The Thompson Family

Dont't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell

2011-07-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

My husband and I had been looking for something to use in his junior high Sunday school class at church. We recently came across this book and are very excited to use it this fall. The book is broken down into very short chapters with various apolygetic issues. It is divided into 6 parts: Myths about God, Myths about Jesus, Myths about the Resurrection, Myths about the Bible, Myths about Christianity and religion, and Myths about life and happiness. Each chapter is about 3 pages long with an excerise at the end including Bible verses to back it up. Some of the chapters I especially like are: The Telephone Game (the Bible was copied so many times we can't trust its accuracy), Playing Dead (the myth that Jesus just fainted), and When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, Everybody'll be there.
I think this book will really appeal to young teens. It's a light read, humerous, and it's filled with really intersting stuff for kids who haven't heard any of this yet.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Seraph Seal by Leonard Sweet and Lori Wagner

2011-06-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

This book is so unlike any other apocalyptic book I have ever read. Mostly because it doesn't seem very biblical. I'm not an expert on the end times, but this doesn't jive with anything I know about Revelations.
It seems that the book is taking place during the tribulation, though that is never made very clear. There is no reference to the rapture at the beginning, but things happen throughout the book that would only take place during the tribulation. Like the appearance of the four horseman (there's also reference to hunting down the horseman, which really shouldn't be an option if you understand what they are). There are still Christians remaining on Earth, though in very small numbers. It seems that Christianity has just become less popular.
One of the main chararcters, Paul is a historian who is one eight people born on the same date 36 years ago. One of the eight is the antichrist. The others must all find each other and bind together to defeat the evil one. Before this can happen Paul is led on a Davinci Code type treasure hunt for clues from the past. As if it's up to man to solve some great mystery in order for God to triumph over Satan.
The whole book is very confusing. Like I said, the theology is all mixed up and doesn't make any sense. The story is told from far too many perspectives and it's hard to keep all the main characters straight. This was a very hard book to get through and I would not recommend it to anyone.
I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson publishers through booksneeze.com. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble

2011-04-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Olivia Stewart has just found out that her sister, Eleanor, has died, and she suspects foul play. She travels to California under a different name to try to find her sisters killer. Her first suspect is her sister's fiance, Harrison. She behaves very rudely to him at first, until she gets to know him better and convinces herself that he could not have killed her sister. The two begin to fall in love, but he still does not know her true identity. In the mean time, several attempts have been made to kill Olivia.
I didn't realize when I requested this book that it was the third in a series. So when it came I was disappointed that I had not read the first two and worried that it might be confusing. I don't know if this book follows the other two or not, but it was not a problem at all picking up on the third book.
This book was very easy to jump into. Some books start out really slow and it's hard to follow until you get 1/3 of the way in. But as soon as I started reading this book, I had a hard time putting it down. Both of the main characters were very likeable, and I liked how Olivia was not a believer, but was able to to learn more of God from Harrison. A man who is strong in his faith is the most attractive kind of man. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am anxious to find more of her books.
I received this book for free from the publisher through the booksneeze.com book review program. I was not required to write a positive review.

mothers day

2011-04-18T16:28:00.001-07:00

We Heart Grandma Mother's Day 5x7 folded card

Turn your favorite photos into a custom Mother's Day card.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Promises She Keeps by Erin Healy

2011-03-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

Promise is a college student with Cystic Fibrosis who is obsessed with keeping her memory alive after she dies. After a surviving a number of accidents that should have killed her, a local sorceress becomes interested in Promises ability to escape death.
Then there's Chase. An autistic young man who says he is in love with Promise and wants to save her life.
This is one of Erin Healy's first solo novels after writing two books with Ted Dekker, and she is proving to be an exceptional author. I thoroughly enjoyed the constant suspense in this book. I was never bored for a moment. And the characters really drew me in. For the most part, they are very likeable.
I also enjoyed the fact that the Christian aspect of the book was not hard to find. So many authors these days try to throw something in towards the end to justify selling it in Christian stores. And while her message may have been towards the end, I could see how the story all worked toward that end. It was a great message.
I would certainly recommend reading this book. It's a real page turner.
I received this book for free from booksneeze.com in return for reviewing the book. I was not required to write a positive review.

Book Reviews

2011-02-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

So, I have begun a new blogger book review program. I will be posting my reviews on my blog and on Amazon. So in case you all are wondering what I'm doing this for, that's it.

What's He Really Thinking by Paula Rinehart

2011-02-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

This book is suppose to get you into the mind of the average man. The author explains how men view relationships, conflicts, and what they expect from us. There's even a chapter on intimacy that, unfortunately, is not about sex. I mean, that is a very important part of a marriage and one of the major areas we struggle with when it comes to gender differences. So when I saw a chapter called "intimacy", I was excited. Only to read that it's about being close to someone.
I found this book very difficult to get through. It seemed like the author was really reaching to try to desperately fill a book with enough words to get it published. While there were a few pieces of information that made me think, most of it was not a revelation. It's all the same stuff we've been hearing over and over about the differences between men and women. The kind of stuff most of us can figure out for ourselves. There is Scripture sprinkled in, but that doesn't really seem to help the book, just makes for more filler.
I would not recommend this book. It's just not worth the money when there much better material out there.
I received this book free from the publisher through the booksneeze.com blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255.

First Day of School

2010-01-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

Today was Allan's first day of preschool. He was super excited about it, and Emily and Isaac were pretty jealous. When we left the school Isaac started crying and saying, "I go school too". I'm not quite ready to give him up yet though.
Allan is doing really super with his language learning. He now uses more English at home than Tagalog, and I don't use Tagalog at all anymore with him, unless he is acting up and I really want to get his attention.
It's crazy how fast these boys are becoming more Americanized. Luigi is slowly losing his accent now. There are some phrases he says that he sounds completely American. And the boys don't seem to care much for filipino food anymore. When we go to the Philippine grocery store they beg for certain foods, but then when we get home they fuss about having to eat them and would rather have American food. I even made some homemade Ube ice cream a couple weeks ago and we can't seem to get rid of that one gallon. Whenever we bring it our they say they want vanilla instead. They do still like their banana ketchup though, which is fine with me since it's healthier than tomato ketchup.
We just ordered a bunk bed today online, and once that comes, we will work on moving Allan into Isaac's bedroom upstairs. I really never liked having Allan in the basement since he is only 5, and he's closer in age to Isaac than Luigi and wears the same size clothes, so this just makes more sense. And their room downstairs is getting so crowded, so now Luigi will have more space. I just hope Isaac will sleep at night. We stayed in a hotel at Christmastime and Isaac was so excited to be sleeping next to his brothers that he had a hard time settling in to sleep.
Everyone keeps asking us how things are going with the boys and how I can handle having 4 kids at home. But really, it just feels so natural to have them in our family and it's surprisingly easy to care for them. Sure we have our struggles, mostly with Luigi since he still thinks he needs to be in control. But the boys are totally part of our family now and to me it doesn't feel any different than the average family. I can't wait though until we can finally have our court date and make it all official.

Language

2009-12-04T12:52:00.001-08:00

Allan is slowly learning more and more English. I'm sure he understands almost all I say to him. I once asked a friend of mine who was an esl teacher if I were to have Emily watch Spanish Sesame street every day, would she eventually learn Spanish. She said she probably would be able to understand what they were saying, but not be able to speak it since she didn't have anyone to pratice with. I think that's how it is with Allan. He was put in front of a tv his whole life watching American cartoons, so he can understand English pretty well, but not speak it.
Some of the phrases he has been saying in English lately are:
Oh, Man!
Come here, buddy.
Good Job.
and my favorite, I love you Mommy.
I think he is learning more from Emily and Isaac than from me.
I just found out yesterday that our library offers free Tagalog courses online! They just have the basic program, like if you wanted to vacation there. But I'm hoping to be able to learn a little from it. I just really need to learn grammer. Vocabulary is easy if you have a dictionary, but I have no idea how to put sentences together most of the time. And even though Allan is learning English and I will soon no longer have to speak in Tagalog to him at all, I don't want him to loose his first language, so I want to do every thing I can to keep it alive in our house.
I've been translating the boys' AWANA verses into Tagalog for them. I think it's important for them to learn the scriptures in their native language, and not just be repeating meanlingless words. This has turned out to be quite. We only have a Tagalog New Testament, since I didn't want to splurge for the whole Bible. They have a lot of verses in the Old Testament so I have to go online and try to find the verses there, which is not easy. And so many times with Allan's verses, they take out several words to make it easier for the child to learn, so I have to figure out which part of the verse to have him learn. If anyone knows of a good site online that has the whole Tagalog Old Testament, I would love to hear from you.

