Our Adoption Story...

  We began this journey about 12 years ago when we lived in Korea. Our hearts were first stirred as we visited a childrens Orphanage and the reality of the orphan became know to us. We were told we could not adopt while in country and had to wait until we resided back in the U.S.

  Fast forward about a year. Settled and attending our first adoption meeting. We were seeking what route to take and found out I was pregnant with baby #2.  Adoption was on hold. Most agencies will not allow you to aadopt if you are pregnant or have a child under 2 years of age.

 Fast forward again, 2 years later. Jason was returning home from a year long deployment to Afghanistan. We had experienced severe complications with baby #2 and wished to begin the adoption process right away.  Again, as we sougfht an agency we found out we were again pregnant with baby #3. 

  Here we go again - another move and another even scarier delivery. This time our prayers were focused on beginning and completing an adoption. We now had 3 incredible girls and wanted another child.  Zachary's story is incredible. But, I will save that for another day of writing.

  When Zachary was just 2 months old we moved to Japan. We enjoyed our 4 children but still wanted more. We were blessed beyond measure but our hearts longed for more children. Finding no options for adoption being overseas we again turned to God and our medical doctors to re-evaluate my past pregnancies and deliveries and see what they would say. The head of the OB/GYN department  gave us the thumbs up to try and get pregnant and as Gods word clearly says...He opened my womb and blesssed us with our second son, baby #5  and minimal complications. 

  The desire to adopt again still never went away...  Jeremiah was growing, Jason was traveling.. At the same time I would research adoption agencies searching for a possibe way to adopt again. This time our hearts motive was not for just a bigger family but to reach these orphans for Christs name, to give them God!!

  Jason was doing some traveling and visiting orphanges in his off time. I meanwhile stumbled across "Orphan Ministry" in my online research and ordered some information on how to start an orphan ministry in our church. 

  We had no idea at the time how God was stirring our hearts and for what purpose. Moving forward a few months. Jason was now home and we began to go through the Orphan Ministry material together and decided with 6 months left in Okinawa to begin an Orphan Ministry to try to reach the 8 orphanges and claim these kids for Christ.

  Wow !! God did a mighty work in such a short time. A few churches joined us and we began a program called English Time. Singing praise and worship, prayer and english games with snacks. All in the name of Jesus... It is encouraging as we left Okinawa to see the ministry continue and now over a year later to hear how the ministry has grown and how they are continuing to love these children in the name of Jesus.

  So, where does this adoption come in?? Remember Jason was visiting orphaneges in the Philippines. Well our oldest daughet and I were able to go on  a  missions trip to the Philippines before we left Okinawa and work in an orphanage for 10 days. Again, being in the presence of orphans is what awakens your heart to love them like Christ loves them. We came home and Jason and I knew the whole purpose of this trip was that God had a child/children for us in the Philippines.

  We found an agency, began the paperwork as we traveled across country in our RV with our 5 children from the west coast to the east coast. As we built our home and settled on our land ... The same week we were able to begin looking at profiles of children - a sibling group came up that seemed to prompt our hearts. Jasons response was if it is Gods will it will all work out. We contacted our agency and inquired more about these children. We requested they be put on hold for us while we complete our Home Study. We wrote to the board in the PI and requested the children be put on hold while we completed our home study. When we recieved their answer - that yes they would consider us to adopt it was great news. It was the first of many steps to walk in this journey.

  Our 1st adoption was domestic - this adoption would require so much more. The paperwork seemed endless. We were working with 2 agencies. Our adoption agency in one state and our home study agency in another state.  One month into the hoemstudy our agency contacted us to say they would be handing us off to another agency. This would mean re-doing some paperwork. But, it could have been so much worse.  

  Fast forward.... Our home Study went so smoothly and quickly. Our social worker was awesome! We recieved our final copy last week, only to find several errors.  I actually sat and did more editing before I began to write our story... We pray that if all goes as scheduled our dossier will be sent off to the Philippines next week.

