Orphans at Christmas

I am so behind this year!!

Usually I am yelling for you to get your Angel Tree (MACC) dollars long before now.

 

These are stocking stuffer dollars you can give your kids, your husband, your parents, your friends, your aunts and uncles and everyone else on your list. 

 

I just  bought mine.

 

It is our yearly tradition after reading the Christmas story. I stuff the dollars in our stockings so after we empty them we stop and take the time to pick kids on the tree.  I wouldn't skip this tradition for the world.

Little babes across the ocean get our prayers and our love.

Picking is HARD!!  It's AGONIZING!  Each person in the family struggles to pick. 

 

That is the way it SHOULD be. 

It should not be easy to see a host of orphans on Christmas day.

It should be gut-wrenching hard to realize that there are so many babes LOST and LONELY at Christmas.

Your kids... your husband... your family....

Give them the chance to see some orphans at Christmas!!

It's NOT TOO LATE!

CLICK HERE

Buy some MACC tree dollars!!

Save the # from your e-mail receipt.  Print them out.  Stuff each stocking hanging on your mantel with one.

And take a few minutes tomorrow to SEE some orphans.

Let's turn some frowns into smiles next Christmas~~

Please make sure to redeem those dollars before New Years Eve.... The goal is to get every child OVER the $1,000 wall by the New Year! 

As of today 56 children still need to cross the $1,000 wall. And yes, I am counting those babes at the very top of the tree who have families racing for them!!  I want to see THOSE BABES over that $1,000 wall too this year... Their families would be ever so grateful.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MACC TREE

O Night Divine

I've lost 2 presents.
It's official.
It's Christmas.

It happens every single year and the crazy part... we rarely find them. 



A few weeks ago we sent our older boys out to get a tree.



It wasn't the tallest and grandest one but it was rather cute!




We all arranged our busy schedules so that everyone could take part in the tree decorating festivities.





Granddad has been helping us decorate our tree for years now!




Oh what fun!!



Every single Reece's Rainbow ornament finds a home on our tree.  If you look really closely you can see Charlie's ornament.  He was my Angel Tree babe last Christmas.  How hard we were praying for a family for him.  Happy Happy Days because yesterday he stepped off the plane and is going to be sitting under his own tree this Christmas.





We had a blast decorating it and putting the train around the base.


It was a tiny tree but quite pretty and smelled wonderful.

It smelled too wonderful.  Ben's allergies went into full fledged crazy. This never happened before so it took a few days to figure it out.

Once we realized it was the tree we realized that something or someone had to go!

It was a hard decision.

Put Ben in the garage.

Put the tree in the garage.

Ben... tree...

Hmmm.....

As much trouble as he gives me whenever I want to take his picture I did consider sending him to the garage.

But, after much debate... we took our sweetly decorated tree and put it in the garage.

Last night - 3 days before Christmas... we brought it back inside.

Happy days!

The little boys are very very relieved that their tree is back and we are all collectively holding our breath that Ben's allergies don't go nuts again!

We are crazy busy trying to get everything done that needs to be done before the Sunday morning chaos around the Christmas tree.

This morning (2 am) Rob took his turn driving John to Shriners and back.  Round two of casting on his legs and feet.

It's a crazy, exhausting time of the year.


For many it's a hard time of the year.

I realize anew that we are very blessed.  I get the privilege and honor and joy of celebrating the birth of Christ with my children and husband and extended family in a matter of days.

I get the thrill of watching presents being opened. I get to laugh at the goofy presents. I get to marvel at the cool ones.  I get to open the bag of handmade presents made lovingly by the hands of my little boys.  I get to watch my five men play with the funny shooter guns I bought them (shhh don't tell).  I get to make Christmas brunch with my best friend in the world while listening to The Messiah playing in the background.  I get to do so much. I am so blessed.

Yes. We are busy.  All of us have been or are in the middle of battling coughs and congestions.  Our book is in the final final stages and there are so many details that need to be done we start going into panic mode when we think about it.  But we barely have time to think about it.

And I lost 2 presents.

One for Ben and one for Elijah.

It's Christmas.

In the midst of the busy.... In the midst of the hard. For those who find this time of the year to be too much. Too lonely.  Too filled with memories.


This is what it's all about...

This...

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

Weary, tired, overburdened world...

Rejoice.

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

O night, O night divine!

All But Forgotten

I woke up this morning and thought of him.

Little Boy Lost in a world that has all but forgotten him.

We have all but forgotten him.

He's just one little boy among so many little boys. 

He has no voice to raise on his own behalf. He has no rights. He never will have any rights. He will remain forever locked away.

