I'm humbled and I have great news!!

Melissa, a new blogging friend that I met over at MomDot.com, has given me an award! You should check out her blog here:

I am especially honored for two reasons: This is my first ever blog award and this is an award from a lady, whom I just "met" online. We may have just met, but we have at least one thing in common - we have a heart for "the least of these" She has a son with special needs like I do and she enjoys volunteering and visiting at an assisted living establishment. She makes the sweetest comments on my blog! I'm proud to have introduced her to Reece's Rainbow International Down Syndrome Orphan Ministry.

Thank you Melissa! I'm so glad to "cyber-meet" you and the award means a lot to me.

Here are the guidelines for receiving this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs
6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool

Okay, here goes to pass on the bloggy love. There is one new blog I am giving this award to. I met her last year at kindergarten! Her daughter and my son were in the same class. She, and her partners, make incredible hand crafted handbags. I gave away one of her beautiful photo bags as the prize in my October fundraiser for Oleg. I was pleased to assist them in rolling out a new website this year - www.sassyklassy.com. Check out her new website and her blog,.

And, for the rest of my recipients:

Shelly is an incredible lady. She and her husband have adopted 2 children with Down Syndrome over the past 2 years and she always has something worthwhile to say here.

Tammy has a cute little boy named Parker. I found them during one of my marathon pulmonary hypertension research sessions. Their blog is inspiring.

I really like Christine for who she is. Her blog is cool because of the way she shares about her family and her life. Check it out here.

Lou and her husband are incredible. They are preparing to travel to adopt a beautiful girl who needs immediate medical attention. I follow their blog religiously and pray that they can get her home in time.

Kansas Milkmaid is probably the first blog I ever read. I used to get fresh raw farm milk from this lady. She always has something interesting to share about farm life, homeschooling, and her relationship with Christ.

I love to read Meredith's blog daily. She has 4 very young children, 3 of which have Down Syndrome. She also administrates the Reece's Rainbow blog here. Busy lady, no?

So what is the great news? I got the word last night that a family has committed to adopting Oleg!!!! No, it's not us. But here is the cool thing...this same family, the Spencer's, have also committed to Pavel!!

If you've never seen the pictures of these two little boys on the Reece's Rainbow website, let me tell you how stinkin' cute they are! So now they will become brothers...how sweet is that? Both boys were at risk of being sent to a mental institution in the coming months. One more thing to be thankful for this week.