Yard sale

Today, I will continue to work on the yard sale. This will be day three of sorting and pricing. The yard sale is tomorrow, June 1st. My goal is $800. Praying that we will make that goal. I could not do this without lots of help! Thanks to those who have donated your stuff, those who have helped organize the stuff, those who have been praying for its success, and to my children. There is no way that I could pull this off without the help of the McDermitt children. I know that they all see the Facebook posts of other families enjoying the beach, cruises, swimming pools, awesome graduation gifts, senior trips and other fun summer activities that are simply out of our financial reach. I see the huge sacrifices that they make so that we can continue to open our homes and hearts to the least of these. It is such a blessing that they are content with a trip to the marathon for ice cream and that they enjoy the treasure hunt of digging through boxes of donated yard sale items:) Our little family secret is I have let the each bring a treasure or two home:)

Nick's Adoption Puzzle Update

Nick loved putting puzzles together when he visited our home in March. We took our favorite picture of Nick and had it made into a 300 piece puzzle. Our goal was to sell each puzzle piece for $10 and make $3000 to cover about half of phase one fundraising. We wanted a fundraising option that was not out of anyone's price range. We sold ninety pieces and had a total of $6570. We were amazed by the love of God's people. One family donated $2,000 for a piece of Nick's puzzle. This family adopted several years ago and saw God raise the funds that they needed to bring their children home. They wanted to pay it forward and helped us with our adoption. Other puzzle pieces have sold for $10 to $1,000 dollars. Our goal was $10 for each of the 300 pieces. We are now in phase two of adoption fundraising. We need about $8000 to finance phase two. We think we have six to eight weeks before our next payment is due. We are waiting to receive our home study and then get our acceptance letter from immigration. The immigration approval will be the final part of our dossier. The dossier is the paperwork that we send to China. We have already sold a few pieces this week. We have 201 puzzle pieces left to claim. For a $10 donation per puzzle piece, we will write your name on a piece of Nick's adoption puzzle. Once the puzzle is complete, we will frame it between two pieces of glass. Nick will get to see the names of the people who helped bring him home to his family in America. If we can sell each one for just $10 each, we will have about a fourth of our next payment. To claim a piece of the puzzle you can donate via paypal. If you want your donation to be tax detuctable, you need to make your check payable to Living Hope and mail it to McDermitts, 102 Baxter Road, Carrollton, Ga. Make sure to tell us the name/s that you would like on each puzzle piece.

