Sober Sunday

I stepped away for a minute. Well really, a day and a half and I come back to sad news.

Keegan, this lovely little boy is in a baby house that will be closing. Since he made the awful mistake of being born with Down Syndrome, he will pay the price. ..and earlier than most children would. He is one year old and will be transferred to an Adult Mental Institution. He will not be picked up when he cries. He will not be able to play with toys. He will not be encouraged to learn and grow. It is very likely that he will be sedated so that he will be "easier" to handle. This is NO LIFE for a sweet baby. Please, please please, someone bring him home! You can find his profile on RR here.



And then there is Sarah. Sarah had the misfortune of being placed in one of the most awful places I have ever heard of. .. Pleven.. NO ONE deserves the misfortune of living in Pleven. She has only 2 weeks left to find a family. After that, she may be lost forever, unadoptable. Is that the message that we want to send? That some children do not deserve to be loved? Cared for? Nurtured? NO! Someone claim her! Love her and heal the wounds inflicted at Pleven! It is the right thing to do. The only thing to do! Find more information here.

Please share this information on your facebook pages. .. on your Pinterest page. .. I KNOW that there are parents for these two lovely children. I KNOW IT! They just need to see their faces!!

This is your mission if you choose to accept it. . . .

1.  The first and the easiest thing you can do is look at Reece's Rainbow. And talk about it. With your friends. You husband. At your church. At the coffee shop. On your Facebook Page. On your blog. In your sleep. Talk about these children as if they matter. . . .because they do! Spread the word!

I am serious about the effectiveness of option #1! I have emailed the local priests asking them to add this mission to their homilies. To be honest, I suggested that each parish "adopt" one child to pray for, collect donations for and advocate for until that child is adopted. . .then "adopt" another one. This work cannot take a day off!! I have also emailed local newspapers and radio stations. The more eyes and hearts that are opened the better. .. .. try it!

2. If that does not  satisfy your need to help (I certainly hope it doesn't) then Pray! You can sign up to be a Prayer Warrior for a specific child or children. It is free and it's effective! Becoming a Prayer Warrior allowed me to join a super secret society of AWESOME people all praying and advocating for these lovely kids.

3. Donate. It doesn't have to be much. Every little bit helps! Collect your loose change. .. you will be surprised what you can come up with! There are also oodles and oodles of fundraisers and charities for these children. I am going to make it super easy on you and list some great options here:

*The Give a Granny program  pays older women to visit and care for one or two children.
*The Caring for Konner Giveaway is raising funds to help cover adoption expenses
* Reece's Rainbow allows you to either donate to specific children or to families in the process of adopting. The stories are really moving!
*Assist in providing medical care to the most neglected children by donating to the Pleven Medical Fund
* Project Hopeful works to advocate for special needs adoptions as well. There is so much information and fundraising on that page, you really just need to check it out!
*You can help purchase new cots through the cwuha

4. If you are flexible and have the funds (then I am super jealous of you) look into volunteering. These children would benefit SO much just from the attention and care you give them. No qualifications necessary, just a desire to love these children. Again, to make it easier on you, I will list some of the volunteer options I have discovered:
*One Heart lists volunteer opportunities. Look into it!
* Volunteer in the Pleven Orphanage! These are short term volunteer placements.  .totally doable and worth the time! Let's work to fill these placements!

There are really not a lot of volunteer organization groups for Bulgaria at the moment. I have emailed the Catholic Medical Mission Board as well as the Catholic Volunteer Network to see if something can be organized.
(will my name begin to be despised?? Who cares. . .here comes another email from yours truly!)
5. Fundraise. Hold a garage sale. Hold an auction. A party with all proceeds going to these children. Though this might take a little work. . .. it could be very fun AND go a long way in paying a ransom for a child. Talk to your friends, your family, your church. With a little bit of teamwork, a lot can be accomplished!


6. Shop! Yup, it can be that easy! There are several etsy shops that fundraise for Reece's Rainbow. Check them out!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ToCatchRainbows?ref=ss_profile
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WrappingupRainbows?view_type=list
http://www.etsy.com/people/reclaimedfundraising

I know there are more . .. I have seen them but when I went back to search for this post, I could no longer locate them. If you know the shops, feel free to email me or comment them below!



7. ADOPT! Open your home and your heart to one of these precious children and you will be rewarded many times over. This is the greatest thing you could do for one of these children, for yourself and for your family. I pledge to assist in fundraising and moral support if you are willing and able to take this on. I PROMISE!

