God's son

Artem is a cute, smiley little boy who it is easy to fall for... but Boris is not smiling. His picture is dark and unflattering. It looks like he cannot sit up on his own. He will be 3 around the time my baby is born (he is just a month younger than Artem.

Boris is listed as "moderately excitable." :)

Why the difference? Does Artem get more help or attention? Is it just genetics, or differing ability for no known reason? I don't know.

I do know that Boris is a precious son of God, made in the image of his Father. I know that this little boy has worth and potential. I know there is a family for him.

I know he's worth it.

something to smile about

Look at this adorable boy! How could anyone resist a smile like that?

Artem is almost 3 and is described as calm.


He deserves a reason to smile... a family. A forever home.

Can you give him that reason?

Quick break to see some other precious children....

Remember Owen?

Click here to see some more pictures of him, including a sweet baby picture.

Remember sweet Kacey with Apert Syndrome?

Here is a post from a mom who met her... she would do so well in a family.

I don't think I'd mentioned Tamara before... but she seems so sweet.

She had a family coming but they are not able to complete the adoption. She doesn't deserve to be sent to a mental institution. No child does... but Tamara is facing this only because she looks different. Could she be your daughter?
There is a mom who has met Tamara as well; if you contact Reece's Rainbow they could put you in touch with her.

Keegan is a sweet little boy with Down Syndrome.

He has a heart defect for which surgery is not recommended and a bit of strabismus but nothing too serious... and at the ripe old age of 1 is facing the institution because his baby house is closing.
If a family were interested, he could be adopted with Ollie, who is also under 2. Ollie has a heart defect which is more serious and will need attention when he comes home. He is not in the baby house that is closing, so he is not in immediate danger of transfer.


And Genesis is now officially adopted! She has a mommy, a daddy, three brothers, and a sister. Her new name is Sarah Joy.

In a few weeks they will all be together at home.
Yvonne (Sarah's mom) is pleading for a family for Angela, who she sponsors through Life 2 Orphans and was able to hold at the orphanage.

From her RR profile:
"Diagnosis: severe grade of the mental delay, hydrocephalus, fibrosis of hyaloid, secondary glaucoma, exfoliation/detachment of retina, congenital defect of the heart partition"
I don't know what all of that means, but it sounds like she has blindness, hydrocephalus, and a heart defect....

Ivan is also still in desperate need of a family.

Worth it

Believe it or not, this is a little girl too. And she just turned 3 (though the picture is quite likely out of date). Valeria is smiling and sociable.

To adopt Valeria (or another child from her region), 3 trips would be required. Both of her parents (single moms are not accepted) would travel for a week to meet her and be officially referred. They would wait 2 or 3 months for a court date. Then, they'd take another week-long trip which would include their court date (when Valeria would officially become their daughter). There would be a month-long waiting period, in case one of Valeria's biological relatives wanted to step back into the picture and bring her home. Finally, at least one of her parents would go back to finally bring her home (also a week-long trip).

Valeria's parents would need to be under 48 (no more than 45 years older than her, and under 50 for older children). They could not have more than 3 children at home. They would need a completely clear criminal and mental health background (no depression, bipolar disorder, etc.). They could not adopt more than one child at the same time.

It would cost around $33,000 to adopt her. And her parents might not know her needs until they met her (and even then the information they received could be wrong).

Why would anyone do that?

Well, wouldn't you do that for your daughter? It's that simple.

If you don't feel "called" to adopt, that doesn't mean you can't. If you don't fall in love with a sweet face on a photolisting, it doesn't mean you don't have a son or daughter out there. Don't let it stop you if God isn't sending you a neon sign emblazoned with "Go adopt Valeria now!"

But sometimes people say they do know. They say they looked at a certain little girl or boy and just knew that one was one of theirs. And they'd do anything for their daughter or son. And even if that's not you, at the end of the process you will have a son or daughter, and it all would have been for him or her.

Either way, once Valeria's family brings her home, she will be worth it.

passed over

I don't quite know why I am doing this project... posting about each of the additional kids in this region. Oh, there is one I've blogged about before because he caught my interest. And a lot of them are cute. But for some reason I didn't just post a few of the cutest, or the ones that caught my attention. For some reason--and I do think it was God's leading--I decided each of these children deserved their own post. And they do. More than that, they each deserve their own families.

Even a little girl I might pass over if I hadn't decided to do this. Even a little girl whose haircut looks like a boy's and whose clothes don't match.


Anna is just two years old. I don't know how much stimulation or attention she gets, but she's certainly sitting independently here, which is a great sign. She didn't grab me, and my thoughts about her were more along the lines of "That's a girl?" than "What a gorgeous child!"

But God doesn't see what man sees. God looks at the heart.
If Anna were my daughter, I would love her. And she is God's daughter. And she deserves a mommy. And she is pretty--if you don't let the hair and the crazy cloths throw you.

So today, don't pass over Anna. There's not much we can do for additional children. We can't donate. We can't share information other than a picture. But there is one thing we can always do. Let's pray for her together.

