Day 6 of 10-10-10

Today is day SIX out of TEN for our $10 fundraiser.  We are ending it on Friday and appreciate your help for the final week.

We are asking for $10 to help us to bring home our beautiful daughter more quickly.  Min is a four and a half year old little girl, currently living in an orphanage in China.  She has a serious heart condition that will at the minimum require open heart surgery.  The problem is, the longer her heart functions unrepaired the bigger the chance of irreparable heart and/or lung damage is and the lower her chances of having a successful surgery are.  To be blunt, if she can't have surgery her life expectancy is not very good.  We are prepared for this as a possibility as part of her adoption, but we are doing everything we can to increase her chances of having a long and full life.  That is why we are asking for your help.  Please consider donating $10 to Min's adoption fund and if you would spread the word and ask your friends or coworkers if they would donate $10 as well, we would appreciate it more than I can express.

I was thinking about my children last night.  I have four sons and Min.  I have dreams and hopes for each of their lives.  I have fears and concerns about the problems that they are likely to face.  I have aspirations and plans to help them to be the most they can be in the lives that they choose.  As I was thinking about this weeks school plans, activities, and what I hoped to accomplish with my children, I wondered when Min had become fully part of that?  Much like a pregnancy, I wonder what she will look like in person, you have seen all the pictures I have of her on this blog:)  I wonder what her voice will sound like.  I wonder if she will let me read stories to her, if she will snuggle on my lap, if she will let me sing lullabies to her.  Will she want to be on the swim team with her brothers?  Will she want to be in the theater program that I volunteer with?  Will she want to dance or play sport?  What will she want to make on her weekly cooking day with me?  The boys current favorites are sloppy joes and spaghetti, what will her favorite meals be?  I wonder why I no longer look at her and see 'Chinese' but see my daughter.  When did that happen?  I know she did not grow inside me, but she has completely grown in my heart.

Thank you so much for the donations you have given, the prayers you have offered, and the support you you have shown to our family.  We appreciate and are so very thankful for you.