Peace, Love, and Starfish!!!

I am not going to lie. Things have happened to seriously slow down, and this adoption, and making things very difficult. Things from an unexpected medical bill, taking a few hundred dollars from Brock's bank account, to a paperwork debacle and extra training that has taken close to 2k out of our adoption money. For believers in the adoption world, these are calles Satan's attacks on our adoption. It definately feels like it too! But this mama bear will never back down! For some reason, I truly believe that it is God's grace, that I feel at PEACE that although it may take a bit longer than we planned, that all going to work out fine, as it is already is begining to, and we will have our boy home at the perfect time!

I think of Brock so much, I have his picture in my cubical at work, on my phone, and Michael has his picture as his desktop background! I imaging him here at home playing with Alaska, and I imagine how he is going to feel when he is in my arms! I am in crazy in LOVE with all of my kids, even the one I haven't met yet!! Right now, we are on the tail end of our (hopefully) last setback with paperwork for now, we are working on our new additional training requirements, and soon, we will have our paperwork in to submit to Brock's country to do just that!

     My Beautiful Starfish! It was such a special,   thoughtful suprise!

It is Brocks Birthday this month, as well as mine. We have a puzzle fundraiser going on for him, if you would like to know more about it, click here!  Most of you know that my "adoption theme" is based on the Starfish story, so the starfish has a very important meaning to me. My husband suprised me with an awesome STARFISH pendant for my birthday, hand made by Gentle Spirit Creations. I love it and I totally cried! Please keep  praying for Brock and for God to provide the means for us to sail through the rest of the process quickly!

Brock's Birthday Fundraiser!!!!

“Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.”-Mother Theresa

Brock will be two this month; I do not yet know what day. This is so heartbreaking for me that I cannot be with him. It is hard to bear that nobody will make any kind of a fuss over his birthday, for him, it will be just another day. No cake, no presents, no Happy Birthday and no one that cares that he is 2!  What he does not know yet is that it will be his last birthday that is just another day! His next birthday will be spent with his family! This month is the month we are also planning on getting our dossier shipped to Brock’s country so that we can be registered and receive an invitation to travel and meet him!

We are waiting for our USCIS approval, and we are getting our additional training done, since Brock’s country now requires 80 hours of training instead of 10! And we are also trying to raise the rest of the money we need for this first, and most expensive, part of the process.

Sooooo….. In honor of our beautiful future son’s second birthday, we are doing a puzzle fundraiser. His room is going to be done in owls, a “boy” version of owls, since he and Alaska will be sharing a room and her bedding is all “girl” owls. So I bought him two owl puzzles (800 total pieces) for his birthday. How this fundraiser works is that each puzzle piece is “sold” for $5 each, and the person who buys it gets their name put on the piece.  When all the pieces are sold, we will put the puzzles together, frame them and hang them on his wall, so he can see how many people care about him!!!! Just make a $5 TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation for each puzzle piece by using the yellow donate button or click HERE. I will get a donor list, so  no need to let me know, just DO NOT donate anonymous if you want your name on a piece!  Please consider being a “piece of the puzzle” in bringing our boy home!!!! I know that this is a lot of puzzle pieces, but if you will share our story, maybe others would be willing to spare $5 to be piece of the puzzle too! God bless you all and thank you!!!!

 

Here are the 2 puzzles we bought Brock for his birthday!! It would mean the world to have names on all of the pieces!!!

Summer is Over, a Little Update and Fundraisers!!!

Well summer is over, Yay and not Yay. I love summer with my kids and I love swimming and I love warm weather, but I was ready to get the kids back in school. We did have a good summer, although we didn’t do anything big due to the fact that most of our extra money goes into Brock's bank account, yes, I set up a separate bank account just for him! Since we are fortunate enough to have a pool, we spent most of our weekends out there, so I don’t feel too bad about not taking the kids on a vacation. You should see the tan lines these girls have!! Plus Alaska adores being in the pool, she could just be in her floatie all day long if I let her. I absolutely cannot wait until next summer when I have two littles in floaties!!!!! But, ya know something; our Homestudy social worker did approve us to adopt two kids. Hmmm……..!!!! Maybe three in floaties next summer!?!?



Watermelon Party Time!!!



Loving her Floatie!

With summer being over, I am looking forward to the fall and winter holidays. I do love all of them! October holds a new special place in my heart, because it is Brocks’ birthday month! I do not know what day yet, but I am hoping it is the same day as mine! We will be doing a special fundraiser to honor his birthday, and also to get us the last monies that we need for our agency fees that will be due when we travel to meet him. We just did our fingerprints for our FBI Background checks for our USCIS approval yesterday, so that is one more step done!!!  Our plans are to have our submission dossier ready and shipped by mid October. After that, it will be translated, and submitted to the entity in Brocks country for processing, approval and registration, and then our travel date will be given, Hooray! So, with how things are going with others adopting from the same region, and with the holidays coming, I am hoping we will be traveling right after the first of the year. Like seriously, my intentions are to be on an airplane Jan. 1!!! Honestly, today would not be soon enough. But I have been told over and over, and I know this, that God’s timing is perfect and I accept that, I really do! This is His mission that He chose me and Michael for, not ours alone!

