A Shout Out To My Village

We leave in just over a week.  ONE WEEK!!!  It seemed like an eternity when our facilitator called and told us we'd be leaving for U. in five weeks.  Time flew by like it has never flown before and here we are.  As we start packing and are tying up all the loose ends I am reminded again and again how lucky we are to have such an amazing village of people supporting us in this crazy venture.  Because without you, Village, this could never have happened.  So thank you, truly, from the bottom of our hearts.

Thank you to my mom for whole-heartedly agreeing to abandon her own life and come live ours for however long we are gone.

Thank you to my aunt, uncle and mother-in-law for offering to fill in the gaps so my mom can occasionally have a day off.

Thank you to friends and family who contributed to our adoption fund; y'all were so amazingly generous.

Thank you to my associate for being so understanding and supportive of this adoption even though it means she will be working every day until I get back.

Thank you to co-workers who, having only known me for three months, jumped head first into fundraising and have excitedly supported me from day one.

Thank you to clients who barely knew me yet contributed dollar after dollar to our adoption fund.

Thank you to our beloved day care who takes such amazing care of our children and, with this adoption, us as well.

Thank you to clinic staff who helped make our home town fundraisers possible.  They bought more tickets for things I'm sure they didn't really need, yet they did it because they love us.

Thank you for the countless number of friends who have told me to leave their numbers for my mom so that they can help transport kids from school, daycare, soccer, gymnastics...

Thank you to the mom who offered to be available for us whenever because, as a stay at home mom with four busy kids of her own, she's "not doing anything all day."

Thank you to the mom who is willing to pick up my child from school and cart her to gymnastics every week.

Thank you to the beautiful friend who, while battling cancer and going through chemo, took the time to make an amazing knitted blanket for Charlie because she'd made one for each of the girls when they were babies.

Thank you to my closest friends who have called to check on the status of our adoption and listened like it was the first time every time I complained for the 100th time about something.

Thank you to our local relief veterinarians who went out of their way to help us find someone who could fill in at the clinic.

Thank you to our amazing community for already welcoming Charlie home even though he isn't here yet.

Thank you to our children for being so beautifully excited about their big brother.

And thank you to anyone else I may have forgotten to mention.  Again, we cannot thank everyone enough.  This has been the most beautiful example of love and generosity I've ever experienced.

I will be posting updates here and on Facebook as we travel so stay tuned!