Steps to Sofi- Asya's story Part 3

When we contacted Children's House International to inquire about adoption, we were so amazed by the reception we got.  I emailed Nina Thompson, a caseworker at CHI, asking about little girls with Spina Bifida.  Within a few minutes I received an answer, and a couple of files.  Emails started flying back and forth as we fell in love with Asya immediately.  

One of the obstacles was the cost of adoption.
We were floored at the cost and we didn't have $35,000 laying around in a bank account.  We didn't think that should stop this journey, and when Nina told us we could fundraise for the adoption, we blindly started doing so.  We never thought twice, we knew we were supposed to be Asya's parents, and we knew somehow we would get the money. 

We had many fundraisers, many from our local businesses.  But by far the most successful fundraiser we had was our shoe drive.  One night, I was on google, searching for fundraising ideas when I saw the ANGEL BINS website.  I filled out a contact form, and the next day received a phone call from one of the account managers.  She told me we could collect shoes of all sorts as long as they were matching and without holes in the soles....and she said we needed to collect 5000 pairs to raise approximately $3500.  I thought that was a great idea, so we decided to do it.  We started the shoe drive on Januray 3, 2013.  We appealed to everyone on every form of social media.  We had drop off spots in every county we had friends in.  Our Spina Bifida community rallied and collected shoes.  And all of a sudden our little shoe drive took off.  You can read the blog post thanking everyone HERE.  It tells how many counties, states, and the grand total!  Once that shoe drive was completed, we knew that this adoption was being helped along my a divine hand.  

As we shared Asya's story, she became Sofi to us.  Sofi Rose. And in October of 2013, my dear friend and I traveled around the world to meet the beautiful girl with the soft brown eyes.

 Our lives would never be the same.

Stay tuned for Part 4

She has a story

 Dear Life,

When I met Sofi in that orphanage, and heard a small part of her story, I realized that this little girl was being saved for a reason.  Her story is just beginning, and yet, her story started at birth.  

Sofi was born to a young girl, 14 years of age.  She was born prematurely, and didn't breathe well right away.  She started having seizures that lasted for five days.  Finally, the doctors did surgery, and put a shunt in to relieve her hydrocephalus.   Sofi was five days old, and she had already fought hard to live.  And sadly, she went through all of that alone.  In a crib in the hospital, scared, barely alive, and alone.  There was no one there to make sure she was being cared for, no one to hold her little hand, no one to advocate for her, no one to hear her cries.  When she was finally stable, two weeks later, she was sent to a large orphanage.  It was there that she was left in a crib.  For two years.  She was only fed through a bottle.  Her body started to become stiff and rigid from not being taken out of the crib.  Not surprisingly, she never spoke, she never smiled, she barely existed.  That was her life for two years.  In December 2011, she was moved to the home she is at now.  There are only 7 children there, and they worked hard to change things for her.  Under their care, after many months,  she started to make a few sounds, and they taught her to eat mashed up food with a spoon. She started to smile.  

Early in 2012, Nina, our caseworker with Children's House International, first saw Sofi's file.  Below  is her part in Sofi's story.

"Before Sofi Rose became Sofi she was my Liliana.  Liliana was one of a group of children whose information I received in 2012 after I had visited Bulgaria.   Her foundation had heard my story of my love for my niece and nephew who were also born with neural tube defects.   They knew my eyes were open to the possibilities and potential these children had if they were loved and educated.  So, her foundation began requesting the profiles of children like Sofi that they knew I would fight to find families for.   Sofi's information was one page of medical information and a single photo.  Her orphanage was far from the capital and her information was grim.  She was a tiny girl who had not yet met any milestones.  Nobody visited her.   Nobody bothered to go see this small girl.  So with my one photo and my one page of information I decided this tiny girl deserved a fierce name.  In some cultures the weakest babies are given the names of saints as protection.   I decided to call Sofi Liliana as an alias.  Liliana Panitza was a heroine of great strength in Sofi's home country.  Liliana Panitza was instrumental on defying Hitler during WWII to save the lives of 50,000 Jews.  She was not in a position of great power.  She was just a girl inner strength an conviction.    What better name for Sofi,  who had nothing,  than to call her by the name of a woman who saved so many.  For over a year nobody inquired about Sofi.  I would speak to families about her and invariably the families would decline interest.  Until the day Tracy called.  I believe I sent her information on several girls.  Sofi's information was in the group. "

We received files of a few girls.  We scrolled  through the files,  looking for the pictures. Suddenly, we stopped, entranced by  this adorable baby, dressed in blue.  Her eyes were large, and so wonderfully brown.  Her eyes captured us, and there was no turning back.  

