Tammy

Little Man Update

Posted on November 17, 2013January 8, 2014 by Tammy

One of our biggest concerns moving back to Asia centered around how to care for Little Man and his special needs. We live in the boonies without the resources available in the States. Although that is true, we are blessed to have western doctors, nurses and a therapist who live in our city.

Little Man started therapy last week and quickly fell in love with the therapist who is a bubbly American with a wide range of experience. We were thrilled to hear that her assessment of our little man paralleled what we had been told in the States. She picked up right where the last therapist left off and gave us exercises to do at home focusing on getting his leg strengthened.

One of the best things for him has been our apartment with hardwood floors. In Florida he didn’t care to wear his prosthetic at home due to the soft carpet. Here no prosthetic = sore knees. He has started putting his leg on in the morning and leaving it on all day long. The longer he wears it the more his other leg gets used and strengthened. Bonus.

We have had to adjust his prosthetic since arriving. This Little Man is intent on not staying little. He is growing so much and so fast which affects how his prosthetic fits. For now, minor adjustments have done the trick. We have researched getting a new one made here in China if there is ever the need, but have found no where.

No where.

It baffles me and makes me realize all over again the grim future most born in this country with limb differences have. When we pass a beggar on the street, I see what could have been.

Our little guy is walking proof that people born with disabilities are bright, amazing, loving people who add to society. Our Chinese friends are often shocked when they see all that he can do and how our family loves him. Even more, I think they are taken by surprise when this little dear wiggles into their hearts as well! Just this week a neighbor commented to a mutual friend of ours, “You know their son is adopted and disabled, but they carry him and love him like their own.” There is no better way to share the value of life with those around us then to show them. We are so thankful to have the opportunity….and desperate.

Desperate to see the other children with limb differences find forever families.

There really is little hope for them if they grow up in the institutions here. Pr@y with us that Dad will continue to soften hearts and provide families for these amazing children.

How city kids play in the snow

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Tammy

Snow doesn’t happen often here. We have lived for the last year in Florida and haven’t seen snow in awhile. Our youngest thought snow was white rain.

All those realities combined together equaled the perfect opportunity for this homeschooling momma to throw the lessons out the window and bundle up some excited kiddos (minus poor Soccer Dude who is suffering from another cold! sigh. Pray for us to beat this string of bugs!)

It took a bit of work to play in the dusting of snow that graced our apartment complex, but they found some good places to scrape the snow together. Little Man thought it was great fun and alternated between yelling “snooooowball!” and trying to eat it. Not a big fan of my kids eating polluted snow. I might be laid back enough to throw my homeschool plan out for the day….not laid back enough to let him eat the snow! There are limits.

It all ended with a bit of mischief. They gathered snowballs to take back to our apartment….”to show Soccer Dude” but when I saw them camped out at the window over the doorway to our apartment building a few minutes before Hubby was due home from teaching class, I realized there were two reasons for the snowballs! Good thing they have a fun Daddy who also enjoys a bit of mischief!

Christmas in November

Posted on November 6, 2013November 6, 2013 by Tammy

What can make our family dance around as if it is Christmas morning?

A package from the States!

New English books to share with students (and enjoy ourselves!) candy corn, chocolate chips, craft supplies = Christmas in November at the Williams’ house! You should have seen the wonder on the faces of Soccer Dude and Roo when they found copies of beloved books that had to be taken out of the last suitcase because it was overweight.

Thankful.

One less

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Tammy

I sat in our Sunday gathering watching a family sitting in the pew several rows ahead of our gang. Two parents and four boys, three white one brown. Why did tears spring to my eyes as I watched them? Our community was celebrating Orphan Sunday and literally sitting in front of me I was seeing one of my pr@yers for an orphan being answered. He no longer is an orphan. He is soon to be a son.

I wrote about my dear student several months ago. I poured my grief and heart out in that post thinking that he had little chance as an older boy of finding a family. You can read it here. What did I know?! Gd is the Father to the fatherless with a plan for my friend.

My pr@yers for him and his new family continue. There is a long road ahead of them – paperwork, social work visits, fees to be paid. I would appreciate you lifting them up as well. May Gd provide in miraculous ways for this family who has stepped forward to claim this little guy as their son.

See?! Great Orphan Sunday!

As if my heart could handle any more…one of the workers gave a report from the local orphanage. My heart leapt with joy knowing that soon I will be joining the work there. I have a meeting with the director on Tuesday to hear what their hopes are for my role there. Pr@y for wisdom (and for my Chinese!) There is much work that could be done, and not enough time for me to do all that my heart desires. Maybe I shouldn’t just ask for wisdom, but for a clear mind. My heart can get in the way and I very willingly would bring 90 children home with me. (Hubby thanks you for your pr@yers!)

Part of the report was a list of requests from the staff at the orphanage. If you feel led, this is how you can pr@y:

Pr@y for more nannies to care for the children
Pr@y for unity between the staff
Pr@y for the health of the children with winter approaching
Pr@y for special events being planned like a Christmas party.

Also they are trying to get approval for “drop boxes” to be set up in the city. These “drop boxes” would be heated safe locations where parents could anonymously drop off infants. This would be much better for the children, who often aren’t found quickly and can be exposed to cold.

Just a little secret between you and I…since seeing my pr@yers answered for my student, I have boldly started asking for 49 more children from this orphanage to find families. I know He is able. Thank you so much for joining us. It made a difference for my friend and I know it will for the other children as well.

Let me close today with a video about Orphan Sunday. Couldn’t say it better myself.

Francis Chan For Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

learning along with the kids

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Tammy

By May of last year I was ready to throw in the towel. Homeschooling three kiddos with a newly adopted, busy 2 year old running around the house – well, let’s just say I needed the summer break more than the kids did. I also made a bold statement to my ever supportive loving hubby, I was done.

Well, long story short, it didn’t work out that way. Our move back to Asia didn’t happen in time to put the children in school.

I dug in.

So glad I did.

We have made some major overhauls in our homeschooling and I am enjoying this gig again!

We bought the first family cycle of My Father’s World (MFW) second hand. Paying half price sure made me bolder in trying something new. It is designed to teach multiple children and is less intense than what I had been using with more time to do hands on learning. I needed that…and so did the girls.

We have been having a ton of fun learning about ancient Egypt the last several weeks. We have tested if a pyramid shape is indeed stronger than a cube.

We “mummified” an apple head as we learned about the Egyptian’s preserving their dead to put in tombs.

Carving our heads and the finished product.

Here is Soccer Dude mixing together our preservatives – salt and baking soda. Roo then took over and packed our apple head away in a jar to be checked on in a few weeks time.

We will have to post a photo later to show you the results!

We made mummies for lunch…okay no educational value in that. Just fun. Well, Little Man didn’t have fun with that. Let’s just say there were tears and a difficult lesson on patience! He thought that it was awful for me to put the food on the table for them to wrap instead of eat.

So my reader who hates all things hands on and anything he deems closely related to an art project also was not a fan of hotdog mummies! 😉 He humored the girls and I.

For years, I have been a die hard SonLight mom. I love to read. Love good books. Love a literature based curriculum that gives me a guide that I can flip open without prep and little boxes to check off my progress. Perfect match – until three. I just couldn’t figure out how to read that many books on three different levels. Last year, I tried getting one curriculum for Sam and making it easier for the girls. Complete bomb – yuh, ur, the truth is I bombed at that much prep work. I have learned that getting a “family curriculum” and adding advanced readings and extras for the big guy works much better. (The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is helping me to add what Soccer Dude needs.) Why didn’t I think of this three years ago? With this bit of information I might be able to return to Sonlight in the future. We do miss the good books and if there is one hardship to where we live…it is not having English books readily available. (MFW we are so disappointed with your outdated list of reading material that you have provided. sigh. But, I guess there isn’t ever a perfect curriculum.)

We also have started using Teaching Textbooks for Math. Can’t say enough about this amazing curriculum. Math isn’t my strongest so having lectures on DVD has been a relief for me and the kids LOVE it. No more battles over math worksheets. (A big shout out to one of my college roomies, Jennifer Griffis, who I will be forever thankful to for convincing me to make that switch.)

So why the long blog post about homeschooling? Just like everything else, I feel like being honest and putting it out there might help someone else. Last year I really thought that I was a bad homeschooler. I was discouraged and sure that I couldn’t do it with a large family. I thought I was going nuts and never could have imagined having energy to do all the creative things we have been up to the last few weeks. Amazing how a few simple changes can really make a huge difference.

Little Man has been with us for a year now. That also makes a huge difference. You never would have seen him on the sofa with a stack of books a year ago. He has matured, calmed down and learned a lot.

So glad that I was “forced” to homeschool again this year and that we have made the changes. Now if I only could remember to show myself grace during a hard year of many transitions rather than brow beating myself and declaring I can’t do it! Learning right along with the kids.

We are back

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Tammy

Once upon a time, I could make a meal from scratch to feed a group of 30 students while at the same time making three loaves of bread and granola to feed my family for the week.

It has been three years. I am out of practice (and we eat way more bread now.)

I have been putting off writing another post. I just didn’t want to write “we are still settling in.” We have been here. We have done that and more. Makes me feel like we should be firing on all cylinders since we are now one month in. But we aren’t.

A few factors have played in. We have slogged through a round of colds and the stomach flu in one month’s time. Getting the apartment set up was put on hold while we recovered from illness. So no bathtub yet, but we do now have a microwave and we found a bread machine to help me feed my hungry family. We slowly are figuring out how to make productive trips to the market, navigating buses and crowds. It takes time to feel comfortable shopping in a group like the photo above. Not to mention, we somehow can go to the market and buy what seems like an enormous amount of fruit compared to the Chinese granny next to me and I still run out in an insanely short time! I blame the altitude for how hungry my children seem to be these days. The altitude – my word are we still adjusting to that…adjusting how much sleep we need, adjusting how I bake and how much water we need to drink.

So although in my mind we should already be running English corners from our home, we should have book studies and I should be teaching at the orphanage, we just aren’t.

We are getting there.

We have settled into a rhythm with homeschooling. Hubbie is busily writing mid-term exams for his classes. I have an appointment this week to meet the new director at the orphanage. Students are starting to stop by our apartment and our neighbors are becoming comfortable enough with me to fuss when they think I haven’t dressed the children warm enough (sounds strange I know, but that really is a sign of friendship here!) So we are getting there.

I keep reminding myself that this is not a sprint but a marathon. We are plugging away and just when I want to get discouraged I stop look around and realize the miracle of being here. Earlier this week as I stepped onto the bus with my heavy market load, I did just that. I was weighed down with purchases and stumbled as I tried to get on the bus and pay. The bus driver started to fuss at me for being slow. I began to sweat. I plopped down in an empty seat (PTL there was an empty seat) and looked around at the curious stares. A crazy white woman laden with packages isn’t a normal sight on the bus, I guess. Tears sprang to my eyes -not because I miss Walmart and my mini-van (of course I do) but because it hit me again that “We are back.” I have the privilege of being the crazy white woman on that bus, in my neighborhood, on this campus. What a gift. Not sure why My Father is allowing me to tell His story here, but I am so very thankful.

Yup, we are still settling in, but could I be any more thankful that I get the job of doing that?! Blessed.

10,000 Interested

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Tammy

A young man, who has grown up in the foster care system, stood before a church in Florida to make a plea for a family.

“I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”

You can click here to read the full article.

Davion’s plea got national attention and 10,000 families stepped forward as potential families for him. His case worker stated, “he will be getting a family for sure.” It thrills my heart to see how folks have stepped forward after hearing this young man’s plea, yet it breaks my heart that he had to ask.

There are around 100,000 children in the foster care system in the United States who could be adopted. No, you did not read the number wrong. Shocking isn’t it? Even more shocking….there are more than 220,000 churches in the United States. Church we need to step up! If every church would commit to one child who is in the system – Wow. Just Wow! Every child in the US could have a family….should have a family.

Let’s do something about this.

A great place to start is by spreading awareness. November 3rd is Orphan Sunday Take time to look at the resources and help your church defend the cause of the fatherless.

Thankful for Davion’s courage, but hoping that the 10,000 families who called about him now will adopt other children who need families and I am praying that another child never has to step forward on a Sunday morning to ask for a family. Let’s pursue being a church known for caring for orphans.

Now that we have that settled….I am off to find families for all the orphans in China. 🙂

I want to be a generous woman

Posted on October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 by Tammy

When first told that we were moving back to Asia, our 11 year old threw his arms over his head in an air pump fit for a ball game. The excitement faded as we packed, said goodbyes and the reality of another move sunk in. I began to worry. But, I never should have doubted the One who called us to move.

The first week in our new home we were invited to eat at the home of some dear friends we have known since our first days in Asia. Soccer Dude and their son, the same age, are great buddies. As we approached the front gate of their apartment complex, Soccer Dude’s friend was waiting at the gate. He held in his hands the wave board Soccer Dude had given him when we left three years earlier. A gift of a wave board and the offer of a friendship to be picked up right where it had left off. Gd’s provision through the generosity of a 6th grader.

In the past 2 months, I have been deeply moved by generosity that has come in many different forms. Each has been a reminder of my Heavenly Father. He has whispered His presence and provision into my heart through His people.

Family who worked tirelessly to help us pack, move and clean out our house….knowing as they worked they were helping us to move so far away. How do you measure that type of support and generosity?

Teenage sisters making a commitment to give toward our work along with countless others who are giving and pr@ying so that we can be here.

A box of hand-me-down clothes for Little Man.

A single mom offering to mail art supplies for the orphanage.

A gift in cash that was the perfect amount for us to buy bunk beds for our kids.

Offers of used books for our English lending library.

I seriously could go on and on. But maybe just one more story from this week.

A family, who has collected Thomas the Train toys for their children and carried them to China over the years passed them on to Little Man. Not only was Little Man thrilled, but as I home schooled – with a three year old completely occupied with a train set – again I felt Gd reassuring me that He is providing for us in big and small ways.

I am overwhelmed. Humbled. Blessed.

All this generosity has gotten me really thinking. Being a generous person really is a way to share the Good News with others. If I see Gd in generous people then I am sure if I were to be more generous I too would have a way to share Him that I haven’t fully tapped into.

I want to be known as a generous woman.

So I am making a list of ways to live out a deeper life of generosity….more than just money, but with sharing what I have, with my time emotions and energy.

Starting with my family.

I want my kids to see JC in me and what better way then to be generous with them. Let the dishes sit in the sink and read Go Dog Go one more time, leave emails unanswered so that I can play a game of Monopoly, take in one more drink of water to the sleepless one when all I want to do is sit on the couch with my book.

Pr@ying that each small act of generosity will show my kiddos who controls my heart and life. As I master it with my family, I also think it will become more natural with my neighbors and my community. This could be big.

So the 6th grader who so warmly welcomed Soccer Dude….his mom didn’t leave out the other kids. A wagon was shared with Little Man and craft supplies with the girls. There is something to that. Generous parents impact their children to be generous. This could be deep. Maybe the title of this post shouldn’t just be that I want to be a generous woman….it should be…I want to be generous so that my children become generous and we all impact the world for JC. (Shoot that doesn’t fit on the title line.)

