First Week of Painting Holiday Classes - SCHEDULE

Our first week of painting classes has begun!  In case the schedule on my last post is confusing to read, I'm putting this schedule in chronological order, so you can be sure you know what's available, and when. :)
Homeschool classes are highlighted in red.   
Adult/teen paintings (which are 16x20") are highlighted in green.   

Wed., December 5, WHIMSY SNOWMAN, 11x14  
10:00 - 12ish ($25 for one, $20 each when you bring a friend or family member)
Friday, December 7, SANTA'S BOOTS, 11x14 
10:00 - 12ish ($25 for one, $20 each with a friend or family member)
Friday, December 7, Adult/Teen FAVORITE SNOWMAN, 16X20
5:00 - 7ish ($35 for one, $30 each when you bring a friend or family member)

Whimsy Snowman

Santa's Boots

Favorite Snowman

Saturday, December 8, REINDEER DAY

10:00 - 12ish (Choose your reindeer when you register) 
(Everyone's welcome. $25 for one, $20 each w/ friend or family member)

Reindeer with Gifts

Cute Reindeer

Monday, December 10, WREATH, 12x12 
10:00 - 12ish ($20 for one, or $18 each with a friend or family member)
Monday, December 10, REINDEER WITH GIFTS, 11x14 
6:00 - 8ish (Everyone's welcome. $25 for one, $20 each w/ friend or family member)
Thursday, Dec. 13, Swirly Tree, 12x12
10:00 - 12ish ($20 for one, or $18 each with a friend or family member)

Wreath

Reindeer with Gifts

Swirly Tree

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Friday, Dec. 14, Kids of SMAC Painting Night!, 11x14 paintings
6:00 - 8ish ($20 per student, choose painting when you sign up!)
As always, sign up through email at MaryBesse@gmail.com,
talk to me in person, or call or text if you have my number. 
This one class will be held at SMAC instead of my house.
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Sat, Dec. 15, TREES OF WHOVILLE, 11x14 
10:00 - 12ish (Everyone's welcome. $25 for one, $20 each w/ friend or family member)
Sat., Dec. 15 Adult/Teen TREES OF WHOVILLE 
OR REINDEER WITH GIFTS, 16x20 
2:00 - 4ish ($35 for one, $30 each when you bring a friend or family member)

Trees of Whoville

Reindeer with Gifts

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Mon., Dec. 17, NLA Family Painting Day, 11x14 paintings
1:00 - 3ish ($20 per painter, choose painting when you sign up!)
As always, sign up through email at MaryBesse@gmail.com,
talk to me in person, or call or text if you have my number.

Mon, Dec. 17, Parents of NLA  Painting Night! 16x20
6:00 - 8ish ($30 per painter, choose your painting when you sign up)
As always, sign up through email at MaryBesse@gmail.com,
talk to me in person, or call or text if you have my number.

Painting Classes for Christmas!

Hello, blog readers!  

I have an exciting announcement to make.  We are holding painting workshops at our home in Lebanon during the month of December to raise money for our adoption!  There are some workshops for adults, some for kids, and some for both.  I will sketch the picture onto the canvas before the painters arrive, and we go through it step by step together as a class.  No painting experience or art expertise required!  

Upon arrival, your canvas will look something like this:

When you leave, it will look more like this:

You don't need to know how to paint - we'll go over a few helpful tips together before we get started, then paint your painting as a group!  I'll be happy to help with some finishing touches, such as a bit of outlining and some snowflakes added to the background.  

The price of each painting class depends on the size of the painting.  Times and prices are listed below.  Reservations are a must!  We have limited seats available for each class, and I'll need to make sure we have your picture sketched and waiting for you when you arrive. You are welcome to stay and help your child or watch your child paint, or you may like to paint along with them!  You may, instead, want to use those two hours to go get some errands done and pick your child up after class. 

