From Aprons to Zoey

(ok, so I've been waiting for an excuse to use that phrase for like a week and a half!)

This post is for Linny at a Place Called Simplicity.

She has asked that everyone who reads her blog write a little post about what they are making to raise money for their adoption, so we can all do some Christmas shopping and help make a difference at the same time.

So here it is:

We are a family of 5 adopting a little girl from Ethiopia.We are requesting she be under 2 years old. Her name is Zoey.

We don't know who she is yet, but we do know that God knows who she is and loves her very much.

We are getting ready to start our homestudy meetings and have been collecting the mountains of paperwork needed to send in our Dossier. So, our next big financial need is our Dossier Submission Fees.

I sell aprons at our Etsy Store- From There to Here

Cute, lightweight, easy to care for aprons in kids' sizes!

Go and have a peek! There are many different styles to choose from, and I also do custom orders as well.

Also, November 8-11 is our HUGE Love Wins Giveaway!

If you haven't read about that yet, click here and you can. We have about 28 donors already, and it's going to be so much fun!

Here is just a smidgen of the prizes to be won:

Conversations with Charlotte

Me: What are you thinking about?

Charlotte: About Baby Zoey.

Me: Oh yeah, what about her?

Charlotte: I think she will be brown.

Me: Me too.

Charlotte: How will we get her in Africa?

Me: Well, we'll fly in a big airplane and go over the whole ocean and land in Africa-

Charlotte: But how will you get on the ground?

Me: The plane will land and open the door and we will get out.

Charlotte: But how will you know where she is?

Me: Oh, we'll have a map and it will tell us where to go.

Charlotte: Oh. But why don't you just drive there?

Me: Well, you can't drive a car into the ocean. It would sink in all the water.

Charlotte: Well, you could just close all the doors!

Me: Oh, yeah. I didn't think of that.

Charlotte: Yeah.

Love Wins Giveaway- What it's all about

What does Love Wins mean, anyway?

A. Satan tempted Adam and Eve into sin, thus beginning the downward spiral of man into sin known as the Fall. God loved the world so much that He gave His son Jesus to save us from our sins and redeem us to Himself, because without Jesus, we could never look upon the glory of God. Jesus has already defeated Satan, and will someday return to reclaim what was always His.

Love Wins.

B. Poverty, Abuse, Neglect, HIV/AIDS, Starvation, Disease, and Disaster have left 147 Million children without parents in the world today. These are all signs of a fallen world. Satan uses these things to hurt, despair, and destroy, and to scare people away from loving the needy. But because of our Lord's adoption of us as His own children, we understand the importance of love and belonging. We know we are not orphaned from God, we are His, and He has ransomed us to Himself. This is the catalyst for most adoptions and nearly all Orphan Care programs-to love as God loves us, without regard to race, nationality, color, language, wealth, health, status, or location.

Love Wins.

C. It costs an absurd amount to adopt. Every adopting family knows this. Every friend or relative of adopting families know this. There are mountains of redtape and financial hurdles to get through to bring a child into a family. Satan uses this all the time to make families believe they could never afford to adopt, all the while luring them into self-gratifying excess. But God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He breathed the stars and calls them by name. God has all the money in the world and uses it in mysterious ways to put "the least of these" in families, where He, and I, and You, know they belong. He provides every penny, on time, and in full. He never bounces a check or goes bankrupt, and his storehouses never close. Satan tempts us into lust, excess, and debt. God may call on you when it is the least convenient, the hardest, or the "Just not the right time" but He blesses the humble, the needy, and the obedient and allows them to do crazy awesome things for His kingdom, despite their financial circumstances, because His heart is for the orphan.

Love Wins.

Our daughter's name is Zoey. You can read more about my feelings on her here. We don't know who she is yet, but we sure love her.

We started Butterflies for Zoey to help raise money to bring here home. You might want to read more about that here. As part of that project, we are running a huge giveaway open to anyone who donates to it.

Here are the rules:

1. The giveaway will start Monday, November 8th and end at midnight Thursday, November 11. Friday I will post all the winners.

2. Anyone can get one entry by becoming a follower. If you are already a follower, you can still get this entry, so dont worry!

3. For every $10 donated to Butterflies for Zoey, you will get 1 entry. You can donate $10 as many times as you can stand. You will get 1 entry every single time.

4. After you have donated $10 or more, you can get more entries by posting a link on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, or whatever other social media sites that I am not cool enough to know about. These will get you 1 entry each. You can do this every day if you like and get 1 entry every time.

5. The way I will be able to keep track of all these entries is this: You must leave a comment stating which one(s) you did. Otherwise, I will not know. You can leave them all in one comment on the last day, or do it every day, or however you want to do it, just don't forget!I will leave the post about the giveaway up on the blog all 4 days so you will know where to leave your comment(s).

6.This is a lot of rules, isn't it?

7. Your name will be drawn for a random prize. Due to the high number of prizes available, I will have to just randomly select one name for each , or one for each group whatever may be the case. So you won't be able to request a specific prize- sorry. Its just a lot easier this way.

8. I can only ship prizes to the US.

Here are just a few of the things you could win:

That's just, like, a fraction of all the prizes available. You won't want to miss it!

Stay tuned...

School, and an Announcement!

I realized I haven't been sharing much of what we've been doing in school. Partly because I've had other things on my mind, and partly because we haven't been doing that much school.

