Blankets for babies- Emergency Relief for Vietnamese Orphans

Vietnam has been on my mind and in my heart lately. Severe weather in northern Vietnam has caused illness in many children from orphanages. It saddens me deeply and hits so close to home. Please read this report from Ethica (This is a respected organization that advocates for ethical adoption practices):
http://www.ethicanet.org/item.php?recordid=blankets&pagestyle=default



Blankets for Babies—Emergency Relief for Vietnamese Orphans

Ethica, Inc. has received troubling reports of severe, cold weather in northern Vietnam that has taken a toll on orphanages in Hanoi, Bac Giang, Hay Tay, and Bac Ninh provinces. We understand 3 children have died in the past week and 10 more have been hospitalized. In the past two months, 9 of 19 infected infants have died.
Government officials at the National Fund for Vietnamese Children are concerned that many more children will be vulnerable to a virulent form of rhinovirus that has in some cases, progressed to pneumonia. This can be fatal for institutionalized infants and children already vulnerable to illness. The officials have met and given Ethica's representative in Hanoi permission to secure and deliver much needed blankets, heaters, warm clothing, and formula on March 7th and 8th. We estimate that $9,350 USD will be needed for this emergency relief fund which will assist 469 children under 16 years old and 152 babies from 1-7 months old.


I will always wonder what it was like for Frances as she grew from infancy to toddler hood without us or her first family. It breaks my heart that she has suffered. When we were in Vietnam we learned that Frances had pneumonia and was taken to the hospital. We even have an xray of her tiny chest. It has not occurred to me until now how close we came to not having her in our lives. I can’t even fathom it. After all we went through, all that time spent waiting, worrying , wishing, holding our breaths.

Please check out Ethica and donate. Please pray or send your thoughts to the children in Vietnam and to the families waiting to bring them home. I know they are waiting, worrying, wishing and holding their breaths.

Now I am on my way to Ethica…once I figure out my paypal password.

I miss my Franks

Frank and Frances left this weekend to spend a few days with family. I miss them something terrible! I hate going to sleep and waking up without them. We bought ONE economy window seat for the two of them. Turns out the other two were empty and they had all three to themselves. Frank said the low point was when Frances threw her sippy cup behind them and that he does not think anyone was hit. The hight point was when Frances pointed at her bracelett and actually said, "bracelett-pease-pease" and then, "Thank you" when Frank retreived it for her. She has just started saying Please, by whispering "pease". It is very adorable and Frank was floored by this new conversation.
I love you both. See you soon.

Frances and Nana

Danielle, Delaney and Frances

My darling baby...

This picture is for Julie who is waiting for her referral. Anyone reading please send a prayer or wish her way. Your Sweet girl is out there. You have amazing strength, compassion and patience. Though I know you have no choice, you do it well. We feel very lucky to have you and the Lucy clan in our lives. It will that much more fun when Lovey joins the group. (Just today Frances and Lucy experienced BFF status when Lucy spit out a blueberry and hand fed it to Frances. I can't wait for Lovey to be in the mix.)

My dramatic baby

Looking fabulous in my great furry green vest! (Another Thank you present!)

Are you looking at me?

Good.

I love that Frances will let me dress her up. She loves to wear hats and then direct me around the house to different mirrors to check out her 'look'. Here she looks incredibly adorable and about 90 years old with those too-big-sunglasses.

My wild and CRAZY baby...

Frances LOVES this Christmas gift. (It was a great gift, Thank you!) She goes crazy jumping up and down while laughing hysterically. Check out the wild eyes.




She is not napping here, she did not gently slide off her stead, but was perhaps 'thrown'. I did feel horrible, because I took time to snap this photo after she fell. She had great big tears and hiccups after this. Of course now I have proof that she is a fake- look at that face, she was not hurt. After her tears dried she got right back on.

Seasonal blogger?

I really wanted to post these pictures from October...in October! We visited Frank's family in Massachusetts for Frances's baptismal. I don't know why, but I love that she was baptised barefoot!

We had time to drive up to Main to visit family and check out Acadia National Park. It was incredibly beautiful.

And Frances got to see the Ocean for the first time...that we know of. She was not content just dipping her toes in the Atlantic.

She would have gone swimming if we would have let her go!

Frances very happy walking with her Nana and Papa.

We are well and happy and I think I might have more time to blog and...fold laundry soon. I never gave my friends with children enough credit- there are just not enough hours in the day! Which is one reason I gave my notice...and will soon have a lot more time with Frances. I worked so hard to bring her home and the two hours I share with her after work before she goes to bed is just not working out for our family. I am not sure how long this will last, but whatever else I do, it will have to be more family friendly. Motherhood is wonderful and she is amazing. Her language is really starting to take off. I think that if I blink I might miss something.

October in Massachusetts: Hiking

Frances hiking with Mom (me) in Her Ergo baby carrier through the Flume.

Happy girl with Papa...

Towards the end of the Hike she insisted she walk. She was still only walking if we had both her hands, it was slow going.

She was not hunting, only hiking.

PS

Lucy, see this really great pumpkin hat? It is headed your way soon, don't worry!

We had a great day hiking "The Flume" in the White Mountains. The last time we were in Massachusetts the leaves were amazing shades of yellow, orange, and red... still not bad green. Frances really likes being outdoors and she had a great day.