Homeschool dates:
(All homeschool classes are held from 10am - 12ish.)
Wed., Dec. 5 - Whimsy Snowman (11x14")
Fri., Dec. 7 - Santa's Boots (11x14")
Mon.,  Dec. 10 - Wreath (12x12")
Thurs., Dec. 13 - Swirly Tree (12x12")
Students are welcome to bring a snack to have during a short break.  We will watch part of a Christmas show on TV during the break.
Prices are listed below.


**NEW Addition: Monday, Dec. 17, 10am - 12ish is 
NLA Family Day.  Take the kids, take yourselves, or bring the whole family!  
Choose your painting when you register, pay when you get here. Paintings are $20 per guest for an 11x14", or $18 per guest for a 12x12" painting.  Only the Wreath and Swirly Tree can be painted at 12x12".

Whimsy Snowman

Santa's Boots

Wreath

Swirly Tree

 
Weeknight and weekend classes (everyone's invited):
Sat., Dec. 8, 10:00 - 12:ish - Reindeer Day! 
*Choose the Cute Reindeer OR Reindeer with gifts (both 11x14")
(Please let us know your choice when you register.)
Mon., Dec. 10, 6pm - 8:ish - Reindeer with gifts (11x14")
Sat., Dec. 15, 10:00 - 12ish -  Trees of Whoville (11x14")

**NEW Addition: Friday, Dec. 14, 6pm - 8ish, 
 Kids of SMAC Painting Night! 
Choose your painting when you register, pay when you get here. Paintings are 11x14", $20 per guest, or 12x12", $18 per guest.

Cute Reindeer

Reindeer with Gifts

Trees of Whoville

Larger paintings for adults, teens, and older kids:
Fri., Dec. 7, 5pm - 7:ish -  Favorite Snowman (16x20")
Sat., Dec. 15, 2pm - 4:ish - Reindeer with Gifts OR Trees of Whoville (both 16x20")
*Please be sure to choose your painting when you register, so we can sketch your picture onto the canvas before you arrive for class.
**NEW Addition: Monday, Dec. 17, 6pm - 8ish, 
NLA Parents' Night!

*Choose your painting when you register.  Pay when you get here. $30 per person, 16x20" paintings.

Favorite Snowman

Reindeer with Gifts

12x12" paintings are $20, or $18 each if you bring a friend or sibling
11x14" paintings are $25, or $20 each with a friend or sibling
16x20" paintings are $35 each, or $30 each with friend or sibling

We can bring a holiday painting party to you if you have at least 8 painters and the tables and chairs for the paintings.  
Email me at MaryBesse@gmail.com or call me (if you have my number) for questions or reservations.  I look forward to painting with you!
Please consider sharing this link through e-mail or Facebook with your friends, and encourage them to come for your discount!  
 

Domestic or International Adoption

Tonight I was addressed once more by a well meaning person who mentioned that if he ever adopted, he would adopt domestically.  This same person has mentioned to my husband that we really should be adopting a child from the United States.  He didn't say quite that much to me about it, though.  He was polite to me, so I was polite to him.  But the truth is, we get that from people now and then, and it bothers me.  My rule of thumb is to be as forward with someone as they are being with me, and that usually works out just fine.  But now I've been lying in bed (although the caffeine in my sweet tea probably has something to do with it) with these things running through my mind, unable to sleep, so I thought maybe it would help if I shared them.

I think adoption is wonderful.  Adoption here, adoption there - it's all good!  So when someone tells me something like "We really should adopt a child in our own country first," it offends me.  Honestly, it kind of makes me angry. To those people, I want to present this scenario.

Imagine you have lots of kids.  Just for conversation's sake, let's say you have five.  You raise them all, they're wonderful people and you're crazy about all five of them, just like any parent should be.  Four of them grow up and live in the middle TN area just like you do, and one has an outstanding job opportunity and moves to California.  Now, imagine the child in California needs help!  They've been hurt, they lost their job, their home was damaged...whatever kind of disaster you want to imagine.  You can't get there, so it's up to one of your other children to get there and help them.  What are you thoughts?  Probably something like "How soon can you get there?!  GO!"  Or, on second thought, wait a minute.  Do you think that a loving parent would say to the child who lives in Lebanon "No, honey, I know your brother in CA needs you right now, and his house has burned down, and he has nowhere to stay, but don't you think you should check on your brothers and sisters here first, and help the one who lives in Mt. Juliet instead?"  
Would that make any sense?!  

