Thursday, December 31, 2009

So thankful.  

thankful

As I lay in bed this morning (after being awakened by 2 little boys who were wide awake at 4:00 this morning because someone left a light on in the room, I was still in bed at 7:00), I heard Micah trotting down the hall to go downstairs to eat.  I heard him saying papa, papa and then he was at the door…knocking away.  So of course I said come in and he bounded onto the bed and just wanted to lay down beside me and get under the blanket.  Then he inched closer and closer and put his head on my chest and just laid there with me and he was so happy.  He had a big grin on his face and said papa, papa, papa…  I’m so thankful that he is so happy to have a papa and mama.

As he has done for several months now…we were at Target last night and Mary had the other kids and I had Micah with me and as we were headed to the side of the store where Mary was, everyone we passed, he waved and said “hi” and them that I was his papa.  Man, that makes me happy.  (He does the same with Mary).  He is genuinely proud to have a papa and mama.  He get’s it.  It makes me so happy.  So thankful.

Matthew took unaided steps last night (he’s done it a few times – but last night he did it with “purpose” and did it repeatedly.  When we got him, he wouldn’t/couldn’t do this at all.

Just a while ago, he was getting ready to take a nap and he started making this really loud grunt/growl noise.  Did I mention it was loud?  It was irritating the fire out of me and I told him to stop.  He looked at me and made the noise directed at me, and louder.  Okay…I thought it was funny and didn’t take it as rebellion or disobedience.  (He’s about 18 month in development and all of his “disobedience” isn’t really rebellion and disobedience.)  Yeah, I was kind of irritated because it was a grating loud noise, but in the same moment, I was thinking about how when he first came home he didn’t make a peep.  I mean NOT A SOUND.  He is finding his voice and he is using it to voice an opinion.  He’s realizing that he has likes and dislikes and he’s learning to express it.  He expresses it like an infant right now, but it’s progress.  It makes me happy that he is getting comfortable enough with us to be himself and discover who he is in the safety of our arms.  It makes me thankful.

Last night, at snack time before bed, I called Eli and told him it was time for a snack.  He got up off the floor and came to me in the kitchen to get into his high chair.  Yes, he’s five and you may think that’s not a big deal, but have I ever mentioned that before the boys came home he was so withdrawn that he would not respond to us, much less obey simple commands?  This is a BIG DEAL.  It makes me so happy to see him coming out of his shell and not only letting us into his world, but he’s coming into our’s more and more often.  It makes me thankful.

Our 4 older kids have opened their hearts to these little guys and have given up so much to make it possible for us to give these little treasures a home.  They make me proud and humble me at the same time.  They have already accepted Ruslana and she’s not even here yet.  They are not just okay with her adoption.  They are excited.  This makes me so happy.

A couple of weeks ago, Mary and Hannah were at the grocery store and there was an older woman with her older son with Down syndrome trailing along behind her.  She mentioned that that was going to be Mary in 20 years.  Then she said, maybe it will be me (Hannah) because she wanted at least one of them to live with her family.  Then she said or at least I want to live really close so I can see them every day if they live with Mary and me.  THAT makes me happy.  She gets it and has already decided to make the sacrifice of her life for them.  The thing is (and most people just don’t get it) it is NOT a sacrifice for us.  It’s our life.  And we love it.  It brings us true joy.

I love you, Malone children.  You bring joy to my heart and give me purpose for waking up each morning (even when it’s at 4:00).

I am so thankful.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy New Year  

The Malone's wish you a very happy New Year.  May 2010 find you growing in your relationship with God and may you focus your eyes on Him alone.


We will celebrate in a low key way.  In fact, we don't usually make it to midnight.  The little kids certainly don't stay up and they still get up the next morning at normal time.  :-)

Mary, Micah and I will leave at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning to make the trip to Kansas City, MO for the memorial service for Derek Loux.  What a very sad occasion, but so glad that he is in the arms of his Savior.  There's no doubt.  Very thankful to the Done's for staying with the other kids.  We won't get home til around midnight Saturday night.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

PS>>The post from "A friends blog" was written by Meredith Cornish...not a Malone.  :-)

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

From a friends blog...  

This post was originally published on our friend, Meredith Cornish's blog. View the original here...

Once we know the plight of orphans...
once we know the treatment they receive...
once we know how many are waiting...
once we know the lack of medical care...
--- the lack of love...
--- the lack of therapies...
--- the lack of attention...
Once we know their life span...
once we know their destiny...
once we know that there's a way to help...
once we know that God can even use me...

What choice do we have but to act on it?

Or turn away.

Unfortunately, turn away is what many choose to do.

I consider it a huge blessing to help be a voice for these sweet children. To advocate for them both in this online environment of 'virtual life' and in my day to day life as we meet people along the street... in the mall... at the doctor's office... at the school... and we share our story. Our story. The story God wrote for us. The one He's allowed us to be a part of.

But more than just being a voice, more than living it out with our two adopted kids, I am touched more by the adoptive families that I work with and the children they are bringing home than I could ever return to any of them. It's an honor to be a part of God's plan for these kids to come into their forever families!

Now that we know, though, what do we do?

One of the parents I'm helping adopt right now posted a blog post about the orphan. About how adoption is often looked at as an 'ok' thing for people who can no longer have their own children. It's a great second try at parenting. It's a way for parents to have the baby they long for if they cannot birth their own.

Or maybe...

It's ok for a family that has decided not to have more biological kids. One that has that drive for a larger family but will not be giving birth again. Then the orphan is there to fill that void.

