Motley Monday (and 2 motley monday miracles!)

Last week God broke my heart when I read about Yulia and I posted some of that here. God used this sweet little girl to teach me, humble me and remind me that He is still in charge. And God is still using sweet Yulia to show me a new direction for our life but we'll have more on that later.

God used my blog and so many other blogs to spread the story of Yulia and the passion of one mother, Adeye. And I am thrilled, overjoyed, speechless at how God moved. In less than 5 days God's people joined together and raised the $20,000 needed to bring Yulia home. Part of me is stunned and in awe of God's goodness but another part of me feels like I (we) should have known this would happen. Because miraculous things come together when God's people join together. And Romans 8:28 tells us that God works for the good of those who love him. Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over to all those who donated... now we need to pray that Yulia finds a forever family and that they are able to rescue her soon. Please keep praying for this with me.

In other miraculous news, have I mentioned that Gabe is on the move? And just like the Gabe you've come to know and love, he is doing it HIS way. Why do I say 'his' way? Because according to a medical diagnosis' Gabe should be paralyzed on his left side and according to the world Gabe is supposed to crawl first. But Gabe doesn't know this and Gabe does what he was made to do; surprise us all!

Gabe moves around the house doing a roll, crawl, scoot maneuver and manages to work his way through doorways, under tables and just about anywhere he wants to go.

On a completely different note, for Gabe's birthday he received a card from his Uncle Matt, Aunt Mariah and cousin Caleb that played music and he loved it!!! He loved it so much that exactly one month later it fell apart from being opened and closed repeatedly. And if something that costs $5 could bring him so much joy there was no way I could deny him that happiness. So when we were in Target Thursday we headed over to the card aisle and tried to find the same card. It was not there but we did find a different one and it plays the theme song from Rocky. And Gabe loves it! He bops his head and dances every time he opens it. And he opens it anytime he can get his little hands on it. Over the weekend I believe I was hearing it in my sleep...or he just snuck into his bed. {SMILE}

This past Saturday Matt, Gabe and I went to a friends adoption fundraiser! Gabe sported his 147 Million Orphan's t-shirt and I wore my Ordinary Hero shirt! I love when we were clothes that do more than keep us warm!

Our friends are adopting from Russia and have just a few more months to wait before they will get their call to travel. I have known this couple since high school and Heather was a two years ahead of me, played soccer with me and always provided me with lots of encouragement on and off the soccer field. I find it amazing that after graduating high school 9 (yikes!) years ago, that we found our way back to a friendship. This world of adoption is so big, yet so small and has such a wonderful way of bringing people together. We were so excited to be able to go attend their fundraiser!

To say they're excited would be nothing but an understatement and they are so ready to be parents. Heather even has that Mom-to-be glow about her!

Gabe is turning into quite the little daddy's boy. Gabe now calls Matt Da-da and gets so excited when he comes home from work. So excited that Matt either has to sneak in and change or take Gabe with him. Because once Daddy is home, Gabe is not letting him out of his sight! Watching Gabriel light up whenever he sees his Da-da is one of the highlights of my day. Inadvertently, now that Gabe is such a Da-da's boy I'm spending more and more time alone in the bathroom! Ooops, was that too much information?!?!

And because I can't hoard all the cuteness just for myself, I thought I'd share some pictures of Gabe having a tubby! Yes he loves the bubbles, although they never last long as he loves splashing more than bubbles {SMILE}

And did I remember to show you this picture? Gabe is holding onto our adoption application before we mailed it at the post office. Exciting right? And doesn't Gabe just have the cutest little chubby fingers?

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!