  We begin the process of waiting to hear if we are approved / matched with these beautiful children.   There are 4 children in this sibling group and along with our 5 current children we will be joyfully blessed with 9 children. We adopt now for different reasons but with the same heart of giving them a life of knowing Christ. Just as we were adopted by God through His Son Jesus. Joseph adopted Jesus and so many other beautiful accounts of adoption. We know Gods heart ... James 1:27    Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world...

  We trust God to provide for what He has called us to do. I have been bought with a price and my life is His and His alone.  When I stand before the one true Living God- I long to hear the words "well done" ....

  Now we wait...... To answer the financial question I am asked often... How can we afford to adopt for a second time... God always provides. Do we have all the money- no. But that is ok. We have sold our RV and that will cover most of the adoption. We still have some expenses, travel for 6 and a new car becasue we will not fit in our truck. A 15 passenger van is next for us. But for today I do not worry about where these things will come from. I rest well knowing God is our provider..  

The Land

We have found land and will build. Meanwhile we contiue to live in our cozy RV... We enjoy the peacefulness of this life. There are so many good things about living the "simple" life.  We are still very excited about having a permanent home and getting really settled. We are not sure how long this process will take but all in God's time! There are things I try not to be anxious for but we do dream. Meanwhile we focus on our daily bread and what God has for us today.  

Finding a New Home

We hurried through the last few states of our journey we could see the weather getting a bit colder and we new we could potentially have several weeks of house hunting ahead of us.  We arrived at our dear friends house and have homesteaded on their property. After a few weeks of driving , looking , getting familiar with the area again and getting our bearing we think we have found some property. We will know more next week. If all works out we will build and be settled by mid summer. Yes we all still live in the RV and most of the time it feels cozy like any home does. Every once in a while it gets a bit squishy but it is home and we are blessed beyond measure. 

I do not miss our "stuff" but there are times I need something that is in storage, we make due and life goes on. It is a great reminder that we can live with so much less than we think we can. We have gone back to our "old" church and again we are blessed. Familiar faces, friendly smiles. We will be starting another Orphan ministry in the coming weeks.  I am sure will be so different than in Okinawa, it is exciting to see what God will do here in Virginia.  

May God richly bless our dear friends who are reaching out and sharing their property, home and hearts with us during this long transition time!

San Antonio

We conquered the Childrens Museum, The Riverwalk and The Alamo..... Or they conquered us- I am not sure. It was a long but good day!! Not sure what tomorrow holds but it will be here soon and we will find out!

Texas here we come !!!

Carlsbad has been great, cold but great! It is time to move on and enjoy new places. We will head south tomorrow afternoon and see what God has for us. More adventures to come. Our time in New Mexico was wonderful. Freinds, history and learning new trades.  We also had a chance to get a good bit of school done and enjoy a few nice hikes. Praise God for opportunities to share His love! I pray for more opportunities to come.

Carlsbad Caverns NM

Grateful for the opportunity to see the caverns today. We moved our plans up a day since a system is moving in that is supposed to give us 3-5 inches of snow tonight.  We are all snuggled into the RV and will see what comes as we sleep. The rain is falling and the temperatures are very cold. I am gratful for our home on wheels , our neighbor here in the RV lot is in a van.. Jason checked on him and he seems to be ok.  

The caverns were 75 stories below ground, we took the elevator down. Which was pretty cool - watching the rock pass swiftly by. The trail we took was through the Big Room, amazing and so cool to look at all the different formations. Jeremiah slept most of the hike and by the end I think we all were a bit low on oxygen. Nothing like Mt. Fuji but  surprisingly a good little hike!!

Hoping for some good sleep tonight and not to much snow, we are supposed to get on the road on Tuesday!!

 The Grand Canyon - just a little humor from Jason and Samantha

 Paramount Ranch

 The Petrified Forest - the kids clothes remonds me of the 70's 

 The Painted Rocks - my kids making me feel blessed

 Samantha being silly at White Sands NM

 White Sands Sunset

 I just love this picture of Samantha and Jeremiah in Big Bear CA

 Jason and I with my sister Lisa and her husband Justin  (Sweet Reunion)

 Bub and his great Papa Sleppy ( in the hat Papa gave him)  never a prouder moment for Bub!!!

