Inventory

Do you remember Bernadette?  Do you remember her?  She was 16 when her family stepped out to commit to her. SIXTEEN.



THAT'S SCARY!

Sitting in a room with little stimulation.  Hidden away from the rest of the children at the institute.

Bernadette.

Now Jesse.

AND I MET HER.

Yes I did....

A few weeks ago.

Ignore my awfulness in these picture PLEASE!.... Jesse (Bernadette) is absolutely one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met in my life.  She stole my heart and has it in her pocket.  Only home a few weeks but already coming alive.  Praise God the Rogers didn't let fear keep them from going to get her.  Their lives have absolutely been enriched beyond measure.

I cannot find words to describe her.  Just know that the smile on her face is an absolute reflection of who she is inside.  She radiates joy.  You cannot help but be overcome in her presence.  

And I didn't just meet Bernadette - I met Caleb (Mason on RR).  Now her brother.  Same institute.  Same hidden away room.  Scary.  Again - the Rogers made a leap of faith for an older boy.

And he is another absolutely precious treasure.  He has delays, yes.  He's nine but the size of a four year old.  Tiny.  Malnourished. Yes.  He's only been home for less than 2 months.  Already starting to fill out.  Finding his way.  When I held him I thought of Heath.  What he will need and how he will change and grow if someone would be willing to just give him a chance.  Heath  is 10 in age but so tiny and so much like Caleb.   

But the blessings didn't stop there....

I got to hold Claire and Malachi again.

Do you see Claire?  She has been home a year and she was as lost as she could be when she first came home.  Tiny.  Malnourished.  Zoned out.  Completely unable to make eye contact.  A year later she is a ball of energy and life.  You can't hold her long because she wants to go and then go some more.  And Malachi.  What in the world can I say about him?  He is so full of joy.  Happy.  Content.  SMART!  Oh my goodness he is so smart.  

And Tyler.  

Twelve year old Tyler.  

Home only a few weeks.  

His parents took a massive leap of faith by adopting an older boy from an institute.  We yelled for him on this blog and look at him.  I had a hard time holding back the tears.  

TYLER ROCKS!!

ALL OF THESE ADOPTIONS WERE SCARY.  They are older special needs kids.  

But as I watched each child, held them, talked to them, loved on them, I was reminded again and again that God equips those who choose to go.  Is it easy? NO!  Are there issues? ABSOLUTELY.  Do they sometimes wonder what in the world they got themselves into?  MOST DEFINITELY.  But do they regret crossing the ocean?  Not one family whom I have met in the last 3 years who adopted has  regretted going.  I have met almost 50 Reece's Rainbow children.  We have a large number of adopted children in our Homeschool Co-op (I'm privileged to teach some of them).  I have friends who have adopted.  Not one.  Despite the tears.  The lost sleep.  The trauma.  The process.  The upheaval to family and schedule.  The medical issues.  The tantrums.  The food issues.  The potty problems.  Not one has regretted going.

Not one. 

I'm taking inventory this morning.  Looking to see who is left from our Passed Over Babes Last Christmas and our Mulligan Stew in March.  

                                                     Victoria                                      Igor
                                           My Family Found Me                 My Family Found Me

 

Emmitt

                                          Heath                                                       Hanson

                          

                                                            Jack                                   Laurel     

    My Family Found Me          My Family Found Me                 

Bernadette

 My Family Found Me

  

    Yegor                                        Sergei                                     Spencer 

                                                                                                                  My Family Found Me

        

        Meredith                                      Nikita   

                                            My Family Found Me             My Family Found Me                           

  

          

                                                   Robyn                                      Mark 

   

   

          Jin Wu                                     Arina                                   Danila 

                      My Family Found Me                                                           My Family Found Me

 

        

    Artem
 My Family Found Me                             

Inventory is fine when it involves looking at how many products we have on hand for BiblioPlan.  

Inventory stinks when it comes to orphans.

