Sananda - Our Indian Blessing

Now You Can Shop and Support India's Children!

2011-10-21T11:10:00.001-06:00

Anyone ready to start looking for some great Christmas Ideas?
Here's a great place to start! http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/2113/auctions/2299?page=1
Now through this coming Monday you can support SCH through shopping, looks like there is an option for donations if you don't find something you need. your giving will be life saving for many of these children. Many many cute items too!!
Dolls, clothing, purses, jewelry, door decorations, even Christmas trees!
32auctions — Sarah's Covenant Homes Auction 2011
www.32auctions.com
‎32auctions free online silent auctions for non-profit, school, charity fundraising. Full-featured payment & donation collection via PayPal, bid sheets..

Last Day!

2011-10-19T11:05:00.000-06:00

1 day left!
We only need 10 new donors at $3 each to reach our goal, 1 less donor can mean winning or losing. Don’t underestimate your power.
What does $3 mean to you? Cappuccino? For HH it is winning/ losing a matching prize money worth 1 whole months expenses.
The H.O.P.E. in Hope House stands for “Helping Orphans Prevail in Everything”. With your help Hope House nurtures and empowers them.
Why do people donate? Not because they have excess but to be part of the work they are unable to do.
Please help, if you can!

Buy a Doll and Help Some Great Kids all at Once!

2011-10-18T14:26:00.002-06:00

If you have ever thought of buying one of my dolls now would be a great time. I'm going to give $3 of each sale to the HOPE House fundraiser (in your name) now through Wed. Oct. 19th (tomorrow) at 1:00 p.m. The dolls would make a great Christmas gift. Or if you happen to be doing the Operation Christmas child boxes these dolls fit wonderfully folded over. You could be gifting many precious children all at once! Thanks! Check out my website: www.adollsheart.blogspot.com

2 Days

2011-10-18T09:41:00.003-06:00

Hi all,

We have only two days left for our fundraiser over at HOPE House iGive page. We need about 26 people to give $3 each. Would you please be willing to help us out reaching our goal and getting that cash prize? It would be so helpful for the girls at HH and we would be most appreciative.
Thanks!

Hope House Fundraiser (New Challenge)

2011-10-15T23:33:00.003-06:00

The Hope House fundraiser is still on! We have a new challenge! We need about 30 people who are willing to give just $3.00 to our cause and we will get a matching cash prize! Could you please give a small amount to help us get a big prize? This prize is based on number of new donors so the amount can be small and still make a big difference. If you would feel blessed to give please visit my page to donate: https://www.giveindia.org/iGive-LyndasupportHopeHouse.
If you have any questions just leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I will get back to you.

Thanks so much!

Lynda

The Video and an Adoption Conference

2011-10-05T12:34:00.002-06:00

If you want to see the video of the sweet girl's experiment below please go to www.indiadoption.blogspot.com and watch.
When you get there you will also see the newest post about an adoption conference coming up where you can ask questions about adoption. Please sign into it and submit what you want to know. Then you can partake of the teleconference via the internet and hear answers to yours and others questions. Encourage your friends who are looking to adopt to sign up as well! I think it will be a wonderful help to be prepared for you adoption journey ahead.

Sananda Helps Hope House

2011-10-03T12:56:00.004-06:00

Sananda has done a science experiment (before and after, fizzy drink photos above)and is looking for sponsors to help raise money for the Hope House, I'm trying to add the video of this but currently am having some problems getting it loaded. Would you be willing to sponsor Sananda’s efforts to help Hope House in India? Please read on......We have a personal connection with Hope House as we support two orphaned girls, dear to our hearts, who live there. I’ve been able to meet both of these sweet girls personally. For the next few weeks this NGO is in a contest to raise funds. They have a chance to win extra cash prizes if they raise the most money hourly, daily, or weekly. The 14 girls who live at Hope House are loved and cared for. They are getting an education and the skills to prepare them for life outside of the orphanage, without this help they may have been out in the streets. If you can help us help them please follow this link to donate. https://www.giveindia.org/iGive-LyndasupportHopeHouse . Recommended donation is $3, if you want to do more you are surely welcome to. It is easiest to make an account to sign in with. When you are signing in from the U.S., don’t select U.S. tax payer from the drop down menu, instead select “other”. You won’t get a tax receipt regardless, but doing this just allows you pay in U.S. dollars.

Thank you so much for what you can do to help!!

A fun find

2010-09-12T10:04:00.003-06:00

Almost 2 years ago I posted a cute commercial about an Indian candy bar and have been on the lookout for one ever since. Well I am pleased that I recently found one of them at an Indian grocery!! Actually I found a bunch and bought them for the kids, I hope they will like them! Well, that was my find of the day.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-07T08:22:00.004-06:00

Even though I haven't posted since May I am still getting a few visitors so I thought I would post a Christmas greeting to those who come. I stumbled onto a site which had this video and thought it would be fun to post it here. On this site that I visited it talked about how when we think of Germany many times we get thoughts of Hitler and World Wars which leaves you feeling a coldness. But, then they mentioned that many good things come from Germany as well, including music, literature, maths, science, engineering, and I would add beautiful castles and great candy. Love those Tolberones! Germany is just as any other nation in that it has the good and the bad side to it. Hopefully this video will leave you with more of a peaceful feeling for this wonderful country than a coldness and bring the thought of love coming down to all of us alike in this season of rejoicing. Enjoy!
P.S. make sure to hit the pause button on Sananda's playlist on the side bar before starting the video, so you can hear it without interference.

Late Birthday Party

2009-05-20T20:58:00.004-06:00

A friend and I both have kids that just turned 3, and neither one of us had a party for them with friends invited, so we decided to have one together and celebrate them both with their friends. Although the photo is a little blurry,this is the cake that I made for Sananda. I hope she enjoys it.
The football cake in the back of Sananda's cake is one I made for my friend's son.
I think the kids will love it.

