Compassion

On the side of my blog you will find a link to Compassion International. I know it is quite possible that most of you have heard of it before and are maybe sponsoring a child through the organization. However, this time last year I had never heard of them so I am excited to tell everyone about it.

There are thousands of children all over the world, of all ages waiting for sponsorship. With your monthly sponsorship you provide:

• Food and clean water
• Medical care
• Educational opportunities
• Important life-skills training
• Most important of all, your sponsored child will hear about Jesus Christ and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God.

At this time our family is sponsoring 5 children through Compassion. This includes one that my girls are paying for all by themselves. I am so proud of the way they love Jesus so much that they give up their hard earned money (which they don't have much, only side jobs for neighbors and friends and birthday money) to provide hope and help to another child. They already want to sponsor a 2nd child, but I have encouraged them to wait until they have a more steady income.

The part we love so much about this program is that we get to write to the child through an online system that includes us sending photos. And we can write as often as we like, in fact they encourage you to write often. All of our children have hand written (with translation) a letter back to us at least once. 

These children live in very impoverished situations, nothing like we would ever have in the US, even our poorest would be in luxury. The children have daily opportunities to go to the local Compassion Center (maybe a local church or just a building) as often as they like. There they get all the things described earlier and just as importantly they have others pouring into them a love that gives the children hope. 

I have had the privilege of meeting 2 adults that used to be children sponsored through Compassion. Their testimonies are inspiring and convicting. Can you imagine the harshness of having to take care of your younger siblings at the age of 6 because your father has abandoned you and your mother must work hard all day to make a few cents a day in order to feed you? This is just a small glimpse of what these children might be dealing with, actually it is often quite worse and they often alone.

The wonderful thing in my opinion is that I believe each one of us could afford to sponsor at least one child. It only costs $38 a month! That is just a little more than a dollar day or the same cost as 9 Starbucks drinks or one hair cut at the beauty salon for a woman. 

I just wanted to encourage all of you reading to genuinely look at where your heart is. 
Luke 16:13 
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Think of the compassion and important character you will be sowing into your children with a program like this? What we sow is what we will reap. If we sow a love of money and not God, we should not be surprised when our children grow up greedy and selfish. We should not be surprised if they grow up ignoring God, because they will have to give up the comforts of the world and they are too attached.

Check out Compassion. One fun thing we did for several of our kids is to find a child that had either the same birthday (2 of them do) and in the least same age (all the rest do). This way our children are very certain to remember that child more and to think how fortunate they are for all they have, compared to their sponsored child. 

I know there are other sponsorship  programs out there, World Vision for one. I have not personally experienced their program, but have spoken with at least 2 people that did not think it was as a direct commitment to the individual child and were disappointed in the communication aspect with the agency. Again, I don't know but do your research.

Let me know if you sponsor a child or already do. I would love to hear from you.

What DO You Want for Christmas? Part 2

I would pray that first and foremost, we all would want Jesus fully living in us. I invite Him to do that, because I deserve nothing. I only want Him, my Creator, my Savior, my Hope, my Redeemer, my Lover, my Healer, my Comforter, my Father God...He deserves all of me, so "Here I Am, Lord!"..


My second desire is that all the fatherless, precious, innocent children around our world would have a family, a real family to give them all the security, love, and blessings a family is meant to give them. I am not for everyone or just anyone to adopt. I believe God has called Christians to adopt. However, I do realize that non-Christians do a wonderful job at adoption and parenting, but I am not speaking to that group of people. So if you are not a Christian, please know I am not judging you and I am not even addressing you. I respect you for loving those orphans too and giving them a home.

I don't think every "Christian" is prepared and/or willing to adopt a child or become a parent. From my personal experience, I know without a doubt that God Can and Will prepare you as a Christian parent to adopt a child or parent any child, for that matter, IF you are willing to let Him guide and lead you. If you are willing to die to your fleshly ways of being a parent. I know His Word is true and He does not lie. And he commands us to take care of orphans and sees that is a pure religion:

James 1:27 "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

So, anything from that scripture may not mean specifically for each of us to adopt an orphan. However, it just might mean that too. And with over 150 million orphans in our world, how can we just ignore their "distress"? I realize this scripture is also referring to widows and we do need to help that widow who is taking care of the fatherless children. They go hand in hand. So our prayers should not just be, (which is what mine used to be), "Father, I pray for the needs of these widows, these fatherless children, and the ones who have no parents at all. I ask You to take care of them and provide for their needs." etc.. etc...etc...

