Our Christmas Miracle!

Of course the only picture I take over this holiday season is of the Sassy Chloe Bea showing off at Six Flags!!

 Well as the old year comes to an end and 2012 creeps closer by the minute I realize that in a few short weeks Lee and I will be on a plane headed to meet our baby girl.  We have a couple last minute things that have to be redone and approved with our paperwork but plan on having it all done by next week.  Nothing huge, we just hit a few bumps on this crazy, amazing adoption journey. and it set us back a few weeks.

We had an amazing Christmas and would you believe that not one picture was taken?  I felt horribly guilty about this until one of my awesome kids made me realize that last Sunday wasn't our Christmas.  Our Christmas will be celebrated when our family is complete :) We did however get our Christmas miracle yesterday in the form of 2 round trip BUSINESS CLASS tickets to our girl!!!!!! Let me just tell you that we had just came to the realization that we are definitely going to have to make 2 trips to Olivia's country.  We didn't have enough money for the second trip and somehow knew that God was working in ways that would amaze us.  I have to be honest, I was totally panicking.  Little did I know that a couple hundred miles away a wonderful Angel was answering my prayer! You know who you are and you are responsible for laying down that last piece of the bridge that kept us from bringing Olivia home!  We are forever grateful and will never forget what you have done for us.  I just can't bring myself to say "Thank You" because there is no way it could even come close to touching on how blessed Lee and I feel!  I will save it for when you get your first hug from Olivia and be comforted in knowing that this is all the Thanks you will ever need:) As one Mama to another, I love you and will think of you everyday for literally being Olivia's ticket to FREEDOM!  Here's what this Heaven sent Angel said when I tried my best to come up with the words to express my gratitude: 

I can't do too much to help you on your journey, but will do what I can!  My favorite phrase has always been "Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness"

Happy New Year!

Okay, I need to translate this because it's just too darn sweet not to share with the world:

"Here's what's happening in my life!  My family is adopting a baby girl named Olivia.  Olivia lives in an orphanage Eastern Europe.  Olivia's family didn't want her because she has Down syndrome.  I am very excited for Olivia to come home.  My little sister Chloe has Down syndrome and she is the coolest baby ever!  I can't wait to meet Olivia, even though it means that I will have 5 sisters!!!!!"

  

Notice in Jacks artwork "Olivia Airlines" is flying from her country to America.... It's tough to see through my tear stains:)

I'm in love with this boy!

I must say that this was one of my proudest parent moments.    I honestly know now that he gets it....   He understands that Olivia is his baby sister and she belongs home, playing Legos and Nerf gun tag with him! He has the compassion in his huge 9 year old heart that most adults will never know in their entire lives.  Those of you who aren't lucky enough to know Jack  in person, let me just say he is ALL BOY!  He plays ice hockey, falls out of 7 foot trees and continues playing with an arm that's broken in two places, lives for Nerf gun battles that would put the highest ranking snipers to shame, drives his teachers insane (God bless them) and wouldn't be caught DEAD showing  his soft side (unless there is cash involved).  Yes, I have been known to bribe him for some snuggles and I'm totally okay with that!  However, the little man has morphed into someone that I almost don't recognize.  Little miss Chloe Bea has surly achieved the unimaginable.  She has brought out Jack's inner lovable side.  Chloe hung the moon in Jack's world.  I'm telling you, the circulation is completely cut off from her finger because  he is so wrapped around it!  Poor guy won't stand a chance when Olivia gets here:)   Don't get me wrong,  I so enjoy the new improved sweet boy that is actually sleeping right next to me as I write this! It wasn't that long ago when Jack asked me, "Mom, what is an orphan?"  It didn't take much explanation and within hours the ground broke for "The House That Jack Built"   He listened! He understood! He cares and he is going to make a huge difference in the world, especially in the life of a tiny orphan, and for that I feel fulfilled.

Look at this beautiful boy and the most important girl in the world to him! 

