More home study drama

In my last update, I mentioned that our home study was finally finished, and we were thrilled. Well, it seems like nothing is going to be as easy as we expect this time around, because when we got the home study, we discovered a few small but critical mistakes in it. We contacted the home study agency, and they were very understanding, and agreed to fix the mistakes as quickly as possible. We emailed them a statement of what the homestudy should say, and they printed them off and sent them back out to us. Imagine our disappointment when our home study arrived for the second time, and there was STILL one critical mistake in it. In their hurry to get our home study back to us, they had missed one of the corrections. They apologized again, and corrected it one more time. This time, the let Greg proof an electronic copy before printing it out, and he said it looks good. The home study finally arrived yesterday for the third (and hopefully the final) time, so we are hoping to send our paperwork to USCIS in Monday's mail. In addition to the frustration with the errors, our home study agency told us that they were very sorry, but they had accidentally sent us an outdated fee schedule, and we owed them another fairly large fee right then. We were feeling pretty discouraged.

But God graciously provided us with encouragement when we so badly needed it. I also posted that we were going to be having a Jamberry fundraiser, and I am happy to report that it was a huge success. As a result of that fundraiser and other donations that have come in since my last post, we have the funds that we need to pay the extra fee to our home study agency, and still almost $200 more toward our next agency fee. We are still short of the money that we need, but we are closer than we were, and we are very thankful for that. We know that God will supply all that we need in His perfect timing. Many, many thanks to everyone who participated in the fundraiser or donated to our adoption. You have know idea what a huge source of encouragement you were!

Thanks always for your prayer and support.

Fundraiser and update

After weeks and weeks without anything to report, we finally have good news. We learned yesterday that our home study is finally done and on its way to us. YAY! Neither of our other home studies took anywhere near this long, and we have been struggling with a lot of discouragment as we waited, but we know that God's timing is always perfect, and we trust Him to bring Jonathan home at exactly the right point for him and for us. We should have our home study in hand by Monday or Tuesday, and then we can submit our form for USCIS approval. We have the form completely filled out already, so we just have to drop it in the mail as soon as the home study arrives. At that point, we will also be able to start filling out grant applications. God has provided all of the funds that we needed for our pre-approval fee, the initial agency fee, our home study fee, and USCIS fee. We are very thankful for that, but we are several thousand dollars short of the money we will need for our next agency fee, and we have to pay that before our dossier can be sent to China. Please continue to pray that God will provide all of the funds that we need, and that our adoption will not be delayed.

We do have a fundraising opportunity that we are excited to share with you. We will be holding a Jamberry Nail wrap fundraiser from Monday Sept. 8 through the following Sunday. During that time, 30% of everything bought through Jonathan's party will be donated to his adoption. I will be sending out facebook invitations to many of you to join Jonathan's party, but if you don't get an invitation and would like to participate, please contact me and I will happily add you. I know there are some who follow this blog, but aren't friends with Greg or me on facebook. I can highly recommend these nail wraps to anyone. They really do work as advertised and come in many fun colors and patterns. I have used them with great success on my sister Kathryn. Because of her significant cerebral palsy, it is very difficult for her to hold her hands still and flat long enough to have them painted, and they chip almost as soon as they are finished. When we use the Jamberry wraps, they look nice for a full week. It is fun for her to be able to have fancy nails like her sisters

Kathryn is showing off her Easter wraps, and the confetti wraps she chose for her birthday party.

As always, thank you for following our story, and for all of your support as we work to bring Jonathan home.

A quick update

I realize it has been a long time since we posted anything here, and some of you are probably starting to wonder what happened to us. These last few months have been pretty hard. We have both been struggling with sickness, and our normally crazy pace of life seems to have hit a new level. Things seem to be calming down for us now, but we would really still appreciate your prayers. Our church and families have done a wonderful job of helping to support and encourage us, and we will never be able to tell them how thankful we are. I wish all adoptive families had church and family support like we have!

