I posted about WDSD, but Sunday night we celebrated with our local Down syndrome support group!
Go check out the pictures on my mom's blog! :)
Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
A special family.
When we were in Kyiv waiting for Grace's visa, we met up with a friend who was also in Ukraine working to complete her adoption.
We've known her for over 3 years, but only online. We live states away from one another and had never met in person.
I was thrilled when we realized we might be traveling at the same time, and have a chance to meet her. To meet Shelly, the amazing mama of the Burman Bunch.
Shelly and her husband, Brian, adopted 3 kids from the institution I visited on my mission trip several months before I was there.
Then, two months after we adopted Elijah, they were back again, adopting Miss Carrington from Elijah's former orphanage, and Miss Reagan from the institution Elijah and Carrington would have been moved too.
Carrington is only 9 days older than Elijah. When Elijah's bio mom found out shortly before he was born that he had Down syndrome, she went to see Carrington in the hospital, who was also born with Ds.
Carrington came home near death (literally, she wouldn't have made it a more than a day longer), weighing only 11 pounds at 3 years old.
She is now a healthy and happy princess loving her life with her amazing family!
But the Burman's decided they had more love to give, and now, after several more adoptions, both domestic and from Serbia, they are back in Ukraine again, on a mission to make FOUR little boys a part of their forever family.
Shelly is still in Ukraine with a friend, and they have a court date, which means time is running out to raise the $7k+ they still need to come home. The boys can't come home if there isn't enough money to buy their plane tickets...
The Burman's have been through SO much. Without going into details, they have faced much opposition in this adoption and past ones. Things have happened that have left them short of thousands of dollars. All they want is to bring their children home, and they can't do it by themselves.
When mom and I were in Kyiv with Grace, we went shopping. Not just for a few souvenirs to bring home for our family, but for authentic Ukrainian items to put up for bid in an auction. An auction that would help bring the Burman's raise the money they needed.
That Ukrainian auction has been going on Facebook for two weeks, and it ends tonight. But there is still time to bid on these things and more!
So I am asking this. Would you head over to the Freedom Auction and place a couple of bids on these authentic Ukrainian items? If you are the highest bidder, every penny you donate will go to help the Shelly come home with her boys.
And if you don't want to bid, you can also make a tax deductible donation to their Grace Haven page!
Also, I want to say this. I know there is some drama surrounding this family, and I know that some may not appreciate me supporting them like this. But listen.
I've met Shelly, I've watched her children grow up in pictures, I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt, that she and Brian want what is best for their children, and they will do whatever it takes to bring their children home. They know children do not belong in orphanages, and they want to give them the LOVE of a FAMILY instead.
They need our help. Can we give them the love and support, both with prayers and donations, that they need? Let's set aside everything else for awhile and focus on what matters. Getting children out of orphanages and home to their family.
Let's do this. Let's bring the the Burman boys HOME!
We've known her for over 3 years, but only online. We live states away from one another and had never met in person.
I was thrilled when we realized we might be traveling at the same time, and have a chance to meet her. To meet Shelly, the amazing mama of the Burman Bunch.
Shelly and her husband, Brian, adopted 3 kids from the institution I visited on my mission trip several months before I was there.
Then, two months after we adopted Elijah, they were back again, adopting Miss Carrington from Elijah's former orphanage, and Miss Reagan from the institution Elijah and Carrington would have been moved too.
Carrington is only 9 days older than Elijah. When Elijah's bio mom found out shortly before he was born that he had Down syndrome, she went to see Carrington in the hospital, who was also born with Ds.
Carrington came home near death (literally, she wouldn't have made it a more than a day longer), weighing only 11 pounds at 3 years old.
But the Burman's decided they had more love to give, and now, after several more adoptions, both domestic and from Serbia, they are back in Ukraine again, on a mission to make FOUR little boys a part of their forever family.
Shelly is still in Ukraine with a friend, and they have a court date, which means time is running out to raise the $7k+ they still need to come home. The boys can't come home if there isn't enough money to buy their plane tickets...
