$5,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that's Super Sideburn Dude, and, yes, he is performing some sort of magical deconstruction on another of our pesky $1,000 financial barriers!

We now have $5,000 in our grant fund!!!!! That means we only have (count the remaining bills with me, 1... 2... 3...) 16 thousand dollars left to raise!

Holidays are the best! I love how people who are already super generous get to be their super generous selves during this time of year! We have had a great last week.

First we hung out with friends and "grandparents" (the kind of grandparents our daughter calls Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Granddad, but who aren't actually related to us biologically) and had a great time! We walked away from that Christmas get-together holding a bunch of presents and $200 towards our adoption! I just love the feeling that our son is coming into this great circle of people who already love him!

Then I get a call from my cousin, Josh, who is a musician. He told us he would be donating $1 from every concert ticket sale towards our son's ransom! After his last show I saw $50 added to our son's account!

Then I got three Facebook emails from three people this week who I have not seen or spoken with in quite some time who all wanted to help bring our son home! I could not help but cry after each email.

Then we drove up to San Jose for New Years with my family. Every time someone congratulated us or got excited with us or asked questions about our son it just made this feel so real! Again, I just can't wait to bring our son into this family! We are surrounded by GOOD people. We had a great time! (Except for driving 16 hours in two days.)

My sister and her husband are even donating a gadget to a giveaway we're going to have! So exciting! And they gave my husband and I some baby boy cuddles with our new nephew to tide us over until we can bring our own much bigger baby boy home!

And this will blow you all away because of how great and unexpected it was. I got an email from a dear friend who has arthrogryposis like my son does. (She and her family are part of our AMC family, those affected by arthrogryposis.) She sent me a picture of a check on behalf of her parents and said, "Where do you want it?" It covered an entire financial barrier (see cartoon above) plus a little extra once her grandma chipped in! The crazy thing is that this family is the reason Laelia is going to the doctor in Philadelphia who got her walking! (After five other doctors gave up on her!) Just with that alone they have already given to our family more than they'll ever know! I could be their slave for a year and still not pay them back! So this was just beyond generous!

And another friend (also AMC family) and her mom (the taquitos queen) are doing a fundraiser for us in L.A. where they are selling the food we're all going to enjoy and giving the profits to our son's account!


So I'm just stunned as I sit here and consider the three groups surrounding our son with love before he even arrives: our wonderful friends in San Diego who have become family, our wonderful family, and our wonderful AMC family!

Then I consider all the people who don't know us (or hardly do!) and still want to see our son in the arms of his family. I never thought I'd be in a situation that breaks my heart as it warms my heart at the same time! It's just a ton of emotion.

Thank you! I know I'm not saying enough, or including enough wonderful stories and people--there's so much to say! But just thank you!