Pancake Breakfast

Come one, Come all!

We are having a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser on April 3rd, 2010 at the Mills Center in Lebanon, MO. We will be serving buffet style: Pancakes, sausage, bacon, juice and coffee. The cost for all this wonderful food is by donation. We don't want to squelch the Lord's leading to donate generously! He He :)

April 3rd, 2010
Mills Center
Lebanon, MO
7:00-11:00 a.m.
Cost: Donation!!!

Please come and help us raise money to bring Meggie home. Tell your friends. Tell your coworkers. Tell your neighbors. If you want flyers to take to your neighbors, coworkers, friends or family please let me know! We need your help!

Thank you!
In Christ Alone
The Friend Family ~ Joe, Brenna, Keegan, Micah, Ethan and Meggie Friend

The power of the words: "I LOVE YOU!"

I know it's been awhile but there really hasn't been much change. We are still waiting for the approval of our Home Study. There have been a few minor setbacks that we had to take care of and then we wait again. Right now our wait is on the states of IN & KS. We are waiting for their Child Abuse & Neglect Clearances to come in. You see we have to have this for every state we have lived in since 18. Praise the Lord it's just been 3 states. Anyway, it's government and they have no idea that we are waiting for the HS to be approved so that we can apply for grants. Oh well, it will happen in time.

We continue to write to Meggie everyday with email. She still asks for posts (snail mail). It just takes so long and I'm so bad about getting it out to her. Anyway, we had a few days where she didn't go online and we didn't hear from her. Then she sent an email asking why we didn't tell her that we wanted to adopt her while she was here. Very good question. As part of the hosting program she was a part of, we were required to keep our intentions unknown to the child until after they returned to their home country. Why? Well, there have been several families that told the child and then something came up (ie. losing a job, getting pregnant, no money) and they later backed out, leaving a child heart broken & confused and an orphanage/foster home staff having to tell the child. The children believe they are on a "vacation". It's all fine until you know with all your heart that this is your child and want to scream it from the roof tops. While Meggie was here she asked me if we were going to be her new Mommy & Daddy and I had to say "I don't know" and then change the subject. So I wrote her telling her that we knew before Christmas that we wanted her, that she was special and loved. We told her that we wanted to shout "YES!" when she asked but couldn't. We had to follow the rules even thought we didn't want to.

She wrote back "Thank you for telling me. I Love You!"

I was super excited and even cried. I want to believe that she said that just like when Keegan, Micah and Ethan said "I love you" for the first time, when they were infants. But a child that has been through so much and has had few examples of love, may not truly understand the power of those words. Every letter I write tells her that no matter how confused, angry or sad she may feel... I will want and love her. The last several letters I have closed the letter with: Love from your mommy from America. She wrote back the other day "Love, Your Meggie"! It's amazing to see how even through email we can connect and break down some of the barriers of language and hurt.

I love Meggie with all of my heart, just like I love Keegan, Micah and Ethan. She is engraved on my heart just as they are. I can't imagine my life without her. She has affected our entire family and we all long for the day when we can hold her in our arms and tell her that we love her. I dream of the day she will call me "mommy" and tell me how much she loves me but I know it will take time and I am willing to give that to her.

***Fundraising note: We are at the end of our 1st of many fundraisers. We sold coupons for Antiquities Portraits and will know our total raised as of Saturday. We are also doing two Pancake Breakfasts (April 3rd & May 8th), as well as two garage sales. We are applying to 17 adoption grants, only 3 of them can we do at this time (or when the home study is done) because deadlines have passed for the others but we will send it in on the next deadline. It's been fun to watch God at work. Just this last weekend I saw God's hand all over the place. He's so obvious if we just take the time to look.

Well, I wrote more than I planned. Thank you for following along our journey. Thank you for your prayers, financial help and encouragement. May God bless!

I'm a little behind in posting my news but I've had a sick kiddo and haven't had the chance to get into Joe's office and blog.

So... let me back track a bit...

Thursday, March 4th: We got a heartbreaking email from Meggie. She is confused and just doesn't understand the whole concept of Adoption. In writing we cannot use the term "adoption" because it is interpreted as "we come to take you"! If that's not a scary statement I don't know what is. We emailed her back and explained that no matter how she is feeling, whether angry, sad, confused or apathetic, we were going to love her. We tried to let her know that we want her and care for her, NO MATTER WHAT!

Saturday, March 6th: We got to talk to Meggie! Her foster mom answered and was worried because Meggie doesn't speak English very well. It didn't matter to me, I just wanted to hear her voice. She sounds different thousands of miles away. After talking for several minutes, we got back on the phone with her foster mom. I asked how she really was doing and she said that Meggie is good and that she likes us. I said that Joe and I were the ones adopting her (just to make sure you knew) and she said, "We did not know this!" She said she would make sure Meggie kept writing and then said Goodbye! OKAY, so we have been emailing and writing all this time thinking that Meggie understood but apparently she didn't. Can you imagine the confusion she must have felt.

Sunday, March 7th: We got a great email from Meggie and she answered questions that she hadn't up to this point. Next to the first email, this was really long and it seemed that she was grasping the situation. I wrote back continuing to reassure her of our committment to her no matter how she feels. The next several months will be a time of straightening out confusion and building relationships.

Today: I happened to get on Frype (her email/chatting ~ kinda like a European Facebook) and she was on at the same time. That has never happened before. We were able to chat back and forth for almost an hour. She is not a girl of many words but we made headway. I asked her individual questions and she answered them. I guess that's easier than trying the anwser an entire list of questions on email. She said that there are 12 other kids in her home right now. We already knew that she was in 3rd grade but they call it "class 3". She said there are 13 children in her class. She asked how Micah has been (she's been really sick this week) and said she was happy that she is feeling better. I told her about "her room" and that we hung more clothes in the closet just for her. It was so much easier chatting vs. talking on the phone. I hope we have another chance to do that again.

This week has been the largest roller coaster of emotions and there were times when my faith was tested beyond what I knew I could take. I'm very blessed to be in a community of other adopting families, to have the support of friends & family and most importantly, have a Savior that meets my every (emotional, physical and spiritual) need! 2 Chronicles 20 was a huge encouragement to me this week (thanks Lenita) and I was so glad we have an awesome radio station that kept playing songs that filled the need I had to be encouraged.

Until next time...