Merry Month of May

I never intended for so much much time to pass between posts. May has been a super busy month here on the farm. I have been juggling many balls and keeping them all in the air has been a challenge. We finally, I hope, answered all the questions and filled out all the forms needed for our home-study. It is currently sitting on someone's desk at the adoption agency waiting on final approval. Please pray that it will be in our hands by the end of the week. As some of you know, I agreed to take on the fancy title of New Horizons for Children Regional Coordinator for China. Kenny teases me about my full time volunteer position on a regular basis. I had no idea about the time commitment that went along with my fancy title. I feel like I lost an entire week in the month of May. The week of the hosting deadline is a blur. I talked to people from New York to California. At one point that week, I was communicating by text, phone conversation, email, and Facebook chatting with six people at one time. My family went on autopilot for a few days. Kenny was also out of town on business that entire week. The dishes and laundry piled up and a few of those days I never made it out of my pajamas. It was one of the best weeks of my life. I made some new friends who share my passion for the least of these. I show God operate in a variety of ways. One of my favorite stories from the week involved an orphan boy named Peter. A grandmother saw his picture and thought he looked like her grandson. Peter is one of our last chance kids due to his age. The grandmother wanted him to have a chance to experience the love of a family. She made a nice donation to help with his hosting fees and and started advocating for a family. In just a few hours, the entire amount needed for his hosting fees had been donated online to NHFC. Peter will be experiencing the love of a family this summer just thirty minutes from my home. The highlight of the week was that we found a host family for every one of the children available for the summer program. If you have not visited the photo listing, that fact might not like seem like such a big deal. If you did visit the photo listing, thank you for praying for the cutie pie with no arms, the children with Down's syndrome, the deaf/mute children, the girl with burn scars covering her face, arms, and legs, the boy with ms who will be wheelchair bound by his mid teens years (and whose life expectancy is mid twenties at best), the kids with various developmental delays, and the healthy older boys and girls. God provided a host family for everyone of them. I went on the interview trip to China, I met each one of them, I prayed and prayed for them by name. There is no way for me to convey to you the feelings that overwhelmed me then and now as I reflect on God's love for the least of these. Our family also experienced some personal adoption issues. I met a set of precious twins while in China. We tried everything possible to be allowed to adopt them at the same time as Nick. Our efforts were fruitless as they were adopted by another family. I am thrilled that they were adopted but heart broken that they will not be living here on the farm. A second adoption issue crept up with an older boy that I loved. His adoptive family ran into some major family emergencies and there was no way for them to complete his adoption before he aged out in November. Kenny and I contacted the adoption agency and offered to adopt him. We were nervous that we would not be able to complete the process before his birthday in November. A good friend of mine who was a head of us in the adoption process stepped forward and her family is adopting him. Our family celebrated a milestone event with our two oldest sons this month. Kevin and Ty graduated from high school this past week. We completed Kevin's adoption from Latvia three and a half years ago. It has taken lots of blood, sweat, tears and prayers for him to accomplish this goal. He has only been speaking English for four years. I am still amazed that Kevin was able to accomplish this goal in such a short period of time. We had several nights of senior projects and studying the last few weeks. Ty's hard work paid off and he graduated Valedictorian of his class. Several days were spent drafting his speech. The biggest blessing of the month as been the addition of a little person to our daily routine. We agreed to help out a family experiencing some family issues and took on the care of a precious little boy. He was injured in an accident and needed to spend time with a family who could attend to his medical needs. His outgoing personality has been the highlight of our days. He has helped us to laugh and not take life quite so serious. He adores the older McDermitt children and the variety of animals who live on the farm. He is a bit bossy and will not let you forget that he is around. He loudly lets you know when an animal is in sight, that he is hungry, that he is thirsty, that he is hot or cold, that he needs to use the rest room, and most importantly that he is done. Snuggling on the couch with a book or plastic dinosaur in hand, has provided many hours of entertainment for all of us. My children have been more than amazing during this entire adventure. The past month has stretched me to a level of exhaustion that I have never known while at the same time moving my relationship with the Lord to a level I never could have imagined. He has been my rock and my refuge in the storm. He has sustained me and energized me. He has loved me and carried me. He has chastised me and blessed me. It has been a roller coaster ride and I am thankful for his constant companionship. This week, I am back in the fundraising mode. We have a yard sale planned for Saturday, adoption puzzle pieces available, a sweet friend hosting an online Avon party, grant writing, and several other things in the works. The thing that keeps me moving is the sweet little voice that I hear coming from a cell phone in China each week that says, "Mother, I love you and I "mess" you too".

A mother's love

People are always asking me how I can foster and host children and then let them go. The number one concern that people have about fostering and hosting is the ability to let them go when the time comes. I understand that fear and concern. I have lived through it many times in my role as foster and host mom. As difficult as it is for me to let them go, I understand what the children take away from their experience in our home. How do I understand it? I unlike the children who come to visit am blessed to have a mom who loves me unconditionally. She has been my biggest cheerleader for the forty-five plus years that I have been on this earth. I know what it is like to have experienced the love of a mother. I am blessed that she is a phone call away when I need her. There have been times in my live that I have done or not done something because I knew exactly how my mom would feel about the situation. My desire for all the children who cross my path, is that they too would experience the unconditional love of a mother. God has blessed me with the ability to love them like my own while they are in my presence. I have been involved in this ministry of Motherhood for a number of years. A ministry that I did not think belonged to me. I had other aspirations for my life. I wanted to be a physical therapist or a lawyer. God worked in my life in ways that consistently put me in path of children. Not only was it children but children who where rough around the edges and needed a mother's love. I was mothering before I was married to Kenny. I tutored the football, basketball, and baseball players who needed help to stay on the team. I went to their games and cheered them on to victory. Being in the school hallways, I knew who was doing what on the weekends. I was not shy about reprimanding them for their choices that did not make me proud. I mothered the team of misfits as a twenty-two year old first year teacher. I loved them with everything I had. I once found myself in the middle of a drug deal gone bad as I fought to keep my boys out of trouble. As guns were drawn, my boys stood in the gap to keep me safe. It seems that I made a lasting impression on both sides, as very few of those boys had ever had someone love them just for being them. The gift of mothering the least of these has continued to be a part of me. I am constantly asked when I will be done fostering, hosting, advocating and loving the least of these. I will be done when I am either no longer breathing or when they all have a mother to love them. The highlight of my recent trip to China was meeting Nick's Grandfather and Father. The visit to his home place was a wonderful experience for me. Nick's father would not talk to me. Nick's grandfather had lots to say to me. One of the things he expressed to me was there are no women left in the home. I think that he understood the importance of a mother's love in the life of a young boy. Nick was blessed to have known his mother. She died when he was five or six years old. The cause of death was listed as tumors of the liver. I have no idea about the details of her death. If is was sudden, or if Nick slowly watched her die. I do know that he loved her. Nick and I talked about her while he was visiting with our family during the hosting program. The language barrier limited our conversation. I asked him if she was beautiful? His face lit up with the biggest smile as he replied, "yes." He experienced the love of a mother and wants to experience that again. As Mother's Day approaches, I ask you to prayerfully consider how God is asking you to practice true religion. James 1:27 commands us all to come alongside orphans in some way. How can you help a child experience the love of a mother for the first time or maybe again? I am blessed that God has given me the ability to minister to the least of these in numerous ways. It is my prayer that mothers and people who are blessed to have an awesome mom will come alongside me to help me do what it takes to get my son home.... and help me connect other boys with their moms.