Of course, He will take care of the "fatherless", but He tells us us to be His hands and His feet. There are scriptures, looking at the Bible as a whole that tells us more:

Proverbs 31:8-9 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed."

Matthew 18:5 "And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me."

Psalms 82:3-4 "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

With that in our minds, shouldn't our prayers be more along the lines of, "Father, I know your heart, I know there is a real need, I can't ignore. What do you want Me to do about it? How are you wanting Me to speak up, ensure justice, defend the cause, maintain the rights, rescue the weak, deliver, and welcome them? I am yours to do with however you desire."

This prayer is different as we are telling God that we are willing to be the ones to sacrifice our comforts, securities, finances, etc. in order to follow His commands and be His heart. We aren't just asking God for Him to do it or someone else on His behalf.

Here are some real needs around our world, all about children, orphans:

In many European countries: Bulgaria and Ukraine are two of them, they are so poor that they make only a few dollars a day. Therefore the abandoned and orphaned children, especially the ones with "Special Needs" (Down's Syndrome, Neurological Conditions, deafness, blindness etc) are put in "Baby Houses" until they reach a certain age (often age 5 or so) and then they are "Transferred" where they will be put into a mental institution. Sometimes the  care in those mental institutions are worse than most pets receive in American homes. 

It is not always because the workers do not love and care for the children within their hearts,But rather because they live in such a desperate, poor state that they just manage as they are able. The children are starving, humiliated by often laying in fetal positions naked in their own waste, and neglected because there isn't enough help.This is NOT something we should be ignorant to any longer. It is not something we should turn a blind eye to. This IS what God means by the weak, helpless, fatherless voiceless children.



 



I have been reading blogs of many families lately on adoption. And there are families that are being awakened and stirred to adopt some of these dear children. When you read the testimonies of the ones already adopted it is a miracle. God will bring these children to light out of darkness and despair. He will heal them, but again He is needing us to make the difference in the lives of voiceless children.

For my Christmas, I want more of these sweet children adopted. I want them out of those filthy, lonely and disgusting circumstances. Please pray that God would show you how you are to respond to these sort of issues. Again, I know not all can adopt for various reasons. I do know we can NOT just sit and say we are praying for them and leave it at that. We must be broken for them.

Here is a website, called Reeces Rainbow that has some resources if you are interested in finding out more and how to help these little ones. It also has a listing of all the Waiting Children that could very well die if they are not chosen some day by a family. Please pray for Christmas Miracles for the least of these.

What Do YOU Want for Christmas? Part 1

Just a warning this is a bit long, but I have had a lot on my heart about this lately. Thank you for reading.

Christmas is about gifts..It is about miracles...James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

It is about God coming to earth as a man to save his people from the punishment of sin (Death!) and have Victory over that SIN! He is the King.. He is the that "Perfect Gift"..Perfect meaning "wanting nothing  necessary to completeness".. Jesus was a complete package. A little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, manifesting full Grace and God's glory. As he grew in "wisdom and stature",  and then he faced temptation Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin."; and he willingly took our curse and punishment to die upon a cross.

Not just anyone could take our punishment, it had to be a spotless lamb, without sin. As God can not be pleased with sin or see us Holy because of even just one little bad thought or deed. We can not have just one little hint of rebellion against Him.

So after deeply considering what Jesus Christ gave to us on Christmas day and ultimately the Resurrection day, what do we Really want for Christmas? Do we really even need any material things? Sure, I could use a new coat. Mine is getting a few holes and isn't as practical as I would like. But it still looks nice for the most part and more importantly keeps me warm. I could also say I "need" some new clothing. I have gained the weight I lost back, since last summer, and only have 4 or 5 outfits that fit me well and nicely. (I am starting a diet again after Asher's surgery btw.) I think we also "need" some new shocks for our van (whatever that is exactly?). I am down to a broken food chopper (I love my food chopper) but we are making due with the broken one still and today part of my Bosch broke (which I use a LOT). My list could go on. The things I like are practical things usually for Christmas. Sometimes we will buy just fun gifts for each other, but in my mind those are usually not something that edifies the children (and myself) to being appreciative of ALL we do have.

