When we started the adoption journey with Payton and Yana, we
were concerned about possible rejection by the agency, or China, because of
Bill's ongoing health issues. For those who don't know, Bill started having
unusual physical symptoms immediately upon returning from Afghanistan. These
worsened three years ago. He has had hundreds of tests done, and we spent three
weeks at the Mayo Clinic, but we were only recently able to get any real
information about the cause of his ailments. In any case, it was a real concern whether or not we would get approval to move forward.
Over the course of the past three years, we have done a
lot of investigating about his condition- both online and in our own home. I
utilized my chemistry education, and years of experience in the field, to
understand the toxic chemicals that he was likely exposed to during his
deployment to Afghanistan.
During his year in-country, he traveled over 8,500 miles and
visited more than 25 bases. He was frequently living only feet from toxic burn
pits, and was constantly breathing in air that was full of pesticides and
herbicides. Needless to say, we knew that toxic exposure was likely the
cause of his health issues. Thankfully, a vascular neurosurgeon recently
confirmed this with us.
In researching toxins, we came to realize that Bill has
also developed severe chemical sensitivities. This was first noticed when he
came home from Afghanistan and was immediately allergic to our bulldog (Buddy),
dairy, eggs, wheat and soy. Thankfully, some of these allergies have lessened,
though we did have to pass Buddy on to a loving owner.
In particular, we believe that our previous two homes since Afghanistan were
off-gassing heavy amounts of toxins, significantly accelerating Bill's health decline. Both were
new homes, which are known to release heavy toxins in the first few weeks,
months and even years. In the last few months, though, we were blessed to
purchase a new home with numerous non-toxic upgrades. It has non-toxic hardwood
flooring and is painted with zero VOC paint. We also have put up low-emission
blinds with non-toxic drapes. In addition, we have also eliminated harsh
cleaning chemicals, and rely on baking soda and vinegar (except for dish
detergent- we have yet to find a healthy detergent that will actually remove
stains- Bill just gives his dishes an extra rinse post wash).
Since moving
to our new home 4.5 months ago, Bill's health has gradually improved. He has started
taking organic vitamins in the last two months, which includes two detox formulas, and we find that these are accelerating his improvement (http://teamrobinson.mytouchstoneessentials.com).
In spite
of these issues, we felt God's leading in the adoptions. We know that God calls
us to rely on His strength in challenging times, and we felt His heart for
Payton and Yana. As I mentioned, we were nervous that China would not accept
our application because they originally had required that both parents be in
"good health" at the time of adoption. When we got Bill's
medical evaluation done for the home study, his doctor truthfully wrote
down that he is in "fair health."
An
amazing thing has happened in the past month, though. It was announced on
December 5th that China was lowering their adoption qualifications for Waiting
Children! (I should mention that December 5th was the same day that we announced
publicly that we were adopting!) What a blessing! My hope is that they have
realized that it is more important to get these kids in loving families, than
to have the "perfect" families step up to adopt (which leads to fewer children ever being adopted). China's new health
requirements for Waiting Children are:
•
Applicants must be in good physical and mental condition necessary to
provide responsible care for an adopted child:
◦
If diagnosed with anxiety, depression, mania, phobia, or OCD, must be
under good control with a small dose of medication (couples only)
◦
If one parent has (or has had) cancer, lupus, nephrosis, epilepsy,
multiple sclerosis, hearing or language function impairment, or organ
transplant within the last ten years, etc., must be under good control AND
the other parent healthy
◦
Must not have significant vision loss, limb impairment or paralysis,
schizophrenia, or infectious diseases (such as HIV).
•
Body Mass Index (BMI) must be under 40
|
Bill
easily falls within these requirements, which is why we were able to get
pre-approval for Payton and Yana!
Please
pray for Bill's continued health improvements. None of us knows what day will
be our last, but our prayer is that he would live a long and fruitful life with
his family, serving God.
If
you would like to join with us on this journey, your prayers and financial
support are coveted. Please give via the links at the right. Thank you from all
of the Robinsons!
---
Here's a
cool video that Bill made after his 2007-2008 deployment:
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