UNICEF

We want to encourage you to take a moment and read the following post from these medical missionaries in Haiti regarding their frustrations with UNICEF impeding international adoption. The link is HERE. Read and please voice your opinion to the government.

UNICEF historically is fundamentally opposed to international adoptions, and will do whatever they can to get in their way; including withholding vital funding to poor nations. Their dollars come with many strings attached. Some are fueled by necessity. Some are fueled by ideology.

In the case with Haiti, UNICEF is inflicting their will on any adoptions. One would understand the need to be cautious regarding those children orphaned as a result of the quake. Maybe the parents are alive? Maybe the children simply can't find their parents in the chaos that is a post-earthquake Haiti?

But in many cases, adoptions in process before the quake are being delayed, and the children are suffering. These children were already deemed legitimate orphans before the earthquake, and now UNICEF is using this natural disaster as a means to slow international adoptions.

Adoptive parents who are ready and willing to receive these orphans in their time of greatest need are being prevented from doing so. Unjust, UNICEF...unjust.

Argh!

It was pirate day at preschool today. When he left for preschool we were told to call him, "Pirate Benjamin!"When he returned from preschool we were to call him, "Captain Benjamin!"

Sweet Little People

Samuel always loves to snuggle after his nap. The other day when I carried him out Benjmain asked if he could snuggle him. I didn't think Sam would stand for it but he settled right in.

Isa was feeling left out so she had to try to get in on the cuddles. Typical Isa fashion. She always has Care Bears lined up beside her. She couldn't take her eyes off of Tom and Jerry for a picture.
Everyone we see comments on the hats.

Chef Samuel

Samuel has taken an intense liking to Isa's chef hat. I think because he loves making all of us laugh and we get such a kick out of him in it. Here he is admiring himself in the mirror. He stood there making faces at himself. Our little ham.

RNs Needed

I so wish I was an RN! I copied this info below from the Livesay Blog this morning. Just thought I would post it on here too! Troy and Tara need your prayers as they serve in Haiti and greatly miss their 6 children who are currently in TX.

ATTN:

We are in urgent need of nurses who are able to come down here and volunteer ASAP. We are specifically looking for people who are able to leave within the next 2 days, and stay for 2 weeks or longer.

Your role could include the following:

• Wound care (wound debridement, dressings, wound vac placement, etc)
• Med/surg inpatient care (with shifts being 12 hour days or nights, likely 5-6 shifts per week) with a probable patient load of 10-20 patients per nurse
• Acute care ER/OR nursing, assisting doctors in the care of injured and ill patients
• Managing the flow of patients, assisting doctors with completing medical records, gathering medications and supplies, providing discharge instructions, restocking supplies, managing the central administration desk, etc
  

MUST have the following qualifications:

• Be able to leave by Monday or Tuesday and stay for at least 1 week (prefer longer)
  
• RN certification
• At least 2 years clinical experience in an inpatient, ER, ICU, or OR setting. WOUND CARE nurses are especially needed, especially if you are also skilled in ER/inpatient care
• Previous travel to the developing (3rd) world
• Flexibility (you may be asked to do things that are not officially a part of your job description)
• Ability to work long hours and function in less than ideal conditions with less than adequate sleep
• Ability to submit to our medical chain of command that is already in place; we do not want people who are going to come down here and try to do their own thing (in other words...leave your egos at the door)
• Be able to fund your own travel to Florida, and possibly to Haiti (we are currently bringing in medical professionals free of charge on many flights from various locations in Florida, but this opportunity may not last)
  

We prefer the following qualifications:

• Previous medical experience in the developing world
• Ability to speak Haitian Creole
• Ability to stay 2 weeks or longer
  

While you are here, you will be staying in cramped quarters. You will likely eat snack foods most of the time and may not eat a hot meal for several days in a row. It is hot and dusty here. You will get dirty. You may not be able to shower every day. You will need to pack your bags with medical supplies from our needs list, and also bring in food for yourself (things like granola bars, fruit snacks, cereal, etc).

At the same time, you will have an very rewarding experience caring for some special and grateful patients. You will be helping save lives. And you will be working with some incredible people. This work is demanding, but very gratifying.

If you meet these qualifications and are interested, please contact Shelley Stammis ASAP at lexismom1972@yahoo.com and please cc me on the e-mail (halv0105@umn.edu). In your e-mail, please describe in detail how you meet the above qualifications. If you are interested but do not meet ALL of these qualifications, we are grateful for your interest, but please do not contact Shelley or me at this time, as we simply do not have the time to respond to every inquiry we get.

