You can see it on full screen on this link: http://www.scrapblog.com/rebecaknowles/2AA43833-ABBC
How God used a little dog to teach me the basic first lesson on adoption.
Some of you might think I am crazy and some of you that have a psychology degree might have even more insight than me over my experience and still others will feel relief to know they are not the only weird people in this world.The story goes like this: it was December 2001 the year the world turned upside down for the people in the USA. For Brian and I, this was the year that God provided for us our new home. We were to move in Late December 2001 and it seemed at that time that this was not going to be easy. Brian might lose his job right after Christmas, his company asked him to take forced Christmas vacation with no pay and the rumor was, he would not have a job when he came back.
Still it was Christmas time and I was shopping for gifts at the mall. I went by a very popular store and saw that they were giving a gift with purchase, so I stopped and thought, I could buy some creams and toiletries for a friend and the little stuff animal could be a gift for a child. I went in and purchased enough to get my free gift, a little stuffed animal. It was a dog, a white Maltese dresses for winter and in one of her paws it was her name, and her name was Lola.
This is the only kind of dog I was not afraid of, I have had a long history of being terrified by dogs and the stuffed animal became mine instantly. It was like the beginning of a healing.
This is the only kind of dog I was not afraid of, I have had a long history of being terrified by dogs and the stuffed animal became mine instantly. It was like the beginning of a healing.
There was so much going on that Christmas; we thought we were not going to be able to purchase our home, which meant we would lose our 10% deposit and we would be houseless after Christmas. We decided to go to other cheaper state and started looking at houses opportunities there. Finally we spoke to our mortgage broker and she helped us to get in to our home without requiring any more money down. This was actually a better alternative that moving some other place.
Christmas went by that year without much activity and by the time March came, I found myself finally installed on our new house, sitting at the window of our library still worried for the financial situation, my husband now had a new job, and the little stuffed dog was now on my lap.
In a split second I was able to see myself, and thought how pathetic to be sitting down in my house petting a stuff animal. It was then, that I pray to God and said, Lord, I want the real thing; I would like a little Lola. Brian was game immediately! He loves dogs, I do too, but I was just afraid of them.
In a split second I was able to see myself, and thought how pathetic to be sitting down in my house petting a stuff animal. It was then, that I pray to God and said, Lord, I want the real thing; I would like a little Lola. Brian was game immediately! He loves dogs, I do too, but I was just afraid of them.
We went to this sad pet store and there we found a little Maltese, she was sweet and loved to be cuddled on Brian’s arms but we were not sure, so we went home to our normal business. I thought about this little dog all week, but “you cannot just purchase the first dog you ever see”, I thought, so the next weekend, we went to other pet stores and met other Maltese dogs. None was like that first one. My heart was feeling horrible, I thought, I found my little dog last week and I did not adopt her! I wondered if she was still there. We rushed at the dirty pet store we have been the week before and there she still was, our little Lola. We filled out all the adoption papers, the owner of the shop gave us some instructions and I asked her date of birth. December 24, 2001 he told us. God had a little dog for me for Christmas and this man had taken care of her for me for the first 3 months of her life. I was thankful to God for such a precious gift.
There is something special when you find meaningful dates associated with the most adventurous chapters of your life. There was another date when adopting my children that God used to show me His hand on the matter. The day my father died, my son David was being delivered by his birth mother. While I was crying the death of my father, the Lord was someplace far away, delivering a baby for me. Two years later we found each other. The only Russian boy I ever laid my eyes on was also the child that God prepared for me to adopt as my son. No medical report, or distance, no fears of the unknown, could make me scared enough to let him go. I laid my eyes on his picture and I knew he was my son, a gift from God.
Lola was with us for over 4 years before we came home with our adopted children. Lola taught me that adoption works. Your heart can leap for a little creature you did not delivered, or nurtured at birth and you can create bonds that are worth pursuing and enjoy. What I know about adoption, God started to teach me in a very small scale with Lola.
He knew that it would take a stuffed animal to let my heart open for a real little dog. And it would take a little dog to open my heart to the idea of adoption. That’s why Lola is so special to my heart.
God used her to prepare me to accept His miracle of Adoption in my heart.
Weekend activities with Mami and Papi
David, Julia, mami and papi had a very busy weekend around town. Saturday we spent all day at the art institute celebrating earth day. Then, Sunday afternoon, we went to the Botanical gardens in Miami beach to run some. Some of the children expressions were so cute! You can see the whole album in facebook, you have to be my friend to be able to see them.
