Do Something Specific-Caution Truth Ahead

I am calling my friends and family to do something, it doesn't have to be big, The great thing about doing something small is that when enough people do it, it ends up being BIG!!
The truth is most people don't want to know the truth. There are children dying. There is noone to take care of them, their countries are poor, we are rich, You may not think you are rich, trust me, if you are reading this you are rich. And if you're like me and most Americans you are spoiled. Children are helpless. When they are put into a crib for so long that their body is bent and stiffened, they are helpless. When they are put into a mental institution at the age of 4, they are helpless. When there is not enough food, they are helpless. When there is noone to change them out of their own excriment, they are helpless. And you can help, don't tell me that you can't.

To tell you the truth I'm feeling a little angry. First off Gary and I never set out to save a children, we don't feel like we have saved Anastasia, and we don't feel like we are saving Ella. However, the fact is if Anastasia was still where she came from, she would be in an institution. With no hope. I think maybe when I say institution you are picturing something a little different than what the reality is.Maybe you are picturing a playground, I mean, it might be an institution, but they are children right? My children like playgrounds.

I'm not being dramatic. This is an actual playground, at an institution, where a dear fellow adoptive parent rescued her 6 year old son. You would not believe what this family went through to bring their child home, it is not normal practice to adopt from the institutions. Normally that means the end of hope for finding a family. Can you imagine the end of hope looking like this?

No? This is a beautiful child of God. And if you want to read how God softened hearts and moved mountains to get him here, go read here http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

His mother now has a passion like noone else for the lost boys. She has seen what you and I cannot imagine. What we think just does not exist, it couldn't, right?

So, what am asking of you in specific? Help save a Lost Boy. Actually my prayer is that his Mommy and Daddy can get to him before he is sent to the institution. He has turned 5, they are traditionally sent at 4. Some of the baby homes will hold on to them as long as they can, can you blame them? They are helpless.

This is Brian, Oh bestill my heart, he is precious. My heart wrenches at the thought of him in that institution. And that is where he will be if his parents don't get there quickly. Why is it Brian that pulls on my heart to badly? Because he is in the same baby home with our Ella. They may play together. They may eat together. When we were chosen for Ella, my heart cried for Brian, I wondered "why were we not chosen for him" He is so close to becoming lost.

The picture above is where he will go. To join that group of lost boys. One so small that the caregiver has to hold his hand so he doesn't wander away to explore. And some to big, they look like grown men, well they are.
Do you see that tiny boy holding the woman's hand in the back of the  line? That was Brian's buddy, he was lost, sent to the insitution. He was lifted up in prayer, by people who would not forget, and people gave, because they could feel and know the realness of this. That is Brady, and his Momma has found him, he will not be lost anymore. I don't want Brian to take his place, I don't want him ever to be lost.

Still does not seem real to you? Do you know me personally? Do you Anastasia? She would have been lost. Did she not deserve better, would she not have been worth it?

So very specifically I ask you to go here http://missyb-itsawonderfullife.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-our-little-brian-please-pray.html to Brian's Momma's blog.
Go to the chip on the right that says "For Paperwork" pray about what you can give, and do it.
Brian's family needs the money to get a very important piece of paperwork taken care of, the process is halted until they can mail that in. Minutes are hours, and days are years for Brian.
                    **Please when making donations make sure to go to the one that says "paperwork" the other chip in is for money that can only be used when they travel to get their boy**

Yea!!!

We got word several days ago, on my husband's birthday, that our Ella is clear for international adoption!!!
And (country) is reopening for submissions the second week in Feb!! Of course that is pending all the crazy votes that are happening. But I have a good feeling, We are slotted to submit our paperwork Feb 10th, yippee!!
So, of course everyone's next question is when do you get her?
1. We submit our paperwork, God willing, Feb 10th
2. Wait for a travel date, it is usual to receive your travel date 2-3 weeks after you submit
3. The travel date is usually 2-3 later
So, best case scenario we would travel in March, have her home in April
To say we are excited is an understatement!

I'm Baaaack

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

 I know I disappeared on you for a while, I was here, just really didn't feel like posting. This adoption has been a crazy emotional ride. There have been more than one bill in the parliament that has threatened to close down adoptions in the country we are adopting from. Rumors, highs, lows, just craziness. I really don't know what to tell people when they ask how our adoption is going. Because at any given moment I don't really know. At this point in time it's looking a little more postive, that could change any minute, the life of international adoption. I was definitely shielding  myself emotionally.
So, for the past month and a half I've just been enjoying my kiddos, hubby, and getting ready for Christmas.
Once the holidays, are over, I need to either mail or take several documents to Atlanta to apostilled, then mail them to our country facilitators. These are the docs that will be more than 3 months old at the beginning of February when they hope to submit us.
But really, we are doing great here. We got to visit some close friends and family for Thanksgiving and we are enjoying a great laid back Christmas at home with the kids.
I'm going to be be doing some advocating/informational posts on different types of special needs adoption.
If I have this mode of communication I might as well use it! So if your not one of my adoption world friends (man I love those ladies) Then check back next week. Even if you are not interested in adopting, maybe someone you know is, or maybe there are other ways you can help, or just come to learn.