THANK YOU in advance for your interest and for caring about Haiti! We so appreciate your support and willingness to help.

Jen Halverson, M.D.
Heartline Clinic & Hospital

Orphans in Haiti

Please continue to pray for the children of Haiti. I just watched this video and the tears won't stop.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2010/01/22/obrien.orphan.journey.cnn.html

Flunky

We have had our first potty training flunky. Samuel did fine over the weekend when Drew and I were tag teaming staring at his underwear. However, Drew went back to work yesterday and I could not give Samuel my undivided attention with two other children needing my help with things as well. Everytime I took my eyes off of him and turned back around he was happily sitting in a puddle of pee playing away. Today was even worse and by lunch time I threw in the towel and declared him not ready to be potty trained. Little stinker smiled when I put a diaper back on him.

Potty Training Boot Camp

Samuel was not overly thrilled (as you can tell by the top photo) with putting on undies yesterday but he has done really well. Day two was better than day one which was not the case with Benjamin and Eloisa so we were excited for him and us. Benjamin's gift of encouragement has been powerful and effective as he loves on and praises his little brother.

Urgent

I copied this info below from an adoptive mom's blog that has tons of contacts in Haiti. (They have adopted a little girl from Guatemala and a little boy from Haiti.) The needs are so great that I had to pass the information along to anyone that reads our blog.

The concerns right now are that the food, fuel, water, and supplies will soon be running out in Haiti. This shortage is what will directly impact the orphanages there. An easy way to help Children of the Promise (Jac's former orphange) is through Adoption Ark. By shopping online through the link provided, you are able to purchase items most needed by COTP, and ship them directly to Agape Flights in Florida. Agape flies into CapHaitian and delivers them straight to COTP. This not only saves time, but you are also able to ship any order over $25 for FREE. Just follow the easy instructions on the page. I know they would certainly appreciate it as supplies begin to dwindle and things become desperate.

Also please be in prayer RIGHT NOW for For His Glory Orphanage. Many of my friends are desperately trying to get their children home from this orphanage. For His Glory released this news bulletin a little bit ago:

URGENT CALL FOR PRAYER

We received word from Pierre this morning that the situation in the orphanage is becoming dire. We would like to ask EVERYONE that receives this to use this information to get on your knees before our Lord and ask Him to provide.

We have one nanny that is deceased and the orphanage needs her body to be removed.

The orphanage has no drinkable water.

In addition they need:

• formula for babies
• medicines
• IV fluids (one child is currently on an IV)
• charcoal to cook
• diesel
• cash to buy supplies if they find them. They are running out of cash and there are no banks open to get cash, so it needs to be delivered by someone already on the ground or by helicopter.

Others are beginning to rob them of what supplies they do have.

There are helicopters flying over the orphanage and they have made a sign on the roof that says they are an orphanage and need help.

The staff is also working to get together all the paperwork for each child that has an adoptive family in a way that it can be attached to their body if there is an opportunity to evacuate.

For His Glory is doing everything we can on this end to contact people who may be able to help. Please pray. Currently, that is the best thing you can do to help. Kim is doing everything she can, and respectfully requests that adoptive families do not call her at this time. We realize this is a very difficult time, however she needs her phone and time available to do everything she can to make contacts to try to help the children and staff at the orphanage. We will give you any updates we have as soon as they are available.

Trusting in Him,

For His Glory

God help us your people, as we become Your hands and feet to the people of Haiti....

Philadelphia Project 2010

Always one of the most refreshing and beautiful weekends of our year. We absolutely love gathering with these friends and sharing about the past year and praying for each other. We met in Bellingham, WA this year at Kristi's parent's beautiful home.

The men. We missed you, BK!

The ladies. We missed you, Caryn!
And of course the obligatory fake laugh photo!

Haiti

The Haitian people are heavy on my heart and as I pray for them and find ways to give, I keep praying that the Lord would continue to prompt me to pray for these precious people even after CNN moves on to other things. I told Drew last night that it feels so wrong to crawl into a warm bed when so many are lying outside in pain and suffering. (This earthquake is a good reminder/slap in the face that people suffer all over the world daily, not only this week but every day of every week.) One of our Compassion kids lives in Haiti and we are wondering if she is okay. If you are wondering how you can help, just one way is to donate HERE. Whatever you can give, no matter how large or small, will help.

I have been following the Livesay family blog for a few years as they serve in Haiti. If you want more information on how to help and pray, please support them HERE.

