Joshua's Joy

I've been so consumed with packing for vacation- not sure if I shared the Parker's story on this blog or on our adoption blog- but you may recall little Joshua who is gravely ill and now on hospice, counting down the days until Jesus calls him up to heaven.  Money was being raised to help his father take the time off work to spend with Joshua since Dad works 60 hour days to make ends meet and had missed a lot of time due to many hospital stays with the kids.

The good news is that enough money was collected so Dad can stay home for 6 weeks with Joshua. <3 The heartbreaking news is we don't know if Joshua has 6 weeks left.  His family is throwing him a 5 1/2 year birthday party since he most likely won't make it to his 6th.  You can read all about this event HERE and how you can help him celebrate.  I encourage you to at least send a card if you are unable to purchase something from his wish list- let his family know there is a huge community out here to embrace them during this most difficult time.  I can't begin to imagine the grief and anguish they are going through right now and I pray that I never will.  Precious Joshua, you have touched more hearts than you will ever know.... I pray for peace and comfort to you during your last days here on earth- that you aren't in much pain and you know how loved you truly are.  God bless you, sweet angel.

Cutest. Video. EVER!! Down syndrome is BEAUTIFUL!!

My dear friend Patti made this most wonderful video- please check it out!! :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Favorite Thing #8 - Stack & Roll Cups

Evan received these as an Easter present from MomMom and PopPop and we LOVE them!!

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Stack & Roll Cups

Stacking is one of those things that therapists are looking for- and it's not a strength of Evan's.  He has the concept and tries his best, but his balance and control isn't quite there yet.  If we're trying to stack small cubes he gets frustrated easily since he isn't very successful.  These cups increase his success rate tremendously, and hold his interest since there are several ways to play with them.

While stacking cup side down- as seen above with the numbers 2, 6, and 8- the cups easily stay in place and don't have to be perfectly lined up- there are ridges along the outsides to keep the cups from sliding off each other.  The ridges also allow cups to be stacked out of order.  And as you see with the purple cups- you can snap two cups together and make a ball out of them.  Super cute and super fun!  This is one toy we are definitely taking with us on vacation as it packs easily and has many functions to keep Evan occupied. :)

Quick post- prayers needed!!

I'm posting this super fast as I'm heading to bed.... there is a family who is in desperate need of support.  You can find the short story on my adoption blog or read their complete story on their own adoption blog.  They need prayers and lots of them... and they need financial support.  The word has been spreading across the adoption network- please share their story on FB, Twitter, or your most preferred social media.  I can only hope our friends and family would do the same for us if we were faced with these horrible circumstances.  Please donate if you are able, but most of all please hold them close in prayer.  Thank you <3

Splish Splash!

This summer we've been battling some extreme temps, so what better way to fight back than to go swimming!  We've been enjoying some time at the pool we belong to at the gym, but this morning we were able to enjoy time at my cousin's house in her ever-so-refreshing salt water pool.

I hadn't been able to snap any pics as I always have Evan in tow, but since there are no rules against baby floats and other inflatables here as opposed to the gym pool, I had high hopes of snapping a bunch of great pics of Evan in the water.  Well, those hopes quickly went down the drain! LOL

All Evan wanted to do was lean forward and get his face in the water... and then much to his dismay he was not able to breathe like a fish!

The toy distraction only lasted but a few minutes.

Quick kids, come stand next to Evan so I can get a picture of the three of you together!

Oops, no, Justin, you can't lean on Evan's float!  Evan's face went totally underwater the second after this pic was taken and he wanted NOTHING more to do with the pool!

This was about as happy has he got after the dip, and it went downhill fast after that.  Mommy and Evan got out of the pool and had lots of snuggles and a few Cheerios to settle down.  We sat and watched Kaylin and Justin jump off the diving board.

Kaylin was a bit nervous about jumping off the diving board without her life jacket which we left at home, so she grabbed everything she could get her hands on!  She does know how to swim. ;)

Justin worked his way down off the life jacket and did well with just the water wings- he is not able to swim independently  quite yet.

