Bows & Beautiful Things-DONATIONS WANTED

This is the request I put on Beautiful Brandi fb page
Also instead of a Giveaway to fundraise, I wanted to do a Auction that runs from April 6-13. But thing is since Brandi starts with B & girls love to wear pretty hairbows I want to make it a Bows & Beautiful things for Brandi Auction so if you or someone you know makes hairbows or some other girly item that little girls love to wear that they would like to donate send me an email at singergirl15@yahoo.com! I can advertise your website/facebook page for your business. Can't you see this beautiful butterfly thriving in a family? Her grant is at $10 can you help me so it can be over $1,000? Lets Make all the difference for Brandi!

Praise!!!

I just wanted to say a HUGE PRAISE!! I surpassed the goal I set to raise at Just Between Friends Consignment Sale for Celine!! I am not sharing how much was raised as well as adding the change I have still from the change drive & the cash I saved/got for my birthday. I wanted to Leave it a surprise for the Team Celine crew so I will not be announcing the total til I see it reflected in her Reeces Rainbow account. I did better than the fall sales even with the loss of percentages for volunteering & I was encouraged by that even with the lack of item proceeds going to Celine. But I thought I would share some pictures of the craziness of the sale.
This is just to show some of how big it truely is!!! For those that don't know about Just Between Friends, its a big organized Kids consignment sale where moms can bring their kids outgrown & unwanted clothes,toys, books, & basically anything kid related! Or like me its a wonderful way to raise funds for charity! I have raised $1,000 even one time at one of the sales!! Since all my siblings are not really little anymore (though we do have some of our stuff that we take usually) but most of my items come from dear friends that save stuff for me since they don't have the time & they usually want to help my cause.

I started with about 118 items for the Celine & had over 300 items overall with most of that going to the pregnancy center I volunteer at towards items they need. This is what I came home with. I say it was a successful sale!!!

I want to say A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO HAVE DONATED THEIR KIDS ITEMS TO ME PAST & PRESENT SO I CAN HELP THESE ORPHANS COME HOME!!! YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Rainbows & Love

As I sit on this rainy day, typing these words in a cozy house I know not everyone has that. Rainbows are a sign of hope & love that things will be better. Today, I share about a girl name Lililana who has waited & waited & waited. Things were looking pretty dim for her & now she has found her rainbow ending! But they need help to bring her home so she can get the HEART SURGERY SHE DESPERATELY NEEDS!! SHE HAS SURRVIVED OVER & OVER & HAS BROUGHT 2 OTHER ORPHANS HOME TO THEIR HAPPILY EVER AFTER, NOW ITS HER TURN!!! Check out the Love Multiplied Giveaway & I can't say her story any better than what is written there so go read it. Donate, Pray, Share so this girl can have her happy ending!!

Forgiveness

I know I usually talk about orphans on this blog but I wanted to share whats on my heart after my Church's sermon this weekend. Forgiveness can be a hard thing to do, no matter if its forgiving yourself or someone else who has hurt you whether its physically, emotionally, or spiritually. I know too well the emotional pain, its hard to forgive but not forget the past.

Sometimes, you have the what ifs & wishing you could turn back the clock to discover the why? Why did they have to hurt me even if they never meant to? How can I forgive them for what they did to hurt me? I certainly learned more about forgiveness this weekend with the sermon & through October Baby. I know I can't change what happened & the feelings that happened but I do forgive that person(s). Its harder to not put blame on yourself & I am certainly trying to get past that. God truly forgives all wrongs & he wants you to forgive those people.

It may not always be that easy or quick, it may take years to fully forgive but you do heal. Anger is a normal feeling to feel, you may be angry that they hurt you & I have dealt with feeling angry at that person. Heck you may even want to delete them from your friends list on Facebook, But I do know the love of God & that he wants us to forgive that person who has hurt us. Twice I have forgotten about it but then it will come up again like this past weekend & it brought a new sense of peace & healing. I know it will likely still come up but I know I can run to the Creator & one true God in my times of struggles.

Thanks for letting me share about this topic, I have not felt very free to share with anyone about it but decided I needed to write a blogpost about it. Just reading this blogpost is making me heal. Jesus Loves you! He forgives you & he wants you to forgive.

Hope, Faith, & Love

Thats what it took for my friend Julia over at Micah Six Eight, to start this Giveaway called Mulligan Stew. Hope, Faith, & Love came together for the love of orphans & these families going to rescue these kids. Hope thats what all of these kids deserve, the love of a family to willingly to go to rescue their kiddos. Faith that somehow all the funds will be provided. We all need a little bit of Hope, Faith, & Love right? So please check out my friends Giveaway cause their lifes matter!! Please don't forget you can still donate to Harmony in honor of Sarah if you would like & be entered in the Giveaway! She needs a family quickly before she turns 16 so please spread the word & keep her in your prayers!

World Down Syndrome Day!

