Lots going on around here...lots of appointments, physicals for our homestudy, work to do on our rental house before we get new tenants etc.

Thought I'd share a very precious video with you while we're busy running around for our little Joseph.

Get your tissues ready...this really shows what a blessing a sibling with Down Syndrome can be!

Sorry for the lack of posting...our family life has taken on some exciting twists and turns lately and its kept me from having time to post.  More on the twists and turns later!
Here's a post I had hoped to "publish" several days ago...


    Joseph was born with Down Syndrome.  We are hoping to make him a part of our family so of course I've been reading up more on Down Syndrome.  I have a Special Education degree but honestly I focused more on other special needs in college and we really didn't cover much about Down Syndrome.  I've watched and read a lot about the attack against people with Down Syndrome but somehow the battle is more personal...this is our future son people are talking about.

In Eastern Europe, people with Down Syndrome are almost automatically dropped off in orphanages because of Down Syndrome.  Considered unteachable, unworthy of life, social outcasts.  Many orphanage workers do not think that anyone would adopt a child with Down Syndrome.

In America, 92% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted before they are even given a chance at life.  92%.  Yes, you read that right.  That would be why you don't see many individuals with Down Syndrome in your community...92% of them never made it into the world.

"The targeted elimination of people with Down Syndrome is in fact, the goal of the Obama administration and other countries that have adopted nationwide prenatal testing programs."
        - Mark Leach   Lifenews.com   9/12/2011

When we first started our journey into the hopes of adopting internationally, we knew we wanted to adopt a special needs child.  We wanted that opportunity for our family to give and love unconditionally and we also felt it was really important to send a message to the Eastern European countries that special needs children matter.  That they are worthy of love and in many cases can live very happy and fulfilling lives.

 As we have gotten further along in the process and we have had God call us to Joseph, we realize that this is not just an Eastern European issue that needs to be de-bunked.  Our country is in such a terrible state right now...where we "terminate" 92% of individuals that God has intended for our nation.  Our God DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES.  And we have chosen as a nation to think we know better.  I look around, and I very rarely see other individuals with Down Syndrome that should be Joseph's future friends, playmates and peers.  It breaks my heart.  But I know Joseph is going to be an amazing example in our community to the value of people with Down Syndrome.

We are pro-life.  We go as a family and pray outside abortion clinics, we go to pro-life rallies, we try our best to "represent" our pro-life beliefs to the world.  But pro-life also needs to be pro-adoption...we need to be a people that not only says that abortion is wrong and that every single life that God creates is valued but also that we are willing to open our homes to children not born from our own families and love them as God loves them.  Unconditionally. These "unwanted" children need homes! 

1 John 3:18 -  "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Our family is stepping out in faith and loving with "action and truth" and we could use your help.  Everyone's way of helping is different...some families step out into the deep and adopt, others do all that they can to help support families that are taking that plunge.  If you'd like to help, please let us know.  Adoption is a huge, huge undertaking.  But with God, and with his people working together to be His Hands and His feet, it is attainable.

May God abundantly bless you for all your prayers, support and encouragement,

Kimberly

checking it off our list...

Get our passport photos & paperwork done and mail it out....check.
Get our  FBI Fingerprints done and send them out to get our clearances done...check.
Work hard to bring our boy home...double check ;)

More good news...

Received an email from our agency this morning...our file was officially matched with Joseph at their committee meeting!  This just makes it all the more official!  Its pretty cool to know that Joseph's country knows who we are and that we're coming to get him!

 Now we just need to get pushing with all the paperwork for our Dossier...  Spent a long time on the phone with our agency contact figuring out how to do all the official things we need to do....man, international adoption is confusing if you've never done it before! 