We started on this journey of adoption, having only read that one page of medical history, and seen one baby picture.

We prayed daily, praying for her health, for her to feel our love through the miles.  I would like to think that somehow, those prayers were answered.  When I traveled the many hours to meet Sofi, she was much different than I expected.  She was able to respond a little, she smiled a lot, and she had a few sounds.  The home she lives in is clean, bright, and decorated colorfully.  

It was while I was visiting her that I learned about Sofi's earlier years.  And I wept for her.  For the two year old that fought valiantly to live despite all of the odds stacked against her.  When I learned that she should have had medicals done yearly, but it appeared that those were never done, I realized that the other orphanage expected her to die.  

Almost like a physical blow, I felt so strongly that Sofi's story is huge.  That this amazing little girl has a huge story...and it's just starting.  That she survived the odds stacked against her because God held her in His hands, protected her, and then placed her in this home until we came along.  There is no other explanation.  

Sofi may never tell her story.  But we will.  We are so blessed to be able to do so.  And all because of you.  
We are so very close.  

She's almost home.  Her story is changing once again, but for the better.  She won't have to fight alone anymore.  She won't have to shed silent tears.  She will reach out and I will hold her hand. 

 She will laugh and we will laugh with her.  Her joy will be our joy.  Her joy will be your joy too.  

If you have wondered why we fight so hard to bring her here, why we continue to come up with all these crazy fundraisers, now you know.  She fought harder than we ever will, and she fought alone.  We are not alone, we have an army.  An army of wonderful, loving people.  An army to bring home a girl. 
You are in our army.

Tell me about Sofi

Dear Life,

As I visited Sofi every day, my sweet husband (who stayed home to keep the home fires burning and make sure the kids weren't burning the home down) asked me how Sofi was.  He asked me what she was like.  We really didn't have a lot of time to talk, so I couldn't really explain it to him in great detail. You see, when I was visiting Sofi, I was in the future as Keoni said.  With the time change, I was a half a day ahead of my family.  Monday morning was Sunday night to them.  It was funny to the kids when I would tell them all about the "future".  Ha...the one time I was a fortune teller!  Anyway, with the time change, we could only communicate early in the morning for me (which was night for him) and in the evening for me (which was morning for him).  But with the business of visiting a certain someone twice daily, and the business of taking care of five boys, we really didn't get to communicate a lot.  I did get some great messages from MyApp from Kumaka.  He figured out how to send me voice messages....so he sent me twenty at a time.  Every. Single. Day.  So cute.  Because of the very brief communications, I never completely explained to Stuart (until I came home) what Sofi was like.  I would like to tell you all a little about Sofi. 

What I knew from reading her medical reports was very factual, and minimal.  I knew she was premature.  I knew she has strabismus (a disorder in which the two eyes do not line up in the same direction and therefore do not look at the same object at the same time), I knew she had hydrocephalus, I knew she had a seizure at birth, I knew she had occipital meningocele.  I knew she hadn't smiled, talked, eaten whole foods, crawled or walked, and I knew she was not fond of bathing, dressing, and being in her crib.  I knew she didn't really play much with other children and I knew she liked to get attention from adults.  I knew that for 2 1/2 years of her life, she lived in a crib.  Her body became emaciated, and her muscles became stiff.  She never knew what the sun looked like, and she never felt loving hands holding her.  She was never given the opportunity to explore, to learn and grow as a baby should.  She learned to be silent because no one would hear her cries.  What I knew about her was words on paper.  One dimensional. 

I really didn't know what to think as I contemplated visiting her.  I expected a child that couldn't communicate, couldn't understand anything, couldn't move, and didn't have much emotion.  

