Melony's Whimsy Daisy!

Orphans, Adoption, and a Cotton Candy Dress

There is probably no way to smoothly combine my two subjects today, but I'm just going to jump in and do the best I can.

Tomorrow is an exciting day for me because I've been invited to a meeting at  my church  focusing on ways to encourage adoption and foster care in our church and community. It sends chills of excitement up my spine. I was a foster mom for sixteen years, and I've been blessed to adopt two children...one from the foster care system in the USA, and one from an orphanage in China. I've given birth three times too! My cup runneth over, and I thank God for entrusting me with the lives of all my children and for helping me and forgiving me my mistakes along the way. (there have been many)

This is my daughter, Daisy, who has been a delight in my life. She was gracious to  model a vintage fifties dress that is precious. So much sweeter than some of the current styles where little girls look like grown women (dressed innapropriately at that.) The brand name for this dress is A La Mode and it is currently in my Whimsy Daisy Etsy Shop!  I am selling it for a worthwhile cause, so please continue to read.

  I love the detail of the crochet over the cotton fabric and the sweet bow.

Now, I want to segway into my very favorite charity, Love Without Boundaries.  I cannot say enough good things about it as nearly every single cent goes straight to orphans and it is run only by volunteers...most of them...adoptive moms and dads. If anybody purchases the dress Daisy is modeling, I would love to donate the money to Love Without Boundaries.

My dear friend, Amy Eldridge, is the founder of this charity. We traveled to China together in 2000 to bring our daughters home, and then God has used Amy's life in a wonderful way to touch the lives of thousands of children. You can click on the link above to read about this unique charity and the award she won from Cookie Magazine  along with Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, and Debra Messing. Amy has won all kinds of awards, but personally dislikes publicity and only tolerates it in hopes that other orphans might find loving homes or be healed. Cookie Magazine did a wonderful write up on my friend and took this awesome picture.

 

Love Without Boundaries has a beautiful book for sale on their website with stories of inspiration and encouragement for anybody who might even be slightly interested in adoption or know someone who would. I would like to have a copy to give someone at church as we begin our program, and wanted to post about it here. All the proceeds go to orphans. 

 

Click RIGHT HERE to go to my Etsy Shop. All the money on the dress Daisy is modeling will go to Love Without Boundaries. I would be so pleased to be able to know it was going to feed a child, or pay for medicine, or a warm blanket.

  

Yes, it's Monday...but...

 It is....

No matter what happens on Monday I enjoy knowing I have clean, sweet-smelling sheets to crawl into at the end of the day. The debate today was making the decision to keep out the cozy flannel sheets or get out the crisp summery cotton ones. I just couldn't put the flannels away just yet, so on went the polka dot flannels for tonight. East Texas weather can fool you. We could have a cool spell, or high winds, rain, or drought. One never knows.

 (NOTE: Clean Sheet Monday is NOT written on our wall.)

For those of you new to my blog...Do you wonder how in the world I ended up with this gigantic abstract painting in a black lacquered frame in my vintagey-cottagey old farmhouse? I promised my husband, when we married, I would not fill the bedroom or his office with my treasures and we could use his (cough, cough) art work for those rooms. My Bob LOVES this piece of art and finds it so soothing. I think it looks...disturbed and confused. But, I LOVE Bob and so I've grown adjusted to the painting as he has had to adjust to my (cough, cough) treasures. 

Plus, Bob didn't put up a fuss over polka-dot sheets. I'm sure he would rather be snoring on a basic, plain (boring) blue. He also accepted my homemade pillow even though I added one pink (heaven forbid) snowflake for embellishment. Marriage. Compromise. Give. Take.  

These petunias volunteered to come up again for me this year. So beautiful. I want to introduce you to a dear sweet friend of mine who is an amazing mama and now an award winning volunteer! Amy and I met each other online in 1999 as we were preparing to adopt. We became fast friends and our families were thrilled to travel to China together to meet our daughters. Oh, my. I can't even begin to tell you what an adventurous time in our lives that was. 

Amy grieved with me after my husband Kent died, and last year when I remarried, she was there to celebrate with me. She is a lovely dear person inside and out.

 

I want to celebrate with her, as she is in New York City tonight receiving an amazing award from Cookie Magazine ...along with Debra Messing, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, and others.   Amy came home with her daughter, Anna, but also a huge heart full of love for the children left behind in China's orphanages. She didn't just fret or wish or wonder...my friend got to work! She has poured so much of her life into helping the orphans of China. You can read her story on the link above.

Friends Forever... Anna (Amy's daughter) and Daisy at my wedding last year.

So, here is a big huge thank you to Cookie Magazine for honoring my very humble and much deserving friend. $35,000 will go to the foundation Amy began: Love Without Boundaries. Please read about this unusual charity that is operated entirely by volunteers because they want every donated penny to go to the children. 

 

Here is Amy's picture in the upcoming issue of Cookie, which hits news stands on April 22nd! Isn't it wonderful what God can do through one mama with a willing heart? Amy is so happy. Not that she is being recognized. Oh no. She is not a limelight kind of girl. She is so excited to know how many children's lives will be changed with the money she will receive.

I am so proud of you, Amy!!!