Our Homeschool Journey: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Guardian Angels

I believe, there are angels among us. Sent down to us from somewhere up above. They come to you and me in our darkest hours. To show us how to live, to teach us how to give, To guide us with the light of love. They wear so many faces, show up in the strangest places. To grace us with their mercy, in our time of need. (lyrics by Alabama - Angels Among Us)

Those angels have been out this past month in full force! We have donations to our Chip-In and our FSP and we are getting so close to being fully funded! When we started this journey, we knew it would be a test of our faith. When you spend so much time doing things on your own, it is very hard to know that you need help, it is harder still to accept help from others. But this is not for us... this is for two little ones. That is one thing that has helped us accept the help. Knowing that this is not about us, this is about Sydney and Lucien, this is all for them! God has certainly sent out his angels.

So many people have been donating to help Sydney and Lucien get home. Thank you seems to easy to say, to simple. I do not know how to express how thankful we are to all of you, you are indeed Sydney and Lucien's Guardian Angels. God Bless You! And even though the words are simple, I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your generosity is humbling and it brings us to tears. So often we hear on the news all the problems in the world. It is wonderful to know that there are those out there who go above and beyond. You are a gift and we can hardly wait until we can bring our little ones and share them with you!

God sends his blessings, in people like you. We want you to know we appreciate all that you do. May God bless you with all of his love and his care. We want to Thank You, for being there. It's people like you who bring happiness to others; to wonderful children, and to their fathers and mothers! God Bless You!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Uncomfortable

Something I have noticed lately, more than ever before, is humanity's amazing ability to "ignore" the uncomfortable. If something does not fit into what we want our world to be like, we can "shut the uncomfortable out".
About a month ago, I started walking to work (a 5 mile walk) to help save money on gas (every little bit counts when you are trying to rescue two little ones), but on really rainy or snowy days I will walk the mile to the city bus stop and take the bus the rest of the way. On the first day, I got on the bus, and sat down. It was kind of exciting to take the bus (at least it is when you don't do it often). I have had to catch the bus VERY early to get to work on time, so I was not surprised to see many people doing what I thought was "napping" on the bus.But I have come to learn, they are not napping. They are trying to shut everyone out.
"Shutting people out" is not isolated to just the bus. How often do you walk down the street in the city and see a homeless person huddled under a blanket or newspaper. How often do you try to look away? Pretend they are not there? Make excuses for why they are there? It is easier to say they are only living on the streets because they drink or do drugs. Our church hosts something called "Who". It is the Winter Hospitality Overflow. Basically, during the winter months, when the shelters overflow, our church will set up the gym to accommodate the homeless. I have been blessed to have volunteered to help with the WHO guests. These people are homeless. I got to meet a lady and her THREE kids... they are not homeless because of drugs, or alcohol. They are homeless because she lost her job. Her children are young, too young to be left home alone. And when they got sick, she would have to take off work to stay home with them. Since she had a min. wage job, she had no benefits. This means that when she does not work, she doesn't get paid. No money, means no gas for her car to get her to work. No car to get her to work means no job. You can see the endless cycle. Needless to say, due to having to take off work to care for her children when they were sick, she no longer has a job. No job means no way to pay rent. Which means you are suddenly finding yourself homeless.
But of course, it is a lot easier to just say that it is their fault they are homeless. That way, we can ignore the fact that seeing them on the side of the road makes us uncomfortable, and we can walk away without thinking anything else about it.
But that is not the only thing I have seen. Throughout our adoption, it has become very clear who is supportive, and who is not. Some of these people actually admitted that they are uncomfortable with people who have a disability. I have been told by these people that others will "stare" at the children I am bringing home. I have been told to expect "name calling". And that I should get use to it. WHAT???
What kind of world have we become, when we can ignore those in need because it does not fit into what we want our world to look like?
I am asking something very simple... do not ignore those in need. BE UNCOMFORTABLE!! If you ARE uncomfortable, that means that you are being called to action. DO NOT become immune to suffering or things that are different.

