Just stopping by to say how excited I am for this family!!!!!

They're going back to Eastern Europe for their THIRD Reece's Rainbow adoption! Praise Jesus!!

Moving Mountains

GUYS. I have some really, really, really incredible news. Reece's Rainbow has started a new project called Moving Mountains. Basically, combining the children's individual grants and other donations Reece's Rainbow has received, the financial barrier of adopting these children has been eliminated.

DID YOU HEAR ME? ELIMINATED. The entire process has been covered. NOTHING stands in the way of these children coming home except the right families finding them and committing to them.

I know that not everyone is in the position to adopt right now, but more than likely you know someone who is. Many families would love to have the blessing of adoption but have been inhibited by finances. If you want, share this news on your facebook, your twitter, your blog, word of mouth, wherever. And of course you can always pray for them when you think of it!

Do it for Sunny

Do it for Tim.

Do it for my precious Sergei-boy, who you all helped raise money for a year and a half ago and whose picture(s) have been on my fridge all this time. God is doing a mighty work in Sergei. The healing of his body from his baby pictures to this is absolutely astonishing.

Do it for Mark.

Do it for handsome little Morgan, with his giant brown eyes.


Do it for suffering little Owen who can't go much longer without medical attention but would blossom inconceivably from the benefits and corrective surgery and the unconditional love of a family.

Do it for Evie.

Do it for Brigita.

God is faithful for the orphan. He is faithful to the last dollar. Faithful to the last tear. Faithful to the last lonely one. Blessed be His name in all the earth.

Again

This is my friend Chelsea's little warrior girl, Maya. She's been working so diligently to raise funds and awareness for Maya and yesterday got the news that this sweet girl has a family committed to her! We're all pretty excited. Check out Chelsea's blog to read more about advocating for Maya. Can't wait to find out more about her family.

As I've been launching myself back into bloggy and orphan-advocating, I've been reminded by Maya's story again of God's faithfulness to be who He says He is, to be a Father to the fatherfless. He has shown Himself mighty to save. Again. Praising His faithfulness and mercy today.

Jar Fundraiser for Heidi

First of all, sorry for the extremely blurry picture.

I've had a jar sitting out for my beautiful Heidi-lady since I became her 2011 warrior a couple of months ago. Tonight I turned on a movie and sat down to count out what we'd collected so far. The grand total came out to be $37.72!

This is truly the easiest fundraiser in the world and it sparks conversation when guests see the jar with his/her on your counter.

Set out a jar for your RR baby or your sponsor baby. Just do it.

I love you, Heidi.

Spreadin' the love....or the work.

We have a lot of work to do.

In fact, until Jesus returns we are called to be constantly doing one of three things: Working. Resting. Or Worshipping.

And by work I mean Kingdom work, and by rest I mean Kingdom rest (As in, not chocolate bar glutton rest and not endless hours of facebook rest. Real, healthful, body-spirit-soul rest. Says the chocolate-eating facebook addict. Not as I do, people. Not as I do.)

That being said, we have a lot of work to do. We are working with Christ in redeeming, in gardening the world. Our world is a mess, but our work is far from hopeless. Actually, our work is certain to succeed. Good will always prevail over evil in the end. Good is so much bigger than evil.

I digress. But happily. :)

My dear IRL* friend (to steal a phrase from this lovely blog), Chelsea, is working on raising money, like many of you, for a little Reece's Rainbow girl for the 5/5/5 project. I'd be delighted if you jumped over to her cute, green blog (doubtless she would be delighted as well) and poked around to learn more about her fundraising efforts and see what you can do to help.
*in real life

We're working together. We're gardening together. We have a lot of work to do.

And someOne has gone before us. Blessed be His name in all the earth.

Prayer Request

Guys! If you don't already read this blog, head over to No Greater Joy Mom. They have an urgent prayer request for a little boy named Vanya onn Reece's Rainbow. Click on the link to read about it and lets get praying for this boy!

Imperishable

Sorry, this is going to be a long one. I am not sleeping. I love sleep and it is rather late, but about 100 things are keeping me awake. First of all, the Gould family adoption fundraiser was a smashing success! I can't even describe how wonderful it all was and how faithful the Lord has been through the whole process. Originally my mom and I were heading it up, but I have a tendency to get really excited about and idea and rally and go crazy and then fall off the band wagon when things get tough. Its a sin and its wrong and God is really revealing that to me lately. Anyway, my mom was really the lady of the day, along with several other amazing women who have more perseverence than me. We held the event at Sodium, which is really a pretty amazing ministry in itself.

Michael and Julia enjoying some lunch.

