Break my heart for what breaks Yours
I'd like for you to listen to this song while you read the rest of this post. So please hit "play" and then keep reading.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours...
One of my favorite worship songs is "Hosanna". In it there is a line that says,
Ever since I started this adoption process I have learned new meanings of grief. Adoption is truly not for the faint of heart. But even if you're not an adopting family, your heart still breaks for these children. Not every adoption has a happy ending. Not every child lives long enough to be adopted.
Take a look at this little girl, Marlena: 
She had a family coming for her. But, she didn't live through her heart surgery last week. She was only seven months old.
The next two precious children passed away earlier this year. They did not even have a family coming for them. Dante: 
Sandra: 
Sometimes, a child becomes unavailable at the last minute. That's what just happened for the family that was trying to adopt Martin: 
And for the family that was trying to adopt John Mark (who also happens to be the same family that was adopting Marlena, they lost both of them): 
We have no guarantees about Riley. While he doesn't have a heart condition like the children above did (or do), there is still the possibility that he will become unavailable for whatever reason. We won't really know for sure until our dossier is submitted and the child's file is "pulled".
In our hearts, he is ours. And it will be devastating to lose him. And while that probably won't happen, I'm trying to prepare my heart for the possibility. Just watching these other families go through this in the past few weeks has been eye-opening. There are no guarantees, ever.
I also think of sweet Vanessa and Lilly, who both have serious heart conditions and need surgery badly. 
Every morning when I wake up I dread finding them on this page: In Loving Memory
Won't someone please go rescue them?
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thank You...
I just wanted to say a great big Thank You to everyone for your words of encouragement, and also a big Thank You to those of you who donated to our Chip In and shared about it.
I can't honestly say that I'm feeling much better, but I am trying to just take it one day (or one hour!) at a time. I think one of the reasons I haven't been inspired to post much is because, honestly, I spend most of my days either thinking about or writing my dissertation, and the thought of more thinking/writing is usually too overwhelming :).
Please continue to share about our giveaway, please continue to pray.
I am looking into the possibility of getting hooded at the Fall 2011 graduation ceremony, even though I still plan to "confer" (graduate) this spring. Everything WILL be done before we get on that plane to go get Riley! I really want to walk across that stage, but I don't care when. If this is possible it will give me another month or so before I have to defend. That's doable. That's the original goal I had set for myself.
And here's the finished puzzle, minus the five pieces the cats lost. Can you spot them? :)
I can't honestly say that I'm feeling much better, but I am trying to just take it one day (or one hour!) at a time. I think one of the reasons I haven't been inspired to post much is because, honestly, I spend most of my days either thinking about or writing my dissertation, and the thought of more thinking/writing is usually too overwhelming :).
Please continue to share about our giveaway, please continue to pray.
I am looking into the possibility of getting hooded at the Fall 2011 graduation ceremony, even though I still plan to "confer" (graduate) this spring. Everything WILL be done before we get on that plane to go get Riley! I really want to walk across that stage, but I don't care when. If this is possible it will give me another month or so before I have to defend. That's doable. That's the original goal I had set for myself.
And here's the finished puzzle, minus the five pieces the cats lost. Can you spot them? :)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Uninspired, Discouraged and Doubting
Uninspired.
I have been uninspired to post on here lately. I don't know exactly why. It's not that nothing has happened and I have nothing to say...I don't know what it is. But it's been almost a week and I wanted to say SOMETHING. Just don't expect anything profound in this post, it is mostly for me :).
Discouraged.
I feel discouraged in a lot of ways right now. Some of them I can't really mention on here, but I'll share what I can.
First of all--Vika. We got an update on Vika. She has been taken into foster care. We are trying to find out if the foster family will allow us to adopt her (that's how it works in her country), but most likely they will say no. They get money from the government for keeping foster children (just like in our country). I'm not sure if we'll even be able to make contact with the family to ask. She's no longer at the orphanage so I won't get to see her this summer. I may never see her again.
Secondly, our giveaway is not off to the best start. I am so grateful to the two people who have donated, and the two people who have shared about it, don't get me wrong. But seriously...just $30 after one week? I know we have until the end of March, but I am still discouraged.
Doubting.
I am doubting that God is going to fully fund our adoption. We are still a long ways away from our fundraising goal. We are running out of time. I am so consumed with finishing my dissertation (draft due in 3 weeks!) and finishing our dossier that I just don't have time to plan or execute any more fundraisers before I graduate in May. And we hope to travel right after I graduate.
