Mercy: Adopting a Child with Albinism

September 30, 2015 albinism, developmental delays, Family Stories, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions 10 Comments

In 2011, my husband and I attended a banquet to benefit Ukrainian orphans. Our hearts were stirred for orphans that night. After praying for God’s direction, we chose All God’s Children International as our agency and began the process towards a special needs adoption from China. One afternoon I scrolled through the Rainbow Kids website, …Read More

Coming Home: Sleeping Arrangements

September 30, 2015 Attachment, co-sleeping, cocooning, first year home, hearing loss, Nicole, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 0 Comments

Finishing out September with our last post in our Coming Home series. We’ve covered a lot of ground this month, from siblings, to discipline, to friendships, to finding joy in the struggle. You can find all 14 posts here. So grateful for all the wisdom shared by our regular and guest contributors, it is our …Read More

Coming Home: Balancing Their Biggest Needs

September 29, 2015 Attachment, China trip, Kelly, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 0 Comments

Heartache. There’s a lot of that in adoption—the recognition of hard things that can overwhelm us. The images of families receiving their children for the first time often capture it as deep emotions rise to the surface responding to the juxtaposition of loss and gain, of broken relationships and the birth of new ones. Oh, …Read More

Coming Home: There is a Season

September 28, 2015 Attachment, cocooning, first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 3 Comments

Bringing our little girl home from China was all that we had thought it would be: hard, messy, loud, heart-breaking, joyful, hopeful, exciting, exhausting, and worth it! Adoption is born out of tragedy. It is gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, and HARD. Our babies come from a place filled with unspeakable loss and trauma. Yet, God takes all …Read More

A Family for Allen

September 28, 2015 Family Found 0 Comments

Would you look at this sweet face!! This is little Allen who was born in March of 2009. He was admitted into the institute at 2 years of age. His special need is delayed language development. He was very quiet and did not talk much at all when he first entered the CWI and the …Read More

An Uncertain Journey with a Certain Guide

September 27, 2015 Carrie, China trip, Gotcha Day, Parenting Special Needs 2 Comments

I’m writing this to my fellow Jesus-followers who are adopting. I understand and respect that might not apply to everyone, but I have to take a moment to speak to those of you who share my fundamental faith.   “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who …Read More

find my family: Benjamin

September 26, 2015 Family Found 2 Comments

Benjamin is 12 years old and is deaf, he is described as a charming extrovert with many friends, and a great student, well loved by his teachers and is fluent in Chinese sign language. Please prayerfully consider giving this young man a forever family. Contact All God’s Children International for more information. He is an …Read More

Chinese Holidays: Mid-Autumn Festival

September 26, 2015 Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Hannah 2 Comments

The perfect season has arrived to China. It’s not hot and muggy anymore, and it’s too early for the coal heaters to be running and clogging up our lungs with coal dust. The fields of corn are being harvested and streets are lined with a festive yellow. Corn corn corn. As far as the eye …Read More

Coming Home: All the Feelings

September 25, 2015 China trip, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 1 Comments

I was once told that your life after adoption can be compared to a child’s mobile hanging over a crib. When the mobile is bumped, it’s path becomes unpredictable and out of balance as it spins recklessly with no sure path. As time passes, the mobile will become stable again and maintain a smooth circular …Read More

The Making of a Family

September 25, 2015 a father's perspective, Bryson, China trip, Dads, Gotcha Day 17 Comments

Bryson, dad to 3 year old Lydia and husband to Mandy, shared several months ago on the challenges of attachment. We loved his post so much we asked him to come back and contribute regularly. Today he shares with us a true labor of love, his documentary film of their adoption journey. I encourage you …Read More

Looking for my family: Luca

September 24, 2015 Family Found 0 Comments

Luca was born in September 2012 with complex heart disease. His referral file mentions: dextrocardia, complete TGA, ASD, right aortic arch, bidirectional atrial shunt, tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension. His file does not indicate that he has received any surgical interventions. While this certainly is a medical mouthful – it does not define …Read More

