Seriously..............

I would like to introduce you to Daisey.

Oh
MY
YUMMY!

Daisey is just 1 year old..... she has beautiful thick black hair, olive skin and the deepest and darkest eyes ever.  She has some issues.....she will have life of mountains to climb.....she will require some serious medical attention, (which will most likely not happen in her birth country) she will need to be taught to do allot of things at a much more intentional and slower pace than most children her age AND she will NEED a family!  A Mommy and Daddy who can love her and show her how special she is..... how much she matters....how her existence is more than just laying in a crib or being propped up in a corner for the rest of her life.

to learn more about Daisey go here .

 

Ok What is it with me?

My husband just shakes his head......

my kids roll their eyes......

most people with good intentions gently remind me that my plate is full.

 

Seriously......

Why is it that my heart beats faster and my mind spins faster when I see a little one like Daisey who needs a family?  My eyes fill with tears.  My mind wonders why I can't add a few more rooms onto this house to bring a few more children here to be loved on and cared for and treated to the Love of the Father.  I cry over these children who wait..... I wish I could do more....

Oh Father show me what I should do!

I would do it.... as hard as it can be.... I would do it...IF He put it before me...I WOULD!

 

Seriously......

Why is it that I just can't seem to "get it"?

Why is it that I cannot seem to justify and rationalize the talk and chatter that I hear from so many.... just too busy

or

too old

or

too poor

or

 too unqualified to care for Daisey or any other child with special needs?

Seriously..........

 

Call me naive! Call me crazy! Call me (in the words of my mom) Out of my Everlovin' Tree!

I do not get it....

I do not understand what can possibly be SO hard to do to care for one of these children!

I know there are issues.... financial, medical, emotional.....but God does not call the equipped He equips the called..... but you have to ask, move and trust.....

NOPE! I do not have any children with "physical" special needs in my house at the moment.

YES I have twin boys with Cerebral Palsy coming home soon!

I do have a boy with tremendous special needs....emotionally and spiritually....it is hard

These days are hard....but at the end of the day when I can lay in my soft warm bed with blankets that smell like my mom's house used to......

I just cannot rationalize that Daisey and many many others with special needs will spend their lives living in an institution instead of with a family! 

WHY..... why can't we take a leap of faith...

why can't we just ask ourselves what we are really REALLY afraid of?

Why are we caught up in worrying about what we might "miss out on"? 

After all...... we were here first...we have worked our whole lives to get to this place of quiet..... peace.....grandchildren.....

Why oh Why would we ever dream of bringing another child in NOW?

Maybe we just simply "don't want to"........

Romans 15:2-4

We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.  For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

 

I know.... I know.....  not everyone can or should adopt a child....

I know.........

Seriously.....

If  you can.... would you consider seeking the Father for your answers...

If you cannot.....would you consider seeking the Father for how you can help someone else adopt or how to help someone else care for their adopted children.

Isaiah 1:17

Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.

 

Seriously............

We are in this together.... we are suppose to carry one anothers burdens....have their backs...... HELP!

Galatians 6:2

 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

 

 

What are you doing?

Seriously.........

 

In His Embrace,

laurie

 

 

Together 4 Adoption

Always wanting to know about the places where people gather to share their hearts, passions, dreams, trials and love for the orphan!

 

Together 4 Adoption is holding a conference in October!  Check it out here

 

on the home page of Together 4 Adoption!......

 

 

 

we need all of the help we can get to care for these precious to Him!

 

In His Embrace,

laurie

Schuenke Fundraiser and Farewell

It is with a bittersweet heart that we invite you to say farewell to our friends the Schuenkes as they prepare to leave for San Salvador to reach the lost, broken and Jesus needing people there!

 

 

 

Saturday, July 27   Join us in supporting the Schuenkes with

a Brat Fry/Car Wash 9am - 3pm

at the Express Gas Station

on the corner of Kensington and College Ave. in Appleton! 

 

Later join us for a Family Fun Night and Silent Auction at the Heart of the Valley YMCA from 5pm to 7:30pm

 

You can follow their journey here

Without A Miracle......

