I am a vintage all the way type of girl…no big surprise there. I love the old, the worn, the rusty and the tattered. I think my Grandmother would have been very amused by my collections and was wonder why I would decorate with all the old junk she could not wait to upgrade in her day.  I do love my vintage treasures , but I am also very, very glad they serve only as an aesthetic purpose in my home. I do love my modern conveniences, this I can admit

Can you imagine making your own butter each day in this churn? I guess I can, however, I enjoy the large selection available to me from my local market…and no aching arms and shoulders. 

Just the thought of dragging all my areas rugs outside to beat them with this contraption makes me want a long nap…but to be honest the thought of pulling out the vacuum sometimes has the same effect so perhaps the issue is mine. 

 I remember all the curling iron burns from my High School days…the 80’s were brutal to my hair follicles…but imagine the damage I could have inflicted with these curling tongs from the 1920’s? Follow this up with a pointed instrument to buckle up my shoes and it is an Urgent Care visit in the making.  

As for the Princess this week…she clinched her true Marylander status with her choice of favorite snack…she is thankful for the convenience of Old Bay ready-made in a jar!

Let’s Party…

The Art of Homemaking.  Monday of Many Blessings.  Show and Share.  Inspire Me Monday.  No Place Like Home

Tuesday at Our House.  The Scoop.  Inspire Me Tuesday.  Thrifty and Vintage Finds.  BTTCG@Berideen’s. 

Make it Pretty Monday   Titus 2 Tuesday.  Wow Us Wednesday.  Talk of the Town.  Let’s Talk Vintage.  Share It


Tuesday With a Twist    Vintage Bliss. Work it Wednesday    Share Your Cup.  Share Your Style.  Home and Garden

Welcome Home Wednesday.  Thursday Favorites.  Wonderful Wednesday.  Moonlight and Mason Jars.                                    Inspire Me Wednesday.  Thoughts of Home.  Vintage Charm Party.  Your Inspired Designs.  Shabbilious Friday

Friday Features. Home Sweet Home.  Feather Nest Friday.  Sweet and Simple Friday. Making Broken Beautiful 

Tada Thursday.   No Rules Weekend.  Friendship Friday.  5 Star Fru Fru.  Morning cup of joe.  Home matters 

Friday Favorites.  Sweet Inspiration   Best of the Weekend.  Vintage Chic.  Sunday at Home.  Share it One More Time

Peace Love and Link.  Funtastic Friday.  Amaze Me Monday.  Busy Monday.  Inspiration Monday.  Digging it

Little House Links.  Finding Silver Pennies.  Inspire Me Monday

Sometime, in the early stages of our adoption journey, my husband and I had to make the difficult decision as to what special need child files we would be open to review. With the average wait of 6 years and climbing for  “healthy” girls from China, the special needs program offered a shorter wait and often included very minor or correctable needs. 

 After much prayer we listed the needs we felt we could manage and waited for God to put his plan into action. Flash forward about 6 months and we received that highly anticipated phone call and email file! As I gazed at that beautiful face I noticed her big brown eyes and smooth skin, her adorable ears and her gentle hands…I did not even notice her unrepaired unilateral complete cleft…it just did not matter, she was our baby.  

Our Princess was 20 months old and living in the remote mountains of Northern China. 

But what is a cleft palate/lip?  A cleft is a gap in the mouth that didn’t close during the early stages of pregnancy, and this kind of birth defect happens more often than you may realize. It is estimated that, worldwide, a child is born every 3 minutes with a cleft — about one in 500-750 births. Sometimes a cleft condition can be easy to see because it’s an opening in the lip. Sometimes it’s harder to tell if someone has a cleft because it’s an opening in the roof of their mouth (called the palate.)
There are many risk factors that can increase the likelihood of birth defects. While some causes are still unknown, genetics and family history, pre-existing medical conditions, poor nutrition and exposure to harmful environmental substances can affect the healthy development of a baby. As a result, these factors could also be the cause of a baby born with a cleft lip or cleft palate. We will never know why it happened but we will never know where her outstanding fine motor skills came from either…and that’s OK.  

 Our Princess after we met her in China, already charming her Mama and Baba

 Cleft lip and cleft palate can be repaired through a series of surgeries and orthondontics.  While it can be corrected, it really is not an “easy fix”…despite what you may see in Operation Smile advertising.   Our brave girl has had 3 major surgeries and some pretty extensive speech therapy with quite a few more surgeries in her future…continuing into her young adulthood.

Her first surgery at Johns Hopkins 

  She is a spunky bright little girl who charms everyone she meets. She is very determined to speak clearly and has made huge strides with her speech therapy.  The only real struggles we have with her are probably universal to every family with a three year old….Does the phrase “I do it myself” sound familiar? She is our joy and we are humbled and honored that God has entrusted her into our care.  It really is a miracle.