Storm, Voting, and Orphan Awareness

We are now a week past Hurricane Sandy and my heart is aching for the people who have lost loved ones. There have been over one hundred deaths as a result of this strange storm. We have relatives and friends who live on the east coast. A few of my adoption friends are still without power. The weather is cold and they are struggling to find food and warmth.

As the kids were going to bed our sweet Rebecca began crying and told us she felt like we as a family needed to pack our cars full of supplies and drive to New York and New Jersey and help. She truly feels we are just sitting her watching it all happen. It is so hard to be a parent and try to explain. We have certainly committed those affected to prayer. Parts of WV have also dealt with snow accumulation of over three feet. 

As a result of this "freak" storm, Mariah was able to watch snow for the very first time! The snow did not stick, but she sure enjoyed it!

We had lots of appointments this week. The good news is all three older kids are still cavity-free. 

As I was cleaning the kitchen from supper one evening, I snapped this picture.

Mariah loves this tub that our neighbor gave her. She painted owls and flowers on it and Mariah LOVES it! She mostly uses it as a stool to get into things she is not allowed. She grabbed a clothes basket and turned it upside down using it as a stool and climbed right on top of my piano. When all got quiet I came looking for her and found her on top of it.....sigh!

We do not celebrate Halloween but we did allow the kids to use costumes from our dress-up tote to Trick-or-Treat. It really is just a fun time with neighbors.

Our neighborhood is quite booming with kids on Trick-or-Treat night. Here was our street.

Here was our little owl! She wasn't too sure of it all. In fact the first house we visited, she flat out refused to walk up to the porch. She just sat right down. Can you imagine what she was thinking? Probably something like, "They bring me to this country and dress me up as a bird and ask for candy from strangers!" Good thing our neighbor understood and she calmed Mariah's fears and gave her the very first piece of candy. It was a fun night!

Jeremy came home from work on Thursday and I couldn't figure out why he came in through the front door. Then I quickly realized our garage door opener was not working. He quickly came to the conclusion that the motor was shot. 

This makes things tricky as there is no handle on the outside of the large double door. Jeremy released the opener which allowed us to manually operate the door then Jeremy called the next day to have someone come take a look at it. Needless to say we have a new opener (the new one was cheaper than parts for the old) and we now owe Miller Door $400. But it is all in perspective. We have heat, we have power, we have food, we have gasoline, we have our house and most importantly, we have each other. This is far more than what many east-coasters can say. It is fixed and no complaints here.

We also took advantage of the opportunity to vote early. We took all five kids to Lubeck Volunteer Fire Department and voted! Welcome to America sweet girl. We, the people, determine who will be our next president.

We had to get a picture of all five kiddos! They watched us vote and I even had Rebecca push most of touch screen for me.

Then I'm not quite sure why I find this so ironic but in the very same building as the early voting was a gun show. I had to convince Jeremy that we just spent $400 on a new garage door and a gun was not on our list of must-haves.

November is Orphan Awareness month. This Sunday was actually Orphan Sunday. So many emotions go through my heart and mind as I think about all of those children in countries (including here in the US) that go to bed every night without knowing the love of a family. 

I also cannot pretend that our daughter is a normal toddler. She spent the first 18 months of her life living in an institution where nannies changed with each shift. That will impact her life forever. She had a difficult beginning but God is the author of her life and I trust Him to write the rest of her story.

Her institution/orphanage made an impact on my life that I will never forget. We haven't spoken much about it because we want to tell Mariah as much as we possibly can when she is old enough to understand. Quite honestly, it is not an easy topic. She lived in two rooms her entire time there. It was a new facility. But there were over 250 children living there who are waiting for a forever family. Can you imagine that? There are hundreds of institutions like hers around the world.

It hit me one evening this past week about the providence of God in our daily normal lives. You may remember that our time in China was anything but easy. Mariah completely rejected me, Mama. Can you imagine being rejected by a little person that you prayed for many times each day, cried over, and spent hours upon hours on paperwork? Then spent thousands of dollars on airfare to fly 8000 miles on a plane for 15 hours, and navigated more airports than we care to remember to meet a complete stranger that you desperately love? She shut down, literally. She had a blank stare on her face and was so somber. My mom snapped this picture then Jeremy did a little editing. This was my first kiss to Mariah. I was oblivious and only found this picture after we returned home.

When we had our pictures taken a few weeks ago, our super sweet photographer saw me holding Mariah at a picnic table and asked me to just kiss Mariah on the cheek. Of course I did. It just dawned on me last week the significance of these two pictures. Take a look at the lifeless child in the first picture then the child full of life in this next photo. It doesn't even look like the same child.

Do you see how blessed we are? I cannot begin to articulate how we feel! We have fallen in love with this child who was abandoned by the only people she ever trusted. Now we have the absolute honor and joy to be her parents and love her.

Jeremy and I have often said that our prayer is that others would see how blessed we are and consider helping the orphan ministry in some way. God made a way for us and we had to abandon our fears and turn everything over to Him.

I'll leave you with a little of "Baby Cakes' " cuteness. Did I mention how thankful I am for a hubby who edits for a living? He spoils me!

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."    John 14:18