Good Morning! Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group.

Good Morning Everyone and welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat! It's good to be here this morning since I have missed the last two Saturdays. I want to thank everyone for all of the love and support since my Grandmother's illness. I did receive some troubling news late last night. My Grandmother's biopsy results came in and the growth in her lung is lung cancer. She is going to an oncologist next Friday to discuss treatment options. We as a family are thinking positively and are hoping and praying for a full recovery.


Daleea has designed this beautiful blog to support the Starfish fundraiser effort. She is planning an on-line auction. She is making items which will be displayed on the blog and people can leave their bids in the comments. The highest bidder wins. All proceeds are going to her Starfish child. If anyone would like to donate an item to the auction, please contact Daleea at 'Jewels of My Heart'. I am donating a Kimberley Dress! There is a link on my sidebar to the site. If anyone would like to place the link on their sidebar or do a post to promote the auction, that would be very much appreciated.

Robin at 'Red Thread Stitches' has a sizeable payment due next month to her adoption agency. She is sewing away trying to raise the funds. She could really use for some new orders to come in. She has so many new designs right now. If you are looking for a secret buddy gift or have any special events coming up for a child and are looking for a gift or a beautiful outfit, please stop by Robin's site. There is a link on my sidebar. And if you would like to do a post for her at this time, it would be very appreciated. She is also doing a raffle for an IPod Shuffle.


It would be wonderful if we could have some more blogs sign up to support the Starfish Supplyraiser. No one blog is responsible for raising the entire amount for any child. This is a cumulative effort, so the more blogs that participate, the more of an impact we can make. I have seen great ideas coming in to raise funds. If you are interested in sponsoring a child on your blog, please let me know which one and I will get you the sidebar graphic that directly links you to the Starfish donation site. The money does not come to me. It goes directly into Amanda's surgery fund.

THE CHAT ROOM IN NOW CLOSED...HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Happy Friday Everyone...There Will Be a Saturday Morning Chat Tomorrow.

I am so glad it's finally Friday. I've had a crazy week! There will be a Saturday Morning Chat Group tomorrow. I have quite a few announcements and things to talk about, so please join us!
Have a great day today!!

Interested in Adoption in Africa?

I really am just thrilled about this because I have never seen it before. Not to say that it hasn't been happening, I just have never seen it. There are two families that I know of who are currently in Africa, to bring their children home. I do not know exactly how these adoptions came to be arranged as I am aware that Africa is not as open as other countries to adoption. All I can tell you is that I think these babies are beautiful and I am so glad that they have found their forever families.


These little darlings are Adam and Jeane, you can follow their journey home at 'Tuininga Treasures'. This little beauty is Savannah Hope. You can follow her journey at 'Johnson Family'.

Please Leave a Kind Word and Say a Prayer...

Please leave a kind word for Carol at 'At Home with Emily'. Emily has become very sick and has a rash with sores. Carol took her to the med center and they cannot figure out what she has.

My Oldest...

This is a photo from Zachary's scrapbook. Sometimes I just can't believe he is 15 years old. Well, to be honest, most of the time I can't believe he is 15 years old and he will be 16 July 9th. He is such a wonderful young man now with a life that is quickly becoming his own. He has already made arrangements to purchase a car from his father on his 16th birthday. With that car, he will be able to go anywhere.
Being his mother has been one of the 3 greatest blessings of my life. He is my first child, my first experience at loving as a mother does. He woke my heart. I have loved every minute of every day of every year that he has graced this world and my life. I have loved him through each stage of his life, always eager to watch him grow and always missing the boy he was the year before.
When he was small, he needed me so much. His life revolved around me and mine around him. Somewhere along the road, he has moved on to other things, but my life still revolves around him. He needs me less, but I still need him the same. I can't imagine what I will do when he is grown and out on his own, what it will be like when he isn't walking through the door all the time, when he isn't at the dinner table.
This phase is becoming very difficult for me. I know that it's time for me to start letting go, but it's just so hard. I know that it is my job to prepare him for independence and I'm doing the best I can to ready him for life. I just have to figure out how to prepare myself for a life without him always in it.

LayDFrog...Adoption Fundraiser...Win a $500 Travel Voucher!!

We will be raffling off a $500 voucher towards your next vacation....you can use it towards a cruise, airline tickets, hotel booking...the cost for said raffle tickets you ask??? well, $10 a ticket or 3 tickets for $25!! I know so very cheap for such a wonderful prize!! If you are interested, email me (dannyem1973@yahoo.com) and I will give you the amazing details!!! Go to 'LayDFrog' for more details!

Quote for the Week...

The Waiting Child by Cindy Champnella

Kelly from 'Katie's Antics' gave me this book to read. I read it while I was in Chicago on business 2 weeks ago. I could not put it down. Whenever I was in my hotel room, I was reading this book. It brought me to tears throughout the amazing true story. Jaclyn, the girl pictured above was adopted from an orphanage in China. While there, at the age of only 3, she had assumed the role of mother and protector to a small boy. After her adoption, she prayed daily and relentlessly entreated her mother to go back for this boy. This is the story of Jaclyn and "her baby" as she called him...Xiao Mei Mei.

