forever a family.

I got mail the other day... and I was soo excited when I saw what it was!!!!

Katie Ruth has been home for just over a month and she is absolutely blossoming with her family. She acts if she has always been there. You can read about her amazing progress on her mama's blog here - The Simpson Six. Katie Ruth was the first of "my" babies in Region 15 to find a family and come home... and I pray many more will follow her home to their families!!

But today is also a very special day for Katie Ruth, it's her birthday!! Today she turns 5 years old! And I can imagine she is going to have quite the birthday party, since she missed the first 4 birthdays of her life! :) Today is her first birthday WITH a family, and she will NEVER have to sit alone in the orphanage another birthday WITHOUT a family! The Simpson's are FOREVER a FAMILY, and Katie Ruth is a part of it.

See that million dollar smile in the picture above?? That's how excited she gets about everything! She love life, and is living it to the fullest. And that is why I continue to blog about child after child, until they are home. So that more children will be able to experience life, and be able to love life like Katie does. And not only love life, but get loved by so many around them. And blossom from that love.


Welcome Home and Happy Birthday Katie Ruth!!! I love you girlie!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Today is also a special day for our family. Because one year ago today, became an older sister to a little boy named Jonathan. One year ago today my parents were in Ukraine, and they had court, and they passed, and Jonathan became a member of our family!! And we, like Simpson's are FOREVER a FAMILY!

Dad, Mom, and Jonathan shortly before court during a visit at the orphanage. This is NOT the same Jonathan in the picture that is my little brother now. He is soo different, in a good way, and he has come soo far! Someone must have switched him out for a different child sometime in the past year! ;)

This past year with Jonathan has been absolutely amazing, he has come soo far, and I am so glad he is my little brother and I got to witness (and still am) his amazing transformation, and the strides and jumps he has taken.

I love you Jonathan, and I can't wait to see what the next year with you in our family will bring! You'll always be my little big baby though! :) We are FOREVER a FAMILY.

When Ruby gets the camera...

THIS is what appears on my memory card!!

She got all 3 of us!! :)

This week, I am staying at Michelle's house to help her with her new baby her girls when her husband goes back to work. My brothers, Isaac and Elijah, and I stayed here the first 2 weeks when my parents traveled to bring Jonathan home. Apparently I didn't cause too much trouble because I was invited back I wasn't refused when I invited myself back. :)

Baby Dax is absolutely precious, and Ruby has loved using my camera! (Hey, it's been puked on, what harm can a little slobber do?) Here's a couple pics that I took of Ruby her "my baby". ♥

I think she likes him, AND my camera!

Days of Elijah - Day ?? - Happy Gotcha-versary!

One year ago today.... my little brother Elijah left the orphanage forever, never to return, because he was no longer an orphan! Those of us in in the adoption world refer to the day a child leaves the orphanage forever "Gotcha day". So...

Getting dressed to leave!

Happy 1st Gotcha-versary Elijah!! 

Walking out the doors for the last time with mama!

This is just the first of many, and you are still experiencing many firsts, like your first Christmas this year in a FAMILY! Love you tons buddy!

On the train, on your way home! (No, you didn't take a train across the ocean! Then mama would really have a good reason to complain about the long train ride! ;))

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And I love you too Lyla and long for the day when I can wish you Happy Gotcha-versary!! ♥

Days of Elijah - Day 10

Yes, I'm skipping day 9... can't think of anything for it! :)

One year ago today... there was ONE LESS ORPHAN in the world, and I became a big sister of 5! Because one year ago today, my parents had court over in Ukraine, and Elijah became a part of our FAMILY FOREVER!!

You can read my mom's post on that day HERE!

Elijah on court day (standing by the infamous black couch :)) -

Wow has he changed since then!

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY ELIJAH!!!!

-----------

I wonder...

will Lyla ever have 'Adoption Day'??

Days of Elijah - Days 2, 3, and 4

Epic blogger fail!! I start a 30-day bloggy challenge and I fail on day 2! :) I blame it on the hetic past two days, but more about that in the next post! Here are days 2-4!!

Day 2

December 2nd... One year ago today, my parents met Elijah for the first time. Oh, so much has happened since then!! It seems like soo much longer than a year ago, yet I remember it like it was yesterday. Not to mention the amazing transformation in Elijah! Just check out the difference with the photos on my mom's post! You can read her one year ago today post here - http://mygodislord.blogspot.com/2011/12/one-year-ago-today-we-met-elijah.html

Day 3

A tidbit very important thing to note about Elijah is he a Signing Time addict!!! Whether it's reg Signing Time, Baby Signing Time, or his new fav that just came out - Potty Time!!

