And so the devil attacks.....

Well, I am sure we have ticked off Satan, since we are claiming 2 more orphans, and planning on sharing Christ with them the moment they are able to understand!  But I could use my prayer warrior friends to support us this week.  It has been rough.

Sunday afternoon, we decided to go for a bike ride, as a family.  Dale asked Brian and Meng to scoot back, so I could get my bike out of the garage, and Brian flew into a rage and attempted to punch Dale.  Completely unprovoked, very aggressive.  Very scary.  He was sent to his room, and amazingly, he went without arguing.  Later that evening I asked him to please sit down, while he ate his pizza.  He flew into another rage, screaming about how I am so mean, and I have to stop hitting him.  Dale and I made the decision to start him on the medication that his doc ordered him, if his behaviors were erratic.   At bedtime, I handed him his meds, and he began screaming about how I was poisoning him, trying to kill him.  Sweet Brittany, tried to reassure him that his meds were OK, and they were to help him focus and control his emotions.  Well, that enraged him even more, and the next thing I knew, he punched me in the chest.  Hard.  Britt dove between us, like she has done before, and he began to punch her and punch her.  Dale jumped between them, and then it just sorta went crazy.  Dale was trying his best to restrain Brian, but when Brian rages, his strength is enormous.  After a few minutes of watching Brian punch, scratch and attempt to bite Dale, I called 911.  I have never done this in my life.

By the time the police came, Brian and Britt were in the kitchen, and Brian had calmed, but still looked crazy and frightening.  One officer kept Brian in the kitchen while the other interviewed me in the living room.  At one point, the office chuckled, and Brian began raging again, screaming that we were making fun of him.  He threw some papers at Dale, and then literally lifted the end of the dining room table and attempted to throw it at Dale.  It took both officers to get him to the ground and handcuff him.  It was awful.

He was taken to St. Marys, and admitted to the mental health floor.  After a day, the called to tell me he had excellent behavior there, and they were sending him home.  I was not ready for him to come home yet!!!  My family is a mess from all of this.  Thankfully, his doc had him admitted to Lincoln Prairie in Springfield, and he is still there.  They are evaluating him, and they suspect he may have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.  DREAD.

So, what do I do with all of this.  Part of me thinks I have no business adopting more children, with this new crisis.  The other part of me, says that Brian needs help, and we are getting it for him.  We have truly tried everything we can think of for him, but his rages continue to get worse.

We now have a team working with us.  Therapists for him, family therapists for us, and an adoption preservation worker, who will help us decide when it is safe to bring him back home.

It is a very sad situation.  I know that the Bible is FULL of Jesus healing people with mental illnesses and possession issues.  I think we need to pray for Brian as hard, or harder than we have prayed for the twins.  He is a child of God, and needs his family.  And we would like him home with us.  Sigh

Thanks for listening.  Prayers appreciated.

Yes, it's real!

Ok, I have had almost a week now, to finally get it into my peanut brain, that YES, I am really gonna be a momma again! Actually, I already am, I just don't have my boys home yet.  They are sitting, waiting, in a very poor orphanage, half-way across the world!

MD is the woman from IL, who controlled whether or not we received IL endorsement for this adoption.  We could not adopt without it.  MD, from what I am told by many, is anti-Christian, anti-homeschooling, and especially anti-large family.  MD told our social worker originally that she could not approve us.  She said many negative things about our family, and about large families in general.  She requested additional information from us many times, which we thought was odd if she was planning to deny us anyway.  What she did not know was that we were not planning on going away.  We had some state legislatures and a few attorneys who were willing to help us battle a denial, if we were to receive one.  And we had the most amazing social worker, who listed to God, and let Him speak through her.   God moved Mary's heart!  He changed her mind.  I know it was Him, because HE answers prayers, and He grants us the desires of our hearts.  And, because He wants no child to be alone and without the love of a family.  And, because we didn't have to get anyone else involved, He gets all of the glory for this decision!!!  Praise God!   Halelujuah!!!!!

I am SO proud of my family.  Ever since our home study was submitted to IL, we have declared every Monday "Wen and Wu" day.   Each Monday, for the past 8 weeks, several of us have fasted the entire day.  Several have fasted half the day.  And we have all dedicated the day to praying for them every single hour of the day.  Brianna used her iPod alarm, to remind us each hour, so we didn't get so caught up in school, that we missed.  And the boys have been the first and last thing we have prayed for every single day since we began this process.  Truthfully, we have been praying for the boys since the moment we saw their photo, over a year ago!  Our family has grown so much closer, and have prayed so much, it has been AWESOME!

