Merry Christmas 2011!

.

Thankful

Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by God's goodness to us. We have so much to thank Him for everyday. This week was a real blessing. Thursday we got to meet up with Susanna and Joe Musser at the airport as they started their journey to bring Katie home. I found myself teary meeting Susanna in person. We have prayed for months for Katie and her precious family, and it was so special to finally meet. They are already in Katie's country, and Adam is leaving soon to meet up with them!

Yesterday we received a call from a local special needs grant organization. They are purchasing a stroller for Irina. Wow! This will be so helpful as she has outgrown her stroller, and our insurance would not cover the one designed for an older special needs child. I was so sure they were calling to tell us that they were unable to grant our request, that I was silent for several seconds before I could get out "thank you"!

If you are following the Musser's blog, you probably know they are having Thanksgiving at our home. We are so excited to meet their entire family (and hope they aren't traumatized by our loud and wild crew!). Life has been so busy I haven't had much time to get to the specific planning, although a dear friend volunteered to help prepare the dinner. Today I got an email from a lovely person who had emailed me a few months ago, as she saw our family on the Reece's Rainbow site and realized we live minutes away. She and several friends from her church have been following the Musser's blog, and saw we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner. They volunteered to bake and bring all the desserts! I cried when I read the email. I just love the way God weaves our stories together, and cares about the most intimate details in our lives.I am so thankful.

I wish I could.....

Dear Orphan,
I saw your picture today and heard about your plight. Your face is so beautiful and sad, and it tugs at my heart.



I hear you don't get enough to eat, and that there isn't always medicine if you get sick. You sleep in a room with many children, but you still feel alone.



You have never had anyone wish you a "Happy Birthday", give you a gift, or even sing you a lullaby goodnight.  No one has ever told you about Jesus or that He loves you.



I wish we could adopt you, but....

It is such a long way to travel, it would cost so much money, and it involves so much paperwork.
Our home isn't very big, and we already have children. Adding another child to our family would mean they would have to share a bedroom as well as our love and attention.
What if you have health issues or special needs that are not yet diagnosed?
You might have a hard time adjusting to a family after never knowing one, or have "issues" from years of neglect, malnutrition, mistreatment, or abuse.

I'm sorry, it just feels like too much of a risk and sacrifice.  Adoption doesn't really feel like our "calling".  Maybe there is another family....



(I originally posted this last year, but decided to repost as November is orphan awareness month. My heart breaks over and over for the estimated 162 million orphans worldwide. Please prayerfully consider how God is asking YOU to respond!)

It's the best I could do...

It was no easy task getting a picture of the 5 youngest kids in their costumes! I'm just happy we got everyone in it, even if they aren't all looking in the direction of the camera!

Samuel is six!

Sam had his birthday last week! He is a big six year old now. He has celebrated several siblings' birthdays since his homecoming, and he fully embraced his special day. It was all things Buzz and Woody for this guy. He really liked being the birthday boy.

In other exciting news, Sam also started school last week. I attended with him initially, but he quickly adapted to the routine. He was also very excited to ride the school bus. Every afternoon when he is finished his lunch, he tells me "Come on! Come on! It's coming! The bus! It's coming!". He is charming everyone who works with him.

Sam's casts will be coming off in 2 weeks, and then he will get his new braces. The best part about that is SHOES! This little boy desperately wants to wear shoes, and I can't wait to get him his first real pair!

Sam is such a blessing. I was overcome with emotion on his birthday, thinking how different all our lives are this year! He had no idea last year we were even coming back to bring him home. So thankful for the privilege of being his mom.

Our Mighty God!

The mission is fully funded! Thank you, Lord! Thank you to everyone who contributed and spread the word. We were so moved to watch that ChipIn climb higher and higher. Wow! God is so good! Oh how He loves these precious ones.

Psalm 72:12-14
He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him.

Please continue to PRAY earnestly for sweet Katerina! Pray for her family, pray for my husband, and pray for the medical team that is prepping to care for her soon. We are so blessed to share a part in this amazing journey.

Won't you join us for this mission?

For several months now, we have been following the adoption journey of this amazing family HERE. We have been so moved by their precious daughter Katerina, and by their steadfast faith and testimony through their adoption process. This precious treasure has lived for 9 1/2 years not only without the love of a family, but truly the most basic of needs. She weighs a mere 11 pounds. 11 pounds! That is the size of a newborn. She will be admitted to the intensive care unit of Children's Hopital of Philadelphia immediately upon her arrival in the US.

