Isn't she LOVELY?

We received an early Christmas gift today.....an update on Florie!  We sent a gift package to her last week through Ann at Red Thread China.  It contained a soft photo album of us, two cameras, a letter to the orphanage director, a bag for her "things," and some candy and cookies for the children and nannies.  Today we received an update on her size and found out she IS enrolled in the Half the Sky program!  We are so thankful that she is healthy and doing well.  We are still waiting on our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China....hopefully that will come in January.  After that letter, there are several steps with the US government, and then we will receive TA (Travel Approval).  I am HOPING and PRAYING that we can travel in early April......but know it could be later.  It is really hard to know WHO she is now but to not be with her, but I am so relieved to see that she is happy, healthy, well-fed, and LOVED.  Her eyes still pull me in....they are so bright and happy.  I cannot wait to meet her, to hold her....to learn her!

Guo Qiu Ru has been living in the orphanage all the time ,she is under Half Sky Program now, Qiu Ru can walk by herself now ,she understands what adults talk to her too ,she likes to play toys in the playing room or play outdoors ,she attaches to her grandma very much ,loves to smile ,she is a very happy child !

Merry CHRISTmas!

Love,
Eve

Worse Times Now or Then? or just the same?

How is it ALREADY December 16?  Time is flying by!  In the last week alone, we have had a HUGE project my 5th grader had to do, a "snow storm" (By Tennessee definition, anyway), the stomach bug, strep throat, an almost better safe than sorry ice storm, freezing temperatures (meaning the two dogs are always inside) AND rain!   The care of the house has dropped to the WAY bottom of my list, as presents are prepared, Christmas cards and the Christmas letters addressed, and my favorite candy making time has taken over.
I alternate between complete joy and complete exhaustion....how will it all ever get done?  I also started to "nest" last week, and have the playroom and guest room ripped apart to "clean out" so we can start to get ready for Florie...in hindsight, probably should have waited until after Christmas!  Why do so many of us feel like Charlie Brown in his Christmas special...almost depressed, like SOMETHING is missing?  One of my wise friends (aka Shannon) put on her FB post today:

Oh no....feeling so tired/cranky with the busyness of the season. Wonder if our modern busyness mimics the crazy atmosphere in Bethlehem trying to take a census? Thankfully Peace, Hope, Rest, Love, and Joy is coming soon!

Can you imagine the STRESS of being 9 months pregnant, and having to ride on a donkey to get to the census?  What control did Mary have?  Was she full of joy the entire time she was riding there?  What if Mary and Joseph did not make it in time?  What?  No hotels left?  (maybe our no super new awesome Xbox game left??  jk)...But, on CHRISTmas, God brought it all together....it all worked according to his plan.  And, the most beautiful thing is, we get to share in that blessing year after year after year.

So, with this new focus.....that I am where I am for a reason, that the busyness happens for a reason, that the chaos is there for a reason.....I am off to the races, but with added thoughts of PEACE, LOVE, HOPE and JOY.

Blessings!

Eve

A Thanksgiving to Remember!

What an amazing week this has been!  Saturday the 20th we worked for our friends the Bishops as they did an adoption fundraiser through Both Hands Foundation.  William was there all day and went right into work that night, and back to work on Sunday night.....even into Monday.  Monday the 22nd was when the new special needs list was coming out from China.  It was the first one we were able to be "matched" possibly.  BUT, we ended up with our first trip to the ER in a very scary night for our middle son Ben.  He was accidentally hit in the side of the head at soccer and was stunned....pale, sleepy, and just out of it.  It takes a lot to scare this Momma, but he succeeded, and we were off to the ER.  FORTUNATELY, he improved while we were there and became "normal" Ben again....it was just a concussion, and he has to sit out of soccer for about 10 days.  That night, I had to wake him two times.....so I kept refreshing Rumor queen and my email JUST IN CASE a referral came to us.  About midnight, a big file came through....and I thought THIS IS IT!  It is happening....but, instead, it was from my dear friend Amanda at Starfish, and was a blog to post for her since she cannot do so from China.  (It was for sweet FAITH.....who has a port wine stain...).  For me, I felt like God was telling me just to keep my faith in Him...he knew who our daughter would be, and just to keep trusting.  That Tuesday, the 23rd, two of the boys were home from school....it was a busy day around the Boger house.  I had not checked my email in awhile and did so shortly after noon.  That is when IT came....the referral from Xiaoqing at BAAS.  She had called our house, but I had missed the call.  This is what I saw:

FLORIE!

