Christian Warrior Wear

I'm so excited to share that we started a company to help fund the adoptions, Christian Warrior Wear (www.christianwarriorwear.com). Not only do we need extra funds for the $40K that we need to bring home Peter and Rebecca, we also wanted to start a company that would challenge Christians to be bold in their faith.

With Bill working on another start-up, time and resources were a huge consideration for us. Regardless, we felt God's leading and, after much prayer, Christian Warrior Wear is ultimately how we saw God directing our funding efforts for the adoptions. Neither of us have experience starting a t-shirt company, so we were glad to connect with the guys at Grunt Style who really went out of their way to get us going. You can read more on our "About" page: http://christianwarriorwear.com/about.

Bill designed the nine shirts on the site, as well as the entire website (he even made the intro video)! He had never done a website before, so he chose to use Squarespace, which pretty much guides every step. I was surprised that Squarespace made it so easy. The trickiest part for Bill was learning Photoshop to design the images and logo!

As for the shirts, here are some of the styles he came up with (the first two are my favorites because they are about adoption!):

There are a few other shirts on the website (www.christianwarriorwear.com), so be sure to check them out. All of the shirts are $22 and we make about $13 off each shirt after production costs and related expenses.

As for the adoptions, our dossier is now official on its way to China! We are DTC! Next, China will log it in and give us Provisional Approval (PA). Mid-week last week, we sent our I800 to Texas, where it has to sit for at least two weeks before heading to Missouri. Hopefully, the PA and I800 will be processed at about the same time, then we can apply for a GUZ number for Peter and Rebecca's visas! After that, we get Travel Approval and can plan our journey to China! We are hoping for this entire process to be completed within 40 days- by June 1st. That gives us one month before Peter turns 14!

For those who missed it, please check out our intro video that shares our adoption story! Also, please like our Christian Warrior Wear page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cwarriorwear?fref=nf and Twitter: @cwarriorwear.

Sooner than we thought...

Since the start of this adoption process, we have been moving pretty quickly with forms/paperwork. We knew that we needed to expedite things, since Payton was aging out of the adoption system, but we were unaware that we had to have the adoption finalized by his 14th birthday (July 1st)! I happened to ask our adoption agency about this today and they stated, yes, we must have everything FINALIZED before Payton turns 14. Now, we are in even more of a rush to get our customs forms approved, Dossier logged-in, and that all-important, Travel Approval!

Some may be wondering what happens if the adoption is not finalized by then. Well, from what I understand, Payton will be transferred to an adult mental institution, since he is not physically or emotionally capable of caring for himself. He will no longer be eligible for adoption. Sadly, many of these mental institutions in China lack resources, so children/adults often die from lack of care and nutrition. In Payton's case, he is only at about a first grade reading level, so he clearly would not be able to go out into the world and survive on his own at this time.

So, while we thought we had 8 months or more to raise the funds for Payton and Yana's adoptions, we now must get the funding together in about 4 months! To help bring in the finances, Bill worked with an awesome, veteran-owned t-shirt company to produce some shirts for the adoption. We will be taking pre-orders of the shirts in the next couple weeks, as samples come in and we are able to post pictures. We'll also be doing a Facebook auction soon...more details to come.

Please be in prayer for the adoption, and that things would be expedited at every level!

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Also, a contact via Facebook gave me a bunch of photos of Payton from when she met him two years ago. I thought I would share for those who want to get our little guy better!

Therapy options for CP

Since receiving the pre-approval for Yana, Bill and I have been busy preparing physically, mentally and emotionally for all the exciting and challenging things to come this year. We've been reading books on cerebral palsy, started learning Chinese (I'll share more about that later!), and researching Yana's specific form of cerebral palsy, athetoid, which represents just 10% of the individuals with CP. I wanted to share some of the things that we have found in our research, in case it will help others. Most of the information is very encouraging, while some has been a bit intimidating!

In doing research, I came across three books written by adults who have CP. They all had similar stories, such as being told that they were non-verbal or mentally delayed (and later learning that this is not true), experiencing the traumatizing and agonizing therapies that were attempted to correct their symptoms (forceful movements that resulted in severe pain, as well as some useless surgeries), and harsh bullying that they went through. They also shared what helped them most physically and emotionally in dealing some of the challenges with CP. Out of the three books, the one that drew me in the most is called, "Ways out of cerebral palsy during infancy and early childhood with the Feldenkrais Method," by Paul Doron Doroftei.

In his book, Mr. Doroftei shares the incredible testimonial of a method that helped him get out of a wheelchair, increase mobility and reduce most of his CP symptoms over many months and years. At age 60, he says that he now walks better than most people his age because of the techniques that he learned through the Feldenkrais method! He explains that, when someone has CP, it is only the brain that is damaged- not the muscles or nerves in the limbs. Various cells of the brain that would normally communicate slow and steady movements to the extremities are deadened (often through a trauma at the child's birth), which results in spastic, or competing, muscular movements. This is a result of opposing expanding and contracting muscular signals (parasitic messages) being sent at the same time- resulting in hypertonicity or paralysis in the majority of people with CP. (Yana's form, athetoid, sometimes does not have this spasticity, but, rather, flailing, repetitive movements.)

The Feldenkrais Method suggests that, if you can restore proper communication between the brain and these muscles/nerves, eliminating the parasitic messages that are being sent, then more fluid movement and muscle relaxation can occur. I think of it like the "Oregon Trail" game that we all played in elementary school. Imagine that an enormous boulder has suddenly blocked the trail that leads to your destination. You must blaze a new trail to get around this obstacle, which will likely forever be used by future travelers. Similarly, once these correct paths are created in the brain, they are available permanently!