Speaking of graduating, I am doubting that I will. I found out a week ago that I have to defend by April 1 in order to walk across the stage. So my defense is tentatively scheduled for March 31, assuming I can pull my dissertation and presentation together in time. I thought I had until the end of April for this deadline.
Also. I've been craving a puzzle for months now and I finally bought one and have it set up on the kitchen table, and my cats keep getting up on there and destroying what I've done, scattering the pieces, losing them, chewing on them, etc. You'd think they were puppies!
I can't think of a good way to end this post, so....The End.
I have been uninspired to post on here lately. I don't know exactly why. It's not that nothing has happened and I have nothing to say...I don't know what it is. But it's been almost a week and I wanted to say SOMETHING. Just don't expect anything profound in this post, it is mostly for me :).
Discouraged.
I feel discouraged in a lot of ways right now. Some of them I can't really mention on here, but I'll share what I can.
First of all--Vika. We got an update on Vika. She has been taken into foster care. We are trying to find out if the foster family will allow us to adopt her (that's how it works in her country), but most likely they will say no. They get money from the government for keeping foster children (just like in our country). I'm not sure if we'll even be able to make contact with the family to ask. She's no longer at the orphanage so I won't get to see her this summer. I may never see her again.
Secondly, our giveaway is not off to the best start. I am so grateful to the two people who have donated, and the two people who have shared about it, don't get me wrong. But seriously...just $30 after one week? I know we have until the end of March, but I am still discouraged.
Doubting.
I am doubting that God is going to fully fund our adoption. We are still a long ways away from our fundraising goal. We are running out of time. I am so consumed with finishing my dissertation (draft due in 3 weeks!) and finishing our dossier that I just don't have time to plan or execute any more fundraisers before I graduate in May. And we hope to travel right after I graduate.
Speaking of graduating, I am doubting that I will. I found out a week ago that I have to defend by April 1 in order to walk across the stage. So my defense is tentatively scheduled for March 31, assuming I can pull my dissertation and presentation together in time. I thought I had until the end of April for this deadline.
Also. I've been craving a puzzle for months now and I finally bought one and have it set up on the kitchen table, and my cats keep getting up on there and destroying what I've done, scattering the pieces, losing them, chewing on them, etc. You'd think they were puppies!
I can't think of a good way to end this post, so....The End.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
What Do Riley And The 2010 Emmys Have In Common?
STAR TREK!
Well, not exactly. Yes, that is Chase Masterson (Leeta from DS9), but the other person in the picture is Rob's friend Melissa Lew - a jewelry designer and artist featured in the 2010 Emmy gifting suites.
Melissa has generously donated this hand-carved dogwood cross necklace for us to give away!
Here's the description:
One of a kind, hand carved, dogwood cross necklace. Made from recycled fine silver on a sterling silver chain.
This beautiful necklace retails for $150, and it could be yours!
All you have to do is donate to our Chip-In fundraiser (at the top of the page) between now and March 31! For every $5 you donate you will receive one entry in the drawing, which will be held on April 1.
ALSO...if you SHARE this link (blog, facebook, twitter, etc) you will get an additional 5 entries! Just post a link in the comments section to the page where you shared about this giveaway.
IMPORTANT: If you want to enter the giveaway with your donation you MUST use the Chip-In!
*This post and this artist approved by Hercules:
Monday, February 14, 2011
It's Your Life
I was first introduced to this song by Francesca Battistelli on my second trip to Ukraine. Since then it's become my daily theme song, and I often listen to it on the bus on my way to campus. It helps me put my day in perspective and encourages me when I get bogged down with adoption paperwork.
It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day, the choices you make
Say what you are, and Who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door
It's your life
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Adventures In Biometric-ing
First of all, thank you to everyone who bought or shared about our Pendant Sale! We sold 36 pendants, which was enough to put us over $6,000 raised! In addition, 5 of those pendants were adoption/awareness pendants, so Masha's grant fund also received $25 :).
Now, as promised, the story of our trip to get our biometrics (federal digital fingerprints)!
Our appointment was at 8:00am on Thursday morning in Charleston, WV, so we decided to drive up the night before and spend the night at a hotel.
As we left Blacksburg, Rob casually mentioned that he had heard it might snow.
Oh boy, did it ever.
About 30 minutes into our 3 hour drive the snow started. And it didn't stop. It was the blowing-in-your-face, visibility-near-zero, sticking-to-the-roads kind of snow. We didn't know what lane we were in most of the time, because we couldn't see the markers. We couldn't see the sides of the road. We couldn't see anything beyond a few feet in front of us.