Please Vote

2009-04-27T11:43:00.001-06:00

Jessica Ward, is an adoptive mother in Washington state. She has entered an essay into
a rather interesting contest. It is all about the credit crunch in
America today. You can read her entry at this link: http://www.uncrunch.org/uncrunchAmerica/uncrunchArticleDetail.action?gui\d=10502
I love her idea, but she needs your vote to win. She is currently is second place, so the running is VERY close. The prize is $5,000 and - if she wins - it will go to
Project HOPEFUL to become the basis for a revolving loan to parents who
desire to adopt children with HIV. Her website is: http://www.projecthopeful.org
Please check it out and vote today!

Happy Birthday Sananda!

2009-04-17T22:20:00.004-06:00

Today our little girl turned 3!
We did a little nail art, baked a cake, decorated it and enjoyed!

The other day we ate out at a resturant and when we told them it was her birthday in a day they sang to her in French and gave her a free birthday cake. It was really sweet.

Curtain Pictures

2009-04-17T22:07:00.002-06:00

Well, I finally got around to getting these posted. Sorry it has taken me so long but it has been very busy around here. Oh I will be so glad when summer vacation starts, maybe I will be able to get a little more accomplished then.

2009-03-24T18:46:00.001-06:00

I added a new button to the sidebar that you can click to see how you can help make the adoption tax credit permanent. Many families rely on this to help them pay for their adoption expenses, thus helping them get their children home. There is also a potential for the Adoptive Parents to give the Tax Credit to the orphanage their child came from, once they are home, or possibly to another organization that cares for orphans. Seems like a win-win situation either way. Won't you please consider taking action to help this last beyond the year 2010? Who knows, someday you may be surprised to be getting it yourself!

Thanks!

My Little Girl is Sick

2009-03-18T17:53:00.003-06:00

My baby girl has a fever and here she sits snuggled up beside me looking at our blog and singing with me to our favorite song. All she really wanted to eat today was crackers. last night we had a new friend over to play with, must have wiped her out, as they had a great time playing together. Hoping she is well soon.

New Curtains

2009-03-14T18:28:00.002-06:00

Sananda and Olivia have new curtains in their room. I finally finished sewing these up after starting them about a year or so ago. So many projects leads to many things not getting done in a timely manner. :( The curtains did turn out very pretty though. There are made from a shiny pink and shiny purple fabric with little shiny colorful metal-like disks on them for design. The fabric was made in India, and it also has some embordiery of butterflies and lines. I may get a picture out here, but then again, if you read my blog much you know I don't get pictures out like I like to.

Our 2nd Family Day

2009-03-08T22:24:00.001-06:00

Today we celebrated our second Family Day. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone this side of our youngest joining our family. We watched the video we took of our time in India and it is amazing how big our little girl is now compared to then. We first met Sananda when she was just a few days short of being 11 months old and she will be 3 years old next month. We read some books about India and adoption, they still bring tears to my eyes while reading them aloud to our daughter. There was a nice meal served on special plates that were placed on a tablecloth, made in India. After the meal we had a chocolate cake that was decorated with the words, “Happy Family Day” , it was sprinkled around the edges with colorful confetti candy. Each member of our family came and placed a candle on the cake alongside a number “2” candle that stood for how many years we had all been together. On the count of two we all blew the flames out simutaneously. We bought a balloon that said, “Forever Yours” and played some family games. Just having time with each other and knowing the love between us was a wonderful way to end the evening.
An added blessing was seeing how much more comfortable and settled our daughter is after this amount of time home.

Finally pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-23T00:31:00.002-06:00

I finally got a few photos out!
Captions start from the bottom of the post going to the top.

Pretty in Pink-waiting for her Thanksgiving meal.

Christmas at Grandma's, with her cousins.

My baby is going to be a seamstress, just like her mommy.
She kept calling the baby doll, on the floor at the left side of the machine, Nana.

Opps! I'm caught!

Am I in trouble?

Whose Right to Life?

2009-01-21T00:30:00.003-06:00

Certainly not a babies according to this new legislation. Below is a letter printed with permission, please visit the website to learn more.

Dear Friend,

I'm writing to let you know about a terrible piece of legislation called "The Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate state and federal abortion laws that the majority of Americans support and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Please read the expert analysis by Americans United for Life (AUL) and sign the Fight FOCA petition at:
http://www.FightFOCA.com

Thank you!

Last Day To Vote-5 pm Eastern

2009-01-15T11:39:00.002-06:00

This FWD mail arrived in my inbox today, if you have a moment or two would you please consider going in and voting for this idea. When you click the link there is an article telling how far reaching this new lead law may go. Let's get things back on the right track.

Thanks!
--------------------------------------------

The last day of voting for the Ideas for Change in America competition is today! On Friday we will present the top 10 ideas to the Obama administration at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. We'll then connect the winning ideas to leading nonprofits and launch a series of national advocacy campaigns to turn each idea into federal policy.

You have voted for the following idea:

Save Small Business From the CPSIA (6th Place)

You can help support this idea by forwarding this email to friends or posting links to your favorite ideas on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any blog you might write.

You also have 9 votes remaining, and we encourage you to finish voting for your list of "Top 10 Ideas" by going to www.change.org/ideas before voting ends at 5pm Eastern this Thursday, Jan. 15.

We started the Ideas for Change in America initiative in the hope that we could translate the energy behind the Obama election into a citizen-led movement for change around the major issues we face. With over 500,000 votes thus far, each of you has helped deliver a clear message to the Obama administration that the American people want to participate in their own government again.

For that, we thank you. And we can't wait to work with each of you to continue this momentum after the competition ends.

In the meantime, best of luck for each of the ideas you support!