I think of God as the perfect parent.  That's why we call him Our Father!  Can we honestly say that we think, one day, adoptive parents will get to the gates of Heaven, look into the eyes of God Himself, and hear Him say "You've done a good job.  You've helped my children.  You've given them a home and a family.  You saved them.  But I would really have preferred you helped one of my children who was geographically closer to you than the one who was in a different country."  Um, I think not.     


To John and me, the location of the child is irrelevant, other than affecting the means by which we need to bring them home.  We considered adopting from the US, as well as Africa and Haiti...we've considered anywhere, really.  We do have other reasons we choose to adopt from Korea and China.  While some of them are a personal choice that we have every right to choose, believe it or not, one reason we adopt from other countries is actually patriotic.  

Here's the thing.  I did not earn the right to be an American.  It is a God-given privilege.  Some might say the military have earned that right, and to those who serve, and have served, in our military, I say THANK YOU.  I am genuinely grateful!  But when those men and women were newborn babies, they hadn't fought for our freedom yet anymore than I have now.  If you were born in the U.S.A., you did not deserve that privilege any more than the babies born in Africa or China.  God just smiled upon us, people, and blessed us with being a United States citizen.  We're just that lucky...or just that blessed, however you want to see it.  

There are babies in China now, whose birth parents had to be courageous to even carry them through pregnancy and give birth to them.  If those birth parents had been caught pregnant, they would have had a government-mandated abortion.  And the babies have no idea.  They were left on a door step, or at the park, or the street corner, and they have no idea that they're lucky to even be alive and healthy (if they are healthy).  They have no idea where they are.  They have no idea because they didn't ask for it, and they don't deserve it.  

There are kids in Africa right now who are happy because they're loved.  They don't have much, but they've got their family.  They have no idea that by the time they're five years old, both their parents will die of malaria or of AIDS.  And they will be lucky to live to be an adult, because life expectancy there is nothing like what it is here.  They have no idea, because they didn't ask for it, and they don't deserve it.

It sounds cheesy, yes, but I truly am "Proud to be an American."  And I'm THANKFUL.  And I'm HUMBLED.  So why would I look at this gift that was given me, and say to an orphaned child that it's my gift, and I'm going to try to take care of other kids who were given the same gift first, and if I had anything left over, then I will try to send something to them too?  The sad fact is that the poverty stricken of the United States are better off than the middle class in some countries.  There are people here who are jobless, who are on welfare who receive food stamps, and while those people may very much need that help too, they did not earn the right to live in a country who will help them.  The poor in other countries make the poor of America look wealthy.  There are people who drink the same water they bathe in.  There are kids whose parents walk 20 miles one way to get them an antibiotic because there are no such things as pharmacies where they live.  I thank God I don't have to do that!  So why would I not want to cherish this gift and share it with a child who is less fortunate?  ...Specifically, a child less fortunate who has no parents to provide for her? 

I've had someone say to me (I try to tell myself she meant well) "I'm Proud of my country!  I think people should adopt from the United States!  Kids here need help, too!"  Yes, I agree, orphaned children in the US need help as well as orphaned children anywhere.  However, I do not agree that an orphaned child in one region needs to be adopted before an orphaned child in another.  You adopt from here; I'll adopt from there.  Adoption is God's work.  If someone would like to tell me and my husband that we aren't doing God's work correctly, then by all means, please show us how it should be done. It would find homes and families for more orphaned children.

Some day, we'd like to adopt another child from the US.  Honestly, we joke that we'd like to get one from each country!  I know we could never afford that, but a colorful diversity sounds good to us!  But this time around, we're going with China, because it's just what's right or us now.  

