The Choice

Yesterday I started a Giveaway. 

A Giveaway for 13 children on the Angel Tree who have been on Reece's Rainbow the longest.  The babes who have been passed over again and again. 

Look at my sidebar..... SEE THE HALL OF FAME NAMES OF THOSE WHO GAVE YESTERDAY!!  

21 people donated over 500.00 to the PASSED OVER BABES!!  THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

                                 Yegor                                        Sergei                                     Spencer 

        

                 Yegor's Christmas Warrior                Sergei's Warrior                    Spencer's Warrior- ME!!

I'm going to be honest.  Deciding which kids we should 'pick' for the Giveaway was beyond hard. 

I am LOUSY at choosing because I would just choose them all.  So after I received the e-mail with the Giveaway offer, I e-mailed Michelle at RR and asked her to give me a list of the kids who have been on the Angel Tree the longest.  She sent me her list and after I looked it over, I immediately set out to add MORE kids onto the list.  I had 21 kids on the list within just a short period of time.  Stopping there was agony.  But picking and choosing was also agony.  None of it was sitting right.  There were too many kids.  The goal was to give exposure to those kids who have just not been noticed.  With 21 babes on the list, there were too many kids.  So in the end and after talking to Debby - we decided to let it be a God-list instead of a Julia-list.  I took the list that Michelle gave me and THAT was the list of kids.  Removing kids from the list - MY PICKS - was hard.  Okay - it was agony.  I grieved to take them off. 

                                 Meredith                                      Nikita                                       Paul 

  

                         Meredith's Warrior                   

But after I looked at Michelle's list - after I put each child on the blog and linked them - I realized something rather sad and profound.  The vast majority of the kids on the list were babes I HAD NEVER REALLY NOTICED BEFORE.  I had passed them over them too. 

                        Robyn                                    Dimtry                                      Mark 

   

                      Robyn's Warrior                         Dimtry's Warrior

Dear Friends - THESE BABES NEED THIS EXPOSURE.... Next year most of the children pictured here will be too old for the Angel Tree.  They not only age out of their baby houses, they age up on Reece's Rainbow.  That means that they will receive even less exposure than they have now.  There are a ton of babes in the older sections on Reece's Rainbow who used to be on the Angel Tree.  They weren't adopted.  They just aged up. 

These PASSED OVER BABES NEED US!!

                               Jin Wu                                     Arina                                   Danila 

 

Jin Wu's Warrior                                                                  Danila's Warrior

Please donate and please share and share and share and share...  All of these babes have Christmas Warriors and some of those Warriors have their own Giveaways going.... So if you donated or are going to donate to ANY of the kids above.... click the links to their Christmas Warriors.   You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that your donation gets you double prize opportunities!!!

                                                                              Artem                               

Artem's Warrior

SO HERE ARE THE DETAILS AGAIN....

We are doing a PASSED OVER BABES Giveaway...

WE HAVE 10 AMAZING PRIZES IN THIS GIVEAWAY!! 

You give FIVE DOLLARS to TWO OR MORE kids above and leave me a comment - I will enter your name in our Giveaway - ONE ENTRY FOR EVERY CHILD!! 

AND

AFTER YOU DONATE TO TWO OR MORE....

IF you BLOG about these kids..... you get another chance to win in our Giveaway.

AND/OR...

IF you FACEBOOK or TWITTER about these kids... you get another chance to win in our Giveaway.

Give FIRST, then share and share.....

Put their faces out there.  Let people know these are the PASSED OVER  BABES who have sat far too long on the Angel Tree.  THEY NEED FAMILIES. 

WHAT CAN YOU WIN???

 1.  A KINDLE TOUCH - (99.00 value)

2.  FLIP ULTRA HD VIDEO CAMERA 8 GB 3RD GENERATION - Newest Model (150.00 value)

3.  100 DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE TO THE VINTAGE PEARL

Each and every piece is handcrafted from start to finish in the studio. They use sterling silver and freshwater pearls in their creations!!