Today my sweet children are in cleaning and helpful mode. Makenna is home for several weeks from school! And Makenna and Eliza (is turning into one too), are my cleaners and organizers. Girls after my own heart. I just don't usually have the time like I used to, or maybe it isn't as much a priority on some levels. I am not as a perfectionist as I used to be. It really is okay if the towels aren't folded like I used to require, as long as they are put away, off the couch!  So we baked bread already, baked some cookies for neighbors last night and will do more baking later. Makenna is cleaning out our pantry and Eliza is cleaning the boys' room. I am doing laundry, including sheets. Jacob is trying to finish the other half of his math so he will be able to take a holiday break without thinking about that. Toby and Moriah, after doing chores, are in Lego model building play. They are making a Mini Lego-land for us to come visit on Christmas Eve. Lenea and Asher are "helping" some of us organize and Lenea is teaching Asher worship dance moves in her bedroom. He just loves his "Nea", following her around like a puppy. Today she appreciates it and he doesn't mind her bossing him either. It is a sweet friendship. We have Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas CD playing in the back ground, tree lights are on (even during the daylight), our house is warm and cozy. My wonderful, loving, hard-working husband is at his newish job, who appreciate his work ethic and let him go in 3 hours late today for Christmas, he has a work Christmas party to go to at the end of today. Then he will be off for 4 days!
We have had some respiratory sickness again the last 2 weeks, with 2 children having Reactive Airway Disease and needing nebulizers now. But we have double insurance and we have had to pay 0 out of pocket besides our monthly dues. Our blessings and material things are abundant. God is so gracious to us and we deserve NONE of it. We deserve not one iota.

So this year, trying to keep Christmas a little simpler and start some new traditions, we are having the kids do a gift exchange by drawing names. We are doing Christmas stockings (which we haven't done in years) and we are doing a White Elephant gift exchange. It should be fun and a lot cheaper too.

But.. I am thinking about all the needs around us, about our little ones in China without a Mama and Daddy, just yet. I am thankful that next Christmas they will be with us, as my pangs of sadness realize it is still a half a year away until we can be with them and give them a family. But at least they have been chosen.. What about the millions and millions of children that haven't been chosen, and will have an emptiness in their hearts for a family, even if they are too young or immature to articulate it? God says the lonely are to be in families, He puts them there. But what if Christians ignore His command? What if Christians don't give up some of their ridiculous material wealth and their time to help some of these children; really be obedient to help, not just pray about it? What about the millions and millions without a full tummy and clean water, or a bed to sleep on? What about the millions who eat out of garbage cans? There really are, children who have to sneak scraps out of garbage cans to eat. Can you imagine? Can you think about how broken they are, with NO hope at all? What if that was your child? Well, we need to remember they are God's children and we ARE HIS ambassadors. We are His hands and feet on this earth. We have a purpose for this life in a foreign land. This is not our home. 

I have so much compassion for the young and vulnerable. They have no voice in this world (Satan knows that very well), many times no education to help themselves and lots of times no health or strength to do anything anyway. I care about adults that need help too, however they can get themselves help and they can make choices that young children can NOT! I believe that is why God has reminded us in scriptures to take care of the fatherless and widows. Widows are usually the ones that are either still with the young children at home and they are trying to make it to take care of them, OR they are the very old, in that day in age were seen as outcasts.

This Christmas, this coming New Year, 2013, yes we are well into this millennium (remember when it was just the year 2000?), we MUST as Christians look at our lives, our hearts. What are we idolizing? What are we teaching our children to put their time, energy and money into? Is it material things, a great education, personal looks, fame, a great job, or will it be compassion for the young and vulnerable, hearts for the lost souls who will go to hell, a desire to know and love God will all they are and surrender their lives to Him alone, to serve Him? 

Matthew 6:19" Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

Matthew 6:20"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

I am not against material things or Christmas gifts. We have much of it. I am though, being taught recently that those things don't  matter. They don't raise Christians and they don't help us look to God more. He wants all of our hearts, not our wealth and fame. And the reality is that all we are given, 100% of our wealth, health and happiness is from HIM! Why then do we whine about not having enough, and sound like spoiled children on Christmas who are mad they didn't get what they wanted or be willing to share the beloved toy they did get?  I get this way in my heart sometimes, my children get this way too. We are working on it, we are praying for this legacy in our family to be different.

