AUGUST

August was a blur...we worked hard...and played hard!! Definitely the highlight month of the summer for all of us! With the excitement of school starting and thinking about our new little girls, my mind isn't much for journaling, so, here's some photos to recap the highlights...

Below is a picture of all the VanderMaas cousins! As you can see, adoption is a big part of the Vander Maas extended family. It was such a gift to catch up with our "St.Louis" cousins, and Andrew and Lisa, too!

Finally, in August, Silas decided to brave Mona Lake. After a few swimming lessons and wanting to keep up with the big cousins, he decided he didn't want to miss out. Not only did he overcome his fear of swimming in a lake, riding the "fast" boat, he also braved the waves and went tubing behind the speed boat!! Now we can't keep him out of the water!

Isabel absolutely adores her cousin Zoe. Such a gift to have a cousin so close to her age!



We spent an afternoon at MI adventure with all the Van Solkema cousins! Silas' favorite was the water park!



This is another highlight summer day for our kids. They love being with their Grandpa and Grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and really look up to all of them! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful extended family!!!



We participated in the BCS-Families Helping Families Serv-a-Thon.

We had a wonderful morning helping a family from Africa clean up around their home.

The kids were hard workers...

...but, it wasn't all hard work. I had fun playing games with the kids while John and an other family worked very hard, weeding, cleaning, fixing things...

Thank you family and friends who sponsored us in this! Your generosity meant the world...We raised $1,200 that will go directly to another family who is willing to adopt a special needs child...we've experienced first hand being "gifted" money for our adoption. Words will never be able to express our heart's gratitude for what someone near and dear to us has done for us...it was only natural for us to want to help another family take away some of the financial burden of adoption costs!

Below is the day we found out about our 2 new ninas! We were on our way to a Detroit Tigers game when our caseworker gave us the big call! It was fun to be with John, as he was always at work when we received the call. You should have seen his face when he learned that he was going to have a house full of girls...

I was a bit distracted. I think John was, too! But, not to distracted to sit and explain the game to Isabel...

Enjoy some yummy ball park food...

And listen to Silas yell on the top of his lungs (every 5 mins.) "Go Tigers! Go Magglio! Go Tigers!"

We ventured to Cedar Point for a day...Silas' favorite...

...and Great Wolf Lodge for 2 Nights...that would be Isabel's favorite!

And naturally, ending the month with our hearts so full and overwhelmed with God's goodness...for the 2 newest additions that we can't wait to have join our familia!

August 2009 will be one month we will never forget! The end to a season as a family of 4...the anticipation of what life will be like as a family of 6! All that, and there is no updated pics of our house project...no time this month, having to much fun. I'll update those soon! Praise you, Jesus!! Dios es bueno todo a tiempo!!!

TidBits

Here's a few tidbits about our soon to be hijas...

Caroline Nicole ia 3 1/2 years old, weighs about 31 lbs. and is 36" tall. She has dark brown hair, black eyes, and medium complexion. She is described to be tranquilo (calm), alegre (cheerful or happy), dinamico (dynamic), alerta (alert), despierta (sharp-temper), sociable (social), and extrovertida (extroverted)! Whew! Sounds like we have another Silas on our hands! Le gusta jugar (she enjoys playing) with munecas (dolls), her imagination is big, and likes to explore! She also likes to be around adults! And it appears that she may almost be potty-trained! Whew!

Marta Tatiana is 15 months, weighs about 20 lbs., and is 24 1/2" tall. She has dark brown hair black eyes, and medium complexion like big sis. She is described to be tranquilo (calm) and indiferente (indifferent). She has global delays, this is assumed to be related to living in an institution almost her whole life. She likes to be in the company of adults.

We are still waiting on translations, hopefully we will receive them sometime next week. Each day we read through their Spanish documents and pick up more and more about them, their history, and medicals. It has been fun gradually learning more about them as we wait to get the immigration process started.

This adoption process has been much different than both Isabel and Silas'. God has been preparing our hearts for these girls for a very LONG time (yes, I'm not the most patient person). It is overwhelming to look back and ponder on what doors had to open and close to have the call that Caroline and Marta were chosen for our familia! We have wrestled with special needs adoption, other countries, domestic, even older, larger sibling groups, and the door kept opening back to Colombia...our hearts desire! God has navigated this journey, not us. We held it loosely. Many ask why we switched to a sibling group, when we were so close to receiving an infant referral!? Good question...God did that work, not us...the nudge has been a gradual process and ultimately we knew we just wanted to be obedient to His calling for our family! With that being said, we enter this journey with total shalom in our hearts, and couldn't be more thrilled and excited to receive Marta and Caroline in our arms!

This does not mean that this journey is going to be easy. It may look a lot different than when Isabel and Silas came home. Both of them adapted and bonded very quickly. The adjustment with the girls may look very different, our parenting may even take on a whole new look in certain situations. Our goal initially is to make our girls feel safe and secure in their new home. That's it! We have no expectations of them. Our peace is knowing our faithful Father in Heaven brought us to this point. Oh, how we need Jesus in this, all of it! Our prayer is that we love our new girls (and Isabel and Silas) like Jesus loves us! Our hope and prayer for the girls is just that...that they may experience the redeeming love of Jesus in their lives and except it in there hearts. What more could a parent desire for their child, God's child!!

To all the families that wonder about adopting a child (from birth - teen), I've been reading 2 great books that give a lot of insight! I'd recommend them even if you're getting the "nudge." One is called the "Connected Child" and the other is "Adopting the Hurt Child." They offer a lot of tools and hope, but, of course, the ultimate hope comes from the One who formed them and made them, and loves them more than we ever could!

"And I pray that you... may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!" Ephesians 3:17-19 (This was the scripture at our wedding, and I've also been praying this over the girls for 14 months now, not knowing the little ones I was praying for...now I do...Gloria a Dios!!!)

Introducing...our 2 Newest Blessings!!!

This is the day that the Lord has made...let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Today is a day we have been anctipating for a very long time! We are so full of joy and have grateful hearts to share the 2 precious blessings God sent our way!!

Caroline Nicole was born on December 14, 2005 in Bogota, Colombia.

Little hermana, Marta Tatiana was born on May 22, 2008 in Bogota, Colombia.

Big sister, Isabel is very happy to know she will be having 2 little sisters! We will always remember the big toothless smile on her face when we told her! Big brother, Silas, is still taking it all in...not so sure about them just yet. He told us he'll "think" about it, and just 1 would be good! He is the extravert of the family, and we know he is soon going to get very excited about his new sisters!

Today we are celebrating God's goodness to our family...enjoying this last vacation as a family of 4...excited to soon be six! We will have more to share once the translations are complete...that is when our I800 immigration can be filed! We can't start anything until then...our prayer is that we will receive all their documents in the next week!