Same, Same...but Different

A couple weeks ago we started our 'Adoption Learning' classes.  When we started I was thinking to myself that there were going to be boring and there was no way that I was going to learn anything.  Guess what?!?!  I was right, to a certain degree.  They are boring...like really boring.  But, to their benefit I have learned a thing or two.

While going through these courses I began to think about Henry, who we adopted when he was just under 3 months old.  He is Japanese (as you can probably tell from the picture), but he has never lived in a Japanese home.  He has never lived with a Japanese family, nor lived a Japanese lifestyle.  I think every day he begins to look more and more like the other kids, and he would never guess that he was any different.  It is funny to think about because when we were going through the process of adoption we were asked if we were going to tell Henry that he was adopted.  Both Gretchen and I thought:  "Umm....I think he'll know..."  We may have to reconsider that line of thinking...

There are some things about him that really make me think about what life is going to be like when we have American, Japanese, and Filipino children in our home.  I mean, Henry loves, I mean loves, Japanese food.  He eats rice with everything (which is strange because I don't really care for sticky rice).  I am amazed at how Japanese Henry actually is, since he has never been around that influence.

When our little ones come home they are going to bring with them so much cultural stuff that we cannot even begin to understand.  Henry doesn't speak Japanese (sometimes I think he might be speaking Japaneses because I cannot understand what he is saying), but these kids are going to speak Tagalog.  Not only are they going to speak it, Tagalog is going to be their heart language.  We are going to have to learn to speak it.  They will learn English, but that does not excuse us from learning their language.

It is a good thing that I like Filipino food, because when they finally come home they are not going to want to eat steak.  They are going to want something familiar!  We are going to have to really step up our game when it comes to cooking ethnic food.  While the waiting sucks, I rejoice that we still have a little time to learn some more about their culture.  I want them to come to a home, not just another place to live.  I do not want to separate Henry from his Japanese culture and I do not want these kids to lose theirs either.

Please be praying for us in this.  And, if you are one of the people who will get to meet and spend time with our family after the kids come home, please look into Filipino culture as well.  It will give us a great deal of peace to know that our friends and family around the world are lovingly accepting our kids even now, before them come home to us.

Provision

I have been amazed at how fast time is going by.  I cannot believe that it has been several weeks since my last blog post!  I knew going into this adoption that the two hardest things for me were going to be the waiting and the money.  God has been so faithful to us in both of these things.

Time really has flow by.  I feel like just yesterday I was celebrating a birthday with my little lady, but the reality is that was over three weeks ago.  We have been keeping a busy schedule with events and visitors, which has caused us to lose track of time a little bit.  One huge event was an adoption panel that our church hosted a couple weeks back.  We brought in some professionals, who actually know what they are doing and talking about, to give the church some information on adoption.  This panel was something that I really worried about (I thought nobody would show up on a Friday night to listen to people talk about adoption).  It was a great success though.  There were about 120 people there and we heard some great truths, such as:  not everyone is called to adopt, but we are all called to take care of widows and orphans in their time of distress, and to keep ourselves unstained by the world.  We were challenged to look at what we are doing to help the orphan, which was a great challenge to be given.  You can here more here.

God has put many people in our lives to help us with the money piece of our adoption.  We knew going into this that we could not do this on our own.  We knew that we would need faithful men and women to come along side us and help us out.  This week we were informed that a friend of ours was going to be helping us raise some money.  Her goal is to raise $1,000 this month by taking donations of stuff that people no longer need, and selling it.
She puts a lot of time into this, going through things, pricing them, and meeting with people.  The reality is:  this is not the first time she has done something like this.  She is constantly supporting ministries and missions.  Her heart is made of gold.

Our parents have also raised money for us through friends and Tupperware sales.  Through networking and friends they were able to raise money to help support bringing our kids home.  With all this help we are slowing inching closer to our goal.

Gretchen is also making hand stamped jewelry, which is pretty cool!  Check out what she has made:
Through this business venture she has raised quite a bit of money to help cover many of our costs.

God has provided us these things at just the right time.  All of the things that are needed for this adoption cost money, but God has provided that money through each of you.  You can help support our adoption by clicking HERE.

Just to add an update about our progress:  We have done all of the psychiatric testing (1 billion question test and 1 275 question test) and we are just waiting on our write up.  We have received almost all the documents that we were waiting on and have our first interviews scheduled for tomorrow.  So, Gretchen and I have our individual interviews tomorrow, followed by our family interview and home inspection.  Once that is done, we wait on the homestudy to be written.  One step closer every day!  Thank you for following us through this process and praying all along the way.

Birthdays and Praises

6th birthday celebration.

The other day I had the amazing privilege of spending the morning with my newly six year old daughter.  It was an awesome morning where I took her out for breakfast followed by a walk on the beach to look for sea shells.  Gretchen took her to get her nails done, and then she had to head off to school.  Later that afternoon Gretchen and I went to her class and spent time teaching them how to make rubber band bracelets.  The day was just amazing, but it did get me thinking.

I was not able to be home when Hayden was born.  I was at military training and simply could not make it home in time for his birth.  I remember that day very well.  I was standing in morning formation when I got the phone call telling me that Gretchen was in labor.  It would be 12 hours before I was able to hold Hayden for the first time.  My life changed at that moment almost 10 years ago.

What daddy does best.

When Gretchen was pregnant with Hannah I was gone all the time.  There was not one single month of her pregnancy that that I was able to be home for, but I was able to be there for her birth.  This was a completely different experience for me (there are a lot of funny stories here...for a later date).  It was an amazing thing to hold her for the first time, and again my life changed.

Henry was born a couple years later.  This time, neither Gretchen nor I were there.  He was born some 700 miles away from his family.  From the hospital he went into a foster home, where he would wait until God gave him to us.  After 2-1/2 months in foster care he came home, arriving on my 25th birthday.  Holding him for the first time reminded me of holding Hayden for the first time.  God had gifted our family with another son.

Henry 10 days after he came home.

I also began to think about the children that God has yet to bring home to our family.  Who have already been born and spent many birthdays away from their family.  Maybe they spent them in an orphanage or living on the streets.  Maybe they did not even know that it was their birthday because they did not have someone there to tell them.  I realize that I was not there for their birth, but that does not make me any less their father.  One day, God will bring them home to us, and I will hold them as my children for the first time.  I cannot wait to celebrate that day.

We are moving closer and closer to them coming home.  We have found a place on island where we can have our psych evaluations and testing done, which is a huge answer to prayer.  We have also collected 80% of all the required items, which means we can now schedule our home study with the social worker. Our goal is to be 100% done with our paperwork and interviews by the end of March, God willing.

We continue to raise funds and seek out prayers from our friends and family.  Through these things we have seen God provide for us in every way imaginable, which is a ton of fun. :)

 If you would like to help us adopt, you can find more information and give HERE.