4.  A SIGNED COPY OF BIBLIOPLAN'S ANCIENT HISTORY BOOK (59.95 value)

by Rob and Julia Nalle

5.  A set of 4 hand-carved wooden Christmas ornaments (50.00 value) 

   

 6.  A 50 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card 

7.  A 50 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

8.  A 25 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

9.  A 10 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

10.  A 10 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card.

These YOUR CHOICE cards are to ANY store, restaurant, mall etc. that you desire. You tell us what you want and we will deliver!!  Amazon, Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, Kohls, etc. etc.

Will you help the PASSED OVER BABES??

They have been on the Angel Tree since 2009. 

I know that many of you have ALREADY donated to some of these kids... I'm asking you to donate again.  Donate because all I am asking is for 5.00 for TWO OR MORE KIDS who have spent their lives being passed over.  Please - don't pass them by again.  NOTICE THEM.  Their pictures may be bad.  They may not be smiling.  Their descriptions may scare you off.  But they are PRECIOUS PRECIOUS BABES. 

Let's NOT pass them over again this year!!

  

THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9TH!!

If you have trouble leaving comments in Internet Explorer - then switch to another server (Google Chrome works great) or FB me... JULIA NALLE

The Passed Over Babes

On Saturday I opened up the Angel Tree and began to scroll through the faces.

Many of them new faces... first time Angel Tree children. 

But many were way too familiar.  And it saddened me.  Faces of children who have sat for two or more years on the tree.

                               Artem                                  Sergei                                     Spencer 

   

Children who will AGAIN be hanging ON a tree this year instead of sitting UNDER it.  Children who have spent one more year of their lives isolated and alone.  Most of them passed over because of bad pictures or because of sad expressions on their faces.  How to get them noticed?  How to get them from being passed over another year??

                           Jin Wu                                     Arina                                   Danila 

 

What could I do? 

I clicked on several of the links.  Prayed over them - wondered.   What could I do?  I felt the Lord nudging but what could I do?  I don't have money for a big Giveaway.  I'm well aware I have done precious little for Spencer's grant account.  Artem is still without a family.  There are so many more.  So many more. 

                               Robyn                                    Dimtry                                      Mark 

  

They all have Christmas Warriors so why shouldn't I just concentrate on my own???

What could I do??

Yet the faces of those who have hung for so long lay heavy on my heart.  What could I do?  God was nudging but what could I do?

                                 Meredith                                      Nikita                                       Paul 

  

Amazingly, God wasn't just nudging my heart.  Another Mom's heart was also being nudged.  He nudged her enough that she sent me an e-mail.  On Saturday morning about the same time I was staring at faces on the Angel Tree she was writing me a letter.  Her Angel Tree child has been wasting away on the Tree too.  No family in sight.  What could she do? She had some money set aside and offered it to me for a Giveaway.   We could raise money AND AWARENESS for Spencer and for her little guy.  And anyone else I chose. 

I sat stunned and in awe.  OUT OF ALL THE ANGEL TREE KIDS... Her Angel Tree child was ONE OF THE CHILDREN I HAD CLICKED ON.  HER LITTLE GUY WAS ONE I HAD PRAYED OVER!

Sergei

Dear Lord.  The Father of the Fatherless nudging hearts into action. 

All the faces of the little ones whom I recognized on the tree from last year... and the year before.  They flashed in front of me as I read her offer.  THOSE were the babes I wanted to help.  Those little ones.  My Spencer, My Artem, Her Sergei and more.

Yegor

     

I know I can't do much but I can do something.  I can give those kids another opportunity to be SEEN.  Put their faces out.  Remind you that they have been waiting FAR TOO LONG.  The passed over babes on the past Angel Trees.

So here is the deal...

The kids above have all been on the Angel Tree since 2009.

All of them are close to or are already transferred.

We are doing a PASSED OVER BABES Giveaway...

WE HAVE 10 AMAZING PRIZES IN THIS GIVEAWAY!! 

You give FIVE DOLLARS to TWO OR MORE kids below and leave me a comment - I will enter your name in our Giveaway - ONE ENTRY FOR EVERY CHILD!! 

AND

AFTER YOU DONATE TO TWO OR MORE....

