Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you all are enjoying time with family and friends! I know that some of you (like ourselves) are longing for that "missing" member of your family to be with you this year. What an exciting adventure we have to look forward to next year! :)
Blessings on you and your families today and the rest of 2006!
Lori, Jeremy, Tyler, Ryan, Meghan, Jacob (and Katie!)
Here's another adoption song - about a little girl in China at C-mas and then the next year being with her family. I cried at this one too! (click on title above to hear a small portion)
It is from Third Day and is on their new Christmas CD called "Christmas Offerings".
"The title is "Merry Christmas"
There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for mama's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
Where the forgotten are
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine
It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
So tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in His arms
And tell you from my heart
I wish you a Merry Christmas
As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white
And make angels in the snow
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that Heaven's Angels come to carry you here
Christmas is the time we celebrate the Holy Child
And we celebrate His perfect gift of love
He came to Earth to give His life and prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above
It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And tell you from my heart
I wish you a Merry Christmas"
Feliz Navidad!
Lori :)
Ok all - I am sitting here wiping tears away from my eyes and trying not to sob too hard. I listend to KLOVE most everyday, and todaythey have Mark Shultz (Christian music artist) on. He startedtalking about how he was adopted at 2 weeks old and how thankful he is for his birth mom giving him life. Ok - so that almost made me cry - just thinking about that mom - choosing life (instead of abortion) and choosing adoption - and look what he has become and how many lives he has affected all over the world.
Well . . . then he got on the piano and sang the song "Everything to me" - which he wrote to say thanks to his birth mom. I will paste the lyrics below -though when he sang it today, he added another verse - similar to the second verse - but talking about him playing with his son and reading goodnight moon, etc. . . . . oh man. . . I just had to sit down at my kitchen table and just sob. I prayed for Wendy's(Katie's) mom right then and thanked God for her decision to give her life! As a mom myself - I know that the choice to give up your child has got to be one of the hardest! God bless these birth moms! and thank you Lord for leading us to our wonderful children!!Lori :)
Everything To Me(Mark Schultz / Cindy Morgan)
I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I'm sure I must have heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried
But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my roomSo if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me
And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you'd be proud of who I am
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me
And when I see you there
Watching from heaven's gates
Into your arms
I'm gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I've become
(Chorus)
© 2006 Crazy Romaine Music (Adm. by The Loving Company) / Word Music, LLC / Lola Max Music (ASCAP) (Adm. by Word Music, LLC)
*You can click on the title to hear a small portion of the song. It was much better - live and on the piano today!
ps - my friend Almarie is in Guatemala right now with a package for our little girl. She is hoping to go see her sometime next week and get some pics, etc. Yeah! Wish I could be there with her. One day. I sent down some PJ's, hairbows, and musical stuffed bunny, 4 books and a CD of me and Jeremy reading the books to her. 2 of the books were in English and Spanish and the other 2 I had Almarie help me translate them into Spanish. I read it both ways - though I am sure the houseparents and other native spanish speakers will get a good laugh at my Spanish pronunciations. :) I tried. :) I just wanted her to hear our voices. I was wanting to make a video too - but just ran out of time. Next time.
Adios!
Lucy didn't get to the orphanage till after 7:30pm - and Katie was already asleep. They woke the sweet sleeping beauty up for a few glamour shots. :) As you can see - it was challenging keeping her awake. She tried to smile for the camera!
The woman with the long dark hair is Lucy, our agency director. The other woman is Carmen, one of the houseparents. I am grateful for these pics - even if they are of a sleepy little girl. It just makes me want to go down and snuggle with her! What a sweetie!
Well - that's all the news for now. Please pray hard that the Court of Minors (I believe that's the right one) will issue Wendy's (Katie's) COA SOON!!!! LIKE - THIS WEEK! or maybe next! What a wonderful C-mas present that will be!
Blessings to you all!!
Lori :)
My director (Lucy) just came back from a week in Guatemala - visiting all the babies/kids that are in the process for adoption through KAS. She was able to go shopping and buy some gifts for the kids at Casa Bernabe (for C-mas I assume) but didn't get to Katie's (Wendy) house till 7:30pm. Katie/Wendy was sound asleep when she arrived. They did wake her up a little, but she was still pretty sleepy. Lucy said she will send some pics when she gets the chance, but I doubt there are any smiling ones.