I was beyond wrong.  This child is like the brightest star you see in the sky at night.  She shines so brightly despite the dark days she had.  From the moment she was brought into the room we were in, my heart was captured.  She responded to her name, most of the time with a huge smile.  She loved being held and allowed me to hold her right away.  (I expected her to not want me to touch her because I was a new person...but it did not matter to her.  It almost felt like she knew who I was somehow.) 

 I showered her face with kisses for the whole week.  I am sure she's never been kissed that many times in her life.  

I held her as much as I possibly could and I would play  with the curls in her hair and gaze at the longest eyelashes you have ever seen.  I talked to her, I told her about her daddy and her brothers.  I let her listen to Stuart's voice and Kumaka's voice and she literally stopped in her tracks and listened intently.  After their voices stopped, her face lit up with the biggest smile.  I also put music on for her, and discovered that my girl LOVES music.  It makes her giggle.  Yes....she giggles even.  When she is really happy she coo's and when you copy her sounds she smiles as big as possible.  Although she struggles with eating, she loves food.  The orphanage mashes up regular food and then every day I would feed her while I was there.  The consistency was much like oatmeal with different veggies or meat in it.   I would have to push her tongue down with the spoon and then angle the food so it would go down her throat.  She definitely needs feeding therapy.  She doesn't look at one thing for very long, but there were times that a caught her taking a glimpse at me.  Those moments were life altering....and when she purposefully put her arm on mine and rubbed my arm back and forth I knew that she knew somehow that we belong together.  

By the end of the week, as I was holding her (and holding back my tears), she put her head down and gave my hand an open mouth kiss (the way babies kiss) and repeated that motion about five times.  She struggles to make her body do what she wants it to do, but those small moments when she is able to is like a victory to me.  When I put her on the blanket, she would move her body side to side, trying desperately to roll over.  She's not quite there, but once she's home, she will learn to roll all over the place.  

I miss holding her.  I miss the surprises I had each day, as I learned something new about her every time I visited her. 

 I miss kissing her sweet cheek, and watching her face light up with a smile.  I miss her hands, her sweet tiny hands.  I miss being around her...and feeling the strong spirit that she has despite her surroundings.  I miss her.  

Surprisingly, the final paperwork is moving along faster than expected.  We are awaiting a signature and a court date.   When we get our signature, court is usually a couple of weeks after that.  Once we go to court, and the judge rules that she is our daughter, we can go bring her home approximately five weeks later.  SOFI MIGHT COME HOME BY CHRISTMAS.  

There is a catch.  It's a small catch.  This is where I plead to all of you.  As you contemplate all you are thankful for, as you think of your family, your home, your parents, your children, all that you hold dear, think of Sofi.  Please, I beg of you, think of Sofi.  Remember all I've shared with you.  Know how very grateful we are as a family that you all have brought us to this point.  Know how amazed we are at the sheer number of people that are a part of this little girl's story.  Her story is huge.  She is here for a reason.  She is supposed to come to our family.  I did the math when I wrote my last blog post.  If each person who reads this donates $10.00, we would raise $3500.  That is over half of what we owe for our final fees.  THAT IS VITAL.  We cannot go to court without those fees being paid.  I am pleading with you all, know that as we tighten up our belts, consider donating what you can.  $5, $10, it all counts.  IT ALL MAKES A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HER COMING TO HER FAMILY OR STAYING THERE.  And as you consider her, know that you are a part of her story.  YOU HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIFE OF AN ORPHAN.  Her life will be forever altered because of you.  This Thanksgiving I am grateful that this little girl touched my heart through a picture.  I am grateful to have so many family members, friends, and strangers help us bring her home.  I am grateful for family, for LOVE, for the desire we had to provide a family for an orphan.  As much as her life will change, our lives have changed more and she's not here yet.  We are the lucky ones, our hearts will never be the same.  

A visit

Dear Life,

Two weeks ago, my life became a dream.

I left my comfort zone, my family, my country, to go on an adventure.

An adventure that has left my heart forever changed.

I flew to Amsterdam, ran through that airport, boarded another plane and landed in Eastern Europe.

The next day, we took a bus for 6 hours.

And ended up in another world.

A world where all the women are tiny, dressed beautifully, and walk everywhere.

A world where there are beautiful, old buildings in the centre of town.