I was terrified and SOO thankful Rob was driving :).
And...we ran out of windshield-wiper fluid just as we arrived in Charleston. Here's a picture of our car after the trip:
Time for a car wash, don't you think?? :)
We got to Charleston and used our phones to find directions to a Hampton Inn downtown. We walked in and asked if they had any vacancies. They had exactly ONE room left! Of course we took it.
Then Rob, ever the bargainer, starts to ask if there's any type of discount we can get.
AAA discount? Nope. (What hotel doesn't offer a AAA discount?!).
Student discount? Nope.
Have our parents call to book the room so we can get an AARP discount? Nope.
How about, We're-in-town-doing-adoption-paperwork-and-here's-a-picture-of-the-kid-we're-adopting discount?
That did it! Lesson learned: Always whip out the picture of the adorable kid you're adopting.
She took $20 off our hotel price :). She then proceeds to tell us that there's a free shuttle that will take us anywhere downtown from 6am - 10am and pick us up. Also, the office we have our fingerprinting appointments at is just a few blocks away and the shuttle driver takes people there all the time.
YES!!
So we go park the car in a non-spot (there were no more parking spaces and everything was covered in snow), get to our room...and the power in the whole hotel goes out.
SERIOUSLY?!
All we could do was laugh and go to bed. The power came back on about 30 minutes later.
The morning went smoothly: We got up early, had a free breakfast in the lobby, and got the shuttle to take us to our appointment. We arrived early and the fingerprinting was uneventful. We got back to the hotel by 8:30 and decided to have a second breakfast :). Then we checked out, went straight to a gas station to buy some windshield-wiper fluid, and drove back to Blacksburg.
We're glad it's over and if we never have to drive in weather like that EVER again we will be forever thankful.
Now, as promised, the story of our trip to get our biometrics (federal digital fingerprints)!
Our appointment was at 8:00am on Thursday morning in Charleston, WV, so we decided to drive up the night before and spend the night at a hotel.
As we left Blacksburg, Rob casually mentioned that he had heard it might snow.
Oh boy, did it ever.
About 30 minutes into our 3 hour drive the snow started. And it didn't stop. It was the blowing-in-your-face, visibility-near-zero, sticking-to-the-roads kind of snow. We didn't know what lane we were in most of the time, because we couldn't see the markers. We couldn't see the sides of the road. We couldn't see anything beyond a few feet in front of us.
I was terrified and SOO thankful Rob was driving :).
And...we ran out of windshield-wiper fluid just as we arrived in Charleston. Here's a picture of our car after the trip:
We got to Charleston and used our phones to find directions to a Hampton Inn downtown. We walked in and asked if they had any vacancies. They had exactly ONE room left! Of course we took it.
Then Rob, ever the bargainer, starts to ask if there's any type of discount we can get.
AAA discount? Nope. (What hotel doesn't offer a AAA discount?!).
Student discount? Nope.
Have our parents call to book the room so we can get an AARP discount? Nope.
How about, We're-in-town-doing-adoption-paperwork-and-here's-a-picture-of-the-kid-we're-adopting discount?
That did it! Lesson learned: Always whip out the picture of the adorable kid you're adopting.
She took $20 off our hotel price :). She then proceeds to tell us that there's a free shuttle that will take us anywhere downtown from 6am - 10am and pick us up. Also, the office we have our fingerprinting appointments at is just a few blocks away and the shuttle driver takes people there all the time.
YES!!
So we go park the car in a non-spot (there were no more parking spaces and everything was covered in snow), get to our room...and the power in the whole hotel goes out.
SERIOUSLY?!
All we could do was laugh and go to bed. The power came back on about 30 minutes later.
The morning went smoothly: We got up early, had a free breakfast in the lobby, and got the shuttle to take us to our appointment. We arrived early and the fingerprinting was uneventful. We got back to the hotel by 8:30 and decided to have a second breakfast :). Then we checked out, went straight to a gas station to buy some windshield-wiper fluid, and drove back to Blacksburg.
We're glad it's over and if we never have to drive in weather like that EVER again we will be forever thankful.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Pendant Sale -FINAL DAY!
Today is the LAST DAY of our Pendant Sale!!! We have sold 33 pendants so far...hooray!! We would love to get that number up to 40 pendants by midnight tonight...can you help?!
Go to Sarah's Treasure Box to place your order, and when you check out don't forget to mention it is for the StClair adoption fundraiser!
Go to Sarah's Treasure Box to place your order, and when you check out don't forget to mention it is for the StClair adoption fundraiser!
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