Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I switch between feeling really depressed about these kids and feeling hopeful for them. People are realizing this atrocity is going on and they're starting to do something... I hope! It's just heartbreaking and I tend to let things like this really REALLY get to me, especially now that I'm a mommy. Ugh.

Preston's Prayer Button

I encourage everyone to choose a child from Reece's Rainbow to pray for. I want to help them ALL and take them ALL home, but I can't. So please consider this. If you blog, I don't mind helping you make a button. :)

Grab This Button
<center><a href="http://www.reecesrainbow.com/newsite/angelolderchild.html"><img width="180" src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b268/gussiebutt/distressed-layers-boys-will-be-boys.jpg"/></a><br/> <a href="http://mymommyology.blogspot.com/2010/01/prestons-prayer-button.html">Grab This Button</a></center>

Happy New Year!

I must be getting older because I'm ready for bed and I have no interest in staying up any later. Anna on the other hand... she could stay up for hours yet!

Angel: Preston

Preston (33)

BOY, born October 31, 2003

Preston is a darling little boy who was born with dwarfism/achondroplasia. He is very smart and very hopeful he will have a family of his own. Happy and active!

Contact Andrea directly for more information

Preston has $0 in his funds.

This little boy has stayed in my heart for a long time now. Isn't he a sweetheart? It breaks my heart to see so many children with $0 toward their adoption. Preston currently has no money towards his. Say a little prayer that he'll find his family. Meanwhile, I'll pray for him, too.

Source: Reece's Rainbow

Pics 12/28 and 12/29

Anna eating and grinning and in the last photo, she's loving on her new baby my mom brought her.

Snow Day!

It finally snowed! Not at home in Washington, though. We're still in Oregon, but I guess it was a good thing. We finally saw snow! Anna ran around saying, "I see snowflake!" We got dressed really fast and went outside to let her run around in the snow. She loved it. It didn't take long for it to turn to rain, though. Ironically enough, it began to snow harder once we were inside. Oh, well. Hopefully it's on the ground tomorrow so we can play in it. Anna has bathed and is in her jammies nice and cozy. :) Gosh, I love this girl! I love her so much!!! What did I do to deserve her? My beautiful girl.

Merry Christmas!

This morning, Anna woke me up talking about how Santa comes through the ceiling (her words, not mine) and has ponies (again, her words). I though it was so funny she was putting together such a complex little description about Santa Claus! A few weeks ago, she didn't know who Santa was, but she has been watching Christmas movies online... I've found a few great animated oldies but goodies online. She's so excited for Christmas! She keeps asking when we put a gift under the tree, "For me?" lol! It probably wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that I'm just as excited, if not more excited, as she is. I want to think about what she thinks of her gifts!

She has gotten a few gifts at from a family get-together... including roller skates... which she loves!

I'm fighting off a cold or something and I feel awful, but here are a couple of pics from before we left Washington for Oregon where we are currently visiting family. :)

An Estonian Christmas

A friend of mine, Triinu from Estonia, sent me some lovely Christmas candy called Kalev which is a mix of candies. There are dark chocolate covered wafers, dark chocolate covered raspberry candies, toffee, and lemon candies. They are very good! I wanted to share a bit of her letter to me in which she shared her Christmas traditions. I think you might find it interesting, as I did. :)

Excerpt:

Our family does not have any special "traditions". Usually we do the same as usual Estonian families. At first --> we have Christmas day on 24th - as I assume it is the same for you? In the morning we clean the rooms and make dinner. In the afternoon we spend mostly outside - if there is snow, then usually building snowmen and snow- lanterns. If there is no snow (it's very possible usually) then we just walk outside in the nature. In the evening we have our usual Christmas feast. The feast is outrageous. Sometimes we have 4 different kind of salads and dressings. It's usual to have potatoes, roasted meat (beef or pork) and sauerkraut (!). Sauerkraut is usually the thing which creates the "Christmassy feeling". After the big feast we rest a bit and then we have sauna. Sauna is soo good, especially when the weather is cold.

While we are in sauna - the Santa Clause comes (we call him Jõuluvana). He leaves the presents under the Christmas tree. When we come back from sauna - we are happy ;)

Later in the evening we drink sparkly wine or glogg and watch some old Christmas movies. So. That's it!

I hope you had fun reading my letter! I know I did while writing it!

With love,

Triinu

Sleepy Girl!!!

(above) Anna with red-hot feverish cheeks last week.

Why yes, she is half monkey!

Anna and I went to sleep last night (albeit late!) at 12 and woke up around 10. Anna immediately fell back to sleep and slept until 2! Now she's been asleep (again) for a little more than an hour! I think she must be going through a growth spurt! She is well otherwise, just very tired!

Angel of the Week

This angel's name is Aloyna and she's in need of a home! :) Are you her forever family?
Aloyna is 3, high functioning, smart, sweet, and an orphanage favorite! Isn't she beautiful? Please keep her in your prayers and you can go HERE to learn more about her! :)

Feeling Better

Anna's feeling better this week. She's back to her naughty, spunky self! This week is finals week for my hubby and me. I shall be officially free at 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time tomorrow or thereabouts. I cannot wait! Freedom! I can taste it! I will spend the remainder of the week... cleaning. Oh well. I guess even Cinderella had to make her bed after she married Prince Charming. ;)

New Header

What do you think? I figured I should get with the times. My baby girl is no longer a baby. Every time I look at her, I'm surprised by how much more she looks like a child. Her hair is getting longer. Her face is getting thinner. She tells me about her ideas, thoughts, and imaginings. But I have a feeling that even when she's twenty, she'll be my baby girl.

On another note, please pray she gets well soon. A week and a few days ago on Monday she began vomiting every other day. We went to the doctor this Monday and she suggested it was a stomach bug and if it persists to take her in. She hasn't vomited since, but about an hour ago, we woke up from a nap and her cheeks were warm. I figured it was because she and I were so close together under that comforter, with her arms around my neck, that she was hot from that. But her cheeks haven't cooled off since and she seemed to laze around and didn't want to eat much. She's running a fever from what I can tell (where is that thermometer???), but it has cooled off since I gave her the Tylenol. I am praying that this is just the end of whatever she has had and it isn't the beginning of something new! (Or a continuance of the same nasty bug.)

Being a Mom

The awesome thing about being a mom: discovering two little pine cones in your pocket as you walk home and smiling about the memory of how they got there.

Tonya's Hope

Tonya needs a home before she's transferred to an institution! I always stop and look at this beautiful little girl's face. She is beautiful! Big dark eyes and red lips. She's about to turn 5 and be transferred to an institution where she'll be left to die. Our God is bigger than that! Someone adopt this little girl! And please share her story!

You can go to her prayer site by clicking on the picture below and help by giving a tax deductible donation toward her fund!

To Give Tonya Hope
CLICK HERE

Lookin' a Lot Like Christmas

Whenever I asked Anna what she wanted for Christmas, she answered, "A tree!" or "A Tristmas Tree!" So... she got her wish. This is our first tree since we were married. Mostly what keeps us from getting a tree is the fact that we travel during the Christmas holiday... welcome to the life of being a student! So, this one is fake. And it looks pretty good for a fake tree, huh? Can you imagine that some of the real trees we were looking at were over a hundred and twenty dollars!? Ridiculous, right? Especially when you know you'll enjoy it for two weeks, travel, and come back when it's long past its expiration date and dead as a doornail (too many metaphors there?)... Check these out...

Then we made gingerbread cookies today! It was fun. Anna kept shoveling in the toppings... yikes! She crashed shortly afterward... surprised?





My husband is a weirdo...