One Less

Love this!! Wouldn't you like to help a child be ONE LESS? You'll be forever thankful that you did!

Happy Birthday Gavin

Two years ago, our Gavin made the trip of a lifetime, from his native village of Bench Maji, to an orphanage, and then our agency's transition home. At the same time, we were on our Quest for Gavin, not knowing who he was, or how old he was. We are so PROUD to call him our son! This "little dude" brings such joy to our home. He said this morning, "Mom, I just can't seem to take my smile off."

Gavin's birthday cake was another creation from his siblings, this time with fondant soccer players (Gavin and Layne) and an entire soccer scheme- I love how creative my kids are and that I can just say, "Go for it." and it gets done.

The gifts for Gavin were very personal as well. Janika purchased a dog trick book, for them to teach the dogs together. Kael chose a mitt, so the two of them can play catch together and Gabe chose a General Grevis character from Star Wars. I keep expecting to hear one of the boys scream from the basement as someone puts it in someone else's bed at night, but they've been so worn out with the improved weather that it's been pretty quiet at bedtime. Mom and Dad gave him a lego Star Wars kit and guess what, his best buddy from Ethiopia got the same gift from his family!!! They had a lot to talk about today on the phone.

We have learned a lot this week too about different parenting techniques to use with children from hard places. We are so thankful to be surrounded by wise counsel and prayer warriors here, whom I can call and say, "Please pray for my child." After meeting with a seasoned teacher, here in town, we came away with "zip our lips." This concept is really hard for me, especially, as I want to talk with the child about the behaviors and the steps to overcome certain things. What the kids really need is for me to zip my lips and move on, then delay the consequence, so the outcome is not always predictable. When we are all calm, the child can have a good little talk about the said behaviors. These ideas are not rocket science, but sometimes, it takes an outside source to see the whole picture. Thank you, my prayer warriors. We know God answers prayers and it is so fun to see little hearts healing and peace in our home.

God’s Gift to Me

God’s Gift to Me (a guest post by my dad) | Whipple Words

THIS IS A WOW GOD READ!!! I couldn't not link this blog post. If it doesn't work to click on the link above, scroll down to my blog list and click on Whipple Words. Thanks, Janet and family for sharing this story!!

Prayers needed for Ethiopia

I've been on several blogs this weekend that talk about the Ethiopian government reducing adoptions by 90%. My first reaction was WHAT?!!! I'm still kind of in that frame of mind, but know too that this is a call to action. It is a call for Christians to help with ORPHAN CARE, even if adoptions cease (which I PRAY is never the case). Orphan care can look so very different for different people: It might mean taking a missions trip to carry shoes to orphaned children. It could mean sponsoring a child (or 20) so they get the nourishment and schooling they need. Orphan care could be investing in water projects to provide clean water to communities, thus allowing children to not lose parents to water borne diseases that could have been prevented. We could invest in mosquito netting and good malarial drugs (this may have prevented 4 of my children from becoming orphaned).

The truth is, we can all do something and we MUST. I wish everyone could see what we've seen and know what we know, but that's why our family continues to write this blog and tell others- WE MUST ADVOCATE for the orphan.

Is Ethiopia the only country with this problem- no! If you speak Spanish and love kids- there are plenty of Spanish speaking orphans who need people to come to them, serve them and love on them.

Finally, we understand that in adoptions, coruption exists. I personally believe that corruption would be less rampant if more people would really examine their hearts and seek God's will for their adoptions. Would less corruption exist if more older kids were adopted? Would putting an emphasis on the older orphan limit the number of infants placed into the system who could have been parented by their parent of birth? Most of the older children that we know have been waiting for a long time, sometimes years. Sure, there is a little extra baggage, but most of these children are truly orphans, in desperate need for a home.

Time away..

Our much anticipated Costco rebate coupon showed up in the mail on Thursday. To some, this might not seem like a big deal, but when you use your AMEX to purchase all of those plane tickets (9 total) and purchase your new business purchases with (and paid off each month), the rebate coupon adds up to alot!! Unfortunately, now that we live in ND, the nearest Costco is 5 hours away.

Friday afternoon, Mike and I hopped in his truck(pulling a trailer) and hit the road for Billings for a very rare night away. We had a great young lady stay with our kids here. We felt a bit like young marrieds, without kids in tow and LOVED our time together, time to enjoy each other, pray together and laugh together. Everything went super smooth until about 8:00 Friday night. Mike and I had just gotten back to the hotel after presaling Costco and got a call from Elli describing her littlest sister throwing up in her hands. Little L threw up not once, but 3 times~~~ this is NOT a common occurrance, since she had a NIssen when she was a baby and can't really throw up unless it's pretty violent~~ My Mommy's heart hurt, knowing that she was sick at home but was relieved to know that Elli, the other kids, and our helper knew how to help her. She probably couldn't have been in better hands. ~~ HUGE plus to homeschooling, all of the kids really know each other and know how to pitch in when someone else needs the help!!!