But the point she made is that the orphan isn't even a part of the story until there's a mother longing to hold one. Until then, it's about the parents.

There are 147 million orphans!! Seriously, One hundred forty seven MILLION.

And whether or not you're looking to hug one or hold one or send one a $1/month meal, they're still there. Still living out their reality and not knowing what life is like in a family or with people that really care about them.

Especially orphans with special needs that lay in their beds day in and day out with little or no interaction and often minimal nourishment.

So what will you do? How will you choose to act on the knowledge of these people suffering? How has your life changed knowing about the orphans? How might theirs be? What will you do with this knowledge?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Our little darlins…  

Can you believe how much our Hannah… (many years ago of course)

Hannah

looks like our new daughter Ruslana?

[ruslana - 1[2].jpg]

Hee hee hee…

 

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

Friday, December 18, 2009

Great time with friends…  

We had a great time with great friends tonight.  We had pizza (the kids), turkey chili (YUM), all kinds of side things and a VERY TASTY berry dessert.  I think it was called “Berries in the Snow.”  So good!

The kids had a wonderful time…because our friends planned it with them in mind so they felt very special…which made us feel very special.  Our kids are our life.  Literally…our lives totally revolve around our kids (and each other of course).  If we could be all by ourselves in a mountain retreat, just us, we’d be happy.  So when others think about our kids and make them feel special, it is such a ministry to our hearts.

Our friends also blessed our family with a financial gift that we couldn’t have imagined.  They gave our kids some money so they could have an opportunity to just buy something they wanted and they blessed Mary and me.  They said that several months ago, God laid it on their hearts to give us a monetary gift for Christmas and they prayed separately to hear from the Lord how much.  They came together and He had told them the same amount.  I don’t know how they were able to do it, but wow.  It blessed our socks off.  This has been the HARDEST WEEK OF OUR LIVES, really.  Today, we were really questioning whether we could take one more thing and were so weary from attacks from right and left.  I was really questioning even whether I had what it took to follow God.

I felt God impressing me to listen to the Michael W Smith song, “Help is on the Way.”  I listened to it and reached out to God once again.  Tonight, when our friends gave us the gift, it was like God wrapped a warm blanket around us and drew us into His lap.  I was speechless and just really wanted to weep.  God is good.

TO OUR SPECIAL FRIENDS>>>  Thank you for tonight.  It was a wonderful evening and your love for us an AMAZING BLESSING to us.  There are not words to express our gratitude to you.  Love you.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

PS>>>we hope to send our i600a on January 5.  Hopefully we’ll have our homestudy back by then.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Finally…  

YA_DateNight_WebGRAPHIC.jpg Date Night image by BethanyEnews

I get to spend the evening with the bride of my youth…the woman I love.

It’s been a while since we’ve been out (just the two of us) for various reasons. This time of year is my busiest time because of events at church, but this week (following the events) is pretty much the LEAST busy week of my life so we have the opportunity to step out and be alone. <happy sigh>

Still working on adoption documents. Thank you for PRAYING for a miracle!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Home Study Under Way...  

Our home study is officially under way.  Our social worker came last night and spent about 2 hours looking over the house, talking to the kids and the parents.  She's a Christian and she "gets" what we're doing but it is hard to put that in words sometimes that immigration will understand and accept.  She did tell us that if we had a social worker who wasn't a Christian and understood what was going on, we'd be hard-pressed to be approved.  I can understand that.  We had a good discussion and she is behind us, thankfully.


Today, our documents go out for background checks and child abuse checks.  We are hoping to get them back quickly.  Thankfully, our fingerprints are still good at USCIS so we won't have to wait on that.  We are really racing the clock to get everything in by February 1.  God is in control though.

We have a friend who's son is an architect school graduate and is an apprentice (or whatever that would be called) and he's coming after New Year's to help us draw up some plans.  We'll go from there.  We are reconsidering re-financing and financing in an addition.  (Where we will put Ruslana is one of the things we discussed at length with the LSW last night).

But again...GOD KNOW'S!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Praying about something…  

We talked with a good friend of ours tonight about his suggestions for more living space at our home. We have discussed converting our garage and changing the office/computer room/piano room/practice room into a bedroom for a short term solution. Our friend is in commercial building and has a lot of knowledge.

His assessment was that we needed to add-on. That’s something we have thought about, but quite frankly we are unsure of whether we want to borrow money in order to do it. We are praying and asking YOU to pray too. God knows' what we need to do…we just need Him to show US…even if it’s only one step at a time. We just need to know what the next step is for us right now.

Tomorrow night, we have our homestudy appointment. We then need to get our USCIS (immigration) paperwork in and get our background checks done.

Lots' to do and not much time to do it in! Please keep praying. Ruslana is waiting. She has no idea what all we are doing to bring her home. We love her already and can’t wait to hold her in our arms.

Micah’s surgery went well. It took about an hour and twenty minutes. He has a red cast from thumb up to his arm pit (so he can’t get his hand to his mouth and chew on it). He’s on tylenol with codeine so he’s groggy and sleeping well! He’ll have the cast for at least two weeks. I hope it doesn’t cross his mind to use it as a weapon or a baseball bat. You have to watch out. He has trouble controlling that arm because it’s so heavy! Since it doesn’t bend, it swings wide! Ouch…that would hurt.

