Please Pray for Tricia **updated at 6:30am**

Tricia is a beautiful young gal whose blog I found about 2 months ago and immediately her story found a place in my heart. Her adorable hubby Nate also has a blog and writes often.

Today they received a call that could change their lives forever and I'm asking you to please pray that all goes well.

You see, Tricia was born with Cystic Fibrosis and is now a beautiful young lady, 24 years old. Last fall just as Tricia was preparing to be placed on a transplant list for new lungs, God worked a miracle in their lives and they conceived a child. Beautiful, teeny-tiny Gwyneth Rose was born at just 24 weeks gestation, almost 12 weeks ago. Although a micro-premie, Gwyneth Rose continues to grow weekly and is absolutely adorable!

What happened tonight that has potential to change their lives forever is that they have received a call that there may be a new set of lungs on the way to Duke Hospital for Tricia!!! The transplant team is flying out of state to examine the lungs and if they are a good match, Tricia will be prepped for surgery early tomorrow morning.

Please pray for this precious family. If you want a pick-me-up, just take a moment to read some of Nate's blog and you may very well find yourself laughing right out loud! Their love for the Lord is amazing and they are trusting God to work miracles in the lives of their family. All 3 of them are currently living at Duke Hospital. Tricia, who is at this time permenantly on a ventilator and Nate on one floor and precious Gwyneth Rose in the NICU just a couple of floors away.

Please pray that the lungs will be a perfect match, for the transplant team, for all involved with the transplant, Nate, Gwyneth Rose and also for the donor's family who lost a loved one today.

Praying.....

**Update - 6:30am**
Last night's sleep was full of thoughts of Tricia and I woke often to pray for her. I was saddened to read when I woke up this morning that the lungs were not a good match for Tricia so she continues to wait. I ask that you please continue to keep this precious family in your prayers as her wait for new lungs continues. Please pray that she will stay healthy so that when lungs are available she will be able to have the life-saving surgery. God is in control and I know she and Nate are trusting Him. Continuing to pray.

Celebrating 2 YEARS Closer to Hannah!!

Can you believe it?? 2 years ago today someone in China picked up my file, took an initial look at it, logged it in their records and I was officially logged with the China Center of Adoption Affairs!!! 2 years friends! In some ways it seems like forever and in other ways I remember that time like it was just yesterday.

I just looked back and reread what I'd posted to this blog on March 23, 2006 and honestly it gave me goose bumps!!! You see, just minutes ago I just finished writing an update letter to my email family and friends who may or may not follow this blog. Today I wrote,

'I would ask you that as I am anticipating her birth sometime this year that you please pray for Hannah. Pray that she will find love in the orphanage. Pray that she will have a caretaker that takes a shine to her and loves her in a special way. This type of love is so important for the formation of her little brain and the critical stages of formation it will be going through before she is in my arms. I cannot be there physically but God can put someone there to hold her, love her and care for her and this is what I’m asking you to pray for. Please pray that she will be loved and know that she is loved. I love her already.'

and if you read the post written on March 23, 2006 you'll see much of the same there. Too cool! The really neat thing is that the night I wrote the original post I had absolutely no idea that that was the day my file was logged in China. I would not find out that piece of information for almost 2 months!!

The other commonality of tonight's letter + the 2006 post that makes me laugh is the sentence 'my baby girl may already have been born!' Ummm...ya. That didn't happen! LOL!! This year though...this year!!!!!


Today I also purchased a little something for Hannah since it's a big day! I've had the Playskool Busy Ball Popper on my wish list so decided today to pick it up and put it away for her.


At 6 months I made her a Build a Bear.














At 12 months it was a new rug for her nursery.

18 months was a t-o-u-g-h time during the wait so I didn't purchase anything at that time but now I'm in a much better frame of mind and so today we celebrated with 24 long stemmed roses and a Busy Ball Popper!

Even though I don't know how much longer I will have to wait for Hannah's referral and then to meet her, I will wait. I will wait with a longing in my heart and an ache to hold her in my arms but...I will wait. Continuing to lean on God and trust Him.

Hannah,

I love you so very, very much. I cannot wait to meet you, to love you, to hold you in my arms and tell you how much I love you. I pray that even before you and I meet, that you will know love by those God puts in place to care for you in the orphanage. May you know what it's like to feel their loving arms hold you and may you know friendship with the other precious babies that will live their lives in the cribs near you. God has amazing plans for your my sweet baby girl and I am humbled to think that He has chosen me to be your mother. I love you baby girl. Mommy loves you....

Winnings and Whinings

Things began looking up in the Roll-up contest this week as I rolled up a coffee on Monday and donut on Thursday! Do I hear a 'Wahoo'???LOL...after rolling up the coffee and taking the pic I almost threw it out before ripping off the winning tab. Oops!) Thankfully I remembered just before heading to the garbage. The funny thing was I could hardly believe my eyes when I intially saw the word, 'WIN'...it had been so long and I was just used to 'Please Play Again.' So yes, being oh so (NOT) humble I quickly sent out an email to the gang to let them know I was back in the competition! It's still anybody's race as no one has really taken off this year. Considering we're more than 1/2 way through the roll-up season we're surprised by the low numbers of wins. Last year's winner took home a whopping 13 prizes so we still have lots of coffee to drink to try and catch up to last year's stats.

Speaking of stats, you may have noticed that my sidebar stats have changed slightly. People have begun to feel sorry for me (read: they're tired of my whining about not winning) and, winning tabs are showing up as gifts and in the mail!! Monday evening I got an envelope in the mail from my Aunt (who is only a few years older than I am so it seems funny calling her 'aunt') with not 1, not 2 but 3 winning tabs in it!! Thanks!! She and my cousin Scott had put together some of thier winners and sent them to me hoping it would stop my whining.

Sorry to disappoint ya 'Auntie Marg' but I'm not gonna fix what's not broken. All I've done is change the labels labels on my table from 'Coffee and Donuts' to 'Real Wins and Whining Wins!' :o)

Have I mentioned lately that I'm 3/49? I'm blowing the 1/9 odds of winning to pieces!

Watch the Lamb!

Christ died for you and for me. Watch the Lamb.

Olympics Sneak Peak...Maybe.

I'm not sure how to add this video directly to my blog so instead I'll have to ask you to click here to see some really fun entertainment similar to what we may see at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics which will begin August 8, 2008 at 8:08pm! (When I first viewed this video a couple of weeks ago they thought it might be a behind the scenes view of preparations for the ceremonies but now it appears that it may be something else. Regardless it's a great video to watch!)

I've been a HUGE fan of the Olympics for as long as I can remember and knowing that these Olympics will be in the country that my daughter is living (or I'm guessing should be living by the time they begin on August 8th!) gives me chills!!

Hope you enjoy the video as much as I did. Beautiful!!