and what will I find in the raffle?

If you missed the post this morning, I explained all of the ins and outs of the raffle that will be part of tomorrow night's fundraising extravaganza at Chick-fil-a at Falls Village. That post was lots of details and not lots of fun... and this one makes up for it! Each of these items will be in our raffle, and when you get raffle tickets, you'll be able to place them in item bags as you see fit! One ticket equals one chance at winning, and tickets will be one for $1 and fifteen for $10.

Without further ado, here are the 17 items that you can choose from!


A Nora Fleming "dress up your dishes" platter and attachment, donated by Diane Fontaine of old BLEU in the Wilmington, NC area (value: $52)
This comes with a cake attachment, but as you'll see below, it's removable. You can get additional attachments and rotate them seasonally!

Beautiful change purse made with a classic diagonal pattern (color: aqua mix), donated by Shelly of Designs by Dea (value: $87.50)

Pinwheel brown Merona wool scarf, donated by Shelly of Designs by Dea (value: $60)

Handmade Swarovski crystal necklace with matching earrings, made and donated by Allison Callis
I don't think my photography skills capture the beauty of this set, so you'll want to see it in person!

Mary Kay gift basket, donated by Kelly Hogan
I don't have a picture of the basket yet, but I can guarantee that Kelly will put together a beautiful mix of items to pamper you!

BeautiControl Chocolate Indulgence Skin, Beauty, and Fragrance Collection, donated by Shelley Esposito Gurley (value: $133)
This includes Dark Chocolate Exfoliating Wash, Caramel Souffle Body Butter, Chocolate Cherry Lip Gloss, Spiced Chocolate Fragrance Mist, Extreme Repair Hand Creme, body wash pouf, a stylish reusable tote bag, a Tupperware container in coordinating colors, AND a $25 gift certificate for additional products of your choice!

Stampin' Up crafting cards basket, donated by Susan Saunders
A lot of great goodies for making cards and crafting!

The Birthday Interview, donated by Susan Fieldstein
This is a keepsake box with everything you need to conduct an interview every year on your child's birthday, using your own video camera. Includes (1) a booklet with interviewing tips and a list of 35 suggested interview questions, (2) an instructional DVD with information that can be accessed on your computer, including a sample interview, and (3) a sheet of adhesive labels to identify each child's tape/DVD. The box can store birthday invites and other memorabilia through the years as well!

Your pick of babysitting or tutoring services: Your choice of one evening of babysitting OR three tutoring sessions from a second grade teacher in WCPSS, donated by Julie Richardson (I can personally vouch for her!)

A gallon of Sherwin Williams SuperPaint (interior acrilyc latex, self-priming for superior hide), donated by the store at 6429 Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh (ready for you to bring it to them to be mixed to the color of your liking!)

Two handmade Bohemian curly scarves, donated by Kirsten McLain (and these pictures are proof that I need lessons on how to take pictures of this sort of thing - I promise that they're beautiful!)

Vintage pillowcase and embroidered linen dress, tunic, or top, valued at $45 from Tenderlane

Custom signs with the words Faith, Hope, and Love (measuring 28-1/4" x 9-1/4" each), made and donated by Bill Dingle

A set of eight stained glass hearts (four green and four pink), made and donated by Bill Dingle

A stained glass cross, made and donated by Bill Dingle

A set of eight handmade beaded keychains, made and donated by Cindy Kapscandi

Four beautiful beaded bracelets, made and donated by Cindy Kapscandi

~+~
If you're new to our blog, read more about our adoption here.

And if you're unable to come to our fundraising night but would like to make a donation, 
you can click below:

If you would prefer to make a tax-deductible donation, go here for information about how to do that.

disability ministry weekly round-up {3-19-12}

Let me start with a head's up: I'll probably be quiet over here this week. We have a huge adoption fundraising night this Thursday (if you're in Raleigh, come on out!), and I'm prepping the silent auction and other details. I'll be back in full force next week, though!