A side note that today was a very challenging day for me. After I had written most of this post, but not ready to post I was bombarded with silly attacks from the enemy. I was determined to not get off path today and let that frustrate me and take it out on my children and praise God through it all. It began with my anticipation that our I797 would be delivered to Lifeline by 10:30 and that we would be DTC this afternoon. (My post yesterday explains all that scenario.) However, I checked the tracking # at 9:00 (agency is an hour ahead of us), and no delivery. Again at 10:00 was no delivery. 10:30, no delivery and word that it was delayed.. Agh.. What, if it doesn't get to agency today then it would not be DTC until next Thursday. So I got on the phone with FedEx, that was difficult to get a person. They were having phone line troubles and I ended up calling a totally different Fed Ex #, explained the situation, thankfully who was very helpful and transferred me to Customer Service. Indeed, they looked up our Tracking # to say it was delayed due to a big storm in the Midwest, even though the states we were shipping in were not affected, it had delayed deliveries. I had them call the destination and indeed they did not have our package (it was almost noon there by now) and they would not be able to deliver until tomorrow! Oh, the frustration built up inside of me, I wanted to burst into tears. I asked about a refund how that worked, but she said we would have to take that up after delivery was complete. 

After I hung up the phone I prayed to the Lord that I didn't want to let this ruin my day and to trust Him alone. I called our agency and explained the situation. Logan was very kind and sorry for our situation. She said if she wasn't going out of town, she would come get it tomorrow and deliver it then, but she would be gone until Thursday morning and the office would be closed. It was out of my hands. I tried my best to let it go.

Then I went back to baking cookies for our neighbors, which has been a family tradition for about 9 years now. We attempted 3 batches of peanut brittle, which all failed. I even burned my finger on the last one. Then we made cookies, that ended up being pretty tasty, but a bit crumbly and they broke my mixer attachment, which isn't cheap to replace. Later, I had a flour spill on the pantry that my daughter just cleaned. My children were very gracious to me, helping bake and clean up and watching movies with the younger ones, as it seemed I was having one tiny problem after another. I don't like to have many days like this. It keeps me away from my children and doing motherly things. But some days they just happen. I am always evaluating and changing what is important there. But today I was deep in way to getting ready for Christmas so I just kept praying and telling God these babies in China were His children and I trusted Him no matter what. Makenna even had me leap for joy, which actually felt good.

After the leaping, I went to check the situation on the tracking # again. It had changed slightly and stated it was at the destination warehouse, but was not in transit. I got a little hopeful, and contacted Lifeline asking if it was even feasible for them to pick it up if it was there? She said they would have to pick it up next week anyway and that IF it was at the location they could run and get it. Now we were trying to beat the clock because DHL would pick up in less than 2 hours. She tried to call FedEx and couldn't get through (remember phone troubles). So she called me back to tell me she didn't know what to do, so I got on the phone. Again it took 20 minutes to get a helpful person, but indeed they did get through to the station that it was at and it was ready for pick up. Logan needed to be the one pick up because we put her as the "Attention", I was worried she wouldn't be able to as she said she would send "someone" to get it. But when I called her back I got her voice mail now. It was almost down to an hour for DHL pick up time. I sent her an email and within minutes she said she would go get it. 

AND...she got it and sent it with DHL in time. I think with 15 minutes to spare. God is so amazing. Even in these little things, which sometimes feel so big, He shows Himself at work. He does want our 2 babies home. He does control the little packages that come to be delivered. When I called about an hour before they said it was not at the station and it would be too late, but He proved them wrong. He gave us a gracious, wonderful Social Worker with our agency who went out of her way to help us. He is so good. And as of this afternoon we officially DTC...

Another interesting thing, is my husband had a FedEx package to pick up for his work today as well and it too was not there, delayed. The service worker told him that 80% of FedEx deliveries that were due today would not get delivered until tomorrow and he that it was weird ours got there like it did. But, you see, WE know it was not anything just weird, it was our GOD!

So in the end of my day, I have had a couple more minor struggles, but God has kept my eyes on Him. I didn't even make time read the Word today and He still works in my heart and gives me His Grace. I am so thankful. What do YOU want for Christmas? I want what God wants. I want families for the children all around the world, that if every Christian adopted just one, there would be no more orphans. I want my children to serve and love him with every ounce of who He created them to be, even if that means not being near me and living in the heart of Africa. I want to be a woman after His heart, who trusts Him in every situation knowing He is there and working out every little detail, even though I want to control it myself. 