It just stinks.

I rejoice for every single child with the red My Family Found Me above their name but my rejoicing is offset by the sorrow at seeing so many who are still waiting.

Emmitt is still sitting in his crib.  He's still there.  Waiting.  

Heath is still sitting on a bench all day every day.  He's still there.  Waiting.

Hanson.  He is still laying in his crib staring at the ceiling.  Waiting.

Those are the left-over kids from the Mulligan Stew.  All waiting.

 

All sitting in mental institutes.  Waiting.

Desperately waiting.

And the Passed-Over Babes from last year...  The ones who had been on the Angel Tree the longest...

Yegor waits.  Sergei waits.  Robyn waits.  Mark had a family and then lost them so again he waits. Arina waits.

     

OUT OF NINETEEN BABES, EIGHT STILL WAIT.

I'm not closing the book on these kids.  I'm not giving up.  I will continue to pray and plea and advocate for them.  

They are way too precious to be left behind.

I'm not giving up until I can put a My Family Found Me above EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.OF.THEIR. NAMES!!

SO PLEASE... HELP ME OUT!!

I need EIGHT brave families to step forward to be their hope.

I know.  I am asking a lot.  These are all older children.  Mostly boys.  Most of them are sitting in a Mental Institute.

It is a fearsome and scary list of kids.

But look at the list of FOUND kids.

And look at Bernadette. And Mason.  And Claire. And Malachi.  And Tyler.

And think of our Aaron.

All scary.  But all most definitely worth the risk!!

GOD EQUIPS THOSE HE CALLS.

WILL YOU ANSWER HIS CALL??

Thank You

Over the last two days I dumped on you guys 4 matching grants.  

A 2,500 for the Kacirek family for Maxim and Yulia

A 500 grant for Elizavata

A 500 grant for Aubree

A 500 grant for Raymond

As of last night... ALL THE GRANTS WERE MET!!  

I know many of you took part in helping meet those grants.  

THANK YOU!!

Thank you for caring!

Now - help me find families for Elizaveta, Aubree and Raymond!!

AUBREE

1075.20

 

ELIZAVETA

$960.30 (not all the matching grant money has been deposited yet)

RAYMOND

$2,168.87

Hobo Story

We had a little Hobo in our midst... 

He came in out of the rain begging for a few morsels of food..

I wasn't sure I wanted him in our house... I mean he was rather scruffy looking...

And his face looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks...

But then I looked into his eyes... 

Seriously... how can you turn that face away???

So I gave the little hobo some breakfast and sent him on his way...

Hope he comes back.... I kind of liked having him around!!

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At the beginning of January there were around 10 children on Reece's Rainbow who all had one thing in common.  They all had arthrogryposis.  Since that is Aaron's condition - all of those children had a piece of my heart.  Not just my heart but the hearts of five other women too.  We grieved for those 10 who had no families and in our grief we decided to do something about it.  We banded together into a tiny, yet powerful little group and we set out to bring hope to the kids with arthrogryposis this year.  We prayed.  We raised matching grant money.  We advocated.  We yelled.  We prayed some more.  We screamed.  We raised more money.  We prayed even harder.  We yelled even louder.  And God has blessed our tiny little efforts.

Yesterday we stopped and took inventory in  our tiny little group.  We named the children with arthrogryposis who are either already home or heading for home since January 1st.

Roland (home). Laurel (home).  Alexis (parents are currently in country). Igor (parents are close to traveling). Rita. Sandra.  Anastasia.  Victoria.

EIGHT REECE'S RAINBOW CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE LAST YEAR WHO ALL HAVE ARTHROGRYPOSIS!

Thousands and thousands of dollars raised for these kids.  Hundreds of hours spent yelling and praying and advocating.  