 Grand Canyon

 Old Town New Mexico - a little history

 Mr. Fritz Texas longhorn steer ranch. What an awesome time.

We learned so much and were so blessed in the process!! 

They really are gentle beasts..

Daily Life

I am having trouble downloading pictures. So for now it will have to wait. It was nice to surprise the kids with a visit to their dear friends from Okinawa. What a great New Years Eve surprise, it is also nice for us Mommies and Daddies to get to fellowship. We are reminded of just how blessed we are.

Jeremiah had his 2nd haircut on Saturday (31st) It was cut short but not to short. I think it was getting a little bit to long. He did great sitting in the chair and holding still. I am still getting used to looking at him with shorter hair, he was so proud of his new hair cut. He brings us so much joy and he is  so loveable! 

I went to a book store today for the first time in over 3 years, it was great to browse the "Christian" section and have choices and not have to mail order. It was also eye opening to how much darkness is on so many other shelves including the shelves for children.  Abstain from every form of evil was the verse that kept coming to mind. I am disappointed that my kids could not even freely browse the childrens section without getting an eyeful of darkness and schmootz. Thankfully I knew better than to take them. The Lord is sufficient and I am grateful there was still Christ centerd material to choose from.   

I am sure there will be many more things we will be many more things we will see have changed in such a short time as we continue to travel.    

December 26th

Day 1

We have left our family in California and ventured out in our RV. After 1 night dry camping I appreciate running water and electricity quite a bit more. We are camped in a Super Walmart parking lot. It seems to be a happening place with several other RV’s camped here also. It makes you feel more secure with other RVers around.

We are all a bit tired and excited at the same time. The older kids have adjusted well to our “new life” living out of the RV and visiting family for the last month. The baby is completely off schedule and now has no idea what a bed time is. The middle kiddos still have a bit more adjusting to do. They are just old enough to realize things are hectic but not quite old enough to easily adjust.

Jason and I will try to get a routine going for our family over the next week. This much I know we are very blessed even as Jeremiah struggles to escape my bedtime grip.

Day 2

We awoke this morning to Bubby and Katie running into our room. “Momma , momma listen there’s something out there” I looked up at the skylight to see the shadow of a fluffy tail. The Walmart squirrel was running back and forth across the roof giving us our morning wake up. The morning routine went well. We ate a great breakfast, stocked up on some supplies. When Grandma pulled up with a new doggy we were ready to head out. Our adventure for the day – driving to Lake Havasu to see great grandparents Papa and Nana Sleppy.

The desert is dry, brown and a bit depressing in some parts. Other sights glorify God’s majesty

We have seen fields of cotton, orange groves and gorgeous mountains. Just enjoying the calm drive and no traffic!!

HOW CUTE – We just passed a Indian Tribe Headquarters and as I pointed it out to the kids, Katie (6) asked “ are they dangerous?” It makes sense since she has studied early American History. I had to explain current Indians the local tribes and how they look today. I am sure as we travel we will have many more teachable moments.

RV Life

RV Life--- We are offcially living /sleeping in the Rv. I think the kids have moved around and sleept in different beds each night. They will figure it out. My bed is really cozy with our 3 inch memory foam.  The heater cranks - which is good since we will be traveling in winter.  The tricky part is getting the boys to settle down at bedtime and getting the baby to actually stay in one place. He has gone from containment to freedom. It will all come in time. For now it makes for interesting nights... Since Jeremiah is a talker/ singer he keeps us entertained as we long to sleep.

Daily Happenings--- We celebrated retirement yesterday with family at Bucca Di Beppo. Jason was totally surprised - we actually pulled it off. I couldn't have done all the planning from Japan without all Kell's help. It was so great to be able to enjoy time with family and the blessing of finishing 20 years of service in the Army.

The kids are enjoying a night of snow and fun here in California. Jason has taken all the kids plus some to a local church for some winter fun. I am awaiting many cold hungry little ones any time now. 

