We have some big changes on the horizon for our family in the next few weeks and months and I want to let you all know about some big decisions we've been praying about for some time now.
As you may know, Promise, our oldest, is 17 years old now and has aged out of adoption. SCH will be her home forever.
In the next few months, the wonderful Rippee family will be moving up to Hyderabad with their group of older girls from Ongole. A few months ago, Nikki and I asked them and Sarah to pray with us about moving Promise into their home when they come up.
After a lot of prayer we have decided that it will be in the best interest of Promise to move her. While my heart breaks just thinking about it, I know that we have made the best decision for her. That home will be more stable for her and while we do more one-on-one therapy and school, that home focuses on group classes which Promise loves. She really enjoys being around lots of people and just listening to all that is going on so I think that home will be a much better environment for her to learn and grow in. I will be so sad to see Promise go, but I am also excited to see how she will thrive in her new home and we'll of course be close enough to visit her often :)
Once the decision was made to move Promise, Nikki and I started praying about whether we should take another child at that time or just keep it at 10.
We really felt like we could and should take another so we began to throw around ideas of who we could take, whether we'd take an SCH kid from a home without a foster mom or one from the state orphanage, boy or girl, etc.
We decided that we wanted a little boy with cerebral palsy from the orphanage. We work well with kids with CP and with 8 girls and only 3 boys, we thought another boy would be a nice addition.
Well, God had some other plans and has now made it clear that He wants us to take 2 little girls from the state orphanage instead. And now that Nikki is back, we're going to bring them home as soon as we can!
As you may know, Promise, our oldest, is 17 years old now and has aged out of adoption. SCH will be her home forever.
In the next few months, the wonderful Rippee family will be moving up to Hyderabad with their group of older girls from Ongole. A few months ago, Nikki and I asked them and Sarah to pray with us about moving Promise into their home when they come up.
Once the decision was made to move Promise, Nikki and I started praying about whether we should take another child at that time or just keep it at 10.
We really felt like we could and should take another so we began to throw around ideas of who we could take, whether we'd take an SCH kid from a home without a foster mom or one from the state orphanage, boy or girl, etc.
We decided that we wanted a little boy with cerebral palsy from the orphanage. We work well with kids with CP and with 8 girls and only 3 boys, we thought another boy would be a nice addition.
Well, God had some other plans and has now made it clear that He wants us to take 2 little girls from the state orphanage instead. And now that Nikki is back, we're going to bring them home as soon as we can!
Yep. You heard me right. As long as everything goes to plan, some time this coming week we will be adding 2 more beautiful little girls to our home! I am so incredibly excited to introduce you to "Selah" and "Brianna" :)
Selah is 3 years old and has cerebral palsy. Nikki and I have been going to the state orphanage once a week to work with the kids in the special needs room since November. The first time we went Selah was so scared and shy she just sat against the wall and cried if we even looked at her. Nikki started spending the bulk of her time every week with Selah and while she cried a lot at first, she slowly began to come out of her shell, engage in the activities Nikki was doing with her, and eventually ask for hugs and to be held.
Up until last week, I really didn't know much about Selah as most of my time had been spent with other kids in her room. Last week though things were different. Nikki and I had decided to add Selah to our family a couple weeks prior and because Nikki wasn't there to spend time with her, I made it a point to give her some of my time and attention. I was afraid she wouldn't remember me or trust me the way she did Nikki. The second I walked through the door though her face lit up in a smile and she lifted her arms out to me. I swung her up into my arms and as tears came to my eyes I realized how much love God had given me for my new daughter. I was overwhelmed with joy that she knows me and while she is still fearful around other Americans, she knows I'm safe and trusts me. I spent the rest of the day getting to know our girl and it was the hardest thing in the world to say goodbye, give her one last hug, put her down on the mat, and walk away. The only comfort as I battled back tears was knowing that the next time I walk out of Room 8, Selah will be coming home with me.
It is amazing to see how much Selah has changed in just a just a few months with only an hour a week. I am so incredibly excited to see where she will go in a few more months in a loving family environment. God is going to do some incredible things in her this year - I just know it!
