Tragedy in Adopting

I have to share this with you all. I am sitting here snuggling with my little Guatemalan girl - crying and trying to explain this all to her - all the while, grateful that I have the chance to snuggle with her!

My good friend Kelly (who I met through my adoption agency . . . we both have similar families and adopted about the same time) posted some info on her blog about a friend's adoption from Guatemala - of little Josi. She was just about to come home (after over a year waiting) - but was just found murdered in a home invasion (along with the foster family). :( Kelly has posted the info and a link to help raise money to help cover the remaining costs THEY STILL HAVE TO PAY in their adoption ($13,000) - that will never be completed. :(

Thanks for praying for them! I can't even imagine their grief! I just read the book "The Shack" and that has helped somewhat to put a different perspective on all of this. You want to just go into the "why's" and the "if only's" and the "what if's" . . . what if they had gotten through PGN or other parts of their adoption sooner, what if they had gone down to foster her themselves, what if . . . .why . . . why . . . why?? They literally were only a couple weeks from picking her up. They had just gotten her new birth certificate in GT and were just waiting for their pink slip saying they could come down to get her and her visa!! What a sad c-mas it will be at their house. :(

Here's my friend Kelly's blog

Here is the Azhderian family's blog
(there a video on here about Josi . . . grab your tissues first!)

Here's where you can donate through ChipIn


Please pass on this info to those you know who can pray for them or bless them financially with the rest of their adoption costs.

Blessings

Forever Family Day

OK . . . so it's almost 3 months PAST our Forever Family Day and I am finally getting around to posting the pictures from our day on the sand dunes! The kids LOVED it (as you will see)! They were not too sure that playing in a bunch of sand all day would be fun . . . . but when we left, they were asking if we could go back again the next day! :) Maybe it will become a tradition! :)

Here's a slide-show of the pictures. There are some videos too (of the kids running, sliding, jumping, swimming, etc - down the hill!). Click on the picture below to see the video. You can also see the slide-show on the right above the other slide-shows.

Enjoy!

Lori :)

Forever Family Day

1 year ago today!

At this time, last year, we were tired but excited! We had been up since 3am - to get on a plane (Jeremy, myself and Meghan) to go finally pick up our daughter Wendy!! I can't believe a year has gone by! I can still remember the excitement in seeing our beautiful daughter again - being brought to us by her house dad Antonio, and the sweet, but slightly unsure look on her face when she saw us. It was as if she kind of remembered us, but wasn't sure who we really were. She easily came to Jeremy when passed into his arms, and let me take pictures of her and all of us together. She was a bit sleepy as it was almost nap time, and we had interrupted her lunch - so I'm sure that played into things. We let her go finish lunch, and then joined her to let Meghan play with her a bit before nap time. Despite the language barrier, they hit it off right away! By that evening they were chasing each other and laughing constantly! We were so glad we had brought Meghan along. She really did help Wendy transition into our family and feel comfortable and welcomed. Wendy had done well with us when we had visited last April, but she was very quiet. With Meghan around, we got to hear more of her awesome giggles and sweet Spanish speaking voice!

So - here we are - a year later and Wendy hardly remembers any of her Spanish! Yikes! I asked her the other day what "bed" was in Spanish. She said "ummm . . . . . bedito?" :) LOL! I just died laughing. I then asked her what "food" was in Spanish. "umm . . . . Foodeeo?" :) I love that girl! I am a bit sad she has lost so much of her Spanish. Maybe one day we'll teach her again. I think her older siblings know more Spanish than she does now! :) She was just so hungry to learn English when she came home. She would walk around every day, all day long, asking "Que es eso?" (What is this?) I would tell her the English word and she would repeat it. Very rarely did we ever have to tell her twice what something was. She is a fast learner!

Today is the first day of public school here (Ty started last week), and for the first time in a looong time, Wendy is home alone with just me. She's already asked me this morning when are we are going to pick up Jacob (he had half-day kindergarten last year). She is already missing the kids! I think it will be a bit of a shock for Wendy to be just with me for long periods of time, but it will be good. We can actually have playdates and DO things together! :) Yeah!! Mommy and daughter bonding time! :) She is very excited though to start preschool tomorrow! She has been begging to go to school since last October! :)

I think that instead of celebrating a "Gotcha Day" today, we will celebrate a "Forever Family Day" on Sept 7th - the day we brought her back home to the US and we ALL became a family forever!

