Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Adoption Update: Entering the 2nd trimester of our pregnancy, A.K.A: "The Waiting"


Hello dear friends!

We are so glad to be able to finally sit down to give you an update.  We can’t be more grateful for all those prayers and questions we are constantly getting about our adoption. Your interest and support is so encouraging!  Here are the links to our previous updates for those of you who are new to our journey: Part 1, 2, 3, 4.

As always we will entertain you along with our pictures! Join us as we dream of how our little daughter would look like monkeying around with our family!!


There will be more a few more technical words on this update than the usual.  We hope this helps you understand where we are at in our process.  We also hope this is helpful to those of you asking as you are starting to ponder about adoption as a choice to expand your own family in the future.  This is the best compliment and encouragement that we can get: Inspiring some of you to embark on this wonderful journey yourselves.  However we also love to see how everybody can be involved to help these children in so many different ways. We are so grateful for all of you!



 
I bet she would love to visit the old Sugar mill with her family!

And would love to make her very own pancake at the table! I wonder what flavor would be her favorite?
Ok, let’s jump right in! As of March 5th of this year we became what is called “LID” which stands for “Logged In date”.  This is a great milestone in the process. What this basically means is that our Dossier, (Or tons of paperwork) was logged in on the books of the China Center for Children’s Welfare & Adoption (CCCWA) which is the ultimate Chinese authority for international adoption affairs.  China has legally acknowledged us as a potential adoptive family now.  Super yay! So now, we have officially entered the “waiting” stage of our journey, where we can be matched with a child that could potentially be a good fit for our family.  At this point, we roughly estimate this wait can range anything from 3 to 9 more months from now.  What a long pregnancy, right? We’ve been carrying this baby for a long time! But we know it’s so worthy!
I bet she would get a kick of petting this pony along with big brother!

And she for sure would dress up to visit the local "Medieval Festival". =)

Since we are adopting through the “Waiting Child Program” –Another way to refer to adopting a “special need child from China”, the criteria leading to the matching process is based on what we submitted in our Medical Condition List or “MCC”.  This a comprehensive list that is used by the adoptive family to lay out the characteristics of the child we are open to adopt in terms of age, gender and the medical conditions that we feel able and comfortable to manage. 
Oh sister, I'm ready to sing along with you in the mornings while mum cooks us breakfast!!

And have fun making paramount messes!!

 There are dozens of different conditions listed ranging from minor/major heart diseases, limb differences, vision/hearing impairments, digestive conditions, to nervous/developmental, skin, blood or facial conditions like cleft lip and palate among others.  I know at first sight this may scare the bejeebers out of some of you!  But to keep it real, once you become familiar with all these conditions you become much more at peace with the idea of adopting a special need child.  All the medical treatments available now days are making prognosis more and more optimistic and all type of diagnoses much more manageable.  Actually learning about this has made us more aware of all the friends we have around who have different type of physical limitations, and can just live perfectly normal and fulfilling lives.  Many of these conditions are correctable with surgery and special therapy, so what many of this children need is just that opportunity to become all they were created to be.  We so want to be givers of that opportunity! There are SO MANY stories of children that were adopted with what may have seem scary at first sight, but who are thriving and living healthy and fulfilling lives after proper treatment has been provided. And again, we are so excited to be part of one of those stories!
I bet she'd enjoy helping daddy to practice for his "Bull run"

And throwing tomatoes at him just for fun at the "Tomato Festival"!!


So with that said, you can imagine how much we have been reading and learning about the conditions that we are open to.  We are very glad with all the resources that our agency CCAI has made available to learn more about many of the different conditions.  This is a link to a bunch of very educational videos on doctor’s perspectives on different medical conditions.   And this one is another link to some of the many organizations that specialize on specific conditions. 

 
She would love building sand castles with little brother...

And beating big brother on a homemade bowling match!


We are so grateful to be part of this time and era.  The information and support are definitely out there.  However, we know that we don’t have complete control over our story, and only God knows all the details, challenges and victories that lay ahead. So for that reason we covet your prayers!  The way our agency works “the match” with our family is through sending us the medical file of a child or a couple of children they think could be a good fit.  Upon receiving a potential match, we are to diligently work with our pediatrician, specialist, insurance company, and even our social worker to research the file so that we ensure that we are physically, financially, emotionally, and practically prepared to parent this specific child.
Oh, won't she look cute being part of our geeky family? I bet she will be super cute cheering up daddy's robotics team! We want you home Bush girl! The team needs you!
So as you can imagine, this is a great deal! One that can be very emotionally involved.  However, we know that God will never lead us to take more than what we can handle, as it would never be fair neither for us nor for our future daughter.  He is the designer of our family, so we really need you to continue lifting us in your prayers so that this would be a matching made in heaven! And that we continue trusting God and following His leading through this waiting stage. As I’ve heard a while ago: “The waiting is not arbitrary”, everything is beautiful on His time. Thank you again friends for helping us bring our little Bush girl home!

Xie, xie!
Paola

Don’t forget that we are still soaping ourselves with our homemade soap fundraiser “Bubbles for Hope! =) We are super grateful to those of you that have kept those orders coming! Help us spread the word. Check us out in facebook at www.facebook.com/bubblesforhope

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Some Resources for your Personal Bible Study: Desiring God-The website


This is a post for those of you that are starting your journey on studying the bible and are looking for resources online.  I think we are such a blessed generation by having so much resources readily available to the tip of our fingertips.  We should not forget though that there is nor replacement to our personal and individual Holy Spirit led bible study.  A continuous and solid diet of reading and studying the scripture is vital to grow, mature and to face the complexities of life and be successful according to God's standards.  It's like seating by our perfect mentor and teacher, God, to learn, to be comforted, filled and encouraged.

With that in mind, one of the resources that I love to tap on when doing research on doctrine is the website: DesiringGod.org.  I know probably many of you are aware of this treasure chest of free books, articles and free podcast among other things. They have over 10,000 free resources to look at!  More than what you can read on a lifetime! I have found it very helpful on my quest to grow my faith, my understanding and my passion for God's word.  And I’m glad that it's a website so readily accessible to so many.  They’re reaching out to millions of people worldwide through their engaging, creative and biblically sound content.
 
 
Their resources come from many different sources; however John Piper is the main author.  I highly regard most of his ideas.  All his books and sermons are available in PDF format on this website. I specially enjoy listening to his daily podcast called: “Ask Pastor John”.  He receives questions from all over the world regarding all type of issues, from tattoos to suffering, from fighting porn, to C.S Lewis: All kind of issues.  He normally gives very insightful, biblically based answers, which are usually very helpful. You can listen to it directly from their website or via their App, Facebook, or Twitter if you’re on the go or if you are a busy mommy like me and just have available ears while doing not-mentally-engaging activities like folding laundry. There, I gave you a great idea to start looking forward to fold your laundry! =)
 
 

 I like this podcasts so much that I will be transcribing some quotes from some of my favorite ones.  This will help me get a bird’s eye view on ideas I don’t want to forget, and I hope it blesses you by giving you instant view to some neat concepts.  Also, I love how generously this website makes material available and encourage others to share it as long as the authorship is recognized. It says a lot of their commitment to make God known to as many people and ways as possible. I heard this before, but I can’t imagine what the Apostol Paul would have done if Internet would have been available on his time.  We are so blessed by having this medium to help us spread the gospel! Let all these resources empower us under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to make His glory known right on and from the place He has planted you!

What about you, what type of resources online have you found useful for your personal bible study?