Ben's Home

Don't be fooled by the picture...

 

 

He was so excited to see him that he danced all over the driveway.

 

The Secret Is Out

 

He would sit in the shed, take a stick, hold it between his toes and draw pictures in the dirt.

 

They had no paper or markers or coloring books for him to use.  He had nothing to draw on and no books to look at while he drew.  Yet he spent hours making designs in the dirt with his stick.

 

One of the caretakers told us.

 

She wanted us to know that this child we were adopting could draw with his feet.

 

It was important to her that we knew this about him.

 

We barely spoke her language and she knew nothing of ours.

 

But she wanted us to know.  It was one of the few times that we directly communicated with one of them without a translator there.

 

He drew in the dirt.

With a stick.

With his feet.

Because that is all he had.

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He doesn't draw with sticks anymore.

And he rarely draws with his feet.

We have plenty of markers and paper and pens.

And a whole assortment of books filled with pictures he can see and copy.

And he still loves to draw.

And he is good.

His drawings are good.

 

Even with limited arm motion and fingers that can't bend.

 

 They are so good that one of his drawings was selected by Paper Clouds Apparel to be featured for the next two weeks on their shirts, totes and hats.

That's right.

 

 

 THAT'S AARON'S TRUCK!

On hats, shirts and totes.

AARON'S DRAWING!

His picture was one of many submitted. 

The people at Paper Clouds chose their favorites. They didn't know Aaron and no one shared with them his story.

His picture was one of three selected by impartial judges who just plain liked it.

Happily 50% of the proceeds are going to Reece's Rainbow.

That seems very fitting since we found him on Reece's Rainbow. 

Without them he would still be drawing with a stick.

 In the dirt.

With his feet.

Because back then he didn't have paper and pencils and markers.

And he couldn't see past the walls that surrounded the institute...

To even know what a tanker truck looked like.




Actually, he didn't even know what a tanker truck was.

 

 

I Have a Secret

 

OH MY GOODNESS I HAVE A SECRET...

 

I can't wait to share...

 

It involves this little guy...

 

 

And his very talented hands...

 

OH MY GOODNESS I CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE!!!!

 

 

TOMORROW.... TOMORROW.... TOMORROW.....

 

 

Shout Hallelujah!!

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE - PRAISE GOD POSTS!!!

 

The kind where you jump up and down and shout Hallelujah's!!

 

The kind where you KNOW that what we are doing here is GOOD and RIGHT and WORTH our time and energy.

 

The kind where we can all get excited because every single person reading this blog who has prayed and  given and advocated - WE ARE PART OF THEIR STORIES!!

 

So here goes....

 

Get your HALLELUJAHS ready!!

 

SUTTER HAS A FAMILY!!!

 

 

Oh Thank you Jesus!

 

I was just grieving over him just a few days ago!

 

HALLELUJAH... HALLELUJAH!!

 

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THE TAYLORS LEAVE IN LESS THAN A WEEK AND THEY ARE FULLY FUNDED!!

 

Woo Hoo!!  Praise Jesus!!  Samuel.  Sara.  Patience.  Hang on Babes.  Papa and Mama are coming!!

 

  

 

-----------------------------------------

 

THE TAMS ARE FULLY FUNDED AND THEY ARE LEAVING IN SOMETHING LIKE 20 DAYS!!!

 

Soon Caroline.  Soon!!!!!

 

 

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BOBBY HAS MET HIS FAMILY!!! 

 

Oh I can't wait to share pictures!!!

 

 

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HEATH IS AN ORPHAN NO MORE!!!

 

ONE LESS LOST BOY!!

 

Today he was carried out of the gates.  TODAY!!  Oh Heath.  How long have we waited for your day of redemption!

 

 

HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!

 

SOMEONE SHOUT HALLELUJAH!

 

 

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 Emmitt.....

 

 

Frank...

 

 

Brothers.

 

Do you see the JOY on those boys faces????

 

Their Papa and Mama are traveling now as I type this post to bring them home!