Faith, Hope, and Love

Hello, blog readers!  I have several updates to tell.  But first, I must say that I am clearly not a regular blogger these days.  I would love to say I'm going to fix that, starting today, but as soon as I say that, then everything we're working on will consume my time, and three or four months later, I still won't have written another blog post, so at this point, I'm just not making any promises!  But I do have good intentions.  (:-]  I do tend to feel like the time I spend writing a blog could be spent on adoption paperwork, and the paperwork trumps smaller things most of the time, but someone asked me recently if we are still adopting!  So okay, I need to update more often than once a year!

First - we have named our daughter.  No, we don't have pictures yet; those will come later.  We don't even have the home study done yet.  We did fill out some papers and I'm writing my 'autobiography' now so we can get the home study visit underway.  But for now, she has a name, and it's Anna Faith.  We love the name Anna because it's a beautiful Biblical name, and also because John's sister is named Anna, and due to health reasons, she won't be able to raise any children, but she is a wonderful person, and this way her name can carry on.  Faith comes from how much Faith it's taking to get this little girl home.  We love how Anna Faith flows together, so we'll likely call her Anna Faith (rather than just Anna), but she will actually have a total of four names, the poor girl.  When we adopted Sara, her Korean name was Young Ran, and we kept Young as her middle name, so she is Sara Young Besse.  We love that idea, and want to keep a part of our next daughter's Chinese name as well, so she will be Anna Faith (something) Besse.  So now we can pray for her by name!  I don't know why, but that helps me a lot.  I also pray for the other kids in the orphanage, that they'll all learn to be nice with each other, and have enough to eat, and be safe.  We pray a lot for the people who care for these kids, that they'll show them compassion and teach them to be sweet and share, and we pray that Anna Faith will somehow know in her heart that her family is coming.

Secondly, we have paid our home study fee and we're getting this ball rolling.  We wanted, first, to raise as much money as we could before getting started, because if an adoption is not completed within one year of the home study, then the parents will have to pay an extra fee to get the home study updated.  When we're already talking about $28,000, avoiding any extra fee that can be avoided is a good thing.  We don't have nearly that much yet, but we have extra motivation to get started.  For one thing, my daughter is alive, and somewhere without me!  She's having happy moments, sad moments, and probably sometimes feeling lonely, and she may not even know she has a family yet, but she does.  She needs to meet us, and come HOME.  Secondly, we have spent immense amounts time working (and working and Working!), teaching classes, doing photography, computer repair, extra web development (for John), and any other odd jobs we can find to pay for Anna Faith's adoption.  And it's been helpful!  We've earned and saved thousands already!  But in the meantime, when we schedule almost every hour of our day working, it leaves literally no time to do the paperwork to bring her home!  So my goal now is to keep working as much as possible, but not to let it stall the paperwork.  Please pray for us in this! When we take care of our kids and each other, and finish our work and regular life chores at 10:30pm, there really is no energy left for paperwork.  We've got to work it in somehow.  I'm writing this blog now as a result of time I have because of the kids needing extra sleep this morning after being sick.  On a regular schoolday, we would be having breakfast by now, getting ready to start our school work.  I have faith, though, and somehow, some way, I have to make the time to do the paperwork to bring her home.  But while I'm not thankful for illnesses, I'm thankful for a seized opportunity. 

I have been honestly very Frustrated with our lack of progress.  I've been prayerful about it, but just overall extremely frustrated because I feel like Anna Faith is waiting on us, and we're just working and working, but not getting almost any closer!  We wanted to bring her home when she was around 5 years old.  I thoughts she should be 4-5, while John thought she should be 5-6.  So we decided 'around 5' would be just right.  When we decided to adopt, Sara was almost 6 years old, and we wanted her sister to be old enough to play with her, but still be younger than Sara so she would get to be a big sister.  But when Sara turned 7 in September, I realized something.  I think I found a reason to why everything seemed to be taking so long. 