Finally a post!

2009-11-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on here, over a month! It seems like every time I have a few minutes when I could be doing this, my brain is just fried and I can't possibly think of something to say.
It's amazing how far the boys have come in the two months since they have come home. Allan especially. I keep telling people that it's hard to believe he is the same boy we brought home. He was so out of control and such a naughty, incredibly lazy boy. To think that this is the same boy who would throw a 2 hour temper tantrum if he was made to walk somewhere instead of being carried. Now I would say he may be the most well behaved of all our children. He learns so quickly what is expected of him and is very eager to please. He is still struggling intellictually, we just learned this week that he doesn't even know yes and no in his own language. We ask him questions and he often answers them wrong. It's hard to imagine a child that old that still doesn't have that basic concept down. I am really hoping that we can get him into preschool soon. It would really help to have someone who knows what they are doing teaching him.
And our feelings for the boys have certainly grown. I feel much stronger emotions for Allan than for Luigi, but that's to be expected because of their age and because Luigi isn't home much. But Luigi also doesn't seem as eager to grow closer to us. He is still enjoying causing strife in the home, to an extent, though not near as bad as he used to.
The boys are realy emjoying the holiday season, as this is their first real Christmas besides what they saw in the store windows. I hope to write more about their Christmas experiences soon, but now I have much too much to do.

Let it Snow!

2009-10-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Allan's new bike

Making snow angels

Allan was so excited when he got outside in the snow. And I think he really loves being in his snow pants, he can fall over and not get hurt.

2009-10-07T08:27:00.001-07:00

I've not been very good at posting very often. I just don't have the energy to think of what to say lately. So I may not be doing this very often anymore.
The kids are really doing alot better all the time. While Luigi is in school the other three get along so great. When he comes home it's a bit chaotic around here. Mostly because he likes to cause trouble, and because when he's here he gets Allan more riled up. We've really been trying to work on Emily and Luigi's relationship. I think Emily does try to get along with him, but then when he keeps on being mean to her all the time she kind of just gives up. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get him to be nicer to her I would really apprectiate that.
We are going to be starting the boys in AWANA next week to give the other two a break from them and give them some special mommy and daddy time. And they could certainly use some more Bible teaching. Emily is really looking forward to this.
The kids just made themselves some maracas from yogurt cups and sea shells, so it's getting a little too noisy in here to think. That's all for now.

2 Weeks Home

2009-10-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Today was Luigi's 2nd day of school. It's hard to really talk to him well, but it seems like he had a good day yesterday. The teacher said she didn't give him much work to do. I was worried that he wouldn't eat much for lunch, since they had chili. I've never served that yet, and he can be such a picky eater. But he came home telling me his tummy was very full. He also said that all the other kids thought the chili was spicy and had to put crackers in theirs to tame it down. He told me, "not spicy. No crackers in my soup, mom". So I guess he liked it. He also went through his classmates pictures at home and showed me his "best friends". I'm so glad that he is enjoying spending time with other kids. This morning I had such a hard time keeping him inside until it was time to go. He was so impatient to get to school. At 8:05 he saw some boys walk by and told me he HAD to go NOW. So he was off. School is out at 11:30 on Friday for homecoming so he has a very easy week this week.
And it is so nice and peaceful when he is at school. The kids just get along so much better when he's not around. Not that we don't enjoy having him here. But as a big brother he really likes to antagonize his younger siblings. During Isaac's nap time, Emily and Allan watch TV quietly and it is so peaceful here. I've started baking more and it feels so good to get back into that.
There are a few things that have surprised me about the boys, with them bring filipino. First of all, I had assumed that they would only want white rice, nothing in it. So many people from other countried are real sticklers on that. But actually, white rice is now their least favorite. They absolutely love yellow mexican rice and wild rice. Basically, as long as it is made with rice, they'll eat it.
I also thought that since they were so used to a warm climate that they would really hate the cold here. But now that it's really been cooling off here, they are the ones that mind it the least. They love going outside and will often take off their jackets while the rest of us are freezing.
Well, I have plenty of things to do, so this is all for now.

"What's Yup, Mom?"

2009-09-26T17:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Luigi asked me a question and I responded with "yup". He asked me, "what's yup, mom?" I really need to work on not using slang. I also have to be careful not to use German phrases around them. Growing up with all German family members, and my parents having lived in Switzerland as missionaries, I picked up a lot of phrases that I use with the kids. Gotta kick that, or the boys will really be confused.
Things are going much better here as far as the boys' behavior issues. We have gotten some really great adoptive parenting tips lately from a woman who has adopted 4 of her 11 children. We also started watching some videos online from Dr. Karen Purvis, who wrote The Connected Child. They are so, so helpful, and we finally feel a peace about us. The videos are free, since they're online, and I dont really have time to read books right now. Here is the link, for those of you who could benefit. http://www.irvingbible.org/index.php?id=1662
Today we went to the orchard near Yankton and had such a great time as a family. I know so many people say you should not go out at all with the kids for the first two months. But we go crazy when we're all couped up here all the time. And the boys do great on outings. It seems like when we are home, all we do is discipline and deal with behavior issues. That doesn't help at all with our relationship with them if that's all we do. When we go out we all have fun and the boys are well behaved. It's really great. Then we went to the new Mongolian grill. The boys had a blast eating all the kinds of food they love, especially all you can eat rice, and ice cream.
Allan is in the bath now so I need to keep this short so I can scrub him down.
Luigi and I went to Walmart this morning. It was a great opportunity to spend some one on one time with him. And it was really fun to see what kinds of things he was interested in at the store. I let him pick out the ice cream. Of all the kinds that they have available, he wanted Neopolitin. He was totally amazed to see 3 flavors in one tub.

4th Day Home

2009-09-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

We went to church this morning. When we first walked in the door, Allan was clinging to me so tightly and was very afraid to even move. During Sunday school I took all 3 boys into the nursery to play (we wouldn't have gone to Sunday school but Aaron has to teach). By the time church started Allan was feeling much more comfortable and was even dancing to the music. It really helps that our church has a great playground outside that they love to play on. They'll even go out there by themselves to play.
We've been having a few behavior problems, that we can hopefully deal with soon. Luigi tends to wander off on his own quite a bit. Sometimes he'll just leave the house and take off somewhere on his bike. We keep telling him he can't go places by himself, but it doesn't sink in. He also has a problem with obeying. It usually takes several times of me telling him to do something before he finally gives in.
Allan still does not accept being told no. Any time he isn't allowed to do whatever he pleases he gets real upset. He'll usually start to throw a tantrum, but we just let him know that that is not acceptable behavior and we still love him, but we won't allow him to act this way.
Overall they are very well behaved boys, but there are certain behaviors that have never been corrected in the past. I know alot of people say it's just because they are adopted and we should allow them to work through their feelings however they like. But if we allow bad behavior we won't be doing them any favors.
Allan told Aaron "love you" this morning. That feels like such a breakthrough! He is such a tender boy and is so great with affection.

Zoo Day

2009-09-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

We had promised Emily long ago that we would take her to the zoo for her birthday, which was last Saturday while we were gone. I know it's not ideal to be taking the boys out all the time after just getting home, but we really owe it to Emily. So we went to the Sioux Falls zoo this morning. The kids all had a great time and did so well there. So glad it was just Sioux Falls and not the Omaha zoo. We got 4 passes from a teacher at Aaron's school, so we only had to pay for one person, so we had plenty of money to go on the train ride there. Isaac is still talking about it. I wish we had remembered the camera, but we don't have any pictures to post from our day.
We also stopped at the Philippine grocery store while in Sioux Falls. I think that made the boys feel alot more at home. They picked out a bunch of stuff that they like. They are really anxious to have tocino for breakfast, so maybe tomorrow I will fix it. It's a sweet meat that is very popular in Pampanga and served with rice, of course.
Isaac and Allan have really been getting along well. Though Allan is almost 5, he is very close to Isaac in maturity. Isaac loves to share his things with Allan and they do a lot of jibber-jabbering together.
The boys are so much smaller than we had expected. Luigi is 10, but he wears about a size 6, and Allan wears a 3T. So he'll be sharing some clothes with Isaac. I'm guessing Isaac will soon surpass him in size.

