Potty Training Success !!! Yippee !

Well, most children are physically ready to potty train by the time they are 2 and 1/2 years old. With Shawna, she showed interest on and off. Knowing she physically is healthy and turning 3 in about 3 weeks, we decided now was the time. We got her some fancy undies, and use candy and stickers for rewards to encourage her to sit on the potty. The hardest part was waiting for her to realize that it really is not hard. She kept telling us it was too hard, and that she liked being a baby. We all told her how proud of her we were. We rewarded sitting on the potty with stickers, chocolate milk, watching movies and candy which worked really really well. The first day was hard. Lots of clothing changes, lots of accidents, but she did make #1 and 2 in the toilet !! Yeah !! Day 2 was better, but still lots of accidents. After making it in the potty a few times, she started saying she was a big girl rather proudly. Tuesday, she figured it out. She came out and jumping up and down and squealing with delight said "I went peepee in the potty. I went peepee in the potty !!" From that moment forward, Shawna said that it wasn't hard and starting telling us that she had to go. Every 10 minutes, but only had 2 accidents the whole day. Wednesday only 1. Today Fri, no accidents the whole day at all. She only wears a pullup at night, and I am excited to say is evening starting to keep that dry for longer periods. I am surprised, thrilled and proud that she figured it out so quickly. We really knew that she was making huge progress, when she could hold it in the car until we got to a restroom, when she could go on a potty other than at home, and when she can hold it in the store all the way to the restroom. Now, she earns a sticker and candy when she remembers to ask. She doesn't always need one, and more and more just goes of to play. So while the diet was not the greatest, it was short lived and really helped accomplish the goal of dry underwear. She is so good at telling us.

At first, I was concerned that I perhaps should have started earlier. I am so so very glad though that we waited. Waiting allowed Shawna to be physically ready, emotionally ready, and to not feel pressured either. The main problem was helping her see how special being a big girl was, and that big girls got special priviledges. She is really enjoying that now.

From, the proudest mommy ever, Jennifer

Richardson News: January 2009

SHOP at www.shop.richardsonstudios.com
We have new pieces of art for sale at our online store. Please stop by ! Take a look !
Our featured piece is an Acrylic painting of Christ. I really enjoyed painting it, and just love the uniqueness of this painting. I hope you do as well. The original is for sale now, and reproductions will be available for sale soon as well.

ACADEMY OF THE POSSIBLE
We are working on our website for our new private school based in our Catholic Christian faith, and we are excited about our good progress. To Christ be the glory.

Academy of the Possible is a school for all children most particularly special needs children and those struggling to learn.

Starting a new business and new school has been exciting. Filing for things such as DBA’s, FEIN’s, and Seller Permits has been an adventure. I have enjoyed so much receiving each paper, and celebrate each step towards our opening. As we received each one, our excitement has grown. We are excited to share our love for learning. We believe every child matters, and every child has a story. Learning is possible for every child. With God ALL things are possible.

JOSEPH"S SURGERY
Coming up in just 2 months now, Joseph will be having his 4th surgery. We are praying and expecting in faith this open heart surgery to be a quick recovery. At this point, depending on how well his heart has responded, strengthened and grown, and what they find on the CT and Angio, it will be a simple tightening of his pulmonary band.

PRAYING FOR YOU
Riverside is a great place to look for a house these days. Our own street has many many houses for sale, 6 to 8 on average at any given time over the last year. We ourselves have lost over 50 percent of value in our home. For everyone who is now struggling with paying the rent, paying the mortgage, paying for the basics which is hard for everyone these days, we offer this prayer:

Dear Lord,
We lift up all our your dear children who struggle to meet the bills and pay for the basics of food and shelter. Please hold each of them in your hands close to your heart, pour out your most Holy Spirit, and pour out your provision upon each of them. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

ADOPTION
We have been denied a second time for our request to waive the fees for the adoption. The news of course was very disappointing. Apparently, we make just too much. The state does not consider AT ALL the medical expenses a family is taking on in caring for a child when waiver requests for adoption fees are sent. The state only considers the income. Not only will we have to pay the $2950.00 fee on top of the upcoming open heart surgery, but also the state of California in its infinite wisdom will not be paying out tax refunds and are sending IOU’s instead. We will be out that money for a while as well. That makes me so angry. We continue to pray for God’s strength to get us through this. We are waiting for a call back to determine if all of our papers have finally been gone through for the adoption. Hopefully, the final report will soon be released to the courts for finalization. We are checking into opportunities to appeal, however at this point we have found none. If I thought it would help, I would send a complaint to Mr. Arnold himself. Now, the state is telling us that it will take them 2 months to get the final report done. Bureaucrats can be so heartless. Arrrrgh !

