Are you still here?

Are you still here? 

The question we get asked daily. Followed by…how much longer are you here?

It’s been 3 months now since we landed in America, and hey it’s been pretty great to be around for so many activities, family times, and creating all those amazing memories. I know now that this time has been so needed for our whole family to reconnect with family and friends. I have told many people as well, I had no idea how important this time would be for Mia. She has had so many firsts in these last 3 months. First time meeting the extended family, first time on a boat, first time on a giant swing, first time driving through a drive thru, first time eating In-N-Out, first time seeing a bear, first football game, first time riding a horse, and the list goes on and on! All these adventures have been amazing memories that we have captured along with fun as a family. Our families have had the extra time to not just meet this little sweet, spunky girl, but to get to know her and we have seen her bond and tease and play with them. She knows her grandparents and Uncles and Aunties and runs to them for hugs in a crowded room.  If our trip was any shorter, everyone would have missed out on the deepening of relationship we all needed.

I have to remind myself of the fact that Mia has only been with our family 5 months. 5 Months and it has felt so much longer, in a good way. We have been amazed how quickly Mia has adjusted to our family and life of adventure. Just 5 months ago our family grew and all of us gladly adjusted to the change. The first month was the craziest; it felt like I had a new child but yet a little bit of a stranger. It was just weird not knowing her likes, dislikes, her cry; is it serious, is she in pain or upset? However, slowly we all learned more about each other, Levi learned how to restrain and not cross her boundaries and is still learning. Noah learned patience in waiting for friendship, and Alleyah has learned many big sister roles. Morgan and I are learning how to teach with love and understanding that we have no idea what her past holds. I can’t thank the Father enough for giving us the ability to speak her language and the love we had for her years before we even met her. So going back to the time we have had here in America, it has not been wasted. We have had family days, and time away from distractions to just have a foundation for our new family together.

So, are we still here? Well yeah we are and even though we are in a state of feeling stuck we are also feeling blessed too. Last week we received a much waited email saying our immigration case has been expedited and that we will hear from the office soon. We did a happy dance and jumped for joy! Following a letter in the mail just 20 minutes later…drum roll please… it stated our adopted daughter’s citizenship has been denied!! What DENIED??? Now I haven’t fully done the research but I think we might be one of the only families that has gone through all the right channels and been denied citizenship to an adopted child. It is a mistake somewhere in the immigration office and someone misread her file. Denied? Gratefully, after many calls and emails, Mia’s case has been re-opened and she has an appointment this Thursday! If all goes well and no more bumps in the road, she will be an American citizen this week!!! Next step is getting her a passport and then a visa to travel back to Asia. We hope these few steps just takes 3-4 weeks to wrap it all up. However, the denied status was just a little unprepared stress, but we know He is in control. We are trusting that just like the last 3 months, Our Father has a plan and we have faith that He has it all and in control.

Updates will follow, as we know more, just keep our case in your thoughts!  

Also a huge thank you to everyone who has blessed us and kept standing with us during our wait. We are so grateful to have such a great community around us. We have felt so loved these last few months.

First bike! Thx Grandpa for finding this used treasure! 

P.S. Any friends from Asia, my kids would love to just show up and surprise the kids at school they are back J So lets keep our return a secret!

Summer 2017! We are back!

Oh my! Has it really been a year since I updated you all by our blog? So sorry for those who do not have facebook or instagram. I realized that there are so many media outlets and some just like a little email versus getting on the social media to keep up with us.  That being said…

Hey, we are here in America!! Oh and we have added to our family with the sweetest, adventurous little girl, Mia Jade. We are here in the US until we have finished our immigration appointment for Mia. We hope to find out soon what date the appointment will be. Until then, we love introducing Mia to our family and friends. The visit has already flown by and grateful we have extra time to be here.

Some have asked, “So how has Mia been doing with all the adjustment?” Well, she is a rock star in it all. She surprises us all every time we think she might be scared or timid, but nope, she just goes for it! Like riding a tube behind the boat and telling Grandpa, “Go faster!”  Or sliding down a pool slide holding her breath from the top but jumping in loving it all! We do have a few hard days and it’s not all easy by any means. However, every week we see so much growth in all of us! As far as the rest of us, we all feel like we can’t imagine life without Mia, and everyday have some little laugh about how much she just fits in.

So, we have a lot going on, and so more to share and I will update this more regularly for sure. However, for now know if you want to hangout, have a BBQ or just coffee, we are here until Sept or maybe Oct, depending on her immigration. We want a chance to be with you all! Just send an email and we will work out the details!