When we were waiting on them to take him back, he was asking for food (of course he hadn’t eaten since last night). I told him that after his thumb went bye-bye, he could have a cracker. He started waving goodbye to his thumb again, saying bye-bye, and kissing it…then he proceeded to try to pull it off. He pulled and twisted over and over. He REALLY wanted that cracker! As soon as I got to recovery, he was sitting up, very groggy and he asked for the cracker! He just held it for about an hour before he ate a bite, but he had his cracker. He’s smart and cute! Thanks for your prayers today.

Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

1 day closer to Ruslana  

We have one more performance of our Christmas program tonight at 6:30 and then it's time to tear it all down. So it'll be a long, late night!

Early tomorrow morning, we check in with Micah at Children's for his surgery to remove his extra thumb. There's a technical name for the procedure and the extra thumb, but I don't know what either of those are so suffice it to say they are cutting off his thumb! :-)

I was talking to him this afternoon and told him that tomorrow his extra thumb would go bye-bye (I showed him the thumb I meant). So of course, he started waving at it and saying "bye-bye" and kissing it. Too cute. I hope it's not too traumatic for him. You never know with that guy. He will be in a cast for a while (to keep him from messing with it or, if you can believe it, chewing on the stitches! That's just plain gross!). Thanks for your prayers. It should be pretty simple.

Boy...I could use a nap! Too bad for me.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Hmmm...  

We are VERY excited to bring our daughter home. It's like she's just away from home and we are waiting on her to come home. :-)

God is mighty and able to to this... please pray. We have so little time. We have our social worker coming on Tuesday night and I've explained to her the reason we are in a hurry and hopefully we will get it back sooner than normal. We've got to get our USCIS stuff in QUICK!

Gotta go to BED. It's been a LONG 3 weeks getting ready for the Christmas program. Last night was opening night. Tonight's performance went great. One more tomorrow night and then we have to TAKE IT ALL DOWN! <>

Jesus Reigns.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Saving Ruslana  

We have had our boys (Matthew & Micah) home since March 2009. God has begun a new journey in our lives to bring home Ruslana.

Ruslana was due to be transferred from the orphan baby home to a mental institution (she has Down syndrome) several months ago, but another family had stepped forward to bring her home. For various reasons, they returned the United States without her in early December of this year. Because they had already held her in the baby home longer than they should have, they made plans to move her immediately. December 7, we answered God's call to go get her and bring her home.

If you have followed our family's journey this year, you know that Micah was adopted from a mental institution and the difficult process that was (since we were the first family to do that in the region he was in). You also know the terrible conditions he was living in. We are still reaping the emotional damage it caused him. We were preparing to do the same for Ruslana. We would have been the first to adopt from the institution she was going to be transferred to.

On Tuesday morning, December 8, we were sent word that the baby home had made a way for Ruslana to stay in the baby home IF we could get our paperwork submitted by February 1 (when the country's adoption office reopens). If not, she would be transferred.

We began praising God! He had answered our first prayer (in a matter of hours really). The enormity of this task has begun to sink in and we need help. First of all, we need your PRAYERS that our mighty God will direct us and help us get our paperwork completed and submitted on time. It's a matter of life and death for Ruslana. Secondly, we need you to PRAY for God to move financially. We thought He did miracles last time (and He did). But this time, we have SEVEN WEEKS to raise the funds ($25,000) to rescue this precious baby. God can do it. Please PRAY.

IF YOU HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK, please add this button and spread the word. We are planning on having our daughter home at the end of March or early April 2010. Simply COPY ALL OF THE CODE FROM THE BOX BELOW and insert it into your blog (as an HTML GADGET) or on your Website.


The code will produce this on your website:






Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A story to tell you…  

Once upon a time, there was a family who God called to serve Him.  The family thought about it and the dad and mom said, “Yes.”  When they said, “Yes,” they didn’t know what God wanted them to do, they just knew that they wanted to do it.

The family found that even though they had told God that they would lay down their lives to follow Him, there were times when it was unclear exactly what He wanted.  So a few years ago, they felt God calling again to surrender to Him at an even deeper level.  They had a child who had Down syndrome, they had visited Ukraine several times, they had seen the terrible plight of the orphan there (especially the special needs orphans and the older orphans – both completely unwanted by society).

They came home from a trip to Ukraine and thought they had figured God out.  They started getting their house ready to sell and were preparing to move their family to Ukraine to work with special needs orphans.  They imagined they would have a private home for orphans with Down syndrome – in Ukraine.

After several months of preparations, God said, “No.  That’s not what I’m asking you to do.  Just wait on me.”

A couple of years passed and even though the family had said, “God, anything You want, You can have,” it was becoming more and more difficult to wait on Him.  But finally, He called again and the family knew they were to adopt a child with Down syndrome from Ukraine.  So the family started the process and one child turned into two children.  The family saw God do AMAZING miracles to make the adoption possible.  They learned more about their Heavenly Father than they had ever known before.  They found out that God’s heart is bent toward the orphan.  They remembered that they, too, had once been orphans and that God had adopted them…saved them from certain death.

God had called them to do the same.  So they did.  During the entire journey toward adoption, a little girl had caught their eye, but God lead them definitely to two boys, hand-picked for them by God, Himself.  The little girl with pig-tails had been chosen by a couple of families but for reasons known only by the Father, those adoptions did not happen.  So once again, this precious cherub was on the at risk list because she was in danger of being sent to a mental institution to wait for certain early death.

