Really Big News

I guess I have waited long enough to share this really big news

Laura's family is coming next week from the United States to pick her up and so on October 23 she will become and American citizen and the daughter of Chris and Evelyn and the younger sister to Carson. My heart is filled with joy that she will have something I cannot give her, her own family who will love her and take care of her for the rest of her life.

I cannot begin to express how grateful I am. There is not often in life that you know you have the opportunity to rewrite the story of a person's life. I get the opportunity to do that on a daily basis. I had no idea what lay install for me on September 13, 2005 when I held her in my arms. She was so weak and frail, with these huge eyes. I did not know then, that she was going to become this dynamo of a child with a very obvious athletic ability and a mischievous smile.

I would be egotistical to let you think for a minute that it was all me, that is not true, I am just the one who steers the boat. So many people have been part of this: The nannies who come in everyday and take care of her, the volunteers who spend their free time at the apartment, Jeannie Butler who have sent boxes of the cutest clothing, the medical team from NY Presbyterian hospital who repaired her cleft palette and last but not least Big Laura who has made all of this possible. I am also so grateful to those who donate, because without your help I coud not have managed this. So as you can see it really has been an international effort. I hope that Laura will understand that the moment she came to my house all of you were there to support and love her.

So as I prepare to say good-bye to Laura, I will surely watch from afar and always be interested to know what she is doing and how her life is unfolding. I want to hear her little mouth speak with a Southern accent. I pray too that her little heart will soon attach itself to her new family and she will quickly come to love her family just as much as she has loved us and I hope that you will add this desire of mine to your prayers.

I know that I have fulfilled the purpose I had when I started this foster home, that was to help children in distress and to get them the best nutrition and medical care that I could find and then to love them as much as I could and then to give them up to another family to do the rest so I could go and find another little "Starfish". At the end of this journey I am well aware it is going to hurt but I am secure in knowing that she is going to go to a good family.

Love and laughter,
Amanda aka the Starfish Thrower.