Welcome to Hyderabad!

We've been in Hyderabad for over three weeks now. And what a crazy three weeks it has been! Our first ten days here we were stranded in the basement of another SCH home because our house wasn't ready. The girls were stir crazy by the time we moved in! But the day finally came and we moved into our beautiful new home!

Our house (called Joy Home) is a giant two story house. We live on the first floor. Another group of kids that SCH will soon be getting from the government will live on the second. The amount of space we have is crazy! It's triple the size of our apartment in Ongole.Our house has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths. The older girls share one bedroom while the younger ones share another. The rooms are HUGE! Jackie, Heidi, Angel, Chelsea, Jeanette, Esther, Naomi, and Rebekah share the largest room of the house. They have more room than they've ever had in their lives! We are so thankful that SCH picked this beautiful house for our girls! The smallest bedroom in the house has been transformed into a school room where our girls do their homework. They have a tutor who comes every afternoon and helps with homework as well as catching them up in school as most of them are behind a couple years.

The best part of living in Hyderabad is our new schools! Having access to better schools is the main reason we moved. There were no special education resources in Ongole and our girls were not getting the education they needed or deserved. By the time we moved, four of our girls had been kicked out because they "didn't have any ability to learn". Getting all twelve enrolled in various schools was a long and stressful process, but we are thrilled to now see all twelve thriving in their new schools!

Esther, Jackie, Angel, and Chelsea are enrolled at Bachpan Playschool. Bachpan is a top notch preschool with one of the best academic programs in Hyderabad. Chelsea and Angel are in playgroup, the beginning class. Jackie is in nursery, the second level. We are really hoping they will soon see how smart she is and bump her up to LKG with Esther! Esther's class, LKG (lower kindergarten) focuses on learning to read and write small words as well as many other things. The girls love Bachpan and can't wait to put their uniforms on every morning!


Heidi started at Kangaroo Kids Playschool last week. I am so excited to see her thrive in their integrated program. I really think that attending a different school than her sisters will help her to develop appropriate social skills and become more attentive in an academic environment. Heidi loves going to school! She's the first one to leave in the morning (which is hard as she's the slowest of our bunch), but she can't wait to walk out the door and get on her bus every day!

Paula, Naomi, and Rebekah are attending Sparsh Special Education School. We absolutely love Sparsh and have been thrilled with the resources they have access to there! In addition to their education they each receive half an hour of speech therapy, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy every day! They come home with daily reports detailing what they learned and how their therapies went. Naomi and Rebekah have been learning how to jump in physiotherapy and Paula gets leg exercises every day! They are all learning phonics and how to pronounce their ABCs correctly. In occupational therapy they are learning how to correctly hold pencils and are working on fine motor skills.

Phoebe, Victoria, Stephanie, and Jeanette were recently enrolled at Devnar School for the Blind. Devnar is normally a boarding school, but they were happy to let our girls attend during their school day! They are all learning to read and write Braille as well as learning regular academics. They started them out in 1st Class since they didn't learn how to read Braille in Ongole. On the girls' first day we discovered that Phoebe had been enrolled at Devnar several years ago before she came to SCH! She learned Braille then and has continued with it on and off during her years at SCH. She's a really smart girl, and we are hoping she picks it back up quickly and can be promoted to a higher class! Devnar has amazing resources and education for children who are blind. We're really excited about the opportunities the girls will have here!


With school enrollment, comes heavy school fees. Thankfully, four of our girls get to attend school for free!! Victoria, Phoebe, Jeanette, and Stephanie have zero school fees! All they need is $25 a month each for transportation. Victoria and Phoebe's are already covered! Steph and Jeanette still need sponsors. You can become a $25 per month sponsor for Jeanette here and for Stephanie here. Just donate under the School Sponsorship link.

The rest of the girls have some pretty hefty school fees. All of the girls fees cover their tuition, enrollment fees, books, uniforms, field trips/special events, and transportation. We are currently fundraising to cover everything for this semester (now-May). Heidi needs $645. Chelsea, Angel, Jackie, and Esther each need $525. Paula, Naomi, and Rebecca each need $490.

We need $4,215 as soon as possible. I know that's a huge number, but every little bit helps! Could you please donate even just a simple $10 so our girls can go to school? You can donate at www.tinyurl.com/schjoyhomeschoolfees.

Enjoy our Shake It Off music video as you consider donating towards our girls' education!

Nine Little Nuggets

I already posted little blurbs on Heidi, Jackie, and Rebekah. If you missed it, you can read about them here! As promised, I am giving updates on all 12. Abby and I are about to start a child sponsorship campaign, where we focus on one child a week, so here are updates on my other nine!