How much time of the day do we spend thinking of and praying for others--those who are hungry, dying, orphaned, suffering--and how much of the day do we spend thinking of ourselves or complaining about this or that (the temperature, the traffic, the sermon, the music--oh God forgive us!)? Oh Lord, forgive me and convict me when I am complaining. The ridiculousness (is that a word) of me even finding anything to complain about hit me today. Jesus, make me a woman that spends much more of my day on my knees for others. I was born into great wealth and opportunity. Too many others were born into great hopelessness and poverty.

My favorite Christmas song, "Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel" keeps coming to mind:

"Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind...in one the hearts of all mankind...oh, bid our sad divisions cease...And be Yourself our King of Peace....Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel. Shall come to You oh Israel."

Oh Jesus, bind our hearts with those who are suffering. Lord, teach us not to take more than what we absolutely need. Don't let us fulfill all of our wants and comforts and retirement goals before we give generously and lavishly.

King of Peace, be near to those who are suffering.

Adoption!

My brother, Josh, and his wife, Janelle, feel called to adopt a beautiful boy from Ethiopia. Some are called to adopt and others are called to give and others are called to intercede. If you feel led to be a part of bringing this little Rychener home, please read below (from Josh and Janelle's blog):

We are on a journey to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia. Wanna help? As you know, I'm a little gun-shy about fundraisers, but it looks like we found something that will work for us! Hooray! Minimal stress, no baking and zero trips to Vegas. Thank you, Lord. In short, we are partnering with a ministry called 147 Million Orphans, which was started by two moms who met while adopting their own children. They are doing all kinds of awesome things to stand up for the fatherless, including helping adoptive families raise money for adoption. Standing ovation, please!!!

So, here is the deal:

1. Check out their website HERE.

2. Click on 147 Gear.

3. Check out the t-shirts! Very cool!

4. If you want to purchase a t-shirt (women's, men's, youth), e-mail or call us (janellerychener@yahoo.com or 907.347.9767) and let us know name of the shirt/size/your address.

5. We will place the order for you and we'll receive $10-$12 for our adoption for every t-shirt sold. (We can place an order once we have 20 items to order. Just so you know you won't get it tomorrow. Sorry. :o))

6. Send a check to us for the t-shirt/shipping and we'll get the shirt to you.

7. Please Note: prices range from $19.95 to $39.95. There are other cool items on the website also, but only the t-shirts are available for fundraising purposes. We have to order for you so that they know it is part of the adoption fundraising. Right now it only specifies one t-shirt as being available for fundraising, but really all the t-shirts are available.

8. Feel free to re-post this on your blog. Facebook it. Twitter it. Put it in your church bulletin. Tell your friends. Tell your relatives. Even the ones you don't like could surely use a new t-shirt! :o) THANK YOU!!!!

We are in the midst of a mass of paperwork for our home study. We are hoping to have the first payment and contract sent in to AGCI soon. Our goal is to have the dossier and home study completed by the end of March. Please, please pray for us. Thanks so much!!

Lots of love,

Janelle and family

Cubby Hole

There is a tiny little space under the stairs in the house I grew up in where my siblings, cousins and I used to play all of time when we were little. We drew pictures and wrote our names all over the walls.

I introduced the kids to it the last time we were at my mom's and it is the first place Benjamin headed when we arrived there a few days ago. He wrote his name next to Matt, Josh, Sara and I's names and drew pictures on top of our old ones. Where has the time gone?

They were all in there most of the morning on Thursday and had shut themselves in with the little door. I yelled through the door, "Are you guys getting hungry? I have lunch ready." to which Benjamin responded, "NO! We have food in here!" He was speaking of the wooden birthday cake in the cubby I think.

Benjamin kept referring to it as Mama's cubby hole and my mom told him, "It used to be your mama's Benjamin but now it's yours." His eyes got huge and he yelled to Isa and Sam, "It's ours guys! It's ours!"

Rychener Side

We came back up to OH this week to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. The kids have enjoyed many games of Uno with Grandma Pam.Check out Isa's new hair cut. I decided the screaming in the morning when I asked her if I could do her hair wasn't worth it. She looks adorable.
Mom gave Isa a little hair stylist kit and she is a little obsessed with the battery powered hair dryer.
Benjamin was so excited to pull out, "Mario Jammas!!!"
Sam showing his muscles while playing with his first little tractors.
Benjamin got a Curious George zoo game. Isa took her job as pig very seriously.
The kids have paint on tattoos all over their bodies and roped Grandma Ruth into getting a few too.
We missed our Alaskans very much!
Grandma Pam and the kids in their new darling PJs from her.