Help Bring Teller Home!

If you are able, please consider donating. We are working in connection with Adopt Together and every donation, no matter how small, will make a difference! As soon as the first donation is made, Adopt Together will review our profile for a possible grant as well. ALL money donated through Adopt Together for our adoption will go directly to my agency, not to me. Thank you so much for considering it and for those that, like me, live paycheck to paycheck, feel free to share on facebook, twitter, or your own blog.

Thank you from our hearts!

 

BRING TELLER HOME!

 

 

 

 So, it's been a lifetime since posting here- and we have NEWS TO SHARE! Both Randy and I have shed tears over the last 24 hours since receiving our pre-approval to adopt Teller. YES! Ellis is going to have a little brother!!! The costs to adopt have skyrocketed since I brought her home, so yes, we are having a fundraiser. WITH an AWESOME raffle!! Just keep in mind that this will be ongoing for several months as we prepare all the paperwork to bring this sweet boy home. There are very large fees throughout the process ($3700 for this month, which includes the first agency fee and the home study cost). Every single donation, no matter how small, gets you ONE entry to win an iPad mini. Every $25 dollar donation buys you TWO entries. Then, we've decided to draw 2 more names for the runner up prize: a Kindle Fire for each :) GoFundMe doesn't allow for raffles, so you won't see that mentioned in the link below. China has given us until December 20th to get our paperwork to them. So, our goal is to raise as much as we can by then and announce the winners on December 12, my birthday! Thank you again, every last one of you! Link below if you are able to donate, or just share the page!

Bring Teller Home!

 

I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once

~John Green~

In just 2 months, third grade will be finished and we will find ourselves making our way to Ohio again for yet another surgery. 2015 has been a mixed bag for sure. So many challenges, but many things to smile about too. She's braver than the bravest, and constantly reminds me of the power of living in the moment.

Mom is exhausted most days but not unhappy. Life is harder now than it's been previously but we will come out on the other side. I fight with insurance and wish this state had better aide for those who are disabled. It's disgusting how much I pay out of pocket for my child to do what every one of us takes for granted. But we muster on.

Ellis excels and loves "multimication" (she still says it this way, and I'm trying to hold on to her being little, so I never correct it). We pull teeth to get her nose in a book though. So unlike her mother who never puts one down.

In Ohio this past December we met Aron, the son of Joyce from New Hope Foster Home. Incredible, really. He was the person who took care of casting Ellis's leg in China for 2 months. What are the chances we'd meet in Ohio, and he would be a resident and assist in Ellis's surgery?? Such a small, strange, and magnificent world sometimes. Ellis became fast friends with his daughters and tells me everyday she wants to move to Ohio :) She saw her first snow as well and nearly cried saying goodbye to it.

so it's come down to this

I know I never post here anymore, and that is in large part due to being a single, full time working mom (to one very amazing girl). We are heading to Ohio for a major life changing surgery in 5 weeks and frankly the costs are simply overwhelming. I have had a garage sale, and am in the process of selling some worthy items in my home, and working some overtime this month to help offset the cost of travel/stay for a full month in Ohio. I also will not have enough paid time off from work to cover her entire 8 week recovery period. Please take a look at this site, and consider donating if you are able. We appreciate every cent, and all of your positive thoughts and prayers!

Ellis's Ohio Trip Medical Fund

dream a little dream

 

 Early this morning I was racked with guilt. You had gone missing, somehow- and were picked up by a city rescue team. They left a message, telling me if I did not come and claim you by 6pm, you would be put to sleep. I was frantic. Calling over and over, leaving messages begging them not to touch you, that you were mine and I needed you. You were sick, had cancer, and needed me. No one was picking up the phone to hear me ask for you and claim you. Some time later I was at work in a laboratory and my eyes were on the clock. 10 minutes and you would be gone forever and I couldn't find you. I called again, near hysterical, pleading through an answering machine- please bring my boy back to me. And then. My boss, the sounds of voices on the other side of the lab door, laughter, and words like 'Oh she will be so happy' and 'Thank you for bringing him here'. The door opening, and you you you you there (!)- there in front of me then next to me, me bending and kneeling to take you in, hold you. A reunion so sweet I couldn't catch my breath, shedding tears, relief flooding through me. "Buddy, buddy. Oh Buddy I love you I'm so sorry I lost you". You, always the one to forgive instantaneously, no thought of the past or your own fear being separated from me. Snuggling into me. Welcoming me. 

 God how I miss you Ransom. My heart breaks sometimes with missing you. Thank you for visiting me in my dream last night. It has been far too long since I last saw you.

in the summertime

2nd grade came to a close in early June, 3 years with Mrs. S, sad good-byes, the promise of summer and late bed times. I missed the end of year play, no less. The oppressive heat has settled in like an *unwanted* warm blanket, almost suffocating. The sounds of mockingbirds singing alone at night, the cardinals perched on our bird feeder, sunsets, sleeping in, lazy days. No vacations, they aren't possible now. Surgery on the horizon, again, for my Goose. Long talks about her favorite tv show (Beyblade), the length of life, what the year 3000 will look like, China parents, and wishing for a sister or the ability to walk. Coloring together, seeing movies, giggling. A lot. Some tears too as she grieves those 3 years in her class. Anxiety mounts as the new school year inches ever closer. She's outgrowing her chair. Hair is longer by the minute but never long enough for her ;) Hiro sleeps and snores and barks and bites his leash, happily devours the rainbow loom bands that easily find their way to the floor. Play dates. New friends. Dinners next door and dinners out. G and I working on this new relationship-as friends. Single parenthood simultaneously challenging in a way that equals pure exhaustion, but somehow equally as rewarding. Weight gain year after year. No time for anything but laundry, cleaning, yard work, job, a measure of sleep... oh, and the giggling, coloring, snuggling, talking. Short visits with family. Dad survives a massive heart attack. We dream of distant lands. A trip to China. Or Texas. Anywhere outside of the state we are in... meanwhile, day trips to the ocean or a new city, museums, parks. Staycations and swimming. Incredible thunderstorms. More doctor visits than a little girl can count. Life is hard. Life is also and always so good.