What could we do? My husband is an ICU nurse. He is an adoptive Dad of 10 children. He has traveled to Eastern Europe. The answer was obvious! We would offer his expertise to this family to assist in transporting this princess home. I have goosebumps at God's fingerprints all over this situation. I am awed by His amazing tapestry as He interweaves lives together. We are so blessed to play even the smallest part in this little one's story of redemption.

We estimate Adam's travel expenses (airfare, food, lodging) will be around $1500. We can not burden this family to fundraise for this expense. God is always so faithful! He has provided the funds for us to adopt 6 children internationally over the last 6 years, so we know this
is merely pocket change in His economy. If you feel led, please use the ChipIn box above.

Vandals

There is apparently a problem with vandalism in our neighborhood. Who would do something like this?

Irina never heard a thing and had no idea who the culprit might be.

Here comes Hurricane Irene!

Yikes! We thought life was exciting enough living with a hurricane named IRINA! Now this! Busy battening down the hatches and sneaking in my technology fill before the power goes out! Keep us in prayer as we get set to weather the storm. A hurricane, no power, and 10 kids stuck in the house together at the end of the summer. Oh boy! Should be interesting!

They were coloring so nicely....

I should have known better!

>

>

Praise God!

My heart rejoices today! Sweet Liliana's ransom has been raised AND she has a paper-ready family! Please join me in praying she is home quickly. Please also pray for the MANY like her, in desperate need of being rescued.

Sometimes I wish I didn't know...

BUT I do know, and that makes me accountable.....
(the original post with picture has been edited)


Proverbs 24:11-12
New International Version (NIV)

11 Rescue those being led away to death;
   hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
   does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
   Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Sam's Krazy Kar!

Isn't this cool? After seeing Sam love the hand crank ride at Knoebels, I was determined to find him some type of adaptive bike. We found this very cool and relatively inexpensive ($69.99 on Amazon) compared to "real" specialty bikes (thousands of dollars!). He wants to do whatever the other kids are doing and he is determined to learn a way. I love his persistence and that he doesn't become frustrated or quit. He is such a great role model. He is going to achieve great things!

A picture of the Boroughs Bunch-all of us!

We had a lot of fun on the 4th of July, meeting up with some visiting friends at a local water ice/ ice cream place. My friend took this family picture of us. Irina was not happy. It is very fitting, because it really captures our girl this summer. We are headed back to the developmental pediatrician next week to see how we can help little miss grumpy.

Fun day!

We took the 4 youngest boys to Knoebels amusement park for the day on our way to pick up their sister from camp. We had a blast! Babushka (mom-mom) went with us. Sam desperately wanted to try the hand crank train ride. He loved it. He just goes for it with every new experience! We can't wait to go back. We got to meet up with our good friends the Torres family. We met 2 years ago when adopting in Ukraine, so it was a lot of fun to finally meet up stateside!

New Sandbox

Irina got a new sandbox for her birthday and it is a big hit with all the kids!

>

Pictures and prayer!

Please pray for families currently in process to adopt from Ukraine. As we shared during our process, Ukraine has been moving toward changes in their adoption process, and we feared closure for many months. A law finally passed and as a result, all adoptions will be temporarily suspended on July 11th. Please pray earnestly for those families in country right now, that God will move mountains and get their court dates prior to closure. Pray that the suspension will not last long so that families can get their children HOME! I cry when I think about the fact that we were literally weeks from being caught in this situation. My heart aches for those families.

Happy (belated) birthday, Blair!

It was quite a celebration time last week as Blair's birthday was a day after Irina's. Blair is 8! I cannot believe it! We love this little goofballs and can't imagine life without him!

Happy (belated) Birthday, Irina!

Oh my, I might never catch up! Last week was Irina's birthday! My sweet baby girl is 6! How is that possible? We had a follow up last week with the developmental pediatrician. She had not seen Irina in a year and when she walked into the exam room she said "this is not the same little girl!". She was so impressed by how much Irina has grown and progressed. We are so proud of her!

Sam!

I know this is long overdue! Sam will mark 2 weeks home tomorrow. He is doing fantastic! So many firsts and new experiences, and he takes them all in stride. There are lots of things to like in America: baked ziti, pizza, oranges, mommy's whole wheat chocolate cookies, the dog (he was terrified of him initially, but now constantly calls "Pedro"), the pool, siblings (sometimes;), toys, swings, and so much more!

