Lucky....

As I reflect on the past 3 months of our journey to Olivia I can explain it in one amazingly simple word... Lucky!

I received an email yesterday from a very dear friend of mine. There is truly no need for any type of an explanation because it speaks volumes all by itself!!

Dear Beth,

Last Saturday night I took Peyton to his 1st Giants game. As you know the ball park is over a 100 miles away and the trip afforded me some time to talk to my son with no distractions. We spoke about many things during this time but one topic he kept bringing up was how much fun he had at your yard sale and how much he was looking forward to meeting Baby Olivia for the first time. He said that she was a lucky girl to be “inheriting” such a great family.

The word lucky caught my attention immediately. When I tried to explain to Peyton what Olivia’s current situation was and how most people wouldn’t define her as lucky, he immediately objected. He stated (and I am paraphrasing the words of an 8 year old) that she has hope and a family that is willing to do anything and everything to bring her home. That makes her lucky.

I almost drove through the Bay Bridge toll booth without paying my toll. My 8 year old son just opened my eyes and made me see the situation as it really is.

When I first heard about your plans to adopt another child I was less than enthusiastic. In fact I thought you were insane. I thought you had enough on your plate to keep you occupied for the next 30 years.

I was wrong. I was very wrong. Peyton made me see it and now I am a believer. You are not only going to save this young girls life, you are going to change other lives in a very positive and meaningful way. The impact that this adoption will have is immeasurable.

As you know, the McDonalds have had a rough couple of years. We do not have a lot to offer at his time (besides prayers) but there is something we can do. I am going to to be running the CIM (California International Marathon) again this year. I was looking for a cause to support and as luck would have it, I have you. I will be asking for a small pledge from family and friends for every mile I run. The goal of the McDonalds is to raise $300.00 for Operation Olivia. It is not much but I was hoping it could help with a few groceries.

You are a good person and you are doing a great thing. Keep focused on the prize at hand and everything else will take care of itself. Remember, you are changing lives and minds one person at a time. I can attest to that personally.


Sincerely,

Patrick

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Can’t Loose.




We do feel Lucky..... So incredibly lucky... We have the best friends and family, the most AMAZING GOD and the support of an Army behind us. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can stop us from getting to our baby girl now!!

This past weekend we had a yard sale for "Operation Olivia." Paula and I were almost in tears when we opened her garage door and piles of stuff literally fell on us! We quickly figured out that maybe we should have been a tad more organized before accepting donations from 15 families :) It wasn't even 10 minutes later and there were about 20 people knee deep in bags and boxes helping us. I wasn't much help due to the fact that I couldn't keep my emotions in check! When I stopped and looked around at all my friends (new and old) sweating in the 100 degree Sacramento heat all for a tiny Baby Girl across the world that none of us has ever met, I fell apart.. I apologized over and over again and profusely thanked every single person there and the universal response was "We wouldn't want to be anywhere else!" I love you all with all my heart and I promise that the gift at the end of this "Rainbow" will be worth every bead of sweat!!
Thank you: Paula, Shanel, Lisa, Stacey, Carrie, Mary, April, Traci, Jenica, Colleen, Steph M, Steph B, and everyone else that I'm forgetting to mention!!!! There were honestly so many that worked so hard to make this sale the huge success that it was.. Ready for the grand total..... $1273.18... (Don't ask me where the .18 came from.) Here are a few pictures from the sale:



The bargain of the day for sure!!!!

Auntie Paula at our last donation pick up!! We were the Beverly Hillbillies!

Loved seeing this at the end of people's driveways!

Operation Olivia sign that will be at every event until the day she comes home!

Set up crew!

Steph and Chloe smooching!!

Steph Myers and Chloe taking a tiny yard sale snooze!!

The tired lemonade crew!!!!


Here's the result of all the hard work that went into a great weekend:

Heaven Sent.....

