Good News Amidst Hardships

I feel a mixture of emotions today. I will explain. We did some more checking into dear little Anna and discovered that she now has a family that is pursuing her and spoken for her! We are overjoyed for her and for the family who is blessed to call her their daughter! So that is the first bit of good news.

Secondly, do you recall me posting about a hosting camp for Ukrainian orphans that was happening this month? Yesterday we got to spend some time at a picnic watching all these children interacting with their host families and it was a delight to watch them. And you know what is even more amazing? From what I understand 20 out of 22 have now found a forever family! How incredible is that?! I was in tears numerous times yesterday watching the interactions between the children and their new families! Absolutely the hand of God working things together for the good of His children! All the situations are different: a couple with an empty nest is again parenting a young, rambunctious 9 year old, this same couple's adult daughter and her husband who have 4 small children are also adopting - sibling sisters who are 12 & 13! It was wonderful getting to catch a glimpse into this process. I am hopeful that there will be many more camps in the future to aid in finding more children families.

And now for the heaviness of my heart. My dear friend Charity and her husband who received a referral a few weeks ago have been informed that he is no longer adoptable. Until you have walked this adoption journey you can't fully understand how you instantly love your child. This is not an easy season for them or their children.

And my dear friend Lisa from high school is watching her daughter fight for her life right now. I cannot even type this without tears! I have so many memories with Lisa and it is so hard knowing her level of pain. Lisa's 4th little girl was born a week ago at 32 weeks with heart defects and they are not sure yet what all is going on her her very tiny body. Because her heart wasn't growing correctly she is very tiny. She has an infection in her lungs and the doctors are meeting today to come up with some type of plan. There are so many unknowns and the outcome is very uncertain. If you are reading this and could please pray for Lisa, her husband Shanker and their little girl Madeline I would appreciate it. I will try to post some updates too.

And now it is time for me to make some lunch for the troops! They are feeling kind of grumpy today (why?) and I am trying to not be obnoxiously cheerful! Better to be obnoxious while being cheerful than grumpy though. And I have some very fun pictures of our days in Cedar Run last week. So much time spent in the water and so many memories etched into the minds and hearts of our children!