Good Morning!  We Have News!

Yesterday we received some news about our adoption of David and Jonathan!  It is good news!

We learned that on Monday our papers were submitted to the courts.  Apparently, we had received the approval of the Ministry of Justice and are moving to the next step. That step, as I understand it, is that we will have our papers submitted to receive a court date.  We do not have to be present for the court hearing but will be represented by our agency in country.  After the judge approves our adoption, there is a 7-10 day waiting period before the official decree is "in force".  THEN the biggy, we wait for the decision to be printed before we can travel. 
Yes, you read it correctly, we w....a.....i....t  for the decision to be printed!  

There is a "hitch"........ 

The courts shut down for 6 weeks beginning in August. 

 

Here is where the "miracle" comes in! 

 

We all know that August is right around the corner...much to our disbelief that 2/3 of the summer is about done, August is just about here!   With my calender right smack in front of my face, I can see very clearly that gives us just 10 DAYS to have done what has been taking 2-3 weeks for many families.  In the words of my patient and peaceful case manager....

Without a miracle you are looking at a mid to late Sept. court date and then pick up in                 October or beginning of November. If you manage to get into court before they close you would      pick up at the beginning of September.

 

I am thrilled to have this news.  We had been waiting 8 weeks without a word.  All along I truly have had a peace about the timeline of this adoption and honestly, it remains even today.

I believe with every cell in my body that this needed miracle to accomplish what seems  impossible to man, can absolutely be done by my Father in Heaven! 

Without a doubt He can make this happen. 

There is nothing that is too hard, too heavy, too much for Him to do! 

Most of us know this verse     

Matthew 19:26 

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

or this one...

 

Jeremiah 32:17

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

 

But here is the thing....... WILL HE?

 

 

For all of the questions... As we pray for answers and His will to be revealed,

I can only go to the ONE place I know will bring me the answers

The ONE place where I will find PEACE and TRUTH

 

HIS WORD!

 

I want to stand firm in my faith.

1 Corinthians 1:8-9

He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

I want to trust Him for all of it....for all of the questions... for all of the why's?  

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.

For all of the "how come they Lord? and why not us".

Deuteronomy 32:3-4

I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

 

My thoughts are not like His...

 Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

 

I do not see all that He has planned......

 Jeremiah 29:10-11

 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans

to give you hope and a future.

 

  

I know that even in this, even in the pain of this waiting and wondering part of the process, there will be good to come!  I know that God sees the right and perfect time for the boys to come home....

I will choose to trust Him for all of it...

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

 

I know my God is faithful and He can move mountains....

but even if He chooses not to...

 I will praise Him!

 

Psalm 71:21-23

You will increase my honor
and comfort me once more.

 I will praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
Holy One of Israel.
 My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you—
I whom you have delivered.

 

 

to Him be the Glory!

thank you for praying with us!

I will keep you posted!

In His Embrace,

 Laurie

T-Shirts For Travel!

Psalm 116:16-18  (NLT)

¹⁶ O Lord, I am your servant;
yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
you have freed me from my chains.
¹⁷ I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people— 

I am continually amazed and thankful for the different ways that God has and continues to provide for our needs.  When we said yes last September to bringing home David and Jonathan, we had no idea the impact this journey would make on our own personal relationships with the Lord.  We really just said yes in obedience to what God had put before us.  He has shown us his mighty hand in so many ways.  Obstacles that threatened to slow down or stop our journey were removed.   Barriers and roadblocks were blown away.  Prayers for guidance were answered with very clear instruction! Financial help and support were no exception to His provision with many wonderful gifts out of hearts moved to make a difference in the lives of two special little boys.

We are preparing for this final part of the adoption process to bring the boys home!  The nesting has begun!  We are cleaning out closets, putting cribs together, rearranging our bedroom to accommodate those 2 cribs and looking at the extras we will need to do every day life when our family becomes 7 on a daily basis. We have been here before with the twin supplies! 

We haven't even begun to talk about diapers!  Yikes! 

