A blog post just isn't enough....

On Saturday, I received an email that 7 week old sweet baby Levi Wion went home to be with Jesus after putting up an amazing fight. I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting this precious Angel or his parents yet but along with all my other Sisters, I welcomed Shanel into our Sisterhood and so looked forward to getting to know them. In Levi's 7 short weeks with Shanel and Joe he worked his magic! They realized very soon after his birth just how special they were and that they were hand picked by God to be his parents. I always take great comfort in the fact that God has a plan for each and everyone of us. Shanel and Joe are mourning the loss of Levi and I'm sure that they have even questioned God's plan for them, but their faith has completely taken over. They have heard the word of God and are embracing his plan in the most unbelievable way. They have decided to take all the love, peace and joy that Levi has given to them for the last 7 weeks and use it to become a voice for the Orphans of Reece's Rainbow. Already, in Levi's name, $200 in donations have been made to Olivia. Lee and I are humbled and honored that Olivia will be holding tightly onto a part of Levi as we carry her out of the lonely, dark room of her orphanage. In Shanel's words, Olivia will "blossom" in her beautiful new world with us and Levi will be there with her every single moment. Thank you Shanel and Joe for your courage and please know that we love you and you will always hold a very special place in our hearts!

Precious baby Levi you will live in the hearts of many forever...









This is a Facebook post that Shanel wrote shortly after Levi was called back home. We should ALL live our lives as selflessly as this beautiful family.. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to work hand in hand on their mission with God.

"I know Levi touched so many of you in such a profound way for the short time he was here on earth and I know everyone wants to help. There is an organization called Reece's Rainbow that I would like to tell you about.

They are a non-profit ministry dedicated to promoting the international adoption of orphan children with Down syndrome and special needs. You see, in many other countries a baby with Down syndrome like Levi would have been put into an orphanage and left in a crib all day long with no one to love and hold him. When he turned 5 he would have been transferred to an institution for the mentally impaired. Reece's Rainbow finds these children and tries to find them a forever home. You can donate money into a child's fund which would help a family pay for adoption expenses. We did all we could to help Levi now maybe Levi's passing can help these other sweet babies. I believe children are like flowers. If you put them in a dark room and don't water them they wither and eventually die but, if you give them sunlight, water, food and love they bloom into a beautiful flower and I think this is especially true for babies with Down syndrome. They need even more help and encouragement and a little extra special help to achieve their full potential. I am making it my mission to spread the word about these sweet babies in honor of Levi. Please donate today. Every little bit helps. Thank you."

A sick little Chloe Bea :(

 Poor Chloe Bea is not having a great week:( High fevers getting all the way up to 106. She spent half the day Sunday in the Kaiser Urgent Care getting multiple tests. She has a very low platelet count and white blood cell counts. I will update as soon as we know more.. As soon as things calm down a bit here with baby Chloe I can't wait to tell you all about the amazing Bunco night that one of my Best friends, Stephanie put together! It was a truly magical night...

Quick Update on the Chloester!


As I recount the last 48 hours of my life I remember pretty much nothing but the fear. The fear that I felt when the Dr. called with Chloe's blood test results and she said the terrifying words "Chloe's platelet and white blood cell counts were severely low." The thoughts of leukemia briefly swept through my mind yesterday after we left the lab but I was able to continue on about my day and do my best to stay positive. When 8:00 came an went and still no phone call from the Dr. I was relieved thinking that no news was good news! Very soon after, the phone rang and Lee listened as the Dr. gave him the results. Last night was rough for me. I always go to the deepest darkest corners when things go bad. I already figured that we needed to get all the money from Olivia's adoption account and transfer it into her Reece's Rainbow account so another family will see that she has a nice start to her adoption funds and be encouraged to bring her home. I had my blog post all thought out in my head about how we needed to back out because we needed all the focus on Chloe. Leave it to my totally calm, wonderful husband to shut my insanity down! He told me to call on my Moms in the Sisterhood for advice because many of them most likely will know about all the crazy blood numbers that our special littles with their extra chromosomes can mean. That's exactly what I did and immediately I had a little peace. It wasn't until I spoke with the Dr. this morning that I started to feel confident that Chloe will be fine. We will be having more tests next week to compare the counts and we will go from there. Please continue to keep our baby girl in your prayers, she is a strong little Lulu and will be back to her bouncy, sassy self in no time!

Reece's Rainbow tutu and hairbow sets for Olivia... Get yours today!!!

The amazing Kris Huettemann from "Monkey Business" has offered to make and sell these beautiful Reece's Rainbow inspired tutu and hairbow sets and give ALL proceeds to Olivia! If your Princess just can't live without one now's your chance.. Kris is selling the set for $35 (shipping included). You can pay for them through my Chip In and I will arrange with Kris to have it shipped to you. Make sure after you pay for it you email me (herringtonbeth@comcast.net) and give me sizes and the address that you want it shipped to! Thank you so much for all of your continued support!

And for the record Kris makes the most beautiful hair accessories! They are all that Chloe wears and we all know that Chloe is NEVER without a hair coordinate! Thank you so much Kris you are truly a gift!!!

Moving right along!!!

I remember reading all of the adoption blogs and thinking to myself how relieved I was that it wasn't me going through all that stress. That it was so nice being comfy, snug in the safety of my bed with no worries of traveling to those "horrible" places. Crazy the difference a few months can make. Now I'm right in the thick of it all and I'm loving every single minute of it! The only thing I am having difficulty is waiting to hold my baby girl, to see what she looks like, to tell her how much we love her and especially to make up for all these lost months. Our Home Study will hopefully be complete in about four weeks and our Passports should be here around the same time. All we will need to do then is wait for the money and we can plan our first trip to Livvy's country. We are hoping for late September early October. Not bad right???

