My sister in law Pam Bean is having a raffle for this beautiful ladybug blanket to help raise funds for her adoption of of 6 year old Blossom.  It was made by her sister-in-law Michelle specifically for this raffle.  Donate for a chance to receive this beautiful blanket.  Michelle spent over 50 hours making this blanket. Each ladybug was individually made and then crochet into the blanket. The blanket measures 39 inches x 39 inches. For a $5.00 donation you will have a chance to receive this beautiful blanket. This blanket can be given to a new mom as a shower gift or a new addition to the family through adoption. What a wonderful story behind why it was made. I know this is short notice but the drawing will be held next Sunday the 17th at 6:00 p.m. PDT. Asking for prayer that there would be many participants.  Contact Pam Bean @ pamelabean@rocketmail.com  Or go to www.alongtheblossomtrail.blogspot.com  for a pay pal connection.

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary, Mom and Pop

Vern and Gail Bean   June 8, 1962


These are my parents when they got married 50 years ago.  Life was was not easy.  She had 4 kids, no child support and was "OLDER" then he.  The wedding was not going to happen, as the Ex had not paid his interlocutory fees to finalize the divorce.  Vern took care of that when he sold his baritone horn to pay those fees off, so they could get married.  Still the wedding was a no frills affair in the yard of his parents house.  They were not able to have a wedding cake or guests.   On their 45th Wedding Anniversary, Gail lovingly bought Vern a brand new baritone horn. 

We will be having a Celebration Dinner in Honor of my parent's  50th Wedding Anniversary on August 4, 2012, in Fresno, California.  It is centrally located and the costs not too high for lodging.  There we will eat, dance, walk down memory lane, and Vern and Gail will finally have a Wedding Cake to replace the one they missed out on 50 years ago.      

We Love you Mom and Pop,  Thank You for your sacrifice, so that your children could have a good life.  You made life worth living and encouraged us when we did not deserve it.   Thank you for encouraging us to determine our own relationship with God then follow that to the fullest.             

 Thank you for NEVER giving up, never loosing HOPE, and ALWAYS being there.  for richer, for poorer.  
In sickness and in health. 

LOA on day 36 since LID

We Received our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China today, June 1 2012, just 36 days since LID.  This my friends, is some kind of record. I had heard of someone who got it on 37 days, but I never thought it would happen to us.  We have been so behind in our timeline since we received pre-approval.  Always having complications with every step  I became so overwhelmed at the reality, I think I shocked my friend, Nurse Diana.  I was both crying and talking and alternately speechless. Well, lets say she has never seen me speechless....

Summit VIII Christian Alliance for Orphans

I imagine there are many people who are wondering:  What happened to the Summit VIII people?  Well, we returned from the mountain top full of information, motivation and huge amounts of spiritual blessings.  However, our earthly bodies are fatigued.  We arrived home at about 3 pm on Saturday.  After the reunion with our kids we took a nap.  All the walking, praising and grazing took it's toll. 

First of all the Saddleback Church campus is huge and located on a hill side. There was a lot of walking up and down stairs and ramps.  The worship center is at the top of the hill. with several 3 story buildings and large tent like structures.  They have 5 restaurants and the biggest outside grill I have ever seen.  Our schedules were very busy. Of course we wanted to take in everything that we could.  This meant meetings during our lunch schedules and quick dinners, so we could get onto our meetings.

Keith and I are so glad that we went together.  We have both been moved and changed.  Our commitment to Orphan Sunday has grown.  Francis Chan was the key note speaker on Thursday night and Steven Curtis Chapman gave a concert on Friday night.  We arrived home on Saturday and resumed our busy lives.  Changed for the better. 

We met a bunch of people there and I will post about them in the future.  The greatest change will probably be from Keith as he has agreed to He and I working together to be California regional coordinators for Orphan Sunday.  We will be working with the Central Valley Christian Alliance for Orphans on an event Nov. 3, 2012 in Fresno, Ca. and spreading the ministry of Orphan Sunday basically every where we can.  If you would like information about Orphan Sunday, regardless of where you live, I would be happy to share the vision with you. If you would like to set up and event or share with your church in the central valley of California, we have teams of people who would be happy to speak to you, your church leadership, or your congregation about the Christian
Alliance for Orphans and Orphan Sunday. I will be placing a Link to the national web site to make it easy for anyone who would like to go straight to the Alliance for information.