Yes I am a tad late but I was volunteering at the consignment sale all day which is to help fundraise for Celine. Some of who know me personally & others do not. I wanted to share with those just joining in or have read my blog before, why I CARE ABOUT SPECIAL NEEDS & ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH DOWN SYNDROME. For you see another reason I got into orphan advocacy is because of my sister, Sarah. I have written about her before but want to write about her again cause truely she continues to inspire me in this struggle to help other orphans. For some they may say is she a burden? You will have all this resonsiblity when your older? I say Never!! I never could imagine life without her! Somedays it may be rough, somedays may be good but I love her no matter what!! Life with a sibling with Down Syndrome is a life worth living!! You would not believe how many people she has inspired through her dancing. Last sunday, as she danced in her usual spot at church I could not help marvel how far she has come & how happy she is. For goodness sake the people at the shell station where she gets her fountain drink everyday smile at her & know her by name. Even if she does not talk to them (another long story) they still say hi & call her by name, smile, & wave to her. Same thing with the people at Panda Express, they have her order memorized & say hi to her everytime she goes in. Now thats something most people can't say because most won't remember your name or truely get to know you but they love her for WHO SHE IS NO MATTER THE CHROMOSOMES OR SOCIAL PHOBIA OR OTHER ISSUES MY SISTER MAY HAVE. Just like Christ loves us for who WE ARE! I am very proud of my sister, & am very blessed she was born here in america otherwise she would wind up in a Institution for the rest of her days. I just can't imagine that life & thats why I advocate for these kids. Cause they deserve to be loved too. Today in honor of my sister please go donate to Harmony cause she needs a family ASAP before she turns 16 in July or it will be too late for her to discover the Joy of life in a family. Also if you donate go to my friends Julias Giveaway to enter & please say you did it for Sarah! Every little bit helps even $5! If you can't donate please spread the word, & pray she finds her family before its too late.
Sarahs the BEST THING TO HAPPEN IN MY LIFE!! LOVE YOU PINK PRINCESS!!





Please watch this video some of my siblings & I put together a few months ago about our thoughts on Sarah. "Bring it on!" Matthew says it the best!

Introducing the Butterflies

For those that are new to this blog, I am going to introduce the reason of the blog name change & the butterflies I mostly advocate for & Pray for. When I first started this blog it was started for the most beautiful girl with a smile as big as the moon then later added another which Caring for Celine & Cora Lynne was born in 2010. Not too long ago I was thinking of redoing my blog when I decided I needed a new name to fit my new mission, to advocate for more than just Celine & Cora Lynne so it so fittingly changed to fit the blog revamp & new name. I thought about butterflies & what they mean to orphans. All the orphans I have featured on my blog past & future are just like butterflies sitting in their cocoons waiting to sprout their wings & fly. They likely lay down in cribs all day just waiting for someone to hold & love them. Like a butterfly they long to spread their wings to fly. So with out further ado here's the butterflies that I love & keep advocating for...
First up is Celine, her smile is what caught my heart. If I was older & married I would snatch her up in a heartbeat but since I can't I have done what I can to help by advocating, fundraising, & praying just like the rest of the butterflies. BEST NEWS IS SINCE I STARTED ADVOCATING FOR HER IN JUST THE PAST 2 YEARS HER GRANT HAS GROWN FROM ABOUT $1,000 TO OVER $8,000 IN HER GRANT. Her region is more expensive so every little bit adds up BIG TIME!!!
I hope she can fly her wings soon cause I know the potential she can be in a family!!


Our next butterfly is Cora Lynne. When she was added late into the Angel Tree 2010 campaign something about her eyes haunted me to help by becoming her Christmas warrior. I later decided I could not let her down by abandoning her so I decided to fund raise & advocate for her too. In a little more than a year her grant grew from $1,000 to over $4,000. I try to keep it balanced between these 2 girls with fundraising.


And yes, even if he is a boy he too is like a butterfly waiting for his wings to be spread wide open. Meet Heath, I fell for him through my friend Julia's blog posts about the lost boys as she met him while adopting her son Aaron. I had occasionally thought about him but God stirred my heart to help yet another lost & lonely orphan when I decided to do my 2ND Giveaway on this blog. I was not sure if I could do it but I so longed to help him be all that he could be with a family so I emailed Julia & told her about my thoughts to help him & as it turns out she had been thinking of him that day. So God stirred my heart & during that Giveaway Heaths grant grew from $630 to over $3,000. Now his grant is currently over $4,000 thankfully & is still growing with the help of the Mulligan Stew Giveaway.



So I signed up to be a prayer warrior for Alden, sadly he has no information & can't have a grant fund but still I wanted to pray continuously for a boy who needed a family.


Finally, Brandi a girl I loved when she was first listed on Reece's Rainbow. Sadly she had to get taken down due to her countrys new law with a special needs list which her needs were not on & she was under the age limit. I had not really been thinking about her much til my birthday last month while talking with a friend. The next day (I am NOT KIDDING!) she was relisted as she is almost to the age where even though her needs are not on the list she can be adopted. So I took it as a sign naturally I was suppose to help if God stirred in my heart to think & pray for her on my birthday. Reece's Rainbow started this program called Guardian Angels to raise awareness & funds for the "Other Angels" who have various special needs such as Cerebal Palsy which Brandi has. So since I have not really advocated for the kids without Down Syndrome & that sign God showed before me so I signed up to be her Guardian Angel Warrior. So far her grant started at $0, then I felt called to donate so it would no longer be that amount so I put in $5 & someone else donated that same amount so currently her Grant is $10. Please take a moment to go like Beautiful Brandi right now I am trying to get 100 likes & will be giving away a Hairbow when we reach that many likes! Also have a change drive going for her on that page. So feel free to collect change & add it up to put in her Grant!

I hope to fundraise for these beautiful butterflies more in the future & pray their families will find them so they can thrive! Please pray for Alden & Celines region to reopen so that they can have the best chances at finding families! Pray Alden will get more information so he can have his own grant or that a family will be brave to step forward without it. Pray Cora Lynne has not been transferred I have a feeling that she might be to a far worse place & that she might be in "laying" room. Her picture is not the greatest but I pray a family will see past that. Brandi I also pray she has not been transferred as I know the place she would go to.