Just reflecting a bit…..and this is what is on my mind (perhaps a bit deep, but worth sharing, I think):
As a mom, I see that I am completely flawed,….yet I strive to do everything for everyone…every bit of the time! I just can’t do it, you know?…I don’t mean this to sound victim-ish…you’ll see what I mean as I continue, I think. But there are days that I just continually blow it with my kids…I yell or I just about lose it…I am not as patient or kind as I need to be….I get bent out of shape over silly stuff…I just screw up. There are those glorious days that I wonder who replaced me and my kids with angels–everything seems smooth, etc. until there comes a random ruffle, and then there we are again–imperfect people trying to live perfectly in our own strength—at least that’s where I find myself.
As I was just mulling the aforementioned bit over in my mind and heart, I realized that that is just how it is this side of heaven. I was created by a perfect God who in turn demands perfection of his creatures. But I screw up (nearly) every chance I get! I am very far from perfect, very far from ‘good’. And this is a very hopeless state, eh? How precious the reality that Jesus Christ exists to be my perfection in light of my sin!!! He covers me with his good, his perfection, with his blood. (For those who read this and may have no background of Christ or Christianity, it may sound morbid that I speak of ‘Jesus’ blood’; however, imagine that you were completely without hope in this world and someone told you what you could do in order to find true hope……and that hope they said, could be found not in you or in anything you could do….but that someone else had to do something for you. I’m sure you’d reply, “Well, who is this person?….and where can I find them to ask them to help me find this hope?..” They’d go on to explain that hope is not free…but had to be purchased at the high cost of someone else’s life. “Oh, you’d say…..that’s horrible…..many people have to pay such a high price?” No. Just one somone had to pay that price: Jesus. So, it is by his very blood that this Jesus buys us back for God. So, it is indeed precious blood to those who believe. See Ephesians 2).
End of soapbox. I am just very grateful that : “…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly (read: all humanity).” (Romans 5:6)
M, for the Case family
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
Here are some more fun shots of the kids. These are actually of two different tub days, but loads of fun, nonetheless. Recently, Ezri asks for bubbles every bath! She enjoys decorating Javi with bubbles as he just stands there and lets out a tiny moan from time to time….mostly, I think they both enjoy it. He’s cool unless she insists on bubbles on the head.
Hope you enjoy the photos and can see the spirit of the kids in them!
–M, for the Case family
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
Here are some recent photos of Ezri and Javi. They are so funny sometimes…..the comic relief keeps me going some days! Hope you are all well and would love to see some photos of your little ones!
M, for the Cases
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
I haven’t quite figured out how we’re going to communicate with all our family and friends moving into the New Year, but until I do I will continue to post here. We had a really good Christmas Eve and Christmas. Yesterday on Christmas Eve I went to the immigration office early in the morning to renew Javi’s visa, I’ve been going down there once a month working with them to get him listed as a dependent. Although the trip wasn’t a totatl success, we did make some progress and hopefully we will have his status changed in the next few weeks. It’s important that we get his status changed from visitor to dependent to ensure that the HK govt recognizes him as our legal dependent and so that he can start to receive healthcare benefits here in Hong Kong. I then proceeded to shop from noon to 5pm on Christmas Eve, knocking out gifts for the kids and Melanie. I’m not an early shopper what can I say (at least not this year with school and all). After I got home at 5pm we then got ready and headed out to church. Being that we were already a 1/2 hour late for the 6pm service we decided to grab a bite to eat and go to the 8pm service. Although a bit late for the kids it worked out great for us, because we were able to eat at a restaraunt we like and the 8pm service wasn’t as near as crowded. Today we opened presents with the kids, at some pancakes that Mel fixed us, took a nice long nap, talk to some family, ordered KFC for dinner (roasted chicken, yum) and headed out to the mall for some gelato afterward. After getting the kids to bed, Mel and I watched a movie together and now we’re getting to bed to get some rest. It’s been a wonderful few days! We hope that you’ve had a blessed Christmas Holiday as well. Jason for the Cases
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
So I finally finished the semester two days before Christmas (actually less than that). I hope to post some pictures soon, the kids are growing at unbelievable speeds. It seems like I go to school one day and come back and Ezri’s vocabulary has doubled. I think her vocab is larger than mine at this point. Javi is understanding more and more and really starting to come into his own personality. He’s making all sorts of howling and grunting noises. He’s come a long way for someone who’s only heard english for 3 1/2 months. Javi and Ezri actually play together these days which is a joy to watch. Although there still are time when they revert to their “mine” and “no” of course I do the same thing with Mel so what do you expect. Well we have a bunch to get accomplished tomorrow I have to head downtown to get Javi’s visa extended again, for the 4th time since he’s been here, but hopefully tomorrow they will have his visa switched to dependent so I won’t have to keep going down there every month. Check back soon for pics of the family. Thanks for checking in, Jason
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs
Hi! I just wanted to thank you for stopping by. With over a 100 posts the past year, we’re going to be taking a hiatus until the end of the year. Melanie and I are trying to cut things out that cause unnecessary stress between us so the blog must go, lol. We’re also going to be cutting back our availability online so if you want to check in with us send us an email or look for us on Skype. Oh yeah, we can always use prayer! Javi’s growing like a weed so as soon as the semester ends I’ll try to get some new pics up. Peace be with you, Jason
October 1st is China’s National Day which seems to be similar to our Independence Day (maybe President’s Day), I’m not sure but it was a holiday so we decided it was time for Javi’s first trip to the beach. We decided on Clearwater Bay 2nd Beach since it’s only about 20 minutes away from Hang Hau. We like Shek O Beach better but it’s twice the distance. Anyway if you’re heading there from Hang Hau , it’s best to go to the Po Lam station (by MTR) and take minibus no. 16 or walk to Tseung Kwan O Hospital and take minibus 103 or 103M. Or you can take a minibus from Hang Hau MTR (MiniBus 11M or 101M) up to the roundabout at Hang Hau Rd and take Bus No. 91 from there or any of the minibuses that come through. But anyway, the reason for my detailed explanation for transport is that we had a bit of trouble catching the bus out there. We finally made out there and Ezri and Javi had a good old time, the most difficult thing was keeping Javi from eating the sand and Ezri from crawling on the rocks. It was quite packed but we got a nice spot right down by the water as I’m sure you can see. I think this marked our 2nd trip as a family unit (without Karen) since Javi has been added to the family and I think it was a success! By the way, I’m going to start posting video clips on facebook if you’re interested. It’s much easier to post clips there than on the blog so check them out.