Picture Post

2009-09-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

We got home last night around 8:30 after a very exhausting trip. I will never fly again. I've always hated it and of course flying around the world is so much worse. The kids did really super though. Aaron is home today before going back to work tomorrow and we have finally got everything put away and the kids are settling in a little. Emily really likes having more brothers and is always trying to get them to play with her. Luigi really likes Isaac and even told him "I love you". I haven't even gotten that from him yet! So, here are some pictures.

This is with the social worker at RSCC and the house parent.

At SM Mall in San Fernando

Our social worker at ICAB, Irene

2009-09-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

I wrote this earlier when we didnt have interent and just saved it, so this comes before the post I just put on.
I am writing this on Sunday afternoon. We still don’t have internet access, so I am just going to save this and post later. We went to church this morning with some of the girls who work at the guesthouse. It was a Baptist church, which was really nice to have something familiar (sorry Pastor, it wasn’t American Baptist). They even sang praise songs that we know, and the guest pastor was American. It was a really nice service.
Allan did have another meltdown towards the end of the service. I took him downstairs and just held him, but he was quite inconsolable. He seems to do this when we go out and he’s not in a familiar environment. We will probably have to really limit our outings once we get back. I just hope he handles the trip back well.
People always talk about the honeymoon period when adopting. That for a while everything is just terrific, and then reality sets in and it gets a lot harder. I wonder if our honeymoon was over after the first day. They are great boys, and we love having them, but there are some real hard times, especially with Allan. I think life has just been so hard for them and they have a lot of issues to work through.
We found out that we are being completely ripped off by our driver. I guess what we had been paying per day is really what they should be getting per month. We would have been better off just using taxis all the time. But we’re done with our long trips and we will only just use him for our ride to the airport.
This afternoon after lunch we went swimming for the first time. It had finally stopped raining for a little while so we decided to make the most of the clear skies. The boys really loved the pool and it was a great change to bond with them. I convinced Allan to jump into my arms into the water, which was great to see him trusting me. He cant swim at all, but Luigi can a little.
Both boys are now calling us mommy and daddy, which is so precious to hear. This morning when we woke up, Luigi came and gave me a hug and said, “Good morning, Mommy”.
A couple hours ago, I walked up the street several block by myself to get some money from an ATM. It was so empowering to be able to walk around Manila without getting mugged. I made sure to walk out in front of a few cars to make it looked like I live here and am not some naïve tourist.
I was finally able to do some laundry this morning, so we have clean clothes again. YEAH! While I was in the laundry room, a woman came in to wash her money. She got it all wet and soapy in the sink, then dried it off and then ironed it. I cant figure out what that was about.
As much as I am not looking forward to our 14 ½ hour trip, I can’t wait to get on that plane from Hong Kong to Chicago, to know that we are finally done with foreign airports and are on our way back to the US. We are so terribly home sick. It’s too bad we have to stick around until Wednesday, since we don’t really have anything to do. But we didn’t know if we would need more time for the visas to be released.
On my way back to the compound from the ATM, I saw some flowers growing wild by the side of the road, and my first thought was that I should pick some to take back to Emily. And then I remembered that she isn’t with us and that I wont see her for another 3 days. Things like that are really hard. I cant stand the thought of not being able to hold Isaac until then. I miss them so terribly much.
They don’t serve lunch or supper on Sunday here, so we have ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. Luigi’s favorite is Hawaiian, so that’s what we’re having. It’s so nice to be able to eat more American types of foods here at the guesthouses. We don’t care much for the Filipino food here. And the boys will eat anything you put in front of them, so that’s easy.
Oh, one more thing I just remembered. Yesterday while we were driving we saw this little boy, about Luigi’s age, strip down and jump into this little creek like gutter area. Right in the middle of the city, buck naked.
A couple pieces of advice for those of you who may be coming here soon. Bring some Febreeze. it's not always easy to find laundry service that you can afford, and it would be so nice to be able to make your clothes at least smell nice. Also, dont bring an old laptop just because you dont want to risk your good one breaking in travel. The wifi connections use newer encryption programs and the older laptops dont work with them. We are having to plug ours in to a land line, which is really slow.

Our last full day

2009-09-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's Tueday morning and we are going to be going to ICAB this morning to get all the boys' paperwork. It has been a very eventful last few days.
Allan has really been having a hard time with all the changes. He breaks down sometimes and cries inconsolably for about an hour. Yesterday this happened alot. I think he is doing a little better today. It will just take time. Luigi is doing great! He is such a happy boy and really enjoys spending time with us.
We went to the surgical consult yesterday at Cardinal Santos hospital. That one is closer than St. Lukes to the guest houses and cheaper. When we saw the surgeon Allan was crying alot because he had been woken up after we got out of the cab and he of course doesnt like new things. So the surgeon assumes he is crying because he is in pain. He told us there was no way we wouldbe able to travel this week and we would have to admit him to the hospital for tests. It would be a week before they had the diagnosis and then they could start treating him. He said if we took him with us on the plane he would probably die before we get home. Of course I started crying right there in the room. I cant stand the thought of being away from Emily and Isaac any longer, and the thought of staying in a Manila hospital that long!
So Melissa and I went out in the hallway to talk (she came along with me and has been such a huge blessing). We were suppose to go back to the pediatrician to have her admitted. Melissa said we should tell the ped. that I need to go back to talk to my husband before admitting him, and that would buy us some time.
But when we got to the ped.s office he had stopped crying and was happy and smiling. She said it was not anything serious enough that we couldnt wait until we got to the states to treat him. She still thought it might be tb so she did a skin test on him and ordered some blood work (that was a whole other nightmare). On the way back to SIL Melissa called the director here who has also adopted to ask her what she thought. She gave us the number of an American nurse who works at an orphanage here who has dealt alot with ICAB and told us to talk to her first so we know how to talk to ICAB so they dont get scared and say we cant leave. So I called her last night and she wanted to come over to look at Allan herself. When she got here she said it is defintely not tb since he would be a lot sicker if it was. She looked at his mass and said it is just a boil, and inward boil, and that we just need to keep on the antiobiotics. She also gave us some other great advice about ICAB. She did tell us that RSCC's have very poor medical care and are not known to be good places. Oh, and the boys also have lice, which she said is totally unacceptable. When the children are matched, the orphanages are suppose to make sure they do not have lice, because it reflects badly on the country. So this afternoon the boys are going to the barber to have their heads shaved. That's just so much simpler than trying to treat it, especially with all the travel coming up.
We have been so blessed with so many wonderful, helpful, Christian people here. We never would have had this support at a hotel. God is so good, and has been watching over us this whole time. Thank you all for your prayers.

