HELP Real Hope for Haiti

Life is hard right now for so much of us because of the costs of "things" such as gas and food rising. However, life is much harder for the people in Haiti right now, including the missionaries and programs helping the people. The cost of running these programs has gone up and up. So many people count on getting medical care at RHFH and help for their children (many close to death) at the rescue center. These beautiful people save lives, and we need to help them.
Not only is the work that they are doing remarkable, but the people who they are- is nothing short of inspirational.

Please follow these links to read more and find out where you can donate:

Aaron's Blog-

http://aaronivey.wordpress.com/

RHFH Rescue center-

http://www.xanga.com/no_Im_not_a_nurse

RHFH Clinic-

http://www.xanga.com/haitinurse4life

Please think about becoming a monthly sponsor, even for $10 a month. (Give up that starbucks, or lunch out for a day and donate.) How about asking your children to "give" part of their monthly allowances? Any amount, even a one time donation, is SO appreciated.

Real Hope for Haiti is truly at risk for closing because of this great need. To think of all the people, all the children, who would die because of them being closed down is almost too much to think about. Not only are these folks my inspiration, but these people are my friends and I have seen first hand over the past years the amount of passion that they have for the work that they do. They have been there for me consistently with working with the MV children, irregardless of whether or not they have been from RHFH. They have been there for me just with personal things going on in my life. True friends whom I have great love and admiration for.

Off to make our monthly donation now.

Thanks for your prayers and your blessings for RHFH!

Sarah

Do whites need training to parent black children?

Read this article and voice in and let me know what you think. Just as a side note we did take the county where one of our children was adopted from to court for violating the MEPA (Multi Ethnic Placement Act). When we submitted our home study to adopt our child, they circled that we lived in a "mainly Caucasian" community and sent it back to us. In the end justice was served and our son was able to come home to us. Articles like this really weigh heavy on my heart because of the experiences we had. I look forward to hearing what you think.
Have a good weekend,
Sarah