Our puzzle fundraiser....we've had 14 puzzle pieces donated so far!  Thank you so very much to those that have played a part in helping to bring Joseph home. We have many more pieces to go!  If you donate for the puzzle, please email me so I know how many pieces to write your name on.  For more info. on our puzzle fundraiser, please click the top right hand picture of the puzzle pieces...thank you!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Joseph

Yesterday was such an amazingly good day for my heart.  Its such an emotional thing to explain.  Yesterday was special because I was given a gift.  The gift of knowing a little bit more about the son that is growing in my heart instead of under it.   Not really specifically about him, but about the town he lives in and which orphanage he is in.   I was able to look up what the area is like, what the orphanage is like.  And it gets even better...I was able to make contact with a wonderful Mom that brought her own little boy with Down Syndrome home from the same orphanage just 5 months ago.  I can't even begin to explain in words what this information and contact has done for me...I just can't put it into words.  Its not much about him specifically...but its something.  Its a little connection with his world.  It sounds so silly, but its crazy to be loving a boy that is yours in another country and having no idea what their life looks like.  The Mom I made contact with really blessed this Mama heart of mine.  She helped me see a little bit of what is to come.  I've been pouring over all her old posts from when she traveled in-country...it almost feels like a sneak peek into our future! 

So, I am happy.  Very happy.  So I figured we'd top it all off with a little video of our Joseph.  I've had this video for awhile.   I love this video...

Thank you for those praying and donating!  Please spread the word of our adoption of Joseph...feel free to take our Family Sponsorship Button from Reece's Rainbow and put it on your own blogs.  Post on Facebook...you name it!  Whatever it takes to bring our boy home.  We don't want him to spend any more time learning to cope on his own.  He needs to come home...

Blessings,
Kimberly

Our Family Sponsorship Button!

Not only are we on the "New Committments Page" on Reece's Rainbow, but we now have our Family Sponsorship Page Button!  So exciting!  Please feel free to take our RR button for Joseph and put in on your blog...we'd be so thankful!

 Also, if your wanting to donate to our puzzle fundraiser you can donate to either one...our chip-in is immediate funds to us but not tax-deductible and the Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship Button that is now on the left below our chip-in is tax-deductible and only available to us when we travel.  With our personal chip-in, we get the message of who donated and amount sent to us but I don't think we'll have that with the Reece's Rainbow button so please email me if you donate to that and want to be listed on a puzzle piece!

Thank you to all that have stopped by here to learn about our adoption...we appreciate so very much!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Our Puzzle Fundraiser!

We are doing a Puzzle Fundraiser to help bring Joesph home!

Here's how it works...

We need your help to take our puzzle from this....

to this...

We have made and ordered this 513 piece puzzle of a historical cathedral in our boy's country.  Each puzzle piece represents a $10 donation to bringing our little boy home.  Each time you donate $10 to our chip-in button, email me to let me know and we will put your name on the back of a puzzle piece.  If you are local, you can also write a check or use cash...whatever is easiest.  Each $10 donation is one puzzle piece.  Once all the pieces of the puzzle are accounted for and donated, we will put the puzzle together and frame it between two pieces of glass.  This way, our little boy will be able to see each person that personally donated to help bring him home.  It will be so amazing to see all the names of the kind people that made a difference in the life of this little boy.  Plus he will have a very special keepsake from his country.  Maybe we can even get a picture of all of us at this cathedral on our "travel to bring him home" trip!  

 Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone can do something...even if its just donating to a puzzle to bring a child a family of his own!

Don't forget to email me,, if you donate to our chip-in button and would like to be named on a puzzle piece! $10 one puzzle piece, $20 two puzzle pieces etc.   And yes, you can donate as many puzzle pieces as you'd like! We also have our Reece's Rainbow donation button up and running on our blog and any donations to that sponsorship page are tax deductible.  If you donate to our Reece's Rainbow page, please just let me know so I can write your name on however many puzzle pieces you have donated!   Please know that our chip-in button is funds that we can use for expenses anytime during this process but is not tax-deductible and the RR button will be funds that are only available when we travel for our first trip but ARE tax-deductible. 

Both our chip-in button and our Reece's Rainbow donation spots are located on the left hand side bar of our blog!

I will post updates on the how the puzzle is going and of course put up pictures of the finished project!
Your help is so appreciated!

