The List

Link to *The List* at Micah 6:8

Read it.

Decide if you think that is any way for children to live.

Do something.

A reason to adopt: parenting

There are a lot of reasons why adoption can be an awesome thing for a family. Here is one of mine.

For me, the decision to adopt is a parenting decision. If I really want to raise my kids to be selfless and to consider others more important than themselves (and I think I do), I have to model that behavior.

If my behavior tells my children "Yeah, I know there are BAD, BAD orphanages out there, and that we qualify to adopt, but right now it is more important for Mama and Papa to make sure they have a lot of money (or time to themselves, or nice vacations, whatever)", what am I teaching them? That you'd better look out for yourself before helping anyone else. That considering others more important than yourself is dangerous, and shouldn't be done until you are good and ready.

That is not what I want to model! Committing to "Garnet" was, in part, me asking myself to step it up as a selfless parent. I still fail all the time, in little things and big things, but the ongoing adoption is a big reminder to me to consider others more important than myself, especially in front of Junior! Just being a mom at home is a pretty good way to practice that.

For our family, adopting is just a part of training up our children in the way they should go.

Just checking in

Since it has been a week since I last posted, I feel obliged to check in. Progress is being made on our home study, our references have informed us that they are working hard. We are working on dossier stuff so that it doesn't blindside us when the HS is over.
We are trying to get our 14 mo old son (currently our only child) accustomed to the idea of having "babies" around (Garnet is NOT a baby agewise, but she will seem like one to Junior, especially if he keeps growing at the rate he is now). He calls babies "dedies" and gets very excited when he sees pictures of them. I hope this is a good sign :-)

That's all for now, hopefully we will have more exciting updates soon?

Forty to Forever

Basically nothing has happened since I last posted; we are still waiting on our home study to get rolling and chipping away at the dossier.


On a more interesting note, check out FortyToForever. It's a Lenten fundraiser run by an ambitious mom for 40 different orphans (actually, I think she managed to cram in more than 40).
One little girl, Lina, who the fundraiser is supporting, has captured my heart every time I see her picture. She needs a family! She lives in R*****, and is most likely affected by the adoption ban, but that doesn't mean that a Canadian family might not be able to adopt her, especially if she were fully funded!
Go check it out! Look at pictures of Lina and see why I think she is so dear.


***Update*** Lina is not eligible for Canadian adoption. Her life depends on a lift of the adoption ban, or an exception for special needs orphans.

Hasya

Hasya is another little girl who used to live in "Garnet's" orphanage. Her primary diagnoses are very similar to Garnet's, I believe. She has CP, she is teeny tiny, and she is malnourished. Like many of the children at that orphanage, she has endured the unimaginable for almost her entire life.
Hasya is now home. I have been watching her journey with great interest, because Garnet's could be very similar. There is a part of me that is VERY scared. Hasya has been in and out of the hospital since she came home; her body has had a hard time handling the shock of the travel, and she has had numerous nutritional and other issues. Doctors who are dealing with her have never had a patient who was 14 years old and so malnourished and neglected. They have to respond to things as they happen and try to figure out how to help her best. There are very few precedents.
It is pretty easy to say "Uh-oh, this is not for me! I don't want to deal with so many unknown medical problems with my child!"
It would be easy to be scared off by the story of Hasya's journey. But there is the good part, too. Hasya, who was once unloved, is now part of a family. She has a mommy, daddy, brothers, and sisters. Her parents aren't scared to do what it takes to show her love in every way.

Once in Sunday school at my church we were talking about knowing God's will for your life. A lot of times it is not very obvious very far into the future! Many times we have no way of even guessing what will come our way, or what we will be supposed to do in a week, or a month, or a year. The elder who was teaching the class said "How do you know God's will for your life? Do the next right thing."
In pursuing Garnet, we are trying to "do the next right thing". Right now my "next right things" are pretty small; fill out some paperwork here, wash dishes there, make dinner, work on reorganizing the house...
We don't know for sure that Garnet will be our daughter. We don't know for sure that she will have health problems like Hasya, or worse. What we do know is that we are following God's path for us right now, and if, in a year, that path has us dealing with scary medical things for Garnet, we will "do the next right thing" then, too.

How do we know this? Because we are so strong? Because we are awesome, super-hero-like people that everyone should look up to? Nope. It is because our God is good, and we know that He will always give us the strength to do what He has commanded.


 Ephesians 6:10
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.



Hasya's mom keeps a blog at www.nogreaterjoymom.com

Musings

As Christians, we are all adopted.  God set His love on us, not for any thing in us, anything we had done, could do, or would do.  We were all dead in our trespasses and sins.  And ours was an expensive adoption.  He who was rich beyond all splendor, all for love's sake, became poor.  Man is made in the image of God, and the best things we can do are to be done in imitation of God.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, a redeemed Christian may now rightly work, love, speak and defend truth, and even (should God call them to) adopt.  God did not add us to His family because He needed company.  Nor because we looked like beautiful furniture to complement His heavenly court.  All the benefits of the adoption flow to us, the adopted.  All the glory flows to God.  And He is delighted with that arrangement.  Just so, we want to adopt Garnet purely for her own benefit, and let all the glory flow to God.  If God brings us through, we trust that we (and He) will be delighted with that arrangement.

Birth Certificate

I was born in one of the more complicated counties to order birth certificate copies from, but after over a month of confusion and complication (and a trip to the notary), I just got an email from the county saying that my birth certificate copies are on their way.

I am just glad that we still live in the state where we got married. At least the marriage certificates were easy to come by :-)

Hurry up and...

We hustled and got our big folder turned in to our home study agency, and now we have to wait for them to go through it all and set up our interviews.

We have dossier paperwork to do, but that can't go anywhere until the home study is complete, so there is not a whole lot we can do there.

I have been having a heck of a time trying to order copies of my birth certificate. The county that I was born in makes the process trickier than many.

It's tough to keep the mental energy going when it feels like things are grinding to a (temporary) halt. When one is pregnant, the baby keeps growing, rain or shine, even on weekends and when government offices are closed. Not so with an adoption; the process actually can STOP. Things can actually get slowed down, and they can take longer than you expect.

By God's grace, we have been receiving lots of encouragement external to the adoption; hearing from people who we have never met who have been praying for Garnet and receiving enthusiastic support from friends at church. This sort of thing helps to keep us excited when we feel like we are wading through a morass of paperwork.

I wish I had a more exciting update to post, as it is, I only have bemused musings. Once our home study is really under way, things should liven up a bit on here.

Hidden Treasures

A Hidden Treasures auction to rescue a little one from "Garnet's" orphanage begins today.

Go check it out!