 

Oh I am so overcome!

 

They were the hard to adopt boys who scared everyone off with their diagnosis and age.  Look at them.  They are so NOT scary.  They are just boys.  Emmitt SANG to the Bakers.  He read to them.  He is SMART.  Frank was ready to go as soon as they walked in the door.  He is overflowing with joy that finally finally finally someone would want him!

 

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THE UNROE FAMILY IS FULLY FUNDED AND THEY ARE IN COUNTRY RIGHT NOW TO BRING THEIR BABES HOME!!

 

 

  

 

TOMORROW THREE LITTLE BABES ARE GOING TO BE CARRIED OUT AND INTO A FAMILY!

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 THE JOHNSON FAMILY CAME HOME ON FRIDAY!!! 

 

Look at their new precious treasures!!

 

 

Brothers forever!!

 

SHOUT HALLELUJAH!!

 

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You helped all these babes.  You helped these families.

 

SHOUT HALLELUJAH....

 

It is just that kind of a day!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insane!

Jumping off a cliff is insane.

 

 

I am not the bravest of sorts.

 

Here's something you may not know about me....

 

I don't climb UP cliffs.

 

I don't jump OFF cliffs.

 

I am happiest with my feet planted firmly on the ground.  

 

Don't get me wrong.

 

I LOVE CLIFF JUMPING.

 

As long as it isn't ME doing the jumping. 

 

 

 

I am an amazing spectator.

 

I can cheer and yell with the best of them.

 

Danger.  I love danger.

 

Go for it - I say.  Have fun!  I will cheer you on from down below.

 

 

Yes.

 

I am that kind of a friend.

 

100% a total ninny!

 

I am.

 

Here's something else you may not know...

 

I have traveled internationally a bunch of times and international travel does not worry me... but I have never gone alone. 

 

I've always had a friend or a husband or a son by my side.

 

This trip... this is a bit what it feels like to me...

 

 

THAT IS SCARY!!

 

AWWWWWW!!!!!

 

There are so many unknowns.

 

Yet here's the coolest part...

 

When you are cliff jumping and God is the one pushing you off...

 

Well...

 

He has an amazing way of just quietly going ahead and working out the details.

 

I am literally falling off this cliff backwards yet have this crazy peace that God's got this.

 

He's got it.

 

I'm good.

 

He's provided everything I need personally.

 

Trains. Planes. Cars.  Food.  Housing.

 

Everything.

 

He's providing financially over and beyond in order for the Lost Boys to be lavished with much needed supplies!!
 

 

He's working out the details.

 

Pieces are falling into place left and right and it is cool to watch.

 

I'm falling backwards off a cliff and I'm OKAY!

This non-cliff jumping ninny just might get off the ground....


P.S.

 

I'd like to think that my cliff jumping looked like this...

 

Wouldn't I look cool???

 

Jumping in style???

 

Impressive???

Yeah...


Right...

 

That is definitely more like me...

 

Jumping only because I'm being pushed from behind....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dehority Distraction

My mom died of cancer in 2001.

 

It is easy to remember when she went into the hospital that last time because it was right after the 9/11 attacks.  We thought her hospitalization was just a bump in the road.  She knew it was the end.

 

I hate cancer.

 

My mom was only 65.  She had so many dreams.  Places she wanted to go.  Things she wanted to do. Grandchildren she wanted to watch grow up.

 

It was one of her heart's desires to go on a mission's trip.  But she worked - teaching school and giving piano lessons to hundreds of children through the years.  She raised four children and there was always tomorrow... tomorrow...

 

Cancer robbed her of tomorrow.

 

I have a close friend, Barb, who is in her last days as I type.  Just a few months ago we traveled to South Carolina together to a convention.  Now she lays dying in her bed with her family surrounding her.  Three children who are in their teens holding her hand as she passes into the arms of Jesus.

 

 

She will never see her children graduate from high school.  She will not be there to plan their weddings or lavish love on her grandbabies.

