The (Birth) Mother of all fundraisers!

As an orphan. This is it. What you see is what you get.

Or at least that's how I've felt for the last 30 or so years... until July of last year...

I. Found. My. Birth. Mother!

Woohooo!!!

I was born in Hong Kong & spent the first 2 years in an Orphanage. Then... Thank the Lord, I was adopted by a couple of amazing New Zealanders!

My beautiful mother, Annette has raised me as one of her own (in a crazy family of 5 kids!) and taught me so much about being a mother, having courage to go for my dreams and be who I am, even in the face of adversity.

She is the backbone of our family and shown my siblings and I what courage really means. She has been a dedicated mother to us 5 all our lives and my dream is for her to meet my birth mother with me. To connect my past with my present. To also, selfishly, have my mother, and best friend, with me when I make one of the most important and life-changing steps I've ever undertaken.

So here I am in the start of a New Year asking for your help.

My Birth Mother has generously offered to pay for myself, husband, and our beautiful one year old daughter to go to Hong Kong THIS February so we can ring in the Chinese New Year and meet her and the rest of my bio-whanau for the first time. I would LOVE to have my mother experience this meeting with us.

Our dream has always been to go back and search for my Birth Mother together. To retrace from the Hospital I was born in to the Orphanage I lived in. To experience the culture I know nothing about and above all, meet my Birth Mother.

The money will go toward her plane ticket and travel costs.

So even if you can only Give A Little... It would mean A Lot... to me and my mother.

From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.