A teacher's blog entry..

October 16, 2008
I was reading, and crying while reading, the entries the teachers make on Evan's shelters website. As I mentioned previously it is joyful yet difficult and painful to look at the shelter's website. I find it uplifting to see all the pictures and read about their daily activities. Then I read an entry like the on below and my heart aches. When I get to one of those I have to click off the website and make myself think of something else. I can not begin to comprehend why the government takes so long with stupid paperwork. Meanwhile these children are one day older and one day more without their forever family.

excerpt from website...

September 28
Waiting
It is difficult as a child, and even as an adult, to wait patiently for special events. Birthdays and Christmas are two of the most anxiously awaited days of the year for our kids! Since the beginning of September (the first “ber” month), the kids have been talking about Christmas. You often hear them saying, “Hapit na!” (Soon!) Birthdays are also talked about WAY in advance- 3 or 4 months in advance. These are exciting days for our kids! Even more exciting because many of them never had a chance to truly celebrate these events before coming to CSC!

But our kids aren’t only waiting for their birthdays and Christmas; they have to wait for something that is even harder to wait for- a new family! The kids pray daily for a new mom and dad! They hope for and dream of the day that they will be called up to school to be told about their new family! I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it is to wait for that- to be patient for one, two, three, or more years. What a joy it is when we are finally able to tell kids their long wait is over!

Well…MOSTLY over! Even after a child is told they have a family, they have to wait a few more months until all the paperwork is completed and cleared! One of the last steps on that journey is when the kids head up to Manila for their medical visas. One of our kids is in that waiting area now- waiting to go to Manila. I handed out a difficult worksheet in science last week and after a few minutes, she looked at me and jokingly said, “I think I need to got to Manila right now!” I laughed and asked, “Because you don’t want to do the worksheet?” She nodded, “Yes! It’s difficult!”

Waiting is a hard thing to do! Tomorrow one more “waiting” will be over as Jashly celebrates her 3rd birthday! And next week even more birthday “waitings” will be over! Christmas will eventually get here and we’ll continue to pray that God will provide the right people to end our kids wait for a new family! Please pray for our kids as they continue to wait!

Another teacher was writing about spending time with the children at night when the houseparents have the evening off. This is just a small part of one of her entries.
Our evening duties make for some long days at times but it is always time well spent. We always leave there feeling just a little bit more loved and appreciated, tonight was no exception for me. One of the best parts of the whole evening is praying with the kids as they go to bed. Some of them like us to pray for them, some of them want to pray themselves. It is always an emotional time listening to the kids pray. We hear lots of the normal kids prayers; God bless everyone (sometimes by name!!), help me to obey, thank you for our food/house/school/aunties/uncles etc., help me to be good..... But we also always hear a specific prayer that tugs at my heart everytime I hear it; that specific prayer is "please God, give me a Mommy and a Daddy". It seems so wrong to me that these darling little children have to be asking God for something that every child should have without having to ask. But, we live in an imperfect world, there are millions of children in this world that do not have a mommy and a daddy to care for them. Some of the children of the world don't even know they have a God to pray to. I am humbled and blessed and honored to hear these prayers and to be able to add to them myself. And....to be here to see those prayers answered!

An Evan blessing...

October 16, 2008

While waiting on hold for Cigna I decided to clean out some of my old emails. I found a website that I was given by my adoption agency to forward to a friend of mine that wanted to donate to Evan's shelter. Somehow back then it never occurred to me to click on the link. Well I did the other day. What an incredible blessing! I have the link to my son's shelter in the Philippines. The website is huge with many different links to different events going on and people to meet. Some of the teachers at the shelter have set up blogs that you can read and view pictures! Yes... pictures! At first I was frantically looking at all the pictures for any signs of my son. Now I take the time each day to read a few blog entries (I think 5 or 6 teachers blog) and looks at new pictures added. I can't begin to express the emotions I have at this new finding. I am overjoyed with at least the connection of seeing new pictures of my son and reading about the blog of activities at the shelter. Yet I am saddened at the thought that he is there and I am here. Here are some pictures I have found. Not sure what order they are in or the dates the pictures were taken. I just enjoy them!

Halloween comes to the Pendleton house...

I love the holidays! I love Halloween! I put up some of my decorations the other day. I have four big boxes of Halloween decorations. When I say Halloween that includes: fall, autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I try to add a few new decorations each year. I lost count of my Christmas decoration boxes at twelve not including the tree. I still haven't found my big fall wreath for my front door. However, here is some of the decorations I have around my house. Ethan loves it! He is so excited. This year I think he is finally into the Halloween spirit. Every year past he didn't want to put on his costume or say "Trick or Treat". This year I think he understands a little more. He is getting excited. He is going to be a Meerkat! The costume is great! Ethan must have at least
5 different Halloween shirts that he wears from October 1 -31st. I have one shirt and two bows then just orange and black clothes.

Ethan made two ghosts and two pumpkins last year. The other set is hanging on the fan in the family room. This is above our kitchen table.

Must have staple during the holidays!

My fav.... the Thanksgiving people from Publix! Incredibly my don't come to life.... not fair!

Mom and I made a pumpkin patch of pumpkins about 2-3 years ago.

My mom's ceramic pumpkin that she put out every year since as long as I can remember in my childhood. She gave it to me about 8 years ago.

Made the Happy Halloween sign this year. It is hung by polka dot ribbon that you cant see in this picture.

Paper chains I made this year. Have since hung some in two other doorways.

Ethan made the two pumpkins in the middle last year. He is scared to death of the dancing chicken on the right!

Back slider doors with decals.

Mcnugget Halloween characters... who knows how long I have had these!

Debbie, my sister in law, gave me this great scarecrow!

Ethan made these last year

Ethan's bathroom

On back of front door

Our pilgrim ducks! They are located by my front door. Ethan goes running by them and says, "you stay right here. I will be right back."

Rachel made this for Ethan!

Be a follower...

Be a follower of my post. Click on button in top left corner to sign up.