Off the deep end

So my dear hubby is convinced that I have gone and lost it. Completely. Maybe he is right? I am so grateful for the love and support and camaraderie I have found with the Reece's Rainbow crew. Their mission mirrors mine and I am so thankful to have found them! There are some really amazing people doing even more amazing things. . . .sacrificing all for the little angels that are in so much need.

Families are praying. Fundraising and adopting. It is really so incredible. Sadly there is trend in messages on there however, MEN, you are the brawn in our families. The heads of our hearts. The big, strong shoulders we rely on. It is time for battle. This is bigger than our desire to love babies. WE NEED YOUR HELP! This IS a problem you can fix! Our lives can no longer be about building a more comfortable life for ourselves, though we appreciate that sentiment. It can no longer be about finding the easiest path and staying on it forever. There is a wrong being committed and WE MUST STOP IT! HOW????? Open our arms, open our wallets and give our lives over to those that need us most. Complete sacrifice. How scary is that?? REALLY FLIPPING SCARY. But MEN are designed for battle. They are our protectors, so WHO BETTER to assist in this ministry?? Gear up soldiers!! Head into battle! This is one that we can WIN! These children cannot help themselves out of this hell, it is our responsibility. I, for one, will not look away!

Hahaha, I am sitting at my kitchen table crying. Perhaps I have crossed the line and am completely off my rocker.

I have been having such a difficult time sleeping these days, which really does not help my mental state. As I say my evening prayers, the faces of each child pops in my head. Visions of emaciated children. Vacant stares. Children that may never live to know how precious they truly are. I am not wired to handle it! It is just too awful.

I remember the Ethiopian famine. I remember hoardes of Actors and Musicians eager to assist. I remember"We Are the World."  I was moved to tears then. I just really believe that children SHOULD NOT SUFFER. It is a tragedy. The (INSERT numerous curse words here. .. . I just had to break for my son to have his morning constitutional and the first key I hit wiped out an AWESOME rant!)))) @#$@#$%%%$#
The shocking nature of the orphan crisis in Eastern Europe is that it is not resulting from a drought, natural disaster or other unavoidable circumstance. Nope this is brought on by a drought of kindness. Of love. A complete surrender to fear, to selfishness. This can and should be something that NEVER happens. NOT ON OUR WATCH! This is a holocaust that needs to be brought to an end.

So I tried everything to sleep last night. Nothing worked. When crying myself to sleep didn't work either, I decided to take my case to a higher level. To the CHURCH.
Oh. .. .to be those poor Priests that received my email this morning. hahah, please join me in prayer that they don't just write me off as a mentally unstable woman. This is a matter that our faith community should know about. ... be heartbroken about and RECTIFY!

We are called to community. We are called to love. LOVE is what will bring these children home. Please pray that my emails strike a chord and homilies shout out the cries of these children. Let's pray that legions of people are shaken out from under their cloaks of indifference and spurred into action.

It is my fervent prayer that Churches around the world rise up to answer the call of these children. Join me in battle!!

Ignorance is NOT bliss. It is just ignorant.

I committed myself to posting one child a day from Reece's Rainbow on my facebook page for the month of March. March is drawing to a close and I am frantic. There are far too many children still waiting. TOOOOOOOOOO MANY!

I have 253 friends on facebook currently. I assure this isn't a brag, but think about it. 253 people have been seeing the faces of these children for nearly 30 days. Surely this is reaching people, right?? How can it not? How can it be ignored? I am sad to admit it is likely pretty easy to turn a blind eye. This breaks my heart.

There are 240 orphans in dire straits in Pleven. I urge you to look at these pictures. I BEG of you. This should not be easy. It should shock you. Make you cry. Make you angry. IT IS WRONG! Children should not look like this.  EVER.. . ..

Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs on our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act" Proverbs 24:12

I feel a little stuck at this point, but I am SURE God is working miracles behind the scenes right now. If  I had the right to make an arbitrary decision today, I would be adopting. Pronto. And probably more than one child. I cannot bear to see this happen anymore. Since I cannot adopt, I am screaming at the tops of my lungs to ANYONE that will listen. So, back to that number. .. .253 friends, 240 orphans wasting away in Pleven. . .. If each of my friends picked just one child to pray for; talk about; donate to or adopt, then surely this situation would look totally different.

