Nolan with his new lion

You may remember that we shared a picture of Nolan’s lion in an earlier post before we traveled for him. We thought you might like to see the lion clutched in the arms of his new owner. Nolan has never been able to have stuffed animals because he destroys them with his full-of-anxiety fingers that never stay still. He was thrilled to meet his new lion, but admitted very sadly to me that he does tear up stuffed animals. Then he, Scott, and I came up with a plan to help him learn to overcome this. He is able to sit snuggled close to us several times a day with his weighted blanket (a critical item for him) and his lion while we read to him or watch short videos of his new family (which he loves). During this time, he practices loving his lion with calm hands. He knows that someday, he will learn this well enough to be able to sleep with his lion, but sweetly kisses him good-bye for now after each snuggle time is over. If you are looking for specific ways to pray for him, this is a big one. He wants to succeed at this, and he wants to be able to keep his lion with him at all times.

Nolan also loves “reading” to his lion.

Reading one of his new books to his lion

Nolan did fall asleep soon after we sent our last update and slept through his first night, barely even moving until the next morning. Yesterday, although still very hard and still requiring constant vigilance on our part, went much better than our first day together. One thing I want to say here is that essential oils rock! We had just begun to investigate these not long before we started Nolan’s adoption and had seen some pretty significant results from them in one of our granddaughters. So we ordered a supply for him and brought them with us, along with a diffuser. We truly have seen quite a noticeable difference in the intensity of his movements and voice level, and his ability to focus when we use the oils as compared to when we forget to use them. Where have these things been all my life?

We are settling into something of a routine here in our tiny apartment, and he has improved so much that we are now able to give each other breaks while just one of us stays with Nolan for short periods. And twice now, he has even watched a couple of short Curious George episodes quietly, giving us the chance to sit close by and answer some critical emails or keep these updates coming. Every single prayer is cherished, and we want to keep you updated on how best to pray for us. We feel like we are seeing amazing progress, and have no doubt that your prayers are responsible for this.

Short outings work best, and we usually need to run to the local Super Target once a day for something anyway. The heat index here has been staying around 110º, so indoor activities have been critical. We’ve managed to find some good options for staying cool while burning off energy without too much stimulation. We found a couple of indoor playgrounds. He even  made a new little friend yesterday afternoon and initiated a rousing game of tag with him.

Making a new friend

Then he got to ride on the carousel.

We did have a couple of challenging moments yesterday when he decided twice to disobey us and then began moving into an angry meltdown. We were so pleased to see him respond positively, both times, to our actions and words. He did a great job of recovering from these episodes and learned one more lesson about trusting us.

In the evening, we fell back on an old favorite, “Hotel Room Bowling.” Whenever we travel for a new child, we always save our water bottles and then buy a ball for bowling in our room. He has loved this.

Setting up the “bowling pins.”

A bowling lesson from Daddy, using an Incredible Hulk ball

Getting the hang of this

As I said, it remains hard and exhausting, but we see so many glimmers of hope throughout each day, and we feel like we are seeing steady progress, even though much of it is in baby-sized increments. Please keep those prayers going.

Yesterday was the court hearing to terminate the parental rights of his original adoptive family. ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children), will be filed in OK today. Once that is approved, then it will be filed in Ohio. Once it’s approved there, we can bring him home. We still have no idea how long that will be, but we are thankful to have these days here to slowly begin building a foundation for our relationship with him before we are home where so many others will also need our attention.

Last night, he hugged and kissed us goodnight, telling us first that he really “likes” us and “loves” us. Then he went right to bed and was asleep within twenty minutes. This was huge!

Today we hope to take him to a real bowling alley and burn off a ton of energy. He’s watching Curious George as I write this update and Scott communicates with our book publisher (we had no idea how many pieces were involved in that! As a friend said just last week, “Writing the book is the easy part.) He is rapidly reaching his limit for sitting still, though, so I’ll end this.

Thank you for holding us up and following this little guy’s transition into a new life.

Watching Curious George and eating a snack

We are in Oklahoma and as of today, our new son is with us full-time. We spent a few hours with him yesterday, and the word that immediately came to mind was, “winsome.” Followed very closely by “hyper,” “afraid,” and “confused.” And we’re not talking about a kid who’s just active. We’re talking about a child that moves pretty much non-stop – literally. At the moment, it’s beginning to look like this could continue around the clock.