IF you BLOG about these kids..... you get another chance to win in our Giveaway.

AND/OR...

IF you FACEBOOK or TWITTER about these kids... you get another chance to win in our Giveaway.

Give FIRST, then share and share.....

Put their faces out there.  Let people know these are the PASSED OVER  BABES who have sat far too long on the Angel Tree.  THEY NEED FAMILIES. 

WHAT CAN YOU WIN???

 1.  A KINDLE TOUCH - (99.00 value)

2.  FLIP ULTRA HD VIDEO CAMERA 8 GB 3RD GENERATION - Newest Model (150.00 value)

3.  100 DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE TO THE VINTAGE PEARL

Each and every piece is handcrafted from start to finish in the studio. They use sterling silver and freshwater pearls in their creations!!

4.  A SIGNED COPY OF BIBLIOPLAN'S ANCIENT HISTORY BOOK (59.95 value)

by Rob and Julia Nalle

5.  A set of 4 hand-carved wooden Christmas ornaments (50.00 value) 

   

 

 6.  A 50 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card 

7.  A 50 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

8.  A 25 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

9.  A 10 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card

10.  A 10 Dollar YOUR CHOICE Gift card.

These YOUR CHOICE cards are to ANY store, restaurant, mall etc. that you desire. You tell us what you want and we will deliver!!  Amazon, Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, Kohls, etc. etc.

Will you help the PASSED OVER BABES??

They have been on the Angel Tree since 2009. 

I know that many of you have ALREADY donated to some of these kids... I'm asking you to donate again.  Donate because all I am asking is for 5.00 for TWO OR MORE KIDS who have spent their lives being passed over.  Please - don't pass them by again.  NOTICE THEM.  Their pictures may be bad.  They may not be smiling.  Their descriptions may scare you off.  But they are PRECIOUS PRECIOUS BABES. 

Let's NOT pass them over again this year!!

  

THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9TH!!

If you have trouble leaving comments in Internet Explorer - then switch to another server (Google Chrome works great) or FB me... JULIA NALLE

Big Brothers...

Three brothers... baking cookies together...

I only captured ONE SHOT before the oldest ran out of the kitchen.  Stinker!

If Elijah isn't singing, reading a book or working on one of his many inventions.... this is where you will find him....

either here...

or here....

And when Ben isn't running, swimming or exercising....

(Thanksgiving Day 5K)

You will often find him doing this.....

or this...

I'm so glad that Aaron has these two big brothers to help guide him....

God is good.

Aaron's Thanksgiving

Sometimes we forget that our little guy with the cute dimples and quick smile spent six years in isolation.  Sometimes we forget.

Until we travel in the car for two sleeps to my brother's house for a wonderful family get-together.

THEN we are confronted with Aaron's reality. 

The change.  The noise.  The chaos.  The confusion.

Sometimes we forget because at home he is secure and content.  At home he has routine and sameness that his little mind and body crave. 

But mix him in with a whole host of people, all older, bigger and louder and our little guy with the ready smile and cute dimples doesn't quite know how to handle the situation.

Thus, Thanksgiving was a bit lost on Aaron.  He spent the first 24 hours at my brother's house out of sorts, upset and on edge.  We honestly didn't know what to do.  It has been so long since he has been THAT out of focus that we were a bit blindsided by his frustration.  Right before we sat down for the amazing feast prepared by so many in our family, we had to take Aaron downstairs and just put him in bed.  He was angry, kicking and frustrated.  He NEVER goes to bed in the middle of the day but we were at a loss as to how to deal with him.  We left him down there for about 10 minutes (for Aaron this was a massive amount of alone time) and then I went down.  That was all he needed.  10 minutes to pull himself together.  He came out of bed talking and animated and ready to finish out his time with family with his trademark dimples and smile.

It was a reminder to us that even though our littlest has come very far indeed, much healing of his heart and mind still needs to take place.  He's just a little boy who spent a lot of years struggling to keep his head above the water.

THANKFULLY everyone understood.

No one blinked.  No one was bothered.

Secure in a family. 

 Love so Amazing.  Reflections of our Father's Love.