Finally, another family stepped forward and started the process of getting the paperwork done and the orphanage made the decision to keep her in the baby home instead of moving her to the institution.  And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The Father had another plan.  The new family went to Ukraine to meet her and bring her home, but something happened that changed their plans and they were unable to complete the adoption.  She was to be transferred immediately to institution since she was not going to be adopted.

A few months ago, the family that had thought they would one day have a private home for orphans with Down syndrome in Ukraine realized that maybe God was building that home here in the United States.  God cultivated this in their hearts and when the girl became available again for adoption, they said, “she’s ours.” 

So…yes.  The Malone Nine is about to become the Malone Ten.

Our hearts ache for the family that was unable to adopt her, but we know that God’s plans are always much better than ours even when they are gut-wrenching.  We have NO DOUBT that God has always meant for little Ruslana to be part of the Malone clan and that He had planned everything so that at just the right moment, it would happen.  We don’t understand His hand sometimes, but we trust His heart.

We have SO much to tell, but for now, please meet our little girl, Ruslana (we have another name but we aren’t ready to share that yet).

ruslana - 4 ruslana - 1 ruslana - 2 ruslana - 3

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!  Check back soon for more exciting things God is doing.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Down Syndrome Christmas Party  

Today was the annual Down Syndrome Association Christmas Party.  It’s a chance for families in our metro area to come together and celebrate with each other the wonderful blessing of children with Down syndrome.  It’s an event provided by our association with a meal and gifts for all the kids.  In addition, there is a local photography studio that takes family portraits as well as photos with Santa.

Now we’re not big Santa people, but for some reason, Micah is taken with Santa Claus.  Who knows why.  Maybe it’s because of the red suit and the hat.  He loves red.  And he loves hats (on other people, not himself).  We had a great time with the couple of hundred families that got together this afternoon.

boys005

I didn’t really think that Micah would sit in Santa’s lap. He’s kind of skittish about certain things.  But when he saw him, he ran to him and said “hi” (his new word) and jumped up in his lap.  The smile on this santa is genuine.  The boys really made him smile.

DSCF7011 DSCF7012  DSCF7003

DSCF7014

 DSCF7004 DSCF7005 DSCF7006 DSCF7010

For some reason, there is not a single picture of Bethany from the event.  Hmmmm…  she was hiding, I guess.  That could be one reason.  The other reason is…  I had purchased a package of duracell batteries for my camera and of course when I tried to find them to load it up before we left for the party, they were no where to be found.  Undoubtedly, the kids had taken them.  So I ended up with batteries from dollar tree.  These pictures are the ones I got to take before the batteries died.  Yes…they died after just these few pictures.  Hope the kids enjoy the duracells.  Argh!

It is an UNDERSTATEMENT for me to say that we were an oddity at the party.  Everyone thinks the boys are triplets and everyone asks…which we like, because it gives us a chance to tell them about our journey and it will only help to let more people know about Eli Project and others will surely decide they want to rescue a child, too.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

PS>>> If you’re in the area, come to Celebrate the Light 2009 at FBC Moore December 11, 12, or 13th at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Memories…  

DSCF2055 DSCF2040

This was the day before we left to come back to America (after being in Ukraine for almost 6 weeks).  Matthew hasn’t really changed that much in appearance (surprisingly).  He’s grown taller and has a more healthy look about him, but his features haven’t changed at all.  Micah has changed a lot physically.  His undernourished distended belly is normal now.  The veins in his head are hardly noticeable and he has turned from a scared, skittish  boy into a happy and confident-in-our-love boy.  His deprived-skinniness has been replaced with normal body tone.  He’s grown in height too.  Both boys have outgrown their clothes that swallowed them when we got them.  The pajamas we brought them in Ukraine will barely button now.  But we still put them on them because it’s a reminder of what was and what is now.

They’ve been home for over 8 months now.  Most of the time, it seems like eons ago that we were nervously waiting to meet them for the first time.  As hard as it was being away from our kids while we were there in Ukraine, it was such a sweet time with each other and with the Lord.  We saw literal miracles happening before our eyes and the blessings of God were being heaped on us to the point where we were actually weary of being so “high” all the time.  We learned truly what it meant to be overwhelmed by God.  I, personally, miss that feeling of God being right there.  I know that He is always right there, but my relationship with Him was much stronger during those days because He was LITERALLY ALL WE HAD to depend on.  Everything else was uncertain and changing as often as minute by minute.  He was the only constant in our lives.  I want that back.  I know that it’s my fault that it’s different.  There is so much that distracts me in this life.  I’m so busy at work, there is always something someone needs from me and I have little time to just rest in His arms.  I MUST take more time for that.  I have gotten pretty good at saying NO to people to protect myself from total burnout, but whatever time I have gained, has been sucked up by something else.  But God is right there.  I’m so grateful.  A dear friend sent me this verse on Tuesday (although I didn’t see it til today—which is when I needed it the most—I was sitting in the doctor’s office waiting on test results to find out what was wrong with me this time—more on that later)… Be encouraged! The One who loves you the most and sees all your good deeds done for His Glory, lives within you giving you access to the power, the same power that raised Him from the dead.  (Thanks Sally!)

All the kids are well finally.  I was well on my way to being over pneumonia and feeling quite good.  Then, last Friday, I crashed and burned.  By Sunday I was feeling worse than I had with pneumonia.  This is the busiest two weeks of my life (getting ready for Celebrate the Light (our Christmas program at church)) and each day I felt worse and worse.  Today I went to the doc and he did tests and found that while the pneumonia was nearly gone from lungs, I now have the flu (regular, not H1N1).  He also said that my blood work showed that my body was actively trying to fight allergies.  So I’m on Tamiflu and a steroid pack (to stop the allergy problem).  Supposedly, I will feel great tomorrow.  We’ll see…  :-)  But regardless, God is on His throne!  For that I am grateful!