When we last posted, we had just submitted our pre-approval documents to China. We are very thankful that China did give us their approval to begin the adoption. Another item of praise is that we received enough donations to pay our first agency fee. To those who donated, thank you very, very much. We still do not have the money to pay for our homestudy, but that fee isn't due quite yet, and we know that God will provide in His own perfect time. We are continuing to work on the daunting list of forms that we have to submit to our homestudy agency. We aren't finishing those quite as quickly as we had hoped, but we have been chipping away at them.

One of the truths that God has been making very clear to us through this process is that He is the one who will bring our son home to us. In our own strength, we can do nothing. Our sickness and struggles have reminded us just how weak we are. Our prayer is that God's glory and power will shine all the more clearly because of our weakness.  The verse that comes to mind again and again as we pray this is Zechariah 4:6, "Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.'" We pray that everyone will clearly see that it is only by God's Spirit that our son will come home to us. This verse is even richer to me than it would otherwise be, because Jonathan's middle name is Zechariah. 

He has a name!

First of all, we want to ask that you bear with us a little bit, because we haven't gotten the "look" of this blog updated yet. It still has the very feminine theme that we were using for the girls' adoption. Updating this so that it is more appropriate for our son is on our list of things to do. It just hasn't happened yet.

Now, for the really exciting part of this post - we have chosen a name for our new little boy. Greg and I spent several days discussing options, and in the end, it was Josiah who suggested the first name that we chose. We have decided to name him Jonathan Zechariah. Jonathan means "Gift from the LORD," or "The LORD gives," and Zechariah means "The LORD remembers." We know that there are some aspects of his diagnosis that are uncertain and a little bit scary. Caring for an autistic child might be the most difficult thing we have ever done. In light of this, we wanted to chose a name that made it very clear that we consider our son a valuable treasure and not a burden. No matter what lies ahead for us, he is a gift. It also seems to us that he is very sad and that he feels all alone. We imagine that he feels forgotten, and we want him to know that God has never forgotten him, and has had a plan for his life from the very beginning.

We have been working hard on the adoption process, and we have made pretty good progress. We finished the packet of documents to send to our agency in order to request provisional approval from the Chinese Adoption Authorities, and are hoping to hear back from them any day now. We have also finished the initial application to our home study agency. Once they process that paperwork, they will send us the longer formal application packet. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we are thankful for how much we have accomplished already

We also got our first donation! Someone left an anonymous gift for us at church last Sunday. We don't have any idea who you are, but thank you very much! It was nearly the exact amount needed for our application fee to our agency, and it was a huge encouragement to us. We are praying for more donations, because we will need nearly $3000 soon to pay the first of our large agency fees, and then almost $2000 shortly after that to pay for our home study. We don't have any idea where this money is going to come from, but we are trusting God to provide it in His perfect time. In some ways, these early fees are the most difficult, because we will not be allowed to apply for most grants until after our home study is completed, and we have not had any time to pull together elaborate fund-raising events.

We do have our very first fund-raising opportunity running, though. Many of you may remember that we had a store front set up with JustLove coffee during the girls' adoption. It did not bring in a ton of money, but every little bit helps. We contacted the company, and they have given us permission to raise funds through them again. The link to our store front is in the side bar of this blog. Right now it probably still says that the proceeds will benefit Isabelle and Hallie. We will get that updated with Jonathan's name soon. We are also hoping to set up and Amazon affiliate link soon. Stay tuned for more details about that.

Big News!!

As the title of this post states, we have some really big news. First though, I'd like to give a quick update on each of our kids.

