Birthdays again?????

Hi all!
I am copying an email I sent out to friends and family because I am trying to reach as many people as I can!

Hi all,
For any who aren't aware, Steve's birthday is today and mine is tomorrow! Isn't that nuts???

Well, we are so blessed with our lovely family, and the greatest joy we have is our children. Some of you know that we had been asked to adopt a baby that was going to be born with Down Syndrome, but he passed away before birth. Samuel Christie Oswald was a miracle in our hearts, stretching us to consider what we had never been able to consider before.

With a completed homestudy and a home and family prepared for an infant, we took some time to collect our selves, grieve and decide what we were to do next. We have decided to allow God to guide this again, and we are open to a referral of a baby in the US, particularly a baby to be born with special needs that we feel able to handle. Especially Down Syndrome, although we are open to other needs.

So, for our birthdays a great Etsy artist is doing a fundraiser for our adoption fees! She makes the most beautiful pendants and has a huge heart for special needs adoption. The pendants are very reasonably priced (most right about $10) and are just beautiful! I bought a couple before and will be buying more, stocking up for Christmas and birthdays, and just for fun!

If you would like to check it out, please go to the website below. Our adoption fund will receive $5 for each pendant sold, but you MUST put a note at the checkout in "notes to seller" that this is for the Oswald family adoption fundraiser. Then she knows who to credit. And it runs ONLY on Wednesday July 14th! Just one day!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

If for one reason or another God does not open the door for an infant to enter our home, or provides all fees in another way (we are constantly working that LOL!), then all funds raised will be donated to Reece's Rainbow - a great organization that advocates for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs to find forever homes and fundraisers to provide grants for specific children - almost all are from other countries and are in desperate need of homes. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for us to adopt from many of these countries due to the travel requirements (sometimes two trips of several weeks for one or both parents - not an option with our lovely kids).

So, if you cared to take a look, please do, the jewelry is GORGEOUS and quite affordable!!!! Like I said, I found her through another friend who is adopting a child with DS and was fundraising and I was so thrilled with the pendants I got - great quality and just gorgeous! I have a list of what I want for upcoming presents that I will be ordering tomorrow!!!! Also, feel free to check out our crazy blog below if you want to know what is going on with our crew. I don't update as often as I would like, but I sure try to!


Christy Oswald
Mom to the great eight
Wife to the greatest man in the world
http://mommyturtle.blogspot.com


PLEASE feel free to forward this to anyone who you think might be interested! I have tried to put together a list of everyone I could think of that I had contacts for, but of course I know I missed some or may have old information. So, please, send this on to anyone at all who may be interested in wonderful pendants!!!!


So, we are celebrating birthdays around here - first one and then the other - the kids delight in making cakes, though we keep insisting that we DON'T need TWO cakes in TWO days!!!!! But we had so much fun giving Dad his presents last night - he is gone most of today, his birthday, so we did the gifts last night and there was HUGE hilarity!!!! Simple small things, but thoughtful or just plain funny! It was great. We went to bed, after finally getting the last giggling child off to bed, saying "How could someone not want this?". LOL! Though honestly it was really late and of course we were exhausted, so that might be why it isn't for everyone.

A cat must have had her babies last night - she was as huge as a house last night and now is skinny, so the kittens are hidden around here somewhere - instead of (or maybe in addition to) a egg hunt, the kids are on a kitten hunt. And another hen hatched out chicks so at this point we think we have maybe 20 to 25 baby chickens to keep our flock growing!!! They are so cute and the mamas keep them close so it is hard to count them all! But we sure hear them peeping as they run around outside!!!!

We are doing some crazy haying around here - had our pasture that isn't fenced yet cut, but then it rained so it is too wet to bale, so we are going out there with pitchforks and wheelbarrows to get it to feed quickly to the animals. Wow, is there a LOT of hay in three acres!!!!!! How did they do this all the time years ago??? Not easy!

And fair is next week, so we are wildly getting ready! Whew - the most looked forward to week of the year, but the most exhausting! We need one more tent that we will pick up this weekend and then we are all set! LOL! The kids are so excited, the three newest are trying to imagine it all, and the other five just ramble on and on trying to explain it, but it is just too much! They will just have to wait and see!!!!!!

Hugs and love to everyone, hug your kids and family!!!!
Christy


"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11