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs | Tags: Church, Contemporaray Worship, Hong Kong Church, Hong Kong Churches, island ecc, North Point, Quarry Bay MTR, worship Island ECC
So, here in HK, we attend Island ECC (Evangelical Community Church) http://www.islandecc.hk/. The venue/building where the church meets is in North Point, and is easily accessible via Quarry Bay MTR station–exit C (address: 633 Kings Road)….in case you are on the search for a place to worship here in HK.
On Friday night, Island hosted an evening of Worship; they entitled the night “Renew”. I was able to be a part of this night and my mom (who is currently visiting us) came and was able to snap a view shots to give you an idea of the goings-on of the night. It was a time to come together and worship the one, true, living God—Jesus Christ. It was quite a worshipful and exceptional night. The house was near packed, or so it seemed (unsure on exact numbers) and so many voices and hearts praising God together…it was a blessing.
–Melanie, for the Case Family
Now that our son is finally with us, I think this would be a good time to look back and reflect on the whole process. First of all, it was one of the most emotionally taxing experiences of our lives. I don’t think it’s really possible to undertstand the experience unless you’ve been through it. There is no way to describe what it’s like to be dependent on so many different people (adoption agency, orphanage, social workers) and governmental entities (Immigraton, Social Services and the Guatemalan govt). At this point I really can not recommend pursuing adoption unless you feel a very strong and clear God to do so. Second of all, it takes forever, our process took over a year and a half and could have easily taken up to two years if we had not gotten a couple of breaks along the way. The first 8 months are an administrative nightmare getting personal references, financial statements, background checks and a home study. Then we got referred when he was two weeks old, but did not end up actually getting him until a year later. Finally, the process is costly, requiring enourmous commitment and undertaking a bunch of risk. We have heard of people who paid large amounts of money and did not end up getting a child due to various reasons. So here are some suggestions we have after gaining insight from our first adoption:
1. Finish the adoption at the same address where you start the adoption. If you do move, make sure you update your home study immediately. This might sound like common sense to those people who have already been through the process, but we moved after we were approved and we did not get an updated home study and this cost us a lot of unecessary pain and heartache.
2. Do research on your adoption agency. You can find many good resources online. I would not suggest following word of mouth, particularly from people who have not adopted from the agency. It just so happens that had I did some research online of our agency, I would have caught a few red flags early. Just realize that the agencies will promise you the moon as long as they get your business.
3. If you’re not sold on international adoption and just want to adopt, look locally first. We were informed that people willing to adopt interracially are in demand with very little cost compared to adopting internationally and sometimes with special incentives offered. https://apps.chfs.ky.gov/snap/
4. Be prepared for the cost to be more than even your highest budgeted amount. Unforeseen circumstances will arise and they’re going to cost you.
5. Make sure the process is stable in the country you are adopting from.
Melanie said that being able to raise two children with distinct differences was a highlight for her. A highlight for me has been able to see how God is using this to grow us. It’s really been difficult this far trying to get Javi sleeping through the night and trying to teach Ezri how to share her toys and mommies attention and it’s been difficult on Melanie trying to be everything to everyone, but I think things are getting a bit better everyday and that sunny skies are right around the corner.
Filed under: Daily Life Blurbs | Tags: eagle's nest solola, guatemala adoption, hkust, MGTO PhD
Thanks for checking in, I wanted to do a quick update until we find time in the near future to do an in depth update. So I’m back in school starting the 2nd year of my PhD program. I have one more year of classes, then qualifying exams, then dissertation if I pass my exams. So we got back to Hong Kong on August 22nd from 6 weeks of trying to get USCIS in Louisville to authorize the Embassy in Guatemala to issue Javi’s visa. After being told that we would have to return to Hong Kong and update our home study we achingly decided to come back without him. We immediately proceeded with the homestudy update. We were told during our homestudy interview to expect 10 more weeks until Bangkok could process our update. Disappointed, we pressed on, then on the morning of August 28th we received a big surprise in our email. It was an email from the US Embassy in Guatemala stating that Javi’s Visa Appointment had been scheduled for September 3rd. Confused and excited we talked to our agency and social worker and both told us to make travel arrangements so Melanie headed back west to Guatemala that night. Melanie has been in Guatemala the past week with Javi, she had a final “interview” which went well and she was able to pick up Javi’s Visa on the 4th. They head back through Chicago where she will be staying Saturday night, the 6th (so the grandparents can meet Javi), and then she will head back here on the 7th. Getting in here Monday night, the 8th. Thankfully, Melanie’s mom made the trip over here when she heard the news and she’s been helping me with Ezri. Melanie’s internet connection has been down in Guatemala, but she’s promised to post pics as soon as possible. Please check back for pictures of the Cases + 1, Cristian Javier Case.