Kaylin got the courage to jump without holding anything!

We made friends with a little butterfly who took a liking to us... it kept flitting around and landing close by.

MUCH happier now!!

It really was the perfect day for the pool... temps today are actually down in the low 80's with much lower humidity... the pool here is heated and around 80 degrees as well... it took a lot of effort to tear ourselves away, but we were already late for Evan's lunch and nap.  We're hoping our schedules will coordinate again soon so we can try out another float for Evan which I left at home- maybe we'll have better success with that one. ;)

Kaylin's singing debut! :)

Both Kaylin and Justin attended two weeks of summer camp through the public schools here- 8:00-10:15 AM for 9 days (since Monday was a holiday), and with the hassles of strapping Evan in the car twice each morning to drop them off and pick them up... I was greatly rewarded today!!

Kaylin's camp was a musical theater camp which she took last year also, but this year she had the courage to audition for a solo!  She was hesitant at first but decided to go for it, and ran out jumping and screaming on the second day when she found out she got the part she wanted!! YAY!!!

So today was the last day of camp- the day of her final performance.  These kids had less than 9 days to learn 7 songs for this show- everything memorized.  They did such a FABULOUS job!!  The songs were SO cute.  The name of the show was, "I Need a Vacation" and told the story of kids finishing school and excited about summertime vacations and activities.... The song in which Kaylin sings her solo is about going to summer camp, only not being pleased with what their parents' signed them up for!  Kaylin is the first of three soloists- her song is about being sent to computer camp- how appropriate since her daddy is a computer geek! ;)  Make sure you listen out for her at the very end of the song- she totally nails one of the last notes and it's just phenominal!  Ok, so I'm a bit biased.... but I thought she stole the show. :)

*REMINDER* Make sure you pause the music player at the bottom of the blog so you can hear Kaylin in all her glory. ;)

Old-Fashioned July 4th Celebration

On July 4th I took the big kids to our local farm museum for their "Old-Fashioned July 4th Celebration"- the kids had a blast!  Since they are finishing up their last days of summer camp, they would be waking early the next morning and I didn't want them out late for fireworks.  So instead, we celebrated in the afternoon.

Upon entering through the gate we met this man with his cute little monkey, Jengo.

We agreed he should have been dressed as Uncle Sam ;)

Jengo would take a quarter from you, "slap" you five (she barely touched your hand LOL) and if you agreed, she'd give you a kiss on your nose.

 

Jengo giving "five" to Justin- he was a little hesitant about all this monkey stuff

Kaylin holding perfectly STILL as directed ;)

Neither of my kids would let the monkey give them a kiss! hee hee

Off to have their faces painted....

We walked through a few of the buildings on site, taking a self-guided tour, and then took a wagon ride around the property pulled by mules.

After visiting the other farm animals and partaking of some lemonade and funnel cake, we came home to prepare for a few little evening activities.  My apologies for not getting many pics- I only had my phone with me.

We still let the kids stay up until dark (usually they are in bed at 8:30) and they went outside to play with glow sticks and glow chalk- the glow chalk was a bit of a bust, but Kaylin enjoyed mixing it up and making the molds nonetheless.  They happily played with their chalk and glow sticks while enjoying some fireworks set off in the neighborhood.  Evan napped through the afternoon activities and was in bed by 8:00 to miss the evening activities as well- perhaps he'll see some action next Independence Day. ;)  Happy Birthday, America!  We love you!!

P.S.- hope you didn't miss our Big Announcement!

Our BIG Announcement!!

Dear friends and family,

Go grab a Coke or a cup of coffee and sit down.  We have some good news we want to share with you!  Are you sitting?  Good.

