tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12943639442374998332024-03-12T19:52:24.639-04:00Letting God Write Our StoryA story about one family's journey through adoption, orphan care, and the hard times in between...The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-49477170008257511442019-10-18T07:14:00.000-04:002019-10-18T07:14:03.826-04:00Suffering for God's Glory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week has been a rough week...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday, I took Ilana to her pulmonologist appointment to get
the results from her lung capacity tests. Unfortunately, she failed all the
tests. Basically, due to the paralyzed vocal chord, she's unable to breathe
well. She can pant okay, but anything that involves regular breathing or big
breaths, she just can't do properly. He explained that due to the severity of it,
Ilana will absolutely require surgery to help fix the vocal chord. Neither of us really wanted to hear that news... We see her
original surgeon that did her thyroidectomy for the thyroid cancer when she was
9 in Gainesville in November and we’ll go from there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yesterday, I had my follow up with my neuro-ophthalmologist. I
went in expecting to hear the news that everything was stable, but
unfortunately we got the news that my tumor has progressed more. It’s cutting
off more of my optic nerve, which explains why I’ve been experiencing more
color changes. We also found out that the tumor has invaded the interior eye
muscle and has taken up room in all of the area behind my eye, all the way down
the optic canal and is sitting right at the opening of my brain. We were left
with 3 options – radiation again, craniotomy again to try to remove the tumor,
or wait. I refuse to do radiation again. It was honestly hell to me – the extreme
side effects were just not worth it and it didn’t do anything to the tumor the
first time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not ready for surgery
again just two years later - I thought I had years before we’d have to do it
again. Recovery went relatively well, but it was long, painful, and difficult. This
go around will be even more risky, too, as the tumor is made up of brain tissue
and lots of veins and capillaries. Cutting it away is extremely risky and will
cause blindness… I’d rather wait until I’m closer to blindness to pursue
surgery… So. I told him I planned to wait it out as long as possible. He was okay
with that and said we will re-evaluate everything in 6 months, but if I notice
more vision changes, I have to go back immediately. If the next MRI shows any
growth into the brain, at that point I have no option but to do surgery…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Needless to say, I was completely caught off guard and struggled
not to cry in the room and was able to contain myself until we got out to the
van before I lost it. I honestly was shocked. I really expected just a stable
status or was hoping that everything would miraculously be better, but it wasn’t.
So I was pretty disappointed and I struggled with the news all evening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I went through a bit of depression just a few weeks ago where
life just seemed to pile up and stress just built up on top of it.
Homeschooling 4 kids, raising a teen with adoption trauma (a whole new ballgame
I’m still learning and trying to navigate – it’s hard!), and then medical stuff
on top of it all is a lot to deal with and I began to question my purpose and
worth in life, feeling like I was just failing it all. This past Sunday, I
played bass at church with the worship team. When I play music, I feel closest
to God… I finally felt joy that I hadn’t felt for a few weeks. After church,
one of the sweetest men, Danny, came up to me to tell me that while watching me
play and witnessing my faith in Jesus, God told him I was healed. At first I
was a little bewildered, but then got excited and prayed he was right. I went
into my appointment yesterday expecting them to say “I don’t know what happened,
but everything is normal!” But, as you now know, they didn’t say that at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was confused by what Danny said and began to ask God if maybe
Danny heard him wrong? I woke up this morning at 5 am. I’m not a morning person,
but felt wide awake and felt the urge to write. As I started to write, God told
me “Your tumor is not gone. That’s not the healing that took place. The healing
was in your heart.” Looking back at this week, I’ve realized God’s right (I mean…
when is he not? Ha!). This week my joy is there and my sadness and feelings of
doubt and depression are gone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now that I’ve had time to digest the news and immerse myself in
God’s Word and in prayer, I’m doing better. God reminded me of his goodness and
how often He’s answered prayer. Maybe not always in the way I asked for or
expected, but he’s always answered in the best way possible. God also reminded
me that he spoke to me nearly a year ago, on October 15. He basically warned me
of what was to happen, telling me “Your family is about to endure a season of
suffering. With Me, you will endure. You will overcome. Just trust Me. I’ve
been there before through these seasons. Remember this. Glorify Me through the
suffering. You don’t understand it now, but you will soon.” I began to cry and
told the Lord that I would always glorify Him. Even through the pain. Even
through the suffering. Because He is my Joy! How could I not?? I told Michael
that night that I don’t know what’s going to happen, but that God told me we
were going to go through another season of trials and pain and that we needed
to suffer for His Glory. It’s crazy to think that all happened just a year ago!<br />
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It sounds strange when you read the words “Suffer for God’s glory”. Like, why
would God ask you to suffer? Could a God who loves His people really ask that?
How is that love?? Let me remind you, though. God didn’t create these trials.
He didn’t create these moments for us to “suffer”. We must remember that we
live in a fallen world and so suffering will just happen. Until we reach
heaven, trials and tribulations will occur. But as a follower of Christ, I have
a choice. I can choose to be angry at the Lord and blame Him, or I have a
choice to remember God’s goodness and that my joy comes from Him and Him alone.
If I have Jesus, how can my joy be dependent on my situation? Choosing joy isn’t
always easy, but it’s something I have to do. And I have to remember that
through these trials, I can be succumbed to anger, frustration and sadness, or
I can remember that despite these hits, God is still SO good and I have to
trust in His goodness, even when I’m confused and hurting. If God can use us through these trials, I’m ready to glorify Him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit, serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><b>“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” - Romans 5:3-5<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you are going through trials, I want to encourage you to look to Him. Try to remember His goodness and remember that your joy is in the Lord, so even when you're struggling, you can still find a peace and joy through Jesus. If you need prayer, please email me at michaelandamanda@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to pray for you and walk through those struggles with you. </span></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-16816845215509591932018-09-29T20:59:00.002-04:002018-10-03T07:44:49.395-04:00Dry Tortugas Camping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So last winter, Michael and I decided that if I ever had to have surgery for the tumor around my optic nerve, that before surgery, we would take a trip together as a couple and then a trip as a family somewhere. Just to have some good family time before a major surgery. We just didn't realize that when I went in for an appointment with the neurosurgeon, that they would want to do the craniotomy less than a week later, so we had no time to plan for anything. So, Michael told me that after surgery, being laid up for 6-8 weeks, I could spend time planning for a little getaway for our anniversary for the two of us in August. As our first big anniversary trip celebrating 13 years of marriage and celebrating making it through some difficult years and a major surgery. Originally, we planned to go to Sanibel Island, which is just an hour away, but due to the horrible red tide issues this year, I had to change our plans and began researching other areas to "get away", but were still in Florida. That's when I found Dry Tortugas. After a lot of research and google-ing, we made our plans and went and had the absolute best time of our lives! It's something I won't hesitate to recommend to anyone and because of our experience, many others have had so many questions and are asking for tips and advice, so I figured it'd be best to just write a blog post about our experience! Here we go!<br />
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What are the Dry Tortugas? The Dry Tortugas are a small group of islands, located in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the Florida Keys, United States, about 67 miles west of Key West, and 37 miles west of the Marquesas Keys, the closest islands. Many people don't know that it even exists - I didn't!<br />
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There are two ways to get there: a ferry or by sea plane. Neither are cheap, but taking the ferry is definitely the most inexpensive option. It cost us $185 per person for the ferry ticket, plus $15 fee for the National Park. But - that also includes breakfast, lunch, a tour of the fort, and snorkel gear. So overall, it's not too bad. The ferry takes about 2-2.5 hours to get to the Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas National Park and you get to spend about 4-5 hours there on an entire secluded beach that also has Fort Jefferson - a fort that was used during the Civil War era. It has remarkable history! You leave the island around 2:30-3:00.<br />
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So, while you can certainly take a day trip there and enjoy several hours on a secluded beach with about 150 other day trippers, we opted for something else... Camping! It cost just an extra $15/night to camp. We figured, if we've already paid all that to get there, why not pay another $30 to stay for 2 nights? And we are SO glad we did! Once the day trippers leave - you end up being just one/two of 10+ people on the island. The first night, we were there with 10 other campers. The second night we were there with 7 other campers. It's cool to go to a secluded island that you have to share with only 150 people, but it's even cooler to stay overnight on an island with a very small amount of other people!<br />
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So... How does it all work? What tips do we have? I'm so glad you asked!<br />
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To book, I suggest doing it WAY in advance. They book up quickly, sometimes months in advance, depending on the time of year you want to camp! We camped in September, which is a slower month. They only have 10 campsites, so they will only allow 10 groups of campers, which is why it gets booked up quickly. To book, call Yankee Freedom, which is the ferry you would be riding on. Their number is: 1-800-634-0939 .<br />
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Now, keep in mind... When you're camping at the Dry Tortugas... It is PRIMITIVE camping. There are no showers. There are composting toilets, but that's it. You have to bring your own food, your own water (for cooking and cleaning and drinking!), and all your camp gear. The campsites provide a picnic table and a charcoal grill. You have to bring your own charcoal (Propane containers or any other form of liquid or gas fuels are not allowed. For safety reasons self-starting charcoal or Sterno cans are the only form of fuel allowed) for cooking.<br />
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Camping for 2 days when the highs are in the high 80's and lows in the low 80's leave you pretty stinky and sweaty... But being able to dip into the ocean to cool and "rinse off" helped a lot. The ferry comes back each day, in which you are allowed to get back on enjoy AC if you want, along with coffee. They also have fresh water showers that you're able to rinse off with - which we did each day. No soaps are allowed, but it's a good way to get some of the sticky salt water/sweat off.<br />
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If you camp, you MUST be at the Yankee Freedom boarding site in Key West by 6:00am. ALL your gear must be packed onto the ferry by 6:30am. It is SO helpful if all your gear is in STURDY plastic tote bins and hard coolers. We took 2 large plastic totes along with a duffle bag, 2 backpacks and a cooler. If we do it again, I'd put EVERYTHING into totes, instead of backpacks and totes. It's so much handier, and it's waterproof if it rains. We got a thunderstorm our first night, which was kinda scary hearing all the lightning and wondering how everything would hold up. But, we survived and everything ended up being fine and we didn't get struck by lightning! ;)<br />
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To get your gear onto the ferry and off the ferry and to the campsite, they provide large wheelbarrows in Key West and on the island that you can use to stick all your stuff in. It makes it super easy to haul your stuff!<br />
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Make sure that you have your nightly camping fees in exact cash to pay when you get to the island. When you first get to the island, they will release all day trippers and keep all the campers on the ferry to have a meeting with one of the park rangers. He will go over all the rules and answer any questions you may have. After that, they will release you to get all your gear, which will have already been unloaded onto the dock. Most people will go and get their gear first. Our recommendation is to go and claim a good campsite first. Then get your gear. Like I said above, there are 10 campsites. We got a pretty good one that was secluded and tucked away under some trees. We thought this was great during the day. The downfall was at night, it was hot and we didn't have a lot of airflow. If you really need/want air flow at night, you might opt for a campsite more out in the open, especially where you'd get a good breeze. Below is a map of the island. I added an area in yellow and black that says "CAMPING AREA". These are where the campsites are. The part above the "AREA" would be the area where you'd get the nice sea breeze. Our campsite was right about where the "N" was.<br />
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After you get your campsite all set up and organized, now you can go and explore! Don't rush to go do anything. Honestly, we took our time setting up camp and then ate lunch there in our campsite and then ventured out. We swam and snorkeled for a bit and decided to wait to check out the Fort once everyone left. By about 2:30, we had the entire island to ourselves and went and explored the Fort. It's eerily cool to see and explore a HUGE civil war era fort and be the only ones in there. We learned so much history, which was super fun for Michael. He's a huge history buff and loves stuff like that. It was still pretty warm so we decided to snorkel a bit more before supper. We saw so many beautiful fish and coral. The water is SO crystal clear even far out from the land.<br />
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For our gear, we brought a tent, an air mattress, 2 battery operated fans (which were a HUGE blessing in 83 degree nights in a tent with little air flow that we got at Walmart <a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/O2COOL-10-inch-Battery-or-Electric-Portable-Fan/49332866?athcpid=49332866&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=PWVUB&athieid=v0&athstid=CS020&athguid=466001f5-46cfa622-11b75a5c9a18a716&athena=true">HERE</a>. They worked okay for our little tent), cast iron skillet and cast iron dutch oven, camera, GoPro, water bottles, plasticware, and paper plates and bowls, mugs, sheet, blanket and two camp chairs. You don't have to bring your own snorkeling gear, as the ferry provides it for you and you can keep it until you leave the island!<br />
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For food, we brought a lot of different items. We brought things like bread and peanut butter, bananas, instant oatmeal packets, granola bars, hot chocolate mix, instant coffee and boxed meals like organic mac n cheese or canned soups. For our first dinner, I made burrito bowls made with boxed yellow rice, a can of black beans, a can of corn, taco seasoning, and then we topped with corn chips and also had tortillas that we could make burritos out of the mixture with. It was delicious, filling, and super easy to make!<br />
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And of course we brought stuff for s'mores... How can you camp without one of these??<br />
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At night it is SUPER important to make sure ALL food is locked up into the plastic totes and put on top of the picnic table. There are rats on the island that come out at night to look for food. We never saw any or had any issues, but some camp mates at a different camp site said they saw a few, but they looked like cute mice, not like the stereotypical giant rats... As long as your food is put up in the hard totes or coolers, you won't have any issues at all.<br />
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Make sure you're out on the beach or on top of the fort for the sunsets. They're beautiful and worth the time to just sit and unwind and relax while watching God's gorgeous creation.<br />
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One thing I HIGHLY recommend is to go walk at 3-4am and even grab a blanket and go lay on the helicopter pad and watch the stars. It is AMAZING!!!!! We actually slept there on our second night because it was so much cooler out there in the open. Did I mention that there are NO mosquitoes there? Living in Florida, mosquitoes this time of year or just horrible, so to be on an island and be able to enjoy beautiful views of the stars and not get eaten alive is worth all the money we spent! ;) (Be sure to bring flashlights, but you can only use red lights on the beach during certain times of the year because of turtle nests).<br />
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You haven't seen stars until you've seen stars here.... WOW!<br />
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You may be able to even see some amazing storms from a distance!<br />
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Oh, and don't be afraid when you get to your campsite and see a bunch of these:<br />
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Hermit crabs galore! They are ALL over the island - so watch your feet when you walk, especially at night - we stepped on a couple and cracked their poor homes. :(<br />
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And while you're up, you might as well watch the sunrise...<br />
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The next morning, you'll still have plenty of time before the next wave of day trippers. We got a good snorkel in and walked around the fort again.<br />
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When all the day trippers got there, we went back to our campsite and sat and read for a bit, but as the temperature rose, we decided to find a cooler place. That's when we found a great area in the fort on the second floor where there was a great cross breeze. This became our "secret" place where we would get away and enjoy a cool breeze and we'd sit and read for a couple hours while enjoying the view and sounds of the ocean, while also not being in the sun constantly!<br />
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I mean, seriously... Does it get any better than this?<br />
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When it's time for your camping trip to end, it's important to have all your gear packed up and ready to go on the dock by 10am the day of your departure. With your ferry ticket, like I said before, you get a free breakfast and free lunch. I suggest you save the free lunch for the day of your departure. All your food will be packed up and stowed away on the ferry. Breakfast consists of fruit, yogurt, cereal, cheese, ham, hard boiled eggs, juice, etc. Lunch is sandwiches (lunch meats and cheeses, PBJ, tuna salad), macaroni salad, chips, fruit, veggies, cookies, and drinks.<br />
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By the third day, we were definitely ready for a nice bed, AC and a hot shower, but this trip was one of those things that we will never regret and never forget. I would definitely do it again and I would recommend anyone try it at LEAST for one night!!<br />
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For a camping checklist from the Yankee Freedom ferry, go <a href="https://www.drytortugas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/camp-checklist.pdf">HERE</a>.<br />
For other camping info, go <a href="https://www.drytortugas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/campinginfo.pdf">HERE</a>, <a href="https://www.drytortugas.com/rules/">HERE</a>, and <a href="https://www.drytortugas.com/key-west-camping/">HERE</a><br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-51256299800340525772018-03-13T21:19:00.002-04:002018-03-14T11:55:20.219-04:00God uses all things for good... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I’ve often wondered why we’ve gone through so much. Why it seems like from the very beginning, we’ve been hit by medical problem after medical problem. </div>
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Pre-eclampsia, cleft palate, Vesicoureteral reflux (kidney reflux), Grave’s disease, preterm labors (31 and 34 weeks), detached retinas, thyroid cancer (in two of us), tumors, broken bones, cardiomyopathy, just to name a few.</div>
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Surgeries (I think I’ve lost count. There’s been at least 15 in the last 5 years.) Biopsies. Tests. MRI’s. CT’s. X-rays. Radiation. Radioactive Iodine Treatments. </div>
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Specialists. Too many to count! Cardiologists, pediatric infectious disease doctors, endocrinologist, pediatric endocrinologists, craniofacial teams, plastic surgeons, urologists, nephrologists, pediatric ophthalmologists, retinal specialists, neurosurgeons, oculoplastics ophthalmologists, neuro ophthalmologists, radiation oncologists, oncologists, ENT’s, etc. </div>
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It seems that we just are always hit with one thing after another and I’ve been almost habitually asking God “WHY?” But yet I’ve never gotten an answer. I mean, I <i><b>know</b></i> He uses all things for good. I <i><b>know</b></i> He will take ALL these ashes and turn them into beauty. But how? What’s His plan? </div>
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Through it all, our family’s relationship has drawn closer to Him and to each other. Was that His whole plan all along? </div>
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Then He began to speak to me through recent situations and I began to see that He maybe is going to use us for something greater.</div>
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Let me introduce Peter. He’s our friend from Uganda. Peter runs a ministry called Kyampisi Children’s Ministry (KCM). KCM is a ministry that rescues and cares for children who have been sacrificed by witch doctors. This is a terrible thing that still happens today. Through Peter, we have learned of so many kids with mutilated genitals and bodies – sacrificed for wealth, health, fertility and other various things. It’s sickening! But KCM is doing an amazing thing by rescuing these children and helping them through the physical and emotional trauma they have been through. Many of the kids have to fly to Australia for life saving surgeries. Peter is there now with a little boy named Benson. Benson just underwent one surgery, where they had to take tissue from inside his mouth to recreate a new urethra. In two weeks after recovery from this surgery, they will do a reconstruction surgery as the witch doctors removed his entire penis. I know that is “taboo and personal” to talk about and many don’t want to hear or know about it. Well if that’s you, I’m sorry. But unfortunately this type of thing happens way too often and here we sit in America without any knowledge of it and quite honestly, I think we need to wake to the realities of what happens in this world. We sit in our quiet little corner of the world and feel like all is okay. It’s not. We need to wake up and do something. Of course we can’t help everyone, but we CAN help some!</div>
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Through Peter, we have “met” a sweet young lady named Gladys. </div>
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Gladys is a 15 year old orphaned girl who lost both her parents to HIV when she was just 2-3 years old. She has been a part of KCM since. I was contacted by Peter who inquired about medical advice for Gladys’ neck. Peter had followed our journey with our daughter Ilana (who had thyroid cancer) and Gladys’ neck reminded him of Ilana’s. She had a large lump under her chin, similar to Ilana’s, but a little higher. This lump had been there for several years and had been continuing to get worse to the point of affecting her ability to swallow and breathe well. I suggested that an ultrasound should be done. During this time was when I was deep in the midst of my radiation and then later underwent my craniotomy and so I never followed up to find out how she was until February, which I regret waiting so long. Turned out, due to her orphan status and lack of funds in the ministry, no imaging or tests of any kind had been done, since the cost would be around 850,000 Uganda Shillings, equaling around 230 US dollars. </div>
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Here in America, if there’s an urgent need, you go to the ER and you can get medical care whether you can afford it or not. In Uganda, they have to have the money ahead of time before anything can be done. Since she had no money, nothing could be checked. This broke our family’s hearts. Our kids said that wasn’t fair. And quite honestly, it’s not. How is it that we live in 2018 and there are still so many kids in the world who cannot get medical care? It’s something I’ve taken for granted many times… We have been so blessed by so many that have helped us with medical costs and so we felt it was necessary for us to pay it forward and we decided to pay for all the initial testing to be done.</div>
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She had a couple ultrasounds done, in which Peter forwarded us her reports. We forwarded them on to Ilana’s thyroid specialist. This is when we began to realize how God was using all that we’ve been through medical wise… I was able to read the report well (as this was NOT my first look at a neck ultrasound report. I've read and researched more about neck ultrasounds than most!). I was also able compare it with Ilana’s and I knew everything it talked about. Thankfully, her thyroid looked okay, but she does have a large growth above her thyroid, which doctors think is a thyroglossal cyst. They won’t know for sure until it is removed and they do pathology on it, but we are praying it’s only a cyst and not cancer. That said, she is in urgent need of surgery to have this removed so she can finally breathe and swallow without complications and to also verify that it’s not cancer. The costs will be roughly $3800. This will cover the surgery, the hospital fees, the labwork and pathology, the room fees, and post surgery care. </div>
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We are hoping and praying that you would be willing to help ease the financial burden from Gladys. Will you come along side us and help?</div>
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If we are somehow able to raise even more than the surgery amount, any remaining funds will then be given to the next child on our list. Meet Moris. (isn't he just adorable?)</div>
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Moris is a 5 month old boy with 3 significant heart defects (dextrocardia, tricuspid atresia, and double outlet right ventricle) who is also in urgent need of a surgery. This surgery will not be able to be done in Uganda, because it will be a very complicated surgery (or maybe two). This surgery/surgeries is absolutely vital for Moris to live. Michael is looking into US visa requirements to see if it’s possible to get them to the US for surgery. We are also contacting the cardiologists we know and will start contacting hospitals to see if there are any that would be willing to do the surgery pro bono or at a significantly reduced rate. From what I've read, his heart condition is very serious and it's amazing he's lived so long without medical care.</div>
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You see? Through all of our medical issues, we have made contacts with doctors in various hospitals, we have learned lots of medical lingo, and we have learned how to fight for good medical care. Perhaps this is what we are meant to do? While we can’t help EVERY child in the world, we can help some and are determined to do so! Which is why we are starting to create RENU Ministries. </div>
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RENU Ministries will be used to support children like Gladys and Moris. Unfortunately, creating a nonprofit takes awhile to get set up, but Gladys and Moris don’t have that time. So we hope and pray that despite it not being a nonprofit yet, and you’re unable to make it tax deductible, that you’ll still feel led to give. </div>
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Like it says in Matthew 25:40, “Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’”</div>
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These children are so often overlooked or ignored. Isn’t it time for us to step up and help. Even just a little? </div>
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Would you be willing to give up a Starbucks or fast food run and donate what you would have spent?</div>
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Or would you be willing to donate $15 in honor of Gladys’ age? Or $5 for Moris’s age (in months)?</div>
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Any and every amount will add up and no matter how big or small, it will help immensely! Every cent donated will be donated directly to Peter and Kyampisi Children’s Ministry to pay for Gladys and Moris’ surgeries. If you have any questions or want to help in any other ways, please feel free to email us at michaelandamanda@gmail.com</div>
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As a “motivation”, so to speak, we are going to do a sort of raffle. With every $5 donated, you will receive an entry to a raffle. We at RENU Ranch will be raffling off several different items. Some of our kids are adamant about participating and doing things to earn money to help. They were wanting to sell their bikes, sell their animals, bake items, sew items, and such. Anything they could do, they wanted to try! Here’s a list of items we all came up with:</div>
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For anyone:</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A tshirt with a custom vinyl design of your choice</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A hand drawn portrait of your choice drawn by the talented Kaelyn Reese</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A custom wreath for your front door made by Ilana Nunez</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3 custom headbands made by Lydia Reese</div>
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- $100 giftcard to <a href="https://www.kallieusa.com/">Kallie & Co</a> given by the amazing owner who has already donated hundreds of shoes to women in Uganda. This is an amazing, generous company!</div>
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For local supporters:</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A date night experience at RENU Ranch “Restaurant” – A completely homemade meal made by the women at RENU Ranch, served by the RENU kids, in an intimate, relaxing outdoor setting with light dinner music. </div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One dozen homemade cinnamon rolls</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A custom pallet wood sign (your choice of wording and color)</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Two dozen homemade cookies of your choice made by Mikiyas Nuñez</div>
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To enter in the drawing, please email us at michaelandamanda@gmail.com after your donation with how many entries and which prize you would like your entries submitted into. We will video the drawings on March 23 and will post the video and winners on the blog and my Facebook page. We will also contact the winners via email. </div>
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Please follow <a href="https://www.youcaring.com/kyampisichildcareministriesgladysandmoris-1129551">THIS LINK</a> to donate:</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-38575308847793875062018-01-01T08:12:00.000-05:002018-01-01T08:28:30.786-05:00Even with Unanswered Prayer, God is still Good...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In two days I'll be undergoing a very serious and complicated surgery that, from the human standpoint, terrifies me. Not many people can go into any surgery without any fear, but a surgery where they have to open up your skull to remove or "make room" for a tumor wrapped around your optic nerve? A craniotomy with tons of risks? It's scary.<br />
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Yet somehow, I'm not really worried about it. Somehow I feel pretty at peace. Initially I was in complete shock. I was unable to really speak and my body shook from the nervousness. As it sunk in, and we shared the news with family and then later with all our support and "family followers", I was covered with a complete peace. A peace that I knew could only come from Jesus...</div>
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As I began to speak about this peace to a friend, I was asked how in the world I could still have peace from the Lord when he didn't answer our prayer and how I could trust a God who doesn't answer prayer. It was an honest question and one that I've had to ponder for a couple days... </div>
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So. How do you trust a God who doesn't answer your prayer? How can you still have a peace about a situation when you have no idea what the outcome may be? </div>
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It's truly difficult to answer. We had hundreds if not thousands of people praying for me over the last few months. As I endured 6 weeks of daily radiation and the absolutely horrific and painful "rare" side effects from the steroids, people prayed for me. People prayed for my tumor to be shrunk or to disappear. I prayed this prayer. Our family prayed this prayer. When radiation was finally over and symptoms from prior to radiation began to reappear, we had people pray fervently that the swelling of the eye and the headaches returning were from the tumor shrinking or disappearing. When I underwent another MRI to show if radiation had done anything to the tumor, people prayed the tumor would be gone. I mean, again, HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of people had been praying for the tumor to be gone. It had to be, right?!</div>
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So when we found out last week that the tumor was still there, and not just that, but that the tumor had not done a thing, we were obviously very disappointed. Along with the tumor not shrinking, we found out my vision had gotten worse, I had gotten more blind spots in my vision, my retina was damaged, my cornea was damaged and my optic nerve was even further compressed. We didn't realize how serious the situation was until we met with the neurosurgeon 2 days later, who said something like this can't wait and surgery needed to be done ASAP. We assumed we had a month or so. We didn't realize he meant 5 days later...</div>