 

Cancer has robbed her of tomorrow.

Oh my heart bleeds for my friend and her family.

I hate cancer!!

 

The iPad.

 

The iPad in the Giveaway that Patti Rice has set up for my trip.

 

That iPad was donated by a dear friend who is battling cancer in the worst way.

 

Elizabeth Dehority

 

She stepped into my life a few months ago and has spun her way into my heart.

 

Her story makes me weep and rejoice and cry out prayers to the throne for more time.

 

Cancer invaded her body well over five years ago after she gave birth to a precious little boy who just happened to have Down Syndrome.  His diagnosis didn't send her into tailspins.  She already had lost one who carried that same diagnosis and had also been blessed with another physically disabled child. Her precious treasure was truly a treasure to her.

 

 

Her cancer was the aggressive, nasty kind.

 

The kind that causes night terrors and thousands of tears shed when no one is watching.

 

The kind that can send the strongest to their knees.

 

She didn't want to succumb to the depression that whispered to her in those dark days.  When she and her husband battled the night terrors they looked for an outlet.  A way to take their minds off their harsh reality.  A way to fend off the darkness.

 

The Lord led her to Reece's Rainbow.

 

A ministry that sets out to find families for the discarded babes around the world.  Babes just like her sweet treasures.  Babes she would have adopted if only she could....

 

Each time the terrors started they would go on the website and make quiet, anonymous donations to a needy child, a needy family.  Whispering prayers as they donated.  Praying God's blessing on that child.  That family.  It brought them quiet joy.  They would watch the reaction from the Reece's Rainbow group when someone noticed a child's grant account jump.  They would smile when a family would Praise God for the donation into their account.  The secret was fun and it kept the depression at bay.

 

So she quietly gave.

 

And gave.

 

And gave.

 

Anonymous.  Quiet. 

 

They called it the Dehority Distraction.

Beautiful.  Godly. 

 

The cancer is back.

 

Worse than before.

 

Elizabeth is drowning in chemo.  Fighting.  Believing that she's going to beat this.  I'm believing with her.  Praying.  Hoping. 

 

She shared her secret with me at the beginning of September.

 

The Dehority Distraction.

 

Her love for the orphans and the families adopting them not diminished by horrific cancer news.

 

Instead, choosing to ramp up the giving to distract herself and to keep her eyes fixed on the One who can heal her.

 

She was behind the scenes when I set up the Symphony.   She blogged about it and cheered each time a donation was made. Even on her worst days I knew she was watching.  Praying.  Encouraging. Loving the outcome.

 

She started sharing the Dehority Distraction with her friends.  Pulling them in to take part in what she was doing. 

One of her friends, Kelle Hampton, wrote THIS POST which made me cry a river.  Kelle has committed to getting this little guy FULLY FUNDED. as a gift to Elizabeth!!!



 I happen to know the family who is moving mountains to get to that little guy and believe me.... I am jumping up and down that the Dehority Distraction is in action!

A few weeks ago Elizabeth found out that I was struggling with whether I should go on my trip or not.  With chemo pouring through her veins I am fairly certain she wanted to knock me upside my head.  In one of our conversations she shared about her dreams.  Her desire to adopt.  Her desire to help the families who are bringing the medically fragile babes home.  Did I explain that she is a doctor?  A doctor with cancer. 

It was Elizabeth who contacted Patti Rice to raise the funds for my trip.  It was Elizabeth who donated the iPad.  It is Elizabeth who is pushing me.  Prodding me on.  She wants me to go because she can't.  She can't.  She's the one who is making me step out in faith believing that God is going to provide.

I hate cancer.

I love the Dehority Distraction.

I love that every single donation isn't just blessing me.  Elizabeth's at home watching two fundraisers right now.  Luke's and mine.  Each time they rise she smiles.  Thumbs up.  Life is good.  God's moving. 

The Dehority Distraction.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS GIVEN. 

