So, I thought when school got out, I would be more consistent at blogging. NOT SO MUCH!
My dad surprised us with cabin stays over two weekends which allowed some great quality time with Carter before he went to his dad's house for 6 weeks. And now that he is gone, I am on a week-long trip to the Women's College World Series in OKC. It's been many years that I've been dreaming of coming, and have a wonderful friend who gifted me tickets and wonderful husband who said, "Yes, go, make your dream come true before we have two special needs kids!" Luckily, my in-laws live close and I can stay with them. AND...tonight, player-of-the-year finalist Valerie Arioto is going to have her #1 Cal Bears autograph a World Series ball for us to auction off to benefit Polina's adoption.
While I am here, our registration dossier paperwork is being apostilled and sent to our agency. We are hoping for a travel date prior to July 15th. Please join us in that prayer!
Also, there are only 2 weeks until our iPad giveaway ends. Your odds are very good as we have had very few entries. If you can spare $10 to purchase an entry, or if you can take the time to share via your twitter, FB or blog, we would greatly appreciate it! Details are here: http://penniesforpolina.blogspot.com/2012/04/ipad-giveaway_19.html
That's my quick update for now! Thanks for following and for praying for us! I'm sure I will get more consistent once I get home on Thursday!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Beautiful Things...
Yesterday, one of my SPED students who has some behavior
issues asked me if my son was “good.” I told her I didn’t know what she meant.
“You know, is he good?” she asked, to which I responded, “Good at what?” The
whole group was intently listening to this conversation in a rare fashion, and
they all had this look on their face like they couldn’t believe I didn’t
understand what she was asking. They all knew what she meant – and I did too,
but I like to make them think!
I went on to explain that I don’t believe any children are
“bad” – behaviors and choices can be bad, but children are not bad. Much to my
delight, they all got that “lightbulb look” that keeps teachers going when the
going gets tough. Even better, a glowing smile came across the face of the questioning
student, as if to not only understand, but be relieved to know… “I’m not bad.”
There’s a T-shirt that says: “I’m the wretch that song talks
about.” I’d wear that shirt, but it would embarrass my husband (so I’ll just
write about it here J). The remarkable thing about it, is that even
when I was so very lost, when I was blind to my own very bad choices and
behaviors, God still saw me as beautiful. I wish I knew that then, because I
probably wouldn’t have made so many and such poor choices if I believed that
God saw me as beautiful. I was doing ugly things, and I felt ugly.
At some point near my 30th birthday, God broke
through the layers of callous I’d built around my heavy heart so that I could
understand that I am not bad or ugly, but that I am, in fact, beautiful! He
made me that way, and therefore I could accept the grace He has extended to me.
Grace. What a powerful concept!
Knowing this makes it understandable that the song
“Beautiful Things” has a lot of meaning
to me. But recently, that song has become even more powerful. I can’t listen to
it, or sing it, without tears. Not for myself, but for my Polina, and really,
for all orphans. Please take a moment to click here to listen to the song and
read the lyrics: http://youtu.be/nJ4yNYY1hHM
The song begins: All this pain, I wonder if I’ll ever find
my way, I wonder if my life could really change at all.
I can’t read, listen to, or sing those lyrics without
thinking of our sweet, sweet girl as she is right now - laying in a hospital
bed for the vast majority of these nice days (their weather has been similar to
ours recently), both legs in casts, with only one occasional visitor (soooo
thankful for Anna!). She’ll be in that
state for approximately 2 months.
She doesn’t know we’re coming for her yet. I know she wonders
if her life will change - if she is worthy of a Mommy and Daddy coming for her,
what it would even be like to have a family and a home, and if she’ll ever have
relief from her physical pain.
My sweet, precious girl, we are coming for you. We are
trying as fast as we can to come take you out of the chaos you know as your
life. You are beautiful! Please have hope – God is making you new even though
you don’t know it! Jesus was sent to heal our broken hearts and set us free. He
did it for me, and for you too!
Until we can go get our baby girl, we are going to continue
to work like it’s up to us. Please join us in praying because we know it’s up
to God.