Our next chapter in this adoption story will come with a final price tag.  We are expecting to have about another $10,000 in costs to complete the process.  This will cover airfare, in country expenses and government fees and post adoption costs once we are back home.  We have done some fundraising, applied for grants, used our savings and financed what we could.  We have been brought to our knees in thanksgiving for the generosity of so many of you!  Thank you doesn't seem like enough to say.  Really, we are so thankful for all of the support in every way, that we have received!

 

We were blessed a month ago by a foundation that gives matching grants to families adopting children with special needs.  Brittany's Hope Foundation! We were able to raise $1,000 from t-shirt sales and a rummage sale and they matched it.!  THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US THIS WAY. We are so thankful for their help.... But the best part about their foundation is that part of the money raised goes to help others as well. "At Brittany's Hope, we resolve to aid the adoptions of special needs children and to improve the quality of life for those who still wait."  We have met our fundraising goal but please check out their website here!  It is a great foundation and way to support and care for the orphan!

We have also been approved for a new grant fundraising program called AdoptTogether.  Adopttogether is a 501c3 organization that awards grants to families through it's parent organization, Hoping Hearts Foundation.  The family that started this wanted to find a way to help families over the hurdle of adoption expenses. People can donate to a specific family and their donation will be tax deductible because of their 501c3 status.  I know many have asked if contributing to our adoption would be tax deductible.  At that time we did not have a way to channel the donations that way, but now we do through AdoptTogether! You can see our profile page here.  If you are willing, would you consider putting our link on your FaceBook page or Blog to share our story and help bring more awareness for the orphan.

 

It is with humble hearts that we come before you one last time to ask for help. We appreciate your support through prayer, through sharing our story with your circle of friends and through financial support as well.  We want to acknowledge that we are so thankful for all of the support we have already received and treasure all that we have been given straight from the hearts of so many!  As with Levi's adoption, we have followed the Lord's leading in asking for help. It is very humbling.  But it is not just about us learning humility, it is also about giving others the opportunity to join in Gods amazing work in the lives of these children.  Imagine knowing that you have made a difference in the lives of an orphan (or 2 or 3) and you have changed their lives forever and are a part of their salvation!  God calls us to be as one Body.... as believers we are one Body!   We have seen first hand how God moves in the hearts of His people to bring these children home.  People we don't even know!  Never be afraid to trust God to meet the needs of His plans for you! 

 

To help cover some of the adoption costs we are hoping to sell the remaining t-shirts! 

Fondly calling it our "T-shirts for Travel Sale"! 

There are just over 60-shirst left!

We would love to sell them all!

So to make a final push we are offering the shirts at a reduced price! 

JUST $10!!!!! OR 2 FOR $16!

We have mostly size large in grey and black!

 

Front and Back of Shirt

 

Ephesians 1:4-6                                    “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  It is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.  So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son!     If you would like to help by purchasing a t-shirt please email me here.   Please click on the AdoptTogether button to pay or here.  If you live far away from us and would like a t-shirt I am happy to help with figuring out shipping costs just shoot me include that in your email. If you have already purchased a t-shirt THANK YOU! We are thankful for all of the ways God has used this adoption to bring awareness to the cause of the orphan.  I hope to continue to advocate for those remaining...and help bring their families together.  Every child deserves a family!   This is our God! Psalm 68:5-6 (NLT)  Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy.  God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land love and blessings, roger & laurie 

 

 

What I Have Learned

So much I want to talk about... but tonight it is on my heart to talk about Levi!  Some of it may seem a little out of order... sorry... been sick and my head is a little fuzzy.  Hope you can read and understand my heart in all of it!

Isaiah 61:1-3

 

 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
    for the Lord has anointed me
    to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
    and to proclaim that captives will be released
    and prisoners will be freed.
² He has sent me to tell those who mourn
    that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger                            against their enemies.
³ To all who mourn in Israel,
    he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
    festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
    that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

 

 

 

As I started a new devotional book tonight, I prayed that God would give me the words to start this post.  He never fails to give me what I need!  When I prayed I asked him to give me the words that His people needed to hear.  Those words flew off the page for me tonight...and went straight to my heart. I will share them with you and then share why they are so important to me and our family.

