Intuitive Eye in Paris

Have you ever stopped and felt a place? Yes, I said felt, not look with your eyes, but instead look with your heart? This is an intuition eye that a person's mind has but many do not stop and feel long enough to even know it is there.

We arrived this morning to Paris after a flight with no incidences and even very little turbulence 35 minutes earlier than expected. Greeted with a 2-hour customs wait and a suspicious package held up at customs for inspection far in front of us. It was all okay. Not a true scare, just routine. After customs as I was distracted trying to keep up with Justin down the long airport shuttle walker, I startled, soldiers in camo armed with machine guns walking down the aisle next to us! That is not something one sees in America! Not normally anyhow. They were ominous service men with a comforting presence. Paris thus far is an interesting place. People are friendly enough but curt. They will speak English if they can but seem wary of us. They are beautiful people with thin delicate features, sharp noses, and both dark and light skin and hair. There were even classic french sweethearts kissing and cuddling on the subway. Ahh Paris! Can you hear my intonation?

Paris feels jumpy. It does not feel peaceful, but it does not feel dangerous. It is Christmas today. I expected more peaceful stillness. I see people looking around, a lot. A nicely dressed middle aged lady paused for many seconds in front of us down a lonely staircase and stood alert watching. Across the busy street was a group of men, yelling or making noises. She seemed jumpy. A beautiful bright eyed 7 month pregnant young refugee came asking for money on the subway. The second refugee of the day with the same story in very different city locations. Young women walk alone. Women with very young children ride the street cars, in the dark by themselves. The subs and trams have far less crazy people and more average people here then say Portland. I have not been down yet to a busy city center. There I will feel more, I am sure.



SeaTac Airport with a very giddy adolescent. Four movies in a row! She was sad to leave the airplane. "I am going to have reactive attachment if you take me away" she said to me as she patted her plane seat upon arrival.

Reading a map on the subway in Paris




City street and cafe where we ate French Ravioli, glorified macaroni. Miriam thought she was in heaven.

Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle, evening meanderings from a picture book.

Lights from Seattle Center

Doug and Camila.

Headless gay barbies, only in Seattle.

Pug Pilates with Miss Zula.

Charity

I recall a story of a Christian man on a plane sitting with another man from a foreign country. The foreign man said to the American, "There is something I don't understand about you Americans. That is, where does this American charity come from? Why do you want to help others in need? There is so much need in the world, but what makes you want to help? I do not understand." I think it is a thought that is foreign to someone who is unfamiliar with the nature of our Heavenly Father and not raised in a Judeo-Christian culture. The Bible, over and over says that God is very concerned with the downtrodden, the orphan, the person who cannot defend himself. These people are close to God's heart and he looks after them. This thought process has been passed down generationally here in America even if we do not know where it comes from. We are very blessed to claim it as American (although it is not only American of course). Justin was asked today from an Indian co-worker why we would think of doing what we are doing? Why adopt in this manner, an older sibling not part of our extended family? Why do we care? The simple answer is that God cares. He cares very much. God has placed his Spirit inside us who believe. That Spirit also causes us to care and willingly (and joyfully) choose to be our Heavenly Father's hands and feet, even at the expense of our own vain luxury and convenience.

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Psalm 68:6 "God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing."

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him."

Psalm 9:8 "But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish."

I could go on. There are probably hundreds of verses applicable.

Prayers

We "get in the tube" as Justin likes to put it in just a few days. There are a few items of serious prayer to communicate.

• Pray for safety in all of the travel and especially through the holidays in Paris concerning recent Islamic attacks. We plan on attending some of the large Jewish gatherings which pose a significant risk in France these days. As many others have expressed, the story of Hannukah is about not allowing current culture or ruling authorities to scare the believer into not obeying the Torah. 6,000 people showed up at the lighting of the menorah at the Eiffel Tower last year. (See the picture from my last post.) The traditional lighting was supposed to be canceled because of recent terrorist activities, but the people of Paris said "Heck No!" And I say, good for them. I am honored and looking forward to witnessing it again this year. But, it is a little scary. We are supposed to "stay away from large gatherings of any type" concerning recent terrorist attacks. It is a real concern. Please pray for us as we enjoy Paris and the Parisians' celebrations.
• Please pray we can get around Bulgaria efficiently with no mishaps in a Balkan region. We can't read or speak the language. Justin is planning on getting an international driver's permit to keep in his back pocket just in case we decide it is okay to rent a car. We have a solid 9 days of sight seeing to do and it would be nice to have freedom. Otherwise, we will be using a taxi, or bussing everything. Bulgaria is a very safe region. It is probably even safer these days than Paris because the government there is no-nonsense concerning immigrants. They don't let just anyone in. The biggest dangers in Bulgaria are simple theft and perhaps other money schemes. Otherwise, it is fairly safe concerning physical danger.
• Pray we stay healthy. It is flu season, and all the more with traveling and on airplanes.
• Pray for our introduction and bonding time with the children. This is the number one item for prayer. We want to set the transition period up nicely for them to seamlessly bond with us. Remember, they will be losing their foster homes where they have lived now for two or three years. I am sure they are thoroughly bonded with their families. Experiencing the loss of significant attachments in a person's life is the number one difficult thing to have to go through, for anyone. This is not a trite task. These children will be losing a huge portion of their lives and there will be significant grieving. So yes, a good transition is crucial and this trip is the beginning. 