Her eyes are so bright, and I just knew it was HER....we even share the same birthday.  She is 17 months old, from Beihai SWI in Guangxi province.  William and I did not have a lot of time to talk until we went to Arkansas for Thanksgiving.  Even though I had my thoughts, she needed to be BOTH of our daughters.....when we talked, he said that we were the family for her, and she was the daughter for us!  So we sent our LOI on Thanksgiving day, and were able to tell the boys who were over the moon excited!

I have a really cute video of them when we told them...but will have to get that on You Tube first to post on here.  Also have two more pics of Florie that I need to cut and paste! 

We are so thankful.....for ALL of our kids!  We received our PA dated 11-28-10, and are now on to the LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation) wait....I do not want to guestimate too much when we will get her.  RQ has all kinds of charts and averages, but until the paper is in my hand, nothing is "certain."  Our hope is that we will have her in our arms by her second birthday.

Praying for Florie and for the Bishops' who leave in less than 36 hours for China to get Maggie!

THANKFUL For our BLESSINGS!

Love,

Eve

Starfish Foster Home NEW HOME Fundraiser!

Two Starfish Moms have started a fundraiser for the new Starfish Foster Home.....they are hoping to raise $25,000.  Please read below and pray for new home, and donate if you are led!

Thanks!

Eve

A new home

As you all probably know, Jack was our daughter's fosterbrother at Starfish Fosterhome in China. They litterally saved my girl's life! How can you ever repay something like that? I always have the feeling that I have to do something to help them.
So, I started helping out with their website and we are sending boxes of babyclothes regularly... but they need a bit more this time.
Starfish is moving to a new home. The residents of the apartment building were not that happy with the fosterhome occupying three apartments and housing 50 children! Amanda de Lange, the founder of Starfish has found a new facility but it needs a LOT of work:

There are some volunteers and hired Chinese men working there now and they really want to move in before Christmas...... it looks like it will not be finished by then though. And this means they will have to move the babies to an unfinished building. This breaks my heart, I just can't stop thinking about it. If I could, I would be in China right now to help, but that's not possible at this moment. The only thing I can do is let as many people as possible know about this and about the effort to raise money. What an awesome christmas gift it would be for those babies to move in to a decent home!

So please go to  http://www.crowdrise.com/starfishnewhome/fundraiser/starfish-china and donate! Every dollar is welcome! Skip Starbucks today and donate a dollar to Starfish. I hope we get a lot of people donating one dollar.... we can make a difference together!

BOTH HANDS project for the Bishops THIS SATURDAY!

This is a post from my dear friend Stefanie who has worked with me to start Our Covenant's Call, the orphan and adoption ministry at our church.  She also has the Stitches to China blog you see to the right :).  Brook and Stefanie are adopting their 4th child soon, and are doing a BOTH HANDS project this Saturday.  William, the boys and I will be working it, but if there is anyone out there able to donate, please see her link below.  And, if you have never heard of BOTH HANDS FOUNDATION as an adoption fundraiser, please email me!




We are excited to be a part of a "Both Hands" project on Saturday November 20th. Both Hands ministry is a ministry that serves adopted families needing to fundraise and widows in need. We will be working on Ms. Nanny's home. She is an 87 year old widow who is unable to meet the needs of her home. We have had a group of wonderful people offer to come alongside us and be on our work day team. It is a wonderful blessing you get to experience when you put yourself out there and say you need help. It is hard to say you need help. It is hard to ask friends/family to help you on a project and mail support letters on your behalf. I have witnessed and benefited from some amazing genorosity of our friends and family - all of which I couldn't of experienced unless we did this project. Below is a link to our fundraising page at lifesong. All donations are tax deductable and go straight into our adoption fund. If you feel led we would appreciate any donations towards our project.

http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html

You have to scroll down to our name/date. Our fundraising letter is included on the link.

So hopefully at the end of the day on November 20th we will have taken care of some of Ms. Nanny's needs. And Maggie will have a new story for me to tell her of how a group of people came around to love on her, value her, and help in bringing her home.

Mrs. Nanny

Need YOUR Help! Hague immunization Exemption Bill

Hi everyone,

I am writing to see if you would mind emailing YOUR Congressman with the information below...There is a current "law" that children being adopted into our country MUST have their immunizations before they LEAVE their country of origin.....even if they have already had the shots at their foster home or orphanage.  As a pediatrician, I am a firm believer in immunizing children, but this is ridiculous!  These children who are usually in a state of shock as they are placed with their new family are then required to undergo a physical 2-3 days before leaving China (which is good, to make sure there is no infection that could be spread on the plane), and then receive up to EIGHT shots at once!  I would never give my boys that many at once....the pain, the soreness, the resultant fever.....AND, the shots are given so close to the time the children leave for home, they provide NO immunity for the trip home any way!