Saturday Morning

2009-09-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Luigi could eat non-stop if you let him. He just eats and eats and eats. He will eat all the food on his plate and take whatever he can off others' plates. If you want to eat, you better eat quick around him or your food is gone. The effects of institutionalization are much more evident with him than with Allan, I suppose because Allan was just a baby when he entered the orphanage and hasn't been as aware of the situation. Some of the things Luigi does now are kind of cute, but they are things we will have to watch and make sure they dont continue. The constant eating, hoarding things, wandering off without concern to where we are, are all very common among orphans. And I dont think their orphanage is quite as good as some of the other ones here.
We noticed while we were there that there was no where in their cabin for an adult to sleep, so I think they were left alone at night. So if they were to wake up during the night for whatever reason, there was no one there to comfort them.
Aaron and I both woke up at 12:30 last night, and couldnt get back to sleep. Luigi was also having trouble sleeping. I suppose because its such a different environment. And our hotel room just has a full size bed and a twin bed. So the boys didnt have much room.
Allan still has a fever this morning. I dont know really whether to treat the fever or allow it to help fight the infection. We will have to get some tylenol for him though for the way home. We noticed that one of the airports we went through was screening for fevers and would pull you aside if they detected one.
Our hotel here is decorated for Christmas for some reason, and they play Christmas music in the restaurant. Mom, they even have a hip swinging Santa, just like yours.
Luigi seems to really like Emily. He has seen a lot of pictures of her of course, and this morning he got to see her on Skype. He seemed really happy to see her and kept saying hi Emily, though he was so quiet I doubt she heard him most of the time.
Allan is super quiet and shy, but he loves to cuddle and be carried. We still cant really communicate with him. I know some tagalog phrases, but I think their dialect is a little different so I might not be saying them right. We do say "hindi" alot to him (no) and he understands that.
At the orphanage they showed us the room with special needs children. I think since this is the dept of social welfare they might have more than a regular orphanage since they have to remove children from abusive situations. They had 30 some children with special needs. One baby they showed us had some mental and physical problems, though I cant be sure what they were for sure. They said it was because his mom tried to abort him. Abortion is illegal here, but she tried to take a bunch of pills and was unsuccessful. So now that poor little child has to live with these handicaps the rest of his life.
The nursery had several babies in cribs, some were crying. But there was no one to hold them. They just stay in their cribs all day.
It breaks my heart to think of what my boys went through in their short lives already. Oh, and I asked Luigi about Christmas. He said he's never gotten a Christmas present. We will have to change that this year.
Better go back to get ready to go to Manila. I think we planned for too many days here. We are now wondering what to do and are very anxious to get home. But we cant leave until Wednesday. This may be my last posting if we cant get internet at the guesthouses.

2009-09-11T02:06:00.000-07:00

It rains all the time here. But its always a real light rain so its not a big deal. The humidity is crazy though. Still it doesnt feel that hot, just wet and sticky.
I want to try to write as much as I can now so I dont forget it. Also, we are going back to Manila tomorrow and we cant get online at the guesthouses, so it may be a while until we can write again.
We went to the mall again today, just for something to do. They have a carousel in there that the boys got to ride. Allan was so excited that he was jumping up and down when he got off. That kid never stops smiling. We are slowly learning more and more about them. For one, they are very curious, and that causes them to try to wander off alot, so we have to hold their hands all the time. There are just so, so many people here that it would easy to lose them. Luigi loves to be helpful, and is always putting things away for us. I wonder if he thinks the hotel is his new home. (oh, and on a side note, our hotel here in San Fernando is really nice. It reminds us of the resort we stayed at for our honeymoon in Mexico) He LOVES video games. Whenever he sees ones in the stores, he is drawn to it and its really hard to pull him away. That might be a problem, since we are not wanting our kids to ever have them, since they aren't good for kids. We'll see. And he's really into anime stuff. Having younger kids, I know nothing about this sort of thing. We went to a toy store and told the boys they could each pick out one toy. I dont even know what Luigi got. Something really strange.
They are also very into possessions. They've never had anything that's actually theirs before. We took them from the orphanage with nothing but the clothes on their backs. We had sent them a couple toys a few months ago and we asked about those, and the workers said "oh, the bigger kids took those". So now they are really into "stuff". I think we may have a problem with them hoarding things.
We went to a super market at the mall, which was really fun to see all the different things they have here. So many different fruits I've never seen before. The meat department smelled like spoiled meat. We let Luigi pick out all the snacks for us, since he knows what he likes.
Oh, and they dont have toilet paper in the mall bathrooms, just in case you ever have to use one. I think Aaron said he saw some in a vending machine, you could buy by the piece.
When we got to our hotel the first time after getting the boys, I started to organize their clothes in the suitcase and Luigi right away wanted to change his clothes, so he could have new clothes on. He REALLY likes this idea of having his own things.
I know it sounds like my thoughts are just random, but I want to get everything down as I remember it so I dont forget.
We ate at McDonals for supper. The boys had fried chicken and rice. They always serve that with gravy, which the boys really love.
It's going to be difficult getting to know Allan, since we cant talk to him. He never answers when we call his name, but we are now thinking maybe it's because we are accenting the wrong syllable. When Luigi talks to him he stresses the 2nd syllable. So we will try that and see if it works. So far, we've been asking other people to ask him what he wants, but soon we wont be able to do that.
We got Luigi's report card from the orphanage. One side has grades for academics, and the other side has grades for things like honesty, kindness, love of God, patriotism, and a lot of other things.
There are a lot of second hand lumber stores, and a whole lot of home depot and other home imoprovement stores. I would say this is the most prevelent type of store in Pampanga. Which is strange cuz the buildings here are all in terrible shape.
And sales tax is 12%. What does the government spend their money on that they need that much? They have no government programs for low income people, and the roads are in terrible shape. Where does all that money go?
I need to get back to the boys. I dont know if I will be able to blog again before we leave, but I will try. Please keep praying for us.

The wait is finally OVER!

2009-09-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

We went to the orphanage this morning to meet our boys. When we got there, they were surprised to see us! They were told we would come later in the day, and with our ICAB social worker. Why don't they communicate these things to us?! How are we to know! But they were still very happy to see us and didnt mind at all that we were there. So they called ICAB right away and were told that the visas have been taken care of, and we are to go to ICAB Tuesday at 10 am. They also told us that we can take the boys with us today, after just a short tour. We were told that RSCC likes to drag it out a couple of days. So this was a pleasant surprise. They took us around the place a little, then to the boys cabin. They had told the boys yesterday that we were coming today and they were very excited. So we got to the cabin and there were alot of people there. I had expected a very emotional meeting. But all of a sudden, I look down and there's Luigi next to me. Then a couple minutes later I saw a little boy hanging around and I had to ask if that was Allan. It's so hard sometimes to recognize someone with just a few photos. They are super sweet boys. Luigi loves to help out. He likes to put things away for us and carry our luggage around. And Allan has the most beautiful smile ever, and he smiles ALOT! Luigi does not speak as much english as we had hoped, and Allan doesnt know any. So this will be a challenge. But they are very affectionate. Sometimes they call me their word for aunt (I forget exactly what it is), but then they will correct themselves and call me mommy.

We were told that Luigi used to go to the Psychologist and ask her all the time, "Do I have a family yet?". So she said he is very very happy to finally have a family of his own.

Right after we left their cabin and were walking to the main hall, Allan reached up to take my hand. How sweet! These boys are just terrific. they are very curious too. Always looking around, opening our bags and looking through our stuff. Which is okay of course cuz it's their stuff too now. They served us lunch, just the four of us as a family, which was nice. They served spaghetti, which is totally different. It had chicken and pineapple and was sweet. Even the garlic bread was sweet. They said the boys will eat anything. There is nothing they wont eat. So that should be good, as long as its true.

we were only there for about 2 hours and then came back to the hotel, where we will stay until tomorrow before heading back to Manila. We had to get a bigger room to accomadate all four of us.

Allan has an abssess on his back, an area that's just swollen, I guess caused by a bacterial infection. He is on antibiotics for a while, and we have to take him to the doctor in Manila on Monday to have it rechecked. I hope it gets better. i dont know anything about these things.

Allan fell asleep on the drive home, and then when we got to the hotel I carried him in with him resting his head on my shoulders. he is just so precious!

We turned the tv on and I asked if they wanted to watch cartoons. Luigi said "cartoon network". So I found disney first and he said "no, cartoon network" So we did find that for them. It's funny how much they know about our culture. They also like power rangers, star wars, and disney cars. Luigi likes that there is a car with his name. When I left the room, Luigi was reading a cars story book to Aaron and was doing a great job.

I could go on and on but I want to get back to them, so I will leave you with some pictures.