We are moving along in this insanity known as the "Dossier" (the mounds and mounds of paperwork that goes to Olivia's country) and it has proven itself to be the royal pain in the bum that I was warned about.  We are determined to have it completed and sent off to Eastern Europe before Christmas which means we are on track for a second honeymoon across the world in late January!  Please keep us in your prayers..

Abby's Links For Livvy are still available so please consider purchasing some and helping her make a dent in the remaining $4000 we still need to be fully funded.  She is selling them for $1 a link. She will write your name on the link and connect it to make a beautiful Christmas decoration for Olivia to see when she walks through the door to her HOME for the first time!!!!  Remember....  Christmas will remain up in the Herrington household until Olivia gets home and we can celebrate this glorious day together as a complete family!  Thank you for all your love and prayers.

My beautiful babies!

Me and my Chloe Bea!

My girls!

Be still my heart!!

Christmas x 2!!!!

Merry Christmas Baby Girl

We love you!

 

   

 As Christmas creeps closer I am getting more and more excited.  I'm sad that Olivia will spend her first Christmas without us but the kids came up with the perfect solution!  Christmas in the Herrington house will come twice this year!  Our tree will remain up and decorated (the artificial one), our stockings will be left hanging by the chimney and the Christmas music will continue to blast!  Of course, the outside decorations will have to come down:( Only because of the darn home owner rules!!  If it was up to me, the entire street would be lit up until the day we are able to celebrate Christmas with our new baby girl!   Who isn't just a little sad on Christmas day when all the excitement of the day is over?  How many of us yearn for just a few more minutes of watching our children rip through their gifts?  This year, when we close our eyes on Christmas night with our full bellies and our new Christmas jammies on, each one of us will go to bed with the vision of another Christmas morning just right around the corner! An even sweeter celebration because not only will we celebrate the birth of our savior again but we will be enjoying one of the most amazing gifts EVER given to us, our Angel Olivia and Christmas wouldn't be the same without her.   We're coming Livvy and know that your first Christmas will go down in history even if it is in February:) 

We are working hard on our dossier and hope to have it completed by the end of the month.  We have found the most wonderful Notary that has offered to donate all of her services.  This donation will save us a ton of money!

Lee and I sat down last week and started really planning out the logistics of our travel to Olivia's country and we are fairly certain that we will have to make 2 (maybe 3) trips.  A family that just completed their adoption in Olivia's orphanage spent a total of 34 days in country and we just can't leave our kids for that long..  We've figured we need to raise about $4000 more  in order to make that 2nd and/or 3rd trip.  It's hard to think about fundraising again.  It was such a relief when I thought all Olivia's ransom was behind us.  I was panicked at first but all I had to do was remember where we were just a few short months ago and I realized that $4000 was nothing more than a speck of dirt on that huge mountain that we have all worked so hard to climb over!

My sweet Abby was so excited when she heard us talking about needing to raise more money.  She has wanted to have her very own fundraiser to raise money for Olivia since the very beginning.  Jack would have no part of allowing her to help with Olivia's Lego house and I promised her that we would come up with something she could do.  So here it is:

Abby is going to make a paper Christmas garland using cut strips of Christmas paper!  She will sell each strip for $1 and write the name of the person who bought it right on the strip before she links it.  She wants to see how long she can make the garland.  She hopes that it will eventually be long enough to surround the whole house!   I will have this up on my fundraising page by the end of today.  Abby wants to write all the details herself!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of all the goings on in our happy house:)

                                 

Chloe in group therapy showing Crew some Christmas love:)

My beautiful Pumpkin!

My favorite shoppers!

Chloe and Crew earlier in the summer!

Santa buns!!!  Of course Chloe has holiday diapers!

    

Happy Saturday:)

Here is some  video that was sent to me along with the new pictures of Olivia last weekend and I just realized that I forgot to post it here!!! Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!  The blanket Olivia is holing is one that I sent along with the Gibsons for her and the picture that the Nanny is showing her is of our family:)

My Sister Livvy Mae!!!