Feel Like a Failure?

This morning   I felt like a failure. I just could not complete that list of “to dos.”  But, why on earth would I feel that way?  Last week I worked every day, took myself or a kid to a doctor appointment every day , spent hours on the phone arranging for my daughter to see a specialist at Stanford University Hospital, took Lilly Rose to Rainbow pledge, supervised the Friday church youth group, attended my sister-in-laws mother’s day luncheon, taught Sunday school, met with the church leadership group, did m-o-u-n-d-s of laundry, spent time with my son, daughter-in-law, and chased my grandson around for a while.  Then, I went grocery shopping and made Mother’s day dinner.  This week continues on in the same manor.  Busy, busy, more appointments and meetings, work and hours on the computer…

So why then, do I feel like a failure?  We may actually, according to Kaiser, thrive.  But I believe that is a relative term, thrive.  I mean look at the weeds in my garden.  They “thrive.”  Look at the rat that wants to invade my roof, he seems to thrive.  So, if you accomplish more, do you “thrive?”

There is a way that seems right to a man.  But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

The truth is simple, although the world would tell us differently; we cannot assign value to our lives according to our ability to produce a product.  Our value is established by our relationship to God.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

So now I take my rest in the Lord.  Being reminded that no matter what I do or do not do, I am valued by the Lord for just being me, and loving Him. 

We have our LID, April 26, 2012.

It Took 23 days. But it did arrive.  Yes, we have a LID of April 26, 2012.  Some people have received LIDs of as early as 7 days, but not longer than 3 weeks.  So the Lord knows the plan and here we sit 23 days later.  If you had told me last year that  we would have struggled this long through the home study,  USCIS, and forever to be DTC.    I would have said no way!  But the Lord knows the plans that he has for us and they are to prosper us and give us hope for the future.  Diane's paraphrase Jeremiah 29:11.   I guess he knew we needed time to grow our stamina in Him not our selves.  Praise the Lord for one more milestone. 

The Cost of Adoption

         The 2012 Lexus GX 450  starting price $53,260

Now many people have asked me about the cost of adoption.  They usually say,"isn't it expensive" or "How much does it cost to buy a child?"  Well, first of all, we did not buy a child.  We paid fees for every step of the process of adopting a child.  The placement agency has a fee for their services. The home study was done for a fee.  The USCIS has a cost for their investigation (immigration).  The flights to China had a cost.  The Marriott Chongqing is a 5 star hotel and came with a breakfast buffet that was spectacular.  And, we paid for every meal.  Yes, their are fees on the China side as well.  I may not agree with all the fees, but I paid them. Total cost for an international adoption from
china is about $ 28,000.

Now, as most of America, we spend money on what we must,  like health care, insurance, food, clothing, shelter, utilities, our cars, childcare, and tithe to our church.  Then there are the things we want like a swimming pool, phones, music, cable TV, mp3 players, computers, Internet, video games, a gardener, and what ever is the latest toy, fast food, going out to dinner, the movies, special classes/clubs and hobbys for the kids like Chinese language, pledge, dance, youth fellowship, sports like soccer, basketball, football and taekwando.  Oh, and there is the cost of going to the fabric store, Ha Ha.  Everything has a price, a fee or a cost.  Some things we say "no" to like the newspaper.  and some things I do not agree with, like the cost of our electricity.   But every month, I choose to pay it, because I want electricity.

There is no doubt about it, life costs money.  Everything has a fee.  It does blow me away that a person can go and buy a new car like the Lexus shown above.  They pay $53,000- $59,000 and no one bats an eye.  We however, bought a one year old Toyota Sienna.  It cost  $ 22,000 had 20,000 miles on it.  So here is a plan, instead of the Lexus,  buy a Sienna, do the adoption and get the $12,000 tax reduction refund instead and you will be up $12,000.