One Crazy Story

Honey-Do Helpers was hired to clear out a property being prepared for sale. The realtor called it a "trash-out". The owner had passed away and his son who was now handling the sale of the property from out of state wanted the house cleard. Both the house and yard needed to be emptied.

We stopped by to have a look and bid the job. Brad didn't make it through the front door before he started to repeat the word "no". He followed his train of no's with nuh-uh and no way. Having a fair amount of experience lately with yard sales I saw the house from a different perspective. We could sell quite a bit of what I saw. I thought we should at least bid the job. So bid we did.

We got the job and got to work. I forgot to take before pictures on day one but here is the dumpster after our first 3 hours. Everything damaged, broken or incomplete went into the dumpster. Even Good Will will turn away these items.

These are the piles set aside for good will after the first 3 hours:

And the pile set aside for us to sell after the first 3 hours:

Day two this is what we had to tackle in the rain:

Brad and I worked through 3 after-work evenings in the rain and then spent the day Saturday finishing up our project. By lunch time Saturday the neighborhood started to take notice. We had half a dozen different people stop by and ask if they could look through the dumpster. They wanted to know what we were doing with the Goodwill pile accumulating in the carport. One man asked if he could give us $20 to take it all. Every time we left the property we would come back and have to chase people out of the dumpster.

Saturday evening as it was getting dark we finally finished everything. We knew we would have to come back Monday after Goodwill made their pickup and fix the dumpster. We guessed there may not be anything left for Goodwill come Monday and planned to stop by and check in case we needed to cancel the pickup.

We had about a room and a half of things set aside inside the house to sell ourselves: the refrigerator, washer, dressers, storage shelves and boxes of small items of value. We decided to wait to move it all until the rain stopped. We planned to come back Sunday evening after the little ones were in bed. Everything was locked inside the house.

Sunday we drove by the house after church. As expected the dumpster was open and every last item that had been placed in the carport for goodwill was gone. No surprise. I asked Brad if we could pick up the sale items from inside the house during nap time. He really wanted to take the day off. He needed the rest and it was the Sabbath. I said I felt funny about leaving everything and he reminded me it was all locked up. Not to worry. So we waited. I admit, taking a nap in my PJs and listening to the rain fall outside from the warm, dry, comfort of my bed felt really good.

Sunday night we had dinner with my parents, Chris and Alex (my brother and his girlfriend). As we were talking about our project we made a shocking discovery. The deceased home owner's long-time girlfriend was Alex's grandmother. Many of the things I had seen in the house were hers! Some of them were meaningful and she would be so thrilled to see them again. We couldn't believe it. We were all so excited to reunite her with her belongings and memories.

Monday afternoon I met my brother at the house to get him Alex's grandmother's things. As I pulled up to the house a head popped out of the dumpster. Sure enough I had to ask yet another neighbor to please leave the dumpster. As I walked up to the house my brother stepped out of the open door. I was not surprised to discover the house had been broken into. The back door was kicked in and everything was taken. The dressers and shelves remained but they had been broken, the drawers strewn across the floor.

I knew it was coming. The whole neighborhood discovered the house was vacant. They saw the value of the items set aside for donation. And many of them (we saw at least 10 separate people on several different occasions) had climbed into the dumpster and seen what we had thrown away. We had set the bait but had no trap to spring. The sharks were circling long before we left the property Saturday and Sunday.

So, one less giant pile of stuff to move. A silver lining. Good riddance 6th street!

When Angels Rally

I have posted before about my Grandparents and their home in Camarillo. In May of 2012 we had received and accepted Jacob's referral. I started to plan a fundraising event in anticipation of our first trip to Russia. From the moment I started working on the fundraiser to the day of the event was only 3 weeks.

My parents happened to meet my aunt and uncle at the Camarillo house during this time for a "spring cleaning effort". It had been our family's intent all along to keep Grandma and Grandpa's home as it was for a vacation home. But I received a call from my mom asking if they brought a moving truck full of furniture home if we would have somewhere to put it for the sale. I could hardly believe my ears. I resisted at first not wanting anything to change. I was irritated that they would "get rid" of Grandma's things. But my aunt said something that has stuck with me since that day: " I think this is what Mom would want us to do to help Kimberly get her baby home."