USED SALES
We have some items up for sale on Inland Empire Cheapcycle and Resale Rescue to help offset some of the adoption costs.
If you are interested, please join through Yahoo Groups and look in messages under ‘richardsonstudios’. Or just email if you are looking for anything in particular.

ENCOURAGEMENT
Just as the silversmith must fire the silver to refine the silver and fire the impurities out of the silver and watch it to make sure the silver does not sit in the fire to long, so is the Lord continuing to purify and refine us.

PRAYER REQUEST
Please keep Scott in prayer as he looks for work in such a difficult economy.

STORIES
We have some wonderful new stories on our blog ( www.richardsonstudios.blogspot.com ). Please check it out. For parents who have gone through the potty training adventure, we are thrilled to share success stories with our daughter Shawna. We found it encouraging to hear what worked for other parents, and so we also encourage every parent in this endeavor.

Thank you to all of our angels and saints who have made this journey possible and carried us through the best and worst times. You absolutely made a huge difference in our lives.

Love all of us,
The Richardsons
Scott, Jennifer, Michael, Gabriela, Joseph, Joshua and Shawna.
3 dogs (Apricot, Chip and Kojo), 3 fish and 1 frog.

Our Business: Richardson Studios at www.richardsonstudios.com – Resources for Special Needs Children and their Families.
Our Store: www.shop.richardsonstudios.com – Wonderful Artwork and items to Support Special Needs.
Our Blog: www.richardsonstudios.blogspot.com - Touching Stories and News about our Family.
Our School: Academy of the Possible at www.academyofthepossible.com - a school for special needs kids.

DONATIONS are accepted at all of our sites.
Every child has a story, and every child matters.
Thank you in advance for your generosity, and Thank you for giving a child "Hope for the Heart".

For any parent with a special needs child, adopted, biological or caretaker, you are welcome to apply to join our yahoo group. Just go to www.groups.yahoo.com and type in academyofthepossible (formerly everychildmatters). We are a support system for parents and loved ones of these wonderful kids. Or click http://groups.yahoo.com/group/academyofthepossible/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1

OPT IN INFORMATION: If you or anyone you know would like to share in our journey and receive emails with news and updates from Richardson News, please send an email to us at richardsonstudios@charter.net. We will gladly add you to our email list.

OPT OUT INFORMATION: We respect your privacy. We certainly never want to anyone to feel like they HAVE to read about us, receive any updates or news or goings on, listen to our problems or our joys. We enjoy everyone who shares our story and our journey. Because of this, if ANYONE would like to stop receiving emails or updates for ANY reason, please email us at richardsonstudios@charter.net. In the subject line just type "Opt out from Richardson News"

Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:55 AM Prayer Request

Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:55 AM

As many of you know, this past year has been extremely hard with very sick kids, hospitalizations, and open heart surgery (and more to come). The adoption of our two boys Joseph and Joshua has taken a long time. The state is dragging it’s heals again. As soon as we were done with all our paperwork, they asked for more. We finished our fingerprints, and they “forgot” to notify us of a clearance so we had to redo and repay for them. We submitted that too. We asked for a waiver of the adoption fee because of the many open heart surgeries that Joseph will need, and the next one is not too far off. The original answer to our request for a waiver was no, and then they said they were reconsidering our request. We expect an answer on Monday, and it is not looking good.

Please pray for all the departments, supervisors, social workers and people involved in making the decision for God to open their hearts and grant us a miracle to waive or significantly reduce the just under 3K fee and finalize this adoption. With the current economy, even very reasonable requests like ours are being denied. These boys deserve closure and permanency and not this limbo the state has them in. The extension the state social worker asked for expires on Monday the 26th as well, and we know they haven’t even looked at all our paperwork as of Thursday the 22nd.

Please join us in prayer for finalization of this adoption and the waiver of the fee to be approved. These funds would be much better spent on Joseph’s next heart surgery than the states pockets.

