- We did not end up being the family God had created for Candice. I am so amazed at His faithfulness and the wonderful and most perfect family He hand picked for her though! More on that story in a couple weeks!
- Talia is adjusting so well and is doing fantastic in preschool. Her language is just exploding! She is still a tiny peanut with no body fat but I think eventually she will want to eat more then just vegetables!
- Harper likes having a sister when she feels she is the "Big sister" and Talia is the baby! Otherwise, she doesn't want to share her toys, food or her mommy and daddy.
- We have had every cold illness possible the past month and a half and I am starting to wonder what impact this has placed on Harper's little heart. We have an appointment at CHOP soon so please pray for her. We were hoping her heart would heal but since that is not happening we think we will need medical intervention by the summer, if not sooner.
- Todd and I are so blessed to have found and be a part of an amazing church community. The Lord clearly guided us to a new church and the friendships we have made with others while worshiping and attending small groups has been life changing. I was a small group bible leader for the first time this fall. What a wonderful experience! Our bible study group of Eighty women covered Kelly Minter's book "No Other Gods". I need to do a whole post on that bible study to even begin to tell you the impact it had on my life.
- Personally, I have struggled to find the time to blog, help fundraising families, prospective adoptive parents and to work on my daily mission of saving children's lives! I know I demand a lot from myself but my heart aches for any child that has to do without food, shelter and a loving family. It seems many of us in the adoptive community have found a niche and I think mine clearly is to help fundraising families. I have lived through the stigma of "fundraising" or "raising funds". I have cried thinking my sweet child would have to wait another month if the funds would not come in and I have witnessed the beauty of human kindness and generosity. I don't think I can ever explain how wonderful last year was for us to witness the hand of God work through His people. So with that said I felt I had to hone in on my skill set and help inspire others. My biggest quote to my Talia girl was "I never want to have a child die with blood on my hands due to finances" and I don't want to ever hear any family say I can't due to finances. It may be hard, uncomfortable and scary but when God has laid it on your heart to adopt one of His children I promise you He will provide. I prayed and prayed on how I could best help others while doing something I love and something that was flexible with my current mommy schedule. I also tried to find something that would appeal to everyone and you all know I am a big proponent of "shopping for a cause"!!! In fact quite honestly Todd and I buy the majority of our items and gifts via fundraisers. I can not tell you the countless times someone will comment on something my girls have on or something in my house and I can proudly say, "Oh yes that was from a fundraiser!" After we fund raised I began to think about everything so differently. Now I need to find someone who sells gas for my car!
LWB has been asked to do a very special project for a rural, mountainous village in southwest Guizhou Province. ChaYing village, home to a Buyi ethnic minority group, is one of the poorest villages in Guizhou. We have been asked if it would be possible for us to provide a new coat and warm thermal underwear to every child in the village. There are 105 children who currently live in Chaying. For every order placed for this online show we will be donating a set of thermal underwear and a coat for an orphan. No matter the amount you spend Harper and I will match it and make sure every child gets this set.
I know my fashionista friends will just love Stella's stylish scarves, wallets, jewels and more. You will help us warm up a child's life while shopping for some fun celebrity-coveted jewelry! You may have seen the line featured in InStyle, Lucky, People and Glamour. From delicate necklaces to statement pieces Stella & Dot has something everyone will love! Christmas is just around the corner and with 50% of our line under $50 you will find some fantastic gifts and how sweet it would be to include a note card letting the recipient know that this gift helped keep a child in China stay warm this winter.
I am so excited for this opportunity as I was deeply saddened that I could not help every family that needs monetary help but now I can! It is such a perfect fit! With that said I will be doing local Charlotte events for ladies that want to earn and reward themselves with some fabulous free jewelry. From these parties and orders on my online boutique we will start saving for Harper's heart surgery. I plan on featuring 1-2 fundraising families every month where the majority of the proceeds and all the jewelry goes to them. I also look forward to venturing out into other community fundraisers or causes that mean so much to my hostess. I want every fundraiser to be a success. So if you are interested in a fundraiser or yearn for some girl time with your friends please e-mail me at mjpost32@gmail.com and we can talk about getting you on the schedule! Our exclusive styling events are so much fun, super easy and laid back....you will be hooked! Plus hey you all can help this mommy get out of the house!
So this is not only my opportunity to help people but it gives me a focus to shine the light of Christ and spread His call to all of us to care and love one another. Someone kindly asked me, "Well what do you get out of this?" and I kindly answered, "More then you can ever imagine"! In this season of life this is how I can use my past experiences, my hopes for children around the world and my admiration of fashion to build families. I am starting slow and steady and then after Harper's surgery and depending on the type of care she needs we will go from there but for right now my cause is right in front of me and I won't ever stop fighting for the fatherless.
During National Adoption Awareness Month and time and time again I go back to the Starfish Story to remind myself that we all can make a difference in the life of a child.
A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,
“Well, I made a difference to that one!”
The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.
Doesn't that story just make you melt? We really can make a difference. Find what your niche is and do it...help others, love one another, build people up-don't tear them down and most importantly ask the Lord what you can do and how you can use your life to help His causes, not yours. I promise you when you pray to Him, He will answer and clearly direct you to what you need to be doing.
WOW, such a precious pic! I love the starfish story, always have. I wear a starfish necklace because it means so much to me! Beautiful post!:)
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