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So... Back to unanswered prayer. Did God answer our prayer and our kids' prayer and the thousands of other prayers that were prayed on my behalf? No. He didn't. At least not in the way we had planned. My tumor hadn't shrunk. My pain hadn't gone away. The radiation didn't work. Is it disappointing? Yes! Is it frustrating? Absolutely? Was I angry? You bet...</div>
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But just because God didn't answer those prayers doesn't mean that he is not a God who listens. That he's not a God that doesn't answer us when we cry out to Him. You have NO idea how many prayers He DID answer while I underwent radiation. You see, while going through the radiation and my head being strapped to a table for 15 minutes everyday, I decided I'd spend that day in prayer. I fervently prayed that entire time every single day for all the prayers people asked me for over 6 weeks. It was a time I spent fully one on one, with no interruption with the Lord. I prayed fervently for friends, for people I didn't know, for health, for marriages, for finances, against difficult things like depression, divorce and cancer. I prayed and prayed and prayed. And you know what? I have gotten COUNTLESS responses near the end of my radiation where God answered the prayers. Where marriages were restored, cancers were gone, finances were suddenly better, and health problems were healed. There were times where I wasn't sure exactly what to pray, but prayed for what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart. And would find out the next day that that exact prayer was needed at that exact time. SO many times where God proved He was listening to my prayers. </div>
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I'm sure some are wondering "Well why didn't He answer the prayers about you?" I really don't know. But what I DO know is that He IS a God who answers prayer (and sometimes His answer to that prayer is different than we hoped for). I DO know that He IS a God that cares for His children. Sometimes His answer to prayer takes time. While my tumor hasn't shrank yet, whose to say it won't shrink eventually? How do we know that God doesn't have a better plan? How do we know that God doesn't plan to use this horrible tumor for something SO much greater than we ever imagined? While I AM disappointed that the tumor is not gone and I am sad that I have to undergo this surgery, I am most thankful to have that hope in Jesus and that no matter what the outcome may be, God is there with me. That God is good, despite the diagnosis. And for now, my prayer is that God will use this for something great. That He will use this for something so much better than we can even fathom or imagine. </div>
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He hasn't shrunk the tumor, but do you know what He HAS done for us? He has given us the best support system ever. He has given us countless amounts of people who pray daily for us. He has answered our prayer for financial stability as we've been so blessed by countless amounts of people who have given to us financially which has allowed us to not worry so much about medical bills and travel bills. We found out that Michael will have to take off this entire week to be with me in the hospital. And because of all the health issues in our family, he has used all his sick and vacation days (which doesn't renew until July) and will have to take the week off unpaid. We were worried, but I said we would be okay and God would provide. In just the last week since sharing the news of the upcoming surgery, we have been given almost the exact amount of Michael's paycheck. For 4-6 weeks, I will be unable to cook or clean or do much of anything. I was worried about how I'd be able to do it. But my sister and mom will be stepping up majorly to help and we've gotten a bunch of people on standby, ready to help with anything needed. Along with this, we are being blessed with giftcards for gas and giftcards for food for us after surgery because I can't do anything for 6 weeks. And in addition to that, my sister set up a mealtrain for us for every other day for 4 weeks and within 2 days it was filled. Our church has rallied behind us and yesterday we had dozens of church members and elders surround me and my family to pray for us. It was amazing and I'm so absolutely grateful to have a church that has such huge prayer warriors!</div>
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We are so grateful to each of you who have supported us and are continuing to support us on this long and difficult journey. Thank you for showing us that even if the tumor hasn't shrank, God still is answering our prayers. Through each of you. Days when we can't pray, you're covering us. Days when we worry about finances or a bill, in comes a random donation. He has answered our prayers and given us such a huge support system and we are SO grateful...</div>
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Please continue to pray for us this week... Tonight Michael and I head to Miami and will stay in a hotel so we don't have to wake up super early where we're able to get one more good night's sleep and we can get one last date night, before all the chaos begins. Tomorrow I meet with the orbital surgeon and then in the afternoon I will be admitted to the hospital as they prepare me for surgery Wednesday. I will be in the hospital until Sunday. Please pray that the surgery goes well. Please pray that the kids do okay with Mommy and Daddy being gone for so long. Please pray for them to be covered in a peace that surpasses all understanding. Please pray that God uses this situation and that He gets glory throughout it all! </div>
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Blessings,<br />
Amanda</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-70291957034206241072017-11-19T06:04:00.004-05:002017-11-19T06:14:19.653-05:00Weary in the fire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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At 2am this morning, I began to read one of my devotionals which really struck me... Here's an excerpt:<br />
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"When you determine to take a stand in faith and refuse </div>
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to give in or give up when the fires of life are blazing, </div>
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you’ll make your enemy very, very angry indeed. Things </div>
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your God by the heat of your fire.</div>
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The time that passes between the utterance of your prayer</div>
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your faith.” Most people tend to give up when they pray </div>
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and then nothing happens. Most people become negative, </div>
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fearful, or bitter when the temperature of their fire is </div>
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multiplied by seven. However, it is vital that you remember</div>
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that the goodness and power of your God is unaffected by</div>
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the temperature of the fire. "</div>
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This is all so very true... And the enemy is becoming very angry with our family right now. Things have been "heating up" more and more and I am becoming so very weary. Between the exhaustion from being unable to sleep from the steroids, and now all sorts of new crazy symptoms, it's getting hard to not give up.<br />
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I came down with thrush this week. Fuzzy feeling with white spots in my mouth, bleeding lesions, and then pain feeling like my tongue was being peeled off in strips. Thankfully medicine and natural remedies have helped this tremendously over the past few days and I'm on the mend...<br />
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The day after the thrush occurred, I began a new symptom that pretty much showed up out of nowhere as I began walking up some stairs to pick up my kids at our Friday morning Bible study. My knee locked up and it became so hard to walk and bend. I figured I had just moved it weird and continued on. It unfortunately didn't get any better and when we got home, I looked closer at my legs and found my knees were swollen and looked strange. As the day went on, the pain got worse and I had to literally limp out from radiation because my left knee would not bend without tons of pain. Unfortunately this pain has only gotten worse over the last day and I've found I have literal fluid pockets all round my knees. Apparently this can be a side effect from the steroids. It can also affect my thigh and calf muscles which is why my legs are in so much pain. The steroids are also causing swelling everywhere else and in my face as well. These steroids are just horrible! And unfortunately I have no other option as they are completely necessary to keep intracranial swelling down. So unfortunately this is just more stuff to endure over the next several weeks of radiation and being on steroids....<br />
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While I know it could be SO much worse, it was just one of those moments where that final straw kind of broke the camel's back. This whole season isn't easy and these symptoms that keep getting added on make it so much harder. Our fire is being multiplied and I'm trying really hard to not become negative, fearful or bitter as it happens. I'm feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted and weary and so I guess this is my call out to please, please, PLEASE pray for our family. Please pray for us as we endure this fire. Please pray that we are able to continue to endure and fight and not give up. Please pray that we are able to continue to find and see joy. That we are able to continue seeing God's goodness and promises and power. Please pray for my kids as Satan attacks them each in various ways, trying hard to bring them down. Please just pray for endurance.<br />
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Please pray:<br />
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Galatians 6:9 </div>
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"Let us not become weary in doing good, </div>
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for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."</div>
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and </div>
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Ephesians 6:11 </div>
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"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take </div>
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your stand against the devil’s schemes." </div>
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Romans 5:3-5</div>
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"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we </div>
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know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance </div>
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develops strength of character, and character strengthens our </div>
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confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to</div>
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disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, </div>
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because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."</div>
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(Also, side note. From here on out, my radiation time is at 2:45 instead of 4:00. I know many have chosen the 4:00 time to pray, and so I wanted to share this change)<br />
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I have no doubt that some of these attacks are occuring, because this morning, Ilana and Michael both take a full stand in their faith and fully give their lives to Christ in baptism at church! Because of this, I choose joy! Despite the pain. Despite the weariness. Despite the exhaustion. I am choosing joy in that these hot fires of life are NOT stopping my family from fully following our Lord. And I have no doubt it's from being covered so heavily in prayer.... So again, friends, family, and followers, thank you for all you do for us... To some of you, you may seem like a prayer is nothing. But for us. It's holding us up. Especially now where I seem to be hanging on by a mere thread... So thank you for blessing us with your prayer and your time.... Thank you for being constant encouragement to us....<br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-22378757734793263112017-11-05T01:53:00.000-04:002017-11-05T01:11:14.802-05:001:00am Writings - My New Normal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's 1 o'clock in the morning... But I'm up and writing. God and I seem to have an unending date every day at 1:17am! So here's this week's update!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm at 2 weeks of radiation down. 4.5 weeks to go...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Things I have learned... Steroids are awful. They have so many crazy side effects! But I know they are beneficial, especially in my case. With having radiation to my head, I’ve been experiencing increased swelling in and around my right eye and horrible headaches. The radiation is causing intracranial swelling which is compressing on all sorts of nerves and blood vessels, which caused me to be in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in before on Monday. I was in so much pain I told Michael I literally just wanted to die. I’ve given birth to three babies without an epidural. I’ve endured kidney stones which I think was worse than labor. I would have preferred 10 kidney stones while giving birth, over the pain I was in Monday. That was a really scary moment for me and the rest of my family to see me in such pain. Michael rushed me to the ER, where they gave me a shot of morphine for pain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The next day they decided to put me on a different steroid that’s longer release and something I have to take 3 times a day instead of once in the morning, as the previous steroid was wearing off by the time I’d have radiation and the internal swelling would occur at night, causing the pain. While this steroid seems to be working (as long as I’m taking it at very specific times), it unfortunately is wreaking havoc on my body. My body and mind is exhausted, yet I’m unable to sleep. I’ve slept about 16 hours total in the last 5 days/120 hours. I’m able to sleep from around 10pm-1am and then I’m up the rest of the day... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a way, it’s been kind of a blessing, because I get some things done while everyone is sleeping (like making elderberry syrup, snooze tincture - I’m willing to try anything for sleep!!, homemade bread, etc), and I get a good length of quality time with the Lord. I’ve started doing 3-4 various bible studies and I’ve picked back up on writing my book that I’ve considered writing for years. Maybe God will use this time where I may finally complete it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But while I’m able to accomplish so much, I know my body is becoming weary and my brain is feeling all the affects from the radiation and the lack of sleep. I’m becoming more forgetful and confused and struggling with basic concepts. It’s weird... It’s like mom brain on steroids. Literally! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite all of this, I find myself just consumed with joy. I’m constantly looking for things to be joyful about because I know how easy it is to dwell in our current situation and see all the bad and I do not want to be consumed with that. I know that despite our circumstances, God is still so very good!! And we are so, so blessed by Him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have some great doctors who truly care... Not many doctors ever text you throughout the week just to see how you’re feeling. What a blessing it is to have a doctor who does this for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My daily radiation time has become such a huge blessing and joy for me. I’m able to sit and talk in a women’s waiting room with other ladies going through cancer. I’m the youngest one in there by about 30-40 years usually, but it’s such an encouragement for me to talk to these ladies each day and I cherish the wisdom they speak of. I go into the radiation room and am literally strapped to the table with a face mask to prevent my head from moving at all during the radiation. This time has been so amazing to me as I lay there, giving back to all those who have prayed for our family over the years and I lay there in prayer for so many people who have shared their prayer requests with me. (If you have a prayer request, I would absolutely love you to email me at <a href="mailto:michaelandamanda@gmail.com" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">michaelandamanda@gmail.com</a> or contact me on Facebook. I would LOVE to pray for you!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have found that through all of this chaos, God has drawn me closer to Him than ever before and I’m just so overjoyed and truly happy... Our whole family is constantly working on choosing joy, as well. It’s been hard for some of my kiddos who already struggle with change and depression and anxiety. This month, during November, we are really focusing on GRATITUDE for how good our Lord is and we plan to use this month to give back to Him by helping others. Whether in prayer or in any other way God sees fit - our kids are thinking and praying for God to give them ideas of random acts of kindness gestures we can do each week and they are just so excited to give to others!! What better way to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas than aligning our hearts to give and be thankful?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are especially thankful for each of our followers, supporters, prayer warriors, family (church and blood) and friends. Your prayers have helped sustain us on the hardest of days. Your monetary gifts have helped ease the burdens of all these medical appointments. Anytime I start to worry about our finances, we get a random check in the mail or a donation on our GoFundMe and it’s just a constant reminder again, that God is good and He will supply ALL our needs and He reminds me to stop worrying!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know so many have asked how you can help tangibly, and I really don’t know right now... Your support and offers truly mean a lot. Really, your prayers are so appreciated and I will try to update once a week with specific prayer needs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are a few for this upcoming week:</span></div>
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<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";"></span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";">For my kids... This is all a lot to endure for them. I’m always the one taking care of them and I’m always home with them. With me being tired and struggling with pain, I’m not able to as much for them and I’ve had to rely heavily on my mom and sister and Michael. They are a huge blessing! But I know it’s hard for my kids to not see me being “normal” and to have me leave everyday for an hour or so for radiation. They’re all still reacting in many different ways to all the change and while I know it’s normal and okay, it’s hard for me to see certain ones struggling so much... </span></span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";"></span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";">For Michael - it’s hard for him seeing me in constant pain. He’s so incredible though at taking care of me. Such a blessing to have a husband that loves me and cares so much!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";"></span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";">For my steroids to allow me to sleep a little longer than 2-3 hours a day and for the exhaustion it’s putting on my body to not wear down my immune system.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";"></span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";">For the amazing people I meet every day at radiation. For their bodies to heal completely of each of their different cancers. </span></span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";"></span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext";">For wisdom for my doctors in knowing what things to do for me, as I’m pretty much a guinea pig/experiment as they’ve never treated this before. </span></span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For the deep, internal pressure in my head to subside. While the headache pain has decreased from Monday, I still struggle with the normal "dull, aching headache" I've had for the last 6 weeks. But there's now a new kind of "pain" which is more of just internal pressure. I'm sure it's from the intracranial swelling, but I'd love for that pressure to be minimal...</span></li>
<li style="color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For God to be glorified through our entire family's circumstance. No matter the outcome. </span></li>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-44852247976506573822017-10-21T06:16:00.000-04:002017-10-21T06:16:43.843-04:00Our Next Chapter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What a crazy few years it’s been… Two and a half years ago we had to say a painful goodbye to our son as we watched him join a new family. We didn’t understand God’s plan and purpose and why there seemed to be such a huge twist in our adoption story. We were heartbroken (and still struggle with grief to this day), but we tried hard to trust the Lord and His timing (to read more about this chapter, you can read it <a href="http://www.lettinggodwriteourstory.com/2015/02/when-love-isnt-enough-and-love-means.html">HERE</a>). </div>
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We didn’t expect what would happen 9 months later. I will never forget that moment when Ilana looked up and I spotted the large lump on her neck. After a bunch of doctor appointments, ultrasounds and a biopsy, it confirmed our biggest fear. <a href="http://www.lettinggodwriteourstory.com/2015/11/those-three-words.html">Cancer</a>. Her surgery was tough. The cancer was all over in her neck. The thyroid, the muscles, the lymph nodes, around her trachea and in her vocal chord. Hearing the doctor tell us that we may never hear our daughter speak again literally brought me to my knees later in the hospital waiting room bathroom as I cried out to the Lord asking “WHY?!?” Her radioactive iodine treatment was even harder. Having a 9 year old so completely alone and isolated for 4 long days. No one could be near her. No one could touch her. No one could eat with her. When she was sick from the medication, no one could be there with her to hold her hair back as she threw up violently. When she cried out saying “Mommy, I need you! Mommy I feel so alone!” I could do nothing. </div>
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We would’ve never imagined that 6 months after her surgery, we would find out that I had the same exact diagnosis. Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and I would undergo the same surgery (which thankfully revealed the cancer being completely encapsulated and not near as invasive as Ilana’s was). </div>
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Then 2 months after that began the battle of Aydan’s eye pain, caused from prior surgeries on his retina. The pain was excruciatingly debilitating. It got to the point where he could not be outside because he was so sensitive to the light and it caused so much eye pain that he couldn’t function. It’s hard for anyone to go through pain like that, but an 8 year old boy? It was awful… 1 year and 4 surgeries later he is finally pain free and his retina is finally healed and attached. </div>
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This latest hit caught us by total surprise. I had begun noticing my right eye getting larger/more protruded. I was battling frequent headaches and my vision seemed to be getting blurrier. A few months went by with more symptoms and I began waking up with a swollen eyelid. I really didn’t pay much attention to it and kinda wrote it off as stress and lack of sleep. It wasn’t until I was reading about my thyroid disorder (Grave’s Disease) and read about thyroid eye disease (TED). My symptoms seemed to fit and I decided I really should talk to my thyroid doctor about it. He referred me to an oculoplastics ophthalmologist who decided to have me get a CT scan to confirm the TED and told me to see a regular ophthalmologist to see about my vision changes. We decided to use Aydan’s local eye doctor because we completely trusted him, and this doctor has shown us just how much he cares for our family. This was when we first started to realize there was something more going on. He had me get an appointment with a few other eye specialists and told me to go through with the CT scan, all within the next 2 days. </div>
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As I sat in the neuro-ophthalmologists’ office waiting to see the results of the CT scan, I never even considered or imagined that there would be anything beyond the thyroid eye disease. So when the doctor came in and told me that this was NOT thyroid related and that there was a tumor behind my eye, I was completely speechless. He showed me on the screen and explained everything to me and asked if I had any questions. I sat there, shook my head “no” and walked out pretty stunned. The next day, I was called and they wanted me to get an emergency MRI. This was when it really felt serious… After the MRI and lots of waiting and doctor appointment and a second opinion 3 hours away, we got the official results:</div>
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Most likely an atypical globoid meningioma that seems to be fairly aggressive that is wrapped around my optic nerve, which had already begun causing permanent damage to the nerve, resulting in the death of retinal cells, peripheral vision loss, blind spots, diminishing color, and overall decrease in vision. A high dose of radiation, spread out over 6 weeks (Monday through Friday) is required in hopes that it stops it from growing any further. If the radiation treatment does not work, then that means this meningioma is likely something even more serious and our only other option is a very intense and invasive and scary biopsy/surgery with some very dangerous risks. </div>
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As we drove home from Miami, feeling at peace about our decisions and at peace with what all will entail over the next few months, I listened to Bethel Music on my phone and spent time in prayer. As I looked up at the setting sun, I realized that the sun was no longer bright while looking at it with just my right eye. I began to sob as reality set in… I began to pray for God’s will. For God’s purpose. That God will be glorified through every day. That He will be glorified with each appointment. And that no matter the outcome, I will always praise Him.</div>
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I’ve had people comment about how they don’t know how I can still be joyful. Or how I can still praise Him. Or how I’m not angry over all that has happened with our family over the last couple years.</div>
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I’ll be honest. Throughout the last 2 and a half years, I have been angry. I have literally laid in bed and cried out to God asking “Why?” Asking Him where He is. Asking Him why He seems to have just left me alone. So many times where I’ve felt such darkness. And I’ve become so overcome with grief that I can’t see Him and can’t fathom why He would allow all these things to happen to us. (You can read about it in my last post <a href="http://www.lettinggodwriteourstory.com/2017/03/floodwaters.html">“Floodwaters”</a>). Eventually the darkness would begin to dissipate and I’d see that God WAS still there.</div>
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But this most recent twist in our story has left me thirsty for more of Him. I’ve felt such an overwhelming sense of peace that it just doesn’t make any sense. It reminds me of the verse in Philippians 4 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” I’ve realized that through prayer and devotion to Him, I’ve become filled with a peace that has surpassed all understanding. </div>
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When I ask “Why?”, I now realize that all the prior experiences in medical crises, surgeries, and such have prepared us for this moment. In the 12 years that Michael and I have been married, we have been through 18 surgeries, hundreds (if not thousands) of appointments, and what feels like a gazillion scans/ultrasounds/tests. We have a daughter who was born with a cleft palate and only one functioning kidney with kidney reflux, who was diagnosed with a rare thyroid cancer at the age of 9 and is still battling it to this day. We had a preemie son with the same kidney issues, and who has had eye issues since he was 6 months old who had a detached retina at the young age of 5. We have a son with HIV, a heart condition and endocrinology and growth issues. We battled a difficult surprise pregnancy that resulted in another preemie child. We have battled much more than the average family, and while that really stinks sometimes, I’ve thought about what it says in Romans 5 “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” And I’ve realized just how true this is. Through all these situations, we have developed such an endurance that this newest diagnosis isn’t going to knock us down. Isn’t it better for us to endure this trial when we are well prepared to overcome? </div>
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All that said, this isn’t easy. This new diagnosis is a hard pill to swallow. This diagnosis comes with a lot of pain and frustration. I wake up every day with my eye swollen and looking like I was punched in the eye the night before. I’ve been suffering a constant headache for over 3 weeks which seems to be getting worse as the days come. And what makes it hard is that I cannot take anything for the pain, so I’ve learned to just deal with it and I try to ignore the pain as much as I can. I AM angry that we have to endure this on top of everything else we’ve endured. But even so I choose to praise Him. I choose to. Because despite the pain. Despite the diagnosis. Despite it all… God is STILL good. I have to endure this pain and suffering, not because of the Lord, but because we live on earth. This world is a beautiful place. But it’s a fallen place. And because of this, people will endure hunger, pain, and suffering. But this is even more reason to praise God. That because of His great love for us, He sent Jesus. So that one day we don’t have to suffer anymore. One day, we will be healed and whole and pain free. Because He loves us!! Regardless of the pain the world gives me, I still have the hope and love of Jesus. Jesus is still good! This is my answer to my kids who have been asking why God is allowing so much to happen to our family. That we live in a fallen world with sickness and where bad things happen, but to constantly cling to the hope and goodness of our Lord and to remember that God can bring beauty from these ashes. </div>
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Aydan came up to me one evening and said “Mommy, I think I know why God is allowing this tumor. There are still a lot of unbelievers in the world, right? So maybe He is going to use your tumor to bring others to Jesus if you keep talking about Him when you’re hurting. People are going to see the hope of Jesus in you and want that, too!”</div>
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So even on days when I’m angry, I will still praise the Lord. Even on days when I’m in pain, I will choose to praise the Lord. Even on days when I have nothing to say, I will STILL choose to praise Him. No matter what the outcome of this diagnosis may be, we will still choose to praise Him. Even when it makes no sense. I’ve learned that in order to keep myself from constantly focusing on all the hard stuff in life, I have to choose to find joy in every situation. And so I praise Him for all the good that still occurs, in between the hard. </div>
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Lately I’ve been praising the Lord for the support system He has given us. I’ve been inundated with texts, Facebook messages, phone calls and emails. It’s honestly been hard to keep up with everyone. It’s amazing. I never imagined that we’d literally have hundreds of people praying for us all over the country. We have people asking to help with the kids, asking to help us with medical bills, asking to bring us dinner, heck – even people offering to come and clean toilets! We are seriously so blessed by what God has given us – a giant body of Christ who truly loves and cares so deeply for our family… Along with that, RENU Ranch. Our home. Living next to my sister. The whole point of RENU Ranch was for it to be a place of renewal. We never imagined we’d be enduring something like this, but living so close to family is something I’ve been praising the Lord for every single day. God has blessed me SO much and I am so thankful for all He has done for me. </div>
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For those who have asked for specific prayer requests….</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For God to be glorified through it all</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>That the tumor will shrink over the next 6 weeks of radiation and for minimal side effects</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For my kids. They are all reacting in various ways to all the chaos that has occurred over the last 2 weeks. Regression, PTSD, depression, attitudes, worry. It’s been tough and I have a feeling will get even harder in the weeks to come as mommy leaves each day for appointments</div>
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-<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For Michael – that he continues to trust the Lord through it all</div>
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I’ve struggled with blogging consistently, and so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to update this through our latest journey. I will be sure to post updates in our Facebook group that originally was created for Ilana’s cancer, but now has become more of a Warriors for the Nunez page. You can follow that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/warriorsforilana/">HERE</a>. Another friend created a GoFundMe page to help with all the crazy expenses that will incur with this. She will post occasional updates on there, too. You can visit it <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/forthenunezfamily">HERE</a>.</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-53417062109925197962017-03-23T20:00:00.000-04:002017-03-23T20:00:12.183-04:00Floodwaters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It’s dark and the floodwaters are rising. I’m swimming with
as much strength as I can muster to try to reach the water’s edge. Yet, it’s as
if I’m getting nowhere. I’m not moving. The current is too strong. The waves
crash harder and the water rises higher. It’s up to my neck. I can’t touch the
bottom. I’m struggling with keeping my head above the water, but my arms are
becoming tired. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay above the floodwaters…<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck. Deeper
and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water,
and the floods overwhelm me. I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is
parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me.”