- The Change.org Team

Closing our store

2009-01-09T12:27:00.003-06:00

This mail was sent across one of my groups and with permission I wanted to share it on my blog. How will this affect us?? Well, in many ways, but for now we are mostly affected with our website of where we offer our "In my heart dolls". As of now it looks like we will need to stop selling them. If you want to order any before the closing date please let know us. To see the dolls please go to www.stanleyadoption.com . Closing date is Feb. 10th, but all orders much be paid by that date.

I feel horrible for all those who will be put out of business. If you do to there are ways you can take action, listed below.

Read On......

The Homeschooler' s Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =
Vol. 10 No 2 January 8, 2009
ISSN: 1536-2035
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =
Copyright (c) 2009 - Heather Idoni, FamilyClassroom. net
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= =

The Sale of Children's Books to be Banned

---

Oh, how I wish this were a joke! But it is a grim and looming,
almost Orwellian, reality.

Effective February 10th, in the United States, the sale of
all children's books (books intended for children ages 12 and
under) is to be PROHIBITED. Every single book printed prior
to the ruling is affected, whether new or used. New books in
production are required to include a "lead-free" certification
and will be the only books that are legal to offer for sale.

What does this mean to the homeschooling family?

Well, for one, curriculum fairs across the country will be
cancelled as book vendors scramble to figure out how to comply
with the new ruling. Complete book inventories will have to be
destroyed -- the ruling even prohibits giving away the books!
Local thrift stores will be hard hit -- most will likely have to
close their doors -- yes, even Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Clothing, toys and books -- even CDs and DVDs are included in the
ruling. Thrift stores will no longer be able to accept or process
anything (including clothing) that would be intended for a child.

No more library sales. Libraries will not be permitted to give
away or sell book donations. It is unsure yet, however, how
the libraries' shelves themselves will be impacted (the ruling
doesn't explicitly mention "loaning" books, just selling or
giving them away). The key word, however, is "distribution" --
libraries may well be required to destroy books from their shelves.

(The ruling that originally passed was about toys, but the EPA has
since made a statement that clothing, books and media are included
in "children's toys".)

Just how serious is this new law?

Amazon.com has already notified all vendors of their need to comply.
No book can be sold at the Amazon site that was printed prior to
compliance. And the "compliance" must be coordinated at the manu-
facturing stage. At the time of this article there is no clause
to be able to grandfather- in older books or even rare out-of-print
books. It can cost between $500 and $1500 to test a book for lead.

I happen to own a children's bookstore specializing in living books
from the 1950s and '60s. My punishment for selling a book after
February 10th? Up to $100,000 and 5 years in jail. And yes, it is
a felony charge. For selling a SINGLE book.

(Although I don't think the S.W.A.T. team scenario would become a
reality overnight, at the same time I would be leery of blatantly
violating Federal law.)

So what can you do to help save your local used bookstore that
sells children's books? Or that homeschool curriculum business?
Or your EBay business selling children's items?

ACT NOW before the quickly approaching deadlines:

1) Email or call the CPSIA - the office of the CPSC ombudsman at
888-531-9070. http://www.cpsc. gov/cgibin/ newleg.aspx

Comments on Component Parts Testing accepted through January 30,
2009. Or email: Sec102ComponentPart sTesting@ cpsc.gov

2) Contact your local representatives. For their contact informa-
tion, just enter your zip code.
http://capwiz. com/americanappa rel/dbq/official s/

3) Make your voice heard by voting on this issue! The top 3 in
each category will be presented to President-elect Obama.
http://change. org/ideas/ view/save_ handmade_ toys_from_ the_cpsia

4) Sign the petition.
http://ipetitions. com/petition/ economicimpactso fCPSIA/index. html

5) Spread the word! Forward this article. Send an email. Write
about this on your blog. Tell others about this issue and
encourage them to do the same.

---

For the complete story, read the following links:

http://www.cpsc. gov/about/ cpsia/cpsia. html

Consumer Product Safety Commission Summaries on Legislation Index
page for Children's Products Containing Lead; Lead Paint Rule and
other rulings

http://www.cpsc. gov/about/ cpsia/legislatio n.html#summaries

Office of the General Counsel FAQ on retroactive inventory require-
ments -- The use of forward effective dates appears to force current
inventories to adhere to the ruling on February 10th, 2009

http://www.cpsc. gov/about/ cpsia/summaries/ 101brief. html

Specific FAQ on their interpretation of books and other media to be
included in the testing of lead based products

http://www.cpsc. gov/about/ cpsia/faq/ 101faq.html

Effective Date: Lead content limit of 600 ppm becomes effective 180
days after enactment. An advisory opinion regarding the application
of the new lead limit to inventory existing at the effective date
can be found on our web site at
http://www.cpsc. gov/library/ foia/advisory/ 317.pdf

Getting the Lead out: There is no lead in children's books
http://news. bookweb.org/ news/5695. html

There is no lead in Children's books: From a Pedtrician

http://health. yahoo.com/ experts/childhea lth/3955/ is-there- lead-in-baby- books/

Pictures Again

2009-01-05T13:29:00.002-06:00

I know I am terrible about getting pictures up here, but we were unexpectedly called away over the weekend, and now school is starting back up. SO I still hope to get them out here sometime soon.

PBS Special tonight!

2009-01-05T13:25:00.002-06:00

There is a PBS Special on tonight about India. It is a 6 week series. I am hoping to get this on tape, I think Sananda would love to see it over and over. Sananda said she wants to see it and was asking questions about our trip when we went to India to pick her up. There is also a book and video available on the PBS site with a section for teachers and parents to use with thier kids.

Cute commercial

2008-12-30T14:19:00.002-06:00

Here is a cute commercial that I ran across the other day on a friend's blog. Sananda and I enjoy watching it together and next time I am at an India grocery, most likely in India, I am sure to look for these and buy one for my baby girl!
Hope you enjoy watching it too.

