Did I say barn burner???

Wow!  When I wrote a few posts back about this adoption going to be a barn burner, NEVER did I expect it to be like it has so far!!!  We have had lawyers, senators, media and USCIS officials involved in this one!!.............and we haven't even left the country!.........and they are all still following along with us to see what happens next!!  With all that is going on I started a new blog a few months ago that I will be sharing/making public once we return home.  Hope to be sharing some photos of a few more kiddos that have become part of our family in my next post!!!  As always, prayers and more prayers welcomed as we take this next step!

Happy Dance!!!!!!

The Story Behind The Face

The story of little man’s photo begins back in March.  We saw his picture on a friends FB page saying he needed a family.  A few emails later we began the process to bringing him home.  The time between that first March email and where we are today, one could say, has been interesting.  We were put in contact with a gentleman who lives in little man’s country.  He was the gentleman who would be able to give us the information needed to adopt.  Our facilitator told us not to worry that she has a way to still adopt little man.  During the next few months Mr. Gentleman continued to ask me questions on how the adoptions work in his country and really wanted us to use his lawyer friend.  I replied that a lawyer was not needed but thanks.  So now a few more months go by and I opened my email to find that the gentleman living in little man’s country sent me the info needed to adopt.  Then a few weeks ago I received a message from our FB friend asking if I had seen that little man was listed on a well-known ministry.   I immediately searched on my computer to see little man’s sweet face listed for adoption and not only that but in less than 24 hours of being listed as available he had already had a family committing to him!  What was I to do?  Knowing that the bottom line for ALL orphans is to find a family, were we, should we, back out (Like we did with 3 sisters in South America) and just let the new family continue working on bringing him home?  I mean after all, it would not be God that smashed their dreams.  It would not be the Devil that smashed their dreams.  It would be me, us, our family smashing their dreams. Or would it?  Some of you might be saying, well just contact the ministry advocating for little man and let them know you are in the middle of bringing him home.  Well, that is a little easier said than done because the ministries facilitation team does not think highly of us.  We adopted through this ministry in 2010 with much difficulty.  We went back in 2011 to adopt a little girl we met in the orphanage we were at.  She was listed on this ministries site.  We were NOT going to use this ministry but rather a totally independent facilitator.  Things got ugly in 2010 and again in 2011. So, was I was just supposed to email and say hey, it’s us, the family that questioned how you do things.  The family that your facilitators say HORIBLE things about.  Well we are in the process of stealing (ministries facilitator said “we were stealing HIS KIDS” when we went back in 2011) one of “your facilitators kids” again.  Yeah, we just wanted to let you know we are in the process of adopting little man.  Okay, I guess we could have done that.

A day after our FB friend wrote us about little man being listed; Mr. Gentleman wrote asking if we knew that a family was coming for little man.  He told us about the family that was coming for him and that it would be soon and does our facilitator know????  Okay.  I wrote Mr. Gentleman back asking how on earth he knew about the family as it had not been written publicly yet.  I let Mr. Gentleman know of what we thought of the ministry that little man’s info was in the hands of.  I asked Mr. Gentleman if we were now supposed to “race” this other family to little man and may the best family win??  Really?  Seriously?   I questioned Mr. Gentleman and apologized in my letter of what I was sure seemed angry.  I let Mr. Gentleman know that I was hurt.  I was angry.  I was confused.  How did this happen??? 

