Freedom, Regression, and Attempts at Obedience

Freedom.  This is the word that encompasses all that the 4^th of July stands for.  And for the first time in my 30 years I truly have understood and experienced what this freedom means.  This was Vlad’s first independence day, and just knowing the freedom this boy has been granted by living in America is truly amazing.  He is now able to think freely and not be judged or treated badly for having an independent thought or opinion.  He is able to start seeing that all of the propaganda he was fed over the years isn’t true, and that he is able to form his own ideas from different information presented to him from different outlets.  Laughing, joking, and being a kid is acceptable and he doesn’t have to fight for his survival and basic right to just live.  And most importantly he has begun to learn about basic rights that all people should have, including the right to a family.

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Before this though there has been some regression in the past couple of weeks.  This is due to the fact that a couple of children from Vlad’s orphanage are being hosted locally, and after the first moment seeing them he started to shift back into his orphan mentality.  Trying to act tough, and talk the same way he did in the orphanage.  Surprisingly our skinny guy was viewed and treated similar to the way the Godfather was, basically running the show and everyone doing “favors” for him in exchange for protection etc.  It took many weeks to slowly get him out of this mode and was very hard and frustrating seeing it so quickly come back.  But it is survival of the fittest in an orphanage, and unless you have status you don’t survive.  It was almost as though he had to show them that he hadn’t changed or softened by coming to America and that he was still in charge even in this new territory. 

Luckily my husband is good at explaining things in a way to Vlad that he totally understands and respects, which works much better than because I am your mother and I said.  So after a few talks and explaining these behaviors and actions were not to be tolerated, we feel we are back on track and can slowly begin having more interaction with his friends again.  

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We have very dear friends of ours in the process of adopting (again) a baby girl from Ethiopia.  These are the friends that gave us the inspiration to be able to follow God’s leading to adopt, so we couldn’t be happier for them that they are growing their family.  This family has had such a positive impact in not only our lives but so many that I was feeling called to help in some way.  God laid it on my heart to do something, to trust him and just try, so after many days of prayer and second guessing I finally followed, setting out to try and raise funds they needed to submit paperwork for this adoption.  And God’s grace and provision came through in abundance.  I am learning more everyday how to trust and to be blindly obedient even when I don’t fully understand what I am doing.  I wish this was a strength I possessed but unfortunately I like to see and know the end result before beginning anything (yes I read the end of books or look up what happens in a movie before watching it). 

Being able to witness God work and provide all that was needed for this family was one of the most amazing experiences I have had, and it has led me to help another family in a similar situation.  We have friends that hosted a 10 year old boy over winter (with no intention to adopt), but they fell in love with him.  They also found out he has a 6 year old little sister in the orphanage as well.  You may remember their story as I wrote about it back in January, but they are in the process to adopt both of these children and desperately want them home.  SO we are hosting a super simple fundraiser that anyone can participate in.  We did this fundraiser for the previous family and raised 10k!  This time we are trying to do even more.  It is a square fundraiser, where you purchase a number from the grid and it goes to fund their adoption.  Basically each number is how much you donate, so if you choose 11 it is $11 and so on.  Last time we filled two grids with numbers 1-100 on both, and when each number from one grid was sold the total was 5K.  THIS time we have one grid numbers 1-200, and when all are sold the family will have the remaining 20k they need to be fully funded!!!  If you are able to help please visit here and comment on the number you would like to purchase :)