30 By 30

For the first half of your life, people tell you what you should do; for the second half, they tell you what you should have done. --Richard Needham

As my 29th birthday approaches, I have decided to make a bucket list of 30 things to accomplish before my 30th birthday! I am very happy with my list. It is attainable, but not easy. Lofty, but realistic. Believe it or not, the hardest thing is going to be climbing the tallest ladder at church. Compared to that, everything else is a breeze! So here is my list:

·        Watch all the Lord of the Rings movies

·        Become a mom

·        Meet someone famous

·        Learn how to juggle

·        Run a 10k

·        Go camping with Steve

·        Apply for the Amazing Race

·        Create an original recipe

·        Go to a Steelers game in Pittsburgh

·        Take up yoga

·        Go paintballing

·        Donate an amount I’m uncomfortable donating

·        Lose 30 pounds

·        Go to a black tie event

·        Climb the tallest ladder at church

·        Host a full Thanksgiving meal… but not at Thanksgiving

·        Visit a state I’ve never been to

·        Climb a tree

·        Go fishing

·        Karaoke

·        Grow my own tomatoes

·        Go to a foreign country

·        Learn to change my own oil

·        Eat something exotic

·        Go to a midnight showing of a film

·        Learn how to salsa dance

·        Get a tattoo

·        Take a spontaneous trip

·        Learn to play the drums

·        Get published

Ready... Set... GO!

So when are you going to get Hokey Pokey Gocke??

I've had several people (actually more like 20-30) ask me that question this week, so I thought it might be a good idea to update my blog!

We've done a lot over the last several months; here's a little summation of what the process has been like so far. In February, we started looking into adopting from Taiwan. Soon after we started working with ABC Counseling towards our international home study. In March, I had a discussion with the orphanage in Taiwan. They informed us that, with the laws changing in Taiwan, they were going to halt their adoption program until they further understood how the new laws would affect them. So we decided to switch to a domestic adoption.

We then went through the home study process for a domestic adoption, getting medical evaluations, background clearances, references, training, etc. In August our home study was almost done when I received contact from the orphanage in Taiwan. They informed us that the new laws had taken affect, and they were going to be processing several cases under the new laws. They wanted to know if they could process our paperwork and have us be one of those families. At this point, we were pretty much done with our domestic home study and on their waiting list for a domestic adoption.

I immediately called Steve, because after all, he is the clear-headed rational one in our relationship. I expected him to tell me that it would be silly to switch programs now since we had come so far with domestic adoption. However, as soon as I told him everything, he said that he felt we needed to switch back to Taiwan because that is where are hearts are. That's all the confirmation I needed! We of course prayed about it and discussed it more that evening, but we both knew we wanted Taiwan more than anything!

So we got a hold of our caseworker at ABC Counseling and had her change our home study from a domestic to an international. Our home study is now at the orphanage in Taiwan, and now we are playing the waiting game. We will wait to hear that we have been referred a little baby. Once we have received a referral of a little baby, then there is more waiting as the legal documents and process is completed in Taiwan. We will then travel to Taiwan and meet our child. This trip will be about a week long. A couple of months after that we will return to Taiwan to bring our child home!

We are so excited to learn who our little one will be. We know so many people are praying for us and little Hokey Pokey Gocke, and we appreciate your prayers so much! God bless you all!

Love and Respect

So this past weekend Steve and I had the privilege of attending a Love and Respect Conference at our church. For those of you unfamiliar with Love and Respect, it is a resource for couples on strengthening your relationship. I am reading the book now as well, and it is such great information! The whole premise is that a woman's primary need from her man is Love, and a man's primary need from his woman is Respect. So many times we women get it wrong, and don't really take the time to show our men how important they are to our lives and how much we respect them for being the wonderful  men that they are. If you haven't read this book, I would strongly encourage you to do so. Then take the principles in it and apply it to your relationship. It's amazing!

Well last night Steve and I were driving home very late, and had a very long car ride. So we did something where we took turns speaking words of love and respect to one another... me telling him what specific things I respect about him, and him telling me what specific things he loves about me. Not only did this boost my confidence in knowing how much he loves me, it was also good for me to vocalize the things that I respected about him.

I would encourage everyone, over the next week, take 30-40 minutes and do this with your spouse or significant other. It will bring you so much closer together... I promise!

Just one step closer

So this week our home study and paperwork were sent to the orphanage in Taiwan! We are waiting for the approval of our paperwork, and then we will be added to the waiting list. So to all of my adoptive families who I have prayed for during their waiting period, I will now know first hand what that waiting period looks like!
Last night I tried making my first Asian meal. It was basil curry chicken with egg rolls. We have a woman in our church who was selling homemade egg rolls to fund her mission's trip, so those were not mine.  The meal turned out well. I think I could just live off of white rice! Next time I will need to add some naan with it.  I know that technically naan is Indian, but it is just so good with the curry flavor and rice!
Next I need to start learning Chinese! Thank you everyone for your support!

Taiwan... my heart breaks for your babies!

I was just doing some research for one of my adoptive families regarding Taiwan. As I was doing some research I came across some astounding facts and figures.
In 2010, approximately 166,000 babies were born in Taiwan... one of the lowest per-capita birth rates in the world. . In contrast, the Taiwanese director-general of the Bureau of Health Promotion stated that roughly 240,000 legal abortions are performed each year. So that number doesn't even include the number of abortions that are not performed in a clinic or hospital. Statistics state that 90 percent of unmarried women who become pregnant will abort their child. This just breaks my heart!
As most of you know, the Taiwanese adoption laws were recently changed this year. One of the changes that was made was for a larger emphasis on domestic adoptions in Taiwan, and the government of Taiwan is doing their best to change the adoption system in Taiwan to encourage Taiwanese families to adopt. I am so encouraged to know that the government is trying to promote adoption, and advocate for these children.
I am so grateful for the orphanage that we are adopting from, The Home of God's Love, and the amazing work they are doing to encourage adoption and finding homes for children!
As you go about your day today, please take a moment to pray for the country of Taiwan, and as you do please also pray for our child's birthmother, wherever she is, and the difficult decision that she is making on whether or not to abort her child. God bless her for the amazing woman that she is!

Cutest kids ever!!!

So it's one of those days again... where I just like to look at pictures of Taiwanese children and dream about my own child and what they will look like, what sports they will enjoy, what their favorite bedtime story will be, etc. Enjoy!!

What is that smell?...

It's the smell of us being one step closer to bringing home our baby!! And you can help!

Come to the Gocke home for an afternoon of fun, food, and good smells! Emily Wells will be selling Scentsy, and she is donating her proceeds to our adoption process! Get some Christmas or personal shopping done, with the proceeds going to support our adoption of Hokey Pokey Gocke from Taiwan!

The party will be on October 13th from 2:00-4:00 pm. The party is an open house style, so feel free to stop by anytime! There will be some great Italian favors for you to take home with you! 

Men... it might sound girly, but stop by and pick your wife, mom, sister out a nice gift for Christmas... she'll love it

. And I'll have good food for you to eat too!

If you can't make the party (OR IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN THE AREA), you can go to Emily Wells website, and order from her website. Just select the Hokey Pokey Gocke Fundraiser party, and the proceeds will still go to our adoption. Her website is:
http://emilywells.scentsy.us/

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mariagocke@yahoo.com or call at 217-898-1158.

Thank you everyone for your support and helping us bring home our little baby!