Some updates

Check out this beautiful new picture of Mandy, who was not showing off for the camera when I featured her previously:



I would bring this little girl home in a heartbeat... but so much stands in the way of adoption, doesn't it? Mandy deserves a family who can bring her home! She's very little and shows so much promise.

Vika, the girl with a $20,000 grant who is in an expensive place, has found a family!

Juris, who has a very significant grant, will have a family! His mommy and daddy, the Kirklands, already have over $20,000 to help bring Juris and his new brother Vilis home.

That's all easy news to write. The next isn't.

"M." is not my daughter. Her needs are not something our family can handle right now. I hope and pray there is a family for her--but it's not us.

Right now my family is not pursuing adoption. Our agency will not complete our home study for another year and a half, for reasons that I don't completely agree with. At this point it does not make sense for us to switch agencies, but by around this time next year, if we feel we are in a good position to welcome a son or daughter, we may begin the process with another agency instead. Rest assured that we are not completely giving up. Someday we plan to adopt. We are waiting because we believe God has told us to wait through a variety of circumstances that have come up. We do not believe that adoption is second-best; we believe that adoption is something God smiles on, and that a son or daughter by adoption would be a blessing to our family. Thanks for following us through this process.

I will keep updating this blog, because even if we are not adopting now, children like Mandy and Sammy and Jeremiah need homes. I don't know if I'll be going back to once-a-day or not, though. I probably didn't help Josiah or Valentin find a family--but these little boys who so needed a mommy and daddy will get them in part because of those who advocated for them, and the more advocates these kids have the better!

Updates

First, an update on our adoption process. We had our second home visit on Tuesday! After reviewing our entire lives, the social worker is still okay with us adopting. Next step: a lot more paperwork. Luckily, DH and I enjoy paperwork more than most. We still need to find the time to do it, though.

Remember sweet Vanessa?

She has a new picture!



Vanessa has had surgery to help her heart. The surgery was a success, but she may need another still. Good news for Vanessa, but the best news would be a family of her own--keep praying for Vanessa!

More good news--
Older children on Reece's Rainbow can now have money in their grant funds!

Dakota is 8 and needs a family very badly. I blogged about him before.


Dakota and other children can now receive grant funds, so if you felt led to give to him before but did not because the money would not go to him directly, now you can give. Please keep praying for Dakota!

Feel free to look back at all the kids I've posted before. They are growing and changing... and they still don't have families. Josie, Heaven, Valentin, and Teri Lyn have families; the rest are still waiting. Maybe you glanced over my quick post on Maeve. Maybe you weren't following yet when I blogged about Sammy. But save the four who were found, every child I have asked you to consider is still waiting. None of them is the child I'm hoping to adopt. The Church--and anyone else who recognizes the value of a little person others call imperfect--needs to step up and make sure these children have families.

So many are still waiting.

So many little boys and girls are still waiting for their families.

This is Dana. She is just the same age as my daughter, so she probably likes playing with dolls, friends, and books. She would probably love to have a pretend kitchen and a menagerie of stuffed animals and lots of bright, noisy electronic things. And I know she needs her own mommy and daddy.

I wish there weren't little girls and boys who didn't have mommies and daddies. I wish we lived in a world where every child was loved and valued as a child of God, regardless of his or her challenges. I am going to adopt a child so that there is one less orphan in this world of ours. So that one little girl doesn't go to bed without hugs and kisses. So that one little girl will always have enough to eat, her own bed to sleep in, and a family all her own. Maybe you can't do that--and that's okay. But please, do something! Even if it's just adding a couple dollars to a fund for one of these sweet little ones, like Valentin or Dana.

Two happy things

Sorry I missed yesterday! I have two pieces of very happy news.


Valentin, one of the first little boys I featured on this blog, has a family now! I don't know who they are yet, but he's on the "My family found me" page!

My other news is that we are now ready to start a home study! We are in the process of setting a date for our first visit, which could be next week. Please pray that everything will go smoothly and we can have our house a little more organized by then (we've been making progress, but I want the shelves a little neater, the bathroom a little cleaner, the pile off the stairs. That sort of thing).

Here's hoping that before too long, it will be my little girl on the MFFM page :)

Another precious little boy

This sweet little boy is Valentin. He has cerebral palsy, but he can stand--and I'm betting with a mommy and daddy and physical therapy, he'd be walking in no time. Soon, though, he will be transferred to an institution where he might never have a chance to try.

He's pretty smart from his description--probably not cognitively affected by his disability. In the adoption world, 5 is old--but maybe that's a blessing, because it means that, while many kids in his country are in limbo, Valentin is still available for adoption because he's an older child. He makes me wish we could just bring them all home (as does the little boy I'll be posting about tomorrow).

Valentin would have so much potential here--but unless attitudes toward people with disabilities change in his home country, if he is not adopted, he won't have any potential. He will spend his life in a bed. I think he deserves better--I think they all do.

Children over 5 are usually not adopted. Boys are even less likely to adopted over 5. Kids with special needs are less likely to be adopted than "typical" children. Do you think you could give Valentin a chance? If you are thinking about it, you might be the only one who is.