Here is our Naomi babe. She is as silly as she looks. I always pair "babe" with Naomi's real Telugu name. Every day when Naomi gets home from school, she races up the stairs to our apartment and grins ear to ear as Abby and I sing "Naomi babe!" Naomi loves wearing her pants hiked up as high as she can get them with her shirt tucked in. Naomi struggled a little when we moved the newest six girls in a few weeks ago. I think she was used to being one of the most able bodied and rambunctious girls in the home. Naomi is really quiet sometimes and I think she had a hard time finding her place with her loud, rambunctious, mischievous, new sisters. She quickly formed a really special bond with Abby which has really helped her transition. Naomi is doing much better now!

Victoria is one of our wild girls! She is one of the funniest girls I have ever met. Let me give you a taste of her humor. Victoria is almost completely blind. (She has a little less than 10% vision, and she is missing an eye.) She has a prosthetic eye which she has started to outgrow. Because it is a little too small, it is easy for her to take in and out of her head. Victoria's favorite way to greet new short term volunteers is by taking out her prosthetic eye, holding it in her hand, and sticking it in people's faces saying "Here my eye! You see? Hahahahahaha." We are working on learning that taking your eye out your head to creep people out isn't very appropriate or nice. :) Victoria is definitely a huge goof, but she's also really sweet. Every night before bed Abby and I pray with the girls. Out big girls (Victoria, Phoebe, Stephanie, and Paula) take turns praying each night. A couple days ago when Victoria had her turn she prayed for each girl in our home by name, her former foster sisters who live in different homes now, and a couple of her former foster sisters who have been adopted. My favorite was when she prayed for one of her sisters who has a loving family in America now. Victoria prayed "Jesus love V. She America going. She love you."

Stephanie was the one girl I worried about when Abby and I decided to move all our girls in together. Steph is so quiet and timid, and I was afraid that having eleven sisters in the house would cause Steph to retreat even more. I was also worried that the other eleven would kind of forget about her because she isn't as "fun" of a playmate as many of her sisters. I am so happy to let you know that isn't the case! Phoebe LOVES Stephanie and always tries her best to make sure she is included. I catch the two of them sitting on the couch talking in rapid Telugu all the time! Occasionally Steph will get a little overwhelmed by the loud noise and commotion, but she is always reassured when Abby or I grab her hand and sing her a song.

Phoebe is the best big sister on the planet. She loves helping out with our littles like Chelsea, Heidi, and Angel. She carries Chels everywhere (But we might have to cut back some as Chels is getting a little spoiled in the no walking department). Phoebe loves doing the other girls' hair and she is actually really good at it! Some mornings she helps Abby and I get the younger ones ready for school. Phoebe astounds me. She can solve 50 piece puzzles completely on her own despite being completely blind. She translates for Abby and I when we need help communicating with our ayahs. Phoebe even tries to teach me Telugu! Sometimes we really forget she's still an 11 year old girl. Her maturity level is the highest I have ever seen in a girl her age. Half the time I feel more like Phoebe's big sister rather than her foster mom. Then she'll go into an uncontrollable giggle fit as she laughs at her own joke and I remember that she's still a kid who needs to be loved and deserves a normal childhood. I really love Phoebe. I love sitting around with her when the other girls are asleep and talking about her life. I love listening to her pray and talk about her love for Jesus.

Jeanette is our other wild child. She is completely blind and has a prosthetic left eye. Abby and I think she is also either autistic or has a sensory processing disorder. We refer to her as "tactilely curious" as she touches absolutely everything within a five foot radius of her.  Jeanette can be a little overwhelming at first, but she is so wonderful once you get to know her. She is a really loving eight year old who just doesn't know how to express her needs. A few days ago, Abby and I gave Jeanette some alone time one afternoon. We honestly thought it would last twenty minutes tops before she was over it. Jeanette surprised us! She sat and played by herself for nearly two hours! Abby and I really believe that if Jeanette gets adopted, she will be a completely different kid. She just needs more one on one attention!

Esther makes me laugh on a daily basis. She is always so giggly and silly! Esther really loves having younger sisters. In her old home she was one of the youngest. She enjoys being a big sister to the littles and getting to sleep in one our "big girl" rooms! Esther loves sneaking into my our bedroom and climbing into bed to snuggle with me or Abby. She always asks me to put henna on her hands, as it is one of her current favorite things! Esther knows how to write all of her ABCs, and she is learning to read! She's a really bright little girl! Abby and I can't wait to see how far she comes as we continue to work with her!

Chelsea has recovered from her pneumonia! Our poor little baby was so sick for over a week. She laid in bed with me nearly the entire day for almost three days straight. Her fever even peeked to 104.2! :( But our little Chels is a fighter! After several hard days she started to get back to her old self! Now she is walking around wagging her finger and trying to tell her big sisters who's in charge. In other words, she is back to normal! :) When she had pneumonia she went back into diapers because she was too sick to make it to the bathroom. Unfortunately that means we're really struggling with potty training now. Chels pees her pants 75% of the time and pitches a huge fit whenever we put her on the toilet. But we're working on it!!!

