The Seventh Diamond: 2008-04-27

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group...

Good Morning Everyone and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!

CRYSTAL AND SAVANNAH HOPE ARE HOME!

Please say a prayer for the last 4 Starfish boxes. They are being held in customs. Amanda was called and questioned as to whether they are for business or personal. She tried to explain that they are donations for her foster home. We don't know if they will accept that or not. We are waiting to hear if they are being let through.

I am starting a new public blog to support International Adoption. I am looking for people who are IA families at any stage of the process who would like to link their blogs to this new one and be available if families have questions. Let me know if that is something you would like to be a part of.

Thank you for supporting Daleea's Auction Site. It is an absolute riot...I am having so much fun bidding and keeping up with everyone. NEW ITEMS WERE ADDED LAST NIGHT, SO GO CHECK IT OUT!

And lastly, but not least...thank you for praying for and caring about my Grandmother. I cannot tell you how special that is to me.

THE CHATROOM IS NOW CLOSED...Have a great weekend!

Friday, May 02, 2008

Happy Birthday April!!

Happy Birthday today to April from 'Road to Siji'!

I am Starting a New Blog...

I have begun working on a new blog. Actually, Verna is working on it right now. I will always have the Seventh Diamond. This new blog is meant for the general public. I have been thinking about this for a while now. And recently I have been contacted twice by givingroom.com which is a site designed to support people who are dedicated to humanitarian causes and non-profit organizations. This new site will be linked to their site, but I am hoping that word will get out about it and traffic will come from all over.

My goal for this site is to be a resource for families who are interested in international
adoption, going through an international adoption or are interested in helping others by sharing their experiences with international adoption.

I will continue my fundraising for Starfish there and would be happy to post about and link any fundraising efforts that are happening in our IA community. Just let me know. I will not post anything involving an individual family without being asked to. I will post about things like the Love Without Boundaries Art Auction, current events regarding adoption in different countries.

If you write a post about attachment or a particular experience that I think is amazing and would benefit others, I may ask you for permission to post it on the public blog. You can choose whether or not you would like to be referenced with it, or remain private. I would never post anything there from anyone without permission.

No direct information about our family is going to be on this blog, but my blog will be linked to it. I am comfortable with that arrangements, as I am already linked to Laura Christensen's award winning adoption blog.

What I am looking for is a group of families who would also be willing to link their blogs to my new site to act as points of contact for people who have questions about adopting from a particular country. I know that the majority of us are adopting from China, but some of you out there are persuing other countries also. Also, if you have a fundraising site and would like to be linked, let me know.

I don't know if this will take off or not, but I'm going to try.

Let me know what you think,
Kimberley

Isn't This Beautiful??

It's at the auction waiting for you to bid on it....http://justonechildatatime.blogspot.com

Thursday, May 01, 2008

The Waala's and a Wii...How Can You Resist?

Want to win a Wii ?

Since we have taken the plunge to adopt again, so have Mike's brother Dave & his wife Shelly. This is the second adoption for both of our families. Our families have taken a huge leap of faith going back to China...these kids really deserve forever families. We are scrambling to get the mountains of paperwork done, rooms remodeled, homestudies completed and .....a little fundraising.

Here is how the drawing works....

For EVERY $5.00 you donate through chip-in on the side bar, you will recieve a number. So if you donate $10.00, we will send you 2 numbers. Chip-in is VERY easy to use. You just click and you can pay through Paypal or by credit card. As soon as we receive your payment, we will email you your number(s). If you do not hear from us, please leave a comment on the blog.

The drawing for the Wii will take place on Memorial Day, May 26th. The last entry will be taken on May 25th at midnight CST. Make sure to check back on May 26th. It will be announced on both of our blogs. We will ship the Wii to the lucky winner immediately!

Our families have taken a huge leap of faith going back to China...these kids really deserve forever families. We are scrambling to get the mountains of paperwork done, rooms remodeled, homestudies completed and .....a little fundraising.

David & Shelly and Mike and I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments, prayers and well wishes and we embark on another journey of a lifetime.

This is our new motto.....

BRING THEM HOME
http://waalahouseoffun.blogspot.com

Please Pray for My Grandmother...

My Aunt called yesterday and she has spoken with my Grandmother's doctor. We have little precious time left. He said that chemo could give us more time though, and may even double his projections if she can take it well. Tomorrow is my Grandmother's first chemo treatment. Please, pray that she takes it well.
She is one of the key foundations in my and my Aunt's lives. We are not ready for her to go. We are not ready for any this.
To be honest, I don't really think any of this is sinking in right now. I am like a wall looking for facts. Very little emotion, I am just desperately looking for information. I don't know where the tears are.
Please, today think of her. Her name is Margaret, but everyone calls her Peggy. Please ask God to give us more time.
Thank you to all of you who I know are lifting her up. Thank you for all of your kind words, they mean a lot to me and my family.
Also, please pray that Sophia is home in time to meet her. I very much want their souls to cross paths on this earth.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Quote for the Week...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The Principal Called Today...

Oh yes, imagine my delight when I was driving Zach to his Jungle Driving School class this afternoon and I got a call on my cell phone from Tyler's school. Eli wasn't feeling well last night and I thought that Tyler must be getting sick too. But no, I had to go meet with the principal and take him home.

No matter how old you are, it's never comfortable sitting accross from the principal in a conference room.

When I arrived Tyler was all misty eyed and red in the face. He got in trouble for saying 'freekin' and was sent to the principal's office. Then he gave the principal some lip and I was called. The principal is a very nice man and he was very pleasant in the meeting. I was very disappointed. Tyler isn't allowed to say 'freekin' at home or to be disrespectful. And here I am called into the school over it.

So, I'm making him spend the evening in his room. Momma's not happy.

The Story of the Last 4 Fed*Ex Boxes...

This is a very interesting story. Tim and I took all 9 of the Starfish boxes to Fed*Ex together. At first we only had the funds to send out the first five economy, but we were able to find out how much more we would need to send out the last 4 largest boxes. We put the word out that more funds were needed and within days the donations came in. We took the last 4 boxes back to Fed*Ex and they informed us that they were no longer offering the economy rate and it would cost us $500 more to send these last ones out. Well, I had no idea what to do. I wasn't going to ask for more donations. I sent Amanda an e-mail explaining the situation to her and she put me in contact with the Hidalgo family. They aren't related to the horserider (I asked them). Mr. Hidalgo works for a major airline that gets a very nice discount with Fed*Ex, so we shipped the packages to them along with a check to cover everything and they were able to ship them off for us. So, I am so relieved to tell you all that all of the remaining clothing, food, meds and shoes that were sent to me are all now on their way. Thank you so much to the Hidalgo family. There is an extra box on here, because the Hidalgo's sent a box of clothing along with ours.

I took the tracking numbers out of the document below, but if you would like them, please leave a comment and I will be sure to get them to you.

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