Piecing Our Puzzle Together

Friday, February 21, 2014

URGENT!!! FINAL 90 MINUTES!!!

We have 90 Minutes to get in donations that will be matched!!!

ANY amount will be matched!!!

Please help us get closer to bringing Della home!

http://reecesrainbow.org/70811/sponsorfeinland-2

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

We have had an angel bless us with a 72 hour matcing grant! (started at 9:30 tonight) Every single donation will be matched! Please consider making a donation, even $5 to help get our girl home! Your $5 will turn into $10!

http://reecesrainbow.org/70811/sponsorfeinland-2

This is Andre's Story

The day we met Andre, we sat in the director's office and he told us Andre's history. He knew A LOT about his birth family, many personal details. Andre was a planned baby. His birth parents were wonderful people. Unfortunately, as many of us could never fathom, in the society in which he was born, they could not take care of him. It is not their fault. It is just the way it us in Ukraine as well as many Eastern European countries. They did the best they knew they could and gave him up for adoption. Then they prayed that a family would find him.

I have had their names since we had court, as their names are in our documents. Shortly after we came home, I googled and found them. In fact, it was one of the nights when I was in the hospital with Silas when he was admitted upon coming home. I did not contact for a while. I was scared. I had heard other stories from adoptive families that when they attempted contact, it went sour. I had also heard beautiful stories of families that keep in touch through emails and even Skype. So, over the summer I went for it and messaged his birth mother.

She took a while to respond, but eventually did. And her response was the most beautiful response that I could have ever hoped for. She explained that it took her so long because it was very emotional for her and she wanted to respond appropriately. She explained that she loved Andre very much. She knew of the adoption and was so very thankful that we adopted him. She was happy to see pictures of him smiling, happy and healthy. Here is an excerpt from her first message:

"We are so thankful for your generousity and your decision.

He smiles, he is happy and that was our best hope, since, unfortunatelly, the society in our country leaves mostly isolation for people, and, what is more painful , for children like Andre and his "brother". We know that both of them are with you and they are safe and not deprived. We will always love Andrew and keep praying for you, people who give him life in full sense.

One can hardly realise what is sacrificed...Let propitiation find us one day.

We were trying to support Andre and we are so glad that his fate was to meet your family. God bless you."

She has over and over again expressed her gratitude for us adopting Andre. She also gave us information that we did not know. It was her husband and his mother who took Andre, the day after he was born, to the heart hospital for his first consultation. We knew that she did support the orphanage financially from the director and she told us this as well, as she still does so as a sign of gratitude. She explained that she intentionally did not visit Andre to avoid him being hurt if and when he was adopted, but did do her best to support him however she could while keeping her distance.

I touch base with her every now and then. I know that she is very emotional about the situation, so I try not to push too much. I would love for her to be involved in Andre's life as much as possible.

For his birthday, she wrote a very beautiful message and also included an amazing gift, the first picture ever taken of Andre, the day after he was born. I felt so full of joy and cried as I looked upon this beautiful doll looking baby. He was simply GORGEOUS!!! I could not believe that she shared something so special with me. I felt honored. Then as I soaked it all in, I became sad. I felt immense sadness for her and her husband. This beautiful, sweet baby was in their arms, they planned for him, they loved him. Yet they had to walk away. I can not ever imagine the pain they have gone through. They are truly amazing people and love this little boy with all of their hearts.

From her message:

"First of all we would like to express our heartfelt greetings on occasion of Andre's birthday.

We know that he is happy now with your family, we know that he is loved, we know that his fornute is with you. We wish him be happy, we wish him be healthy. I had a very heartfelt dream to send our words to him with the only special thing I have - his first picture, it was made on 1st february 2009. Happy birthday and very best wishes."

I wanted to tell this story because so many people jump to conclusions that all children are abandoned by "dead beat" parents. This is not the case for Andre. It is the society in which they live that does not allow them to be able to raise a child with special needs, even something as simple as Down Syndrome. Therefore parents must place their children in orphanages and hope that they will be adopted. This is Andre's story.

His parents planned him, loved him and did the only thing they knew they could. It is sad to think that we live in a world where two loving parents can not raise their own child. My heart aches terribly for them. Because Andre is such a delight. I promised her that I will never let them down and Andre will experience the life that he deserves.And we will keep our promise as well as let Andre know that he is so loved

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

T-Shirts FOR SALE!!!!

We have 3 T-shirt fundraisers going on right now.

We tried to create different shirts so as to appeal to more people!

The First one will appeal to all of my fellow proud parents of children with Down Syndrome:

T shirts can be purchased at
https://www.booster.com/feinlandfundraiser

The second one is for all of my fellow adoptive parents and adoption advocates:

T shirts can be purchased at
https://www.bonfirefunds.com/i-love-adoption

The third one is for all of my fellow Saints fans!

This t shirt can be purchased at
https://www.bonfirefunds.com/feinland-adoption

Sunday, January 26, 2014

We Have An Announcement!

ITS A GIRL!!!!

We have committed to adopting again :)

http://reecesrainbow.org/70811/sponsorfeinland-2

This will be our first girl and we are so excited! She has waited too long for a family! We can not wait to bring her home! Our home study update is next weekend!

We are currently having a King Cake give away!
http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/who-is-della-s-family-/120523

When our You Caring account reaches $500 & $1000 we will draw a winner! Winner chooses the filling! Chances increase with amount of donation.

$5 = 1 entry

$10 = 2 entries

$15 = 3 entries

$20 = 4 entries

And so on

Thursday, January 2, 2014

One Year Home, Merry Christmas Happy New Year!

I can not believe a year has passed and gone. With 5 little ones, I hardly have the time to keep up with our blog, and I apologize. I hope this video will make up for my lack of blogging :)

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Approaching 10 months home!!! Where is the time going????

It has been so long since I have posted, but it still seems like only yesterday that we brought Silas & Andre home! Just one month from today makes a year that we boarded the plane to Ukraine!

Life is so busy. The boys have started school. Silas is in Kindergarten & Andre is in Pre-K. Their class is combined. Tage is in first grade and D.J. is in sixth grade.

With the exception of last week, the boys have been healthy. Strep throat plagued our house last week. Silas had some sort of infection at his g tube site and was hospitalized for a few days. Some strong antibiotics cleared it up. Andre, Maben & Rachelle all had some minor surgeries over the summer.

Silas will be doing a trial for the Baclofen pump in just a couple of weeks. If it proves that the pump will benefit him, he will have the surgery after Christmas.

Silas' growth has been unbelievable! He now weighs 41 pounds and is 40 inches long! That is 24 pounds gained & 6 inches grown. I did not take any "before" pictures of him in a diaper until we were home & actually he was in the hospital. Many parents do, but I did not want to remember it, so I did not take a picture. I also did not start keeping track of his weight until he was in the hospital. For 3 days he ate very well & I suspect he was actually a pound or 2 lighter than 17 pounds before coming home. Now, I do wish that I had for comparison. But even comparing 1 month home to now is a drastic difference!

I think that is all there is to catch up on, I will let pics over the last few months do the rest of the talking :)