This song from reg ST is a favorite, and has really helped them start to learn their colors. ("Hopkins" aka me (that's another one of the nicknames I forgot in my ABC's of my life post!), is also good at signing this song!!)

"Signing Time Rachel" signing I love you!

Day 4

So I'm caught up, but I'm also out of ideas! LOL Why did I decide to do this anyways?? Ok, I'll tell you mr. Elijah LOVES his "Auntie Crackers"!! Auntie Deb, who she is more commonly known as, always has crackers for Elijah, hence she has become known as Auntie Crackers!! 

Elijah always asks for crackers when he sees her, but not just any crackers! He is very picky about his crackers and prefers goldfish. He doesn't like wheatthins though. He practically lived on crackers the two weekends we stayed at their house when my parents were traveling to adopt Jonathan. :)

There! Hopefully I stay caught up now! :)

And of course I can't forget about dear Lyla!!

GOTCHA BABY!

My dear baby Jonathan,
Today mommy took you out of the orphanage forever and ever. We adoption advocates call it Gotcha day. It means you will never have to sit behind the walls of an institution, and you will always have a family to love you! I can't wait to hold you and love you your sweet one!
Love, Sissy

Blessings - Consider it pure joy!

God doesn't give us more than we can bear, but sometimes we let burdens be heavier than they are.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of any kind." - James 1:2

(Sidenote: I get to see Laura Story this coming Thursday, along with JJ Heller, Matthew West, Josh Wilson, Kutless, Meredith Andrews, and MercyMe, just to name a few!! And on Friday it's Toby Mac, Britt Nicole, and Sidewalk Prophets!!! And I get to spend it with some pretty awesome friends! I'm SOO excited! And to top it off, on Saturday... Jonathan and Mom are coming home for good!!!!!!!!! YAY! It's gonna be one pretty awesome week!! I'm pumped!)

One Less Orphan!

I'm so happy to announce that this little boy -

Is now Jonathan Kiril Birschbach! He isn't an orphan anymore, he has a family to call his own, who loves him, and he will celebrate his first birthday with a family!! Not to mention his amazing church family who loves him soo much!

We welcome you into our family, little one! We are so happy that God has granted us this privilege of giving you a new life, and that you will never have to see and live behind the walls of the institution! We love you sweet boy!

They met him! :D

So... THEY MET MY SWEET BABY BROTHER TODAY!!!!! :D

Sorry, they are huge res, I'm at Auntie Debbie's house (I'm on the computer waiting for Elijah to go to sleep - he won't if I'm in there...), and I'm not sure how to change it.

But PLEASE go to my mom's blog to see the CUTEST video ever of Jonathan giggling! :) And of course to learn the whole story, but that's just typing, so it's boring, right? :)

They made it!

I got an email from dad this morning and he said that they made it to Jonathan's country! And no luggage lost! :) Please go check out my mom's blog where I posted for the whole story.

But in the mean time, we are having fun here! :) I repost from Michelle's blog (who we are staying with):

Our Family is Growing!

Or maybe I should say our family has grown?

I'd worry about my mom panicking over that title ... but she was here when our guests appeared this morning, so I hope she didn't just pass out reading this!

Our friends are returning to Eastern Europe to adopt again ... Yup, they are adopting AGAIN!  They brought home the sweetest little guy, Elijah, just this past December.

You can read more on their blog:  http://www.mygodislord.blogspot.com/


BUT, if my blogging is sporadic the next couple weeks, it's because we have THREE additional children in the house!  Brian says I have to blog, though, so their parents know how they're doing ... I guess I could always just email them, too?


Elijah & Lilya -- they're from the same country!

Elijah brought his big brother and his oldest sister along with him ... Isaac is Braden's age, and they've played Star Wars All.Day.Long.

They were probably playing Star Wars in the sprinkler!

Isaac on the move...

and Braden on the go -- they really got along very well!

Elijah's oldest sister, Sarah ... well, I might just keep her.  She's very helpful -- and the girls already absolutely adore her!  This was Brian's concern all along ... that I won't want to give Sarah back ;)

We hope their parents have a safe trip over -- and we can't wait to follow along their journey of adopting Jonathan!  They're hoping to get him home before his first birthday in July -- he's a really little guy!

P.S. I apologize for my post last night.. If you haven't yet don't bother reading it.. :)

Randomness..

First off, I apologize that this may not flow smoothly like it should, it's late and I'm a wee bit tried (maybe that has something to do with the fact I went to bed at almost 1am last night, and was up at 7:30 this morning, and I was chasing kids all day.. :)).

