks to make our sales and it starts---TOMORROW! March 5 - April 2, 2011. Take a gander below at the creative tees to choose from:

Front of tee

back of tee

Available in brown and pink or black and green!

Front of tee

Back of tee

! Important Note: While Wild Olive has other items for sale, only these three designs qualify for our adoption fundraiser. When checking out, please enter our family code: SHAW0305. Without this code, we will not receive any credit for the purchase. It is not a discount code but rather a tracking code for sales. !


Click here to shop for tee shirts. (You can always use the sidebar widget as well.)


We look forward to updating you with the good news from our last fundraiser! Thanks to each of you for your loving support! Someday soon the world orphan population will be reduced by two and the Shaw family will have increased by two! :)

Wishing you blessings!