WHEW!!!!

We have been crazy busy!  We were preparing for the homestudy, spending time in the hospital and living life.

Our home study is behind us.  We have a few items to finish up before our social worker can finish the homestudy.  We are eager to complete the list.  It includes an online training, physicals for the family and a vaccination for the dog.  The physicals are slow coming.  Due to insurance contracts, we needed to change doctors for daddy.  No less than 4 phone calls later and I believe the records were faxed this afternoon.  I am hoping to schedule the physicals for us tomorrow and the kids are all going to the doctor on Saturday.

I am processing lots of paperwork.  I need a proof of home ownership from our county.  Simple?  Nope!  I was told by a super competent county worker this afternoon that the person writing the letter would also be the person notarizing it.  Grrr...

We have not had a ton of fun ... just a little ... here are a few pictures from the last weeks .. enjoy!

All natural cough medicine - it is yummo!

We learned about the wonder of God's creation.  We compared a camel's hooves to a horse's hooves and discovered that a camel can walk on sand without sinking.

             

The baby girls thought they were baby dolls.  You know they are dolls! 

We has a fabulous Valentine's Party. 

2 families - 14 kiddos ten and under

cupcakes, strawberry icecream sundaes, lolipops, chocolate ovaltine milk

real table linens and dishes!

Miss Hollywood came to visit.

(and forgot her glasses in the backyard

which poochie promptly chewed

the arms off of - bad dog) 

Big sister taught little sister how to crack eggs.

Big sister read to little brother.

What we've been up to this week

Brotherly Love

We measured for Noah's Ark and learned that it would encompass our entire street and both cul de sacs.  It was one BIG boat!

We learned about floating and tested flat bottom boats and round bottom boats.  We also floated a boat with out walls and added weight to the boats.  The children were facinated! -Notice the bored hands on the cheeks?

We learned about rainbows.  We looked through rainbow colored glasses.

Made a rainbow appear in milk.

and refracted rays of light

Observed mixing of colors

Then finally collapsed from all that learning 

Now what?

So ...  what do we do now?

Rush into committing to another child?

Stick with one child?

Pray more?

We are choosing option 3.  We redid paperwork this morning and have changed our request to adopt Elliot and an unknown child. 

What this means is that we would learn of the child during our first trip to Eastern Europe.  This is called a blind referral.  The adoption authorities will be able to present us a book with children that are available for adoption.  At which time, we will be able to decide if one of those children are meant for our family.

We ask that you would pray for clear direction from the Lord as to which child, if any, are meant to be added to our family.

Praise God!!!!

We just found out that Arthur was ALREADY ADOPTED!!! 

Communications are sometimes slow and scarce.  Via email today, we received word that Arthur was adopted outside of Reece's Rainbow.

PRAISE GOD HE HAS A FAMILY OF HIS OWN.

We are sad for our family, but oh so happy that Arthur is no longer in the orphanage.  We feel a loss and disappointment, but we ultimately praise God that He is in control and knows the plans He has for us.

We must now redo a bit of paperwork and head back to the notary to update documents we were sending to EE. 

Please continue to pray for all to see God's hand working in all of this.

Introducing our boys!!!!!!!

We are blessed to introduce you to our boys!!!!!!

Elliot

Arthur

Our official Reece's Rainbow Page

http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorjohnson

 

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??????

WE CAN'T EITHER!!!!!!!!!!! 

 A LEAP OF FAITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning I woke up with the song "Children, Go Where I Send Thee,"  Specifically the lyrics going over and over in my mind as I came out of bleary eyed dreamland was ...

Children, go where I send thee;
How shall I send thee?
Well, I'm gonna send thee two by two,


Later, I talked to daddy and told him about this song and he said his song this morning was Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns and the part that resonated with him was 

Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand

But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
You you'll never win

But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"

Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth 

He is calling out to us.  He is sending us two by two, for His glory.  We will choose to listen to the Voice of Truth.

