Dr. Seuss and my life

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"- Dr. Seuss

                                                                                  

This very simple quote by Dr. Seuss pretty much sums up the way that I look at life.  I have never been the type of person that just goes along with the crowd.  Done what is most popular.  I don't ever testify to being "politically correct". 

I am known to speak and tell you exactly how I see a situation or how I feel about something.  I am passionate about many things in life.  Mostly about my children. 

I am very protective of my kids.  If you ask my kids they would tell you that I am too protective.  But I have my reasons for that.  I am definitely a "mother bear or tiger".  If you hurt my child, speak against my child, or somehow harm them physically, emotionally, verbally etc.....You will definitely be hearing from me.  Enough on that.

But truly, why would you want to be just a typical, normal, everyday kind of person?  I prefer going against the grain myself.  Maybe that philosophy has come about because people question some of the things that I do. 

For instance questions such as these:  why do you go to "that" church?  why did it take you so long to finally figure out what you wanted to study in college?  why on Earth would you ever dream about being a medical missionary?  "You must have lost your mind", why do you continue to adopt so many children?  Do you not know that no one can adequately care for so many children?  Especially those with "special needs"?  Are you sure that you are healthy enough to continue on this way?  why would you ever get married again?  Especially to someone with children themselves? 

These are all very easy to answer.  Because these are the decisions that I have made with my own mind, at my own will, for the good of everyone involved. And because this is what my Lord and Savior would have me to do!!  Also because I absolutely love, love, love helping those who can't help themselves.  Who is most vulnerable in the world?  ORPHANS!!!!  Well now, that answers why I do what I do. 

Some don't understand why we feel that we are constantly "called" to adopt one more child. My question to you is "why do you know that you are not?".  How can you look the other way when there are so many children here in the US and internationally that have absolutely no one to call their "Family".  I find it quite sad that many people never get or take the opportunity that is available to most of us.  You don't have to be rich, highly educated or even good looking to adopt or foster a child.  You only need love and the initiative to make a difference. 

So what are all of you waiting for?  I can't do all of this completely by myself.  There are over 140 MILLION orphans in the world!!!!  I know that we are trying our best to continue to add to our family through adoption but our home is not big enough for 140 million more children.  So I will continue to shout from the rooftops, educate those that are interested, and advocate for all of those wonderful kids out there.

Go and do something EXTRAORDINARY with your life!!!!!!  Don't settle for mediocre.





Fundraising

Today I have started our journey into Fundraising for our adoption.  It just amazes me how much time it takes to research one fundraising idea and try to get it off the ground and running.  I was lucky enough today that I called our local Applebee's Restaurant to ask about their "Dining for Donation" program.  They give you the template of a flier to pass out and a full day for friends and family to dine at their location and they donate 10% of each customer's total bill to your organization.  Not bad, huh?  All you have to do is print the template and start passing them out to everyone you see and know.  I called our children's schools to see if they would allow me to supply enough fliers for each child in the school district to take home to their parents.  I am still waiting on their reply.  Let me tell you, I am sure praying big time about this one.  Even if only 10% of the student body and their families came to support our fundraiser that would be some serious blessing.  Below you can see the flier that I ended up making today.  If you are free that day please come and join us at Applebee's.  I am sure that we will be there!  Would love to meet you, Cheryl

Matthew West's "One Less"

Wonderful news!!

We have been well on our way with our adoption.  We began searching for a special little guy in September 2011 and we found him on Reece's Rainbow.  Everything seemed to be progressing right along.  Although there are ALWAYS speed bumps, mountain tops and valleys along the way.  We had recently ran into a "glitch" in our progress.  Needless to say our dossier caseworker was a bit apprehensive about how successful our adoption was going to be. 
Our future son's country is pretty strict on their requirements and eligibility guidelines.  We knew this going into this process but have felt completely at peace with this situation the whole time.  That was until our caseworker was now trying to dot the "i's" and cross the "t's" after five months into the journey.  Some parts of our dossier were now in question as to what our future son's country's government was going to say about certain requirements being met or not.  If they said that our "evidence" in our dossier did not comply with their guidelines then we would no longer be allowed to pursue this adoption and not in this particular country. 
To those who know us personally, you know that we are very passionate about adoption.  Adoption literally defines our family.  Duffy and I have six children.  His', hers' and theirs'.  All of our kiddos are adopted.  Due to infertility issues I  began on this journey a very long time ago. Almost 24 years actually.  We truly believe that God has had us on this path long before we knew it.  He is just like that.  Always one step ahead of us.
So we have been waiting for a couple of weeks now for a few details to be ironed out.  The call came this morning around 10am.  Our future son's government gave us the green light to continue on and complete our adoption of Silas!!!!!
We are ecstatic!!  How amazing our Father is.  We are truly blessed!