If you're able to help financially, please see the information on the right column to send tax deductible donations to Grace Haven Ministries and check out our fundraisers page to find other ways you can help! We welcome you to share our blog!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Ask, Seek, Knock
Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (NIV)
I think this is a verse that most who have been involved in Church have heard. I like the way the MSG version puts it: "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need."
We had a guest speaker at our church from South Africa a couple weeks back who spoke about expectancy and how God meets us at the level of our expectancy. He spoke about several examples in the Bible where God met His believers at their expectancy, both as individuals and corporately.
Some popular individual examples are found in Mark. In chapter 5, there is the woman who believed if she could just touch the hem of Jesus' robe as he walked through town, she would be healed. And she was. In Chapter 8, Jesus asks the blind mad to speak to him what he wants (obvious as it may be), and it will be done according to his faith.
Corporately, we are given the story of Capernaum, where everyone who heard Jesus minister was healed because they all believed. But in Nazareth, where Jesus was from, He couldn't form many miracles because of the lack of belief on the part of the people. For to them, He was simply the son of a carpenter. There was no expectation.
To my dear, dear friends also in the middle of this long journey from the regions in Eastern Europe that have been closed to American adoptions for a time, and are waiting to hear word that things are moving again and they will get to meet their babies and bring them home, please know that expectancy is not the fruit of your circumstances, but it what God has said. That's might seem easy for me to say...my baby girl isn't in one of those regions and we are advancing in the process. However, I've been in those ruts, where we just think this is the way it is instead of trusting God and what he has spoken.
Think about John 6, where Jesus feeds the multitudes in Galilee. He didn't multiply the bread first. He blessed it, broke it into a few pieces and distributed it to the disciples and told them to pass it out. As the disciples broke pieces off the bread, it grew right there in their hands, and all were fed. Many times through this journey, we have to break off small pieces, and ask and trust God to multiply those pieces. Personally, I ask God to multiply the fruits of our fundraising efforts, collecting change, etc. I'm not going to make $45,000 selling hair bows and cupcakes. But if I do my due-effort, and trust - no, expect - God to do the rest, I believe He will! He has already shown me this through a couple of generous donors I do not personally know, and have never met. It's HUGE for us, it will fund us through our first trip, but we need more - and I believe God will bring it!
The final point in the sermon was that expectancy creates an environment for the miraculous to happen. Once you start living with anticipation, you become contractual for miracles to happen in your life. We read in 2 Kings 4 about Elisha telling the woman who's husband has dies and has nothing, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour (the olive) oil (from a small jar) into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She did as she was told, believing. When all the jars were full, the oil stopped. She sold the oil, paid her debts and lived with her sons on what was left.
It's not logical. It doesn't make sense for us to think we can raise $45,000 to bring Polina home, and do it within a year of our commitment to her. But because God says it - ask, seek, knock - it is possible, not by our hands, but by His! If there were another jar, the oil would have kept flowing. When I get discouraged that our fundraising has not been what I'd hoped - we haven't even made enough on our iPad raffle at this point to cover the cost of the iPad - I remember that God will keep the funds flowing until all the "jars" are full.
We know He will do it, and we will wait expectantly!
(Visit http://penniesforpolina.blogspot.com/2012/04/ipad-giveaway_19.html to find out how to enter our iPad giveaway and earn a free entry!)
I think this is a verse that most who have been involved in Church have heard. I like the way the MSG version puts it: "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need."
We had a guest speaker at our church from South Africa a couple weeks back who spoke about expectancy and how God meets us at the level of our expectancy. He spoke about several examples in the Bible where God met His believers at their expectancy, both as individuals and corporately.
Some popular individual examples are found in Mark. In chapter 5, there is the woman who believed if she could just touch the hem of Jesus' robe as he walked through town, she would be healed. And she was. In Chapter 8, Jesus asks the blind mad to speak to him what he wants (obvious as it may be), and it will be done according to his faith.
Corporately, we are given the story of Capernaum, where everyone who heard Jesus minister was healed because they all believed. But in Nazareth, where Jesus was from, He couldn't form many miracles because of the lack of belief on the part of the people. For to them, He was simply the son of a carpenter. There was no expectation.
