A lesson in shoes

Dear Life,

I've been quiet.  I've been trying to process all that has happened in the last few months.  It's a little overwhelming.  When you watch miracles happen in your own life...obvious miracles...it can take your words away.  Thank you for letting me have some time to process.  There are a few things I wanted to share.  Our testimony of God in adoption is pure and true.  We have seen small and large miracles.  Things that we cannot deny.  TRUTH is truth.

GOD lives.

GOD exists.

GOD loves us.

GOD knows our needs.

GOD LOVES THE LOST CHILDREN.

GOD loves our little Sofi. 

GOD has blessed our adoption journey.

GOD has sent us on this journey...and GOD will see us through.

We found Sofi....

We KNEW we needed to bring her here...to be her family.

We prayed.

Step by step.

We realized that we needed our Homestudy money..$2250. 

It was becoming time sensitive.

We prayed more.

It was becoming stressful.

Without a homestudy we couldn't move forward.

Within three days...THREE DAYS of a pleading tearful prayer...an anonymous donor sent us first $250 and then an hour later another anonymous donor sent $1000.  

The next day I sent the money in for the full amount.

We prayed again...how do we raise more money?

Fundraising is challenging at it's best and impossible at it's worst.

One night, as I searched various things, I came across Angel Bins.

I contacted them...and the “Shoes for Sofi” shoe drive was born.

In December we started the drive...we got 1000 pairs pretty easy.

We went on Kumaka's trip, and then Christmas happened.

Shoes did NOT happen.

We knew January would have to be a big push for shoes.  

We needed a little under 4000 pairs in one month.

I knew....I had a strange knowledge that we could get 5000 pairs.

Never...never...never...in a million years did we think we would see our shoe drive go almost viral.

Never did we even imagine that we could get double of what our goal was...much less over 12,500 pairs.  

Never did we imagine we would earn $9422.

And yet we did.

That covers ALL of our agency fees.

And part of our in country agency fees.

HUGE miracle.  

HUGE.

How many people were touched by “Shoes forSofi” by sharing our story and collecting shoes or donating shoes?

We'll never know.

There is another aspect of the Shoes for Sofi story.

My dear friend Cristina Barber is an English teacher for MacArthur Middle School.

She had been collecting shoes and even counting them and storing them in her own garage.

She and  Lisa Morgan, the CLAS teacher for their district, decided to make the shoe drive a lesson for her 130 students.  

First, she printed off this post from my blog entitled "Their Story" 

Cristina explained that the blog was a type of poem.

The students then had the weekend to interpret the "poem" (my blog post) and do a circle map where they defined words...and of course they all wanted to know WHAT IS SPINA BIFIDA?

When the students came back to school on Monday, she then had a story about a girl named Andrea who has Spina Bifida along with some information about what Spina Bifida is from Kids Health.

That same day the classes discussed Angel Bins, and how they could be a solution.

The students did circle maps for both the Spina Bifida article and the Angel Bins information.

The paired off and discussed what they learned.

They went home and had to discuss what they learned with their parents.

That night, the students had to create a rough draft of a tri fold brochure explaining the whole project:

Who were the Jensen's and what are they doing?

What is Spina Bifida?

How does Angel Bins give a solution?

On the back they had to share a personal quote about the project.

They were also given one day to collect shoes if they wanted to.

Boy did they want to.

These kids were so touched by our story, by Kumaka, by Sofi.

They wanted to help.

And they wanted to know the outcome.

We were invited to school the week after the drive ended.

All five classes were invited to"meet the Jensen's" (Me, Kalani, and Kumaka) at lunchtime for a question and answer session.

We were treated like celebrities.

The kids wanted to hug Kumaka and give him high fives. 

They took turns asking questions, some directed at me and some directed at Kumaka.

These kids melted my heart.

I wanted to share some of the quotes that were given on their final projects:

"We are capable of helping others in need, such as the Jensens.  Even one donation can make a difference."    Maggie 

"Heart-warming, emotional, and more words that are far beyond."  James 

"Find out what's possible, if you never give up."  Jaymy 

"It is our job to protect the children of our generation."  Moses

" I didn't know how involved, determined, and courageous some families are, until now."                                                                                                              Luisa

"So we think a problem is going to get in the way.  No, we can achieve anything we dream of."    Sami 

"We are all different, and that's what makes up beautiful."  Arianna 

"We are capable of so much.  We start nations, we've gone to the moon, we've been to the bottom of the sea … the least we can do is bring Sofi home."  Logan 

"Money is made every day, but the bond of love the Jensens have for Sofi is once in a lifetime."   Rogelio 

"You don't have to be big or rich to make differences, all you have to do is care."  Tyler

"If we are capable of buying shoes, then we are capable of giving shoes."  Esmeralda 

Me, Kalani, Nico, Kumaka and Cristina

This teacher taught 130 children about Spina Bifida, about adoption, about supporting others in the community, about service, about children in other countries....the list goes on.  If I had my way, she would get teacher of the century award.  She is a true teacher...she loves her students as much as she loves her friends.  All of that from a shoe drive.

Amazing right?

God is good.

Miracles happen.

