WELL SAID

This is from jasonjohnsonblog :

Adoption: An Echo of the Christmas Story

The gospel of our adoption, making its vivid debut that night in Bethlehem, acts not only as the emphasis behind why but also the model of how we as those adopted into the forever family of God are called to forever give our families to those who need them. Christmas is ultimately the story of God stepping into our darkness in order to bring light into it. It, above any and all other motivations, compels us to do the same on behalf of the vulnerable, marginalized and orphaned in this world. It is impossible for us to truly celebrate Christmas without considering both its implications for us and its expectations on us – to do for them exactly what God has done for us through Jesus.
In light of the gospel and the story of Christmas we can no longer remain on the peripherals of the plight of others, but must, at just the right time, meet them where they are by interceding on their behalf. Their brokenness no longer just theirs, but also now ours. An old story forever being rewritten by a new one. A better one. A brighter one. Together.
Adoption begins with our willingness to step foot into darkness, not merely to pull a child out of it but to bring light into it. This is exactly what Jesus did for us and what we are therefore compelled to do for them. We do not strut into their stories with a cape on our back but crawl into them with the Cross on our shoulders. We are not the rescuers, but the rescued. We are not the heroes, but on every occasion seek to point to Him who is. Our Hero has come. Immanuel. God is with us. Nothing will ever be the same.
In the end, the echoes of Christmas in adoption beautifully reverberate in forever-altering terms. A taking on of one story and a writing of a new one. A better one. Together.
Nothing will ever be the same.
This. Is. Christmas.

JUNK THE JAMMIES

  what a sweet idea from this adoptive mom..... 

SHE SAID...

We are now seven short days from leaving for China.  It’s a very stressful time.  As funds go, this is that time when the rubber meets the road.  It isn’t inexpensive to adopt, and I am panicking a little.  When this adoption came up, we still had lingering debt from Cate’s adoption.  Not a lot, but a little.  We’ve fundraised, paid as we went, worked hard with this adoption too.  But, it will leave us with some debt again.  We have the ability to slowly pay it off.  Some people don’t.
For some families, the nearly $30,000 cost to adopt a child is a deal breaker.  They can’t pay it.  So, a child waits.
We have been so fortunate this time to have people in our corner helping in little ways.  And, sometimes, not so little ways.  People who have sent Christmas gifts for our other kids, whose children have sent money, who have organized grants to give to siblings traveling to China, who have pledged money for the yard work the boys did, who have bought t-shirts, and necklaces, and tote bags.  The list is endless.
We’re paying it forward during this holiday season.  There are SO many amazing families working so hard to adopt right now.  In this season of giving, we’re going to give you a REALLY easy way to help.  We’re going to ask you to ditch your Christmas jammies.  No, we’re not asking you to be naked.  Although, Cate does love a good naked day.  We’re asking you to not purchase those cute matching Christmas pajamas you buy for your kids.  Instead, we’re asking you to purchase a tee to help a family who is adopting.   If you celebrate a holiday aside from Christmas, I would LOVE to see you in a tee on one of the eight nights of Hannukah.  However you choose to celebrate, please, join in!!!
I’m going to offer something too.  If you purchase a tee for an adoptive family, any tee you like, and send me a picture through email, Facebook, a blog comment, whatever, I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a ‘We Rise’ tote bag.  These totes fit EVERYTHING in them.  I’m not kidding.  Everything.

And the message, inspired by Juliana, is one that seems to fit this campaign so seamlessly.
If the Christmas jammies weren’t in your budget to begin with, and the tee isn’t either, could you do me a favor.  Could you take this image and share it on social media?  Could you make it your profile pic on Facebook?  Could you link this page somewhere so that people see these families, and their kids, and we all rise to get them home?

If you need suggestions on tees to purchase, I’m going to post a few here.  I’m going to keep adding to them as the holiday season rolls along.
These ‘Built Together’ tees are helping the Murphy Family bring Lulu home.  I met the Murphy Family, well, some of them, when we were in China bringing home Cate.  When our adoption agency (NOT our current agency) left us in the lurch, they took us under their wing.  Just a few months late, we got to spend Cate’s second birthday together.  Lisa is an amazing mom, and author.  Her son Daniel’s story is amazing.  Cam has now read it and is so looking forward to seeing the next release of the book.
The Murphy Family’s shirts can be purchased HERE.

