One Year Ago

A year ago Scott and I were in Ukraine.  Yesterday was the one year anniversary of us meeting Sasha (when I think back on that time, I can only think of Benjamin as Sasha!) and Vitalik.  The boys were brought into the director's office with us, their teachers, our facilitator, the orphanage doctor, the social worker, and the director.  She told the boys in what seemed to us to be very harsh Russian, that we were here to adopt them.  It was blunt and cold and for the boys, completely out of the blue.  Sasha reacted with tears and fear and Vitalik reacted with (what we now realize) was a very confused smile.  This is our first picture of the boys after we met them.

So many emotions for both boys.  In today's entry from last year in my journal I wrote extensively about our first real lengthy visit.  Sasha had made a complete commitment to being adopted and was so happy to spend every minute he could with us.  With Vitalik, looking back, we should have been able to see it would not end well for our adoption of him.  He was withdrawn and kept his distance from us.  Still today, it is hard to remember how it went with him.  We were not the family he had dreamed of and it is still something we grieve even today.  Our thoughts and prayers and hopes of a good future for him are ever present.

Sasha, however, is home and doing amazingly well.  He is absorbing information faster than I can imagine.  We learned about Abraham Lincoln a couple of weeks ago and he thought Abe sounded like a really cool guy.  Now when we see a tall man, he exclaims, "Ah, Abraham Lincoln!"  It also dawned on me when I was saying 'Hey Diddle Diddle' with Ellie, that he had never heard it, or any other nursery rhyme I could think of to tell him.  His look of delight at hearing them was priceless.  We have so very much to catch up on!  We still have hard days here and there, but way more good days than bad.

I am very excited to tell you about the family who the proceeds from the first month of our jewelry sales will go to.  Here is a little of their story:

Craig and I have been blessed with 4 amazing children McKenna 19, Levi 17, Elias 13, and Dylan 11.  It has been my desire for several years to bring another child into our home through the blessing of adoption.  It wasn't until the fall of 2013 after a dear woman came to our church and spoke of the orphans in Ukraine and their desperate need for a forever home that we decided this is our time.  This is our son.  Edic is a 14 year old Ukrainian orphan with a sweet disposition and never ending smile.  We feel this young man has done far more for our family than he will ever know.  This journey has brought us to our knees and ever closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our faith has deepened as we fully rely on Him to bring our precious child home.  In Ukraine, children age out at the age of 16 and are no longer available to families in America.  We desperately hope to bring him home soon.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me."  Matthew 25:40

I met Pam online last year while I was in Ukraine and we have been talking ever since.  I am so excited about their adoption drawing close and am thrilled to be able to help them in a very small way.  In honor of Edic, I am making a few of these necklaces and they will be on my Etsy shop in a few days or feel free to contact me directly about one.  You can order one with or without the heart charm.  Anyone who is interested in buying one, know that all the proceeds will go towards this family's adoption process.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @leastofthese127 and check out our etsy shop at Lot127.  All proceeds will go to help support vulnerable children.

Time for a Name Change

Perhaps you noticed that I have changed the name of our blog.  Our old title was outdated and no longer applicable.  So moving forward, you can find us at thislittleblogofmine127.blogspot.com.  I plan to continue blogging about our ever-changing family, books I am reading, orphan care, adoption, fostering, and our new venture.

Scott and I have a passion for orphan care and we feel like it is a God-given passion for both of us.  We are always asking Him, "What next?"  David Platt says we should give our lives to God as a blank check.  And that is what we try to do.  It has taken us in many different directions; fostering, adoption, church ministry, community ministry, advocating for orphans and foster children, etc.  It is all for His glory.  All because we have prayed to break our hearts for what breaks His.  We have done things we would have never dreamed of on our own.  Gone to uncomfortable places and gone through uncomfortable things.  And we have never been more fulfilled or happier.  We feel like we are living in God's will for our lives.

