Random updates..

There's been so much going on the past few days, so bear with me if this is kind of all jumbled up.  On top of everything that's been happening, our youngest rascal has been down for the count with a stomach bug, and that's kind of left me a bit scattered!  Here goes on the updates:

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First update!  I know I've mentioned before that we are making and selling rosaries for an ongoing means of raising funds for Peter's adoption.  You can see pictures of them here, and learn a bit about them.  Well, we have a BIG update regarding those.  You see, it's common in the Catholic world to have sacramentals (material objects used in prayer or worship of God) blessed.  It's not required, but it's definitely something that we consider ideal or desirable.   We'd been having the rosaries blessed by our parish priest whenever we had an order for one, and then sending them out to the person who had requested the rosary. 

Today, however, I got a message from a friend who works down at our local diocesan center.  He was letting me know that if I could be down there this afternoon, Bishop Olmsted himself would be able to bless the rosaries that we were offering via this blog.  So, I packed up everything:  all the ones we already had made, the ones that were currently under construction, and all the supplies that we had on hand, and threw all of that (and the three rascals) into the car and headed downtown.   Bishop Olmsted graciously invited us into his office, listened to Peter's story, and proceeded to bless all of what I had brought downtown.   Sooo...for you Catholics out there, our rosaries are now blessed by none other than Bishop Olmsted himself, who we just adore.   Many thanks to our friend at the diocese, and to Bishop Olmsted for inviting us down!  

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Second update!   Remember Malcolm?  

Two days ago, a bunch of bloggers rallied to help raise funds for this little boy's journey to his forever family.  I'm happy to report that his fund has almost DOUBLED in that time (from $7100 to just under $14,000!!)  ...aaaannnndddd.....more importantly, was officially committed to by a family today!   Malcolm officially moved to the "My Family Found Me" page at Reece's Rainbow this morning. 

I can say that I am super excited for this little boy!  You see, we know the family personally, and kind of live in the same general area.  Not only am I excited that Malcolm (who I fell in love with months ago!) is going to an amazing family, but I'm super excited that some day, when his family decides he is ready to meet the community, I'll get to see this little boy and hug him myself!

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And last but not least, I wanted to give out a shout out to a couple of really special people.  We had our fundraising BBQ last weekend (pictures are here) and it was a great success.  However, we never, ever, ever would have been able to pull it off without the help of two of our friends who really went the extra mile for us on Saturday.  (and the day before, as they baked up a ton of the desserts that we served at the meal itself!).  

So, Lore and Bill, without you, the day wouldn't have been such a great success.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for spending the day with us, moving tables, chairs, grills, food, etc.  Thank you for bringing your own grill and helping to prepare the food.  Thank you for staying out after everyone had left to help move those same tables, chairs, and grills again.  You guys worked HARD on Saturday, and we are very, very grateful.  Thank you so much for everything!!!