Jan, a women in our congregation, told me that the women of Evergreen Church, our church home, would sponsor a spaghetti dinner for us, in order to help with adoption funds. I remember being all sorts of giddy that they would want to support our family in bringing our girl home.
Of course, we are a smaller church....
At the most, in the busy months, we have maybe 190 people show up on a Sunday morning. It was estimated (I can't remember by whom) that the women would raise around $1000.
The day came; and the spaghetti was served.
Friends came.
More friends came. Church members came....
And more....
The women ran out of spaghetti.
More was brought in, and that was eaten as well.
I believe, if I remember correctly, that there were double the people that were expected.
I left that night, and I remember not being able to sleep....because I was trying to figure out how to make it up to these women....I wrote in my journal about how difficult it is to accept gifts that you feel you don't deserve at all and that you know you cannot pay back. I realized, as I stressed out about accepting such a giant gift, that I feel like that with God sometimes.....like I wish I deserved what He gave. But I don't. And He doesn't care. And He gives anyway.
And I have to learn to accept it.
And so.....
I went to church the next day, pretty humbled, not really wanting to look the ladies in the eye; knowing they had put so much time and energy into that dinner for our family to bring our Yan Rui home.
For me; a large part of the gift was the obvious support they were giving as we sought to seek out and pursue God's purpose for our family.
I wasn't sure I was prepared to accept the money without crying.
And then....
they told us how much had been raised:
Not $1000, as I had originally assumed, but $11,000+*, and I started crying (and snotting) all over the place. This small group of women in this small country church raised more money than our adoption agent had ever heard of in a spaghetti dinner. And I was all sorts of thankful and surprised and humbled before I had ever heard the amount.
I'm still working at accepting the gift with grace without trying to pay it back somehow. :)
So, Yan Rui will soon come home, and it was this group of women along with all of our family and friends that came to eat those noodles that helped to get us to this point today.....
Just three four days away from meeting our girl and bringing that adorable, "sometimes obstinate**", "active" girl that "likes the color red" and "loves to play hide and seek" home.
* By the way, the total amount raised (more checks just kept coming in) was $15,000.
Another friend of ours raised $360 at his church, and another $5000 came in after that!
We recently withdrew the last of our adoption funds and I am crazy excited and kind of blown away to tell you that our adoption has been paid off in full. (Yes, I cried and snotted about that too!)
**The words in parentheses are words the orphanage used to describe her. We can't wait to add to that word list as we get to know her more.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Friday, November 09, 2012
Bringing Yan Rui Home
I have been wanting to write a blog post about our newest member of the family....and every time I try, I feel like I have too much to write. I decided, in the end, that our letter to family and friends is as good a summary as any...And the response from our family and friends is pretty amazing. I'll share that in the next post. 
Dear Family and Friends, As many of you know, Keith and I are in the process of adopting a five-year-old girl named Yan Rui. (If you are trying to figure out how to pronounce her name, we have no clue either! We’ll find out when we meet her.) She is living in an orphanage in Anhui, China, and we are hoping and praying to bring her home soon. Many of you have been interested in our adoption, and while I know I have shared parts of our story with some of you, we wanted to take this time to share more fully with all of you. I, Karla, can hardly remember not sharing our house with someone while I was growing up. My dad’s younger sister came to live with my parents when she was a teen (I was a baby), we had exchange students throughout the years, my cousin stayed for a while, and my parents began taking in foster kids when I was ten years old. We adopted my twin brothers, Ken and Bill, when I was twelve. My brothers have developmental disabilities, and we learned, through them, the importance of patience (when they were starting fires and peeing on the cat--haha!), of understanding (when their limitations made things difficult for them), of advocacy for those who can’t advocate for themselves, of perseverance in frustrating times. Last year, our family was involved in building a group home for one of my brothers, because we couldn’t find one that offered the excellent care that we thought he deserved. I have worked in group homes for over ten years, because I knew (from my brothers) how much of a joy my life would be if those with special needs were a part of it. Keith was adopted by his father when he was about six years old. Adoption, for him, was also a normal part of life. His dad was the only dad he knew. His dad was the male influence in an otherwise all-female household. His dad is the funny accent our kids