Love & Tater Tots: Bringing Anderson Home: Back in Bangkok and another video

August 21, 2010

Back in Bangkok and another video

I have tried to post several times over the last two days, but it has honestly been a very tiring and busy time for us in the midst of the joy and excitement. Yesterday, Anderson come "home" with us to stay for the first night after meetings in the morning and a trip to the zoo with the Holt social workers. He had a difficult time going to sleep, and I was up for 20 hours straight. Then, we had to pack up everything and make it out the door at 6:30 a.m. with all of our stuff and 3 kids in tow to catch our flight back to Bangkok.

Let me say that my husband is my hero. He has been a champ on this trip, and there is no way I can describe how well we work together when things are busy and stressful. Anderson wanted me to hold him all morning, so Jeff did almost all of the re-packing by himself and got the big kids ready. We celebrate our 12th anniversary tomorrow, so I thought I would publicly brag on him in honor of our special day! I am truly thankful that gave him to me as my husband.

It is almost midnight here, and everyone is asleep, praise God. I am going to finish this post and try to get a few hours sleep before Anderson wakes up around 4:30 a.m. for his milk. So, I will leave you with the video below (please excuse poor editing-lack of sleep is taking a toll) showing some highlights of the time we spent together over the past couple of days. Please keep praying for Anderson, for his health and his adjustment as he continues to grieve his foster family while learning to trust us. He said "Mommy" to me for the first time today, and I thought my heart would leap out of my chest. Also pray for Alex and Aerin as they adjust to having a little brother. They have both been amazing in their own special ways -- Alex making Anderson laugh and doing "silly" talk to him at just the right time, Aerin hugging and wanting to hold Anderson and being mommy's helper by getting diapers, bottles, clothes, and anything else I ask her to bring me. I looked at all 3 of them asleep in the big bed tonight and stood there thanking God for the gift of my children. It is my prayer that they will see the love of Jesus in Jeff and me as our family continues to grow.

Grace, Peace, and Love from Bangkok in the Land of Smiles!
Casey

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Tater Tots

Why Tater Tots? The short version of the story (or my short version...it may seem long to you) is that when I was a teacher a few of my students knew Jeff as "Tater" from when he was a counselor at the Chilton Baptist Association summer camp many moons ago. At the time I was teaching, Alex was a little over one year old and Aerin was on the way! So, my students named Alex "Tater Tot." Somehow, when we were members at New Life Community Church, the pastor or some of the youth there (not sure who) started calling Jeff "Tater Tot" and the name continued from there. When the movie Napoleon Dynamite came out, we thought it was absolutely hysterical and could not believe that he loved tater tots so much that he put them in the side pocket of his parachute pants to eat them during class!!! Anyway, now I think of my little ones as "Tater Tots" (even though I have several nicknames for them). And we are praying and hoping to bring the newest Tater Tot home as soon as possible. So, any blog posts with Tater Tots in the title will be devoted to things that Alex and Aerin say and do that are sweet, funny, entertaining, and related to their desire to bring their baby brother home!

A Letter from our Family to You

PLEASE NOTE: Many of you who read the below post may wonder why the letter addresses many of the same things that we regularly talk about in our blog. Basically, this is a support letter that we sent out via mail to meet the requirements for fundraising support of Lifesong for Orphans, an awesome organization who has partnered with us to bring Anderson home! Many of our family members and friends do not read our blog and we wanted to provide them with some details about our journey so far. We specifically decided to share this on our blog for those of you who may be interested in making a tax deductible donation to our adoption through Lifesong, who manages and oversees the contributions on Anderson's and our family's behalf. Please read if you are interested. The deadline is July 15th. If you are not interested or able, thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement! We love you all!

Dear Family and Friends,

“A father of the fatherless…God sets the lonely in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6

Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt a “fatherless” child into our family. We are adopting a little boy from Thailand, who we were matched with in February, and we hope to travel to Thailand by the end of this year to bring him home (he’ll be about 21 months old)! He has already faced many physical challenges in his short life, and has many more to face. As a family, we’ve been praying for him as we expectantly and hopefully wait for approval to travel to bring him home, and we’ve already named our son – Anderson Kae! (Kae is part of his given Thai name)

Did you know it is estimated less than 10% of all orphan children are adopted into evangelical Christian families?

According to current estimates, if only 10% more Christians in America would adopt, it would be equivalent to providing homes for all the orphans in Eastern Europe (1.5 million), Latin America (400,000), and the US foster care system (150,000).

Some of you are probably wondering why we decided to adopt. Well, primarily, we’ve felt very clearly directed by God to adopt and want to obey Him, and we also desire to give an orphan child a family that he probably won’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for and adopted into Christian families – ultimately so they can become saved, and be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ! There are so many things God has used to speak to our hearts and move us to adopt, here are some of them:

Learn to do right! Seek justice for the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction… James 1:27

****

While we were praying about whether or not to adopt, God put many people in our path who have a heart for caring for orphans and adoption. Some of you have adopted or supported the care of orphaned children here and around the world, and your examples and encouragement have been a big part of this journey.

Throughout the process God has provided resources just at the moment that we have needed them; He has given us prayer partners to lift up Anderson (even before we knew who our son was) and our family; and He has shown us more of who He is as our Abba, Father! None of us had any idea when we began this process how lengthy and ever changing it would be, but it has been a true journey of faith and we praise God for His perfect provision and care for the son He planned for us to have before the foundation of the world.

The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $23,000 - that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $8,000.

Honestly, it’s very difficult (because of our pride), to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us, but we also know it’s very Biblical to do so. We appreciate your friendship very much and would ask you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:

1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for Anderson and that his health would continue to improve until we are able to bring him home, that God would prepare Alex and Aerin for the major upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we face the physical challenges we know that Anderson has while raising him to know Jesus Christ.

2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $15,000 in adoption expenses, to bring Anderson home?

Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has generously come alongside our family in support of our adoption to provide a vehicle for your contributions for our adoption to be tax deductible. They are also standing with us in prayer as we trust God to provide the remaining funds to pay the “ransom” to bring Anderson home. (See enclosed letter from Lifesong for more info).

If you would like to be a part of God bringing Anderson to Himself through our family, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and July15th to the address below. Lifesong for Orphans is a trusted organization administering the funds on Anderson’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. You may preference how the donation be used by writing “Tatum Family/Anderson Adoption #831” in the memo section of your check.

(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong International

Attn: Anderson Tatum Adoption

PO Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20) We will send updates and pictures of Anderson and details about travel timelines as we receive them. You can also keep updated by following our blog at http://www.bringingonehome.blogspot.com/. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

In Christ,

Jeff, Casey, Alex & Aerin Tatum

Love & Tater Tots: Bringing Anderson Home

August 21, 2010

Back in Bangkok and another video

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Tater Tots

A Letter from our Family to You