Somthing Worth Voting For

Okay, you can make a difference and it only takes a couple of seconds...

Hello again-
Our volunteers in Wuhan had a great idea. It may be possible for some of
our Half the Sky children to carry the Olympic torch next year. I've
entered a contest sponsored by the China Daily Newspaper and, if I can get
enough votes from netizens all over the world, I may be able to have that
honor. If it happens, I will run with 8 children from 8 orphanages in
China. Believe me, I am no runner. But I would dearly love to give the
children a place at the party.
Please take a moment and vote for me right now:

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=212

We need a LOT of votes. Please pass this on to your friends and family.
Thanks and love,
Jenny
Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org
Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

Park Puppy and Her Art

Abbey loves to wear her puppy headband, pirate eye patch, or sunglasses whenever she can. She discovered the little pumpkin candy holder I picked up for trick or treating and she is now going around everywhere pretending to collect candy. This is some of her summer art which is coming down to make room for her new fall things. She just made the little tree with the fingerprint apples. She is so proud of all her artwork and LOVES cutting, like the fringe grass under the tree. She is really into using tools, especially since she helped me take apart the crib. She undid more of the screws with the allen wrench than I did. Today she and Madison both wore new light up shoes to church, but I didn't have my camera. It cracks me up that they are always so in sync. Her word of the week is "tight". I never could have imagined that she could find so many ways to use that word. She was thrilled to have grown out of her shoes this week and pronounce them all too tight...I bought three new pairs yesterday. All of the sudden her 18 mo clothing is all too short too. She can still wear 12 mo if they are capri's but length wise she now needs 24 mo, which of course swallow her at the waist. Thank goodness I found out we now have a Gymboree outlet nearby and our beloved Target.

Sophia

This is little Sophia. She is undergoing a bone marrow transplant today. Her parents discovered that she had a rare blood disorder shortly after bringing her home from China. They need our help in getting through this ordeal. We all want to help children from China, here's our chance. Visit Sophia's website and make a donation today. Let's shower them with love, prayers, and finances.
When I had Abbey's initial blood work done she had an extremely high platelet count. My doctor consulted with the hematologists at our children's hospital and thankfully over many months and blood draws it came down within the normal range. Another friend of mine found that her baby has an extremely rare blood disorder as soon as she brought her home from China and they are still working through treating it. This could be any one of us. If we all give a little it will make a huge difference.

Ashton Rocks!

Abbey loves her "Ashti". I was prepared for a fit when I took her out of worship Sunday and went down to the toddler class, but a pleasant surprise awaited us. She was as happy as a clam to say goodbye to me as soon as she saw that my nephew was there. Evidently she managed to get a ring from him for a few moments.

Pretend Birthday

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Small, but Mighty in Soul and Spirit

New words: wait, hard, ice, elbow, highchair, Mailee. She is loving nursery rhymes, especially Baa-baa Black Sheep and Mary Had a Little Lamb. She is also into little vs. big.

I am finally getting some sleep again. It was a very weary two weeks after she was found hanging on the outside of the crib at two a.m. screaming because her leg was twisted through the slats. Down came the crib and she was free at last. She was very happy to get a toddler bed (I just didn't feel good about using the twin yet), but liked to get up every hour and run into my room. Up went the gate, but then I would climb over to go and comfort her and one night ended up sleeping on the floor in her room. I decided to get tough because I couldn't make it through work with no sleep and she is finally sleeping through the night again, although I did let her back in my bed at 4:30 this morning. I do really well with holding the line up until about 4 o'clock, but if she gets up after that I am not in my right mind and just want to do whatever it takes to close my eyes. Now that the sleep issue is underhand we are going to work on prompt obedience. She is so adorable it makes it hard to enforce things sometimes but I keep telling myself it's the foundation of her character that we are laying here.

Message from God

For those of you who listened to the podcast here is one of the many tidbits I left out. Two days before my tumor review board at UCLA, and three days before my second biopsy that changed everything, my dad recieved this fortune in a cookie when he picked up some take out. Have you ever seen a fortune cookie that said something like that? He didn't tell me about it until after the diagnosis changed to benign but then he laminated it for me and I keep it up on my bulletin board as a reminder of all that God did.
I have heard of several people getting the fortune, "You will recieve good news from a distant land", before their referrals. This happened to a friend of mine on her birthday and the next day she received her special needs referral that didn't come with the regular batch. She was really wanting to adopt but her husband wasn't sure. One day as they were discussing it he said that he needed a message from God and then he left to go to the post office. When he came back in a little bit he slapped some stamps down on the kitchen table in front of his wife. He had gotten them out of a machine and was surprised to see that every stamp said "Adopt a Child", so they did.

Pockets

Her favorite phrases are "I will do it" and "did it!" She has recently been putting up her hand like a stop sign and shouting "Back!" if I am giving unwanted assistance.
This is her idea of dressing herself in her pj's before bed. The pocket is really her sleeve since the shirt is on upside down and her little bootie is hanging out the back since she managed to get this on before I could get the diaper in place.