NEW YORK (AP) -- Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a "colorblind" approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.
Recommendations for major changes in the much-debated policy were outlined in a report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.
"Color consciousness -- not 'color blindness' -- should help to shape policy development," the report said.
Groups endorsing its proposals included the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the National Association of Black Social Workers.
At issue is the 1994 Multi-Ethnic Placement Act -- and revisions made to it in 1996 -- governing the adoption of children from foster care.
One part of the law directs state agencies to recruit more adoptive parents of the same race as the children. The new report says this provision hasn't been adequately enforced and calls for better funded efforts to recruit minority parents.
The more contentious part of the legislation prohibits race from being taken into consideration in most decisions about adoption from foster care. For example, white parents seeking to adopt a black child cannot be required to undergo race-oriented training that differs in any way from training that all prospective adoptive parents receive.
A key recommendation in the new report calls for amending the law so race could be considered as a factor in selecting parents for children from foster care. The change also would allow race-oriented pre-adoption training.
"We tried to assess what was working and what wasn't, and came to the conclusion that preparing parents who adopt transracially benefits everyone, especially the children," said Adam Pertman, the Donaldson Institute's executive director.
"The view that we can be colorblind is a wonderful, idealistic perspective, but we don't live there," Pertman said. "If we want to do the best for the kids, we have to look at their realities."
Don't Miss
In Depth: Black in America
iReport.com: What does it mean to be black in America?
At the heart of the debate is the fact that the foster care system has a disproportionately high number of black children, and on average they languish there nine months longer than white children before moving to permanent homes. The latest federal figures showed that 32 percent of the 510,000 children in foster care were black in 2006, compared with 15 percent of all U.S. children.
Of the black children adopted out of foster care, about 20 percent are adopted by white families. The Donaldson report said current federal law, by stressing color blindness, deters child welfare agencies from assessing families' readiness to adopt transracially or preparing them for the distinctive challenges they might face.
"There is a higher rate of problems in minority foster children adopted transracially than in-race," said the report. "All children deserve to be raised in families that respect their cultural heritage."
Pertman stressed that his institute and its allies were not opposed to transracial adoption.
"We want to see more kids in foster care get permanent homes, and we want to see the parents who raise those children be prepared to do so," he said.
Professor Elizabeth Bartholet, who directs the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School, believes that the concept of striving for color blindness is sound. She foresees problems if race once again becomes a key determinant.
"Giving social workers the chance to do that produced very rigid race matching," she said, referring to pre-1994 policies. "That's one of the reasons to say race can't be used at all; there's no other way to be sure it doesn't become the overwhelming factor."
Current policy allows standardized pre-adoption training but wisely prohibits specific screening for parents seeking to adopt transracially, Bartholet said.
"What cannot be done is have a pass/fail test that turns on whether you give the politically correct answers," she said. "If social workers are allowed to use training to determine who can adopt, there's lots of experience showing they abuse that power."
She also questioned whether attempts to boost minority recruitment would succeed.
"Black people are significantly poorer than white people and less likely to be in a position to come forward," Bartholet said. "Recruitment efforts bump up against that fact."
The Donaldson recommendations were embraced as "long overdue" by Michelle Johnson, a black woman raised by white adoptive parents near Minneapolis. Johnson now works on child-welfare matters for the court system there.
Her parents "were not the norm," she said. "They were exceptional in what they did for me. ... They were very humble in what they didn't know. There was lots of communication."
Too many white adoptive parents, she said, underestimate the enduring presence of racism in America and don't get training that would help them raise a black child.
"As a social worker who used to place children, I know very few families are ready to do this," Johnson said. "When families fail to realize they need assistance, it's dangerous."
Regarding recruitment, Johnson said child welfare agencies should strive to find permanent homes for black children among their extended families before placing them in foster care.
John Mould and Margaret Geiger, an Ambler, Pennsylvania, couple, have two white biological children and five black adopted children, now aged 15 to 23. Mould said transracial adoption is unquestionably challenging, but he worries about any changes that might make training and screening requirements too rigid.
"There are so many kids who need homes," Mould said. "The idea of trying to find the perfect matches -- you're not going to find them."
His adopted children have encountered some difficulties over the years, Mould said, but he believes they've developed resiliency and maturity as a result.
His youngest son, Eric Jones, 15, said the family's makeup sometimes complicates his life, but he's convinced that transracial adoption can succeed.
"White or black doesn't matter," he said. "What counts is whether the parents are ready to take responsibility."

Come on over!

Come on over anytime, any day, just not today, and especially- not right now. My husband left this morning before the crack of dawn and the day has just gone from silly to gross to exhausted in one fail swoop!
We made it out the door roughly only five minutes late for the last day of the year for the younger children of home school classes. Everyone was excited about the plays that they had, about just finishing up the year (not the actual HOME portion of schooling but the outside classes)... so we managed to get out the door and in the car with everyone and everything that we need, no tears or melt downs. It was going to be a good day.
For the most part, now that I sit reflecting upon today, it was a good day- but a gross day! I am not sure what is with my family today, maybe the added silly/giddiness of the day just brought out the nasty's or what.
So I get to school and notice that the daily nail clipping I am doing on Lena isn't getting me anywhere. She has a bit of eczema and it must be itchy because she has some scratches on her face, poor baby. I managed to find 2o mins at the end of the school day before the kids got out of class to run over to the drugstore to buy some special wash and cream for her. Then Kika reminded me of the baby gloves that I have that I needed to put on her days ago and I would have gotten to avoid the nail clipping. Silly me! These were something that I rarely used in the past so who would have thought.
No gross things at school... but then on the way home from school the van just smelled like crap. I mean like a bigtime poop in the van. I thought perhaps it was from the cow farms that we were passing but telling from the giggles in the back seat- I knew that it was my lovely delightful children stinking up my breathing space with smiles on their faces. Typically the rule is that if you need to pass gas you need to go to the bathroom or somewhere where people are not, however, in the car, that is hard to do. At least they held it all day at school. We had a special treat of McDonald's for dinner last night (which we don't often do) and I think that was the culprit of the stench. Sick.
So we are home, putting stuff away, kids go outside to play and a tattler comes in to tell me that one of the children is hiding in the bushes with an itchy butt. What the heck? Come on guys! Let's go in the bathroom to butt scratch, I mean please! I am sure that you are thinking at this point, now why in the world would she blog about something like this? But really folks, come on, you know these things happen in your households, and someday this day will be filled with memories that I can use to share with my kids! :)

