Thankful!

Sometimes it's hard to put into words exactly how grateful I am to God for those people He has put into my life to support me. 

Let me explain...

I've waited for this week with great anticipation/trepidation. After working the previous week on a video submission that would best represent our family's story, we had been chosen as the family of the week for Give1Save1 Caribbean. http://give1save1caribbean.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-week-new-family.html

I have never been one who has liked to ask others for help but circumstances during the past year or so have brought me to a point where I've had to finally do just that. First there were the failed Congolese adoptions and the decision to switch agencies (good bye thousands of dollars), then the diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma (hello higher medical bills than I had ever thought possible), and just when I had begun the process to start again, my car decided to go end our long journey together.

Which brought me to where I am today. Although I have always had a strong support system as a single parent (and an even stronger God) I have lived in the happy place of feeling somewhat self sufficient. Or perhaps I should say I have always been too stubborn to ask for help in most situations. Chemo worked some of that out of my system. Realizing I no longer had the funds necessary to complete my current adoption has kicked the rest out (at least I hope so, these are painful teachable moments for me!)

Sending the video in was opening myself, and our family up to being 'judged' by  way more people than was naturally comfortable for me. I am pretty private and I realize that there are those who think it is selfish of me to adopt as a single parent. Yep, that pretty much describes me...how selfish of me to want to become a parent to a child who has no one. :)  I admit even at the start of today, I was feeling frustrated and depressed at this fact-especially when I know some of those critics. But as we end the day, not only are complete strangers clicking SHARE for our video (which I pray gets others thinking about adoptive parenting) but our fundraising total has reached $990.34! 

I am completely shocked and humbled.

Know that tonight, as I continue in my second shift working on creating art that will soon be featured in the Etsy store we are setting up, I will be thanking God for those people who have decided that this single, flawed mama and her family is worth spending a moment of time in sharing our story, praying, or even donating money towards the future addition to our family.