First - a brief explanation of one thing.  Adopting a healthy baby from China (or even a healthy toddler) takes around 5 years.  We do NOT want to wait 5 years.  So we decided to go with the waiting child program for a couple of reasons.  One reason was obviously the wait.  Adopting a waiting child can take closer to one year, maybe a bit more (unless you're like us, and take a year to get the home study done in this case, but I'm getting to that).  Still, it would be a much shorter wait.  Secondly, we decided not to request a baby or a toddler.  In an orphanage, once a child reaches preschool age or older, it gets harder and harder to find them families.  We've been blessed to have three babies, and there's nothing in the world I would trade for that.  But to think that Chinese girls age out of the orphanage at 14 years old breaks my heart.  My oldest child is 14 years old, and he is still a kid!  He's a great kid, mind you, but for goodness sake, I cannot imagine moving out and searching for work and a place to live at 14, with no Mom or Dad to call and ask for help or advice!  Also, we would really like for Sara's sister to be old enough to play with her.  So we decided to request a slightly older child to adopt.  But still, she would have to have some sort of mild special need to be on the 'waiting child' list, or it would still take 5 years. 

In China, a perfectly healthy child who is 7 years old or older is considered a special needs adoption, simply because it is so hard to find them homes at that age.  They have 7 more years to find a family, and then they are on their own.  So at 7, they are put on the Waiting Child list,and if a family wants to adopt them, then their adoption is pushed forward much faster.  At first I didn't want to adopt a 7-year-old because we hoped Anna Faith would be home before Sara turned 7, and I wanted the birth order of my kids to remain the same.  That didn't happen.  So now if we request a 7-year-old, then by the time she comes home, Sara will be 8, and she will still be the older sister!  While I've been extremely frustrated with the lack of speed in our adoption process this time, I do think this was our God's plan all along.  A healthy 7-year-old sister for Sara would fit our family just right.

When she comes home, she will have trouble adjusting, we know.  She'll be fluent in Chinese, and will not be accustomed to being part of a family unit, eating with a family, walking along with us and staying with us at the grocery, all those things that our children learn from the time they can walk, talk, and understand what their parents are saying.  We have a couple of Chinese friends who can help us talk to her sometimes, and we'll use translator apps on our smart phones to help.  Also, Aaron is taking the Rosetta Stone Chinese edition for a foreign language this year, and is doing great with that.  But overall, we'll just love her like crazy no matter what, and she'll be ours forever, so she'll have to get used to us.  :)

This was a longish update this time.  I hadn't posted in a year, people!  Next time I'll be sure that even if it's not as soon as I intend, it will definitely not be a year before the next post.  In the meantime, please help us pray for our second daughter, Anna Faith Besse, and join us in the faith, hope, and the love it will take to bring her home to her family! 

Summer is here

In the past month, we have been busy bees.  John and Aaron spent a week at Boy Scout camp, which was a ton of fun for them both!  I considered taking Aaron myself this year, but the dirt, bugs, and continuous gas-related humor that kind of goes along with the general thickness of testosterone in the air talked me out of it.  :)  They had a blast, though!  Then a few days after they got back, I took the kids to Atlanta, GA for a martial arts training camp, and John met up with us there for that weekend for the martial arts competition that followed the camp.  The kids had a great time, but we came back exhausted, and were ready for a real vacation (one in which we had no schedule or work to do).  So a few days later, we left for a family trip to the beach!  My parents went with us, along with one of my brothers and his family, and one of my sisters and her son.  My kids Love spending time with their cousins and extended family, and they love the beach, so the so had a blast!  We played frisbee on the beach, my nephew brought his metal detector, and he and my two boys and my nephew all really enjoyed searching the beach for hidden treasures (which usually turned out to be a collection of bottle caps and a tent stake, but it's still fun to search anyway!).  We played games in the condo at night, cooked "real food" and in general had a fantastic time just getting away from regular life work and chores, and unwinding!  One morning, Sara and I woke up before John and the boys did, so we took a walk on the beach and found a few tide pools left from the previous night's high tide, and released a few baby fish back into the ocean.  It was so much fun!  