பிச்டுரே உப்டடேஸ் (picture updates)

2008-12-29T13:11:00.004-06:00

I will try to post some new pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas sometime this week yet, I tried a couple of times but everytime I got all my pictures loaded and tried to post, it would kick me off. Sorry, I have been trying, so check back.
Oh yeah, something else, I have found that when I type in my titles that when I click the enter button everything translates to Tamil. SO, I thought it would be fun to leave in it the title bar today, reason being why you can't read it except that I tranlated for you behind it. Unless of course, you can read Tamil, then you could read it. :) Now you know that it is much more work for me to post than normal. Well....I like the way the written Tamil language looks anyway.

Encouraging Story

2008-12-29T12:53:00.003-06:00

I ran across this story/video on another blog and wanted to share it with you all. I was touched by the compassion this guy has towards the group of people called by others as the "untouchables" http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/14/untouchable.models/index.html#cnnSTCVideo. You will have to copy and paste it in your browser to view, sorry I have not learned how to create the link yet.
I love to read stories of the face of India changing in this manner.

Sananda at Work and Play

2008-11-10T22:58:00.003-06:00

Thought I would add a couple of new photos of my little girl who is growing up so fast. Here she is playing a game with one of her sisters and another one of her helping me to make some Chocolate Zuchinni Cake, which she loves and keeps asking if we can make it again, and again and again. :)

The word is out!

2008-10-27T23:07:00.002-06:00

Sananda is going to be a big sister!! And Jessica, Javin, Isaac and Olivia will all have a new sibling!

We are excited to be blessed by God once again!

New Pictures

2008-10-03T19:32:00.006-06:00

Thought I would post some more recent pictures.

Here is Sananda in the first two photos ready to do some grocery shopping. These shopping carts are so cute and she loves to drive the carts around the store if there are any left when we get there. They have this bus and also a firetruck.

The second picture is Sananda in her horse shirt that she likes to wear.

Update

2008-09-29T09:50:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I am just popping in to say "Hi" to my readers. I got into trouble this past week by -you know who you are- for not posting since well..................it's been a while I guess.
I have been keeping busy from my neighbors kindness. I got a call Sat. morning and was offered as many grapes as I can pick, so I went over and filled a box full and am now making grape juice, love that stuff. I ran out of jars though and wouldn't you know that none of the stores have the quart size, at least till the middle of this week, so my juice making is now on hold. :( Well, I did get some made. Earlier this summer we were also blessed with a load of cucumbers from another of our wonderful neighbors, my kids really ate them up. Hee hee. Truly both of these gifts were such a blessing to us. My garden only did well in peas and green beans this year.

What's that? You came here to see how Sananda is doing?? Oh, ok. Well, she is doing great. Really growing up and talking so much more and saying things that keep amazing me. Her potty training is coming along great, Finally. Although she did potty in the toy isle of a store a couple of weeks ago. Sorry workers! NOW, we wear diapers when we are out to church or shopping, just in case. What else? She is really into kittens and loves to carry them with her all over outside. The slide is her other big favorite.

We went camping the other night because my husband set up the tent to dry out from our last overnighter as it rained on us. It kept dripping in on our son through a link in the window and got his mattress all wet. It seems everytime we try to camp, especially in the tent, it rains. So, the tent was dryed out, or so we thought, and we climb in there to sleep for the night and Olivia says that her matteress is wet. What!!! The tent had been up for a couple of days and should have been dried out. I grabbed the flashlight and looked at it and sure enough the mattress was more than a little wet. I lifted it up and there was a TON of water underneath it too. Also under ours and the boys. At first I thought Sananda must have brought in a container of water and dumped it on there, which is another of her favorite things to do these days, but it was WAY too much water for that or for a cat to have left a gift. Since our wasn't matteress wet, on the top at least, the girls piled in by me to sleep. By the morning poor daddy woke up on the floor of the tent, amazingly not wet. We guessed that the rain from a couple of days ago must have gotten in and we didn't notice, either that or it was a great practical joke from some friends. Whatever it was from, I think we have decided to trash this tent because of the holes in it. No more camping for awhile. We can still enjoy a campfire though, which I think is my favorite part of camping anyway.

Have a great Monday and enjoy this wonderful fall weather!

reunion

2008-08-19T22:54:00.007-06:00

Wow! Two posts so close together! What is happening here? Well, recently we had a little reunion of some of our kids who stayed at the same orphanage around the same time. We had a fun time with a cookout on Friday night and a visit to the zoo on Sat. It was really neat to meet the families, and babies that went home to them. We swapped traveling stories and reasons why we all adopted and from India in particular, it was nice to get to know them. I wondered how Sananda would react to get to see these kids again. She just started in playing with them like it was any other day. I hope we can do this again in the future and that more families can join in the activites. Since we met on India's Independence Day I had brought coloring pages of the Indian flag for the kids to fill in. The next day was Rakhi and I brought braclets and sweets to celebrate it, but we were at the zoo and I didn't think I was allowed to bring anything in so we never had the opportunity to do those activities together, it was a fun time being there anyway.

Comments on the photos:

1. Play ball!
2. Sananda showing her bangles that I brought home for her recently from my trip to India.
3.Sananda being cute!
4. Sananda's friend Anya
5. Sananda's friend Zane and his mommy having a laugh.
6. Sananda, Anya and David playing beside each other.
7. Sananda, Anya and David coloring India flag pictures.
8. Sananda's friend David
9. Photo in front of the elephants. The "elephants" seemed the popular place to take family photos that day.
10.Sananda was really hoping to touch a shark(my girl!)but never did it.

Hope you enjoyed!

The latest

2008-08-19T22:40:00.003-06:00

Everytime I write on here it seems that I always say it has been so long since I have written on here. Well, I think this is truely the longest it has been. I guess I mostly wanted to keep it adoption related and have been too busy to post anyway.
Well, today I have news again and here is it...