Today has been full of sweet moments — a few spontaneous kisses, genuine attempts to understand and obey new rules, giggles. But also many tough moments. It takes both of us remaining alert and in motion constantly to stay on top of him, and we are exhausted. It really does look like he may not sleep at all tonight, although he is quiet now and moving a little bit less in bed.

Please don’t stop praying for us. It really is very hard right now. Harder than we expected in some ways, but not as hard as we expected in other ways. But we need an abundance of wisdom and patience, and an incredible amount of supernatural energy at the moment. We are praying that, as he slowly begins to adjust to us and moves past this initial very scary (for him) phase, some of these issues will diminish.

That’s about all for now. He is precious and charming, and in ways that we understand but can’t fully explain, agonizingly tortured from inside. Please pray for peace for our little boy. And you can pray for him by name now! Meet Nolan David Rosenow. His name means, “noble champion, well-beloved.” Our hearts long to reach him and help him through his challenges, and we already feel like he’s a champion to be doing as well as he is.

We both had our hands so full all day, that taking pictures was almost impossible, but here are few from our first full day together. Thank you so much for being on this path with us.

Meet Nolan David

We went shopping for some new shoes after a few hours in our hotel room getting acquainted and answering many questions about his new life and family

Our afternoon out ended with a new haircut.

This has been such an intense week and a half — again — as we’ve been trying to prepare to get to our son who is waiting for us and knows that we’re coming for him now.

We have continued juggling a slew of appointments for the kids — some planned and some new — while also adding in unexpected challenges like van brake issues, 103+ temp for Lilyan (turned out to be a UTI), broken air conditioner in the house, and new problems with a couple of the kids’ braces (even though we spent ALL day last Thursday with our orthotist working on brace issues for a number of the kids). And then late Friday afternoon, we were super surprised by a phone call that intensified things even more. But it was awesome news.

A few months ago Lilyan was, amazingly, granted a wish from Make-a-Wish. (Jaden was, too, but his is still in process, so more about that later.) Lilyan’s wish was for a pool “so my whole family can swim together.” We didn’t expect this to be something that Make-a-Wish could do, and it did turn out that they have a policy that prevents them from installing in-ground pools. But last Friday, they called to say that they had approved a very large above-ground pool for Lilyan’s wish and that it would be installed on Monday!

We can’t possibly even come close to describing what this blessing means to us. Those are not just words; we are still trying to process this amazing surprise and honestly don’t have words to express how huge this is. Years ago when we were swimming in a friend’s pool, Owen was amazed as he got into the water and exclaimed to us that he almost didn’t even feel paralyzed anymore. Swimming is one of two activities we’ve found we can do as a family with almost no modifications at all. (The other is Bingo, as long as Colin has his Brailled Bingo cards.) Cerebral palsy, paralysis, even blindness . . . these things practically disappear when we are swimming together. Additionally, our children’s physical therapists have always been amazed at the kids’ progress anytime they have access to a pool. So I started privately praying about this after that experience in our friend’s pool. I have prayed all these years, and we are still marveling at the way in which God provided the answer to this prayer. But that’s not all!

Make-a-Wish also has a policy stating that they can’t do any construction projects, so they couldn’t add the deck needed to get the wheelchair-bound kids into the pool, but they seemed to really want this for Lilyan and, before we knew what was going on, called deck companies here in town to see if anyone would help. A small family-owned business eagerly agreed to come alongside in this project and came to meet our family. It turns out that this couple has been considering the possibility of adopting and they are so excited about being a part of this project. They will be building a very large deck around the pool that was, indeed, installed on Monday, although the deck installer will be trying to fit our deck into an already full workload, so it won’t be done until fall sometime. We have found a temporary fix that we think will work for getting kids into the pool once it’s ready for swimming, while we wait for the incredible gift of this deck. We will cover the now-filled pool with its solar cover for now while we’re gone and then work on getting the last few pieces into place for swimming once we get back home.

So, as I said. We are at a loss for words as we try to grasp that this is real. And as has been the case so many times through the years since we began our adoption journey, we will never be able to express how thankful we are to all of the people who allowed God to use them to be a part of making this happen.

So many times through the years . . . hundreds of people  . . . . blessing us financially; providing meals; giving up their own precious hours to serve us by painting, building, cleaning, mulching, planting; joining us in our battle to bring home one more child. Our children have had thousands of prayers said for them over the years. How do we ever tell people what this means to us? And each child has a list of donors who were part bringing them home. Including our newest son.