Thank you and God bless - -
Jennifer Richardson

Liberia Suspends International Adoption Program

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/22858

Excerpt from President Sirleaf of Liberia's State of the Union Address delivered Jan. 26, 2009 "The gross mismanagement of the adoption program (which aims primarily at placing orphans in homes in the United States), by both Liberian and U.S. personnel in the concerned NGO is the subject of a report by a Special Committee which I appointed for this purpose. Essentially, we have discovered that many of the children in these orphanages are not in fact orphans but children taken from their living parents on the promise of support and a good life in America. Moreover, we found that young children were being sexually abused at some of these orphanages, while others including officials of government, have used the program to extort money from potential adoptors. We have thus suspended the adoption program until laws, policies and proper guidelines have been established and we have asked our concerned friends and partners in the United States to be patient as we try to correct the serious malpractices which exist. We expect the National Social Welfare Policy and National Adoption Act which will be submitted to you during the course of the year, will provide guidance and prevent such abuses in the future. "

"What I've said, that will I bring about and what I've planned, that will I do."... Isaiah 46:11

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." ~ Winston Churchill

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25)

Flood, High Winds, and Sick Too !

What a weekend. Most of us have been sick this weekend, some with awful coughing, some with fever, most with runny noses, and all of us congested. The really high winds don't help at all. Then Saturday we woke to a flooded garage. The neighbor's pipe burst in their back yard, and of course they weren't home. Finally, someone came and turned the water off at 5:30 pm. In the meantime, we had a soaked garage with water running out of the garage and down our driveway all day. We were lucky though. We didn't lose as much stuff as we thought we would. Not feeling well and high winds and cleaning up a flooded mess in the garage do not at all mix well. We are still cleaning up, and the garage is slowly drying out. We still have a lot of water in the back. We have been working on moving what we can out of the garage in order to facilitate the drying process.

Oh, I praise the Lord that this week will surely get better !

Jennifer

Scripture for the Day !

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34)

"Jesus, you are the bread of life, and without You I can do nothing. Teach me to wait on Your daily provision of strength and help me to find the blessings in ... every day. In Your name, Amen." Alpha Omega Publications

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve was spent with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Diana. The kids had fun visiting. We all went to Christmas Vigil mass and were excited to sit right up front where all the kids could see. That was a blessing. The priest who gave the homily called all the kids in front of the altar and talked directly with them. It was just wonderful.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for such a wonderful Christmas Eve !!

Praying for a Miracle !

The adoption paperwork is finally completed after the state had asked us for more. They "forgot" to tell us about paperwork we had to do. We asked for a waiver of the states $3K fee with the costs of Joseph's open heart surgeries. We wait to hear from them.

Please keep us in prayers and all the people that make the decision to waive the fees. With no budget in California, the current economic status, and IOU's expected for tax refunds, we are praying for a miracle !

Jennifer

Michael's Lego Christmas Tree !

Bye Sweet Dog

Over the holidays, this most gorgeous stray dog came up to the kids in the yard and jumped into Michael's lap. We walked up and down the street to each of the houses thinking he just got out of someone's house. She was clean, cute, friendly, clearly well-trained, and obviously recently fed and watered. We could not at all find the owners. We took this dog finally to the shelter in the hopes that the owner was looking for and missing this beautiful dog. It was very hard to do and all the kids were very sad to see this dog go. We pray the owners found her. With three dogs of our own, we just couldn't keep her anymore after several days of serious looking.

Christmas 2008

Joseph and Joshua in their new clothes !
Below, the table and train set that was very generously gifted to the boys !

Gift Exchange

For Christmas, all the adults in our family had a gift exchange. It was a lot of fun as last years was as well.

Gifts from the Lee's

I just loved all the little gingerbread men on the gifts, which were so cute.

Shawna looks so adorable in the new dresses and clothes !

Thank you so much for all the wonderful presents. It made Christmas day so special.

We all love you Kathy, Jeff, Ryan and Marisa.

the Richardsons

Christmas Gifts from the Lee's !

All the kids were so excited to receive gifts from Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jeff, Ryan and Marisa.

Joseph loved his book and clothes. The belt fits good too, and mom loves that ! No more droopy drawers.

Joshua loved his clothes, and the belt he received also was a blessing for keeping his pants up.

