Kisses in the wind

KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)


I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

Sweet children

Our cute friends, brought over this jar of money that their kids had been saving for Kareen. Each time we receive these heartfelt donations I am touched. Especially when it comes from kids and they are willing to literally give all they have to help another child have a home. Halle, Kyra's best friend, is the oldest daughter and she was even recruiting friends at school and they were bringing her money too. They collected over $40 in change! It just doesn't cease to amaze me the good that is coming through this journey. People are good and compassionate and it is so incredible to be witnessing so much of it around us! We have SO many people working hard to help bring this sweet girl home....

Some are donating money

Some are donating goods and services to auction

Some are spreading the word and advocating

Some have donated frequent flier miles and delta credit for our flights

Some are making blankets for the orphanage

Many are praying and cheering us on and we are OH SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF IT!!!

A VERY CUTE side story:

Julie, Halle's mom is expecting a baby girl in a few weeks and Julie told me that yesterday as she was doing Halle's hair, Halle said "mom I hope our baby is born with down syndrome" Julie proceeded to tell her that it would be fun but probably not likely and Halle said "but I just love Bree and think her and Kareen are so cute, I want a baby in our family with down syndrome." Her mom said "we will still love her even if she doesn't have down syndrome". I LOVED this because usually, it is the other way around "we will still love her if she DOES have down syndrome". I am grateful that people around us can see what a joy a child with down syndrome can be and that they are not scared of it. Bree adores Halle as if she were a sister so Halle, you can always claim Bree and Kareen as your sisters!

Introducing...

Anya Irene Fillmore......

My new friend Heather, witnessed miracles today as they were granted custody of this sweet little angel on the other side of the world!

My favorite line from her post about this experience was this:

"Anyone who says that miracles don't happen these days should try falling in love with an orphan. "

In the short amount of time we have been on this journey, we can testify of the same thing. Miracles are happening and continue to happen and I am thankful I am blessed to be a part of them! I am thankful that I have fallen in love with an orphan!

To see the full post from Heather go HERE. I cried the whole time I read it and everytime I think about it I cry because I am so happy for them, their family, and this sweet little girl. I also cry because I CAN NOT wait to here those words.....We hereby declare....that will make Kareen forever ours!!!

UPDATE on our progress:

We have all of our dossier paperwork complete and ready to apostille. We are now waiting on the USCIS approval, which is basically the U.S. approval to adopt internationally. We recieved our receipt form from USCIS in the mail today saying they are processing our request for adoption. The next step will be for them to send us a fingerprint appointment to have our FBI fingerprints taken. Then once that is done they will finalize the request and send us our approval form ....otherwise known as the "golden ticket" because it is the last piece of the dossier and when you receive that "golden ticket" you can finally submit the dossier to Kareen's country. Once the dossier is submitted it will be translated and then upon approval we will recieve an appointment/travel date. So right now we are just waiting and man is it hard to wait! But each little step is a step closer to our girl so it will all be worth it in the end!

4 years ago....

4 years ago I never would have imagined I would have a child with down syndrome, and today we are choosing down syndrome as we choose to bring Kareen into our family.

4 years ago I would have prayed that Bree would not have down syndrome, today I pray for another little girl with down syndrome to be my own.

4 years ago I thought my "perfect" was gone when I was introduced into the down syndrome club, today we are looking forward to the opportunity to bring another angel into our family and show her what life can be like with someone to love you.

My friend Heather was given this poem, written for her, when her daughter was born with down syndrome and I love thinking about the day Bree was born as I read it and looking forward to having another piece of heaven on earth when Kareen joins our family.....

So small she lay there in your arms
With heaven still in her eyes.
You truly are the blessed ones
For she is a special prize.
Your Father took His extra care
and gave a piece of His heart.
In creating your little girl,
He created a work of art.
He sent this child to you,
not by luck or chance.
God knew you were the perfect ones
worthy to have her first glance.
You see your little girl,

brings with her a special light.
That will touch all those around her
And raise them to a new height.
She has something special
that she brought with her to earth.
For there were heavenly angels
that stayed with her through her birth.
She has been given a gift
that she will share with us all.
She carries with her the Savior
in her spirit strong and tall.
All those that are blessed to know her
will come away the better.
Feeling the Savior's spirit
Just because they met her.
An eternal gift to treasure
Her piece of priceless worth.
We truly are the blessed ones,
For she is heaven on earth.
(Written by Tiffany Wilko)

Bree came into our lives 4 years ago, and our eyes were opened to the joy and beauty of down syndrome

And these two incredible sisters have shown us that we CAN share this love with another angel who needs it.

