Drought Conditions

Our home state of Texas is under drought conditions.  It hasn't rained enough for a long time, and the water table is depleted.  Drought is not just a physical phenomenon of weather.  No, it is a delicate balance between water supply and demand.  Drought conditions occur when demands for water exceed the natural availability of water.

Relation between streams
and underground water

A=Gaining stream,
B= Losing stream,
C= Losing stream that is disconectes from the water table.

1= Water table;
2= Unsaturated zone;
3= Saturated zone ,
4=Flow direction



I was thinking about this yesterday and realized that our kids are living under drought conditions.  For far too long they have lived without the love and care that every child needs.  As a result, they look like Figure C.

What does this look like right now?  Extreme neediness, need for approval, impulsive behavior, emotional outbursts, disruptive behavior in school and church, fear of punishment for any mistake, insincere apologies, charming and manipulative behavior, hypersensitivity to my mood (with frequent misinterpretation), and more.  They have little basis for healthy human interaction.

Fortunately for us, they got enough love and care (at times from their birth mother and also from others in their lives) and are resilient enough that they still have some emotional ground water.  And that gives us hope that as we pour love, affection, time, attention, gifts, structure, discipline, and the love of Christ into their lives, the ground water level will rise and hopefully, eventually, resemble Figure A.

But that's just it.  We hope.  We don't know.  And how long?  We don't know.  At times it is incredibly frustrating.  Some days it appears impossible.  Our hearts break for the things they have seen and experienced.  

Other days are amazing, and we wonder how we doubted.  When we receive spontaneous hugs.  When we laugh together over something silly.  When we can see that they "get" something that we've been trying to teach.

It definitely is not easy.  We must always remember that we started down this path for a reason.  The reason hasn't changed.  We had no guarantee of ease.  We do not even know where the path is headed. All we know for sure is that it is the right path.

So for now, we live in drought.



This is the promise of God:  I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them. - Isaiah 42:16

Big Changes

Many who will read this know us personally and already know much of what you will read in this post. For those who don't know us, this will get you caught up.

Some of these changes actually started in the summer of 2010, so bear with me. I didn't blog about them at the time, because I didn't know how they would affect the adoption. We chose to keep these things private for that reason and are only now getting around to sharing.

Change #1 - About six months into our adoption paperwork (June 2010) - well before we had an SDA appointment - I found out that I have diabetes. It is an unusual form of autoimmune (like Type1) that shows up later in life (like Type 2). Technically it is called Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA).   I took it seriously, changed my diet (somewhat, I already ate pretty well), started walking everyday, lost some weight, and started monitoring and insulin injections.

We talked with our agency and decided that we would continue with the adoption. They assured us that as long as I was healthy and under control there would be no problem.   We are posting now to let others know that we were able to adopt with no problems. So if you have something unexpected like this happen, it likely will not stop your adoption. Of course it will depend upon current adoption laws in Ukraine and your individual situation.

Change #2 - The next big change came about six weeks later in July when Cliff accepted a new job in another state.  Again we didn't know how that might affect the adoption - to get new documentation for job and home.  Turns out it was not a big deal. The timing of the change happened right before we started work on our dossier, so we didn't have to re-do anything.

So Cliff started his job in September 2010, and we essentially lived apart until we left for Ukraine at the end of January 2011. Fortunately Cliff was able to be home with us a lot. He scheduled his travel out of our city and so got to spend more time with us. This was good, because we were trying to get the house ready to sell and then sell it, so we could move to the new city.

The house went on the market at the end of October, so then we were into the fun of open houses and showings. And nothing happened. We left for Ukraine with the house on the market and returned from Ukraine with the house on the market. We brought the kids home at the end of March with the house still on the market.

Change #3 - By May we decided that living apart with the 5 kids and me in one city and Cliff in another city much of the time just wasn't working.  Cliff found a house in the new city, and we prepared to move. Shortly thereafter our house sold.  By the end of July 2011 we had moved out, signed the papers on our old house, spent a week on the road driving to our new city, and signed the papers on our new home.

Now we have been in our new home for about 2-1/2 months. We're settling in and getting used to all the new things. I will post more another time. I just wanted to get you all up to date given that new posts will likely be about or at least mention these changes.