The Worrell Family has a tee with a message I love as well.  These tees can be purchased by emailing weareblessed@hughes.net.

The Deavers family is bringing home an amazingly sweet little guy with a limb difference who I have adored from afar for forever.  Liam was born with a limb difference that involves missing both arms.  He waited and waited for so long for the perfect family to find him.  They have!!! If you would like to purchase this shirt to help get Liam home, please email deaverszoo6@gmail.com.

I absolutely adore the Chambers family!  They found their sweet son with the same adoption agency we are using to bring home Gigi.  Then, they found their gorgeous daughter in one of the AMAZING kids that Tess was privileged enough to advocate for.  I can’t wait to see this family bring their two babies home.  You can order a tee to benefit the Chambers family HERE.  This family has TWO tees for the offering!  If you’re interested in either, you can email jjmasse@sacoriver.net!


I’ve got to tell you, this is one of my FAVORITE messages yet.  It truly does begin where your comfort ends.  For this tee, you can email tannamr@msn.com.

A special alphabet message from this family, whose sweet baby is PRECIOUS.  You can email abelfundraiser@gmail.com to order!
I saved the funniest one for last.  Well, so far it’s last.  I have told this to Joe SO many times.  He’s wise to it now and simply doesn’t believe me anymore.  Props to this family for creativity!!! I LOVE IT.  If you’re the best kind of liar, you can order their shirt HERE.

PASTOR

Say WHAT ?
My husband is
Pastor Dave....

Rebekah has been very sick all week and it has been tough.
When I look at her beautiful face I know we are blessed.

It was awesome to do fun things together as a family.
If you do not have a special needs child or medical fragile child
you have no idea what a day looks like and neither did I until I lived it.

I am very thankful for Make A Wish !!

We were asked to do an interview for Make A Wish  and also to be
interviewed by our local television station.  Pastor Dave declined.

All month I have been thinking about everything I am Thankful for.
Anxious to share food and fellowship with family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

MAKE A WISH

Because of Rebekah's Lissencephaly diagnosis
MAKE A WISH of Maine sent our family
to Give Kids the World in Florida last week.

Limo to the airport, airplane to Florida..
all the kids were great on the flights,Disney passes !!

It was amazing !!
And  overwhelming at times because we did not have
Rebekah'a  stroller/wheel chair ( long frustrating story)
And boy was it hot every day.

Anna and Elsa were a hit with some but poor Hrutuja has
never seen Characters before so she was a little afraid.
Give Kids the World has thousands of volunteers !!!

Just awesome family time together.

THINKING

There s not a day that goes by that I do not think
about the millions of orphans everywhere that need
families, they need to get medical help.

STILL PRAYING TO CHANGE THE PICTURE
ABOVE BY ADDING MORE FACES. !!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT A DAY

Yesterday was a doozie !
It started when the screen door handle fell off as I
opened the door to take the dog out.
After getting 2 kids on the bus and driving the other
2 to school I drove strait to Portland because Rebekah
had an eye doctor appointment @ 9:15.  They are dilating
her eyes this time to make sure that her eyes are working
the way they are suppose to. After they dilate her eyes we
go wait in the waiting room 30-40 mins. So we went to the
rest room to change her diaper.   Make-a-Wish called with a
get together date, ok. I get a text from my older daughter and
Austin calls to tell me that Grampa called from Florida ??
I am thinking something is up?   At 11:20 they finally call
Rebekah's name to go back into the office. The assistant says
" I need to check her eyes to see if they have dilated" so I
say" they should be it has been 1 hour and 20 mins since you
dilated them." The doctor comes in and apologizes for the
wait....I am biting my tongue !!
He makes a comment about her Cortical Vision Impairment
and I say " well, she does have Lissencephaly, her eyes can
not tell her smooth brain what they are seeing...  :(
Anyways, I got home @ 1o'clock. Talked to Grampa and his
oldest daughter passed away from lung cancer.
Why do I have to be a big girl and tell mom ???
I was talking to her about it when Austin called and said
"he just got into an accident",  uggg     He is ok
Glad he has a truck !

What a day !!

Today Rebekah is not doing well, she is coughing a lot
and had 2 seizures after school. 


 

SNOW

Today was cold outside, the mountains received 1-3 inches
of snow today.  I am not ready for winter.

Rebekah is slowly getting better.
She had another Barium Swallow Test done which she failed again.
So still feeding by g-tube.