Waiting for You: Bonnie Blu

September 24, 2015 Family Found 0 Comments

Bonnie Blu was born in January 2013 and is listed as having arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC). She is currently listed with Small World Adoptions. Bonnie Blu is as enchanting as enchanting can be! Her video will quickly endear her to you as well. Her caregivers adore her and share this: “She is a favorite girl, …Read More

Coming Home: Tips for Medical Needs Parents

September 23, 2015 first weeks home, first year home, Medical Momma, Rebecca, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, surgery 0 Comments

You are a newly home medical needs parent, and life might be feeling like triage. Your child needs to be catheterized, tube fed, dilated and medicated. They need therapy, glasses, wheelchairs, oxygen, blood transfusions, walkers, cochlear implants, casts, g-tubes and ostomy bags. They’ll need MRIs, IVs, ultrasounds, sleep studies, anesthesia, echocardiograms, X-rays, EEGs, CT scans, …Read More

Coming Home: A Letter to Friends and Family

September 21, 2015 adoption community, Andrea Y., Attachment, cocooning, first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 1 Comments

To help our friends and family understand attachment and our transition, we sent this letter to friends and family just before traveling. Please feel free to personalize if for your family if you are preparing to bring home a little one too… …… Dear Family and Friends, After so much preparing, hoping and waiting – …Read More

Awesome.

September 19, 2015 Family Stories, heart defect, Heart System 0 Comments

In early July of 2013 my husband and I had the rare-to-us opportunity to grab a quick lunch together. It was unplanned and so fun to sneak down to our local Red Robin for a gluten free burger together in the middle of the day. We had no way of knowing that little lunch would change …Read More

Find my Family: Judy

September 18, 2015 Family Found 0 Comments

Judy is a super sweet six year old little girl who was found near a hospital when she was only one week old. She was born with anal atresia, which was surgically corrected when she was three weeks old and she now has complete bowel and bladder control. She was initially diagnosed with a congenital …Read More

Coming Home: Re-entry

September 17, 2015 first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 0 Comments

Launching a spacecraft into space is one thing. Bringing it back is another. Spacecraft re-entry is tricky business for several reasons. When an object enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it experiences a few forces, including gravity and drag. Gravity will naturally pull an object back to earth. But gravity alone would cause the object to fall …Read More

My Life for Yours. Gladly

September 16, 2015 ADHD, autism, developmental delays, Developmental System, Family Stories, institutional autism 12 Comments

This is a story about expectations vs. reality. A story about HIS grace in the midst of my weakness, my fear, and my anxiety. This is our story. But I don’t want our story to just be for us. In the adoption community, our expectations are almost always at least slightly different than reality. I …Read More

A Poster Picture of… The Waiting Child…

September 15, 2015 Jean, older child adoption 5 Comments

Every time I look at this picture I am at a loss for words… It embodies the plight of the older waiting child. A loving family visits their son’s orphanage just days after they meet him. Their daughter (being carried by her mother) has been home for over a year. Their new son is in …Read More

Our Butterfly Child

September 15, 2015 epidermolysis bullosa, Family Stories, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions 2 Comments

I grew up in a third world country where the exotic butterflies are exquisite! My favorite had wings like brilliant sapphires on thin blankets of black velvet. They would flit by in glorious beauty and no matter how many times I saw them, they still took my breath away. It is hard to describe something …Read More

5 Things I Wish I’d Known 10 Years Ago

September 14, 2015 Attachment, first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, TongguMomma 3 Comments

I used to blog several years ago, but I dropped off the face of the earth when my oldest asked me to cease and desist. Since I want her to still love me when she’s thirty, and since my husband and I don’t want to have to pay for extensive therapy when she’s in her …Read More

A Letter From Us

September 13, 2015 Attachment, first weeks home, first year home, Rebecca, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, siblings 1 Comments

When newly home two years ago with three year old, Eli, and one year old, Evelyn, life felt turned upside down for such a very long time. A few months in, I found myself focusing more heavily on the changes I was feeling and experiencing than on how my two little ones, who had been …Read More

Coming Home: With a Sick Child

September 11, 2015 Amy, Attachment, cocooning, Medical Momma, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, surgery 0 Comments

We all imagine what it will be like when finally the paperwork is complete and we can see the face of our new child and begin to prepare for him or her. Then, after referral (if that is the order for you, it was for us) we make plans, consult specialists, send photos or stuffed …Read More

