A Letter from Jo

This was the e-mail Jolene sent out this morning about the situation:

Friends and family,

Ryan and I received some very difficult news about
the status of our adoption yesterday. Unfortunately, this news not only
affects us, but a host of other families currently in the process of adopting
from Rwanda.

We've been informed that the Rwandan government will be sending a letter to
us and other applicants basically stating that they do not currently have any
children available for adoption, and furthermore, if there are still no children
available for adoption in 6 months, our applications will be terminated.
This letter is particularly hurtful because it is so blatantly untrue.
There are thousands of true orphans in Rwanda and over-crowded orhanages trying
to serve them. I'm sorry that at this time I don't have any more
information than this, and no indications as to the motivation behind this
letter. Our agency and others are working diligently with their native
contacts to offer assistance to the Rwandan government in identifying children
and to get to the bottom of this unexpected news in a way that is culturally
appropriate. For this reason, they've asked us not to contact the
government directly, as negative pressure or misunderstanding might force them
to respond in a negative way, jeopardizing adoptions already in progress.
We respect this request, and would ask you to do the same.

What we do need from you, very desparately, are your prayers. We know
that it is the will of the God called Father of the Fatherless that all of His
children have homes. He is willing and ready to make this right.
Please ask Him. Ask Him to protect these little children in need who have
always been waiting; ask Him to comfort the families that received this news
yesterday, some who have been waiting longer than us; ask Him to strengthen our
case workers who live to place these children in homes and yet had to deliver
this terrible statement to waiting families and might be questioning their own
resoluteness; ask Him to soften the hearts of those officials in Rwanda who have
the grave responsibility of deciding the living situation that is in the best
interest of these children; ask Him to calm the fears of other families who are
considering adoption and might be tempted to give up before they've even begun
when they hear stories like this.

As for Ryan and I, we are heartbroken, but not hopeless. We are
shaken, but resolute. We have seen the power of God work to move even more
impossible adoptions to fruition, and I know He will do the same for these
families and these children.

Thank you, Jolene

A Can of Worms

I have a few prayer requests on my heart that I would really like to share with y'all. I'm sorry for being a bit of a Debby Downer, but they all need your prayers.

#1- My Mom

So a few weeks ago my mom was having some weird symptoms: dizziness, bad headaches in the back of her head, and limb weakness. She went to the doctor and they ran some tests (MRI & carotid ultrasound) the ultrasound came back fine, but the MRI found a few small lesions on her brain and they said she had had a mini stroke. They sent her to a neurologist this last Wednesday for him to confirm the findings and he agreed. He doesn't believe her symptoms will be permanent, but has put her on aspirin and scheduled a CAT scan to get a better look for this upcoming week. She also has a balance test scheduled for Monday to see if that will be a long lasting symptom.

My mom also had a history of cancer and went to her regular oncologist this past Thursday and her vitamin D counts are down which isn't really too horrible but he asked if she was having any issues and she mentioned her left shoulder hurting. He went ahead and did an X-Ray on both shoulders that day. Her right shoulder looks good he said, but her left looks as though "something has been gnawing on it." SO... she also has on MRI for her shoulder as well as a PET scan to check for any cancer next week. He seems hopeful that's its really nothing to worry about, because her blood counts are normal, but still keep her in your prayers.

#2 My Pap-pap

He went to his dermatologist a while back when they noticed a spot under his eye, they did a biopsy and found it is cancerous so he will be undergoing surgery pretty soon to have that removed.

#3 My Sister and BIL

Most of you know my sister and her husband have been trying to adopt from Rwanda for the last 2 years. This winter their paperwork FINALLY made it to Rwanda and was on its way to approval. They were #105 and the last e-mail they received said that I think #92 had received their approval and was moving another step closer. Well today they got a phone call from their agency telling them Rwanda notified them that they were "out of babies!" The agency told them this was a lie and they had been to the orphanage recently and seen the babies and they were going to do their best to fight it. Unfortunately if Rwanda does not have anymore babies for them to adopt in the next 6 months their names will be removed from the list, as well as everyone elses. I cannot imagine what they are going through especially with all the time they have put into this adoption. PLEASE pray for them!

Weekend Update

This weekend was amazing! I think a lot of it had to do with the fact I knew Andrew didn't have to go back to school Monday, hooray spring break!!! We spent the weekend in Rogers, starting on Friday to have a celebratory dinner for both Jolene and Andrew's birthdays. (Andrew: 8th, Jolene: 15th) We had a family dinner at Carraba's and then headed back to Jolene and Ryan's for cake.

The girls wanted to sleep together, so we gave it a shot.

(It lasted about 30 minutes.)

Audrey demonstrating how she's going to sleep after we all leave.

After the girls went to sleep all us big kids hung out, while waiting for Ryan's sister and brother-in-law to get into town.

SATURDAY

We all went to Audrey's soccer game. Watching 2 & 3 y/o play soccer is absolutely HILARIOUS! Audrey ran over every couple seconds to say hi to Hadley and get some more juice and snacks.

Walkin to the car after the game. Some pretty cute girls, the one's in the middle for sure!

After the game we met Mimi & Pap-pa at Chick-fil-A for lunch and then headed back to their house.

This is Hadley's favorite chair. It sings when you sit in it and Hadley really feels like a princess.

After nap Hadley helped Pap-pa put together the new big girl bed!!

Later we met Audrey downtown to take a few pictures. My mom has an awesome camera and I love to play with it on occasion especially since I needed to get some pictures for Hadley's b-day invites. I put some favorites at the end of the post so keep reading. =)

After dinner we also went to Cold Stone with my brother and OH was it good. I got The Pie Who Loved Me, which is cheesecake ice cream, oreos, hot fudge, and graham crust.... "OH MY GOODNESS!" Needless to say everybody kept wanting bites of mine.

Saturday night Hadley slept in the big girl bed. We were a little worried but she slept awesome and never got out!

SUNDAY

Today was Flagstone's Adoption Sunday and it couldn't have gone better. They had 4 different organizations there and they were all extremely helpful and informative. I pretty much cried the entire service especially when they showed this incredibly sad, but totally true video.

Click Here to View

The rest of the afternoon we hung out and then met our friends Mike and Kristin, for yes.... more ice cream at Andy's Frozen Custard. (We shared this time.)

Hadley and Jake both got sample cones.

MONDAY

Today was pretty uneventful. My wonderful husband cleaned today!!! I mean seriously cleaned: swept, mopped, vacuumed, laundry! We also got to make our Wal-Mart run together today it was kinda fun! Hadley found a comfy spot on the diapers to people watch.

Some of my favs from Saturday.

Thanks for checkin' in!!

Adoption Sunday

I don't know how many people are interested in adoption but our family has become quite familiar with it since my sister and her husband have started their process. It is such a wonderful thing especially if you feel it in your heart. I wanted to let anyone and everyone know that there will be an Adoption Sunday held on Sunday, March 13th at Flagstone Church of Christ that will have TONS of information for you. They are planning to have people speak on adoption as well as different agencies there to help answer questions you might have about the process or how to get started. If you're not interested in adoption I just ask that you keep this in your prayers over the next couples weeks as I know it will be such a blessing to so many!!