More thoughts

2009-09-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to blog about some of the people we've met and I have a few more minutes until our driver comes. On the plane ride over from Minneapolis to Tokyo, there was a couple sitting in front of us who was on their way to Korea to pick up their adopted boy. It was exciting to be able to meet someone in the same position as us. They are getting a 9 month old boy and only just finished their home study in January, so the Korean program must be really fast. But it sounds like its a lot more expensive.
And then yesterday morning when we were at the guest houses, I was walking by the dinner hall and saw a couple with a little filipino girl with them, so I decided to go talk to them. It turned out to be Lynne from New Zealand! She's on our yahoo group. I never expected to actually run into someone from our group while we were over here since everyone I knew had already gone before us. And then to just run into her unexpectedly. They are such a beautiful little family. And for all you on the group, Lynne is such a sweet woman.
One a lighter note, Aaron was just now looking through our new tagalog dictionary, and found out they have a word for pigeon pee. When would you ever have to use that word?!
So anyway....
A word about our driver. We had hired Ramon to drive us around, since he came so highly recommended. But at the last minute, his MIL got sick and is in the hospital, so he is unavailable, which is totally understandable. But we got a friend of his instead, who is very, very shy, and doesn't talk much at all, even to other filipino's. When he does talk he's very quiet, so it's hard to communicate with him. And we aren't learning anything about the area from him. He's very expensive. I had heard before that Ramon charges by the hour, but we are paying by the type of trip. For instance, a ride from the airport is $30, or 1500 pesos. I think a taxi would be about 400 pesos. And I think that every day he comes to Pampanga to drive us around is 5000 pesos. We knew ahead of time that this would be a big expense, so we're just dealing with it, and it's hard to know how to get around here when you're not used to it. I think though that once we get back to Manila we might just use taxis more. We used a taxi to get to the mall yesterday, and he was actually a much better driver than our hired one. More patient. People here have no patience. I thought I was bad, but people here have no time to wait for anyone. They are always in a hurry. I can't wait to get back to simpler life in Freeman.

Shopping

2009-09-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went shopping at SM city in San fernando. It's really no different than an American Mall in appearance. I had wanted to buy some children's novels in tagalog for Luigi, and was surprised to see that there are very few books in that language. Everything is in English here. All the signs and everything. They still speak it to each other, but I was unable to find anything in tagalog for him. Aaron had also wanted to buy a pair of shoes here since we thought they would be cheaper. We keep hearing how everything is so cheap in the Philippines. But the stuff at that mall was all the same prices as American prices. We did get a couple of barongs for the boys though, and they were only $20, which seems reasonable. I'm hoping we'll be able to find some cheaper shopping somewhere else.
I think when we get back to Manila, we may end up staying at the guest houses again after all. They aren't near as comfortable as a regular hotel, but it's so much cheaper, and we really need to be watching our spending right now. And they have reasonable laundry service. We checked into it here and it's about $1 per item, and we only packed enough for 4 days, so we really need to have some laundry done. I even tried to wash some stuff in the sink last night, but it's so humid here that they never dry.
We will be heading over to the orphanage in about an hour to finally meet our boys! We are so very excited. Hopefully we will hear today that the visas are at ICAB, so we will be able to take them with us tomorrow. Please pray for that. I realize that most of you may not read this until today is over, but I think God can work retroactively.
We better get off to breakfast. Hope it's something normal. The food here can be a bit strange.
Oh and one more thing I wanted to write about. The people here are really not aware of personal space. When the waiter comes to your table, he leans over you until you tell him what you want, no giving you time to look at the menu. And when you go shopping, they wont leave you alone. You cant just casually look at something, they want to be right there finding it for you and pressuring you to buy it. And this wasn't out in the market, this was in a department store similar to JC Penney. I think I would be more likely to buy their stuff if they weren't all up in my face. They are very friendly, but sometimes I want to be left alone.

We're here!

2009-09-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

After a very, very, very long trip over here, we finally made it. The flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, which was 12 hours long, was actually not near as bad as I had anticipated. Yeah it was long, but we had an extra seat next to us, so we were able to spread out more so it didn't feel so cramped. And they kept feeding us! We got two full meals and a pretty large snack. So that made it seem to go by quicker. There were also movies playing, but I usually tried to sleep instead. The next flight though from Tokyo to Manila really sucked. By then we were just so tired and ready to be done, but we had to sit on the plane another 5 hours. And the turbulance was really bad. That didnt help at all for someone who's already terrified of flying. Poor Aaron's hand got squeezed so much.
We got back to guest houses at about 1 am, totally exhausted. But I wasn't able to sleep well, with all the stress and the beds were awful. I don't know if we'll be staying there again during this trip or not.
We came to San Fernando this morning and are now at our hotel. It's so much nicer! And really not much more expensive. We will go to the orphanage tomorrow to meet the boys. We can't take them with us until ICAB has the visas in hand (the embassy is still not releasing them). But we hope to have them with us this weekend. The social worker at ICAB asked how long we are staying and when I told her we leave on the 16th, she said good, that should give us plenty of time. So we are optimistic.
Now we need to go find something to eat and maybe do some shopping before taking a nap.
Oh yeah, traffic is crazy here! Way too many cars on the road. And I dont know why they bother painting lines on the roads. No one pays attention to lanes. And people just walk around in traffic as though there is no danger of getting hit.
I wish I could type more about the details now, but I'm so tired that my mind is not working right. Maybe more later.

We're finally going!

2009-09-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we booked tickets today, leaving on Tuesday. We don't have the invite yet from ICAB, but really hoping that comes soon. Either way, we're leaving. The tickets are nonrefundable, so I guess we don't really have much choice now. It's not like ICAB has a whole lot to do to be ready for us. And we won't meet with them until the 15th, so that gives them plenty of time to get things in order.
It was really hard to find tickets for the dates we wanted. Northwest was all booked for the returning trip, and the other airlines had us leaving as such ungodly times. But we have a travel agent in Colorado that was able to book us two one way tickets with the right dates, and for cheaper than a round trip ticket. Unfortunately, we dont have seat assignments, and there are no more seats left that are together, so we are hoping that once we get to the airport they can work something out for us.
Please keep us in your prayers. I am super nervous about travelling, and we still dont have the invite yet.

We got visas!

2009-09-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

I called the state department this morning and was told that the visas have been issued. Horray!!!!!!!! Now we just need permission from ICAB to travel. Our agency is going to call them tonight to ask if we can leave. If they say yes, we plan to leave next Tuesday. Emily's birthday party is on Monday and we can't exactly tell her we're going to skip out. I'm busy calling around to find the best airline prices. The fares with Northwest went up $100 per ticket since the last time we book a couple weeks ago. They say it's the taxes, but I don't know why taxes would go up every day. Anyway, I can't say that I even care much right now. I'm just too excited about getting my boys! When I told Emily about the visas being issued she started dancing around and shouting with excitement. She is so eager to have her two brothers home. I can't believe it's actually happening!

How to call the American Embassy in Manila

2009-08-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

Since most of the people who read this blog are other PAP's, I thought I would jot down instructions for how to navigate their phone system, since it is a doosie.
Dial 011-632-301-2000
The recording will often start before you are connected. You will hear "If you know the extension of the party you wish to reach, press 7" IMMEDIATLY press 7. If you aren't quick enough you lost your chance and will be rerouted. There are two extentions, either 5184 or 5185. I have had better luck with the former. Either one of them could give you a message saying it is an invalid extention, just keep trying. Once you enter it you will hear ringing. If you are lucky you will get the person you need to speak with. Most of the time you will hear a"recording that says, "The person on that extention is on the phone" and you will be disconnected. There is no hold system at the embassy. You just have to keep trying again and again until you get the person. Also, if they cannot understand you they will usually just hang up, instead of asking you to repeat yourself, so make sure you are in a quiet room with no kids around.
It is best to call between 6:30 and 7:00 pm Central Time. This is when they are first open and not as busy. And you really should only call them on this number if you have a cheap international calling plan. We have a voip phone and only pay 18 cents a minute to Manila. Otherwise we could never afford so many phone calls to them.
Hope this helps someone.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-08-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to keep busy lately to keep my mind off the waiting. Last week I painted our dining room, and now I'm painting the living room. It's a great distraction, but our house is always a mess now. Hopefully this will be my last project.

Postage costs are killing me!

2009-08-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

We have spent so much on postage these past few months. Whether it's overnighting something to the agency or shipping things to Manila. And yesterday we spend another $28.50 to resend our co-sponsors Affidavit of Support to the American Embassy in Manila. This document has already been sitting in Manila for the past week and a half, just waiting for someone to take it over to the embassy. But we figured we can't wait on them to do that because it may never get done. So we sent another copy straight to the embassy ourselves. Hopefully it will get there in time for them to review it and issue the visas this week. I'm so tired of this waiting, especially since most people's visas get issued the very next day after the visa interview. I really feel like they're just picking on us over there.