While my parents are gone, us kids are splitting up between several people. Anna, Rebekah, and Rachel went home with my grandparents on Sunday. My parents had to fly out today, so before they left they brought Isaac, Elijah, and me to our friends house which isn't far from the airport. They have 2 little girls with DS, Ruby (age 4) and Lilya (age 6). Lilya came home from EE last summer! And these are the very special people we found out about RR from! So I wouldn't be here at their if they didn't exists on earth. (And that made point zero sense...) They have a 7 yo son, who is a Star Wars Lego fanatic just like Isaac. They also have a girl who is a few years older than me who is Autistic. So anywho... Oh nevermind, I don't know what the point of this is, probably explaining where I am. (See, I'm tried! :) But Rachel would tell ya that I'm like this all the time, which is probably true - I'm tried a lot. But I should stop blaming it on being tired and just tell you that this is what I'm really like.. ok not really but close.) Aren't I confusing? sigh.. So anyways, oh forget it. :P LOL I just read what I wrote, and I am debating whether or not to delete it... Mom will probably tell me to, but hey, she's busy with other things right now.. :)

Other thing I wanted to tell you about - my packing. (This will confirm any thought you've had of me possibly being crazy.) So I normally don't have a hard time packing light. The problem is I am so paranoid I'm going to forget something or need it and not have it. I was packing the other night, and I was looking around my room for things I needed. I saw my slippers and I seriously thought "Maybe I should bring those in case it gets cold." I'll have you know that the thought was there for 0.2 seconds, and that I did not bring my slippers. But still the thought was there.. sigh... Oh and then I was in the pantry (not packing, getting something), and I saw my tea. I decided I should bring some. Then I thought "I hope 3 bags will be enough.. omigosh, what if I go into a tea drinking spree and I run out of tea! Then what will I do!" Yeah, that would be me... sigh..

Ok, enough babbling, Sarah. For all my readers (if you still are a reader after reading this ;)), I HIGHLEY commend you if you have made it this far! :)

Night night!

JUNE 9TH!!! :D

I haven't posted very much about our adoption, but I will be more in the next few weeks! Why? Because we got our SDA (State Department of Adoptions) appt date!! Also called our travel date! My parents will be leaving two weeks from TODAY! :D In the words of my mom on her blog -

I was shocked to check my email just a few minutes ago and find out that we have our SDA APPT!!!  JUNE 9TH! PRAISE THE NAME OF JESUS!!!!!!!!!

I guess this is really going to happen! LOL And I think the next 2 weeks are going to be a bit busy! Holy cow!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING for us to get an appt date. God answers prayers!!!!

More later! Gotta go start our day!  Oh and maybe start packing or booking flights or something...

Hang on buddy! Mama and Papa will be there soon!

Since it's "official" now..

..I can annouce that WE ARE GOING BACK! And by going back I mean going back to EE (Eastern Europe) to adopt another sweet baby boy! :) Meet Jonathan:

I am reposting the rest of this from my mom's adoption/ family blog - My God is Lord.

He is listed as "Turner" on Reece's Rainbow and here is his profile:

Boy, Born July 2010

Sweet Muffin! Turner is in URGENT NEED of heart surgery. He needs a family quickly. After we lost Marlena on the operating table, the facilitation team and Turner's caregivers feel he will most benefit from having surgery at home with his family in the US where he can recover properly. Despite his heart condition, he is growing well and a chunky monkey!
PLEASE SOMEONE RESCUE TURNER. Turner is in a region which has a history of waiving the 10 day wait for urgent medical needs. Although this can never be guaranteed, our facilitation team will do all they can to ensure the judge is well aware of the risks of wasted time for this child.

More photos available. Married couples only.
From his medical records: patent ductus arteriosus, patent foramen ovale, needs surgery URGENT!
$189.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

We will be changing his name to Jonathan for 2 reasons: I already have a nephew named Turner and there is only room for one Turner in our family. LOL (But Jonathan's birthday is only 3 days after Turner's, so that is fun.) And also, I don't think Turner is in the Bible, and we have to keep with tradition here. :-) Jonathan has been on our "boy" list of names for awhile and means "gift from the Lord".  We thought that was appropriate.

As you can see from his profile above, he is in urgent need of heart surgery, so we are preparing ourselves as best we can for that potential. I say "potential" for a few reasons. First, IF his profile is correct (taking it with a grain of salt), according to the nurse that works for the pediatric cardiologist that Elijah saw, the PDA and the PFO are really not that big of deal and most likely the holes will close on their own. Secondly, I believe in the power of prayer and the healing power of the Great Physician!  So, even if his heart is in need of surgery right now, I have no doubt the Lord could heal him right now if He chooses to do so. I would humbly ask you to pray for his healing too.