So I call the scratchy inside and ask them what is going on. "I don't know Mom, it itches SO bad." OH no... we all know that scratchy is a nail biter, PIN WORMS! NO!!! (No lice, no pin worms, no fleas, no spider bites, no ticks, please, no car repairs, no yard work, no dead animals, these things MUST be reserved for weekends when you father is home! Didn't you get the memo?)
So since I had been warning scratchy for many a months about the pin worms and fingers in the mouth deal (side note: my home is very clean and I own stock in antibacterial hand soap)- we had another long talk about the worm possibility. Scratchy went and took a long shower and spent some time clipping the old nails and putting some cream on the culprit. Then hours later, it wasn't scratchy any longer, and scratchy was downing another banana... I am on the phone with Kika and realize that Scratchy no longer has pin worms, but maybe a ROID! I dig through the arsenal (I not not kidding) of creams and concoctions and find some anti-itch vaginal cream... hand it to daughter to pass to scratchy ( we already had a family meeting about moving the organic cleaner to the back of the cupboard and putting the bleach, lysol and KILLZ ALL forward for the next few days until we can remedy the FUNK so the butt itch now is a family issue that we are all fighting to help poor scratchy, we work and play together always). So I see the vaginal... well butts and in the nether region like the female parts so if its OK for the female bits it has to be OK for the rear deal as well right? The kids are now roaring, including scratchy at the right of the wording on the tube.... "Just please, go soak in the tub and use the cream! Mom will buy the right stuff tomorrow".
(Note to self- use electrical tape over tube of goo next time you want the children to use something that includes any reference to private parts.)
One crises diverted.

Let me just interject a side note here- Bean has had a terrible rash on her bottom that we have been battling for days- so throw that in the mix, its just a lot of bottom issues going on here!

And can Dominick pull his pants up any higher? This is like a freak show seriously. (And he thinks he is SO funny.)

RING RING....
It's the phone. Photographer from the local paper, wants to come take pictures tomorrow... OK. They are doing a story about the Medical Advocacy Team, its a photo driven story kind of telling the whole story how it came to be, about Kika and her family, and my family, Jean Alex and Lena. So they had already come twice (reporter) and once for an entire day (photographer) and they will come tomorrow to spend the day with us again to take more pictures. (I love having my picture taken NOT. I even went as far to say, "please don't include any wide arse shots of me in the paper". I am desperate folks. I like to remain incognito.)

Smell. Sniff. Ewww. WHO IS THAT?

"Cole, please light a candle behind the sink!"

I start looking around my house, at my children, at what needs to happen before tomorrow. At the little things that only I who look at the tiny nuances of my home and my children and think of all that needs to get accomplished! David- the skin, please let's go and wash- right now- get the "on the spot" treatment going overtime. He rushes off and point out what his hair greasiness has been doing to his neck. Meanwhile Lauren is putting his hair in a ponytail and he winces and complains and we slather the acne treatment on his neck when he spouts off "oh, sorry, I forgot to put on deoderant today."

What is with this day? The smells, the grossness.

The nail clippers come out and are passed in a fury around the family and the hand wash is pumped and pumped for some more "DOUBLE ABC's" today on the hand washing kids! (You know, they say to do the ABC's and that's how you know you have washed long enough.)

Leishan calls, she got a new job- she needs a ride to take a "pee" drug test tomorrow for her new Target job! (Ok- I will take you Lei, photographer in tow, for your urinalysis- bring on the body fluids!)

So please feel free to come over, anytime, anyday, just not today. And hopefully tomorrow will be a better day with a clean home, smell good children, a better rested Mother, and not one mention of bowels, bottoms, vaginas, pits, rashes, roids, worms, scratching, moistness, or stink.

Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.
The Zoo Keeper

Exploring Low Tide

Dad took the kids to explore low tide with "the cousins". They even got to see a helicopter and a bird laying eggs. They were so nice to bring home lots of sea creatures (sand dollars and shells). When Mom takes the kids to the beach, we don't bring home any funky sea creatures:

1. Because we leave things where we find them

2. Because Mom doesn't like the smell of stinky sea things around the house

Since Dad took the kids to low tide, he let them bring home whatever they wanted. They had a blast all week enjoying their stinky things. :)

Snowshoeing with Dad

Here are some pictures from the big snowshoeing adventure. Uncle Terry and cousin Noah also took part in the fun day up the mountain. As you can see despite the massive amount of snow, the kids were HOT and we had everyone way overdressed. We did take Terry's advice and did layers. Everyone ended up in just tee shirts by the end of the day.

As you can see the snow depth pole that Grace is holding when she sunk it down it went ALL the way down. Who knows how deep the snow actually is there. I think that there was record snowfall on the mountain this year.

We will definitely be spending more time up in the "snow" in the future! It was a hit!

Where have you been?

Last weekend was just beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest, actually, I would call it HOT. (85F or so)

We pulled out all the summer boxes of clothes and swapped out the pants and sweaters for shorts and tee's. I am officially done with the clothing swap except for Lena's things (which I have two boxes full and need to determine what will fit now and what might fit over the summer.)

Lauren, Danny and Tyler stayed home on last Saturday to do this major task while hubby took the "middles" snow shoeing in the fabulous sunny weather. They had a blast of course. Angeline and Lena were very helpful and patient with the long day of getting life in order.

Why the need to get life in order you ask?

My dear husband is leaving this week for work out of town! UGH!!! He will be working 5 - 12 hour days to start with, and then they might go to less or more depending on how quickly they can get things done. The job site is only about 2 hours away, but certainly too far to commute. So he will be leaving early Monday morns and return home on Friday evening. (We are already planning the family going up to visit often as well as days off for some longer weekends...) BECAUSE this job goes until October or November. Right now my husband is outside cleaning the garage, he is a great man and knows that as many things that are stocked and organized before he goes will lead to relaxing weekends at home. (Well except the weekends we are painting the house, the big summer chore we are planning to do.)

So that's the short version of life lately. Danny and Tyler have their huge "senior" culminating project presentations today so please keep them in your thoughts. They have been working so hard on them, I know that they will do great!

Love

S

Lena

Lena is just getting more beautiful everyday! She is OVER nine lbs now and eating 3-5oz. at a time. (This has helped her sleeping better at night, but she still eats so much, it practically feels non stop.) Her little personality comes out more and more everyday because I just know that she is feeling better.

Her surgery is scheduled for July 9th. We will go for a pre-op a week or two before that, and then she goes back a week after for suture removal under anesthesia. Then we will wait some more months before her 2nd surgery. I will miss her adorable cleft smile! :)

Senior Prom

Ok so I have been really bad about the blog updates and now I have a ton of pictures and updates to do! Finally... some prom pictures from Danny and Tyler's big night. I couldn't believe how much older they look when they are all cleaned up! :)

They had a wonderful night and were both home at a decent hour. PHEW!

Isaac's update for May

I was really excited to get this update the other day. I know that the long term staff at COTP have been on their very rare breaks and knowing that, I just thought it would be a much longer wait for an update. (Seeing how busy they all are!) So it was a bit extra special this time, but oh my, we miss Isaac like crazy. Reading and knowing more and more about him really clarifies this waiting time and the prayers going up several times per day.... he is SO meant to be our son!

