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Dear Life,

Do you remember Susanna?

You can read her story here.

After I wrote that post, a wonderful family came forward and started the process of adopting not only Susanna, but Susanna's best friend as well.

Kristin and Keith Williams is this family.  I wrote to Kristin, and shared my love for Susanna and how excited I was to know that there is finally going to be a family for Susanna. You can read their blog at The Road to Piecefield.

Last week the unthinkable happened.  Susanna died.  Susanna was never able to meet her mommy and daddy. She never had the opportunity to leave her crib. Praying that with God's grace she felt the love this family had for her through the miles.  Although Susanna is now running in Heaven, her family's hearts are breaking. One less in this case is not a good thing.  It is a devastating loss.  

The need for orphan awareness is huge.
The time is now.
Not everyone is called to adopt.
THAT IS OKAY.
But everyone should take the time to learn about the orphan crisis all over the world.
Every person that prays, advocates and donates is a part of alleviating the crisis. 

Adopt Give Support Advocate

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.

Social Media at it's very best!

Dear Life,

I have to admit I have a deep love and respect for Social Media.  Three or four years ago, that wasn’t the case.  I had a Myspace page…and although it was super fun to decorate….it always seemed a little immature and dark to me.  I did find a Spina Bifida support group that was very helpful….and through there I found a few friends that have carried over to Facebook, but for the most part it was just not for me.  I was very skeptical about the transition to Facebook.  I just didn’t get Social Media.  It was a few months before my 20^th (gasp) high school reunion…and my classmates were adding each other like crazy.  I added a lot of “friends” from high school….but I still wasn’t feeling the love with Facebook.  What changed my mind was when I found a support group for Spina Bifida on Facebook.  All of a sudden my little group grew…and the amount of people that understood what we were going through got bigger and bigger.  I started really feeling support…and when I had questions people answered.  There were people that had been where we were…I stopped feeling alone.  From there I started blogging again…first on Kumaka’s Caringbridge…that way people could all stay up on what was new with Kumaka.  From there I started the scary world of blogging.  I fumbled through it for a few months…until  I found my voice.  It’s evolved over time…I tried to be like others…I tried to follow what the successful bloggers were doing.  But to quote  Alissa from Rags to Stitches, “You have to be authentic to yourself.  Write about what speaks to YOU…don’t try to do what everyone else is doing.”

Pic Courtesy of Little Penelope Lane Blog

  She spoke about branding at Little Penelope Lane’s Blog Conference…she was amazing and her words reresonated with me.  I realized that I needed to write about what I was passionate about.  I realized that my mother was right all those years ago when I was a little girl….I need to be ME…and not worry about what other people are doing.  My blog has become  more about what I am passionate about…which is being an advocate...since I attended that blog conference.  Being a mother to a child with special needs has opened my eyes to the need others have to hear our stories, not to mention the big wide world of adoption.

Sofi Rose....because of her our hearts have turned to international adoption....and we have a whole new group of friends in social media. 

Facebook, blogging, tweeting, instagramming, all of this social media has opened my world.  My world is bigger…and yet more tied together. 

A group of Spina BIfida friends and family...we hooked up at the SBA conference at Downtown Disneyland two years ago.

Friends with a common diagnosis....found through Facebook!  ADORABLE!

Hannah and Kumaka at the beach.  Another Facebook friend turned dear friend in life.  Their family is also on the adoption journey...and have been a great strength to us.

 I am so grateful for the friends I have met via the world wide web. I have seen parents band together, lift each other up, guide each other, help each other.  I have seen miracles happen…most recently in our quest to adopt Sofi from Eastern Europe.  People we have never physically met are going above and beyond to help us raise money.  There is a camaraderie and a goodness that I witness daily on Facebook.  I am so grateful for this media…to allow more people into our world. 

I have seen miracles, I have seen the good in people.  Some of my dearest friends are from the internet….some I haven’t even met.  And some I didn't meet until Facebook..like the Johnson family.  We spoke online about our boys...and what happened after that was a miracle.  I invited her family to stay at our house as an in-between point when they were moving from Oregon to Arizona...(that could have been awkward...what if she was a serial killer or something!!!)Now she’s one of my best friends and her son and Kumaka are besties too!  

 Thank you caringbridge and yahoo groups for bringing these boys together! 

What about the time I was working at our local bookstore and a woman walks in as I was looking at something on Kumaka's caringbridge.  As I closed the program out I explained that I had a son with Spina Bifida and I was just updating his site when she told me about her cousin's daughter Katie.  She said her cousin Sarah has a great blog (A Hull Lot of Fun), where she talks about their journey as a family and a family LIVING with Spina Bifida...and how it never stops them from living a great life.  So I stalked Sarah on FB after reading her blog and falling in love with her family...now she's also one of my most favorite besties ever.

Sarah is a mentor, a friend, a sister.  Found her through her blog.....became friends after I stalked her on Facebook....Sisters through life experiences.  She is amazing...and her daughter Katie (who also has Spina BIfida) and Kumaka are great friends.

Katie and Kumaka at Katies baptism.  Katie and her siblings came to visit multiple times when Kumaka was down and out this year.

 And how about the time I asked Aaron Fotheringham to wear a green shirt in honor of Kumaka and post a picture for a collage I was making....and he one upped me and CAME TO VISIT him right after his surgery!!!  That was CRAZY!

Because of Facebook, Aaron Fotheringham from Nitro Circus came to visit Kumaka while he was recovering from surgery this year.

This is a collage of all the kids that supported Kumaka by wearing green while he was in his "Giant Green Cast".  Most of these kids he's never met in person...they are all friends from Facebook!

 From that friendship we met Christiaan Bailey, Pro Surfer, Skater, and an ambassador for Life Rolls On.  Christiaan is a great friend and support with our little man and his passion for helping kids stay active, and do what they dream of doing is pretty amazing. You can read more about Christiaan HERE and HERE.

Because of Aaron, Christiaan Otter Bailey found Kumaka...and now is a great example and friend.  (Also started out as a facebook friend)

This is a sampling of the blessing social media has been in our lives.

Some of my favorite people in the whole world I have met from Social Media...and I can't wait to meet you all in real life!

Thank you…..for reading…for writing…for sharing…for caring.