Because of all of you, except for the change fee if we have to change our flights, we have all we need to bring our son home even if we have to stay for two weeks! If we stay only one week, we have more than we need. (As we mentioned in a previous update, if there is money left in his account after this trip is finished, it can be used toward his adoption finalization costs in six months, or for any of his other needs — clothes, school books, medical co-pays.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you. How do we ever say it loud enough? It’s such a beautiful gift that we can fly out of here tomorrow morning, knowing our costs are taken care of. If we have to change our flights later, God will provide for that, too.

And so many of you have signed up to provide meals for our children while we’re gone. This is huge! It helps so much to know that they are taken care of while we devote our time and attention to our new son.

So now, our plea is that you will continue your prayers. We have enough information to be wisely fearful as we move into this next phase of the adoption. Please pray for wisdom on our part and deep love for a child who may reject any offers of love we bring with us. Please pray that his heart will be softened and supernaturally prepared for our arrival and his transition into our family.

The next time we write to you we expect to have him with us. We will continue to update here on our blog, and our hearts remain forever grateful to all of you for being a part of his story.

Here are some pictures of the pool installation on Monday. Enjoy!

The sides going up

Almost ready for water

Lilyan meeting the pool installers who worked in the heat to get her pool up

Lilyan with her Make-a-Wish contact, Alan

The good news is that we finally have a definite travel date to go get our new son. The bad news is that 1) it’s still another two weeks out (July 24), which is completely shocking to everyone involved; 2) we won’t know our return date until the attorneys tell us we can leave, which could tack on another $600 for our plane tickets; and 3) ticket prices have increased dramatically during the time we’ve been waiting. We’ve done our best to estimate our stay there and planned a return date of July 31. In reality, though, we could end up staying until August 7, so we have to be prepared for two weeks of expenses instead of just one week. (For anyone wondering what happens to money donated for our son if the trip costs less than feared, it will remain in his TSC account and can still be used for any expenses related to his care after he comes home – medical co-pays, clothing, adoption finalization fees, etc.)

Thanks to the loving generosity and, in many cases, genuine sacrifice, of so many, we have been able to pay all of the required fees (in spite of the unpleasant news we shared in our last update!); book our hotel; assemble his bed, purchase his mattress and bedding and a few clothes, and choose a few toys and books that we feel will be helpful with the bonding process while we live in a hotel with him and wait for the green light to bring him back to Ohio. Thank you all so much for all that you have done to make this possible. (See pictures at the end of this post.)

But, in spite of these amazing things — and because of the things explained above — we still find ourselves about $3000 short of what we expect to need to actually get our new son home. As I said, we have booked the hotel, but we don’t have the money to book our flights. We are told that there are still three seats available for the flights we need, but we don’t have enough money left in his TSC account to purchase these tickets. In order to book those, we need an additional $500 immediately.

The remaining ~$2500 will be for the airline change-date fee since we don’t know our return date (which won’t be needed if we can actually leave on July 31), checked bag charges, and other travel expenses like car rental, food, etc. This remaining money will be needed by 7/24, when we leave. If you feel led to help with any of these remaining expenses, donation info will be below at the end of this post.

Lastly, we want to share one more thing with you. Every time Scott and I bring home a new child, we choose a special stuffed animal, and a song to be that child’s special song. We have chosen a stuffed lion for our new son (we can’t wait to share this son’s name — soon!), and we’ve chosen his song.

Andrew Peterson wrote this song and said that it is, “. . . kind of my exhortation to myself and whoever else out there might be struggling to believe that God can both know them completely and love them completely.”

Almost on a daily basis, Scott and I are struck anew by the ways in which the stories of our children’s adoptions mirror our relationship with God as our Father.

He sought us and sacrificed for us; He fights on our behalf every minute of every day; He sees our brokenness and our “uglies” that no one else ever sees; He loves us deeply, passionately, completely in spite of His full knowledge of how hard, unloving, and rebellious we can be; His love for us is not dependent on our love for Him or our behavior; and once we are adopted as His child, we are His forever.

We, as adoptive parents are called to seek our children, fight for them, and commit to them; to love them with the same kind of unconditional, never-ending, passionate love God has for us, regardless of how they treat us, how incapable they are of returning our love, or how many “uglies” are hiding inside of them. Please pray for the two of us as we try to fulfill this calling. It’s very hard sometimes, and not even possible through our own strength. God is faithful, though, and has promised to work through us in our weakness. Would you consider committing to pray for us on a regular basis? We aren’t afraid to confess openly that we need those prayers. We would be fools if we didn’t confess our inability to do this through our own strength.