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with the boys for the first time.  Everything was new and it’s wonderful to experience things with them for the first time.  We got our tree up last night (finally) and Micah woke up this morning and went crazy over it.  Every time we turn on the lights, he claps!  What a joy.  Matthew hasn’t torn it down…yet.  He’s a destroyer.  I’m just saying…

Sorry we aren’t doing so well keeping up with posting…  life is so busy.  Eli Project continues to move forward and God is going to do great things (more great things, I should say).

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Redman Family Adoption Button  



The code will produce this on your website:

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Last year...  

This time last year we had justgotten our dossier submitted and we
were waiting to hear a travel date. We were so excited to meet our
boys or the first time. We could hardly wait to hold them in our arms
and tell them how much we loved them.

Here we are a year later. The guys have been home for 8 months (which
is totally impossible to believe) and it seems like they have always
been ours. We are so grateful that they are our sons and can't
imagine our lives without them.

It is such a blessing to have them.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Monday, November 23, 2009

So WHO'S our new BEST FRIEND?  


On Friday, the school called and asked me to come get Bethany because she wasn't feeling well. So we got her home and she went right to bed...went to sleep...for the afternoon and night. She had fever, stomach issues, a bad headache, sore throat, ached all over. Sounds like the flu, right? But no. It can't be. They all stood in line and got the flu vaccine a few weeks ago.

Roll the clock forward to Saturday morning and Blake woke up with a high fever, and many of the same symptoms as Bethany. Bad enough, right? Saturday afternoon, Eli suddenly became very ill and his fever shot up real high and he started screaming and crying (not like Eli unless you take away a cookie or turn off Barney or Miss Patty Cake). He screamed and cried for TWO HOURS. NON STOP!

I got home about 8:00 Saturday night and we decided that if they had the H1N1 virus that they needed medication now, not Monday (we called the hospital and that's what they said). So Mary loaded up the 3 sick kids and took them to the hospital emergency room. The doc there said they don't do the H1N1 test anymore because they are so often incorrect. I suspect its a money thing too since the test costs so much and I also suspect that they have seen so many cases that by now they can spot them. At any rate, they were concerned especially for Eli (which we were too) because he had a rattle in his chest (considering his history, this is not good). He's like me, I'm afraid, and gets pneumonia at the drop of a hat (once you've had it, it's easier and easier to get it). I figure that's what will do me in one of these days, but I digress. :-)

They got their Tamiflu and got home at midnight. Needless to say, Mary stayed home with them yesterday. Yesterday evening, Hannah suddenly became ill with a high fever and all the other symptoms. Do you see a pattern?

This morning, Seth woke up with stomach problems so we fully expect him to fall sometime today. I can't imagine how the 2 former ukrainians are going to keep from getting this too, but our philosophy is that if they are all going to get it, better to get it over with in one swoop instead of dragging it out over weeks.

We are to leave tomorrow for a Thanksgiving trip back home, but we'll see.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Ps... check out the Eli Project blog. http://blog.eliproject.org We had a great weekend.

There's no going back...  


I saw what I saw and I can't forget it 
I heard what I heard and I can't go back 
I know what I know and I can't deny it 

Something on the road, cut me to the soul 

Your pain has changed me 
your dream inspires 
your face a memory 
your hope a fire 
your courage asks me what I'm afraid of 
(what I am made of) 
and what I know of love 

we've done what we've done and we can't erase it 
we are what we are and it's more than enough 
we have what we have but it's no substitution 

Something on the road, touched my very soul 

I say what I say with no hesitation 
I have what I have and I'm giving it up 
I do what I do with deep conviction 

Something on the road, changed my world 

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Yes...we're alive... just barely... :-)  

It's been a LONG time since I've blogged, tweeted, facebooked...  our lives have been SO crazy that I have not taken the time to do it.  Also...we have been dealing with so many health issues, and we've had so little information to share that was certain that it's been easier just to walk the road alone as a family.  We sometimes wonder if people get tired of hearing the latest medical issues!


Since I last blogged...

Matthew has had his 11 root canals and 16 crowns (was to be 14 but turned into 16).  Of course, right now, it's 15 because one fell off and will be put back on in January (we found it!)  He did great with this and never missed a beat.  He seems happier now (not that he was unhappy before).  Probably his teeth were in constant pain before so he should feel great!  We also got him in to an ENT because of the constant sinus infection and horrible smell that constantly emanates from him.  The doctor thought for sure that something was stuck up there in his nose, but when he scoped him, it turned out that he had a tumor in his sinus cavity.  So an MRI was ordered and he had that on November 8.  He went to the ENT today for us to find out what the MIR showed.  Well...it showed nothing. No tumor, no blockage...  So we are thanking God.  We have the picture of the tumor that is now non-existent.  So...no surgery needed.  No nothing.  The doc did suggest we test him for allergies (since he still has a runny nose and is not sick).  So we'll do that soon.

Eli...
Suffered a stomach flu week before last that kept him out of school for the whole week.  That was no fun.  BUT...none of the rest of us got it and that is a miracle!  He is becoming a bit more verbal these days.  He does say EAT now.  It was cute at first...now that's what he says anytime he gets near the kitchen or his high chair.  The cute factor is gone.  :-)  He's still thriving and we hope he will get into a growth cycle.  It's hard to believe he's a five-year-old since he is the size of a 3 year old at most.  