Thank you all for spurring me on to be more generous. May Gd richly bless you for all that you have given and done.

our new home

Posted on October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 by Tammy

This post is especially for Nana. Okay, anyone else who wants to know what our new home looks like can take a peek too. But, I am mostly posting so the grandmother of my children will know that we are living in a very nice apartment! 🙂 For sure there are many oddities to the place – from my American perspective, but nice just the same.

We will start our tour in the kitchen. Yes those are green cabinets…fun right?! The small appliance on the counter top is our oven. I will give you a closer look.

It works great. You just need to do one tray of cookies at a time.

This is our dining room (and where most of the Williams homeschooling action takes place!) The far left of the photo is our front door.

And here is the living room. Can’t you just see this space filled with 40+ students borrowing books, playing games and engaging in meaningful conversations!

The washing machine is in our bathroom. Which is only odd when you see that we have a very Chinese shower.

That is the water heater and shower. You just wash up and let the whole bathroom get wet as the water flows to the drain in the center of the floor. For this uptight woman who likes a clean house, I have been having a hard time with a wet bathroom…x6. But then I quickly realized how clean our bathroom floor stays. Not bad! We are hoping to install a tub – for Little Man.

For now….

So if the washer is in the bathroom you might wonder where the dryer is at.

There is a small closet size room on the sunny side of the apartment for drying clothes. How smart is that?! Why don’t we have these in the States?

On to the kids’ bedrooms. We were thrilled to find bunk beds. Most Chinese families only have one child so they are not popular in these parts, to say the least, but we did find them.

This is the girls’ room

And for the boys

We were excited to find a bed with stairs rather than a ladder. In my brain it was safer for Little Man and might keep him from swinging from the ladder by one leg. Within an hour of the bed being set up he had climbed up the opposite end and was dangling from his short leg. He is impossible!

Just realized I forgot to take a photo of the master bedroom. It is a nice sized room with a bed, wardrobe and our desk.

As you can see we are in a very nice new home and are getting comfortable in our new space.

Half way…ish

Posted on October 14, 2013October 14, 2013 by Tammy

Writing a post about my birthday doesn’t hold the appeal that a post about my growing children. Cute photos and paragraphs about their new antics flow easily. This year is different somehow, maybe it is because I am closing in on 40. (Our secret, okay?!)

As my birthday came and went I have been contemplative. It seems half-way-ish, you know? I can’t hep but realize that life isn’t where I thought it would be. Now, that could be taken as a negative statement, but actually I am finding peace in the fact that my plans are not Gd’s plans. (I know, I know, a lesson that I am not Gd could have been mastered earlier in my life!)

Put my birthday together with a move back to Asia and you get a mish-mash of thoughts by an older Tammy who suddenly has realized that I am right where I want to be. Never pictured myself as a homeschooling mother of four and I wouldn’t have thought I would be living in a city of a million people…again. Yet here I am.

Loving it.

With all the imperfections that come along with it.

When I turned 28 I went out and chopped off all my hair. I mean really cut it off. I came home and shocked my sweet husband who swore he liked it. Still not sure about that. I kept thinking that I was almost 30 and I wanted to be and do something radical. Everyone told me that I looked like my mom with short hair. Not really what I was going for.

It has been ten more years. Not sure that I am really living some radical life and I guess I wouldn’t say that I have found the perfect job, location, or mission. But I am living my dream at thrity-achem (That was my attempt to spell a throat clear in case you didn’t catch that.) even if that dream doesn’t look like what I imagined as a college student or as a twenty something.

I am learning that no age, no situation is perfect, but Gd is in control. I can embrace that and make it my passion or pine for something else. Getting old enough to realize that if I don’t embrace what He is giving me then I am going to miss out on everything.

Celebrating another year by eating a crazy fancy Chinese birthday cake with fake peach filling. Excited that I am living out my dream in the center of Gd’s will for me…one day at a time.