Next post, I want to share some stories of real children who need families. Don't let your life be void of surrendering it all the Jesus. He wants to use you and me. He wants our hearts to be like His. And He has a desire to get orphans out of their dark hopeless state and show them His light.

Dossier IS Completed

We did finally get our immigration (I797) approval last week and promptly had it notarized, authenticated, and sent to our Chicago courier to have it certified by the Chinese Consulate. This way China will view the document as "Real" and truly certified. That is the process that all 13 of our dossier documents needed to go through for us to be able to send them to China. 

We had the other 12 which included: homestudy, birth certificates for Jay and me, marriage certificate, letters of employment for each of us (even me being a Homemaker), financial statements, medical reports for Jay and me, Police clearances and our letter to China asking to be adoptive parents to 2 of their precious children. There are also some other documents and things included, like family photos, passport photos and reference letters (including from our adult children). It is a daunting process to gather all those documents and not lose any of them and make sure all "I's" are dotted and "Ts" are crossed. China is very specific in wording and want the all around package to be precise. We will jump through these many hoops, as stressful as it can be to bring home our 2 new babies.

The plan should be that our agency will receive our last piece of paperwork (the I797) tomorrow morning, then send all the paperwork (the Dossier) to China tomorrow!! Our coordinator is on the look out for it tomorrow from FedEx, as the office will be closed the first 3 days next week, due to the holiday. We don't want to lose anytime. It will feel so good to be done with this step and then to sit and wait, and wait some more for now China's approval. 

Before approval can come, there is a short little wait called a Log In Date (LID). This is when China receives our dossier and enters it into their system, that they have it and will start processing it. That part can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. With Asher's adoption it was 2 weeks. 

After LID, we will then officially begin waiting for China's approval. The process goes through a translation process first and then an approval stage. With Asher's adoption we received Letter of Acceptance on day 38. It was very quick. We of course are praying for a quick approval this time, but with the averages being 60 days and with us adopting 2 children this time (which means China working with 2 provinces and might slow things down) we are going with the average. It could even be longer, of course. Some families have had over 100 day waits. But, again we lean on our God who is sovereign and in control of all of this process. 

I will keep updating as we have news and so appreciate your prayers.

We did get a couple of more updated photos of Isaiah and Elliana this week too! It is such a blessing to see their sweet little faces. We still don't have the updated questions we would like to know about Isaiah, but we just asked them 3 days ago. Ellie's updated questions came back in 24 hours!!

Here are the questions we asked and the answers we got, my questions and comments are in red, China answers are in black:

1. Weight and Height Measurements:  75cm, 8.5kg, 46cm head, 45cm chest, 10cm foot, 20 teeth

This was the answer they gave, but that means she has gained 3 lbs in 4 months (which I doubt and they usually weigh with clothing on; and her photos has her quite bundled up and that would mean her foot size is still in a baby size 2 or smaller. So I don't believe these measurements, but her feet do like very tiny)

2. Is she walking with help still or on her own? She needs to hold then walk. Can't walk alone. 

AND I wanted to add that she likely will not walk on her until she sees orthopedic surgeons in the US

3. How is her health, any sickness or surgeries recently? She has been healthy recently without any sickness or surgery.

4. What sort of developmental delays does she have? We feel her arms and legs are not quite flexible. Also her hands can't grasp things firmly. 

The video they sent, she can barely use her hands to manipulate the toy and that was the same back in August, so not much change. I am not sure what they mean by "flexible"?

5. What makes her calm and happy? She is happy to have toys or snacks. 

She is eating a sucker in the photo :)

6. Does she take a bottle for milk? Yes. 

This is good, praying that doesn't change as we need this for good healthy attachment.

7. What sort of foods does she eat? She eats noodle, congee, steamed egg, bun, bread, cracker, milk.

8. Does she say any words? Not much. But she can understand everything you talk to her. 

This is concerning to me, but God knows.

9. What sort of activities does she do during her day? She has therapy everyday. Then she plays toys with other children during spare time. 

Again, not sure about this either, she has all day to play with kids and toys, so she must have to spend a lot of time in crib because of management of so many children.





Here is the photo we got of her eating her sucker. I am sure they took it the day they sent it as we also got a 20 second video. Isn't she precious. 

We have had a little change in her name. We were going to name her Elliana Marie Jun (which is part of her Chinese name) but after thinking about it we are going to do Elliana Kate Jun (Kate is after my favorite great-grandmother's mother, "Kate" means pure). 