My parents, aunt and uncle ended up clearing out the entire house. And in that three weeks that we took to prepare, over 24 other families made large donations to our sale. In total, over $5,000 was raised in our single-day event to bring Jacob home. The added miracle was our sale took place on one of the hottest days of the season with temperatures hitting 109 degrees. I cannot imagine what would compel that many people to come outside to a yard-sale event in the heat, other than heavenly help.

As we inch closer to our travel to Ty in China, we are seeing God's army at work again. We recently sent out an invitation to friends and family to share our story through GoFundMe on Facebook. Some of our friends shared. And a couple shared some very touching words in their posts that lifted us up.

Tonight when Brad arrived home from a 13 hour work day, I decided to play a "mama card" and slip into a hot bath leaving daddy in charge. My mouth is sore from having two of my needed root canals and I needed a break to let some motrin settle in.

Just as I turned the water off Brad asked through the door if I had gotten the mail today. I had not. A few minutes later I heard the door being unlocked and Brad came in holding a small handwritten note out to me. It was from a friend of ours who's husband had passed away not long ago. It read:

Dear Kim, 
I hope this helps with your adoption. I am very inspired and touched... [My husband] "told" me he wanted to help you, so I'm just sending this on behalf of him!
Good luck with all your plans
Love

I looked up at Brad to see tears streaming down his face as he held out a check.

It didn't hit me until Brad left the room. But this man who I knew in life had found a way to bless us from the other side of the veil. And I was overwhelmed.

I don't believe people on this side of the veil can truly understand what an impact their obedience to spiritual promptings can have. Our friend who wrote the letter did not know the day I was having. She did not know the circumstances of the day that made the timing of that letter so powerful. She does not know our personal finances or the significance of the amount the check was written for.

She is not the One who has heard our prayers. But she is one of the many that Heavenly Father is using to answer them. I love being able to feel the angels rally.

The Year of the Horse

Friday, January 31, we celebrated Chinese New Year. This is the year of the horse.

In Chinese astrology, Horse year is considered a fortunate year that brings luck and good things. Magical Horse has supernatural powers, is heroic, strong, and can even fly! A white celestial cloud Horse is sacred to the Chinese Goddess Kwan Yin. Her white Horse flies through the heavens, bringing peace and blessings. Horse is a hero in China because important battles were won due to the power and strength of the Horse.

We gave each of the kids, and my niece, red envelopes.

We even sent red envelopes to Ty and to his 3 friends.

The night of the 31st we attended a dinner celebration at my school.

I have been studying Mandarin Chinese for a little over a year now and attend a class each Friday night at the Sacramento Mandarin School. We are hoping to enroll Ty with me when we arrive home in an effort to maintain a part of his language and culture.

At school each of the classes created a poster for the New Year and preformed a song, poems or lucky phrases.



My class sang Dāng wǒmen dōu zài yīqǐ (The more we get together). 

Drew had learned the song with me at home and was so excited to come up with our class to sing with us. Be warned, he is holding his own microphone so it is a bit loud...

I am am excited to have this fun new holiday to celebrate in our family. Xīnnián kuàilè!! Happy New Year!!

Special Day

Amber's special day finally came. 

Because of the holidays and our family trip after Christmas, Amber had to wait an extra month after her birthday to be baptized. In our church children above the age of 8 are given the opportunity to choose to be baptized. Amber made that decision and excitedly prepared for her baptism.

We are very proud of our Little Bee.

A kick in the teeth

The last time I went to the dentist was October 2012. It was just a week or two before we traveled to Russia to bring Jacob home. I have had excellent dental care all my life and wanted to make sure I had a cleaning before bringing Jacob home and needing to cocoon for a time.

My dentist mentioned I had two fillings that needed to be redone. No big deal. I told the receptionist we were leaving for Russia and I was going to wait on the filling-redo until my next cleaning. I am always diligent about my 6 month appointments so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal.

Well, 6 months went by and Jacob was doing great. Time to schedule my cleaning and the 2 filling repairs. Got it on the calendar. The week of the appointment we got sick. Okay reschedule. Something came up. Reschedule again. We had been through our job change and had submitted our application for adoption from China. Brad mentioned we now had access to dental coverage and maybe we should consider using it. We have always paid cash to remain with my childhood dentist who we love.

