Adoption Awareness Month

November is Adoption Awareness Month.

This is the month we turn our focus to the MILLIONS of children throughout the world living without the love of a family.

This is the time of year when we kick our advocacy efforts into high gear hoping that we can open the eyes of those around us to the plight of the fatherless.

While we are not all called to adopt, we are ALL called to "visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction." ALL OF US!

When it comes to caring for the fatherless, WE are the Lord's hands and feet.

EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US!

And the Lord isn't just calling, He is COMMANDING us to act.

In the words of Adeye Salem (and I encourage you to read her post in its entirety because it is powerful):

"We’re the Christians, doggone it! We’re God’s beloved church. His beautiful bride. We’re the ones He has already commanded to take care of the orphans.

Yet sadly, we wait.

We wait for God to speak to us in an audible voice, telling us to “GO!” Sometimes He does that audible voice thing, you know.

We wait for the perfect job to come along. Orphan care demands a whole lot of money. How can we possibly afford another mouth to feed?

We wait for the bills to be paid—can’t be taking on more than we can handle.

We wait for the larger house—because adding children requires a large house.

We wait for a few kids to leave the nest before we add more—can’t be having too many children in the home now, can we?

We wait for confirmation with the perfect Scripture to drop into our spirits as a sign that we need to act now.

We wait...for someone else to go.

We wait, we wait, we wait.

And while we wait—they perish."

In the past, I have attempted (and failed miserably) to blog about adoption every day during the month of November. But advocacy requires more than just lip service. Advocacy requires action. So this year I am stepping up my game and I hope that you will too.

Every day during the month of November I WILL blog about adoption. I will (FINALLY) answer the questions asked LAST November regarding adoption and our experiences. I will share the profiles of waiting children. I will spotlight families currently in the adoption process who need your help and your prayers to bring their children home. I will highlight charitable organizations that exist to help care for the fatherless and I will share with you how YOU can answer the call and heed the command to do the same.

I will also be hosting a giveaway each week throughout the month of November. Every time you make a donation to the grant fund of a waiting child or of a family committed to bringing a child home; every time you share the profile of a waiting child or family; every time you make a donation (monetary or otherwise) to an "orphan care" organization, your name will be entered into the giveaway (and will remain in the "pool" until the month is over). Please be sure to leave a comment (on my blog or on Facebook) or send me an email to ensure that your name is entered.

How will YOU answer the call and heed the command to care for the fatherless this month?

We interrupt this prolonged silence. . . .

Yep. It has really been 3 months since my last post. I would apologize, but truthfully, I just needed a break; some time to process all of the ups, downs and in betweens of the past, oh, 3 years or so :-) But this silence has gone on long enough and I am here to break it with some truly joyful news.

Do you remember Dusty? My son, Jacob, had been a prayer warrior for sweet Dusty for a year, praying faithfully for him to find a family every, single day, when we decided to increase our advocacy efforts for him at Christmastime. While we worked to raise money for his grant fund, a wonderful family stepped forward and answered the Lord's call to bring Dusty home. They worked tirelessly to complete their paperwork and, in the process, experienced the many ups and downs that accompany the call to adopt. In mid-April they traveled to Dusty's country and I am happy to announce that Dusty is an orphan no more! Last Thursday, a judge declared Dusty (and his new sister, Sonya) an official member of the Hinz family!

I am embarrassed to admit that I am STILL working to finish Dusty's quilt, but I am almost there and hope to have it waiting for him when he arrives home with his new mommy and daddy in just a few weeks. There is still room on the quilt for the names of those who donated, prayed or advocated for Dusty and/or the Hinz family, so please let me know (ASAP) if you would like your name to be included. If you are just joining us in our efforts to help the Hinz family on their journey and would like to be a part of Dusty's quilt, there is still an opportunity!

The Hinz family is currently holding an iPad 2/iphone 4 giveaway to raise the remaining funds needed to bring Dusty and Sonya home. To learn more about how to enter their giveaway, click here.

I am also extremely happy to report that another little boy who is very near and dear to my heart will soon be joining his forever family. Just DAYS after we withdrew our commitment to Gage, a family stepped forward to bring him home. Not just any family, but a family who had JUST returned home from his country, his very orphanage, with their daughter (and Gage's best friend). A family who already knows and loves him! Words cannot express how my heart rejoiced when I heard this news. My heart still ached knowing that I would not be the one to wrap him in my arms and in my love and call him my son, but to know the he would be joining such an amazing, wonderful and loving family allowed my heart to heal. And, as a reminder of just how mindful the Lord is of me, He gave me the awesome opportunity to meet Gage's new mommy and daddy while I was in Philadelphia about a month ago. What a blessing and privilege it was getting to know Carolyn and David DeVowe and their precious new daughter, Madeline. There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Lord intended Gage to be!

On May 30th, the DeVowes will meet with adoption officials in Gage's country and receive his official referral and in just a few short weeks, Gage will be an orphan no more! Isn't our Heavenly Father AMAZING! Please keep the DeVowe family and Gage in your prayers as they travel to Gage's country to complete his adoption!