But, last week, we really dug in and it was a lot of fun. We finally got our schoolroom all cleaned out and made up and we really like it alot. It's small but cozy, and all of our school stuff in one room makes Mommy not such a scatterbrain.

We are learning about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims right now. I hope to spread it out so that we will end this subject at Thanksgiving. So right now, we are focusing on the Mayflower, what it was like to be on it, who the people were and why they were leaving their homes, and where they were going. I'm working on getting Ethan to say they came to America, instead of Africa. Poor kid- thinks Missouri and Africa are the only places in the whole world.

We have special words. I tell him what they are, but he says every letter.

Then I hang it up and give him some paper and he copies it and writes his name.

He drew a picture from his little picture bible:

See under the pilgrim? The left page is Moses holding the 10 Commandments. I thought that was pretty clever. That book wasn't even in the room at the time.

I wrote out his bible verse and taped it to the window. Then I taped another piece of paper over it so he could trace it.

Then we "packed" suitcases with things we would want to take with us on the Mayflower:

Ethan: Butter, Cat food (for the cat he would take), hershey kisses, Olay Regenerist Anti- Aging stick( he thought it was an "awesome flashlight") and fruit.

Charlotte: A guinea pig, birds, a bunny rabbit, pollen, farm animal plaques, and some fried egg-asparagus concoction.

I really want to focus on his letters and writing this year.I don't have a set curriculum, I am just trying to make it fun and engaging. He seems to be liking it so far.

And the announcement:

The first week or so of November, we will be holding a }}HUGE{{ adoption advocacy giveaway here on the ol' blog. Trust me, you will not want to miss this. If you are adopting, or know someone who is adopting, if you love orphans, or you just love really really cool and awesome stuff, become a follower now so you won't miss a thing!

And that is all I am telling you for now.You will just have to check this blog out like, everyday, to hear anything more about it. My lips are zipped.

But it's gonna be awesome!

Catching Up

I "promise" I will have new, vibrant, and interesting posts all next week.

(Barring, but not limited to, sickness, sleepiness, laundry,or act of God)

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

They Are Precious in His Sight

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

Proverbs 31:8

When I first posted about Sasha, all I knew about these children is what I had read on the Reece's Rainbow website. Since then, I have read countless blogs about adoption of Down Syndrome children- people that had done it, or were going through it.
It breaks my heart that these children, because of the stigma of their condition, are torn from their parents and locked away in a building with very little hope of anything better.

Nightline did a series on Russian and Eastern European Mental Institutions where these children go on their 4th birthday if they are not adopted. You can watch it here.

It is... horrifying.

There are no social programs, support groups, therapies, counselors for families that dare to keep their child, if they are even allowed to. Most are removed from their families at birth or shortly after. They are disowned, they lose their jobs, their families, their marriages, all in the name of dedication and love to their child who, in their country, is called worthless, meaningless, and unwanted.

I read not too long ago that the abortion rate in the US of babies who are deemed to have Down Syndrome is 94%. Of all the babies whose test results come back as likely-positive of DS, 94% are killed. Roughly 66,000 children thrown away.

Deemed worthless.

But...

Did you know that the waiting list to adopt a Down Syndrome baby in the US is currently about 300 families long? That means that if you are adopting, and in your report, you say you would like a baby with Down Syndrome, there will be on average 300 families ahead of you in line to receive the very next baby with DS available for adoption.

These are some of the faces and names of children who are called worthless in their country. But they don't look that way to me. And they don't look that way to their Savior either.

Charity (48)

Girl, Born September 26, 2008

What a munchkin! Big brown eyes :) More photos available. Charity is a beautiful girl with Down syndrome. She was born with a heart condition, but has had corrective surgery and is healthy and doing well now. She is still crawling, and will greatly benefit from a loving family to encourage her development!!

Maria N.
There are brothers or sisters

Birth Date: January 2008
Gender: Female
Nature: Calm

Look at this little pixie doll! Truly a beautiful child!

Maria is a typical little girl. She does not have a heart condition. She has "pancreatitis" in her medical records, but outside of that, she is growing and developing well. She will do wonderful in a family.

Bridget

Date of Birth: September 2006
Gender: Female
Eyes: Blue
Hair: brown
Character: sociable

This darling little boy was caught at a very sleepy time! Reeves is 3 1/2 and facing the institution in the Spring. He is considered significantly delayed, but he is medically healthy and will really blossom in a loving family!

* * *

And just in case you are wondering what it is like for these children , read this.

He has already been transfered to a mental institution, where neglect and abuse of all kind is rampant. If they are not valued in their own families, how much less are they valued at a mental institution?

I wonder how long he will survive?

(and just for reference, Caden weighed in at 17 lbs last month, at 13 months old, and he is small for his age.)

Jacob #12-1

Boy, DOB: September 10, 2005
Main diagnosis: Down syndrome, lagging behind in physical and mental development

Jacob is over 4 years old and weighs just 14 pounds. He is still very much a baby, even though he’s already been transferred to an institution. He lives in an environment with children that are completely cared for by staff and does not have opportunities outside of the institution.
His motor skills are significantly delayed. He can sit up unassisted, but does not crawl or walk. His report says that most of his time is spent lying in a bed. He shows interest in his environment and in toys and other objects. He recognizes his name and responds to it. His speech is significantly delayed but he is beginning to make sounds. He eats from a bottle and does attempt to hold the bottle by himself.

This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:16-17

Its High Time

that I took some pictures off my camera...

Enjoy!