Our world and hearts keep expanding

One of the neatest things about adoption (apart from the obvious, having two new daughters in our lives) is that we've met so many great people who want to share in our joy and have been put into our lives expressly to make our journey easier, and to help us know how to best go through this crazy process of adopting special needs children.

We were blessed with our Sunday School class holding a pancake breakfast for Jennifer last Sunday and they took up an offering to help with travel expenses. We are working on filling out grant paperwork, trying to launch a line of children's furniture (rocking chair, stools, etc.) and custom plaques/sign work to help fund our adoption as well as hopefully save a little for Jennifer's ocularist needs when she gets home, and we are so appreciative of friends who want to support us in this way, the love we felt was overwhelming. I stood and tried to thank everyone for their caring, I honestly don't really know what I said as speaking in front of more than about two people at a time petrifies me but I hope our class somehow felt the thankfullness we feel at being a part of such a great group of families. We sat by a couple during this breakfast that I've spoken too a bit, but don't know very well. They shared that the husband only has one eye and that he wears a prosthetic, we would've never known! Today he actually took it out and showed it to us, right there in the gym! Amy and Dave are so warm and caring and matter of fact about something we know nothing about, an artificial eye. They told us that they know an excellent ocularist (the person who can make the prosthetic for Jennifer) and some of the steps we can anticipate going through. What a gift from God, to meet people who've BTDT and can offer us advice and support! So again, as we worry that we've gone into territory that we won't know how to navigate, God has put someone in our lives to help us see the way through as we bring Jennifer home, into our family. We look forward to getting to know this family better - they have already been such a blessing to us!

It is my heartfelt desire to somehow be the support to others who are going through adoption as the friends I count on have been to me (you guys know who you are!). Tomorrow I will start work on a rocking chair and stool prototype and hopefully will have something to show friends soon, to get marketing feedback from my adoptive family community.

And, on a different note, the adoption community is worldwide and yet, actually a small "neighborhood" where everyone kind of seems to know everyone else. Righ now, there is a little girl named Chrissie who has been with her forever family only six months and she had to have major open-heart surgery. It has been really tough, she's been on life support since Monday as a result of her surgery. We are praying for Chrissie and her family as we are hoping for a miracle for them as the doctors take her off some of the life support equipment she's needed and help her look toward recovery and healing.