Now we feel like the 'next' thing has been laid on our hearts.  It seems like a small thing to many but it is something that makes me feel very awkward, nervous, uncomfortable, you name it.  I love making jewelry.  I hate selling it.  I hate marketing it/myself.  It leaves me feeling vulnerable like nothing else I have done.  I did it to raise funds for our adoption last year because it was necessary.  But I have felt for some time now that God is leading me to make jewelry as a way to raise money for orphan care.  So that is what I am doing.  I am busy designing, making, setting up the new Etsy shop, Instagram account, changing the name of the blog, and connecting all of these social media (thanks Ali for all the help!)  The proceeds will go to families in the process of adoption and to organizations involved in orphan care and orphan prevention/family preservation.  We are stepping into the world of business (yuck!) and hoping and praying that God blesses our obedience and effort for the sole purpose of allowing us to do more to further His kingdom.

So if you will, check out our instagram account, @leastofthese127, follow it, and share it.  (I am planning a promotional give-away soon!)  The more exposure it gets, the better.  The new etsy shop is called Lot127.  I am adding things daily to both of these.  And please, keep it in mind as you start your Christmas shopping!  Help us make a small ripple in the world of caring for vulnerable children.

Blue Lights

How has it already been a month since my last post?!  Goodness, so much has fit into so little time.  We still have our new little guys.  There have been some big adjustments; urinating in the bathtub instead of the toilet, rages at school, threats of the alternative school - yes for 5 and 6 year olds; what?...just keeping it real.  It has been a roller coaster for sure.  And then of course our oldest, Emileigh graduated from physical therapy school, moved home (in the midst of the craziness) for 3 weeks, and has moved on to her first job in Indiana.  Caroline moved back to Mississippi State University for her second year of college, Ali swooped in for one day from Rhode Island on her way back to school in Arkansas, and Collin and Elizabeth are plugging away in their happily-married-bubble.  :)  Whew.  I think that is all.

Oh yeah, and then came Sunday.  The new boys are learning how to gel with Jocelyn, Ellie Grace, and Benjamin.  They all run and play together and are acting more and more like siblings.  So Sunday afternoon they are all playing and one accidentally slams a door on another's hand.  One of the fingers was bleeding and we had concerns that the finger was broken.  We made the decision to play it safe and run him to the emergency room for an x-ray.  Long story short, it was not broken.  The ER doctor bandaged the finger, gave him some pain meds and sent Scott and T on their way to Sonic for consolation slushies.  After all coddling and attentiveness Scott just spent on this kid, they pull into the driveway, and T sighs and says, "I love Mama."  Gotta love it.

I, being the ever-diligent foster mom(I hope this reads as sarcasm), email our case worker with the details of what happened along with the doctor notes from the ER thinking that was the end of that.  Hahahahaha.  She emailed me back Monday morning to inform me that it was required that she report us to the child abuse hotline.  And that there could possibly be an investigation into the 'matter.'   Really. For a squished finger.  Obviously, I was a little upset and called Scott at work to let him know what was happening.  A few hours later, a sheriff's car pulled into our driveway.  I was shocked that a deputy would be sent to question the boys.  I walked out to meet her and it turned out that she was only delivering standard court papers for our boys.  Always before, these type papers had come via the mail, but whatever.  Benjamin has been a little afraid of law enforcement since we have been home, understandably so with him being from Ukraine.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to introduce him to a deputy and after I explained his situation, I asked her to talk to him for a few minutes.  She was great and talked to him and then showed all the kids her car.  They wanted to see her blue lights on so she asked me if that was ok.  I told her of course!  She said sometimes people are concerned about what their neighbors would think but I told her ours already think we are crazy so go for it.  As soon as she flipped them on, here comes Scott pulling into the driveway, with a sheriff's car sitting there, with the blue lights on, with all of us standing around her.  He also immediately thought it had something to do with the report to the hotline so was greatly relieved to see us all smiling and getting a 'tour' of her car.  What a day.

We still have not heard anything further about the report or about an investigation.  Also, the squished finger is doing well.

Stay tuned.  I am hoping we have big news around the corner.

Life Moves On

A lot has happened in the past week.  Benjamin turned 12, his first birthday with our family.  It was a fun day filled with church, lunch with the grandparents, gifts, swimming, and grilling hot dogs.  Many of his favorite things!

He said it was the best birthday ever.  We had a great time watching him enjoy it!

Then the kids and I went away to Lake Tiak-O'Khata for some much needed family time.  The kids had a blast swimming and sliding and jumping off the diving boards.

We are all still missing our foster kids who went home last week but it was good to have some time just for us.  We got home and had a fun-filled couple of days with a blow up water slide in our back yard.  The kids had so much fun sliding and playing with their friends.