Special Need Highlight: Daily Care for Ichthyosis

September 10, 2015 Family Stories, ichthyiosis, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions 0 Comments

We had been waiting months for “The Call” from our adoption agency. Our homestudy was complete and our dossier sent to China. We were waiting, on edge, to be matched with our daughter. And when the call finally came, I missed it. My phone was in silent mode in my purse and by the time …Read More

Coming Home: Cocooning

September 9, 2015 Amy A., Attachment, China trip, cocooning, first weeks home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 4 Comments

You’ve made the exciting decision to adopt. Congratulations! At this stage, you are either waiting to be matched with a child, or you are longing to hold your son or daughter each time you see your child’s precious pictures. The adoption journey is two-fold. First, you paper chase and wait to bring your child home. …Read More

Waiting for Angel

September 8, 2015 Family Found 1 Comments

This is little ‘Angel’ who is one and a half years old. Angel was born blind, but has no other known special needs. Since being moved to a private run foster home in July, 2015 she has taken off in her development, and her personality has blossomed. She has learned to sit up, play independently …Read More

Coming Home: Discipline or Behavior?

September 7, 2015 Attachment, attachment activities, cocooning, discipline, first weeks home, first year home, hoarding, orphanage behaviors, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, Sharon, Trust Based Parenting 0 Comments

Continuing our September Series: Coming Home, today Sharon, mom of six from China, shares her thoughts on discipline vs. behavior. Amy shared on the Joy and the Struggle of the first weeks and months home, and Jenny shared on Helping Siblings Bond. You can find all posts in this series here …….   Our family has been to China …Read More

Adopting Nevi Owners

September 6, 2015 Congenital nevus, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions 0 Comments

“I may not be able to change the world, but I can change the world for one child.” That, in a sense, is how I have felt since my youth. We began our first adoption process in the fall of 2006 pursuing China’s non-special needs program. Our small agency did not have a special needs …Read More

Coming Home: Helping Siblings Bond

September 5, 2015 first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home, siblings 0 Comments

Lord, this humble house we’d keepSweet with play and calm with sleep.Help us so that we may give Beauty to the lives we live.Let Thy love and let Thy graceShine upon our dwelling place.– Edgar Guest I have that quote framed in our downstairs bathroom. I can’t tell you how many times a week I …Read More

Coming Home: {the Joy and the Struggle}

September 4, 2015 cocooning, first weeks home, first year home, September 2015 Feature - Coming Home 1 Comments

A feeling of peace and anticipation washed over me as we began our decent into Nashville, Friday, March 25, 2011. Our time in China was hard physically and emotionally and we were ready to be home. Due to several flight delays, it was almost midnight when we landed, yet we knew that a small group …Read More

Sadey Joy

September 4, 2015 Family Found 0 Comments

Sadey Joy was given the advocacy name she was because she radiates joy from every one of her pictures. Sadey Joy was born in approximately February 2013. She was found in front of the local community hospital at the age of approximately 18 months old. Sadey Joy was found to be underweight and was diagnosed …Read More

What Does Life with EB Look Like?

September 3, 2015 epidermolysis bullosa, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions, Whitney 2 Comments

What does life with EB look like? It looks like swinging on swings at the park. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a genetic connective tissue disorder. There are many types and sub-types, each affecting the individual in different ways. Regardless of type or sub-type, one thing that I have noticed about kids with EB, and their families, …Read More

what we’re reading: 9.2.15

September 2, 2015 Liberty, What We're Reading 0 Comments

Hello end of summer, to celebrate we have some great links for you to peruse today! To share a blog post or news article go here. To share your blog with our readers, as a soon-to-be traveling family, go here. Andrea looks back on what she has Learned Over the Past Two Years. She shares …Read More

Ayi for a Day: {50 for 50 in 5 weeks}

September 1, 2015 Kelly, other ways to care for the orphan 4 Comments

They are oft overlooked much like the children they care for. They live in a place where what you do and how much you make is everything which means they have very little. Watching over and meeting the needs of children with no known roots is hardly considered a career; it’s a job. Some of …Read More

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