I just want you all to know.

I am in Kansas City. I have been here since I received a call to come home because my Grandmother is passing on. She is losing her battle with lung cancer and I am home to be with her for her final days.
Right now I am focusing on sitting with my Grandmother, holding her hand and sleeping with her. My family is together and we are cherishing this time.

I am still very dedicated to the Starfish project as I know that it is very important. Please keep the sponsorships coming. We are so grateful for everyone's help, but we still have quite a ways to go. So please keep the e-mails coming. They are a bright spot for me in a very difficult time.

Please understand if I do not respond as quickly as normal, I am checking only once a day right now. I want to devote all I can to my Grandmother.

9 Starfish Cleft Home Babies Have Arrived...4 Are Due to Arrive Soon...Aren't they Darling???

These 9 babies at the Starfish Cleft Home are fully sponsored. Thank you so much to everyone who came forward to support these children.

Woo HOO! Our blog is up and running! http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com/

Tina is fully sponsored.

Tim is fully sponsored.

Stella is fully sponsored.

Nick is fully sponsored.

Karl is fully sponsored.

Jasmine is fully sponsored.

Clara is fully sponsored.

Bryan is fully sponsored.

Antonia is fully sponsored.

The Starfish Cleft Palate Home...A Leap of Faith

Amanda was contacted a couple of days ago by the Director of the orphanage in her area. There has been a large group of infants left, many with cleft palate issues and the orphanage has no room to take them in. There are 12 who are due to be released from the local hospital in the next couple of days with nowhere to go.
Amanda has been planning to open a Cleft Palate Home in the distant future when funds were in place, but because of these 12 little ones, she is converting the volunteer quarters into a the Cleft Palate Home and will take in these 12 babies.
She only has funds to support them for 3 months, so this is where we come in. We need approximately 72 families to come forward who are willing to sponsor a child for $25.00 a month. It costs approx. $150.00 a month for Amanda to feed and care for each child, so it it will take 6 families to step forward for each child. Or if a family is willing to contribute more, that would lessen the number of families needed. This would be a year commitment. Amanda will send out updates to the families and photos of the sponsored babies.

The amount is totally tax deductible and the donations will go through the STARFISH CHILDREN'S SERVICES and the tax number is 20-4682816

If you are part of a woman's prayer group, or work with a youth group, perhaps you would consider having your group sponsor one child for a year.

If you are willing to come forward as a sponsor family or group, please leave a comment below or e-mail me at timnkim@gmail.com

A new blog is being created for the home and we will have all of the details to you soon. But we need sponsors quickly, because these children are being released to Amanda in a couple of days if we can get everything together.

If you have ever sat in your living room and wondered how you could make an impact, this is it. Amanda is moving forward not knowing where the money will come from. These 12 children need a place to heal and grow. I need help finding approx. 72 families who are willing to contribute $25.00 monthly to support these children. I don't know that many people, so if you all could help spread the word about this project, it would be wonderful.

14 families have come forward to sponsor children...thank you!

5 out of the 12 children are completely sponsored.

The Starfish Supply Raiser is On Hold....

The Starfish Supply Raiser is currently being placed on hold. Amanda contacted me today and would like us to shift our focus to raising support for the new Starfish Cleft Palate Home. If you have already made your purchases, please go ahead and ship them to me. Everything collected will still be sent to Starfish.
Please keep Starfish in your prayers. God is good and there are wonderful things coming on the horizon for these children and others too.

Amy's Baby Shower for LynnMarie! Please Spread the Word!

Please mark your calendar's for Amy's Babyshower for LynnMarie being held on February 21st here at the Seventh Diamond. If you are unable to attend and would like the gift list and Amy's address to send your special items and good wishes, please leave a comment with your e-mail address or e-mail me at timnkim@gmail.com. Amy's blog is 'When Love Takes You In'.
A special thank you to Daleea for this darling graphic!

Good Morning and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!

Good morning everyone! There is quite a bit going on right now. I hope you all had a wonderful Chinese New Year! The Starfish Supply Raiser is off to a wonderful start. Thank you all so much for your e-mails and participation.


Kim at 'Isabella Bison' is having a Scentsy party on-line, so head on over to her blog and register to attend!


Also, Holly at 'Purpose Driven Family' is doing a Pampered Chef fundraiser. This families blog is private, but if you follow along and know their situation, I am sure you will do whatever you can to help.

If you’d like to help, it’s easy with online ordering! Here are the instructions:

1. Go to www.pamperedchef.biz/mcdaneld
2. Click on ‘Our Products’
3. Under organization name, type: McDaneld Legal Fees
4. You can have the order sent to your home for an extra charge, or you can have it sent with the group order to my home here in Fayetteville NC for $4.25 and I will deliver it to you. (please don't chose this option if you life outside of the Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg area! Sadly, many of you...my blog readers do NOT!)
Thank you for helping us in our time of need! May you be blessed richly in return!