Today we were invited to go to a ceremony for our daughter to receive her certificate of citizenship. This was the last piece of adoption work that we had to complete and it feels good to have it all done. Sananda has already been a U.S. citizen for awhile now, but it was nice to be at the event and for her to get the certificate. The town we went to for this was a long drive and after getting there the whole event took around 1 ½ hours. There were 32 countries represented with 72 people receiving their certificates. Some of the names called were international ones and the speaker even apologized in advance if she messed any of them up. I just did an article on another blog about naming an adoptive child and I had been thinking, as I said in the article, that Sananda’s name is easy to pronounce and there shall be no problem with our baby’s name. When the speaker called our little girl’s name we didn’t even know she said it because it was not recognizable at all, except she said our last name too. When no one else stood up to go to the front we looked at each other and thought, I guess she means us. We took Sananda to the front of the room and sure enough there was her certificate. The speaker was very nice and talked about how good it was that all of them , either through hard work, adoption, or from parents migrating , have become citizens. Someday Sananda will enjoy hearing about all of this, but today during the ceremony she wanted to do anything but pay attention. So much for a 2 year old getting into anything like that. After we left it was time to eat so we stopped at a really good restaurant to celebrate and then found an Indian grocery and grabbed some Indian sweets (barfi) for dessert.

About the photos above, we sat behind a lady and during the ceremony Sananda did not want to sit still for long. She kept squirming and twisting on my lap and she finally managed to kick the lady in the backside. I was so embarassed and apologized to her a couple of times. She was so sweet about it though and afterwards you can see her helping to hand the flag to our girl for her photo shoots. What a sweet lady! I am glad she is a citizen here!

To clean or not to clean?

2008-01-02T23:20:00.000-06:00

I cleaned out the vehicle the other day. The next time we went somewhere my son says," Who keeps cleaning back here? Your messing everything up." %]

Please support the "Adoption Tax Credit" petition in India

2007-12-07T23:51:00.000-06:00

If you have not supported the "Adoption Tax Credit" (http://www.petition online.com/ atc26047/ petition. html) petition in India, read this following article and I can bet that it will change your mind.Here is a link: http://www.ibnlive. com/news/ adopt-an- animal-get- tax-benefit/ 23680-3.html
The government of India has this all backwards putting their animals above thier children.
Signing the petition above will help kids find homes that they so deserve.
Thanks to those who sign it, you are helping a child!

Thankful

2007-11-26T02:46:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are still so thankful for all we have, this will be a great Christmas this year with our new addition home and fully a part of the family. We were getting some tree ornaments and I remembered that last year at this time I had bought a special blown glass elephant shaped tree ornament to hang up to include Sananda here even though she was still in India. We also had a wrapped package just waiting for her under the tree, when she came home in March, to open. She didn't know what to think about it then of course, it will be so much fun this year to have her be a part of us all opening gifts together. Are you ready for more pictures??? Finding our Christmas tree....

Mom, look, I can feed the bears!

Let's do some tree shopping!
Any over here?
How bout this one sis?

Here guys, come here, we found one! Where are my brothers?

We had a big week!

2007-11-26T02:40:00.000-06:00

Not only did we finalize but also had Sananda's baby dedication the same week. Here is a picture from that day.
Here is a picture of her in the same cute outfit at our Harvest party in October.

National Adoption Month

2007-11-26T02:25:00.001-06:00

We had big plans to celebrate National Adoption Month, some of them fell through, but the best did happen for us this month. We were finally able to finalize Sananda's adoption. Here are some pictures. The celebration after finalization. We looked and looked for about an hour for a new Indian restaurant that we heard had opened sort of close to us, but to no avail, guess it was only a rumor. We finally decided on Carlos O' Kellys, the food there was good too.

Us with the court judge. Love the smile on his face.
Celcbrating at our church with cake.
Another picture from our supper celebration.

More pictures

2007-11-26T02:00:00.000-06:00

If August was busy.....

2007-11-26T01:15:00.000-06:00

it sure has been even more eventful than that these last few months. I can't even recall all that we have been doing at this point, but thought it was long overdue to update the blog and have a couple of mintues to do that. First some pictures that people have been asking for.

We did some fishing, but didn't catch more than seaweed. I know I had a bite at least once, but he got away. The scenery was beautiful though, so at least we caught a pretty sunset.

What we've been up to

2007-08-29T20:56:00.000-06:00

This has been a busy month. We took Sananda to her first county fair, she loves going places and doing things, this was no exception. The animals were fun to look at and the lights on the rides at night made it festive. She had a balloon to entertain her until sadly she let go and we watched it sale away into the sky, but not before she kept bopping mommy in the face with it about twenty times. I promise that I had my husband attach it to us so she wouldn't lose it, but evidently it was not in the kind of knot that stays well. So, the balloon flew and then Sananda go to hold big sister Olivia's balloon which meant more balloon in the face for mommy. I also got to hold all the big blow up toys that the other kids won and they were fully inflated. Oh, and the bags of pencils and flyers that came from the 4-H building. I had quite an armful, daddy was too busy helping the others kids get rides and play games so he couldn't help too much.

The next weekend we attended an India heritage camp which was a lot of fun. There was some great Indian food catered in by an Indian resturant, activities, wonderful families to meet and crafts. I volunteered to help with the mendhi and ended up doing a design on me, plus a couple of cute little Indian girls.