As Mother Teresa says so well, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." "When Christ said: ''I was hungry and you fed me,'' he didn't mean only the hunger for bread and for food; he also meant the hunger to be loved. Jesus himself experienced this loneliness. He came amongst his own and his own received him not, and it hurt him then and it has kept on hurting him. The same hunger, the same loneliness, the same having no one to be accepted by and to be loved and wanted by. Every human being in that case resembles Christ in his loneliness; and that is the hardest part, that's real hunger."ther

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Faith

I had it set in my mind that this post would be about why I believe in God and how important he is in my life.
So I started writing, and found that no matter how much I wrote, I could never find enough words to express how I feel. Maybe part of that is because my faith grows stronger each day, my relationship with God grows every day.

It is like when you take a soda bottle that is full, and you shake it... when you try to take off the cap it rushes to the top ready to jump out. That is kind of (but not really) what it is like. Or maybe it is like a geyser?
So, I thought maybe I would just share my journey of faith statement with you. But again, there never seemed to be enough words.
I wish I could describe how important, meaningful, special, fulfilling it is to have a relationship with God but I cannot. It is something you just have to experience for yourself.
So instead, I will leave you with words of my role model...

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
― Mother Teresa
“We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved.”
― Mother Teresa
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
― Mother Teresa

Sunday, March 11, 2012

USCIS and Flights

We now have our fingerprint appointment with the USCIS!!! We have contacted the local senator and are enlisting his help to expedite the process. We are getting so close!!

Thanks to ALL of you we now have our matching grant for March!!! Not only that we had someone just donate $1000 YAHHHH!!! I am beyond speechless!!! We are all in tears and humbled by your loving generosity!! Thank you so much!! Words can not express how blessed we feel!
Thank you so much for ALL of you who donated, shared, and prayed to help bring Sydney and Lucien home. We can hardly believe that we will be holding Sydney and Lucien for the first time so very soon.
I can hardly wait to show all of you their pictures and videos of them.
I am praying that the orphanage will let me help out during non-visiting hours but we will have to wait and see. I am sure they could use an extra pair of hands, but I am not sure if that would be against their policy or not.

We have had a wonderful and generous offer of flight miles, but it will only cover one trip. Round trips are hard to cover since we do not have a set time that we will be flying back. We could be waiting for court for 2-3 weeks so almost all of our flights can only be booked 1 way. That leaves us needing flight coverage for 3 more flights. (Mark and I will fly out together, then he will fly home after court. I will stay and continue visiting Sydney and Lucien every day at the orphanages and then will be flying home with Sydney and Lucien after the 10 day wait and all the paperwork is done) If you have any air miles you can donate that would be such a blessing!!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Currently, our prayer needs are:
1) That our senator is able to come through for us and get the process expedited.
2) That we are able to get flight miles donated.
Together we can do this :)

Friday, March 9, 2012

Knocking it Out!

Good News!! We are only $10 away from getting our $500 matching grant!!!!

We have passports, and NOW we have the money to travel!!! We do not have a travel date yet, but are being told to expect to travel in late April/Early May.

We have been getting ready at home. I am stocking up on diapers, clothes, and baby bedding. The baby room is finally finished and Mark has done an AMAZING job!!

We have contacted people in our area who have children with down syndrome and are working to get early intervention set up so they are able to get started as soon as we get home.

So now... our NEXT hurdle is the Facilitator's fee. That is $13,000!!! Before we can meet our little ones we will have to pay this fee. Why so much?? The fee for 1 child is $9000, for the second child not in the same orphanage it is $4000.
We are budgeting $5000 for flights, so that means we have $2397 so far of the $13,000 we need for the Facilitator's fee.

That means our next goal we need to raise $10,603!!!
I know it can happen, I have SEEN it happen for others! If everyone shares our blog with at least 5 friends, and asks them to share it with 5 of their friends, and everyone prays, and if you can donate, then we CAN do it!

Let's Knock this out and Rescue these orphans!! We would love some advocates and surrogate aunties/uncles to help share our blog and fundraising needs until we are able to go get them! Any volunteers?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Birthday Wish

I am hoping to surprise my husband for his birthday tomorrow.
I need everyone to share this with as many people as you can.
Tomorrow he will be the 39!!! His last year of the 30s!!!
He has been working so hard on the nursery and it is finally finished, the day before his birthday!!
When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said the only thing he wants, is to know that we will be able to bring Sydney and Lucien home.