My name is Abby Herrington I am 11 years old. I thought it might be fun to be a "Guest speaker" on my mom's blog. Last week my mom told me that we are going to see a new picture of Olivia,i was so excited!I laid in bed that night and thought of what she might look like now. When I saw the new picture I was really happy! She was so pretty! I can finally say I have seen a baby that's cuter than Chloe:)! My mom showed Chloe a video of Olivia and Chloe was smiling and clapping liked she knew who it was! I love her so much and cant wait wait to meet my new baby sister Livvy Mae.

What A Beautiful Gift Today...

Woke up this morning to the greatest gift! Some new pictures of our sweet girl!!

We are absolutely in love and feel so blessed today.. The beautiful Gibson family are the ones that fought tooth and nail to find Olivia and for that, Lee and I will be forever grateful. Ashley was able to hold my sweet baby girl and whisper in her ear that she is the most beautiful gift, loved by God and sent from Heaven! She also told her that her Mama and Daddy love her so much and will be there soon to bring her home. Ashley and Jake, we love you guys and can't wait to see you home with that amazing little boy!! Please hop over to Ashley's blog, www.HomeIsWhereItsAt.blogspot.com, and follow their awesome journey! The changes in Carter in just a couple of weeks are unbelievable! What a difference the love of your very own Mommy and Daddy makes!

An Amazing Night!!

On Friday night all my prayers were answered and all my dreams came true! Oliviafest took on a life of its own and became what will go down in history as the most memorable night of my life! I'm still trying to put into words the incredible love and support that everyone up high on that hill felt that night! It was an awesome night! I will blog more about it as soon as I come down off the high that I'm on:)

We can safely say that money no longer blocks our path to rescue our baby girl from that orphanage! She will be coming home soon! We haven't combined all the totals of the night yet but we are confident that it will exceed $13,000. Seems so simple to say that God is so good but last Friday night, HE WAS AWESOME!!!! He has always been so present there with us, not just Friday night but from the very moment Olivia's sweet face flashed on my computer screen 5 months ago. There is no doubt in our minds that Olivia belongs in our family and that God has big plans for us. We are positive (I think) that Olivia will be our one and only adoption but Lee and I have made a promise to each other and to God that we WILL continue his work. We are committed to these children and to Reece's Rainbow and have made it our mission to make a difference in the world!

Oliviafest will be a yearly event! Stay tuned for details:)

Here are a few pictures of the night. It started with a sunset like non other I had ever seen before. Someone pulled me outside and said to me that at this moment, with this amazing sunset, God had found a way to connect us with our baby girl across the ocean. I honestly felt it was as if he was lighting our path.

The sunset that started it all!

Beautiful katie and Kourtney!

Kylie, James and Chloe! Chloe was with a different person every time I saw her!! She was in Heaven!

The dining room!!

A few of my girls:) (and me)

The kitchen crew!!! The miracle workers of the night!

Mel and Lee!! Yes, my husband walked around all night with his accordion!!!

More dining room...

The auction tables!!

My amazing brother Dennis! He has quite a fan base after this night!

My awesome check in ladies. Thank you Christina and Leah!!

David and Melissa! Our dear friends that are adopting Aaron from Olivia's orphanage. Can't wait to share this journey with them!

My soda/water bar crew! They had the hardest job but they never left their post! Thank you Kalie, Leeanna, Abby, Gabby, Jack and Joe!

Joey and our sweet Jack:) By the looks on these faces, I'm not sure exactly what they did all night. They were supposed to help in the soda bar all night but I'm have my doubts:)

Last, but so not least... My sisters, the many beautiful ladies in my Moms group. Without these amazing women in my life I would never have the courage to embark on this awesome journey. I love every single one of you and cannot wait to see Olivia in each one of your arms at the airport the night we come home!!!!

As you all can see it was a night not soon forgotten. Have a great week:)

Beth

Plugging Along...

I've been told by many of you that I need to be a little more consistent with my blogging. With Oliviafest planning in full swing, it's a miracle that I remember who I am most of the time!

