This Just Has to Be Shared....Such a Beautiful Thanksgiving Miracle

What a way to wake up on Thanksgiving Day and learn of this beautiful miracle, this beautiful heart of an 11 year old, and the goodness and awesomeness of God to make this all happen. My words cannot give what has occurred justice so please first read here to read the beginning of this amazing story and then read here to hear what has occurred just 8 days later. I am just so humbled by this family and their willingness to act upon the whispers and tugging on their heart for an orphaned child with Down syndrome. And...I am so encouraged by a community that helped make it financially possible. How many times do we ignore those little tuggings and never know what could have been.... and yet when we do act, or more appropriately "respond"....look at what true beauty can take place!
By the way.....what you are about to read happened because 300 people donated a small amount. 300 people......that's it, just 300 hundred. That number resonates with me because as big as our world is it should be so easy to get each and every one of those precious children out of those orphanages if only we would all act upon those small whispers and nudging.....I so hope we can!

Happy Thanksgiving...From My Favorite Little Indian

From where I sit it is 7:00 pm Wednesday evening and as far as I am concerned......the long holiday weekend has begun! I LOVE, LOVE this time of year. I love turkey and stuffing and all the trimmings and I love the warm aroma that just envelopes the house. I love the time with family to reflect on the year and share what we are thankful for. Actually, I just asked Luke what he was thankful for and his quick response was,"My friends and family". Truly, what could be better! I too am so thankful for my family....in fact each Thanksgiving Toby reminds me of a little story that occurred before we were even a family....and my fingers keep typing so I guess I am going to share that story :). Before Toby and I were engaged and he and I were "ring shopping" we came across a ring that I thought could be "the one" so I put it on my finger and stretched my hand out in front of me to take a look at it...and I guess I had a dreamy look on my face so Toby asked me what I was thinking. I laugh now thinking about it because it is such a "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" moment as I am sure he was thinking more about how much $$ it was going to cost him, but my response to him was, "I am trying to picture myself stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey with this ring on, for our future family". LOL. And, yes, I will be stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey for my family and my beautiful boys that I absolutely, absolutely adore....with THAT ring on my finger! ...and yes Toby will remind me tomorrow of the story and we'll laugh and look around at our little family that we could only have imagined back then....and we'll be ever so grateful and thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone from the Foreman's and our cute little Indian.
These pictures were taken at his school "corn feast parade".

My favorite little Indian

This was when he first spotted me, lol,...I tried to hide at first so he would walk in the parade.

Reid's "cheesy" smile.

"I'm Sweating Through My Eyes"

Yesterday's game was an emotional one...and it turned out that we would only play the first game. The boys were heartbroken and even though they are 8-10 year olds most of the boys were crying by the end of the game when the coach huddled everyone together. I stood back to listen and could tell the coach was getting choked up too.... which meant so much. As I mentioned yesterday, this team was one of those teams that you just have to treasure because you know it is not going to be the normal experience. It was truly a love fest last night as we had our final party, all the parents were so grateful for this particular season and so grateful for such genuine men who really took the time to truly coach these boys in such a meaningful way . Luke was "gifted" the goalie shirt to keep, it melted my heart when I saw the surprised and touched look on his face when he understood what they were doing. This morning I asked him how he was feeling and he said he missed his coach and his teammates already......and after a few quiet moments he said, "Mom, I'm not crying....I'm sweating through my eyes". What a little character!! :)

Soccer Season Must Come to an End....

Boo hoo, I am sad to say today will end the best soccer season we have experienced yet for Luke. We were so fortunate to have landed on such a a great team with really great "teaching" coaches. The boys learned a lot about playing strategically, and you could certainly see their growth over the last few months. Luke was groomed into the goalie position and he LOVES it. At the beginning of the season I dreaded when they would put Luke in the goal....it is so hard on a mom to watch her little guy under so much pressure! But, over the season he grew in skill, was given the nickname "titanium wall" (which he eats up by the way ;) ), and this mom screamed so loud last game she lost her voice...yes I have become one of those crazy soccer moms! But, it was an intense game (actually two) that lent this little team who had actually only won one game to play today in the final championships. We potentially have 3 games today depending on how they do, concluding with our end of the season party. So fun!
You know what else I love about this team??? These boys...all on their own, decided to make Reid their mascot. They surprised us by having a little jersey made for him just like the team players. Every half time they call Reid over into their circle and they chant his name while he dances. It's made me cry a few times...sooo sweet these boys are!