Home study update

We are still working on the home study. We had hoped to have that behind us this week. We uncovered a small hiccup in regards to character references and are diligently working to resolve that problem. Just glad that we found it sooner and not later. I always offer my assistance to my children as they complete writing assignments. Helping Kevin and Ty write character references on their parents is a bit awkward. I know that I could help them give glowing reports on their amazing life on the farm. The problem is that is not allowed. They need to complete that task all on their own. I am bugging a few other people to do or redo their references to get them in the correct format to include in both our home study and then our dossier. Everything up to this point has been paid for in same fashion. It has been fun watching to see all the different ways that God has provided for the funding. As soon as the home study is complete, we will have the needed documents to apply to immigration. Praying that will be in the next ten to fourteen days. We will need additional funds at that time. The current fundraising projects that we have underway include the puzzle and an auction on my face book page. I was blessed with some shopping money on my trip to China. The items that I purchased are now for sale or auction. We are also collecting yard sale items for a yard sale. The yard sale will be at the beginning of June. We will start the grant writing process once I receive a copy of our home study. We missed the deadline for the first quarter grants for 2013. We will hopefully be near the front of the line for the next grant period. Be praying that we will be blessed with a grant. We are also in communication with an adoption group in north Georgia about a possible grant from their organization. Our fundraising needs in a nutshell, funds to file our paperwork with immigration, in ten to fourteen days. The next step is a huge chunk of change needed to send all our paperwork to China, needed as soon as we get immigration approval, thirty to sixty days from now. The final step will be the funds needed just before we travel to China. I hate to say out loud that it will most likely be six to nine months before we travel. I was hoping it would be much sooner but the reality is six to nine more months. We cannot travel in September and October due to the farm being open. The good thing that I do have some ways to communicate with Nick. I have a friend who teaches English classes at his orphanage, she gives him a hug from me on a regular basis and sends messages between the two of us. I also try to talk to him on the phone each week. The conversation is brief due to the language barrier, but he knows that we love him and are working to get back to China. Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Feed my sheep.... part one

For a season of my walk with the Lord,my disciple mentor was Peter. The two of us were cut from the same cloth. We have both been a bit zealous and loud about our relationship with the Lord. My personal calling from the Lord as been to advocate for the least of these. That calling has taken on many shapes. Looking back on my life, I was advocating for the least of these before I even knew that was my calling. My journey with the least of these has had its headaches. Several times we have opened our hearts and offered ourselves to the least of these. We have stepped out in faith and ask some orphans to accept us as their forever family. The offer was refused. I cannot begin to explain the pain in my heart that accompanied those refusals. After one rejection, I was reading my Bible and my friend Peter was at the center of the lesson. He and Jesus were having a bit of a heart to heart. The Lord clearly wanted Peter to hear his words, as he told him three times to "Feed my Sheep". I admit that I was crushed and thought that Jesus was playing a cruel joke on me. Had I not just had my heart stomped on as I tried to do that very thing...Feed His sheep. I spent a bit of time reflecting on what I know about sheep. We have raised a few during my years on the farm. We are known as the sheep family in our town. Some days I think that we have spent more on the four legged sheep that call our farm home than the two legged ones. One thing I know about sheep is sheep clearly know their master's voice or even their master's car. For a few years, Kenny drove an old rust colored volvo that had a distinctive sound. I knew he had turned on Baxter Road each day when the alarm sounded. The alarm was the thundering feet of the flock. They knew that their master was home and it was time to eat. They ran to the gate to meet their master. I started wondering if that is what God wanted from me.... to run to the gate when I heard my master's voice. God was clearly telling me that my role was to be ready when he called me. My assignment was to Feed His Sheep. The feed choice for his sheep has varied over the years. Sometimes the only bit of nourishment that I have set on the table has been prayer for a particular lamb. I never know what becomes of some of the lambs I just pray and stand ready for God to use me in the life of that lamb as he sees fit. Some of the lambs have spent some time on the farm. Some of them have been added permanently to the family flock.