Saturday started with another phone call telling us she was feeling a bit better and she actually talked to me on the phone, which was reassuring...Then, it was off to Costco. Mike and I are used to lots of stares when we go out in public, but that's because of our large family size, not because we have two overflowing shopping carts between us- Mike's was actually the big flat bed kind...I had to laugh as we got into the check-out line and I saw all of the papertowels, napkins, toilet paper and SALSA in the carts. I'm sure the check-out guy was wishing we had gone through another line..the best part was we got a bunch back after we were finished!! BONUS!!

Little L was much better by the time we got home and all of the kids were thrilled we were home, especially little L and our little one who has struggled these past few weeks. Mike and I were both pretty well rested and refreshed and ready to dive back in. I was reminded how much I LOVE this man and our time together. THANK YOU MJ for staying with our kids and remaining calm when my sweet baby was sick. THANK YOU big kids for all of our your help and your great attitudes about Mommy and Daddy taking a date. Even though we had a great time, we were definitely happy to be home with EVERYONE. We LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!

Bench Maji

Yesterday, we received the greatest gift for our son, Gavin. Back in late 2010, one of the Dads to one of his friends traveled to Ethiopia to try and find the village our children are from. It was a tough trip and when it looked hopeless, God led him directly to Bench Maji, the most remote village out of 3500 villages in the southern region of Ethiopia. He was able to spend time with Gavin's family, taking videos and pictures...



Last night, as a family, we watched the videos and viewed the pictures together- WOW, what a beautiful place he is from, lush green grash, banana trees everywhere, grass and mud huts and beautiful people. We had a video of Gavin's uncle explaining his early years and how he came to be put up for adoption. The love that he has for our son was evident in his face when he talked about him and saw pictures of him. We have video of the inside of the home he spent the first few years of his life in!! I think the highlight for us all was when the Ethiopian pastor, who acted as a translator said, "Bench is the most remote village here and now we have 5 children from our village in America. " They are thrilled for their children and hope for great things from them. We hope to be able to make the same trip someday soon. We are so very thankful ~what an amazing gift for our son to have for the rest of his life.







I won't share Gavin's story, but thought everyone might want to take a peek at some of the area of Bench Maji...




This is Gavin's house

These beautiful people are his grandparents

the rocking chair

I'm going to be really careful here to share some strategies that seem to be helping one of our adopted children, without compromising that child's identity and/or privacy. So many things go unspoken on adoption blogs, especially the truth when a family or child is struggling. I know the reason behind this- adoptive parents don't want to discourage others from adopting. We all know what a blessing it is, and we've seen the thousands of children waiting for homes. However, the truth is these beautiful, wonderful, children come from the hardest of hard places and many will struggle when they come home. They have lived through the worst experiences one could imagine (our kids's stories would amaze you) and they need the love of a family to deal with these things. Our road has been VERY easy compared to a lot of families, (for that we are forever thankful to God) but there are still a few bumps in the road.

Our wonderful social worker suggested something this weekend that I had read on another family's blog, using the rocking chair as a place for attachment. WOW is all I can say- two nights of rocking in the rocking chair, singing songs that would have been sung to any infant in my house, and we seem to have a new child in our home. I was even told, "Thank you Mom, that is nice when you sing to me," as this child went to bed. Adoptive families, please don't dismiss the articles that talk about taking the child back a few years and work on bonding as you would if that child had been an infant in your home. Holding and rocking any child does wonders for your own heart too.

Thank you for all of you who pray for our family. We know without a doubt, that this is why our kids are doing so well- they have an army of prayer warriors faithfully lifting them and us up. We also know that is why our kids who were here before are doing so well with all of the transition they've had. Rolling with the punches has become a way of life for them and they are rolling like champions. I can't wait to see how God uses these experiences in their lives!

Finally, we have the best social worker, who is available any time we have questions and always has suggestions for us to help us grow into the family that we all desire. She is such an encouragement along the way and helps us to encourage other families to adopt (which isn't hard, because we would love to see all good capable Christian families adopt and more children find forever families). Thank you, Lisa, if you're reading this- you make our jobs as parents, much, much easier.