Wondering why no blogs???

Have you been checking in and seeing no blogs? Well there is a simple and not great reason why there has been a dearth of words from this side of space.

I am too mentally besieged with things to process that blogging has fallen to an all time low priority. So very sorry for those who have been such great readers.

So, just because you have been so faithful in waiting I will give you an update.

The unemployment thing continues to drag on ad naseum ....... causing my previously mentioned mentally besieged state. If I am not in prayer begging God for daily mercy to cover our need then I am trying in vain attempts under my own power to make something out of nothing. Please pray that the health program that we applied for to cover the kids would get going very soon. Right now we have done everything in our power to stockpile and safeguard but with all the special medical needs of our dear ones we NEED medical coverage.

We have a court date for Sweetpea's first adoption hearing, May 19th. Wow and wow. It cannot come soon enough and now that it is upon us I am nervous for it. This is the hearing that will terminate her first adoptive parents' parental rights, and then they will have no more say over her life. If all goes as expected we will then have to wait another 6 months and more social worker visits and reports before the final court date to make her forever and always a part of our family.

Speaking in that vein we are experiencing a wonderful phenomenon where we can see all her growth in these past 5 months and rejoice in it. How? you may ask. We have brought a fifth child into our home for a short stay. She is an 11 year old girl who was adopted from China 4 months ago but her single mother is struggling with this adoption. We know this family a little bit and were able to offer to take the child for respite care while the mother gets some rest and regathers her strength.

This lovely, vivacious child can wear a body thin in no time flat. She has a lot of the same behaviors that Sweetpea had when she first came home. Sweetpea just looks at me like I've lost my marbles that I am allowing such behavior in this other child that I would not have allowed her. The big difference is that I am not this other child's other and so I simply am providing basic care for her, but for Sweetpea I am her MOTHER and that is an entirely different kettle of fish - for this child I would climb to the moon.

My sweet husband and I were sitting together last night and marvelling at the changes that have overcome Sweetpea and I think I will detail some here for you as well:

• she no longer thinks about life in terms of how much everything costs
• she eats much less and is much happier about what she gets to eat and doesn't fuss as much about what she doesn't get to eat
• she no longer talks about going back to the Philippines or to Singapore
• she has learned to run, awkwardly but steadily
• she can show genuine concern over the error of her ways
• she can show true compassion
• she is learning to read expressions and emotive language, and rightly interpret them
• she is able to be content with not having to compulsively talk and or move
• she listens more
• she tells me when she is sad
• she prays and asks Jesus to help her become like Him

What a great progress report for only 5 months of being in our family. God has been so good to us.

And they sang......

One of the highlights from March was a benefit concert that the kids participated in to help orphans, mainly in China. They worked diligently to learn the song for the "Adopted Children's Choir" which performed during the benefit. The whole night was a great success, realizing much awareness brought to the plight of the older orphans still living in China and their need to be loved and cared for, and ultimately to have the chance to be adopted into a family. It also raised a lot of contributions towards a summer camp that reaches out to these same orphans and gives them a respite from institutional living for several weeks every summer, all run by volunteers mostly from the US. Yet, I think the highlight of the night was the children's performance when they marched on stage in their colorful costumes and proudly represented their birth heritages. It was simply delightful.

March 16th - Fourth Month Milestone

When the older kids were small I loved counting their ages in months. Now that I have bigger kids new to the family I love to count their coming into our family by months too. It helps me keep perspective otherwise I am apt to fall into greater expectation on the newest treasure than can be borne. It also gives me a moment to pause and reflect on what God has done over the time we have been together. I have found myself not being able to recall memories correctly because I cannot locate Sweetpea inside of them. Of course she was not in the memory as she was geographically elsewhere when that memory was made but it just shows me that my heart has begun that shift of "knowing and being known" that happens when you bring a child into your heart through adoption.