Psalm 69:1-3 (NLT)<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Get up, God! Are you
going to sleep all day? Wake up! Don’t you care what happens? Why do you bury
your face in the pillow? Why pretend things are just fine with us? And here we
are – flat on our faces in the dirt, held down with a boot on our necks. Get up
and come to our rescue. If you love us so much, help us!” Psalm 44:23-26 (The
Message)<o:p></o:p></div>
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These verses have played throughout my mind so many times
over the last few weeks. They reflect my not just my mind, but my heart, and I
feel so much like David described… The
first paragraph is how I’ve been feeling lately. I’m losing strength and
questioning where God is in all of this chaos, as we get slammed with wave
after wave of grief, trauma, medical issues, and life. When will the waves stop so I can just catch a
breath? When will the waves stop so I can rest? When will the floodwaters dry
up and I can walk “on land” and have a sense of “normalcy” for a bit?<o:p></o:p></div>
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These past few years have been so difficult, and while I’ve
journeyed on and always kept my eyes focused on the Lord, it’s as if I’m
walking deeper into darkness and am struggling to find His light in the midst
of it all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I had a breakdown moment last night, where I poured out all
my feelings to Michael, questioning him where God is. And later begging God to
show me that He is still here. That He is still present. Deep down I know He is
there, but goodness gracious, it’s hard to remember it when I feel like I’m
gasping for air every day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We recently moved, which is a blessing. But that move comes
with downfalls. You see, we moved to a ten acre property with my sister and her
family. Ten kids. Ten acres. RENU Ranch. This is the blessing. The downfall is
that our home is still not finished. We have been living in a one bedroom, one
bath home with a makeshift kitchen (i.e. an oven, stove, and refrigerator – no counters.
No kitchen sink) since December. Our kids have been sleeping in bunk beds in
the living room, until recently when our house was opened up for the addition,
when they’ve been sleeping in an RV (that friends blessed us with) with my mom.
While I feel terrible complaining, knowing we are blessed to have beds to sleep
in and food to eat and many of our problems are "first world problems", it’s gotten old. Our kids are missing a sense of normalcy.
They’re missing our normal routines. They’re missing the way life was. I keep telling them it’s temporary, but heck,
even I struggle with it... Even though I know things could be much worse. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are hoping and praying our old home sells, but so far we
haven’t gotten many showings because the housing market is a bit finicky and
buyers are taking their time with newer/higher priced homes. This is a struggle and burden, as we need our
house to sell so we can continue paying for the renovation/addition on the
property. But so far, no “bites” and I’m stressing over finances. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Aydan had surgery #7 in January. This one was #5 for his
eye. Since his prior surgeries, Aydan has had some pain and discomfort in his
left eye (the one that had the detached retina), along with photophobia
(extreme light sensitivity). Unfortunately, after a month, the issue was worse
and he was in more pain, and we learned that the surgery didn’t take, and we
were referred to a specialist an hour away. She said his case was just too
complicated and that he really needed to be evaluated at Bascom Palmer (a
hospital, specifically for eyes) in Miami (3 hours away). We promptly made an
appointment and met with a pediatric ophthalmologist. He confirmed that Aydan
was officially blind in his left eye. No vision occurred any longer. He told us
that Aydan is no longer allowed to play any sort of contact sports or do anything
that can result in trauma to his head/face, as he’s at such high risk of the
retina detaching in his right eye. He
wanted us to see a pediatric retinal specialist to see what our options were in
relieving the pain and photophobia he was having. The photophobia was so
difficult that he can’t play outside much during the day unless he’s in the
shade and wearing a hat because it causes such extreme pain in his eye and
head. We made the appointment, which was 4 weeks away. In the meantime, we
followed up with his original retinal specialist (not pediatric), who did not
offer much help and made me more frustrated and confused on what the right
decision is for Aydan. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I feel like we are just in a constant fight for getting good
medical care for our children. While I’m certainly no expert, I guarantee that I
know my children better than any doctor. Aydan is a boy who rarely complains of
pain, so the pain in his eye and head isn’t “normal”. The light sensitivity is
not “just a thing all kids have”. Not
one of my other kids have such extreme sensitivity to light that their eye
shuts on its own when in any light or sunlight. Not one of my other kids have
pain so bad with light that they’d rather not play outside in the sunshine. Not
one of my other kids sometimes struggle to participate in activities because
their eye hurts so much. Not one of my other kids have to hold one of their
eyes shut while watching a movie because the television is too bright and hurts
their head. This is NOT something “all kids have”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve read countless medical journals about all the surgeries
Aydan has had. All the side effects. All the symptoms he’s having. Hours of
research. And I’m just so confused and struggling with the right decision. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We can either remove the band that was placed around his eye
3 years ago, which should help with straightening his eye, and hopefully help
with the photophobia and “squeezing pain”. This can result in issues with his
eyeball where there’s a chance he can actually lose his eye. Or, we can choose
to do nothing and allow Aydan to live in pain and with the light sensitivity
for the rest of his life. Either choice is difficult and a struggle. We meet
with the pediatric retinal specialist in Miami on Monday, and I pray she sees
our side and understands a bit more on what all Aydan is enduring. I’m not sure
how much more fighting for good medical care that I can take.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Along with this, we
recently had to give Max away. Max was our beautiful German Shepherd that
became Aydan’s best companion and such a therapy to Aydan’s PTSD. Max loved our
family too much and became too stressed (which had emotional and physical side
effects on him) and became completely overprotective to the point of biting two
strangers. For his safety, we had to give him to our dog trainer who could
train him to be more of a work/protection dog because he just couldn't handle the stress of being a "family dog". This broke our hearts. Saying
goodbye to him brought many of us to tears, but watching my sweet Aydan sob to
the trainer, asking him to please take very good care of Max (leaving the
trainer in tears, as well), my heart broke. I knew the outcome of what this
would do to Aydan. I knew it would cause his PTSD to spiral out of control.
Yet, I had no idea just how bad it would get and how bad depression would hit.
My heart ached as I watched him over the next week and I struggled with
questioning where God was when we had a long talk with Aydan later that week
and learned of some things going through this sweet boy’s mind. Things no 8
year old should ever think or worry about. I became angry. Wondering how much
more this boy would have to endure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My heart is becoming so overwhelmed and weary. After the
last two years, it feels like it’s just been hit after hit after hit. I know we've overcome even greater trials than these and yes,
there have been blessings in between and I have always been great at
remembering these... But as I said before, it’s getting harder and harder to
breathe when you’re already tired and you get crushed by each wave crashing
down upon you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve been crying out to the Lord, especially at night when I
lie awake for hours. I’ve been trying hard to remember this verse. “Cast your
cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be
shaken.” – Psalm 55:22<o:p></o:p></div>
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While it promises that the righteous will not be shaken,
sometimes I’m not so sure that that is true. I feel so completely shaken
lately. Sometimes feeling how we can continue on and how I can muster up enough
strength to endure much more. As I’ve researched it more, I’ve come to realize
it means that he won’t let us be shaken FOREVER. He won’t make us endure these
trials FOREVER. Eventually, He will bring us out of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While I understand this, it doesn’t necessarily help or make
things any easier. Just makes me question more on when He’s going to say “Okay,
enough! You have fought. You have endured. Your trials are done for now.
Breathe and rest in Me.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help!
Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.” – Psalm 55:1-2
(NLT)<o:p></o:p></div>
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If anything, it’s comforting to know that David had so many
struggles like I am. Questioning where God was. And while I’ve felt guilty
thinking all these thoughts, I’ve also learned it’s okay. God loves me even
when I’m upset. God loves me even when I’m questioning what in the world He’s
doing. I take comfort in the fact that I know He will never leave or forsake
me. Even during times where I just want to give up. He doesn’t. And for that, I
praise Him. If for nothing else, I praise Him for being there always, even when
I can’t quite see Him in the darkness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-35772625327061324912017-01-01T19:41:00.003-05:002017-01-01T19:45:12.403-05:002016 - What a year....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">2016. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJb-7Ym-N_FfguKQmtnq3eWBnTBNZgn19E3XDO4mXvPxaKUxjOjq7lZOKd8Q3z6NCQYxUeM2wJxeLEI07QV50khrgk-KIVmMdJH9kwBpMBVCoClgfs6cBLtJJ9MrUuZclVny6wAVnP7Zjc/s1600/12672077_10103331583187588_6040886190254420498_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJb-7Ym-N_FfguKQmtnq3eWBnTBNZgn19E3XDO4mXvPxaKUxjOjq7lZOKd8Q3z6NCQYxUeM2wJxeLEI07QV50khrgk-KIVmMdJH9kwBpMBVCoClgfs6cBLtJJ9MrUuZclVny6wAVnP7Zjc/s320/12672077_10103331583187588_6040886190254420498_o.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Wow, what a year! </div>
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Started off our year with a newish cancer diagnosis for Ilana who had just had surgery two weeks prior to the new year. A few weeks into 2016, we went through the hardest time I've ever endured as my 9 year old baby girl had to be completely isolated from everyone for days due to radiation that she had to take. She was all completely alone. Night. Day. Eating alone. Sleeping alone. Throwing up alone. Just. Alone. It brings back a sick feeling to my stomach.... </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKPAHRS_d4hyphenhyphenU6BuVi_VTx4rJJD2aIOpx45aUSqzry-lErQZtOA0IUdsT1gp7YjCZhOcgAuFYxPmIeekk9Kw54d1yu7hzrnNn5voAtuT8-n6m8iRDYKYZzwugzK5Cv9e6W8zX8rs86DIB/s1600/IMG_2067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKPAHRS_d4hyphenhyphenU6BuVi_VTx4rJJD2aIOpx45aUSqzry-lErQZtOA0IUdsT1gp7YjCZhOcgAuFYxPmIeekk9Kw54d1yu7hzrnNn5voAtuT8-n6m8iRDYKYZzwugzK5Cv9e6W8zX8rs86DIB/s320/IMG_2067.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her bedroom, prepared for isolation - everything covered in plastic.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of her bedroom, prepared for isolation</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqfHUfP7UvrcmT02QxhS18oCkxLtQBCvyAE8n3bnTIsFySgtBba8Odv8Euf5MOhUFQ3WUPOqakP1USGn96vHfBgqb251g4SCTCLYXL-8dRBQr0l9HxGNHsHL6HzeARQm4XpFdIuVpTBd2/s1600/IMG_2060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqfHUfP7UvrcmT02QxhS18oCkxLtQBCvyAE8n3bnTIsFySgtBba8Odv8Euf5MOhUFQ3WUPOqakP1USGn96vHfBgqb251g4SCTCLYXL-8dRBQr0l9HxGNHsHL6HzeARQm4XpFdIuVpTBd2/s320/IMG_2060.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Letters and gifts from friends to help keep her occupied while she was in isolation.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8l25WqqmBRXrCfF_p-Miy8uZufi-TufbmfzLQcFkTijFvA7xENsSGsG1n81pzb4X2ugIn9aa0NMGElEA9Aj_M4q0aZUoq66lXO-NwIt4_vi-T6SI48tWs-pqJsgTeabJAaOBhindqwo8v/s1600/IMG_2074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8l25WqqmBRXrCfF_p-Miy8uZufi-TufbmfzLQcFkTijFvA7xENsSGsG1n81pzb4X2ugIn9aa0NMGElEA9Aj_M4q0aZUoq66lXO-NwIt4_vi-T6SI48tWs-pqJsgTeabJAaOBhindqwo8v/s320/IMG_2074.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bathroom - that only she could use. Covered in plastic to keep the radiation from getting anywhere else.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClcRmUMD4UHYq9JQtzhSGodOaxHTaiGqhir8TrNaVK1SG5JZFVNHMoOWyvO8qsXzRYgd75ocPrcVUFuFOlxd4mpSj6bNhatMnpXBV7VW-1tGgTHktbYLY81QQNc-zdQR17fidH4wKoGAk/s1600/IMG_2144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClcRmUMD4UHYq9JQtzhSGodOaxHTaiGqhir8TrNaVK1SG5JZFVNHMoOWyvO8qsXzRYgd75ocPrcVUFuFOlxd4mpSj6bNhatMnpXBV7VW-1tGgTHktbYLY81QQNc-zdQR17fidH4wKoGAk/s320/IMG_2144.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming out of isolation and getting to hug Daddy for the first time in 3 days!</td></tr>
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She had crazy side effects from this. Bone pain where she felt like all her bones were on fire. If you gently touched her arm, she'd be in so much pain. She couldn't walk or stand for long amounts of time. Scans showed cancer not just in her thyroid, but her neck and lungs as well. She went through numerous scans, ultrasounds, med increases and labwork, which recently showed that she needed another med increase and that her cancer markers had tripled.</div>
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We found out 6 months into 2016 that, after removal of my thyroid, I, too, had the same thyroid cancer as Ilana. </div>
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Aydan had to endure two more surgeries and struggled majorly with PTSD from all his prior surgeries and events that happened the last couple years. </div>
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It was a hard year. Such a hard year. Yet, despite all the "bad", we had SO much good, that I'm fairly certain all the good surpassed all the bad...</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Ilana was surprised with tickets to see Pentatonix by someone she didn't even know! We went on a fun journey with friends to the east coast of Florida and got to meet Pentatonix and attend one of their concerts and became new friends with this tremendously generous family. </span></div>
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We were given the news that ilana was given a wish from the Make A Wish Foundation. We went on the best trip of our entire lives. To Hawaii. Hawaii had been such a dream of Ilana's. We talked about what to do one day as a family when she beat cancer. When she talked of Hawaii, I was so sad because I knew it would never become a reality for our family and small budget. But God interfered and several people had nominated her for Make A Wish. We still talk about this trip often and its referred by so many of our kids about the trip that changed us. The trip that brought us closer than ever. The best trip in the world. The fond memories will NEVER be forgotten. </div>
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We were given the opportunity through Do It For The Love to see Hillsong, Kari Jobe, and Rend Collective in concert on their Outcry Tour. Three of our favorite Christian artists!! We even got to meet Hillsong, and that alone is a memory that still brings me to tears as they stood around us and prayed specifically for our family. It was incredible. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Hillsong United!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Hillsong United!</td></tr>
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This year we were given numerous opportunities that were priceless to our family. Along with the cool concerts and trips, this year changed all of us. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ilana</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">has grown in so many ways. This little girl who once feared needles now confidently walks into the blood labs and stretches out her arm and gives vials of blood like its nothing. I guess blood work every 4-6 weeks for a year makes you a pro! She has matured beyond her years and grown leaps and bounds in her faith. She's our constant reminder that God answers prayers - maybe not always how we asked, but He still answers them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Aydan -</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> has learned how to better deal with the PTSD and has overcome so much, especially with the help of our new dog (as of February), Max! He could have turned out to have a hardened heart, but no. He's our constant giver. With a heart of gold and a sensitive spirit that knows what others need and often feels what others feel. I'm really not sure you'll find someone more generous than him. He sees others with a heart like Jesus. If there's a homeless man, you'd better believe we MUST stop and help. If you hear sirens while driving, he's usually the first to quickly announce that we must pray. Right then and there. If he sees anyone with less than him, he will literally give all he has to them. I've witnessed this constantly and it's just incredible how God is healing his heart, despite the past trauma he's endured! </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aydan and Max!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mikiyas... </span></div>
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He continues to grow in knowledge of the Word. He knows biblical facts better than Michael and I it seems and still strives to be a missionary when he grows up! He's growing into such a handsome young man and has grown leaps and bounds in self esteem and loving himself. This is a tough thing for a little boy to grow up many years in an orphanage being told he was yucky, unlovable and untouchable. Just because of HIV. He's learned over the years of being home that these things are NOT true, but I know it still plays in his mind. Satan is realizing though, that this year, these lies aren't working so well. We started growth hormones late last year to help boost his growth because he's been so tiny and he's struggled a lot with being one of the smallest in our family, yet the oldest child. After 6 months, his heart/mind began to change and self value and heritage began to kick in. He decided that despite people's constant questions, despite people's not so nice comments, he was going to start embracing his smallness. He was going to accept the fact that many Ethiopians just aren't tall like Daddy and many are actually pretty short. He began to think of his image from God's perspective and he was finally able to love himself. The way God created him. This is something he could only get to on his own with the Lord's help! And he's grown 3" since last year, 1" being without the assistance of growth hormone shots! He's also gone from a huge handful of meds to just 4, along with his cardiomyopathy improving so much that his heart is now functioning normally!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mireya....</span></div>
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This has been a tough year for her. So many changes. So many appointments that she went to with us and she's not at the age to understand any of it. She's regressed a bit in some areas and separation anxiety has kicked in a bit, but my goodness, she's always such a joy. She's been the one holding Ilana's hand during bloodwork, helping distract ilana from nervousness at appointments. Constantly making our family laugh with her goofiness on hard days. And on days where I struggle a lot with what in the world God is doing and question where He is, she usually is right there, sits in my lap, squeezes me tight or wipes my tears away. And that's when I remember. God is there. God gave us Mireya. When doctors said there was no more chance of pregnancy, she denied all odds and was conceived and fought to eventually be born completely healthy. She is our miracle. God still does miracles and this is why we have Mireya (whose name means miracle)! And she's not just a joy to us, but to SO many others. When she spots someone (usually an older man) alone anywhere we go, you'll usually see her flirting for his attention, and once she's got it, she won't let go and she becomes joy for someone else during that entire time. To see her having a whole conversation with an elderly man without a care on what's going on around her is just the sweetest, most precious thing. I hope she never loses that. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Michael and I... </span></div>
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We have grown closer than ever throughout all these trials. It's crazy to look back and see what all we've endured and suffered over the last 11 years of marriage. And to see ourselves today, stronger than ever. It's crazy how God refines us in the fire if we allow Him to. Michael has been my constant rock and it's been a true blessing that he's been able to be there with me for every surgery for the kids and me, along with every cancer appointment for ilana. His job has been truly amazing and they blessed Michael with an unlimited amount of time away for cancer appointments or surgeries that would NOT count against his vacation or sick days. Not many employers would ever be so generous, and we are so incredibly thankful. I can't imagine doing any of this without Michael there with me...</div>
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Me.</div>
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I've struggled a lot and questioned God and wondered where He is at times.</div>
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Despite the constant hard, I've always found my way back to Him and realized that He is in control. That His ways are perfect. <b>That He is GOOD. </b></div>
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Cancer sucks. <b>But God is still GOOD. </b></div>
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Watching your child while in complete isolation from everyone for days is harder than anything you've ever imagined.<b> But God is still THERE. </b></div>
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Watching your child struggle with PTSD and dark thoughts is heartbreaking. <b>But God is still THERE. </b></div>
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Watching your child go through what seems like countless surgeries is exhausting. <b>But In Him, you receive rest. </b></div>
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Going through surgery yourself and finding out you have cancer, too, feels defeating. <b>But God always answers prayer. </b></div>
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Struggling with the ups and downs of having no thyroid, sometimes being so absolutely exhausted its hard to get out of bed or you find yourself falling asleep from sitting longer than a few minutes, or a migraine so bad you cannot move for hours, or weird and unexplained aches and pains... </div>
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It truly seems unfair, at times. </div>
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But God. </div>
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<b>God is still GOOD.</b></div>
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This year, my faith has grown stronger than ever. What Satan meant for harm, </div>
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God used it to pull me closer to Him. </div>
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2016 was one of the hardest years ever. </div>
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But my goodness.... </div>
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The love and support we've received has been truly incredible and for that I am grateful. </div>
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I hope and pray that 2017 brings continued hope, healing, and restoration. </div>
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But no matter what, I know my hope is in Him. It is always in Him. </div>
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And I'm confident, His plans are perfect. </div>
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I'm excited about one of His plans coming to fruition in this new year....</div>
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We finally moved and have began something we have dreamed of for a long time... </div>
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Living more with less. </div>
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Minimizing.</div>
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Downsizing. </div>
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And homesteading with my sister and brother in law and their six kids on ten acres. </div>
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We are living tiny. Super tiny! </div>
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Learning more about living together as a family of six in a tiny home has been interesting as we wait for our home to sell and an addition to be built onto our one bedroom one bath home. I honestly am loving it, though. Our kids are learning to be thankful for what we have and realizing what truly matters.</div>
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I can't wait to see what God has in store for this property and our "family compound" and cannot wait to give Him all the glory as we start this new adventure of homesteading on this ranch with ten kids on ten acres (and will try to blog more on our adventures)! </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Happy New Year, friends....</span></div>
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I pray 2017 is full of hope and that you feel God's unending love for you... </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Love, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Nuñez Family</span></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-33844645780094588002016-09-19T13:14:00.002-04:002016-09-19T13:42:53.305-04:00Thy Will Be Done<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As we begin school this year, this song resonates with my soul... </div>
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"I'm so confused</div>
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I know I heard you loud and clear</div>
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So, I followed through</div>
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Somehow I ended up here</div>
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I don't wanna think</div>
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I may never understand</div>
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That my broken heart is a part of your plan</div>
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When I try to pray</div>
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All I've got is hurt and these four words</div>
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Thy will be done..." </div>
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I started another school year with just 4 kids today. Just a couple years ago, I thought I'd be homeschooling 5. </div>
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Yet, here I am. With just 4. </div>
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I knew I heard God loud and clear when we were presented with the complete surprise referral of adopting a second child. God told us "Yes. Bring home Eyob, too." I thought he was going to be ours forever, just like Mikiyas. </div>
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Yet 2 1/2 years after bringing him home, God told us we needed to let go. That in order for Eyob to reach his full potential and to be fully healed and for the rest of our family to heal from trauma and PTSD, along with keeping everyone safe, we needed to find a new family for him... I was so confused and heartbroken. I didn't understand why He wanted us to do this.</div>
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As I look back over the last year, and look forward into this next year, I now kinda get it. I honestly don't know how we would've been able to endure life with two cancer diagnoses, various medical conditions, AND a child with RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) and severe needs. Life has been hard. So hard. And it's getting even harder as we pursue new specialists to figure out the depth of Aydan's medical needs. After a specialist visit on Friday, we found out that he will very likely need surgery in the coming months on his kidneys and ureters. We also came out of that appointment needing appointments with orthopedics for Aydan (bc of some spine/rib issues) and genetics for all three of our bios (to test for various genetics syndromes) and a kidney ultrasound for Mireya (because it's very likely she has the same kidney problems that ilana had and Aydan now has). Along with that ultrasound, we also have to do yearly thyroid ultrasounds for the younger two, to make sure there are no thyroid growths, as it's likely that the thyroid cancer ilana and I have are genetic. </div>
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I am exhausted. I'm so weary and worn. Yet I am so thankful that we were obedient with what God called us to do a year and a half ago. God certainly knew what He was doing, even when we didn't understand. He knew what we would be facing in the coming years, and knew that dealing with those tribulations, along with the daily hourly fits and completely unsafe tantrums of a RAD child would be my undoing. He knew that this sweet child would be unable to heal in a home with so many medical uncertainties. In a home where we'd constantly come and go with appointment and surgeries and out of state travel for specialists. He knew all of this way before we did. And he ensured healing on both sides by finding the perfect family that would come alongside our family and adopt our son and instill the same Christian values that we hold so dearly in our hearts. They would love him with all their being. And would help his heart to heal and his brain to see that he was able to love again. His brain controlled his heart and because of that, the fear of love blocked all ability to attach to a mother. Yet, through God and this family, he was finally able to. He is healed. He is whole. God turned something horrible like RAD and made beauty from those ashes and helped him be able to love again. I was so confused on why God couldn't do that with me. Why He couldn't allow Eyob to heal in our home. Why He couldn't allow Eyob to love me the way he loves his new momma. But now I understand. God knew that these coming years in our family would just be too much for that trauma filled brain... And He paved the way with so many God-incidences that we knew that putting Eyob in the France family was the perfect plan. </div>