IF YOU ARE NEW AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THE CHAT, JUST RIGHT CLICK ON THE WORDS 'COMMENTS FROM A FRIEND' LIKE YOU ARE GOING TO LEAVE ONE AND THEN CLICK ON 'OPEN LINK IN NEW WINDOW' AND YOUR SCREEN WILL OPEN AND JUST TALK WITH US IN COMMENTS, IF YOU HIT REFRESH AT THE TOP OF YOUR SCREEN YOU WILL SEE EVERYONE'S NEW COMMENTS APPEAR AND THAT IS HOW WE TALK WITH EACH OTHER.

**The chatroom is now closed, have a wonderful weekend!**

The First Box Has Arrived...Thank You Desiree!

The first box for Starfish arrived today. Thank you so much Desiree for these darling clothes and baby supplies. I know that Amanda is going to love them! Desiree's blog is 'Our Happily Ever After Story'.

So Many Wonderful Responses...We're Off to a Great Start!

First I want to say thank you to Desiree who designed our sidebar graphic. I have never met her before and she sent me an e-mail offering to help. I am so grateful...thank you!

I have received so many wonderful e-mails from people who want to send donations again this year. I think that is particularly incredible because we are in a recession and I know that money has become tighter for everyone. You are such amazing women.

I had some ladies ask about the things that Amanda needs. She needs clothing in sizes preemie to 4t for both girls and boys. Coats, shoes and boots. (she does not need anymore of the infant full body coats, we sent her plenty last year). She needs children's/infant's tylenol and motrin, teething tablets, infants liquid vitamins, little nose's decongestant. She uses playtex bottles with the liners.

Truly, she told me to tell you all to follow your hearts. But the children still love Craisins and eat them for breakfast whenever they can.

What is listed at the bottom of the last post is what we sent last year. I hope we do well this year too. It seems like a lot, but 18 babies go through 126 sleepers a week and that's if no one spits up or gets dirty.

Amanda brings home the babies who are most in need, the ones who it is feared will not survive if they remain in the main orphanage. She spends her time trying to stabilize the new babies and arranging for their medical care. For the older children who have been healed, she prepares their adoption paperwork and prays that a family will choose them.

The goal of this drive is to help supply her with the things she needs. Last year, she truly was amazed by the beautiful clothes that you all donated. She said that when the children went out, people wouldn't believe that they were orphans and she loved that.

I know that many of you were touched when you saw the children wearing outfits you had sent. It really was an amazing experience and I'm so glad that you all are helping me out again this year...thank you.

**ALSO, many of you sent cards and letters for Amanda last year, and I put them right into the boxes and sent them off to her. If you would like to send items for Amanda, I think that would be wonderful. She's a woman who lives with 18 children, so as you can imagine she has little for herself. I know that she is always looking for a good book to take with her when she travels to hospitals for the babies' surgeries. I think I'm going to buy some Bath and Body Works and send it along to her, that always makes me feel great. I also know that she wears crocs in a size 10, wide if they have them.

The Second Annual Starfish Supply Raiser!

I am excited to say that it is time for the Second Annual Starfish Supply Raiser to begin. Last year was such an amazing experience. I hope that this year is just as successful. I have been talking with Amanda and she wanted me to tell you all to follow your hearts in giving this year. She has infants who are needing very small preemie clothing and children wearing sizes all of the way up to 4T. She has both boys and girls at the foster home. Gently used clothing is wonderful.

If you are interested in participating, send me an e-mail at timnkim@gmail.com and I will get my address to you. All you need to do is send your Starfish purchases here to me and I will box them up with other donations and send them on to Amanda.

I will have Tim work on setting up the paypal for the postage donations.

Desiree has made a wonderful sidebar graphic, thank you so much!
I love the photo above because I recognize so many of the outfits on the children as being ones that you all sent last year. Below is a tally of what we sent last year. ALSO, I will need some spacebags, so if you have any laying around...they are wonderful for sending the coats.

*PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN TO SPREAD THE WORD THAT WE ARE COLLECTING AGAIN FOR STARFISH. I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO SEE THE NEW SIDEBAR GRAPHIC ON AS MANY BLOGS AS POSSIBLE AND HAVE IT LINK PEOPLE BACK TO HERE.


Vicks 5
Tylenol 10
Motrin 17
Sunscreen 2
Oatmeal 20
Craisins 12
Teething Tablets 4
Onesies 21 (there are more than this because I counted packages as one)
Shoes 35
Boots 3
Pants 3
Coats 17
Shorts 18
Sleepers 106
Girls Outfits 88
Sheet 1
Bottles 6
Boys Outfits 48
Sweaters 15
Gloves 3
Booties 6
Socks 35 (there are more because I counted packages as one)
Sun Hats 9
Bibs 17 (there are more because I counted packages as one)
Baby Hats 19
Hats 3
Shirts 58
T-Shirts 22
Sweats 16

**UPDATE** Amanda wanted me to let everyone know that she has plenty of infant bag-style winter coats. She received quite a few of them from us last year and she is all set with those.