 

The devotional book I am doing is about John.  The Beloved Disciple.  Here is what spoke to me..

"John was free to love because he was so utterly (love that!) convinced that he was loved himself.  We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.  1 John 4:16."  How differently would each follower live if we characterized ourselves above all else as the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ?

 

Amazing.... really amazing because it is an answer to a question on my heart for several weeks now, probably longer but only really nagging at me lately. 

So what is the question? 

The question is..... 

How is it that a child can be so extremely hurt and damaged and disregarded so much that he cannot believe that he is actually worthy and loveable?

 

Our Levi works so hard..... he really does.   We are continually, day in day out, working on building our bond and attachment so that it will penetrate him so deeply that he will only know our love.....and through that love he will know the love of the Father! To never ever- EVER- doubt that he belongs with us, that he is valuable, that he is smart, that he is capable, that he can make mistakes and still have supper, that we will love him even if he messes up and that we will Never Ever send him back!

 

We were talking yesterday and I realized that it has been 1 year since Levi started to share his life with us.  His life of pain, torture, abuse in every form and the life of fear he has lived for so long. I am completely proud of and amazed by the perseverance this little boy has.

Only now, after 1 year, am I able to really see this life of his for what it is.  Well what it was.... He was "owned" by his abusers.  He has a bond with them that still haunts him to this day. We fight for ownership of this little boys life!  I believe that God has his heart....

I believe that God has claimed him for his own.  

I know God is at work....  

We praise the Father who does all things well!  We see the softening of Levi's heart.  Before when he would get mad or not want to talk about the painful things it could take hours to get to a place of calm and conversation. Now we can see it unfold in a matter of minutes.... not only in his mind, but we can see his whole body soften, especially his face!  His eyes begin to shine and sparkle and he is ready.  He is beginning to 'reason' things out in his mind.... the "part of his brain that was not connected, because only the "fear and physical" part of his brain would respond, is now at work!!! Thank you Jesus!  He is making strides. We see it and we see his feelings for us growing as well.  We see this little "captive being set free" all because of Gods love.

I am going to be totally honest here....One of the things that I fear the most is that in my moments of craziness when I don't have any self control, my own behaviors will cause him to be afraid of me! What if one of the times I loose it and yell he totally thinks I am just like those who hurt him before?  What if that time I was so angry because he flat out told me NO, I got into his face and actually spit on him while I scolded him.  Only by God's grace can I walk away.  He can push my buttons like none of my other children. It can be hard to parent a child who is so strong willed and so determined not to let you in.

While it is sometimes hard in the moment, I have to remember that he comes from a place where he never knew..... never experienced the love of a mommy who held him for hours because he was scared or hungry or sick.  He has never known love.

He doesn't know how to love!

He just doesn't. 

So the words from our Father tonight in my devotional answer so many questions and doubts....

My job is really very clear.

He needs to be convinced that he is loved....and then he will "love freely". 

He needs to trust us before he can love us. 

 

I am sorry but the truth is we cannot expect love to heal all of our adopted children's  wounds and take their pain away.  We all have good intentions, we are "idealistic and romantically" in love with the children God has for our family.  But we cannot and should not, fool ourselves into thinking that changing the scenery and their wardrobe will magically be the band aid their broken hearts need. While those things are great these children have  wounds that go all the way back to their time in the womb. Children from lives of trauma need to feel safe before they can love.  Before they can feel safe and let their guard down, they need to trust you and THAT takes a long time.                    But it is so worth it!

Some of what I have learned....

love is more than a hug and kiss at night in a warm bed without bugs and predators

 

if a behavior seems strange to you... it probably is... ask questions!

 

evil people are more intentional about doing evil than good people are about doing good

 

for children who have been hurt in any way, safety and trust are what they desire the most

trust. takes. time.

 

being loved is not the same as being able to love

 

God has chosen the perfect child for your family and the perfect family for his child

 

never ever give up! you never know how close you are to a victory

 

you must accept the grace God freely gives you and then freely give it away

 

we are always learning

 

 

In His Embrace, laurie

 

p.s.  did you notice our new gadget....more on that tomorrow!