(Bree, Kareen, and my niece Lyla)

4 years ago we hadn't had the blessing of someone with down syndrome in our lives, today we will soon have 3 of these blessings and we are oh so grateful!

Somewhere Out There

As a child I always loved this song, so much in fact, that my babysitter Bonnie, would make me sing it for all of her friends. She often likes to still ask me to sing it, although I don't give her the same enthusiastic response as I did when I was 5! Sorry Bonnie!

So when I found this little girl singing this song, I was overcome with emotion as I listened to these words, not to mention that she happens to be barely 4, just like Kareen!

Sweet little girl, we are out here and we are trying so hard to get to you! We are thinking of you, loving you, praying for you, and we know that "love will see us through"

Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know
How very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

And when the night wind
Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping
Underneath the same big sky
Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know
How very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

And when the night wind
Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true


(if you want to skip the first of the clip, forward it to about the 1 min mark to see her start her song)

Child of Light

My new friend Heather is on a plane right now traveling around the world on her way to see her little Anya for the second time. This family is adopting a 5 year old little girl through Reece's Rainbow and the country she is in, requires you to make at least 2 trips, maybe 3 before they get to bring their little girl home. The first time they met Anya was over 3 months ago and now they are FINALLY getting to go back to squeeze her again. I found Heather's blog when Kris and I were weighing this decision of whether to pursue this adoption and when we saw this video of them meeting Anya, we were both sobbing. Heather's blog was such a help to us as we embarked on this journey and we can't wait for them to bring her home---lucky for us we will probably get to meet her in person one day since they live in our state!!!

You HAVE to go HERE and watch this precious video!!!! I know that it isn't always like this when you meet your child for the first time....this is like the perfect scenario!!! Not to mention that Anya is in a very good orphanage/preschool type place where she seems to have been well taken care of. I watch this video OFTEN, and usually cry as I picture the day when we will get to meet our sweet Kareen!

ENJOY this beautiful video!!!

Thanks Heather for letting me share this and good luck on your journey!!!!

Fundraisers going on from AMAZING people

I just can't get over all the generous people and the kind hearts that are around us right now. We have people donating items to auctions, we have people arranging auctions, we have people giving their full profits from Scentsy parties, we have people donating through these, we have people spreading the word about all of these.....all to save a worthy little angel! We could not be more grateful to be witnessing the love and generosity of so many! We are in awe daily over the many threads that are being weaved to bring our girl home. All these friends and family and new friends have put together these fundraisers without being asked and they have been a HUGE blessing to us in doing so! There are currently 2 GREAT fundraisers going on until the end of February.

The first is the "Scentsy teams up to Bring Kareen home." So if you need to order Scentsy, now is the perfect time, plus if you order today, Valentines Day, Meghann is sending you a bonus gift, because she is just that fabulous! So go check this fundraiser out HERE. (THANK YOU to Kathy, Meghann, and all those who have donated their party profits to Kareen....we are SO humbled by your kindness)

The other fundraiser that started today is a really fun blog auction that a couple of my FABULOUS cousins have put together! They have lots of fun things and the auction goes through February. Go HERE to check it out! (THANK YOU to all who have donated or helped with this auction!)

THE AMAZING NEWS IS THAT WE HAD AN ANONYMOUS DONOR COME FORWARD WILLING TO MATCH EVERY DOLLAR THAT IS RAISED THROUGH OUR FUNDRAISING, UP TO $5,000!!!!!!!!!

I KNOW........ WE CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!! WE ARE SOO GRATEFUL!!!

ONCE AGAIN WE JUST KEEP SAYIN, "BABY GIRL, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU SOON BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING!"

****Thanks to Christy for the darling buttons and blog banners...feel free to put them on your own blogs if you want. And thanks to Erika at Fairy Blogmothers for the cute blog design******