The Gift of Giving

We have been given an amazing opportunity to send gifts to D and K, which will be delivered by a missions group to their orphanages. Last night, we went to the mall and bought a watch for D and a purse and necklace for K. We cannot, for obvious reasons, tell them that we want to be their family or that we're trying to adopt them, but we can let them know that they are loved and hopefully encourage them. Our notes to them will go something like this:

"Dear D/K,

Every night when we go to bed in the USA and know that you are just waking up to start your day in Russia, we pray for you. We ask God to bless you and give you strength for the day ahead. We ask Him to protect you and let you feel His love. We hope that each time you see this watch/necklace, it will remind you of the many people who love you and pray for you and of Jesus, who is always with you. He has a beautiful plan for your life. You are so special.

Love....."

I am going to take pictures of the gifts before we send them, and someday soon I will show those photos to D and K to remind them that we loved them long before they knew who we were.

I am insanely busy with the craft show and the move both coming up next week. Please keep us in your prayers. We are excited but also very stressed. As of last night, the craft show nightmares have begun. Actually, that's progress. Last year, they started much earlier!

APPROVED!!!!!!!!!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!!!!! Another major hurdle behind us.

We received a phone call today from the home study case worker, who informed us that our home study will say that we are "approved for the adoption of a sibling group, ages 10-15." She will do the home safety inspection as soon as we move into the new house and will have the final home study in the mail to Buckner within a couple of days for them to decide about giving us the official referral for D and K.

We must not stop praying, though. Please continue to ask God to guide the Russian officials to complete Buckner's reaccreditation, so that we may go meet our children and bring them home. The expectation and hope is that the accreditation will be complete by mid to late November. Also, please pray for all those who will make decisions about our specific case, that they will be compassionate and speedy. Most of all, keep praying for D and K, that God will continue to guide and protect them and that He will reassure their hearts constantly that they are loved and wanted, even though they cannot know about us yet!

There is no adequate outlet for the joy we feel with each small victory on this journey. We jump, we scream, we dance, we cry, we laugh, we scream some more, and we hug until we are afraid of crushing our ribs, but we are still bubbling over and cannot express it well enough!

Thank you all for your prayers and support!!!

A Most Miraculous Week

For those who haven't heard, we reached the end of our patience with base housing. The completion of our home study was waiting solely on our getting into the new house, and the powers that be were not giving us any indication of how much longer we would be delayed. We went for a drive and came across this beautiful home for rent for only slightly more than what we are paying here! We move in a couple of weeks.

Even more wonderful for us was the package we received in the mail today from Buckner, which contained almost 2 hours of video of D and K from the summer of 2005, when they were here in the U.S. with the Angels from Abroad program!!!!! We are soaking it up, absorbing every expression, every word and every smile from these two children who have taken up residence in our hearts. If I can find a way to put some of this video on the blog later, I will try to share it with you!

HE'S HOME!!!

Two very happy fellas!

The whole gang at Red, Hot & Blue.

It was an amazing day! I can't wait to share more, but for now, these photos will prove that he really is home!!!

HE'S HOME!!!

Wow! The day was magical: the church van "finding" me as soon as I turned onto 301 and following me the last hour to the airport, the way our group reached out to and bonded with the others who were waiting, our group's determination to stay long after Karl came out to make sure that every returning military member was greeted with signs, waving flags and shouts of "welcome home" and "thank you," the smiles that we received in return, a fun lunch with our church friends

Preparations...

We hung the welcome home banner this afternoon! Tomorrow morning, we'll put out the flag, gather our posters, flags and camera and head to the airport! Karl is outprocessed, all checked in for his flight and just waiting for them to start boarding!!!

Less than a Day!

This time tomorrow, I will have my husband home again!!! I cannot express the excitement, nor can I explain how much I am blessed by our church family! At last count, I believe there are at least 10 people from our church who are riding the church van to welcome Karl home. It is an almost 2-hour trip one-way. They are making signs and bringing flags, and we are all going to share lunch on the way home. I could never have imagined such an outpouring of love, and I am so thankful and eager to share this wonderful occasion with them!

On another note, please read today's blog on http://www.bucknerprez.typepad.com/ . Our dear friend, Dr. Hall, is in Russia this week. Please take special note of his call to prayer regarding accreditation. It is so close, and it would be incredible, not only for us but for many other waiting children and families, if the process could be completed quickly! Sometimes the red tape seems to drag on forever, but they are adding agencies to the list frequently, and I pray Buckner is next!

We'll keep you posted on the exciting developments that God is working in our lives!!!