This chosen song is from the album titled, “Light for the Lost Boy.” What could be more perfect for our new son’s very special song? These lyrics express the love that we already feel for him, even as we wrestle with our fears about what’s waiting for us on this new journey.

You are not alone
I will always be with you
Even to the end

You don’t have to work so hard
You can rest easy
You don’t have to prove yourself
You’re already mine
You don’t have to hide your heart
I already love you
I hold it in mine
So you can rest easy

Do not be afraid
Nothing, nothing in the world
Can come between us now

The Shepherd’s Crook has so many children in this same situation, waiting for new families. In fact as I was typing this update, we got an email from another family who is looking for a new home for their 6-year-old daughter. This grieves us so much. There are so many factors that go into the heartbreaking reality of failed adoptions, and I’m not going to go into those things here. But we do want you to celebrate with us that there is now one fewer of these little ones lost out there; that our son is no longer waiting for his family. And you have been a part of that! Thank you!

((Scroll on down for photos))

As always, if you feel led to help in the adoption of this already-cherished son, the donation info as follows:

HOW TO DONATE TO OUR SON’S ADOPTION

donate online here

or

mail a check to:

The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry
P.O. Box 773
West Chester, OH 45071

Either way, be sure you designate that the donation is for “Marcus Rosenow”

New Lion waiting for our little guy

Some of the kids helping Scott put together this bed, which was a gift for our new son

Lots of siblings preparing for their new little brother

Done and waiting for him

“How comfortable is it to us to be able to trust the Lord in the path of duty? To believe that He will supply our wants, direct our steps, plead our cause, and control our enemies! Thus He has promised, and it belongs to Gospel simplicity to take His word against all discouragements.”
~ John Newton

Our hearts are struggling a bit to hold onto the truths proclaimed by Mr. Newton in the quote above.

This picture was taken one year ago today. We had just brought Lilyan home from China, and we wanted to capture the love surrounding her as her still-at-home siblings celebrated her homecoming.

Our at-home kids with their new sister, Lilyan Moriah

That was an amazing day, and we thank God every day for bringing our little girl home to us. But our hearts are aching to go and get our new son. Now. Today.

We had hoped to travel last week, and we never dreamed we wouldn’t have traveled by now. But here we are. Sitting. Waiting.

Waiting on paperwork that we thought would’ve been done over a week ago.

Waiting on money.

We were, once again, blessed by your generosity after our last update, and we have been able to pay our attorney the rest of his fee. We are so, so thankful for this.

But in addition to our need still to raise our travel money, we were very discouraged last week to learn that we also have to raise another $2100 to pay for all of the required post-placement visits during our son’s first six months in our home. This will have be paid up front, so we need it immediately.

We were told last night that the rest of the paperwork should be in the hands of both attorneys tomorrow, so we feel fairly confident that we will be traveling late next week, but for reasons we really can’t share yet, it’s looking more and more like we could be gone for up to two weeks now instead of just one week. This will also greatly increase the cost of our travel.

While working our way through this adoption, we have been plagued by a host of unexpected and expensive car repairs. This is so common for families who are in the middle of adoptions. Satan hates to see God’s work being done. Thankfully, God already provided for these repairs through a gift from friends, and we can’t begin to express our gratitude for that blessing. He has promised; ” . . . He will supply our wants, direct our steps, plead our cause . . .”

God has a plan. He has the timing of our son’s homecoming safely in hand; He has already determined those He will work through to provide the rest of the money needed to save this child. Please pray for our hearts as we strive not to lose sight of this.

This little boy is dearly loved by the Father who created him and then orchestrated all paths to bring him to us. The Father who named him a Rosenow before we even knew he existed.

Our new son, known as “Marcus” for now. This is the only picture we are allowed to share right now, but stay tuned.

The happy part of this discouraging timing is that we will now get to be here for our new grandson’s baptism and party on Sunday. We are very grateful for this. The reality of this new little life is a bright spot in the midst of the fog.

As always, we ask that you pray for our hearts, our son, and our needs. We need the remaining funds pretty much right now. Feel free to share this blog post.