While God slowly gave me a love for Selah, with Brianna it was love at first sight!
When we went to pick up Chloe and Charlotte a few months ago, the director of the orphanage mentioned that they had another little 1 year old girl born without eyes and asked if we would take her as well. We told her that sadly we couldn't - our family was getting quite large already with Chloe and Charlotte bringing us to 11 children and another would just be too many too soon. A few minutes later, as we were waiting for them to get our girls ready, one of the ayahs came out and placed a tiny little girl in my arms. Instead of eyes she had the cutest little scrunched up eyelids. She had a crazy little mohawk of hair on the top of her pointy little head. And these little bottom teeth that stick out which made for the cutest and goofiest smile I had ever seen.
I looked down at the tiny girl in my arms and my heart melted.
I knew deep down we couldn't take another child at that point but I tried to think of any excuse I could to take her home with me. I had to have Nikki take her away because I was afraid I couldn't give her up on my own. Going to the orphanage and seeing the seas of faces you are helpless to do anything for is one of the hardest things in the world. But even harder than that is looking at one child in your arms, knowing you could make a difference in that one life, but having to leave them behind because deep down you know it's what's best for your other 11.
A few minutes later Chloe and Charlotte were brought to us and in the joy of that moment, the heartache proceeding it was forgotten. But ever since that day, whenever I would hear Brianna's name, a little pang would go through my heart. Like she was a small part of me somehow.
When we made the decision to bring Brianna into our family, I felt the most overwhelming peace (something I hadn't had in months) combined with an incredible amount of joy and excitement that when the time was right, Brianna would be my little girl.
I know many of you think we're crazy for taking 2 more children when we already have so many. How could we possibly give all of them what they need?
Honestly, we can't. But even if we only had one child, we would still be unable to give that one all they needed. We will never be able to give them all they need or deserve. But we do our very best by every child that comes into our home and give them everything that is possibly in our power to give them.
This decision was not an easy one. We have 11 children in our home we have to think of first. We don't ever want to sacrifice what we're giving to one child to be able to take another. Also, at what point does our home stop feeling like a family and begin to feel like an orphanage?
I'm really practical and if it were my choice I would have stuck with 7 as that seems the reasonable thing to do. But sometimes God asks you to just trust Him to work it out even if it seems crazy and impossible. We always think there is no way we could add another child and then when He brings us another one and we step out in faith and take them in, He always gives us everything we need to not only make it work, but to make it better than it was before.
So here we are 4 steps of faith later and 2 more coming very soon. It's crazy. But I am so excited to see how God's going to make it work.
And then make it even better!
Bringing Selah and Brianna into our family is also a huge step of faith in another way. We currently have 4 of our children who are only partially sponsored and then the 2 new girls will come in completely unsponsored making our tight budget even tighter. So I have a favor to ask: If you believe in what we're doing, will you please consider partially sponsoring one of our 4 girls currently needing it? And whether you can give or not, please spread the word and share with your friends. It would be such an incredible blessing to know that when we take these 2 new girls we don't have to worry about the others because they are already taken care of. Here are our girls currently in need of partial sponsorships:
Dinah:
Dinah will be celebrating her 7th birthday in just 8 days - will you help us get her fully sponsored by her birthday?! Dinah's sponsorship page
Chloe:
Chloe's sponsorship page
Charlotte:
Charlotte's sponsorship page
Promise:
Even though Promise is moving from our home, I would love to send her off to her new foster family fully sponsored! Will you help? Promise's sponsorship page
Up until last week, I really didn't know much about Selah as most of my time had been spent with other kids in her room. Last week though things were different. Nikki and I had decided to add Selah to our family a couple weeks prior and because Nikki wasn't there to spend time with her, I made it a point to give her some of my time and attention. I was afraid she wouldn't remember me or trust me the way she did Nikki. The second I walked through the door though her face lit up in a smile and she lifted her arms out to me. I swung her up into my arms and as tears came to my eyes I realized how much love God had given me for my new daughter. I was overwhelmed with joy that she knows me and while she is still fearful around other Americans, she knows I'm safe and trusts me. I spent the rest of the day getting to know our girl and it was the hardest thing in the world to say goodbye, give her one last hug, put her down on the mat, and walk away. The only comfort as I battled back tears was knowing that the next time I walk out of Room 8, Selah will be coming home with me.
It is amazing to see how much Selah has changed in just a just a few months with only an hour a week. I am so incredibly excited to see where she will go in a few more months in a loving family environment. God is going to do some incredible things in her this year - I just know it!
While God slowly gave me a love for Selah, with Brianna it was love at first sight!
When we went to pick up Chloe and Charlotte a few months ago, the director of the orphanage mentioned that they had another little 1 year old girl born without eyes and asked if we would take her as well. We told her that sadly we couldn't - our family was getting quite large already with Chloe and Charlotte bringing us to 11 children and another would just be too many too soon. A few minutes later, as we were waiting for them to get our girls ready, one of the ayahs came out and placed a tiny little girl in my arms. Instead of eyes she had the cutest little scrunched up eyelids. She had a crazy little mohawk of hair on the top of her pointy little head. And these little bottom teeth that stick out which made for the cutest and goofiest smile I had ever seen.
I looked down at the tiny girl in my arms and my heart melted.
I knew deep down we couldn't take another child at that point but I tried to think of any excuse I could to take her home with me. I had to have Nikki take her away because I was afraid I couldn't give her up on my own. Going to the orphanage and seeing the seas of faces you are helpless to do anything for is one of the hardest things in the world. But even harder than that is looking at one child in your arms, knowing you could make a difference in that one life, but having to leave them behind because deep down you know it's what's best for your other 11.
A few minutes later Chloe and Charlotte were brought to us and in the joy of that moment, the heartache proceeding it was forgotten. But ever since that day, whenever I would hear Brianna's name, a little pang would go through my heart. Like she was a small part of me somehow.
When we made the decision to bring Brianna into our family, I felt the most overwhelming peace (something I hadn't had in months) combined with an incredible amount of joy and excitement that when the time was right, Brianna would be my little girl.
I know many of you think we're crazy for taking 2 more children when we already have so many. How could we possibly give all of them what they need?
Honestly, we can't. But even if we only had one child, we would still be unable to give that one all they needed. We will never be able to give them all they need or deserve. But we do our very best by every child that comes into our home and give them everything that is possibly in our power to give them.
This decision was not an easy one. We have 11 children in our home we have to think of first. We don't ever want to sacrifice what we're giving to one child to be able to take another. Also, at what point does our home stop feeling like a family and begin to feel like an orphanage?
I'm really practical and if it were my choice I would have stuck with 7 as that seems the reasonable thing to do. But sometimes God asks you to just trust Him to work it out even if it seems crazy and impossible. We always think there is no way we could add another child and then when He brings us another one and we step out in faith and take them in, He always gives us everything we need to not only make it work, but to make it better than it was before.
So here we are 4 steps of faith later and 2 more coming very soon. It's crazy. But I am so excited to see how God's going to make it work.
And then make it even better!
Bringing Selah and Brianna into our family is also a huge step of faith in another way. We currently have 4 of our children who are only partially sponsored and then the 2 new girls will come in completely unsponsored making our tight budget even tighter. So I have a favor to ask: If you believe in what we're doing, will you please consider partially sponsoring one of our 4 girls currently needing it? And whether you can give or not, please spread the word and share with your friends. It would be such an incredible blessing to know that when we take these 2 new girls we don't have to worry about the others because they are already taken care of. Here are our girls currently in need of partial sponsorships:
Dinah:
Dinah will be celebrating her 7th birthday in just 8 days - will you help us get her fully sponsored by her birthday?! Dinah's sponsorship page
Chloe:
Chloe's sponsorship page
Charlotte:
Charlotte's sponsorship page
Promise:
Even though Promise is moving from our home, I would love to send her off to her new foster family fully sponsored! Will you help? Promise's sponsorship page
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