We have witnessed them.

Shoes for Sofi...a miracle

Dear Life,

In December, when we announced our Shoe's for Sofi shoe drive, I somehow knew we could reach our goal.  I don't know how I knew this, but I had faith that it would not be a problem.  In December, we got to 1000 pretty easy, but then we went on Kumaka's wish trip, Christmas and New Years happened, and we pretty much began anew on January 1st.  We started talking alot about it in January, a few of our friends started sharing our posts about the shoe drive and all of a sudden the shoe drive took on a life of it's own.  People kept asking me what I would do if we didn't get the whole 5000 pairs.  I knew that somehow they would come in.

Boy did they.  Every day I looked out my window.  And this is the craziness that started showing up:

This is Arizona >>>>

There is a dining room under all of those shoes.

Last week, every day the mailman, FedEx, and UPS drivers all brought shoes.  There were bags at my doorstep every day.  I had friends at my house every single day helping me to match and count shoes.  It was like manna from heaven...only shoes.

We went from 5000 on Monday to 12508 on Thursday. If I didn't witness it, I wouldn't have believed it.  It was truly inspiring to see how many people love us, and want to help bring Sofi home to our family.  

"24000 pairs of feet marching to help bring Sofi home."   

by Nina Thompson

Children's House International 

(the amazing case worker who introduced us to our angel) 

When our goal was 5000, we were expecting to get a check for $3500.  We surpassed that goal and then some.  Our agency will receive a check for $9422 next week.  THATS HUGE.  It's a miracle.  That will cover ALL of our agency fees, and some of our fees to the other country's agency.  That is truly miraculous.  This is what it looked like on Friday when they came to pick up the shoes:

Haulaway kindly donated TWO 21 foot bins to put our shoes in (which was a Godsend because our garage was way too full)

This is how it went:  We helped throw bags of shoes in the boxes...that yellow thing in front was a scale.  It weighed the box when it was full.  We did that 25 times. 

These ladies were at our house EVERY day last week...counting...banding....and watching miracles happen.  We could not have finished everything without them.

This is the Angel Bins Truck....we FILLED it to the brim!

This is the big truck that brought those bins to our house.

And this is the truck that took our shoes away.  

This is where we send our thanks to all of you...even if you donated just one pair...or if you shared the story with someone....or if you just prayed for our princess.  God heard...and through all of you He delivered big time.  

From California:

Azusa

Bakersfield

Buena Park

Burbank

Calabasas

Camarillo

Canoga Park

Cardiff

Carlsbad

Cerritos

Chino

Chino Hills

Corona

Cypress

Fallbrook

Fountain Valley

Huntington Beach

Irvine

La Mirada

Ladera Ranch

Lake Forest

Lakewood

Lancaster

Long Beach

Newport Beach

Norco

Northridge

Oceanside

Orange

Palmdale

Phelan

Placentia

Porter Ranch

Reseda

San Diego

San Marcos

Santa Ana

Seal Beach

Signal Hill

Simi Valley

Tustin

Valencia

Vista

West Covina Tulare

West Hills,

Westiminster

Whittier

Woodland Hills

Shoe Drives:

Sowers Middle School

Vista View Middle School

Walker Junior High

Avio Anaheim Club

Ada Harris Elementary School

Montessori of Malibu Canyon

The Way of No Way Academy of Martial Arts,

Pi Kappa Phi's at CSUN

All Over the United States:

Winston Salem, NC
Denver, CO

Delta, CO
Fort Worth TX
Meridian, ID

Limerick, PA

Philadelphia, PA
Westminster MD

Atlanta, GA
Woodstock, GA
Marrietta, GA
Vestavia Hills, AL
Hoover, AL
Glendale, AZ
Fort Wayne, IN
Berne, IN
Indianapolis IN
Huntertown, IN
Lewis Center, OH
Hillard, OH

St. Clairsville, OH

Canal Winchester, OH
Ridgeland, WI
Clayton, WI
Hillsdale, WI

Louisville, KY

Wheeling IL

Forest Lake, MN

Gila Valley, AZ

Provo, UT

Meridian, ID

Buffalo, NY

THANK YOU!

Their story

Dear Life,

A child was born six years ago.
Our child.
We were terrified of what caring for him would entail.
We were even scared that his life would not be a long and full life.
We didn't know what to expect.

Over the past six years, our son has had to deal with difficult things.
Multiple surgeries.
Multiple infections.
Multiple bone breaks.
Multiple hospital stays.

We were warned.
We knew that could happen.
We didn't care.

The day he was born was one of the most difficult days of our lives.
It was also one of the most beautiful.
We met an angel on earth that day.
We call him Kumaka.

His smile lights up the whole room.
His strength buoys us up in times of difficulty.
His determination defies all odds.
His life is a miracle.

We didn't choose Spina Bifida.
It chose him.
But Spina Bifida does not keep him down.
It does not define him.
His spirit, his strength, his determination is his.