And we wait some more

2009-08-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Everything's on hold right now. We had thought that the visa's would be issued by the end of this week or at least early next week. But it turns out that ICAB never forwarded on the documents we sent them to the embassy, so the embassy hasn't been able to do anything this week. Our agency emailed them today over to the embassy so they should be able to get something done next week. Either way, there's no way we could leave now. ICAB told our agency that if we did go now before the visas are issued that we could visit the boys in the orphanage, but we couldn't take them with us, even to the hotel.
Right now we are planning on leaving next Saturday, but of course that could change again. Now that we've missed Luigi's birthday, I don't feel like it's so urgent. But it still drives me crazy having to change everything. And we had the house all clean and ready to go. Now we're just in limbo.

Gonna get my boys!

2009-08-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

We are officially leaving this Friday. We are still waiting to hear if their visas have been issued, but the agency thinks that even if they aren't by Friday, they will for sure by the time we are ready to come back home. We really didn't want to wait until next week to travel since we would then miss Luigi's birthday. So by this time next week we will be with our boys. Can't wait!

Here we go again...

2009-08-11T05:44:00.001-07:00

I called our agency yesterday to find out how the visa appointments went for the boys. I was told that ICAB had emailed them on Friday and told them that the boys had their visa interview, which is good because that means they passed their medicals. But the embassy won't issue their visas until we get a co-sponsor for our I-864's, since we don't make enough money according to the national poverty guidelines. We knew this was an issue when we submitted those forms, but we were able to use our assets to make up the difference. USCIS was okay with this and approved us for immigration, so this shouldn't be a problem now. And they've had our documents for so long now, they should have mentioned something long ago, instead of waiting until the very end.
So I rushed down to Scotland yesterday to have my parents fill out an I-864 to be our co-sponsors, then overnighted it to our agency. The director is flying to Manila on Thursday, so she will take it with her when she goes. The earliest it could get to the embassy is next Monday. We're still hoping to be able to leave next Friday, but this is really going to be pushing it. We are praying so hard that the embassy will issue visas as soon as they get this form, and not just sit on it for a while. I want my boys so very badly. I just want to be able to finally hold them in my arms. As I was getting ready to publish this post I read the beginning line of another blog I follow from a couple who is in the Philippines right now getting their little guy. The first line said, "Finally he is in our arms" and I just couldn't help crying. I can't stand the waiting any longer.

Medical Exam Time

2009-08-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight in Manila our little boys will be having their Visa Medicals at St. Lukes Hospital in Manila. I am so excited to be at this point! From what I've heard of other people's experiences, our agency probably won't call to find out if they've passed until next week sometime. That's really going to be hard to wait that long. Other agencies will call the very next day, but not ours. At least it doesn't really matter, since we're not planning on leaving right away. It would still be good to know.
Aaron said yesterday that we are not going to have a restful weekend until we leave. There is so much cleaning to do before they get here. Their room is basically ready, but I want this house throughouly cleaned. I haven't even started cooking meals to freeze yet. This time is going to go by very quickly.

Bus ride

2009-07-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

Isaac absolutely loves Grandpa's bus shop. They went on a little bus ride this weekend with cousin Micah.

We got tickets!

2009-07-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

Since we know that the boys have their visa appointments the first week of August, we decided to book tickets for August 21-29. Our agency asked ICAB if that would be okay and they said it should be just fine to book them for the third week in August, and since we're going at the end of that week, it should give them plenty of time to finish things up. Of course, things seem to go wrong quite a bit over there, but hopefully this time everything will go smoothly.
So we'll be in Manila for Luigi's birthday. And that might be alright. At least it will be something familiar, and we can take him to Jollibees and do other things he might enjoy over there.
It won't be long now. I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet my boys.

Almost Time!

2009-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

I just called the embassy in Manila and was told that the boys have their visa interviews on August 7th. A bit later than I had hoped, but at least we're getting closer to the end. Now it looks like we will definetly be traveling in August. That is, as long as the boys dont get sick for their medical appointment. We're almost done! Yippee!!

More paperwork

2009-07-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

We've been waiting for ICAB to make the visa appointments for our boys, but we found out today that they are requiring another copy of the I-864 sent to them before they do that. This isn't something they actually need, since it's already been sent to the right place. But we still need to do what they say. So I don't know how long it will take for it to get to Manila, but that just makes the wait even longer.

My New Job

2009-06-28T14:02:00.001-07:00

I've started babysitting an adorable 6 month old boy and it is definetly the best job I've ever had. His mom is a friend of mine and she is having to do a lot to get her new house ready, so this is just temporary to help her out so she doesn't have to worry about him while she's painting and such. It has been such a blessing though. I know I don't want to have any more babies, but I absolutely love having him hear for just a little while to get my baby fix. I especially love bottle feedings. What could be more precious than holding a little one and having them look up into your eyes that whole time. And it's really helping me with the wait for the boys. It's been so hard not being able to bring them home yet, but at least I have this little guy to take my mind off it once in a while. Maybe when the kids are older, I'll have to do this more often.

Any day now!

2009-06-24T11:54:00.001-07:00

I called the embassy in Manila last night and they confirmed that the boys' visa applications have been received. YEAH! So hopefully soon ICAB will be able to make the medical appointments. It looks very likely that we could be going in JULY!

NVC Approval

2009-06-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

We got the NVC approval for Allan today. We are hoping that Luigi's will come on Monday. NVC will now forward that on to the embassy in Manila, who will then schedule the boys' appointments. We're almost there!

One step closer!

2009-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

We got our I-800 approval this Monday. Now, we expect to get NVC approval next week. Hopefully things will proceed normally from their. They just started sending the approvals over to the embassy electronically, and it is evidentally not working very well. Some people's information is getting lost in the system and are just on hold until things get straightened out. So please pray that we will be able to move through the system smoothly and get to the next step.

Here's What's Left

2009-05-28T11:47:00.001-07:00

So, people are always asking us how much longer until we can get the boys. So here is a list of the things that have to be done before we get word to travel. I could be forgetting about something, but I hope this is all there is.

Waiting for I-800 approval from USCIS (2-4 weeks approx.)
NVC approval
Embassey in Manila to receive visa approvals
Visa Medicals scheduled
Medicals approved
Call to travel (usually 4-6 weeks after I-800 approval

Many would think this is still a long time to wait. But really it isn't. Our whole adoption journey will only take about a year, where most people have to wait 2-3 years. And as much as I am dying to hold my sons in my arms, there are still things that need to be done here to prepare for them. As long as we have them before Luigi's birthday (Aug. 27) I will be a happy momma.

We got the Placement Authority!

2009-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

I was so hoping that sometime this week the Placement Authority would come and it did today! Yeah!! One more step out of the way. I haven't seen it yet. It's at the agency. But I think it's just the legal paperwork stating that we are officially adopting the boys. We were waiting for that so we can send off the I-800 to immigration. After that's approved, we do something with Visas and then the boys can have their Visa Medicals and interviews scheduled, then we wait for the call. We're getting closer!

Spaghetti Fundraiser

2009-05-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at our church for the adoption. We did it right after church, so most of the church members came. It was a tremendous amount of work preparing all that food, but we feel it was very successful. It feels so good to be done with that. It feels like one more thing we can cross of our to-do list before we can bring home the boys. I think most of the paperwork that has yet to be done is all on being done by the agencies and goverment. So all we really need to do is buy clothes for the boys and then just sit back and wait.

Chicken A La Carte

2009-05-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/%201081/Chicken-a-la-Carte
This video is definetly worth watching.

Name Update

2009-04-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

I just found out that our oldest son, Vince Luigi, prefers to be called by his middle name. So we'll have to get used to calling him Luigi from now on. We've thought about just sticking to Vince, but if he's used the other name, it wouldn't be fair to expect him to make even more changes. And we may even decide to shorten it to Lou later on. Really, I don't care what his name is. He's going to be my son and I'll love him no matter what.

Meet the Boys!

2009-04-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

We just got the referral for the boys we've been wanting. We are so very excited, as we have been praying and praying that we could have them. Our agency said that we may be able to travel this summer to pick them up. That would be so amazing. I just can't wait to have them home with us. So let me introduce them to you.
Vince is 9 years old.
His birthday is August 27
He is in 3rd grade
He speaks English and Tagalog
He loves doughnuts, ice cream and spaghetti
He doesn't like vegetables

Allan is 4 years old
His birthday is October 24
He is not attending school yet
May not speak English yet
He loves cartoons
He's very affectionate

We are certainly looking forward to learning more about them in the upcoming months. This will be a very exciting and busy time.