For Isaiah, here is the sweet photo we got of him, he still looks tiny but is still getting tender care from his Aunties, it is rare that they hold them while feeding them in orphanages. We have also picked a full name for him: Isaiah Calvert Tao (again part of his given Chinese name). Calvert was my grandfather's middle name. It's meaning is "cowboy". The meaning is nothing unique to us, but the man who held the name was a Godly, loving man and even though I never met him, I always admired his life and dreamed of knowing him.

 

Tonsils No More

Lenea (almost 5 years old) has had a host of sore throats for the last couple of years. Only strep throat officially once or twice. I lost track, as there was 2 years there before the middle 4 got out their tonsils that we were getting strep every other month it seemed like..It was miserable. But since Jake, Toby and Moriah got out their tonsils last year and the year before, no more strep!!

Anyway, Lenea has acid reflux, allergies that produce constant runny nose and sneezes, and sore throats. When she gets a common cold, her tonsils swell up and "hurt" for a week or two after the cold is gone. And she snores.

So, it was off to the ENT. And yep, he suggested she get them pulled and her adnoids were HUGE as well. So last Thursday she got them out. She was really brave. She is getting braver all the time. She also starting getting allergy shots with myself, Jake, Moriah and Toby. In the past she has been terrified of shots of any kind. On her 3 year check up she needed 3 immunizations and there was a very large nurse who held her legs down while another one shot both of her thighs up. She was screaming and kicking from the get-go and of course that made it hurt all the more.

Well this year, she had to give blood to confirm a Tree Nut allergy (yep still has it) and start allergy shots. She has been so brave!! Our allergist's office staff are amazing women, really. Our last allergist was a joke. He was kind enough, but didn't listen to my concerns and questions. He didn't give me clear answers, basically I felt I knew more than he did; and his staff (at least some of them, not all) were rude and slow. We had to wait 30 minutes following each injection. So when there were 6 of us at a time getting shots, weekly at times, and they were slow to give them, we would spend an hour in the waiting room. It became old and my older kids didn't even want to finish their therapy.

Last year I had had enough with the rude nurses and switched doctors. I am so happy to report that these new nurses treat us almost like family (yes, there are still 5 of us coming in and more in the future). They see us weekly, they make the kids laugh and are kind and brag on them for doing such a good job. A big bonus is that it is literally 3 minutes from our house and we ONLY have to wait 20 minutes, plus they are fast. I can even call when we are on the way and let them know, so they prepare our injections ahead of time. I LOVE it..

Anyway, that was a bit of a bunny trail. But my point being that Lenea has been so extremely brave lately. She even smiles when she gets her shots and the allergy nurses are key in that by the way they praise her.

So surgery day she was brave and almost excited. The versed they gave her ahead of surgery, made her quite silly as she was laying in bed watching Sesame Street for the first time in her life. She laughed and laughed and even called them "My Friends" while she touched the screen. It was hard not to laugh at her state.

After surgery her doctor said she did great and had very large adenoids. He wanted to keep her overnight for swelling possibility because of the amount of tissue he removed and her age. I was tired already and didn't really expect it since the other 3 kids got to go home. However, I trust and like our doctor very much. He also did my sinus surgery 18 months ago. He did say that if I felt she was doing really well she may be able to go home early.

Up to pediatrics ward we went. She was greeting with a sweet nurse, a balloon, a school bus bag and a sweet handmade pillow case for her to keep. She was excited. But not so excited as she started getting hungry and they would only allow her to have a clear liquid diet. ( That is only jello, juice, popsicles and broth. ) The first few popsicles were fine, but after that she wanted something else. Her pain was managed "okay" with plain Tylenol (and really has been since surgery). Finally, by 7, she still hadn't slept all day (since waking up at 10:15 or so) and I thought she was doing great, she was just starving. So, I asked the nurse to call the doctor and ask if she could go home that night. It of course took an hour to figure it out, but they did allow her to have a soft diet and I ordered her Mac N. Cheese, which she devoured....We got to go home about 8 that night. It was so great to go home. She had a bit of a rough night those first 2 nights, although not horrible. During the day she has played pretty much all day, but does complain of pain a bit here and there. Her biggest challenge has been she doesn't really want to eat, I don't blame her. But tonight I did take her out to do some Christmas shopping and we stopped and got some French Fries and she loved them. So I think her appetite is coming back, or the pain is getting less.

