Pictures

I got a few new pictures last week at Anthony's first band concert. I was so proud of the kids. They did an amazing job. I didn't, however, get a picture of Prasun. Half the pictures were blurry. The 3 I'm posting are about the only good ones. BTW. I almost have a teenager. He's so big.
Well back to reality. Laundry is waiting.

Our Newest Member

Here's our newest adoption story. Not sure if I've ever told the background for our other adoptions but I'll tell them sometime soon.
This has been a crazy journey and I'm still amazed at where God pointed us and how we got there.
Patrick mentioned in passing in one of our many adoption discussions that he would like to adopt a child with Downs Syndrome. I, of course, filed that in my useful information bin in my brain. We were pretty consistent that we did want an older child. We finally got to the point that I just admitted that I had no idea where we were going to adopt from. A hard thing to admit when you've paid the fees to start a homestudy. One day I was blog-hopping, checking in on my favorite families. A family, I'm not even sure which one now. I jumped over to Reeces Rainbow and started admiring all the kids. I found an Indian girl who was listed with our favorite agency, Dillon International. I was pretty much sold at that moment. Patrick wasn't far behind me.
We now are paper-gathering and fundraising to bring home this princess. She is beautiful. I can't post pictures until she is legally ours (after court in India). I do have to address the name issue though. It keeps confusing people. Reeces Rainbow assigns names to children they list to protect their identity. They assigned our little girl the name Valerie. Her name in our family is Varsha. We have a hard time thinking of her as Valerie. So please don't be confused when our fundraiser things list Valerie and I refer to her as Varsha. It is the same beautiful girl.
I now have to make my pitiful plea for our daughter. We are stepping out in this adoption knowing that God is going to provide money. We have done this twice now. We have run through alot of our reserves and have lots of obligations already. We both also know that God is using our adoption to show others around us that we can find homes for so many orphans if people step out and give just alittle. You would not believe how just the $1 bills added up at a quick last minute craft fair added up by selling cinnamon ornaments and homemade dog treats. Then the donations with our spaghetti dinner. We had I think 5 families show up. We made another 30 plates of take out. My mom bought 50 plates (which paid for the supplies). We raised $740. We have seen our Reeces Rainbow sponsor page increase in small increments. We are at $116.50. We have 2 grants we have received. We are making progress. It will be slow, but I know that God will get us to our goal and provide for every need we have.
All this is to say, will you please consider making a donation to our fund? Even if you only donate $5, we will be that much closer to our goal. Donations made through the Chip In go straight to Reeces Rainbow. You are making a tax deductible donation. Tax time is coming.
Thank you all so much for sticking around. I'll try to take some new pictures of my beauties at home soon. These kids are amazing and they are all just waiting for their new sister to come home.

Keeping Up

I definitely have to be a better blogger. We have been plagued with computer problems lately. I no longer have a laptop so posting is different.
We have been very busy.
-Ananya was scheduled to have her hardware taken out from her hip surgery last September in January. Well, over Thanksgiving she fell and broke her leg (the top part) and had to have surgery in Pittsburgh. Fun Stuff.
-Prasun is doing so good. He never stops talking. He is walking with a regular walker and some days can use forearm crutches. He is having a selective dorsal rhizotomy next year. We are hoping this will decrease some tone (stiffness) in his legs and help him walk better. We are also praying for some other side effects like better trunk stability, better concentration and better upper body function. We don't yet know the exact date of his surgery.
-Anthony is just awesome. He's doing his school work and doing good. More though, he is developing into the greatest young man. When Ananya was in the hospital, I handed over the reigns to him while the boys were with my Grandma. I knew that Anthony could handle him with my Grandma (she has a hard time lifting Prasun). They managed for a whole day and even went to the store. He just jumped right in for me. Didn't question me? He was also very worried about his sister.
-Patrick and I are trying to figure out what the future holds. My husband has been ignited by the Holy Spirit for the plight of orphans. He is all about Orphan care and adoption. I'm so happy. It isn't about just our kids anymore. God has laid a burden on both of us to help get all these kids home. I'm excited to see where God takes us in the next few years.
-I have been fighting major discouragement. Everything adoption related seems to take WAY longer than it should. We also keep having things pop up (like emergency surgery) that are taking away the resources that we have to put toward the adoption. I don't feel like I'm getting support from some of the people I wish would support me. I had my feelings hurt by a dear friend. She seems very insistent that our adoption isn't what God wants for our family (REALLY).
I'll save some more for another post. I haven't talked much about our newest family member. She deserves her own post.