~Welcome to the story of our journey to save another Eastern European princess with down syndrome and an older child! In 2010, we traveled half way around the world to adopt a twenty month old (now three years old) precious girl with down syndrome, Gabby. Now, less than two years later, we are on a mission to adopt another precious little girl that is in the same orphanage Gabby was in, Ava. Not only Ava, but yes....one more "Elaine". That means we are trying to adopt two more children!!!! If you are unaware of the situation in most, if not all Eastern European countries, please continue to read. In these countries children with down syndrome and special needs are most often placed in orphanages and if not adopted by the age of four or five (depending on circumstance), they are transferred to institutions where the likely-hood of them ever seeing outside of the institution walls remain slim to none. Many will live very short lives due to lack of appropriate care. Please don't allow this to happen to our sweet Ava! "Elaine" was fortunate enough to escape a very bad institution but nonetheless is in an institution and is an older child whose chances of coming home if we can't adopt her are not good. Having adopted and fully funding ourselves the previous adoption such a short time ago, we will need all of the help we can get to reunite these two angels and bring their big sister home. We utilized all extra resources with our first adoption and so fundraising is essential with this adoption. Whether it be from your prayers, helping to fundraise, buying from fundraisers, donations, etc...your help is much appreciated and is very much needed in order to make this dream a reality. Thank you so much for following our journey~

Friday, March 30, 2012

On a misson

I still remember so vividly the day we met our sweet Gabriana "Gabby". Pale faced and with a limp body, the orphange workers placed her in my arms and my life changed that day!  She was practically lifeless and rearly moved or made facial expressions.  Obviously, despite any first impression of her well-being, she stole our hearts.  I will not lie, my first impression was also one of fear. I remember thinking to myself  "what have I gotten us into, I'll never be able to take care of her the way I need to."





 Little did we know and boy did she show us, she had much more spunk and will power in her than we would  have dreamed at that time.  Everyday we watched her make new facial expressions, eat new foods, gain some much needed weight, get her normal color back, go from sitting up and tipping over to crawling and pulling her self up and much more.  Now she runs, jumps, climbs, says a few words, and loves playing outside.  I remember when she was terrified of baths.  Now she sometimes cries when it is time to get out of the bathtub.  The transformation is miraculous and we thank GOD for all he has done for us!!!










And now, please meet......

                                                              Ava Preslei
                                                       



Yep, thats right! We are on a mission to bring home another precious angel from Eastern Europe.  The best part? The angel was in the very same groupa room as our sweet Gabby! As a matter of a fact, she slept in the very same crib with her.  This precious girl has always been the closest person to a sister that Gabby has had.  Please don't let the pictures above full you.  Look how far Gabby has came from her first pictures. With love, a family, proper nutrition, attention, and medical care...this precious girl will be a healthy princess in no time after coming home. We know this is going to be a long and very hard journey. Especially since unlike Gabby's planned adoption, this adoption came out of nowhere really and is more of a calling.  Unfortuanetly, just 17 months after an adoption we have not been able to save a tremendous amount of funds to easily adopt.  We will be very much reliant upon fundraising and your donations to make this adoption possible and to reunite the sisters again! Any help you can provide to us such as prayers, helping to fundraise, donations, purchasing from fundraisers, spreading the word, etc would be greatly appreciated and much needed.  Simply put, without the help of our family, friends, and anyone reading my blog, this adoption will not be possible. Jason and I will put all of our efforts into making the adoption possible but we will need everyone to chip in to help.  Anyone who knows us knows that adoption is very special to our hearts and we will get this thing done if a way is made.  Please, help us bring Gabby and Ava back together again!!!!!


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