We celebrated India's Independance Day (Aug. 15th) with sparklers and decorating our house with balloons and streamers that are the colors of India's flag. We just celebrated Rakhi, which is another Indian holiday where sisters make bracelets for their brothers and the brothers promise to protect their sisters. Then we all get Indian sweets to eat. I made Gulab Jamun, my husband said mine tasted better than the resturants. :) Opps, better not let them find this out. It worked out pretty cool cause for my boys school they were suppose to make a covenant with someone and this just fit in sooo perfect. It was so sweet to see Sananda and Olivia both give thier brothers the bracelets that we made. They gave the bracelets to them on paper airplanes, we got this idea out of a story we read in a children's book about an Indian adoption. It was a real tear jerker for me. My husband laughed at some parts of the book and said it brought back memories of waiting for Sananda. Why am I the one who always cries at these things?!?!?!

The India Children's chior was also in our area recently and it was wonderful. Another adoptive mom told me that she cried when she went to it. I thought I wouldn't cry, but the tears started coming the minute I set eyes on the kids in their little uniforms. I had to hold back the tears from then on. At the end of the performance the kids all around age 8-10(I am guessing here, but they really weren't very old) all came out to the audience and gave us hugs. So, if I hadn't been about to cry before I am sure that this would have done it anyway.

We also attended a local bible conference where a native of India was speaking. From what he said it sounded like he was from around the same area that the kids in the India Children's choir were from. I picked up a book, that he wrote, at the conference but noticed later that at the India children's choir concert they also had the same book out for sale. Anyway the book was really good and helped me to understand more of how India came to be the India that it is now ,and it addresses what can be done to help the Dalits and others of India to be truly free. It is interesting because I finished reading this book on India's Independence Day. The author is Vishal Mangalwadi and the book title is THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM & DIGNITY caste, conversion & cultural revolution.

If you liked The lion, the Witch and the Wardrode or The Lord of the Rings you may also like a similar book that they were plugging at the conference. It is called Conspiracy of CALASPIA, I have been thinking about getting the book but haven't yet. It was written by twin boys who were born in India, they were 11 years old when they started this book and are now, I think, about 17 or 18. I guess the book has gone through many drafts over the years. I think the boys were about 8 when they moved to another country from India, maybe sweden or England, I don't remember. I thought it would be really interesting to read something like this from someone who has a different view of things from another area of the world.

So anyway, my baby has become a real climber recently. This keeps me chasing her even more cause I am always afraid that she might fall. It was so cute the other day, we were outside on the steps and the "kitty" was sitting on the step below us. This was a huge motivator for Sananda to try and get down there, yet she didn't know how. She would move her foot over the step's edge but didn't know to bend her other leg to make her foot go down to the lower step. She tried many different ways, setting down and thinking about crawling backwards but just couldn't get it to work, and maybe scooting down to the lower step on her bottom but just couldn't quite do that either. Ok, this is the first time she has really tried so you have to give her lots of slack here. I guess I will help her work on this one so she can get down too.

Sananda is also getting some more teeth in and has been kinda whiny. I don't get much done but carry her around some days. She has the runny nose that goes with teething too. It is so sweet though when she lays her head on my shoulder and just wants to be held. How could a mom not like that?

Well, it's getting late and my baby is in bed, so should I be.

A Time of Firsts

2007-07-09T17:27:00.000-06:00

We took Sananda to her first concert in the park which featured Chris Rice, Thor Ramsey, and Stellar Kart. She loved it as you can see and we had a hard time keeping her from standing on her chair. She didn't learn that from any of us! :) There was also a play ground there that we had to check out for awhile.

Sananda is sure growing up fast. She took her very first step on my birthday last month, but hadn't taken one since. I was starting to wonder when she would ever try it again. Well this week she has decided that the time is now. It has been so fun watching her try out her new walking skills. She still crawls mostly but she is getting braver and will be going all over on two feet before long. She says" yeah" and claps for herself when she walks and looks to see if we are excited for her too. Of course we are!

Sananda at the 4th of July parade. Sananda liked her first 4th of July, parade and she wasn't even scared of the loud firetruck horns. We took Sananda to the fireworks but she slept through all of them, even the really loud bangs. Next year I hope she stays awake to see how pretty they all are. She slept through the sparklers too. She did get to see the 4th of July parade though and loved it.

I would love for us to celebrate India's Independance day here and am wondering what they do in India to celebrate. I think they have fireworks too and maybe a parade with elephants? We can't do that here, but if anyone else has any ideas what to do, besides sparklers and hitting the zoo, let me know. I know some of you who are reading this may already celebrate this in the US.

We also went camping for the first time with Sananda. It went ok, except she didn't want to give in and go to sleep at night as she might miss something exciting. So, we enjoyed the campfire,

made smores, and she enjoyed eating the graham crackers.

Doing well

2007-06-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

Look, I'm standing! Our little cutie! Notice she is headed towards the computer? She loves to push the buttons on it.

It's been over a month since our last post, but time sure does fly when your having fun. It is such a joy to have Sananda in our family. She fits in so well with the other kids and they just adore her.

We have been home a little over 3 months now and it seems like she has always belonged to us. She has adjusted so well, is gaining weight and developing on target. Her first step was taken recently on my birthday and what a great present it was. Soon she will be all over the house on foot.

Sananda has picked up some new words, including "Cool", "Oh yea", and "Uh-Oh", which usually follows her dropping an item on the floor. :)

Some other cute things she does are taking my glasses off of me when it is her nap time or bedtime (she wants me to sleep too), looking at me and rocking side to side when our favorite songs come on the radio, and our baby also stands up by herself and then looks at us and claps. It is so cute to see how delighted she is that she can do this on her own.

We recently received another picture of Sananda of when she was still in the orphanage, it was sent to us by another family who traveled ahead of us and they kindly just sent us this picture. When I see it I remember the time we spent waiting for our baby to come home to us. We are so thankful that she finally is here. Many thanks go to the family who sent us the picture. All pictures that we get of Sananda are so precious to us and someday will be to Sananda as well.