Thank you all for being apart of our journey in life, hope we can stop in and be apart of your life as well.

One Last Week Of Summer!

Before the crazy begins, we just wanted to share about life over the past few months.

Besides kids getting on each other’s nerves and bugging each other to keep from getting bored, we have had quite the busy summer. We have been busy filling out adoption paper work, traveling for meetings, and embassy document visits. As well, the usual farming and daily encounters with local friends.

So where are we in the adoption process? Yeah it’s a hard thing to say, but somewhere in the 3-6 months range until Mia Jade is with us! We celebrate with every document handed in, we dance with any new information about Mia, and pray for her while she waits to hear she has us as a family desperately waiting to welcome her to her forever family. I wish we were further along in the process to show her picture, but the agency asks that her identity be off of media until things are close to completion. I CAN tell you; she is 4 ½ years old (almost Levi’s twin), they are 5 months apart. She is very smart and has the sweetest voice. We have not met her but have just received pictures and a video that I watch daily. She was born with a disorder where her skull did not fully close. She has a big egg shape lump on her head where her brain is protruding out. This may be the reason she was abandoned at only 2 months old. She has never had surgery. We will help her have this surgery after her adoption. As far as we know, the surgery will not affect her brain development. We are officially finished with our Home Study, which was a lot of paper work! The next big hurdle for us is applying for grants and hoping we can receive the funds for the cost of the adoption.

Other news…Morgan is heading to America! He will be in Kansas City for a gathering. Some of you might know more about it. We wish we could all travel and say hello, but it’s just not the right timing. Alleyah and Noah both start school in just a week.  Noah is going to also start attending the international school Alleyah has been attending. It has been a huge blessing for her and we know it will really help Noah in his studies as well. This allows me, (Lori) to have even more time to train others here. I head up an activity that starts in two weeks that will continue for the next 5 months. We know that after the adoption we will all be heading to America to complete Mia’s citizenship. So, we are just going to send Morgan to be our representative J However, he is leaving during a busy time and will only be gone 2 weeks. He will only be in California for about 3 days. That being said, he will not get to see all of you. However, he will arrange an open house to anyone who has the time to check in and hear about things in California. We will let you all know!

So, as for our next visit we hope all of us, including Mia, will be there the beginning of summer 2017. We hope that during that trip we will have adequate time with everyone.

Ok got to go…only a week left to get things in order before things get even busier. 

Hope everyone is doing well!

Blessings,

The Joneses

Mia Jade

Adoption!!

OK So many of you saw our post, it’s very exciting! We are adopting!

So what’s the story? Why? Who? And the questions keep coming. Here’s our story…

I wish our story were how I envisioned it many years ago. I have always had this thought we would one day adopt. I had dreams of finding this little person on our doorstep or a phone call asking us if we would take a little person into our home.  Well, years have gone by, like almost 7 years of living in Asia. We have not received a phone call.  We just have been dreaming of this little person coming into our lives for years. It’s hard to explain, but I even look at our current family photo and see a missing smile there, knowing God has someone else to add to the photo.  Adoption keeps falling on our hearts. Alleyah (10 years old) has been praying for 4 years that we will adopt. Orphans are all around us here in Asia. It’s impossible to look away and we just don’t want to look away any longer. Every year Morgan and I take time to process the last year and the year to come. This last January while doing this we came across the desire to adopt again. To our surprise we felt like now is the time! So that's why now.

Who? So, we have had a desire to adopt a little girl for years. Then, when Levi was born here in Asia that idea was confirmed. You see, I labored next to another woman for a whole night. It was a sure deal we would both have a baby by morning. However, I already knew I was having a boy. During my pregnancy I was in America where you can find out the sex of your baby. Here it is illegal to find out that information. This woman was secretly hoping her baby was a boy. She delivered first that morning and we watched the father’s eyes as he saw his new precious baby girl. He looked at her with such disappointment and as he left the room without even picking her up said, “Its not a boy” and left. I had a c-section about an hour later. After Levi was safely checked over they brought him over shouting, “it’s a boy!” I was so excited to see his face and as they walked over for my first look they aimed his (boy parts) right in my face, “it's a boy!”  and, I said,  “yeah I know…can I see his face?” After a little while I was wheeled into a recovery room with 2 other new moms. One mother was the mom who labored with me all night and had that baby girl. Her husband never came those 3 days we were together. She sat there sad, alone, and I felt so broken. This little baby girl was precious, she was healthy and perfect. She was born with a purpose! We knew then that when we adopted we would choose a girl, yes choose a girl. Because a girl is just as valuable as a boy. Not just this situation has given us a desire to adopt a girl, but also the day-to-day praise we receive for having 2 boys. The strangers overlook our gorgeous daughter and just complement they boys. Again, we want to choose a girl.

