Hudson's 2!!! I can't believe it!

This has been birthday week for Hudson turning the big #2! Tuesday we celebrated as best we could (mommy was still under the weather) with a pancake breakfast accompanied with presents and a Skype call with Nanna and aunt Kirstie. We had a pretty low-key day of language class while the boys played and rode bikes then took a good birthday nap. Then we tried out a local garden/park/sad mini carnival called Empress Park. I wasn't too thrilled with the level of safety measures of the playground equipment and mini carnival rides, but the boys had a blast on the things we deemed "safe enough looking" :) I'll have to put up pics of the rides from my phone later. They give the anual C-bad carnival a run for it's money :) After that, we had Hudson's favorite dinner of spicy popcorn chicken at KFC, Baskin Robins for dessert, and a go at the nice (safe & clean) brand new playground at the mall! Mom was super excited to find this gem! Gives me one more good reason to frequent the mall :) It was a nice day and I think Hudson felt special.

All week long he kept asking about his "chocolate birthday cake." He woke up in the morning asking about it. He woke up from nap, daily asking about it. Needless to say he was excited to have a chocolate birthday cake and I felt bad every time I had to tell him he had to wait until Saturday. I've really been stressing over what to do for his birthday and kind of putting it off because I've felt so bad lately. We decided to do a simple party at home and invite all the boys little friends from our building and other expats here in town. It turned out really well. The kids seemed to have fun and enjoy the food, especially cake and ice cream.

Jackson working the power tools while Maggie played animals. 

Claudia, Mason, & Tucker. 3 of Hudson's heros.

Joshita & Inesh (sweet sister & brother) Mason & Hudson

Blowing out his candles! He got one on his own.

Sweet "Cookie"! She's such a cute little girl and full of personality.

Anika & Oman The only two kids we've met in our society that speak the language we're learning :)

Girls had a hang out in the tent. At another time they had 5 in here.

We are so blessed to have this little boy in our life (both our boys) and can't believe he's already 2! These past 2 years have flown by and he is suddenly not a baby anymore. His words are blooming like crazy, especially in this last month. He's now speaking in sentences even if only his parents and brother understand him most of the time. He's starting to show more personality with each day and we are enjoying seeing him blossom into a little person. Thank you God for allowing us be his parents! What a blessing it is! 

Painting with Friends

Coming up with fun things for the kids to do has been a creativity challenge for me lately. We're still exploring our city, getting used to living with limited transportation and getting used to our new routine. So I finally pulled out some painting for the kids to do and try to last as long as we could on the porch before the heat became too much. The boys had a blast, especially Jackson who had a few paintings by the end of the morning. Our house helper's son and niece (who come over most mornings to play while school is out), had a great time too. Jackson starts summer camp this week so he'll get lots of chances to paint and do fun crafts that mommy wouldn't have the brain power to think up right now.

Love that expression!

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Sweet friends with some great painting skills

Adoption update: Homestudy

We are finishing up a BIG first step in the adoption process this month. We just had our home visit where our social worker came from the US to do our interviews and home assessment. It went so great! God truly answered my prayers in giving us a godly social worker who put us at ease to openly talk with. It was such a great and uplifting experience. The only stress we had in the two days was how we were going to get our boys out to our friend's house and back and how we were going to drive across the city a few times to pick up our social worker and drop him off at the bus stations. In true fashion, the rickshaw drivers went on strike the first day when we had lots of running around to do and there were NO rickshaws on the road. (actually Kit found one who wanted to charge 10x the price). All the taxi co's were over loaded and we had to have some friends and our language teacher help us out. It all worked out and we had a great experience. We also were able to split the cost of our social worker's trip with two other couples whom we coordinated with. That was a tremendous blessing as well! Praise God for providing and blessing us more than we could ever deserve! As a side note, if you need an adoption agency suggestion, Small World was wonderful for our homestudy process and they have a variety of country programs to choose from.

We also get to "officially" get on the child referral waiting list this week :) We are super excited about this as we know it will probably taking months to get a referral and would like to start the "official" wait ASAP. The only big steps in the pre-adoption phase we lack now, are traveling to our capital city to apply for USCIS approval and our homestudy to be written and sent to our primary agency. We're really excited to be moving forward and while we know we still have a long road to go down, we're grateful we are actually ON the road now :) 

Moving from compassion to action

I posted a few times about the DRC and the effects of the wars on orphans and women. I'm no expert on the DRC by any means. I'm not sure anyone can completely understand or explain the reasoning behind all of the DRC recent wars. The book my husband and I have been reading, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, does a really good job unpacking the recent history and trying to explain, from an unbiased viewpoint, what has happened and why. I know there are other good books out there and if you have one to personally recommend, please let me know. I know I'd also like to read A Thousand Sisters, which is more about the effects of war in DRC on women specifically.