We are in the process of adopting a little girl!  She is in Eastern Europe; she will turn five years old later this year, and she has Down syndrome.  It hasn't been confirmed yet, but sources believe she has Mosaic Down syndrome, which means not all her cells have the extra chromosome.  This can sometimes translate into a slightly higher IQ and “higher functioning” than others with standard Trisomy 21 (update: she has standard T21 :) ).  You can find her page on Reece's Rainbow HERE.  I will share more information as I am able to do so, but there are a lot of strict confidentiality rules regarding international adoption and we don't want to risk jeopardizing our adoption.

Where did this come from?  Why are you adopting when you already have three kids?

I found the website www.reecesrainbow.org from an online Down syndrome parenting group.  While my initial intent was not to adopt, though Mike and I did discuss adoption and fostering before we had our biological children, I had the desire to donate where I could and help advocate for these children to find families.  I thought maybe... just maybe... IF I could get Mike on board with me (and that was a big “if”), we could adopt a few years down the road when Evan is in school full-time and my mom is retired.

The majority of children born with disabilities in Eastern Europe are given up at the hospital, and aren't accepted in society.  They are sent to orphanages (the one in these photos appears to be a very nice facility thankfully, but again, I don't know if P is still here or not).  Between the ages of 4 and 6, children with disabilities are transferred from the baby house to an adult mental institution.  I look at Evan, and can't imagine him being taken from me and forced to live in these circumstances.  And then I look at P.  She certainly doesn't deserve this fate either.

I first found her photo on Reece's Rainbow almost a year ago, and seeing how beautiful she is as well as being listed as “high functioning” with no health issues posted, I knew there would be many families interested in bringing her home.  Many months passed, and then in April I saw a friend post P's picture on Facebook, asking “Are you her mommy?”.  I had to inquire.

I contacted Reece's Rainbow and was told there were already a few families who had inquired so I was relieved she should have a family.  But another month passed, and she still hadn't been moved to the “My family found me” section of the website.  May 27th, I noticed there were suddenly new requirements listed on her page.  Requirements I just knew the other families who had shown interest wouldn't be able to meet.  Requirements that we DID meet.  

I had shown P's photo to Mike back in April before I inquired the first time, and he hesitantly said to go ahead and ask.  Now this time, I asked him again, more seriously.  There was no hesitation this time at all.  He was on board 100%.  I sent another e-mail to Reece's Rainbow.  I received a prompt response:

Oh, Amy wow!! Amazing timing! We just found out two days ago that all the families who submitted preliminary applications were rejected by the judge in her region and these new strict requirements were put in place.  I intended to go through my emails this weekend and contact all the families who inquired about her whom I told she had a family to see if there was any slim chance any of them would meet those requirements.  To be honest, we haven't been optimistic that there would be a qualified family for her. Wow!  

What are these strict requirements which disqualified many others? 

*must live in Maryland (since this is where the adoption agency is located- no judge has ever required this before)

*must already have a child with Down syndrome

*must make a certain amount of money

*must not have more than 4 children at home already

Once I saw these requirements, I just knew we had to do this.  Mike has been extremely supportive and is just as excited about all this as I am.  The kids were through the roof when we told them they were getting a little sister!!  We hope you all will be supportive of us as well.  We certainly are not trying to be saints- we have fallen in love with this precious little girl and know she deserves the love of a family.  She deserves bedtime stories at night as well as a full belly.  She deserves an education and opportunity.  She deserves a life.  Yes, there will be challenges.  Yes, they will be worth it.  SHE is worth it.

Our biggest stressor right now is the travel time required, though my mom has graciously offered whatever time we need of her to help with the other kids.

Right now we ask for your thoughts and prayers as we begin this exciting new journey.  We believe God definitely had his hand in bringing us to P.  If you care to make a monetary donation to her adoption grant you can do so through Paypal HERE.

Please keep posted to my adoption blog:

http://www.gracefulbutterflywings.blogspot.com/ 

I will continue to update the progress of the adoption.  We may be able to make our first trip to her orphanage as soon as September or October!  We are so hopeful, but if for some reason P doesn't make it into our home, there are many others who need a family and we will try again. 

Love to all, 

Amy & Mike