Helping more children find homes

2007-05-15T21:57:00.000-06:00

There is an online petition started by The HOPE House to help create an adoption tax credit in India for couples there hoping to adopt. It would help many Indian families to be able to afford to adopt some of the many children that need homes in India. Here is a link http://www.petitiononline.com/atc26047/petition.html to sign the petition if you would like to help the children of India. If you would like to learn more about this subject, you can go to the following blog http://indiadoption.blogspot.com/ .

Sananda at Home

2007-04-27T17:45:00.000-06:00

Thanks for peeking in again!!!

Thanks for all your prayers that got us through the whole adoption process and for your support in each way that you have contributed. Most of all, thanks to God for bringing Sananda and us together as a family. Without Him, we could not have done it.

Easter picture.

Let's play ball.

Sananda turns 1 year old. She is not real sure about this cake thing. However, she found out that it is good after all.

Pictures of New Dehli

2007-04-14T11:47:00.000-06:00

Well, if we have not lost all of you by now, we finally got around to posting a few pictures of New Dehli.

Presidential Palace

Outside of McDonald's in New Dehli

McDonald's menu inside the store.

Ghandi memorial

India Gate Monument - our camera ran out of batteries before we could get a picture of us in front of it.
Mt. Dew at last!!! - this outside vendor was the only place that had some.

With 4 people and a baby, we had a lot of luggage. The driver had to SET(not tie down) some of our luggage on the top of the taxi. But we didn't lose anything on the wild ride to the airport.

Finally, pictures of Kolkata!

2007-03-24T22:26:00.000-06:00

I will TRY to post more pics. Some of Delhi next time and our new daughter at home.

A really narrow road that made me nervous.

Cool three wheeled truck. We would have great fun with one of these out here at the farm.

Victoria Memorial.

Bike powered rickshaw.

This would be enough to give you a headache.

Speaks for itself!

Flowers strands strung in a doorway.

Man powered rickshaw. Traffic.

A neighborhood in Kolkata.

A building across from our hotel.

The girls, sacked out!

We reached home!

2007-03-19T21:35:00.000-06:00

Sorry I hadn't posted sooner, we have been so tired and our internet was out for a day and we got home a day later than planned as we had another flight added, by the airlines,to our route home. We were just so tired after all the plane changes and the rushing inbetween them and such that we stayed a night near our final landing spot. It felt so good to just rest and know that we wouldn't have to get up the next day and fly somewhere, but to be able to just drive ourselves home. About 5 hours later we were finally reunited with our sons again and it felt really nice.

Guess I still have Delhi belly. I thought it was Mcdonalds that made me sick but now I am rethinking that it may have been the bottle of pop that I drank. I was so careful about this and only drank pop that had been bottled by Pepsi. This pop had the same name, but after I drank some of it and realized it had a different taste to it, I looked and didn't see that Pepsi logo on it. Opps! So, now I am blaming the pop. I am starting to feel better though.

Sananda is still doing well, she loves to eat. I weighed her today, she is 18.5 pounds. We all are still just trying to adjust to a new time zone. I will try to post some more pictures tomorrow.

2007-03-14T07:42:00.000-06:00

Olivia and our driver on embassy day with thier ice cream.

2007-03-14T07:09:00.000-06:00

Sananada with her chopsticks and Daddy with his. This one's for you Bill!

Sananda likes Lemons!

Olivia in her cute Indian outfit!

My baby is all smiles! It sure is worth all the time it took for us to get here, hard but worth it!

Sananda and her crib neighbor, Daya. What cuties!

Sananda in her cute Indian outfit!

Hi all,

It has been a few days since I could post, sorry bout that, this trip really takes a lot out of a person and my time on the internet has been pretty limited.
We were able to meet with another family adopting through our agency, they just picked up their little girl too. We found out that they were in cribs that were next to each other. I will post a picture of them together.
We met a second family who has adopted from our agency. They are here to pick up their boy this time from another area, but wanted to visit their daughter's agency. It sure was good to talk to them.
We were sad to leave Kolkata and are finally getting used to Delhi, but we now leave tomorrow night. This may be my last post from India. We have had a few mix-ups here in Delhi, but overall we are having a good time here too. This country is so beautiful, but it is hard to not be able to help all we meet that have such need. The driving here is crazy and fun, can you imagine that they talk on cell phones here while they are driving too.
We were able to see the President's Garden which is only open a couple of times a year. we couldn't take pictures though, due to security reasons. It was beautiful and very large.
We ate at a Chinese restaurant at our hotel. The food was very good, but we are not used to such service. Just for you Bill, I will post a picture of Sananda with her chopsticks. :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAVIN, we have some great video that you and Isaac will love to see! I hope you had a great day! Can't wait to celebrate with you when we get back home!
Jessi is REALLY enjoying her stay too, as all the men are madam this and madam that to her. What's up with that??? The rest of us are not getting much of that treatment. They even brought a coat rake to our dinner table to hang her purse on. %)
We are ready to come home and see our boys, wish it didn't take so long to get there.
I am feeling a little sick today as I decided to get brave and eat at McDonalds here just to see what it tastes like. They even have a doorman there and delivery. The delivery car is a red moped with a large yellow M on the side of it.
So much has happened here that it is just too much to mention here.
Our driver for Embassy day took a liking to Olivia and bought us all ice cream bars from a street car vendor. Yes, we did eat them, hope we don't all get sick. We will post a picture of her and driver with their ice cream. Thanks Deb, for your recommendation of hiring this guy!!

spoiled in Kolkata

2007-03-10T06:27:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that we love it here? We are getting so spoiled with having drivers and not having to cook meals and such that it will be hard to come back home and have to start doing all of these things again. We got some more great pictures and want to share them you with.
Us and our driver

April, thanks so much for letting us have that baby carrier! It is really coming in handy. It is really special using it knowing it came from a great friend who used it on her adoption journeys as well.

