Are YOU his family?

No, not Daniel. He's mine. But there's an awesome little nine year-old boy at Gentle Hands who needs a family RIGHT NOW! He needs to be matched with an American christian family within the next 3 days or he will be matched at random to any current applicants throughout the world.

If you have been thinking about adoption or have already taken steps in that direction, or feel that this is God's call to be obedient to Him in this moment having never thought about adoption before, or WHATEVER your current situation...if you think he could be your newest family member, PLEASE contact me for more information. Pass this on to any friends and your pastors too if you are not able to do this.

And whatever your response, please pray for this little boy, that God would provide his family today!

A Long Time Since...

Wow, I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing. I suppose I can claim the excuse that the initial purpose of this blog was to share updates about the adoption process, and pretty much nothing has happened on that front. However, mostly I'm just bad at actually getting the updates on here. So, here's a peek at what's happened since October...

November brought Daniel's birthday with a little celebration at home and church on the actual day, and a party with friends a week later. He is loving being two, and seems to have changed and grown a lot since that magical day!

Playing with his birthday balloons in his birthday tent.

Bubbles galore - birthday party entertainment!

Blowing out his 2 year old candle on his Elmo cupcake!

In mid-December, my mom came for a visit, to see ME after 2 1/2 years and to meet her new (and only) grandson. It was a fun month, especially since I was on school break for most of it. We spent a week at my favorite beach, where Daniel romped in the sand and sea to his little heart's delight. I'm so glad he's a beach-lovin' baby! Aside from the beach, we had a super fun time with Nonnie and were very sad when we had to drop her off at the airport. Skyping is just not the same as having her here!

"Digging" the beach

Chillin' with his best bud, Ezra

We LOVE the beach!

School started up again mid-January, so we got back into our regular weekly routine. However, we welcomed some new friends into our house - Liz, just for a week, and Madison, who is here to stay for a while (well, 4 months, anyway). Madison has quickly made her way into Daniel's heart and is one of his favorite friends. Its been fun to have someone else around to talk and do things with (someone over the age of 2. I mean!), and we get along quite well. I'm already sad that she has to leave in May. Waaaah!

Madison and her chalk art

A few updates on the little guy:

• Although he can't sing the song yet, he can now identify nearly all the letters of the alphabet! This is partially attributed to the cool "Alphabet Town" toy that Nonnie bought when she was here. My favorite part is that it's a British company (or at least the voice is), and Daniel has picked up a bit of the accent on certain words. Like "smol", aka, "small". Oh, and its "x-y-ZED" not "z". Oh, my little international MK child!
• He now counts to 10 regularly and repeatedly - its one of his favorite things to do, actually. He's got the number "one" in his repertoire now, but often skips "eight". We're working on being able to count objects now, instead of just counting at random.
• He can dribble a basketball...mostly
• He somersaults - however, making sure doesn't do so OFF of surfaces like the bed or couch is a current priority!
• Jumping is still a very favorite activity. Now he jumps off of objects at heights of about 2 feet without holding my hand, and lands most of his jumps. 
• The BIGGEST latest news is that he is ROCKIN' the potty-training!!! Day 3 with zero accidents was today, and those days included being out at church, the mall, and even through a movie in the theater (which, in itself, was a big deal)! We haven't made any attempts at it for naptime/bedtime, but he's doing so awesome at the day-time stuff. I wasn't really planning to start this process until he was at least 2 1/2, (he's 27 months now), but he was showing signs of readiness, so we gave it a shot. 

On the adoption front, I went to the DSWD office yesterday to submit my paperwork to get our case started. However, since I am applying with a different address than I did with my foster care, my case will actually be filed through a different branch of the office. SO, my file will be submitted tomorrow (Feb 16) to the Region 4 office, which will be the real start to my adoption process! Then I'll wait to hear from a new social worker who will update my homestudy and then submit my file for the next step. I'm still not totally clear on the steps nor the timeline, but at least something is happening now. Please continue to pray for the process and that, if possible, it all might possibly be finalized before the start of the next school year. It'll take a miracle, but if it doesn't happen by then, I'm not too worried. It just means my plans for a furlough in July will be on hold for a while. =)

 If you want to learn more about adoption, fostering (in the Philippines) or Gentle Hands Children's Home, you can start by reading Charity's latest update, then checking out the website. If you're interested in giving to support my ministry or Gentle Hands, please see the sidebar or ask me for more information.

Finally, I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing this journey with us. Thank you for praying, for giving, and for sharing our story.

A proud mommy

So I think its very possible that I get more joy out of teaching my two year old son something and seeing him demonstrate that he has grasped new knowledge than I do teaching a classroom full of elementary students. I mean, I love teaching in general and having that connection with kids and seeing them learn, but its really different when its my own [almost] kid. 

Within the last two weeks, Daniel learned to say most of the letters of the ABCs. But today as we were saying them, I realized that he now knows what letter comes NEXT and says that one, instead of repeating what letter I've just said. Not for all the letters, but there are about 10 that he knows are next.

With about 80% accuraccy (yep, there's the teacher-training in me), Daniel is identifying capital O, E, and A in print. Seriously, I didn't mean for him to do that yet!

Today he counted to 6, without repeating after me. Except that he hates the number 1, so I have to force him to start with it by repeating it over and over. He loves 2...its his favorite number. He can repeat count up to 10.