Now Rohana and Austin have colds... uggg
Just thinking that I have one in college, 2 in private school,
2 in public school and one in pre school. No wonder we have
a lot of germs to pass around.

ANOTHER OVER NIGHT

A week ago Sunday Rebekah had a different looking
seizure, which scared me, so I called the Neurologist.
during the week she had a temperature that went away
in a couple hours ?? So I kept her home from preschool
on Thursday to lots of vest therapy and inhalers, which
worked. She did great Friday and Saturday but Sunday
morning she woke up all congested, coughing, even
vomited because she coughed so much. She was not breathing
good at all..... I called doctors office @ 8 and got "bring her
in @ 9:45. I get there and the doctor on call said
" Had they told me it was Rebekah, I would of told them to tell
you to go strait to Maine Medical Center"..... ugggg
Finally around 4:30 they admitted her because her o2 stats were low.
She has a lung infection...viral  ..bronchitis ..
A short night and long day but we are home now.

KICKING

At the beginning of the week I was just praying to get thru
the week because I knew it was going to be busy... well by the
time Wednesday night rolled around I was not feeling good.
Thursday morning I put 2 kids on the bus and  as I was driving
2 kids to their Christian School I prayed to just make it there safely.
And I did, thank you Jesus !
I slowly moved thru getting Rebekah ready to drive her to school
today because no transportation was available.. ugg
a 45 minute drive and I really think God had the wheel.
After dropping her off at school I parked in the school parking lot
and slept off and on for the 3.5 hours.. it helped a little.
Slept most of the rest of the day and night..
What ever I have is really kicking my butt !!
Saturday am, everyone has a cold !!!
Sunday, Rebekah's oxygen levels are low so we did vest therapy
She is having seizures.. I panicked, called neurologist.
After a little more meds she seams to be doing better.

Praying the sickness leaves this house

WHY WORRY

If I just have more faith in our heavenly father
I would not stress over a lot of stuff.
As my husband told me one day...
"earthly problems are only temporary, some how they will
work out or it will get solved."

Guess what.. Rebekah is going to school 5 days and she will
get all her therapies while there !!!  AMAZING

PITCHING

This was last weeks post which I forgot to post  9/10

The curve balls keep coming my way all thought
they are not going around me. They keep hitting me
in the face, the leg, the gut and especially in
the heart.  I love this little girl with all my heart !!

Since day one this has been really hard.

Yes, I have heard that God does not call us to do the easy stuff.
One day I can have a nurse to help me with Rebekah then all
of a sudden the Insurance decides only on school days ??
the child does not sleep at night.
She can only go to school 2 days for 3.5 hours because they
need to hire a teacher...her IEP says 5 days a week.
We can't get the therapies that she needs,, ugg
Sometimes I wonder if therapies will even help her ?


All the kids have returned to school.
Even birthday boy is going to college !!

ROCKETS

Ha, Ha ..love summer clearance. These rockets cost $1.00 each

                           They were a pain to assemble. The double sided tape that
                   was included did not work to good so scotch tape to the rescue.

        Day 2 . grand daughter wanted to play also so Hrutuja shared .

Rebekah is getting use to her HI/LO chair and AFOs.
Keeping it real here.. Some day are very  overwhelming
I have finally admitted that I can't do it all with Rebekah
and she will start to have a RN come in to help with her
six feeds all her therapies and medications.
and she will be with her the 3 hours she is at Morrison Center.

The count down to school starting is on and I hear it everyday..
8 more days, 7 more days, 6 more days.etc.
Hrutuja will be going to Seacoast Christian School with Nathan this year..
Gabe and Rohana will attend Wells public School.
And Rebekah will be going to the Morrison Center.

These kids are pretty awesome !!

AFO

Another year zipped by our first adopted daughter

turned 8 today (home 5 years)

She was a little ovewhelmed at seeing her candles lit so i put

some frosting on her nose to ease the tention.

Today Rebekah had a recheck. She was in the hospital 8/1 - 8/3

we have an awesome pulmonary Doctor whom we are seeing

EVERY Friday. She now had vest therapy (airway) and an inhaler.

Feeds every 3 hours during the day and finally she does not need

oxygen as much !!!

AFO's for 3

                                   
                                             Gabriel...galaxy

                                               Rohana... foot balls, soccer balls,, etc

                                        

                                           Rebekah... lots of hearts
                                                yes, mom picked them for her.