To my dear, dear friends also in the middle of this long journey from the regions in Eastern Europe that have been closed to American adoptions for a time, and are waiting to hear word that things are moving again and they will get to meet their babies and bring them home, please know that expectancy is not the fruit of your circumstances, but it what God has said. That's might seem easy for me to say...my baby girl isn't in one of those regions and we are advancing in the process. However, I've been in those ruts, where we just think this is the way it is instead of trusting God and what he has spoken.
Think about John 6, where Jesus feeds the multitudes in Galilee. He didn't multiply the bread first. He blessed it, broke it into a few pieces and distributed it to the disciples and told them to pass it out. As the disciples broke pieces off the bread, it grew right there in their hands, and all were fed. Many times through this journey, we have to break off small pieces, and ask and trust God to multiply those pieces. Personally, I ask God to multiply the fruits of our fundraising efforts, collecting change, etc. I'm not going to make $45,000 selling hair bows and cupcakes. But if I do my due-effort, and trust - no, expect - God to do the rest, I believe He will! He has already shown me this through a couple of generous donors I do not personally know, and have never met. It's HUGE for us, it will fund us through our first trip, but we need more - and I believe God will bring it!
The final point in the sermon was that expectancy creates an environment for the miraculous to happen. Once you start living with anticipation, you become contractual for miracles to happen in your life. We read in 2 Kings 4 about Elisha telling the woman who's husband has dies and has nothing, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour (the olive) oil (from a small jar) into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She did as she was told, believing. When all the jars were full, the oil stopped. She sold the oil, paid her debts and lived with her sons on what was left.
It's not logical. It doesn't make sense for us to think we can raise $45,000 to bring Polina home, and do it within a year of our commitment to her. But because God says it - ask, seek, knock - it is possible, not by our hands, but by His! If there were another jar, the oil would have kept flowing. When I get discouraged that our fundraising has not been what I'd hoped - we haven't even made enough on our iPad raffle at this point to cover the cost of the iPad - I remember that God will keep the funds flowing until all the "jars" are full.
We know He will do it, and we will wait expectantly!
(Visit http://penniesforpolina.blogspot.com/2012/04/ipad-giveaway_19.html to find out how to enter our iPad giveaway and earn a free entry!)
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Homestudy is Approved
Our homestudy is complete and approved! We will be submitting applications for several matching grants, as well as our registration dossier next week. What does this mean? It is possible we could travel in June, have a court date as soon as August and bring her home in September!
That also means I must push on with the fundraising! Please be in prayer for our grants and please click on the iPad Giveaway tab at the top and find out how you can both purchase entries and win free entries. We haven't had many, so your odds are pretty good right now.
Also, every Saturday starting this week and through the summer, I will be selling baked goods, hair bows, tutus, and other homemade crafts at the Rogers Farmer's Market.
I'm working on getting the next fundraising dinner booked.
We also plan to have our big silent auction, dinner and live band fundraiser after our first trip to meet our Precious Polina. If you have anything you could donate, or if your company would like to sponsor a table, that would be fantastic!
Thanks for your prayers and support!
That also means I must push on with the fundraising! Please be in prayer for our grants and please click on the iPad Giveaway tab at the top and find out how you can both purchase entries and win free entries. We haven't had many, so your odds are pretty good right now.
Also, every Saturday starting this week and through the summer, I will be selling baked goods, hair bows, tutus, and other homemade crafts at the Rogers Farmer's Market.
I'm working on getting the next fundraising dinner booked.
We also plan to have our big silent auction, dinner and live band fundraiser after our first trip to meet our Precious Polina. If you have anything you could donate, or if your company would like to sponsor a table, that would be fantastic!
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
iPad Giveaway
iPad
Have you seen the new iPad 3?
Would you like to have one?
I know I would! :)
Here is your chance to get your own.
How do you win? It's simple!
Make a donation: Follow this link and put "Skaggs Family iPad"
in the "special instructions to seller" box:
http://gracehavenhome.com/?page_id=4
in the "special instructions to seller" box:
http://gracehavenhome.com/?page_id=4
Your donation is tax deductible and given through paypal
with a paypal account, credit card or check.
with a paypal account, credit card or check.