I want to make sure to let all you hopeful adoptive parents know that this process is so very simple. It really is. I don't know if our experience is just going smoother than most or if it's just that our lives is full of daily insanity anyway so this is simply "no big deal" for us. Please don't ever be discouraged to follow God's path that he cleared just for you. Our journey to Olivia is going to be a walk in the park compared to what would have become of her life if we never took that call!! Hang on a few more months Olivia, we're coming!!

We have had a great couple of days just hanging out together having some good old summer fun!!

Beautiful cousins!! Katie, Korntney, Grace and LeeAnn

Nothing like a family volleyball game!!! (Girls won by the way!!)

Go Abby girl!!!

LeeAnn serving...

There's a baby cousin missing :(

Chloe in her Reece's Rainbow tutu made by the amazing Kris from "Monkey Business" ( I can tell you where you can get yours and support Olivia's journey home at the same time.)

wooooo's the sweetest baby in the world??? Another amazing creation from "Monkey Business!"

Pool time with my girl!

my little daredevil!!!

She was falling asleep in the pool.

The Puffball...


























Happy Wednesday!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Husband and Daddy I know! We love you so much!

Little Bed Head!!

Even Olivia signed Daddy's card..Next year Baby Girl, you'll be here to celebrate your very first FATHER'S DAY! Next year you have your very own Daddy!

Please one more bite Daddy???

A Day In The Life Of Faith...

I wish that I could wear a badge some days that would say.... "Yea we're having another baby girl." When you're pregnant it provides you the honor to say, "Look at me, God has chosen me AGAIN as the vessel for yet another miracle." I loved every single second of vesselhood! This "pregnancy" is very different. It's bringing me closer to God than ever in my life. There are no reassuring compliments by strangers at Target. There's not a Dr. telling you that everything looks great and she will be here in a couple weeks. There is only a relationship with faith and sometimes that so doesn't seem like enough. I learn everyday to trust a little bit more in God's promise to me that what we are embarking on is right and that Olivia will in fact be here soon. Who needs Dr's or strangers at target? Not me! The last couple weeks have been awesome. The support and love that Lee and I have received from most everyone who has begun this journey with us has been all that we need to see clearly that this may very well be the most rewarding pregnancy yet! Rewarding only because it has brought us closer in our relationships with each other and with God, but most importantly it has, and continues to, give us FAITH..... And I'm telling you, once you realize that faith's all you'll need to survive, the morning sickness, stretchmarks and saggy boobs are all very distant memories. Have a great Father's Day!

Abby's creations with Livvy's bracelets..

Can't keep the girl out of the pool!!! Next year I hope we can find a float built for 2!!!

Got room on those beautiful shoulders for one more Sissy??

A beautiful night with beautiful people!

One of the Team Olivia's Captains! Love you Steph!!

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the whole wide world!!

Chloe loves her bike rides with Daddy!



HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Operation Olivia bracelets are here!!

In addition to Jack's awesome construction zone we've added another opportunity to bring Olivia one step closer to her new life! These are "Operation Olivia" bracelets and we are selling them for $2 each or 3 for $5. You can purchase them through our Chip In and for those of you who do not live close we are happy to put them in the mail! It makes me smile to think about all those arms swinging along about their day, each one of them belonging to a someone who loves Livvy Mae as much as we do! Make sure you let me know when you have ordered one so I can be sure to get all the information I need to get you your bracelet.

My email: herringtonbeth@comcast.net

We've hit a few bumps in the road but this morning I truly have a renewed faith in our mission. I'll share more in a later post. In the mean time keep the prayer chains going strong. We feel each and every one! Thank you again..

The House That Jack Built !!

Hi my name is Jack Herrington and I can't wait to be Olivia's big brother! I love building things out of Lego's. I usually don't build pink houses but this time I'm excited to! It makes me really sad that Olivia doesn't have a house to live in "I'm going to build her one." Will you help me? I picked out a pink Lego set in Walmart and I know I can build an awesome house brick by brick! With every $5 donation I will add another Lego brick to Livvy's house until all 420 pieces are gone. When it's built my Mom will take a picture and put it on this blog so you can see it. Thank you,

Love, Jack



Good job Jack! He sat next to me and told me exactly what he wanted to say. He started out typing it himself but I figured I'd better take over because Olivia's house may never get started at the rate he was going! I am so very proud of him for getting so excited about this. The girls are old enough to realize what it truly means when we talk about Olivia being an "orphan." Jack asked me the other day what being an orphan meant. It was an easy explanation for me... I said to him, "Jack, Olivia doesn't have a Mom and a Dad, she doesn't have Sisters or a Brother like you that love her." He understood and I knew that this was a perfect opportunity for Jack to get involved in bringing Olivia home in perfect "Jack" fashion! LEGOS!!!!! He absolutely loves the idea of building her a house. It was a little difficult to get him to agree with the whole Pink thing but he realized that The Halo Pelican ship wouldn't match her bedroom... I love this boy and we are going to have a blast with this!! So let's build this Baby Girl a home together!


Here's how it works: For every $5 donated Jack will pick out a Lego block,I will write your name on it hand it over to the construction worker himself and he will add it to Olivia's house! After you buy your block through our Chip In box on my blog, make sure you send me an email (herringtonbeth@comcast.net) or leave a comment on the blog so we can add you to the list of founders! Thank you all for your continued support and prayers they mean the world to us.

Meet your construction worker... Jack Herrington!!!