Thank you!

Thank you for the warm welcome...

I just wanted to say "thank you" to those that have so kindly wrote us an email or posted a comment...and for all those that have stopped by this blog.  We have an amazing real-life friend that blesses lots of people in blog-land and she has blessed us by letting a few of her friends know about our adoption.  We will take all the prayers we can get :) It is so reassuring to know that others are praying for us as we dive head first into this adoption.

I keep having moments of fear where I stop and ask myself if I'm crazy and what were we thinking...fear that this is going to be too difficult.  But I know that we are not to be fearful...

2 Tim. 1:7  "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind..."

And I also know that God often calls the weak so that He can show His power...so, that explains why He called us :)  We definitely fall in the weak category :)

So, you all will pray ;) and we will stand upright before the Lord and walk this walk that He has called us to walk.  And we hope that many of you will stick around and walk along side us.

Thank you again.

Blessings,

Kimberly

Matthew 5:44

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
 - Matthew 5:44

In the adoption world, there tends to be certain individuals that go around hitting adoption blogs and spreading their hatred of adoption.  We have officially been initiated into the club.  And it's ok, but I always think that if we're not being persecuted for something, then we're probably not living our lives radically different enough to please our Lord.  So, unfortunately though, I have to moderate the comments to this blog.  That just means, that once you post a comment, I will get it and approve it as soon as I can so it will show it.  And if you are an adoption-hater, then I will be loving you and praying for you all the more.

  It's so sad...so many people with misconceptions about adoption.  That is because the evil one is the king of lies and he of course hates adoption.  Because it brings redemption and wholeness and saves the lives of God's most precious little ones...it encourages self-sacrifice and virtue in the adoptive family...all things God wants us to grow in.  It is giving up your life for another...to help another and of course he's going to hate that.  And so he sends out the troops to try to bring adoptive families down.

Please pray, my friends.  Please pray for all those working so hard to open their hearts and homes to children in need.  They need it ;)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Our Adoption

I've been trying for days now to write a Q &A post to try to answer all the questions we've been getting from family and friends about our adoption.  Most adopting families take for granted how the whole process works but I'm realizing that a lot of sweet people around us that are not at all familiar with adoption have A LOT of questions...we are still in the first steps of this long process, and do not have all the answers,  but I will try to give more info. over the next few weeks.

First, a cute little side view picture of our little guy!

  Most people seem to think that we've committed to a child so now we just need to go get him!  Wow, don't I wish it was that easy :)  We actually need to spend the next couple months finishing our homestudy.  We will also be spending the next 6 months compiling our Dossier, which is all the official stuff that needs to be put together and sent to his country.  This is a very long and tiresome process...lots of paper chasing to do.   Overall, this adoption will probably take about a year to complete. 

People have also heard that we have had our first homestudy visit so now the homestudy is over and we need to go get him.  Not that easy, either.  Yes, we've had an official homestudy visit but now we need to finish gathering up all the paperwork needed to finish our homestudy, do medical exams and also do 12 hours of online education- with homework and paperchasing....lots of studying up and making sure that we know what we need to know before our little man joins our family. 

Then there is all the fundraising that needs to happen in the midst of us running all over the place with errands and paperwork and official this-n-that.  Honestly, now that we're in the middle of all this, its hard to think about making time to do the fundraising.  Dan and I have been spending a lot of time trying to design a T-Shirt that we'll be selling here on the blog to help fundraise for this adoption.  We're also looking into doing a puzzle fundraiser where for every $10 you donate, your name or message gets written on the back of a puzzle piece.  Once we get all the puzzle pieces donated, we put the puzzle together and frame it with a glass back as a gift to our little guy when he gets home.  He can then flip it over and see all the amazing people the donated to help bring him home.  I'm still trying to find a usable photo of his country to make a puzzle out of.   I'm sure we'll be doing bake sales, yard sales...you name it.

Right now, we are learning how to get passports and FBI Fingerprints.  I've gotta get us all physicals and get the rest of our paperwork into our home study agency.

