Fifty Weeks Together

It's been a hot-summer-in-Seattle-playing-in-the-water kind of a week:

A hot summer afternoon at Gramma's with the cousins and a makeshift slide & slip:

Uncle Caleb manning the hose

Go Isaac Go!

Cousin Magdalene taking the face-first challenge

Isaac helping Cousin Vaughn with the appropriate water-to-slide ratio

Auntie Tavia & the tiny judge from China gave that slide a TEN.

There are several AWESOME spray parks near our house. Our first trip to one was a success!

He ate that ENTIRE bowl of watermelon & grapes!

Hmmm...I wonder what it tastes like?

Now I know!

Again, thinking back to this time last year. Just two weeks away from when my boy would be in my arms but I STILL didn't know that yet. What a nerve-racking week this week last year was! SO thankful for the Lord's absolute perfect timing through it all.

An update on the Bamboo Project...through the magic of the Internet the word has been sent out...and not returning void!! There have been nearly 400 hits on this little blog in just two days and now several major adoption and Down syndrome websites will be posting the information too. The word is getting out so please continue to pray for those precious 14 children and for their forever families to come forward quickly. More info can be found at the top of our page or by contacting china@bethany.org .

 

The Bamboo Project

     My sweet boy is amazing in a thousand incredible ways. Every day I am in awe of the miracle of his little life--that he lives and breaths and is thriving despite what his genetics & his culture had pre-destined for him. His evening dance-offs in the mirror are proof he's got this living-life-to-the-fullest thing wrapped around his little finger! And the awesomeness of the Gospel lived out in adoption. We are redeemed! Desired, sought after, rescued and loved by a Perfect Father. That I am daily reminded of my Father's love for me as I get to love my little boy...sometimes it is more than I can handle.

 

     Isaac was one of the first orphaned children with Down syndrome deemed 'adoptable' by the adoption authorities of his home country. It makes me sick to even type that because I understand historically what has been in store for the sweet ones stamped 'unadoptable'...my heart breaks to think of what happens there, and even here in my own advanced, first-world country as 92% of parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose not to welcome their babies into the world. When was this horrible lie told that an extra chromosome is ugly and a burden to society and does not deserve to exist among us?! Just look at my sweet boy and the JOY that shines through his face...

 

But there IS hope...

     Isaac's home country has recently decided to 'trial' adopting out children with Down syndrome and contacted Bethany Christian Services, our adoption agency, to find forever homes for fourteen children with Ds. Bethany contacted us and Isaac & I have gotten to act as 'consultants' as Bethany has been working to develop a program to advocate for these beauties...which has been super exciting by the way! The Bamboo Project is now in full swing believing that "there is hope for bamboo (tree), if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease!" (Job 14:7). These are the sweet lovies that need a forever home: 

 

     We have an opportunity to help bring these precious ones home and give them the love and care they can thrive with...just like Isaac...and to pray open the flood gates of Down syndrome adoption in that country. Would you like to be a part of this amazing work?? There are three things that can be done immediately:

• If you or someone you know has a soft heart toward welcoming Down syndrome into their home through adoption, pass along this info and contact china@bethany.org These sweethearts have not received the love and medical care that is essential to a healthy, thriving life. The sooner we can bring them home the better, so spread the word! Let's get these kids HOME!
• There will be special funding available for these adoptions, but the adoption process can still be very expensive. If you would like to financially support these adoptions, you can provide an amazing blessing to the families bringing these children home. And it's tax deductible to you! Contact china@bethany.org to donate. Every $5, $10 and $100 gift helps!
• Prayer coverage is essential. Please pray for:
• For these fourteen sweet children. They are SO very precious, loved & wanted and their worlds are about to turn up-side-down as they enter their forever famliies. Pray for our Father's HOPE to overwhelm them and that fear, anxiety, sickness and confusion would be FAR from them. Pray that roots of love would indeed grow deep in each of their hearts and that they would remain healthy & safe. 

 

• For love and wisdom for the caregivers over these little ones. That the children would receive compassion & tenderness through them.

 

• For the potential forever families. I am convinced that there are already 14 families out there with a stirring in their hearts towards welcoming a child with Ds into their homes through adoption. Pray for open hearts and the faith to step out into this wonderful journey.

 

• For the doors to open wide in Isaac's home country. That there would be no political or bureaucratic hindrances to this process. And ultimately that the Bamboo Project will be a clear testimony in that country of our Father's plan for redemption.

 

• Most importantly for the Lord's will to be done perfectly and in His timing.

 

Thank you for standing up for these little ones and declaring: you are worthy and loved and wanted and we will NOT leave you as orphans!

(John 14:18)

Forty-Nine Weeks Together

My mom has been in the hospital this week with a touch of the 'blood-clot-in-the-lungs-itis', which is never good. She is home now & doing well, Praise the Lord! Isaac got to visit her in the hospital and get a matching band aid on his arm just like Gramma...it was super cute to see him identify her IV wrapping as out of the ordinary and then put his arm out for one too! A piece of medical plastic wrap & a EKG electrode was a good substitute. :) I wasn't sure how he would react being in a hospital room again, but thankfully, he didn't seem to have any residual emotional issues left over from our eleven day event in January. That is wonderful...because I have enough for both of us!