The Includers: "It can be easy to get caught up in a group of peers and be comfortable without even noticing those on the outside." {How can we help kids and adults - with and without special needs - include their peers at church?}

What I'd like you to say to my kid with special needs: "I want you both to treat my son with special needs the same you you treat his sister, or any kid." {How can we do that well in ministry settings?}

Tending the Weeds in Your Ministry Relationships: "You don't have to be afraid of examining your ministry community, no matter how weedy it may be, because God meets you in your difficulty with his amazing grace." {When's the last time you examined your ministry area or your life to determine where weeds need to be pulled so that healthy growth can occur?}

Perhaps you should sue God: I'm not going to quote from this post, a letter from a mom of a beautiful child with Down syndrome directed to the parents who sued medical professionals for the "wrongful birth" of their daughter with the same diagnosis. Just go read it.

Special treatment for kids with special needs (and the fine line we walk as their parents): "I want my child to be treated like every other child. I want my child to get special accommodations for his disabilities. These two things may seem contradictory. Actually, they're not." {Do you struggle with figuring out where to modify and where not to for kids with special needs at your church? In those struggles, do you engage parents as allies in figuring that out?}

Young Life hosts day camp for special-needs children and adults: "A lot of folks just assume that because our friends have mental disabilities, they can't grasp the Gospel, but that's not true. I think our friends grasp it better sometimes than we do." {What are you doing to not just open the doors of your church to people with disabilities but to share the Gospel with them?}

Joni Eareckson Tada on Wilberforce Award, "Better Off Dead Than Disabled" Mentality: "Most of all, it's been my heart's desire to see the church carry out the mandate from the Gospel of Luke, the 14th chapter where Jesus says to go out and find the disabled and bring them in. My life goal is to see the world's one billion people with disabilities embraced and encouraged by the church." {Is this your heart's desire? Is your church helping to reach Joni's goal or not?}

the hope in wrongful birth cases

Yesterday, John Knight did a beautiful job of pointing out the good news in wrongful birth cases like the one that awarded parents nearly $3million in Oregon recently.

The recent decision to award an Oregon couple $2.9 million from a ‘wrongful birth’ lawsuit has left me feeling like there’s actually some good news embedded in this story.

Four years ago a little girl was born with Down syndrome. Her mother had received testing and would have aborted her little girl if the results had shown evidence of Down syndrome. But somebody made a mistake with the test, the mother was told her baby was fine, and the little girl was allowed to live.

So the couple sued, stating they now needed significant financial resources to care for a girl who they otherwise would not have wanted before she was born. A jury agreed.

Here’s the good news from that article: “These are parents who love this little girl very, very much,” Miller said (their attorney). “Their mission since the beginning was to provide for her and that’s what this is all about.”

I don’t know if ‘that’s what this is all about’ or not. Comments and blogs have vilified these parents for their openness about wanting to abort. Yes, I find their initial thinking about abortion to be horrifying as well.

But somewhere along the way they learned to love this child. She went from being unknown to being known. She entered a family and was given a name. And today she is loved.

Abortion is an act of violence against a small human being who cannot defend herself; that is reason enough to be against it. But it is also a final act – that small human being will never be known.

Those of us who have already decided against abortion are frequently dismissed as deluded or guided strictly by manufactured sentiment – of course we’ll see value in and love a child with disabilities.

But this couple was willing and preparing to abort if disability was found – yet love their child today. They cannot be dismissed by abortion proponents so easily.

To read the rest of John's thoughts, go here.

We also saw the same change in the wrongful birth case in south Florida last summer, in which the parents were awarded $4.5million because the ultrasound technicians and doctor denied them the opportunity to abort their son by not diagnosing his missing arm and leg prior to birth. In that case, the mother was asked, "Does his life have value?"

Her response? "Yes, a lot of value. Great value."

While I disagree with a lot in these cases, I can't disagree with that.

that baby girl in Taiwan still needs a family - please pray!

I posted about a month ago about Li-Ru. She's eight months old now. She has some special needs, though her prognosis is unknown right now other than "developmental delays" and "schizencephaly." She's in Taiwan. She doesn't have a family. She will be transferred to an institution soon - probably within a week or two - if she doesn't have a family to adopt her.