giggle at on the other end of the phone. And his dad is the one who goes “all out” with welcome when we visit him in summer time. Naturally, when Keith and I discussed growing a family, adoption was part of that dream. We didn’t spend a lot of time discussing specifics early-on. Then, in 2004, we had quadruplets. They were born at 28 weeks, and all of our babies were in critical condition for 3-4 months. One of our daughters lived for one week before Jesus took her home, and at two points in the neonatal process, the doctors informed us that there was "nothing else that could be done". Our son had a severe brain hemorrhage and our daughter lost “too much” oxygen, and one doctor warned us to "be prepared to take home a child with special needs”. If, of course, we brought home a child at all. Our kids, the three that survived, did not come home with special needs. In fact, they are all thriving and meeting expected developmental milestones. Yet we believe that God prepared us to parent a child with special needs, and we want to be able to do that through the process of adoption. While some of you have called Keith and I “saints” for considering a child with special needs, we happen to know, through our relationships with those with disabilities, that we will be way more blessed being Yan Rui’s parents than she will be in being our kid. :) Some of you have wondered why we decided to adopt from China when there are so many children in America who need our help. Our intent was not to adopt from a certain country as much as it was to adopt a child who was considered “hard to place”. China has a specific list for children who are “waiting” because of their age or disability, and Yan Rui’s file was the first file we were shown. Yan Rui’s disability happens to be cerebral palsy, and we are not certain where she is, developmentally, because we have read reports ranging anywhere from 18 months to 3 years. We aren’t confident that any of these reports are accurate. We will not know for sure how much support she needs until we bring her home. We are including an expenses sheet, because we want to share exactly how much funds are required and where those funds are actually going. (I am not including that here, but know that adoption costs are anywhere from $22,000-31,000.) We know that the adoption is expensive and some of the line items seem excessive. We believe, though, that Yan Rui shouldn’t be kept from a home because of that excessive cost. Honestly, that expense sheet was a struggle for Keith and I. We know we are called to “care for the orphans”, and while we don’t believe that means everyone should adopt, we believe we have the experience and support necessary to parent a child with special needs, and we feel God prepared us to do so through a long list of experiences and people in our lives. And yet…. we began our adoption journey in November of last year, and realized quickly that we do not have the funds to do this on our own. In discussing our struggle with some wise people in our lives, we decided that we had to trust that “anything is possible with God” and that money is not an issue for Him. (We’re never sure if believing and acting on these things is called faith or stupidity, but we’re hoping we are walking in faith). :) While we have the resources to provide care for our daughter long-term, initial adoption costs are making it difficult for us to finance getting her here. We are humbly asking that others in the Body of Christ partner with us by praying for Yan Rui as she waits for her forever family and by helping to provide the funds necessary for us to welcome her home. Thanks so much for your support, The Foisy family
Dear Family and Friends, As many of you know, Keith and I are in the process of adopting a five-year-old girl named Yan Rui. (If you are trying to figure out how to pronounce her name, we have no clue either! We’ll find out when we meet her.) She is living in an orphanage in Anhui, China, and we are hoping and praying to bring her home soon. Many of you have been interested in our adoption, and while I know I have shared parts of our story with some of you, we wanted to take this time to share more fully with all of you. I, Karla, can hardly remember not sharing our house with someone while I was growing up. My dad’s younger sister came to live with my parents when she was a teen (I was a baby), we had exchange students throughout the years, my cousin stayed for a while, and my parents began taking in foster kids when I was ten years old. We adopted my twin brothers, Ken and Bill, when I was twelve. My brothers have developmental disabilities, and we learned, through them, the importance of patience (when they were starting fires and peeing on the cat--haha!), of understanding (when their limitations made things difficult for them), of advocacy for those who can’t advocate for themselves, of perseverance in frustrating times. Last year, our family was involved in building a group home for one of my brothers, because we couldn’t find one that offered the excellent care that we thought he deserved. I have worked in group homes for over ten years, because I knew (from my brothers) how much of a joy my life would be if those with special needs were a part of it. Keith was adopted by his father when he was about six years