Summer revisited

We are having a bonus round of summer and enjoying it to the full. Last week it snowed this week:

Celebrate

One year home seems so significant right now. So many firsts, so many lasts. The kids have grown and changed and so have we. There are no babies in our family now; just little kids hungry to learn. They are always exploring, nearly fearless and genuinely enthusiastic. The country in which we spent seven days one year ago is, like us, not the same. The family in which our children spent their beginning is not the same. We have heard nothing from or about them, but wait with eager anticipation for news.

I am by nature sentimental, traditional, and resistant to change. But I too am not the same. I look to the future as the great adventure my kids seem to embrace. I know that for everything there is a time and a season. Each season will have smooth sailing and bumps in the road. There will be joys and triumphs as well as times when we need more help than we know how to find. We will be encouragers and need encouragement. If there is one thing I have learned in this past year, it is that change is good. We were not designed to stay the same. We were made to grow. Just as our children have become more like us(for better or worse), I must become more like my Father; embracing His values and doing things His way.

So how does a family celebrate? In our family, our only son has a birthday just 4 days after our home coming. This year he turns 5. We only have Birthday parties for 5, not 3, not 4, not 6, not 7. Only 5. So, on a hot evening we gathered in the back yard with a few friend, close family, 50 hot dogs, a huge watermelon and lots of fun. We played, sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and ice cream, then called it a night when the rain started. I can't think of a better way to celebrate family than with a birthday party for the newest five year old. It was a blast (at least for the five year old and his mommy).

Proud to Be an American

I still stand for the National Anthem and so do my kids. We treat the flag with respect, honor soldiers, and learn all the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. Yet, still i feel a great lack of patriotism. I mean, less than my Grandfather's generation. My Granddad was US Air Force. He flew the planes we see in pictures and museums. He knows first hand the life saving value of a properly packed parachute. He served in war and in peace. He was the "true blue, all American man." He stood 6'2", but i thought he was at least 7' tall as i stood next to him on the street that day, probably 30 years ago, with his hat in his hand and his hand over his heart. Those colors marched by as proud as could be and so was I. My Grandpa helped make all this celebrating possible and I was sure proud of that. Here we are, 30 some years later living in the same country, but some how that "stand tall" feeling is not in the crowd the way it was then. The great grandpas are not here to brag and exaggerate a little with their stories of "the way it was." I want my kids to hear the hush of the crowd when the colors are raised. I want them to never feel comfortable sitting when the National Anthem is played.

I do not really know how this "feeling" of patriotism is passed on. When they are 6,4 and 3 can they understand? I don't know, but I dressed them in Red, White and Blue and told them a few things they may not remember then let them eat ice cream because this very special day is America's Birthday and we are proud to be Americans. They will probability remember the ice cream...

"So, What Have You Been Up to Lately?"

This is Anna's favorite question. She starts all phone conversations this way and often "meets" new people in the grocery store because of it. It is also the question most of you are asking when you check this sight, so here it goes.

We have been Having BIG FUN all over town. We have been to most of the parks and a few water hot spots. Emery and Anna will start swim lessons next week and Emery has lost his 3rd tooth. The kids have been home almost 11 months now and we are liking our routine. Abby can pump herself on the swings and likes to "swing to the clouds like Anna." Beth loves the playground and usually is in charge of the sand toys. On rainy days we still play outside, we eat soup and popcorn and make fun stuff with Legos, Lincoln logs and building blocks. Beth is the head cook and nanny for the bears and dolls and Abby heads up crayon and marker distribution. Our bike outings now include 2 two wheeled bikes (Abby calls them school wheel bikes) and 2 tricycles (one with a rope to help with the up-hill leg of the trip). Our driveway is often decorated with sidewalk chalk, rocks for bumpy riding and leaves and grass of all kinds to feed the "cows" they are raising on their "farm". They have abundant energy and great imaginations. There is never a dull moment around here, but we do try to enforce a quiet hour in the afternoon and earlyish bed time to help the happy attitudes keep up with the energy levels. And now what you really logged on to see: A great big thank you to Ronnie for the great pictures. Check out his blog.

Eight Month Home

Eight months is just about the time most babies are finding their independence and mobility; pulling themselves up, crawling all over, attracted to every open stair way. At eight months home our kids are experiencing their own independence and new mobility. Emery is riding a two wheel bike, Abby is proficient enough on her tricycle to ride on our family outings, and they are all able to play in the back yard without and adult. Abby plays at the park and climbs the slide without mommy by her side. Emery climbs the tree and jumps down like a little monkey! Emery can cartwheel and do hand stands better than I ever could and both kids love life to the full. If you are friends with us on Facebook you will know that there is never a dull moment around here. The kids are all thinking and talking faster than I can keep up and they are as bright as the Haitian sun. We have our moments and our issues,but the fits are fewer and the laughter hearty. We are doing way better than we ever expected and know that we are truly blessed.

