God is amazing! Thirty-two prayer warriors storm the gates of PLEVEN!

 Here is how we all feel about LINA being home...does this smile say it all!!!

 Many have asked how we are doing?  We are doing great...just no time to write or post...computer time is last on my list currently but I surely have some great stories to share...praises to share...and unbelievable miracles of the LORD...coming soon...

 Lina is so alert and alive...she loves the action in life...she is now pushing up to her arms from her belly...which means she has learned to roll over and she can do that quickly already...she scooted on her belly to get a toy that was to far away...she has gotten her tiny little knees under her belly and then scooted forward TWICE!!!  She still drinks her formula off of a tiny baby spoon because she has been terrified of a bottle  BUT...she is now drinking and sucking about 4 swallows of formula from a new type of bottle that looks NOTHING like those she was forced to use at PLEVEN.

She is the pacifier "stealer"!  She like to take the pacifier out of Avi's mouth and check it out and then toss it ...she has already learned the "if I drop it game..somebody will pick it up and give it to me.." She will roll a tiny ball from a lying down position (still her favorite) and if you roll it back she will roll it again!  She is eating all types of baby food...pureed and from a spoon!  She still moans when she is fed unless it is pureed bananas...she LOVES bananas and AVI HATES THEM!  Avi will eat almost anything BUT bananas...too funny!  She has only been home 6 days today and we can NOT imagine life with out our tiny little princess!  She is awesome!!! 

Lina' little sister Avi and her beautiful smile...Avi is still the youngest of our family...but only by 4 months!  Avi is with her big sister - amazing Sasha! 

 Angelina Mariyana Carpenter - Messenger in Hebrew...BABY DEDICATION...Sunday June 3, 2012  YES...12 hours after our arrival in the United States of America...LINA was dedicated to our LORD!  She is a precious child of the Carpenters and a daughter of the KING!   Here is her very PROUD DADDY and Pastor Thom!

Thirty-two prayer warriors and servants of the LORD have stormed the gates of PLEVEN to serve the least of these...Story to follow...they were on my flight home!  YES...all these beautiful faces ministered to the children at PLEVEN for 2 weeks - unknown to me...unknown to all the PLEVEN moms...these beautiful nurses from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia were caring for our babies for 2 weeks!  They knew LINA when I walked up to the British Airway check-in...they had cared for her for 2 weeks prior to my arriving and knew she as no longer in her crib and another child replaced her on May 28th...what they did not know until 11:45 on Saturday June 2 at the Sofia airport is that Lina was with her Mommy...me...and I had picked her up in the morning of May 28th to take her home. 

When they arrived at the orphanage in the afternoon of May 28th she was gone and they did not know where she was...days later...God wrote more of the story and Lina's angels surrounded us with love and care on the flight to LONDON!  MORE details of these angels later...but had to share that many of our PLEVEN babies were cared for by these School of Nursing college students for 2 weeks! 

Children on many floors were loved...they were fed...they were changed...they were prayed over...they even were at the older child home and cared for children there!  God is amazing...the stories HE writes are unbelievable and this is one that is unbelievable but BELIEVE IT BECAUSE I HAVE THE PHOTOS to prove it...more later on this incredible story but had to let you know that I am in awe and thankfulness to these 32 amazing brothers and sisters in Christ...so if you are reading this Shorter University Angels...your t-shirts will soon be on their way...and Sasha and I wore the ones you gave to me yesterday and many asked the story of Shorter University!!!  The story about the Shorter University School of Nursing students and PLEVEN is the first I am sharing about my entire trip!!!  You bless me!!!

With MUCH LOVE to you all!!!!! steph