I went on to research the Feldenkrais Method further and frequently came across a related method called the Anat Baniel Method (ABM). Anat Baniel was a student of Dr. Feldenkrais (now deceased) and adapted his technique to improve the outcomes of children and adults using this therapy. She uses it for autism, CP, chronic pain, and even improving flexibility for ballet dancers! The treatments can be very costly and time consuming (I have looked locally and it is $75 for a 45-minute session), but the movements are simple enough for parents to learn and apply to their own special needs kids. In fact, Mr. Doroftei recommends this!

I ordered the ABM training video for special needs kids and am excited to start learning the techniques in the coming weeks. They are very gentle movements and the children remain calm and relaxed throughout the process (some even fall asleep). There are numerous YouTube videos online that show this, but this one is my favorite- since the child has Yana's form of CP and begins walking after just 6 sessions!

As I researched more about therapies for CP, I came across another simple option for children with CP. This involves using a compression garment called the SPIO garment. The clinic in the video below uses this garment, along with a number of therapeutic techniques, and you can see amazing results in this girl (also with Athetoid CP) in just 5 days!

I hesitated to share the below picture of Yana before because it clearly shows drool, so it is not the most flattering picture of our sweet girl. Drooling occurs in about 30% of individuals with CP, indicating an inability to swallow the normal amount of saliva the body produces. I share this now because I have learned that the Feldenkrais Method can even be used to restore connections between the brain and the swallowing muscles, so that she can learn to swallow normally! (You can read about it in the book by Mr. Doroftei.)

With a combination of therapy, and lots of love and prayer, we are very hopeful about Yana's future. Plus, she will have her big brother, Payton, encouraging her along the way. (Payton was not walking at 8 years old and now runs and even likes to play soccer!)  

We can't wait to see Yana freed from her stroller and out exploring the world around her! Please keep her and Payton in your prayers. 

Pre-approval for Yana!

Sorry for the delays, but we have just gotten pre-approval and are finally able to share information about Yana!

The reason for the delay is a bit complex. Yana was on the shared list, meaning that any adoption agency we wanted to go with could acquire her file for us.  However, we want to adopt Payton and Yana, specifically, and at the same time. The adoption agency that we went through was the only agency that had access to Payton's files. Thus, we had to first get pre-approval from that specific agency for Payton, then get approval from the social worker doing our home study to adopt two children, then we had to begin the process again with Yana (submit a Letter of Intent, pay fees, etc.)! We have finished those steps and now have pre-approval for Yana! So, without further ado, I am so happy to share photos of our beautiful daughter!

(Taken approx. September 2012)

Isn't she lovely! When I first saw Yana's photo and bio on Reece's Rainbow, I felt like I knew her. Bill felt the same way. There was such a clear leading on our hearts that this was our daughter!

In reading the Reece's Rainbow summary (http://reecesrainbow.org/47081/yana), we were both very hopeful about Yana's prognosis. When we finally got a copy of her medical file, the report matched the RR bio and included some additional details- such as the fact that her speech was not well developed at the time of assessment, which was done in May of 2012. Since over two years have passed since that evaluation, we were confident that Yana would be progressing and likely even walking and talking now!

On a whim, I decided to "Google" her and incredibly came across the this post from September of 2012: http://martinsinchina1.blogspot.com/2012/09/waiting-child-yana.html. The woman who wrote the post was highlighting Yana as a Waiting Child and gave some more information about her health. She stated that Yana has a form of cerebral palsy called quadriplegia with an athetoid component (highly spastic). The woman's post also states that Yana has decreased head and trunk control. This was very devastating and disappointing news, since we were so hoping to hear that Yana is thriving and able to move about!

I reached out to the woman who wrote the blog post and she graciously provided even more updated information. Tragically, Yana's orphanage has very few resources. There are not as many staff as some other facilities. In addition, Yana is not likely receiving therapy. Since she does not have a foster family (like Payton), she is also not receiving any specialized care for her needs or development. In fact, during this woman's visits in 2013 and June of 2014, Yana has been in a stroller with a hole for a bedpan both times (see photo below)! It makes me so sad that they don't even have a decent wheelchair for her. The woman who wrote the post said that the children at this orphanage mingle and play together in the hallway (unusual for a Chinese orphanage), and that someone has brought Yana out with the other children both times that the woman had been there.

(Taken June 2013)

The one ray of light in this whole thing is that Yana's orphanage, along with many others in China, participates in Hugging Grannies. My prayer is that one of the three hugging grannies has been giving Yana some love and attention each day, even though the ratio is about 10:1 of children to grannies. I have seen pictures of these grannies taking the kids outside, so I hope that brings some joy to our sweet girl.

Obviously, this is one of the worst scenarios that we could imagine. Bill and I cried as we heard this news, but still felt God's leading in her adoption. Though her needs are great, we believe that she will thrive with love, therapy and quality medical care. When we bring her home, I plan to baby wear her for a good deal of time to help her bond with me, and learn to trust us to provide for her physical and emotional needs.

Here are baby pictures of our sweet girl:

    

We desperately need help with the remaining funds to bring our kids home. Please consider giving- even a small amount. We have already raised almost $2,000 of our $32,000 goal between Reece's Rainbow (http://reecesrainbow.org/85271/sponsorrobinson-6) funds and our Youcaring page. If we can get 3,000 people to give $10, we will be there! 

We've also been putting together an idea for a Give-away, so we could use donations of a time-share or something else large to give... Again, anything helps! Thank you!