A newly-discovered Mozart composition...

played on a Stradivarius...

by the first-chair of the Chicago symphony...

would not sound as sweet...

First Mother's Day...

...not mine....

my first Mother's Day was 19 years ago...

but today is HENRY'S first Mother's Day...

here in the US of course...

but also his first Mother's Day HAVING A MOMMY!!!

Thanking God for this great blessing....

and praying that all orphans may one day know a mother's love in a forever family!

Happy Mother's Day indeed!!

A Tale of Two Tessas

Here is my daughter, Tessa Luigina Dobrovits, born in March 2009...

Here is "Tessa" (name is changed to protect her privacy), born in August 2008, an orphan in an Eastern European country listed with Reeces Rainbow (click on this link to see her full RR profile)....

The RR Tessa has Cerebral Palsy - but her info says she can already STAND AND WALK INDEPENDENTLY!!! This is HUGE and means a little bit of PT and OT here in the US would do wonders...

The RR Tessa has rickets  - which means she needs more Vitamin C and D and more exercise and sunlight!!!

The RR Tessa has strabismus (crossed eyes) - she needs glasses, big whoop!!!!

The RR Tessa is listed as having epilepsy - it is hard to say how severe this special needs is, but I personally know several families who have adopted from Tessa's country and their child was diagnosed with epilepsy due to only a few febrile seizures in infancy/toddlerhood and they needed no medication here in the US! One child did indeed still need medication for seizures but is now doing incredibly well here at home with his family!!!

Finally, the RR Tessa has a speech delay.

So does my Tessa. A "profound phonological delay."

Which means that strangers can only understand about 20% of her speech.

We, her family, can understand about 50-70%.

My Tessa goes to speech therapy 2 times a week for 45 minutes each time at our local school. She LOVES it and is making progress!

I will guarantee you that RR Tessa is not receiving any speech therapy.

This video is my Tessa being her sweet self.

I don't have a video of RR Tessa for you.

I wish I did.

While showing children's pictures is a HUGE help to families discerning adoption, videos are even better!

I know that Malcolm's family was greatly influenced and encouraged by the video they were able to see of their sweet boy using a walker and talking to the person doing the taping.

So I am asking you....

look at MY Tessa....

and SEE RR's Tessa....

and someone bring this sweet girl home.

What makes Henry happy??

Chocolate!

Chocolate brownies in this case...

homemade gluten-free chewy chocolate brownies made with Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips...

mmmmmm......

Just wanted to share the joy!!! Do something to make those you love happy today!!!