If you feel led to help with the remaining needed funds, the donation info and the new figures (which, while causing us to gasp, are no surprise to our all-sufficient God) are as follows:

• Travel (plane tickets, hotel, meals, car rental — based on two weeks now instead of just one): Approximately $5000
• Payment for required post-placement visits: $2100

HOW TO DONATE TO OUR SON’S ADOPTION

donate online here

or

mail a check to:

The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry
P.O. Box 773
West Chester, OH 45071

Either way, be sure you designate that the donation is for “Marcus Rosenow”

We have left you hanging for the past three-and-a-half weeks, so we wanted to catch you up a bit.

These three-and-a-half weeks have been very intense and included 60 appointments (yes, you read that correctly and no, that’s not a typo), a birthday celebration for Kathryn on Mother’s Day (which, sadly, ended with a significant seizure in the afternoon), major surgery for Carlin, and a high school graduation celebration for Meghan. As part of our celebration for Meghan, each sibling, niece, and nephew gave her a flower and a hug. Here are a few pictures.

Mother’s Day for me; 11th birthday celebration for Kathryn (taken before her seizure later in the day)

Surrounded by most of her siblings, nieces, and nephews

A nasty seizure hit as Kathryn was opening her last present. After 40 minutes, we had to heavily sedate her to make it stop.

So proud of Meghan and can’t wait to see what’s ahead for her now

The big adoption news, though, is that, as of today, we have now completed everything required for our homestudy.

Also, in spite of the fact that we haven’t yet been able to pay our attorney his fee, he has begun work on the complicated paperwork process between Ohio and the state where “Marcus” is currently living while he waits for us to come for him. (We can’t wait until the day that we can share his real name with all of you.)

The other big news is that a group of people have come forward and volunteered to build the triple bunk bed we have to have before we bring this new Rosenow home. Scott had really hoped to be able to build this himself as a fun project with the other boys, but we have been forced to accept the reality that these kinds of projects just can’t be done by us at this point in our lives. The children’s needs are too demanding to allow any of the extra time required for something like this — especially during an adoption. So we are very thankful for these people (most of whom don’t even know our family) who are providing this service of love for us. We do, however, need to purchase the materials for the bed, and that brings me to our timeline and where we stand with our current needs for this adoption.

We are still hoping to travel and bring home our new little one around June 22, but we can’t travel or complete the adoption until we have the rest of the funds for all of these expenses. We have been told to plan to stay anywhere between three and ten days in his state to complete the custody process, so in the figures below, we are estimating travel costs based on seven days there. If you would like to be a part of “Marcus’s” story, our remaining needs are as follows (details for making tax-deductible donations are at the end of this post):

• Triple Bunk Bed Materials + mattress, etc: $500-600
• Travel (plane tickets, hotel, meals, car rental): Approximately $2900
• Attorney fee: $2000
• Prayer: We need much prayer as we prepare for the challenges we should expect when this little one begins his long journey to healing. As I said in earlier posts, we can’t share details at this point, but he has experienced trauma, rejection, neglect, and abuse in his short life. All reports indicate that the damage caused by these things is manifesting in some challenging behaviors as his heart cries out for someone to reach in and rescue him. We want a team of prayer warriors surrounding us as we begin trying to communicate to him that we are his family forever and that our love is his for life; as we start getting to know who he is underneath the behaviors that proclaim the fear he lives with every day; as we petition Heaven for the wisdom to know how to bring to him the healing he so desperately needs; as we ask God for the courage needed to persevere in our commitment to never leave him alone again.

We know that we are entering into a chapter of our lives that could possibly be harder and scarier than anything we have yet encountered. But we are walking this path with great excitement. Not because we are certain that it will have an easy, fairytale ending, but because there is no joy as great as the joy of knowing you are following God’s will, no matter what that might cost. But we don’t want to face these days, weeks, months, years alone. Would you please pray for us and be a part of our new son’s fresh beginning?

Our new son, known as “Marcus” for now. This is the only picture we are allowed to share right now, but stay tuned.

As you already know, I love quotes. I will close with this one from one of my favorite writers, J. R. Miller. It’s certainly fitting as we stand on the brink of this new thrilling, terrifying, full-of-hope adventure. Won’t you join us?