Last year we started talking about ways we can give back.
How can we help other children with Spina Bifida have a wonderful life and opportunities like Kumaka has?
One night, we were perusing Children's House International file of children needing to be adopted.
We noticed the program for children in Eastern Europe that have Spina Bifida.
We started looking at all of these beautiful children.
We wept.
We contacted someone from the agency.
She sent us files of a few children.
We saw the most beautiful, brown haired, brown eyed baby girl.
Our eyes immediately teared up.
It was like she was calling for us from the computer.
We started the initial paperwork.
And we started praying.
Praying for wisdom on how to raise the funds necessary to bring home our girl.
We've been blessed by many...
We've done a few different things.
One day I found a website that does shoe drives for fundraising.
I called them up.
We discussed what was necessary.
We signed up.
5000 pairs of used shoes is what we have to collect.
" I can get that done" I thought to myself.
I had no idea the magnitude of what 5000 pairs of shoes was.
I just knew that we needed that money to bring home Sofi.
I knew that we could do it somehow.
I started posting the shoe drive on Facebook.
A few pairs of shoes started coming in.
We went on our trip with Make A Wish and didn't talk about it at all.
We came back and it was Christmas.
January 1st we barely had 1000.
I knew we could do it.
We just needed to talk about it.
So we talked more.
Shared photos.
Asked people to do drives.
We started getting more shoes.
And then two weeks ago happened.
One day our shoe drive blanketed Facebook.
It was being shared by so many people we couldn't keep track.
As fast as we could count, people would bring more.
We then started seeing a phenomenon we didn't expect.
Shoes coming from all over the United States.
People shipping their shoes.
We live in California, but we have received or will soon receive shoes from: PA, OH, IN, AZ, TX, ID, UT, GA, OR, FL, MD, and MA.
We have or are receiving from Inland Empire, Orange County, San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Kern County, if not more.
Driving home from San Diego to pick up the second load from Cardiff, my husband started talking about this crazy shoe drive.
We have seen miracles.
We know God's hand is in this.
We know that Sofi will come home in large part because of this.
And to see SO many people work SO hard (some people we don't even know) to help bring home our Sofi,
We KNOW He is here and He is in charge.
When we think we don't know how we will do it,
He provides a way.
And you all have heard Him.

This story is about love.
Love for a little girl.
A little girl that was born into nothing.
Born into emptiness.
She already has more love than she knows.
As she waits for everything to be completed,
We pray that she can feel the love that we have felt.
That it can sustain her during this wait.
She will be alone only temporarily.
Her story is your story.
It's your story because you shared your heart with us.
There are no words that we can say to express how grateful we are to each pair of shoes that was lovingly given to bring home our girl.
One pair or twenty; it's all the same.
You loved Sofi.
And for that, we can only say thank you.
We love you too.

Her name is Sofi

Dear Life,

Today I had the opportunity to spend some one on one quiet time with my ten year old. 

It was a time I will treasure.  He asked me a lot of questions and said something quite hilarious.  He asked me a lot about Sofi.  
About why her birth parents don't want her.  
I told him that in some countries, it's not very easy to care for children with birth defects; they don't really know what to do with them.  
He said they were mean.  
I told him they weren't mean...they just live in a different kind of world.  
He asked me how long it would take to bring her home. 
I told her we hope to bring her home this year.  
He asked me how come so many people love me.  
I chuckled at that.  
I asked him what he meant.  
He said "you have a lot of friends....and they all like to help.  Like your friend who donated her Christmas coat money for Sofi...and all your friends that give you shoes."  
I thought about that.  
I do have a lot of friends.  
A LOT of friends.  
People who love our family, people who love Sofi.  
People I know personally, people I've never met.  People willing to share our story....and sometimes even dealing with the backlash of other people's negative opinions.  
I told him that we are truly blessed, and Heavenly Father is working hard with all of the people who are touched to help us to bring Sofi here to our family.  
I told him I was sorry that I couldn't take him to her country with us when we go.  
He said that was okay, he didn't want to go.  
He said it was too sad....he didn't want to be sad.  
But he did ask me to bring him something when I go.  
I said "absolutely!".  
As we were talking about the orphanages, I told Stuart that there is a child I read about that was fourteen years old, with a Spina Bifida lesion that had never had surgery.  Kawika asked me all kinds of questions about that. 
He asked what a hole in the back looked like.  
(Kumaka's lesion at birth was  a hole in his back...we were able to see his spine...some kids have a bubble covering the spine)  
I told him that I never showed him the picture because it was pretty graphic.  
He told me he wanted to see it.  
I asked him if he was sure.  
He said "Mom, I watch The Walking Dead....I can handle it."  What an awesome mom I am.  
Great..my son watches zombie stuff so he can handle real life gore.  HMMMMM
"Mom, I want to see his back."
"Okay" I say.  

I was so glad to have that conversation with Kawika.  And it made me realize that I really need to take the time to spend more alone time with each of my kids.  Have conversations with all of them...one on one.  My kids are really awesome.  I was so impressed with his knowledge, his sensitivity, and his questions.  I was really touched that he recognized that people love us, and Sofi and that is why they help...whether it's with money, shoes, or praying.  He is seeing that we are able to do the impossible....only with God's grace.  We are so blessed...and I am so glad our children will be witnesses to a miracle.  Her name is Sofi.