Kids get to come home!!!!

Great news for all of my friends and Chances for Children family who are pending their adoption in Haiti: it's official!!!!! Secretary Napolitano Announces Humanitarian Parole Policy for Certain Haitian Orphans

Earthquake in Haiti

There is very little information available right now, but the news from our orphanage is that the building, kids and staff are safe. We will pray for the people in Haiti and look for opportunities to do something tangible.

The "How" Of Our Adoption

It started nearly two years ago. Now we want to tell you how God did it.

Before this all began, in the fall of 2000, I heard Steven Curtis Chapman share his adoption story for the first time on Focus on the Family. One of the things he said was, "Don't let the cost of adoption keep you from it. If God asks you to adopt, He will provide."

Only a coupe of weeks before the idea of the Haiti adoption came up for us, we were interviewed by the local news station as part of the November "Adoption Awareness Specials". The reporter asked what we would say to someone considering adoption, and I quoted Steven Curtis Chapman about the financial part of adoption. When I discovered that the Haiti adoption, was going to be about $30,000, I immediately thought, "Oh, never mind; we could never do that." In that same instant I heard myself telling the reporter, "Don't let the cost of adoption keep you from it. If God asks you to adopt, He will provide." With a deep breath and a big sigh I nodded my head and prayed, "God, that's us. We can't do it, but you can."

With in the first weeks someone paid our initial agency fees, and another fee was waived. We were given an application for a grant and were awarded $1000. Another family with a huge heart for adoption paid our in-country fees for one of the children, and someone else sent a check for the entire amount of their inheritance - with interest! We received checks in the mail and donations on our blog through PayPal from long lost friends, family members and also from people we did not know. Each time there was an amount due, the money was there. We were so excited because in only two months the Lord had provided $18,000 of the $20,000! Because of God's amazing provision, we were not even concerned about the rest.

We shared our story in church to thank and encourage everyone. God was doing what we could never imagine. Then, someone whose heart was touched by our story, wrote a check for the remaining $2000. So amazing! At the end of our wait to bring the children home, a friend decided to have a mail box shower for us. We did not need toys and normal shower things, and people are very busy in the spring; so she sent out letters asking people to write us a note of encouragement, and if they wanted, to send a gift. Every day we were showered with blessings from friends and family. Our five-year-old waited outside on the porch each day for the mail lady to see what kind of nice words people would send to her.

We applied for a grant for $4000 to help with travel expenses to go get the kids, but were denied. Joel just said, "God's going to do something great, and we will just wait." Yes! The checks that came the week before we left and the week after we got home were the exact amount needed. Then, two more checks arrived in the mail, and our post-placement bill was paid.

Oh, there have been so many other blessings; things the Lord did not have to do, but He did. Like giving us the opportunity to meet and hold the little boys that were "Not for Us".

This journey has not been easy. At times it has not been fun, and at times the sacrifice has seemed greater than I wanted to make. But, oh the joy of obedience! I hope you get to meet our kids. They are awesome. Their smiles and laughs will touch your heart. Their stories, yet untold, will in some way change the world and the Kingdom for eternity.

If you are waiting, may God bless you! If you are thinking about adopting, may God lead you. If you know someone who is adopting, may God use you to bless them.

What Remains

The Love Chapter for Parents

If I spend my days building skyscrapers with blocks, assembling cool stuff out of LEGOs and creating relationships with other moms at Starbucks, but have not love, I am only the siren of the kids' ride-on fire truck, annoyingly stuck on hold.

If I have the gift of knowing which child attempted to flush the Hot Wheels down the toilet and which one pushed her sister, and if I have faith that somehow we'll survive life's emergencies, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I save all my box tops and give outgrown clothing to the local shelter, and if I surrender my body to stretch marks and under-eye circles (without the benefit of BOTOX, tanning salons or diet bars),but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient when someone isn't ready to use the big girl potty. It is kind when my husband has a hard day. It doesn't envy my neighbor who drives the new sport utility vehicle I can't afford.

It is not rude, snapping at my spouse or children when things don't go my way. It is not easily angered at perceived or real injustices.

It always protects the smallest, sweetest family confidences; always trusts God to provide my children's needs; always hopes in the freshness of tomorrow and the bright future of family; always perseveres amid hardship and doubt.

Where there are sleepless nights, they shall end. Where there are diapers, Little League and dioramas built from shoe boxes, they will cease. Where there is knowledge of baby care trends, discipline strategies and boy-girl problems, it will pass away.

Now these three remain: faith, lived out in my daily circumstances and instilled in my children; hope, of one day rejoicing with my family in heaven; and love, which covers over a multitude of less-than-perfect moments.

But the greatest of these is love. It is what remains... long after I am gone.

By Cindy Sigler Dagnan
Published by Focus on the Family
August 2007
Used without permission