Off to a Great Start...

The holiday season is officially off to a great start!  Thanksgiving was spent as a whole family, +1 or 2, eating food, doing dishes, and playing games.

Before the gluttony...

Hurry up with that gravy, would you? We're starving!

 

 

The cleanup crew meant to look like this!

Finally I was on the other end of the lens, but looking pretty ragged! A fun end to the evening, playing Quelf.

Too much to be thankful for to put into words, but these photos of the people I love say it best!

Brovember...

November may be known as Movember to many now, but around here we know it as Brovember! The time when two baby faced brothers come together again, only to find that each has attempted to grow facial hair in honor of Movember, but both failed epically.  It's the thought that counts though, right?  I remember Mike attempting to grow facial hair at their age. Some day boys, some day. For now, I love the camaraderie! And I loved seeing the joy on one another's face when, after 3 months apart, they embraced, then broke into laughter at one another's "growth."

I think Kellen's stache reminds me of Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy...

And Mike says it reminds him of Kip from Napolean Dynamite...

And Josh? Shaggy from Scooby Doo comes to mind...

Love you boys, and love that you don't take yourselves too seriously.

And speaking of Kellen, his swelling from having all four wisdom teeth out this week is finally going down.

Random Photo Montage...

Random sounds much better than lazy, right? It sounds so much more creative to say I am putting together a random montage of photos, but truly I have been too lazy and a bit distracted by some extremely sad news in our local community, so I haven't posted in awhile. So here are some photos I found sitting in the dropbox on our computer.

Kaia's volcano before it erupted at school. The note on the front reads Real reason dinosaurs are extinct, which referred to the volcano and the army man holding the bazooka in the back left of the scene!

Guess what Jaelyn's favorite color is? That's right, the teacher didn't say anything about having to look real! The grading wasn't based on life-like, and besides, doesn't the song say purple mountains majesty?

Mike took a picture of Josh on national TV! The WSU game was on ESPN Halloween night. Seeing Josh on TV was definitely more exciting than the blow out game!

Jaelyn wanted to be a pirate for Halloween. Cracks me up...no one hardly blinked an eye at the hook on the end of her arm!  And the bird on her shoulder really chirped, but was dead by the end of the night.  Kaia was originally going to be a zombie hula girl, but changed her mind at the last minute, so we quickly put together Little Red Riding Hood.  Oh well, lots of candy is what counts, right?

153 Million...

That is the stunning number of orphans around the world! Today is Orphan Sunday. I/we cannot help them all, but if everyone does their part towards the call to care for widows and orphans, then we do not have to do it all alone!

Today I need help advocating for four sweet children from the Chaoyang Orphanage that I have spent time at over the past seven summers. Two of them I have advocated for previously, but Min Bo still does not have a family, and it turned out that QianHong was not actually on the list at that time, but is now. I am also happy to share that Isaac from my previous post is waiting for his family to come bring him home, most likely in the next two months!

However,  so that I can advocate for their forever families, I need help locating them on either the shared China list, or agency specific lists. Here is some current information I have on them. If you find them on a list, or are interested in learning more about any of them, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Min Bo,  whom his foster family calls Timotai...

His birth date is April 29, 2002, which makes him now 11 years old. He has Cerebral Palsy. He has been living with a foster family through LIGHT, which through my contacts, I can ask for further updates.

Qian Hong, also known as "Michaela" 

Her birth date is January 10, 2008.  I am not sure of her exact diagnosis, but I know that she has all four limbs affected.  She has full use of her hands and feet, but there is some bowing of both radius in her arms and her legs are bowed. Again, she is in foster care through LIGHT, and more information is available.  How can you resist that smile? She was adorable when I first met her in 2010, and still that way!




Greatly on my heart since visiting with her again last summer is ZhaoJing, whom is called Jing.

She is actually still at the orphanage and has been the list for quite some time now. In fact, she has been on there so long that her paperwork had to be renewed. She has recently been asking why she doesn't have a family, as she has seen several of her friends leave with their forever families. This breaks my heart! She has myelomeningocele/spina bifida repaired as an infant, but unfortunately this has not helped her incontinence. I am guessing this may be why she is still on the list, but it is my best guest that she could be helped here in the States! Other than that she runs around and seems as physically capable as any other child. She is smart as a whip, and would thrive in a family. We are in the process of trying to hire a tutor for her since she will turn 7 on December 21. Typically that is when the orphanage sends the more able children to boarding school, but because of her incontinence, they will not.




Lastly is YanYan. She is actually not yet on the list, but please keep your eyes open for her, as she is supposed to be on there soon.

We are told that the paperwork is sitting on the Provincial Office's desk, awaiting approval, so should be any time now. She is also living with a foster family through LIGHT. Her birth date is Dec. 18, 2006. She has severe hypospadias / ambiguous gender, but quite a bit of information is available on her. Here she is looking over a scrapbook of her life that was put together by a caring LIGHT volunteer. Some of the photos were from my previous trips to Chaoyang. Isn't she beautiful?

Please help spread the word, and be sure and post a comment if you have any information.