Mother and Daughter Getaway

Hello everyone!!!

Just last weekend, my mom kidnapped me and took me on a mother and daughter getaway to an island off the west coast! (No, actually, I was looking forward to it for weeks!!) We went through the 'Passport2Purity' material that some really good friends gave to us. (Thank you Gledhills!) You basically listen to CDs and do work in the workbook. It walked me through what I'll probably face in my teenage years, what to expect, and how to get through it. I'm so glad we did that material! I'm also very excited to choose, with God's help, to live a life of purity, and to honor Him.

It was sooooo much fun! Like I said, we went to to a retreat centre on an island (which was very nicely organized by some other very close friends who volunteer there).......It worked out perfectly!!!! Aside from the material, we went out for lunch, built two Thomas Kinkade puzzles, and walked in and around the town. We loved looking in the shops, and even went to a Chocolatier (a chocolate cafe that makes their own unique and organic chocolate, yummmmmm)! Again, It was so much fun!!!!!

I am so thankful that I have parents who have taught me about God, and how to live His way. Again, I was thinking about Bing, and how he is so blessed with a Christian family that will be able to guide him throughout his life, and teach Him about God's love for him. Every child should have someone to turn to, and God intended that to be parents. Every single child is loved by God. God's design is for children to grow up in loving families. I am so glad that Bing will soon have one.

A Birthday Party

Just about two weeks ago, my youngest brother, Brennan, had his 4th birthday! We threw a monkey party with our extended family (he has this thing with monkeys.... and yes, I mean he loves them:). We decorated our dining room with green streamers, monkey pictures that the boys drew, and a palm tree with coconuts that my mom created. We printed out monkey colouring sheets, coloured them and cut them out. And last but not least, we printed out the letters: BRENNAN IS 4. (We had his party the day after his birthday.) We had his favourite supper, chicken drumsticks! (We also had my dad's famous Pad Thai). Brennan was really excited to 'decorate' his own cake. It was my mom's first attempt to make a gluten, egg and dairy-free cake. (Darn allergies ): Actually, it wasn't that bad.....the peanut butter icing helped :) Everything was so yummy, and so much fun! Even though, it was a pretty simple party, I could tell that Brennan felt loved, and enjoyed every second of it.

The party made me think of Bing. I am so happy for him, that he will get to celebrate all his birthdays, for the rest of his life, with a wonderful, loving family - the Berzenjis! I am going to start praying for Bing though, because it will probably be very traumatic for him when he is adopted. Being taken away from his foster family, the only family he has probably ever known, and taken in the arms of a family he has never met. It will probably be scary and hard at first for Bing, but I am going to pray that God will give him peace in his heart and let know how much his forever family loves him!

I think it is great that Bing is living in a foster family, because that means he knows what it is like to live in a family, rather than an institution. The difficult part is that he is too little to understand what is about to happen. There is no way he can understand that the family he's living with, is not able to be his forever family. Leaving them will probably be very hard and frightening. I just read a blog post yesterday by Tara Livesay. She said something that really jumped out at me. You can read the post here (and watch the beautiful music video!), but I am just going to quote a sentence from it. She says: “I wish it was a perfect happy world where the need for adoption did not exist, but we all know that we're a long way from that world.” It's not fair that any child should have to lose two families before he finally meets his/her forever family. So please pray for Baby Bing. Pray that he will not be scared, and that the adjustment to his new family will be easy for him. I know that his story has a happy ending because the Berzenji's are such a great family. I can't wait until Bing knows how very much they love him.

A Special Song

I would like to share a very special video created by two sisters, Annaka Koldyk Cowieson and Krista Koldyk. (When my mom and dad were dating, they used to babysit them when they were little girls). A couple of years ago, Annaka went to volunteer for a month at an orphanage in Haiti called God's Littlest Angels, to love, and cuddle baby orphans! This slideshow is made from the pictures from Annaka's visit, and Krista is singing a song that she wrote.

Even though this song is dedicated to the Haiti orphanage, I really wanted to share this because it shows how much God loves his little orphans, and how much He cares about them.

When my mom and I first watched this video, I was very teary and filled with happiness because it tells us that God is watching over his littlest angels! It reminds me of Hebrews 13:5. “I will NEVER leave you, nor forsake you”. I love that verse because God promises never to leave us.

Just recently, I remembered this song when I was thinking about Bing, and how he is soon to be adopted! I thought it would fit perfectly because God is watching over Bing right now, even though he doesn't know that his new family is already making plans to come and take him home. I am including some pictures of Bing's orphanage or Social Welfare Institute/ SWI. (Actually, he is living in a foster home supported by this SWI, and the money we raise will be going to this specific Institute.)

Also, I should let you know that even though the Chip In button says that $726.86 have been donated, the total is actually closer to $1300!* So thank you again Everybody!

* The Chip In button isn't working properly and the totals haven't been updated, plus, lots of people have been sending money and cheques in the mail, which we have been sending on to the Berzenji family.

Spina Bifida

Hello Everyone! I promised I would talk about Spina Bifida, so here you go!

Spina Bifida is a something that you are born with. People are not entirely sure what causes it, but some think it can be caused by the mother not having enough folic acid in her diet before she is pregnant. With Spina Bifida some vertebrae (the bones that protect the spinal cord) are not formed properly, which leaves an opening. If the opening is large enough, this allows part of the spinal cord to go through the bones, which forms something like a sack coming out of the back.

SB-(Spina Bifida) can cause: loss of feeling in parts of the body, paralysis in parts of the body, some learning problems (but most people with SB have normal intelligence) and bowel and bladder problems. Some people can walk just fine, and others need leg braces, crutches or wheelchairs. People with Spina Bifida can live pretty full and happy lives!