Michael was so excited about the music strings and music book. Michael started writing his own songs, and said he was going to put them into it.

Thank you Aunt Mary and Szolomayers !

Mary, Sharon, Jeff and all the kids:

Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts !

Shawna loved the writing paper, Strawberry Shortcake doll and feetsie pajamas. She has been very very into coloring lately and wanting to "write" like the big kids, so the paper was perfect. She also loves playing dollies, and really needed new pajamas bad. We loved the gifts.

Joshua loved his paper too and was glad to have his own paper to write with. Joshua's favorite thing at the moment is practicing writing his letters and that was the first thing he did with the art pencils Gabriela gave him for Christmas. The long sleeved shirt is just fabulous especially since he grew this year. Joshua was super excited to have his very own CD to play music too.

Joseph likes so much the little sketch pad with colored pencils that came in such a nice folder. He asked if he could bring it in the car next time we go somewhere. He also likes the small toy you use to draw with, like the etch a sketch kind of. I forgot what they are called, but the size is perfect. He also gave out a good squeal of delight when he opened the shirt.

Gabriela loves the beautiful red earrings and long sleeved blue shirt. She put on all blue everything this morning, so opening the gift with the blue shirt made her smile ! She said she loved it. She also really liked the pretty bracelet. Gabriela looks like a princess.

Michael was so excited to receive such a warm long sleeved gray shirt. It has been rather cold, so it looks very comfy. The book looks like very good reading, and Michael also appreciated so much the gameboy color and games he received for Christmas. After Michael had earlier received two gameboys for gifts, he gave them as gifts to make his brothers and sisters smile at Christmas. It was such a huge blessing, because now there are enough for the kids to all share and play with. It is so much easier than all of them wanting to play at once.

God bless you all, and thank you for making our Christmas such a blessed one; you have no idea how grateful we all were !

Sorry I couldn't take pictures, my camera batteries died and our other camera broke.

Love you,
Jennifer

The Great San Bernadino Earthquake

Okay, it wasn't really that great. Actually, it was only a 4.5 on the richter scale. It was a large side by side type of jolt and some shaking last a few seconds. We also felt one aftershock. Everyone and everything is fine. A few crooked pictures, so no big deal. Shawna was very very scared though and was crying and clinging to mommy for dear life. We all used it as a wonderful opportunity to talk about Earthquake preparedness and practice our duck and cover skills with the kids.

Thank you to everyone who was so concerned for us.

Jennifer

Great News for Michael !

The DiGeorge genetic test on Michael came back negative. That was great news because it gives us more hope for healing. He is doing pretty good all in all. Michael says he hopes his experience with illness will help others. We are every watchful of his Evan's Syndrome. His platelets are a little low at 132, and he has some bruising. He is also a little anemic and still having headaches, but overall better now than he has been in months. His H Pylori also came back negative, so it seems the antibiotics did the trick to get rid of that nasty stomach illness. Michael says his tummy is feeling much better too.

Grateful Mom for the healing the Lord has given Michael !

A Year in Retrospect: 2008

January 1, 2009

A Year in Retrospect: 2008

Happy New Year dear friends and family:

It has been a very busy, often challenging and often exciting year. We had opportunities to grow and learn patience, and many opportunities to practice our faith.

Scott and I started a business and were excited to receive our DBA for Richardson Studios, our business to provide education and resources for children with special needs, and for our new school for special needs kids Academy of the Possible. Being officially in business was wonderful. We launched our website for Richardson Studios at www.richardsonstudios.com. We also launched our online store at www.shop.richardsonstudios.com. We have our website for Academy of the Possible in the works and will be launching it early 2009.

We were excited when all the kids grew. We were blessed with new clothes for all the kids from so many different people, even new belts and pajamas too !

At the beginning of the year, we had pulled out of adopting from Liberia with so many changes going on in the country. In retrospect, it was a wise choice. We had considered a child from Serbia until Serbia also began to have problems. In prayer through all of this, we asked the Lord to guide us as we felt strongly called to adopt. Indeed He did ! We were pleased to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to begin the adoption of two wonderful boys in March. Joseph and Joshua became the newest members of our family. The adoption has taken longer than expected due to all the medical complications with the children, and we eagerly anticipate finalizing the adoption hopefully this January 2009.