We did pretty good selling Bring Home Brock T-shirts. We raised close to $500! Thank you to all who ordered one!!! Right now, we have a SCENTSY PARTY going on, so think about someone who you need to buy a gift for and get them scentsy! You can get a jump on Christmas Shopping and help our little guy at the same time! Also, may I suggest that you avoid the crowds and do your Christmas shopping through our AMAZON LINK!  It is so easy; just use the link, shop as you normally would do any online shopping. Super easy! Amazon always has a ton of stuff with free shipping too!

God bless all of you for your prayers and help with getting our boy home! It means the world to our family, and it literally means life for him!!!

And The Winner Is....!

The vacation giveaway is over! We had 234 entries, and we raised……..$2295! That is so very awesome! We are blown away by everyone’s generosity, and so very blessed by the fact that you care about our little guy!!! THANK YOU ALL for making our fundraiser a success!!! The money raised will go towards our flight expenses and agency fees that are due when we travel for our first trip!!!! God bless you all!!!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Mrs. Jody Warren for donating this vacation to us!!!!

Random.org has spoken! And the Winner Is……Susan Vlach!!!! Congratulations! Please contact me via email at Lmbutterflylori@gmail.com so I can get your reservation to you!!!!

Susan, you were lucky number 81!!!

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 81 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

You may want to visit Pleasure Pier during your visit....

Or maybe just relax on the beach....

Whatever you do while you are there, I hope you have a blast!!!!!!!!!!

Where We Are In the Process, And A Few Thoughts About Brock

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Luke 18:16)

So, we had to do add some documentation to our home study, which is not out of the ordinary from what I understand, BUT it has put a delay in our getting our Official, certified write up! The good news is that the draft has been reviewed by our agency, and it is now in Brock’s country being reviewed by the facilitator there. What is wonderful about our agency sending it there to be reviewed first is that she knows what the judge in the region is looking for, so that way, we can make sure that everything is perfect and will be far less likely to have to do any updates or add any documentation when it is time for court! We are looking to have it in our hands by the end of the week! After that, we will send that, along with some other documents into Immigration (USCIS) for them to approve us to adopt from Brock’s country. While we are waiting on that, we will be compiling more documents for our registration dossier to send to the Powers That Be in Brock’s country so they can register us in country in order to receive our travel date to finally meet our little man! Oh my, I cannot wait to get my arms around him!

This is where we need loads of help and prayers everyone! When we send in our Dossier, literally $14,500 will have to go along with it! Then we will still have to buy visas, plane tickets, hotel and meals! We have a plan put in place as far as savings and such goes, but we also have Faith that God will help us along with the rest! I truly believe the saying “If God brings you to it, He will get you through it.” I do believe that He put us on this journey to finish it! Please consider our Beach Giveaway fundraiser; if that does not interest you, and you would still like to help we will be launching some new fundraisers throughout the next few months! Prayers for us in this process and our little guy are so greatly appreciated! Also, you can tell others about our story! You never know who you will inspire to help save a life, whether it is Brock’s or another waiting child.

Beautiful Beach in Galveston!!!!

On another topic, my littlest was sick yesterday. As I doted upon her, holding her, rocking her, rubbing her back, rubbing her down with a cool cloth while her fever was high, I let my thoughts slip away to Brock. I wondered if he gets held and rocked and really taken care of when he is sick. Sadly, I doubt it. Babies in orphanages are usually left alone in cribs for long periods of time, so they develop ways to sooth themselves and keep themselves entertained. They will rock themselves when they need soothing and play with their fingers and/or toes when they need to be entertained. Brock will likely display these behaviors when he gets home. Friends, I cannot wait to show him that he does not have to do that anymore! Also because he has not had a consistent care giver, he may also have trouble realizing that Michael and I are now THE go-to people when he needs something or may think that ANY adult he sees will help, which is not exactly a good thing either. Bonding comes naturally to babies who have loving parents, but for Brock, well, he was simply never given that chance! All this breaks my heart, but we feel we have enough love in our hearts and have also educated ourselves on how to help him learn to trust us and to facilitate that bonding.

My apologies for the sadness, but I feel like I should share the realities of his life with you all. I know that one day these posts will be filled with happy pictures of a little boy thriving! God Bless you all!!

BEACH VACATION GIVEAWAY!!!!

How would you like to have your next summer vacation all planned out!?!?

In order to raise the funds necessary to get our boy home as soon as possible, we have been so generously donated this wonderful vacation to giveaway!





For a tax deductible donation to our grant fund through Reece's Rainbow you can be entered for a 7 night stay in a two bedroom suite that sleeps 6 and has a full kitchen at the 4 star rated Silverleaf's Seaside Resort on Galveston Island in Texas!!!! 