He can now respond properly to the questions, "What's your name?" (Dan dal) and "How old are you?"  (Twoooo). I know, he's not quite two yet, so its not entirely true, but I think we're close enough and, well, see the above paragraph about the number 1.

Well, that's the latest on my side of the ocean. Its school break for the next week, so instead of going to the beach as I have for every other break since I've lived in the Philippines, we're checking out some local stuff, like the aquarium and the zoo. Pre-birthday presents, I'll call them!

Don't Tagalog me; I'm nosebleed!!!

I know that for most of you, the title of this post makes no sense. But, if by chance you are Filipino, you are probably laughing outloud. It's a common phrase (substitute "English" for "Tagalog") around here when a Filipino has to engage in too much English conversation. It might also go something like, "Don't English me; I'm panic!"

But in real news (and the reason for the title), I attended a pre-adoption seminar on Sept 24 (or somewhere around that date), a requirement for anyone going through domestic adoption in the Philippines. The seminar was held in a tiny little room, maybe 7x12 feet, with a large table in the center, and about 25 attendees. Unfortunately for me, the majority of the seminar was conducted in Tagalog...I don't really speak or understand much, even after living here for 9 years. Fortunately, I know enough plus the bits that were in English to have come out of the seminar with a bit of understanding of what's to come.

The good news:

• One requirement in the process is a six month "pre-trial placement", when the child is placed in the prospective parent's home and monitored by supervised visits from the social worker. I found out that my foster placement with Daniel counts as that placement, knocking off 6 months of the process in the future.
• My primary social worker through this will continue to be the one I've already been working with through Gentle Hands. Hurray!
• My government-assigned social worker was one of two conducting the seminar. Fortunately, she was the nice one that smiled and me and spoke to me in English (the other lady would make a point to speak to me in Tagalog, then turn to someone else and speak in English. Grrr.)
• There were at least 3 other single women in the room, and we were assured that there was no bias against singles adopting.

The bad news:

• I still have no idea on timing of the whole process. In theory (and with LOTS of prayer), its possible it could be completed by the end of the school year or summer, which would be ideal, as I'd like to furlough. However, I'm not putting any bets on that timing.
• I was told not to even start the application process until six months of fostering is completed. It will officially be 6 months in December. Which means, of course, that nothing will happen until at least mid-January with the Christmas holidays.
• We still have not been officially matched. I supposed this isn't really bad news, but it isn't good news yet either. Daniel's paperwork was finally submitted last week, and matching should happen within the month. Actually, the fact that its been this long before his paperwork was sent in goes in my favor, as we've had longer to bond and demonstrate results of the bond and his thriving in my care.

So that's the "where we are in the process" update. Sorry its been so terribly long since the last post. I'm sure you were all on pins and needles waiting to hear what was happening. ;-)

Thanks for praying!

Just to make you smile...

Here are a few short videos taken recently. They aren't anything amazing, but they give a peek into Daniel's personality!

I just love the shrieking and running  =)

 

Daniel vs. Orajel

 

Swimming in the kiddie pool @ staff retreat. He LOVED that he could touch the bottom and repeatedly did this move!

Baby Steps in the Right Direction

This afternoon Daniel and I stopped by Gentle Hands on our way home from church, to visit for a bit and the to take two of the older girls home with us. Krystal & Angelika were pretty excited to come to my house for a sleepover, and spent about 1/2 an hour packing a bag for the night.

And yes, they forgot their toothbrushes.

While they packed, I had a chance to talk with Charity about the direction of the adoption. When I last talked with Charity, she was waiting to set up a meeting with the director of the DS*D. Well, it finally happened! She presented Daniel's case and I now have a NEXT STEP. Wahoo! At some point in the not too distant future, I will need to attend a mandatory adoption forum seminar thing, where I will learn the requirements of adoption. Maybe after that I'll be able to answer the myriads questions everyone asks, which I currently have NO idea about!

On a side-note, I think its rather funny that this gorgeous little boy has grabbed a hold of my heart. I always envisioned daughters, yet figured God would be funny enough to give me sons. Voila...enter Daniel!

Entertaining the crowds with his buddy Ezra and their amazing piano playing, Daniel can't resist flashing a smile at the camera.

Crazy Love...Again!

In March, I posted in response to Linny at A Place Called Simplicity when she challenged readers to share their needs with the world regarding adoption and other pressing circumstances. Well, another challenge has been issued, this time specifically about orphans, either people in the midst of an adoption (oh how I WISH I was there now - but since I don't know if anything has been started, well...), or a ministry that serves orphans.

So, its option B that I'm posting about today. Gentle Hands, which currently houses around 60+ orphans or kids with unlivable home situations, is building a new building to expand their facility. Believe me, all those people do NOT fit so well in the space they're in, so this building is a HUMOUNGOUS blessing. However, there is a serious deficit in the finances to pay for this building, which, by the way, is currently under construction with the 3rd floor in progress. The need is around $100,000 to finish the project. Wow, that really is a lot of money! But the number of lives that can be saved with the ability to house more kids is totally worth it. Gentle Hands is one of very few children's homes in the Philippines that is willing to take in children with special needs or compromised health. Babies and children are rescued from hospitals, dropped off at the door, and pulled from the dark recesses of abuse and suffering. This is a place where God does HUGE healing miracles, of health and hearts, and a place for life to start again.

On the right of the page, there is a link to give to Gentle Hands. If you have any questions, please comment and I'll get back to you.