In the past, there was a bill passed that the adoptive parents (like me!) could take a waiver saying that the child would receive a physical exam within THREE weeks of their arrival in the US...including shots.  Then, when an adoptive child came to see me, we drew the required blood including titers to see if the child HAD been vaccinated previously and if the vaccine worked.  THEN we would initiate immunizing the child.

I am asking you to email your Congressman....so that they will vote on this bill soon.  They reconvene briefly for Congress on Monday November 15.  Please do so as soon as you can!  

You can look up your Congressman here https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and send it to him or her through this link! 

The part below in blue you can cut and paste, and then the part in red you could add some personal tidbit....future adoptive grandparent, future adoptive friend, aunt, uncle, etc.

Please forward to anyone you can!

Thank you!

Eve

S.1376 : International Adoption Simplification Act
Sponsor:  Senator Amy Klobuchar
A bill to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted by US Citizens under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to allow thier admission to the United States.
7/21/2010--Passed Senate amended. International Adoption Simplification Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to include in the definition of "child," and thus in the exemption from required admissions vaccination documentation, certain children who have been adopted in a foreign country that is a signatory to the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) or who are emigrating from such a country for U.S. adoption. Includes in such definition and exemption a child who is under the age of 18 at the time an immediate relative status petition is filed on his or her behalf, has been adopted abroad or is coming for U.S. adoption, and is the natural sibling of: (1) an adopted child from a Hague Convention signatory country; (2) a child adopted under the age of 16 who has lived with the adoptive parents for at least two years, or a child who has been abused; or (3) an orphan who was under the age of 16 at the time an immediate relative status petition was filed on his or her behalf. Makes such provisions effective on the date of enactment of this Act, except that such an alien sibling who has attained the age of 18 on or after April 1, 2008, shall be deemed to meet the age requirement if a petition for classification of the alien as an immediate relative is filed not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

My personal note:

Congressman Blackburn,

I am a pediatrician and mother of three biologic boys. We are adopting a daughter from China and hope to travel in early summer 2010.  As a pediatrician, I feel the present required immunizations are traumatic and useless to both the adopted child and to the "safety" of others.  The child may have been previously immunized in China in either their orphanage or foster home.  In the past, adoptive parents were allowed by our government to sign a waiver stating that the child would be evaluated by a US doctor within three weeks of arrival in the US.  Now, the child receives immunizations in China approximately three to five days before departing for the US.  Even if there was no pain or trauma inflicted on the child (which there is!), the time frame does not allow for the said immunizations to be effective before travel.  So, we are pumping our children with immunizations (up to 8 at a TIME!!) that are painful and ineffective for the travel period, and they are also likely not up to the US standard for quality control.  Please vote on this bill AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!  Give our adoptive children the same RIGHTS we give our biologic children!

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Sincerely,

Eve Boger, M.D.

Fall Fun and a Special Treat!

I love fall....from the changing of the leaves to the pumpkin patch field trips, to the cool crispness of the day, it is one of my favorite times!  We have had a busy season with Alex and Ben both playing travel soccer and Jack starting kindergarten and playing rec soccer.  They have all been troopers and I am so proud of them!  We recently had our Cub Scout campout at Boxwell.  Since Alex is a Webelo 2, he was in charge of setting up the room for dinner (for 145!), serving the dinner, building the bonfire, and helping "retire" an old American flag.  Before Scouts, I did not realize that you can only retire a flag one of two ways....1) burial (land or sea) or 2) burn it, after cutting each red and white stripe and burning it one by one.  We do the latter at Scouts and it is always a very solemn ceremony!

Jack and Ben and friends

Jack's favorite new face

Ben waiting patiently for dinner

Alex serving dinner

Flag ceremony

Alex also was PLAYER OF THE WEEK this week for his soccer team.  He was SO proud! Tonight he has to turn the shirt back over to his coach, so we took a picture of him.  (He also made math club this week and I am pleased to note that he was equally excited about that!).

Alex in his player of the week shirt

Jack on the run!

Our SPECIAL TREAT arrived yesterday!  One of my former room parent partners left two HUGE bags of toddler GIRL clothes on our porch for FLORIE when she gets here......the boys were so excited!  They dug into it right away with lots of oooohs and aaaaahs.....Jack held up one dress and said he knew Florie would be lovely in it!  Jack also got to go to the treat box this week at kindergarten, and he chose a Hello Kitty mirror to give to Florie.  It is waiting on her in her soon to be room.

We are not matched yet.....and are not sure when "IT" will happen.  Right now it is just really nice to know that our papers are in China, and the rest is in HIS control!

Thank you Tricia for your sweet gift!  We love it!

Love,
Eve