Letters to my brother

Our kids wrote a letter to their brother in Ethiopia and we put them in his stocking and read them on Christmas morning. I thought they were so sweet and hillarious too-

Dear Brother,
I miss you while you are in Africa and I hope you be here soon. I miss you and I can't wait until you get home. This is from Josiah. I hope that your skin is brown like usually African people are. I'll share my toys and animals whenever you want some when you get home. I have a sister named Selah that is very sweet and beautiful and that's who will be your sister when you get home. We will have another sister after we get you and you can play with all of us. I hope I get to play with you and I am excited that you get to sleep in my room. I hope you have black hair and I hope you like sports and I hope you like army, pirates, blocks and a king castle and I can't wait that you get to sleep in my room and I hope you are excited. We will see you when you get home. And we have all sorts of things. And I am praying for you and people in Africa like your friends and I hope you like me. And I would like to say other things to you but I have to get to picking up my room. That's all I can say.

Love,
Josiah


Dear Sister,*
I love you too. I love my bubba and I hug him and I want to play a game with you. And I love you and hug you when you come to our house and I love you because I like you, I hope I walk with you and hold your hand and we love him and mommy does because we like you. I hope you like baseball and barbies. I hope you look like me. I hope you get up and walk. I hope your name is baby Grayson. I will love you when I see you for the first time. I can't wait to tell you about the man on the roof. I am praying for you and your birthmother and your forever mommy. I hope I get princess stuff for Christmas and you get batman stuff. I love you.

Love,
Selah


*We have explained to Selah over and over again that we are adopting a boy this time but she is convinced that it will be a girl, so I tried to correct her with her letter to her "sister", but she insisted. "Baby Grayson" is our nephew and she thinks he should share his name! The man on the roof is a neighbor who fell off his roof and broke his leg and she is a little obssessed with it- and prays for him at each meal. I hope she won't be too disappointed that he will not have blonde hair and blue eyes!!

Bittersweet Christmas

All I really Want- Steven Curtis Chapman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMz0MmYejQ

Well, I don't know if you remember me or not
I'm one of the kids they brought in from the home
I was the red-haired boy in an old, green flannel shirt
You may not have seen me, I was standing off alone
I didn't come and talk to you 'cause that's never worked before
And you'll probably never see this letter, anyway
But just in case there's something you can do to help me out
I'll ask you one more time

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

Well, I guess I should go ahead and tell you now
If it's really true about that list you have
Somehow I always seem to end up in a fight
But I'm really trying hard not to be bad
But maybe if I had a brother or a dad to wrestle with
Maybe they could teach me how to get along
And from everything I've heard, it sounds like the greatest gift on earth
Would be a mom

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I can ask for, but theres just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas

All I want for Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And It's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's alright, 'Cause so am I
Well, I guess I should go, it's almost time for bed
Maybe next time I write you I'll be at home`
Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone whose love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family


Normally, I am not a big fan of sappy, try to make you cry christmas songs(Christmas shoes, anyone?), but I love this song. I can't make it through the first verse without crying. One time, I was trying to teach this song to our son Josiah in the car, and started bawling and he laughed and told Selah "this song must be about adoption". I heard it this morning while cleaning out my kid's toybox...and it started me thinking about the abundance of what we have. Which of course then led to thoughts of where my child is now, what he may or may not have, etc. I think I have said before that I don't allow myself to think this very often- it is too overwhelming to think about it for too long.

As I was listening to this song, it struck me that along with the millions of orphans overseas, and the children here in the states waiting for forever families, who knows how many other kids(and adults) will spend the holidays with their biological families, and yet feel like orphans? How many people will end this christmas season surrounded by "loved ones" and yet be incredibly lonely? How many women will have empty arms this christmas but know that they are mothers?(I remember that I got pregnant with my son right before christmas and when people would say"Congrats- you will be a mom!"- I thought to myself- I am already a mom, I have just lost those babies). I also thought about my daughter's birthmother...what is this season like for her?

Lord, help me to not get caught in the craziness of this season that I forget those without a family. Break our hearts so that we can be compassionate. Make us like you, extravegant in your love and mercy. Thank you for the children you have given me, and thank you for their biological families. Thank you for the passion you have given us and thank you for the infertility that led us down this path. Please give me the same mercy and compassion for those who are indifferent. We wait for the day we can hold our son- praying for it to be soon!

Alright adoption bloggers, how are YOU doing this christmas? Especially those who are waiting, what are you doing to help with the wait in this time?

Brandy

Letters To Santa

Dear Santa,
My name is Josiah Grady Butler and my birthday is September 5th. How are you? I know you are pretend I like to pretend and play army with my army men. Christmas is Jesus' birthday so I want a birthday cake like a batman birthday cake or a soccer birthday cake for him. My favorite story is David and Goliath and when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. For Christmas I would like a batman mobile and a bed for me and my brother and for my brother to come home because I am going to share my room and my toys with him. I also want a trampoline like Camp has and his brother Cooper played trampoline football with me and he taught me kindness. I want some cool clothes and cool shoes and batman and spiderman sheets and some bath toys and for my brother to come home and for my brother to have dinner every night and breakfast and new leapster games and for B and Y to come home and a dog because we lost Toby and I miss him and a bed for my sister so she won't bang her head and some books from that fun store about Jesus. I love you.