Heart Changes---Today I went to the mall to find some "winter" boots. As I walked the mall - I was again taken back by the amount of money and shopping. America , recession..... I thought back to our mission trip to the Philippines and the poverty we saw and the children who endured daily to survive. As I looked around at the clothes and the shoes, I realized none of it was appealing in the way it was years ago when we were living in America. I so long to adopt again, knowing in God's timing it will come. This time not to increase the number of children we have but to claim these children for Christ. To love on them and let them know Jesus loves them. Knowing that God will  provide and His provision is always sufficient!!  

Leaving OKI....

Visiting with our dear friends in Washington

The children with their great grandparents Grammie and Poppa in California

A lone snail I thought was beautiful

North Shore with the Olsons

Aunt Tammie and Bella

Jeremiah enjoying the sand in Hawaii

Surfs Up Zach!

Retirement is good..........

The kids really enjoyed our time at Bellows - no snakes , it was so nice!!

The Space Needle

The view from the Space Needle - breathtaking..

Our Crew going from Hawaii to WA -what a climate change.

Hanging out between one of our 5 flights

Shaved Ice after our hike at Diamond Head

Roasting yummy marshmallows!!!

A visit with my grandma after almost 8 years!!! Jeremiah turns 2 - with a day at the ER , poor little guy!

Retirement

We have officially begun this thing called retirement. So far it feels like just another vacation - not a bad thing, it just hasn't sunk in yet!! Jason is sporting some serious facial hair, the kids realize we are officially "homeless". But we are all enjoying the adventure.

Exciting happenings- one child who will remain nameless called 911 from our hotel in Okinawa- thankfully it was on base and the MP who arrived at our door was very friendly. Jeremiah found a new sport of egg tossing to be enjoyable, we only had 3 casualties before he was stopped.

Our airplane ride went pretty well, we flew from Okinawa to Tokyo and onto Honolulu - we were actually "freezing" on the shuttle, some of you might appreciate what I am talking about - no humidity and really cold air. Quite chilly after leaving Oki. We happened to be flying in the same weekend as the APEC conference - so many roads and highways were shut down. but we actaully did not get stuck in any of it!!!

Our first stop was Jamba Juice- a little deprived or just missing some old favorites. Then we stopped in on some old friends who had no idea we were coming, Mariah + Ellen!! Good times -

We spent our first couple nights at the Olson's - it is always good to be welcomed (those of you with more than 2 kids no what I am talking about) hosting a family of 7 makes some people nervous. We almost departed without leaving any damage behind. I am probably not helping us be invited anywhere else by sharing this:) Jeremiah got into my purse and found a black permanent marker - he began to display his artistic talents on Cheryl's light colored berber rug. At the top of the stairs in plain view. I was mortified! We loaded our car as Cheryl so kindly continued removing the marker with hairspray and a rag. Thankfully it worked and our damage was not permanent. I still felt I was doing the walk of shame as I left their house. By the way did I mention, they got us in our best state. Totally jet lagged , falling asleep at any given point and random napping.


Onto Bellows - The Little's joined us our first day for BBQ chicken . The guys did a great job ( if you like black chicken with red meat) no seriously they really tried. Not sure what went wrong, but once you got below the charcoal it was great! Jason + JJ good job!

We decided to hike Diamond Head - the kids were great. After hiking Mt. Fuji it was a breeze. This was Zachary's Mt. Fuji of sorts! Jeremiah hung out in the carrier most of the way and walked at other times. The bonus at the end of the hike was Shaved Ice and big sloppy burgers from the gut truck! We enjoyed our last night at Bellows with roasting marshmallows and awesome weather. The kids loved playing in the forest and building shelters. Our surprise guest Mr. Centipede showed up uninvited into our cabin on our last night- the kids managed stay calm while mommy caught it and sent him back outside.

Our last night was spent at The Littles house. What does a family pf 8 need on a work/school night ???? A family of 7 sleeping over, doing laundry, keeping them up late and getting them up early! We love you guys!!