Please pray that we can get all of this done and still balance our lives and give time to our children here at home...its going to be very hard to manage it all.  But our little guy is valued and he is worth it.

Things you can do to help:  Pray.  Pray for our family and pray for our little man.  Spread the word about our adoption...the more people that know means the more support we have!  I will not turn down prayers or help of any kind!  If you feel called to help let us know!  You could collect loose change (we've done it for adoptive families), have a bake sale, have a yard sale, donate to our chip-in button on this blog, buy a shirt or a puzzle piece once their up here on the blog...

Its hard for me to ask for help, I'm really an introverted person, but this little boy is no less worthy of the love of a family that you or I.  The country and the culture that he comes from says that he's not worth anything...he's not wanted.  When you think of orphans, you think of only kids that parents have died, right?  Not in Eastern Europe...a lot of kids are orphans simply because they aren't good enough...their not perfect.  Kids with Down Syndrome have no place in society in EE.  Our little man was born with Down Syndrome.  And because of that he is abandoned to an orphanage and runs the risk of growing up and being transferred to a mental institution for life just because of his extra chromosome.  He needs a family.  He needs us.  And that means that our family is going to have to   adovocate for him.

Thank you for following along with us as we travel this road as a family.  We so very much appreciate your prayers.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Busy Day....

Quick post-

We are having a big double birthday celebration today....my oldest turns 10 and my little girl turns 5!
I can't believe I've been at this mothering thing for 10 years already.
Wow...it all goes so very fast.  Too fast.  Lots of celebrating to do today...

Hopefully I'll be back here tonight with photos...

And I've got Dan working on getting at least one of the videos of our little man on this blog as well...he's even cuter in motion ;)  And hopefully we'll stop calling him "little man" and give him a real name.  The kids are already calling him the top name that was in the running...I just need to give the official OK on it before announcing :)

Gotta go finish cleaning and decorating!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Adoption update and nature study...

Adoption update:

WooHoo!

We had our very first home study visit this morning.....phew... Done! Check!
So glad to have gotten that done.  We were nervous but it seemed to go fine.   Also spent quite awhile this morning on the phone with our international agency getting all our check lists squared away as far as what we should be working on right now.  We're in a rush right now to get all our commitment paperwork into our little man's country so they can officially recognize us as the adoptive family that will be coming to get him.  The agency says he's ours...now we just need to make sure his country realizes it, too :)

I'm all emotions lately...at any given time I could just start to cry...I kind of don't know what to do with myself!  We've prayed, we've discerned, we've stepped out in faith to welcome this little boy into our family and now my heart is getting all wrapped up with a child that will be far from my arms for a long, long time.  It's hard...I'm a Mother Hen kind of mama...and this is very, very different.  I'm going to learn a lot about fully trusting in God through this process...I can just tell.

So....on another topic, we had a bit of unplanned nature study going on at our house yesterday.
My kids begged me to post these photos...

Remember this guy?  We found him last November and tried identifying him.  This picture was taken in November.  I blogged about it back then.   We were pretty certain it was a Lunar Moth Caterpillar. 

We put him in a tank to watch for a little bit and he automatically went to work making a caccoon.  We knew they were endangered in some areas and a pretty special thing to find so we kept him in the aquarium hoping that he'd emerge in the spring.  We had started to think that he was never going to come out.  Until two nights ago, when Dan heard something banging on the aquarium in the school room.

173 Days later....that's practically half a year...this emerged....

Huge, amazing-looking moth but it didn't really look like the Lunar Moth caterpillars we'd since in field guides.  We did online searching and realized that we really had a Polyphemus Moth...in the same family of large silk worm moths but still a different kind.   It only flys at night and it only lives a short time.

So basically instead of having a quick school morning and cleaning my house for our first official adoption home study visit the next day, we ended up researching moths all morning.  And we just couldn't let her go without drawing her in our nature notebooks.  And then releasing her...

We just can't pass up nature study...its a favorite here at our house.

Blessings,
Kimberly