A Thousand Kisses for Sevi - End Results

After all was said and done we counted up our kisses for Sevi on the night of Valentines day. We have a total of 749 kisses in her jar! Granted it was not as much as we were hoping, but I know and my family knows that the Lord will provide and in His timing too. It is hard, so hard, sometimes to fully trust God with the situation, but we just have to remind ourselves that He does a much better job than we do!
Keep praying for us as we wait on Him :)
Gabby

Maida Style

This was just to cute not to share! A little someone was helping "clean up" the garage tonight with her big sisters and mama :)

And yes, she is wearing glittery Christmas ribbon around her head (it's going to be a pain trying to get all that glitter out of her hair! haha)

A little time for Maida

I think it's high time I update you all on how Maida has been doing these past several months that she has been home. (I will update you all on Sevi's fundraiser tomorrow morning).

It has been three months since Maida has been home. Can you believe it?! It feels like forever yet at the same time only yesterday that I walked into that orphanage with my mom and met my sister for the first time.

In these months that she has been home she has blossomed physically (really, she grew 3 1/2 inches in two months!) emotional, and mentally. Attachment has never really been a problem for her (although there is always struggle, especially at first) and we are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with that. She does have a bit of an attitude though :) She loves all of her big sisters and brother. I frequently find her hanging on me, calling me, and wanting me to play :) Her English skills are also growing in leaps and bounds. One of her favorite phrases to say is "Maida do it!" :)
 With her starting to prefer speaking English, Lingala has really taken the back seat. She still uses it and has specific words that she uses daily, but I find myself sometimes having to remind her what a word is. I think this is a good thing (that her English is growing) but it makes me sad as well. It will be a part of her that she has lost and my mom and I both know neither of us know enough of it to help her really keep it. I also don't know what Sevi will feel like when she comes home and sees Maida again, but realizes she doesn't really understand her anymore. We are all trying to soak up as much Lingala as we can though so we can help both Maida and Sevi in this regard.

I will write a post specifically for Sevi here soon after this fundraiser ends on the 14th, but for today I will leave you with some pictures of this pretty girl.

 

 First morning home

 

 My little sister Bella showing off her Rhino necklace from Congo :)

 

 

Maida meeting her niece Rylie for the first time. There is just a year and a half difference in age between them. How fun that will be for them, getting to grow up with each other!

 

Meeting her one and only big brother Andrew (we have seven girls now including Sevi, but only one boy. I think my brother secretly digs the attention ;) ) 

 

And her one and only sister-in-law Amy :)

 

 

My moms birthday was on the day we landed in Congo (I know right?!) and a certain six year old didn't want her Mama's big day to go unnoticed.

 

Maida's first interaction with the violin, her destined instrument. We all play different string instruments (I play viola and violin) but my mom is set on violin for her...we shall see, I think she would look great on the harp ^^

 

Feeding Mama "fufu" (a pasty stickier version of porridge made from a root veggie they grow in Congo)

                                    

 

 Meeting Grandma and Grandpa :)

 

 

Meeting everyone at our Korean church.

 

Christmas day

 

This was tonight at dinner. Yes, she was indeed trying to eat the bone...

 

Almost all the girls,

 

I can't wait for this one to be added to our group of crazy, funny, loving, girls.

 

Gabby



Update on Sevi

Our in country coordinator just left for Kinshasa again this past week. We are all so excited to get some updates, news, and hopefully photos of our Sevi girl! I did hear that she got the pictures we sent to her of our family. They said that she was so happy to get them and walked around the orphanage showing everyone, telling them that she too has a family now.

       

Just melts this big sisters heart! I can't wait for the day where she doesn't have to wait for us anymore, where she doesn't need a photo to convince everyone she has a family because we will be right there with her, holding her hand, making her laugh, wiping her tears, being family. Oh how I can't wait! I pray that the Lord will help me to be patient in this waiting.

                            

On another note (but one that is related) we only have three days left till valentines day. THRE DAYS LEFT!!! We are trying to get 1,000 kisses for Sevi by valentines. So far we have 428 kisses in her jar (thank you all so much for our support!). We need 571 more kisses to reach our goal. Each kiss is only $1. $1 can make all the difference in the world to this little girl!

Help us to reach this goal and to give "A Thousand Kisses to Sevi" this valentines day!

Gabby

A Thousand Kisses for Sevi - Day 3!

It's day three of our valentine fundraiser for Sevi, A Thousand Kisses for Sevi. God has totally blessed us in this. We have raised $291 dollars thus far, thats 291 kisses in Sevi's big jar of kisses!

 

 



We are so blessed and we know Sevi will be too when she comes home and sees that jar filled to the brim of peoples overwhelming love and support for her.
We are not there yet though, we need 709 more kisses to fill Sevi's jar with 1,000. We are getting there, but we need your help!
Each kiss is only $1! You don't have to feel obligated to donate a lot, just $1. A small thing done by many becomes BIG, so big that  I think together we can bring this little girl home



To donate you can go to my moms blog and click on the donate button on side bar to the right. Her blog is: lullabiesacrossthesea.blogspot.com

or you can like us on Facebook@ www.facebook.com/sevikatherinewantstocomehome

Thanks so much for all your support!
Gabby



P.S. I just wanted to add in this little video of Maida and Bella. I woke up a couple mornings ago to this :)

A Thousand Kisses for Sevi

Did you all watch the video? Did you see? Yes, we are in the process of bringing another little girl home and we are so excited! It was very unexpected and there is a whole long story about it, but I will tell you all the complete story another day (very soon!) because today I want to share this!

                      

We are launching a Valentine Fundraiser. "A Thousand Kisses for Sevi"!
Our goal is to sell 1,000 chocolate kisses for Sevi by Valentines Day.
All kisses go into a large vase that we will save for her homecoming. She will see the love of many in each kiss. We will add updates through pictures of how her vase is coming along. A KISS IS ONLY $1!

WE HAVE EIGHT DAYS... Will YOU be Sevi's Valentine?

Click on the Donate button at the top of the page. If you would like to send a dollar through regular mail send me an e-mail at everlastingspring@hotmail.com for my address.
Please share with all your friends and family to help give "A Thousand Kisses for Sevi" this Valentines Day!
Thank you!



Hope for Sevi

I have deliberated a lot in how I wanted to write this post, whether it was waiting awhile (updating a bit more on Maida) or writing a full post about it...etc but I have come to the simple conclusion of sharing this news (yes, the news I said I would share) through this video that my mom and I made.

 

 

for more information and to donate you can visit my moms blog at:

lullabiesacrossthesea.blogspot.com

 

We also created a facebook page for her. You can find it at:

https://www.facebook.com/SeviKatherineWantsToComeHome 

P.S. Don't forget to pause the playlist music at the bottom of the screen :)

Gabby