You can also send them a check if you prefer. The Grace
Havenaddress is in the right hand column of this page.
Havenaddress is in the right hand column of this page.
$10 = 1 entry
$25 = 3 entries
$50 = 7 entries
Spread the word: using your Facebook account, Twitter
account, or personal public blog (i.e. not password
protected), please post a link to our iPad giveaway.
Very little effort gets you a free chance for an awesome prize!
The details:
- To ensure your entry/entries, you MUST leave acomment on any of our blog posts.It should say how muchyou donated, or that youshared the link via Facebook, Twitter, or blog.Please give a blog address or a Twitter accountname. Comments will come to mevia email, but not be published, and yourinformation will not be shared.
- I repeat: LEAVE A COMMENT with the neededinformation. If you don't, you won't get an entrynumber and cannot win.
- All entries will be assigned a number, and thewinner will be drawn using www.random.organd the winner will be announced on the blog.We plan to do the drawing on June 15th, althoughwe reserve the right to change the date if needed.
- We will ship anywhere in the continental US forno extra charge. (If you want to volunteer to payyour own shipping, you are extra awesome!)Shipping outside the US, or to Alaska, Hawaii,etc. will incur extra charges, and you will beresponsible for making up the difference. Shippingwill be done via UPS, regular ground, with no extrainsurance. If you wish to have a different option, orinsurance (recommended), you must contact me toarrange this after winning.
- We will be verifying donation amounts and donorswith Grace Haven before the drawing takesplace to ensure participation.
- Must be 18 years or older to participate.
All the donations received go directly to cover expenses to
bring Polina home! Thank you for your support. Good luck!!
OTHER WAYS TO HELP!
If you live near Rogers or Fayetteville, AR, Sprigfield or Joplin, MO, Tulsa, Broken Arrow or Stillwater OK:
• We are selling Qdoba Coupon Sheets for $10 (we get to keep $9!!!). They are a great deal! It includes three free entrees and chips and queso. A family of 4 can eat for approximately $13 three times with this coupon sheet on weekends when kid's meals are $1.50.
• If you have a service or product you can donate to our auction fundraiser, please let us know!
• We are selling T-shirts for $20 (we keep $15).
поля
That is read "Pol-ya." It is what Anna, our lifeline, Polina's curator, names her files. It's art to me. It's beautiful! It's our daughter's nick-name. I love it! And I love Anna! I could never say thank you enough to Anna for doing what she can for our precious girl! She has a special place in Heaven if you ask me!
(before I go on, please note the tab for our iPad giveaway at the top of our blog - read it to learn how to get entered for free!)
We have known for about a week now that Precious Polina (as her Daddy calls her) would be transported to the hospital today and that Anna would be going to see her and sending us pictures! We have been awaiting this day with great anticipation as we had planned to receive pictures and video on Polina's 5th Birthday (March 30), but Anna was not able to visit her as the orphanage was under quarantine.
Well, it came...our update, 4 pictures, and video! Our baby girl is looking so grown up! Carter commented on her pretty braids, and comforted me when I teared up watching the video. He told me it would be okay because we would go get her soon and then we could see her all of the time. That brought more tears! Carter has such a sweet, compassionate, loving heart and soul!
Before I post the pictures, I will share some of what Anna told us. She said she is becoming more grown up, speaking better, and reasoning quite well. She is also more attentive, thoughtful and calm, and very affectionate. Anna told Polina she is her flower and Polina responded that Anna was her "lovely flower."Anna kisses her tiny feet and Polina tells her that nobody kisses her heels but her. You better believe I'm going to be kissing some heels when I finally get to hold her in my arms!
As far as a medical update, Anna was sad to tell me that the orphanage did not put Polina in her "apparatus" often enough and she therefore has to have her legs casted to straighten out her knees once again. I know that Polina is loved by Anna and is blessed to have a sponsor and curator, and she's in one of the better orphanage situations. But knowing that she has to have painful procedures REPEATED because they didn't use what was provided to them is ... well ... maddening to me. It doesn't help with my patience in the process.
Anna ended her email saying "Kendra, more than anything I want you to take her into your family and to your home as soon as possible." Me too Anna, me too!