Then we got the call.  Two precious boys needed a home.  We thought we would need a longer break but something about this placement just seemed right.  We prayed about it and felt like this was our next step.  Within a few hours, we had moved Jocelyn and Ellie Grace upstairs and transformed their old room into a little boy's room in preparation for these little guys.  They are 5 and 6 years old so they are sandwiched right in between our girls.  We now have a 4, 5, 6, 7, and 12 year old at home.  Fun times!

We told Benjamin that we were getting some more children and that they were boys and he said, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!"  He still makes us laugh all the time.  They arrived on Thursday afternoon, scared and unsure of what was happening.  There were lots of tears and efforts of consolation.  I think it is all still fresh enough for Benjamin that he could empathize with them and he was great with them.  The water slide was a huge help in drawing the boys out and getting them interacting with our kids.  The boys are great kids.  Always, there is a transition period and we are in the midst of that so prayers are appreciated.  The boys will start school this next week in our school district so there are many changes happening in their world.  We are doing our best for them but much of the time we are just fumbling along.  So many times in the past four years, I have lamented that I did not take any child psychology classes in school!  Please pray for these boys as they make their way through this new situation and for us as we do our best to help them navigate through it.

Four Less

Our foster children have gone home - reunited with their parents.  They have been with us almost 5 months and to say that we have grown attached to them is an understatement.  We love them and care deeply for them and their absence is a great loss.  We have seen the baby learn to smile and laugh and sit and crawl and eat cereal.  And we have seen many firsts as well with the older kids.  They were both a challenge and a joy.  Our home is eerily quiet without them here.  People tell us (and all other foster parents) that they could not foster becaue they would get attached.  Well, that is kind of the deal.  That is one of the sacrifices of fostering.  You hurt for the kids.  You pray for the kids and their safety.  You get attached.  You laugh with them and you cry with them.  It is painful.  We have cried many tears and I am pretty sure, even though they wanted to go home, the kids have some pain in the separation as well.  But the kids are worth all of it.  They deserve someone to love them while their family pulls it together.  We did our best for them while they were with us and now we will pray for them - that they will be safe and loved and well cared for and that someone will continue to tell them how special they are.
The kids were gone from our home 24 hours ago.  We have gotten two calls asking us to take two different placements in that time.  Two sibling groups who need someone to care.  Our extra beds are still warm and we could have them full again tonight.  The need for more foster parents is so great.  The process to get licensed is excruciating and frustrating....but the kids are worth it.  The process of dealing with all the extra people who are suddenly thrust into your life (social workers, case workers, therapists, doctors, etc.) will try your desire for privacy and your patience.  But these kids need someone.  They have done nothing to be in the position of being without a home and parents.  They are innocent in the train wreck that is their lives.  Their stories are heart breaking.  If any of these kids were standing on your door step and telling you their story, I think most of you would scoop that child up and bring them in and care for them.  Well, these kids are standing on the doorsteps of our communities.  They have no voice to ask for help.  Yet they need it desperately.  Your age (as long as you are over 21), your marital status, and your wealth or lack thereof do not matter.  Do you have running water?  Do you have electricity?  Do you have the ability to provide a bed and food?  The requirements are pretty basic and believe it or not, the kids will be so excited to have these very basic things.
I try not to write, for public consumption anyway, when I am so emotional.  But this is too important to sugar coat or file away.  I see it every week.  I hear it every week.  There are kids who need you.


P.S.  I want so badly to include scripture but do not want to appear to be any more on my soapbox than I already do.  It does not take much searching of scripture to see how important the weak and vulnerable are to God.  He cares about these kids with no voice.  He expects us to be that voice.  We are instructed to be imitators of  Him.  I think He is grieved as these kids are sent to group homes instead of into Christian families.  It is our responsibility as Christians to take care of the least of these.

Summer, 2014

I have not blogged since May - since I posted about Radik - because it has been very hard to write about the fact that no families have moved forward with adopting him.  Even though it was a long shot, when the blog views got up to 2000, my hopes went up as well and it is hard to accept the fact that our efforts did not work.  It is too late for anyone from the U.S. to adopt him but Canadian citizens still have time.  So if you know of anyone in Canada who is considering adoption, please feel free to pass along Radik's information or put them in touch with me.

