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.

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.

17th Birthday

Yesterday my family and I celebrated 17 years of life. I still went to my Friday babysitting family, and saw my little down syndrome friend who I've come up with a name for. On this blog I'm going to call him Sho. Its Japenese (which doesn't have anything to do with why I chose it, just a fun fact), it has the same amount of letters as his real name, and it means, "to soar/to fly". I wanted a name that had the opposite connotation of the word 'downs', because thats exactly what this little guy is. He smiles and fusses and eats and poops like any other baby. He has his big brother's wide smile and his daddy's bald head, the big blue eyes of the brother nearest his age, he's turning one next month. Sho isn't defined entirely by down syndrome.

I took this picture yesterday. Isn't it a hoot?! I laugh out loud every time I see it. Especially the half closed eye. And his mouth is kind of huge. Anyway, Sho gave me one of my very favorite presents yesterday. I went over in the morning and Sho's mom started showing me how his physical therapist said to hold him to help him sit up. Anyway, so I was practicing and Sho was watching his big brother play with a toy and he seemed pretty steady so I took my hands away. After a few seconds without support and he was still straight and sitting, I called his mom in to look. The whole family kind of trickled in as little Sho sat for the first time for about 1 minute! He did it again several times throughout the morning, getting up to almost 2 minutes once. Big boy! I was so proud of him! It was so much fun to be there for that.

Good job, little Sho!!! We're all so proud of you. Keep working hard, and thank you for making my birthday babysitting job especially exciting!

ps. I did do other things on my birthday including planting a tree, witnessing another little (baby) friend have her first taste of chocolate, eating Ethiopian food with family and 2 close friends and wrapping up the evenings with frozen yogurt and presents. Just if you're interested. :) I got a laptop on which I have composed this blogspost!

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!

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.

I believe I've said it before, but....

... I LOVE


LOVE

LOVE

LOVE BABYSITTING! Seriously, how cute can you get? I am head-over-heals for this sweet kid --- and all of his big brothers and sister! We had so much fun on friday. (Oh, and by the way I didn't have them all by myself, Mom was there too:)

I stole the "lovelovelove" idea from http://ashtonsmeimei.blogspot.com/. Thanks Ashton! :)