Tomorrow is Orphan Sunday. We are an advocate whether we want to be or not (we want to shout it from the mountain tops, but what will Avery want? what will our other children want?) For now, we will be as vocal as we can. When Avery is older and more able to make decisions we will include her in how much she wants to be involved if at all. Like I said, we are a walking poster family for adoption even if we don't want to be. My basic message is for everyone to do something. There are MILLIONS of children who are orphans - they go to bed without being read to, prayed with, alone, they may or may not have access to the basic needs of food, clean clothes, regular bathing, medical care, nurturing, warmth, toys, they don't know what it means to have a mom or a dad, brothers, sisters, an extended family who dotes on them and loves them. Can you imagine what that must be like? If every Christian would adopt just one orphan there would be no more orphans. We are called to care for the orphans, it's Biblical. What does it mean to 'care' for an orphan? It can mean lots of things. Adopt. Pray for them. Provide financial assistance to organizations that help orphans like
Half the Sky and
Love Without Boundaries both help children in China by providing medical assistance or training for nannies and a lot more. Or you can search for blogs of people who are adopting. Families are always raising money to help with their adoptions. Some of my favorites are:
k6comehome.blogspot.com www.redthreadstitches.com or
orphaned-no-more.blogspot.com or
www.wildolivetees.com or
www.showhope.org. God knows every hair on their head, He is concerned with each one of them.
I've been waiting to post about Huk*u (pronounced who-ko) Papers until I had some time to give it. I hope I do it justice because it just dumb-founded me that a system like this still exists. And from the research I have gathered it has only been around since the 1950s. It is Ch*na's way of classifying people into mostly two categories: urban and rural. It is associated with your family history and surname, and it follows you where ever you go. It sounds to me like it's a bit like illegal immigrants in your own country who can't go from province to province. Imagine living in Oklahoma and not being able to go to Texas for work. From what I gather this is what Huk*o papers do - keep track of or control their citizens (the article I read compared it to apartheid in South Africa). If anyone who reads this knows more about this subject than I do, then please chime in! Occasionally they will perform raids and round up anyone who is working outside their province and deport them.
Well, what if you are an orphan in Ch*na? You have no home, therefore you are not tied to a family, or even classified as urban or rural. Forever you are classified as an orphan! Your Huk*o Papers tie you to your orphanage. You have an almost impossible time getting into college and getting a job (you are considered unlucky and people won't hire you). Amy Eldridge from L*ve With*ut B*undaries was our guest speaker at Ch*na Camp this past summer and she told us this (see the link here:
chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/search?q=love+without+boundaries, I hope you will read it). My heart was broken for these kids who have this stamp of disapproval for life in their country.
So, in honor of Orphan Sunday, let's recognize that their is so much we can do to get this number down and bring home one more.
Today is our "Forever Family Day." The day we got Avery one year ago. She was very scared of us 'white' people, had an upper respiratory infection, a rash on her torso, ate only formula (she was 15 months old), spoke Chinese, was VERY well cared for (despite the infection and rash) in the orphanage, had endured open heart surgery, had never worn a diaper, and had never known what being in a family was like. She was found when she was a month old. The Chinese believe that after a mother has her baby she is to go home and stay there for one month to protect the Chi or luck of the child and family. After that one month they are able to go out. Most babies who are found are about a month old because of this tradition.
This is Carlie Grace or, as she calls herself, Cawlie Gwace. She is a little spitfire. This morning she came to me and said, "Mom, did you see what Jazzy did?" I said, "No, what did Jazzy do?" She said, "She ate my cereal!" I ask, "How did she GET your cereal?" Carlie says, "I frew it on da gwound."
After the parade we went back to the church for a cast party to celebrate how hard all these kiddos had worked. We did some turkey bowling (my team won, of course) and feasted on one fabUlous cake.
We have a friend at our house for about 6 weeks. He's hired help - FINALLY!! The kids named him Carson Crash or Car Crash for short. Nicci thinks he looks like our cousin Carson (he does), but Ethan wanted to call him Crash Bandicoot. We compromised. And Ethan has fallen for it hook, line, and stinker. He talks to Car Crash, waves to him, and writes him notes (has his sister write them for him).
Tomorrow is Orphan Sunday. We are an advocate whether we want to be or not (we want to shout it from the mountain tops, but what will Avery want? what will our other children want?) For now, we will be as vocal as we can. When Avery is older and more able to make decisions we will include her in how much she wants to be involved if at all. Like I said, we are a walking poster family for adoption even if we don't want to be. My basic message is for everyone to do something. There are MILLIONS of children who are orphans - they go to bed without being read to, prayed with, alone, they may or may not have access to the basic needs of food, clean clothes, regular bathing, medical care, nurturing, warmth, toys, they don't know what it means to have a mom or a dad, brothers, sisters, an extended family who dotes on them and loves them. Can you imagine what that must be like? If every Christian would adopt just one orphan there would be no more orphans. We are called to care for the orphans, it's Biblical. What does it mean to 'care' for an orphan? It can mean lots of things. Adopt. Pray for them. Provide financial assistance to organizations that help orphans like Half the Sky and Love Without Boundaries both help children in China by providing medical assistance or training for nannies and a lot more. Or you can search for blogs of people who are adopting. Families are always raising money to help with their adoptions. Some of my favorites are: k6comehome.blogspot.com www.redthreadstitches.com or orphaned-no-more.blogspot.com or www.wildolivetees.com or www.showhope.org. God knows every hair on their head, He is concerned with each one of them. 
They passed out pith helmets and magnifying glasses so they could really get into it. How many legs does a butterfly have?
Such silly kids . . .
This was one of my favorite butterflies. Isn't she beautiful! (Aren't all butterflies girls?)
Our first day was spent at Silver Dollar City or Sinner Donner Cinny as Carlie called it. It was a beautiful day and we went all over that place more than once. There were only a few rides that Avery was tall enough to ride and she seemed fine with that. We kept her busy with the food and the sights. 
This was fun! It went up and down and round and round. I made Nicci go with me, she wasn't too sure about it and I don't think she was too happy with me. She's more of a roller coaster type of chick!
We're missing one! Yup, Conner stayed back in Oklahoma with some friends so he wouldn't miss the church Fall Retreat. We really missed him, but he had a great time where he was. We stayed in a cabin in the woods where it was nice and cozy. After our days of exploring we came back here to make caramel apples, drink hot chocolate, explore outside, sit in the hot tub and watch movies. It was a wonderful and much needed break from our rat race.
Last Saturday was a great celebration. We celebrated the fact that less than a year ago a young man was just 3 days away from aging out of the orphanage (which means he would have been placed in a vo-tech type of situation and never known about the love of a family in a country where family means A LOT) and was adopted by his forever family. There were about 6 families all gathered at the N's house to meet face to face the children we have all prayed home. Several of these children weren't here a year or two ago! There are more on the way (not us, don't panic, but you never know!). The kids made new friends got reacquainted with ones they had seen last year or at China Camp and the adults chatted and ate and ate, and the adults ate, and then we had some food. Our big group picture is missing three China born babes (they had to head home early), so that makes 17 of 28 total children who are orphans no more. Technically, we are all orphans no more, right? Our heavenly Father adopted us all!
Ethan and Kaeleb did lots of boy things. They had their own squawky language going and got all kinds of dirty.
Maggie and Avery kept a safe distance from each other. They both wanted the same toys a lot of the time, but kept a mutual respect for each other. I'm sure with time they will be two peas in a pod. Maggie just came home about 5 months ago!
