Joshua's Homecoming Video

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Happy Things

Some happy things today!  Todd's cousin April has finally received their court date (NEXT WEEK!) and will finally get to see their 2 babies from Ethiopia!!  So exciting!  Check out their blog here!  Congratulations April and Brian, we are so very excited for you and will be praying for you!!

The next happy thing is something that just warms my heart.  This special group of high school girls decided to do something to help 'one of the least of these'.  Love it!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Why Adoption?

As I have pondered my own responsibility to the widowed, orphaned, poor and outcast, I have been shaken to my core a couple of times.  When I have heard the stories of mothers in Africa giving up their children for adoption because they know they cannot feed their babies and they will starve to death.  I cannot help but ask,"Why not me, Lord?".  I cannot fathom giving up my children.  In fact, it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. 

Or mothers who have to prostitute themselves out at night because they are so desperate for food for their children and in the process contracting HIV/AIDS.  Read the story here.  "Why not me, Lord?"  WHY? Why have You given me so much?


Or when I am rocking my babies and they finally fall asleep - completely content with a warm full tummy, how can I ignore the millions who are crying themselves to sleep tonight.  Cold and hungry....no starving. How can I ignore this? 



Again comes the why? Why Lord have you blessed me to overflowing? These verses almost haunt me.  Maybe 'convict me' is a better word choice.

.....For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required...Luke 12:48
 
and


 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  1 John 3:16-18
I think somewhere in the midst of having my eyes opened to the great sorrow and pain of others, and knowing that someday God is going to look at my life and ask me how I cared for His least. He is going to look at MY LIFE - my blessed, full, spoiled, rich life.  How can I ignore this?  I can't.  I can't look the other way anymore.  This is where my personal call of adoption began. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

Sweet and Sour

The Sweet

My youngest daughter ( she's 5 yrs. old) says funny things.  All the time.  She isn't trying either.  I am not sure if it has to do with that fact that she was in speech therapy for a while or what.  That and the fact that she tells you exactly what she is thinking.  As my husband says, there is noooo filter. So this combination is hilarious. 

Here are some examples of some words that she has come up with all on her own:

glassable - an item that is breakable

woodable - an item that is not breakable and usually made of wood, of course

a foreache - when your headache hurts in your forehead

that ring dong fing - a doorbell, of course

A great example of the no filter...........

Todd was feeding the baby a bottle early on a Saturday morning. S wanted Todd to read her a book. She found a book and climbed on the chair with Todd as he fed the baby. I decided to video tape them as they were having a special 'bonding' moment together. It was really sweet.  So I start video taping and S in timing so perfect you could never have planned it on purpose says,
 "Dad, your breath is sooooooo gross!" 

The Sour

I love my kids!!  I can't wait to bring our little guy home and integrate him into our family.  I look forward to it so much.  My big worry is that they will transfer him to the older orphanage before we can get there to him and we would not be able to adopt him.  Will you please pray for me/us?  Please pray for peaceful patient hearts.  I know God is in control in my head but my heart still worries over how this is all going to work out. 

Sunday, October 17, 2010

INCREDIBLE

The first video sets up this incredible story of a father's love for his son so you need to watch it.  BUT the second video is just so beautiful........please don't miss it.     







The Early Years
Rick was born in 1962 to Dick and Judy Hoyt. As a result of oxygen deprivation to Rick's brain at the time of his birth, Rick was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. Dick and Judy were advised to institutionalize Rick because there was no chance of him recovering, and little hope for Rick to live a "normal" life. This was just the beginning of Dick and Judy's quest for Rick's inclusion in community, sports, education and one day, the workplace.

Dick and Judy soon realized that though Rick couldn't walk or speak; he was quite astute and his eyes would follow them around the room. They fought to integrate Rick into the public school system, pushing administrators to see beyond Rick's physical limitations. Dick and Judy would take Rick sledding and swimming, and even taught him the alphabet and basic words, like any other child. After providing concrete evidence of Rick's intellect and ability to learn like everyone else, Dick and Judy needed to find a way to help Rick communicate for himself.

