My sweet friend Jennifer! She knows just what I need, just when I need it. She surprised us and MADE blankets for "T" and "B" AND for Jordan and Kyah! They are gonna love them! I am so blessed with having her as a friend and LOVE her little man, Lance! Whom Kyah is betrothed to =)

To my little Pumpkin's

Getting closer!

Since it's really too early to pack, the one thing that I am able to do right now is get our donations prepared!   And oh, is that a fun thing to do! I have had a lot of the stuff set aside for months now, and finally put it in suitcases to deliver to Ethiopia.  Mainly clothing, lots of shoes and bed sheets. My brother-in-law has connections to very inexpensive Children's Tylenol and  Ibuprofen, as well as cold medicines which are all things that will for sure be used in an orphanage setting. And thanks to my friend Chris, we have lots of new packages of children's clothing and many school supplies!  One really cool product that is hand-made locally, are washable feminine hygiene products. I just think these are a fantastic pattern idea and cannot wait to teach the nurse about how they are to be used, handled and washed.  Have a feeling that these are going to be an invaluable product to many women!

At this point, I have three large suitcases containing 50 pounds of donations each.  Can't wait to hand deliver them very soon!

I am "nesting" big-time!  I have most everything in my house organized and gone through. (Even the boys closet -- Yikes!) Doing this feels so good and helps me to release some of my energy and seems like the only thing I am able to have control over and do right now.  I am sure that my other five children will help me keep things neat and organized - hahaha!  Just read a quote that went something like: trying to keep your house clean while you have kids, is like raking leaves in a hurricane.  LOL

My husband, well ... his energy release is building a barn!  He  completed it this past week and plans to have our pastured calves in it this week!  So on top of him working his full-time job and having our calf business -- he built a barn in his spare time!  Over-achiever!  Our boys helped him some, as did family and friends when it was time to pour the cement, but mainly he did it all himself. He is my Mr. Incredible!

Count Down!!!

Oh!  Sometimes I can hardly stand it!  The excitement of meeting my daughters for the first time is overwhelming to even dream about!  Meeting these 2 beautiful angels who I have loved and been chosen to parent for over 18 months.  Emotional, to say the least.  I already have my water-proof mascara, but will try to keep it together since I don't want to scare them!  Ha!  Imagine meeting a strange woman, whom you're supposed to call mom.... Who is sobbing all over you!  Yikes.  Yes, I will try to keep it together.

Just a few more weeks and this will all happen.  Whew!  We are on a huge count down and so are our girlies in Addis.  I keep trying to imagine what is going thru their minds.  Do they fully comprehend what they are leaving?  Do they fully comprehend what they are gaining?  Some days, most days actually, I have a hard time processing all of this.  All I know is that I long, with everything in my heart!, to bring these girls into their forever family and home!

Let the Count Down continue!   

Faithfulness throughout this past year!

As I write this post, I am reminded of where I was exactly one year ago today and at this time.  I was sitting in the emergency room at DeVos children's hospital with my sweet daughter Jordan, who was about to begin a journey that none of us had ever experienced before. We have all had sicknesses, been through surgeries, ER visits,  etc.... but nothing would compare to what was happening at this very moment one year ago, at this exact time, to my darling daughter.

After much testing it became clear that Jordan had idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP).....which she later joked about getting because she used to go TP-ing all the time,  ha!

This is a platelet condition and for Jordan it meant that her own body was destroying its platelets which resulted in her bloods inability to clot.  As you can imagine, every little bump turned into a huge black and blue mark which was the indicator that there were problems.  We praise God that her condition was ITP and nothing worse.

Looking back, we had four difficult months on this journey with biweekly lab draws, 3 failed medications before a low dose of chemotherapy helped.  And we praise God that we did find a medicine that would work for her blood! 

Through it all, this little trooper of a girl, rarely lost her hope and faith that through the situation , God was teaching her and growing her into what she will become someday!

Yes, September 22 will be always a very important day in all of our lives!  We praise God that Jordan has now had several months of remission from her ITP and our prayer is that she stays this way forever!! 
God has proved Himself once again to be our steadfast Guide and we give Him all the praise for restoring our Jordan back to health!

Love my kiddos! Pretty sure 2 more will be a perfect fit to this fun group!!

My heart sings.....