Onto Washington State - Flights went well. Kids did great. I would write more but who wants to relive flights # 3 + # 4 in less than a week, I don't. Just thankful we made it !!!! Washington is gorgeous, we are surviving and enjoying the cold. Our blood is a bit thin but doing well. We arrived at our 1st hotel before 11pm. Great welcome after a long day. Nice room and good heater. Our first morning came quickly- packed up shuttled to the rental car and off to the Space Needle. Pretty cool, I really enjoyed seeing Washington from the aerial view. Gorgeous time of year and a really clear day! Jeremiah loved the elevator ride and would yell "fun" each time. We got out of the city before the traffic hit and into our hotel in Poulsbo. We enjoyed a great Italian dinner and stayed at a familiar hotel that we have come to appreciate when we pass through here. Now if we can only get the kids to sleep!! Tomorrow brings more adventures and fun. Off to sleep... Pictures will have to come tomorrow....

Summer Comes

Summer time for miltary families brings many changes. For some it is saying goodbye to friends and for others it is facing the challenge of another move and all the details that come with that. This seems to be a big moving summer. We will say goodbye to many friends and soon ourselves be the ones packing again.

Moving from state to state is so easy now after living overseas. Trying to make local planscfrom the other side of the world is always fun. Thankfully our God always provides and works out the details.

We are also entering a season of iuncredible heat and that brings its own challenges. Mosquitos from the jungle that eat you up. Cicadas that sing a glrious song and humidity that can moisten the dryest of skin:)

We face many challenges this summer as we prepare to move. Our dog is 15 1/2 years old and each day is a blessing to have her. Will she live 5 1/2 more months? Will she be able to fly back 1/2 way around the world? These are all things we think of and talk about and have to trust and wait. All in God's timing.

Samantha and I are preparing for a missions trip to the Philippines. We will visit Gentle Hands orphanage for 8 days. I know God will use this time to grow us, stretch us and mold us.

We also plan to hike Mt. Fuji in Late July. This is a family goal with the older kiddos. Excited for all these adventures and looking forward to what they bring.

Birthday wishes to our 2 May kiddos - and praying for many more blessed years with them...

Last Time around..

We are beginning what should be our last "long separation". Jason will be heading out this weekend for three months. We are geared up and ready to take these 3 months head on. We are grateful for the past year God has given us.

We faced 2 major deployments last year. The first one had Jason heading out to Iraq in May 2010 for a year long deployment- by GOD's hand these orders were cancelled and we faced the year with confidence that God's protection was over us. Fall came and so did more orders another year long deployment , this time to the Philippine's. Again, the Lord was with us. These orders were also cancelled just weeks out. We again give all glory and praise to God. We fall before the one true living God and continue to daily pray for His protection and provision. This 3 month "deployment" has been a blessing and a covering of sorts. This has kept Jason from a 3rd tasking that was to come with the New Year. We now wait as Jason prepares to leave and His retirement paperwork slowly makes its way through the proper channels. We will seek the Lord and His will for our family and wait to see what He has for us.

Our desire is to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He has for us. We wait and pray for direction and open doors. It will be another adventure in the coming months to see where we will end up and what we will be doing. Thank you God for keeping our family together!!!!

Cleaning House

It is time to dust out this site. I started a few weeks back and tonight I am attempting to clean and update a bit more. Life has been very busy and to be honest I fogot about my blog for awhile. I appreciate the opportunity to share and write but I do not often have the time to keep up with my extra hobbies.

Life in Okinawa is never dull and life with our 5 blessings is never dull. We are still homeschooling and loving every minute of it. The kids have all reached new stages and that is what keeps us going. They like to change as soon as you get a routine. I guess that is what happens when you feed and water them. Their spiritual growth seems to match their physical growth. We are so grateful for the opportunity to train them at home and watch CHrist take hold of their young, bold hearts!!

Praise God for his blessings. I am sure the coming months will bring adventure- as they always do....

Random Pics

Taylor

Katie

Samantha

Bubs 1st haircut with Daddy

Jeremiah gets RSV

The Sea Wall where Jason surfs

The hat that Taylor made for Jeremiah

The Mig crew Christmas morning

Christmas caroling

Little Man

Taylor turns 7