old. Adoption, for him, was also a normal part of life. His dad was the only dad he knew. His dad was the male influence in an otherwise all-female household. His dad is the funny accent our kids giggle at on the other end of the phone. And his dad is the one who goes “all out” with welcome when we visit him in summer time. Naturally, when Keith and I discussed growing a family, adoption was part of that dream. We didn’t spend a lot of time discussing specifics early-on. Then, in 2004, we had quadruplets. They were born at 28 weeks, and all of our babies were in critical condition for 3-4 months. One of our daughters lived for one week before Jesus took her home, and at two points in the neonatal process, the doctors informed us that there was "nothing else that could be done". Our son had a severe brain hemorrhage and our daughter lost “too much” oxygen, and one doctor warned us to "be prepared to take home a child with special needs”. If, of course, we brought home a child at all. Our kids, the three that survived, did not come home with special needs. In fact, they are all thriving and meeting expected developmental milestones. Yet we believe that God prepared us to parent a child with special needs, and we want to be able to do that through the process of adoption. While some of you have called Keith and I “saints” for considering a child with special needs, we happen to know, through our relationships with those with disabilities, that we will be way more blessed being Yan Rui’s parents than she will be in being our kid. :) Some of you have wondered why we decided to adopt from China when there are so many children in America who need our help. Our intent was not to adopt from a certain country as much as it was to adopt a child who was considered “hard to place”. China has a specific list for children who are “waiting” because of their age or disability, and Yan Rui’s file was the first file we were shown. Yan Rui’s disability happens to be cerebral palsy, and we are not certain where she is, developmentally, because we have read reports ranging anywhere from 18 months to 3 years. We aren’t confident that any of these reports are accurate. We will not know for sure how much support she needs until we bring her home. We are including an expenses sheet, because we want to share exactly how much funds are required and where those funds are actually going. (I am not including that here, but know that adoption costs are anywhere from $22,000-31,000.) We know that the adoption is expensive and some of the line items seem excessive. We believe, though, that Yan Rui shouldn’t be kept from a home because of that excessive cost. Honestly, that expense sheet was a struggle for Keith and I. We know we are called to “care for the orphans”, and while we don’t believe that means everyone should adopt, we believe we have the experience and support necessary to parent a child with special needs, and we feel God prepared us to do so through a long list of experiences and people in our lives. And yet…. we began our adoption journey in November of last year, and realized quickly that we do not have the funds to do this on our own. In discussing our struggle with some wise people in our lives, we decided that we had to trust that “anything is possible with God” and that money is not an issue for Him. (We’re never sure if believing and acting on these things is called faith or stupidity, but we’re hoping we are walking in faith). :) While we have the resources to provide care for our daughter long-term, initial adoption costs are making it difficult for us to finance getting her here. We are humbly asking that others in the Body of Christ partner with us by praying for Yan Rui as she waits for her forever family and by helping to provide the funds necessary for us to welcome her home. Thanks so much for your support, The Foisy family
Saturday, July 14, 2012
2012 Updates
July Basil and September were playing with Lincoln Logs. Somehow, Basil had all the "fire wood". Sep wanted to buy some.
Basil: "The fire wood is $1." Sep gave him $1, and he gave her one measly piece of firewood. She was mad.
Sep: "I hardly get any firewood and I don't have very much money!"
Basil: "Otherwise, you could take a train ride, and the train brings you to a wood pile, where you can get three pieces. It doesn't cost any money."
Sep: "Oh good! I'll do that."
Basil: "You need a ticket to get on the train."
Sep: "How do I get a ticket?"
Basil: "You pay me $10."
Sep: "I hardly get any firewood and I don't have very much money!"
Basil: "Otherwise, you could take a train ride, and the train brings you to a wood pile, where you can get three pieces. It doesn't cost any money."
Sep: "Oh good! I'll do that."
Basil: "You need a ticket to get on the train."
Sep: "How do I get a ticket?"
Basil: "You pay me $10."
August
Soren, to Zeke: I am sorry for punching you....
....I thought you were Seppy.
....I thought you were Seppy.
September
Zeke might have higher-than-necessary hopes for his upcoming Karate classes. I overheard him saying to Soren, "Bubs, soon you can watch me do a back flip and high-kick my opponent in the stomach!"
---------
Soren says he remembers being inside my tummy. He swung from my bones and stuff.
I'm not sure I believe him.
Soren replied, "Step on you."
I'm not sure I believe him.