Micah...
continues to improve in his behavior.  He's had a few slip ups in the last couple of weeks but all in all he has done so well.  Last week, he spit in his teacher's face because she wanted him to do something that he didn't want to do.  Needless to say, he was in trouble when he got home.  Since that day he's been a little ANGEL!  He was obviously testing the boundaries to see if they were still there.  Guess what, buddy... THEY ARE!

Blake...
Has completed marching band and is glad it's over but really enjoyed it this year.  He made "A" band as a rotating member (for some reason only 2 in his section are permanent members...the other 4 will rotate in and out).  He's glad to be included, but of course wishes he was one of the permanent members.  He continues to play the piano (not taking lessons this fall, but doing very well on his own).  He is really growing in his relationship with God for which we are very grateful and very happy about.

Hannah...
is growing up into a very beautiful young woman, inside and out.  She is daily striving to have a stronger relationship with the Lord and really strives to please Him.  She is such a huge help with the little boys and just jumps in to help without being asked.

Bethany & Seth...
are both doing well in their lives.  They are in love with the newest Malones and enjoy being around them and playing with them and teaching them things.  Some good...some questionable.  :-)  They are both excelling in school and are both active in things at church.  They both play in the children's handbell ensemble, both sing in children's choir...


Mary is doing well.  Tired a lot, but that's the new normal so I guess we are getting used to it.  She's the best mom around and the most beautiful wife on the planet.  

As I write this, I'm laying in bed with pneumonia but hope to be better quickly.  I started a high powered antibiotic today...


Logo-Web-Header.jpg

ELI PROJECT...
continues to move forward.  We've been doing a lot of local ground work before we go "online" in a big way.  We have several new people on board to help and have 2 major opportunities this weekend to fundraise for our christmas project and get off the ground by getting our name out.  January 1, we will begin actively searching for families to host children this summer and of course for families to give forever families to children in need.  Also...we have a trip planned for this spring to do some "service projects" at a few of the orphanages we are working with.  We are taking slightly different path to launch the ministry that we originally planned, but we are following God and taking it a step at a time.  Thanks for your continued prayers and support.  We currently have a donor who is MATCHING GIFTS up to $5,000 so NOW is the time give if you can.  Contact me about how you can donate.

We thank you for your interest in our lives and your consistent prayers for us!

Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fall Is Almost Over!  









I cannot believe fall is just about gone. Our days have been more than full with school, 2 science fair projects(Yuck, but out of 7 kids I guess I should be grateful it was only 2!), marching band(and all the contests), multiple Dr.'s appointments, oral surgery and an MRI for Mr. Matthew(more on the MRI later.) Not to mention all of our church activties! The good news is no one has been sick except Eli, who missed 4 days of school with a stomach virus. Thankfully no one else has gotten it!


I managed to get a few pics of the kids a few days ago, while we still had leaves on the tree.As you can see it is really hard to get that many kids to look at the camera. I am convinced that Matthew, Micah and Eli were conspiring against me and the camera! :)
I gave up on the hope that I might get one picture with all of the kids looking at me at the same time. But I was determined to still get what I could. Maybe we should have a prayer service before trying group pictures next time. ;)

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Very Exciting Email from Ukraine  

My friend George (he was our regional facilitator for our adoption and has become our dear friend) sent me a message today. A month or so ago, I sent a letter and some pictures to the orphan services director in Romaniv (Alla - she helped us SO much get Micah). (I used google translator to translate the letter into Russian before I sent it). I never heard anything from them so didn't know for sure they had gotten it and when I had dinner with George a couple of weeks ago when I was in Kiev, he said he'd check on it for me. He did and here's the result...


Not only did they get it, but they printed a spread in the newspaper in Romaniv (that's where the institution is that Micah was in...hidden away from the world).

We were the first people to EVER adopt from Romaniv and we were adopting from the mental institution to boot! People did NOT understand no matter how much we explained. So now, they see that we didn't bring the boys back and sell their organs and in fact they are reading how well the boys are doing and the medical care that they have recieved. Praise God! It's amazing how the ripples continue to spread from all the God has done! Pray that as people have read the article and will continue to read it that they understand the great value these children have in the sight of the the Father to the fatherless!


Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The weekend is almost over...  

Where has the time gone?  The weekend is almost over (for me anyway...since I "work" on Sunday).

Getting ready to play and sing at a wedding that doesn't start until 7:00 p.m.  So it'll be a late night...then up early to get to church and make sure all is ready to roll here (I'm here now :-)  ).

Just got an email from a family who needs help with an adoption.  They need a miracle.  Will you pray for this family and for the young orphan they feel called to adopt?  God knows all the names already so I don't need to say them here.  WE experienced God's miracles time and time again so we know He is able!!

You can visit the new Eli Project Blog at http://blog.eliproject.org
The ministry website is ALMOST complete.  I'm waiting on a couple of answers from a couple of people and then I'll be uploading the final site and will announce it's opening via twitter and facebook and of course our family blog.  Stay tuned.  God's gonna do things only HE can do!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Monday, October 5, 2009

The announcement... ELI PROJECT  

Several years ago, after a trip to visit some orphan homes in Ukraine where children with Down syndrome were living, we felt God calling us to ministry in that area. We assumed at that time that God wanted us to move there as missionaries and we began to prepare for that major life change. We put our YES on the table even though we really didn't know what God was calling us to.

