Adoption is NOT for the faint of heart~

Over the last few months, we have been doing a lot of updates and renewals with our home study and immigration paperwork.  This has not been easy.  We had another updated HS with Peggy on April 16th, 2013.  She sent the update into AGCI, and we had a few bumps with getting it back... now, I have to call immigration to extend our expiration date to avoid having to pay an update fee.  This is just the surface of what has gone on...no one's fault in particular, just a bump in the road.  It's frustrating, time consuming, and I just wish we had Sophie here with us. 

I happened to meet Kelly Rumbaugh, the creater of Lady Bugs n Love website.  She was able to help me place a call to an orphange in China last week on a referral.  We were able to connect thru an email, and she felt my heart thru the email.  She has adopted 8 kids from China, and referred me to her post on her blog...

"Adoption is not for the faint of heart. Adoption is a gamble. Adoption has many unknowns and you have to be willing to accept it.  I don't feel it should be this way, but we enter into adoption knowing it will happen this way.

When you are adopting, think of these few things...
- I will love my child no matter what.
- I realize there may be more issues to handle than what is in the file.
- I realize these children did nothing to make them the way they are...they were born into an unfortuate situation and given less than they deserved for whatever period of time they were without a family.
- You cannot control many of the unknowns of adoption.
- You can prepare yourself as much as possible by educating yourself about the effects of being in an institution.
- Your child is not cured just because they have had surgery.
- You can prepare yourself by realizing that bringing a child into your family thru adoption will be very hard. It is not rescuing the child and making everything ok. It is taking them from everything they know and removing them from what they feel is security and home. It will take a long time for them to acclimate to your home, family and our country.
- Your family may go thru some rough times and it affects the other children in the home as well.
- Your trip to get your child will be exhausting and full of difficult times. It's not a vacation.

Once you wrap your brain around all of this...Strap your big girl panties on and stand tall...
- You are about to do one of the hardest things in your life with the biggest blessing on the other side.
- You are about to be the hands and feet of Christ to a child.
- You are about to show others the possibilites of infinite love for a child even if they are not "yours."
- You are about to show other in your family, church and community what unconditional love is."

I don't think it could have been said better.

The Year of the Snake~

We have come to a new Chinese New Year, the year of the Snake! Again, this year, we ate a Chinese Food dinner in honor of the holiday.

This 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. The 2013 year of Snake is the Water Snake. Water Snakes are lucky with finances, they always seem to have money flowing their way. They are adventurous spirits and love to take risks. They are also very intelligent and often a wellspring of creative ideas.