Blessings

The Last few days have been a break from blogging land. It was time for me to get spiritually fed & focused on what should come first in my life. I think my blogposts will be more sporadic so if you read my blog still I apologize. Angel Tree starts Thursday so I might be posting a lot more often for November but if not please know I am still alive. Its just been hard to quite put into words what I want to say & talk about. This past week I have been so blessed, I don't think I have ever cried so much in one week! These past two weeks have been pure awesomeness! From the birth of my nephew to Celine surpassing her match, to so much more! Wednesday as I was back scrolling through the blogposts Patti wrote about Celine I noticed a new comment on this post & the tears streamed down my face cause this was a comment from my brother.

I am so proud to have sister in Leah H She is kind and caring and generous through and through. Being her brother has allowed me to see her and hear her cry out to those around her begging for support for Celine and many other children who need help. Because of how much she has moved me in her passion, and because of the incredibly reasonable challenge that you, Ms. Patti, have presented on your blog: I want to help. As a college kid, I can't do much, but I just want to say that what you said was powerful, and it rings true in my head. 
So keep pushing and don't give up hope; your words have broken through to one more person.

I have been so blessed to have such a caring brother in Matt & miss him bunches!!!

God has given me so many blessings in my life & looking forward to many to come!
I pray Celine too will receive blessings in whomever her family might be someday!

THANK YOU GOD FOR ALL YOUR BLESSINGS THESE PAST FEW WEEKS ESPECIALLY FOR CELINE!!! I PRAY HER FAMILY WILL REALIZE WHEN THEY SEE HER PHOTO THAT SHE IS THEIRS. I PRAY THAT HER HEART WILL BE OPEN TO RECEIVING THAT FAMILY! PLEASE, CONTINUE TO GROW HER GRANT SO THAT NOTHING STANDS IN THE WAY OF HER FAMILY GETTING HER. I UPLIFT THE GOVERNMENT IN HER COUNTRY TO SPEED UP THE PROCESS SO FAMILIES ARE NOT DETERRED AWAY FROM HER REGION. AMEN!!!

Hip hip hooray!

DID YOU SEE WHO MET HER MATCHING GRANT? NOT ONLY THAT BUT SURPASSED IT BY OVER $500!!!!! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS & SUPPORT FOR CELINE!! ONCE THE $5,000 IS IN HER GRANT SHE WILL  HAVE A TOTAL OF OVER $20,000! THATS ABOUT HALF THE COST OF HER ADOPTION PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS!! Just you wait Angel Tree is coming & my goal is for her grant to soar even more maybe surpass the $1,000 AT goal for her!

When you say Yes to God

Trusting God is not very easy, Saying Yes to what God has planned is not easy but you obey & listen. God broke my heart for the orphans & told me I needed to do something to help. Was it hard when I was only 18 years at the time I started when I had little money? Most would say I am such & such age, I am too young to do anything to help. If I had listened to what I use to think would I be who I am today? Through many trials & tears days I would wonder why God? Celine, is so precious why has she waited this long for a family? But God has instilled it in my heart for a reason.
Last week my mom had suggested to me not to post my links so much on Facebook & to let it sink in for a few days so I did. That's when I got an idea formed I had been praying for Celine & had heard of others doing 24 hr prayer vigils so why not do one for her? So I took a step of faith doing it & the very next day I get lots of notifications on fb tagging me so I go look at each one then I spotted the one that said Go read your email. I go to my email box & their is a message from my friend Patti with the title God Hears Your Prayers. I wonder what it is about? As soon as I read the message my mouth dropped & tears poured out of my eyes. Two donors had donated HUGE amounts which meant Celine was about $400 away from reaching her matching grant! Read Gods awesome story about that here. Yesterday was also great as Celines grant took soaring! Now only $122.40 stands in the way! God is so awesome! At the beginning of the month I was unsure about the matching grant & was trying so hard to figure out how to do a fundraiser when I was not planning on doing anything til Angel Tree starts in November. I was overwhelmed & God knew I needed to just not do fundraising this month. I want to send a HUGE THANKS TO MY PARTNER IN AWESOMENESS PATTI for hosting the Nikon Giveaway & for being such a good encourager to me even when it was slow moving. I can never say THANK YOU ENOUGH TO THE DONOR OF THE CAMERA & $5,000 MATCH!!! When you say Yes to God it can be the best thing even if you don't know it yet! Love you Sweet Celine & will do anything to help bring you home with a family! I managed to donate $5 this week, will you do the same for one special little girl who has took my breath away? Your $5 will be matched so it will really be $10! Let's get this done & surpass the match!!!