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I still am confused on why God does what He does. Like, why couldn't he heal Eyob's heart in our family AND heal our family of all the medical problems we are facing? But then I'm reminded that we live in a fallen world. And because of that, we humans have to endure things like cancer, death, financial difficulties, etc. Just because we are believers and followers of Christ does not make us immune to the evils of this fallen world. While sometimes I feel like we've gotten more than our "fair share" of medical problems, I'm also reminded that it could be worse. And also that God is using our family in the midst of these hard times. We're able to share how we choose joy, amongst the difficulties that life throws at us. We're able to share with so many, the source of our joy... </div>
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So... While I'm exhausted and weary and ready to just be done with appointments and specialists and surgeries, I'm also choosing joy. Despite the weariness, there's SO very much to be thankful for. </div>
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I live in a country where I can drive to get medical care. I don't have to walk for days. I can see every specialist we need, even if it requires flying out of state. </div>
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I live in a country where I can get (good) HIV meds for my son so that he can finally become undetectable. While he has a damaged heart, from lack of good meds in Ethiopia, I am so thankful for the ability to have heart meds that make it possible for the damage to not get worse!</div>
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I live in an area with clean water. </div>
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I have a pantry and freezer and fridge filled with food and ingredients that will last us months. </div>
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I have hot water. A washing machine. A dryer. </div>
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I have a bed. A pillow. A blanket. </div>
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And you know what else that I'm thankful for?!</div>
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I'm thankful that we got some great news from Ilana's doctor this morning.</div>
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*** <b>Ilana's cancer markers have gone down! ***</b></div>
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They're still detectable, but they have miraculously gone down!! This is HUGE! This is something we are celebrating and praising God for!!! I am in tears for some (finally) good news!!</div>
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Our life sure isn't easy.... But I'm choosing joy in all of His plans. </div>
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Whatever our future holds, </div>
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Thy will be done...</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-91209467666763662432016-09-07T10:24:00.001-04:002016-09-07T10:29:05.454-04:00Cancer. A curse... or possibly a blessing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This month is not only childhood cancer awareness month, but it's also thyroid cancer awareness month. As we traveled home recently from Pennsylvania after visiting CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia), I sat on the plane in deep thought about our past year. I just so happened to sit next to a kind, elderly couple. The woman asked us if we were on vacation, so I briefly explained that we were coming back from CHOP because of our daughter's thyroid cancer. This woman had just recently had an ultrasound on her clavicle due to unusual swelling. Swelling in her neck and clavicle that's been there for several years. They found thyroid nodules on the ultrasound and told her to seek a specialist. Coincidence that we sat next to each other? I think not. I told her how important it would be for her to find a good endocrinologist and made a few recommendations for her and further explained our family's story. I told her that I would pray that it was nothing and hoped all would turn out okay.<br />
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That got me thinking more as we continued our journey home... The last 9-10 months have been hell at times. Watching my 9 year old go through a cancer battle. Going through an invasive surgery, countless bloodwork, enduring complete isolation for what seemed like forever as she struggled crying out for Mommy, yet I was allowed no where near her for an entire week. There were days when I was just so exhausted from the countless appointments and worries that I struggled with getting out of bed. And then just over 6 months after my daughter's surgery, I was having my own surgery to remove my thyroid, thanks to papillary thyroid carcinoma. The same diagnosis as my daughter's.<br />
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It's crazy. Insane, really. Looking back and remembering all that our family has endured. And yet, as much as I remember the pain and the hard stuff, I find that what most consumes my mind are the blessings during this journey.<br />
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I look back and I see just how many have followed our journey and lifted us in constant prayer since I first discovered the lump on Ilana's neck on November 9. I look back and I remember that the day of Ilana's surgery, dozens of people gathered in our church to pray on behalf of Ilana, joining the hundreds across the country. You guys blessed us! I remember looking straight into the surgeons eyes and telling him that he had hundreds praying for him and his team, and he looked back in amazement. As if he's never heard that before. You guys blessed him! I look back and remember while Ilana was in isolation and I cried out to God asking for relief because I couldn't do this, that's when a countless amount of people stepped up to sign up so Ilana was covered in prayer every hour of every day until she could finally be around Michael. It left me in tears to see and as I look back and remember and write about it, I'm brought to tears.<br />
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I look back and I see the journey that Ilana has been on and how much her faith has grown. I see how much I have grown. How much my faith has been stretched and strengthened. How our entire family has grown and changed and grown closer. These trials have refined our family and we've realized that while this last year (or few years, really) have been <b>so. stinking. hard</b>... we see just how God has blessed us amongst the hard. I've begun to figure out how to find God in the midst of the darkness (which may be the title of my book I may write someday...). I've realized that His hope will always be there. And that is huge. No matter what our future holds, our hope in Him will always win.<br />
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And because of all of the hard, we've been able to use it to bring God glory. We've been able to share this hope in Jesus with SO many people. We've been able to help other families going through similar situations. I was able to talk to the woman on the plane and share the hope we have in Jesus when she talked about how hard our life must be. Yes. Cancer is a curse. Cancer is horrible. I wouldn't wish it on ANYone. But. Because of cancer, we've been able to see and witness so many blessings. We've been recipients of so many blessings. And ultimately, we've been able to share about Jesus during our pain. God is good. SO good.<br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-21056713736684816262016-07-13T20:08:00.001-04:002016-07-13T20:08:46.076-04:00How to go on...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes life gets so hard that it feels like you can't go on. <div>
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You feel like you've reached rock bottom and nothing else could make life any harder. </div>
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And then you're struck with something new and you wonder "Oh, Lord... I can't do this anymore."<br /></div>
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What do you do? How do you go on? How do you not give up on God?<br /></div>
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The last 4 years have been the hardest years of my entire life. Going through life with RAD (reactive attachment disorder) with our 3 year old adopted child. Having to come to the conclusion that this this beautiful boy that we thought would forever be ours... Wouldn't. Realizing that God had other plans and we were only to be his Moses... It was one of the most heart wrenching decisions of our lives. The night we handed him over to his precious new family, I felt like we could never get any lower in life than that. In the midst of living through the RAD that year, our 5 year old son lost vision in his left eye, due to a detached retina. We went through 3 major surgeries in 6 months, trying to restore his vision. </div>
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I never imagined that 9 months later we'd be hit with our daughter having cancer and living through another surgery, radiation and isolation, and all the ups and downs of meds, diets, pain, and exhaustion. This was a new low for us. And we clung to Jesus and thought there was nothing that could be any worse and that we'd definitely hit the bottom and things could only go up from there. </div>
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Until a week ago. When we received the news that the pathology report from my surgery two weeks ago showed that I, too, have the very same cancer as my daughter. And in that same day, what was to be a normal check up for my son's eye, ended in the doctor saying he needed another procedure to remove some growth on his cornea. I plastered on a smile for my son's sake (who struggles with PTSD due to his previous surgeries and trauma that happened at home 2 years ago), shook the doctors hand and scheduled the surgery. We walked out hand in hand and I drove the two hours home questioning everything, wondering how much more our family can take.<br /><br />I was reminded of Isaiah 40:27-31 -<br /><br /><i>"Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “ GOD has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? GOD doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.”</i></div>
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While I'm struggling a lot and many days feel so weary, it was a good reminder for me...</div>
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So. </div>
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What do you do when you feel like the entire world is against you? When you feel like you just can't deal with anything more? How do you go on? How do you not give up on God?</div>
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I'm still working on figuring this out. In the meantime, I'm pressing on. I'm reading His Word and will continue to praise Him even when it makes no sense to me. I'm holding onto God's promise that He won't forget me and won't forsake me. I'm trusting that He is carrying me when I struggle to take the next step. I hope and I pray that even though my life seems so dark right now, that eventually we will see the light. And I pray that God will somehow use my brokenness for His glory and will use this long hard journey for something good. <br /><br />I know that we have hundreds of prayer warriors who cover our family each day. When I tell you that I appreciate your prayers, I don't think you realize just how appreciative we are. I don't think you understand that your prayers are what helps me get out of bed each morning. Your prayers are what helps our family function. Your prayers are what helps our family go on when we feel like we can't. Please keep praying for us as we travel this long hard journey. Pray for endurance when we feel stuck. Thank you for holding us up... </div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-5138235699102772632016-06-14T07:39:00.001-04:002016-06-21T21:24:01.625-04:00800.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">800.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">800 DAYS. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(2 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, 2 Days)</span></div>
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<b>Imagine this.</b></div>
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You have a son... An 8 year old son. </div>
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He lives 7775 miles away from you. For 800 days, he has been in an orphanage. </div>
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While he's around nannies and many other kids, he somehow feels alone...</div>
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He's seen children come and go. And as he watched them leave with families, </div>
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he's left standing there longing for that same thing to happen to him. </div>
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Longing for parents who would come and scoop him up and take him to his forever home. Longing for a mother to cover his boo-boos with bandages and kiss his cheeks. Longing for a father to play with and to kick a soccer ball to. Longing for nightly hugs and kisses and prayers. </div>
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Yet, there he stands.</div>
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<b>ALONE.</b></div>
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For <b>800</b> days. </div>
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Two birthdays. Spent alone. Dozens of holidays. Alone. </div>
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Can you imagine being this boy? I can't. But I know someone who doesn't just imagine it.<br />
He lived it. He's LIVING it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNp-CgjgJiPgMhaqFcoWwQF3hRvmKRVRoCFG4br_jMDlwmHgWO07R5zRQy2X1yzFIBqepGP8FpAimNbed0hq0X70pK8rimQe27ktIxW2kil80aOp1trg5AK3JPB10-aki-aQO8pRTi58Xs/s1600/tensaye2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNp-CgjgJiPgMhaqFcoWwQF3hRvmKRVRoCFG4br_jMDlwmHgWO07R5zRQy2X1yzFIBqepGP8FpAimNbed0hq0X70pK8rimQe27ktIxW2kil80aOp1trg5AK3JPB10-aki-aQO8pRTi58Xs/s400/tensaye2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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This is "T".<br />
I wish I could show his full picture and share his full name. But due to privacy and laws, we cannot until court has passed.<br />
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Just know he's absolutely precious and SO very handsome!<br />
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Today is his 800th day of waiting.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFc5Q3WBjSbKVCUThVxZrZTYnw1IclCaMeFznT9JJr6KD08sWF4QqCw0bYvOspZtFC6lrzwqJA1dDUddlW1Rrvo4aNH-eWUMIvNos1sAL0tTR2_Jb2RTGgrIQyVtUPDUQc_oRRgGrSbLh/s1600/tensaye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFc5Q3WBjSbKVCUThVxZrZTYnw1IclCaMeFznT9JJr6KD08sWF4QqCw0bYvOspZtFC6lrzwqJA1dDUddlW1Rrvo4aNH-eWUMIvNos1sAL0tTR2_Jb2RTGgrIQyVtUPDUQc_oRRgGrSbLh/s320/tensaye.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Here are those parents that have to live with this heartache every day. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiL7UxtVqxhQMeOwbSNxCkFHJiIeTlMmmHVkDsZiouT67WnK-jzoARjtO9OLpvj8pKYjZxnunqwu350RzRCIBj2hTnS8XmL5yoNaZFW-3ZNdjewmj-Qkux8H22Ns_-JOw4-ScmJ7pQDUmB/s1600/10003405_10203616126469551_5021861339253539295_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiL7UxtVqxhQMeOwbSNxCkFHJiIeTlMmmHVkDsZiouT67WnK-jzoARjtO9OLpvj8pKYjZxnunqwu350RzRCIBj2hTnS8XmL5yoNaZFW-3ZNdjewmj-Qkux8H22Ns_-JOw4-ScmJ7pQDUmB/s320/10003405_10203616126469551_5021861339253539295_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Who have been waiting and longing for their son. </div>
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They have been in the process for 1,143 days. </div>
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one.THOUSAND.forty.three. </div>
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They received the referral for their son 448 days ago. Yet they stand here in Florida.<br />
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<b>Waiting.</b><br />
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Their son is stuck. In Ethiopia.<br />
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The process has taken much longer than they ever anticipated. There have been so many unforeseen issues that are holding their son's case up and he's caught up in the middle of a political debacle. And in the midst of all these mix ups and technicalities, this 8 year old boy stands. <b>alone.</b> and waits.<br />
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He longs to meet his family. </div>
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His family has decided 800 days is enough. They have decided now is the time to go and meet their son and reassure him that they cherish him. They are there. They are real. They are fighting for him. And most of all: They love him. </div>
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They will be going for two weeks in July for this unexpected trip.</div>
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This is our time. Our time to rise up and help them with these unexpected expenses. To help the Richards family get to their son. And to help this sweet boy know that there are hundreds of us back at home who care for him and are waiting for him, too. </div>
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Our goal is to raise $5,000 in two weeks. Seems like a lot, but God can totally do it!<br />
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*** EDITED TO ADD ***<br />**** THEY JUST RECEIVED WORD THAT EVERY DOLLAR THEY RAISE, UP TO $5000 WILL BE MATCHED BY A LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS GRANT!!! ****<br />
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Will you help? Here are FIVE ways:<br />
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Pray! This is most important. Please pray for God's provision. Pray for "T" and that God will comfort his waiting heart. Please pray for Duane, Danyelle, and their two sons at home. Pray for their hearts as they wait and fight to bring their boy home.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">- TWO -</span><br />
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Will you give <b><span style="font-size: large;">$8.00</span></b> in honor of his <span style="font-size: large;">800</span> day wait? </div>
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For every $8.00, I will put a name on a graphic shaped of Africa that will be cut out of green, red, and yellow (Ethiopian colors) vinyl and be put on a canvas for the Richard's to hang on their wall. This vinyl canvas piece will be a great reminder that they will have forever of all those who supported and prayed for the Richards Family! And what an awesome thing for their son, "T", to see when he comes home... Here's an example of what it would look like, with only the Richards' name. Let's fill this up with hundreds of supporters!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX-jyv1Z5cvVImrj8-tF18H3TLZ1MseGRmQW9zXPIXFtN2FvllcIM3A2mceOiRHlVE6r2uq33acXeXXH9siIkZmqkZqO5InwdwF6_OboqmrGHB8LNGY3PQ_P6Z4hio17fvnQpd0o_mpFbq/s1600/africa+vinyl+example.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX-jyv1Z5cvVImrj8-tF18H3TLZ1MseGRmQW9zXPIXFtN2FvllcIM3A2mceOiRHlVE6r2uq33acXeXXH9siIkZmqkZqO5InwdwF6_OboqmrGHB8LNGY3PQ_P6Z4hio17fvnQpd0o_mpFbq/s320/africa+vinyl+example.png" width="284" /></a></div>
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You can do your first name, your family last name, or even each name in your family! </div>
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Just $8.00 per name! You can do this <a href="http://richardsfamilyadoption.bigcartel.com/product/name-for-vinyl-canvas">HERE</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">- THREE -</span></div>
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Another option is to buy a tshirt <a href="http://richardsfamilyadoption.bigcartel.com/">HERE</a>! We have many sizes, colors, and styles!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxsH0NqmestN9uMBmtFCPmifl5vWvXPdmZoKIu1CqTyOEjY_BWnFzo2XS2hsGpgRa8JtgCwaIaLb2rzPaO-lVQgX13qQVr5VWntlX0t4HdMZju2wK1Vcg4jKtQg3lhlWn5Ms-9qKJRWgs/s1600/charcoal+black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxsH0NqmestN9uMBmtFCPmifl5vWvXPdmZoKIu1CqTyOEjY_BWnFzo2XS2hsGpgRa8JtgCwaIaLb2rzPaO-lVQgX13qQVr5VWntlX0t4HdMZju2wK1Vcg4jKtQg3lhlWn5Ms-9qKJRWgs/s320/charcoal+black.jpg" width="255" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_eCwGaCBfDNDqWJT2JV4MekYV0NMl4TYDtCsz7UGhWusTa5RFt8qz6EPR_xG-htJqB84A13NwaYKV08clRxldQX3Mc0gYPOxHzizCsZ_a9x1OUsSjXEpNkgpbHHLDMpN7o8YWD2upTrk/s1600/charcoal+black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_eCwGaCBfDNDqWJT2JV4MekYV0NMl4TYDtCsz7UGhWusTa5RFt8qz6EPR_xG-htJqB84A13NwaYKV08clRxldQX3Mc0gYPOxHzizCsZ_a9x1OUsSjXEpNkgpbHHLDMpN7o8YWD2upTrk/s320/charcoal+black.jpg" width="194" /></a><br />
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I designed these tshirts for the Richards' adoption with Ephesians 1:4-5 in mind:</div>
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<i>"Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."</i></div>
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You see, God chose us. God adopted us into His family. God loved us. Every single one of us are chosen, adopted and loved by Him! And this is why the Richards family is adopting their son. They chose him. They are adopting him. They love him! </div>
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These shirts come in various sizes, styles, and colors. There are men, women and children sizes. This is a PRE-ORDER sale, meaning these shirts have NOT been ordered, yet. I will run this sale for 2 weeks. It will end on June 28, in which any shirts ordered will then be purchased. I will email each customer when we have the shirts in hand and again when we ship them. If you want to order a shirt, do so quickly. Again I will not take any orders after June 28!!<br />
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(P.S. If you are local and prefer to pick up your shirt order, please use the code FREELOCAL, so you are not charged shipping fees).</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">- FOUR -</span><br />
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If you would prefer to just give a monetary donation, that would be greatly appreciated, too! You can give directly to their grant page and also keep track with how close they are to their $5,000 goal with all the fundraising options. Just click <a href="https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/richards-family-adoption/">HERE</a>. Your donation to this site will be tax deductible!<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />- FIVE -</span><br />
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Please share. Share this post to your friends, your family, anyone!<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /><br /><br />LET'S HELP END THE WAITING FOR "T"!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">#bringThome</span></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-92137147759027380992016-04-22T13:15:00.002-04:002016-04-22T13:15:32.339-04:00Ilana's Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I know I have a lot of new followers who are just beginning to learn about Ilana's journey. I created this video of her journey a few months ago and shared it on her Facebook group, but forgot to share it here for those who aren't on Facebook... Here you go! Thank you for all your prayers and support!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k2risB9RSh4" width="459"></iframe>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-74818766666929143682016-04-21T15:02:00.000-04:002016-04-21T15:02:06.605-04:00I can't always stay strong... And it's okay!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What do you do when the world seems so very dark? When it seems like God is gone? When you find yourself so overwhelmed with grief, guilt, exhaustion and stress? When you can do nothing more than hide in a closet, literally crying out to God. Yelling at Him. Telling Him that He doesn't care because He's so far away?<br /><br />I recently celebrated my 30th birthday... While birthdays are usually an exciting time, I don't know what it was about this one that made me so completely emotional and sad. I looked back at my life over the last 30 years. There were certainly exciting and happy times! I never imagined that by my 30th birthday, I would be married for 10 and a half years to my best friend, my high school sweetheart. That I would have been given birth 3 times. That I would have traveled to Ethiopia twice and adopted two boys. That I would have two 9 year olds, a 7 year old and a 2 year old. I never imagined I'd be living in a beautiful area of Florida...<br />
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But I also never imagined that when I turned 30, I would have gone through some of the hardest times imaginable. That at 20, I would have given birth to a child with a cleft palate, who would have to eventually undergo 3 surgeries. That I would have given birth to two premature babies - one at 31 weeks, one at 34 weeks. That I would have a son who suddenly goes blind in one eye and has to endure 3 surgeries to try to correct it. Only to find out on my 30th birthday that his vision now lasts no longer than 2 seconds in that eye. I never imagined that I would have to go through the heartache and pain of having to hand one of my children over to another family after he was my own son for 2 and a half years. For his well being and for my other kids' safety, he had to be adopted into a new family. In the last 2 years, we've had to endure 6 surgeries (a total of 12 in the the last 9 years) between all the kids and I. And then 3 days before my birthday, I found out that we'd have to endure yet another one. Because we found out I have a very high chance of the same cancer as Ilana's. And removal of my thyroid is the best option. We won't know for sure about malignancy until surgery... Even so, it's scary...<br />
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Just 3 days before my birthday, I got to see very well just what Thyroid Cancer has done to my daughter. Some have made comments about "One great thing is that she hasn't had to endure chemo." They were right. She hasn't had to go through that. But she had to endure days of complete isolation. She had to endure nights without a hug and kiss from anyone. She had to endure getting violently sick without a single comfort from anyone she loves. Except encouragement in the form of words. From 10 feet away. All while in isolation for her radioactive iodine treatment. She's had to live months of what they call "hypo hell". Where her body has to learn to function without her thyroid. Did you know the thyroid affects just about everything in your body? Without one, your body canNOT function (which is why medication for the rest of her life is absolutely vital). She literally feels like hell every single day while they're trying to regulate her body with medication. Only, looking at her, you'd have no idea. On the outward appearance, she's great at hiding it. It's rare that she'll ever complain. Plus, we homeschool. She's able to sleep in. She's able to take a nap. She's able to lay around the majority of the day if she wants to.<br />
<br />Wednesday she was blessed with a tremendous experience of getting to not only see Pentatonix in concert, but she got to MEET them. It was literally one of her dreams coming true. It was amazing. My heart was so overjoyed to see the pure joy on her face. Yet I was able to see just what a full day of excitement and activity does to her. How is it that this sweet 9 year old was living a completely "normal" life just 5 months ago? Where she could wake up early, play hard all day, go to bed at a normal time, and never have any pain... And now? She can't wake up in the morning without still being tired. She can't go a full day of acting like a kid without being tired? The day she met Pentatonix, she was in tears from me trying to pick her up for a fun photo with her friends. Because every bone in her body hurt to the touch. Her eyes were red and bloodshot from pure exhaustion by 7pm. She couldn't walk long or stand in lines. We had to sit on the floor several times because she just hurt. All over. She was in tears in the bathroom at the concert because she was so sore but didn't want anyone to know. She was so excited to be there and didn't want anyone to worry about her. Seeing Pentatonix for her was SO worth it all. But seeing that floored me. It was so hard to see her this way... It took her several days to recover fully... I thought for days about this...</div>
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All these thoughts piled on top of each other and instead of being excited for my birthday, I was sad. I was depressed. I sat in my closet and cried tears of sorrow. Tears of exhaustion. Tears of frustration. I cried out to God asking "why?" I yelled at him angrily, asking why he keeps letting these horrible things happen to our family. I felt so alone. I felt like God just didn't care. I didn't want to go to church the next day because I was just so angry. </div>
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For so long, I've been okay with it all. For the most part, I've stayed strong. Somedays I've felt like, I'm a believer. I know God has this. I have to stay strong. I have to trust Him. But you know what? Sometimes life gets so hard and so overwhelming that you can't stay strong. That saying of "God won't give you more than you can handle" is a bunch of baloney. He does. It's just that He won't give you more than you can handle - with HIS help. But even then, there are times where it feels like you still can't handle it. And that's okay.<br />
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God doesn't command us to always stay strong. The great thing about God is that He's such a great father that He can take it. So when I was angry and saying some terrible things about God, He was okay with it. He loved me still. There are times where my kids have told me "I'm so angry with you, Mommy!" and I respond with "I know it. But I still love you!" And I have no doubt that God did the same with me.<br />
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The great thing about it is that God understands. He understands we're human - He made us after all! But He also understands through Jesus. He sent Jesus here. Jesus was human. He had real human emotions. In John 11, you'll find the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept." While cleaning the other day, this verse popped in my mind and I began to think long and hard about it... Jesus' friend Lazarus had died 4 days before. Jesus went to see Lazarus, knowing he had died and knowing he was going to raise him from the dead. Yet when Jesus saw Mary and everyone else weeping, he got angry. He got upset and then he, too, wept.<br />