Spring cleaning starts with stirring some dirt
Julia and David went to Home Depot today and chose some herbs and went for a ride in a “big truck”. David tried all the herbs before buying “delicious mami” This is their side of the story: “We helped mami and papi to make the garden and then we dug and put the plants on the pots and then put water on it, and took more sand and then we prayed for the plants to grow”.That was an easy recipe for family filled fun. We might adventure to tomatoes or vegetables next time.
Click here if you want to see the album at www.scrapblog.com I just created. Or if you are my friend en facebook you will see it on my profile (Rebeca Segebre Knowles)
Afterwards, papi prepared some water with limes and mint ... after so much work and sweat, it just tasted delicious!
Julia and David went outside after eating dinner and went right to the herb garden “Look Julia, amazing its growing!” now they are playing with the dirt – that’s going to be the challenge now.
We are proud to tell you we just planted an herb garden. Invitation pending for meal prepared fresher.
Growing fast
Yesterday in church they showed us the end of the movie Schindler's list – it spoke to me about the impact of adoption. “To save one human soul is to save the world”. It amazes me the Divine in adoption. Anyone touched by adoption cannot stay the same. It is like redemption. You go from point A to point B and it does not make sense unless something happen in the middle. David and Julia are sleeping in the room next to mine and 3 years ago they were sleeping in an orphanage across the ocean … how do you explain that? Well, it took a process, steps, money, sacrifice, lot of people helping, but really the work is called redemption.
They grow up too fast. My little ones are learning to write and read and I am loving it.
They grow up too fast. My little ones are learning to write and read and I am loving it.
Things of Everyday Life
"Mami, sit down here": David and Julia ask me to sit down and watch them sing a concert with guitars and drums o just watch them play baseball. "Oh my goodness!!!" That's what David says when he is surprised - just like Granma Berenice would say it.
Julia loves her dolls, she plays to be a caring mother that goes to the “office” and comes back with food(num – nums) for the family and the baby.
David looked at me from across the dinning room table and smiled and said, “mami is beautiful” well, he actually said “Mami is Linda” which goes deeper into my heart since he chose my native tongue to give me a complement.
I have been giving him lots of descriptive names, such as David is helpful, obedient, careful, truthful, etc but he chose to call me beautiful!
Julia loves her dolls, she plays to be a caring mother that goes to the “office” and comes back with food(num – nums) for the family and the baby.
David looked at me from across the dinning room table and smiled and said, “mami is beautiful” well, he actually said “Mami is Linda” which goes deeper into my heart since he chose my native tongue to give me a complement.
I have been giving him lots of descriptive names, such as David is helpful, obedient, careful, truthful, etc but he chose to call me beautiful!
The Story of Nicki Gullett and Bridget McCain
I found this story on another blog: The Story of Nicki Gullett and Bridget McCain September 02, 2008 9:25 PMJulia Hoppock-->TrackBack URL for this entry:http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/433071/33023138
I am alos posting it here - A great adoption story!
Sen. John McCain's former aide Wes Gullett just spoke at the Republican convention, telling the story about how Cindy McCain, visiting one of Mother Theresa's orphanages on a trip abroad, brought home two Bangladeshi orphans.
John and Cindy McCain adopted one of them, Wes Gullett and his wife Deborah adopted the other.
It's a remarkable story, one that probably doesn't get told enough.
Cindy was standing in amazement visiting 160 abandoned newborn baby girls at Mother Teresa's orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh when nuns handed her one with a cleft palate so severe she couldn't even be fed. As Newsweek reported, Cindy became worried that the baby, and another one with a heart defect, would die without medical attention so she applied for medical visas to take them back to the U.S., though the country's minister of health refused to sign the papers.
Reported Newsweek's Holly Bailey: "'We can do surgery on this child,' an official told her.
"Cindy, frustrated, slammed her fist on the table. 'Then do it! What are you waiting for?' The official, stunned, simply signed the papers.
"'I don't know where I got the nerve,' Cindy said.
"When she arrived in Phoenix, she carried the baby with the cleft palate off the plane.
"Her husband met her at the airport. He looked at the baby. 'Where is she going,' he asked her.
"'To our house,' she replied."