Isaac
The Alligator kids are so lively; they are always on the go and up to something! They like to keep busy by going for walks around the property, playing with balls outside and running up and down the hallway or playing on the tinker toys and cars. They are such an active group, they love climbing all over people, it can be a little intimidating at times to try and play with all of them together as they all want attention at once but working with them in smaller groups or one on one is always a lot of fun. P, F and G all went home to their adoptive families in the past few months so the dynamics in the room has been changing. J and T moved outside with the Lion kids and now K, J, Sand E all moved up from the Boat Room and have adjusted really well to being in the Alligator Room. There isn’t really a set leader among the bunch; everyone likes to have their voices heard yet they don’t bother listening to each other too much. Sometimes J will try to guide the younger ones though or call a nanny for help if someone isn’t doing what they are supposed to. They love celebrating birthday parties and were happy to help F, E, C and C commemorate their special days over the last few months. Isaac is so much fun, your boy just continues to entertain and amaze us. He is so smart and so vocal, he’s always talking about something, asking to help or pointing out people that are in trouble. He is such an avid fan of our children’s movies, especially the ones that have kids singing in them, whenever anyone stands in front of him during movie time he is so quick to say “go” and waves his hand at them motioning them to move so he can watch the television again! He loves to sing along with all the songs, he sings at the top of his voice and knows most of the words. He’s great at learning the actions for various songs too, that’s why he needs to concentrate so hard when he is watching so he is never too impressed when anyone gets in his way. He has a spot of ringworm on his head that we’ve been applying cream too (he is also taking meds orally) in the evenings I usually put cream on while the kids are watching their movie. It’s often hard to get Isaac’s attention though as he’s so absorbed in the movie but when he does hear me calling him he walks all the way over to me while keeping his eyes fixed on the tv screen! The nannies have started taking a few of the younger children on walks outside on our quiet roads. Isaac loves when it is his turn to go, he gets so excited putting on nicer clothes and sandals, he loves to come over to the clothes box and each time I pick up any to hand to someone he is quick to shout “mais Isaac” he makes sure he’s heard and not forgotten, it’s a good trait to have. Isaac loves going out to see all the animals, people and motos. He was excited when he went for a walk the other day to see A coming on his bike, A's motorbike is a lot louder than the Haitian scooters so most of the kids started to scream when they heard him come, Isaac just jumped up and down. He loved it when A let him try on his helmet; he looked pretty funny his head was lost in such a big helmet and his little body looked even smaller but he danced around while he was wearing it making sure to have everyone there laughing.
Like most children Isaac has learned how to throw the perfect fit, he likes to stomp his feet on the ground quickly, rub his legs off one another and wave his arms in the air, cry and shout about what ever it is that he wants. Usually if he doesn’t get to help with something he gets upset, he loves being given little tasks and chores, he likes to help carry the children’s breakfast food or supplies from the depot. Sometimes too if someone else has a toy he wants he’ll throw a little fit but he is easily distracted and forgets about it quickly. He is also quick to let his nannies know who the culprit is before he goes off and finds something new to play with.It was his friend C's birthday recently and Isaac was so excited to help him celebrate, especially when he saw the cake! He loves to attack the cake from the top so he gets lots of frosting all over his face. Isaac sang really loudly to wish C a happy birthday and even helped him blow out his candles. C got some great birthday gifts, one of which was a set of musical instruments; everyone was so excited when they got to hold one. The Alligator kids have formed their own little band and like to make as much noise as possible while they sing and dance around, they are all such adorable little kids. This month Isaac weighs 23 pounds 15 ounces.

What do I say?

Can you notice anything that my husband and I might find particularly disturbing?

Please keep him and our children (who are in Phx. now) in your prayers as they deal not only with feelings of grief, but also a painfully obvious lack of acceptance by certain family members about their brothers and sisters/our children.


Maria M. Reese
Maria M. Reese, loving wife and mother, was carried into heaven by our Heavenly Father on May 3, 2008. Born on June 10, 1922 in Laredo, Texas to Jose and Conception Medina. She moved to Arizona in 1973 from Texas. She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Bob, 3 children, Annette, Bobby and Roger, 2 daughter-in-laws, 14 grandchildren, 9 adopted grandchildren and one sister. Services will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at Starlight Park Baptist Church, 7901 W. Osborn Rd., Phoenix, AZ. In lieu of flowers the family has requested donations be made in Maria's name to either Odyssey Health Care 8977 W. Athens St., Peoria, AZ 85382 or Starlight Park Baptist Church, 7901 W. Osborn Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85033. Published in The Arizona Republic on 5/8/2008.