Hopefully I will do better at sharing now that I figured out how to email pictures directly to the blog!

24 more hours...

Till my wonderful hubby and beautiful son are HOME! Oh, I can barely stand the wait! I will be so excited to share pictures of Sam with his sisters and brothers. Please pray for safe travels....

Gotcha, Sam!

Daddy has sprung him from the orphanage-forever! Thank you, Lord! I got to video skype with them today! Sam recognized me and immediately got out our family photo album and pointed to my picture saying "Mama-Papa"! I'm pretty sure he thinks both Adam and I are called "mama-papa" like it is one word! You should see him maneuvering around the apartment in his wheelchair. It is amazing, especially since he's only had a couple hours to try it out!

Please pray the passport arrives tomorrow so that homecoming is Friday! It did not come early as we had hoped, but now I will be thrilled just to get them home for the weekend!

Tomorrow is a big day!

Please pray for Sam's passport to be ready, and for availability on the Wednesday flight. We are so anxious to be home together as a family!

Daddy and sam!

I'm not going to lie. I am JEALOUS! My husband got to visit briefly with Sam today. I am so happy for both of them, but sad for me. Poor Sam seemed shocked to see him, and it took a few minutes for him to warm up. This picture made me sad, because Sam is so serious in it. I cannot wait to get my arms wrapped around this precious little guy again! Things are clipping along, got the court decree and new birth certificate. The passport office is on the agenda for tomorrow. Praying things move quickly! I want them HOME!

A blip in time

I cannot believe that last week at this time we were headed home! Only a week, and yet it feels longer. Two weeks from today (God willing-if we hit no glitches) Sam will be making that same trip home with his Daddy. Two weeks, but it feels like forever. In the scheme of things, it's a blip in time. For nearly two years we prayed for Sam, for many months we paper-chased, we lived in his country for almost a month, and now just two more weeks. Why does each day closer become more unbearable to wait? I have done this before. I know in the end it is all worth it- all the waiting, the struggle, the pain of the process. Yet, it never gets easier. It is never okay in a mom's heart to be away from her child, especially on another continent, across an ocean, when she can't even know that he understands she has not left him forever. Yes, it's just a blip in time, but I can't wait for this blip to end....and for the next part of the journey to begin!

There's No Place Like Home!

I kept thinking of Dorothy and her ruby slippers all day Friday as we made the long journey home. I was really wishing for a pair of those magic shoes to get home quick. Ahhhh. Home! It is a joy to be home. Saturday morning we jumped right back into daily life and all of us headed out to the little guys' baseball game and it's been non-stop since. Anybody who knows me, knows I am a homebody(I cried as soon as we landed back in the good ole' USA). I love my role as a mom and chief operating officer of our household. After being away for so long, I have a renewed appreciation for getting to be with those I love, to sleep in my (heavenly!)bed, and drink gallons of tap water (in case you are wondering, I'm totally over wanting to do laundry,cook, or clean!).

However, I am not content. My heart is missing a little boy, MY little boy across the ocean who is waiting to come home. Home is not complete without his presence. As I was tickling and hugging Irina today, my heart ached to hear his adorable laugh when we would give him tickles and kisses (he is super ticklish). I can't wait to squeeze my little guy in my arms and not have to let go. I can't wait to hear his little voice saying "mama" again.

The plan originally was that I would return for the second trip to bring Sam home. During the first trip, Adam and I decided it would be best for him to go back. I am honestly jealous that he will get to do "gotcha day" and be loving on Sam while I am at home waiting, but I also can't imagine leaving the kids at home again after being away for so long. It is really not much longer, but while I wait all I can do is pray earnestly and comfort my aching heart with the thought that VERY soon we will be together as a family ALL of us under the same roof, on the same continent!

We have another son!

Praise the Lord! We had court today, and the Judge granted our petition to adopt Samuel! We are headed home tomorrow for the 10 day wait. I cannot wait to squeeze my kids at home. I cannot even describe how much I have missed them all. At the same time, it is really hard to leave Sam here. The orphanage allowed us to leave our family photo album with him, and to reassure him that we will be back. Please pray for him. No matter what, it will be hard for him to understand where we are and why we aren't visiting everyday. Not much longer and he will be home, but we will be counting down the days....