She does need: infant liquid vitamins and teething tablets, along with the infant tylenol and motrin

The Friends Love Award...

I received this award from Jody at 'Jody's Cottage'/aka mommy2gabby. It really is one of the sweetest awards and I am happy to be passing it along. Thank you so much Jody!

Getting this award means the following:


"These blogs are exceedingly charming.
These kind bloggers aim to find friends and be friends.
They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.
Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships will be propagated.
Please give more attention to these writers.
Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly- written text into the body of their award."


Here are my 8!

Robin at 'Red Thread Stitches'. I cannot tell you how many times she raised my spirits and kept me going.

Daleea at 'Jewels of My Heart'. Thank you for always listening and helping me with all of my blog projects. I appreciate your friendship so much.

Lea at 'Oh My 6'. She is pricesless.

Amy at 'When Love Takes You In' is always there to support anyone who needs it. And she always comes to my Sat Chat and that's amazing since she's a nurse who works nights.

Denise at 'Tucked Inside My Heart' is one of the kindest ladies in blogland. I wish she lived next door!

Felicity at 'Fliss and Mike' I love her! She calls me from time to time and I love hearing her stories!

Meredith/can I tell your real name? at 'A Mother Singing' talks to my soul. We share many of the same joys and pains.

Ford and Alyson at 'Imagine Alyzabeth An/ yes, I love them both and if you blog with them..you know it's a great package deal. They always have a kind word and seem to know when you need a little more than that.

Sunday...

Good Morning and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!

Good Morning Everyone and welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group! We are looking forward to celebrating Chinese New Year tonight.
I'm not aware of any new referrals over the past week, so if you know of someone, please let me know.

THE CHAT ROOM IS NOW CLOSED...HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Ty and his Bonsai...

Tyler is very interested in Asian culture right now. He got an A in his Chinese Mandarin class this term, so we are very proud of him. I got him this little Juniper Bonsai tree. The Juniper type is from China and not Japan which is kind of fun. We are nervous about keeping it alive, but so far it is green and happy (after only 1 week). If any of you have 'Bonsai Skills', I would love to hear any tips you may have. He is going to be at his Dad's next week and I'm in charge of the tree...I am hoping it doesn't take a downturn on my watch.

Quote for the Week...

In memory of Dr. King.

Tyler and I watched a special on Martin Luther King Jr. earlier this week and I was just so amazed by his courage. He knew that his life was in danger and yet he knew that his cause was more important. I cannot imagine the strength it took for him to press forward. I got a little weepy in some parts. I was so glad that Tyler was able to see it and have a better understanding of what Dr. King truly accomplished.

The Your Blog is Fabulous Award!

Lea at 'Oh My #6' passed along this little award. Lea has been a constant source of support and friendship to me and I am so happy to know her. Thank you Lea!

Now here are the rules for this award:
1. Pass it on to 5 fabulous blogs, including the one that gave it to you (and link them).

Easy enough! I choose:

1. Kelly at 'Living My Dream'. Her friendship has been invaluable to me.

2. Nancy at 'Asennd'. Thank you for thinking of me last week.

3. Kayce at 'Stories of Life in the Middle of Adoption'. Thank you for reaching out to me on a dark day and turning things around :) I know you already received this one, but I had to give it to you too.

4. Kim at 'Isabella Bison'. Thank you for always staying in touch and investing in my life. I appreciate it more than words can say.

5. Kim at 'Kenward Blog'. I am really enjoying our new friendship. Thank you for always staying in touch and bringing me out into the open :)

2. List 5 of your fabulous addictions.....

1. Chai Tea, love it!

2. Computer solitaire...yeah, I play too much at night!

3. Chatting on-line.

4. Blogging....I don't think I'm addicted :) but for some reason my family does....

5. Sorry, I can't think of a 5th one.

Welcome.....Mr. President

Sunday...

Good Morning and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!

Good Morning Everyone! Welcome to the Sat Chat. Donna and Joe are still in China bringing Lauren Elizabeth home. She's having a tough time with the transition, so I'm sure they would appreciate any kind words that you all could send 'Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth'.

Also, I will be starting up the Starfish Supply Raiser again next month. Amanda is happy to receive gently used or new clothing for boys and girls in sizes preemie to 4t.

We are working on firming up our Chinese New Year plans, what are you all doing?

*THE CHAT ROOM IS NOW CLOSED, HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Hockey Time~

We've been spending a lot of time in the hockey rink this year. Zach is having a good season and enjoying himself. He says he's not going to play his senior year though and that has me a little sad. I have watched him play since he was 4 years old.

I must say that I won't miss the freezing cold, but I will miss watching him play. It seems sad to me that he is playing his best and now will be quitting after this season is over.

Quote for the Week...