Missing Family

People.

I am on my knees before the Lord asking Him to reveal who may be the family for these two sweet boys. They had been told over a year ago that they had a family coming for them and that they would be forever brothers. That is no longer the case and they have no one coming for them....nor do they know this yet......

I cannot, cannot, cannot, even begin to imagine the heartbreak when they find out. 

"Percy" is 10, "Edward" is 12

These two precious kids were/are still in the same group foster home that Jacob and Joey were in. I pulled up their picture the other day and asked the boys about them and it turns out that the one in the red is Jacob's best friend.


~sigh~

They shared a bed for years.
Jacob and Joey had a lot to say about them, namely how nice they both were. As you can imagine in a group home setting they do not remember everyone there as "nice", but these two definitely were.
I met these boys while we were in China.
I had lunch with these boys.
I played with these boys.



They.
Are.
Sweet.



According to Jacob, "Percy" likes to play Lego's and cries sometimes at night because he is scared.

Jacob is extraordinarily gifted at making things out paper, has been since we adopted him. And it turns out that the boy in the yellow is the one that taught him. According to my boys "Edward" is sweet and helpful to the other children.

 


Oh sweet Jesus make a way. 

The agency that they are with has agreed to waive ALL agency fees to make it easier for a family to be able to commit to them.
All. Agency. Fees.
This is huge. 



Beyond that there are some other efforts to help further offset the financial cost of their adoption.
A FB page has been created to help raise money to help an adoptive family for them.
You can find that group here: 

Further, you can purchase this gorgeous necklace for a donation of $10 or more and all proceeds will go directly into their specific fund.

If you have other items you would like to donate or if you would like to purchase a necklace please email Katie at hookedonfaith05@gmail.com

Lastly, here is a link to a video from another adoptive family that adopted a son out of that same group foster home. You can catch a glimpse of the boys in the foster home in this video. 

Click here for the video
  
The opening of the video is the SWI that oversees that foster home and the boys in the beginning are some of the one's that have already been adopted out. Halfway through it will switch to the foster home where you can see glimpses of them. 
Above all, please be in prayer for these boys. They have a lot of heartache headed their way and my prayer is that their story will not end there. There is redemption in store for these boys. 

Could you be part of it? 

If you would like more information on these boys you can email me at mommyof4jays@msn.com

What's the What What

• I went to the dentist today to get my first crown. Turns out a crown isn't anything like the tiara I thought it would be. I was expecting a ceremony and an oh-so-poofy dress made out of toul and ribbon but instead had a not so great two hours in which I had to pay an obscene amount of money in the end. Boo for crowns. I don't wanna be a princess anymore. 
• Jason and Jordan just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala. Love. 
• Jordan decided to get baptized in a lake in Guatemala while he was there. Love. Love. 
• Though I obviously wasn't there with him I am so, so incredibly proud of him and humbled to be his momma. We had a little mini celebration when they returned complete with cookie cake because really.....nothing says baptism like cookie cake.  
• That same night Jason, Jordan, my dad and I went to the Broadway musical Elf and I have been quoting lines from that movie(my all time favorite) ever since.   
•  
  

  

  Please do enjoy this crazy dark photo of the top of our heads.

                        
• Son of a Nut cracker!
• I'm a cotton headed ninny muggins. 
• I like to whisper too. 
• You stink. You smell like beef and cheese. 
• Have you seen these toilets? They're GINORMOUS!
• First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie-dough as fast as we can, and then we'll snuggle.
• You can't handle the truth!
• Sorry.....got carried away on that last one. Wrong movie. 
• Ahem. 
• So Elf was fun. Great show. Great company. I stayed up way past my bedtime and got a little punchy. Did I ever tell you I only met my dad a few years ago? No? Oh. Ok. 
• I only met my dad a few years ago. 
•   
• Can you see the family resemblence? 
•  

  

  I look just like him!