                                 Rohana also has a wrist brace.

Rebekah's new high low chair.

Have I said "I am glad we have awesome health Insurance."

keeping me busy but still feeling BLESSED.

BIRTHDAYS

Our girls are both 7 for 12 days.

They both wanted remote control vechicles

so we got them jeeps and lots of batteries !!

usually we give Rohana her present at the same time because
she does not understand ..... SHE DOES NOT LIKE WAITING !!!

I will update after her birthday

Re CHECK

Yesterday, I took Rebekah to her primary care physician to
get a recheck after leaving the hospital..
her weight is a little over 28lbs. and her oxygen level is
.........can't get the machine to work,  try another finger,
then the other hand and it slowly starts to climb
64, 65 up to 72... we go the toe one because she is really
small for 3 (?) So we start at 72 and stop at 80. I get this
ot, oh look from the nurse. She leaves to get the doctor.
I put Rebekah across my legs and she starts to droole down
my leg, she cleared her saliva the she gargles with.
When they came back in her o2 went up to 91.....
Doctor said " she needs oxygen so she can be readmitted to
MMC or oxygen at home.. so I chose oxygen at home.
GI doctor finally changed her feeds..


I AM POOPED !!

AUGUST

ESY is over for Gabriel and Rohana.
We did not sign them up for the field trip
Because of anxiety for them and thank
goodness it was 90 degree outside.
I was a little upset with the school for not
telling us that school that day was not an
option since they were not going on the field
Trip. !#$
Friday, daddy got out of work early so we
Decided to start school shopping by going
to the mall. Even though Hrutuja's had
decided to have India food for her birthday
Meal, we still had to have India food at the
Mall.

Saturday was my nieces birthday party
And Austin was scheduled for testing for possibly
A new job.
Rebekah did not sleep good and she was having
A hard time breathing.  To urgent care we went.
2nd ambulance ride with our little girl.
We spent 6 hours in the ER, spiked fever, febrile
Seizures. Finally admitted @4 pm.
We will be here for a couple days.
We missed the birthday party / family gathering.
But daddy brought the kids to see us.

LAKE DAY

We packed the night before and left early
for the lake so we could pick a piece of land to sit on.,  ha,ha
We rented a jet ski for the day and the boys had their kayaks.


kids enjoyed the water.

NOT FIXED

Not sure what the problem is
our Internet provider ? our modum ?
our computer ??? security ???
 now spell check will not work ??


Anyway on July 17 we took the 4 little's to North Conway
to see "A day out with Thomas". A surprise
They heard the train whistle and then saw Thomas face
on the train. We arrived around 11 and the next available
tickets were for 1 o'clock a couple seconds later it was 2 o'clock ?
They said the tickets were selling to fast on the Internet.
So we skipped the ride and did all the other fun stuff except
Rohana was overwhelmed and fussed and cried all morning.

We went to Applebee's for lunch and headed up the Kangamangus
highway to Upper falls.

Enjoyed Ice Cream on the way home.




Someone's 3rd Birthday !!

We had Chinese food and Reeces peices ice cream cake.
And I had no fortune in my cookie ?  future ??
To be honest, sometimes I wonder how long God is going to let us
continue love on her.  This is a very exhausting road but I am all in.

A couple days later someone celebrated his 11th Birthday !!

He chose Spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, broccoli ,
And chocolate cake and chocolate Ice cream.

AFTER

After we returned home from OOB we headed to
Great East Lake to visit daddy's sister and family
who are on vacation in Maine for a week.
Of course our brave girl has to go in the water and use an
inner tube and fall through and someone had to jump in to
grab her!  scary.

July 2nd we went to Walmart to purchase lunch items for
for the 3rd because we are going back to visit at the lake.
We made sure all 3 littles had life vests for the water.

 Nana and Papa in the row boat with Nathan

 Daddy trying to give swim lessons to Hrutuja
 but she wants nothing to do with the lessons.

 Some chest games going on.

Papas retirement cake. We all had a great time.  Thank you Gagnes for the invite.
Loved seeing all these children that God has Blessed these families .

The next day was Independence Day !!  4th of July Parade !!

 We impatiently waited for the parade to start !

 Rohana loves to talk to and mother Rebekah.

Yes, everyone had Red, White and Blue on.

 If you can't read the frontit says "One Nation under GOD"

A local church's float.     "JESUS NEVER FAILS"