3 Days to Go!!!!

We are in the midst of last-minute preparations for Karl's return! I want everything to be as close to perfect as possible, so he doesn't feel like he has to come home and go to work around the house. I'm mowing, washing the car, replacing our petunias and snapdragon with pansies and ornamental cabbages, getting everything caught up for the craft show and getting the house in shape. It's so exciting to be planning and shopping for family dinners again and to know that I am doing all of our weekly activities alone for the last time before he gets home. I'll try to keep you all posted on his return, but I can't promise I'll be spending a lot of time with my computer.

I sent an email to some in our church who have been very supportive of us all during this deployment with their prayers, phone calls, emails and offers of help. I told them that I know Baltimore is a long way, and I certainly don't expect them to go to the airport to greet Karl, but I wanted to extend the invitation to them anyway. I wanted them to know that they were welcome there if it was something they wanted to do. I truly did not expect them to go, as it is a work day and a long drive. I was wonderfully surprised to learn that the pastor is driving the church van and several people are going with her - even taking vacation from work - to be there with me to welcome Karl home! We are so blessed by our church family! It will be a special day, and we will have some special photos to share, thanks to their presence.

Catching Up...

It's been a wonderful week of catching up with old friends and spending time with family! Garin and I spent several days in Illinois with Matt and got to watch him march in the band and run cross country. We also spent time with some very special friends who feel like family. It felt so good to be back there and to realize that some friendships don't change, regardless of the distance between us.

This weekend was my 20-year high school reunion in Texas! I still cannot accept the fact that I've been out of school longer than I was in it, but I had a great time and the best possible date to fill in for my husband at our dinner: my sister, Marci, who graduated one year behind me and knew everyone too. I expected that people would look older, heavier, worn and weathered; it's been 20 years, for heaven's sake! But I was just so impressed and amazed at how great everyone looked!!! We decided that our class has definitely aged well; we were all looking pretty hot for almost-40. Yay for us! It's amazing how much and how little things change with people. I will probably blog about that in the near future, as it was an eye-opening and thought-provoking experience, but I haven't processed my thoughts yet and don't even feel like it tonight. I have, however, attached some photos from the week.

Karl has his official orders to return home and will be back where he belongs in approximately 8 days!!!!!!!!!!!! Please pray for his safety as he flies back.

One more thing....

Karl is up for a promotion to the rank of Major, and the promotion board will be reviewing his performance reviews, etc., in the next two weeks. They take two weeks to look over all of the candidates Air Force wide and choose the ones they want to promote based on how many slots there are available. Please keep the board in your prayers these next two weeks, as their decision has a major (pun intended) effect on our future. We won't know if he made it for a couple of months, but we will let you know when we get the good news! ;-) Thanks!

ESTIMATED DEPARTURE DATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Karl has one!!! It was posted tonight when he got to work. Of course, it cannot be posted here, but feel free to call me if you're interested! He hasn't actually been assigned a flight yet, but he's finally in the "people leaving" column, so to speak, and that feels SO good!

Garin and I had a good day. He still had fever this morning, so we couldn't go to church, but he has felt so much better and been much more pleasant today. His fever jumped up to 101 again tonight, just before bedtime, but I'm hopeful that he's on the way back to health. It's been a rough few days with no one to give me a break and a very fussy and clingy little boy to care for. Of course, I am so thankful that his illness is just a very common, curable one. With all of the information about Childhood Cancer Month, it really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

A Choice

This has been one of those days where you have to make a decision to either fall to pieces or buck it up and be thankful that your problems aren't the kind that will change your life forever. About 10:00 this morning, I was leaning toward the first option, but I'm glad to say that I changed my mind and got through the day without tears.

Garin woke up from his nap yesterday with a fever but no other symptoms. I was up on and off throught the night with him. This morning, I skipped the shower and makeup and planned to clean house and then shower before our small group Bible study tonight. Garin seemed to be better, and he was driving me crazy to play outside. I decided to go ahead and let him go out before the day got hot. Problem was that I accidentally shut the door behind me, and in these goofy old houses, the doors automatically lock. By the time I got in touch with our base housing people, and they came to open the door, Garin was red-faced and hot. I had been keeping him in a shady, breezy place, but he obviously was getting feverish. As soon as we came in, I took his temperature, which was 103.5. I put him in the bathtub to cool him off, gave him some Motrin and called the doctor. They wanted him to see a doctor right away, so off I went looking like something the cat dragged up. We ended up spending 2.5 hours at the clinic to learn that he has a bad ear infection. Then we had a 2 hour wait for the antibiotic at the base pharmacy. I ended up taking him home for a nap and going back for the medicine, but I had to wake him up again to go get it before they closed.