2 days after I wrote the letter to Mr. Gentleman, I received an email from the director of this ministry (1st shock).  It was a letter letting me know that when she first received the info on little man she did not know there was another family working on bringing him home because Mr. Gentleman did not tell her (2^nd shock, did not know Mr. Gentleman was the source).  It was not until she listed him that Mr. Gentleman told her that there was another family working on bringing little man home.  I’m sure Mr. Gentleman shared our email that I wrote about our distrust with her ministry.  She wanted to know if we were indeed working on bringing him home and if yes, she would tell the other family to choose another child because she did not want 2 families working on the same child (3rd shock).  She also asked if we wanted to fundraise through her ministry (4^th shock).  The reason I was shocked so many times is because of what we went through with these guys in the last few years.  It is because of the things I have heard and the things I have read from other families who have used them.  I admit, we seem to be having a trust issue here!  I wrote her back letting her know that yes, we were working on bringing him home and no we did not need to fund raise because we were fully funded thanks to adopting 3 kids last year and receiving our adoption tax credit.  I found it curious as to why she had so many questions for me like how far along were we, when did we file our USCIS, how did we file our USCIS.  Things I don’t know why she needed to know unless it really WAS a race between us and another family?  I politely told her that we just needed to update everything and hope to be there by his birthday and pray to have him home by his birthday but things happen with adoptions all the time that could delay the timeline.  I let her know that if we had any MAJOR delays we would let her know.  

So now that I filled you in on the story behind the photo, let me ask you guys.  Should I be worried?  Will little man be there when we get there?  I know there is ALWAYS the possibilities that the child gets adopted before you get there but I believe the possibility is now even larger.  I believe the other family is still working on bring little man home which they have every right to do.  I don’t like the fact that families do that to each other.  That is why we backed out in 2007 from adopting 3 sisters.  We are so far along with little man’s though that it is harder to back out.  I would love to know what you think!  I would love to hear from you.

I will be shutting my blog down right before we travel and not letting anyone know of our travel date for a number of reasons.  I will still be blogging but you will have to read about it once we return home.  We plan on being in out of country a bit longer than your normal adoption as we are working on some other things there as well.

Knowing how our adoptions go, I’m sure it will be a barn burner!!!

Here he is!

The Best Kept Secrets Are Not Really Secrets

Well I have been trying to keep our next adventures under the radar so to speak.  But things got let out of the bag which I can explain in a future post.  But the big news is, we are adopting again!  I will update on the who's and where's when I have a little more time but for now I just wanted to let everyone know we are so close to making our family just a wee bit larger.  Please keep us in you thoughts and prayers as we try to finish up this journey we started in March.  Thanks everyone!!!

It has been a long time!

