From Jonestown, With Love

Our dear friend, Paula Kissinger, created these one-of-a-kind gifts for our children this year.  Thank you so much, Paula, for your love and creativity!  These photos are for you!

From Iquique, With Love

My sister Stephanie and her family are missionaries in Iquique, Chile.  They sent back some gifts with our parents after their trip to Chile in November.  Thanks, Garcia family, for thinking of us!  These photos are for you!

Christmas 2013, Part 3

Dave says his favorite part of Christmas morning is watching the kids open their stockings.  I hate wrapping those little gifts, but the joy of seeing the kids dig in and find their little gems is worth the hours of labor.  :)

This year Sophia sort of got the idea of opening gifts...after she chucked a few across the room, that is.  Overall, however, she did seem to remember what we do on Christmas morning, and wasn't quite so overwhelmed as the last couple of years.  Hard to believe this was her third Christmas with us already!

One of our children was missing again this year.  This is Jonathan's second year in a residential treatment facility over Christmas.  Dave and I were able to visit with him the Saturday before Christmas and give him a couple of gifts.  We continue to pray that God will heal his mind and heart and that someday, he will be able to enjoy Christmas with the family again.

Christmas 2013, Part 2

One of our annual traditions is the opening of one gift on Christmas Eve...new Christmas pajamas.  And, of course, the requisite photo must be taken in the pajamas in front of the tree.  This year I didn't try to be matchy-matchy with everyone, much to Sabastian's relief.  And, of course, I couldn't get all of them looking in one direction, either, so thus, two photos to share with you.  Sigh.  Maybe one of these Christmases...

Christmas 2013, Part 1

It's hard to believe that we are at the end of 2013 already!  I have been a neglectful blogger this year...but I have plans for this blog in the new year, so stay tuned!

This Christmas was a blessed one, yet again.  For the second year in a row Dave is unemployed at the end of the year, yet we have seen God's grace so clearly and freely given to us.  Every gift under our tree was given to us by a friend, family member, or total stranger this year.  I bought the items that filled their stockings, as is our tradition, but the gifts were blessings from God given through others.  As I mentioned on Facebook on Christmas day, the lessons learned through our times of unemployment could not have been learned any other way, and the blessings from those lessons are worth more then any job.  Praise the Lord!  God has been working in our lives in very specific ways this year (which is a blog post unto itself!) and we are so thankful!

One of our special friends is Nancy.  We met at church and she just adopted our family as her own.  She has been such a blessing to us in so many ways.  When Nathaniel said he wanted to make cut out cookies and gingerbread men this Christmas, I knew Nancy, as a former home economics teacher, would love to help us out.  We enjoyed a fun morning together, and Nathaniel was in his glory.  We might have a future chef on our hands!

Happy 8th Birthday, Benjamin!

Dear Benjamin,

Today, on your 8th birthday, I wanted to tell you how special you are and how much you are loved.  You were our first miracle baby, a total surprise after we were told by many doctors that we would be unable to have biological children.  Every day you amaze us with your ingenuity, creativity, sincerity, and compassion for others.  Daddy and I pray that you will never lose that boyish enthusiasm for life or the compassionate servant's heart that God has given you.  Your goals for life right now include building churches around the world for missionaries to be able to share about Jesus, and building cities so that everyone can have a home to live in that is inexpensive to maintain.  You want everyone to have enough food and shelter.  Your heart amazes me.  I can't wait to see what God's plans for your life include!  I love that you still want to snuggle with your mama, and every once and awhile, you still pick up that dingy white favorite blankie and take it to bed with you.  You love your brothers and sister, and you enjoy helping around the house, especially with the laundry.  And you always remind me when I forget to give you your $2 allowance!  You enjoy ink pen drawing (you are constantly designing new cities!) and playing your weekend video game time.  But your most favorite activity would be building things, and this year, we hope to help you do more of that!

You are a special young man, and I love you so much.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Benjamin, and He will direct your paths!

Love,

Mommy

Happy 18th Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan rarely allowed himself to be photographed,
thus the date on this one!

Today is our oldest son's 18th birthday.  When we first met Jonathan, he was 6 years old...almost 7.  My how time has flown by!  Jonathan is a senior in high school this year and doing well by all accounts.  He has taken up crocheting in his spare time, as well as reading and listening to music.

The following post was written on December 26. I didn't post it then, but for those who are interested, you can read it now.  It pertains to Jonathan.  It is entitled, "When Love is Not Enough".

Happy 18th Birthday, Jonathan...we miss you and love you very much!!

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I've been mulling over this post for quite some time now.  It's hard to put it into words, but I know someone, somewhere, needs to read this.  You see, sometimes, love just is not enough.

Yesterday was a happy day at our house, filled with love, joy, gifts, good food, and family.  Except for one.  You see, our oldest son, who turns 18 in just a few short days, will not be in any of our Christmas pictures this year.  He does not live with us right now, and hasn't for over three months. The reality is, he may never live with us again, but most certainly not for at least a year.  Out of respect for his privacy, I won't go into detail here about the why, but he is in a residential treatment program.  Prior to that, he spent three weeks in juvenile detention.  Prior to that, he and his choices wrecked havoc on our family for 9 months of 2012.  Harsh?  Maybe, but it's the truth.

What's also true is that I love my son very much.  He became a part of our family when he was six years old.  For almost 11 years we loved him and taught him and guided him and loved him some more.  But it wasn't enough.  It wasn't enough to break the hold his past has on his heart and spirit.  We don't know exactly what has a hold on him, but we know he and his biological brother are what are called in the adoption world, "wounded children".  There are many books written on how to "love the wounded child" and "parent the wounded child".  But sometimes, love is not enough.