“We can make life easy, in a way, by refusing to grapple with its antagonisms; but in this way we never can make anything beautiful and worthy of our life. We may keep along shore with our craft, never pushing out into deep waters; but then we shall never discover new worlds, not learn the secret of the sea. We may spare ourselves costly service and great sacrifices, by saving our own life from hardships, risks, and pain, but we shall miss the blessing which can come only through the losing of self. When God sets us in places where we must struggle, He is then giving us an opportunity to win the richest blessing. ‘May Your will be done’ must breathe through all our sobbings and cries, like the melody of a sweet song in a dark night of storm.”
~ J. R. Miller, 1894

HOW TO DONATE TO OUR SON’S ADOPTION

donate online here

or

mail a check to:
The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry
P.O. Box 773
West Chester, OH 45071

Either way, be sure you designate that the donation is for “Marcus Rosenow”

“When our needs are permitted to grow to an extremity, and all visible hopes fail, then to have relief given, wonderfully enhances the price of such a mercy.”
~ John Flavel (c.1627–1691)

God graciously allows us to experience this so often in our life as He takes us deeper and deeper into a place of living a life of faith, and exposes to us tangibly just how incapable we are of meeting our own needs.

And He has done this again.

Thanks to your prayers and your gifts of love, we now have what we need to move forward with this adoption. We don’t have all we need to complete it, but we are ready to roll full speed ahead. And we know God will take us all the way again.

Stay tuned now as this story unfolds and our new son joins our family. We’ll continue to keep you posted here.

We can’t even begin to express the depth of our gratitude to all of you. We are practically euphoric over what we’ve seen during the past day or so. Thank you! Thank you!

More to come. Stay tuned!

Our new son, known as “Marcus” for now. This is the only picture we are allowed to share right now, but stay tuned.

“I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer.”
~ George Mueller

It’s been a week now since we posted our last update and shared the news about our next adoption.

It has been a week of learning as Scott and I attended Christian Alliance for Orphans 2015 Orphan Summit, where we were privileged to listen to one of the best attachment specialists in the world of adoption. We came away from those workshops even more certain of our calling to bring “Marcus” home to our family, and even more excited about what God is about to do in and through our family to begin healing in this child’s heart and to stretch our family to new heights in our relationships with each other and with Him.

It’s been a week of praising God as we saw the first donations come into “Marcus’s” TSC account to help us accomplish our goals of bringing this new son home within the next six weeks.

But it has also been a week that has tried our faith and caused us to fall to our knees and cry out for answers to our prayers because we are still far short of what’s needed to even start this adoption.

In spite of the gifts of love that have been sent for this adoption, we still need another $1000 before we can even begin our home study and another $2900 for the placing agency before we can officially begin the process. There will be more due soon after that, but these fees should already have been paid last week in order to get things going. It has been hard to watch the days pass while “Marcus” waits.

Although there have been times when our hearts felt discouraged, and fear and doubt threatened to shake our conviction that God will provide what’s needed to bring this son home, we know that God is faithful. As Scott said, “We have almost a half-million dollars’ worth of children in our home right now as evidence that God keeps His promises.”

As I sat on the deck this afternoon, watching our children play together, I marveled at the incredible family God has built here. One by one, the younger ones ran to show me some new trick that one of their older siblings had patiently taught them; their laughter rang through the neighborhood as they wrestled and practiced cartwheels and played tug-of-war; the very real love they all have for each other was as tangible as the colors, smells, and sounds of nature that caressed my senses.

And it was so easy to picture this new dark little face in the mix. He needs to be here. His healing needs to begin now. Our hearts long to dive into this without losing even one more day — and certainly without losing another whole week.

Would you please consider becoming part of this child’s story? If so, please jot us a note (or leave us a comment) to tell us that you are praying with us. That you care about this child’s future. That you are willing to stand by our sides as we step into this new season of our lives. It would mean so much to know that you are in this, too.

And if you want to help us financially as we wait for the funds to get this moving, you can either:

donate online here

or

mail a check to:
The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry
P.O. Box 773
West Chester, OH 45071

Either way, be sure you designate that the donation is for “Marcus Rosenow”

In closing, I want to share this quote from C. S. Lewis. He is comparing our lives here on earth to our eternal lives to come in Heaven, but it struck me that this is also a beautiful description of what happens when a child gets a fresh start — especially when it’s a start that will lead him to know his Heavenly Father. Won’t you please be a part of this little boy’s “coming up a flower”; his “real waking.”

“Think of yourself just as a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half-waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.” 

Our new son, known as “Marcus” for now. This is the only picture we are allowed to share right now, but stay tuned.