A world where people stroll, talk, and eat in the centre of town.

A world where a part of my heart was snatched by a small, brown eyed, brown haired beautiful girl.

On Monday, I was so nervous.

What if she didn't like me?

What if she didn't respond at all?

What if she wouldn't let me touch her at all?

What if ...what if...what if.

When we went to the orphanage, I had knots in my stomach and shaking hands.

I was introduced to the orphanage director who was so very sweet.

And then....they brought Sofi in.

Tears rolled down my face as I finally was able to see her after 14 months of guessing what she would look like.

I touched her hand softly, and was so happy when she smiled when I talked to her.

Then they asked me if  I wanted to hold her.

"I'm allowed?"

For some reason I thought I would have to gradually work towards holding her.

They handed her to me and I pulled her into the biggest hug.

I touched her beautiful, curly hair, and I talked to her.

I played with her.

And I reveled in her smiles.

They were frequent.

All of my fears went away.

She is so beautiful.

Her eyes are HUGE and her eyelashes are impossibly long.

Her hair is thick and curly.

And her smile is much like Kumaka's, it lights up the room.

She is a favorite in the orphanage.

For that, I am grateful....I can tell that she will be well attended to until we go back to bring her home.

I was able to feed her.

And I hugged her and kissed her for five days straight.

The days became routine, get up, eat breakfast, have the best hot chocolate in the world, get a cab and go visit my girl.

Play with her, feed her, play with her again, leave so she can nap and we could eat lunch.

We would get lunch in the centre, eating outside, watching people and talking.

Then we would go back, I would play with Sofi, feed her a snack, and leave her for the day.

I learned that she liked to be tickled.

I learned that she loves music.

I learned that she loved her daddy's voice.

I learned that she has a ready smile, an adorable giggle, and untamable hair.

I learned that she loved me....when by the fifth day she purposefully rubbed my arm and kissed my hand repeatedly.

Those precious days were a dream.

And then Friday came.

That day was more somber.

I drank my hot chocolate in silence.

I looked over at the buildings and knew I wouldn't see them again for awhile.

I watched the people walking by, envious that they would still be in the same town that my girl lives in and I would be halfway around the world.

I didn't put mascara on that day. I knew that would be futile.

We took the cab, went into the orphanage for the last time.

I held her close and whispered a story about a little princess named Sofi.

I told her that Princess Sofi has a new mommy, that came to visit her.

But before Princess Sofi gets to go home for good, her new mommy had to take care of more paperwork.

I told her about her daddy, the strongest, most loving man in the land.

I told her about her five big brothers, and how much they love her and are waiting for her to come home.

I told her to remember how much I loved her.

And my tears rolled down my face as I told her to remember these hugs and don't forget her mommy.

And when I had to hand her  back to the orphanage director, a piece of my heart fractured.

And that piece stayed in that orphanage with that little girl.

When we got on the bus, my tears rolled down.

I said goodbye to that town, and a see you soon to my girl.

When I close my eyes, I relive that week.

I imagine the hell she lived in for two years.

The first two years of her life, those formative years, were shattered for her.

She was in an orphanage that has now been thankfully shut down.

It was the stuff of nightmares.

She literally never left her crib.

For over two years.

She was never held, she never saw the sunlight.

The only time she was touched was when they changed her diaper.

And I'm sure they didn't do that very often.

She was only fed from a bottle, so she still does not know how to chew or eat whole food.

Thankfully, somehow a miracle happened

She was moved after two years to the orphanage she is at now.

There are only 7 children there, and the change in her has been drastic.

The director told me that when Sofi came to them, she couldn't even move her arms or legs.

She told me that she was tiny.

They taught her to eat mashed food from a spoon.

They held her.

They let her out of her bed to play.

They taught her to laugh.

I have so much love and gratitude for these people, who have saved my girl.

I will never be able to express how grateful I am.

Now, as my arms ache to hold her, I have a plea to all of you.

We only have two more steps to go.

A signature from her government and a court date.

Once our file is official in court, and she becomes ours, we will be given dates to pick her up.

We are so close.

And yet, we are so far.

We still need to raise $7000.

We owe $5000 in final fees for our adoption.

And then we need $2000 for her airfare, her medicals to leave the country, etc.