Fast forward about 3 years to summer 2008 and we felt the unmistakable prompting of God to begin the adoption process. For the last couple of years, we began to get frustrated that God hadn't "called" us yet. He had asked for our answer, but hadn't told us what we were doing. In 2008 suddenly we were on the fast track to obedience and it was almost a blur it all happened so quickly!

We returned home March 24, 2009 and felt that we had accomplished that which God had called us to do. But in our hearts we knew that was not the case. We knew that He was still calling us to bring justice to the fatherless, the devalued, the forgotten.

What God had begun in our hearts so many years ago was becoming a reality. We were scared, we were unsure what to do to begin, but we trusted God.

Two other families expressed an active interest in being part of any venture we felt God calling us to in this area.



Eli Project was born in our hearts the first time we held the little boys and girls like our son Eli. They were the same in many ways as Eli. Except one BIG difference was that they had no hope of a future. No one to hold them and tell them how valuable they were. No one to whisper into their ear, "I love you."

What is Eli Project?
Eli Project is a Biblically-based, not for profit, Christian ministry organization that is dedicated to the rescue of children with Down syndrome and other special needs from orphanages and mental institutions and children who are near aging-out of orphanages specifically in Ukraine. Eli Project is committed to helping families throughout the process of international adoption from beginning through post-adoption requirements including selecting a child, preparing paperwork (dossier), in-country assistance and post-adoption reporting.

Mission Statement:
  • The mission of Eli Project is to provide loving families for the unwanted, special needs and older children of Ukraine and other countries, and to assist families through the difficult process of international adoption. Eli Project is committed to adding value to the lives of these children and to make a positive impact on their home country to make a better life for the children yet to be born.

Goals:

  • Raise awareness regarding the unwanted children with Down syndrome, other special needs and those in danger of aging-out of the "system" with nowhere to go and no skills to survive.
  • Provide loving families with opportunities to give these children forever homes through adoption.
  • Assist families throughout the international adoption process by
    • providing hands-on assistance with paperwork preparation
    • providing in-country contacts and assistance
    • seek corporate and private sponsorship to lessen the overall cost of international adoption for families willing to provide a home
    • assist families in need of financial assistance in coordinating personal fundraising opportunities
    • providing post-adoption assistance (support, annual reporting)
  • Make a positive impact on the country of Ukraine and other countries to show the value of these special children so those yet to be born will be cherished and loved instead of hidden away to await an early death.
  • Provide opportunities to minister to children living in orphanages through camps, events and by hosting children in families in United States during the summer months.
  • As we go, we will share the love of God that has been freely shared with us through our Savior, Jesus Christ

  • Many of our readers are familiar with Reeces Rainbow, another ministry dedicated to finding homes for children in Down Syndrome over 20 countries worldwide. We will be working in cooperation with them when our ministries overlap and we are certainly working on the same "team." Andrea (the founder of RR) and I have been in communication a lot over the last weeks and both of our ministries are passionate about bring justice to the fatherless. We are excited about more Followers of Christ becoming passionate too!

  • In the next couple of days, the ministry website will come online and more information will go out by email, facebook and twitter. In addition, if you are local to us (OKC area) there will be seminars to bring awareness to the plight of the orphans of Ukraine and explain opportunities for helping the orphans find homes.

  • We need your prayers as we step out in faith and surrender our lives even more to the work of the Father.

God has a heart for the fatherless. He's passionate about their care...

it simply must be our passion too.


With much love and thankfulness,

Chris & Mary Malone


Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

:-)  

I've been reading some interesting comments on the Reece's Rainbow Yahoo Group today.  I'm putting the finishing touches on something and then we will share what God has laid on our hearts.  Hopefully sometime this evening.


But alas, we aren't moving to Ukraine (yet) and we don't own a house there (although we have looked).

God calls us all to action.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Exciting Times  

Be watching for an exciting announcement at www.themalonefamily.us in the next few days!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Really Amazing  

This is the winner of Ukraine's Got Talent. She's telling the story of WWII with sand art. Really astonishing...



Fall is Here  

My favorite time of year...the change from summer to fall.  Cool, brisk mornings, warm afternoons.  Ah...  I need a hammock in the backyard (and some time to lay in it :-)  ).


The kids are settling into the crazy schedule.  We are surviving... 

Ha!  I'm watching a naked little boy make his way to the potty.  Micah is doing well with pottying on the potty.  We have to be very diligent though about taking him...he doesn't always tell us. 

Blake is busy with Church, FCA, Band, 4H and Facebook.  Hannah is involved in several things at Church, Band and excelling in her studies.  Bethany and Seth are still kids who just like to play.  :-)  I miss those days with Blake and Hannah.  The good thing is that the three little guys will probably always like to play and be content to be at home...

Eli is going to and endocrinologist this morning to see what we can do for him.  He's not growing at all (in the last 18 months or more) and he's very lethargic.  His blood count is still good, so it's something else.  This is about the last place we can go so hopefully he'll be able to help.  It's like he's stuck at age 2 and can't move forward.  Weird.

Matthew is doing great.  He's coming out of his shell.  He's babbling (yeah, that's like a baby, but when we got him he made no sounds except crying).  He spoke a few days ago at school and said "I want." We didn't hear it but the teacher were so excited!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Long night  

2:30 a.m. -- Dog barking hysterically (he got left outside last night...usually he comes in at bedtime and is crated)

2:45 a.m. -- Search helicopters flying around neighborhood (maybe that's why the dogs in the neighborhood were going crazy?)
3:30 a.m. -- Maniacal cackling coming from Matthew's bed.  He was sitting in his crib, banging his head on the bars and laughing like a hyaena (they laugh, right?)
4:00 a.m. -- More banging, no laughter
sometime after 4:30 went back to sleep only to be wake up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for the day.