I cried as I wrote out those names.  Each one precious to me.  I am beyond grateful for the families who have stepped up.  I am forever thankful to every single one of you who came alongside us and prayed over and donated to and advocated for those kids.  We rejoice together.  Though you had no idea there was a small group working together - you guys were as much a part of that tiny group as anyone.  You gave.  You gave abundantly.  You yelled.  You prayed.  There just are no words.

There are four kids left on Reece's Rainbow who have arthrogryposis.  

I know that is not ALL the children in Eastern Europe with that condition but these are four that we know about.  There is one more that we want to share as soon as we have permission.  A precious little girl from Africa.  Oh we desperately want to see her in a family!!

Three of the RR kids currently have matching grants THAT END TODAY. 

Those matching grants are ALL OR NOTHING.  

The match is met - the child gets the match.  The match is not met then the donor has made it clear they will donate the money to another cause.  Another place.  Because obviously we don't care!  OUCH!   I don't know this donor.  One of the members in our group was able to convince them to offer the matching.  They know little about what we do.  They are not convinced that anyone would care about disabled kids across the ocean.

NOT CARE??

Not care about Aubree??  The family that just adopted Laurel met this sweet girl and she is a gem!!  She is in a NICE institute that has missionaries who have helped to change it from one of the worst places in that country to one of the best.  Aubree has flourished!!  YES WE CARE!!  Please - Aubree's grant account needs to say $615.00 in order for a $500.00 matching grant to be added to her account.  PLEASE SHOW YOU CARE!!  She needs $180.00 by midnight tonight!

 

AUBREE HAS MET HER MATCH!!! THANK YOU FOR CARING!!

 

NOT CARE??

Not care about Elizaveta?  Not care that in all of her pictures she can't manage a smile because she has little to smile about??  Oh please someone go make that child smile.  Give her hope!  Please care!!  Her grant account must read $600 in order for her to receive a $500.00 matching grant.  

ELIZAVETA HAS MET HER MATCH!!!  THANK YOU FOR CARING!!

NOT CARE??

Not care about Raymond??  Oh please please please look beyond the horrific picture and bad hair cut and SEE this boy.  I bet this kid is going to shock us all at how precious he is!  Not care that if Raymond is left alone he will spend his entire days laying in a crib??  How can I not care about that??  Raymond's grant account needs to reach $1700.00 in order for him to receive a $500 matching grant.  He needs $333.00 by midnight tonight.

 

RAYMOND HAS MET HIS MATCH!!! THANK YOU FOR CARING!!

I know... it is a tall order.  All total we need $712.00 for the three children.  I can't write that check or I would.  I can donate a little and ask that others donate a little and maybe, maybe we can chip away at that amount.  

I know we care.  I know you care.  Let's show this donor what caring looks like!  These kids matter.  They matter to God and they matter to us.  

PLEASE CARE.

And don't forget to vote.  ONE MORE TIME.  Vote today.  Then I won't bug you any more!!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR REECE'S RAINBOW

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO AUBREE

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO RAYMOND

CARE!!

What?????

What????

You have not voted for Reece's Rainbow yet???

I'M SAD!!



CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR REECE'S RAINBOW....

You only need to vote TWO more times.  TWO.  Today and Tomorrow.  Please vote.

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Many of the children across the ocean who lay in the baby houses and institutes don't just suffer emotionally. They also suffer physically.  They don't get the treatment they need and because of this they go through endless years of suffering.  Maxim is a boy who has suffered endlessly.  His suffering makes my heart sick.  You can read about it here.  Please don't go if you have a weak stomach.  Please go to have your eyes opened to what lack of medical treatment forces these kids to go through.



Maxim is not without hope because HE DOES HAVE a family coming.  They are leaving soon to not only bring home Maxim but another precious treasure, Yulia.



They have been offered a 2,500.00 matching grant that ends tomorrow night (October 31).  Please consider dropping something in their bucket to help them meet that matching grant!!!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO MAXIM AND YULIA'S FUND FOR THE KACIREK FAMILY