Birthday Party Project

Yesterday was my beloved Avery's sixth birthday. Sixth. My boy has spent six years without a family. It breaks my heart.

But, this year, I decided to celebrate. To celebrate his life. To celebrate the hope he has in Christ. To celebrate that he is not forgotten.
My parents were out of town and my brother wasn't home, but Michael, Julia, and Lela Grace were game:

So we got balloons. (We got birthday plates and noise makers too but forgot to take a picture of them. I'm sure the neighbors were delighted, however.)

We hung a banner in the trees.

We bought a beautiful, colorful banner. I wanted everything to be colorful to go with Reece's Rainbow. I made colorful cupcakes but forgot to take pictures of them. However, if I had, it would have looked something like this:

If you have a Prayer Warrior child or a New Years warrior child or a sponsor child, find out his birthdays. If on Reece's Rainbow it just says the month, pick a day. Thats what I did. Spend that day praying for him. Write him a letter. Make him cupcakes. Whatever. The goal is to remember to be in prayer for your little love. If people ask you what you're doing and why you are doing it, praise the Lord. This doubles as an opportunity to raise awareness. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell random people on the internet who read your blog (Just kidding. You aren't random. And I love you for putting up with me).

If you buy a banner or a pack of plates or rainbow candles, get a little box and put them in there and use them next year when your RR child's birthday roles around, or if you pray for several children, pull them back out in another couple of months.

"So we do not loose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day."

~1 Corinthians 4:16~

New Things

"Behold, the former things have come to

pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them."

~Isaiah 42:9~

Do you remember the little Reece's Rainbow boy Sergei that you helped raise money for last year? He has a new picture.

Honestly, I can kind of understand how a child can change from this:


To this:

:) ...handsome boy.

But how a child grows from this:

To THIS:



Can ONLY be a magic miracle wrought by the God of the universe Himself.

BLESSED be the name of the Lord.

"I am the LORD; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other."

~Isaiah 42:8~

Breathless

I just found this picture. And its left me breathless. Tearful. Saddened.

This is my Reece's Rainbow Prayer Warrior boy, affectionately referred to as 'Prayer' on the blog.

I have learned that I can share his name with you as well, though I didn't think so before. His name is Avery. And I love him so, so, so much.

Can you believe how much this child has grown? I have failed to pray faithfully for him lately, and seeing this picture, I realized that I have sort of abandoned him. I gave up hope. Oh my sweet boy, I am so sorry.

Avery is elligible for an older child grant. Please, please, if you know anyone looking to adopt, share the news about my sweet boy. All of his information can be found on Reece's Rainbow.

"So we DO NOT loose heart.

Though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day."

~2 Corinthians 4:16~

looklooklooklooklook.....

....who has a new picture!!!!!!

It was taken just this month! My sweet boy look healthy and happy!!!!! I'm unbelievably overjoyed to see him outside in the sunshine playing, without a fence around him, with even the hint of a smile on his precious face! Look at those lovely, wild woods!

The cut on his forehead is almost totally gone, which is wonderful, as children with AIDS have lower immunities, so, obviously, its harder for them to heal.

I love you, Prayer. You look big and strong and clean and happy, even if those pants are weird. I hope April is as lovely there as it is here.

ps. My boy is having a birthday this month. I'm not sure which day, so I just chose April 27 for him. I don't believe that getting older will be a problem for him in the orphanage system in the way that it is for the other RR kids. Since he isn't mentally or physically delayed in any way, I don't have any reason to think that he'd be put in an institution. So, you want to celebrate Prayer's life with me? I think I'm going to make him a cake. I'll send you a cyber piece. :)

2 Corinithians 4:16

For those of you who can't tell, that little tiny bit of ice is the very last of our igloo. Click on the "igloo" label on the side bar to see the whole igloo story. It's amazing how many lessons God hides in even the simplest things.

"So we do not loose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day."

~2 Corinthians 4:16~

ps. this is also the verse that I'm praying over my little reece's rainbow boy, Prayer.

Prayer

Meet my new favorite 4 year old! (Besides Michael and Julia). I just officially became a prayer warrior through Reece's Rainbow for this sweet little guy. Thank you so much, Anna, for the suggestion!

I'm not enitrely sure if I'm allowed to tell you his name, so here I'm going to call him Prayer. I just recently shared about how the Lord is working in my heart and my community concerning children with special needs. I can't wait to see how God uses Prayer (and prayer) to teach me more about Him. Prayer is HIV positive and he is waiting for a family to bring him home.

I've have been strongly desiring to begin sponsoring a child and I've looked at several different organizations and oppurtunities. However, my parents wisely advised me that I need more financial stability and to already have much of the money saved up before I begin sponsoring.

Then, I heard about the Prayer Warrior project on Reece's Rainbow. It is a HUGE commitment to promise to pray for a child every single day at least until they are adopted, and hopefully after that to. But, financially, it doesn't cost anything. If you are interested in becoming a prayer warrior visit:

http://reecesrainbow.com/newsite/prayerwarriors.html

Please join me in praying for sweet Prayer and the 147 million others.