Paula loves having six new sisters in the house! She is homeschooled by a private tutor right now and really excelling! A couple months ago Paula couldn't even recognize letters and numbers. She is now recognizing her name and several sight words as well as many letters and numbers!! Paula is doing better and better with her wheelchair each day. She no longer fights us to get out. She stays in her wheelchair all day without us prompting her too! She is wheeling herself and beginning to tell her sisters to stop when they try and do it for her. She continues to be the most joyous one in our house and bring light into every day.

Angel continues to be our little stinker! :) She is the head-honcho in mischief. We've had some problems with her stealing things and with her throwing toys over our balcony. She's spent a great deal of her day in time-out recently, but she really seems to be learning! She knows what she is and isn't allowed to do. Angel really does love her sisters. She encourages Chels and Heidi who both struggle with using the potty. She totally thinks she's one of the big girls and tries to run with them even when they want to do "big girl" things!

Abby and I are about to start a sponsorship challenge. I will be posting more about it tomorrow! We will be highlighting one girl a week. We will each post two different blogs about her and share pictures and videos everyday. Our goal is to have all twelve of our girls FULLY SPONSORED by Christmas!! If we meet that girl, we will get to move to Hyderabad 4-5 months before we were originally scheduled to. This is something Abby and I really want to see happen as there are special education schools and speech therapy resources in Hyderabad that are not available in Ongole. Several of our girls REALLy need access to these resources, so we want to be in Hyderabad ASAP!

I have another little announcement that I'll post about later this week as well! :) 

Out of Chaos

Let me give you a taste of what is like to live in our home.

Every morning Abby and I wake up to either Jackie or Jeanette pounding on our bedroom door screaming "Carrie Mummy! Abby Mummy! Victoria/Naomi/Jackie/Jeanette beating! She beating Sister!" When they say "beating" they really mean light slap, but you get the picture. I tumble out of bed and open the door to find two of our four blind children running around full speed in their pajamas tripping over their sisters and knocking each other over. They're completely over stimulated and it's only 7:30 in the morning. I often times find Rebekah standing in the middle of her bedroom crying because she needs help with her school uniform and she doesn't yet know any better way to communicate. Naomi is always busy hiding her sisters' shoes and underwear all over the house, while Heidi and Angel are covered head to toe in the rice they were supposed to eat for breakfast. All the beds reek of pee as we discover that over half our girls wet the bed. All of the girls' school shoes have somehow disappeared since the night before, and no one can find the correct school uniform. The bus is running twenty minutes late, but that's ok because someone just peed all over the floor on their way to the bathroom. 

It is utter chaos.

That's the beauty of it. Out of all the chaos, our girls are finding new life. They are discovering life in Jesus. They are discovering what it's like to have a family and parents who love them. A few of them are discovering this for the first time. 

Back when I started this blog I called it Life is Being Found. It is a reference to one of my favorite songs, Beautiful Things by Gungor. The lyric I identify most with says "Out of chaos, life is being found in You."

How true that is. Life is chaotic. Especially life as a foster mother to twelve children with disabilities in India. Out of all our chaos life is being found. True life in Jesus is being found. 

Every night Abby and I put our girls to sleep bedroom by bedroom. Our preteen girls have the latest bedtime, so we make it to them last. Phoebe is always bursting with excitement to lead us in a nighttime prayer. She prays to our God in her native language and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. This eleven year old girl really loves the Lord and yearns to be close with Him. Not only that, but she is eager to make sure her sisters do the same. She encourages Victoria, Paula, and Stephanie to take turns praying as well. Phoebe loves leading her younger sisters in worship songs. She is bursting with love for Jesus and she can't wait to share it with everyone she meets. 

Esther shines with a love and light that can only be from God. She has this radiating smile that you can't look at without seeing Jesus. Esther is full of so much joy.

Heidi, Chelsea, and Angel love to sing a new children's worship song I taught them a few weeks ago. The chorus says "I'll do my best, I'll do my best WHOA! I'll do my best for You. Woo woo woo!" During the WHOA! We throw our arms out to the side and our bodies swing like we're being knocked over by a wave. The girls giggle hysterically and I think about how God's love is just like that. 

The love the Lord pours out upon me knocks me over like a wave every day. Every day I wake up to complete chaos and His love astounds me. I walk out of my bedroom and am bombarded by twelve screaming girls. And it's in those moments that I feel His love most heavily. How lucky am I that God chose ME of all people to live this life? How blessed am I to get to love these twelve amazing girls and be on this amazing journey with the Lord? I'm not worthy of His love. I'm really not. I'm just as messed up as the next person. Even as I live this life in India, I struggle with just as much sin as I did in America. My life is so chaotic. But I am finding life in Jesus. His love overwhelms me and knocks me off my feet. It's amazing. His love for me is amazing. His love for my girls is astounding. I am so overjoyed that life is being found in Jesus.