What a cutie!

Best sisters already!

Mommy and Sananda at the resturant.

Pictures!!

2007-03-09T22:21:00.000-06:00

Our sweet Sananda!

2007-03-09T06:38:00.000-06:00

We have our sweet baby girl!!!! We all went to the orphanage to pick up Sananda. When they first handed her to me she just stared at me for the longest time. She is so cute! She cried some on the way back to the hotel but after that she didn't fuss much. She even gave me a glimpse of a smile that night. Since then we have gotten to see more of a smile and she plays patty cake with me, crawls, smiles (a little) and waves bye bye. She even says mama and dada. I think she likes her picture taken, we have so many of her already. I will try to post some on another computer as this one isn't letting me do it.
Besides the fact that it is not always easy to communicate to others and that things are a little slower here due to the fact that we just have never done anything like this before, we are loving it here in India. The weather is great, the people are friendly, the food is great, the shopping was fun, The car rides are really fun, and most of all, we are finally with our baby girl. The hardest part of this all is that we are just so tired. We did get a long time to sleep last night but of course I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Sananda slept through the night for us.
I just wanted to comment a little on last times post. The reason we didn't get our luggage to the right airpport is that the airline told us that they would send it straight to Kolkata and they didn't. So, we had to go file a claim for it and that is why we ended up missing our flight. So, for those of you are are still waiting to travel, if they tell you that the luggage is going straight to Kolkata and you have connecting flights, please be sure to check that it is really going to happen that way. It really did turn out ok. While we were waiting for James to find our luggage with some guy, there was a man who waited with us. He brought us chairs to sit on and entertained Olivia, he was so nice. And while we waited 5 hours for our flight we got to see alot of cute Indian kids and we dreamed of meeting Sananda. We also meet a couple of nice ladies from South Africa, who were touring India.
Our second flight was a lot more fun than the first now that we kinda knew that the plane wasn't in trouble everytime there was some turbulance.

Thanks to those who have commented. It is really nice to be able to communicate this way and we love reading them.

Here we are!

2007-03-07T23:53:00.000-06:00

We finally got to Dehli!!!!! The ride was a little scary as this was the first big plane any of us had ever taken. We checked into our hotel room at 2:00 A.M. We barely slept,then we were off to the airport early in the morning.
We get to the airport and they tell us that our luggage is at the other airport and that we have to go back to get it and then we will miss our flight. Or we can leave our luggage in Dehli, that was not an option. So we now wait for the night flight and will have to get our daugther a day later than planned.
We get to the first airport to get our baggage and end up waiting an hour while they took my husband who knows where to get the suitcases. They finally come back and we wait 5 hours at the airport to fly to Kolkata.

We are finally here and once again without much sleep. But, we will get Sananda in about an hour. YEs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will post more another time.

A GLITCH ?

2007-03-07T23:47:00.000-06:00

We were checking papers and realized that we forgot to notorize one of them that we needed. This happened on a Sunday and we thought we may not be able to leave til the next day. Everything seems to be popping up at the last second to throw us off, but we are on a mission and we will perservere. We called our agency and they told us that just within the last two weeks, this notory signature was no longer required. Praise the Lord!, another answer to our prayers.

2007-03-05T08:37:00.000-06:00

"SMILE"

Last night we left home and hugged our boys good-bye. We miss them so much already!! We picked up some more things we knew we would need and drove about half-way to the airport to stay for the night. We don't want to be late!! We were exhausted already. After some much needed sleep we are ready to go to the airport today and get on the plane to make our way to Sananda. :)

There is a song that had been playing on our radio station for quite some time while we were still waiting for the judge to sign our guardianship papers. Thanks to our friend Joel for helping us to locate this song and the lyrics! If you have a chance to listen to it, do.

It is called "Smile" by Chris Rice.
The chorus goes like this:

I just wanna be with you.
I just want this waiting to be over,
I just wanna be with you,
and it helps to know the day is getting closer,
every minute takes an hour,
every inch feels like a mile,
till I won't have to imagine and
I finally get to see you smile!

With all of the pictures and video that we have received of Sananda, we still have yet to see her smile. So, this song has helped us some with getting through the waiting period.

Well, we better get back on the road. We will post as we can.

We miss you boys!!!!!

Finally getting ready to go.

2007-03-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

Hi, we are James and Lynda, we have 4 kids at home now and are getting ready to bring our little Indian blessing home. We are packing and making sure everything is in order for us to travel to get Sananda. There is much excitement as we all antipicate this trip. It felt like this day would never come, but it has. We leave for India in just a few days!!! It is awesome to see how God has worked everything out each time a new problem would arise, and there have been many of them. Like I have heard many others say, this has been a rollercoaster ride. Well, the hill climbing is over and we are finally getting to the fun part. Soon our daughter will be in our arms. I will have to say that part of the climb was fun though, as we have been blessed to meet many wonderful people along this ride who we never would have known otherwise. There was also the joy of seeing our daughter's picture for the first time and all the little hints that God gave us that made us know that Sananda is ment to be our child, and how He smoothed out all the mountians so she could become ours. I feel like our cup is just overflowing with blessings this week, there are just too many to name them all, but just this week alone we received 3 new pictures of our daughter and a video. We are so grateful for these and know that Sananda will treasure them too, in years to come. Each one is so precious to us as we examine every little detail of them. Many thanks to the families who traveled ahead of us and took them!!

Here is one of the pictures we recieved this week.

I can hardly wait to hold our little Indian cutie in my arms!

It snowed and drifted alot here yesterday and today, James made it all the way home from work, but got stuck in our driveway. Some wonderful neighbors came by and pulled the truck out of the drift and then plowed out our drive. It doesn't really look all that bad here but some of the drifts were around 3 feet deep.

At this point it looks like the weather will cooperate for us to get to the airport on time. Yes!!