Here are some random photos of how we are enjoying our summer:

Tunnel forts!

 Playing in/on/with the new sand table I built!

 



Isaac LOVES to play in the kitchen while I am working and I love having him at my feet.  A couple of the cabinets are locked but the rest are open and right at his level which is perfect for exploring and rearranging...something he is VERY good at (found my missing Netflix DVD in with the pots & pans last week). But, most evenings this is what my kitchen floor ends up looking like:

I figured it was time for him to have his own kitchen to clean up...I mean explore in. Isn't this adorable??

Excited to have found a wooden kitchen in BLUE.

We took a random, unplanned side trip to a quaint little town not far from our home only to arrive to their annual Rhubarb Days.  Awesome-ness for everyone!

Checking out the tractors

Giant rhubarb pie beanbag toss

Isaac figured this game out pretty quick!

Baby chicks! 
(We attempted a gentle touch...that's all I'm going to say about that)

 

 

An impromptu post-nap-pre-dinner trip to the zoo:

BEAUTIFUL day to live in the PNW

Mt. Rainer in our backyard

Everytime the walrus would swim up to the the window, Isaac would sign "more fish".
How cute is that??

 

He's gets super excited about the round-n-round AND up-n-down part!

 

     We are having a good summer and I'm SO thankful for the beautiful weather we are having here. I am reminded that this time last year we still didn't know when my sweet boy would be coming home and were PRAYING our brains out that we'd make the August trip. I never could have imagined that one year later this would be my life...I love it. I love my boy. I am Praising our Lord at His perfect faithfulness.  God. Is. Good.

Summer Vacation Part 2

A continuation of our summer vacation adventures in Wisconsin:

Day 4: Sunday morning worship at the church I grew up in. It's a delight to see so many familiar faces and be greeted with so many warm hugs. After service, I looked over to see Isaac playing with the sons of a notable Green Bay Packer...he is having a great time and I'm pretty sure that if Uncle Thad were with us he would have a small stroke of joy! After nap time, my Uncle Jake and Aunt Nancy kidnap us for an afternoon at Bay Beach Amusement Park.  Both in their 70s, Jake & Nancy were awesome...they rode the kid train with us, made sure we had enough tickets for each ride, took pictures, and encouraged the consumption of root beer floats...as any good aunt & uncle should when your parents aren't looking! It was a lovely afternoon and I'm glad we were able to spend time with them.

Uncle Jake & Isaac

Some guy-time watching the trains.

Riding in the cars all by himself! Such a big boy!!
I love the video below...each time Isaac would see Jake & Nancy he'd WAVE!

 

 

 

Day 5: Today is a road trip to Wallace, Mi to the DeYoung Family Zoo. This is a family owned zoo that believes people learn more when they are able to get up & personal with the animals. It is quite the experience, but believe me when I say this zoo is in the middle of nowhere! I was a little skeptical at first, but we had a GREAT time--saw the tigers feeding, held a baby monkey and baby bobcat, and fed a hippo!

 

Road tripping!

Horse + zebra = ZORSE!

Auntie Amy & Louie the Chimp

Isaac got to touch a baby bobcat!
(This is now the only bobcat in the world with Pirates Booty in it's fur)

 

Getting ready to see the tigers get fed.

 

An Angora lion & Buddy the zookeeper

 

Giant tortoises

 

Jaelyn feeding Wallace the Hippo!

His lips feel like fish skin!

That's a good hippo

Ange giving her husband grounds for divorce!

Number one konked out

Number two konked out

Number three...not konked out.



 Day 6 morning: This is our final day and turned out being the most special. One hour north of Green Bay is Camp Daniel, an AWESOME Christian summer camp for persons with disabilities age 8 to 88. Ange and her mom have been counselors, and my Uncle Jake & Aunt Nancy have been counselors so I've always know about the camp but hadn't ever been in it's midst.  WOW. I was reduced to a puddle of tears within minutes of arriving...not out of pity or sadness but JOY and feeling a real presence of the Lord. I was thrilled to see many campers with Down syndrome as young as 9 and well into adulthood enjoying a full camp experience and surrounded by counselors and staff that truly believe that "in our weakness He is made strong" (2 Cor 12:9). We stayed for lunch and got to participate in Carnival Day---Isaac & the kids joined right along with the games and we had a GREAT afternoon! We'll be back again in about six years, Camp Daniel...with your newest camper!!

The dunk tank...made from a toilet!

Jaelyn & Isaac both won tickets at the beanbag toss

First snow cone

Practicing being a camper

Day 6, afternoon:You can't be in Green Bay, Wisconsin without going to the holy of holies...Lambeau Field.  I joke that Isaac is the only Asian with a cheesehead! That might not be entirely accurate, but if he is going to be in this family, he'll learn to love God, family, and the Green Bay Packers (and as the saying goes...not always in that order).

The Great & Powerful Lombardi

First trip to mecca

Raising our boys right!

We had a delightful trip. Ange & I talk nearly every day anyway, but I treasure our inhabiting-the-same-location-time and all that comes with it. The extra visits with old & new friends, extended family, and field trips around town was just icing on the cake.  Here is to summer vacations!