The Burman's have been through SO much. Without going into details, they have faced much opposition in this adoption and past ones. Things have happened that have left them short of thousands of dollars. All they want is to bring their children home, and they can't do it by themselves.
When mom and I were in Kyiv with Grace, we went shopping. Not just for a few souvenirs to bring home for our family, but for authentic Ukrainian items to put up for bid in an auction. An auction that would help bring the Burman's raise the money they needed.
That Ukrainian auction has been going on Facebook for two weeks, and it ends tonight. But there is still time to bid on these things and more!
So I am asking this. Would you head over to the Freedom Auction and place a couple of bids on these authentic Ukrainian items? If you are the highest bidder, every penny you donate will go to help the Shelly come home with her boys.
And if you don't want to bid, you can also make a tax deductible donation to their Grace Haven page!
Also, I want to say this. I know there is some drama surrounding this family, and I know that some may not appreciate me supporting them like this. But listen.
I've met Shelly, I've watched her children grow up in pictures, I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt, that she and Brian want what is best for their children, and they will do whatever it takes to bring their children home. They know children do not belong in orphanages, and they want to give them the LOVE of a FAMILY instead.
 |
| London and Carrington, former orphans, now loved and cherished sisters! |
Let's do this. Let's bring the the Burman boys HOME!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Look what God has done! | 3 years
This past week we celebrated my little brother's 6th birthday! Who is that little brother? Elijah, as in handiworkforElijah.
Which means Handiwork for Orphans has been open for 3 years! THREE YEARS!
And during that three years God has blessed this ministry more than I can believe, and we're not done growing!
Let's recap:
God is SO good! And we are so grateful to Him, and to everyone who made this possible.
Here's to another 3 years, to more money raised, to more children helped, to more families completed, to more love made.
 |
| Dude wasn't cooperating for pictures.... |
Thank you Elijah! For getting this party started!
++++++++++++++++++++
Our current child we are raising money for is Maria.
Check all the fun stuff we have fore sale including our newest item - these infinity scarves!
Plus we have LOTS of new cute hats you probably haven't seen! (Find them here!)
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Catch Up - Friends in Ohio
When I go somewhere out of state, I've been making it a habit to connect with old friends, new friends, and online friends. Because the adoption world is so spread out, it's hard to go anywhere without being able to do that.
Our trip to Ohio (see previous post), was no exception.
When I found out we were going, I wanted to go visit Sarah's quilt shop.
Sarah is a young lady who runs a quilt shop with her mom. She also happens to have Down syndrome. I've read her blog for a few years, and I was looking forward to meeting her!
After the GPS got us lost, we finally found the beautiful little quilt shop. We had fun chatting with Sarah and her mom and of course, shopping from all the beautiful fabric.
If you are ever going to be in Cleveland, I encourage to go check them out! Their website is here, and you can also read Sarah's blog here.
Oh, and Elijah was apparently tired of riding in the car because when we buckled him back in when we were leaving, he signing "May I please be excused?" Ha! Nice try buddy!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And then came the surprise of the weekend. I had mentioned on Facebook that we got to Ohio, and Summer messaged me wanting to know where, because they wanted to come see us!
So, long story short, that awesome Spitz family packed up for a road trip and came to visit us at the hotel!
We swam, we ate, we talked, we played, and we had soo much fun!
When Summer and Dave were in Ukraine adopting Bellie, they met my mom, who was just about to bring Elijah home. I met them for the first time in DC last summer, and then again in September and May when I went to watch their kids. And that's it. So our families really haven't really met. Until they came to see us! :)
I'm so glad they finally got to meet, and I got to see my Spitz babies again, even if just for a few hours!
Thank you for coming Summer and Fam! ♥ you!
Our trip to Ohio (see previous post), was no exception.
When I found out we were going, I wanted to go visit Sarah's quilt shop.
Sarah is a young lady who runs a quilt shop with her mom. She also happens to have Down syndrome. I've read her blog for a few years, and I was looking forward to meeting her!