Monday!

Have a great Monday everyone! Mine should be a little crazy at work since I've been gone for a week, but hopefully it will be a good one.

Thank You For Everything Cheryl...

Today I found out the identity of my Secret Buddy. I hope she doesn't mind me posting her photo, but it was on our Yahoo page, so I think it's ok. Thank you Cheryl for everything. You have been just the very best. You and your husband are such a great looking couple. I couldn't find your complete e-mail address on the site, so if you could e-mail me at timnkim@gmail.com, I would love to be able to get to know you better.
Thank you so much also for the darling apron that I wanted from Red Thread Stitches. I know that Sophia will be just darling in it.
Truly, you have made my year a very happy one with your wonderful monthly gifts.

We Are Home...Thank You for your Friendship...A Special Need...The Biggest Project Yet.

Thank you for every one of your comments and for your prayers and support this past week. It has meant the world to me and I will let you all know how things are progressing with my Grandmother.

I would like to send out a very special thank you to Verna. She makes the graphics for all of the fundraisers and baby showers. I have to say that the one above takes the cake. This is just so beautiful Verna.

If you look on my sidebar, you can see links with the photos of different children on them. Each of these children needs surgery in the near future. They are all affiliated with Amanda and the Starfish Foster Home. A couple of them are currently at larger orphanages in China, but Amanda has been asked to help.

This is going to need to be a little bit different than our traditional giving. These children need a large amount of money. Approx 3k per child. If you are willing to sponsor a child by putting their link on your blog, please leave a comment and we will be sure to get their link to you. The hope is that each sponsoring blog will be able to raise funds by doing a garage sale, bake sale, lemonade stand, donating blog design fees, holding an on-line auction, church donation, car wash etc. This could be a great family project.

Please let me know if you would like to participate.

The post below is taken from Chinese Starfish.

Donations for Surgeries
There have been some interesting developments of late. The orphanages I work with have been calling me about some of the babies that need medical care, hoping that I can help. It has taken almost three years to get to this point and I feel that they are beginning to trust me to find the best care for their children. I have decided to try raise the funds and this is the reason I am writing today: To ask for your help. I am unable to bring them to Starfish right now, which makes me sad but I know that if I help with the surgeries while they are in the orphanage, then they will have a better chance at getting adopted.
I hope that in the faces of the children, you will see a need that you can do something about because the children who could use a helping hand. Maybe it is foregoing a dinner at a restaurant, a DVD or a new pair of shoes and contributing that money to our tax free foundation. By doing that you will make a permanent difference in the lives of these children. People often tell me that they cannot contribute much. I will accept whatever you can donate because I know this: The power is in combining all of those "small" donations and making something 'big" out of it. As in the story from which I took our name, you too can become a starfish thrower, by helping a child to get the necessary surgeries to become healed.

1) Breanna: She is at Starfish right now and we have raised about 2/3 of the money needed for her heart surgery. April has been so eager to help her and to honor all of her efforts, I have decided to have the surgery done in April. We are going to go ahead and do the surgery next week because it is a convenient time for Dr Li in Hangzhou. We need a additional US$1600 to cover the cost.

2) Emily: Emily is our latest addition at Starfish and it would seem that she has a parasitic twin, I still have to confirm that. Regardless, the surgery will be done at the SCMC in the middle of April to remove the growth and this surgery is also partially paid for. The funds were donated to us by the Interkom auction that I went to in Shanghai last week. This even was presented by the high school students, who through their efforts raised 20 000RMB (US$2800) to help a baby get surgery. We are short about US$1 400 for that.

There is a selection of children with Spina Bifida still in the orphanage:

1) A little boy whose picture they sent to me. He is about 8 months old. I just love that little face.
2) Two girls with SB they spent pictures of.

3) I also know of three older children who are in need of some surgery. Two are is seven and they both have to have surgery on three botched attempts to heal their SB. Another girl is four and she was just just left by her family about two weeks ago. We are planning on getting these three on a schedule with Dr Lazareff and his team who will be back in China in October of this year. I was so happy to hear about this.
Please donate through Groundspring on our website http://www.chinesestarfish.org/ You will see the "Donate now" button on the right hand bottom of the page. If you donate, you are welcome to choose a baby and we will make sure we send you some information about the surgeries and the baby's progress over the next few months. The average amount needed for the spina bifida surgeries if there are no complications is about US$3500 to $4000. The heart surgeries can vary depending on the heart condition and this can be between US$3000 to $5000. I will also let you know when the surgeries have been fully funded. I want to keep Dr Bao busy at the SCMC!!! I am just kidding. He is busy enough without all my babies. You have to fight for his OR time and a bed in the hospital. SCMC is a really busy and very famous all over China.
Thank you so much for your support and for allowing me to do this kind of work. I could not do this without the generous donations of the people who follow the adventures of Starfish. It has been an awesome experience for me, one that has defined my life and I am so grateful for the chance to help heal a child and to be there to make sure they have everything they need to find a family.
Life, Love and Laughter,
AmandaStarfish Foster Home
http://www.chinesestarfish.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/