As for where we are in the adoption . . . . we are still waiting. Evidentally, the Guatemalan court has yet to issue the COA (certificate of abandonment), so we are still waiting for that to be able to send down our POA (power of attorney) and officially start the adoption process.
PLEASE pray that the court gets that paper in the orphanage's hands soon! Jeremy and I still have peace that she is our daughter, but I will have much more peace knowing that we are "officially" going through the adoption process to bring her home. Know what I mean? :) Thanks for your prayers!
Despite the delays in Guatemala, God is still working here in regards to our finances/fundraising for the adoption expenses. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to those that just recently gave towards our adoption!! I know I've said it before, but I will say it again and again . . . I am truly humled (to tears many times) at the generosity (and obedience to the Lord) that so many of you have shown to us! Some of you have been practically strangers to us - but have generously given - and that blows me away even more! May God bless you all 100 fold (and more) for what you have done! Your giving has always been an answer to my prayers! We are within a couple hundred dollars of having the money needed to be able to accept this referral. So - that may be the reason God has allowed the delay in the COA, etc. He still needs time to provide for the money we have to pay. :)
On that note - in case you didn't know - if you use our Google links & search engine, it does add a little money to our account. So, anytime you need to "google" something - come to our site. That's an easy and cheap way for you to contribute to our fund. :) Thanks so much.
Blessings on you all this week! I will try to post some pictures when I get them in. Thanks for checking in on us!
Lori :)
Many of you have asked about donating before the end of the year to receive a tax-deduction. We have recently signed up to work with Life International to allow tax-deductible donations to be given in support of our adoption. Life International is a trusted organization administering the funds on Katie’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received. They will be accepting donations for our adoption until January 31st, 2007 only. In addition, any funds raised over the amount we need (or after the goal date), will be prayerfully applied to other adoptions as grants or loans, and not to pay administrative costs. That is one of the main reasons we chose to work with Life International.
To receive a tax deduction for your donation:
1. Please make checks payable to : Life International. To go towards Katie’s expenses, you need to preference how the donation might be used by writing “Kathryn West Adoption” in the memo section of your check.
(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Life International which retains full discretion and control over its use.)
Please send before January 31st, 2007 (or by 12-31-06 for your 2006 tax purposes)
2. Mail Checks to:
Life International
Attn: Kathryn West Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
3. You may also donate online utilizing Paypal (a small percentage will be taken out by Paypal for fees - somewhere around 3-5%) http://www.lifeintl.org/
Currently, and after January 31st, we can still receive donations at our house (payable to Jeremy or Lori West) or online via Paypal (minus a small fee). These are not tax-deductible, but are still needed. Contact us if you have any questions.
*We will also be closing out our Entertainment book sales on December 9th! If you have not yet bought one of these wonderful books, or you need more as gifts for friends or family members - contact us soon. We still have around 35 books here, or they can be ordered online (small s&h charge may be applied).
They are $25 (retail $30) and you get a FREE $25 gift certificate to a local restaraunt (of your choice) once you register your book online. So - in essense - you get the book for free . . . and then you get to save even more when you use your coupons! I don't know why anyone would NOT want one! :) Unless, of course, you don't like saving money! :)
Blessings to you all! I will hopefully receive some more info on Katie this week. Our agency director went to Guatemala this past week, so we are waiting anxiously to hear back from her and see some new pictures. :) As of last week, we still had not received all her info, nor did the orphanage have her COA (certificate of abandonment) in hand yet. I am hoping that they got that before or while Lucy was down there. That should be able to tell us more about how long this case might take. We'll see. Keep praying! It's in God' mighty hands now!!
Thanks again to all who have helped, supported, encouraged, prayed and donated financially to us! We could not have done any of this without all of you! And we are encouraged to know that we have warriors and supporters to get us through the rest of the journey! I pray it is an easy one - but am preparing for it to be difficult.
God bless!
Lori & Jeremy :)