I really have been slacking when it comes to my poor blog! Not sure if anyone even still comes around much anymore. Okay, here goes. Update on the kids.
Lica - still working and playing her keyboard non stop! She has gone up to grandpas house for some short vacations. She loves visiting him. Its way up in the woods so it is sooooo quiet and peaceful. I always tease the kids and ask when will it be my turn for just me to go up there!?!?! She is a wonderful big sister to all her siblings unless of course they want to play her keyboard!!!
Roc - is studying all the time. It is getting closer for her to be picking out colleges. she has a few mission trips in the works that she wants me and Kaylee to go with. Roc is such a sweet sister to all her brothers and sisters and they all just LOVE her. She is searching for a part time job along with all the neighbors driveways that she shovels so she can save for all these trips she has planned.
Ingrid - can be a pain in the rear. Can you imagine? A 17 year old girl who just came out of an orphanage being a pain??? Well, imagine it because its true. She NEEDS the attention to be solely on her and her alone. She wants me to buy her 50 dollar jeans to wear to a dance. When I tell her no and she asks why I tell her because you don't wear jeans to a dance and if you want to wear jeans to a dance you have 5 pair at home!!! Then we get the silent treatment for days! Oh well. I guess I was not expecting I would be bringing home a princess!! LOL!
Joey - is a good kid! He loves Ingrid and would do anything for her. I feel bad for him sometimes as Ingrid knows how to play him and she does just that. He finds himself smack dab in the middle of some of situations that go on around here. He tries so hard to fit in with all of us and is having fun but when Ingrid sees this she puts a stop to it! If she is angry she needs Joey to be angry too. Joey is her unwilling partner in crime. He is stuck! He wants a mom and dad and family so bad so he takes up the slack for Ingrid also. I ask Ingrid what she put in her hair, was it a pony or clip or what is it that made it turn out so cute. She doesn't say a word so Joey runs down stairs to get what it was to show me. I tell him all the time he is a great kid and that he doesn't have to take care of Ingrid. It's been a tough adjustment with these two I can tell ya that much!
Inna - has many surgeries in her future. She started school and LOVES it!!! She is so proud of the things she brings home to show me. She is just now starting to feel what it is like to have a family. Everything about a family. She gets to stay living here forever. She has to follow the rules or there will be consequences. You shouldn't fight with your siblings because they will ALWAYS be your siblings. You shouldn't fight with your mom and dad because they will ALWAYS be your mom and dad. hehehe! She is getting it though!!!
Jerlin - has grown up so much this last year. She wants to help us make supper and then clean up. She wants to look nice for school where as before she could care less. She loves playing with Artem and teaching him signs. When we read her book at night she says some of the sweetest things to me!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this girl!
James - is another one that has grown. He has been a bit of the black sheep in the family. Never knowing where to fit in, getting in trouble at school. But he has changed quite a bit over the last 6 months. We got a handle on the homework thing, his chores, his attitude. He is turning into a different kid and we are ALL loving the change!
Charley - has picked up where James left off!!! hahahaha! Little turd!! I can't help it though. Even when he is being a poopy butt, I just love him!! It doesn't take much to get him on the right path again though. He is SO laid back it's unbelievable! Now if we could just get him to care if his pants are on inside out or not for school and his shirt is not on backwards we should be fine!
Kaylee - my sweet, full of attitude, beautiful Kaylee. She gets A's in school even though I have to hear EVERYDAY how she hates school. She absolutely ADORES Josh, Artem and Denis! She does not understand why everybody does not have a child with DS in their family! She loves her family and talks openly about her past and how blessed she is that we found her. I tell her WE are the blessed ones!!!! She hates getting up in the mornings and makes sure that everybody knows it. I can't even remember what my life was without her! How did I get through the day without one of her remarks (with attitude) that make me laugh and laugh!!! Yes, we definitely were the ones blessed!
Dani - has started her long list of surgery's. They took some skin off her chin but have many more procedures left. They put a balloon under her scalp and every week we go in so that they can fill it. Once they have stretched the tissue enough she goes in to have them pull it over the bald spot on her head. It's nasty and she loves to pull her bangs up and show us all just how nasty it looks. I will post pictures next time so you can see for yourself. Out of all my kids she definitely is the bravest. Never sheds a tear when any surgery or procedure is being done. She tells us that she wants to be pretty. We tell her she is already pretty though. She tells us she knows but she wants to be really pretty and not have these things on her face anymore. She is SOOO Sweet the way she talks in her little voice!
Joshy - loves school, the teachers, coming home, playing with the other kids, eating, tipping the chairs over, getting up early, early, early in the morning, getting his own snack after school, trying to make something to eat for supper if we are being to slow, playing the piano or keyboard (not Lica's!!!), watching sponge bob or wipeout on TV, irritating Artem, blowing his nose, taking a bath, brushing his teeth..........you get it. He LOVES everything!
Artem - is more reserved. He takes Josh's lead but only rarely starts anything himself. He does not like certain textures in his mouth and does not like to drink. He says and signs papa but will NOT say or sign mama! Little turkey. He comes over to me just to let me know papa is home. I say to him how about me, mama???? He just repeats papa again! Potty training is not going well for either of them but we just keep on keeping on! One day!
Denis - has arrived!!!! He is scooting around the floor getting into EVERYTHING! Opening and closing drawers, chasing the dogs and cats, pulling down dish towels, taking his shoes and socks off, singing in his crib till I fall asleep! He has gained close to 10 pounds since his heart surgery. I guess I was right when I kept telling the doctor that was giving him the growth hormones that it was his heart for the reason of him not growing. No, he is not on growth hormones anymore!!!
Ken and I are doing well, just a little tired!!!!!
So there ya have it! I have lots more to tell you but since I have the day off because I'm not feeling the greatest, I think I'll head on in and get a nap in before the whirlwind of kids start coming home from school!!