YOU HAVE BLESSED BOTH ELIZABETH AND ME BEYOND WORDS!!

Thank you!!!

Make sure that if you have given to not forget to go to Patti's blog so that you can enter into the iPad Giveaway!! 

Whoever wins that is getting a very precious gift!

I now have all of my transportation covered!! Woo Hoo!!  Big planes.  Little planes.  Trains.  Cars. I also have all my food covered!!  Woo Hoo!!  I can eat!! 

YOU GUYS JUST PLAIN ROCK!!!

What a Huge relief. 

Every nickel donated that is over and above what I need for expenses (and I plan on being as frugal as I can be) is going to the Lost Boys. 

WOO HOO!!

 God is so very good!!



 

Tears.

TEARS.
 

TEARS.
 

TEARS.
 

GO HERE TO SEE WHY
 

I feel so loved.
 

YOU CARING

Fatherless Saturday

I missed Fatherless Friday.

 

See here's the thing.

 

I'm going on a trip and I am beyond excited about it and am frantically trying to get my ducks in a row..

 

Including getting my passport renewed.  Yes I'm the bumble brain who has been talking about going overseas for months but never stopped to consider whether my passport had expired or not.

 

It had.

 

So I'm busy here and busy there and thinking and thinking and at the very front of my thoughts is Ruslan....

 

 

I'm his Angel Tree Warrior and I committed to raising $1,000.00 in his Angel Tree account and getting him SEEN and I am failing!

 

Usually I am screaming like a maniac for my Angel Tree babes!

 

Ruslan is eleven years old and has been listed on Reece's Rainbow since we were in process to adopt Aaron.

 

That is crazy long.

 

His picture is outdated and I don't even know if anyone has seen him since it was taken years ago.

 

He is in a mental institute and is going to stay there for the rest of his life.

 

If we don't yell for him no one will.

 

SO I'M YELLING FOR RUSLAN.

 

Please SEE him.

 

Please someone see him.

 

RUSLAN

 

 

I'm Going Back

They stole our hearts three years ago.

 

They stole our hearts.

 

We have tried to go back to the 'normal' that we were before we met them.  But once our hearts were stolen, there is no returning. 

 

When we came out of that village with Aaron in our arms three years ago we promised ourselves that we would do whatever we could to help the boys we left behind.  We knew that they were Lost without us.   Tucked away in a village out in the middle of nowhere.  Not even the people in the village had ever stepped foot inside those gates. 

 

God placed their stories and the burden of their situation on our hearts and made it clear that those boys mattered to Him.  The 60 boys we saw sitting in their sheds each day.  Staring at the walls.  Moaning.  Groaning.  Bored out of their minds.  The 40 and more boys who we knew were locked away in the forbidden laying down rooms.  Laying there day after day after lonely day.  Laying there waiting to die.  Just waiting to die.  They were our boys.  Our Lost Boys.

 

We came home broken.  Exhausted.  Wanting to move on with our lives but those boys who had been lost to the world had stolen our hearts.  There was no return.  Through God's grace, we found a ministry team in that country who was willing to go in and minister to them.   We wanted so much for them to be able to minister to all the boys.  The 60 and the 40+.  The boys in the sheds and the boys in the rooms.  For three years we have given and have raised financial support to allow them to go and bring much needed supplies and gifts to the boys.  It has not been easy.  They have had to beg each time to be allowed in and many times they have been turned away.  Sadly, they have only been allowed to minister but to just a few.  20 boys at the most.  The best ones.  The 'deserving' ones.  Oh how our hearts have longed for more but we have been grateful for this little bit.

 

And God has been stirring and working and moving in hearts.  Since we have been home THREE LOST BOYS have found families. 

 

Brady/Judd

 

 

 

Alexei/Benjamin

 

 

 

 

Heath

 

YES MY DEAR FRIENDS.... THAT IS HEATH... LOOK AT HIM... HE CAN WALK!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Since we have been home another Lost Boy has a Mama and a Papa coming soon.  Soon.

