could ya would ya...please?

i remember anxiously awaiting a call from a friend a few weeks before Christmas. she had left a comment on a post that i had written about olga. patti , lily's mom, was doing a big giveaway to help raise money for miss olga to find her forever family. so when my friend. karen, left a comment that she needed to talk to me after reading my post i remember telling jeffrey ...

'do you think that karen and derek are wanting to adopt olga!?'

you see she had shared with me at a party a few months earlier that she and her husband derek had always known that they would like to adopt. they already have three beautiful biological children but always knew adoption was part of their future.

so when she called me i just knew what she was going to say. or so i thought...but i was close :)

karen started with how she had been following some other blogs she had found on my blog list. she said they had never really talked about adopting a child with special needs....until now.

she asked me what my views were on having miss maggie and all that goes along with down syndrome. i , through tons of tears of course, shared how maggie rae had blessed our lives in ways i could not have ever imagined. i said how there really are no words to describe how when you look into our girls eyes you feel closer to heaven. i said many, many things over our very long conversation that night that basically said you just can't explain all of the 'wonderfullness' that comes with that extra chromosome. you just have no way of knowing until you experience it. and then you just know.

and then karen shared the sweet boy who had stolen her heart. it wasn't olga like i had thought, but it is another angel she found through reece's rainbow. she emailed me the picture that night of ivan. when i saw it my first thought was...

'oh my goodness, he favors derek!'...he just looks like he is made to be a part of their beautiful family.

ivan is a beautiful baby boy that is just three months younger than miss maggie. and derek and karen commited to ivan several months ago and have been trying to raise the money to go and get ivan and bring him home.

we went to a fundraiser that was hosted by their church and it was amazing. the second jeff and i walked in and saw the large picture of ivan for everyone to sign i just stared crying. it just felt so amazing to be a part of this. to go from looking at his picture on reece's rainbow to seeing it here with all of these people that were here to try and help bring this sweet angel home. truly make-your-heart-want-to- explode amazing.

and when derek and karen shared how miss maggie and the blog helped lead them on this path....well, many more tears.

soooo ....i know there are lots of giveaways for these sweet angels trying to get to their families but.... they are going to meet sweet ivan in just 4 DAYS and are not near their goal. karen shared that they are basically going on faith and know that HE will help them bring home their son. so for as little as a $5.00 donation, or just sharing their blog through facebook or your blog, you are eligible to win this amazing canon camera and lots of other great prizes....

so please go and check out their blog and help their family bring home ivan. the blog is....


www.thekramerfamilysite.blogspot.com


i know karen and derek cannot wait to meet their sweet ivan....and i can't wait for miss maggie to have her first playdate when they finally bring him home!