Yearning....

I still do not have any update on Sinh. I will post as soon as I hear something.

Yesterday, a dear friend of mine, Amy Eldridge, posted a story on her blog. She is out of town so I can't get her permission to paste some of that story here--but I do not think she will mind. Amy is the founder of Love Without Boundaries, a group that I am priviledged to work for. LWB exists to help orphans in China with medical, nutritional, and educational needs. www.lovewithoutbounaries.com . Here is Amy's story...
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"When I was first getting started with my work in China, one of the orphanages we helped did not do many special needs adoptions. They didn't think that the kids would be chosen, and so many of the children were getting older and watching only the healthy babies leave for their new homes. They would hear the aunties say to the babies, "oh today is a lucky day....you will have a family to love you." And the preschoolers and older kids would think to themselves....'it must be wonderful to have a family pick you.'

Well, we were going to do a heart surgery for one little girl in this orphanage, and so I asked for a photo of her so that we could raise funds. This orphanage didn't have a lot of nice clothing, so for this special photograph they wanted the little girl to look nice. Another little girl in the orphanage, named Yan, who was just three years old, had been given a beautiful red coat by a volunteer, and she loved that red coat and wore it all the time. The aunties went and took off her red coat to put on the child with heart disease for her photo, and Yan burst into tears crying. The aunties scolded her and said, "Yan, you must share your red coat...don't be selfish", but Yan kept crying and crying and kept trying to climb over the gate to get out in the hallway where the photo was being taken. Finally one aunty had heard enough, and so she walked over to Yan to take her back into the room. As she got closer, she realized that Yan was NOT crying because the other little girl was wearing her coat. No, not at all. Yan was crying while saying over and over, "take MY picture...please take MY picture. I want a family....take my picture so I can have a family, too. "
You see, at the ripe old age of three, Yan had already learned that the only way a baby got a family was by having her picture taken first. And she wanted a family of her own so badly, that she was crying to her aunties to please take her photo, too.

... I have been in orphanages when they do the files, and each and every time the aunties try to make the kids look at cute as possible. They say things like, 'smile pretty so a family will pick you." ...."
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It breaks my heart to think of all the children who get their pictures taken and then WAIT and WAIT to see if a family will choose them. It must seem like an eternity of waiting (remember how loooong it took for Christmas to come when we were kids?). It breaks my heart to think of those who never even get a chance to have their photo taken at all. What must they think? "I am not even good enough that the orphanage would TRY to find me a family." And for those who wait to see if a family will choose them based on their picture..."Was my smile cute enough? Will a family think I am special?"

Please pray for these little ones...and may I ask you to be brave enough to ask Him if you might be the one that could answer their prayers...and their yearning for a family. You could live without them...but can they live without you?

Smile for the camera!

I have no news yet on Sinh, but think I am overdue for sending some updated pictures of little Jake. He is a ham but is really hard to photograph. He's either squinting in advance of the flash, or crawling away before I can get a picture taken. He is an absolute delight...full of fun and is constantly imitating us. He is especially fond of letting out high pitched shrieks in church (sigh) which either amuse or annoy depending on who is sitting in front of us. haha Big brother, Jordan, takes his role very seriously and is always on the look-out for any small objects lying around that baby Jake could choke on. So cute! The boys are opposites in personality--Jordan is quiet and serious, while Jake is um...NOT. He is smiley and takes great delight in making lots of loud noises.


"Yep, I'm always getting into the cupboards..."


Jordan says, "Mom, I'm trying to get Jacob to stay on my lap but the little bugger is slippery."

"Well, I do declare, I believe that child is wearing underwear on her head!" (Let's hope it was a clean pair.)

Jordan proudly rides his bike

Baby Sinh needs prayer again

It has been awhile since I wrote about Baby Sinh--the sweet little baby girl in Vietnam that we had been trying to help. After surgeons in the US and Singapore said that her heart had deteriorated to the point of not being fixable, we had given up hope of finding a way to heal her heart.

Yeterday, I emailed the adoption agency that has been keeping track of her, and got an astonishing email back. The agency took her to Ho Chi Men City in Vietnam last night and she will be having heart surgery at a French Heart hospital there. The French hospital will not donate any of the cost, so the agency will have to raise $15,000 to pay for it.

Her name means, "life." I do not know what God has in store for this precious child--or if she will survive the surgery--but I know that her life has purpose. I ache to think of her having major heart surgery without a family sitting in the waiting room, ready to advocate for her every need, praying and hoping that she will live. So I ask you, on behalf of one orphaned little girl to spend a minute or two from this side of the world, praying for this sweet child as if you WERE in her waiting room. THANK YOU!

I will update the blog as soon as I have any news.

Kids Say the Funniest Things

I have been meaning to write down some of the funny things my kids have been saying and am finally getting around to it. Molly, our seven year old, is currently the child who says funny things without meaning to. Here are some of my favorites…

Jeff and I were discussing bunk beds. Molly piped up, “I know why they call them bonk beds…it’s because you always bonk your head on them.”

'Girly girl' is an expression we hear a lot around here. Since Jordan has been home, he has tried to learn the ropes by copying his sisters. They are trying to get him interested in trucks rather than purses (!). One day Molly said to me, "Mom...I saw Jordan playing with trucks! He's turning into a real Boyly Boy."

Baby Jake's diapers sometimes resemble the consistancy of (sorry....) play-doh. One day Molly came in while I was changing Jake's diaper, peered over to see what I was doing, recoiled and said, 'Ewwwww....I'm never playing with Play-doh again!"

Jillian was quizzing the kids on their knowledge of something (can’t remember what). One of the girls answered correctly and Molly said, “Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!”

And then there is our spunky SaraGrace…
We were swimming the other day with some friends. Some little boys were there—age 7—and they are rough and tumble. My three oldest girls are very intimidated by them and keep their distance. SaraGrace was sitting on the edge of the pool, next to a wading pool full of water. One of the boys, who was in the pool, splashed her. Hmmmm….she got a glint in her eye, spotted a bucket, filled it up with water and dumped it over his head. She gleefully scooped up a second bucket and dumped that over his head, too. He didn’t care—but I was totally cracking up!