Another aspect is how much the need is to adopt a child with special needs. So many children are given to the orphanage because they have a disability. Parents don't have the same resources here to care for a child with a need. Also, with the one child policy it has played into this factor. I won’t go into it here on open space. Anyway, the list is long for these waiting children. After Morgan and I started the process of adoption we have seen the need even more. The camp Alleyah and I attended was another opportunity for us to see the need. It was overwhelming to visit an orphanage in another city of over 800 children! These kids need and want families! 

So all that to say, who? A little girl that's waiting for us, and we are waiting for her.

So that's our story, it’s not some amazing living-overseas one, but it’s just so heavy on our hearts we are moving forward. Most of you know that adoption is a big financial cost. NO, it’s not cheaper because we live here in Asia. It is the same big number as everyone else. However we do hope and pray for the grants allotted to children with special needs. We also hope that knowing orphans are on God’s heart more than we know, that He will help provide the need to see this child have a home. We are not sure where or how the finances will come. However, that is not our concern. Our concern is being apart of changing a little girl’s life.

Thanks for reading, and we can’t wait to one day, hopefully soon, introduce you to our little girl, 

Mia Jade Jones.

Name meanings:

Mia (mine, desperately wanted, and beloved)

Jade (A precious stone of China)

And…This guy Dexler, Just one of many looking for his forever family. Please continue to pray for these waiting children. 

Service Opportunity

So to start this blog, I have to say…I am really excited! Some of you, who know me well, know I have had many experiences working with children with disabilities. I started way back in 3^rd grade when I was allowed to volunteer in the Special Ed. classroom as a student peer. It captured my heart and I knew this was something I would pursue in life.  After marriage I received my degree and focused to move overseas. After we moved here I was honored to start the first Early Intervention Program here at the local orphanage. It was a hard experience because I had little language. But somehow I accomplished it. After 3 years of volunteering there our little guy Levi came along and I knew I couldn’t ‘do it all.’ I had to let go of my volunteering job at the orphanage. Though, they were doing great and ready to be on their own.

So, here I am, Levi is 3 and ½ years old now and I realize it has been too long since I have been able to help orphans or children with disabilities. As I was looking at this year 2016 I thought to myself… “I am a busy home school mom with many other responsibilities. So what can I do?” This was my question leading up to last week. Then this email came. “Service Opportunity” An advocacy camp for some children waiting for their future adoption and forever families. Just a one-week camp, to go meet these 15 kids who are on a waiting list for someone to choose them.

You see, the list of children with disabilities is huge; it breaks my heart. Families looking at the long list only get a few facts about each child. A name, age, a picture and maybe a sentence saying what type of disability they may have. That's it, good luck picking, you will find out more when you meet them to take them home. So, the more info you can read about the child the easier it is to know, that's the child for us. So here’s how I can help. I can go spend just one week with this person who has a boring adoption file. Find out what they love, who they are, how they communicate and to what level. Maybe find out if their disability is low functioning or high functioning. I already have been matched with a 9-year-old boy who is waiting for a family. All I know is his age, name and he is deaf. I can’t wait to meet him, and change his file because I know him. Last fall they started the first camp to help organize advocates for waiting children. Out of 22 children, 20 are now adopted! You might wonder if I still know American Sign Language. Well, I do but need some practice again. However Chinese sign and American sign is different. I will see how much we are able to communicate between the 2 sign languages, and who knows, he might know ASL and I might learn Chinese sign! I just hope I can change his file and his life!

Can you see now why I am so excited? So the end of April I will join others as a team to love on these children. There is a cost of $1,800 for my 9-year-old camper and I to attend this camp. We are happy to get the chance to do this! If you have a heart for this, let me know and you can partner to help send my camper and I to camp. Here’s to changing his life!

I will continue to post info regarding this camp and my camper. I just wanted to send out a blog explaining what’s going on and what I am up to. 

Love ya all! Lori~

Lori and Noah Head To Cambodia!

Noah and I (Lori) bought our tickets to Cambodia!

Why? Well, it’s been an amazing season of training others. These friends are getting ready to travel for 2 months, one month in Cambodia and one month in Thailand. Noah and I get the honor to visit half way through. Noah has a giving heart. He loves Christmas because he gets to watch people’s faces as they open his well thought out gifts. He already has been planning how he can pack a bag full of toys for the kids in Cambodia. I will be chatting with each person and processing the trip so far and how to see the rest of the trip go even better. The two of us will travel with the friends with a quick and easy hop over to Thailand where we will all meet up with Morgan, Alleyah and Levi.