Josiah (6 1/2), Gabriela (5 1/2), and Matthias (almost 4) are all doing very well. They are healthy and developing well, and the older two are really enjoying their school work. Mikaela is 5 1/2, and continues to amaze everyone. She speaks in complete sentences, or at least long phrases, almost all of the time now. Isabelle is also 5 1/2, and her progress in the last 18 months has been incredible. She doesn't even seem like the same child. A few months ago, she had surgery to correct the alignment of her eyes, and this seemed to improve her vision quite a bit. She has transformed from the awkward, anxious child that we met in China to a beautiful, confident, happy little girl. She and Mikaela are constant companions and best friends, and the keep us laughing most of the time. Hallie is still much more of a baby than the other two, but she is making progress as well. Her eating continues to improve, and her favorite foods are now macaroni and cheese and yogurt. She is not quite walking yet, but cruises everywhere, and often takes half a dozen steps at a time. She still does not talk much, but she is learning some sign language, and has just starting stringing signs together in short phrases. Victoria is now eight months old, and she is a happy, social baby. She eats well and plays well with the kids. The biggest challenge with her is that she still is not sleeping all the way through the night. After eight full months, I would love a night of uninterrupted sleep!! We were able to get an updated family picture this fall, and it really shows how much the kids have grown.

And now for the big news -- We are adopting again! We have just committed to the adoption of a little boy in China who will be three years old next month. That makes him exactly one year younger than Matthias, and Matthias has already announced that this little boy is his new best friend. I can't wait to see the two of them together. The agency is calling him Lewis, so that is the name that we will use until we have chosen his new name. Lewis has an extra thumb on his right hand, unilateral microtia, and possibly autism. His challenges will be very different from anything we have faced at this point, and we are a little bit nervous about that. More than anything else, though, we are excited about our new son and eager to get him home.

As with our other two adoptions, we are starting this process without any of the funds that we need to complete it. We don't have any idea how we are going to raise the $35,000 it will take to bring our son home, but we know that God will provide everything we need to follow His leading. As always, if you feel led to help us with this, you can make a tax-deductible donation to The Shepherd's Crook Ministries. Just be sure to mark your donation for "Lewis Godwin."

Please pray for us as we walk through this process. Pray that we will work quickly and diligently so that we can get through this process soon. Please pray for our son as he waits in an orphanage so far away.

Easter

Last Sunday was Isabelle and Hallie's first Easter, and it was probably the nicest holiday we have had since the girls came home. I have mentioned in earlier posts that Isabelle struggles with a lot of stress. She gets stressed if she feels like we don't approve of her. She gets stressed if she feels like mealtime is going to be late. She gets stressed if other people get second helpings before she does. Or if she is the last one to get her shoes on in the morning. Or if Greg steps outside and she can't see him. Unfortunately, she spends a lot of her time stressed. We have seen a lot of improvement in this area in the last few months, but one thing that has still caused lots of anxiety for her is any deviation from our normal routine. Even if it is a fun change, she ends up distressed and unhappy. I don't think she enjoyed anything about Christmas this year. Decorating cookies made her stressed. Cutting down the tree made her stressed. And so did decorating the tree. And opening presents. And visiting with family. Everything about it was different than her normal routine, and she did not like it. Valentine's Day was a little better, just because it is a lower-key holiday, but she still didn't enjoy it. When I tried to help her decorate her Valentine's bag, she just wrung her hands and shredded stickers all over the table. I wasn't expecting Easter to go well, but to my surprise, she did great! She is really learning to trust us for her stability, instead of needing such a strict routine, and it is exciting to watch that happen.

She loved dying Easter eggs with the Rosenow kids.

She loved her new Easter Dress! As soon as she saw it, she began clapping her hands and trying to jump up and down (still doesn't quite have the coordination for that yet), and told me, "Oh cute!"

She even enjoyed the Easter egg hunt, although her poor vision made it difficult for her to find very many.

Hallie has always been more relaxed about holidays than Isabelle, and she did great, just like we expected. She wasn't crazy about dying the eggs, though, because she is still really funny about touching food of any kind. You can tell by the look on her face that she thought we were crazy for expecting her to touch the egg in the strange-looking liquid.

She also looked super cute in her "Easter dress," which some of you may recognize as the same dress she was wearing last year in Guangzhou. It was too cute not to use again.

She didn't really want to look for Easter eggs during the hunt, but she had a wonderful time playing on the swing while the other kids hunted.