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I may be completely off on the interpretations of these verses, but what I felt like God was saying was despite Jesus knowing the outcome, He still WEPT. Jesus KNEW Lazarus would live again. He TRUSTED that Lazarus would live again. Yet he still became so overcome with grief seeing everyone crying. And so He cried, too. He could've easily "stayed strong" through His belief. But He didn't.<br />
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God reassured me that as a human, even when I know and trust the outcome (that God's got it and His plan is perfect), it's still okay to weep. It's still okay to get angry. It's still okay to not be strong sometimes. It's still okay to grieve and cry out to Him. And He can take it. Because He loves me so very much...<br />
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I've learned that it's so important that even when you don't feel like praising Him, do it anyway. Even when things don't make sense, praise Him. Even when you don't feel like going to church, go anyway (it's usually a day with a sermon you really need to hear - or was the case for me). Even when you can't pray, ask someone else to. Find a safe person who you can truly be real with and who can listen and then turn it to God for you and can pray against any spiritual attack on your spiritual life. I'm so thankful that I have a husband who does this and who helps me get out of my "funk". I'm sure this won't be the last time as our future holds so many unknowns... But no matter how many more valleys we have to crawl through, even when I feel like I can't go on, I know that God will be right there carrying me through it - even when I get mad at him.... I still hate what all we have to go through. I'm still angry and wish life could be "normal"... But I'm thankful to have a Father who understands and loves me despite my anger and frustration... And I'm thankful that I don't always have to be strong and that I can draw strength from Him...</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-7737584299847027002015-12-25T00:30:00.000-05:002015-12-25T01:07:14.910-05:00Are "unanswered prayers", truly unanswered?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes people say God doesn't always answer prayers. I don't believe that. I believe that sometimes God answers prayers the way we want. Other times He has a completely different plan and He may not answer it the way we wanted, but we must have peace with His decision and trust that His plan is bigger than our own.<br />
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As I lay here, struggling to fall asleep with my daughter sound asleep next to me, I feel nothing more than thankfulness... She is in such a deep, peaceful, restful sleep. Since her surgery, it's caused her breathing to be loud and while most would find it annoying, I am thankful. It's 12:30am and I cannot fall asleep because it's so loud. Yet, I am thankful.<br />
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I am thankful because we are home. We really thought we'd be in the hospital for Christmas. We prayed for miraculous healing. We and hundreds of people prayed that when Ilana would go into surgery, her tumor would be gone. We all prayed that if the mass was not gone, that it would be a simple procedure and that the cancer was contained in just her thyroid. We prayed that it wouldn't affect her vocal chords (which would leave her voice completely silenced or softened) or trachea. That it wouldn't affect any surrounding lymph nodes. We prayed that they wouldn't have to remove any parathyroids. We prayed that it wouldn't affect her calcium levels and that we would be home by Christmas.<br />
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God answered our prayers. Some of it the way we asked, others, not so much.<br />
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We got to the hospital at 7:30am for check-in for surgery. We waited. And waited. And two hours later, our surgeon came down and explained that they didn't have the nerve monitoring system in stock for her size and that he didn't want to cut corners and proceed without it. So they put in a call to have it shipped from another place 2 hours away. We waited. For 9 hours, we waited and finally it was Ilana's turn for surgery.<br />
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We prayed for her. Prayed over her. Prayed for her doctors and prayed for God to use us. We gave her kisses and I held it together as best as I could, until they took her down to the OR.<br />
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We went and finally ate for the first time in 24 hours at that point! If Ilana couldn't eat, we wouldn't either, so we endured hunger right along with her... We were pretty hungry! Even so, we sat and simply nibbled on our food mainly in silence, neither of us not knowing what to say.<br />
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After several hours, the surgeon finally came to meet with us and discuss her surgery. At that point, we were the only remaining ones in the waiting room. He pulled a chair over and we were anxious to hear good news. When he started off saying "Well, I have to say, when we opened her up, we weren't expecting what we saw." I immediately got hopeful thinking "God answered our prayer!", but my excitement was immediately pushed from my body as I took in his next words... "It looked nasty. It was a mess. It looked aggressive and so I immediately took some samples and sent them straight to pathology. They confirmed that it looked to have at least two cancers and they looked aggressive."<br />
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My heart sank as he continued with "It was all over her right vocal chord. As I scraped the cancer away from it, I realized it was growing all inside of it. I unfortunately had to cut the chord in order to remove all of the cancer."<br />
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My legs and hands began to shake and I fought the tears away and I began to whisper in my head "God, I need you..." The surgeon continued "Only time will tell if she will have a voice or how much she's lost. The cancer was all around her trachea. I tried my best to scrape off all I could find. We removed all the surrounding lymph nodes and took out the complete thyroid, as the left had another mass growing on it, as well. I also removed a parathyroid." As he continued to speak, I wanted to do nothing more but to break down and cry and ask God why... I also wanted to make sure that the surgeon knew how much we appreciated his hard work and while he apologized for having to cut her vocal chord, I kept reassuring him that we appreciated him and what he did and then we told him that he had thousands of people throughout the world praying specifically for him and his team all day. I'm not sure he's ever heard that before, as it left him pretty speechless.<br />
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He shook our hand and left and I sat in shock for several minutes. I began to question God. Why didn't he answer our prayers? Why didn't he keep the cancer solely in her thyroid? So many things we prayed for specifically weren't answered the way wanted. But in the back of my head, I just kept thinking "All of my life, in every season, You are still God, and I have a reason to worship." I had to remember that I still had hope in Jesus.<br />
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I went to the bathroom to have some privacy while Michael made some phone calls. And I broke down. After a little while I composed myself, updated my mom and sister and eventually it was time to go see Ilana who was in PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). Sweet girl was crying, unaware of where she was and was in so much pain. It was a long night. Hourly checks from nurses, Ilana in and out of sleep and in an out of pain.<br />
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Saturday wasn't much better and by that evening she became so unlike herself that I began to get worried. She held so much fear and the pain meds were causing so many side effects that she had no idea where she was, who I was, or what day it was and it began to make her nauseous. Her heart rate would go from 100 to 170 in seconds and she'd shake uncontrollably. After hours of this happening every 20-30 minutes, I began to feel like Satan was trying to distract us from focusing on God and that he was instilling such a fear in Ilana that she was struggling to trust us, the doctors, and ultimately God. She didn't want to listen to Christian music and she would cry and demand us to turn it off. I began to pray over her and I commanded the spirit of fear to flee in the name of Jesus Christ because Ilana was a child of God and that God has won this fight and that fear was NOT welcome any longer. The second I told Satan to go NOW, Ilana looked at me, her heartrate slowed down from 164 to 105 and she immediately laid down and was snoring in seconds. And from that moment, she slept all night except the two times the nurses woke her for vitals.<br />
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In the morning, she was feeling more like herself, she began to eat and drink and the doctor decided there was no reason to keep her there any longer and he prepared all her discharge papers. We got to go home just 2 days after surgery!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crying tears of joy when finding out she could go home and wouldn't be in the hospital for Christmas!</td></tr>
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God answered some prayers in the way we hoped and others were answered with his own different, but perfect plan. Right now we are unsure of what our future holds, but we know one thing for sure. That God is there. That God is good. That God's plan is better than our own. And for now, I'm thankful for this loud sleeping little girl next to me. I'm thankful that we get to spend Christmas at home. I'm thankful for the amazing support we have. We have an abundance of friends and family praying for us every step of the way. We have our amazing church family who met at our church on Friday before her surgery and stormed heaven's gates on Ilana's behalf. And the same church family who Facetimed with us as we prepared to go home during two church services. Amazing! We have so many people who have given monetary gifts, many who have sent Ilana cards and letters to her PO Box, and those who have sent me cards/texts/messages of encouragement.<br />
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People who have done Random Acts of Christmas Kindness in honor of Ilana (you should check out the facebook page for this. It's awesome!). Honestly, we have been overwhelmed by it all and I often wonder how I'll ever tell each one individually how much we appreciate them... I'm thankful for God's promise and faithfulness.<br />
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Despite the unknown of our future, we hope and we pray that through everything, our eyes will remain on Jesus. That He will be glorified through every trial. Every mountain. Every valley. And that through this situation we will draw others closer to Him.<br />
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For now, I will continue singing "It is well. With my soul... It is well, it is well, with my soul..." and will continue thanking my Father for answered prayer.<br />
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From our family to yours, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! We hope your year has been amazingly blessed!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />***If you want to follow this new chapter in our lives, please join the Praying for Ilana Facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1665652910315819/?fref=nf">HERE</a>. </b></span></div>
The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-9766939098132543352015-11-25T13:55:00.001-05:002015-11-25T14:27:51.061-05:00Those Three Words... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our story constantly changes as God sees fit, but this is a whole new chapter we didn't see coming. The last couple years have been a rough year for our family. Last year, our 5 year old (at the time) son became blind in his left eye, due to a detached retina. Something almost unheard of in children so young. After 3 intensive surgeries in 6 months, he has some restored vision, but still has many difficulties with this eye. During all this time, we were battling Reactive Attachment Disorder with our 3 year old adopted son. You can read through previous posts about this, but it ended up getting to where God revealed to us that He had another family in mind for Eyob. In February of this year, we made the hardest decision of letting go (you can read about that <a href="http://www.lettinggodwriteourstory.com/2015/02/when-love-isnt-enough-and-love-means.html">HERE</a>) Raising a child with RAD is stressful. For the entire family. It can cause issues like PTSD in parents and/or siblings. Many don't realize this, but the stress resulted in my body going into renal failure earlier this year, which left my abdomen completely filled with scar tissue, along with endometriosis, which was all surgically removed in August. My kidney function came back normal by September. Many also don't realize that PTSD can easily make a "normal" child so stressed that they struggle daily. With things like attention, learning ability, grief, and even suicidal thoughts. And this PTSD can last months or years. It's something I feel like we'll deal with for a long time... On top of this came another surgery for Mikiyas who had hearing loss and a ruptured ear drum in October.<br />
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Medical issues are something our family is used to... Things like 3 cleft palate repairs and kidney problems for Ilana, 2 premature births (31 weeks and 34 weeks), eye surgeries as mentioned above, broken bones, heart problems (cardiomyopathy), thyroid issues for myself, and HIV for our boys - just to name a few. We've seen craniofacial teams, ophthalmologists, retinal specialists, nephrologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, pediatric infectious disease specialists, neurologists, ENT's, and dozens of therapists. </div>
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But nothing prepared us for this past month. On the morning of Monday, November 9, Ilana and I were snuggling in my bed and she briefly looked at the ceiling. That moment will never leave my brain when I first spotted the large lump on her neck. I immediately asked her to sit up so I could look closer. Immediately my heart sank and in my gut, I knew something was not okay. With my own thyroid issues, I knew that this lump was on her thyroid. I made a call to the pediatrician who saw her the next day and sent us out for an ultrasound ASAP. </div>
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I went home and stayed up several hours that night studying thyroid ultrasounds so I could prepare for what we would be looking at. The ultrasound was done on Wednesday and I immediately saw microcalcifications and vascularity in the mass. My heart sank, because from what I read, those were suspicious signs. The following day we got a call from the pediatrician confirming my own diagnosis of nodules with microcalcification and we were immediately referred to an endocrinologist who wanted to see us that day. He agreed that it was suspicious and wanted us to get a biopsy. Due to the holidays and the scheduling time, they couldn't get us in for a biopsy for weeks. I was not comfortable waiting and new deep down that this was going to not be a normal "fluke". </div>
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After further research (what else am I supposed to do from 1am-5am when I cannot sleep??), I found a specialist for pediatric thyroid cancer 4 hours away. I emailed him on Thursday, November 19th at 5am with all of Ilana's information and he responded within 60 minutes and asked when he could call us and if we could come the following day to see him. Friday we spent the entire day up at Shand's Hospital in Gainesville for a thyroid and lymph node ultrasound, a biopsy, and a consultation with the specialist. We then waited 4 long days for the results... </div>
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Tuesday, November 24, my phone rang and I recognized it as the thyroid specialist's cell number. I answered it and the only words I really remember were "Unfortunately, the biopsy came back positive for papillary thyroid carcinoma." Those three words... Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma... While I expected this diagnosis all along, nothing quite prepares you for hearing those words come from a doctor. I immediately felt like I was going to throw up. He said a few more things and I remember saying "I trust you. Thank you." and then hung up and cried...</div>
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So many thoughts went through my mind. I began to question God. Saying "Really God? This, too? Why now? Why us? How can we do this financially? How can we handle this with it being so far away and having the other 3 kids to take care of? Why, God? WHY?" I called Michael, told him the news and all I remember him saying is "God's got this. It will be okay. I'm going to go ahead and come home now."<br />
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As I prayed and spent some time with God last night, my view began to change. </div>
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Why not now? Who am I to say that God's timing is wrong? God's timing has been so very perfect in our past trials. What makes this any different? Why not us? Just because we believe in Jesus doesn't mean that we won't be subject to hard times. After all, it says in James 1:</div>
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"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. </div>
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So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete,</div>
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needing nothing."</div>
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C.S. Lewis said it perfectly: </div>
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"Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties."</div>
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Just because we are believers, doesn't meant that our life is going to be "happily ever after". We will always be faced with trials and tribulations. While sometimes it feels like we've gotten more than our fair share of trials, I instead need to focus on how God can use me in these situations. How can God use this chaos of the storm? How can God use me in Ilana's life? How can we glorify God through this entire situation? I desperately need to surrender every fear and worry to Him. I have to surrender it all to Him! </div>
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Michael was right. God's got this. We found the best doctor in the state of Florida for this situation. It wasn't any mistake. And despite the distance, God's always faithful with provision. Provision in financial needs, provision in helping with our kids, provision in every single step of the way. God's got this and His plan is SO perfect. I cannot wait to see how God will turn this whole situation into something good. I can't wait to see the strength and courage come from Ilana as she battles this. I can't wait to see how God uses her. I'm so thankful for the hundreds of friends and family who will hold us up and carry us when there may be days where we can't quite climb over these hurdles. I'm thankful that since announcing this diagnosis, we have had hundreds of people praying for our family. And boy, do we feel those prayers. We have a supernatural peace in our hearts and we are now praying, "Lord, have Your way in us. We are prepared. We are ready to give you the glory!"</div>
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For those asking how to help...</div>
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Please pray!</div>
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Pray that the cancer has stayed only in the thyroid and that it hasn't spread. With pediatric thyroid cancer, there's a much higher chance of it metastasizing to the lymph system, pulmonary system or bones.</div>
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Pray for the doctors and surgeons. For wisdom and for the entire treatment process, which so far will include a total thyroidectomy (removal of the thyroid) and possibly more, depending on what they find when they open her up. In 6-8 weeks she will undergo a form of radiation called Radioactive Iodine Treatment, in which she will have to undergo complete isolation (away from everyone, including us). The time frame all depends on the dosage of radiation that she's given. </div>
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Pray for our family and for our other kids as they will be left with family and friends a lot over the next couple months. </div>
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Here is a group that a sweet friend created where you can stay up to date on the process and to be our family's prayer warriors! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1665652910315819/?fref=nf">FACEBOOK PRAYER GROUP HERE </a><br />
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And here is a link that another friend created to help us with medical expenses including travel and lodging, as each trip too the specialist is about 8 hours round trip. Do not feel obligated to give! It's just an option for those who want to help in this way. I feel bad asking for any monetary help, so this is a humbling experience for our family... <a href="https://www.youcaring.com/michael-and-amanda-nunez-475567#.VlUkzYBMoEo.facebook">YOUCARING PAGE HERE</a> </div>
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We are so thankful for each of you. While we could spend this Thanksgiving sad, we are choosing JOY. We have SO much to be thankful for and to be joyful over. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Rejoice in our confident hope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Romans 12:12</span></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-40570718680510764962015-08-30T09:59:00.001-04:002015-08-30T10:01:08.993-04:00Choosing Joy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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3 years ago, August 31, 2012, was one of the happiest moments of our lives as
we officially got home with Eyob and Mikiyas. Much like the birth of each of
our biological kids, this day was filled with joy, excitement and a bit of
bewilderment. Our hearts were so full of joy and excitement to finally be able
to bring Mikiyas and Eyob home, yet we also had a bit of doubt or bewilderment
wondering “what did we just do?! Can we really go from 2 to 4 overnight?” We
had been preparing for this moment for two and a half years, yet it’s scary
once that dream becomes a reality!<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had taken all sorts of parenting classes and read
adoption blogs and books and watched multiple adoption parenting videos. We
were ready for our future and were so excited as we began our lives as a family
of 6! We dreamt of our 4 kids growing up together and pursuing their dreams as
they became adults. I felt on top of the world and felt closer to the Lord than
ever before. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Nothing prepared me for the decision we would have to make 2
½ years later. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that as we celebrate 3 years
home, one of our children would not be here to celebrate with us. I never
imagined that throughout those two years, my faith and relationship with God would
diminish and that I would find myself lost in a deep dark valley with my
emotions, thoughts, and feelings spinning out of control. I never imagined that
6 months after being home, this beautiful boy would one day start to change and
that his brain would begin to tell him to hate the very person who loved him most.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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This month has been a huge struggle for me as I grieved. I
grieved the loss of a son, but even more so, the loss of our dream for him. 3
years ago, I rejoiced as I dreamt of how we’d celebrate every August 31 as our
Family Day! I dreamt of celebrating this
Family Day with two Ethiopian boys whose last name would forever be the same as
mine. I didn’t know that God’s plan wasn’t for him to be a Nuñez forever. That was hard. Harder than anything Michael
and I had endured in our entire life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While going through those dark times, I felt like God had
left me. I felt so alone. I can say now looking back, God never once left me.
In fact, He was holding me during the nights where I cried myself to sleep
wanting nothing more to do than to just die. He was holding my arms and
covering me in patience as I would hold (usually for hours) a tantruming
toddler who wanted nothing more than to hurt himself or me. He was helping me to continually tell that
toddler “I love you. I care for you. You’re okay. You’re safe. Mommy is
here.” When often times I would be so
frustrated and exhausted that I wanted to say nothing. He was there every single moment of every
single day. That day, 6 months ago, when
- for the very last time - I wrapped my arms around the 3 year old little boy
that I had fallen in love with years ago… God was there. He was there in the
days and weeks after, whispering truth in my ear when Satan was whispering the
opposite. He was there through texts, calls, messages, and emails of encouragement
that we got from hundreds of friends and family. God has been there each step
of the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I recall, just over 3 years ago, sitting on a small couch on
a chilly August morning in Ethiopia. My body shaking. Not from the cold, but
from the excitement and heartache. I held a sweet 14 month old little boy in my
arms. A little boy who would learn to call me mommy. I stared at a window
anxiously awaiting. We heard a horn honk and watched as a guard opened the gate
to the transition home allowing the blue van to enter. We stood nervously as we
watched a young woman step out of the bus and walk to the house. A beautiful
Ethiopian woman who looked no older than ourselves. We watched her as she
removed her shoes before entering. As she entered I couldn’t help but reach out
and hug her. She returned the hug and after a moment, we released the embrace
and she smiled as she looked at Eyob. She reached out her arms and for the
first time in a year, she was able to embrace the very son she gave birth to.
For the next hour, we talked and asked various questions and answered her
questions, as they were translated back and forth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I thought back on that moment, I began to sob. Feeling as
if everything we told her was a lie. We promised we would take good care of
him. We promised that we would always love him. We promised that we would teach
him to know Jesus. We never knew that in a couple years, we’d be faced with the
dreadful decision of not being able to be his parents any longer. I began to
pour out my heart to God. Asking him why. Why did this happen? Why couldn’t
Eyob have stayed in our family? Why couldn’t all that we had done helped him?
Why was it His plan for Eyob to be in another family? Why wasn’t loving him
enough? I had poured just about all that I was into him and loved him with all
that I was. Why was that not enough?? God, just WHY?<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then Job 1:21 immediately entered my head:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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While preparing to celebrate our first Family Day without
Eyob has sort of turned me into an emotional wreck, God revealed to me that I
need to choose joy. I need to choose joy in every circumstance that God
presents us with. Throughout Michael’s and my entire marriage, we have been
faced with various hardships. Joy is a choice. I can choose to focus on the
hardships, or I can choose to seek joy despite the adversity. 1 Thessalonians
5:16-18 says “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ
Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, I choose joy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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God gave us Eyob. Even though it was only for two and a half
years. Even so – blessed is the name of the Lord. Through all those times, I
was blessed. Yes - I was blessed! For 2 ½ years, Eyob called ME Mommy. For 906
days, Eyob was mine to love and to cherish. I know there were days where I didn’t
cherish that blessing as much as I should have. But even in the midst of the
hardest of days, I loved that boy. God gave him to me. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. <o:p></o:p></div>
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God revealed to me that we didn’t lie to Eyob’s mom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We DID take good care of him. I cared for him like any great
mom would do. I spent countless hours at doctors appointments, therapy
appointments, hospitals, and evaluations. I spent hours in the evenings after
he was in bed, night after night, perusing the internet and books, researching
ways to help him with the reactive attachment disorder. I cared so much for him that I was willing to try
anything in order to help him. I cared for him so much because I loved him with
all my heart! I loved him so very much that I was willing to give up my
parental rights in order for him to have the best life possible. God had
revealed to us that Eyob was not to be in our family forever. God revealed to
me that he had another family in mind. Accepting that was the hardest decision
of my entire life. I loved Eyob so much and wanted so much for him to be able
to love a mother and have a wonderful mother and son relationship that he SO
much deserved. I had to accept that in
order for that to happen, that mother was not to be me. My promise was not
broken to his birth mom. I promised to her that I would always love him. Even
though his last name is no longer Nunez, that does not end my love for him. I
will always love him. We never lied to his mom. He did grow to know Jesus. And
that is continuing in his new family. The family that is lead by a strong
spiritual leader, a pastor, and a father who loves his children so much! God is SO good. Blessed be the name of the
Lord.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, I choose joy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have an incredible 9 year old Ethiopian son. This boy seems
to inspire just about anyone he meets. This boy, despite great loss in his
young life, loves like no one I’ve ever met. His heart just explodes with Jesus’
love. He will do anything for anyone and I am so very blessed to be his mother.
