The next SnapShop will be June 10 – July 1, 2013

Registration will open on Thursday, May 23rd at 9:00am US Central

To visit the SnapShop website for more information ~ click here

Direct link to the registration page (PayPal button will be there on Thursday) ~ click here

Spots are limited, the last SnapShop filled in less than twenty minutes.

“Over the past month I’ve been thinking about my daughter’s orphanage, about all of you sweet readers that have asked for ways to help, and about how I want to not waste this time of waiting. I’ve always wanted to use my blog for good, you’ve heard me talk about social justice issues in the past. Well, this time I’m not talking about a social justice issue. I’m talking about my daughter and her current home. I contacted Love Without Boundaries (LWB) and asked if they could find out if the orphanage had any large needs. They were so kind to do a little research for me and let me know there is a great need for an incubator for tiny newborns in their care. One incubator costs $1,400.00. $1,400.00.  A lot of money, but it sounds manageable.”

And The Incubator Project was born.

I was dreaming of an incubator.

Sending out a hope for $1,400.

Feeling so helpless with my daughter so far away. Aching to be able to just do something.

In less than a week’s time, not only did you guys fund an incubator, you bought diapers and towels for my daughters orphanage. When we visited the orphanage, we were able to see the incubator. What a humbling experience.

When the diapers and towels were delivered.

the incubator when we visited during our trip

If the story had ended there, it would have been one of the greatest stories of my life. But it didn’t end there. You guys took an incredible story and made it beyond extraordinary. Miraculous.

Instead of $1,400 donated. You guys gave to Love Without Boundaries. Over $25,000.

I am a complete mess when I think about the lives you guys changed.

You sponsored cleft surgeries.

Heart surgeries.

Hernia surgeries.

You provided foster care.

Healing care in LWB healing homes before and after surgeries.

Formula and basic nutrition items to dozens of kids.

You stood up.

You used your voices to collectively be one giant voicing screaming for these kids, saying “You are worthy! You are beautiful! We care!”

You became advocates. Defenders. Supporters. Love. You stood in the gap for these…

A few pictures of some of the changes that took place in ‘our kids’

I am completely undone when I look at all those faces. Not in a million years could I have dreamed, prayed or hoped that together we could have been a part of the lives of these kids. I did a terrible job keeping everyone updated on the progress of the kids this year. Honestly, the number of kids we were sponsoring just kept growing and I was overwhelmed trying to find time to do all the updates. For that, I apologize. What prompted me to finally get my rear in gear and get this final update for you this week is that Love Without Boundaries is the charity for this week’s Sevenly campaign. Seven dollars from every purchase this week goes towards Love Without Boundaries. I thought that would be a great way to wrap up this story and series on my blog. Here are a few of the Sevenly items this week:

I also want to thank several people that made The Incubator Project possible:

Suzanne Damstedt of Love Without Boundaries did all the coordinating and logistical stuff for the whole project. She is amazing.

And my following friends who gave of their time and talent to create beautiful Song prints for the project:

Julie of Joy’s Hope

Lesley of Recipe for Crazy

Heather of Life Made Lovely

Megan of Contended Sparrow

Sarah of Sarah Jane Studios

I can’t begin to thank you all enough. Dreaming is scary and risky and hard….and it is really scary when you throw it out there online while being a desperate mom for her baby! I heard a quote a couple weeks ago from Brene Brown. She said, “You can chose comfort or courage, but you can’t have both.” Her words have been ringing in my ears for weeks now. I want to be brave. To be courageous. To dare to throw my wildest dreams up to God and see what He does with them. I would have never even thought to dream about this little blog being used to partner with countless selfless people to be a big voice for those that have none. This week the Parents magazine issue came out recognizing my blog. As cool and humbling as that was, this….this getting to partner with you all for these kids….is so much better. So, from the deepest parts of my heart ~ thank you.

P.S. I’m dreaming about the next thing we can do together!

Such a beauty. She’s also becoming quite a handful. Climbing on everything. The higher and more dangerous the better in her opinion. We’ve been playing with any and all types of cups a lot lately. She is not a fan of sippy cups. I think it is because no one else in the family uses them and she likes to do exactly what her siblings are doing. So, more liquid ends up on her than it does in her. However, she is putting something other than a bottle to her mouth so that is a huge deal. A messy huge deal.

She has also been taking markers to draw on herself. I can’t imagine where she learned that. FireCracker.

Photo tip: I used my 28-70mm lens for all of these photos. The ones above were shot around 70mm – which is great for portraits. The next two were shot at 28mm – a wide angle. Wide angles cause some distortion on people, but they can also make for fun shots. Pardon the water still coming out of her mouth.