Not only that, but we get to welcome my parents Nick and Shelia to Thailand! Some of you may know that we travel yearly to Thailand to meet up with others and also take care of our medical care. During that time we host a gathering. I have been overseeing the kids program for the week gathering. Last year I found that the ages 0-12 were easy, songs, crafts, stories, etc. I had a wonderful girl who helped work with the kids but…the teens were a challenge for me. Maybe, because I don't have teens yet. I found out those teens that live overseas don't just want to hang out with the big people. They too travel to Thailand every year and want to have fun. So I started to think, what can I do better this year? I love how things work, because as an outward processor (I talk out my ideas) I was chatting with my Mom about these teens. Little did I know it started an interest in her while I was sharing. My parents have been involved in TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) since 1998. It’s an amazing weekend put on for teens by teens, with just a little help from adults. Anyway, the idea came up, TEC in Thailand! Yes! These teens deserve a well planned time just for them, not mixed in with the little guys and not pushed into the adult talks, but just for them. Being overseas, most of the teens don't get a chance to have a youth group experience or even a group of 3^rd culture kids around them. But once a year they all get to gather, have fun, relate to each other like no one else can. Sometimes not even us as parents can relate to growing up in another culture. So after chats and dreaming with my parents, they decided to give it a try. They will have about 20-30 teens from many different cultures for one week! My Dad has already sent me the week full of talks and fun. I am really looking forward to seeing my parents in their element, as well as just seeing them!

So, we are getting into the holidays, but just around the corner Jan 1^st we start our travels. Please keep us in your thoughts for safety and health. I am just going to throw it out there that if any of you are looking for a place to give tax-deductible, year-end gifts, consider us. We have travel costs, yearly medical check ups and a hope to have a vacation at the end of it all in February during the Chinese New Year. We hope to stay in warm weather while we wait for the holiday to pass and everything opens up again. If you need more info shoot me a message!

Happy Holidays! Enjoy your Thanksgiving and all the family and turkey!

Blessings from the Joneses!

Alleyah's starting International School!

Learning your limits, strengths and weakness. We are always learning new things about ourselves. It’s fun to learn your strengths and sometimes shocking to see something not so great as well. However, I see that in every situation we have a chance to stop and learn, observe and grow.

I am not sure if you have heard of “Strengths Finders,” but it has really helped me understand why I love some aspects of my job and dread others. My 2^nd strength on the chart is harmony…aka I hate, hate, hate conflict, but my first out of 5 strengths is (development). I love to develop people, programs, fundraisers, and foundational startups. I have also really enjoyed developing my kids, being a home school mother has been so rewarding to me. But here is the key, once programs are on their way, I see my limitations and that others can take it to the next level. I don't just quit, but I love seeing the foundations/development be taken to its full potential.

So, here I am. I have home schooled Alleyah for 5 years! She is totally not finished on the developing side of things, no, she is a regular pre-teen and sassiness happens in our house. I see however my strength has been to pour into her over these last ten years of her life and 5 years of education. But its time, I see that my strength has hit its limit. And, that's ok. I have grown so much in my patience for sure! I can keep home schooling her but she is ready for more! The next phase of her life she needs more than just Mommy. This is hard to say out load but its true. I have taught her our values and our love. I am ready to see how much more she can grow over this next year at the International School. It’s only 3 weeks away!

Before this transition happens for us all, we will be traveling to apply for Alleyah’s new passport! This will be her 3^rd passport! Both Morgan and I have to be present to apply for our child’s passport, which is kind of nice. After a busy nonstop summer it is forcing us to all get on the 24-hour train and ride to the big city! Our city does not have an American embassy, so we will be off! School shopping, McDonalds, Starbucks, and Subway, can’t wait! We hope to stay in a hotel with a pool and get a swim in too.

I hope it's a fun family time before the semester starts for her. I too will be leading a training course during the week starting this Fall. So yeah, my limit, I know its time, its time to see her take on a new phase of her education. I can see that not only will she flourish with something new, but it releases me to flourish in developing something new and continued home school for Noah. All of it brings life and joy!

The International School is not cheap like home school, nor is traveling to get her a new passport before it expires. However we know its what’s we are supposed to do and ask that you would send a thought our way that our needs would be met. It’s an added cost to our budget that we don't currently have. Stand with us! Lets see her go to school!

If you’re interested in finding your top 5 strengths do the test online! It’s called     Strength Finders. See what strengths you have and find ways to bring life to your job, family, and community!