Hey, What's Going On Around Here??? =)

Hmnnnnn, apparently I am having some technical difficulties with my blog background and signature, so I 've sent an email to the gal who created it for me...so hopefully we'll be back up and running without the crazy messaging on the sides...don't know what that is all about. Orrrrr maybe it is time for me to go "Christmasy" like some of my favorite blogs have done. We'll see.

Benefit Dinner...for the Newest Special K!

In my last post I mentioned that we were going to see a documentary called I-Heart Revolution. It dealt with highlighting social injustice in this world and definitely stirred emotions to move a person to action. I think one thing I walked away with was a more heightened realization how young girls, particularly in India are trafficked for prostitution, it just broke my heart. Then the very next day I was reading a blog I love to follow of a family who are in the process of adopting several children internationally when it came to their attention that it is very possible these children's biological parents do not know what is happening, they do not realize they are being adopted out. So the adoption is at a stand still obviously....and now a new fight is on their hands to protect these children, but how? And how does one do anything to help when the social issues are all so much bigger than ourselves?
As a family we decided that we would all do "something"...even if in the scheme of things it is a small something, it is still "something" and for that we feel good to be apart of a tiny sliver of hope. For each of us it looks a little different but after having Reid... and learning about Reece's Rainbow and the many, many children with Down syndrome cast aside with a grim future... that has became our passion. A person cannot help but be pained when perusing the site, knowing these little ones are without a family....all because they have an extra chromosome.
A while back I mentioned on my blog about a benefit dinner we were trying to help organize for Reece's Rainbow, but was postponed. Well, it was rescheduled to last Saturday and it went so beautifully!!! I am so grateful for the heart and generosity of our friends who a year ago began hosting benefit dinners every other month where the proceeds would go toward a different cause. We had mentioned Reece's Rainbow once as a possible charity and they were on board from the start... They left it up to us how we wanted the funds to be used and we decided more than anything we just want these little ones home with their "Forever Families" as soon as possible and so we decided we wanted to help a very special family, The Garcia's, get closer to their fundraising goal. We are so excited to say that we were able to raise $2,o51 for their family and their newest Special K. Many of you who follow this blog are also very familiar with Renee and Life with my Special K's....if not you can click here to find your way over to their adoption blog and follow the beautiful unfolding story for yourself as they are right smack dab in the middle of the process of getting their little girl.
Our hosts Mike and Nancy were so generous to open their beautiful home and Steve who is our favorite IT guy by day and favorite "chef" by night created the meal from scratch.....and as you can see from the pictures it was not just a meal...it was truly art, the most delicious art ever! :) It was simply... elegantly delicious! Can you see from the pictures the pumpkins he used for serving dishes?! So creative and fun! (BTW, Steve and his beautiful wife Meghan are expecting their first baby....and they found out just today they are having a little boy!)
As part of the benefit dinner it is suggested that each person donate $35 toward the cause at hand. However, to raise additional funds for the Garcia's, Nancy mentioned having a raffle of items....and it was so fun!! Below you can see several people adorn with oodles of tickets! Nancy provided beautiful gift baskets, a tower of toys (see pictured below that the children were all putting their raffle tickets toward), wine, ....and we even had a beautiful blanket donated by Heather, Zoey's mom, that was a hit amongst the girls in the group! (Thank you Heather!) You can click here to read about the incredible heart behind these blankets. But wait that's not all.....it was also casino night, so lots of chips were being traded....and guess who raked in the most chips at the roulette table??? Luke! :)
I am sorry this post is long...but so much to share! I wanted to point out that in the pictures below Nancy and her two daughters are wearing Reece's Rainbow shirts! Adoption is something very dear to their hearts, as both of their daughters were adopted from Russia....and can you see that the youngest's shirt is written in Russian?! How cool is that?!!
To open the evening Toby and I shared a bit of our hearts and shared the newest Reece's Rainbow ministry video with the group. Afterwards we had many people, including men, share with us that seeing these orphaned children brought tears to their eyes. I love that we also had an opportunity to share this cause with those unfamiliar with it! Mike, Nancy, Steve, and Meghan...............THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts for making this beautiful evening possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toby and I had the opportunity to share about Reece's Rainbow and our precious ones with Down syndrome....and share via the TV the newest Reece's Rainbow video

Our amazing chef for the evening

..and his beautiful wife Meghan

...and we can't forget Mason! :)

What a little flirt Reid is!!!!!!

We've created a new gambler I am afraid! :)

Gifts baskets, blanket, and "Tower of Toys" for the raffle

A few of our ticket purchasers :)

and Vanna....oops I mean Danielle!

I was so excited that this sweet young lady won Zoey's blanket!

Little Reid at the end of the evening...absolutely konked out!

...and poor Steve was absolutely WIPED out by the end of the evening, and understandably so!