Adoption and Heart Defects

These two topics are very dear to my heart. I have been bombarded with adoption lately (at work, which is AWESOME, on friends blogs, even in the LDS Ensign magazine this month!) There are some BEAUTIFUL articles about adoption from a Birth Mother's perspective, a Birth Father's, a Grandparent of the biological Grandchild, and a child of adoption. These personal and individual stories are so sweet and tender, and gave a me a good cry last night. What a truly selfless act to bless someone with something or better someone that just enhances their lives and all that they are! I can not WAIT to be picked! I hope every day for a call. Mike is an awesome Dad, and I love being a Mom. I wish I could give him that. For some reason though, my body is not allowing me.
Heart defects and families dealing with heart defects are amazing! Whether they are dealing with it presently, or it is a thing of the past, or they are faced with the loss from a heart defect; it truly takes a STRONG person or persons to face a congenital heart defect. The reason I am writing about heart defects today is to spread the word that February is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness. So throughout February, I will be sharing the statistics, the pictures of Ryker that I have yet to share from his short journey, and hopefully even highlighting and sharing some truly miraculous stories of survival, pain, joy, and even loss. Also I would love to raise awareness about the donation of vital organs and really being a donor at any age. The sad thing is, tragic things happen every day. It is extremely difficult to find hearts for babies and children. It's not like adults where they are driving and get in a really bad accidents and can donate organs. Children generally pass from illness, making it so much harder to locate a heart. This may sound horrible, but I STILL feel guilty for not donating Lilly's perfect organs. I think sometimes that somewhere out there was a child waiting for a heart, or a kidney, or a liver, and I could not allow myself to donate in her behalf. I know, hind-sight is 20/20. Regret is the worst, and I know now how important being an organ donor can be. I will leave you with those thoughts/feelings and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE vote! It all end tonight and I am so grateful for this experience! There is a link at the top-right-hand of the page! You guys are awesome!