My mom working the silent auction in her one less orphan shirt from the Elliots. She is my hero and my best friend. I love her. :)

The soon to be big sister of a beautiful Ethiopian sibling! Me working the silent auction. Lela Grace and the Gould's youngest son Ian (affectionately known as Sho on the blog:)

My brother Joseph (in the Titans shirt) and the oldest son of the family that lived with us last summer. Love them.

The Lord brought in SO much more money than any of us were expecting, which was such a huge blessing. I was so blown away and the thought I was carrying around in my head all day was "Lord, you really are good!" I think its something I know in my head all the time, but yesterday literally everywhere I turned all I could see was the goodness of the Lord. He is who He says He is. He is faithful. He is good.

The second reason I can't sleep is because of this girl.

Meet Diana.

Isn't she beautiful? Her precious little pixie cut and missing tooth, ah. Diana is an orphan on Reece's Rainbow. She has Cystic Fibrosis, a lung condition that is terminal if untreated. Diana needs a family badly so that she can get vital medical attention, her time is short and every breath is a struggle for her. Several people are working hard to get her story out there so if you have a blog or a facebook page be sure to share about Diana. You can see her information on the Reece's Rainbow website and visit Dreams For Diana which is a blog all about her! Her eighth birthday is approaching in April the 24th, wouldn't it be amazing if her forever family could commit to her by then? Please help spread the word where ever you can!

Finally, just lately I've been convicted about advocating for the orphan, sure, its easy to do on a blog or with people who already know about and love orphan care, but what about in everyday life? How can we get loud about orphans on a daily basis? I have several ideas that will probably each get a post in themselves in the next week but I do want to mention one thing.

At my school, the seniors final project is an oral defense of a thesis they have written. I've written about the thesis process before, but this year its a little different. We give a 3-5 minute speech in front of more than just the school and then answer three questions defending our thesis. My paper is about adoption and I am excited for the opportunity to get to share in a way and to a group that I wouldn't normally get to. While was at my teacher's house the other night practicing, she threw me a practice question about practical ways for people to get involved. I was surprised. I was expecting something a little more scholarly or historical perhaps. I listed off a few things, but now I am going to make a list and have several really doable ways for people to get involved in orphan care after hearing my speech. I am so excited and nervous, I really need the Lord to just use me and have it actually be all Him.

My pastor preached recently about Sodom and Gomorrah and about how God didn't destroy those cities because their was too much sin, but because their weren't any guardians. Not even 10 were to be found in the city, Abraham asked. We as Christians are called to be guardians and preists in this world, interceding and covering. We are called to be preservers. We are called to be salt.

This evening I was praying for Diana and asking the Lord for a specific verse for her.

"For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality."

~1 Corinthians 15:53~

What does salt do? Salt is a preservative. Salt makes that which is perishable, imperishable. God is swallowing up death in victory and we are a part of the story. We are the salt. He is making all things new.

So we do not loose heart.

Official!

Heidi's picture is now showing that she has a warrior! We are official! Lets get this ball rolling.

Reece's Rainbow Warrior

Hey Everyone. So, if you haven't already, I wish you would first go read Joanna's Post about being an Orphan Warrior through Reece's Rainbow, before finishing this one. She really explains the amazing opportunity and the very accessible 'do-ability' of this ministry. I already am a Prayer Warrior for Avery (Prayer), and last year we did a one month warrior thing to raise money for Sergei. Reece's Rainbow also has an Orphan Warrior Project where you can commit, for one year, to raise money for a specific orphan with special needs. After much consideration, I have decided to spend this year advocating for Heidi. Isn't she precious? A absolutely love that silky brown hair and dark eyes and that precious open-mouthed half smile. Heidi has already been transerfered to an institution, and she is five years old. She doesn't have a personal grant, which means that all finances raised for her will go into a grant for all of the older down syndrome girls on RR. I don't quite understand how all of that works, but I do understand that Heidi needs a voice. And I have one to use on her behalf. Please pray for my sweet Heidi girl, and if you want to donate towards her adoption, email me at ama2@bellsouth.net. Thank you guys so much! I can't wait to get to "know" Heidi better while praying for her and advocating for her.

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~

Thoughts on special needs

I've been, as you can tell, thinking a lot about special needs. Down Syndrome in particular. This thought struck me the other morning in the shower. I forgot it then, but then remembered it while studying for my finals. (Okay, I guess that was totally unnecessary information...hmm...) Anyway:

Why are the lives and stories of people with special needs so attractive and universally heart warming?

Why do so many families of people with disabilities radiate with the joy that that person brings to their life?

I think,

That when the human-ness of a person is limited

The Image of God is usually easier to see.

There is your daily dose of Audrey. Seriously, can you beleive nobody has adopted these kiddos? They're BEAUTIFUL! They're practically edible, just waiting for soembody to hug them so hard they can't breathe!

But seriously, that thought has really helped me to understand a lot of things, because, the hard parts about disability (it is called dis-ability, after all), are effects of the fall, so the brokenness isn't what we celebrate and love.

Its the life.

I just found out that I'll be getting to see a lot more of my little down syndrome buddy (who I really need to give a blog name) this summer. I was planning on keeping his older sister and three older brothers while mom took baby to therapy one morning a week. But his mom said that she worked it out for someone else to come then so that I can babysit when he is home! She is going to teach me how to do some therapy work with him! Ah! I'm SUUUPPPPEEERR excited. He and the other kids are all about the cutest children I have ever met.

So you know what this means for you?

Pictures! Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a few of this little bundle of adorableness!

check it out!

The money you guys raised is finally showing up on Sergei-boy's profile!

Thanks!

EDIT*****

http://reecesrainbow.com/

sorry that the link isn't working! Just copy and paste it. :)

March is come and gone

Well, since March is officially over, I thought we should get talkin' about our experiences from our monthly challenge from Guatemolly on This Next Generation.

Did you guys all send your 2 letters?

I got to send mine to Sharon for her trip to Uganda and even got a sweet letter in return!

And the second letter went to Reece's Rainbow accompanied by a whopping 86$ for little Sergie-man. Thanks everyone for your support!!!!

Thanks for the idea Molly!

How about you???

Celebrating Sergei!

We raised $60.65 for Sergei this March!!!!!!! Welcoming the spring with new hope for a family for Sergei-boy!

Sergei and I say: "THANK YOU!!!!"

Sergei

Remember him? This little boy as well as his 9 year old sister have changed my perspective about people with special needs and given me a passion for Reece's Rainbow (even though he is biological) and kids with Down Syndrome.

I was blessed beyond measure to snuggle this little cutie again tonight for quite a while. He has grown and gotten so much stronger since about a month ago! I'm proud of him. He was in a super happy and unbelievably adorable mood this evening. He looks a older than this picture too, I wish you could see his ear-to-ear smile.

Tonight, this little man was smothered with kisses and cuddled and admired by about 30 people. He is appreciated and accepted and valued. But what about Sergei?

How amazing would it be to see this little one happy and loved by a family and a covenant community?

Sergei and I have been very blessed by those of you who have responded and wanted to help support his adoption fund. And we'd like to remind you that "we do not loose heart, though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day."

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

21.3.10 Warrior

This is Sergei. He is an orphan with Down Syndrome on Reece's Rainbow. I have committed to being a 21.3.10 warrior for Sergei.

Reece's Rainbow promotes special needs adoption. One of their primary focuses is getting people involved and aware about orphans with down syndrome and providing opportunities to raise support for their adoption funds.


The 21.3.10 project allows a person to commit to a child with Down Syndrome to try to get as many people as possible to give support (specifically 21$) on behalf of specific children.


March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, to honor the 3rd copy of the 21st chromosome in Down Syndrome. If any of you would like to be a part of my little mission from now 'til March 22 (the day after) to raise funds for sweet Sergei, please email me at ama2@bellsouth.net and check out http://reecesrainbow.com/ to learn more about the 21.3.10 project.

EDIT**** The blue stuff on Sergei's face and arms: its medicine that they put on cuts and stuff in the orphanage. Just so you all know. :)

Love's Lullaby

Lately, I've been fighting back sighs every time I exhale on behalf of the beautiful children on Reece's Rainbow. I'm aching for them, for how much I want to be able to call them my brothers and sisters or one day my children, or watch them thrive adopted by parents in my own home town. How do you deal with such devastating pain (and their pain is so infinitely much greater than any I might feel on their behalf), yet still walk in the joy of the Lord?

I’m singing you a lullaby

That you will never hear

A bleeding love, a longing groan,

Are whispered in your ear

A sighing pain in you and I,

From distant, foreign lands

Are all that’s left from our souls’ cry

“Jesus, move Your hand”

Yet while we sorrow, still we serve

In ways we cannot see

God makes noble what was base

And Sings a comedy

The Voice that made the stars to dance

And brought the sun to life

Can I hear singing over you

all this dark, moonless night

His perfect love relieves your shame

And casts out all your fear

He’s singing you Love’s lullaby,

He makes your ears to hear

Dedicated to: Avery, Mara, Sofia, Maggie, Evan, Martin and so many many others.

It is foolishness to think that perhaps our compassion is superior to the compassion of the One who created it. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Hope for "M"

This is "M"

"M" is nine years old and is a orphan. She is mentally delayed and has Apert Syndrome. In March, "M" is going to turn 10. In March, she will loose all chance of ever having a family and will be placed in an orphanage that is unequipped to care for her.

"M" has just over a month of hope for a forever family.

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

If your family or a family that you know is looking to adopt, please consider "M". Our Father says: "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18.

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.