Catch the Adoption Spirit - Guest Authors

Below a post from the Mother (Mary Kamberger) of 7, 4 special needs children from China. A True way to consider our lives and meeting The King in Heaven:

"There's no other more worthy thing to invest your time, life or money into - than the lives of children. Dear Sarabeth had a wonderful life in China with a wonderful foster family for nearly 7 years .... but she was NEVER told that there was a God who created her, loves her and died for her to be able to go to Heaven. She is just eating up the Word of God and glows with inner joy!! No amount of money, time or having a safe/comfortable life can compare to seeing this transformation in her life! And dear little Juls - she would have been dead in the arms ofsome poor ayi, since no one in China could have ever fixed her heart -it was a real toughy for the docs here in the states! And if we have to pay the bills off for years to come, so be it! No we are not crazy and no we are not trying to fill some void in our lives or trying to "stay young" by having kids in our late forties! We have heard all of those comments! The crazy one most of all. But when you do it once, you finally know that it's not that bad/hard and geez, we could do this for yet another child! ... and another .... and another! Catch the adoption Spirit!! Actually several of my email/adoption girlfriends think we should create a new AA - adopters anonymous! Hello, my name is Mary and I peeked at another waiting child list just this morning! LOL! Another heart issue for me is this - when I reach Heaven's gates, I want to have run a long, hard race, fought a tough, exhausting fight and fall at the dear Lord's feet totally spent and used up for Him. I do NOT want to be wallowing in riches in my retirement years, sipping tea by the pool and taking sight seeing world trips! I do not want to be refreshed and freshly showered - I want to be worn out and filthy from the work of bringing every child I can to the Lord's throne. THEN and only then will I truly enter into rest and be able to rejoice forevermore with all the children HE has brought into my life!!"

Here is an excerpt from another adoptive mother's blog, currently adopting a nine year old boy from PHF.

"I read aloud the news that "E" had a very successful heart surgery on June 20 and was not expected to need any further surgery! So much for his condition being “inoperable”! I got choked up as I read the sentence following, “Please say a prayer on behalf of "E" that he would soon find a family of his own.” It was then and there that I KNEW "E" was meant to be more than a sponsored child, but a permanent member of our family."

Not only are they adopting from PHF, but a child who was labeled with an inoperable heart condition. She encouraged me to read her blog to see how God has led them through their process.

Bleak, but not a NO!

Early last week, I spent a good part of a day researching medical assistance, of all sorts, for Mei Mei. I was given the name of a program that assists families who are adopting Special Needs (SN) children, both financially and logistically (Thank you to Jerry & Debbie!). They have adopted a son from Ukraine and are currently in the process of their second adoption of their 14 year old daughter, also from the same orphanage as their son! They are both Special Needs adoptions and they have given us encouragement through their journeys!
I had e-mailed a large/well known adoption agency, asking for their help with Mei Mei, there reply was that they could not do anything to assist us, No Way, No Can Do! I was irritated, but knew that they were obviously not the ones to help us since the mountain to climb will be high and nearly impossible. I timidly e-mailed this newly found program, and received this reply: "This type of adoption can be very difficult to do. It is hard to get a specific child assigned to a specific agency or family now that China has made some changes to the way that adoptions of children with special needs are done. That being said, *** has had some limited success in situations like this in the past." It looked bleak and I continued reading...blah, blah, blah...waiting for the nice, but certain blow-off...but, it never came! They asked me to gather more information about Mei Mei and then stated, "I'll see what we can do!" Hey, it's not a No!! Within one post to a group I belong to, we had her name, orphanage and date of birth! So now, we move on and see where this takes us! It turns out her DOB is one day and one year after Grace's! (DOB 9/2/04 Diagnosis: Single Ventricle ASD, Persistent Truncus Arteriosis)

*Check out the map of the Guangdong Province, where Mei Mei was also from, before being moved to PHF. She was located in Yangxi, a short distance from where Gracie was in the orphanage in Gaozhou. Pretty amazing that both girls were orignally such a short distance from each other.

Please pray for this "Heart Baby"

http://roomforatleastonemore.blogspot.com/Check out this blog to follow a heart wrenching adoption story! The Mom & Dad are currently in China, knew that their daughter, Susannah was a Special Needs baby, both a cleft lip and heart defect, but did not find out until in China, how severe her health was. Please pray along with the family and so many other believers, for this precious child.
I makes my heart bleed for Mei Mei, for her too to have a chance at life.

An update

So, after my psycho-rant, I guessed I'd better update to show that, although we fall, we get back up! Week three into school, I am now a "recovering summer" Mom. The routine is beginning to return and so is my sanity!

After a poignant sermon from our Pastor, I returned to searching for help for little Mei Mei who has been seen by Dr's in China and deemed with a terminal heart condition that is in-operable. The book I am currently reading is Chasing Daylight, by Erwin R. McManus and it has thoroughly challenged me in my faith. He states, "Faith is all about character, trusting in the character of God, being certain in who God is and following Him into the unknown." The things that God asks of us do not necessarily make sense, or even have an end result that we would choose. Going into a situations, knowing that God has your back. "To follow Jesus is to enter the unknown, to relinquish security, and to exchange certainty for confidence in Him."

So, I move forward, feeling completely overwhelmed with my own family, knowing that I am but one small person. I do not feel confirmation in moving forward with plans to adopt, but trying to find her medical help is something God is asking of me. Who knows if I succeed? Only God I suppose? Here is a recent picture of her after a haircut!

As for our future, we are certainly certain of nothing.

A-wreck

Yes, that's the best description of me! I am not only a firstborn, but an ONLY! My oldest son is known to not like change and I am finally beginning to see where he may get it from! So after a summer of chaos, fall is fast approaching and mommy is heading into a tailspin from all the white-noise! There is either too much to do, or nothing to do, that is sort of how I look at life. I like to be somewhere between crazy busy and overwhelmed...one small step heading into overwhelmed territory though, sends me into CRAZY. One step before crazy busy and I am bored and depressed! It really is a sick way to live, but it is ME. Somehow I have found myself overwhelmed, bored. I don't know how that happens, but I wander around the house, looking for something to do-well, something exciting and rewarding, but find nothing, just dirty laundry, clutter and boring projects! I literally feel that my brain may explode, knowing I must not over-commit like I so often have done, I do nothing, but hate it. I miss China, I miss the kids we fell in love with, I miss having to depend on God for everything. I find I am best when I am in full dependence mode with God. If I have to trust, then I do, If I can possibly "think" I can do it on my own, I do! I'm not really an adrenaline junky, because I'm too much a pessimist - well, I call myself a realist! Again, our first born son, needs constant entertainment....hhhhmmmm, actually, I guess I do too! I really believe I should have been in an Amish family, when the wives baked together, quilted together, basically never being alone sounds good to me! I've been alone too much in my life. I was never spoiled, or any of those "cool" reasons to be an only child and I think are still struggling from years of playing house, school, bank, boardgames and everything else by myself! "One" is the loneliest number", as Three Dog Night states! Two out of the nest, one reclaiming her Princess title and a mom who can barely see the light of day! I don't think quality time is my problem. Too much quality time may very well be part of this plight!
Come on crazy stay-at-home moms, share your stories...the dirt, emotions, hurts, heights, disappointments, expectations met or un-met? And my favorite question....:"What's for dinner tonight?