Saturday, October 9, 2010

Andrea Roberts



Imagine spending 70 hours a week advocating for hundreds of special needs children across the globe-- and NEVER meeting one of them. Imagine sitting at your computer for hundreds of days, communicating with hundreds of families, raising funds for hundreds of adoptions, and handling hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. Imagine writing thousands of emails and managing a massive website. Imagine spending your days putting out fires, calming frantic parents, praying, reassuring, and being a voice of hope for the unborn and the unwanted. Imagine doing all of this day in and day out, yet never getting to meet the families you are serving.  Imagine working this hard for four years without ever seeing the fruits of your labor with your own eyes.

Then imagine how it would feel to finally see, hold and enjoy one of the precious children your ministry had helped to rescue.



Today Andrea was finally able to hold one of her rescued children.  My son Aaron had the great privilege of becoming the first Reece's Rainbow child whom Andrea Roberts has ever met in person, apart from Meredith Cornish's children (Until just a few days ago, Meredith was on the Reece's Rainbow leadership team). Today I had the wonderful blessing of being one of the first Reece's Rainbow parents to meet Andrea Roberts and her son Reece. I was stunned to learn that she had met so few of her children. It was hard to believe that this dedicated woman, who has given so much of herself to so many, has almost never gotten to meet any of the hundreds of children she has helped to place in far-flung homes across the globe. It was an honor to meet her, and humbling to realize that without her tireless work, we would never have been able to call Aaron our son. 

The time went by too quickly.  We had only a few minutes to talk.  Both Reece and Aaron were bothered by the crowds and the confusion at the Richmond Buddy Walk, and so our time was short. At first, neither of the boys would cooperate with our picture-taking efforts. I never did get a good picture of Reece, as his smiles for me came at the end of our time together when I didn't have the camera handy.  Aaron finally agreed to be held and hugged as we were getting ready to leave. I was so glad he granted Andrea an opportunity to hold him and hug him. I consider that moment to be priceless.

23 comments:

  1. Good grief woman!!! Will you ever write a post that doesn't make me cry?? LOL What a blessing that Aaron got to be the first!! What a perfect child to be her first! I've said it before, and I'll say it again... God is good! :)

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  2. This is SO COOL! I'm glad they got to meet!!! I can't wait to meet him myself!

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  3. Julia,

    This is so precious. Thanks for sharing this with us.

    God Bless,
    Amy Land
    http://www.savingorphansforjesus2010.blogspot.com

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  4. Wow, how nice!! I too, find it really hard to fathom that she has met so few of "her" children!! I would love to let her meet Erik and be able to thank her in person for working so hard to find us for him (he was one of the original 5 kids and the last to go home). I'm sure this day meant the world to her.

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  5. What a blessing. I had no idea Andrea has met so few (almost none) of the children she's worked so hard to bring home! We get to spend time with her tomorrow here in Raleigh! Looks like your weather was a little cooler than ours will be tomorrow--85! yikes!

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  6. Okay so I am a huge crying mess right now!!! What a wonderful post this is!!! And a moment for all to remember - Thank you so much for sharing your journey! And the miraculous end results with the Angel of so many, sweet Andrea!!! WOW!!!!

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  7. So amazing! I would have never realized Andrea had never met any of the RR kids!

    What a blessing!

    Thank you so much for sharing!

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  8. Wow, I had no idea that Andrea hadn't met more of the children she works so hard to bring home. What a woman!

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  9. Isn't it amazing how God uses one woman to connect so many different people. Heaven must be smiling. Thank you Julia for your post, for reminding us that God does indeed send angels to help us along the way.

    Love wins,
    Renee Tam
    5cajuns.blogspot.com

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  10. Oh, make me cry why don't ya! What a beautiful post!

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  11. That is SO AWESOME!!! When I first pulled it up, I had to do a double take. I thought those 2 don't belong in the same photo! LOL I can't believe she has never met any of the RR kids. Amazing!

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  12. We really should do an annual RR convention so we ALL can meet! But especially so Andrea can meet "her kids". What a special thing for you and for Andrea!

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  13. It is only fitting after your struggles you get your son home that he be one of the 1st to meet the RR hero. Great picture
    God Bless..

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  14. What a BEAUTIFUL thing! Isn't she gorgeous! So is Aaron! TWO absolutely beautiful people! (inside and out!)

    I'm going to have to convince Londoners to have a Buddy Walk and see if she'll come!

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  15. How wonderful!!! I really admire Andrea. Sometimes we give up; and we feel that we can't accomplish something, but very often, I am reminded that ONE woman- Andrea- made such a huge difference. Do you know about the voting for Andrea in People's magazine?

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  16. What a priceless moment! The last pic of Andrea & Aaron is beautiful :)!

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  17. Yes, this just makes me want to bawl with happiness. And it makes me want to take a trip to meet Andrea myself--with our two boys

    Joy

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  18. I am hoping you can answer a question for me. I have been looking at the Reece's Rainbow website, but I am confused a bit. Is Reece's Rainbow an adoption agency or do they just bring awareness to the children? There is one little girl I have fallen in love with, but I have a homestudy that can only be used through the agency I have a contract with and I'm not sure I could get my husband to go through it all again. How does it work adopting one of their children, do you actually adopt through them or do they work with other agencies?
    Karen

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  19. Karen, please write me directly at bamaroberts@comcast.net, I'd be happy to talk further with you!

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Loving words from kind people make our hearts glad!