It wasn't an earth-shatteringly crazy day or anything, but it was just one of those days, and with Karl gone, it seemed worse. I just wanted him here. It was probably the day I've most needed him since he left. I guess I can count myself lucky in that regard. One friend has taken her son to the ER twice since her husband deployed, and another deployed spouse has been twice with her kids.

I think what I really need is just some sleep, so on that note, I'll say goodnight. Have a great weekend!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Did you know that…
In the United States, cancer is the number 1 killer of children by disease.
Each year, about 3,000 children die from Cancer – more than from Asthma, Diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis, Congenital Anomalies, and Pediatric AIDS combined.
Currently, one in every 330 Americans develops cancer during childhood or adolescence, before the age of 20. On the average, 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every weekday in the United States.
Nationally, the incidence of cancer in children is more than 20 times greater than the incidence of AIDS in children.
Pediatric cancer funding is nominal in comparison to other more publicized diseases, such as pediatric AIDS or juvenile diabetes, which increase in awareness each year.
Awareness of much needed funding for Pediatric Cancer is virtually absent from the public eye due to lack of media attention. For example, the funding for pediatric AIDS is four times greater than the funding for pediatric cancer, yet in comparison, twice as many children die of cancer in one month as do die of AIDS in one year.
The cases of pediatric cancer are increasing at a rate of 1% every year, while funding for research continues to be minimal.
Cancer during adolescence and young adulthood is increasing and unexplained; progress in treating cancer in these age groups is lagging.
Although cancer survival among children, in particular, those with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), has risen, there are still several childhood cancers that continue to have a very poor prognosis; including brain stem tumors, metastatic sarcomas, relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, relapsed Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia.
Cancer in childhood occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.
A number of the advances in adult cancer treatment are due to breakthroughs in childhood cancer research.
Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80% of children are diagnosed with advanced disease.
Chances are that your child will not get cancer: the odds of your child developing cancer by the age of 19 is approximately 1 in 330. But, cancer is second only to accidents as a cause of death in children.
And, just as you put your child in a car seat or a seat belt each time you get into the car, just as you teach your child to play safely, just as you watch your young child constantly so that he or she does not get hurt, so you also need to watch for signs of childhood cancer.
Signs of Childhood CancerSigns of Childhood Cancer:
Continued, unexplained weight lossHeadaches, often with early morning vomitingIncreased swelling or persistent pain in bones, joints, back, or legsLump or mass, especially in the abdomen, neck, chest, pelvis, or armpitsDevelopment of excessive bruising, bleeding, or rash
Constant infectionsA whitish color behind the pupilNausea which persists or vomiting without nauseaConstant tiredness or noticeable palenessEye or vision changes which occur suddenly and persistRecurrent or persistent fevers of unknown origin
As a parent, you need to be aware of the symptoms of childhood cancer. Your pediatrician is probably a very good doctor, but pediatricians are busy, they do not know your child as well as you do, and they may never have diagnosed childhood cancer. You need to know to trust your own intuition when you feel that there is really something wrong with your child, even if the doctor initially interprets the symptoms as a common child ailment. Your doctor may be right, but you need to make sure that certain tests are performed to rule out cancer.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Increase your awareness. Childhood cancer is not all that uncommon. The public needs to be aware that childhood cancer occurs in 1 in every 330 children by the age of 19, and that childhood cancer has not yet been "cured". Awareness will hopefully lead to increased private donations as well as increased governmental funding of childhood cancer research.
Awareness Organizations
There is a plethora of organizations, small and large, that work to raise awareness for childhood cancer and to advocate for children who have or had cancer. Most of these organizations also help cancer families in one way or another. CureSearch, the fund-raising arm of the Children's Oncology Group (COG), is probably the largest such organization in the US. Candlelighters is another large and influential awareness group; it is founded and run by parents of children who have or had cancer.
Become a Blood, Platelet, or Bone Marrow Doner. So many adults and children die before a Bone Marrow match is found. www.marrow.org and www.americasblood.org
Become a ChemoAngel. Chemo Angels are a group of volunteers that are dedicated to bringing a ray of sunshine to those undergoing the treatment of cancer. www.chemoangels.net
Support Sites:
www.curesearch.org
www.candlelighters.org
www.stbaldricks.org
www.goldribbons.com
www.stjude.org
www.locksoflove.org

Orphans of God

Time to Climb!