Earlier today, in the peaceful morning hours I slipped into Chloe's room to see if she changed overnight :) As I lay on the extra bed in her room, (right where Olivia's crib will be) I listened to her breathe and even heard a tiny dreamland giggle, it was glorious! I thought about Chloe's Birthday party and how this precious baby girl has changed so many lives in her 12 months on this earth. I was told by a complete stranger in Target that Chloe, "Oozes peace from straight from Heaven and that looking into her beautiful blue eyes allows one to see into the soul of the Holy Spirit." I will never forget that moment!

She is HEAVEN ON EARTH!












,

Her Birthday party was the perfect celebration of her first year!

She has brought lives back together!

She has made endless people smile!

She has given so many of us comfort in knowing that faith in our amazing God makes anything possible!








Most importantly...

Chloe has saved a life!











Our Home Study will be complete in a few weeks and we have all of you to thank for that!! I have a feeling that our journey to Olivia will move quickly and we need to be there, ready to get on that plane!! Please continue to share our blog and most importantly PLEASE pray that we continue to raise the funds that we need to rescue our baby girl from her lonely crib..


Here's a few more pictures of Chloe's first birthday... Olivia's First Birthday is in Feburary and what a celebration that will be!!!!

Uncle Dennis

Auntie Jocelyne!!

What am I supposed to do with this??

Yummy.......

This is quite possibly the best day EVER!!!!!

Time for an after cake swim!!

Thanks for cleaning me up Timmy!!

Thank you God for giving me the best family a girl could ask for!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Check out our Fundraising page!

Check out Punky Jane jewelry!! FREE shipping until July, 24th and Sandy is giving a nice percentage to Olivia!

Happy Birthday sweet Chloe Bea!!!

Hard to imagine how our lives have changed in just 365 days! Chloe Bea you have opened up new worlds for us and we will be forever grateful! You have brought families together, friends closer and made the hearts of so many soar! You are truly Heavens most perfect creation and we thank God every single day for trusting us with one of his most precious Angels! Happy Birthday Sweet Princess Chloe Bea! We love you more than any of us thought was possible!

Here is a slideshow of Chloe's first
year, from the very beginning to late last night, when I tiptoed into her room, and snapped a picture of beautiful sleeping self! She partied VERY hard all day long! It is very lengthy due to the crazy numbers of pictures that we all have taken of her. I just couldn't pick so I just added a longer song! Enjoy...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The 4Th!!

We had a fantastic 4th of July! Spent it with my beautiful Sister In Law, Jocelyne, my brother Chris and their awesome kids at their house in Lake Tahoe. There is nothing like celebrating our freedom in one of the most spectacular places on Earth surrounded by people you love! There was however some empty seats in the car on this trip. Abby and LeeAnn stayed home with friends and helped to take care of the dogs and going through the pictures I realize how much I missed them :(

Is this not the sweetest face?

Chloe was the best sparkler of the day for sure! "She brightens the day of everyone she meets!" Is what a women told us as she was walked by while we were taking this picture..

She's holding a Livvy Mae bracelet.. Very soon she will be holding Olivia's hand!

Cousin Timmy giving Katie a ride out to the boat!

Auntie Jocelyne and her Goddaughter. Love how they are looking at each other!

The bathing beauty taking her afternoon nap!

Jack and Dad out for a ride looking for Tessie, (the lake monster Jack read about)

Beautiful Katie!!

Jack decided her wanted to go "Tessie" hunting without Dad!

Getting ready to go out on the boat. Uncle Chris wouldn't let Chloe come.

Chloe did get her boat ride after all!

Freezing boy! He would have stayed in the lake all day if we'd let him!

Borrowing Auntie Joc's hat!

Love this shot!

Dad giving the board a try!

It was a very cold try!! Poor Daddy..



Thank you for all the prayers for Chloe! She is feeling much better and her blood work came back perfect!!


Hope you all had a fantastic holiday!!

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!