Assuming this was the responsible route now that we had 4 almost 5 children and we needed to save for adoption #2, I cancelled our appointments at the dentist to allow time to investigate the insurance. I thought this would be a quick and easy process. Sign up and go see a new dentist. Four months later we still did not have insurance. Feeling antsy about not seeing the dentist in almost a year I called my old dentist back and scheduled cleanings for Amber, Drew and I. The week before the appointments our insurance application was finally accepted. That was November, coverage would begin January 1.

This seemed like a no-brainer. Just wait a few more weeks and go in for "free" (no out of pocket in the office). So I cancelled our appointments once again with my old dentist.

Then in the beginning of December one of my fillings (the one that needed to be redone) came out. Oh, come on! I can wait 3 more weeks. Two weeks later, just a few days before Christmas, that tooth broke. I tried to call my old dentist but his office was closed for the Holidays. Knowing I would likely need a crown (cha-ching) I held out for January 1.

Finally I made it into the new dentist. My fears about seeing a new dentist subsided. They were nice. The facility was nice. There was only one dentist so I didn't have to worry about being bounced around.

Apparently during the 15 months I did not see my dentist my entire mouth decided it was a good time to fall apart. The new dentist diagnosed 3 root canals, 3 crowns, and 5 new fillings! I have never had a root canal or crown in my life!

Worried that I was being scammed I went back to my old dentist for a second opinion. It was true. My teeth have decided now is a great time to drop a bomb. My dentist asked me what in the world I have been doing.

He suggested it would be a good idea to stop drinking soda.
I don't drink soda.
Well Gatorade or whatever it is I am drinking.
I drink water.
Am I eating chocolate and candy everyday?
Nope.
Do I eat a high-carb diet?
Well, I am an American, so yes. But I eat everything in moderation and consider my diet pretty balanced.

Well I guess you just have soft teeth.
Great. Soft teeth.

So, the total of my portion of the bill for all of this lovely work is going to exceed $2,000. While I am grateful to now have the insurance and not be paying full-price, I am struggling to get past that number.

I think I want to go eat some chocolate...

Shēngrì kuàilè

生       日     快      乐

Shēng   rì     kuài     lè

Born   day   happy = Happy Birthday!!

Ty and his friends celebrating in China

We asked Uncle Zhou (our agency's contact) to take a cake to the boys to celebrate Ty's 6th birthday. He also provided them with party blowers and invited some of the other children and caregivers to join the party.

Our celebration here at home

This brought back memories of Jacob's birthday the year we brought him home. I love seeing the pictures side by side of the year we celebrated without him and the following year with him home. I am looking forward to the party next year when Ty is here enjoying his cake with us.

One thing I love

There were so many things we LOVED about adopting from Russia. In fact, that list would require it's own post. But our experience with China has been so very different. And I love it!

Many people have asked me, "Isn't it just killing you having to wait?" Actually, no. I know that the wait is part of the process. It will pass. In fact, time has been going by really quickly. And we need the time to finish our fundraising. If we had the opportunity to travel tomorrow my heart would want to jump on the opportunity. But the reality is, we need this time. So, I am content to wait and let the process move forward as it should.

But I am blessed during this wait with the opportunity to send my son care packages. Not all orphanage directors are open to multiple packages. And many only allow certain things to be sent. We are beyond grateful to be working with an agency and orphanage that encourage pretty much anything we think will assist with bonding and preparing our son for our arrival. We have sent everything from a personalized video to birthday cake. They gave me an inch and I have taken a mile. But no one has complained so I just keep running with it.

  First package we sent him 10/2013

 Second package 11/2013

3rd package 12/2013

These pictures are like gold to me. While we knew Jacob was in good care, we never did see any of the other children in his orphanage. We do not have pictures of his friends or his caretakers. We did not receive his baby pictures. We really only saw one room in the orphanage in Russia.

I love that we are seeing so much of Ty during the wait. We are seeing him playing with his friends, being loved on by the adults, and being cared for. Brad teases me because I scour every photo and video looking in the background and noticing every little detail. But that is what brings me peace. I want to scoop him up and squeeze him tight. But I can settle with a new picture.