Blessings!

Our adoption processes have brought a lot of blessings in my life. One of the huge ones being the online community of adoption folks. Through blogs and forums I have met some of the best people. One of them being my online friend Laurie. She volunteered to help us sell t-shirts. Through that one of her family members, Christine, was lead to our blog. Christine feels lead to help us with raising money for our adoption. How wonderful is that? That someone I don't even know will take the leap of faith to help us out, not only with our adoption, but with spreading the word about special needs adoption. She has become a consultant with the company 31, she will be donating all the proceeds she makes this month to Ella's adoption!
I ordered a skirt purse from there several years ago, and I got so many compliments on it. Let me tell you their stuff has gotten even cuter. If you are not familiar with 31, go check it out. It is a great place to get a gift for that hard to shop for person. I got my Grandma a travel bag from there, monogrammed with her name, several years ago. She still raves on about it!
So go to Christine's website and check it out!
http://www.mythirtyone.com/cwickline/
If you want to place an order make sure you email her and let her know it is for Ella cwickline1@sbcglobal.net

Blessings and Oops

You didn't think I was really going to be back to post today did you!
First of all my oops. I failed to notice that on the preview they sent of our shirts that our blog address is wrong on all of the grey shirts and all of the black shirts. Yep, I put together 17 packages of shirts to mail out without noticing. Attention to detail-NOT ME! Everyone loves the shirts, anyways! I have gotten nothing but rave reviews on them, they are super cute and very soft and comfy!! If you're interested in doing a fundraiser, you can have them done in almost any country even the United States!! For all those brave folks who do foster adoption or infant adoption!! Go to http://www.mycrazyadoption.com/ She sells the rights to use the design, 50.00 is really minimal for the great profit margin you get on the shirts, and she does great things, go support her! The printing company that sells the shirts at cost for these designs is http://www.creatordesigns.com/, if you purchase the 50.00 fundraiser kit from Kari then she will give you the contact information to contact the printing company. They will make a preview of what your shirt will look like. Make sure you read all the previews to make sure your design is correct::-)
We still have shirts available, I ordered extras. I will do my best to post the actual pictures of the shirts and what sizes we have available tonight!!

Blessing, Signs, and Oops

Adoption brings about huge God moments. I'm not joking, or trying to speak Christianese to you. God has sent me the most AWEsome signs while going through adoption, and anyone who has gone through this process knows that is the truth. I have felt so discouraged since finding out we have to wait till Feb to submit for Ella, and now there is an impending vote that has passed a preliminary vote and will be voted on again anytime as soon as this week through spring. It would stop adoptions from the country we are adopting from. Not permanently, but for months.
Since we won't submit till Feb, we have to redo most of our paperwork, nothing can be more than 6 months old.
I know that God's timing is perfect, but I have to remind myself of that everyday, sometimes every minute. I am not usually this down about things, I am usually a cup half full kind of person.
I prayed last week in church, not that I haven't prayed about the situation everyday, but prayer just seems so much more powerful when your standing in church. "Please Lord, I need a sign we are supposed to be doing this, some encouragement would be great. Not sure what kind of sign you could send, you have sent so many, but my heart feels desperate"
We were hopeful to recieve some new pictures of Ella, there was a family adopting from her orphanage, however upon arriving in the country, the girl they were supposed to adopt was not available. Things worked out for them and the child, but it was very hard on them at first. And that voided the possibility of anyone checking on Ella for us during this wait.
Last week Anastasia told me she had a dream about Ella. Usually Anastasia has bad dreams (sad I know) She said we had gotten Ella and she was sooo cute and we loved her sooo much. She said at the end of her dream her, Ella, and Jesus were in an elevator. I asked if she talked to Jesus. She said no, because in her dreams she can't control what happens. But she took a couple more bites of her cereal and turned to me over her shoulder and said, "I think Jesus was there to help Ella"
Enough said, right?
This post is long enough I will post about the rest tomorrow!

Moving on Up

Our Thermometer that is...
So far we have made 350.00 with T-shirt sales, but I ordered extras and intend to make more than that.
We had some generous people donate in addition to buying T-shirts, or donating instead of buying T-shirts, adding 160.00!
AND we were able to save 500.00 out of our paychecks this month.

All that narrows the gap by .... $1010.00!!

Making the amount we still need

8,679.00

I'd like to add that the 350.00 in T-shirts sales, reflects the fact that I already paid the bill to the T-shirt company. My goal on the T-shirt sales is 1,000.00 So we only need to sell 26 more shirts to make that happen. Because from here on out the T-shirts are all profit, since I paid the bill out of our sales.