After losing our miniature pinscher Chocolate to a heart attack, we decided to adopt another dog. We adopted another male white poodle this time named Kojo. Kojo is full of spirit and fun to play with. All the children enjoy playing with all three of our dogs Apricot (female poodle), Chip (male rat terrier), and Kojo (male poodle). Shawna loves hugging "Chippy" as she tenderly calls him. All the dogs just eat up the attention.

Scott's dad was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. We have all been praying for him and Scott's mom as well. Scott's parents live in the much colder weather of Indiana.

Because of the heavy rains we had last winter and then several burst pipes, our backyard flooded. After dealing with that, we took the jungle gym down. It was swaying quite a lot, and we decided it was not safe to use. We have since been able to bless several people with firewood to help them heat their homes through the coldest parts of this winter. Then we had pipes break in the front, and then the plumbing broke in the house. It has been a tough year all around and stretched all of us, especially financially. We all celebrated when the sinks got fixed after our most recent difficulty with our sinks.

After we got home with our boys Joseph and Joshua in March, shortly thereafter Michael got very sick and spent time at Children's Hospital of Orange County. Through the year and 21 different all confirmed diagnoses later via various tests, the doctors are still trying to figure out why Michael keeps getting sick and having problems. Michael most recently was diagnosed with Juvenile Osteoporosis. With more follow ups to the doctors, we also just found out through MRI of Michael's brain that he has thinning of the myelin and white matter. With the multiple autoimmune processes going on, doctors are concered. Now we are waiting for results to rule out degenerative disease, Mitochondrial Disease and DiGeorge Syndrome, none of which would be good news. Neurology says with this new symptom, we will just have to rule things out one at a time.

Joseph had worsening chest pain, low heartrates, and tired easily. After several tests and visits and consults with cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, it became clear that his best hope would be surgery for his half enlarged and half atrophied heart. Finding out that the surgery he needed was complicated at best and would take several surgeries, we traveled up to Northern California to a specialist at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto. Joseph underwent open heart surgery and recovered in steller time. Now on New Year's, he is no longer on any activity restrictions and well healed. He received a pacemaker placed in his abdomen due to his unique physiology which has increased his comfort level quite a bit and the first banding. Having been through 3 open heart surgeries so far in his short little life, Joseph is a prime example of courage.

Joshua has just blossomed. He loves to color and build with legos and wants to learn to play guitar. Joshua enjoys singing along with the stars on TV as we have enjoyed the Christmas specials. Joshua has been very helpful with Michael and Joseph. We are so proud of how much he has grown and continues to open up. He also is beginning reading and loves learning about letters and words. Joshua is a bright quiet boy. Joshua grew quite a lot this year too, and was thrilled to sleep on the top bunk now that he is five years old.

Gabriela turned 10 this year and grew the most of all the kids. She is proud to say she is only five inches shorter than mom. Matching mom's shoe size, we expect Gabriela may be quite tall. She is growing into quite a young lady. Gabriela was blessed to be accepted into Camp Opehay for children with Bipolar Disorder. It was a huge blessing to help Gabriela learn she is not the only one, and was quite instrumental in some healing for her. Gabriela has always loved animals and cats (even the big ones). Santa was kind to give Gabriela a giant stuffed panther which she proudly has on her bed. Gabriela also has grown to love horses and colors pictures of them all the time. Gabriela wants to be an animal rescuer / trainer and an artist when she grows up. She is quite good at drawing horses freehand too.

Shawna has grown leaps and bounds. Her 7 to 8 word sentences and vocabulary grows every day. We are frequently surprised by the big words she has learned. She is slowly opening up to talking with others; and, we are also proud to say we are in the midst of potty training. Shawna is doing very well learning words, letters, numbers and colors etc. She enjoys playing dollies and Barbie with Gabriela. For the Christmas season, Shawna found a new favorite movie - Rudolph, which she has watched several times.

It has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding, most difficult and most growing years in all ways.

We look forward to a fresh new year in 2009.

Thank you all of you angels and saints who have made this journey possible and carried us through the best and worst times. You absolutely made a huge difference in our lives.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you !

Love from all of us,

The Richardsons

Scott, Jennifer, Michael, Gabriela, Joseph, Joshua and Shawna,

and our 3 dogs Apricot, Chip and Kojo,

and 3 fish.

Christ our Lord brings strength and hope and through Him all things are possible.