What we've been up to

We sang



We opened more Christmas packages

Buzz Lightyear came to play

We introduced the children to some fine delicacies

We had a pedicure party

We made Elder Berry Syrup

and ... Pancake Cake (new fav way to make pancakes)

We blew up a volcano - hmp?

then we got out the baking soda and vinegar

and wah lah

a real explosion!

A Sweet Friend Asked ...

Why the change of heart?   I thought you were Mrs. Foster Care, why are you pursuing international adoption of a special need child from an Eastern European country? 

My only real answer is that we were ignorant to the plight of special need orphans in Eastern Europe.  We believed we could never afford to adopt internationally.  Our ignorance makes me weep!   God opened our eyes and changed our hearts. 

God used a very dear MOMYS to lead us to this video.  It tells the horrific story of what happens to these precious children when they age out of baby houses.  We were also led to Reece's Rainbow, a ministry dedicated to orphans with down syndrome and other special needs.




Who knew?

Who knew that for your 4th, 5th or 6th birthday, you do not receive a party at Chuck E. Cheese and a cake decorated with Transformers, but instead you receive a transfer to a mental institution.  You read that right.  A transfer to a mental institution.

Who knew that in a country smaller than the State of Texas there are 100,000 orphans.

Who knew these precious children are locked away.

Who knew children were being tied down, day after day.

Who knew that so many of children transferred to mental institutions die after being there only a short time.

Who knew that this still goes on, this is 2011 after all and we live in a civilized world.  Yep, we were under a rock. 


God knew and he has broken our hearts for these children. 

Yes, c.h.i.l.d.r.e.n. as in more than one child.  We are adopting two new sons!!!! 

One of the boys has the same genetic condition as our daughter .  We cannot imagine her life wasted in a mental institution, her tied to a crib, her left alone for hours on end.  The other boy has a similar syndrome.  God has plans for these children and they cannot be fulfilled in a mental institution.  We have to bring them home.

We really do not know how we are going to pull it off, but God does.  We need mountains to be moved.  We need prayers and help from our family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and strangers.  Our boys have passed their 5th birthdays, there is a chance they may have already been transferred to the mental institution.  Please pray that our boys have not been transferred to the mental institution.  Please pray that they will have favor and care from their nurses.  Please pray that God will place a peace in their hearts, that somehow, some way, they will know we love them and they will soon be part of a family, our family.  Please pray for our family to be strengthened as we walk this road.

In our next blog post we will introduce you to the boys. (We need one small detail to be worked out before you get to meet them.)

No Words

I have no words that could do this video justice.

What do we do for fun?

I wanted to share a few fun moments we had over the past week.

A Birthday cake for Jesus

Building a Train

Making Soap

and Nailpolish

and Lipbalm

and scooting ..

and ... drinking coffee while scootering

Social Worker Hired and Let the Paperwork Begin

After several weeks of back and forth with old and new social workers (SW), we have hired a SW to complete a new international homestudy (HS) for us.  Our previous domestic homestudy does not meet the international requirements, back to square one.  Our new HS will  have Hague accreditation even though our adoptive country is not currently Hague.  There is a feeling that before long they will become a Hague country and we are trying to be as proactive as possible.

Now the fun of filling out the forms starts ....

Notice the binder at the edge of the table?  This is my attempt at "organizing" our mountain of paperwork.  By nature, I am not.a.least.bit organized.  I am a piler and a stacker.  Messes really do not bother me and I would much rather over look a pile and play with my kids.  It is a rare occasion that the flat surfaces in our home are free from treasures LOL. 

This is important.  I need to be able to put my finger on the documents, not spend 20 minutes looking through papers for XYZ.  So, organization first!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our blog! 

This blog will chronicle our adoption journey and share our everyday life with you.  From home school adventures to world wide adventures, please join us as we fill the van!

We are a family of nine, Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Sissy and six children ages 2 months to seven years. We love the Lord.  We believe children are a blessing.  ALL CHILDREN.  Our family has been built in many unique ways and we are looking forward to this journey as we seek the Lord's plans for us.

We hope you will enjoy the ride, fender benders and all!!!!!