I know, this is really naive of me. People get so comfortable. Life can be so easy here. It is scary to put yourself out. It is scary to care. However, I totally believe that ignorance is not bliss. . . ignorance is simply ignorant. Ignoring the plight of these children is equal to telling them how much they don't matter. A sad fact that they already live and believe.

I often think about choices and the impacts that they have. .. .the ripple effect. What if Mary had said no? What if Joseph could not be bothered to marry Mary in her current state? What if ? What if?

Those are grand and sometimes nebulous questions. Let's bring it closer to home. What if my Mom said no? What if I  were 14 years old and only weighed 14 pounds? What must my life have been like?  What if I did not know what it felt like to have my cries answered? What if my son or daughter was left to lie for hours on end.. .never being loved or kissed or cuddled? Can you even imagine such a fate??

What if I had never learned that Beckett had Down Syndrome? What if I still believed that Down Syndrome happened to "other" people? What if he had lived to be born and loved? Would I have still reached out to these children? What if I had never discovered these children??

I can't stand it. I don't care if people think I am a broken record. I don't care if they think I am 'over the top" or fanatical. I would gladly be called worse if it meant a better life for just one of these precious kiddos!
This life is NOT about being comfortable. It is not about taking the easy road. I am sorry, but it just really is NOT. A life lead like that is SORELY LACKING!

I am terrified and heartbroken and scared that my "yes" is not enough. I am giving my desire to adopt to God completely. He will guide us and he will make it right. I have faith in that. Until I can hug and love and devote myself to a rainbow child of my very own, I will continue to sob and scream at the top of my lungs. .. . .

Look at them!

Kolya 15H

Boy, Born July 2000

6e1n-15H

YAY, a new picture of Kolya!!! Kolya is 11 years old. He will be the oldest child ever adopted through RR (with Down syndrome), so I am praying super hard for his family to find him!!

From his advocates and friends: " Kolya – very delicate and sensitive child who catches every touch, every word or a smile. He may long to sit next to a nice man and just hold hands, enjoying the warmth.

Kolya – special in every sense of the child. He will never be like other children, but this does not negate his ability to enjoy the outside world and bring joy to others. Kolya helpful, helps nurse to collect clothes, toys, clean room. He said not much and indiscriminately, but to understand it is quite possible. He has a good memory. Kolya knows the names of geometric shapes, animals, plants, likes to listen to reading, to collect and puzzles to bother with the designers. Parents need to appreciate their strength, because they need the support of Kolya throughout life. But instead, they can count on sincere affection and love from a really good and loyal man.

$1055.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Tanner #31-1

Boy, Born July 26, 2001

Main diagnosis: Down Syndrome. Deafness. Converging strabismus. Obstructive and reflux nephropathia.
Lagging behind in his neuro-psychical development.

$20.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Heather

Girl, born September 2001

This tiny girl is ten years old! So petite!

Heather doesn't have any other health complications listed at all.

$173.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Mabel

Girl, born May 2005
Diagnosis: Down syndrome

Mabel is a very shy, calm natured little girl. Right now, she does not appear to be walking at all. In the pictures, she had been brought in from another groupa and was in an unfamiliar place, so she was a little nervous in a new environment. Sadly, in the orphanage at this time, she is unable to get any therapy. Imagine her potential and what she could do if she was getting physical, occupational and speech therapy! Mabel truly needs someone to adopt her soon, and help her become all that God has intended for her to be!

Poor, sad little Mabel — she’s been chewing on her sleeves and hands for self-soothing. She’s such a tiny little bird — please help her find a family so she can reach her full potential! She has the most beautiful eyes, let’s help put the shine back in them!

MABEL can stand for “Mothers Always Bring Extra Love,” and if ever a child needed extra love, it is this precious girl. She has no one to love on her- so she’s chewing on her hands and sleeves. Her little hands look raw. What a horrible way to have to comfort yourself- to just be a darling baby and no one love on you because you happen to have an extra chromosome. She’s tiny, no bigger than a 3 year old. Her cheeks are raw, from her having her wet hands against them, and the cool air of winter hitting them. Somewhere, this child has a mom that will bring “extra love” for this precious child of God with an “extra chromosome”. Mama? Do you see me?
Additional pictures available. Interested families should be homestudy approved (or close to it) prior to commitment. Large families welcome, older parents welcome, married couples only. Travel required.

$965.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

LOVE THEM as they have never been loved before!!