Simply Love T-shirts

I have a friend.

Her name is Marjorie St. John.  She had to have a serious, emergency surgery this past week.

When we started our adoption process back in 2007, she was the first one who reached out to me on the yahoo groups and explained what all the acronyms meant.

PA, LOA, TA, LID…I had NO IDEA what they all stood for!!

Then when we got Ava’s referral in 2010 she was the one who I sent Ava’s file to so she could look it over and tell me if anything “abnormal” or scary stood out to her as she had read many, many kids files before and knew how to read between the lines.

And a friendship began and although we have never had the chance to meet in real life I consider her a dear friend.

And I wanted to do something for her.  They have been saving and saving for their upcoming adoption and all they needed yet was their plane tickets.

But now they have had to pay for their insurance deductible for an unexpected surgery!

So I was thinking to myself….how can I help Marjorie?

And I thought of the River of Grace T-shirts that we have left up in the attic and I thought I would start another fundraiser and give the proceeds to the St. John family in hopes of relieving some of the financial burden for them during this stressful time.

Marjorie will not be able to lift anything over 5 lbs. for 8-10 WEEKS.  And then they are to travel to China to get their daughter, Ami. 

So she needs to really take this time and let her body heal.

*Maybe if you have already ordered a t-shirt yours is wearing thin and you could use another one?

*Maybe you have gained weight/lost weight and need another one?!?! (lost would be nice!)

*Maybe you never have heard of a River of Grace T-shirt fundraiser but follow our blog and want to help an orphan.

(www.hamelothjourney.blogspot.com)

*Maybe you know the St. John’s and want to help them pay for the flight to China to give another orphan a forever home!

https://www.facebook.com/morethanahomemom?fref=ts

If you would like to help then free to order your t-shirts size and color on the right hand side of the this blog and I will ship it right out to you in one of our Adopt a Child drawstring bags. (while supplies last)

Or you can email me your size and send me a check:

ljhtjl@embarqmail.com

Thank you so much!

The front of the shirts:

The back of the shirts:

Together let’s show Marjorie how much we love her!

His Plans are BEST

So sit back and come along with me as I reminisce down memory lane for a bit and be reminded again on how AMAZING and AWESOME our God is and how HIS plans are best.

Back in 2012 we traveled to China to adopt Josie.  We did it a bit “backwards” as we did her paperwork in Guiyang first and had gotcha day and then we traveled to Kunming to visit her foster family, who just “happened” to be our friends. And then we headed down to Guangzhou to do the American side of the adoption.

We had a very special (albeit too short) visit in Kunming but special memories were made.

We met a little girl named Le Le (pronounced Lu Lu) and we fell in love.

Le Le  (who I secretly named Maggie!) was just precious.  She was born with dwarfism.  And after we got home I talked to my cyber friend, Yvette, you know….just in case God would call us to adopt a child who “just happened” to have dwarfism.  I needed to know some information.

But we knew that Hannah was VERY MUCH wanting to adopt Le Le as her own….but at that point in time it just didn’t seem humanly possible as she didn’t have a husband or a way to adopt her.

So we said our goodbyes not knowing if I’d ever see “my” Maggie again.

But after we left China in 2011 some love was in the air and Joshua and Hannah started dating. <3

They are a perfect match.  So they got married and then were able to start the process of adopting Le Le!!!!!

And just a few months ago Le Le’s adoption became finalized (they call her Ella) and Joshua, Hannah, ,Le Le, Elora traveled to the states to have their 2nd natural baby!!!  Baby Enoch was born on July 16th.

So Le Le was IN  MY HOUSE last night.

Something I NEVER in a MILLION years thought I would ever see.

It was soooo fun.

She is a happy, and still adorable, 3 year old girl now!

And then since Hannah and her family were in the states Daniel and his family came in from Pittsburgh to visit too!

Before Hannah and Joshua started dating, Joshua and his friend would come over and help with the ROG kids.

So Josie and Daniel know Joshua VERY well and were very excited to see him again!

It was a very sweet time.

Daniel blew us all away with his new communication device.

Daniel’s CP affects his speech.  He can walk but is jerky.  But we never could understand him.  Now Josie and Daniel had a special way of communicating….but  this device has opened up his world!

He is VERY bright….and has much to share.  He just couldn’t before!!!!!

I can’t even think of a word to begin to describe how neat this device was. I got tears and goose bumps when I heard him “talk” with Joshua and Hannah.  He congratulated them on their baby boy.

Then he told Josie he is in the 1st grade.  And asked her what grade she is in.

You have to listen closely as there is a lot of background noise.  But he either types in his words or uses icons to say what he wants to say.

These two had a good time just being together again.  Such a special bond that I’m so very thankful they can continue here in the states.

We introduced Joshua to what a s’more was.  He thought it was delicious!

I went to bed just humbled that we get to be a part of this very special plan that God orchestrated. It gave me renewed hope and peace knowing that He truly did call us to adopt Josie.

So when the hard days come (or don’t go away) I can rest knowing that He really does have a plan….even if it doesn’t make sense to me or if I worry about what the future holds for Josie, all we need to do is love.

He has all the details worked out.