#1,781 Healthy as a Horse + Help Penny.

So when I wrote the blog last night I was a little worried because Ben was running one of those weird fevers like he does from time to time. It was 102 at bedtime and his teeth were chattering with chills and a splitting headache, as these things always go, and when he woke up this morning the fever was gone and he was tired, but fine again. It happens about once a year, oddly, when he gets really exhausted. I’m so glad it wasn’t anything like the flu—but we played it safe and he slept in, getting 10 hours to catch up on the 4 and 5 hours nights we’ve been having the last few weeks. Once we were moving around a little, I spent a couple hours working on a new house portrait that they’re going to use this week for part of the filming:

By this afternoon Ben was feeling like himself and was healthy as a horse, and we were at the antique mall open house. This year Andrea got little Loblolly lumberjack ornaments that are just about my favorite thing ever. We got a photo of him with the last one in red plaid:

Now it’s getting late so I’m heading off to bed, but first—I wondered if you might be able to help me with something. As most of you know the story of my precious nephew, Walker, my brother and his wife adopted him as a newborn last November (1 year ago! He’s getting so old!) and it completely changed my family forever. We can’t imagine life without him—and even more than that, we can’t imagine what his life would have looked like if adoption hadn’t been an option. Our friends Kandace and Beto are in the process of adopting Penny, an orphaned baby girl from China who has Down’s syndrome.

It’s outrageously expensive. Incredibly. So Josh, who was also adopted, has started a matching fundraiser through is company, Petrolia, for the month of November—for instance, if you give $50, Petrolia gives $50, making the gift $100 total. I’m asking y’all from the bottom of my heart—if you feel like you could help this little girl and this loving family find one another by giving to the adoption cost, I know you’ll be blessed by it just like they will be. You can help them by clicking here.

And now, enjoy this song from Enough Said that I can’t stop listening to because it’s just so sparkling and sad and happy and lovely: