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Spring Holidays 2013 – Week 2…

So almost 2 weeks ago (oh my, has it been that long?) i wrote about our Spring holiday trip to Munich/Legoland. Now it’s time for a very short summary of what the 2nd week of Spring holidays was like for us this year.

This was the protective suit they all wore to go into the hive to look for the queen bee.
This was the protective suit they all wore to go into the hive to look for the queen bee.

On Monday, the washing and housework were taken care of. The in the afternoon, Tobias went to visit the bee-keeper in our village.

This is part of the Frühlings Ferienpass, which a Spring holiday program run by the local youth/parent association. It has lots of different activities the children can choose from to take part in during a week in the holidays. i drove him there and went off to the supermarket. Then i picked him up again after 2 hours.

He said he had fun but he already knew most of what the bee-keeper told them because we have already watched documentaries about bees and about how they are dying worldwide. He wasn’t brave enough to ask the bee-keeper about the bees dying (colony-collapse disorder). But he did get to see lots of bees and help make some of the wooden slots which make up the hives the bee-keeper has.

He simply loves his strawberry ice-cream!
He simply loves his strawberry ice-cream!

The next day was spent relaxing around town with mummy and enjoying ice-cream in the warm Spring weather. Our local chocolatier/tea-room serves lovely ice-cream.

We took a day to go see the Qin Exhibit at the Bern History Museum. It showcases the terracotta soldiers from the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di and other interesting elements from his reign. i was initially worried if the exhibits would hold his interest but we bought the audio guide and he was hooked! He loved all the facts given in the guide and i enjoyed seeing in reality what i had only studied in books (i did Ancient History in school).

This was the little book he bought from the Qin exhibit which is now his diary.
This was the little book he bought from the Qin exhibit which is now his diary.

i would highly recommend the exhibition to anyone who is interested in the terracotta soldiers and wants to know a bit more about ancient chinese history. If you do bring kids (preferably school-aged), it is best to get the audio guide to help them understand more about the exhibit (great for the adults too). No photography was allowed once you passed through the ticket gates and you can not exit the museum and return again that same day. Which means you would have to finish the whole exhibition in one go. But that shouldn’t be a problem. However, your ticket does allow you to visit the rest of the Bern History Museum so if you do go without children, it would be a good opportunity to see the rest of the museum after you are done with the Qin exhibit. The downside is there is no cafe or restaurant in the museum itself. You would have to exit the museum to eat. They do have a special chinese restaurant setup to tie-in with the Qin exhibit, near the gift shop area but we didn’t eat there. We went to the outside cafe and had a pizza and soup. The exhibition runs from 15 March to 17 November 2013.

That Thursday was given over to a visit to Basel where we enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon and evening with friends who live there.

Here we are enjoying the fruits of Tobias' labour at the butcher's... He made a special patty for himself which had a smiley :)
Here we are enjoying the fruits of Tobias’ labour at the butcher’s… He made a special patty for himself which had a smiley 🙂

On Friday, Tobias went to another Spring holiday program. This time he went to the local butcher to learn how they make sausages and handle the meat. The butcher very generously (if you knew the price of meat here, you would say it was generous too, considering we pay nothing for this holiday program) allowed each child to bring home the sausages they made as well as some beef patties.

The weekend was family and church time… then it was back to school.

syc

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The Price of Adoption…

Yes, adopting a child has costs attached to it and if you are talking about international adoption, the costs could go through the roof! So you could say there is a price for adoption BUT the question which tugs at my heart is…

What is the price of NOT adopting?

This same question was asked by Amy Adair on Thinkchristian.net.

She was faced with questions when she brought home her sweet Evie from China. One of the questions was, “How much? How much did she cost?”

That is such a crude and calculating way of seeing adoption but i guess that’s the way some people, who have not adopted and are not involved in the adoption community in some way, would see it.

How does God see it? i will borrow Amy’s words here.

It was never God’s intention for children to grow up in an orphanage without the love of a mother or father. Clearly God weeps for those who suffer, especially the fatherless. In fact, in Matthew 19:14, Jesus berates his disciples for turning children away from him. Jesus invites the children to stay and declares that the kingdom of Heaven belongs not to the grown-ups but to the kids. It is one of the many beautiful pictures in the Bible that illustrates God as our Abba or Father.