3 Weeks and Counting....

Well our glitch does not seem to want to work itself out. Each day we are told that hopefully "tomorrow" is the day, but we have hit week 3 and are still waiting to resolve this issue so we can go to court. Prayers would be appreciated! We are missing our kids at home terribly, and we are so anxious to make Sam officially ours and get this boy home! I will try to post some pictures tonight of Mr. Cutie-Patootie! He is such a sweetheart, and the highlight of our day are our visits with him....

Uh Oh, another glitch...

Well, court did not happen yesterday. It was a hard day. I woke up homesick, weary, and sad. I miss my kids at home desperately, I miss my bed, I am even missing doing my kids' laundry and cooking and cleaning my home (Yikes! I must really be homesick!). We were originally scheduled to fly home Sunday, but that obviously will not be happening. We had hoped and planned on court Monday, but we have another paperwork issue that needs to be resolved before that can happen. Please pray with us that the document is corrected, no more glitches, and for successful court either Monday or Tuesday!

In the meantime, the highlight of our day is always our visit with Sam! He is just so sweet and loveable. We got him a bubble gun, which he really seemed to enjoy..

Update!

Okay, so I get the "worst-blogger-of-the-year" award. Sorry. We lost internet for several days, then we hit a glitch in the process, and I was just too weary to post. Our glitch was resolved (thank you, Lord!) and we are now waiting to hear about court (hoping and praying for this Friday....). In the midst of the "process" we are having a blast getting to know Sam! He is just so stinkin' cute and sweet! He has mastered the nerf gun we got him, as well as having a lot of fun blowing bubbles. We have been so blessed to get to spend time with two other adoptive families, as well as meet two other families briefly who were headed home. Alright, well I know you just want to see some pictures anyway, so here you go...

"S" is for smart!

We had another great visit with Sam today! He was really excited to see us, and seemed surprised we were back. We looked through his family photo album and said his siblings' names while looking at each picture. He always gets excited when he gets to the picture of Adam and I, pointing enthusiastically and saying "mama!" and "papa!".






Sammy is Mr. Smartypants! Watch the short video clip of him using the iPad and repeating words in English!

Our Beautiful Boy!

Be still my heart! We have visited with Sammy twice. He is delightful and we are so blessed. They had told him we were coming yesterday, so when we walked around the corner he was anxiously looking for us and called out "mama!" when he saw me. Yep, won my heart immediately!

I'm going to keep it short so we can skype the kiddos at home, but here are a couple pics from our first day:

We're here!

I know I have been a bad blogger! We don't have Internet in our apartment, so this will be quick! We got Sam's referral today, and we will see him tomorrow! I can't wait! Pray we get Internet so I can post pictures!

8 more days...

And we will be on our way!

We have a date!

We also finally have internet back(I would have shared sooner, but we switched providers after unreliable service). We are so excited. We will be in Sam's country by the end of this month! There is so much to do. Why is it months of wait, wait, wait, and all of a sudden you are sprinting to the finish line? Please pray for all the final details as well as some specific political situations in Sam's country that have direct influence on the adoption process.

In the meantime, life continues as normal and I have catch up with some pics of birthday boys and baseball players! Maybe tomorrow.

The iPad Winner is....

Congratulations, DeAngelis Family!

Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped spread the word about the giveaway! I wish I had a prize for all of you. Really, I prayed for each of you as I wrote your names on the raffle tickets. I hope that you will feel blessed to have participated in bringing our precious son home!

The winner of the Visa gift card does not wish to be named. This stubborn-I mean gracious person would like me to keep the gift card to do another giveaway and raise more funds. Still deciding what to do, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, we are still WAITING to hear word of a travel date. We are hopeful it will be by the end of this week.

Oh, and special thanks to my goofball Blair who drew the raffle ticket winners and then had to do silly poses while I tried to take the picture!

Sock Monkey says...

ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT ON THE IPAD GIVEAWAY! PLEASE HELP BRING SAM HOME!

To donate, click here.

You're right, sock monkey didn't really say that. What he did say was "Please come home soon, Sam! I want to play with you!". Look how lonely Sock Monkey looks:( He and Mommy really want Sam HOME....still waiting (not so patiently) for news of our travel date. Keep praying, and keep spreading the word about the giveaway. We can't tell you how much we appreciate everyone who has donated and spread the word!

Hurry! One week left! Apple iPad 2 Giveaway!

UPDATE: Just one week left till the giveaway ends! Don't miss out and please keep spreading the word! If you are local and plan on attending our Chick-fil-A fundraiser night on Tuesday, April 5th, you WILL be able to participate in the giveaway that night, but the ChipIn will end on April 3rd! Thank you to everyone who has contributed and helped spread the word!