With $5,000 in 1972 and a skilled group of engineers at Tufts University, an interactive computer was built for Rick. This computer consisted of a cursor being used to highlight every letter of the alphabet. Once the letter Rick wanted was highlighted, he was able to select it by just a simple tap with his head against a head piece attached to his wheelchair. When the computer was originally first brought home, Rick surprised everyone with his first words. Instead of saying, "Hi, Mom," or "Hi, Dad," Rick's first "spoken" words were: "Go, Bruins!" The Boston Bruins were in the Stanley Cup finals that season. It was clear from that moment on, that Rick loved sports and followed the game just like anyone else.

In 1975, at the age of 13, Rick was finally admitted into public school. After high school, Rick attended Boston University, and he graduated with a degree in Special Education in 1993. Dick retired in 1995 as a Lt. Colonel from the Air National Guard, after serving his country for 37 years.
The Beginning of Team Hoyt
In the spring of 1977, Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a 5-mile benefit run for a Lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Far from being a long-distance runner, Dick agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair and they finished all 5 miles, coming in next to last. That night, Rick told his father, "Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped."




This realization was just the beginning of what would become over 1,000 races completed, including marathons, duathlons and triathlons (6 of them being Ironman competitions). Also adding to their list of achievements, Dick and Rick biked and ran across the U.S. in 1992, completing a full 3,735 miles in 45 days.

 

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Every Single One

The other night when I opened my Bible to do my devotions, my Bible fell open to a prologue to the chapter. 
The commentary read,
"Every birth is a miracle, and every child is a gift from God."

I believe that.  EVERY child is a gift from God.  Every single one.

The rich ones and the poor ones,
The perfect ones and the imperfect ones,
The healthy ones and the sick ones.

God knit each one in their mother's womb.  Every single one.  Every single one has worth and value in Our Father's eyes.

.   

We humans have the tendency to think a mistake has been made.  Even the disciples did this......

Remember this passage:

 1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
 2And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
 3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest (displayed and illustrated) in him. (John 9:1-3, King James Version)

I LOVE THAT!  God has a specific purpose - a divine plan for those we view as less than perfect!!!

Every single one.  These sweet children need a family.....desperately.  You can help whether it be through adoption, donating funds (so that financially strapped families could adopt), and your prayers.  These children need to hear about Jesus too!  Let's be the hands and feet of Christ to others today. 

Because they are all precious in His Sight...Every Single One 
Anna
HIV+



Silas
Cerebral Palsy

 
Trina
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome 

Garrett
Down Syndrome

 
To find out more information about any of these children, click Reece's Rainbow.


 



















Monday, October 11, 2010

The Promise

I thought I would share a fascinating look into what a Baby Home or Baby Orphanage looks like in Eastern Europe.  A Baby Home is typically for orphans ages 0-4 years old.  Sometime after a child turns 4 years old, they are transferred into an orphanage for older children or to a mental institution.  Our little guy is probably in a similiar facility right now.  We ask that you would continue to pray that our paperwork would get approved quickly.  They are 'holding' him for us at the orphanage but we know he will turn 5 in the coming months.  We need to get there as soon as possible.  The thought of him being transferred......well I just can't go there right now.  If the video below gives you problems, here is the link to view The Promise.




Thursday, October 7, 2010

When Life Gives You Lemons.......


My husband went down to tuck our oldest son into bed tonight and he had been reading in his brand new devotional about if life gives you a lemon to make lemonade. As they discussed his recent kidney surgery and how that was a “lemon” they discussed how he could view surgery and the 5 day hospital stay as “lemonade”.  Our son discussed how well the hospital staff took care of him and helped to make him better. And I know that he has learned about how much his family and friends care for him. 
We recently found out that our little guy in Eastern Europe just came through heart surgery (2 weeks ago) over there and my husband asked my son if that helps us to better understand what our little guy went through - especially since he didn’t have Dad or Mom there with him. He replied, “but he will soon!”
Now you who know my oldest will really appreciate this next comment............He went on to say “When I’m President, well.......I should write to the President. We should build a building in Washington that kids with disabilities could live at. Families then could adopt them and not have to pay a lot of money. It would be difficult, but I think that America is up for the challenge. I think that the President should also pass a law that everyone has to donate $20 to help with adoption.”