It is also a call to action. Just as Jesus welcomed the children, he asks us to reach out to the neediest to the least of these.

But what could you do? You could step forward and adopt.

i would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a pair of sisters, Karen and Chrystyna.

Karen has lived 17 long years without the love of a family.

Karen is already 17 and as such can not be adopted on her own BUT if a family would adopt her together with her little sister, Chrystyna, they (the sisters) could be together again. They currently live in different orphanages in the same region.

Let me tell you a little bit more about Karen.
She is a beautiful Roma girl with dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. She is 16 years old. She is healthy and smart and has no diagnosed special needs. She goes to school and has no negative behavioral issues. She is just a teen in need of a loving family.

Little Chrystyna needs the love of a family to help her through life.

Her sister, Chrystyna, is believed to have FAS, which can have wide variation of effects on each child, both medically, physically, and cognitively. But she was recently transferred from the institution to a much better facility where she is receiving some form of teaching and appears to be well-cared for. The difference is clearly seen between the girls who have moved to the new facility. A family, who met her last year, reports that she has lots of potential and a family would do her well.

If you feel that these girls can be a part of your family, please contact Reece’s Rainbow for more information.

However, it is true that not everyone is called to adopt. But you can take the call to action up in other ways.

You can pray for these sisters. Pray that their needs are met, pray that a family comes for them real soon.

You can also share their story so that their forever family might see them.

You can help to defray the costs of adoption by growing Chrystyna‘s adoption grant. Please click on her name or picture to contribute. (There is only a grant for Chrystyna because Karen can not be adopted on her own, Karen needs to be adopted with her sister.)

They have an advocate in You Will Go Out With Joy. Click here to read more about what she has to say about Karen and Chrystyna.

Thank you

syc

Please go here to read Amy’s whole article.

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Blog Blitz for Brett…

Who is Brett?, you ask.

This is Brett about 2 years ago.

Well, Brett is an eleven-year-old boy who has never known what it is like to have a mummy or a daddy, never been loved for who he is, never had a place to call home, never had his own toys or even had a piece of clothing to call his own.

Why?

Because Brett was abandoned the moment he was born. He wasn’t left at the hospital or on the steps of an orphanage. He was left to die in an open field. A stranger (whom i believe was sent by God) came upon him and brought him to the hospital after he was already hypothermic, in shock and covered in bug bites. He is such a fighter. He recovered and has had to deal with bouts of bronchitis and other illnesses as a young child. But he still fights on.

At this moment he is an orphan with Down Syndrome and Alopecia (hair loss) and no other health issue.

His biggest issue now is that he has waited so many long lonely years for a family. And still he waits. He deserves a family, like any other child. He needs a family to help him walk the rest of his journey on this earth.

This is the most recent picture of Brett. See the change? Life in an adult mental institution has taken its toll.

Brett suffers from many delays as a result of spending over 10 years in an institutionalized setting.   He walks, plays with toys, communicates using gestures and interact with adults at will. He is NOT aggressive. It is believed that he will do very well in a loving family.

Are you that loving family who could care for him and show him the love he needs? If you are, if you feel that maybe, then please do contact Reece’s Rainbow and find out more.

You don’t have to adopt to do something for Brett. You can pray for him; pray for his needs to be met where he is. Because where he is, the carers can really only afford to give him the very basics such as food, water and shelter. They are so limited by the resources they have; they can not provide any educational opportunities or therapy for him at all.

You can also help to grow his adoption grant so that when his forever family comes for him. They will have less of a hurdle reaching him. The country he is in is not known for domestic adoptions of special needs children, so his chances of a family lay outside his home country, which means a very very expensive international adoption. You can contribute by clicking on his name or picture to get to his profile page and donate button.

You can follow Katie from Crazy-Are We There Yet? ‘s example. She cares for him so much, she shouts out for him all the time and tells everyone she knows about Brett so that his chances of finding a family are increased through her constant sharing. However, she is one person with a limited network of people. BUT if we all joined her in shouting out for Brett, (that’s what this blog blitz is about) we can seriously increase the chances of his family seeing him. So join in the shouting and the sharing!

Here are more people who are shouting out for Brett (i’ll add more as more people post their links):

Thank you.

syc