I-800a Approval

2009-04-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

I know for most of you this means nothing. But it's a huge step for us. We got the letter yesterday from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services) that we are approved to adopt 2 orphans from the Philippines. This is also something ICAB requires before they approve us, so we're pretty excited to have gotten it already. Usually it takes about 90 days for them to process your application, but it only took 58 days for ours.

ICAB Has Our Dossier!

2009-03-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting somewhere. We got word today that ICAB received our dossier. So now we wait for them to review it and approve us. This usually takes about a month, but it could go faster since we're looking at waiting kids. Hopefully our next post will have some good news.

Prayer Requests

2009-03-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

This is a very stressful month for us so I just wanted to post a few prayer requests and ask that you please remember us in your prayers.
*That our dossier would make it to the Philippines in time. It has to be there by then end of March if we wan't to be matched up with these boys. The only obstacle is the homestudy. It has to be updated since it wasn't done correctly the first time, and our social worker is saying that she won't have it done until the 16th, which is really cutting it close.
*That ICAB will match us up with the boys. They have been turning down other couples who want sibling groups because of their income and other things, so that has a bit worried. But they're the ones that asked us to consider them, so pray that they won't change their minds.
*That we would come up with the money in time. If we are officially matched, we will have to pay ICAB $6-8,000. Sometimes they waive the processing fee of $3,000 if you choose a child off the special home finding list, which we did. So please pray that they will do this.
*And lastly, our entire family is very sick right now. We've been battling a severe cold for about a week and can barely get off the couch.
Thanks so much to all of you who have supported us in this journey. It means the world to us.

Our Dossier is Sent!

2009-03-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you all how releived I am to have that part of the process behind us. We've had paperwork scattered all over the table for months and today we were able to finish up the last required part of the paperwork and mail it off to our agency to review. We were finally sent the dossier packet last week, and they were amazed that we were able to get it put together so quickly. But we've been working on it since December and were now just waiting for a questionnaire to fill out. Now Crossroads will review it and then send it on to ICAB in the Philippines. If all goes well we should be approved within a month of them receiving it, and then hopefully matched with our boys. Once that happens we basically just sit back and wait to travel. There are a few things that need to be sent in to immigration, but the bulk of the work is behind us. I can't wait to be officially matched so we can start shopping for them.

Because They're Boys

2009-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

We've been unofficially matched with a couple of boys in the Philippines. It will be official once we get our dossier sent over and approved. That wait is going to drive me crazy. The boys are 9 and 4. They have a very sad story and have been in the orphanage for four years now. They have been up for adoption for 2 years. People keep asking me why they have not been adopted yet. It's because they're boys. People just don't want boys in the Philippines. If there was a girl in the group they would have been snatched up right away. But for some reason, no one seems to want a couple of boys. Their age doesn't help either. Everyone wants little ones. It's so sad that these dear children have been waiting and waiting for a mom and dad for so long. I can't wait for the day when they can finally be told their wait is over.

Whoo Hoo!!!

2009-01-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how excited I am today! This morning when I got our mail, there was our completed homestudy! I know it's just one of the many hurdles along the way, but it feels so good to finally be done with that. We started the homestudy in September, so this was a very long process.

As soon as I got home today, I finished up our I800-a application to be sent to US immigration. And I got 3 grant applications ready to go. The one for Shaohannah's hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's grant) requires alot of follow up documentation to be sent in, so we are still working on getting that all together.

Our next step will be getting our dossier packet from our agency. Once we get that compiled and sent over to the Philippines, we wait to be ICAB approved, and then go on the waiting list. I really hope we can get that all done in the next couple of months.

2009-01-22T18:28:00.001-08:00

So our homestudy was completed by our social worker about 5 weeks ago. Right now we are just waiting for our agency to get it approved and sent back so we can get on with this adoption. I'm not sure why it's taking so long, but it's hard not to get impatient. As soon as we get the homestudy in our hands, we are going to send off our application to USCIS. That's the US immigration office. And then we can finally get our dossier sent over to the Philippines. I so can't wait for that.

We also got an email this week from ICAB saying that they will send their waiting child list to our agency so we can see if there is a sibling group on there that we want. We are very anxious to see that. If we could find a group of kids that way then we wouldn't have to wait for a referral and it would really speed up the process. It would be so terrific to know who our future kids are soon.

Benefit Concert

2009-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

We had a benefit concert last night to help raise money for our adoption. We had a couple somewhat local Christian bands come to town to play. It was an amazing concert and we raised alot of money to put towards adoption expenses.
We have so many wonderful friends and family members that did so much to help with this event and we were just blown away by the generosity of people in our community.
We are really hoping to be able to submit our I800-a next week, if our agency can get our homestudy sent to us by then. The cost of that is $830 so this money we raised will go towards that instead of having to put it on the credit card. That feels good to finally be able to pay for something without credit. Then we will just sit back and wait for USCIS to approve us.

Money Saving Ideas

2008-12-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm going to post some of the things that we are doing to try to save money right now since we have so many adoption expenses. If anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them.
We put clothes lines up in the basement so we don't have to use the clothes dryer anymore.
We wash all our dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher.
Turned off the cable tv and read more instead.
We are using more ground turkey instead of ground beef.
For chicken, I usually buy the leg quarters since they only cost 50 cents a pound.
I usually tear our tissues in half before using them.
No more snack foods (maybe I'll finally lose weight too).
We try to never drive the minivan since it has worse gas mileage. If it's nice enough out I walk uptown instead of driving.
I make alot of soups from dry beans.
Every other week or so we drink Tang instead of orange juice.
Don't use the ac in the summer.
Grow alot of our own food and can it.
Buy some things, like peanut butter in bulk.
Get movies at the library instead of renting them.
When we travel, we pack a lunch instead of eating out.

Ok so those are just a few things we are doing. I would love to hear from others.

Letting Go

2008-12-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is a very hard day for me. We got word from the orphanage that the kids we've had our heart set on will probably go to another family. We are not able to adopt the oldest because of his age and the new laws. But this other family who has expressed an interest in these kids has already been grandfathered in under the old laws so that's where they'll most likely be placed. I am happy for the children since now they will all be together. And this is what's best for them. But we got so attached to them and love them so dearly that's it's really going to be hard to let them go and erase them from our lives. My heart is really breaking today. I know that God has another group of kids in mind for us and they will fit into our family perfectly. But I could really use your prayers now as we are adjusting to this news.

2008-12-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Home Visit

2008-12-03T18:47:00.001-08:00

We had our home visit with the social worker Monday. What a relief to be done with that. I think most people are always so worried about that visit. I really thought she was going to scrutinize every room in our house and look through all the cupboards to make sure there weren't any hazardous chemicals in reach of the kids. But all she really did was take a quick tour of the house and talk to Emily a little about how she feels about having more siblings. I am so glad it's done with though. Now I dont have to constantly worry about how our house looks. And this means our home study could be done any day now. Yeah!

Another Option

2008-11-30T16:39:00.001-08:00

I've been doing alot of research online this past week to try and figure out a way to keep all four kids together. It seems like a student visa might be our best bet for the oldest child. He could come over with that and finish high school here and then go on to college. Eventually he would be here long enough to become a citizen. Even though he would not be legally our son, that wouldn't change our relationship with him. He would still be part of our family, just not on paper. This route would be a lot trickier since it's not a sure thing like adoption, and it would cost a lot more, especially since he would have to go to a private high school and we would have to pay tuition. But we are willing to do whatever it takes to keep this family together. I also dont know if you can get a student visa if you are an orphan. This is all very new territory to me.

So many disappointments

2008-11-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

We try so hard to have faith that God will cause everything to work out according to his will. But lately, it's been really hard when we keep running into more road blocks one after the other. We only have 6 months to get these kids home before the oldest turns 18. Even if we can get our dossier sent over by then end of the year, which isn't likely, there's still so many things to wait on. Six months is just not enough time!