The Miracle of Prayer

The power of prayer, wow it works wonders folks! Have I mentioned its free & only costs of your time? 5 days ago I wrote a blogpost about leaving it all in Gods hands & trusting him. While I wrote that blogpost Celines grant jumped right before my eyes! Right not too long after that I got an idea from talking with my mom.  I started thinking why not do a day of prayer for her? I barely had time to put it together or make a spreadsheet of hours in which to pray for Celine but I just made do with what I had the time to do. So I setup the event, & sent the invites out thinking no one would respond. Boy was I wrong! Out of 129 ivites sent out, 30 (that includes me) said yes I will pray. I tried as best as I could to pray from midnight-1am PST but I was on the way home from my trip & trying to make sure my mom stayed awake & was super tired myself but I prayed. Yesterday all around the USA 30 people were praying on behalf of Celine. Just that gives me shivers, this morning when I got up & checked my facebook I found several postings by my friend telling me to go check out Celines grant & then to go check my email. I was shocked! Last night Celines grant was $12,100.90, today I looked & it was $13,000.90! It had grown by $900 overnight! That folks is the power of prayer! God is so awesome right now! Looking forward to whats to come! Prayer is just so precious, if you can't do anything else for the orphans can you pray for them? Celine thanks you for all the prayers! They are working!

Just keep on swimming

Everytime I see Celines face it just makes me wonder

WHY NOT HER?

The past few days I have seen ZERO DONATIONS. It breaks my heart not seeing it move but I keep on as Dory says "Just Keep Swimming"! I'm praying for hearts to be changed & life's to be touched for Celines sake. Trusting in God is no easy task but after sending a message to my friend asking her to pray then rereading some of my older blogposts I was slapped in the face that I should trust him! He knows if Celine will meet her matching grant or not, he knows when she will find her family, he knows when her adoption will be fully funded. 

Tonight I lay it all down cause I know that God says this in the bible.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God has a plan for Celine, & I will trust him with that.

I know she is not just a photo but a real person. This is from someone who recently got to meet Celine:

• "In July we traveled to meet our daughter for the first time. While we were there we were able to meet Celine. She came up to us and gave me a hug and stroked the side of my face. She had 2 braids with big bows on the ends and she looks to have thinned out some. She looked very cute and healthy. When we were leaving she blew us kisses goodbye.The institution she is in is a very good one but the orphanage director is very excited to have children adopted from his orphanage. He has said that even though he loves the children he knows they would do so much better with a family."
  

  

  She is a REAL PERSON just like you & me! I will say that from my friends report she looks a lot different from her most recent photo & is not as chunky. She still has her spunky personality like in the photos of her smiling! 
  Won't someone get her please?
  

  

  Tears streaming down my face it just jumped $180 right before my eyes! Molly Conley is getting pied yahoo!!!!
  Is God awesome or what? Please keep on praying, donating, or sharing!!! Whatever you do helps get her closer to finding her family! For all the ways you can help Celine go here & here!

My story, my passion

Today as I type I was not sure what to write. I erased the first sentence several times as I pondered the questions in my head but then I decided to be graceful & not pound at least not today. I'm going to tell you my story cause this is who I am. Ever since I was a little girl I always pictured myself adopting someday (still do!) but never could imagine a whole new world that I would discover in July 2010. If your new to my blog you may not realize I have a sister with Down Syndrome. Her name on my blog is Pink Princess. She is  older than me by just about 4 years. I love my sister dearly even if we don't get along like any other siblings do 24/7. She is expected to be like any other member of our family doing household chores. We don't treat her any different. Partly because of Pink Princess, one special child would not be here today & who knows if I would have discovered my passion, the thing I am driven for.

Thing is everyone has a story to tell & a passion/cause to live for. I live for God & he has chosen to give me a heart for the special needs orphans. At times it is difficult knowing if anyone is reading or sharing your posts but you continue to write cause you know these kids are worth it. Lately I am just exhausted & I don't know if my writing just means to you the same thing repeated yet again. This is my passion & I don't care if I annoy you or not. That's why they call it freedom of speech! These kids simply don't have that freedom or voice. That's why I chose to be a voice to them!