 

Here's a picture of Sara greeting the ocean that morning.  

 

And here she's throwing sand back into the ocean.  I always think it's so cute when kids do things like this.  I wonder if it occurs to them that they can never fill the ocean up with sand, but I don't think they care at the moment.  I think they just feel like adding some sand to the water.  :)

 

This is one of the baby fish we found.  

 

And a couple of beach pics of my family.

So we got back in town, did some laundry, and packed Aaron up again to leave for Covecrest Catholic summer camp.  He left the morning of July 4 (it was the only week our church could get tickets--getting camp tickets to this place is like vying for tickets to a U2 concert!), and just came back Saturday night after an unbelievable time at camp.  FYI, Covecrest is awesome!  Aaron and the other 7 young teenagers who went had a blast rock climbing, tubing, zip-lining through the forest, and participating in a Lot of team-building activities including a course through a mud pit, which (along with the water park) seemed to be the highlight of their week, held on Friday.  They were so proud to be a group of 8, who won "The Gauntlet" (apparently those words had a huge impact for those who went to camp, and knew what the Gauntlet fully was...I'm still gaining an understanding), :) beating teams of 20 to 40 kids with their hard work and teamwork, and walking away with very good-natured bragging rights, and lots of new friends, some as far away as Texas, or any other far-reaching area of the U.S.  


And NOW, my family is all back in town, all 5 of us at the same time!  Woohoo!  We are still missing Besse child #4, though, and haven't forgotten her for a minute, so it's back to work for us.  Regular work?  Yes.  Adoption work?  Yep, that too.  Adoption is a blessing that cannot be measured, the same as the privilege of having a child always is, but it certainly does take work, and a lot of it!


So here's the update.  We have applied with Small World Adoptions, in Mt. Juliet, and our application has been accepted.  We are now saving and raising some money before doing the home study, because the home study expires after a certain amount of time, and if we haven't completed our adoption before then, we have to pay extra to have the home study updated again while we work to complete the adoption.  In other words, if possible, it would be helpful to have all the adoption costs in the bank before we even do the home study.  However, most of the grants and any means of adoption-assistance require your home study to be complete in order to even apply.  So, we'll likely be saving and raising as much money as we can, then as soon as possible, going ahead with the home study with a lot of prayer and faith, and as much help in fundraising events as we can gather.  Once we finish the home study, the race is on!


We are working on several fundraiser ideas right now.  A dear friend has offered to head one up for me, so I am getting her a list of names of people to send an invitation to.  We are hoping to host it at a fun place here in Lebanon, as a kind of ladies' night out, but I don't want to announce it just yet, unless we have the place reserved and it's a definite plan.  :)  I'll keep you all posted on that!  Also, I have a meeting tomorrow with the public safety person with the Lebanon Police Department to discuss a 5K Run to Fund Adoption, or Forever Family Fun Run.  Which name do you like better??  I'd love your input!  I've got a hopeful course mapped out, so he and I will discuss the route, and if we get the OK from the city police, and we already have the general OK from the Mayor's office, then we will set a date and get to work on that!  It will be a Small World Adoptions fundraiser, and those people who participate who would like to donate specifically to our adoptive child need only to write on the memo line of their check "for the child to be adopted by John and Mary Besse".  :)  Also, we are still searching for a place to host a parents' night out, as the previous lock-in did not pan out as we had hoped.  We're thinking parents in general might be more likely to need a sitter if their kids are younger, so we're working on the idea of a PNO for a much larger (but younger) age group, and we have several of you wonderful people who have already offered to help, but we just need the location and date.  


That pretty much sums it up!  Now that I'm back home, and I'm back at the computer more often (and not running things myself while my husband's at scout camp, or something like that), I'll be updating our blog more often too.  Thanks again for all of your support and prayers!!