spread the love - sponsor a child

http://www.bethanysponsorship.org/china

Recently, we began supporting precious little baby boy DongYang (on the left) and his foster mom in China and it feels GREAT to know we are helping support him in a small way until he finds his "forever" family. Many children in China are placed in foster care which is a great benefit for their development and many women in China are happy to care for them. Imagine living under the "one child only" rule that is still being enforced…I would guess in a small way that being a foster mom helps fill a void that some of them might feel. Check out the updated photo of him from the Humbleness Home foster group below - sweet santa drawing skills!

So, maybe not everyone is "called" to adopt, but I believe EVERYONE is called to support orphans and those who find themselves in desperate situations. At the very least we can all offer our prayers, give of our time, or even provide financial support. For $30 (less than you would spend on a run-of-the-mill dinner out) you could provide support for a child in China…for an entire month! It doesn't sound like much, but imagine the difference a measly $30 would make in the life of that precious child…this is obviously a soapbox I'm not stepping off. We are so blessed, let's spread the love!

a tug-on-your-heartstrings moment…sponsored by Holt International

new family traditions

Christmas day 2010 marked some monstrous milestones in our lives starting with a pancake breakfast at Brad's request. It was huge, people, and will likely become a family Christmas morning tradition - gourmet pancakes and all the trimmings. 

More importantly (and even more exciting than that divine stack of pancakes), today we began the first steps to building our family through the miracle of adoption. We realize its going to be a long process, so we were excited to get started.

We hunkered down on the couch while we recovered from the great pancake massacre, propped up our slipper-girded feet and submitted our online application for the China Child of Promise program through Holt International. 

It was by far the B-E-S-T Christmas ever!

hands on training

It was a feeble last minute attempt at a "traditional" family Christmas card photo shoot for 2010…including the newest member of the family, Rocko the (outside) Guard Dog. 

It is pretty obvious from these pictures that no one wanted to cooperate, including the husband (note his pasted on smile - I could have replaced him with a card board cut-out and no one would know the difference)

Take 1 - a horrifically under-exposure shot with an action blurred dog's head

Take 2 - PJ the girl dog makes a dash while racing to beat the camera's timer

Take 3 - I guess this is as good as it gets, folks

At least it was good practice in patience for when the (human) children join our family.