There are a few different types of SB. The kind that Bing has, is called myelomeningocele (my-uh-low-meh-nin-jo-seel). It is the one I explained at first. When the baby's vertebrae, is not formed properly and the spinal cord goes through the space it creates which bulges out and makes a sack. He had a surgery when he was a baby, so he doesn’t have a sack.

It is wonderful to know a family who is looking past the Spina Bifida and sees a beautiful child. There are many other children with Spina Bifida waiting to be adopted.

Stay tuned for some photos of Bing's Orphanage coming soon!

By the way, I have decided to wait and cut my hair once the approval has officially be granted.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

They got their referral! The Berzenji family got their referral!!!!!! This means that their adoption agency sent them a certain child's file, and asked them if they would like to adopt him! Of course they said "YES", and it's a boy!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, though, I cannot post a picture of him until it has been approved in Ottawa, and in China. I can tell you, though, that his name is baby Bing, he is two years old, he has spina bifida, and that he sure is cute! In the next week or so, I'll post pictures of the orphanage so you will know where the money is going.

A lot of people have been asking when I'll be cutting my hair, and that's a very good question! I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to cut my hair soon (now that they have their referral), or if I'll wait until it is officially approved; but, as soon as I decide I'll let you know!

I'll give you some more info, and also explain what spina bifida is (for those of you who don't already know) in my next post.

If you haven't already, check out the Berzenji blogspot here.

Bake Sale

Just last Tuesday, my friend, Becky, and I had a bake sale at the school we are enrolled with (since we are both home schooled.) We baked for my fundraiser, and raised $108.10! It was so much fun!

Sunday afternoon we baked up a storm. This is what we made:

-Brownies

-(Egg-less) Chocolate Chip Cookies

-Chocolate chip banana bread

-Scottish Shortbread

-And last but not least...... we baked a whole cake! I'll tell you the story.........

We were planning on making cupcakes and were discussing the creative ways we were going to decorate them, but unfortunately though, we accidentally baked two cakes! We were following a vanilla“cake” recipe, and were planning to pour the batter into a muffin pan, but when the recipe said to pour the batter into a cake pan, we just followed the instructions. We didn't even notice our mistake until Becky's sister asked, “Why are you baking cakes?” We were so bummed out, and couldn't believe that we had made that kind of mistake! We had worked especially hard on our 'cupcakes', even splitting the recipes in half so that we would have chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. Then, not only did we bake cakes instead of cupcakes, they didn't come out of the pans properly, and fell apart. I guess we didn't grease the pans enough. We were able to piece the vanilla one back together, but the chocolate one was a whole different story :) (It was very yummy, though!) Eventually we laughed about it, but it took a little while.

Despite the cupcake fiasco, we had a blast, and the bake sale was a success! Thank you to everyone who supported us and bought our baking. We are hoping to do it again before summer break!

We didn't sell the vanilla cake, so we gave it to some special neighbors, who enjoyed it very much!

Another lesson to learn...

For the past three years, my family and I have gone to a family camp called “Barnabas”. In my opinion, it's the BEST family camp in the world!!!!!!!! (Even though I have never been to another camp in my life:) We might go again this year! I was very excited about us possibly going, until I remembered I was going to be turning 13....... Turning 13 means I'm going to be in the teen's group, which means I'll probably be the youngest/shortest in the group. I'm also really quite concerned about this again, since the teens are probably going to be pretty tall, because the teen group is for all 13 to 16 year olds.

When I was talking to my mom, a few weeks ago, about what was on my mind, we started discussing what it must be like for children from orphanages overseas, who are adopted into families in North America. If his or her family, doesn't come from the same race, they might not have the luxury of blending in. When they are out and about, going to the store or the park, people will likely notice, since they don't look the same as the rest of the family. Standing out might just be a new way of life for lots of adoptive kids. Some might not mind at all, but for others, I wonder if it is a hard adjustment.

I don't know about you, but I don't like standing out. I spend too much time wishing I was the same as everyone else. Especially when it comes to being the shortest or youngest in the group. I would much rather “blend in” with everyone else than have to be the shortest from everyone's perspective. I'm guessing that's how kids sometimes feel, when they are adopted. They might feel like they don't blend in, or maybe that other people think that they don't belong because they don't look the same as the rest of the family.

I desperately wish all orphans and adopted children would feel like they fit in, and that they are loved. It's very sad to think that some might feel like they don't belong, when they DO! Especially in God's eyes. Personally, I would love to have a family with brothers and sisters of all different races! I absolutely love the idea of adoption! I love the fact that someday in heaven, we will all be one family of different races, and not one of us will stand out, or feel out of place!........(or even feel a little on the shorter side:)

It's the inside that counts, not the outside, that's the lesson I'm still learning! It's one thing to know it in my head, and another thing completely, to believe it in my heart.

After my mom pointed out all those things, I started understanding what she was getting at. She was trying to explain to me that many children feel like they stand out, because of many different reasons. I was worried because I thought I might stand out because of my height, but that doesn't matter as much to me today because I'm realizing that God made me this way, and he is pleased with the way he made me! (Maybe I'm not too short after all. :) He cares more about my heart than my appearance anyway. Also, when I'm too busy worrying about how I look, or what people think about me, I miss out on “seeing” other people's hearts.

If we do end up going to Barnabas, I know it will probably be hard, but since it's the inside that counts, I'm going to practice forgetting about my insecurities, focusing on the other teens in my group, and trying to make friends. (Even if they are taller than me:)