Last year Juergen and Jessica went to his parents house in North Germany on Christmas day, and I took Philip Thomas and Nicole to the West Coast of the USA for 3 weeks. We visited my family in Oregon, and then went to Southern California (Disneyland and San Diego). It was Thoma's first trip to the USA. He loved it! The people there are just so friendly! I remember taking him to a McDonald's indoor playground in Corvallis, Oregon. He played for hours with the other kids. One child even gave him his happy meal toy before he left. Thomas never gets that kind of acceptance in Germany! Another highlight of our trip was riding roller coasters with my adrenaline junkie sons! We rode California screaming at the California Adventure Disney park. I was afraid it might have been too much for them...but I was wrong! If we only had more time!!!
In March we saw Sarah for the very first time. I had been praying to adopt from China. You could say I was obsessed with the idea! Poor Juergen (trying to maintain some sanity) kept saying no! I kept looking at Special needs lists. One day in March (March 3rd) after looking at hundreds of photos of waiting kids, I saw her. I was pretty sure she was the one! I asked Juergen, and he said maybe...let me pray about it! One thing that was amazing about Sarah is she was holding a rubber ball in her hands. The ball had butterflies on it. Before I had made my trip to Southern California, my best friend Cindy T. had her small group prayed for us. They are pretty prophetic. One person had a word of knowledge. She said, I see her catching butterflies. When Cindy told me this in December 2005, I knew it had something to do with our adoption. Now Sarah was in this photo with a ball covered in butterflies. Long story short, we applied to adopt Sarah (who is by the way the only child Juergen ever even considered praying about). We received pre approval to adopt her on April 28Th. Our paper chase was long and bumpy...but all the important documents finally went to China at the end of October. We now wait for China to give us travel approval. We hope to travel with our whole family in early 2007.
The world cup came to Germany, and that kept us busy for awhile. Nicole and Thomas both got their pictures shown on CNN International news. CNN also showed Nicole's picture on their world cup fan club commercial.
Philip began the first grade in the fall of 2005, but he could not seem to learn the symbols (ABC's and 123's). He could say the symbols, but could not tell you what they were by looking at them. We were not sure what we should do. After praying, I felt I should pull him out of school, and teach him at home. Normally this is not allowed in Germany. But they let me do it. I home schooled Philip, and he learned his symbols. He had to go back to first grade this fall. He is doing OK, but does have some learning problems. We really need wisdom about how to approach his education.
I took Jessica and Philip both to acupuncture from May until September. It did them both a great deal of good. We thought our insurance company was paying for this treatment. There was a misunderstanding. We received a pretty big bill for the treatment. Anyway, we are debating weather we want to continue to pay for it (maybe just for Jessica). I know allot of Christians do not approve of alliterative medicine like acupuncture. But we don't get involved in the religious practises of some of those who practice this. The needles stimulates endorphins that cause healing. It does help...and there is scientific evidence it works. It made Jessica calmer, and helped Philip to think clearly.
I think the high light of our year was our family trip to Thailand. Thomas was having some cultural identity problems. He would begin to cry if you even suggested we eat Thai food. I think talking about adopting Sarah brought up some fears in him that his days with us were numbered. Anyway, we felt it was wise to deal with these fears sooner, not later. We went to Thailand for two weeks. At first it was hard for him. The 2ND day in Bangkok we took him to his orphanage. That was bitter sweet. It shook Thomas up to be there. The Nannies don't get many visits from adopted kids. They were just thrilled to see both Philip and Thomas. Philips nanny recognized him from out a window and came running to him. Philip (adopted at 2 1/2) also recognized his nanny and gave her a big hug! It took Thomas a few days to recover from the visit. Afterwards he seemed too grow in amazing ways. He discovered Thailand is not the orphanage...and he does not need to love the orphanage to love Thailand! He finally began to be proud to be Thai! We think this is so important. He can never escape from the Thai face that will look back at him in the mirror each day! We all love Thailand! Jessica did amazingly well there! The swimming and sunshine were so good for her! Nicole began writing a children's book series while on vacation. We were all so relaxed, we forgot the days...and actually missed our return flight!
Juergen continues to help lead the Sunday night leadership team at our Church. This is our next generation service. I won't bore you with the details, but the service continues to grow. It takes a great deal of his "free time" and is a great challenge to him. I know he has a deep desire to see the service grow in depth of the knowledge of God, as well as real love and fellowship! It is a great service...but has a desire to see more!
I love writing my blogs. I write 4 blogs now. I hardly post on two, so it's mostly just my adoption blog and this family blog. I started blogging just for the writing practice. I really do want to write a book about autism...but just don't seem to find the time. Maybe when Sarah finally goes to kindergarten, I will sit down and really write. For now the blogs give me a little practice each day!
I won't bore you with all the other details of the year, guitar lessons, Lego,Chinese lessons,Computer games, Sunday school class, work, gardening, Friends, family, our crazy dog, the piles of books we have read,and piles of cloths I have washed and the sermons we have heard on God TV, and SermonAudio.com. We have grown and we are all healthy (apart from the flu), we love each other, and we are very grateful for the blessings of this year!
Any way...Merry Christmas to you, and happy new year!
"May you live all the days of your life"
Jonathan Swift
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