Friday, October 1, 2010

Redemption

This post was written by Derek Loux, who has passionately advocated for the adoption and restoration of special needs children.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Redemption

Renee and I are sitting in the office of a telephone company in Novagrad Valenski, Ukraine; using wireless internet. We are in the middle of adopting three special needs boys from an orphanage here. Two of the boys have Down Syndrome. Roman is high functioning, energetic, and happy; Dimitri has serious mental retardation, failure to thrive, and though he is five years old, he is the size of a 1 yr old. He has sores on his face, a distinct smell of death on him, and yells out if we try to do anything with him other than hold him. Because he has less ability to respond and learn, he naturally gets less attention and care from the orphanage workers in this world of limited resources. The harsh reality of the “survival of the fittest” principle is a life and death struggle that this little boy is losing fast. Our third boy Sasha, is a brilliant six year old who has Spina Bifida (the condition our son Josiah died from in 1996). He is like a learning sponge that can’t get enough! He is happy and alert and thirsty for knowledge and experience. So with two of our boys we get an immediate return on any investment we make. With Dimitri, there’s not much immediate gratification. In fact, it’s unknown when and if there will be a return at all. This is the kind of situation that makes the carnal, fallen, human reasoning think, “Why try? What’s the point? What will this produce? What good will this do? Why not select a boy who has more “potential”? This looks like a lost cause”.

Two days ago we drove for hours into the Ukrainian countryside to the village where Dimitri was born. We met with officials there and signed papers and answered their questions. We also went and saw Dimitri’s house. The day had been long, we were still recovering from jet lag, I was beginning to really miss my six daughters at home and all the familiar things our fragile human hearts entangle themselves with in feeble attempts to feel secure. Sitting in the dark on our very long drive back to Novograd that night, the Holy Spirit began to whisper to my heart, and new understanding about redemption began to take shape.

I was thinking, “Man, adopting this little boy has been so much work. This is exhausting, expensive, uncomfortable ... and it doesn’t feel very rewarding right now.” What am I doing in some little Soviet car in the dark, in the middle of rural Ukraine in frozen December, as the driver dodges cats and potholes? What if Dimitri doesn’t improve at all? What if we get “nothing” out of this? … Ahhh, there it was; that dark, fallen, unreedemed, selfish human love, rooted in the tree of the knowledge of “good and evil”. The love the Greeks called “erao” love. The love where we treat someone as precious and treasured for what we can get out of it. This is unlike “agapeo” love, the God kind of love that treats someone as treasured and precious for their good, not for my good. It’s when I love a person in order to meet their needs, having no expectation of them meeting any of my needs. At a whole new level, God is working His kind of love into my weak heart, and He’s using little Dimitri to do it.

On the drive home that night, the Lord whispered in my ear, “This is Redemption. Derek, do you know how far I travelled to get you and bring you back? I had to be separated from my Son, in order to get you, just like you are separated from your children in order to get these boys. Do you know how expensive it was for Me to purchase you? It cost me everything. Do you know how broken, sick, damaged, twisted, dirty, smelly, and hopeless you were? And at the end of it all, you had nothing to give me or add to me. I did it for you. I emptied myself and became nothing so that you could have it all. This is redemption.

My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him. And when He redeems us, we can’t even really appreciate or comprehend it, just like Dimitri will never comprehend or fully appreciate what is about to happen to him … but … he will live in the fruit of it. As his Daddy, I will never expect him to understand all of this or even to thank me. I just want to watch him live in the benefits of my love and experience the joys of being an heir in my family. This is how our heavenly “Papa” feels towards us.

Today, settle your busy heart down and rest in the benefits of redemption. Enjoy the fruits of His goodness, and stop trying to “pay Him back”. You’ll never get close you goofy little kid.

 - Derek Loux

Derek and Renee Loux have two biological daughters, Sophia (12) and Michaela (9), were joined by five adopted daughters from the Marshall Islands: Telma (19), Teyolla and Keyolla (twins, 18), Leeann (15), and Sana (8). Of their three adopted sons from the Ukraine, Sasha (7), Ethan (6), and Silas (3), two have Down syndrome and one has spina bifida (through Reece's Rainbow).  

Derek went to be with Jesus on December 23rd, 2009.