So, the plan now is to wait some more!  LOL  On Friday, we submitted our paperwork to USCIS, to apply for immigration for the boys.  After that approval, our dossier goes to China.  I am getting conflicting info on how long all of this will take, but I do think we should travel by fall.  Not soon enough!  LOL

Thank you, dear prayer warriors!  Know that God heard and answered all of our prayers!  Know that God cares for the orphan!  Know that God's plans are perfect!  And learn from me, not to worry and stress, cause let me tell you, I have been, and have gained NOTHING from it!  Trusting is the key here!  God is good, all the time!

Cecil Le Wen and Ervin Le Wu, mommy loves you!!!

I cannot figure out how to flip this photo around, but this is the "official" letter.

It is VERY hard to see my boys in this photo, but if you look at the photo on the LEFT, Wen is the little guy in the front middle, in the orange shirt, and Wu is in the back left, with the red shirt on.

And just for fun, this is the first photo I ever saw of them!  Love at first sight!  

YES!

Today was the day!  We have Illinois approval to bring the boys HOME!  Thanking God, doing the happy dance, and planning for our future!  More later, right now I am too excited to type!

And Still We Wait

Well, I cannot even remember what week we are on at this point, but we are still waiting.  So much for the requirement that we must have a denial or approval within 21 days.  No news from the state.  We were told that we are going to be approved, after an intense battle between our social worker and MD from the state.  But that was almost 2 weeks ago.  Last week, we were sent a pretty lengthy list of questions to answer, most of these were essay style.  I worked on it all afternoon Sunday, and then our worker had to put these answers into our home study and resubmit it.  This was all done by Monday morning.  MD legally has 7 days to review our information.  Surely we will hear something this coming week?!?!  This Is So Hard!  Knowing we have precious boys sitting there waiting.   Knowing we only have until the end of May to have our dossier submitted to China (they gave us a 6 month deadline).  Knowing this is just a silly matter of a signature.  Knowing that I personally feel this is a power/control issue.  But we are moving forward!  We are still believing that God will hear our request, and grant us FAVOR!  But, we would still appreciate your prayers!  And please pray for Wen and Wu.....as the longer they wait, we know the more delays and adjustment issues they will have.
Will update soon!

Happy Birthday Meng, Toby, and Grandpa Cecil!

March is the birthday month!
Happy Birthday to Meng who is now 9!
Happy Birthday to Toby, who is now 12!
And, happy birthday to my sweet father, Cecil, who is 79!
I love all three of these sweeties SO much!
But, we're not done.....
Happy Birthday to Wen and Wu who are now THREE!
And happy birthday (next week) to Brogan, my oldest daughter, who will be 23, and to my first and most amazing grandson, Landon, who will be 2!
Whew!
We are tired from partying and we are broke!
But aren't birthdays wonderful?!
God bless!
                                                Grandma Marcia with Meng!

                                                     This is Grandpa Cecil with Toby!

The whole gang (minus Patrick) at Hometown Buffet!  

Full bellies = happy kids!

And a few more!

Ok, my blogger will only publish 5 photos at a time!  So here are the last ones!

My basketball Sweeties!

We have one more week of Upwards basketball!  I love it.  I will miss it!  I have 7 kids playing this year, on 4 different teams.  So, it has been a little crazy, but well worth it.  Upwards is a fantastic program, and Justin is a fantastic director.  This was the first year Meng was cleared medically to play, and she did great!  All of the kids did great!

Other news:  Still no word from Illinois.  This is week 5.  We sent off more medical information on Friday, so I am hoping to hear something soon!  My family has designated every Monday as Wen and Wu day.  Several of us are fasting for the entire 30 hours, from Sun night to Tues morning.  Others are setting alarms on the devices, to remind them to pray for W and W each hour!  And for the state's decision.  Will post when I hear anything...good or bad!

In the meantime, please help me pray for 2 little sweeties who have also won my heart.  Silas and Hezekiah, who are both little Chinese cherubs, who have limb differences.  They need a family of their own!  If you are thinking about adopting, if God is speaking to you about adoption, or even if you just are curious about it.....PRAY for God's will in your life.  Listen to His words, and Obey His call on your life!  Statistics show that if 7% of all families who call themselves Christians would adopt a child.....there would be no more ORPHANS!  WOW~   Come on people, let's set that goal!

Enjoy these photos of my BBall kids!  Love them!