A New Baby Girl in the Family!!!

Well, she's not actually a baby.

She is really 5 yrs old......



Isn't she pretty??

Her name is Lola!!

...she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair, and her dress cut down to...

Well, you get the point. :))

Ha Ha!! She's not really a showgirl.

But she's a pretty little paint, isn't she?

She is Daniel's horse.

And he has always wanted a paint horse.



So he is pretty excited she's finally here.


It's always fun to welcome a new member of the family!! :))

Prayer Request Update

Just wanted to post a quick update. Thank you to everyone who prayed for the precious baby girl I posted about yesterday. She has made it through her surgery and is doing very well so far! (Sorry, at this time I cannot mention her name).

Please continue to pray for her. Please pray that there will be no complications and that she will have a very speedy recovery! And also for peace and strength for her parents.

God is good....All the time!!

Have a great weekend everyone! :))

Prayer Request

I have a special prayer request. I know there are some awesome prayer warriors out there, especially when it comes to praying for children with Down syndrome and other special needs. I'm just hoping some will come across my blog and take a few minutes to pray for a special little one.

There is a very sweet little baby girl who just happens to be blessed with that extra chromosome and who is about to have open heart surgery tomorrow. I do not know all the details, but it is more than a "typical" VSD or ASD repair. All I really know is that it is a pretty significant heart defect. She is only 3 months old and has had to wait a bit to grow a little bigger so that she could have this surgery.

I remember when Madalyn had her surgery. The night before surgery was rough. Having to do all those pre-surgery things, plus not knowing what the outcome would be... Then when we got there, it was sooooo hard to let her go. Handing her off to these people knowing what they were going to do to her. (Not in a bad way, cause what they did was great!) They fixed her heart and that was wonderful.

I can say that now. But at the time, it was terrifying to think of what they were going to do to her little body and to not know if I would actually get her back in my arms again. Probably the scariest thing our family has ever had to do!



Right before they took my little ladybug - Nov 2009
Hanging on tight...




Anyway, would you please take a few moments to pray for this young family and their precious baby girl?

Thank you so much and I will try to post any updates about how she is doing as soon as I get news!

Nellie

Meet Nellie!! She is living in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. She is 4 1/2 years old. She has red hair. She is in danger very soon of being transferred from her baby house to a mental institution.
Yes, she is only 4 1/2!!

This little girl has reminded me of our daughter Victoria ever since I saw her picture on RR. I'm not sure why... Maybe it is just because she is soooo precious and cute!!! :))

This is Victoria in her orphan clothes back in September when we were there in the same country that Nellie is in....

I really think Victoria would have been just like Nellie, if we had not gone and brought her home!!! If she had lived in her CRIB for another 2 years, like Nellie most likely has. Victoria pretty much stayed in her crib for all of her first 23 months, prior to us breaking her out of that orphanage and bringing her home. No joke. No exxageration!! She could not even sit up on her own or hold a toy in her hand.

That makes me really sad!!

Cause look at how far she has come since then!!!

Sitting perfectly now...



And crawling.

There is so much hope for these little ones!

ALL THEY NEED IS A FAMILY!!!

Anyway, I have the privilege and honor to get to be Nellie's 5/5/5 Warrior!! That means I get to advocate for her, help raise money towards her adoption, and hopefully help this beautiful child find her FOREVER FAMILY!!
What an awesome privilege and responsibility!
I have until July to raise $5000 toward her adoption fund. Won't you please help me raise money to save this child from life in an adult mental institution??

Nellie is a beautiful little girl! And it will truly be devastating for her to be moved....

Here's what the Reece's Rainbow listing says about her....

Nellie (6)
Girl, Born November 9, 2006

Nellie is about half done with the pictures! "Stop taking photos and come get me already!", she says. Beautiful carrot top red-head with bright blue eyes. She is already 4 now and facing the institution VERY SOON, hoping someone will consider Miss Nellie!

MORE PHOTOS AVAILABLE, can be adopted with any other children in orphanage 3 or 6.

$5008.80 is available towards the cost of my adoption

Opinions Needed

OK, so now I have a question for all of you adoptive families or just any families with multiple young children. A friend of mine had a great idea for a give-away fundraiser. She has a stroller just like the one pictured below, except it is a quad (for 4 kids).

We need your opinions!!! Would this be a good fundraiser to help raise money for orphans? It seems like most people are giving away IPADs and such. This is not an IPAD, but yet a very useful and practical item for a family with lots of littles! Like mine!! :)) Please leave a comment and let us know if you think this would be a good fundraising idea!!

Cute pic added to show actual children in the stroller.

Sorry,the children pictured are not included in the stroller give-away...

Miscellaneous and On the Farm....

It has been a very busy several weeks. Our family and especially the girls have had alot of stuff going on. Well child checks, IEP's, birthdays, anniversaries, othomology appts for all 3 girls plus the regular P/T and speech appointments. Today we had the early intervention 6 month review for Anna and Victoria. That was nice because I could really look back and see what the girls were doing 6 months ago. They have made such huge gains and it really makes me feel good to know they are doing so well (from an official standpoint). :))

Here's some pics of the bunch having fun with Monte (our horse). This particular evening we had a fun photo shoot and the girls enjoyed it as well!

Madalyn and Victoria

Monte


The boys and Monte

Mark Daniel

Samuel

Dillon and Anna

My sweet baby boy - Justin

Madalyn and Daddy fixin' to ride Monte

Madalyn is soooo loving this!!

She looks so tiny, but what a big girl....

Anna joining in on the fun!

I LOVE this picture!!!!

The Little Boys hanging together

Another personal fav!! Justin is such a big boy now!!!

Fun riding Monte

Daniel getting in some practice driving...

On the farm....

Who needs expensive Toys when you have Pajamas to play with?

A super cute video of Victoria and Anna. They are playing with Anna's pajama top before bedtime. Victoria is having a marvelous time and Anna is not totally sure what is so funny...

I love this video because Victoria's laugh is soooo cute and it shows how much progress she has made in the last 6 months. She is having so much fun and she is just as capable as any other 2 yr old of just grabbing a "toy" out of another kids hands... Woot Woot!!! Go Toria!!!

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