Reeces Rainbow is my passion & I am not going to stop yelling! Even when things are slowly moving with Celines matching grant.

What if she does not reach her matching grant? Still I press on!

When I am having a bad day & am depressed. Yes, I go on!

            Celine is counting on not only ME BUT YOU TOO!!!

She is my beautiful butterfly, that I would go to the moon & back to get if I could. My point is today if you have a passion, LIVE FOR IT! My passion, is caring for orphans like God wants us to do. Whats yours?

How $5 can make a life difference!

First of all if you think I can't do much & I wish I could do more or that $5 can't make a difference well I am here to tell you Yes, it can! I can tell you from a young adult with not much money. For several months now I have had to force myself not to go overboard on things or when something comes when I feel lead to give I say I can only do $5 but I know it does make a difference. Had I said my $5, $10, $25, $30, etc was too little would these kids named be home?
"Kameron" 
Makenzie ("Lydiah" on RR)
Quinton
Lyla ("Lilliana" on RR)
Olivia 
Easton
The Unroe five-Aleshia, Keith, Anita, Nicholas, & Anhnja
Charlotte
Misha
Molly
Jessa & Caleb
"M", "C", & "R"
Elisha
Paisley 
And SO MANY MORE!!!
Every little bit makes the life changing difference to an orphan! So whether you can hit a simple share button on facebook or donating $5 know your making a difference to one precious little girl!

Praise God for the $55 that came in tonight for Celine! I was starting to be disappointed about today for her but I cast it aside & glad I did not choose to worry about it! $45 is what stands in the way of Molly Conley getting pied! Celine says pretty please? 

Now to tell you all about a fundraiser that I have been signed up to do for awhile & have never had any bites on it. Do you love to digital scrapbook? Let me tell you about My Memories Digital Scrapbook program!

I have loved using this program to all sorts of things with it!

Time Line Covers for facebook!

Want to get this awesome program?

1. Order the My Memories 3 software with this code 

STMMMS49256 at checkout 
2. You will recieve a $10 discount from that code & will recieve a $10 store credit.  
3. Everytime that code is used I get $20 which I will be donating all proceeds to Celine

Your $10 store credit is money you can spend on scraping kits but be sure to check the freebie section on their website!

If I can get 3 persons to purchase it using my code I will be entered in a drawing for $50! If I win I will donate that to Celine!

Make sure not to forget all the ways to help Celine listed here!

Great News!

Well, I have sorta been in a funk trying to figure out how to best help Celine but today I have GREAT NEWS!!!
First of all my check HAS ARRIVED to her grant so that makes me happy! Next since the matching grant has been offered $1,169 has come in yahoo!!! Just $3,824 to go to reach the match!
God is so awesome right Celine?

Now to the fun part! I have been wracking my brain like crazy to come up with ways to help Celine so I am listing them all here of how you can help Celine! First of all, my lovely friend Molly Conley has offered to be pied in the face when Celines grant reaches $11,683.40! So come on donate so Molly can get pied!!

Second I have an awesome friend who runs an online Facebook shop of things she makes. Well she is donating half her proceeds to Celine this week so order some early christmas gifts here!

Lastly another friend does an online shop with all sorts of neat things & she is offering 50% proceeds to Celine too! Checkout it here! Just make sure when checking out you type CELINE in the box! 
Don't forget Patti's Scentsy party & the Nikon Giveaway going on too! Also I still have my amazon link box to the right my proceeds this month will go towards Celine for angel tree! I get a certain percentage from them! Love to digital scrapbook? Ask me about my memories software! 

No matter where you order or donate Celine says a HUGE THANK YOU!!!

Why Not?

 Why not look into the eyes of a precious child who deserves Love?

                         Why do you let me sit here waiting?

                      Is it because I am not worthy of your love?

                 I simply can not understand why she still waits. 

  I am so happy her grant has grown by over $700 but yet at the same time it kinda bugs me in a way that its been slowly but surely getting there. I keep wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to help but I am just exhausted. I was not even sure if I really wanted to do a blogpost today. I know she is not a "popular" girl but why not donate or share for her today? Every $1 is matched!!! Please check out the Saving Celine Giveaway for a chance to win a Nikon camera & be sure not to forget Celines Party on Scentsy!!!

Celine's Scentsy Party!

My awesome friend Patti, has offered her scentsy proceeds for the month of October to Precious Celine! 