(before I go on, please note the tab for our iPad giveaway at the top of our blog - read it to learn how to get entered for free!)
We have known for about a week now that Precious Polina (as her Daddy calls her) would be transported to the hospital today and that Anna would be going to see her and sending us pictures! We have been awaiting this day with great anticipation as we had planned to receive pictures and video on Polina's 5th Birthday (March 30), but Anna was not able to visit her as the orphanage was under quarantine.
Well, it came...our update, 4 pictures, and video! Our baby girl is looking so grown up! Carter commented on her pretty braids, and comforted me when I teared up watching the video. He told me it would be okay because we would go get her soon and then we could see her all of the time. That brought more tears! Carter has such a sweet, compassionate, loving heart and soul!
Before I post the pictures, I will share some of what Anna told us. She said she is becoming more grown up, speaking better, and reasoning quite well. She is also more attentive, thoughtful and calm, and very affectionate. Anna told Polina she is her flower and Polina responded that Anna was her "lovely flower."Anna kisses her tiny feet and Polina tells her that nobody kisses her heels but her. You better believe I'm going to be kissing some heels when I finally get to hold her in my arms!
As far as a medical update, Anna was sad to tell me that the orphanage did not put Polina in her "apparatus" often enough and she therefore has to have her legs casted to straighten out her knees once again. I know that Polina is loved by Anna and is blessed to have a sponsor and curator, and she's in one of the better orphanage situations. But knowing that she has to have painful procedures REPEATED because they didn't use what was provided to them is ... well ... maddening to me. It doesn't help with my patience in the process.
Anna ended her email saying "Kendra, more than anything I want you to take her into your family and to your home as soon as possible." Me too Anna, me too!
How precious is she! Really! I can't wait to braid that hair!
I'm expecting more updates on Wednesday. Thank you all for your prayers!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
DOUBLE YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE $$$ - We have our first matching grant!
So, my last post about Easter wasn't over due after all! Today was the Russian Orthodox Easter celebration.
Moving on...we have been blessed to be chosen to receive a $1,000 matching grant from a local organization, Grace Haven Ministries. Here is how it works.
You write a check to them for your tax-deductible donation amount, and they double it and disperse it to make payments towards our adoption. It's that easy! Make sure NOT to write anything in the memo line as there are guidelines set by the IRS for 501c3 (non-profit) organizations. What you can do is send a note along with your donation saying where they would like the donations attributed (Skaggs Family Adoption) and they will send you a receipt specifying our family so you will know it went to us. Also, you can be sure the funds go to us because they will be letting us know of our donations UNLESS you ask for them to keep it anonymous or the amount undisclosed. Additionally, I know the founders personally, and have all confidence in them!
We are asking that all donations towards this matching grant be made by Friday, May 1st if at all possible, but Tuesday, May 15th at the latest. This will help us to pay for our next set of agency fees as we are ALMOST ready submit our registration dossier (ie: We are getting close to traveling to meet our little girl!)
The address to send checks is:
Grace Haven Ministries
PO Box 956
Rogers, AR 72757
Thank you all so much!
Moving on...we have been blessed to be chosen to receive a $1,000 matching grant from a local organization, Grace Haven Ministries. Here is how it works.
You write a check to them for your tax-deductible donation amount, and they double it and disperse it to make payments towards our adoption. It's that easy! Make sure NOT to write anything in the memo line as there are guidelines set by the IRS for 501c3 (non-profit) organizations. What you can do is send a note along with your donation saying where they would like the donations attributed (Skaggs Family Adoption) and they will send you a receipt specifying our family so you will know it went to us. Also, you can be sure the funds go to us because they will be letting us know of our donations UNLESS you ask for them to keep it anonymous or the amount undisclosed. Additionally, I know the founders personally, and have all confidence in them!
We are asking that all donations towards this matching grant be made by Friday, May 1st if at all possible, but Tuesday, May 15th at the latest. This will help us to pay for our next set of agency fees as we are ALMOST ready submit our registration dossier (ie: We are getting close to traveling to meet our little girl!)
The address to send checks is:
Grace Haven Ministries
PO Box 956
Rogers, AR 72757
Thank you all so much!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)