The book provided a very encouraging story of a pastor who moved from a large urban church to a small rural church of only 30-40 people. The church has now grown to involve many campuses and reach many people in other countries through internet etc. The latest news from our family
I can’t believe it has been over two months since I last posted. It’s been an incredibly difficult 2 months filled with heartbreaking decisions but we also have some good news.
First the good news…..we are expecting a baby. I am 19 weeks pregnant now and due somewhere between Jan. 18 and 25th (I’ve heard 3 different due dates so far!). All the girls are hoping for a girl. We may find out at our next ultrasound…scheduled for this Wednesday.
Now for the not so good news…..As you well know, we have been struggling for quite a long time with our adopted daughter Leona (age 8). After some improvement in late 2009, things really took a turn for the worse at the end of January this year. We prayed a lot and loved her through all her behaviors while still giving consequences for them. But things just continued to go downhill. It was no longer safe to have her in our home. The older kids were just so worn down emotionally and she needed constant supervision around the younger children. She was spending large amounts of time in her room cleaning up messes and making more messes to clean, destroying her things, and harming herself. It was not a good situation. After much prayer, we finally came to the realization that it would be best for her to leave our home. We considered the possiblity of residential care first but they could not take her as soon as we needed (I had all-day morning sickness and her behavior was becoming increasingly worse). We were heartbroken. We prayed more and felt that the Lord wanted her in a new family. We found one within a few days. My husband took her there 2 weeks later (mid-July). Words cannot express how difficult it was to make that decision. But words also cannot express how much relief our family felt after she left. Later, when I was explaining to my 4 yr. old that Leona would be staying at her new home forever and would not be coming back, she said “then she can’t hurt me anymore”. I had never mentioned that Leona “hurt” her, only that Leona was not being nice……these were her own words. It made me very sad to hear them but confirmed to me that we made the right decision. We are thankful that Leona has a chance to “start over”….a new beginning. I have talked to her twice since she left and she seems to be doing well (for her anyway!!).
You might be wondering how Josephine is doing since Leona left….she is happy her room smells a lot better. In fact, she told me to send Leona to a new house quite a few times prior to her leaving. She did ask once if she would be staying and I told her “yes”. It seems the hormones stay under control pretty well with the birth control pills. We are now looking into possible underlying causes of her hormone issues. We are probably going to be sending her to a school for the deaf, which unfortunately is residential. She would stay there for 4 nights and come home on the weekends. She desperately needs to be surrounded by people who speak ASL fluently. We had the best intentions of becoming fluent (I’d say we’re somewhere between beginner and intermediate..hopefully closer to intermediate) ASAP but our family situation just didn’t allow for it. I am hoping to take classes while she is in school. Also, the battle for her to get her schoolwork done was difficult on the whole family although with her hormones in check, I think she would be much more cooperative.
We thank all of you who have been keeping us in your prayers during this difficult season in our lives. We ask that you’d continue in prayer for the situation with Josephine and her medical (which in turn causes emotional!) issues. Have a blessed night!
I’m sure everyone wondered where the rain was…I had my answer all ready "It’s in her pants, silly!" No one asked though!! I even let her go swimming…of course she had to wear a swim diaper under her bikini bottom (with a rashguard top). Not even one kid laughed at her…gosh I was so disappointed! Wait, did I say that out loud? I’ve decided she will be wearing diapers until she is 18….I’ve had enough floods.
They have a tunnel that you can walk underneath the shark tank..pretty cool. 
And, no it wasn’t matching rain pants!) 
A bad picture at the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum. (No, I wasn’t kidding about the rain pants being yellow, I just turned them inside out so she didn’t rip the rubber part!!). 
Here’s a nice pic. of everyone in the bus. Eric made of few modifications to the bus…a table and a few switched seats. Those totes fit under the seats nicely but the ones with the snacks in didn’t stay there for too long!
Robyn