Amusement Park on the Pier!!!







I am so excited about this fundraiser; it is a place that would be fun for families or couples or anyone who likes the beach! Galveston has a lot of fun things to do! We are running this giveaway until midnight central time on August 15th. Winner will be announced August 16 on this blog and Facebook. Vacation is booked for Saturday, June 8, to Saturday June 15th of NEXT summer (2013), to allow the winner plenty of time to plot and plan!!!!

So here are the "RULES"

1. $10 donation- 1 entry
    $25 donation-3 entries
    $50 donation-10 entries
    Share this post on Facebook or Twitter-1 entry (you must comment on this blog, email, or Facebook to let me know this!)
    

2. Here is how to donate:

• You can make a tax deductible donation to our fund by clicking on the DONATE button on the RIGHT of the page. You must leave your name so I can assign a number to you!
• OR you can mail a check (also tax deductible) to Reece’s Rainbow; just make sure to put Mulkey Family in the Memo and mail to Reece's Rainbow, PO Box 4024, Gaithersburg, MD 20885.*Pawnee people you can drop check off with my mom, Doris, at Armstrong Bank! *Stroud People, you can drop off check with my sister, Carissa! 

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR IF YOU PREFER TO DONATE WITH A CHECK, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT LMBUTTERFLYLORI@GMAIL.COM  OR PRIVATE MESSAGE ME IF WE ARE FACEBOOK FRIENDS!


I WILL BE USING A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR AT RANDOM.ORG TO ENSURE THE WINNER IS IN FACT CHOSEN RANDOMLY!!!


THANK YOU FOR HELPING US BRING BROCK HOME AND GIVING HIM A CHANCE TO THRIVE IN A LOVING FAMILY!

Why We Are Adopting

Adopting this sweet boy is no doubt a God thing. Looking back, there are things that make me realize that He has been preparing my heart for this for quite some time. I love kids and I totally have a seriously soft place in my heart for all children. And I love being a Mom as well! When my youngest daughter who has DS, was born, I received an information packet from the local Down Syndrome organization. In it was a brochure for Reece’s Rainbow. I still have that brochure. I looked at that website several times, praying, and crying for those little abandoned children, given up because they had Down syndrome, hoping that they would find families. I wished that I could adopt one of these children, and even told my husband, to which, at the time, he replied a resounding “NO”, so I figured that it would just never be an option. Couldn’t do it without the hubs on board! But, little did we know, it just wasn’t time. I had not visited the site for a while and one night, I was on a blog, noahsdad.com. They had a Reece’s Rainbow advertisement and I was inclined to click on it. I scrolled through the pictures, all teary-eyed, then, I stopped on one. There is a feeling that goes through you after you have given birth and see your baby for the first time; it is a rush of absolute pure love for your child. This was the feeling that came over me when I saw the picture of our boy, and I literally blurted out loud “Oh, I am your Mama!” It took a while and a lot of prayer to tell Michael, but, long story short, He agreed that we should adopt him!

Knowing that most (like really, most, we are talking 92%) mothers knowingly pass on the chance to raise their child with Down syndrome is heartbreaking to me now, though I realize and understand that the fear of the diagnosis is overwhelming. Unlike here in the U.S. expectant mothers in Eastern Europe do not usually have access to prenatal testing, so their diagnosis always comes as a shock after they have given birth. They do not have resources for support like we do here, there is no therapy or inclusion in school or Buddy Walks to raise money for research, and most mothers are simply told that they cannot raise the child and that it would be too much of a burden. I do not pass judgment on these mothers, if you go back fifty years or so, children born here with DS were commonly sent to institutions. It is most common to give up their child with Down syndrome to an orphanage, and then later when the child turns 4 or some actually wait until 5, they are sent to a mental institution. Many of these places do not have the resources to care properly for these children, so many just waste away and die, alone, in cribs, without anyone loving them. Look at our Alaska, if she had been born over in Eastern Europe, she would be facing a life hidden away in a crib in a mental institution.

Does it look like that is where she belongs!?!?  So we are not just adding to our family through the blessing of adoption, we are on a rescue mission to save a child in need! I cannot save them all, but I have been called to save one and that is what this is all about. Saving a child, and giving him a family, love, care. A chance at life. A chance to thrive, play, grow, give love and contribute to society, just like Alaska! His life has worth!

So the Lord commands us to care for the orphan and the widow. He has made it abundantly clear what my part is in His plan! But, does caring for the orphan mean that you have to adopt? No. Do I think everyone should adopt? Why yes! Haha! Not really! I don't believe that everyone has to adopt a child. I am just the type of person that wants everyone to experience the same great joy in their hearts as I do from my experiences! But, there are other ways to care for the orphan. You can pray for them, advocate for them, and support them financially. So, I leave you with this as food for thought. It is not meant to offend, it is just something to think about and shed some light on the situation:

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

God Bless you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!