Garin has fallen so in love with the outdoors in the last few weeks, and I wanted him to have something to play with besides the nozzles for the water hose. I went looking and searched online for a play set that was appropriate for his age but that wouldn't be too small by next summer. Anything I found that fit the bill was $400! CRAZY for something they'll only use for a couple of years. Then Julie told me that the people catty-cornered across the street were trying to sell a little gym. I stopped by this afternoon and bought it for $100! It's in good shape and it's perfect to keep Garin occupied in the backyard for the next couple of years. Plus, I can feel like we got our money's worth when it no longer interests him. The couple we got it from was kind enough to come over and help set it up for us, and they even threw in some of their 2-year-old's cute clothes he'd outgrown!

My Stargazer Lilies

Karl sent these to me on our anniversary. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's been three years since Karl and I said our vows: three long years and three very short years all the same. We will have to wait until his deployment is over to celebrate together, but I will celebrate today anyway because he is my husband, and I am the most blessed woman in the world because of him. I am a cheeseball, I know, but I am a happy cheeseball! Below is the poem that I wrote for Karl and put in his anniversary present. He still hadn't received it as of this morning, but since he can't read this blog where he is, it will still be a surprise when it arrives there. (Don't spill the beans!)



THREE YEARS

One-thousand ninety-five days have now passed
Since the one when I pledged you my life.
And each day I feel more amazed than the last
By the blessing of being your wife.

The love that we share is a gift from above;
There is no other way to explain it.
Only our God could construct such a love,
For this world could not ever contain it.

The first time we met, it was part of His plan
Spun long before we ever knew.
My heartaches were mended as only God can,
By the precious and dear gift of you.

Each moment together affirms that our love
Is more than most people will know.
The strength of our marriage, most only dream of.
As we weather the storms, watch love grow.

We are blessed by our children, some near and some far,
And the joy of their love and their laughter.
We are a family, wherever we are,
Today and from here everafter.

I treasure this gift which is more than I dreamed
When I prayed; for I waited so long.
How could I have known how much more He would give?
A true love, a soul mate, my heart’s song.

Too much fun

Garin and I ran errands all morning and grabbed lunch at Sonic on the way home. As you can see, he didn't have the energy to finish his food before taking a nap. It was all just too much.

TGFB

Thank God For Benadryl! Garin and I both woke up yesterday having allergy fits: sneezing, watery eyes, runny and itchy noses. I took Claritin but couldn't find anything for an 18-month-old for allergies. I gave him decongestant, but it just didn't touch it. After another crabby, miserable morning for him, I called a friend who has an allergy child. The doctor told her that you can give Benadryl at a dose of 0.5ml per pound of weight. So off we went to buy some Children's Benadryl. The very first dose made a HUGE difference in his comfort level and demeanor. The nose has almost completely stopped running, and he is acting like my baby again! Anyway, thanks Kim! I felt so guilty about taking Claritin when he couldn't have any that I skipped it this morning to suffer with him.

And more good news...We each got a letter from the State of DE, Division of Family Services, stating that we had passed our FBI and SBI background checks, which are required by the Federal Child Protection and Safety Act in order to be a foster or adoptive parent! Of course, we weren't worried that there would be a problem, but now we have the proof that they need, so it puts us one step closer in our faith journey as we work to adopt D and K.

I was in a bowling tournament today and placed fourth on the women's side. There was a small monetary award, but my scores were more exciting than the payout. I had a 163, 177, 135 and 159! That is a 159 average!!! I'm rather pleased about that.

Hope you've all enjoyed a day as beautiful as we have! Have a great weekend!

TGIF!

It's funny how we grow to appreciate some days of the week more than others because they symbolize relaxation, freedom, family time, etc. It seems that mindset lingers even in the desert, where there is no such thing as a weekend because there are no days off. There is a Friday ritual among Karl and his new buddies on the base where he is deployed. Instead of going back to their bunks to sleep (or in Karl's case, to work on his Masters' classes) after work, they change out of flightsuits and into PT uniforms (basically Air Force P.E. uniforms), which are much cooler in the sweltering heat. Then they meet up to talk, laugh, talk about home and relax. I get the impression that it's the one time of the week when Karl feels normal, and that makes my Friday happier just for knowing it. I've been hearing about these fellas for almost three months, and I was tickled to open my email this morning and discover that he FINALLY sent photos! I thought you all might like to see him and his friends too. (The guy in the picture with Karl is also from here and also a devoted family man who is very homesick. Sounds like he and Karl have really looked out for each other over there.)

Update: I had to crop and reattach the photos for two security-related reasons: One, the file names of the photos had the guys' names. I didn't realize that those file names came up when you clicked on the photos in the blog. Two, our camera is way too good! When enlarged, the military ID's on some of the guys were totally readable....WAY too much info. Not that I think any of you would misuse the information, but this is out there for everyone to see if they can find it. It might not be that big of an issue, but I'd rather err on the side of safety for our men in uniform! :o)