 The costs are less than I previously shared: $10,000 for all the in-country costs in Taiwan. Additional costs include US paperwork expenses and travel, which for us will be about $7,000 ($1,400 for our home study, $890 for US CIS paperwork and fingerprinting, $3,500-4,000 for travel and lodging in Taiwan, and ~$900 for post-adoption paperwork and court fees in the US). That brings the total estimated cost for Li-Ru's adoption to $17,000.


Please spread the word. Please do what you can to help us find Li-Ru a family. No, her needs aren't known, but she loves her caregivers and she is making progress, albeit at a different rate than other babies. And she would thrive much more in a family than an institution.


I have a picture and a video and some medical records I can share with anyone who is interested. Just email me at shannon@theworksofgoddisplayed.com.


~+~
 Today I began posting at Support for Special Needs about our adoption journey. I'll be sharing over there once or twice a month about the whole process of adopting a child with special needs, and I'm thankful that they were willing to add me to the line-up!

what I want you to know about my greatest fear in all this

When we began the process of adopting Zoe Amanda a little over a month ago, I was scared to tell anyone. I wasn't sure what the reactions would be.

I spent this morning at the park with a new 60-year-old male friend* (*just kidding. she is a new friend, but she's around my age. I met her online via my other blog, and this was our first time meeting in person, and Lee refers to anyone from the interwebs as a 60-year-old male friend, as in she-could-be-who-she-says-she-is-online-or-she-could-be-a-60-year-old-dude.) Wait, where was I? Oh, right... I spent the morning at a park with a friend who also has two preschoolers and who is adopting a baby girl with special needs in China. She has experienced the reactions we were initially afraid of: people - including other Christians - questioning why they would even consider adopting a child whose needs are largely unknown.

Y'all have been amazing, though. We were scared that this journey would be lonely and discouraging without others cheering us on. And instead, we have been overwhelmed with support. We've been congratulated about this baby's arrival as often, if not more so, than with the pregnancies for either of our older children. Friends stop us to encourage us all the time.

Let me interrupt the regularly scheduled blog post to say: Please, please, please continue to do that. I cannot describe how much the encouraging comments in person and online have sustained us and ministered to my heart.

But the concern I still have? I'm scared that people won't realize that we don't have everything figured out. I don't know if I exude far more confidence than I intend or what, but it seems like most folks think that we know a lot about CP (we don't), that we're not a little freaked out by the recent realization that she probably has some degree of fetal alcohol syndrome (we are), and that my educational and professional background makes us fully equipped to parent a child with special needs (it doesn't).

We aren't heroes. We don't know how we're going to do any of this. We are excited, but that doesn't mean that we're not feeling completely in over our heads sometimes.

Okay, most of the time.

We aren't lying when we say that we're excited. We are.

And when I confess, like I am doing now, that we're scared too, that doesn't mean the excitement is gone. This whole process has taught me a great deal about the range of emotions that can all exist in one person at one time. We're excited. And we're scared. And at any given moment, we have at least a dozen other emotions going on, most of which we can't identify by name.

If I'm honest with you, here's the truth: I've been intentionally keeping myself very busy with house projects and packing and lists and paperwork and writing projects and. and. and... because when I stop long enough to be still, the weight of uncertainty can feel crushing.

When we meet in the hall at church or elsewhere, I'll share the excitement instead of the fear, because it's harder to put uncertainty into words and because sometimes voicing a fear lets it grow more. But I'm terrified that I'll seem so confident to everyone that on days when I'm feeling anything but, you'll think, "Oh, Shannon. She has it all under control. She doesn't need any encouragement."

I do. I need it now, and I'll need it once Zoe Amanda is home. Any confidence you see in me isn't mine. It comes from relying on the One in whom I can be confident, just as Paul did during his missionary journeys:

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. 
For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. 
But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
{2 Corinthians 1:8-9}

I want you to know that we are confident in God but we are fearful in our flesh. I want you to know that we're not indomitable. I want you know now that I don't have it all together.

And I want you to know, more than anything, that we need you. We need friends who realize that we're human. We need community that sees the fears in our eyes as we're sharing the excitement.

And as much as we need that now, we'll need it even more when we return home and try to figure out what our new normal looks like.

That's what I want you to know.