Thank you, everyone, for your support and prayers. We are feeling encouraged and loved these days. I will post as many pictures as I can while traveling. If you want to be on my private adoption mailing list, please shoot me an email and let me know. 

We have our travel plans booked and will be heading out in just two weeks from now to Europe. This last month has been busy with expectation and this last week we have been trying to set bookings internationally. Things are shaping up and we are overly excited! 

Chanukah in Paris

Itinerary:

December 24th-31st we will land in Paris and spend the week of Chanukah there, and enjoy Paris style Christmas and Chanukah festivities. 

December 31st we will be headed to Sophia, Bulgaria to celebrate New Years. We were recommended New Year's eve in Sophia by our placement agency. She told us they celebrate it different than in America and it is very festive. Christmas in Bulgaria goes December 25th through January 7th. This year's holidays will truly be a multi-cultured event for us. In Sophia, we will stay a week and visit Sophia's sites and do some shopping (things are cheap in Bulgaria). We are hoping to go up to a Bulgarian ski resort-Bansko for a few days. 

January 9-13th we get to meet the children in Plovdiv. The agency has a program for us to go through. There is an activity schedule or itinerary set up for us in order to help bonding go smoothly with the children.

January 14th we head home.

I feel very spoiled in the timing of this trip. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip than to spend the week of Chanukah in Paris full of lights and experience an eastern New Year and Christmas.  And as an extra bonus, because of Justin's mandatory days off for the holidays we get to spend a third week in Europe. It is working out beautifully. 

Stay tuned for travel photos.

2016.11.8

There has been no news from Bulgaria or the adoption agency. The court date was two weeks ago, but we do not know the full details of what has to take place before we get approval to travel the first time. We are hoping it will be soon. Every morning I open my email account hoping for a good word from a distant land.

We went to the local orphan summit this last weekend. I left not feeling encouraged but instead saddened by the atmosphere and generally hardened responses of the local families. Most of the attendees seemed to be families coming from the foster system.

There is a reason we gave up on fostering 2 years ago after having almost 20 children through our home in the previous 5 years. The foster system destroys the empathy and compassion good foster families naturally have. They fill homes up too full, don't respect foster families' needs for grieving over lost foster children, and they bully the foster families not allowing foster homes to have rights or a significant voice in the proceedings of the children, nor do they respect the time constraints and other burdens families have. Some of these foster homes are the only homes the children have known from birth and the families often do not get treated as such. In our experience, we saw far too much corruption, bullying, and abuse from the social workers towards us. I wish there was a way to revamp America's system. It all makes me very sad.

This last weekend there was a callousness in the parents in times of group discussion that was very difficult for me to see. What America's children need are soft and warm parents who are not afraid to love these children as their own. But in order for that to happen the system has to put in boundaries to protect the foster homes. I do not recommend specifics beyond allowing fewer children in the home that cannot be moved around. Currently, a foster home can have up to 6 children in their homes and many social workers will disregard this number out of a lack of foster homes and stuff even more into one home. Korea and Bulgaria only allow one child per foster home and the foster homes get treated very well. They are successful programs. But, beyond specifics, what is needed here is an attitude toward highly respecting the foster homes with dignity and regarding them as the treasures that they are. If foster homes are treated better and have more boundaries I believe there would be more foster homes and less need to max out the numbers in the homes.

Alas, we have chosen to adopt internationally and yes, this is the reason why. America does have a great need to care for our fatherless and unprotected children, and this should be American's first priority, to bless the land we are in and seek peace in our own cities. But we found our local foster system unbearable and unmanageable. It was devastating.

2016.10.26

We are officially moved! Justin got the last load of stuff from the garage at the old house last night. I cleaned the old house top to bottom Sunday and Monday afternoons. We gave the new tenants keys yesterday morning. Phew! That was a marathon and my back is achy and tired. For some reason, it seems we have accumulated a lot more belongings in the last two years than we had previously and it was not an easy move. Now to work steadily at unpacking the boxes that are still stacked in the garage at the new place. New flooring on the main level comes within a week or two covering exposed subfloors. It will be beautiful.

Good news on the adoption front, our application is expected to be reviewed tomorrow at noon in the Bulgarian courts. This is sooner than anticipated! We had a conference call with our social worker two weeks ago in which she explained more of the process. At that point, she said the review process would take 1-3 months and we could expect to travel the first time, not in November as anticipated but more like January. Having this court date tomorrow is a good sign that we may be able to go sooner than later. This may not be the only court date, it may just be the beginning. Our anticipation is high but, expectation low.

Miriam's emotions have significantly stabilized, although she is still struggling with all the upheaval and change and lack of significant fun social outings. I have started her on taking niacin, a B vitamin which is good for mood changes. I think this has helped along with Justin and I making sure we relax and go have fun with her. God has given me a very social being in that girl. She and I are complete opposite personalities for which I am thankful although I have to continually look through her glasses to understand. She gets us out and causes us to examine our extreme goal orientation. Sometimes we just need to go play a little! Cross country is over. This week she starts city marimba band and also we start a homeschool co-op on Friday. Hopefully, these will help to balance homeschool and social adventures.