I get to celebrate 3 years HOME with him. And it’s amazing to see just how far
we’ve come in the last 3 years. I choose JOY!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have 3 other absolutely remarkable children who bless me
every day. They are thrilled to be able to celebrate having their brother here
for 3 years! I choose joy!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have a husband who is the spiritual rock of our family. I
know it’s cliché, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without him. Every day
with him is one of the greatest gifts the Lord has ever given me. I choose joy!<o:p></o:p></div>
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While we are celebrating this family day without Eyob in our
home, I am choosing joy that we can celebrate the memory of bringing him home
and spending each of those 906 days with him. I am choosing joy that he is in
another family who loves him so abundantly. I am choosing joy that Eyob is now
able to show love and affection and that God has restored him and that he is
finally having that relationship that every child should be able to have with
their mother. Eyob hugs his new mother. Eyob
kisses his new mother. Willingly. He adores his new mother. This is most definitely
something to choose joy over. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So yes, while my heart aches and feels a bit empty, I still
continue to choose joy. Happy Family Day, Mikiyas and Eyob. We will always love
both of you and we are so unbelievably joyful the gift your lives have given our family.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is our Coming Home video from 3 years ago for those who have never seen it before...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wT2AYXtsYUE" width="459"></iframe>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-65014391396180745942015-08-12T07:43:00.001-04:002015-08-12T07:52:54.189-04:00"All the days of my life..."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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“To love and to cherish, for richer or poorer, in sickness
and in health. All the days of my life.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPEdpye07PVbSG92LTt-kC0S5_zKIZ1Di2EFhOCcE7XFkNQusDrSBhiFNTklpSpLkMdrBmFQiWjQm4iu6k-U4ptKrIthycc_xZJyNdbWxkOYv3dZbm5sTnEjzL33qD0nsNEjKwQ0e7BmB/s1600/Michael+and+Amanda6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPEdpye07PVbSG92LTt-kC0S5_zKIZ1Di2EFhOCcE7XFkNQusDrSBhiFNTklpSpLkMdrBmFQiWjQm4iu6k-U4ptKrIthycc_xZJyNdbWxkOYv3dZbm5sTnEjzL33qD0nsNEjKwQ0e7BmB/s320/Michael+and+Amanda6.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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10 years ago, those words were spoken to me by a boy of
merely 19 years old. Never have I had truer words spoken to me. We were both 19
years old with a whole (completely unknown) future ahead of us. We were so in
love and ready for whatever life threw at us. <br />
<br />
For 10 years, I watched that boy grow up with me as we endured life’s ups and
downs; mountains and valleys. We have been incredibly blessed to get to witness
and endure so many mountains and good times, yet I had absolutely NO idea that
in ten years, we’d crawl through so many valleys. But those valleys showed me
just how blessed I was to have Michael. Moments when I felt I could not “crawl”
any longer, where he’d pick me up and carry me through it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Michael has truly loved and cherished me more than I’d ever
thought possible. There are days where I just look at him and my heart skips a
beat as I wonder how I could ever get so lucky to be his wife. How did I get so
lucky to be loved and cherished by this man? Who continually loves me even on
days where I definitely don’t deserve it! There are days where I fall head over
heels in love with him again: as I watch him down on the floor playing doll house
with his 1 year old daughter; as I watch him spend hours playing Legos with his
son; see him spend hours outside at night rewiring wires on our circuit breaker
box when our well goes out or replacing the radiator on a vehicle; or watching
him as he sits with our kids all snuggling next to him as he reads the Bible
and devotional each night and then spends time in prayer with them – truly being
the spiritual leader of our home.<br />
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“For richer or poorer…” We haven’t ever quite gotten the “richer” part in
America’s eyes, but in the world’s eyes, we definitely have… But we’ve
definitely endured the poorer as we’ve battled unemployment twice in the past
10 years. 6 months after the Marine Corps and then once for 9 weeks right in
the middle of our adoption of Mikiyas and Eyob. Scary moments, but we clung to
each other and relied and trusted that God would provide. And as always, He
did!<o:p></o:p></div>
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“In sickness and in health…” This one. Wow. I feel like we’ve had more sickness
than health and that’s when I’ve realized just how much he loves me and his
family. 1 baby born with a cleft palate and kidney problems. 3 surgeries and an
insane amount of doctors and specialist appointments and hospital visits. Another
baby born. This time, 9 weeks early. 5 weeks of a hospital stay and more doctor
appointments and another surgery. Constant crazy health problems for me. A few
later, adoption of two HIV+ boys. Come to find out, the HIV was the easy stuff
as we also endured ENT’s, a surgery, GI doctors, cardiologists, neurologists,
pulmonologists, endocrinologists and a crazy amount of speech, occupational,
and mental therapists. Then throw in another completely unexpected pregnancy
with multiple problems and going into labor early again – this time 6 weeks
early! She had her fair share of medical problems in which we had unexpected ER
visits, hospital admissions, and various specialists. Then you add in a son who
suddenly goes blind in one eye and we endure 3 more unexpected surgeries over a
span of 6 months. It was crazy. All
while enduring a child who had extreme adoption attachment issues: extreme and
constant rages, tempers, self abuse and more. It was enough to probably tear a
family apart. But goodness! Not us. Michael held us together each step of the
way. Days where I felt I could not go any further, he picked me up and
encouraged that together and with Christ, we could. Nothing would have ever
prepared us for what happened 6 months ago. Despite our difficult trials
through marriage, we faced the hardest moment of our entire life as we struggled
with the decision of having to give Eyob to another family. What probably should’ve
torn our family apart at that moment, only brought Michael and I together more
as we prayed and sought wisdom and clung to each other with every fiber of our
beings. We had no idea that something so tragic would build our marriage
stronger than ever before. Just another way that God made beauty from those
ashes. And here we are today as we struggle with yet another “sickness”, as we
get to spend the afternoon of our anniversary at the doctor’s office for
preparation for another surgery next week. This time for me, as the doctors try
to figure out what’s going on and why I’ve been going through severe pain and
having other issues over the past 3 months. While we’re unsure of what’s going
on, I know that Michael has been there by my side through every moment and will
continue to be and will continue to love and cherish me and care for me during
these moments of “sickness”. <br />
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God has been so very good to us and has continually given us strength to overcome all that we have. We have come to know and trust Romans 5:3-5. "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."<br />
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I don’t know what our future holds, but there is one thing I’m absolutely sure
of is that “All the days of my life” will always be true for the both of us. I
had no idea that 13 years ago in July, after that first date that I would eventually
fall in love with that 16 year old boy. I had no idea that 3 years later we
would get married. I had no idea that we would endure so much in just ten years
of marriage. I had no idea I could love someone so very much. But I know
without a doubt that I will truly love and cherish Michael, for richer or
poorer, in sickness and in health ALL the days of my life. I can’t believe we
are celebrating 10 years already! Happy 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary, Michael! I
love you! I cannot WAIT until we get to celebrate 80 years! I can only imagine
the list of things we’ve done and overcome then! :)<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-33692901852210011552015-02-23T20:57:00.001-05:002015-02-24T15:42:32.800-05:00When love isn't enough and love means letting go...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes life doesn't go as WE planned. Sometimes you push so hard to get your life to go the way YOU want it to go and you finally wake up and realize "wait a minute. What am I doing? I'm living for God. Not for myself! Why am I not following His plan?" Well. Here I am. I've woken up and realized I'm done writing our story. I'm letting go of the pen and handing our story back to God. (P.S. If you're not new to our story, you may notice that our blog address has also changed)<br />
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So. Here I am. And I'm struggling. Our story has taken a huge twist. Something we never fathomed would happen. Something we never planned for. Something we fought against. But, alas. Here we are...<br />
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Many think that love is enough when you adopt. That if you love them enough that things will be perfect. It's not true. I know without a doubt that love is NOT always enough. And it breaks my heart to say this...<br />
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For two and a half years, I have been a mom to Eyob. For two and a half years I have tried so hard to be the best mother he could have. For two and a half years I have put literal blood, sweat and tears into trying to love him enough that his poor little traumatized heart would heal. Praying that I could fix all the hurts and struggles that come from a life that began with trauma. I endured hundreds of hours of screaming, tantrums, abuse, and sometimes hateful words. And I tried so. very. hard... To be enough... While I struggle with feelings of failure, I know that I tried and I tried hard and fought as hard as I could for him.<br />
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But - God had different plans. It got to the point that no matter what we tried, Eyob would not attach. In the adoption world, attachment is SO important, and SO vital for the child to grow and thrive and survive their early traumatized start to life. His sweet heart craved a mother's attachment, but his brain, so full of fear and pain and stress of the past would not allow it. His brain fought and fought hard. And when his brain fought, it caused his body to fight. And fight he did. It was rare for me to not have the marks of his tantrums all over my body. I was okay with it. I knew his heart didn't mean it. He didn't know why he acted that way. It wasn't truly his fault. But as his brain fought my love, my touch, my affection, it wasn't enough. His brain fought more. And for some reason, it told him that hurting Mommy just wasn't enough. So he had to fight even more. He had to fight the only others he could really get to. His siblings. The older ones began to know what to expect and usually were able to get away from slaps or bites. He found one that couldn't. His baby sister. At just one year old and a new walker, she was the perfect size for his anger. So his brain told him to target her. A slap here. A push there. It began to get even more dangerous and unpredictable and we quickly realized we were in a scary situation and in order to ensure her safety, we had to either isolate her from the rest of the house or isolate Eyob from the rest of the house. We couldn't leave either of them alone for even 30 seconds.<br />
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Eyob was struggling. Baby Sister was struggling. The older 3 were struggling (one in particular was REALLY struggling emotionally and mentally). This was affecting everyone more than we ever realized. And we were warned about CPS having to step in if it continued. A therapist recommended trying even harder to get Eyob to attach. To go full force into therapy. 3 days a week for play therapy. 2 days a week for occupational therapy. 2 days a week for speech therapy. And she recommended that each of the older 3 get counseling for the trauma that was being endured in our home. A total of TEN one hour therapy sessions a week. Add that to our already busy week usually full of doctor appointments and you've got a family who is falling apart. A marriage that is desperately trying to sustain through so much stress. And a mom that has already struggled with depression and was hanging on by a thread...<br />
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It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for our family. Most of all, it wasn't fair for Eyob... We were trying so hard to force an attachment that just wasn't going to happen. He deserved more. He deserved a better life than that. He deserved to grow and thrive and be able to attach and have a good relationship with a mom. And as hard as it is to admit, that relationship just wouldn't ever be with me. No matter how much I pushed and fought and tried and loved.<br />
<br />
I began to question God and why He would allow us to fight so hard for Eyob. We fought so hard to raise the funds to get Eyob's referral fee nearly 3 years ago. God provided every single penny. We fought to get him home. God miraculously provided for those doors to open quicker than we imagined. Why would God allow us to do all of that and bring him home, only to say that we weren't going to be able to get him the help he truly needed as he grew? It just didn't make sense that God could allow something like this. I didn't know how to pray, what to ask, or how to accept this. While seeking biblical wisdom, Romans 8:26-28 spoke to me:<br />
<br />
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."<br />
<br />
I had to trust that whatever happened, God was going to make everything work together for good. That was the only thing that was helping me survive. As we began to seek help and wisdom and advice, a friend told us something that finally opened our eyes. Remember the story of Moses? How Moses went to Egypt and helped the Israelites escape? His plan was to take them to the Promised Land. He was able to free them from Egypt and he started the long journey to the Promised Land with them. Unfortunately, Moses wasn't able to make it INTO the Promised Land with his people. Our friend explained that we are Eyob's Moses. We helped him get from Ethiopia to the United States and we loved, cared for, and provided for him the past 2 1/2 years, but we were just a stepping stone to get him to where he was supposed to be. We realized that now it was time for us to hand over the reigns and allow God to take over and fully trust in His plan, no matter how heartbreaking it would be. No matter how much judgement and persecution we would face.<br />
<br />
We sought advice and prayed fervently for days and weeks for God to reveal what we were to do. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I could hardly function... We eventually realized after much confirmation in many God ways, that Eyob deserved a fresh start to his life. That we were to give Eyob a new life in another family. We were recommended by some specialists that he was to be in a family with no children under the age of 8-10. He needed a new start with another family who would continue to love him, and could also give him the help he needed that we could not give him. God revealed to me in a dream (two dreams, actually) that in this new family, Eyob would grow and thrive and finally become the child (and eventually man) that God had planned for him. This would help him more than ever and this would also help the rest of our family and ensure safety for our other children. From others we had talked to, many times children in a disrupted adoption end up finally getting through their attachment issues (or at least improving significantly) in the second family and can finally live normally. We opened up to the older kids and began praying nightly as a family. One night, Ilana came up to us and told us that God had spoken to her and God told her "I already have the perfect family picked for him. They are a strong Christian family."<br />
<br />
I opened up with another adoptive friend. She had been waiting for this exact moment, this exact conversation, for a few months. God had already laid it on her heart months ago what would be happening and she was prepared. She contacted a friend who immediately had a family in mind who God had already been preparing for this exact situation. God had even given them a dream over a year ago of a little boy they were to adopt. A little boy who looked like Eyob. They had other children, but none under the age of 9. They were a strong Christian family. He was a pastor. The timing of everything lined up perfectly and we knew that God had been preparing for this for long before we'd even considered or thought about any of it. Isn't that just how God works, though? He knows everything. He's constantly working out all the details behind the scenes... Details like:<br />
<br />
Before we had even considered finding another family, Eyob continually repeated "momma papa momma papa momma papa. I go see momma papa. momma papa." We thought he was just being goofy because no one in our family goes by momma or papa. Not even grandparents. 6 weeks later, Eyob got a package in the mail from his new adoptive family with pictures. He immediately saw a picture of the parents, and wouldn't you know... They labeled it as "Momma and Papa". <br />
<br />
Or when I showed him their pictures on my phone, before we'd even told him or the kids anything. I wanted him to familiarize himself with them. He takes one look at the picture and says "That's my new daddy?" I was astonished and questioned how in the world he even knew that. Later that day he was just grinning from ear to ear. I asked him why he was so happy and he replied with "Jesus gave me new family." Michael said "Well who told you that?" And a simple reply from him was all that was needed before we were covered in goosebumps "God."<br />
<br />
God had orchestrated everything and began working in Eyob's heart before we even realized it...<br />
<br />
The process went by over 8 weeks and then it was time. The week before it really began to sink in and our family began to really experience grief. This was the hardest thing we've ever had to do. To accept that it had gotten to this point nearly broke us apart. To accept it in my heart that I had to do this tore me apart inside. Feelings of failure. Of feeling like I wasn't enough. That somehow I didn't try enough, fight hard enough, or endure enough... Deep down I knew that no matter how much I loved him, love was not enough. My love for him would not fix him.<b> <i><u>I</u></i> </b>could not fix him!! This was for <b><u>GOD</u></b> to do. And I had to accept that this was God's plan for me. For my family. For Eyob. And I had to remember that ultimately, Eyob was NOT my child. He was God's. And I had to trust God's plan for His own son...<br />
<br />
Even though we knew it was the best thing for him, it didn't make it easy. The goodbye was bittersweet. It was great to see Eyob so happy and to have a sparkle in his eyes that he hasn't had in a long time. We spent several hours with them and then this evening, our family and his new family spent the evening surrounded by our small group in prayer. I know most disrupted adoptions end ugly. This, however, was just beautiful and just covered by the Holy Spirit. Saying goodbye and handing him to his new family nearly ripped our hearts in half. We held it together until I turned around and walked into the arms of my sister as I lost it. I'm SO thankful for my sister and her husband and two of our best friends, Duane and Danyelle who stood by our side as Eyob and his new family drove away. I can't imagine going through something like this without God and without the comfort and support of our closest friends.<br />
<br />
We are SO thankful for God's provision in allowing the process to go so smoothly and for allowing us to find the perfect family who not only cares and loves Eyob, but cares and loves our entire family and who will stay in contact and keep us updated on how he is growing and changing. God has answered every prayer during this process and we are eternally grateful.<br />
<br />
For now, our family is grieving. We're grieving the loss of a son. Of a brother. Of a little boy that we truly cherished and loved. Everywhere we look in our house, we're faced with reminders of him. Of reminders of what we had to do. And we are struggling. We miss him. We always will. We will always love him. Saying goodbye was THE hardest thing each of us have had to do and I now have a small glimpse into what God had to do by giving the world His one and only son. We are trying very hard to remember Proverbs 3:5-6:<br />
<br />
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. "<br />
<br />
God revealed to us SO clearly on which path to take. And we cannot depend on our own understanding on why, because we still don't quite get it. But we are trusting that God will make beauty from these ashes and that He will heal our hearts and help Eyob to become whole and help our family to become whole again.<br />
<br />
<br />
For those who disagree with our decision, it's okay. We understand. We know there's going to be many who think we made a huge mistake. Who think we're awful parents or who think we took the easy way out (which is crazy - this was by far the hardest thing we've ever had to do) or who think we made the wrong choice... It's okay. I know we will face judgement. I know we will get nasty messages, comments and be ridiculed. It won't be easy to accept, but I am expecting it. We're prepared and know that sometimes following God's will is asking for judgement... Nothing I say or explain will make you understand, and that's okay. We love you anyway.<br />
<br />
<br />
For those who want to continue to support us during this heartbreaking time, thank you. We love you and we appreciate you. Please pray for us. Pray for our kids. Pray for Eyob. Pray that he will just flourish and grow to overcome RAD/PTSD. Pray for his new family that we have grown to love over the past several weeks. If you see us over the next few weeks, please be cautious in asking questions, especially to our children. They are struggling, as are we. Please allow us to grieve... Please pray for us to continue to remember to praise God during these times... For now, this is a song that explains our hearts right now....<br />
<br />
<br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-57771489108636653172014-08-31T08:50:00.000-04:002014-08-31T09:01:27.516-04:00Two years...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Two years…
Two years ago we brought Mikiyas and Eyob home. What a joyous time that was!
These two precious little boys were FINALLY home! We had prayed for them, we
had fallen in love with them, we couldn’t wait to get them home! The airport
homecoming was incredible and joyous and happy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> The drive home was exciting and
terrifying all at once! We had just became a family of 6 after living nearly 4
years as a family of 4! Eek! We were prepared for a few hard weeks of
transition and endured them. The “honeymoon” stage of adoption had worn off,
but we overcame some trials and things seemed to be going smoothly. Finally, we
were able to live “happily ever after” like it always seemed would happen. You
know… People spend long, hard, trying years in adopting a child. They usually
have an abundant amount of support and prayers and encouragement during those
times. And once they bring them home, many people stop the prayers, thinking
“Things are perfect! Their children are home now! And now they will live
happily ever after!” <span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">But… We only
thought the adoption process was the hard part. Did you know that once the
newness of bringing them home wears off, they struggle with loving you and YOU
struggle with loving THEM! I can almost hear you gasping “What? You struggled
with loving those two beautiful boys? The boys you advocated for? The boys you
wanted home so desperately?” Yep. Those boys… Loving a complete stranger does
not come naturally. Yes, they were strangers. They were strangers in our home
and in our family. Crazy sounding, huh? They had to learn about us and get to
know us. We had to learn about them and get to know them. We had to become the
parents of a 15 month old and a 6 year old. To two boys who have not been in a
family setting for a long, long time… Loving them took time. Them loving us?
Took time… It was hard. I felt alone and SAD. These weird feelings of sadness
and questions of what were we doing began to take over… I wasn’t aware of the
fairly “normal” post adoption depression. Why? Because it’s rarely talked
about! But after speaking up and talking to other adoptive mommas, I quickly
found out that these feelings were NORMAL. These feelings happened to just
about every adoptive parent (AND adoptive siblings!). It was reassuring to me…
After a couple months, things began to improve, my feelings began to change and
I began to truly enjoy my boys and we were on our way to “happily ever
after”. Six months into our “happily
ever after” things changed. Radically changed. And for lack of better words, I
felt like I was in a living hell… My sweet not even 2 year old boy began to
change drastically. He used to be a momma’s boy, loving me, wanting only me...
To be honest, I forget exactly what he was like, because here we are now 18
months past the radical change and he’s still not that boy he once was….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">5+ months into
those hard times, I finally began to Google, trying anything to see about
getting help. There was something wrong. Very wrong. This was not typical 2’s
tantrums. After assessments, questionnaires and talking to attachment </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">counselors</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">/therapists we had a diagnosis. RAD. Reactive Attachment Disorder
they said. Finally. An answer. Something to go by. RAD. How could 3 letters
make such a “RAD-ical” change in our life? The great thing was that we could
finally start getting help and a therapist would begin coming to our house once
a week. I was hopeful that things would finally improve. I prayed for change. I
prayed that things would begin to get better within 3 months. Little goals
helped me endure the living hell. 3 months passed. No better. 6 months passed.
Still no change. I had been pregnant during some of that time and I prayed
things would get better by the time we had our sweet baby girl. October 8, 2013
came and our baby girl entered the world. Things at home continued to be rough.
Dealing with a newborn and a RADical child was a struggle… “A year,” I said.
“Things have to be better after a year of his diagnosis! That’d be 18 months of
him being home!” A year came and went and I began to feel discouraged. I began
to feel disheartened. I wanted to give up. I couldn’t handle this anymore. I couldn’t
handle any of it. And I had to keep it all inside because no one knew what he
was like. No one understood the effects of RAD. Even those closest to us. They
only saw a sweet, charming, happy little boy. They rarely, if ever, saw his
fits. His rages. Where he’d be happy one minute, and the next I’d be sitting
with him getting clawed at, slapped, kicked, or bitten. It was hard to stay
silent, but I knew I needed to. If I said anything, that could turn people from
adoption! I still cared about adoption and how God’s Word said to care for the
fatherless. I </span><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">didn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> want my experience to scare people from doing His command
of caring for orphans… I spoke a little bit about it to some close friends and
some adoption friends I trusted. Found someone who was going through something
similar and she became my venting partner . It got worse and got harder for me
to keep quiet. I became a ticking time bomb and began to get depressed. So.
Very. Depressed. I felt alone. I felt so completely alone, despite being in a house
with 5 other children and a wonderfully, amazing husband who did everything he
could to get me through this. There were times that I didn’t think I’d ever
make it through and I wanted to just quit. With EVERYTHING… I never imagined I
could get to such a low point. But I did. And then I’d hold my sweet baby girl
in my arms who would just stare deep into my eyes and seemed to bore through my
soul. She was worth it. She was worth continuing the fight. My older kids were
worth it. My husband was worth it. And yes, Eyob. The little boy who seemed to
hate me and want nothing to do with me was worth it. I began to speak up and
wrote a blog post about RAD and what it was (http://www.defendingthecauseofthefatherless.com/2014/01/our-radical-life-something-not-much.html).
People were amazed and many had no idea… At that point in my life, I thought
nothing could get worse!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Boy was I
wrong… Within 2 months, things piled on. We went on a vacation to
Nashville(okay, really, we just tagged along with Michael on one of his work
conferences). We thought it would be great to get away and enjoy some great
family time and do lots of fun stuff. Unfortunately, it was awful. The change
in location/scenery/time/sensory/etc. caused Eyob to freak. I quickly found
myself sitting in a hotel room having to hold Eyob down for hours while he
threw fit after fit after fit. That was the first time he began acting out to
more than just me and he hit Mireya (5 months at the time). The only good part
of the trip was getting to see Michael’s parents, who got to meet Mireya,
Mikiyas, and Eyob for the first time. Eyob was great around them (like he always
is with other people, especially new ones!).
After that, things piled on more and more. The day after we returned
home (after a looooong drive home with me having food poisoning ALL the way
home….), Mireya began throwing up blood. She was transferred to a Children’s
Hospital and was admitted for a couple days for testing. A couple weeks after
that, we discovered our 5 year old son suddenly was blind in one eye. Turned
out to be a detached retina in which he has since undergone 2 surgeries and we
are looking at one or two more in the fall/winter. Mireya continued throwing up
blood, we continued having tests with her (eventually finding out she has a
milk protein allergy which caused an esophageal tear). I was having thyroid
issues. And then Mireya was having breathing issues – turns out she has RAD
(only a different type of RAD – Reactive Airways Disease). It was just problem
after problem after problem. All these appointments were rough on all of us,
but for a little boy who struggles with “go with the flow” and any change in
routine, it was hard. The only way he knew how to react was to fight. And he
fought. And fought. And fought. I thought a year and a half ago, when he first
started the RAD symptoms, was hard. I never imagined it could get what seemed like
1000x worse… But it did. He began acting out more to others, and not just me.
His siblings, specifically Mireya. It got to the point where I couldn’t ever
leave her out of my sight because I had no idea what would be done. She’s
become such a momma’s girl, partly due to me providing her sole nutrition, and
partly because she is either constantly attached to me or within my view… For
her safety… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">At that point, I realized I could
not continue this. Along with the RAD, he was significantly delayed in speech.
He had been receiving speech therapy for a year, but he still only spoke at
about an 18-24 month old level. He was 3 years old. I couldn’t be the mom that
all the other kids needed me to be because I was so focused on Eyob and the
RAD. I couldn’t be the mom I needed to be for Eyob because dealing with a
tantrum-ing three year old abusive child for hours every. single. day got long.
Got tiring. And made a mom who became impatient. Made an angry mom. Made a mom
who could barely look at her son. I could deal with his tantrums for the
majority of the day, but by the afternoon or evening I was done, and to be
honest – wanted nothing to do with him. That’s when I couldn’t become the wife
Michael needed me to be. I was sad and defeated every single night. Yes, I’d
still have supper on the table and the house cleaned for the most part… But
gone were the days of coming home to a happy wife. Gone were the days of coming
home to a cheerful greeting. These were days of him coming home to a tear
stained, frustrated, hopeless wife… I couldn’t continue going on like this, and
that’s when we learned he would qualify for all day preschool in the public
school system due to his speech delays. I jumped at the opportunity. I never
wanted to be *that mom* who counted down the days until my kids would start
school… I was a homeschooling mom, so was used to my kids always being home and
loved it… But that changed and I couldn’t wait for Eyob to start school and for
me to get a break…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">School started and I think I was the
only mom in his school who was not sad. I was rejoicing. I was rejoicing the
fact that I did it. I survived. I survived one and a half years of what seemed
like pure hell. I was proud. Proud of myself. Proud of my family. Proud that we
did it!! And now. Finally. After one and a half years. I was getting a break… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It has been two weeks since school started and </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">I've</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> learned a
lot these past two weeks. I’ve realized that just because you’re following God’s
call for your life, your life won’t be easy. Many people tend to think “Oh, I
have God in my life. Things will go great now!” My life is living proof that it
won’t. My life is living proof that following God does not equal happily ever
after. Following God will sometimes make your life harder than you ever could
have imagined! But… I’m so thankful for His promises like in James 1:12: <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">"God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward They will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Or 1 Peter 5:7-10 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> I realized that through these hard times, I actually became further and further from God. Satan was using Eyob’s tantrums and Eyob’s RAD as a distraction. As a distraction from God’s hope. I had spiraled deeper and deeper into a depression forgetting that I WASN’T alone! That my Lord and Savior was there to support me. To strengthen me. To restore me!! I know that God will use these trials for His glory! He has used EVERY single trial in the past for good. He WILL do the same with this. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">While things are still difficult when Eyob gets home from school and we’ve started some other issues, I’m able to be a better mom to him. I didn’t realize how dealing with fits all day every day had really effected me and pushed me further and further from being the mom I wanted to be. A day or two after Eyob started school, Mikiyas came up to me and said “Mommy? What’s wrong?” And I looked at him confused and questioned him “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong!” And his reply stunned me. “You look different. You’re happy!” I didn’t realize how I had allowed RAD to steal my joy. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Do I regret what we did 2 years ago? Absolutely not! Has it been hard? Harder than I ever could have imagined…. I couldn’t have survived if it weren’t for God and His amazing grace! I have learned to “rejoice in confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” (Romans 12:12) All this to say, do I still recommend adoption? You betcha! Adoption is amazing. Yes, adoption comes with hard trials and while I struggle with Eyob, I am thankful. Thankful that he has the ability to call me mommy. Thankful that Mikiyas is able to call me mommy. Thankful that they are in a family. Thankful that they are able to have brothers and sisters. Thankful that they are able to grow up to know God. Thankful that they are able to get good medical care. It’s truly amazing to see what all we have overcome in two years and how while our struggles still continue, we can continue to rejoice in confident hope!! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">I’m not going to let RAD keep me from sharing just how important orphan care is. I’m not going to let RAD keep me from sharing about HIV adoption, because God wants us to use our adoptions to educate and to bring awareness! Am I going to keep quiet about RAD? NO. It’s something not many talk about and I feel it is important to bring that up so many others don’t feel alone like I once did…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Bringing home Mikiyas and Eyob two years ago was one of the hardest things we've done, but it’s been one of the best things we've done. I know that God is developing a great endurance in our family… “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (Romans 5:3-5)</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">***If you are dealing with RAD, please know, you are NOT alone.
I know how hard it is and how easy it is to want to give up. Please speak up.