                              
• Kids are great. No one's heart is broken. No drama for their mama. Love. It.
• They all still go to Chinese school every week for 3 hours. 
• No, they don't always want to go. 
• Yes, I always make them.  
• No, I have no idea if that's the right thing but it's what we'll do for now. 
• We went to Heart Camp with the incomparable Lori McCary.                          
• We had a little bit of fun. 
• Ok. 
• That was a lie. 
• We had a lot of fun. 
•                          
• And yes, I love you enough to post a picture of me with no makeup, no sleep, no shower for 3 days and covered in camp dirt. Holla. 
• Soccer season ended. 
•                                
• Yes I am shocked too that he is allowed to play contact sports. 
• Heart kids rock.
• Yes, I was a tad bit ridiculously on edge the entire season.
• Fall baseball season ended.
• Basketball season began. 
• Jack is in the middle of ice hockey and {standby for proud mom moment} he made it to the county Science Fair competition. Where he promptly got 3rd place. 
• I have a B in math right now with 2 weeks to go.
• I have a B in math right now with 2 weeks to go.
• I have a B in math right now with 2 weeks to go. 
• My teenagers are Ginormous. They are taller than me. Taller than their dad. And every time I look at them I want to cry. 
• 
• 
• In a good way. 
• For Thanksgiving I stole the great idea from my friend Kelly to make the kids toast, pretzels, popcorn and jelly beans for lunch(It's what Chuck served) as they watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. To which I got a, "Wow, that's really clever mom" response from Jack and then I promptly took all credit as though I alone thought of the idea. Cuz that's just the kind of person I am. And I soaked in the cheers of celebration from the rest of the boys on account of the fact that well, there were jelly beans.....pfft...duh. 
•  
•  
• I really, really, reeeeely would love to see these two boys get a family. They are from the same group foster home that Jacob and Joey are from and out of the original 10 kids there they are 2 of only 3 or 4 that remain. I have met them. I have eaten McDonalds with them. My kids have played with them. They are sweet, sweet boys. One of them is Jacob's best friend. {insert heart break} and they shared a bed for years. A post all about them coming to a blog near you soon.
• 
• And I think that's it. 
• Oh, whoops. One more thing: 
• I am going back to China.

In Which I Say Thank You & Blog Again

Thank you.

No really,
thankyou.

I was hoping that my last post would be taken in the spirit it was intended.
Not in a, "Let's all talk about how awful things are at the moment"
but in a
"Yep, it was a rough transition but we press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Phillipians 3:14."
type of way
and we live
and we love
and the joy is there once again
and you will get there too.

And you heard the intent of my heart.
And you did.
And you helped.
And you loved.
And you made a difference.

And after reading all the comments and emails I  now know a few things for certain:

1. Adoptive families amaze me. 
2. I will forever appreciate being able to pee alone. 

I had no idea this was such a widespread problem. To all the ladies with company in the bathroom......I salute you. You are my hero. 

I have a whole update on us post ready to go but alas
no photos. 
Well, no photos until I can figure out my email password and then figure out how to change it on my phone upon which all my pictures are because I have no stinkin idea how to get pictures off my phone without emailing them to myself and then saving them on the computer which is ridiculous and I'm sure there is an easy way to do that but I don't know what it is but I what I do know is that this sentence is driving my homeschool mama friend kah-razy cuz it's like....ya know....real long and stuff and I should use better grammar.

Inhale.

Whew.
That was a lot to say. 

So for now, I just pop over to tell you that today I finally dug myself out of the mess that is 7 boys on Thanksgiving vacation for a week.
Ohmygoodness the mess.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.
THE MESS.

People ask me how I have 7 boys and keep it somewhat together. {which makes me laugh....cuz they SO haven't seen the nastiness that is our bathrooms, or the kitchen sometimes, or...well....never mind.}
What I do say after composing myself and stifling laughter is it's because they are all in school all day which gives me 6 hours to reset everything.
This plan does not
I repeat
does not 
work when they are home day after day.
Toward the end of vacation I thought for sure these ladies were going to ring my doorbell:

And then all of you would see me on TV and find out how messy it is.
And realize I don't have it all together.
And then you'd stop reading my blog on account of me living in a pig sty and all.
And then I'd be sad.
But then I'd get me a pair of those ladies cleaning gloves and feel a little bit better about myself.
But then I'd be sad again.
Cuz glove happiness, no matter how cute, is fleeting.

But ya know.
Crisis averted.
I dug myself out of the deep, deep laundry void that had been created and alas it feels like a home again.

So to recap:
Cleaning: Check
Homework: Check
On our way to the teens basketball game: Check
Fed the youngest 5:

Dangit.
I knew I was forgetting something.

Massive update coming your way ya know.....as soon as I figure out that whole get pictures off my phone thing.

In Which I Blog Again...And Ask You A Favor.

I'm feelin it.
I'm feelin like jumping back on the blogging train.

