Sister Love

Eric and Alison's first child, William, at about 18 hours old. He's being loved on by his Auntie Anna, Alison's older sister. Anna flew to New England from Ohio to help the new parents make the tremendous adjustment to adding their first new family member. Anna's husband, Aaron, was remarkably kind in giving our family the "gift of Anna" on this landmark occasion. He took four days off from work to stay home and watch their one- and two-year-old daughters.

A Sister's Point of View

Mrs. Beaver:

Lissie being mobbed by the fatherless as she gets out PlayDoh we brought as gifts

 

We're back home after an exceedingly blessed trip. I'll try to post more very soon, but for now here is a link to Lissie's take on the experience of meeting future siblings while they're still in an orphanage: Meeting My Siblings.

We Hear it All the Time; Today We Really Lived It

Mrs. Beaver:

There are certain phrases that those of us in large families hear a lot. One of the most common is, "I bet there's never a dull moment at your house!"

We'd be hard pressed to argue that statement, and yesterday we experienced craziness "on steroids," so to speak.

We waited about 18 hours for the news of the birth of our first grandchild. When we'd finally received all the "stats" on Brielle, our 20-year-old daughter, Lissie, immediately sought her bed. She'd slept less than two hours the night before as she watched each text coming in on her phone, hoping one of those messages just might be one from her brother-in-law containing THE news about the birth of her niece. However, Lissie's nap didn't last long. She was awakened from her slumber by an odd smell...

It took her a minute to put the pieces together in her groggy state, but she slowly it dawned on her that the smell was finger nail polish. Now all her senses were working overtime! As Lissie jumped out of bed she heard, Oksana (8) giggling uncontrollably, while in worried tones Amy (10) was trying to hush her younger sister.

Lissie's sleepy-eyed discovery was Amy frantically trying to clean up a bottle of orange finger nail polish that the two miscreants had spilled on the tile floor of the Jack and Jill bath they share with their older sisters.

It turns out that it was Amy and Oksana's night to go out on a date with their daddy. Our little princesses had hatched a plan to get all dolled-up for the special occasion and got a bit carried away.

Thankfully, no real harm was done. The curtains still have a few memorable orange spots, but the tile came clean. There truly never is a dull moment in our house, and we wouldn't have it any other way. This is the kind of chaos that signifies real, true family life for former orphans! Bring it on! We're oh-so ready to add four more orphaned-siblings to the frey! What unexpected surprises will they bring to the make up of our family? To God Be the Glory!

Announcing...

Mr. & Mrs. Beaver:

Musical put on for us by the preschoolers when we visited the orphanage in October 2010.
Our Oksana is in the back in the pink.

To our dear family and friends,

After much prayer, lengthy review of many relevant scriptures and hours of discussion with each other, we believe the Lord is leading us to another adoption. Lord willing, we hope to adopt a sibling group of four older orphans, 3 brothers and their little sister. We want to share more, but also need to respect the system which has some constraints about how much is shared for the safety of the children. We will seek more counsel about what we can share and when. In the mean time, we would love to have your prayer support for these kids.

God is so good in granting us the joy and privilege of adopting again. Please pray for His abundant grace to be ours. Please also pray that we navigate these waters in a way that brings Him glory and brings four orphans HOME as soon as possible.

Holding Down the Fort

Here on the home front we're missing our parents, but extremely excited about the purpose of their trip. Since today is Tatiana's official birthday (we celebrated with cake and presents a few days earlier so Mom and Dad could be with us), we decided to make lunch special by heading to a park.

 

Hot burritos, chips, apples, and carrots.





The birthay girl, Tatiana, with her dear friend and sister Natasha. They're little monkeys!



Jaynie, Princess Bink and I enjoyed the swings. Sometimes it's nice to act as if you hadn't anything in the world to do but swing with your little sisters!!

Happy Birthday, Tatiana! We are so blessed to have you as our sister!

~Lissie

Siblings

One of the marvels we have been privileged to witness repeatedly with our three adoptions is the "making" of siblings. Blood doesn't create brothers and sisters, God does. And, He is capable of taking children from different fathers and mothers, different families, different regions of the same country and even different continents and create a sibling bond. He is able to make the magic of friendship the glue of this sibling bond. We're in awe of the strength of the love our children have for one another. The Lord is a great God whose works exceed our hopes and dreams.

The photos below are good reminders to our family that God creates siblings.

Since we entered this adoption process, people frequently ask if the three children we're adopting are siblings. We know that what they're trying to ask is if they are biologically related. We ignore the intent of their question, get a big grin on our faces and say, "They're about to be!" We know God is just about to "make" siblings again. What a wonderful God He is!

"Come and see the works of God,

who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men."

(Psalm 66:5)

~Mrs. Beaver