We went to visit our son yesterday with my parents, his grandparents.  We drove 45 minutes one way to the facility only to be "refused" by our son.  He has rights, too, you know, and his refusal to have contact with us is his trump card right now.  But we wanted him to know that we loved him, and so we made the trip anyway, in hopes that maybe, he would change his mind.  But he didn't.  And it was hard.  Very hard.  For sometimes, love is not enough.

Where am I going with this post?  I don't know.  Except to say that adoption and parenting, and especially adoption parenting, is tough.  Sometimes, really tough.  But even if our son chooses to never see us again, I believe that he was placed in our lives for a reason.  I also believe that we have loved him the best way that we knew how, and it was our love that pushed for him to have this one last chance before "adulthood" to get help for his wounded heart.  Will he understand that one day?  I hope so.  But for now, we face the reality that sometimes, our love is not enough.

But we pray that, someday, our son WILL recognize that GOD'S LOVE is ALWAYS enough.

My Little Angel

Last Sunday, Sophia's class made these really neat angel wings out of paper plates.  They actually have elastics where the arms go through so they can be worn for dressing up.  Of course, Sophia wasn't really into them at all, but Nathaniel was!  He wanted to try them on right away, so I took some photos by our Christmas tree of our little angel.  Enjoy!

I just can't get enough of those baby blues!!

Flying...

My little angel!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sophia!

Our beautiful Taiwanese princess turns 5 years old today!  We are so proud of all of her accomplishments in the past year.  She started school almost a year ago, and loves it!  She has made progress with the use of her right hand and arm after two rounds of botox and occupational therapy.  She is making more and more vocalizations which every now and then approximate words.  She is even "singing" at times, which we love to hear, and she has recently started Music Therapy which she really enjoys.  She loves her Sunday School and Word of Life classes at church, and her favorite toys are her baby dolls and her grocery cart--which she pushes through the house at breakneck speeds!  Sophia brings us much joy and we can't wait to see what next year brings!

Happy 15th Birthday, Sabastian!

A few days after celebrating a 5th birthday, we celebrated a 15th birthday in our home!  As usual, we celebrated over a few days, with cake and ice cream one day for both October birthdays, and then lunch at Arooga's another day for one of Sabastian's favs...chicken wings!  We are so proud of the young man that Sabastian is becoming.  While he's all of a 15 year old boy (smile!), he is sensitive to instruction and truly has a heart for the Lord.  We pray that he will continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of His Lord and Savior!

We love you, Sabastian James Fisher!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Nathaniel!

Ever the brave one, holding a creature from the touch tank at the Visitor's Center on Assateague Island.

Five years ago today I was blessed with the birth of our youngest son, Nathaniel.  He has brought lots of fun and joy to our home, and certainly keeps us on our toes!  His sensitive spirit and loving heart mean so much to me.  He can test the boundaries with the best of them, but under it all he has a great big heart.

Happy Birthday, Little Tank!!

Seven is the Perfect Number

Today is Benjamin's 7th birthday...where has the time gone?  I love this kid more every day...he was our surprise blessing from God seven years ago, and he continues to surprise us each day with his sensitivity, creativity, and heart for spiritual things.  Unfortunately, today wasn't the best day to have a birthday with all the craziness happening in our household, but we made the best of it, and I think he's happy.

We love you, Benjamin!!

Photo Courtesy of Inspired & Enchanted Photography

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

With his favorite candy...a gift from his grandparents

Today marks 17 years since our oldest son Jonathan was born.  We didn't meet him until he was almost 7 years old, but we will forever be grateful that his birthmother chose life for her son.  While some might say that life dealt Jonathan a lousy hand, we know that God was in control of his life from the moment he was conceived.  Our prayer for Jonathan is that he will understand God's purpose for all that has happened in his life, and that, ultimately, Jonathan will give God the glory for ALL of it.

We are keenly aware that we only have a couple of years more to instill in Jonathan the values and morals that we want him to learn, as, Lord willing, he will graduate from high school in 2013 and move on to what God has for him in the future.  We pray that this new year of life will bring profound direction to Jonathan's life and that he will allow God to direct his every path.

We love you, Jonathan David Fisher!

Happy 14th Birthday, Sabastian!

Today is an extra special day in our house...not only is it Sabastian's 14th birthday, but ten years ago today, we met Sabastian and Jonathan for the very first time!  It's hard to believe that the rambunctious four year old who changed our lives forever ten years ago is now a handsome young man of 14.  Where has the time gone?

Sabastian has been great with Sophia from the very beginning...I think she finds him handsome, too!

Sabastian is great with all the younger kids, when he wants to be!

This is an early photo when Sabastian was earning Sophia's trust and adoration!

And this is the fruit of his labor all these months later!!

We love you Sabastian James Fisher!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Nathaniel!

Where have the last four years gone?

My little man is a bundle of energy and love, strong-will and compassion, humor and fun.

We thank Jesus for you, Nathaniel!

Movie Party

For Benjamin's 6th birthday, we invited classmates over and watched Toy Story 3.  During intermission, we sang and he blew out his candle.  It was fun!

Here's the crew, waiting patiently for their cupcakes!

This many kids made a lot of crumbs, let me tell you!  But they enjoyed their cupcakes and ice cream!

Nathaniel really liked being a part of the group for his big brother's party.  He thought he was pretty cool!

This photo pretty much sums it up!  I can't believe he is six years old already!  I love this kid!