Please go do some early Christmas shopping & help this precious girl know the love of a family! Or go donate to her grant here! Be sure to enter the Nikon Giveaway!
Guess what happy news I have to share, nope no forever family yet but $722 has come in since the matching grant offer hip hip hooray!

The girl who took my heart away

Wow I am overwhelmed at the Love for the girl who took my heart away! $549 in just 2 days & mostly without entering the Nikon Giveaway! I'm still quite overwhelmed that much can be given in such a short time! For over 2 years now I have been going pretty much non stop blogging, advocating, fundraising & praying for this girl who took my heart away who I would love to call daughter but am unable to due to age & other circumstances. I'm not trying to brag I just am sharing what God has done. Some people may call me a saint for what I do but really I do it for the honor of God! Like I stated before I'm no super Hero just an ordinary girl!
The girl who took my heart away, Celine

                  She had me hugging & loving her from afar. 

                   Not knowing someone cares for her very much

                            Who listened to Gods voice

                   Even when her heart was ripped into pieces 

              That she could not rescue Princess Celine herself

Some days this girl wanted to Give up thinking its too hard, who will listen, why do I bother? But she keeps on praying, fundraising like crazy, & advocating daily even through her heartaches! 

Then you get reminded of why you are doing this

And you say YES I CAN DO THIS!

Celine, the girl who took my heart away.

The girl who gave me the courage to take a leap of faith by doing my first Giveaway for her called Shoot For the Stars Giveaway.

Whose grant was at $3,033 when I first got involved with Reece's Rainbow in July 2010.

Who I never thought I could raise over $2,000 for or that much money period in 2 years!

I have cried buckets & buckets of tears for this Girl thinking when will her family come? Why God have you made her wait this long? But then I remember God's timing is perfect. He knows when her family will find her. I do have fears for these kids & I am at peace cause I know Celines in a good place but still the Love a family can bring is so much more than an orphanage! So today all I ask is you pray Celines forever family might find her? 

Words cannot express

Wow amazing to think how far her grant has come! In the past 24 hours $307 has come in! Yay, God!!
Well I was going to post the video of myself getting cupcake in my face but I can't seem to get a way to upload it sorry.
If Celine could say thank you I am sure she would!

What you have no idea the love that's been rejoicing with me the past day is so huge! Everyone trying so hard & so happy to help me help precious Celine! It has been the best 24 hours of my life, you have not a slight clue what my emotions went through on the day of Celines Birthday picturing her in this cute outfit or that adorable pair of shoes. I hate admitting this but I did feel like crying in Walmart that day being sad she does not have a family.
This Beautiful girl who I pray for every night, her stocking I have claimed hers still sits waiting in my room from last December with a note of prayer for her. As you all know last month I did the consignment sale raising $104 for her, well I had tried offering it as a small match but no response then this took me by surprise.
Only God knew! He decided to answer my pleas & so off went the check today!

Celine you are so loved & treasured by me & all your shooting stars team! My beautifuly butterfly, I am praying for Miracles for your grant to soar, for your family to find you, & your country. Words cannot express the love I have for this precious girl. Its still hard to type without tears streaming down my face. Honestly somedays I have almost wanted to give up but I press on for Celine & God!
I long to be giving her a hug & have a picture with Celine at the airport! Its just rips my heart out that I can't be her mom or sister or other family member. I would love her to be in the same state but if not I'm still going to plan to meet her at some point!

I have heard from others that adoptions from Celine's region can cost up to $58,000. Let's get this grant matched & surpass it!!

Speechless

I'm speechless, this has been quite the week for kids finding families but the most wonderful news today came when I found out Precious Celine has a $5,000 matching grant!!! Her grant has already grown by $73 today! With tears in my eyes God has answered my prayer to help with raising her grant! I am no longer offering the $104 as a matching grant as I want that check in the mail to get to her grant now as I know it will be matched! 

 Not only that but the AWESOME DONOR who made THE MATCHING GRANT possible donated a NIKON CAMERA AS A PRIZE FOR A GIVEAWAY!!! So PRETTY PLEASE GO DONATE AS EVERY $1 IS MATCHED!!! I did not expect any of this & I am still in shock of Gods timing in all of this! 
I'm still not showing the video of me getting cupcake on my face til her grant reads $10,587.40! In order for her match to be met her grant needs to read $15,407.40! Come on WE CAN DO THIS!!! Once the $5,000 is put in that would put her grant at $20,407.40! Almost half of her adoption cost covered!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FOREVER FAMILY!!! MY FRIEND LEAH WOULD DO ANYTHING TO HELP ME COME HOME!!! SHE LOVES ME SOOO MUCH!!!!!!! I have spent the past 7 years of my life waiting now to tell you ITS MY TURN!!! 