October
September, in her usual dramatic way, said to Soren, mid-argument, "What would you do if I died right now??"
Soren replied, "Step on you."
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Virginia Vacay
In June, for three summers, Keith has "pastor classes" in Virginia. We go along, because we'd miss him and because it's not home. We can trick the kids into thinking we took them on vacations once in awhile.
Here are some highlights of our "vacation":
Day 1: Keith went to class from noon until 5, and we locked ourselves out of the apartment the whole time. Spent lots of time wandering around.....
We went to the (air-conditioned) book store for REALLY long and then to some skate park (where I had to sign a liability waiver for my kids to run around with no skateboards and where the kids got REALLY dirty from sliding down the black skate ramps). We went to another park that was "fun, but WAY TOO HOT....WE ARE DYING!"
So....to stop their sudden deaths, I told them we could go to the local pool and then it started thundering and everyone started getting up and leaving right when we got there...
Free movie tomorrow morning, if we don't lock our keys in the van first or something.
Day 3 so far: Zeke called the local police by pushing the Emergency Button on the wall in the public bathrooms, Baz accidentally walked into someone else's apartment and let a lightning bug go (that he meant to show Keith), and our $8 popcorn was more expensive than all five of our ($1) movie tickets.
Day 4: Children's Museum: Every other kid "milked" the fake cow nicely, into the bucket. My kid (Zeke) decided cow utters looked like squirt guns and sprayed innocent bystanders. Then, he talked Soren into drinking the "milk" (water). I banned him from the cow. (Wonder why the cow was turned off the next time we went back???)
Day 5: We resorted to taking my sister's advice and trying free samples at the local Costco. Soren had a funny look on his face and would NOT try the vitamin drink. While we were standing there, he went up to the lady serving it, and said, "Did you say something about HAIR in it?" (She didn't. She said it is healthy for hair, bones, and skin.) He took one after he realized it was hair-free.
Day 9: On our way to "more adventures", Zeke saw a Yard Sale sign, and said, "Hey, Baz....why would anyone want to sell their YARD?"
Day 10 and stuff:
We bought some cheap entertainment, like squirt guns and bubbles.
Apparently, the two don't mix well.
Sep chose to do bubbles, and the boys...?
Well, they chose to "Shoot down and destroy" (yes, their words) her bubbles. Not happy, that girl.
Other days:
We acted like a normal family and took at least one (or two) cute pictures.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Because I Suck at Regular Updates
Run down of Events since "last time"....
Mostly cut and pasted from Facebook...
The Sunday school teacher said, "You are going to write a prayer to God. Write thank you for whatever you want to tell him."
So, Basil, our VERY LITERAL child, wrote this:.JPG)
(October 2011)
This is a cute pic of our cute kids because we have decided to adopt a cute kid from China! They wanted her to see, (as much as a photo can tell...) whose family she would soon be a part of. Maybe it's best that photos don't speak?? ;)
(February 2012)
Papa and Gramps made a bunk bed for Soren in the boys' room, so we can squish one more kid in our house. Our newest member of the family, Yan Rui, and Sep will share a room. Sep's excited. Yan Rui doesn't know to be yet. But who wouldn't be excited to be a part of the Foisy family!??
(March 2012)
See? Sep really needs a sister, so these poor super hero guys can learn to respect themselves again.
(various dates in 2012)
More "Catch Up" to come....
.JPG)
(October 2011)This is a cute pic of our cute kids because we have decided to adopt a cute kid from China! They wanted her to see, (as much as a photo can tell...) whose family she would soon be a part of. Maybe it's best that photos don't speak?? ;)
(January 2012)
Zeke got glasses, even though he said, "I don't NEED glasses! The letters were just really small!" Now, with the assistance of his new frames, we can all chant (like we are back in the 90's and talking about a mullet), "Business from the front and Party from the side!" (Yep, that's Spongebob!)
Papa and Gramps made a bunk bed for Soren in the boys' room, so we can squish one more kid in our house. Our newest member of the family, Yan Rui, and Sep will share a room. Sep's excited. Yan Rui doesn't know to be yet. But who wouldn't be excited to be a part of the Foisy family!??
See? Sep really needs a sister, so these poor super hero guys can learn to respect themselves again.
More "Catch Up" to come....
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