And finally one group shot of all the kids. Gabriela looks like she is crying, but she promised me that she wasn't sad; the sun was just in her eyes.

Happy Easter!

World Down Syndrome Day (a LONG update)

It has been about four months since I have updated this blog, and our life has changed in many ways. We have been so busy that I haven't thought much about blogging, but it just seemed wrong to let today pass without some sort of an entry. I remember March 21 from last year so clearly still. Our paperwork had been submitted to China, and we were stuck waiting. It was a pretty sad day for me because my girls were still so far away, but I remember looking forward to this year when all three of my little ones with Down Syndrome would be together. I promised that there would be cute pictures on 3-21 of this year, so here they are. I will combine a brief recap of the last four months with a few pictures of my girls.

Many of you already know the big family news, but just in case anyone hasn't heard yet, we are expecting a baby in June. We are having a little girl, whom we are naming Victoria. I was really sick for the first few months of the pregnancy, which is one of the reasons that I wasn't able to update this blog, but I feel much better now.

Update on Mikaela:
We really don't have a whole lot to report about her. She is thriving in every area as always. She is fully potty-trained, both during the day and at night. Her vocabulary grows almost daily, and I think her articulation must be improving as well, because strangers are occasionally able to understand her, and that hasn't been the case before. She is learning to play memory games and really enjoys that. Her big obsession right now is The Little Mermaid, and most of her Christmas presents were Ariel themed in some way.

Update on Isabelle:
Isabelle has made incredible progress in many areas since November. Just before Thanksgiving, we finally got her fitted for a pair of glasses, and she has blossomed since then! We had strongly suspected that many of her difficulties were vision related rather than motor or cognitive, and that has certainly proven to be true. Her walking improved almost overnight once she could see where she was going, and she is far more confident in every area. The first morning after she got her glasses, she spent all of breakfast time looking around at everyone and smiling and waving. I think it was the first time she had been able to see all of our faces clearly. She still has essentially no depth perception, because her eyes don't work together at all. We are now patching her stronger right eye for half an hour each day in an attempt to improve that for her. If this doesn't work, she will probably have to have surgery at some point in the future.

In December, Isabelle had her heart repaired in a simple surgery. She only spent one night in the hospital, and doesn't even have a scar from it. The nurses all fell in love with her, and one of them even gave her a stethoscope to keep.

Isabelle is also potty-training. We didn't have any intention of trying this with her until she learned a bit more English and was more confident in our love for her. Once she saw us potty-training Matthias, though, she was emphatic that she wanted to potty train too. Every time I put him on his little potty, she said, "Mommy, me pot!" Finally we bought her a little potty and let her try. She is amazing! I would say she is probably 85% of the way trained during the day now. I remind her to go every so often, and she rarely has more than one accident in a day. For the past three days, she hasn't had any accidents! I am hoping she might be all they way there by the time the baby comes.

Yesterday, she had her first dental cleaning, and did great! She doesn't have a single cavity. This was a shock to us, because her teeth had never been brushed before she came to live with us. I don't think I have ever heard of a child being adopted from an orphanage as old as she was without any cavities at all. We are really thankful for this news. At the end of the cleaning, she was allowed to choose a toy out of the "treasure chest" and picked a little tiara. She is becoming quite a girly-girl, and really enjoys anything pretty and shiny. I love seeing her personality emerge.

Update on Hallie:

The biggest news about Hallie is that she is eating!! We have been working with her since the day that she came to live with us to try to get her to eat anything by spoon, and she is finally doing it. She actually eats three meals a day now, and takes one or two bottles. She is still pretty thin, but we are starting to see her fill out. We can tell she is healthier because her hair is growing thick and soft now, instead being thin, coarse, and rusty-looking like it was when she came home. She continues to be happy and affectionate and is an absolute joy to be around almost all the time. She is very emphatic about being Mommy's baby, and we expect that she will have the most difficult transition once Victoria arrives. She does not like to share my attention or my lap.

Happy World Down Syndrome day!