This is such an exciting time for us and can tell you honestly that I am relishing in each moment of this whole process. Yes, it's extremely stressful at times and the feelings of helplessness can be very hard on my heart but I know that Olivia feels our love,and she is patiently waiting for us.

Our blessings come daily, sometimes it's as simple as hearing a song (usually on KLOVE) but mostly, we are blessed by the support and love of "Our Village". After Oliviafest, I can't wait to sit down and open my "blessing box". My blessing box is a big shoebox (used to be small but we've been blessesd way more than a striderite shoebox can hold) that I keep all the evidence of the outrageously generous people that are fighting with all they have to get our Angel girl home with us. The most amazing thing to me is that a majority of these people have never even met us yet they have a lemonade stand, or a school dance, or they hold bake sales, car washes, sell tutu's, hair bows and even an entire week long run of the musical Fiddler On The Roof!! All for a Baby Girl that they have seen only one tiny picture of. On top of all this we have received numerous monetary donations from Saintly souls that we used to refer to as strangers:) Funny how everything changes when your heart is wide open,it's awesome what a little FAITH can do...

Anyway..... I'll try not to be a stranger but I won't make promises... We will be having our Social Worker visits any day now and then onto the final stages of our paperwork!!!!! Getting closer. Please pray for great success with our fundraiser, I'm secretly freaking out (Shhhhhhhh..... don't tell anyone) Enjoy a few pictures....

Have a great weekend!!

My Girl...

Today I received a couple new pictures of Olivia taken on the same day as her profile picture. At first I was over the moon excited to have more pictures to stare at but after a while, the excitement faded and I found myself really sad. Especially after I pondered this one...

I have been staring into Olivia's sweet almond shaped eyes since May 10th and I knew from the very first time that I saw her that she had been crying before her picture was taken. I was so right.. We're coming baby girl! Sadly, she most likely doesn't cry much anymore from her prison cell I mean crib, because honestly, it doesn't bring her any comfort or even meet the simplest of her needs. This breaks my heart.. When Chloe cries she literally has 6 people physically fighting as they run down the hallway to be the first one through her door. The winner truly feels like they have won the Boston Marathon and have in their arms the biggest most amazing trophy in the universe! That my friends, is how each and every child's cry should be answered. Livvy Mae, when you come home my precious girl, you won't know what hit you! You will have people camping outside your bedroom door waiting to hear any teenie noise. This will justify yet another family triathlon, only to be able to stand tall on that pedestal and proudly hold their gold medal! So exercise those lungs sweet girl because they will get you far in your new home!

Here's a few more pictures of My Girl:

We are in full Oliviafest planning mode so get your tickets, there going fast! Go to our fundraising page for more details...

Happy Saturday!

No more tolerance!!

During these last couple months, Lee and I have been so humbled by the love and support that we have received from our family and friends. What has surprised us the most is the outpouring of generosity and compassion that we have been blessed with by complete strangers. As with everything in the world there are a selected few that for some reason or another think that what we are doing is complete insanity. We have heard things like, "You are going to destroy the lives of your other children." Do these Children look to you like their lives are suffering because they having a baby sister with Down syndrome?

Just sayin!

Our children have more joy, love, peace and compassion filling their souls BECAUSE of "THE BURDEN"(yes, if you can imagine, I have actually had more than one person use that word to describe Chloe) than most adults will ever even come close to knowing in their lifetime. They honestly understand the lifelong responsibility that they have to Chloe and Olivia and they actually fight over who gets them for Christmas when Lee and I are too old to decorate the tree! Nice right? Not one day goes by that each one of the kids,(yes even Jack)doesn't ask when Olivia is coming home. They are the most wonderful kids and I take such inspiration from being their Mom! Not once have they complained and I've been so consumed with this whole process that their lives are literally turned upside down... All they care about is getting their baby sister home. It's so evident that they are all going to grow up and do great things for the world and I do believe that is a direct result of the "The Burdens" that they will so lovingly carry on their shoulders. I am so proud of them and I am so unbelievably excited to be a witness of the grand futures that they have in store!