We are so very close.

Please please please consider helping us in any way you can.  On October 30th, we are having a Ruby's fundraiser in Long Beach.  They are giving us 20% of the money that we bring in.  You must bring a flyer, and your appetite.  Some of our friends are going for all three meals, bless their hearts.

Bring your mother, your grandmother, your friends, your family.

Eat for Sofi.

Leave a comment if you want to come and I will send you the flyer.

There are a couple more fundraisers that I will tell you about after Wednesday.

You can also do a straight donation to our site:

If you want a tax deductible donation, you can write a check to

 "Children's House International"

2084 Alder St.

PO Box 1829

Ferndale WA 98248

Please notate Stuart Jensen Family

Thank you for everything,

From.....A mom of boys and one sweet princess

Going on a Jet Plane

Dear Life,

I have been checking my email twenty times a day for months now.

Waiting.

There are many emails there...but never the one I want.

I continued to check.

Waiting.

I check first thing in the morning...and I check at midnight before I go to sleep.

Waiting.

Today was different.

I checked my email this morning.

And it was there.

The one.

The wait is over.

We have a referral.



What does that mean?

It means Sofi's country is saying yes.

You are okay people...

And you may come to visit her.

It means dates.

We will be picking dates in the next few days.

It means weeks.

In weeks we will be visiting her for the first time.



September

In September my friend and I are going to visit her for a week.

For five days I will get to hold her, play with her, talk to her, read to her, and take her for walks.

For five days I will get to gaze at her face and try to remember every nuance.

For five days my friend will take as many pictures as she can so I don't forget a moment.

For five days I will be in heaven.

And on the sixth day I will be torn in half again.

I will have to leave her.



For now, we are focusing on that moment we fly across the world...to meet this beautiful girl that spoke to our hearts through the computer screen.

We have come far.

We have eaten cupcakes.

We have eaten pizza.

We have sold raffle tickets for a hand made pendant.

We have sold owls.

We have counted shoes.

A lot of shoes.

We have collected clothing.

We have begged, pleaded, and cried...fundraising for this little girl.


You all have not left us stranded.

You all have helped us every step of the way.

We are asking for your help again.

We are needing to pay for this trip...the flight alone is $1000.

Stuart is staying home to help cut on the cost of our trip, and one of my dear friends is going instead.

We are saving our pennies.

But we can't do it without you.

Here are the ways you can help.



First and foremost you can pray....pray that she stays healthy...pray that we get funded...pray that we get there safely.

Second...if you are local you can donate used clothing, bedding, belts, purses, backpacks duffel bags, and curtains.

Third....you can sponsor puzzle pieces.  There are two...one is to win a Kindle Fire $3 each piece...and the other is for two 1 day Disneyland Park Hopper tickets for $5 each. (once those are all sold we can buy our plane tickets) Please use our YouCaring site for this and mention how many tickets and which kind.

Fourth...you can click on this link  http://www.igive.com/button/ and allow it to add on to your browser (it does not download anything on your computer.  When the iGive banner comes up in the right hand corner when you are shopping, simply click it...and we will get a small percentage of your purchase.  So simple!

Fifth...you can donate straight to Sofi's YouCaring account:







We've witnessed miracles already.

Read this post for a walk down miracle lane: A miracle in shoes
We know that Sofi is supposed to come here.

Please consider helping us see miracles again.

Flying towards Sofi

Dear Life,

We are getting closer to Sofi!  We have a completed homestudy in our possession.  We have received our FBI clearances.  We have taken our documents to Downtown LA to get them apostilled at the Secretary of State office (Really grateful right now that we have a satellite office in LA...and it's driveable.  If we were to mail them in, we would still be waiting for them to be done...and heaven forbid if there is a problem).  Just sent off the majority of our documents to Sofi's country, they are awaiting our FBI clearances (just sent them to Washington DC to get apostilled) and our immigration clearances.  THAT'S IT folks!!!!  Then...they translate it and take it to court where they decide whether or not we are officially approved to adopt Sofi!  From there, they will give us a date to visit!!!!!!  It's so very surreal to be this far.  We are in the hurry up...then wait period.  We have been scrambling to get everything done...and things have all come up at once....and now we wait for governments to do their thing.  