But for now
and foremost
I must tell you
my heart is broken. 

I have a sweet friend that has recently returned from China with her two newest additions.
First adoption(s).
And she is struggling.

We were just discussing how we appreciate honesty and transparency in this process.
And I think most of us strive to give an accurate picture of what this journey is like but
(tell me if I'm wrong...)
I think we tend to hold back a bit for fear of scaring other people away from adoption.
I think we tend to hold back for fear of looking like a failure.
I think we tend to hold back because of pride
or jealousy
or
or
or
or so many reasons.

After all, no one really wants to sit down and say, "Let me fill my blog up with a post all about just how crappy my day was today."

And though we know that we all do need to have a bit of perspective when it comes to such things we also all know that perspective tends to leave you in the dust when you are in the trenches.

Can I get a witness?

Perspective means nothing at 2am when you are holding a screaming toddler.
It means nothing when your 6 year old is biting, kicking and spitting in your face for the 16th time today.
Perspective means nothing when you are faced with the reality of parenting the child that you stared at for months in a photograph only to find out what you envisioned in your head is so soooo far from reality.

When you are in it
you can't see it. 

And the result of that more often than not are exhausted, overwhelmed newly adoptive parents scattered across this nation who manage to drag themselves to the computer looking for comfort, turn it on, and are faced with glowing stories and heavily edited photos totally erasing any remnant of a sink full of dirty dishes,  the 3 day unshowered hair and the still- adjusting older siblings.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some cute photos(hello girl mom's.....you're killin me)  but it's almost like we all need to take one day and really let it out.

Reality.
Truth. 
Perspective.

I know we have talked about this before but I have an idea and I wondered if you could help me out. 

Could we all just bare our ugly truth for a moment?
Could we just take a moment and encourage my friend and the hundreds like her that are in the thick of it right now?
Could we tell them the ugly-messy-overwhelming-beautiful truth of this?
Could we stand alongside her and proclaim:

YOU
ARE
NOT
ALONE.

Do you have a blog post that you wrote last week? Last month? Last year when you were in her shoes? Could you share it with her? Could you share it with all of us?
If I had some technical wherewithal I'd do a little linky thingamajig but I don't,
so I won't.

So if you would like to share your story just leave your post link in the comments,
or even if you've never been there and want to leave her some encouragement go ahead do that too.

Like water to a weary soul.
It's sisterhood.
It's solidarity.
It's standing beside the hurting and saying,
"I've been there and ya know what? It's gonna be ok."

Friends.
Let's bring it.

I'll start:

http://cheaperbythehalfdozens.blogspot.com/2011/02/well-at-least-i-havent-cried-today.html

1 Peter 5:6-7 (KJV) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-bible-verses-to-comfort-the-hurting/#ixzz2DHF2VdTb

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-bible-verses-to-comfort-the-hurting/#ixzz2DHF2VdTb

1 Peter 5:6-7 (KJV) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-bible-verses-to-comfort-the-hurting/#ixzz2DHF2VdTb

Because I'm That Lame

I managed to let his 1 year Gotcha Day
and his
1 year Yay You Had Open Heart Surgery and It Saved Your Life Day
go by without a blog post.

Shame.
Shame.
Shame.
On.
Me.
Tsk. 
Tsk. 
Tsk. 

So for historical purposes:
Here yee
Here yee
Let us hereby and So Forth and So On and Such As commemorate that 1 year ago on the 3rd of October he went from blue to pink.
From near death to life.
From orphan to son.

From me having 3 gray hairs to having 72 gray hairs.
And it's been worth every stinkin one.

I've had 1 year of getting to know this quiet withdrawn little boy

turn into one very tall bundle of silliness and the most laid back {and funny} personality you ever did meet.

From Team Joshua rallying around us
To the day after John met him and the subsequent  big push to get him here faster 
not knowing if he would make it
From the landing at the airport
To the day we found out the big news that would change our lives
to the surgery 
and extubating himself a few hours after surgery...SO not cool.
To the removal of chest tubes in a new awful kinda way
and the rest of the long {and incredibly painful} recovery

you were there, every step of the way.
And for that, I now and forever will still say
Thank you. 

And now we surround sweet Ivy Joy who is headed to Boston for her second surgery in an effort to save her little life. Stefanie and Colleen from Wild Olive {holla!} have designed a shirt for her to help raise some funds to offset the cost of travel.