It has been a night and day difference in her recovery compared to my 2 boys and even her sister, who doesn't really complain when she isn't feeling well anyway. So I am thankful that we got it done now. Age really does seem to make a big difference for littles with surgeries. When they tell you that they bounce back quickly, they really do!! Even with Asher's palate repair back in June, he was playing the next day, although fussy here and there and had sleep issues.

On another side note, Asher is having another surgery January 9th for Lip and Nose Revision. It is an out patient this time and supposed to be an even easier recovery than the palate repair, But it will be an obvious incision for all to see and we will have to do some special things to protect it more and help it not to scar.

Worship and Consecration

We had an especially worshipful weekend. Eliza, Moriah and Lenea, 3 of our girls, have been taking worship dance and ballet this last semester. It is a wonderful dance school, that we had been a part of years ago for about 5 years. But due to the drive (it takes us about 40 min one way) and the busyness in our lives we had to stop for a time. However, Lenea has been begging me to take dance and I knew Eliza loved it when she took classes before, so we made the weekly sacrifice of driving and spending 4 hours while they each took their lessons every Friday. We plan to do it again this next semester and I hope it works out for the next year. I do know that with Elliana and Isaiah, it might be too hard to manage for some time, so we will see.

This last Friday was the Worship performance. It is always a huge blessing, and a time of sharing testimonies and giving God all the glory. I think I have watched about 8 of these performances and each time I am moved to tears of joy for God's glory. It really is an amazing time.

Here are some of my beautiful daughters worshiping Jesus.

 This was Dress Rehearsal and Lenea is our 4 year old, 2nd from the left.

 This was the actual performance and Lenea is the 3rd from the left. This group was so, so cute.There song was "God Is Good" by Marantha.

Here she is with the red rose her Daddy gave her. She was so excited to be a "real" dancer tonight and not just playing at home.

 Again, dress rehearsal for our 9 year old, Moriah. She is the left in the maroon skirt.

 Moriah, waiting for her turn to go at the performance with her other dancemates.
She is in the middle with the maroon skirt.

 Here they are worshiping to a full house, Moriah is the middle girl, standing a bit forward. Their song was, "So Good To Me", by Shout to the Lord Kids.

 Eliza, our 14 year old, she is doing her dress rehearsal here. She is the brunette in the front with hands stretched out.

 Here is the performance and Eliza is 3rd from the left. This group was large, with 15 girls and their dance was to "Never Underestimate My Jesus", by Relient K.

After LOTS of shopping yesterday grocery and Christmas, we had my mom over for her birthday dinner. Then today at church we had s special service dedicated to children and families. Our church is fairly young and evolving so they had never had a "dedication" of sorts for children. Today we got "caught" up. It will become a more regular event now, but today we had 17 families consecrating a total of 40 children to the Lord. Some of the children are in the home, some in the womb, some in other countries waiting to come home by adoption and some haven't even been revealed yet (families that are starting the adoption process but don't know whom their child will be).

It was a precious time. Our pastor gave a sermon on children and then the Consecration Service began.

We dedicated Lenea and Asher, whom we have not done publicly before now. And we also dedicated Elliana and Isaiah, even though they are yet to legally become our children and are still in China, we want to make known we think of them as our children today and promise to raise them in the admonition of the Lord, for His service and kingdom.

Here we are, with Elliana in the background while we Consecrate her to the Lord.

Lenea

Lenea's name is a version of a family name.. April and her mother both have the middle name "Lenee" (pronounced like Renee with a L beginning) which was derived from April's French Great-Great Grandmother with the last name Mar-Lenee. The meaning of  Lenee is "Light" or "beautiful Light"

Her defining attribute is: Prayerful Advocate
  
Her defining purpose: Lenea's defining purpose to be a light for the weak and helpless . 

Asher

Asher's name means joyful, happy. 

His defining attribute is: Joyful Strength

His defining purpose: Asher's defining purpose it to count it all Joy in the Strength the Lord has given him and be strength for the hopeless.


Elliana


Elliana's name means "God has answered".


Her defining purpose: Elliana's defining purpose is to Be God's Voice for the needy.


Isaiah

Isaiah's name means "God is salvation".

His defining purpose: Isaiah's defining purpose is to share the Good News of God's salvation.