Each passing day gets harder for me. Olivia is now 7 months old and she has never been rocked to sleep, she has never been told that she is loved beyond her wildest dreams, she's never been to a volleyball game and have the entire bleachers under her spell. I could go on and on and on believe me! These are all part of Chloe's daily life and she will feel equally as blessed when she can share her "All Star" moments with her sister.

We are getting closer by the day! We have raised over $8000 to date and our Home Study is almost complete. We are just waiting for the pool fence:) All of our efforts are now going towards our big fundraiser on October 14th. It's Oliviafest 2011! All the details will be up soon on our fundraising page. We are hoping that this night will completely fund the rest of Olivia's ransom!

I'm not one to show horrifying pictures to gain approval for what we are doing but these are a few that I need to share. I need to be honest with myself and not worry about offending people in the process. I have found myself having no tolerance individuals who question our mission. We are not asking anyone to understand why, but how dare someone interfere with saving the life of a child?!?! How can you live with yourselves? Just please know that we don't want your opinion. I'm saying this only because things are brewing in my head and this is my outlet. I'm not speaking to any one person but to the general disapproving public. It makes me so sad to think that everyone can't see the world through the eyes of children but I am so thankful that my glasses are firmly in place and sparkling clean and I owe that to my beautiful babies, Katie, LeeAnn. Abby, Jack and Chloe Bea. I love you all so much! These pictures are of a family over in Eastern Europe now meeting their baby girl for the first time. I want you people that tell us that we're crazy and let someone else save the world to put up a good fight after seeing these!

This is real! This is what happens to these babies just because they are born with Down syndrome, and this is what would have become of Olivia had Lee and I been too afraid of "disrupting" our perfect life!

Love to you all..

Unanswered Prayers

There is a song by the one and only Garth Brooks called "Unanswered Prayers." I have always loved this song, it has brought tears to my eyes every single time I hear it. The lyrics always made me think about how awesome my life is and how fortunate that God placed Lee and I on that same path many years ago and made it so we would eventually bump right into each other, fall in love and have, well.... 1000 kids!

Folding laundry yesterday, I was watching Oprah (okay, so I wasn't folding laundry) but I was watching Oprah and Garth brooks was on, and I LOVE Garth so I took it as a sign that I could take a break from life and veg for a minute... Anyway he sang my favorite song, Unanswered Prayers, and at that moment, laying on the floor with my beautiful, sweet, perfect baby girl, it took on a whole new meaning for me! Each pregnancy of mine I prayed every day for God to take care of me and the precious life growing inside me. It was no different with Chloe. I prayed all the way to the hospital on the day she was born, "Please Lord, watch over me and my baby girl. Keep us safe, healthy and happy." As I look back now, I can't help but feeling that the prayers I said had a selfish, underlying tone... Just like many pregnant Moms, I was secretly praying that my baby be "perfect". I think, actually, I may have specifically ask God to make Chloe not have Down syndrome. (Boy, those were words were very hard to write.) Just think, if God had answered my prayers, Chloe wouldn't be here today and sadly the world would have literately missed out on 1 of God's largest blessings! So I thank you Lord (and Garth)for the gift of my UNANSWERED PRAYER:)


Here is the song. Make sure you listen closely to the words in the chorus...


http://www.myspace.com/music/play




A few weeks ago we were asked by Joe and Jenny Krack of Stageright Productions to be the honored guests at "Olivia Night" for the wonderful performance of Fiddler On The Roof! Another humbling experience for us along this journey of a lifetime! $1000 was raised for Olivia by these amazing children and their friends and families. We will be forever grateful! I will leave you with a few pictures that we took on Olivia Night at Fiddler On The Roof! And remember....... be careful what you pray for!

How's this for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

Just a few of the elite members of "Team Olivia"

This is what the beautiful cast and crew of Fiddler On The Roof worked on all day for Olivia! This pot had $1000 in it at the end of the night!!!