The McCains adopted the baby with the cleft palate, Bridget, and the Gulletts adopted the other one, Nicki. Both children required a lot of medical attention, but the Gulletts never saw a hospital bill.
There's a lot of really nasty stuff out there about both the Obamas and the McCains. The good stuff is rarely discussed.
- jpt
I am alos posting it here - A great adoption story!
Sen. John McCain's former aide Wes Gullett just spoke at the Republican convention, telling the story about how Cindy McCain, visiting one of Mother Theresa's orphanages on a trip abroad, brought home two Bangladeshi orphans.
John and Cindy McCain adopted one of them, Wes Gullett and his wife Deborah adopted the other.
It's a remarkable story, one that probably doesn't get told enough.
Cindy was standing in amazement visiting 160 abandoned newborn baby girls at Mother Teresa's orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh when nuns handed her one with a cleft palate so severe she couldn't even be fed. As Newsweek reported, Cindy became worried that the baby, and another one with a heart defect, would die without medical attention so she applied for medical visas to take them back to the U.S., though the country's minister of health refused to sign the papers.
Reported Newsweek's Holly Bailey: "'We can do surgery on this child,' an official told her.
"Cindy, frustrated, slammed her fist on the table. 'Then do it! What are you waiting for?' The official, stunned, simply signed the papers.
"'I don't know where I got the nerve,' Cindy said.
"When she arrived in Phoenix, she carried the baby with the cleft palate off the plane.
"Her husband met her at the airport. He looked at the baby. 'Where is she going,' he asked her.
"'To our house,' she replied."
The McCains adopted the baby with the cleft palate, Bridget, and the Gulletts adopted the other one, Nicki. Both children required a lot of medical attention, but the Gulletts never saw a hospital bill.
There's a lot of really nasty stuff out there about both the Obamas and the McCains. The good stuff is rarely discussed.
- jpt
Con Man Sought For Defrauding Adoptive Families
I just read that the first person we found on the internet related to adoption is a Con Man Sought For Defrauding Adoptive Families. We even received one "referral" from him, a beutiful boy - we got pictures and video from him.
This ariticles says that Orson Mozes -- capitalized on his clients' trust and hopes for a child.
More here:http://www.amw. com/fugitives/ case.cfm? id=56499
This ariticles says that Orson Mozes -- capitalized on his clients' trust and hopes for a child.
More here:http://www.amw. com/fugitives/ case.cfm? id=56499
Check out our Cruise pictures
Since I have nothing else to do, I created a new blog just for publishing our last Celebrity Cruise pictures.
Check it out:
http://knowlescelebritycruise.blogspot.com/
Besos.
Check it out:
http://knowlescelebritycruise.blogspot.com/
Besos.
Celebrity Cruise for the Knowles gang
We just had the best family vacation ever! We came back yesterday from a 7 day cruise onboard the Celebrity Millennium.
David got to play a real drums ...
It was a great cruise to the Eastern Caribbean Islands.
Want some cake?
I ate lots of cake!
Some of the B-day Pictures. Julia was very happy with the celebration.
The kids had a blast! Julia asked for cucumbers and caprese salad every night and then she ate her main meal. We went to the beach in Saint Thomas and Labadee. Brian and I went to Saint Thomas for our honeymoon and now we were back 16 years later with our kids. That's the reason for the romantic picture!
Julia ate Cucumbers every night!
What a blessing to have the love of my two children.
Since Julia’s b-day was closed enough, we decided to celebrate it on the last day of the cruise. We ate at the main dining room every night; the last night as we were ready to leave, a couple from the table next to us came over and made a wonderful comment about our children, they said that their table had been impressed by the way our children behave in the table. We were so proud! It has been a long road here but it has been all worth it!
The kids had a blast! Julia asked for cucumbers and caprese salad every night and then she ate her main meal. We went to the beach in Saint Thomas and Labadee. Brian and I went to Saint Thomas for our honeymoon and now we were back 16 years later with our kids. That's the reason for the romantic picture!
Julia ate Cucumbers every night!What a blessing to have the love of my two children.
Since Julia’s b-day was closed enough, we decided to celebrate it on the last day of the cruise. We ate at the main dining room every night; the last night as we were ready to leave, a couple from the table next to us came over and made a wonderful comment about our children, they said that their table had been impressed by the way our children behave in the table. We were so proud! It has been a long road here but it has been all worth it!
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