Whew! It has been quite the week at the Howard abode! Remember how I had mentioned in my last post that Carson threw up (thus the carpet cleaning?). WELL…….that was just the beginning. Turns out, we had a little stomach virus that was just starting to make its’ way through our fam. It has just been a real fun fest over here. However, on the bright side….. I think we have now said goodbye to our little virus friend (fingers crossed!)
Can I just tell you how difficult it is to continually be wiping up vomit and diarrhea (I know….TMI) while you are trying to actually CLEAN your house? Pretty darn difficult. Why Meredith, you ask, would you even attempt to try to clean your house this week? WELL…I was hoping you would ask! 
A local producer who is in film school here in Atlanta knew some of our family’s story. She knew us when we had our sweet foster daughter, and was there when I was sobbing when we lost her. Then, suddenly, she saw on Facebook that we had added twin baby boys to the mix. She contacted us about sharing our story for a mini-documentary she was producing for her final school project. She didn’t know much of the story, and not really anything about the movie. She just thought it would be a heart-warming story that after our heartache of losing Nancy, we ended up with our sweet boys.
When Kindred and I got her facebook message, we honestly weren’t quite sure how to respond. It has been a wild ride over here, but things have not all been hunky-dory. I guess I just didn’t realize how quick some people were to judge others once their story was put in the spotlight. (Duh.) We have heard comments (all online) from people saying things ranging from “You guys should be nominated for Parents of the Year 2012″ (ridiculous….sweet, but so not true) to “You are exploiting your children and their mother is going to come back from the dead.” Seriously.
SO, Kindred and I really had to talk about what we were doing with the twins’ amazing story and why. If we really felt like it was an important story to share, then we needed to press on (and mommy needed to get a thicker skin!). Verdict? We do. Their journey is amazing. By sharing Sammy & Asher’s story we truly believe we can help raise awareness about 2 things. 1. the need for adoption of children waiting in orphanages now. and 2. the desperate need for maternity/healthcare in developing countries like Ethiopia to help prevent children from becoming orphans in the first place. So, as best as we can, we began sharing our story and family with a camera crew today. 
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! More than anything, we want to honor the twins’ birth family. That is of utmost importance to us. And to rightly advocate for women like their birth mother, who sadly does not have the opportunity to speak for herself. -Meredith
