The Girl in the Mirror - a quote

For the first time Ramona looked into her very own mirror in her very own room. She saw a stranger, a girl with red eyes and a puffy tearstained face, who did not look at all the way Ramona pictured herself. Ramona thought of herself as the kind of girl everyone should like, but this girl...

Ramona scowled, and the girl scowled back.

Ramona managed a small smile. So did the girl.

Ramona felt better. She wanted the girl in the mirror to like her.

Taken from Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

Wordless Wednesday - Signs of Summer II

Join in the fun! Use Mr. Linky below to share your "Signs of Summer" photos! (To participate, post your favorite summer photo on your blog, then enter the link to that post by clicking on the Mr. Linky icon below)

Praise!

Thank you so much for your prayers! Below are the two most recent updates from Kirk and Keri. We are praising God!!!

6-19-09

Keri and Daisha arrived safely at Peoria St. Francis around 5:30 thismorning. Please continue to pray for Daisha's strength and for my traveltoday with the boys. We have no idea how to express our gratitude for yourprayers and support. Its indescribable!

Love, Kirk and Keri

6-18-09
Pray-ers,
Keri and I came home last night to spend some time with the boys. This morning we arrived back at the hospital around 8:30. When we went in thismorning, we noticed a marked difference in Daisha. She was breathing alittle calmer, she was very active, and she was acting hungry.

Aftertalking to the doctor, the doctor confirmed our suspicions and said thatwhile she was not ready to be taken off of the CPAP, her respiratory ratehad definitely decreased. Also this morning, we began receiving positiveinformation regarding a possible air ambulance team that may be able to transport her to Peoria. We received confirmation of the medical evacuation sometime mid-morning. We went home shortly this afternoon to pack up somethings for Keri and to get things in order.

At about 7:00, the airtransport team arrived at the hospital, got Daisha ready to fly, and left byaround 8:20. Keri and Daisha are currently in route to Peoria St. Francis.

Lord Willing, I will be bringing the boys on a flight on Friday. WhileDaisha is certainly not "out of the woods," she does seem to be showing some progress. She is not ready to breathe without assistance, but we pray that the antibiotics will continue to work against the infection. We have been very encouraged by the evidence of the Lord going before us and being a lamp to our feet. Thank you so much for praying. We reminded ourselves as the ambulance left that her well being is still in the hands of the Lord and not in the high tech equipment and trained personnel. Please keep praying with us!

Love,Kirk and Keri

Another Prayer Request!

Hello Friends,
I've debated about whether to post this, but decided its a good thing to share a need, especially a prayer need.

Earlier this week we sent out the following letter to some of our friends and family.

Now I am sending it to you. Thanks for reading my random thoughts and your much appreciated support in my little corner of the blogosphere.

Dear Family and Friends –

As some of you know, we have felt called by God to expand our family through adoption. Last fall we began the process to bring a little girl from China into our home.

For years we have felt the desire to adopt and trusted that God would call us to obedience when the time was right. Our involvement with Lifesong, trips to orphanages in Ukraine, and seeing friends and family adopt has only increased this desire. It has never been a matter of if we should adopt, but when.

We are excited to see the miracles God will work to bring our little girl home and trust He has handpicked our daughter. More recently we have decided to pursue a special needs adoption. We feel God has blessed us with connections to the supports and resources needed to care for a child with a disability and are excited to see God’s love at work as we move down this path.

For our family, the decision to adopt is a step of faith and part of that step is trusting that God will provide the finances we need to cover our adoption expenses. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $20,000 – that is money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we have been able to pay the initial $4,750.

It feels hard to make our financial needs known to the Body of Christ, but we also know it is Biblical to do so. We understand there are many demands on your time and money. We appreciate your friendship and humbly ask that you would pray and consider partnering with us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:

Prayer – Megan recently read a book written by an American woman who volunteered at a Chinese orphanage for four years. This inside look at one Chinese orphanage has caused us to pray more fervently for our little girl. Please join us in praying that God would care for our daughter in China and that He would surround her with people to love her until we are able to bring her home.

Financial Support – Would you consider partnering with us as we pursue this call God has on our lives by making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $15,000 in adoption expenses?

Lifesong for Orphans (http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/) has offered us a Matching Grant of $2,000 to help us as we raise the monies needed to bring our daughter home.

If you would like to help us financially, please send your tax-deductible gift between now and July 15th to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on our daughter’s behalf, and will pay the adoption expenses out of the funds received.

Please make checks payable to Lifesong for Orphans. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “#853 adoption” in the memo section of your check.
(Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its uses, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Att: Kory and Megan Family Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744

We appreciate your prayers and support more than you will ever know. Thank you for your friendship and for considering our request.

Love,

Kory, Megan, Mya, Simon, Jonah and Sean

Daisha Update

Patsy called this morning. Keith Steffen has accepted Daisha into OSF and right now Keri and Daisha are scheduled to fly (via medical transport) to Peoria this afternoon at 4 pm!!!!

Please pray that everything goes through as planned and that Daisha can travel safely here.

Daisha Update

Hello Friends - Below is the most recent update from Kirk and Keri. Please keep praying!

Thank you so much for praying. Daisha is still struggling. She was moved
to the public hospital late last night for closer monitoring. At about the
same time, we thought we had lined up air transport to Miami. This morning,
that fell through. It seems that the doors for the air transport keep
closing and we don't know why. Ultimately, we know that her situation is
still about prayer. The difficult part of the public hospital is that we
cannot be with her all the time. Today, we were back and forth between home
and the hospital. The infection she is fighting is pneumonia. Please
continue to pray for her strength and ease of breath. She remains on oxygen
and antibiotics. We know that her situation is in His hands. Thanks for
all the emails of love and support. The situation often feels like a blur
and we just cant understand where it is going. Please pray with us!
Thanks,
Plattners

Quick Prayer Update

Keri and Daisha have not flown to Miami yet. Daisha's breathing has improved and the Jamaican Doctor's think the transfer to Miami might not be necessary (praise God!). There has also been some red tape with the medical transport that was going to take them to Miami.

Keep praying for wisdom for the Doctor's and Kirk and Keri as decisions are made.

And of course for Daisha that she would continue to improve.

Please Pray!

My brother and sister-in-law, Kirk and Keri, are missionaries in Jamaica. They were expecting their third child on July 13th and were scheduled to travel to the states yesterday to have their baby here.

Over the weekend, Keri began experiencing severe abdominal pain and was admitted into a hospital in Jamaica. They induced her on Monday and she had a little girl, Daisha (isn't she sweet!).

Yesterday morning Daisha was put back under oxygen. They are worried she has an infection.

This morning she has not improved and so they are flying her and Keri to Miami. As soon as she lands in Miami she will have the neonatal care that she needs.

Please pray that their travels go smoothly and that baby Daisha will get the care and medical treatment she needs to become fully healthy. Please pray for strength and peace throughout this process for Kirk and Keri.

Kirk and their two young boys will be following Keri and Daisha to Miami as soon as arrangements can be made.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your prayers!

Wordless Wednesday - Signs of Summer

I'm thinking about putting up Mr. Linky next week with another "Signs of Summer" Wordless Wednesday. You're comments will influence my decision. If you have a picture you could link that fits in that category and would like to participate, leave me a comment!

A Foul Wind

A foul wind has been blowing through our house. Less than ideal circumstances have come my way and my reaction has been, well, less than ideal.

Its nothing big, just little things. Little annoying things that have me grumbling around the house like an ogre.

There is a song from my youth that contains the words, "Are you grumbly hateful or humbly grateful, What's your attitude?"

I've definitely been on the grumbly hateful side of the spectrum this week.

Needless to say, I have not been the happiest, most patient momma.

My parents used to have a magnet on their fridge that said, "When momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

I hate how true that is. It is so unfair that my attitude has the power to make the rest of the family unhappy. Sometimes I just want to be in a bad mood, by myself.

What a luxury that would be!

Unfortunately, when I start grumbling around, bad attitudes tend to fly through our house faster than crumbs appear on the kitchen floor during mealtime.

It can be such a burden.

In reality, I know I have a lot to be thankful for. And when I start to focus on those things, I tend to move back to the "humbly grateful" side of the spectrum. The wind changes. The rest of the family tends to follow suite. And all is right with the world again.

That is, until the next foul wind blows through!

Wordless Wednesday...

I regret to inform you that my computer has recently been attacked and is currently unavailable, which means my pictures are unavailable, which means wordless Wednesday is postponed until further notice (aka when our computer is fixed).

I apologize profusely for any inconvenience this may cause. :)

Avoiding Meltdowns

If you are the mom of small children, you've been there.

The waiting room, the checkout lane, the dressing room, the restaurant. Really just about anywhere will do.

The natives get restless, tempers start to fly and embarrassing moments start to roll.

In my limited experience as a mom, I have learned to utilize games as a distraction when things start to go south in a public place. If I remember to use one before things get completely out of control, they really seem to help.

Here are a few that work in our family and a few that I haven't tried yet, but plan to when the situation presents itself!

1. I Spy - My kids love this one. I usually start them off, "I spy something red." The guesses start coming until someone can tell me what red thing I was thinking of. Sometimes we let the winner of each round start the next one, sometimes we take turns.

2. Silly stories - One person starts a story, but only shares one sentence or one paragraph. Then everyone takes turns adding on.

3. The Quiet Game - This one is easy, and for some reason, they love it! Whoever stays quiet the longest wins. Sometimes this lasts minutes and sometimes only seconds, but it seems to be a fun distraction and quiet is quiet!

4. Poor Puppy - I found this game in Linda Dillow and Claudia Arp's book Sanity in the Summertime. I haven't used it yet, but I think my kids would have fun with it! One person is the puppy - they get to make faces. The other players take turns patting the puppy and try to say "poor puppy" three times without laughing.

How about you? What do you do when the meltdowns loom at inconvenient locations? I would love to add a few more ideas to my arsenal, I'm learning there can never be too many!