Then of course, we have also been very very busy, which has left me little time to blog.  We have had a foster placement of 4 siblings which has given us 7 children, 11 years old down to a few months old, under our roof.  It has been quite an adjustment but adjust we have and we are really enjoying the kids. We have done camps and VBS and swim lessons (for 6 of the 7 kids) and doctor's appointments and therapy appointments and social worker appointments.  I have had help in the form of a college student named Kasy and she has made it all possible.  The kids love her and I love her and it has been great. But it has been the busiest summer of our life!

Benjamin is doing amazingly well.  He is so happy and really loves being here.  We are squeezing in school work where we can and he continues to do well in school.  Every single time we finish, he says, "Thank you mama for school."  The.  Sweetest.  Thing.  Ever.  He learned to swim in no time and loves going to the pool.  He says, "I no have fun like this in Pishanna."  Such a funny kid.  What is not funny is that we were looking at pictures tonight from when we first met him.  He looks so afraid in the earliest pictures and I commented on how scared he looked.  I have heard this from so many adoptive families but it was still a shock to hear it come out of his mouth.  He said, "People told me American parents would kill me." He said he thought about it and decided, "That is not true."  What courage and bravery it must have taken for him to come with us.  We are very grateful for his courage.

Jocelyn and Ellie Grace have also had a great summer.  They have really enjoyed having girls in our home that are their ages.  They play and play and just love our fosters.  I wish I could post pictures of all of them together - but alas, it is very against foster care rules!

Our pastor preached a sermon a month or so ago that I have not been able to get out of my head.  It included the story of Jacob and Esau which we have all heard a thousand times.  But he had a different twist on it and was so very thought provoking.  He referenced an Andy Stanley sermon which I am including a link to below.  We all know that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew and I think we all wonder what in the world he could have been thinking.  The birthright is a huge thing to sell for such an inconsequential bowl of stew.  How could he have done that?!  Yet so many of us do that every day.  Our birthright is eternity with God in heaven.  Yet we trade it for what....an unimportant, inconsequential bowl of stew.  What is your bowl of stew?  The sermon is incredible and very worth watching.







Now for a few pics:

We are so very blessed.

10 Days

We first met Benjamin/Sasha at his orphanage about 8 months ago.  We have been home with him for about 5 months.  This picture is from the very first day that we met him in Pishanna.

I think the fear and uncertainty are pretty clearly written all over his face.  We were strangers telling him we wanted to take him to a new country, a new culture, with new food and a new language.  We were offering him a family - something completely new to him.  Yet he wanted it badly enough, he stepped out in faith and came with us.  This is a picture of him from a few days ago....a mere 8 months later.

He has fully embraced his new life and his new family.  He loves being in the U.S., loves our food, loves our family, and is a very happy boy.  He talks all the time.  He makes jokes all the time.  Look for yourself at the difference the love of a family can make in a child.  He does not even look like the same kid to me.  I asked him today why he was so quiet at his orphanage.  He said, "Because there were so many people there."  He is blossoming and growing in his family now.  It is natural to crave family.  It is God's plan for children to have family.  Sasha wanted a family.  And he is so happy.  He thanks me for teaching him.  He thanks me for doing his laundry.  He thanks me for meals - he says, "Very very good!" It is not all perfect by any means, but a deep longing in him has been fulfilled.

There is another boy who was a classmate and friend of Benjamin's named Radik.  We met him while we were at Pishanna and were able to spend some time with him.   He is a special boy who is almost always smiling and enjoys interacting with people.  Over the last few years Radik has watched as several of his friends and classmates have been adopted.  He often talks about his desire to have a family too.  But, his time is running out.  Radik's 16th birthday is May 24th.  In Ukraine, children age out of the orphanage system at 16.  They leave their orphanage and are expected to find their way in the world.  The vast majority of the boys end up addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, in jail, or dead within a few years.  It is their stark reality.  Radik needs a family to begin the process to adopt him before his birthday.  10 days.  We need to find someone in 10 days.  Please pray for this miracle for Radik!  For more information about him and what it would take to adopt him please contact me.

I have never in the life of this blog, asked anyone to share it.  Today, I do.  We need to get the word out to as many people as possible.  We never know who in our circle of friends may be feeling the call to adopt and time is running out for Radik.  10 days.  Through God, all things are possible.  10 days.  Please share if you are able.