Prayers for Baby Lena

Lena had been doing great and was gaining weight fast. Last night through the night, she was eating less than normal and woke up this morning with a fever. She has a double ear infection! (Very common for cleft babies to get ear infections.) Please keep sweet Lena in your prayers. She is miserable and we need her to perk up in the next 24 hours or else we will need to head to the ER. (The doc. did put her on antibiotics so we are hoping that it helps her fast!)
Isn't she just adorable? (As of today 8.1 lbs!)

My husband and older children leave tomorrow for Phx. so we need all the little ones home all weekend happy and healthy!! Come on Baby Lena! Off to snuggle wee lena.

Thanks for your prayers warriors!
Blessings,
Sarah

Happy Cinco De Mayo

(Go Ahead and click on the picture if you want to see it larger, don't be jealous!)

Happy Cinco De Mayo :)

Here is a snazzy shot of Kika Kim at the garage sale fundraiser. In one of my boxes we came across this svelte, awesomely sexy, Mexican wool outfit circa 1942. Kim just couldn't resist but to try it on and samba all over the driveway with it while Lauren and I laughed so hard we were crying.

Kim is in Sacramento with Alex right now so she won't be coming over for nachos and margarita's tonight... but we will be thinking of you Kim. :)

Keep her and Alex in your prayers.

My husband and three of the children leave on Thursday for my mother in law's funeral in AZ. They will be gone for four days leaving me home with all the younger children, please keep us all in your continued prayers. This is going to be a hard weekend for everyone. We would have loved to all been able to go to AZ, but there is just no way logistically to do so. :(

Jeremy is in Phoenix right now so it will be nice for him to have a couple days with his dad and siblings. He has been making some very poor choices in his life lately so we are hoping that his grandma's passing will be a wake up call.

Other updates coming soon.

Blessings and Thanks,
Sarah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRea9qnjK4

This morning at 5:20 am, Maria Reese (Robert's Mom, and Grandma Reese to our children) passed away. The picture is of Robert and his Mom. Maria was an amazing woman who was married for 50 years, just this past April. She will truly be missed by many.

Please keep my husband, children, and our extended family in your prayers this week.

Updates all around :)

Sorry for serious lack of blogging. I have so many updates and things to share and not much time to do it in!

Lena is here! She arrived with Salem and Chelsea on Saturday night (along with adorable Schnider). They were here for a couple days and we had a busy but very nice visit!

Lena had a doctor's appointment on Monday and is now up to 7 lbs 8.5 oz!She has to be 10lbs before they will repair her cleft lip and is well on her way. She is having some high respiration's and a fast little heart beat so the doctors are keeping an eye on that. She is so loving and sweet/beautiful of course!
We are all so in love. :)

My mother in law Maria is in hospice. My husband went on Sunday to Phx. and was there for most of this week staying with his Mom at hospice and taking his time to say his goodbyes. Knowing that she will pass soon (she has a DNR and is barely eating at this point) has been very hard on us all but especially on my husband and Lauren. (Who was very close to her grandma.) Please keep the Reese clan in your prayers during this hard time.

No Isaac news.

Angeline is doing well. Bean is having some jealous feelings towards Lena so we are making sure to spend ample time with her and have her help to "care" for her in her own little way. I am so proud to report that Bean has now slept three times in the past week in her OWN big girl bed and has slept the ENTIRE night through. She tells everyone she meets " I sleep all night" and now she really does!(Knock on wood.) Whoohoo! Go Bean go!

Camera: We have misplaced my camera... my sister brought the broken one back and the new one has gone missing. We are sure that it will turn up somewhere but if you could send a little prayer out that we find it soon because we have the garage sale fundraiser pictures on it, as well as the prom pictures from Danny and Tyler last weekend. I don't want to miss out on those memorable moments. (As well as some video clips of Angeline that are not to be missed.)

I hope that this update finds you all happy and healthy. More soon...
Love,
Sarah