We received wonderful news today that our dossier was submitted in Samuel's country! We are just weeks away from traveling, and we are in need of funds to make that possible!

Here is your chance to help us by making a tax deductible donation, and getting a chance to be the winner of the brand new Apple iPad 2! Here's how to enter the giveaway:

Click on the ChipIn box below and make a tax deductible donation to Reece's Rainbow to sponsor our adoption:
$10 donation= 1 entry
$25 donation= 3 entries
$50 donation= 7 entries

We also need your help to spread the word! So, we will do a separate $50 Visa gift card drawing for those who post a link to the giveaway on your blog or on your facebook account. You will need to leave me a comment here so I can be sure to enter you for the drawing.

The giveaway will end on April 3rd, and we hope to do a "live" drawing at our Chick-fil-A fundraiser on April 5th!

Got Gold? Help us bring Samuel home!

We are doing a fundraiser to help bring our Samuel home from Eastern Europe. Unlike most fundraisers, this time you won't be asked to spend money, but to make money! How does that work?

Gold prices are at an all-time high right now. You can turn your unwanted gold into cash, and help out a good cause as well. You are probably thinking "sorry, I don't have any gold", because I was thinking the same thing. So I went through my jewelry box and came up with a couple mismatched earrings, a few broken chains/bracelets, and an old locket. These are items I literally have no use for, but I can turn them into money to help cover some of our adoption expenses!

This is how it works: You are under No Obligation! You get a quote on your items, and if you like it, you get a check or money through paypal almost immediately, and you can be reimbursed your shipping costs as well. Then, the "gold guy" takes 15% of the "gold party" total and we get it as a host gift toward our adoption. If you don't like the quote, the "gold guy" sends your items back to you and pays the shipping, and will even reimburse the shipping to him. Any color gold, any karat, items that are broken, missing stones, gold teeth, gold coins, and even gold watches are great! If the item has stones in it, he will remove them and return them to you (he only wants the gold!).

If you are interested, you have two options:

1) If you live near me locally, you can give me the items directly and I will handle the mailing to "gold guy".

2) If you don't live near me, or you prefer, you can mail the items directly to my "gold guy", just please include all your contact information, your shipping costs, as well as that you are participating in "Boroughs Family fundraiser"(please be sure to inclued our names as he does quite a few fundraisers for adoptive families).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!


The "gold guy"(who comes highly recommended!):

Steven Kersh
8927 Hypoluxo Rd
Suite A4, #350
Lake Worth, Florida
33467

stevenkersh@yahoo.com

A BIG step closer!

Isn't she lovely? Our precious paper baby started on her journey to Eastern Europe today! Please pray for her safe arrival. The stack of papers probably doesn't look like much to many people, but to us it represents months of time, effort, money, prayers, and even a few tears. It was with mixed emotions I handed her off at Fed Ex today. Yes, I am relieved to (hopefully!) be done with the paperchase, I am excited to be nearing the end of our "pregnancy", but it is a little nerve-wracking to hand off precious documents that mean so much to us and so little to those who will be responsible for their safe delivery! It is hard to believe that we are really, finally getting closer to the day we will see our Sam and tell him that his mommy and daddy have come to bring him home.

Anyone want an iPad?

We are thinking of doing an iPad giveaway to help raise some funds for Sam's adoption. We should be mailing our dossier to his country the end of this week, and travel is coming up and we are short of funds! Anyone interested?

We got the golden ticket & something else

Yippee!! It came! It came! Our approval notice from immigration! This was the last document needed to complete our dossier, which we hope will be on it's way to Sam's country this week.

So, what else came this week? Oh, nothing good I'm sorry to say! A nasty, awful, yucky, horrible stomach bug that has ripped through the house at lightening speed. Thanks to Irina who brought the lovely "gift" home from school this week. All but two of us have had the misfortune of experiencing this illness so far (yes, i had my fun turn, thank you). Yeah, you might not want to stop by for a visit for a few days. Some serious spring cleaning is on the agenda this week!

Super Bowl Sunday!

How to make your Sunday SUPER: Start with scones for breakfast! Yum!



After church, have some outdoor playtime (I am so thankful it warmed up enough for the kids to play on my in-laws porch this afternoon! They really needed some outdoor playtime and it is so muddy and wet with melting snow.)



After some yummy snacks for the game, you have to end with a scrumptious smores desset! Mmm mmm good!