Obviously after 3 months of silence there is MUCH more to report. It is my goal, over the next few days, to bring this blog up to speed, so if you are looking for some entertainment, stay tuned! To say that the past 3 months have been wild and crazy would definitely be an understatement ;-)

A Family for Dusty

I can still vividly remember the day when Jacob chose Dusty as "his boy." We sat in front of the computer and scrolled through the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree page at least a dozen times and each time Jacob paused when he came to Dusty's picture. This process didn't surprise me in the least bit. Jacob is very particular and very thorough. Once we had reached the bottom of the page for the twelveth time he asked me to go back up the page. As soon as I reached Dusty's picture he told me to stop and then declared, "Yep! He's the one!"

It is amazing the love a child can have for another child he has never met. Jacob took his responsibility as a prayer warrior for Dusty very seriously. Not a single day went by that he did not remember Dusty in his prayers. And if, by chance, he did forget, he would immediately, without prompting, bow his head once more and plead with his Heavenly Father on Dusty's behalf.

It is no surprise that our Savior commands us to "be like unto little children." One evening as I was rushing through our bedtime routine, tired from the events of the day, so many things still left to do, I hurried Jacob into his bed, tucked him in, kissed him goodnight and turned to leave. "What about my prayer mom?" he called after me. I turned around, bowed my head, closed my eyes and began to listen and, more importantly, learn (again) from my sweet, compassionate, Christ-like little boy.

"Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Dusty that his family will find him soon so that he won't have to be alone anymore. Please send him a mommy that will give him lots of hugs and kisses and love him like my mommy loves me."

There were tears in my eyes as he concluded that prayer. I could feel the pure love of Christ eminating from my amazing 5 year-old son and, at that moment, I was completely overwhelmed by the gift that he is!

After a year of "storming heaven" on Dusty's behalf, I was able to give Jacob the best Christmas gift I think he has ever received a few days ago when I shared with him that. . . .

DUSTY HAS A FAMILY!!!

How I wish I had thought to pull out my camera when I made the announcement at morning scripture study! That video would have been priceless! The joy on all of my children's faces was evident (the happy dances and the screaming were fairly clear signs as well). And what an incredible opportunity it was to share with all of our kids the evidence that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that He is mindful of each and every one of us!

This morning I shared with Jacob a special note that he had received from Dusty's Mommy:

Jacob,
Thank you, thank you, thank you... for praying for Dusty. I am filled with joy to know that you have been praying all year long for him. God answered your prayer! We have welcomed Dusty into our hearts and hope that soon we will have him in our arms! Thank you for raising money for his adoption! We are very grateful to you and your family. Merry Christmas!
Love, Dusty's Momma

Needless to say, Jacob was thrilled! As soon as I was done reading he looked up at me with a HUGE smile on his face and said, "I knew Heavenly Father would send Dusty a good mama!" Gosh I love this kid!

We continued our celebration this evening as we gathered around our kitchen table, drank sparkling grape juice and worked together on Dusty's quilt!

Designing hearts for the quilt squares

Jacob drawing a special picture for Dusty

Want a sneak peak of the quilt?!?



We will continue our "Stitched Together by Love" fundraiser until the end of the month so there is still time to donate to Dusty's Angel Tree Grant. His combined grant fund (Angel Tree and General) is just over $800. Won't you please help us bring his grant to $1000 by December 31st?

If you'd like to learn more about the amazing family, hand-picked by God, that will be making Dusty a part of their family you can visit their blog here. You can also make a tax-deductible donation to the Family Sponsorship page at Reece's Rainbow to help them on their journey to bringing Dusty home!

PS- If you have donated to Dusty's grant fund directly through Reece's Rainbow by paypal or by check and would like to be included on the quilt or in our "Perfect Love" art giveaway, PLEASE contact me! I am only made aware of the donations made through the chipin on the sidebar or by contacting me personally (Reece's Rainbow cannot disclose donor information to outside parties) and I don't want to leave anyone out!

God does not care where you were born. . .

Very rarely do I post in anger in response to a comment or question, but, over the years, I have grown very weary of one question in particular that we are frequently asked. International adoptive parents, I believe that you will all recognize this question because, chances are, you have also been confronted with it in one way or another on many ocassions. It generally sounds something like this:

"Why are you adopting internationally when there are so many children in the US in need of loving families?"

Of course, that is the nice way of phrasing it. More often than not it is asked venomously and sounds more like this:

"What? Aren't OUR children good enough for you?"

I realized early in our adoption journey that, most of the time, this question is posed by individuals who are ignorant to how adoption works, both domestically and internationally, and so I have tried not to let it get under my skin. I have recently come to the conclusion however, that accepting people's ignorance is not doing anyone any favors.

This morning I received a comment from "Anonymous" on this post asking this very question:

"It is great what you're doing for these children, but what about all the homeless, hungry and abused children in the United States? All the adoption blogs I read are from families who adopt out of America. There are kids in need here that are forgotten because they are not designer babies."

Because "Anonymous" has chosen to remain anonymous I cannot be sure of what their level of involvement in and knowledge of the adoption community might be, so I will address this question as I do with others who are ignorant of the topic.