Love,
Josiah


Dear Santa,
I love you and I want a new kitchen and some not breakable stuff I don't want to break my stuff thats all I want and I love Santa and I am going to hug you thats all and thats my favorite thing because he is my best friend and I want a pink barbie and to have a bride dress to dress up to marry Caleb and a pink leapster and can you wrap it and I like Caleb but Hannah and Charly are my best friends you not allowed to marry your brother or daddy and a pink bike and to play with those big girls again please please please can I have ballerina classes and can you bring some leapsters and spidermans for those kids don't have any toys and a fun fun trampoline and to not sneak food anymore and please please please with a cherry a baby sister with the baby brother and lots and lots of baby sisters and a huge huge pillow for my room and a new bed and Barbie cereal and thats all and I love Jesus.

Love,
Selah


These letters crack me up...Josiah's "fun store" is Mardel, a christian book store. It makes me laugh and cry to hear him ask for his brother to have dinner and breakfast every day. Selah was so excited to do her letter, and I had no idea she had such strong feelings for Caleb Fournet : )

Great News...and now we wait

Brandy here....just got an email from our caseworker Natalie, saying that we were placed on the waitlist on 11/26/08. The average wait is 4-6 months, but we also know it could be longer. So now we are officially officially expecting! I wonder if this means Wes should cater to my cravings...hmmm...I have been craving ethiopian food....

Prayer for our Friends

Just a quick post this morning to ask that you pray for our friends, the Fournets. They are currently waiting to pick up their kiddos in Ethiopia and just found out at the end of last week that they will be waiting longer. Their case has been delayed again and are now waiting to hear about their new court date. God has blessed them with an amazing faith during this extended waiting period and it has been humbling to get to see it up close.

Beau and Natalie, we are blessed to call ourselves your friends and are heartbroken with you as your wait is extended. Thank you for your unwavering trust in the sovereignty of God and for setting an example for so many (including us) and making the light of Christ shine brighter in your lives as a result. Love you both and can't wait to celebrate with you at the kids' homecoming.

Follow Beau and Natalie's blog at http://fournetfamily.blogspot.com/

A Call to Action for the Congo

"Let us seek to be like Jesus in our devotion to the forgotten of the earth who have nothing to recommend them but their poverty and their heart-hunger and their tears."

A.W. Tozer

When Jesus was asked by the teacher of the law, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan and then ended it by asking the question the lawyer should have been asking. "Which one of these (the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan) was a neighbor to this man?" You see the question is not to figure out who your neighbor is, but whether or not you are being a neighbor to anyone God makes you aware of.

I'm writing this morning to make you aware of your neighbors in the Congo and to ask you whether you will choose to act as a neighbor to them. Did you know . . .

• 5.4 million people have been killed in the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1998. More people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined.
• 45,000 people die every month in what is being called Africa's World War. This is the deadliest conflict since World War II.
• One of the primary weapons used in this particular war is rape. 80% of women living in the Congo today are victims of rape and 75% of all the rapes that take place in the world happen in the Congo.
• The violence has forced civilians to flee their homes and head for already over-crowded IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps where it is virtually impossible to access health facilities, find clean water sources, and locate nutritional food. Most deaths are a result of these types of conditions, an indirect result of the violence.
• The Congo has been named as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for children, whether they are killed by the violence, die from desperate conditions, or are recruited by the rebels and forced into unspeakable acts of violence themselves.

Who will be a neighbor to these people? Here are some practical ways you can love them as you would wish to be loved.

1. Pray that God would bring justice on all who seek to do evil in the Congo.

2. Pray for believers in Jesus Christ in the Congo to have the courage to stand firm in the face of this intense violence and proclaim the unwavering hope found in Jesus Christ.

3. Write your congressional leaders. Here are some links that may be helpful.

For Texas Senators and Representatives Addresses: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc&state=tx

For info on what to write as a sample letter: http://community.wr.org/Page.aspx?pid=1290

4. Consider giving financially to relief efforts in the Congo. $50 will allow a family to survive for a month. What would God have you give? http://community.wr.org/Page.aspx?pid=1274

5. Grow your understanding of and empathy with those struggling to eat daily by fasting or restricting your diet to basics like rice, beans, and flour.

Please consider how you ought to respond and then do what God leads you to do.

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" Proverbs 24:11-12

For additional information, check out these sobering videos.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3706833n

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7700111.stm

We've been TAGGED!

Seven Random Facts about Brandy

1. I love chips and salsa and I am kind of a salsa snob. I love it so much that even my children know this is my favorite snack. I will admit that I have eaten this for breakfast before.

2. I have an irrational fear of dentists. I require sedation....for a cleaning. I still have no idea what my old dentist looked like because I was always sedated when I left her office. I hate the sounds and smells of the office, I hate sitting in the chair, I hate that mouth stretchy thing, I hate the scrapey hook thing(I am shivering now just typing it). Don't even talk to me about the laughing gas....laughing gas is for amateurs.

3. I purposefully don't correct my kids when they mispronounce words because I think it is cute. I think it annoys my extended family, but come on, Josiah won't go to college saying "benember"(remember). I also cry when they figure it out and start pronouncing things correctly- like the first time Josiah talked about his friend "Joseph" instead of "Jo-fuss".

4. I have a secret ambition to move to Baltimore and get a job at Charm City Cakes. Maybe I will post some pictures of my work and Duff will somehow see it and offer me the job.

5. I have something wrong with my senses- if I am wearing sunglasses, I can't hear as well. Wes makes fun of me because when we are in the car, I have to take my sunglasses off to hear him.

6. If I could do it, my home would look like a Cottage Living magazine.

7. I don't know how many kids I want. It is strange, because most people I know say"we want three kids" or whatever number, but I have not been able to come up with the number that feels "done". Maybe I will know when we get there....I have read that women who have lost children often feel like their family is never complete because someone is always missing, and maybe that is true. But when I see videos of orphanges or think about the USA foster care system, I always wonder, will I always think maybe just one more??

Maybe Wes will add his facts later....