                                     
                        Yes don't you want to blow me kisses?

So I can read

I know I have bad moments

But won't you love me please?

                        

Yes, It is worth it!

Wednesday October 3rd I had the pleasure of getting to hold another precious RR babe & welcome her into her new life in America at the airport. Honestly, I had not kept up much with their journey & had never met the mom before. I participated in an online auction for her to get something for the pregnancy center & talked to the mom a few times about fundraisers. I had not planned on going to a airport homecoming or even thought I would be here but when I got a message from my friend I had met before saying that it was tomorrow & I was in town awaiting my nephew-to-be arrival so I jumped at the chance to meet another family! When we arrived, it was just us three waiting then soon we were joined by Megan's sister, & their mom. I thought it was just going to be us but then our party started to grow. As we were waiting thinking she would come down the escalator she approached at our group from behind. Apparently they told her a round about way to go so no pictures or video of the exact moment of seeing them but that's perfectly alright.Yes, I even purposely wore my RR shirt! She is just so precious for words!

Welcome home Megan & Sophia! I'm so glad I got to come! This is only my 2nd welcome home at the airport & 6th Reece's Rainbow treasure to meet! Everytime I am re-reminded that Yes, it is worth it! It helped brighten my spirits from having some hard moments thinking of Celine & gave me the chance to chat more with my friend I am going to be traveling with to Eastern Europe to bring her daughter home. I can't imagine being on the other side coming down to this loving group who has supported you & I can't wait til its my turn to adopt someday! I hope to have that same love & support poured out to me. In the meantime I keep praying for my friends process to pickup speed & keep saving as much as I can for whenever I go on that trip! Its going to be so interesting to see the welcome home from the other side of the escalator with my friend but it will be fun.

See how much potential & love these kids have?

Can you please do me a few favors?

One my friend still is short on funds & needs some help! Please check out her auction on Facebook! if you don't do facebook leave a comment for her to place a bid here. She has a little bit of everything! Need a Halloween costume for your child? She has some cute disney costumes available! Need some gift for a Birthday or want to do some early Christmas shopping? She has something for that too! I even donated some items I met that have no bids yet so please go check the baby girl layette items I knitted! have no baby girl? have it donated to the pregnancy center I volunteer at!

Next do you recall when I said something about a pie in the face for baby Jacob? well life kept getting in the way, then when we had the stuff we kept forgetting. Well since Celine's 7th Birthday was this week I had wanted to make cupcakes in her honor & since I never got pied in the face I decided what the heck I will have cupcake shoved in my face for Jacob & Celine. We have this on video, but theirs a catch. I want very badly to send off the money I offered as a matching grant so I am holding the video captive til I see her grant read $10,511.40! That's only $97 to go! $7 for her 7th Birthday! If you can't donate please send her a birthday prayer/wish comment here. Thanks! 

Happy Birthday to you!

Sometime this week a precious girl who stole my heart will turn 7 years old. 7 years of waiting & waiting & more waiting for her forever family to come find her. Happy 7th Birthday this week, Celine!

I love you dearly & I pray this is your last year without a family! I want you to be home next year not in a orphanage. Are you her forever family? contact Andrea at Reeces Rainbow! For those that can't adopt can you please donate just $7 in honor of her 7th Birthday this week? I have nothing to Giveaway or do but their is a matching grant going on right now for her which you can check out here!
7 prayers of wishes in this coming year:
1-Prayer for you to be loved & cherished on your Birthday & everyday.
2-for you to stay healthy in the coming year
3-for your future family 
4-That I can see you on the my family found me page on Reeces Rainbow.
5-for the government in your country to move faster with international adoptions
6-that you will know that Jesus Loves You!
7-Lastly to know how your a loved special treasure & I Love you dearly & working so hard on your behalf to raise your adoption grant. Praying for you everyday that your family will come.
Celebrating your life this week by having cupcakes! I will have your Birthday card waiting til you find your family. Happy 7th Birthday this week Precious girl! Love you lots & lots!!! Feel free to wish her a Happy Birthday in the comments so I can add it to her scrapbook when she finds a family to look back to see how loved she is! Leah