And tonight, I have been thinking of our girl.  My heart is breaking because of the waiting.  My arms are aching to hold her...to teach her about her family...to show her the world.  We can't wait to take her to the ocean....to see her eyes light up when she sees the birds at the beach or hears the soothing waves.  I can't wait to hold her in my lap, to hold her sweet hand, to teach her about love.  Imagine...having to teach a four year old about love.  We take it for granted....because we all have it.  But for this little girl, she has only known people who care for her because it's their job.  She hasn't felt joy, she hasn't expressed happiness. I'm not sure she knows how to FEEL at all.  I'm sad we have to wait....that she has to wait....but I do know that it will happen in His time...and in His perfect way.  And I know that once she is here....love for her will be overflowing.  

If any of you want to know what you can do to help us, here is how right now:

Our friend Amy Moss at Owls for Orphans is doing a fundraiser for us.  For every owl purchased, she is donating 50 percent (yes that is correct....Five Zero) towards our adoption.  If you want to purchase an adorable hand made owl and don't have  a place for one, don't you worry, you can buy one for an orphan!  They are helping us fly towards Sofi!!!! 

We are also taking straight donations through our YouCaring site.  Below is the link!  

We are collecting money for travel at this point...so as soon as we get the green light we are ready to purchase tickets!!!!!!  Please consider an owl (through the month of March or a straight donation) to help us fly away!

Owls for Orphans

Dear Life,

We have been so blessed to be featured this month on Owls for Orphans.

Owls for Orphans Blog

Amy is a mom, and amazing owl maker.  She started this as a fundraiser for her own adoption. (She and her husband just got back from visiting their soon to be six year old daughter who just happens to be in the same country as Sofi).  She then decided to feature families each month and fundraise for them.  The most awesome part of this in my mind is that if you don't want to buy an owl for yourself, you can buy an owl for orphans.  Whoever is traveling that month will take owls purchased for orphans to the orphanage.    This is a quote from her blog:

"Amy,

I wanted to give you an update on the owls.  The

 representative that was supposed to meet with me was 

unable to, so I didn't have a reliable way to get them to the

 original orphanage and into the hands of the kids.  I 

decided to give the owls to some of the children I visited at a different orphanage.  This is the orphanage who cares for two girls some friends of ours are trying to adopt. They care for about 40 special needs kids and 40 healthy with most under 3 years in age.  Your owls ended up on a floor where the most severely disabled children are cared for.  One went to our friend's future little girl.  She is very shy and can't sit up.  She got the pink one.  She was very attracted to the big eyes and liked touching the texture of the toy also.  Another girl is about a size 12 months at 3 years and was parked in a stroller facing a wall with no toys.  Some people believe she is so damaged there is no point in giving her any attention.  I interacted with her for about 15 minutes and was able to get her to smile, grasp my finger and track her eyes with the little orange owl.  He stayed with her and I hope she will now at least have one toy to touch and look at!  One of the purple and green owls stayed with a little girl named P.  She was sitting in a special chair that an agency provided to support her large head.  She is 10 years old and has hydrocephalus.  The chair was parked in a dark hallway and P reached out for attention as we passed by. She smiled and hugged the owl to her face. She was very excited.   The next owl went to the little one I have been calling B on the blog.  She is an active little girl who gets attention because she demands it!  She saw me giving them to the other children through the window of her room and tapped to get my attention.  I couldn't resist giving her one!  One owl did also end up with a little girl who traveled to her new home (in the US!) this week.  She saw them on my bed and I really couldn't say NO!

Your little owls really made some children happy.  Even in the room with the healthy toddlers there were no soft toys.  None of the children in cribs had anything soft or textured to touch."

We have half a month to go...would you consider purchasing an owl..for your home or for an orphan?  Mention the Jensen family when you purchase and we will Amy will donate 50% of her proceeds to our adoption fund.  We are raising money right now to visit Sofi for the first time in the summer.  We need 5000 dollars.  How many owls can we sell?????  We are stepping closer to Sofi!

