Very Rewarding....and Many Thanks

The past two months have been insanely busy for me as I have been juggling my very demanding full time job, the "Visions of Hope" photography classes, and of course my family life.

There have been times over the last few weeks that I have asked myself.....
"Why on earth did you take on this much and Did I take on more than I can handle?"

Well, those thoughts went right out of my head yesterday morning when I woke up and checked my email to see these two smiling faces.

I believe I posted about a month ago to tell you that through the first round of "Visions of Hope" photography classes, we made a donation to Half The Sky and we requested that the money be designated to the Chenzhou SWI in Reagan's honor. Only a few short days after sending them the donation I got a very nice letter thanking me for the donation. I have to admit, it was such a rewarding feeling and all I could think about were the faces of the children that have been permanantly etched in my mind since October 20th when we visited Chenzhou.

This month after running the second round of classes, I was getting ready to make the next donation and was not sure how I wanted to designate the money. After a little thought and a few emails back and forth with one of my contacts at Half The Sky, I decided I really wanted to do something extra special........

We are now the proud sponsors of these two beautiful girls; Chen Yi Zhi and Chen Qing Tong.
When I say "we", I do not mean just Pat and me.... I mean eveyone that has taken part and supported the "Visions of Hope" project. Each person that signed up for classes, helped spread the word, and those that donated to the cause all had a hand in each one of these donations. So in essence, you too are helping to sponsor these two precious girls for the next 12 months.

Words cannot express how gratifying it is to know that we are making even the smallest difference in the lives of those that are left behind and still waiting to be matched with their own forever families.

Nothing would make me happier than to get an email in the upcoming months to find out that one of these two baby girls has found a forever family. (If that does happen, they will assign us another child to sponsor)

I thought it was important to share with you all some of the things that we have been able to do as a result of the "Visions of Hope". Rewarding and Gratifying doesn't even begin to describe how it make me feel. Even though I am about to take a little break from teaching and have all of my evenings free to spend with my family..... I will be coming out with some new class offerings again in late July or early August, so we can continue to support Half the Sky and the children of China. Stay tuned!

I will also keep everyone updated on "our girls"..... Okay, they are not really our girls, but if I get any updates or news on our sponsored girls, Yi Zhi or Qing Tong, I will be sure to share here with you all.

We were not able to specify the children that we wanted to sponsor, but I did specifically request that they were from the Chenzhou SWI. Both of these girls were there with Reagan and they are exactly one month older than her. Qing Tong and I share the same birthday! Had I known that the day we visited the orphanage, I would have brought a cake to celebrate her 1st birthday.....and my.....ummmmmm 21st:) Only kidding!

So, has it been busy and hectic these last few months? YES..... but I can tell you that looking at these two faces makes it ALL WORTH IT.

Many many thanks to you all for the ongoing support!
This adoption community never ceases to amaze me.

Happy Weekend Everyone!