Don’t hold it in. Don’t feel afraid to share with someone. It is SO important
to get help. For you. For your child. Don’t try to endure it all alone. If you
need to talk to anyone, please feel free to email me at
nunezfamilyadoption@gmail.com</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In honor of bringing them home two years ago... Here's our homecoming video!</span></span><br /></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wT2AYXtsYUE" width="459"></iframe></div>
The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-20134978347243219902014-01-12T16:20:00.000-05:002014-01-12T16:55:13.155-05:00Our RADical life. Something not much talked about...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, after a long, hard, trying week, I decided I need to blog about it.... About our RADical life. Radical... Hey- that's one of my favorite books by David Platt! But I'm not talking about that kind of radical. Not the wow-my-life-is-rad-dude! kind of radical either...<br />
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This is NOT to scare adoptive parents or prospective adoptive parents. This is for awareness. This is for those adoptive mommas (or daddies!) who feel alone. This is for family and friends who know someone who has a child with RAD, but you don't quite understand... When you adopt, it's usually required to take a few online courses on parenting and attachment related topics, but to be honest, there isn't a lot talked about with RAD, especially from adoptive parents. From my personal experience, it's because it's hard to talk about a side of your child that hardly anyone else sees. I also fear that it will turn people away from adoption. But I've realized that it's important to talk about. It's important for people to know and understand and for other parents going through RAD that they are not alone. It's also important for family members and friends to realize what is going on at home, how to help and things not to do.<br />
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So here we go... RAD. What is it? RAD stands for Reactive Attachment Disorder and is most common in adopted or foster children. "RAD kids have learned that the world is unsafe, and that the adults around them can’t be trusted to meet their needs. They have developed a protective shell around their emotions, isolating themselves from dependency on adult caregivers. Rather than depending on their parents or other adults to protect them, the protective shell becomes the child’s only means of coping with the world. Dependent only upon themselves for protection, they come to see anyone who is trying to remove this protective barrier as a threat, not to their emotional well being, but to their very lives. They turn on those who seek to help them the most."<br />
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This explains my everyday life as Eyob's mom. It's not uncommon for our day to be filled with screaming tantrums that can last anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour. It can occur over just about anything. Asking him not to poke our cat's eyes, telling him to please put his pants on, suggesting for him to play with a toy (any toy!), not allowing him to go out the front door on his own... Literally anything can stir up a control issue, resulting in a screaming fit where sometimes he can try to hit or kick, and if not me, then he turns on himself and will try to throw himself on the floor, bang his face on the floor or even run into a wall. This is why it's not unusual for him to have a bruise on his forehead or a bloodied lip. Then after the fit, he can do a 180 and be perfectly fine and normal again as if nothing ever happened, just for it to start over again sometimes just 5 minutes later. It began to be normal for this to happen 10, 15, 20 plus times a day. I thought I was doing something wrong, because it seemed like no matter what I did. No matter what I provided, not matter how much I tried to love him, to show him I loved him... Nothing helped. Nothing worked. The more I tried to show love, the worse it seemed to get... <br />
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For many of you who know Eyob, this probably sounds like a completely different child to you... He is known for his sweet, charming attitude and his cute, flirty smile and eyes. He is one of the most "loving" little boys. To everyone else, but me. This is a common symptom of RAD.<br />
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"Superficially charming and engaging, particularly around strangers or those </div>
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who they feel they can manipulate </div>
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Indiscriminate affection, often to strangers; but not affectionate on parent’s terms"</div>
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It was so hard to see how it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me, but any chance he'd get, he would go to any other person, especially women. Even strangers! And he would be the sweet, loving little boy I had fallen in love with when we first brought him home. Everyone at church would tell me what an amazing little boy he was and how much they loved him and how lucky I was to have such a good little boy! I'd politely smile, try to say thank you and walk away, with my heart in my throat, wishing desperately that the little boy they saw was that same child to me at home. This is why it was hard for me to talk about in the beginning. I went months without saying anything, not even to Michael, because even HE never saw that side of Eyob. I thought it was just a phase or that it was because he was nearing his twos. As the months went by of no improvement, I began to feel like I was in a dark, lonely place in my life. I opened up to Michael when he began to see issues with Eyob. And I began to question our adoption and to be honest, I began to question my faith. I knew without a doubt that we had done God's will and purpose for our life, but the human side of me wondered, "God, I did what you asked me to do! Why is this happening? This isn't what it was supposed to be like!" It wasn't unusual for Michael to come home, ask me how my day was and for me to burst into a sobbing, crying mess. I thank the Lord everyday for such an awesome husband... Many days he didn't even have to ask. One look into my eyes and he knew. And that sweet man, full of grace and understanding, would quietly bring me into our bedroom, tell me to lay down and he'd go out, shut the door and take over, fixing supper and taking care of the kids. Other times he would hold me and let me cry and just pray, when I felt like I could no longer pray.<br />
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As I questioned God and His perfect plan and purpose, He began to reveal to me that, yes, adoption is a beautiful thing, but also reminded me that adoption must occur because we live in a fallen, sin-filled world. The cause and need for adoption is due to death, abandonment, sickness, disease, tragedy, heartache, and just awful situations. God never said "Adopt these two beautiful boys and your life will be great, perfect and easy." God said "Adopt these two precious boys that I love so much and your life will be great, but difficult. Your life will be amazing and beautiful, but filled with heart wrenching stories, backgrounds and trials. You, Amanda... YOU will get to witness what true unconditional love is like. YOU will get to witness what it is like to love a child who doesn't love you back, who fights you, who feels like they don't need you. Just remember. You are not alone. I am with you. And most of all: I understand... More than you could ever know. I understand! "<br />
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Day after day, I'd silently wish for the day to hurry so bedtime would come, and yet dread morning, knowing it would all start over again. Fits. Screaming. Hitting. Kicking. Trying to protect him from hurting himself. Fits over nothing. He'd sit in front of me rocking, screaming, and crying, not allowing me to even touch him, as I'd quietly tell him over and over "It's okay, Eyob. Mommies touch. It's okay, Eyob. Mommies hug. It's okay, Eyob. Mommies LOVE. It's okay, Eyob. Mommies hold." As he continually screamed and revolted at a single fingertip touch to his arm or cheek, as if it burned his skin. His eyes glazed over. For minutes. For hours. And then all of a sudden, a blink, eyes cleared, screaming stopped, and touch was okay. For a little while. Until it all started over again. That was/is my day, repeated over and over...<br />
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A song struck me once months ago in the van... "Oceans" by Hillsong. The lyrics stood out to me and it felt as if this was the song I needed to be singing, as I drove home in tears...<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-8mZpGj29qw" width="459"></iframe>
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"You call me out upon the waters<br />
The great unknown where feet may fail<br />
And there I find You in the mystery<br />
In oceans deep My faith will stand<br />
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And I will call upon Your name<br />
And keep my eyes above the waves<br />
When oceans rise<br />
My soul will rest in Your embrace<br />
For I am Yours and You are mine<br />
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Your grace abounds in deepest waters<br />
Your sovereign hand<br />
Will be my guide<br />
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me<br />
You've never failed and You won't start now<br />
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Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders<br />
Let me walk upon the waters<br />
Wherever You would call me<br />
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander<br />
And my faith will be made stronger<br />
In the presence of my Savior"<br />
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I began to open up and found out that I actually wasn't alone... I knew that God has never failed us, especially during our adoption process and He would certainly not fail me now in the midst of hard times. I began to realize that what Eyob was doing wasn't "normal" so to speak. We eventually took him to be assessed by a specialist who almost immediately diagnosed him with RAD as he met almost every one of the signs/symptoms such as:<br />
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Superficially charming and engaging, particularly around strangers or those who they feel they can manipulate</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indiscriminate affection, often to strangers; but not affectionate on parent’s terms</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Problems making eye contact</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A severe need to control everything and everyone; worsens as the child gets older</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hypervigilant</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frequent tantrums or rage, often over trivial issues</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Demanding or clingy, often at inappropriate times</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cruelty to animals</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Destructive to property or self</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abnormal speech patterns; uninterested in learning communication skills</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developmental / Learning delays</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Problems with food; either hoarding it or refusing to eat</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sneaks things without permission even if he could have had them by asking</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Triangulation of adults; pitting one against the other</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A darkness behind the eyes when raging (this is one of the biggest things that triggered to us that something was not right. His eyes would almost glass over)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many wonder how Eyob has it when he is so little. RAD can come at ANY age. And you must remember, that for the first months of his life, his needs were never met. It has been ingrained in his small little brain that none of his caregivers ever met all his needs. He wasn't always fed when he needed it. He wasn't always held when he needed it. He was never left with ONE person. People came and went in his short little life. His brain is telling him that he shouldn't get close to me. I will eventually leave or eventually I won't meet the needs he has. RAD can literally be a coping mechanism! He cannot trust me and is too scared to try...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We were assigned with an attachment therapist and I began to feel a little more hope. We've been having therapy for a couple months now. While we still don't have much improvement, I still have hope that things will eventually get better. Despite that hope, I still struggle a lot with hard days. It's normal for a mom to have hard days... And with being a mom to 5 little ones under the age of 7, having a newborn (which results in many sleepless nights), homeschooling 2 of the older ones, dealing with just everyday life as a mom and wife, and then throwing in RAD? It'd hard, to say the least. This past week was a particularly difficult week. His tempers had increased and you can see some bruises, scratch marks and bites on me from him... But I have hope. Hope in Jesus Christ. Hope that love will conquer all. I will admit, though. Loving unconditionally has been hard, and I sometimes do a terrible job at it. I'm thankful I get to retry every single day, though, and I pray that God will teach me to love like Him... And as crazy as it sounds, I'm thankful for the opportunity for God to break me from my content attitude and humbling me to be able to be more like Him... And totally thankful for Eyob... </span><br />
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"A child born to another woman calls me mom. The depth of the tragedy and the magnitude of the privilege are not lost on me." - Jody Landers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know we still have a long way to go, and I know that not everyday will I go forth with such a great attitude, but again, I'm thankful for His grace and am thankful that He is here by my side every step of the way. I'm thankful that "His grace abounds in deepest waters, His sovereign hand will be my guide. Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me, He has never failed and He won't start now." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">***** ~ ****** ~ ****** ~ ******~*****</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Are you a friend or family member to someone you know who is dealing with a child with RAD? Wondering what you can do to help? Here are some ideas:</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: inherit;">What to do:</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pray. Pray from afar, pray over the RAD child, pray for the parents. Cover them in prayer as often as they come to mind. I truly believe RAD is Satan's way of fighting against adoption... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If they're having a hard day, bring them a meal. Believe me, at the end of a difficult day, it's almost all you can do to function enough to think about food. Often times, I want to curl up in a ball and hide in my closet! But that could just be me and my coping mechanism! ;) My sister has done that for me after a really hard day. It meant more to me than I think she realizes... Especially knowing she is busy herself, as a mom of 4!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Watch their kids for an hour or two so they can have a break. Seriously, breaks are needed SO much for the well being and sanity of the main caregiver. A day of constant crying, tantrum-ing, screaming, and attachment issues can wear down a mom/dad quickly, but dealing with that day in and day out can drain a person more than you can imagine... Trust me! So an hour or even an evening out for RAD mom and/or dad is great! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Be supportive and encouraging. Let them vent or talk without casting any sort of judgement. Encourage them and tell them they are doing great. Chances are, they feel like they're not. Chances are, they feel like one of the worst parents in the world. Even if they may not believe you, the encouraging words help.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: inherit;">What to NOT do:</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If RAD child is in the middle of a tantrum and you are there, walk away and let child and parent deal with it alone. If child goes to you, ignore and walk away. PLEASE let the caregiver deal with it. Remember that the child will try to manipulate anyone they think they can. They know they can't with mom/dad, so they may try to go to someone else. It's important for their attachment that only mom or dad deals with these tantrums and that you don't even look at or talk to RAD child and don't question the parenting techniques that are being used.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you haven't been through it, don't say you understand. I haven't dealt with that, but some have, and not only is it frustrating, but it can be discouraging. It's nothing like a normal two or three year old temper tantrum. It may seem like it to you, but there's much more to a RAD tantrum than that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the parents are there, do not give RAD child food, drinks, change their diapers, etc. This is an attachment thing in general, not just for RAD kids, but for all adopted kids. It's SO important for the child (whether a baby or a big kid!) to understand and learn that their needs of food, water, clothing, love, and more comes from Mommy and Daddy. No one else. It's very common for RAD children to "mommy shop", meaning shopping for another mom (or dad) who will give into their every want and it's common for RAD child to go around a room "begging" and putting on their sweet, flirty face trying to find out who will give them what they want. For example, if RAD child asks you for a cookie, please say something similar to "I'm sorry *insert name*, but I can't give that to you. Go ask your Mommy/Daddy! They give you cookies. Not me!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You may be in a store and see a tantrum-ing child. Don't always assume it's a "bratty spoiled child".... It very well could be. Or it could be just a tired, overwhelmed child. Or there may be other underlying issues, like a child with RAD. Instead of giving disapproving stares, whispers and pointing fingers, I'd really encourage you to instead give mom a gentle pat on the shoulder and say "It's okay, momma!" and walk away. Believe me, the last thing you need is a stern, judgmental stare when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and cry in the middle of the store, knowing there's nothing you can do to stop said child from their fit. And being a mom with 5 little ones, including a newborn, when you're by yourself in a store with all the kids, it's not easy to take all 5 of them out of the store at the time, and many times the fit must be dealt with in store (or doctors office, waiting room, etc.). </span></div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-37729190355127643052013-12-16T20:47:00.001-05:002013-12-18T10:46:38.695-05:00Urgent Help Needed!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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While everyone is finishing up their Christmas shopping, baking all sorts of Christmas goodies, perhaps putting the last touches of Christmas decorations up, and looking forward to the Christmas gifts they're going to receive, there's some people who are not so fortunate to be doing any of that. More specifically, kids... </div>
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I have a friend who is living in Uganda until January. While she is there, she has been seeing so many needs around her... </div>
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As you may be buying your child a new pair of shoes that he/she just NEEDS...<br />
Look at this child's feet...</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"> THAT ^ is a true need. Besides being in desperate need of a new pair of sandals, this child needs medical care for jiggers. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">What are jiggers? They are also known as Chigoe fleas, which are the smallest known flea, at 1 mm long. Female jiggers burrow into exposed skin (usually on feet) and stay in there while developing their eggs. If the flea is left within the skin, dangerous complications can occur including secondary infections, loss of nails, and sometimes even toes. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">But really... Would you EVER allow your child to have shoes like that? And without shoes, these chidren's feet are not protected by jiggers.</span></div>
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Here are two more children's feet all covered in jigger bites.</div>
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Or how about this sweet boy? His ears are so infected with lots of drainage pouring out. (Mikiyas came home with an ear infection like this that had probably been that way for awhile. Turns out his ear drum was ruptured because of it and needed surgery to repair it. I'm not sure what this boy's is like...)</div>
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And this little sweetie... She has a fungal infection on her scalp. She has flies constantly on her head and the family has no soap or money for treatment. </div>
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Her poor head is covered in blisters, sores, with drainage...</div>
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And yet, they all live this way. No means to go to the doctor for simple medical treatment. Here in America? We take our kids to the doctor for every little thing. Can you imagine this being YOUR child, and you not being able to do ANYTHING but watch them suffer? </div>
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These are just a few of the needs there. And for a measly (in Americans' eyes) $30 each, these kids can see the doctor and have the medical treatment and medicines needed. My sweet friend while waiting in Uganda until January, has decided to allow God to use her in anyway needed. She's personally going to take these kids to the doctor and is hopeful to raise funds to help take more. </div>
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Instead of getting your child that extra toy, or those extra shoes, or your mom that gift out of obligation that she doesn't even need.... Would you be willing to help fund medical treatment for as many kids in Uganda as possible? Just $5 or $10, or maybe you could even give $30 to pay for one child's medical needs? If so, please donate ANY amount using the button below. I will be sending any amount collected this week through this link directly to her. Thank you!!!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Can we get at least TEN kids medical treatment? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Keep checking back to see how much we raise this week! I'll continue to edit and update the latest totals!</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">We raised $215 - enough to have almost 8 kids' medical needs treated!!!</span><br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-1381669304893410842013-12-02T16:05:00.000-05:002013-12-02T16:15:31.811-05:00Shop With a Purpose - Christmas 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last year, I made a blog post about our Christmas and how we do it differently and about Advent Conspiracy. You can read that if you click <a href="http://www.defendingthecauseofthefatherless.com/2012/12/christmas-bit-different.html">HERE.</a> I think it's SO very important to use the Christmas season as a time to help others, give to those who truly need it and remember what Christmas is really about. A great way to give someone a gift AND help someone in need is to Shop With a Purpose!! All the items below will help others. It may give clean water to people in Africa, it may help bring a little girl or boy to their forever family, or it may help give employment to a widowed woman in a third world country. Please, consider shopping with a purpose this year and feel free to share this blogpost so others can as well!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd49gkkQraeShZChxNvx6bCybZrVI-ggIoR64nWJ0g0wPTw1nYcF-hxoq2cRDsvtRpwZtN4C__VSMTXvucf3zObpAN-1ztIbwqmnCoZB7fvfnRYZv8bcBN1xWe8GTDtzOwCS4xBrwbHhH/s1600/projecthopeful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd49gkkQraeShZChxNvx6bCybZrVI-ggIoR64nWJ0g0wPTw1nYcF-hxoq2cRDsvtRpwZtN4C__VSMTXvucf3zObpAN-1ztIbwqmnCoZB7fvfnRYZv8bcBN1xWe8GTDtzOwCS4xBrwbHhH/s1600/projecthopeful.jpg" /></a></div>
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Project Hopeful is one of my favorite nonprofits. If it weren't for them, we would not have learned TRUTH about HIV and adopted our two boys.... Anyway, they offer a variety of items including this super cute shirt! You can order it <a href="http://projecthopeful.org/store/shop/">HERE</a>.<br />
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Here's a super cute headband for sale by Come Together Trading, who is a Fair Trade Retailer. All of the products they sell are handmade with great love by wonderful amazing people who just happen to live in some of the most poverty stricken and difficult places in the world. By purchasing their products you are helping create and sustain jobs for them, which positively impacts all other areas of their life. Under each item for sale here, you will find the inspiring stories of the incredible people who make the products and learn how your purchase is benefiting them and their communities. Please go <a href="http://www.cometogethertrading.com/">HERE</a> to order!</div>
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Aren't these scarves gorgeous?! They are sold by Noonday Collection. The proceeds go to fund an adoption from Ethiopia! Noonday offers you the opportunity to use your purchasing power to create change in the world {while looking really good along the way}. Your fashion sense can now restore dignity to abandoned women in Ethiopia, empower communities in Ecuador, and create business opportunities for Ugandans. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDk3RpW_j9ZefB72A_QGTOLxXFCvxaT8kxB9obkUCKmGI-wmsJmGDoZR0PxmswtI35nT12y93hiLJneEd5AvOGv7a2fCS-f7uKpKI_BsFbVKfjnHBLJWUlY5FmyIDmKPRBt2vZxAhrza9/s1600/garza+family+adoption.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDk3RpW_j9ZefB72A_QGTOLxXFCvxaT8kxB9obkUCKmGI-wmsJmGDoZR0PxmswtI35nT12y93hiLJneEd5AvOGv7a2fCS-f7uKpKI_BsFbVKfjnHBLJWUlY5FmyIDmKPRBt2vZxAhrza9/s320/garza+family+adoption.JPG" width="252" /></a></div>