I woke up this morning and thought of him.  One little Lost Boy among so many.

Little Otto.

I was so hopeful back in the summer.  We raised thousands in his grant account. I was so hopeful that raising money and yelling for him would cause a family to SEE him.

But no one has noticed this little Lost Boy.

No one has inquired. No one has considered.

The little boy who thrived at Camp in 2015 now spends his days surrounded by boys who have nothing to do except bang their heads against the walls that contain them.

Oh Tiny Little Otto.

We are failing you little one.

We are letting you waste away in a world of nothing.

I am sorrowful on this Monday before Christmas.

I am sorrowful for one little Lost Boy who has so few taking up his cause.

Please Mama. Please Papa.

He's waiting.

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

Otto has a $5,122.00 grant through Reece's Rainbow.

I Am Not Satisfied

A year ago I was shouting and praying for a couple of sweet babes who both sported an extra chromosome. One was my official Angel Tree babe and the other I 'adopted' as my unofficial Angel Tree babe.

Charlie and Rebecca

Back in the beginning of the summer my unofficial Angel Tree babe - Rebecca - walked out of the orphanage forever.

Free.

We had the splendid opportunity of spending a few days with her at the Reece's Rainbow Reunion.

This week... my official Angel Tree babe - Charlie - walked out of the orphanage forever.

Free.

In just a few weeks, he's going to be sitting under the tree unwrapping presents.

His Mama shared with me that if I hadn't yelled... they never would have gone.

If I hadn't yelled.

If I hadn't yelled.

Those words humble me.

This year my babe is Ronald.

The goal for the tree each year is to raise 1,000 in their grant account and I did that already.

I've been sick. I've been swamped with work and teaching and drama productions.

We are at the end of finishing our 2nd book in our Remember the Days series.

I reached my goal. 1,000 in his grant account.

I can check that job off my list.

Right??

I'm busy. Swamped. Snowed under.  John starts treatments in Philly for his legs which means that we start the  trips back and forth.  I'm taking him up tomorrow for the first round. 

Ronald got over the wall.

Check. Check. Check.

No.

Wrong.

No goal is fully met until HE HAS A FAMILY.

1,000 in his grant account is not the ultimate goal.

RONALD NEEDS A FAMILY.

He's a little boy with a laundry list of scary words behind his name which made his Mama and Papa abandon him and is causing others to run away.

I have two 'scary boys' with laundry lists behind them and I have learned that those lists are NOT SCARY.

Yes, they require sacrifice. But scary. No. Arthrogryposis does not scare me. It is just a condition. It does not define my child. 

I have two pictures of Ronald.

That's it.

I can't tell stories or give you eye witness accounts of him.

I don't know of anyone who has seen him.

We didn't have that for Aaron either. Just a couple of pictures and scary words behind his name.

My boys aren't scary.

Once we met them.... looked in their eyes, held them... the words... they lost their terror. 

 

Someone please see the little boy in this picture.  Look in his eyes. He will be transferred at age five and because of his laundry list of diagnoses, he will most likely end up in a Level 4 mental institute like Aaron.  Locked away.

He's so young.  He has so much potential.  I guarantee the doctors at Shriners would take one look at him and find a hundred ways for him to blossom and shine. He's not a lost cause.  He doesn't have to spend his life wasting away.  There are a multitude of treatment options for him out there. 

I pray for a family who is willing to take a leap of faith for their son.

Wee little Ronald who would like nothing better than to rip some paper off some presents bought just for him.

I am not satisfied that I reached my goal.

My babe doesn't have a family.

The battle is not won.

My wee little Ronald needs a family.

If you want to continue to add to his grant account... please do.  Grants help ease the burden for the families and many many families are unable to commit without them.

It's Too Quiet Here Tonight

28 people descended upon our little house in the woods yesterday.

My family.

My brothers and sister. Dad.

All the nieces and nephews and their wives.

28 people who didn't all make it into the same picture at the same time... but we had a place at a table for every single one.

It was a precious time.

My mom died in 2001 and this was the first time since then that the entire family... every single solitary member... was together.

We played.

We stuffed ourselves.

We took sides in the Dallas/Redskin football game and cheered wildly.

We were blessed with a gorgeous day and evening.  Trampoline fun. Bike riding. Flashlight tag.

The next morning 16 of us shared breakfast together. Rob and I had a blast making bacon and eggs and waffles and cinnamon rolls.

It went by too fast.  Goodbyes are hard. 

Dad was sad to see his children and grandchildren leave. 

Our little house in the woods is too quiet tonight.

I miss them.

My family.