Then today I was hit pretty hard. Our case worker from the adoption agency told me that she talked to someone about "our" kids and was told that now according to new Hague regulations (I really hate Hague), no child over the age of 16 can be adopted at all, even if they have younger siblings. I know the orphanage is not aware of this as they are still trying to find someone to adopt several sibling groups with a 16 year old in it. I am praying that she is wrong or that there is a way to get around that. She did say that because this is all so new, maybe they won't enforce it yet.

We love all these kids so much and I can't imagine splitting them up. I also can't imagine not having the oldest one as part of our family. Please pray that this will all work out. But also please pray for our faith. We really need to trust God in all this and lean on him.

Second Office Visit Complete

2008-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

We had our last office visit with our social worker on Tuesday. Now we just have to wait for the home visit on Demember 1. Hopefully our home study will be done by the middle of December. Then we can really get the ball rolling. At that point we can start applying for grants and adoption loans, submit our I-800a to immigration and send our dossier over to the Philippines. The dossier is a huge stack of paperwork that tells the ICAB (intercountry adoption board) everything about us. It will take a long time to get that all put together, so I've asked our agency if we can start working on that now so that it's ready to go when the home study is complete. I'm still waiting to hear back on that.
We are hoping to be matched soon after we are ICAB approved since we are asking for a sibling group. Once that happens the wait will be so much easier to endure. I'm so anxious to get started on their bedrooms and buying clothes for them, but I need to wait until we know for sure.

Halloween

2008-11-06T11:48:00.001-08:00

As you can see, Emily was snow white for Halloween this year. We only went about 4 blocks before she said she had enough candy and wanted to go home.

Homestudy

2008-10-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

We had our first visit with the social worker in her office two days ago. I will admit I was very nervous about it. I mean, this woman can decide whether we are allowed to adopt or not, and how many and what age. It's very important that she like us. But it turned out to be completely painless. She just asked us a lot of questions about our past (where we worked, lived and went to school). Nothing very personal so far. We really like her, she's very easy to talk to. I was also worried about how she would view us not vaccinating our kids and that wasn't a problem at all. In fact, she seemed very interested in what we have learned about them.

We will go back again this next Tuesday for a phsychiatris evaluation. All it is is a test we have to fill out to see what our personalities are and how we view each other. I'm very releaved to find out that we dont actually have to go to a phsychiatrist and pay even more money.

Our final office visit will be November 11th and then we just have to do the home visit. Yeah! It will be so great to be done with the homestudy so we can get going with the rest of the process, especially applying for grants. Since the waiting time from ICAB approval to a referral is 18-24 months, we are anxious to begin waiting.

Siblings

2008-10-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I have spent most every free moment this past week praying. We both felt God nudging us towards adopting more than one child. We had planned to adopt just one toddler right now, and then later when the kids are older we were going to adopt a sibling group. But we felt that God was telling us not to wait. At first we were very reluctant to consider it. It wasn't even about providing for them once they were home with us. Or having a house full of kids. We would love that! But it was more about the up front cost, and finding room for them in our house. The more we prayed about it the more answers we found. Yes it will cost more, but not as much as we had originally thought it would be add two more to the mix. And money is not going to govern our lives. I don't care if we are never well off. I want to do what is right and live my life for God. Our pastor preached from Luke 12 this week and it was such an affirmation to what we had already decided. It says in verse 33, "Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no theif approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." That chapter is also where is says not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear, because God will provide for us. And we really truly believe that is true. And if this is God's will, the He will make it happen and provide what we need.

And we have figured out a way to make room for more kids in our house. We have a lot of room in the basement to build more rooms later on, and for now the kids can just double up in the rooms.

So we are hoping to adopt a sibling group of 3 and we are very excited about it! We will continue to pray that God's will be done and ask Him to guide us through the entire process.

Please pray

2008-10-15T07:35:00.001-07:00

Aaron and I have a really big decision to make right now. It's not an easy one, but we feel God is pushing us towards something pretty big and we want to do His will. So we are praying. All the time. We dont want to discuss it right now until we have more answers so I wont say what it is right now. But we really need your prayer as we try to understand what it is that God wants us to do.

Medical Exams

2008-10-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

So this week each of us had our medical exams for the home study. It feels so good to have that done with because it's one step closer to accomplishing something. Unfortunately we all had to have a TB test. Most of you know that we are opposed to vaccinations and the TB test is just as dangerous since it contains phenol which is highly toxic. But I dont think there's any way around it so we did it. I think we're going to be facing some very difficult decisions like there along the way so we would really appreciate your prayer.

There is still so much paperwork to be done. We are always receiving more forms to fill out, and Aaron still needs to get his passport now that he has extra copies of his birth certificate. I'm just amazed at how much there is to do. We always heard about the mountains of paperwork with adoption. But I think it would be easier if they gave us that mountain right away so we could be done with it instead of having new things come up every week.

We also found out that as soon as our home study is done we will owe the agency $2500. We can't apply for grants until after the home study is complete so we may have to delay the process a bit while we wait for grant money to come in. So the timeline of 2 years may be even longer. That could be okay though. We would really like to adopt a slightly older child but dont want him/her to be older than Emily. So if it takes longer then we could be open to more age ranges. It will all happen in God's timing.

Waiting Child

2008-09-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

We are a bit discouraged today. We were really hoping to be able to choose a child from the waiting child list that most countries have. They are usually children with some sort of disability or an older child or sibling group. The process is much faster if you go that way plus we really wanted to choose a child that would not be adopted right away otherwise.
But we were told by our agency today that such a thing is not possible through them, that we will just have to say something in our home study about being willing to accept a child with some disability and wait for a regular referral.
And maybe we would not have chosen a waiting child, but it would have been nice to at least have that option.
It is getting so hard to wait, and we are just getting started. I look at the pictures of the kids at the orphanage and I so long to bring one of them home. Most likely our child is just being born about now since it will be so long until we are referred. The children are all so precious and I know that any one of them would be a blessing to our family.
So for now we sit and wait for the next step. I think we're just waiting for the references and background checks to come in. Fun Fun.

2008-09-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

I made Emily a butterfly cake for her birthday. It wasnt a masterpiece by any stretch but she really liked it.

Emily's Birthday

2008-09-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

We took Emily and her friend Kate to Wacky Bear Factory to make their own stuffed animals. Emily chose a penguin and Kate chose a pink dinosaur.

Starting the Journey

2008-08-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well most of you probably know that Aaron and I have decided to adopt a child from the Philippines. We have always known that at some point in our lives we would like to adopt an orphan but always thought it would be quite some time down the road. But lately there have been so many things that have been pointing us to this and we started to really talk about it and decided that if we were to do this it would be better for this kids to be closer in age. The neat thing is that on the day we actually made the decision for sure Focus on the Family rebroadcasted a show they had done several years ago with Steven Curtis Chapman about the importance of adopting orphans. We had no idea they were going to do this until after we decided so it was really a great confirmation that were are doing the right thing.

So now we have been doing tons of research to prepare ourselves. It took a lot to decide which country was right for us, there were so very many things to consider. And once we decided on the Philippines we had to choose an agency. We are going with Crossroads Adoption Services. They do alot of adoptions in the Philippines and the people who have gone with them in the past have nothing but good to say about them.

We are not interested in adopting an infant. We are looking at hopefully getting a 2 or 3 year old. They probably wont speak English when we first bring him/her home. The language there is Cebuano. That will be a challenge but I think at that age they learn real fast.

The Philippines require that our youngest child be 2 years old so we cant do much until March. Besides, we dont have the money for our home study yet so we need some time to get things together.

Right now I am busy researching grant information. We cant apply to any until we have our homestudy done but I want to be ready. The total cost for this will probably be around $18,000, which actually isnt bad for an international adopting. But needless to say we will need all the help we can get. If any of you have any suggestions for fundraisers we could do please send them our way.

I'm being told that if we request the child be from a christian orphanage that we will most like be getting him or her from the Children's Shelter of Cebu. If you are interested, here's their website http://www.cscshelter.org/

So we are pretty excited now. Aaron and I were looking at pictures of the kids from the orphanage last night and they are just beautiful! It's going to be hard to be patient through this long process. We covet your prayers so much right now. I will try to keep this up to date but being my first blog I'm not sure how I'll do.