Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Thank you to the beautiful children of Nepal

First, let me share this link with you to my dear friend Tracie Loux's post that she wrote about these precious children in Nepal. They not only gave money that they had worked hard for, but they also took great time to make these beautiful cards for Liam. If you click and enlarge them, you can see that they took a lot of time to write beautiful letters to Liam. They shared themselves and also Jesus with my little boy. They made these wonderful cards by hand and they are so beautiful! What I really loved is seeing each of their smiling faces that they put on each card.





















Sunday, September 25, 2011

Buddy Walk 2011

Today was our Buddy Walk and we had a great time. Perfect weather and beautiful kiddos with Ds made for an awesome day!





                                                           Jimmy's buddy Brandon.:)
      Our Buddy Walk is held at a beautiful park here in Michigan. It has 69 acres of gorgeous land.
Jimmy had a great time:)
Our Reece's Rainbow table

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Afternoon at the park

Today we had perfect weather so we met up with some very special friends and had pizza and played at the park. I just can not wait until Liam comes home and gets to eat pizza and play at the park with us. He has missed so much.......but it will be so rewarding to watch him experience everything for the first time. It will be fun to see what foods and activities become his favorites. I also look forward to seeing his little personality come out and watching him blossom in our family. Oh yea, good times are comin!




 CeCe and Elijah had so much fun playing together. Elijah adores her and has the cutest giggle when they are chasing after each other.:)

.



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Waiting..........

is such a hard thing to do. I am not so good at it either. You would think that with two previous adoptions behind me that I would learn to be a little more patient when it comes to waiting for a travel date. But with Liam’s adoption, I find myself worrying too. “Liam is older, and he has waited long enough,” I tell God, “I don’t know where he has been transferred. What if he is scared and hungry?” 
I do know that it will happen in God’s perfect timing and I hold onto my faith that God will take care of Liam until I can get to him. But it is still hard to wait.


So this is what we have been doing lately,……
The boys have started back to school and I have gone back to teaching after a much needed and relaxing summer break.

Caleb is now in third grade and was so super excited to go back to school. He is anxiously awaiting his 9th birthday in October. He keeps telling everyone that it’s his turn and his birthday is next.  I just can’t believe how big he has grown and how smart he is! I am so proud of him. I can’t thank God enough for choosing me to be his Mommy!

Elijah is now 5 and is in his last year of the Early Childhood special education program. Next year, it's Kindergarten baby! He knows all of his letters and is quite the artist. He is constantly drawing with his magnadoodle.  He is very independent and dresses himself with just a little help from Mama. And he has grown a couple inches, but he is still Mommy’s little peanut.

Jimmy has begun a new year in the Young Adult program. He works out and swims each morning at the Recreation center before taking the bus to his job at Benito’s pizza. He bowls every Wednesday after school too. He is just as social as ever and just a little while ago took off to spend the night with a friend! And he LOVES Trigger. He has claimed him as his puppy, which I think is pretty awesome:)


Caleb playing after school. He still LOVES this old Fisher Price House.:)


Elijah after school. Please don't mind the messy shirt. I'm sure he was doing something messy and extremely FUN at school.

Giggling with Caleb.

Please pray with us for a travel date soon. I can't wait to hold Liam in my arms and tell him that HIS MAMA is finally here!:)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Labor Day Parade

Our Labor Day parade was today.....and it was HOT! Not too often is it 90 degrees at a Labor Day parade in Michigan. The boys enjoyed it though and they came home with a ton of candy. Of course Caleb could care less about the candy. At one point, he picked up a piece and threw it back at the candy throwers. LOL! Afterwards, we headed over to Tim Horton's and got some delicious COLD smoothies.:) Have a great weekend!















Thursday, September 1, 2011

Thank you everyone

How do you thank someone for giving your child his life back? That is what I have asked Jesus, as I prayed to him over the last several days. I am a single Mom with four sons who live at home and one son who lives thousands of miles away. My four sons have a home, a family and a life full of love and friends and happiness. My other son has nothing, no home, no family, no love, no future.

When I began this adoption, I was afraid, afraid that I would not be able to pay the cost of rescuing this sweet boy. I would toss and turn at night and pray to God for peace. I knew that my fear did not come from God. I questioned God. How can I adopt again at such a high cost? I have only one income and a teacher’s income at that. How can I do this Lord? And He whispered to me, “I’m with you.”
So, I began the adoption process and everything was going smoothly. The homestudy was complete and I managed to pay for it myself. But there was an additional cost of an Egress window that had to be installed in order for my homestudy to be approved. I did not have that money. That money was set aside to make necessary repairs to my basement which had flooded a couple years ago. I finally had the money to have those repairs done but if I wanted to bring Liam home, I could not repair my basement. So of course, I had the window installed and prayed to God that my basement would not flood again. About a week later, I received a letter in the mail from the city, saying that they had implemented an insurance program to cover the repairs to the basement if needed. With that, God showed me that He was with me.

I have had many people support me as I decided to adopt Liam. But there have been others who have thought I am crazy. They could not understand why I would adopt with the economy so bad. Unfortunately, I let them cause me to fear again. I longed to bring Liam home so I prayed to God again for peace, and to help me raise the money that I would need to bring Liam home. I could do some of it myself but I would still need $15,000. I did a couple fundraisers and I had raised almost $8,000. But it took about 6 months to do that. I had just completed my dossier and it was ready to be sent across the ocean. How in the world could I come up with the rest of the money that I would need? I prayed and prayed and ashamed to admit that I was scared too….

And then Renee contacted me and told me that her precious Derek’s birthday was that day, and that she and the rest of Derek’s family had chosen to honor him, by helping an orphan come home to his family. That orphan was Liam “Ivan” and that family was mine. I stood there and just cried as I read her words. She told me how much they loved us and loved Liam. I cried and cried and praised God because I knew at this very moment, that this was God’s doing. So, in honor of Derek and his love and commitment to helping orphans…..Liam was coming home!

And that is not all…..the most miraculous blessing was about to happen. People, many people, people I don’t know, and people that don’t know me…………………… began donating to Liam’s adoption. And they were praying for Liam and praying for my family. These people that love Jesus and love Derek began lifting my family up in prayer and also chipping away at the financial burden that I was carrying.

I am once again in tears as I write this….because I am in awe of what God has done. I am overwhelmed with emotion as I think of how God has moved mountains with the goodness in people’s hearts. As a mother who loves my child deeply, and longs to hold him in my arms, and who prays daily for his safety and his health…….I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for my Liam. God Bless each and every one of you for your love and your prayers and your donations. Thank you Jesus! Thank you Renee, John and Tracie. We love you! And thank you Derek for sharing your special day with my family and for your gift to Liam.
With all of our love,

The Lucas family
Amy, Jimmy, Benjamin, Caleb, Elijah and Liam