paula gammariello
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Welcome
Hi, I'm Paula, wife and mother of three
beautiful (on the inside and outside) children, Courtney, Joshua and
Sophie. My first two, my bio children, are away in
college. The last one is only five years old and was adopted
from China four years ago. I'm an elementary school teacher by
trade, but right now I'm a stay-at-home mom to Sophie Rose. I homeschool
her where we spend most of our time getting our lessons done so we can do
art, go to museums, go to the playground with friends, and bake in the
kitchen. When I'm not teaching or volunteering at the Foodbank, I love
to exercise by going to the gym or walking, but I've
been trying to pick up the pace by jogging a
little too. So here I go again, I signed up to run/walk
the ASICS LA Marathon 1/2 on March 17th. The last time I walked
the ASICS LA Marathon was the historic day when 2.5 inches of rain
downpoured on LA. I survived that, so nothing could be worse. I'm
ready for anything!
My motivation
Every day I thank God for His blessings of 3 healthy
children, a lovingly supportive husband, and wonderful family and friends
all over the world. Being able to stay at home enables me to fully
focus on pouring myself into Sophie, who was born with a cleft lip and
palate, without the distractions of a busy life and work. Even
though she is a healthy, bright little firecracker, having a birth defect means
we must slowly work on getting her palate and mouth to do what it is meant to
do. So, I spend a lot of time driving Sophie to her doctor's appointments
at Children's Hospital of LA and weekly speech therapy sessions. I
love to be involved with Love Without Boundaries because it's a non-profit
organization, run by volunteers, that provides lifesaving surgeries
to orphans who are medically fragile, LWB is near and dear to my heart.
Sometimes a simple surgery is all that is needed to make a child available for
adoption. So, here I am again, committing to raise funds for the medically
fragile orphans in China. I know I can make a difference in someone's life
through run/walking the ASICS LA Marathon and YOUR
donations. Some may think I'm crazy to be pounding the pavement at my
age, through the different multi-ethnic barrios of LA, covering 13.1
miles, but you know, I AM a little crazy when it comes to helping sweet little
babies. My key verse and motivation for this adventure is this verse from the
book of James in the Bible... "Pure and genuine
religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in
their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James
1:27 New Living Translation
Won't you join me in caring for
the orphans in their distress?
Fund-Raising
Goal:
$1,500.00
To date:
$771.00
51.4%
Beneficiary
Precious Jensen has been in the hospital for a month. He was first admitted with a GI bleed caused by a gastric ulcer, then he developed septicemia. The doctors discovered that Jensen also had hydronephrosis, a swelling of the kidneys when urine flow is obstructed in any part of the urinary tract. After additional testing, the doctors determined that the hydronephrosis was caused by vesicoureteral reflux. Now that there is a definitive diagnosis, the next step is surgery to remove the blockage. Your sponsorship will help children like Jensen have a chance at healing.
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