I just want to encourage everyone I know to read something about the DRC's recent history, even if it is just the Wikipedia page on the DRC and see if God doesn't move on your heart to respond to the vast needs. When I read about children living in such dire circumstances, it breaks my heart but the vast devastation is still so hard to comprehend. Even as a "poor" newlywed, still in college, I'm always had a cozy home in which I've never had to wonder what I'd eat tomorrow or to have to walk 6 miles to get clean water each day. I know nothing of true suffering and my response should be not only gratitude for the many blessings God has given me, but to help those who are in gravely less fortunate circumstances.

Knowing how to respond is really difficult too. I want to help but don't know how to truly make a difference. This answer is different for everyone whom the Lord burdens for the DRC (or other places in great need). God has led us to adopt from the DRC and continues to confirm that in our hearts. Through adoption, we hope to make a monumental difference in at least one child's life by giving them all we have to offer; but I still want to do something for the rest of the 5 million orphans in the DRC, many of whom barely receive one meal a day.

While we were first exploring the option of adoption from DRC, God gave me a little sign. I was helping my sister work the World Vision booth at a Casting Crowns concert and while the WV guy was giving us instructions for signing up sponsors, he asked us to just grab a child card off the table really quickly so we can see what they look like. I grabbed the first three I saw, passing them to others, and the one that ended up in my hand was a little girl from DRC. After working the table all night I saw that their were very few  cards for children from the DRC in the mix of hundreds. This could not have been a coincidence. So I signed us up to sponsor that child and felt like this little sign was one small step towards God leading us to adopt from the DRC. I love  Compassion and World Vision and will continue to support both. They do gospel-centered, community wide poverty relief. But I also see the need for specifically providing for the basic needs of orphans. Kids who don't have a parent or family who are walking 6 miles a day for their water. Kids who have no one to fight for them. If you too have an interest in helping an orphan in the DRC, please keep reading...

*Picture credited to Mercy's Mission & sweetinterruptions.blogspot.com

I've recently become acquainted with a woman and her pastor-husband who are in the process of adopting 4 children from the DRC! They have personally set up this sponsorship program called Mercy's Mission for about 150 orphans in two different orphanages in Eastern DRC. Before this program, the children were receiving one meal a day and now they receive two, plus porridge for breakfast, and schooling. The workers involved are also believers so  you know the care these kids are receiving is both physically and spiritually beneficial. Check out their blog to read more about how God lead this family to adoption and to starting Mercy's Mission.

If you are interested in international adoption and feel God leading you in that direction, please prayerfully consider and research the DRC. We are adopting through One World Adoptions. There are several other agencies with solid DRC programs as well and if you are interested in that information, just ask me.

Why the Congo?

Several people have asked us recently why we chose to adopt from the Congo (DRC). Primarily, God has  lead us to adopting from the Congo through prayer and through opening the doors for us to adopt a child from there. Since His leading us to this decision, we've been learning more and more about the country, the effects of the great African War that has taken place there, and the horrific outcomes of the war(s).

One of the many consequences is a huge amount of orphans (5 million!!!), due to parent's deaths from war, desease, poverty, abandonment, and malnutrition. Eastern Congo especially is still tumultuous and has been deemed the worst place on earth to be a woman. It has been devastated by genocide, guerrilla warfare, rape, and child soldier practices. Of the over 5 million deaths that have resulted thus far from the wars, 50% of them have been children. As we learn more about this country, God further burdens our heart for the victims of the DRC, the children, and especially the orphans. I could go on and on about how God has led us to adoption and the beautiful symbol it is for what God has done for us: giving us a loving Father, hope, and a future. But bottom line answer to this question is-He has burdened our hearts for orphans, He has led us to the DRC and we believe He has a specific child in mind for our family and He has a great plan and hope for that child.

If you'd like to learn more abou the DRC check out some of these videos:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/01/30/opinion/1247466767698/congo-s-forgotten-war.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/video/2007/nov/02/congo?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3486