June 2006

We are now in the home study process which means that a social worker needs to complete a home visit to see if we are “suitable” to adopt a child.  I am feeling quite nervous because the designated social worker, whose past history was in crisis intervention, has already sent us a couple of emails that have 911 written all over them!   Needless to say, we are on edge about whether or not we are capable of meeting the needs of a child from another culture.  Still, we both know that we’ve heard from the Lord; He does not see racial boundaries like us.

Today, is our “lucky” day!  Though I had received an email earlier in the week from our social worker that advised me to not clean my house.   I didn’t think that this meant to leave the cobwebs dangling from the ceiling corners. And so, like every mother, we need a motivator to clean our house now and then, and this was the “carrot” that motivates me to hop around the house cleaning here and there until everything sparkles.  The pungency of the Pine Sol even beckons both Martha Stewart and Mr. Clean to join us!

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January-March 2006

Since January, once our boys have been tucked in for the night, Jeff and I have been fervently searching online about adoption agencies, reading every adoption story there is including the “adoption nightmares”, you know the “could happens”, and silently questioning if this is what the Lord has for us . . . to risk our family’s present state of happiness as well as finances to adopt a forgotten child.  Still . . . we pushed on with the research– reading about foster care, domestic, and international; both of us are very much still drawn to China.  I try not to dwell on the dream I had two years ago, but the face of my daughter is permanently etched inside my mind.  I can still hear the echoes of the slamming bathroom doors as I frantically looked inside each stall. On March 1, 2006, we apply for the China program through Holt International.  That same day the application was put in the mail, I began to grow you, my daughter, in my heart.  Little did I know that you had been there much longer then I remembered . . .

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November 2005

What an exhausting day of teaching middle school!  As my tired feet walk me to the house and into my kitchen, I notice the answering machine blinking in Morse code fashion.  Pushing play, I sit down and listen . . . “Think pink!” the message quotes.  I instantly smiled and knew it was my childhood friend calling to let me know the results of her ultrasound.   Without any hesitation, I immediately called back to congratulate her.  We chatted briefly about how much fun it will be to have a girl as well as how her two boys will feel about having a baby sister.  My husband Jeff is in the kitchen as I set the phone down; he has heard the entire conversation. Silence mixed with sadness transpires into my heart, radiates down to my soul, and is revealed by a single tear that rolls down my face, splashing onto the table.  Dreams of my own little girl swirling around in my gram’s red, glittering gold, square dance dress flash before my eyes.  Who will wear the costume jewelry that I have saved over the years?  Will I ever paint a pink room or go shopping for mother/daughter Easter dresses? Knowing that having a third child was not an option due to complications from the last pregnancy, I mentally begin to pack up my gram’s dress and her jewelry. . .

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Fall of 2004

The empty bathroom stalls seem to cry out as I frantically slam open each door with great intensity.  But where is that crying coming from?  Door numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . nothing.  Finally, the last door slowly pushes open.  The crying has stopped and so does my heart.  A toddler with Asian-like features looks at me.  I scoop her out of the filthy, ragged car seat that has been shoved into this tiny, insignificant bathroom stall. I walk out with her.  My husband and boys are waiting but not surprised at the gift I hold.  We try to get help from the mall security and the police, but no one wants to claim this child. Why?  Can’t they see that she doesn’t belong to us or does she?  Later that evening, this childlike angel is placed inside my son’s crib.  She cuddles up to him, and they fall asleep.  And I . . . well, I wake up from the dream . . .

A year before we decided to adopt our first daughter Juliese, I had this dream.  I am often reminded of it when I think about how many other orphans in this world are not so fortunate to have homes like our daughter.  It is my heart and my prayer that as we travel this “Journey for Joelle” that many lives will be touched by partaking in this miracle of rebirth: adoption. It is also our prayer that many others will be challenged to not just help others adopt, but to prayerfully consider where do they fit in to the Lord’s plan of taking care of the orphans?

In you the orphan finds mercy.  Hosea 14:3

Today, we had our second Journey for Joelle yardsale and raised close to four hundred dollars in donations.  For all who came out and supported us by way of encouraging words, yummy cupcakes to sell, donations, and yardsale details, thank you!

Last Saturday, we had a large indoor yard sale, and it was a hugh success even though it rained, and, I believe, we had our second mild tornado that afternoon!  We had a wide variety of items for sale as well as delicious baked goods and beautiful plants; both made with love! Please note that we are planning on having a second yard sale this summer, so stay tuned.  For all who came out to the yard sale, donated of their time and/or items, encouraged us via email, watched our children, wrote articles in the local newspapers, and kept us in your prayers–thank you!  Someday,  Joelle will hear all about her community who stepped up to the plate and helped her come home!

http://www.sunjournal.com/connections/story/845434

RAIN OR SHINE . . .

THE YARD SALE WILL BE INSIDE THE GUY E. ROWE SCHOOL IN

NORWAY, MAINE

The Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers in Waterville has become the second adoption agency in the state to be awarded a prestigious accreditation.

Jenni & Juliese are shown after the 1:20 mark!

Joelle’s Rainbow Journey

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God put the rainbow in the sky;
The clouds retreat-His promise high.
A brilliant bridge from Him to man,
To reconcile-this is His plan.

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On Friday, as we were heading to baseball practice, my son Jake started to share about the biography he’s been reading called George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans.  During our short drive, he was talking about how this man originally was a thief until he found the Lord, how he invested his entire life to help orphans, and how he was a praying man.  Jake told me how George Muller and his wife faithfully prayed on their knees by their bed for thirty-five mornings about whether they should build an orphanage to house three hundred children. On day thirty-six, there was a knock on the Muller’s home from the bank; someone had just donated one thousand pounds to build an orphanage.  As Jake was sharing this, I realized that there was a lesson for me as well as our family to learn–less worrying and more praying!