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These tshirts help fund another Ethiopian adoption! Order yours <a href="http://www.garzafamilyadoption.com/">HERE</a>!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLqjIBKOwCBt1HLYRmk5D1YrzUnKQQmByCOoViOAvZt1z3hfqpidkTltBerkdU9fxEFedhz1eFZQanLdGTRCG-6U6n2-ylCe1CeaKraQmRLy9yCcSUwXpGOzRvbr9KHnh6K1_UhPGU8ywk/s1600/kopchick+adoption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLqjIBKOwCBt1HLYRmk5D1YrzUnKQQmByCOoViOAvZt1z3hfqpidkTltBerkdU9fxEFedhz1eFZQanLdGTRCG-6U6n2-ylCe1CeaKraQmRLy9yCcSUwXpGOzRvbr9KHnh6K1_UhPGU8ywk/s400/kopchick+adoption.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Your purchase of one of these tees fund another Ethiopian adoption. You can order <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/twofoursixeight">HERE</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKkD_WSmlefNomoitec30oc3DWZSe1QpofF9cx_lvvd6-hcprvcJiXJbWFk8ZCqacT1fopJtA7BzNLewOi7XVGtoMlugIOX2TlCqmXyb6K5PlNMJ4v9nYHTCWdjoVBsAF0_BdjkPQf8sC/s1600/badge+reels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKkD_WSmlefNomoitec30oc3DWZSe1QpofF9cx_lvvd6-hcprvcJiXJbWFk8ZCqacT1fopJtA7BzNLewOi7XVGtoMlugIOX2TlCqmXyb6K5PlNMJ4v9nYHTCWdjoVBsAF0_BdjkPQf8sC/s320/badge+reels.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This adoptive momma makes badge reels (custom too!) for ID badges! What a unique idea! You can purchase one <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/waitinghereforyou">HERE</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>JEWELRY AND BODY SUPPLIES</u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd12EZhi9YCZeoHb3F_nR-EPmsVhW44L04tQdQfXWuhRLcX4mqPJwan6IZ5jt1V5bE-mj8UXTpSPP8SN_9VZQTFbGvyFchyVTmd25iswRLvaSoa6jL7y-xylXD1J038oZMweIVdiEoqkpc/s1600/keefer2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd12EZhi9YCZeoHb3F_nR-EPmsVhW44L04tQdQfXWuhRLcX4mqPJwan6IZ5jt1V5bE-mj8UXTpSPP8SN_9VZQTFbGvyFchyVTmd25iswRLvaSoa6jL7y-xylXD1J038oZMweIVdiEoqkpc/s320/keefer2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XxEbqbuvUx6srFwccbsO0NipbpVAMorZdGXTZGU2wLg7Rm5rrwPQCQ1H_iGahXnGyDk-lkmyRotFzoLs6vgTRAXSIL9v9ztNf1XsWxJyQi6u8Nywspc-FemLZXfAMosv_jzwF1zbDIVU/s1600/keefer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XxEbqbuvUx6srFwccbsO0NipbpVAMorZdGXTZGU2wLg7Rm5rrwPQCQ1H_iGahXnGyDk-lkmyRotFzoLs6vgTRAXSIL9v9ztNf1XsWxJyQi6u8Nywspc-FemLZXfAMosv_jzwF1zbDIVU/s320/keefer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Keefer Style Creations has some absolutely beautiful handmade necklaces. She created the business to help fund her medical mission trips to Haiti. Also 20% of all Africa related sales go to a great organization called Feeding The Orphans which is an amazing non profit that feeds/clothes/provides education and gives and speaks the love of Jesus to everyone they come in contact with.If you would like to help you can always go to the website and check out their page! To buy one of these or MANY others, go <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/KeeferStyleCreations?ref=l2-shopheader-name">HERE</a> and do it today for 15% off and to ensure you get it by Christmas!!.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaB3znoKw2zX0J3-inkJv2P_y69cQYTcOa3Hu5pFFpDIwItfKpYwHNQTpvVxyiSesaIU_p0tE4ToWtcy8DZBTQItUf8ix4L8GU0-EnOjm8fJBsxJy_Ec5cHcd_ciZfZB7dqfZ-osXGJAM6/s1600/mercy+for+mamas4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaB3znoKw2zX0J3-inkJv2P_y69cQYTcOa3Hu5pFFpDIwItfKpYwHNQTpvVxyiSesaIU_p0tE4ToWtcy8DZBTQItUf8ix4L8GU0-EnOjm8fJBsxJy_Ec5cHcd_ciZfZB7dqfZ-osXGJAM6/s200/mercy+for+mamas4.JPG" width="149" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfV7GNkVUPTi3hDyOCnW7CrVV3a6voIXH10BqZqBDWt2hagNbd5dlLz_XmhSQlF8wMliPCYFqabEBQHiq1OTzjifqr0MzIdGtIaTUNU6_WfAthlXS4V6IwBxkKFYhdV3K4rOWPwD33BpB/s1600/mercy+for+mamas6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfV7GNkVUPTi3hDyOCnW7CrVV3a6voIXH10BqZqBDWt2hagNbd5dlLz_XmhSQlF8wMliPCYFqabEBQHiq1OTzjifqr0MzIdGtIaTUNU6_WfAthlXS4V6IwBxkKFYhdV3K4rOWPwD33BpB/s200/mercy+for+mamas6.JPG" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRah7LYLhTronSt6dRSnk4eXGieR4YFK6j8OVSgGBJVUF7i8JOoqKxyfuLQt1a0InaLQ0BQvY_X8f8Oogtf13RfDO-WXxWCODMKunUAypTiW3AHvmy1l_HDW_7EjQzD3BTrKtAPx_54QYJ/s1600/mercy+for+mamas5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRah7LYLhTronSt6dRSnk4eXGieR4YFK6j8OVSgGBJVUF7i8JOoqKxyfuLQt1a0InaLQ0BQvY_X8f8Oogtf13RfDO-WXxWCODMKunUAypTiW3AHvmy1l_HDW_7EjQzD3BTrKtAPx_54QYJ/s200/mercy+for+mamas5.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkwL9qcF8fiaPIAWR-VLz5yT8jBLONfu4y_NMgT8Rtn7PCZNKxRM1K2qdMQD948cHLXN4-WnFW3vFW6FIE1DroGPbcj2yCunbIRK3yE6d4K60YOd7zApF09OuLJjdYd8SZ8sA05HjuEWH/s1600/mercy+for+mamas7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkwL9qcF8fiaPIAWR-VLz5yT8jBLONfu4y_NMgT8Rtn7PCZNKxRM1K2qdMQD948cHLXN4-WnFW3vFW6FIE1DroGPbcj2yCunbIRK3yE6d4K60YOd7zApF09OuLJjdYd8SZ8sA05HjuEWH/s200/mercy+for+mamas7.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSXJ6vJUmKjSLAlFqN5tiUa65sxxB4dfcRR9hlSiSs6oNK_bACx4QhegYizNeQNX5ttA7S-Qua0d5SQONHaY8q7TYYObGMGqVE0KdDEBVfWrI_glrlJSN01JZkA0iHDlnHRy-9L6jfLH0/s1600/mercy+for+mamas8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSXJ6vJUmKjSLAlFqN5tiUa65sxxB4dfcRR9hlSiSs6oNK_bACx4QhegYizNeQNX5ttA7S-Qua0d5SQONHaY8q7TYYObGMGqVE0KdDEBVfWrI_glrlJSN01JZkA0iHDlnHRy-9L6jfLH0/s200/mercy+for+mamas8.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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These beautiful earrings, necklaces, and bracelets are for sale by Mercy for Mamas. They can be found <a href="http://www.mercyformamas.com/p/shop_3.html">HERE</a>. They range from $5-20. The purchases made from Mercy for Mamas go directly toward the purchase and distribution of mama kits to women in Uganda. A Mama Kits is an all-in-one kits that contains everything needed to help provide a clean and safe delivery. In order to give birth in most hospitals or clinics in Uganda, you must purchase all of the necessary supplies and bring them with you. If you do not have the supplies you will often be turned away. Many of the women cannot buy the supplies, so they do not seek medical care, which often leads to complications and even death for the mothers and babies. A simple gift of a $7 kit can allow the women to give birth in a hospital or clinic, or if they must give birth at home they have proper sterile supplies. Research has shown that the gift of a mama kit can greatly reduce the number of women dying during childbirth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnQfPpsep2YxHuxcW6R5UKVw72t1eq9gD0ZQZAvjdQM72sk4h17MYYxbz4QuRbXBc6owCFixeET415yz2nfDo7XEYMm0eCLNtVxXcdBGtl07LJYYvZTdL12CEUasTOG6w3WlPhhAsRzP4/s1600/Shaw+Family+Adoption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnQfPpsep2YxHuxcW6R5UKVw72t1eq9gD0ZQZAvjdQM72sk4h17MYYxbz4QuRbXBc6owCFixeET415yz2nfDo7XEYMm0eCLNtVxXcdBGtl07LJYYvZTdL12CEUasTOG6w3WlPhhAsRzP4/s320/Shaw+Family+Adoption.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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This BEAUTIFUL necklace is on sale for only $32. The proceeds from this necklace goes to fund the adoption of a 10 year old girl from China who has spina bifida! This will make the 7th child in the Shaw Family. You can order one <a href="http://networkedblogs.com/RjHA2">HERE</a>!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkTHsbJSe0vymkYdgpwoAfXWNPr5uvAB6elpV58W3oRKID9leaochwIc9chb0Y5Ck0U4iYU2zjCwTH29XrSfKBUOik9CW0MeBPxThARpMG9lbXaKD_-dbD6yN6RyyT8Nrld9asfPn2oEa/s1600/reese1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkTHsbJSe0vymkYdgpwoAfXWNPr5uvAB6elpV58W3oRKID9leaochwIc9chb0Y5Ck0U4iYU2zjCwTH29XrSfKBUOik9CW0MeBPxThARpMG9lbXaKD_-dbD6yN6RyyT8Nrld9asfPn2oEa/s1600/reese1.JPG" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-5C4pSpzp_ZLcaxYeo2AxigILbNWWHY7i58a3IAGoriC-fvHUFvySoKsCRSHBlG1JfWLiWe0stBaxGA2c5MopZh_ZjDb5L_nTeEqhBmsyGQCVM0WlIQVOHy5wjCS_CfymohhjnarQVnR/s1600/reese2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-5C4pSpzp_ZLcaxYeo2AxigILbNWWHY7i58a3IAGoriC-fvHUFvySoKsCRSHBlG1JfWLiWe0stBaxGA2c5MopZh_ZjDb5L_nTeEqhBmsyGQCVM0WlIQVOHy5wjCS_CfymohhjnarQVnR/s1600/reese2.JPG" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WITf01lo5xegrWNBAIYE_r2gyySMfzqFSfoj25sfXxK_9dvWdqkhqKmGYBgRJeZTfGkJF2zeJRVVImYI3diIPQ2_OQ99UY2SbCWipdjG7NaHJW52lqjDhXeh1OLnshZSZC-ymBahzS6F/s1600/reese3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WITf01lo5xegrWNBAIYE_r2gyySMfzqFSfoj25sfXxK_9dvWdqkhqKmGYBgRJeZTfGkJF2zeJRVVImYI3diIPQ2_OQ99UY2SbCWipdjG7NaHJW52lqjDhXeh1OLnshZSZC-ymBahzS6F/s1600/reese3.JPG" /></a></div>
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These Mudlove bracelets are being sold by one of my most favorite people in the world! My sister! :) They are in the process of adopting two precious little ones from Ethiopia. A 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. This aunt is SO excited to meet them!!! Please support their adoption and bring home these two sweeties by ordering a bracelet <a href="http://lifewiththereeses.blogspot.com/p/fundraisers.html">HERE</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRyl1OXGIbUvezDden1OOFQ49JdynJ6Z_H6C9iRWTqLKbHiTnA2QbY2Zec2CWFN6CJzML8NFgGebb-mgpf5Lsv8M5C2RUSlVyznFQBqLHSz-b7tn0otmQcc_yAojOfQ38boi26UwAImYY/s1600/mercyhousekenya3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRyl1OXGIbUvezDden1OOFQ49JdynJ6Z_H6C9iRWTqLKbHiTnA2QbY2Zec2CWFN6CJzML8NFgGebb-mgpf5Lsv8M5C2RUSlVyznFQBqLHSz-b7tn0otmQcc_yAojOfQ38boi26UwAImYY/s320/mercyhousekenya3.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIceSuWD-WP1agOJisSs0skzUJkMHobCjKG4NVfxmiYuvoVvqK1eBeIJRdw741hmnY2_emujlI_o9xMYEDihVa3MCvmqKaaAqW6Hhs7818iXMDiBPZVMiEIDB1zIfdipm_MQPThrnPzH4I/s1600/mercyhousekenya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIceSuWD-WP1agOJisSs0skzUJkMHobCjKG4NVfxmiYuvoVvqK1eBeIJRdw741hmnY2_emujlI_o9xMYEDihVa3MCvmqKaaAqW6Hhs7818iXMDiBPZVMiEIDB1zIfdipm_MQPThrnPzH4I/s320/mercyhousekenya.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Here are a few more beaded necklaces. These are made by women in Uganda and support Mercy House Kenya. Mercy House is a nonprofit that provides <span style="font-family: LoraRegular, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a safe place-a guarded home with maternity beds, prenatal care, nutrition, counseling, education, livelihood skill, and an account to start a small business. Order yours <a href="http://shop.mercyhousekenya.org/">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdy6dap3hllevwtrfziCwsFBn9JG4Udmth4lfFPI2MqPKU3deHkfYf81TUeG9J7MgbPHtjkA0pb3jVifCV9EIHUmGoKHahm0sdAIvpkm_QYIkwVBbyV9mshvNb_UIuGkRfwYOCmYAkceOD/s1600/origamiowl2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdy6dap3hllevwtrfziCwsFBn9JG4Udmth4lfFPI2MqPKU3deHkfYf81TUeG9J7MgbPHtjkA0pb3jVifCV9EIHUmGoKHahm0sdAIvpkm_QYIkwVBbyV9mshvNb_UIuGkRfwYOCmYAkceOD/s320/origamiowl2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: LoraRegular, Times, serif; font-size: 13.513513565063477px; line-height: 20.997560501098633px; text-align: left;">Order a custom locket from Origami Owl! Origami Owl is a company where you make your own necklace. You choose your charms, locket, chain, and more! A portion of the proceeds from the sales will go towards the Make a Wish Foundation. To order, please go </span><a href="http://www.kblowe.origamiowl.com/parties/SupportMakeAWishFoundation96821/how-to-build.ashx" style="font-family: LoraRegular, Times, serif; font-size: 13.513513565063477px; line-height: 20.997560501098633px; text-align: left;">HERE</a><span style="font-family: LoraRegular, Times, serif; font-size: 13.513513565063477px; line-height: 20.997560501098633px; text-align: left;">.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVDOPKWLOaApwFWJ8Fz4fYQFycwZMGTUnhcxY8nfmjYquGbcyl8FPTatOCZHXnJpvO3wTQP5CqsJ_wJNpYxURGURKC39DQg0x5NE6lsV3ZQUKAe4salM8vwwtTOn9rlnh34btsfY3oUE-/s1600/wendy+province+adoption2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVDOPKWLOaApwFWJ8Fz4fYQFycwZMGTUnhcxY8nfmjYquGbcyl8FPTatOCZHXnJpvO3wTQP5CqsJ_wJNpYxURGURKC39DQg0x5NE6lsV3ZQUKAe4salM8vwwtTOn9rlnh34btsfY3oUE-/s640/wendy+province+adoption2.jpg" width="636" /></a></div>
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These washer necklaces are handmade by a fellow adoption friend. Proceeds from these necklace sale will go toward helping pay their post adoption and readoption fees. Order them <a href="http://wendyloudesigns.blogspot.com/2013/09/cleaning-out.html">HERE</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBzKfPLKh73I9ZmiUh0ccO99PdbvKEuJk-GJqokLC_V37kBPwQjSNu3XZznZ-w_uzDShc0vTeLSpzMlFX7nOm4hdqiAoloRz7yunGGSui_0hEU_8V1fOcBC1VTpI8_-_JxHbS7m4i2hqY/s1600/cometogether2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBzKfPLKh73I9ZmiUh0ccO99PdbvKEuJk-GJqokLC_V37kBPwQjSNu3XZznZ-w_uzDShc0vTeLSpzMlFX7nOm4hdqiAoloRz7yunGGSui_0hEU_8V1fOcBC1VTpI8_-_JxHbS7m4i2hqY/s320/cometogether2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This bracelet is so cool and would make a great gift for a man! They are sold by Come Together Trading, who is a Fair Trade Retailer. All of the products they sell are handmade with great love by wonderful amazing people who just happen to live in some of the most poverty stricken and difficult places in the world. By purchasing their products you are helping create and sustain jobs for them, which positively impacts all other areas of their life. Under each item for sale here, you will find the inspiring stories of the incredible people who make the products and learn how your purchase is benefiting them and their communities. Please go <a href="http://www.cometogethertrading.com/">HERE</a> to order!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULh97R7CW2m3mPqDHYLnT8IVMuVf0vsNNwoWH4cgGvtaNaTOeb625Nty7gn51ILgmS0j_1GWhIQfqu9OwTluchsnBMyE5Ha9KAvVEPPGBFxwAgEDjIEqVTDbwcyeBmb6aLex0SAEvYnE2/s1600/cometogether3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULh97R7CW2m3mPqDHYLnT8IVMuVf0vsNNwoWH4cgGvtaNaTOeb625Nty7gn51ILgmS0j_1GWhIQfqu9OwTluchsnBMyE5Ha9KAvVEPPGBFxwAgEDjIEqVTDbwcyeBmb6aLex0SAEvYnE2/s1600/cometogether3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULh97R7CW2m3mPqDHYLnT8IVMuVf0vsNNwoWH4cgGvtaNaTOeb625Nty7gn51ILgmS0j_1GWhIQfqu9OwTluchsnBMyE5Ha9KAvVEPPGBFxwAgEDjIEqVTDbwcyeBmb6aLex0SAEvYnE2/s320/cometogether3.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULh97R7CW2m3mPqDHYLnT8IVMuVf0vsNNwoWH4cgGvtaNaTOeb625Nty7gn51ILgmS0j_1GWhIQfqu9OwTluchsnBMyE5Ha9KAvVEPPGBFxwAgEDjIEqVTDbwcyeBmb6aLex0SAEvYnE2/s1600/cometogether3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi42ne6iqN8GaM3Os-UkZ6o8qDZWGShyphenhyphenjEvq1NvFpiIDtQnLSajs7g1JTvBx2LlowYT-ZDDNtq85n7v52A69fQ8LHXytigEKn1poG9dArwRiWG8FO518bR7rR4KRz5zlMpWJikLzm0TU4xV/s1600/cometogether4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi42ne6iqN8GaM3Os-UkZ6o8qDZWGShyphenhyphenjEvq1NvFpiIDtQnLSajs7g1JTvBx2LlowYT-ZDDNtq85n7v52A69fQ8LHXytigEKn1poG9dArwRiWG8FO518bR7rR4KRz5zlMpWJikLzm0TU4xV/s320/cometogether4.jpg" width="320" /></a>This shea butter is handmade in Ghana and sold by Come Together Trading, who is a Fair Trade Retailer. All of the products they sell are handmade with great love by wonderful amazing people who just happen to live in some of the most poverty stricken and difficult places in the world. By purchasing their products you are helping create and sustain jobs for them, which positively impacts all other areas of their life. Under each item for sale here, you will find the inspiring stories of the incredible people who make the products and learn how your purchase is benefiting them and their communities. Please go <a href="http://www.cometogethertrading.com/">HERE</a> to order!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB86zLHe-jFu6uDlBpSAhs6RNKPfw3K25lOLSoRUAnmPcguSX9vikJp6h5Y4VKvT1tOTKbMmYQKG8-lpfP-0T9iW6_HfvJhFvHpoYd7zSXP8Ngacsd8nwadsZQ8awp4U4tm5QFIlUtrS9/s1600/SnuggleBugBaby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB86zLHe-jFu6uDlBpSAhs6RNKPfw3K25lOLSoRUAnmPcguSX9vikJp6h5Y4VKvT1tOTKbMmYQKG8-lpfP-0T9iW6_HfvJhFvHpoYd7zSXP8Ngacsd8nwadsZQ8awp4U4tm5QFIlUtrS9/s320/SnuggleBugBaby.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwILHeF7u_iY96wpDprAWNWalFrqOXnjey3YnTNKEEbFVYOpPzmW-KdynctTOTLtn3Sjo3R6NGnrVM2LFl8RKwakc7j8Z3c4s5088hkOx_rcavxQPRVlQmesDjGfrYJXT0bKHA0xg8GcRM/s1600/SnuggleBugBaby2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwILHeF7u_iY96wpDprAWNWalFrqOXnjey3YnTNKEEbFVYOpPzmW-KdynctTOTLtn3Sjo3R6NGnrVM2LFl8RKwakc7j8Z3c4s5088hkOx_rcavxQPRVlQmesDjGfrYJXT0bKHA0xg8GcRM/s320/SnuggleBugBaby2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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These are 8x10 prints, printed on beautiful Endura photographic paper with a metallic looking finish that lends a distinctive sheen. white border. These make awesome gifts for those who have adopted from this country or have a loved one living there or serving. Proceeds from any print sales go towards the Riegler family adoption. You can purchase these or others at their site <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SnuggleBugBby?ref=l2-shopheader-name">HERE</a> for $12.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGuZ4O1Bkqcp7aQU5W6mXjrao4L6Z69h4SnJLTtINmxQidQwdel56TVlkB-apo21FB44PBtqdOTH46UNO13sSAnzfouRdnLbJaMaQmaX8JiJaT31MYEYFXIfTZQBCrEMYBY0DQsokwrSgV/s1600/mercy+for+mamas3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGuZ4O1Bkqcp7aQU5W6mXjrao4L6Z69h4SnJLTtINmxQidQwdel56TVlkB-apo21FB44PBtqdOTH46UNO13sSAnzfouRdnLbJaMaQmaX8JiJaT31MYEYFXIfTZQBCrEMYBY0DQsokwrSgV/s1600/mercy+for+mamas3.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bHC_6VcBrWebc4gGB8RGFiPN7ayAoS6J5KxTZJ613U6GzlWgF1FNLjAId0KiQvnDcP7g9xAFE0_IEcI_I0viF4Jtwrg6_bP0A7NphNHir6FsBRz0LsQ2hdmoJyB-pK2pIIdGBx3SupHp/s1600/mercy+for+mamas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bHC_6VcBrWebc4gGB8RGFiPN7ayAoS6J5KxTZJ613U6GzlWgF1FNLjAId0KiQvnDcP7g9xAFE0_IEcI_I0viF4Jtwrg6_bP0A7NphNHir6FsBRz0LsQ2hdmoJyB-pK2pIIdGBx3SupHp/s320/mercy+for+mamas.jpg" width="238" /></a><br />
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These beautiful ornaments are handmade by women in Uganda.Aren't the angels above gorgeous? They're made out of corn silk and banana fibers! These ornaments can be found <a href="http://www.mercyformamas.com/p/shop_3.html">HERE</a>. The purchases made from Mercy for Mamas go directly toward the purchase and distribution of mama kits to women in Uganda. A Mama Kits is an all-in-one kits that contains everything needed to help provide a clean and safe delivery. In order to give birth in most hospitals or clinics in Uganda, you must purchase all of the necessary supplies and bring them with you. If you do not have the supplies you will often be turned away. Many of the women cannot buy the supplies, so they do not seek medical care, which often leads to complications and even death for the mothers and babies. A simple gift of a $7 kit can allow the women to give birth in a hospital or clinic, or if they must give birth at home they have proper sterile supplies. Research has shown that the gift of a mama kit can greatly reduce the number of women dying during childbirth.</div>
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Here are some great handwoven baskets sold by Nyaka Grandmother Project. The Nyaka Grandmother Project is an initiative of the Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project. As a part of our holistic human rights-based approach to combating pervasive hunger and poverty, we serve nearly 6,500 grandmothers. Having tragically lost their own children to AIDS they are now raising their orphaned grandchildren, and others from the community, without social security, health care, retirement, child welfare, or basic housing.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqaQxMEs0M63WfRROLMoVLwNr78zQICBZ4T2RBLgd0KzwZaUgrvOpu13Crhy2zjW4B_gOIcZF8rr3vb41qJ6MhxZ4KRwWmaKCoeg4-HVAmsctN0haBHDiytk1ElKPq8_yKt_481AfK2vn/s1600/ForThisChildArt2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqaQxMEs0M63WfRROLMoVLwNr78zQICBZ4T2RBLgd0KzwZaUgrvOpu13Crhy2zjW4B_gOIcZF8rr3vb41qJ6MhxZ4KRwWmaKCoeg4-HVAmsctN0haBHDiytk1ElKPq8_yKt_481AfK2vn/s320/ForThisChildArt2.jpg" width="229" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR3zAVs6w6vFAJuTdJTb6DeDVfWXfAfcYTTpv1j3LsnupM1uVwUx7wM-rVujGbsKAQqDzGQV7jOzigQF7EXqvlqEHQHYzzjrCoxvdpmi14umZM3L3U2m7ErnuBNRWw7NedMYU0a650KxGd/s1600/ForThisChildArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR3zAVs6w6vFAJuTdJTb6DeDVfWXfAfcYTTpv1j3LsnupM1uVwUx7wM-rVujGbsKAQqDzGQV7jOzigQF7EXqvlqEHQHYzzjrCoxvdpmi14umZM3L3U2m7ErnuBNRWw7NedMYU0a650KxGd/s320/ForThisChildArt.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
These handmade watercolor prints are made by an adoptive family who is trying to fund their Ethiopian adoption. You can order a State, Continent, or Country watercolor print <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForThisChildArt">HERE</a>. She also does custom work!<br />
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Order some great cards to support a family adopting from Ethiopia! She has a variety of cards on her Etsy site <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SpectrumOfAmber">HERE</a>.</div>
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These vinyl decals are made by me. You can order either a car window decal (or you can use it for anywhere - a wall, a notebook, anything!) of Africa with a heart over the country of your choice or if you have another country you want, please let me know. Each decal will be custom made to your specific choices. Please make a special note in your order. You can also order a set of 4 chalkboard labels. These are GREAT to label your pantry items and are easily erasable and rewriteable! Either decal set is $5. A portion of the proceeds from these decals will go to <a href="http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/">AHOPE for Children</a>, an HIV+ orphanage in Ethiopia that Michael and I visited and fell in love with! Use the Buy Now buttons above to order!<br />
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Choose from a large variety of special shaped pastas and gift sets and support a family who is adopting an 8 year old little girl from China! Prices vary from $5.50+. There's some really cute things! Find them <a href="http://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/adoption-fundraiser">HERE</a>!</div>
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Who doesn't love coffee?? Help bring home a child from Ethiopia by making a coffee purchase <a href="https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/breetzadoption/">HERE</a>. They even sell hot chocolate and other items and today (Cyber Monday) they have some discounts!</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: x-large;">FOR THE KIDS</span></u></b></div>
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These super cute toys are fair trade toys sold by Come Together Trading, who is a Fair Trade Retailer. All of the products they sell are handmade with great love by wonderful amazing people who just happen to live in some of the most poverty stricken and difficult places in the world. By purchasing their products you are helping create and sustain jobs for them, which positively impacts all other areas of their life. Under each item for sale here, you will find the inspiring stories of the incredible people who make the products and learn how your purchase is benefiting them and their communities. Please go <a href="http://www.cometogethertrading.com/">HERE</a> to order!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ogyXcp1dCp-CiG2C1g6yxVO7qqB1x9nNqsrTjfo0fJE_k63hAeRKmln7sBgI4EIL8mmhml4KO-hC9S8Mu048rG78WVv_HB2BjxWMqIpaf7A6qLXODzTLE97n1QJS7u6ZVrTxMfsmmSaz/s1600/polkadotboutique3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ogyXcp1dCp-CiG2C1g6yxVO7qqB1x9nNqsrTjfo0fJE_k63hAeRKmln7sBgI4EIL8mmhml4KO-hC9S8Mu048rG78WVv_HB2BjxWMqIpaf7A6qLXODzTLE97n1QJS7u6ZVrTxMfsmmSaz/s320/polkadotboutique3.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahg1U_PiqbROCk0mezsWUt6f2lW60tPaCqp9-Wl5xCHeWe2dd0GDV15VHCLwj9WGxKV4CSMLo3JICv2KZ9rh7t7QEZaCXf97OPc1KcLYsRDeOmzIJwvpjWbpQrr2svp7IqOH4a4d-Oq-f/s1600/polkadotboutique2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahg1U_PiqbROCk0mezsWUt6f2lW60tPaCqp9-Wl5xCHeWe2dd0GDV15VHCLwj9WGxKV4CSMLo3JICv2KZ9rh7t7QEZaCXf97OPc1KcLYsRDeOmzIJwvpjWbpQrr2svp7IqOH4a4d-Oq-f/s320/polkadotboutique2.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicNq7qwhs58ev5cMA5I3pDNGuGbyncaerXp2qduB3B7p01MmEnYoUB7I4jHiKma6tRjtgy4rW5C6rVPwquO9NWNqZIrbY-QZWDNxo7Sm4DfpwMiTZJup-NT0y8ZzZqnewJmSi0pvRcSE9/s1600/polkadotboutique.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicNq7qwhs58ev5cMA5I3pDNGuGbyncaerXp2qduB3B7p01MmEnYoUB7I4jHiKma6tRjtgy4rW5C6rVPwquO9NWNqZIrbY-QZWDNxo7Sm4DfpwMiTZJup-NT0y8ZzZqnewJmSi0pvRcSE9/s200/polkadotboutique.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Here are some SUPER cute necklaces for little girls made by a friend of mine. All the proceeds from these chunky necklaces go to support <a href="http://noordinarylove.org/">No Ordinary Love Ministries</a> in Ethiopia. You can order one <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thepolkadotprincessboutique">HERE</a>.<br />
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IF THERE ARE ANY ISSUES WITH ABOVE LINKS OR IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT NUNEZFAMILYADOPTIONS@GMAIL.COM :) THANKS!!</div>
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294363944237499833.post-1146229371565711942013-11-03T08:17:00.000-05:002013-11-03T08:35:40.270-05:00Imagine...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Imagine...<br />
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Being a child. A child here in the United States. A child in Russia. A child in Peru. A child in Africa.<br />
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Your parents are too interested in drugs than you. Or you lost your mom to AIDS. Or maybe your father abandoned you on the side of the road...<br />
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You're living in a foster home, being moved here and there. You're in an orphanage, lonely with very little food, no clothes of your own and no one to tuck you in each night saying "I love you son." or "I love you daughter." Or perhaps, you're living with a grandma or an aunt who is so sick they can barely care for you and the rest of your extended family. You're sleeping on the cold dirt floor of a hut smaller than the average American bathroom, and you're lucky to share a single piece of bread for your one meal of the day with your 10 family members, one night away from being put into an orphanage.<br />
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Each night you pray. Pray for a family. Pray for a mom. A dad. ANYONE who is willing to care for you and more specifically to LOVE you. You pray to hear the words "You are my child. I love you."<br />
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If you can't imagine yourself in that situation, maybe instead, if you have a child, think of them. Think of them in one of those situations. Does it NOT break your heart? Does it not just about bring you to tears thinking of your sweet, precious little one literally starving, sleeping on the dirt floor, feeling completely hopeless, but begging God for a family and for someone to love them?<br />
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It breaks my heart (and breaks my heart that I have a son who did that everyday for 3 long years). And what breaks my heart even more is that there are literally MILLIONS of children worldwide in situations like these. They estimate anywhere from 147,000,000 to 210,000,000 orphans are in the world. This is NOT okay.<br />
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Today is Orphan Sunday. Many churches and organizations are using this day to spread awareness. Awareness of foster care, orphan sponsorship, and adoption.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real until you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes." -David Platt</span><br />
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Today I want to make you aware of not just orphans in general but one specific orphan...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeoV43s-CLcUGkd2ILqgjOsXJh-AmbU7KuXhFKYWvHSpScARiEwykBhnkZCNJbn2n0uOIvyYoUE5l8xM3bAqL3IImsg5rURjs_jRIG-TNXdk9qcuzeMvpoPa-bbVxmPiE8pvmOKI1kgnB/s1600/brendajoseph1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifeoV43s-CLcUGkd2ILqgjOsXJh-AmbU7KuXhFKYWvHSpScARiEwykBhnkZCNJbn2n0uOIvyYoUE5l8xM3bAqL3IImsg5rURjs_jRIG-TNXdk9qcuzeMvpoPa-bbVxmPiE8pvmOKI1kgnB/s640/brendajoseph1.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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The sweet little one on the left? Her name is Brenda. She is a beautiful 7 year old little girl from Africa who was recently adopted by some super sweet friends of ours, <a href="http://confessionsofaneverydaymama.blogspot.com/">The Smith Family</a>. While they were in country, they found out Brenda had a brother. They met him. They came home with Brenda and God continued stirring in their hearts and they knew they couldn't leave this sweet boy alone and that God wanted Brenda and and her brother to be together. In the same family. So just a few months after bringing Brenda home, they started the process all over again of bringing him home.<br />
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His name is Joseph. His birthday is in just about a month, on December 4. He will be 11.<br />
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Adoption is not cheap. Not to mention completing TWO adoptions so close together? AND in order to adopt him, they had to add on an addition to their house. Needless to say, they have paid THOUSANDS to bring these two orphans home so they could be orphans no longer! The only thing is, they are in need of some funds as the process is going quicker than expected. They need an extra $3500 to bring him home. And they need it QUICKLY.<br />
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Today, in honor of Orphan Sunday, would YOU be willing to bring Joseph home to his forever family by giving a (tax deductible) donation to the Smith's? Maybe you could give $11 to help celebrate his 11th birthday! Maybe you can give up a $5 coffee for today and donate $5. Or maybe you could even give $20! Either way, ANY amount will help!<br />
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Please help the Smith's by giving here:<br />
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<a href="http://projecthopeful.org/matched-families/smith-family/">http://projecthopeful.org/matched-families/smith-family/</a><br />
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And PLEASE share and spread the word! Maybe we can help them be FULLY funded TODAY on Orphan Sunday!!!<br />
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The Nunez Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11200342621219901286noreply@blogger.com0