They are adorable.
They are affordable.
And they will help make a difference to this family.
You can go here for all the deets.

So 365 373 days later know that I am still and forever will be incredibly grateful for all that you did for him.
He's here.
He's alive.
Because of HIM
and because of you.

1 year later,
THANK YOU

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

Because Target Doesn't Need Any More of Your Money

How about doing a little shopping over here for Christmas and at the same time you will be helping to support this beautiful family.

Aprons, jewerly, kid's clothes, purses, bags(my personal weakness) you name it.

Go ahead. 
Make a difference.
And look really cute doing it.

I'm Baaaaaack.

Whew.

Totally didn't mean to drop off the face of the blog o' sphere
but
well
I did.

Here's the thing though,
I blame you.

Yup.
Totally.

Why is it when I told all of you that I was going back to school did not one of you caution me that this action would severely inhibit my blog time.

Ummmm....
hello?
Anybody?
Anybody got my back?
Sheesh.
Sister got no posse. 

I guess I should have mentioned that I am slightly {read: not medicated but probably should be} compulsive about my classes. I just finished my accelerated Humanities class and there were 420 points possible and I earned 434.

Yeah.

Extra credit.
Must get an A+ on every exam and research paper
it's how I roll. 
So wish I was this motivated early on in life.
But we won't dwell on that.
Ahem. 

Now that I have my first course grade back, that leaves me currently swimming in the insanity that is biology.
Protons,
Neutrons,
Negative charge,
Molecular blah blittidy blah
blah,
blah,
blaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.
I saved all my no-fun-make-me-crazy courses that I had to finish for the end.
Yep.
Lame.
If you are an 18 year old college student reading this....DO NOT DO THAT!
I beh-eg of you.
It will only serve to drive you to the edges of insanity in mid-life.

I have math coming up at the end of this month.
MATH people.
M.A.T.H.

I may never blog again. 

Ha.
Just kidding.
Nobobdy listens to my dribble like all of you.
Awwww, love!

Speaking of listening to me carry on,
my monthly post is up on NHBO today.

You can check that out right here.

After you tell me what I should do in regards to that post{please, I beg of you tell me what to do} head on over to my sweet friend Lori's blog and win an ipad all in the name of bringing home her son. She could use some help and letmetellya, that kiddo will be coming into an awesome, Jesus loving, serving, sweet, sweet family. Let's rally folks!

Talk soon!

Your edukatted friend,
Sonia

Older Child Adoption v Academics

I've had a few people ask so I thought I'd give you a little lookie-loo into what that looks like for us.

Joey:
Home 18 months.
English ability pre-adoption consisted of,
"Hello. How are you? I am fine. Thank You."
And thassit.
Joey, do you want a cookie?
"How are you?"
Joey, are you ready for bed?
"Hello." 
Joey, do you want to go outside?
"Thank you. Hello. I am fine. Thank you."
Yep.
But now this:

He began reading simple sight words about 2 weeks after he started school last year and is now reading somewhat fluently.

Jacob:
Home 18 months.
First day of 2nd grade a month after we got home the teacher stops me after school and says that she was watching Jacob do his math and thought he was struggling when all of a sudden he just starts writing down the answers to double digit addition and subtraction without showing his work.
Homeboy was doing all the math
in
his
head.
He also already had his times tables memorized through 12. 

Alrighty then.

Joshua:
Home 11 months.
Pre-Adoption English ability: Non-existent.

And then of course there are the children that emerged from me.
They beee reeely smart 2.

While researching older child adoption the "experts" will tell you to place them in the grade appropriate level for their age.
Even if they don't know a lick of English you put them where they belong based solely on age(unless there are some systemic learning disabilities in which case you make concessions for that).
To which I thought they were crazy...
but ummm....they are totally correct.
These kids really do catch up and they do it quickly at that.

I've gotta go now and sign 8.2 million papers....
and practice my multiplication tables.
Peace.

The Myth I've Been Living

My monthly post is up on NHBO today.

It's something that has been burning in my heart for awhile now so I finally took a deep breath late last week one night after everyone was in bed and spilled it all right on out through many tears and a little bit of snot from boo-hooing all over my keyboard.

You can read it right here. 

I'm anxious to hear your feedback and in the meantime I'll be unloading the RV which currently smells like a combination of bacon and dirty socks.

All signs of a pretty great weekend.