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!!!

"Pregnancy" Dream..

One of the things that I remember most about being pregnant is the crazy dreams! As this "pregnancy" gets further along I am finding so many similarities between physically carrying a baby and having a precious baby girl wedge her tiny self deeper in my heart from across the world! Things are running at top speed now. The adoption process is completely taken over my life. My poor kids. My POOR husband! I'm trying to balance everything perfectly but when Lee actually contemplated squeezing into one of Jacks undershirts this morning I knew that I needed to get a handle on a few things! So tomorrow..... I'll find Lee a white shirt of his very own and I'll continue planning OLIVIAFEST 2011!!!!!!! Details to follow on that very soon!

Okay, so how's this for a crazy dream?? I've been so consumed with the details of our fundraiser, including gathering donations for the silent auction that my brain is constantly in "fundraiser mode." Last night I had a dream that a friend of mine called and offered me her frozen embryos for our silent auction! I was so excited! "Those embryos will bring us 1000's" I said to Lee. He was quick to let me know that there was no way we were going to sell someone's babies! We got in a huge fight and I woke up. Kinda bummed, I wanted to see what happened. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!?!?!


Let's get my baby girl home so she can help her sister keep me young! Here's a small glimpse into how Miss Chloe Bea is keeping herself occupied while Mommy works her buns off to get her baby sister home!