I had wanted to compile a video of pictures and video snippets of Wendy for this 1 year anniversary . . . but August was sooo crazy around here that I haven't had time. Plus, I don't think I have the software on my computer anymore. Jeremy had to wipe my hard drive clean twice this year! I'm sure he could still reload it if I asked. We'll see. Right now - I've got a lot of organizing and catching up to do after a crazy month. I might just be able to get some of it done with the kids in school now! :) You can see some of our visit trip and pick up trip pictures to the right. There are other pics of Wendy throughout the blog as well. I have some video of when she was younger (around 1 year old), but I don't think I've uploaded that to the computer or this blog.

Blessings to you all!

Lori :)

Jeremy was prayed for on the 700 Club!

CBN (where Jeremy works) has a show called the 700 Club. It has a segment called "Bring it on" where people can send in questions for Pat (Robertson) to answer (on a wide variety of topics). Recently they started a new method of sending in questions - via web cam. Since Jeremy knows the producer of that segment, he was asked to to a couple web cam questions, in case they didn't have any on some days (I guess people either haven't caught on that they can do this, don't know how, or just don't want their faces on tv??). Jeremy didn't know they were going to use one of his questions last Thursday - but it was definitely in God's plans! You can see it HERE. Pat's response was a good one.

Gordon Robertson saw that question, and told his producers that he wanted J on the set after Friday's Spiritual Gifts seminar, to be able to pray for Jeremy! How awesome! I was so excited for Jeremy to get the prayer as I know he has been stressed out this past month or so, and could use a time of refreshing! I really hoped and prayed that Jeremy would go get that prayer (and not get too busy with all the technical stuff). I just didn't expect this to happen . . .

God did a mighty work this past Friday the 13th! Watch the 700 CLUB VIDEO to see what God had to say to my wonderful husband!!

The words of God for him are at 40:41 - 42:39 (Anne Thigpen), 43:56 - 45:04 (Jane Hamon), 46:20 - 48:53 (Duncan Smith from Toronto), and 57:59 - 58:39 (a woman from the audience). J was really touched by God through these words - especially Duncan's message!

May God bless you and minister to you through this 700 club segment!!

You can also view parts 2 and 3 of this series that they did. Part 2 is a night of soaking prayer online (this past Tuesday - and hopefully every Tuesday night from here on out!), and part 3 is about the Manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings!

Lori :)

Heaven Bound!

What an awesome day today is!! The Angels are rejoicing in Heaven today and God had to use his pen (or quill . . . or magic marker . . . whatever he uses)! Why? Becuase our darling daughter Wendy told Jesus that she wanted Him to live in her heart and be the Lord of her life today! :) What a blessing! Now all my kids are Heaven Bound!! :)
Of course, this all came about while we were snuggling and praying and talking after a very looooong "4 minute" time-out that she didn't want to take for over an hour and a half. Instead, she wanted to scream (did you hear it?) and almost burst some blood vessels in her eyes in the process! :) OK - not really . . . but she was screaming mad that mommy would have the audacity to put her in a time-out for disobeying!! How dare Mommy do that?!! :) I know . . . I'm the "meanest mom in the world" . . . or so I've been told. :) But thankfully - after the punishment is finally done and we are snuggling and loving on each other - I'm usually the "best mom in the world" again and all is well in the West household . . . . for at least a minute. :)

I know that I haven't kept up with this blog. I'm sorry. I have started another blog, and I've just been trying to keep up with all the other momly duties that I have each day. :) But thank you for checking in on us!

Wendy is doing awesome (except for the occasional 4 year old fit like most kids)! She amazes me! I knew she was smart - but she still amazes me! The other day she was watching daddy mow the lawn and asked him "Why are you doing that?"
"Doing what? Mowing the lawn? Why do you think I'm doing it?" he asked her.
"To make mommy happy?" she replied. !!!! :)
You betcha!! Because otherwise I don't know that he would do it . . . or at least not as often! :) What a smart cookie she is!

Also, when asking her what we should get daddy for his birthday - she went on to list quite a few things that are Jeremy's favorites - a new Star Wars movie, a Star Wars shirt, a new van, a new chair, etc!! I was sooo surprised at how specific her answers were! She definitely knows what her daddy likes! :) This girl doesn't miss ANYTHING!! :)

So - as you can see from this post . . . Wendy has turned 4. I will have to post some pics and fill you in on her recent b-day later. I just realized that my other daughter's bus will be arriving in 5 minutes and I still have a wet towel on my head from taking a shower (late in the day - I know! But I did get some exercise today!!). And then it's off to pick up another child (my 10 year old) from school! :) So . . . . for now just rejoice with us that Wendy is part of God's kingdom and sealed for eternity as a Princess of the King!!

Blessings
Lori :)