Dear God, we pray knowing that You love Anna and knew about her when You laid the foundations of the earth. You had a plan for her life. You planned for her to be born. You planned for her mommy to love her... but where she was born, even if her mother wanted to bring her home, the odds were stacked against it.

But You knew that people who call themselves Yours would be everywhere in the world--in Anna's country and in mine. You knew that You would give out more than enough love and money for another family to step in and do what Anna's birth family could not or would not--show this little girl Your love and all the best life has to offer. You planned another family for Anna.

God, I don't know if her family has felt Your call or not. I don't know if they even know You yet. I don't know if they are held back waiting for Your perfect timing, or held back by their own concerns when You are urging them to go to Eastern Europe and adopt a daughter with Down Syndrome.

I know Anna is precious in Your sight and You have a great plan for her. Please bless Anna, her family, and each person You have placed in her life or intend to. Bless those who will donate to her adoption, and bless those who pray for her, and bless those who would bring her home but can't. But most of all, bless Anna's family with her, their daughter. Make it clear what a blessing she will be, how much joy and love she will bring. And bring her home.

In the name of Your Son Jesus, who paid the price for our adoption. Amen.

Hunger

Look at this pretty girl's big blue eyes! Elizabeth is 2 and she needs a family badly. She doesn't look mistreated but the sores around her mouth are likely a sign of a nutritional deficiency. Even when orphans get enough food it may not be the most nourishing...

Many little girls and boys are fed little other than a porridge-like food. This is often not cruelty or uncaring but simple poverty... in a country where many families can't provide for their children well it isn't surprising that orphans are worse off. I read about orphans who when they first come home eat everything, sometimes more than is healthy... or orphans who will eat everything but oatmeal.

I am not big on variety, but I will tell you I would get tired of an oatmeal diet pretty quickly. I am sure you have family members who would complain if they got the same food two nights in a row... or for some foods, two nights in a month. Imagine eating the exact same food every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even if it's your favorite food, I bet you'd get tired of it before a week was out.

I don't know if this is true for Elizabeth... but some orphans get the same food every single day. Often it is not as much as they really need. Even if the serving size is reasonable, think about your toddlers... don't they cycle in how much they eat? Don't they sometimes eat as much as a grown man when going through a growth spurt? It is probably rare for allowances to be made for that in the orphanage. If Elizabeth is lucky, she may have different meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She may get the occasional piece of fruit on a special occasion. If Elizabeth is not so lucky, she may not have ever even had someone try to teach her how to eat. Her meals may be porridge in a bottle with a nipple that has a big hole in it. Just because orphanages are poor and understaffed and no one can spare the time and effort to spoonfeed 20 kids or teach them to eat or clean them after they try it. Again, I don't know what Elizabeth's home is like... either end of the spectrum is a possibility. But it is common for kids who are raised in orphanages, especially if they have special needs, to be undersized due to chronic undernourishment.

Because if your daughter is hungry, you feed her. If your son is going through a growth spurt, you feed him more. But if you are responsible for 20 or more babies and toddlers, and they are all screaming and moaning and wandering off, all desperately in need of attention and stimulation, you may not know one is extra-hungry today. And even if you did, you have so much to do--change diapers occasionally. Feed them all, simultaneously. If the orphanage is a good one, they may go to different rooms for therapies. They may go to play outside. They may need to be cleaned a little. And they all desperately need love and attention--and being human you may have a few favorites you try to give that to, or you might try to spread it out a little more and give each one a little bit, but you just can't be mommy to 20 toddlers all at once. The quiet ones--Elizabeth is "calm"--may just be ignored.

Remember these words?
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Orphans are hungry. They are thirsty. (Even in better orphanages sometimes their liquid is very limited because diapers are so expensive.) They are strangers, but we can make them family. They may wear only one or two outfits for over a year, and never even own those--or they may be designed for a child of a different gender. They do not likely get special treatment when they are sick, and if they do, it is isolation and perhaps medicine, not chicken soup, cuddling, and favorite cartoons. They may or may not be allowed outside, and certainly not off the property.
And then a family comes. They feed their child, give her juiceboxes, find her a pretty new dress and bows for her hair, love on that little one even when she's in a bad mood. And they call her daughter and bring her home, as God does for us.

That's what Elizabeth needs.

Smiling, emotional, sociable

Julia is 2 and only a couple months older than my son. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and is really gorgeous. And she has Down Syndrome.

She has a lot of information for an "additional child" in her region: "smiling, emotional, sociable." Someone likes this little girl. Someone thinks she has potential. Hopefully she is getting the love and nourishment (emotional and physical) that she needs. (FWIW emotional may well be a positive, in that she expresses emotions well... remember these descriptions are usually translations done by a computer, not a human translator.)

Not everything is in Julia's favor, though. She does have a special need. She doesn't have her own page on RR. She can't have a grant. Her medical status and any other special needs she might have are unknown.

But maybe she's so sweet someone will take a chance and do what it takes to bring her home.