Sorry, this is already getting long, but there is more to share. I want to tell you about how the Lord has been so faithful to us over the past month. It was a month ago yesterday that we held Noah James for the first and last time. It was a horrific day both physically and emotionally, but God has been faithful to carry us through. But about a week before we found out Noah had gone to be with Jesus, the Lord laid "Turner" on my heart - very heavily. Just like He did with Elijah at the beginning. I couldn't stop thinking about him. Pat and I prayed and prayed about bringing him home (yes, even though we would be having a baby the end of August). Crazy, huh??? Yes, crazy in the world's eyes (mine too!), but not God's. We didn't have clarity or unity on what God wanted us to do before we lost Noah.  But after we did, it became very clear to us. We obviously know that Jonathan is not going to replace Noah by any means, but we also don't want Noah's passing to be for nothing either.  It is really hard to explain, I'm not sure I even understand it all. But God is God and we are just trying to walk in obedience to what He would have us do in our lives.

We hope to have him home before his first birthday in July!  How is that possible? Glad you asked. :-) As we explained in on our FSP page on RR, we were originally approved last fall for 2 children on our I-171H (aka "The Golden Ticket") through USCIS, so we don't have to go through that process again. We are praying to have our dossier submitted in EE on May 12th!!! I'll save the details of our dossier prep for another blog post, but the Lord has blessed the process and it has gone very quickly! (If I have totally confused you with these abbreviations and terms, please see the "Adoption Terms Glossary" tab at the top right of the blog, right under the new family photo.)

Oh, and by the way, if Jonathan looks familiar to some of you, I advocated for him here and here. :-)  The first time was when he was heavy on my heart. The second time was after our dossier was almost complete. LOL There are personal reasons why we decided to wait to make this big announcement, so I hope you'll forgive us for that. But in that second post about "This is War",...ya, we've been feeling that attack in more than one way, so I would appreciate your prayers for our family.

Thanks so much if you actually read this far! And don't worry, we'll still have plenty of updates and photos of Elijah here! :-) May the Lord bless you today!



Waiting Wednesday: Eddie!

Update: Eddie, soon to be Gideon, has a family now! Praise God! Please visit their blog here - http://addtothebeauty-evensen.blogspot.com/

I am going to start doing "Waiting Wednesday" posts. And I am going to start with sweet Eddie.

Meet Eddie:

His info from RR (Reece's Rainbow)-

Eddie (54)

Boy, Born August 23, 2006

HELP!!!   I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED!!!

Eddie was born with Cerebral Palsy. He also shows many facial features of a child with fetal alcohol syndrome.  Eddie has an open oval window and an extra ventricular chord in his heart.  He is said to have a moderate mental delay.

$16114.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption.

Our family has a special connection to Eddie. Remember how I mentioned in my first post that my little brother Elijah recently came home from a poor orphanage in Eastern Europe? Well, in an orphanage, there are "grouppas" or groups. Elijah's group (at the time my parents were there) there were 7 kids, one of them was Shea (who has a family coming for him!), and another one was Eddie! My mom's didn't realize until the end that it was him, so unfortuanately she didn't get many pictures of him, but fortunately she did get some! :) The top two pictures above are of Eddie are pictures my mom got of him, and the 3rd one is his previous one that was on RR.

Eddie was treated horribly. My mom said that when she stayed to watch Elijah eat his lunch, Eddie did one thing to upset the nanny feeding him, and she carried him off by one arm to his crib, with out the rest of his lunch. My mom also said that when all the other boys were out playing in the playroom, most of the time Eddie was stuck in his crib. All he wanted was a little love and attention, and that's why he was smiling when my mom went over to take pictures of him. My mom also saw Eddie take a few steps too!

Since my mom has been there, Eddie has been transferred to an institution. Please read this very moving post about being transferred written by my friend Briana (the sweet girl she had at the end has since found a family! :))! Fortunately for Eddie, he can still be adopted even though he is transferred. But, he is at a very high risk of perishing if he is not adopted soon! Please someone consider rescuing this sweet child! He has over $16,000 in his grant! Which means it would be $7,000 or less for you to adopt him! I am also Eddie's Easter Warrior, (see button on sidebar).

I'll leave you tonight with some videos of sweet Eddie! At the time my mom didn't realize he was "Eddie", so she didn't take them of him, but he is in them.


It is easy to see Eddie in this video. He is to the far right, behind the nanny's arms and has a white sheet wrapped around his head. Why??? Because my mom saw about a week before this, he had scratched the back of his ears raw and bleeding. Sadly, this is something extremely understimulated and severely neglected children do to have some sort of stimulation.  All of the boys loved the bubbles!

This video is from the little "party" my mom had for the boys in the grouppa. Eddie was allowed to play only for a little bit, and then he was removed from the room and put in his crib. :-(

Someone please rescue Eddie!