So in honor of his birthday wish, I am holding a birthday candle fundraiser. I am asking everyone to help donate 1 candle (more if you can)!! Each candle is $5. We will really surprise him if we can raise enough for all 39 candles! Can we do it?? Please help make this birthday really special for him.
Let's Make it a good one!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Boring

Every time I make a post, I try to think of some amazing title that will attract everyone's attention and make them want to read my blog.
I hope to pull you in, make you want to read, get your attention and share my story with you.
However, I struggle with that. My life is what it is. A mom to four soon to be six, two who have already grown up and moved off and two teenagers who are good kids but are your typical teenager that can have tons of attitude when the mood strikes, and two who are in a distant country and I know very little about other than that they have down syndrome and they are orphans.
My titles might seem boring, and maybe they are. I tend to read other's blogs and I love seeing pictures. Pictures speak a thousand words, but for now, the only pictures I have are the ones of the children I have at home and the ones that have grown up.
My memories make me smile, but I wonder how much of my life would interest my readers.
I look back a few years, back to when all four of my kids lived at home. I think back to our first Disneyland trip. My older two girls were teenagers and we wanted to go before they grew up too much. One of my girls was in a big teenage mood and was a grump most of the time. I think she really had a great time, but of course she would have died before she admitted it. Every time I started to catch a smile or a laugh she quickly gathered her frown back and gave a pout. We had such an amazing time and we will always remember that trip.

If I think back a little more and remember our times when we homeschooled full time. We were studying about the westward movement, immigration, and the colonial period. We read all the American Girl books, and Little House books. We made corn husk dolls and traveled from Georgia to New York to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We were blessed to be able to visit an Amish farm and got to see what their daily life is like and then toured an old Indian cave and mock old west town in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I think back to when I was a very little girl, living in Louisiana in a very small town. Down a mile or so was a levy and I remember climbing up and standing at the top thinking how big it was. I held my bit of cardboard I had taken from a large box in my hands and looked down with eager anticipation. Then it was all or nothing as I threw my bit of cardboard on the grass and quickly jumped on. I sped down, wind blowing my hair, and me thinking that this was the life. The rush of excitement as I neared top speed just before I came to a stop at the bottom had butterflies tickling my tummy and I squealed in delight.

These things may sound simple to you. They may bore you to tears. But they are my memories and that is something I am blessed with. We can hardly wait till our little ones are home, and they can start building up their memories to look back on some day. And who knows, maybe someday, when they are older, they will have their own blogs and talk about about their memories. Or maybe they will look back in old scrap books with smiles on their faces, as they remember all the adventures they have had.

I know that this journey is one we will never forget. One of the reasons we started to blog about our journey is so we do not forget anything.

One thing I will NEVER forget is all of your kindness, the outpouring of love by so many of you! You humble me with your generosity.
This month, we have had someone (an individual, not a organization) who wants to remain nameless, offer to match $500 if we can raise that this month.

Did you hear that?? WE HAVE A MATCHING GRANT!! If we can raise $500 or more they will also donate $500!!!

Thank you ALL, for becoming part of our journey! God Bless All of You!!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Giveaway Gifts for You!

First off let me say that this past month has been AMAZING! On February 11th the Reece's Rainbow FSP for Sydney and Lucien was at $2965. Today that total is now at $5567!!! Because of ALL of you, we are that one step closer to bringing home Sydney and Lucien. We still have a long way to go, but we are getting there!
Thank you so much! EVERY ONE OF YOU helped make this fundraiser such a huge success! Your encouragement, prayers, donations, sharing on FB and tweeting, have lifted us up this month and we could feel your loving support! I can't wait to tell and show Sydney and Lucien how much they loved by so many people. As some of you may already know, we are making a special wall hanging for Sydney and Lucien's room and everyone who has had a hand in bringing them home will have their name added to this wall hanging so they will know who all helped them get home!

We have so many items to give away! If you see your name next to the item, please contact us with your details so we can make sure you receive your gift! Thank you so much! God Bless You!!
You can contact me by leaving a comment in the comment section.(I will NOT publish comments with your personal details). Thank you!!