Here we stand, our hearts are Yours. Not our will but Yours be done.

Cheaper By The Dozen

It's time for my big announcement! I am now a foster mom to 12 girls!

Many of you all have seen me post on Facebook about my friend Abby who is coming to SCH to foster. Abby and I have been praying for a couple months about bringing our girls together and co-fostering. We really felt like this was what God was leading us to, so we spoke with our director and she was all for it! 

We are living on the entire top floor of our building, Faith Home. We decided to call our home the "House of Joyful Noise" which is fitting for our spunky twelve. The top floor is set up in two apartments which I turned into one giant home this week! We have four bedrooms. Abby and I share a bedroom (with AIR CONDITIONING - Hallelujah for that!). We are in the back apartment with our littlest girls in the other bedroom - Heidi, Angel, Chelsea, Jackie, and Naomi. The older girls live in the two bedrooms in the front. Jeanette, Esther, and Rebekah share a room and Paula, Stephanie, Phoebe, and Victoria share the other. I set the back apartment up to be a living room and GIANT play room! (Pictures to come!) The front apartment contains our dining area and we are turning that living room into a school room where out older girls can work on homework every evening. 

I've been a single foster mom to 12 for a little over 24 hours now, and let me tell you. It is HARD. I absolutely cannot wait until Abby gets here this week! On Monday night I am riding an overnight bus to Hyderabad so I can pick Abby up at the airport early Wednesday morning. On Thursday night Abby and I will be traveling back to Ongole and begin this wonderful fostering adventure together! 

These are my six who I've been fostering the past two months. Paula, Angel, Stephanie, Naomi, Chelsea, and Heidi. I'm excited to introduce you to my six new beautiful foster daughters!! Meet Phoebe, Victoria, Jackie, Rebekah, Jeanette, and Esther. 

Phoebe is completely blind and the smartest girl I have ever met. This girl can solve entire 25 piece puzzles completely on her own! She speaks really good English and loves to sit around and talk with me. She is really pretty mature for her age, and is a wonderful big sister to all our little ones! Phoebe is Stephanie's best friend and I couldn't be happier that they are now living together. Today I caught the two of them sitting on the couch jabbering away is rapid Telugu, which is something I have never heard Steph do with anyone! I'm really excited to see how great this will be for both of them.

Victoria is mostly blind (she has about 10% of her vision), and she is one of the most energetic girls I have ever met. Her smile is one of my all time favorites! Victoria is spunky, goofy, and absolutely wild. She has really surprised me since moving in though. When I met Victoria last summer, she bounced off the walls and was completely out of control. Sometimes she's still like that, but then last night she sat down with Phoebe and I and had a really serious conversation. This girl is really starting to grow up and I am so proud of her!

Jackie is my spunky five year old with some hand and feet differences. She was born with a deformity causing each of her hands to only have one finger and causing each of her feet to have only one toe. Jackie amazes me with what she can do with those two little fingers! She has learned how to write, draw, eat, hold utensils, you name it! Jackie's English is actually really good and she loves to strike up conversations with volunteers. This little ball of spunk cracks me up, and she might love the TV more than anyone else I know! :)

Rebekah has Apert's Syndrome which makes her look a little different. It also causes an intellectual disability, but as you know that doesn't make her any different than anyone else! Rebekah is wonderful, energetic, and crazy. A recent volunteer described her by saying, "I just love her. She's just like me - a hot mess." Rebekah really is a little hot mess! She is all over the place, all the time. But she is oh so loving. Last night Rebekah was a little scared being in our new home. So I curled up next to her in bed and rubbed her back as she fell asleep in my arms. I'm really excited to see how much Rebekah will grow in the coming months as Abby and I begin to really invest in her!

Jeanette is completely blind and 110% our wild child! She has a beautiful prosthetic eye. Jeanette is completely fearless. This girl can't see a thing, but that doesn't stop her from running around full speed with her arms stretched out in front of her! Jeanette spends a big chuck of her time wrapped around my waist ready for an adventure! Jeanette is full of energy and spunk! I love her and can't wait to see her learn to use her guide cane and become more independent without crashing into things! 

Esther has a mild form of cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability. She is so full of joy, excitement, and life! Esther was by far the most excited about moving in with us (which is saying a lot because all the girls were ecstatic!) When I went to pick them up from their old apartment Esther was jumping up and down screaming "YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!" She is for sure a cutie pie and brings so much joy and life into our home!

So there you have it! I am a mama to twelve of the most amazing girls on the planet and I love it! In a few days our family will be complete with Abby mama, and we will be a wonderful and happy family of 14! :) 

"This day is holy of our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10