An article and shoes for sofi

Dear Life,

We have been blessed.  When I think of the amount of love and support our journey has received, I KNOW that God's hand is in this journey and no matter how hard it is, we will see it through.  Today we had a pizza fundraiser at our local Lamppost Pizza.  The owner is an amazingly giving man, who generously donated 30% of sales towards our journey.  So many of our friends and family came to support us, coworkers, bloggy friends, friends that have only found us from facebook, really amazing and FUN night.  And then there is the shoe drive.  My friend Edie writes for the Orange County Register and she wrote this article that came out today.

Giving old soles is good for the soul

By EDIE CRABTREE

   FOR THE REGISTER

   What do you do when your dreams are big and your heart even bigger? If you are Fountain Valley couple Stuart and Tracy Jensen, you open up your heart and your home to a beautiful brown-eyed girl who needs a place to call her own.

   The Jensen family, already busy with five boys ages 6-18, thinks there is room in their ranks for one more special addition – Sofi Rose, a little girl born in Eastern Europe with what Tracy likes to call “extras.”

   Sofi, like the Jensens’ youngest son, Kumaka, was born with spina bifida, a congenital defect that can cause a wide range of both physical and neurological complications.

   Over the last six years, Tracy has learned to navigate the medical world, fight for what her child deserves, and fill out countless insurance forms. Most of all, however, she has learned as she has watched her child blossom into a confident, spunky young man, that people cannot be defined by their limitations – that the sky is the limit, even when you reach for the sky from the confines of a wheelchair.

   Now, the Jensen family hopes to take this hard-earned knowledge and use it to give this little girl the life they feel she deserves. As is often the sad truth, there just aren’t resources available to help Sofi. She has spent her entire life lying in a crib, despite having just turned 3 years old.

   When questioned as to why the family would want to take on the challenge of a second child with special needs, Tracy replies:

   “We are not delusional or eternal optimists. We know what we are getting into. We understand the challenges both she and our family face. We also know we have more than enough love to give this sweet angel and are anxious to give her the opportunity to smile. She hasn’t smiled yet. She hasn’t spoken yet. We can give her that gift.”

   As you might expect, while the Jensens’ abundance of love comes without a price tag, the adoption does not. The family is currently holding several fundraisers to help offset the costs of the adoption, estimated to be around $25,000.

   This is where shoes enter the story. The Jensens are collecting gently used shoes, which will then be turned over toan agency distributing shoes to people in need. The best part? They will pay them for the shoes – $3,500 for 5,000 pairs.

   They currently have roughly 1,600 pairs and are desperately looking for additional “shoe fairies” to help them meet this goal, and get one step closer to bringing their little girl home.

   Any style of shoe is welcome, with the exception of slippers, so long as they have no holes and the soles are intact.

   If you have shoes to contribute, please contact Tracy at fivejensen  boyz@gmail.com  . In lieu of shoes, you may make a cash donation straight to Sofi’s account by visiting youcaring.com  / adoption -fundraiser/bringsofirosehome/29572.

   You may also read more on Tracy’s blog. To read Tracy’s blog, visit fromamomofboy s. blogspot.com  .

The Jensens are collecting gently used shoes, which will then be turned over to an agency distributing shoes to people in need. The best part? They will pay them for the shoes – $3,500 for 5,000 pairs.

We already have had amazing support and love from EVERYWHERE.  Literally!  We have shoes from all over California, and we have shoes coming from all over the United States.  People are gathering their shoes, and mailing them to us from as far as Pennsylvania.  There is a huge shoe drive in Arizona and someone is bringing them here.  People are sending them from Ohio and from Illinois.  There are shoes coming from so many places I can't even keep track.  And the minute this article came out, I started receiving emails from people.  It's so amazing and wonderful to see people come together to bring our sweet girl home.  I see His hand in all of this.  

We are working hard to finish our paperwork for our homestudy, and the social worker is coming next Saturday.  Things are moving forward...we are getting very busy.  We appreciate everyone...every single person who prays for us, donates shoes, money, or buys a raffle ticket.  We appreciate all who have bought a cupcake or a pizza slice.  We appreciate ALL of God's angels....we know our angel will be here with us soon.   I can't wait to share pictures of Sofi with all of you.  Her journey is your journey.  You are all a part of her story.  I will write it....you will all be in it.  She will know how many people love her.  Thank you.  We have no words that can say how much thanks we have.