 

Samuel

 

 

Since we have been home... Four other boys now have a chance for a family.  A chance to get out of the sheds.

 

They are listed on Reece's Rainbow and all four have NICE grants.

 

                                   Pearson                      Dagmar              Porter                 Grady

   

 

Since we have been home the institute has been blessed with much needed supplies, repairs. 

 

Since we have been home the director has been lavished with prayers and love and acts of kindness from the ministry team and the families. 

 

Since we have been home the caretakers and the boys and the director have been touched by God each time another person walks through those gates.

 

Since we have been home.

 

But since we have been home.... I have wanted to go back.

 

To go back and say thank you.

 

To go back and lavish love on the boys.

 

To go back and be their voice on the ground. 

 

To go back so they can see that a child can thrive outside those gates.

 

The longing to go back has burned in my heart.

 

But we never thought the way would be made clear for that to happen.

 

It just seemed rather impossible...

 

But sometimes doors crack open.

 

When they do you just have to jump fast before they shut again.

 

Months ago a friend and I were chatting on-line.  She was in process to adopt three children from a country that stole my heart three years ago.  I was sharing with her my deep desire to go back.  In the course of the conversation she shared with me that they had run out of options for finding someone to help her bring the three babes out.  She was figuring she was going to have to do it alone but would much rather have had an extra set of hands. 

 

You can imagine where that conversation led.

 

Oh I wanted to go help her.  I wanted to help her with all my heart.

 

Rob and I talked and we both agreed that it was a worthy reason to cross the ocean.  And we both also agreed that while I was there... I could possibly take a small side-trip to a certain city to meet a certain ministry team who has been ministering to our very precious Lost Boys whom we left behind.

 

I didn't think I would be able to actually visit the Lost Boys.  But to meet the team.  To encourage them.  To see what they are doing.  That was worth its weight in gold to me.

 

So I said yes.

 

We didn't want to fundraise.  I ask for money for everyone else but did not want to fundraise for this trip.

 

We had money set aside if we needed it.  We would fundraise for my friend and since she was working into her budget for a helper - well - with the money we had and what she raised - my trip should be covered.

 

Easy.

 

But the money we set aside... we gave it away.  A family in need adopting.... we couldn't say no.  We have NO REGRETS.  When we gave it away we knew we were risking my trip.  But two children needed out.  It was not an option to say no.

 

We were left with the fundraising efforts of our friend. 

 

She didn't raise all that they needed much less raise enough to cover my help.

 

There was just no way.

By the end of September the door looked closed.

 

Financially it just wasn't going to happen.

 

But each time I tried to close that door... someone's toe would get stuck inside and it wouldn't fully shut.

We kept getting that tiny little whisper in our hearts to not close the door. 

 

We went around and around.

 

Discussions that went nowhere.

 

At the end of October my friend and her husband crossed the ocean and began the process to meet her precious treasures....

 

Yes... You know who they are....

 

I just about went nuts when she sent me these pictures and more...

 

 

 

Oh I wanted to go over so badly it was killing me!!

As we debated and prayed I contacted the ministry team and shared with them that I would love to meet her and to visit some of her ministries and maybe.... maybe... but probably not possible... but maybe... I could go visit the Lost Boys????

Their response shocked me and sealed the trip in my heart.

They believes that the director would welcome me with open arms. 

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

The desire of my heart is to go back.

Even if all I am able to do is visit the ministry team and thank them for lavishing love on our boys.  That is a worthy enough reason to go back.

But if God opens the door to actually go to the institute then I am on that train!!

It is not set in stone.

There is still a possibility I will be turned away.

But God is whispering GO in our hearts and HE is opening the doors and we are stepping out in faith.

There is more I have to share.

Stories worth telling.

This trip is going to require a whole suitcase full of Kleenex.

Just know for now...

I'M GOING BACK!

 

 

 

Missing Ben

I'm having one of these days when I am seriously missing my oldest.

 

Talking on the phone every day is just not the same thing!