After the GPS got us lost, we finally found the beautiful little quilt shop. We had fun chatting with Sarah and her mom and of course, shopping from all the beautiful fabric.
If you are ever going to be in Cleveland, I encourage to go check them out! Their website is here, and you can also read Sarah's blog here.
Oh, and Elijah was apparently tired of riding in the car because when we buckled him back in when we were leaving, he signing "May I please be excused?" Ha! Nice try buddy!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And then came the surprise of the weekend. I had mentioned on Facebook that we got to Ohio, and Summer messaged me wanting to know where, because they wanted to come see us!
So, long story short, that awesome Spitz family packed up for a road trip and came to visit us at the hotel!
We swam, we ate, we talked, we played, and we had soo much fun!
When Summer and Dave were in Ukraine adopting Bellie, they met my mom, who was just about to bring Elijah home. I met them for the first time in DC last summer, and then again in September and May when I went to watch their kids. And that's it. So our families really haven't really met. Until they came to see us! :)
I'm so glad they finally got to meet, and I got to see my Spitz babies again, even if just for a few hours!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Catch Up - Road Trip to Ohio!
Aside from my last post, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Life got busy then blogger decided to stop working. I now have to type all my posts in HMTL because otherwise it won't let me blog, no matter what computer or browser I use. :P
So we're gonna play catch up!
A couple weeks ago, we we went to Ohio for my cousin's graduation party. We road tripped it and made it a much more enjoyable trip by renting an RV.
We survived the trip there.
We dressed up as Cousin Eddie (Christmas Vacation) when we got out of the RV. (Yes, that would be my father, and it was his sisters idea. It had to be explained to me, apparently I'm not movie smart (which I already knew)!)
We jumped on the bed while playing our ukuleles.
We hung out at the pool.
We played at the park.
We celebrated Jonathan's 3rd birthday!!
And we slept in crazy ways in makeshift beds.
And stay tuned for my next post to see who we got to visit!!
So we're gonna play catch up!
A couple weeks ago, we we went to Ohio for my cousin's graduation party. We road tripped it and made it a much more enjoyable trip by renting an RV.
We survived the trip there.
We dressed up as Cousin Eddie (Christmas Vacation) when we got out of the RV. (Yes, that would be my father, and it was his sisters idea. It had to be explained to me, apparently I'm not movie smart (which I already knew)!)
We jumped on the bed while playing our ukuleles.
We hung out at the pool.
We played at the park.
We celebrated Jonathan's 3rd birthday!!
And we slept in crazy ways in makeshift beds.
And stay tuned for my next post to see who we got to visit!!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Rachel's Birthday!
The other day was Rachel's birthday! We hosted a birthday party for her with her family and the Gibson family.. Star Wars themed!
I've wanted to a Star Wars Birthday Party for awhile, and had so much fun! I found mostly everything on Pinterest, you can find it on my board here.
{Signs - Star Wars font was found here. Download, open up zip file, open one of the text tiles in that zip, hit download, open whatever Microsoft product you want to use it in, and it should be the fonts. I used Publisher. Black background was from google images.}
{Sweet n Salty Sabers - Pretzel Rods with Fruit Roll-ups wrapped around them.}
{Leia cupcakes - Went off this model. Face and hair is decorating gel/frosting. Buns are Oreos with decorating frosting over the white filling, stuck on with a toothpick for each side (you can only push them in past one side of the Oreo very carefully or they'll break), and frosting for extra "glue".}
{Lightsaber napkin roll - Incredibly easy, printable and directions here.}
 |
| Eating <---> Rachel and her pie! |
 |
| Top: Rachel & Ashley <---> Carter & Rachel Bottom: Rebekah & Rachel <---> Rachel & I |
 |
| Carter waiting for his pie <---> Carter and Elijah, these two get into so much trouble together! :) Today is also Carter's birthday! Now he and Elijah are both 5! Happy Birthday Carter!! |
And Rachel, I just want wish you a (now belated) happy birthday! I'm so grateful to be a friend to such an amazing young women, with such a beautiful heart. I love you! ♥