What a difference 8 weeks can make...

I apologize for the quality of these photos. Both were taken on my cell phone. The first photo was taken after we'd been home for maybe a day or two. It was the first photo I took of Camille and Jon Paul together. Poor little guy, he looks so forelorn...

This next photo of Jon Paul was taken last night. He was in such a hyterical mood, that I just had to grab my phone again and take some photos. It's hard to believe this is the same little boy in the photo above, just 8 weeks later... what a difference!

A picture

is worth 1000 words!

A funny thing happened...

My plan was keep up this blog... blog our China trip and all that went along with that. Then continue to blog about life as a family of four... But our trip and return home (especially the return home part) were so turbulant, that I never found the time to blog. As it turned out, our little cherub had major medical issues, including eye cancer that needed immediate attention. He is very, very developmentally delayed, much more so than we expected or anticipated. He's going to need a great deal of care and love, but we are doing our best.

Exciting times!

These are exciting times! I know I haven't posted often, we've been very busy getting ready for our trip to China. We're leaving in 8 days to bring home Jon Paul!

Camille auditioned for Beauty and the Beast at school yesterday. She said the audition went pretty well. There are no featured parts for first graders, which is fine and I think it's exceptional that the school allows the little ones to participate at all. Last year Camille was thrilled to be in the choir for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so I am certain she will be just as thrilled with a part as a villager or castle staff for this years production.

She's in the 3rd quarter at school and she's moving along. She really enjoys school, so that's important.

Visas

Mike and my dad went to the Chinese Embassy in New York City today to get Visas for our passports. One step closer to our trip to China to bring home our son... it's getting closer... it's becoming more real..

Jeremiah 29:11-13
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. There is a very real possiblility we will be going to China in the next 4-6 weeks. While it's exciting, it's also extremely stressful because there is still very much to do.

Mike and my father are going to NYC this week to get Chinese visas. I had forgotten what a process (not to mention how expensive) this is. We need to think about getting things packed and get our paperwork in order so we don't forget ANYTHING. That could be a disaster. There is a lot to do and very little time to do any of it.

At the same time, the rest of our lives go on. Work, school, chores, things. Life moves at a rapid pace. It just does. If you can, please remember us in your prayers. It doesn't take much to say a quick prayer, but it sure helps out a lot! Thanks!

I don't want my children to be happy...

Every once in a while I find a blog post that I just have to share. Missy of "It's almost naptime" wrote THIS

And it so worth the read...

Why would God become Man?

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas.

His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments. One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!", he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left, and he stayed home..
A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and could not go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It is warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and did not seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came back out with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!", he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them", he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn-and one by one the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them! Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!" Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese - blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

Author Unknown

Just for fun

The cheerleading banquet was last night. The girls had a great time! It was a terrific season!

Happy Birthday Jon Paul

My dream, my wish and my goal was to be with you today. Either in China or here, at home, to celebrate your 3rd Birthday with you. But it seems God had other plans and we cannot be together. Perhaps He wanted to give Mike and Deena one more birthday, one more Christmas, with you. We know that you are celebrating and, with heavy hearts because we miss you so much, we are celebrating too. We hope you received the very special gift we sent to you for your birthday. Happy 3rd Birthday, son... we love you.

School Photo

I think it looks a lot like last years. :/

Help Bring Jon Paul Home

We've had a wonderful outpouring of support. Here's information on how you can help bring Jon Paul home. He is blind and resides in foster care in China. We are currently working to bring him home. Here's how you can help!

Here's how YOU can help bring home Jon Paul!

Click on this link for Kingdom Kids

At the top of the page click on Donations then select Family Grant Donations

Fill out the information and in the box that says designation, fill in our names, Mike & Faye Corman. That way you'll be sure you're donation will go to help fund Jon Paul's adoption.

If you would rather send a check, please mail it to:

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry
8625 N Whitehouse Drive
Spokane, WA 99208
USA

Please include a note with the check that the donation is for Jon Paul Corman's adoption fund, but DO NOT include our name on the check!

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.

Thank you for your support! Any questions, please feel free to contact Kingdom Kids!

Fundraiser for Jon Paul

We were chosen by Hip Mom Jewelry as a beneficiary for their adoption cause! So what do you have to do? Click on the link below and SHOP! When you place your order, fill out the family code COR1110. You'll receive some fabulous, one-of-a-kind, handmade jewelry and the proceeds will help bring home Jon Paul!
Don't delay, shop today!

Our family code is COR1110!

Happy Halloween

Super Girl and Super Dog

School Project

Camille has a school project for All Saint's Day which is coming up on November 1st. She has to do a report on a Saint. At the advice of Mike's aunt Liz (who is a Sister herself) Camille chose St. Katharine Drexel. St. Katharine was born in Philadelphia, PA and was the second American born saint to be cannonized (after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton). She is the patron saint of racial justice and spent her entire life and inheritance, $20 million, helping poor Native Americans and African Americans.

Light

Compositionally, not the best photo in the world, but I really like the way the light streams through. God's presence in a photograph.

Rah-Rah!

Camille's new passion!
She's cheers for a 60lb football team in our township... the Garnets! Go Garnets!

Kitchen Remodel

I can't even say that it looks like the same place!

40 Days for Life

If you haven't signed up for 40 Days for Life please do so, HERE

The New Morality

by Mary

You didn't make, Unborn Child.

They wouldn't let you be.

To your bud of life, they took a knife.

It's the "New Morality".

The didn't mean to hurt you, Love!

You have to understand.

Forgive them for what they did.

Their life was so well-planned.

They couldn't take you with them

up the ladder of success.

Money meant more to them

than a child, heaven-blessed.

Tell me, little Unvorn Child,

what did the Creator say?

Did He wrap you in His love,

and wipe your tears away?

You hover on the edge of time.

I see your faceless form.

You laugh whenever children play,

Oh, God for you I mourn!

He sent His only Precious Son

to teach us all "the Way".

Still we kill the unborn ones.

It happens every day!

You didn't make it, Unborn Child.

They wouldn't let you be.

They just expelled a blob of cells.

It's the "New Morality"

First Days