Now...6:00 p.m. ... ready for bed.  Resistance if futile...but I must.  The little kids don't go to bed for another hour and the big kids have 2 more hours...then it's off to sleepy land.  :-)

Micah has had TWO great days at school in a row!!  That's a huge PRAISE GOD!  

We moved him to morning class so he's back on his normal schedule of eating lunch then taking a nap in the afternoon.  Also changed the IEP to allow the teachers to use a spray bottle of vinegar when he spits.  They had to use it once yesterday and once today and he stopped immediately.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Back in the USA  

We returned to the USA last night about 8:20 p.m. after over 24 hours of traveling to get home. We had a good trip. Productive in many areas of ministry. Gus, the founder/director of Ukraine Ministries of Oklahoma and good friend, held a conference for summer camp leaders whom UMO has supported for several years. It was to talk about what occurred in camps over the summer, encourage the leaders and teach from God's Word. Also, we've been praying about the direction of UMO for several months and a shift occurred during the trip this year. UMO is probably going to be supporting a church start in Brovary (where our American missionary friend, Jamie, lives). We'll see what God does.


On the adoption ministry front, there are lots of options. Lots to be done. Lots of kids who need families. Praying...thinking...need to act. God's will be done.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Irritated  

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/09/23/behar.gay.adoption/index.html?eref=rss_latest


I shall make no other comment.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Buddy Walk 09  












Here are pics from the Walk. It was fun watching the little boys enjoy all the festivities.We missed Blake,who was at a band contest, and of course Chris still in Ukraine.Thanks to Wayne Dickinson for making the T-Shirts and to Ms. Wartha for joining in on the fun!

Dinner with George  

I had the pleasure of meeting George for dinner last night in Darnitsa.  George was the regional facilitator who assisted us with our adoptions.  We had a delightful time looking at pictures and remembering highlights of the 6 weeks we were her in the winter.


George filled in a few more details that we didn't know...

If you've been a reader throughout our adoptions, you know that we were facing a 5-10 day wait on our boys' passports.  When George visited the birth city to get the boys registration numbers changed (basically a social security number), he was told that he couldn't do it there, but had to do it in Novograd and Romaniv where the boys were living.  He was also told that there were no "old style" passports available so they would have to be sent to Kiev and the waiting periods would apply.  Well...George was unable to get it done for several days (because he couldn't find the right person available to help).  During that time of trying to get it done, he found out that they were supposed to be changed in the birth city (which happened to be the capital of Zhytomyr region).  So it was decided that we would do it the same time we ordered the passports.  Well, when we got to the Zhytomyr after getting the boys out to order the passports, he called a friend who happened to be a lawyer and she assisted him with facts that the old style passports were available.  When he went to passport office, he dropped a few names and was finally told that they did, indeed have the old passports but if he had changed the registration numbers, then we still couldn't have the passports.  Because of God's intervention, he was unable to get the numbers changed so we were able to get old style passports.  In fact, we had them within 1 hour!  Praise God.

The other thing he told me was that the friend that had helped us get the passports refused to take any money or any kind of gift.  She just wanted to help us.  

Praise the God of miracles.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

In Ukraine again...  



First of all... be sure to read Mary's post below this one. Yes...Mary posted to the blog. It's a great look at how pretty much every day is at Malone central.

Many of you have emailed asking what I am doing back in Ukraine so quickly? Are we adopting again? Are we moving to Ukraine? The answer to both of those questions is no...for now. :-)

Several years ago, God began calling our hearts to "mission work" in Ukraine. We began following that call in whatever form it took. Obviously, last year, God led us in a brand new direction and before we knew it, we had two more little Malones in our home.

While it has been such an amazing journey, we knew it was only PART of the journey...maybe just the beginning of the journey.

Over these last 6 months, we knew that God was not finished with us in regard to orphans and adoption. God's passion is righting the injustices against the oppressed and afflicted. Psalm 9 and 10 talks a great deal about His value of the fatherless. We knew that God was calling us to action. Last year, I met a believer that assisted with adoptions and had contact with several orphanage directors who had special needs orphans in their orphanages as well as contacts with directors who had older orphans (aged 13 and up). You could classify these older orphans as "at risk" because in 0 - 3 years, they will be put out into the world with a couple of bucks and the clothes on their backs with NO life experience and no emotional and social maturity at all. These kids (in most cases) have lived only in orphanages and for the most part end up in jail and prostitution and an early death. So two groups of the most unwanted of the unwanted.

I'm digressing...
Why I'm here... to make personal contact with these orphanage directors, get information about finding families for the fatherless.

I was met with very cooperative spirits for the most part. These are orphanages that do not currently have nationals who are adoption facilitators working with them. There was one we visited that has working with them already and we moved on. There are SO MANY children here who are desperate for a family.

So when I return, Mary and I and another family will begin/continue the process of connection the unwanted with families who not only want them, but will be willing to sacrifice their lives for them. The picture on earth of the sacrifice that Christ made for us so the Father, who wanted us, could rescue us.

That's all for now, I have a full day of appointments and need to get back to work...

DON'T FORGET TO READ MARY'S POST BELOW...

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.