In Fiscal Year 2009, there were approximately 424,000 children in the US Foster Care System. Of those 424, 000 children, only 115,000 of them were legally available to be adopted. 57,000 children were adopted from the US Foster Care System in 2009.

There are approximately 143,000,000 orphans internationally. According to the US Department of State, there were 12, 753 visas issued to internationally adopted orphans in 2009. In Ukraine alone (approximately the size of Texas), there are over 100,000 orphans. In 2009, only 610 were adopted by US citizens. Or consider Ethiopia. According to Unicef, in 2005 there were approximately 4,800,000 orphans in Ethiopia. In 2009, only 2,277 visas were issued to orphans adopted by US citizens from Ethiopia.

Most countries with international adoption programs DO NOT have a functioning foster care program. This means that the majority of orphans are living in state-run orphanages or on the streets. Unlike most of the children living in our US Foster Care System who have the advantage of living in a family environment, who receive an education and are entitled to all of the medical care and therapy that they need, international orphans, more often than not, do not even understand the concept of family (most have lived in orphanages their entire lives), receive little to no education and do not receive medical care or therapy for any condition requiring it.

Because my son Evan was born with a severe special need, he spent the first 3.5 years of his life lying in a crib. He received none of the necessary medical intervention and/or therapy needed to improve his condition and was slated to be transferred to a MENTAL INSTITUTION where he would have lived the rest of his life in a laying room, confined to a bed, receiving no education, no medical treatment, no therapy and never knowing the love of a family.

On the other side of the coin I have several close friends who have adopted children from the US Foster Care System. Their children have suffered abuse and neglect of the ugliest kind. They have been moved from family to family. They have known hunger, rejection and physical and emotional trauma that we could not even begin to fathom. As a result they suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder), and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) among many other things.

So please tell me "Anonymous," which of these children "deserves" to know the love of a family more?? The child laying in an orphanage overseas (possibly sedated or in their own excrement because the ratio of caregivers to children is so unbalanced) slated for a life in a mental institution because of their "designer body" or the child in the US Foster Care System who has suffered unspeakable abuse and neglect? Which one of these children do you think God loves more?

To me, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!!!

Can you tell me where in the scriptures we are commanded to care for the widows and the fatherless, but ONLY IN OUR BACKYARD? Can you show me where in the scriptures our Heavenly Father tells us that He loves only "the least of these" living in the United States??

God does not care where in the world His children are born, whether in the United States, Ethiopia or Ukraine, HE LOVES EACH ONE OF THEM! They are His children!!! And He has commanded EVERY ONE OF US to care for the "least of these," to reach out and love and serve HIS children regardless of where in the world they are.

It is so easy to point the finger of criticism at those of us who are trying to follow the counsel and command of a loving Heavenly Father to care for the widows and the fatherless, but might I ask a question of YOU "Anonymous?" It is the same question I now ask of all who, upon learning that many of our children are adopted internationally, ask of me, "What about the hungry, homeless and abused children in the US?" It is simply this:

"What are YOU doing to help the hungry, homeless and abused children in the US? What are YOU doing to help the hungry, homeless and abused children of the world?"

As you can see from the statistic posted above there are MANY children being adopted from both the US Foster Care System AND Internationally (though, as you can also see, the number of international adoptions is significantly LOWER). As you can also see, the need is still great in BOTH areas.

Adopting from the US Foster Care System can be difficult. Of all of the international adoptive families that I know (and there are many), more than half of them have tried, at one point or another, to adopt from the US Foster Care System. In the past 5 years, our family has inquired about at LEAST a dozen children available for adoption in the US, only to be told that our family was "not what they were looking for." Another friend of ours has submitted their homestudy 57 times for children in our system and has never had a child placed in their home for adoption. Why? Because their family was considered "too big" (they have 5 children). If you browse this photolisting of children available for adoption in the US, you may be surprised at how many of their profiles say things like:

"This child would do best in a home with no other children, where parents can provide the child with the attention that they need."

"This child would do best as the youngest as the youngest child."

In some cases, this truly is in the best interest of the child (for example, if a child has been known to be aggressive towards younger children, it would probably be best to place them in a home with no younger children), but nothing saddens me more than to see a child that we inquired about YEARS ago, still available for adoption, still without permanency and the love of a family, because a social worker was not willing to consider a family outside of they believe to be the "perfect fit". So, "Anonymous," you might be surprised to learn that, often, it is not families looking for "designer babies," but a system in need of some major overhauling, looking for "designer families." It is not simply that the children in the US Foster Care System are "forgotten" or unwanted, sometimes it just comes down to the fact that there are not enough families interested in adopting who the system considers a "perfect fit."

There is not a single day that goes by that I am not burdened for the "homeless, hungry or abused" children in this WORLD (the children of the United States included). The scriptures teach us that WE are the body of Christ and that ALL of us are needed in order to accomplish His plans and purposes. So, "Anonymous," rather than asking the question, "Which child is more important to our Heavenly Father?" why not ask instead, "Lord, how do You have need of me?"