We Will Love The Least Of These
~ "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." ~ Matthew 25:40 If not us, who will be like Jesus to the least of these?
Frank's Freedom
Meet Frank. He’s 13 years old, and is curious, busy, fun happy and bright. He has a mental delay, but that doesn’t stop him from being friendly, engaging and kind. He’s also an orphan in Eastern Europe. This means he is in an institution. If he is not adopted by age 16, he will be thrown out on the street with nothing but the clothes on his back and his “disabled orphan” status. Let me tell you more about Frank.
He’s little, about the size of a 7 year old. And he’s smart. He is in a group with teenage boys ages 16-24. He does puzzles and he does his chores diligently. He is very kind to the younger children. Frank is friendly and engaging. He likes being with the boys, but is happy being alone too. He plays appropriately with toys and is “all boy”. He could very easily function in a family. Frank is curious, smart, fun and sweet. He likes to play in the dirt and jump on the trampoline. Frank is independent, a good eater, is happy and content. Frank is physically healthy. He walks, runs, feeds himself, speaks, does puzzles and interacts with others well. He's a sweet boy who seems rather unaffected by his surroundings. He has no future where he's at, and without help, he's never getting out. Institutions are a one way ticket to nowhere. And this little boy deserves a future. This little boy will be a blessing to any family.
The Baker family has committed to adopt Frank and another boy, Emmitt. But international adoption is pretty expensive. The adoption would cost about $30,000. Reece’s Rainbow is an organization that helps with this cost. They set up grants for children in 25 countries around the world, and any money that is donated to these funds is given to the families to help with adoption fees. With Reece's Rainbow's help, the Baker family only needs about $10,000 to bring home both boys!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Frogs, Snails and Puppy- Dogs Tails
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Crazy for Orphans
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Trolls
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Why They Sometimes Say No
A lot of people don't understand. They ask, "If they were always going to say no, why would they say yes in the first place?"
Saying "yes" to the far- off dream of having a family, and "yes" to a family standing in front of you, it's a lot different.
Imagine someone asked you if someday, you'd like to go to Disneyland. You would probably say yes. It doesn't seem very "real" at that time, it's a one in a million chance. It's not a realistic, it's just a dream. You would say yes, and not really think about it again.
But what if months or years later, you are told there is someone that is willing to take you to Disneyland. You would have to learn a new language, leave your friends, but you knew that when you said yes. You would have the time of your life and make new friends. You're very excited to go.
But then your friends and caretakers, the people you have grown up with, the ones who you trust, start telling you things. They're lies, but you don't know that. They start telling you that if you go, you will be killed, and your body parts sold. They tell you that if you go, they will never talk to you again.
So you get scared, and you say no.
That's what happens to kids in EE. Boys like M. He wanted a family. He heard of the great things a family could give him, and he wanted it more then anything. He wanted to be loved.
But when a family came, he started getting scared. His friends and caretakers, people he trusted, began to tell him horrible (untrue) things. They told him no one would ever love him in America. They told him that he would be sold for parts. They told him that Americans would kill him. They told him that he would have a great life if he stayed (which is usually not true). They told him he would be scorned at the orphanage if he said yes.
So he got scared. He didn't want to leave his friends. He couldn't gather the courage to say yes. So he said no. The caretakers had told him he would be able to go to trade school and get an education- even though he lived in country that is not wheelchair- accessible.
By the time he realizes the mistake, that he should have said yes, it will be too late. He'll be kicked out, or worse, transferred to an adult mental institution.
That's why we pray so hard for these older boys, pray they will say yes to adoption. Before it's too late. And even if they say no, we continue to pray, that God will change their hearts. We remain ready to jump on a plane and go rescue them. We will never give up hope.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Image of God
90% of babies diagnose with Down Syndrome are aborted. 9 in 10.
90 in 100 – that is a lot of life snuffed out because of the possibility of one extra chromosome.
I'm not saying it's easy to be a parent of a child with special needs. But doesn't every child deserve a chance at life?
I've met a lot of kids with Down Syndrome, and they are some of the sweetest kids you will ever meet. But 9 in 10 potential kids with Down Syndrome are aborted. I can't stand that. And those kids that are "lucky" enough to be born? In Eastern Europe, they are deemed "unworthy" of normal life. At age 4, they are put into an adult mental institution. At only 4 years old. You probably know a four year old. A friend, a niece or nephew, maybe even your own child. Imagine if they were put into a mental institution. Four year olds may seem like they are independent, but they are not. They still need someone to make sure they get food everyday, give them baths, pick out their clothes. But in Eastern Europe, those little four years are sent to adult mental institutions, just because they were born with special needs.
Before you start booing Eastern Europe, remember, in America, we used to do that too. We still have a few mental institutions, "homes", for those with special needs. Luckily we've started to move past that. Theo was one of those ones that was "lucky" enough to be born. I don't know his full story, but his mother gave him up. Maybe she couldn't raise a child. Maybe she wanted to keep him, but her friends and family talked her out of it. Whatever the reason, he was given up. Now he's older, and he's in a mental institution. Yes, it's one of the "better" ones. He was one of the few boys that was put into the "Happy Home" next to the orphanage, where it is a little more like a home, where they get a little more attention.
But it's still an orphanage.
All because he was born with cerebral palsy. A sweet, gentle, happy little boy, was doomed by his country because of something that wasn't his fault. Cerebral Palsy isn't a death sentence. With therapy, he could probably live a pretty normal life. But he needs a family for that. Are you his family?
People say I'm obsessed with orphans. Yes, I am. And I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of pouring my heart and soul into rescuing orphans from a living hell. Because they don't have another voice. I know that my writing, my fundraising, it won't change the world. His family probably won't find him through me. My fundraising probably won't even make a dent in the huge price for Theo's Freedom. Theo probably won't ever know about me. But you know what? If one person reads this, that's one more person that may not have known before. That's one more person that can help spread the word. So, no, I'm not going to change the world.
But I sure am going to try.
Because it makes a difference to this one.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Theo the Gentle
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
All Along
But I was updating the blog, and knowing Danielle Vrtar (A Reece's Rainbow advocate) was at O50, so I went through and added the kids at O50 that caught my attention (Maya's Hope also shares about them), along with Brody and Auggie (can't abandon the brothers).
All day, Theo was on my mind. But I wasn't sure. So I said, "God, please give me a sign if he is the next one." So I sent my best friend (and blog partner) the pictures of the six boys, to see if she felt the same pull. And she did. Out of the six, she felt drawn to Theo too.
Monday, June 10, 2013
If We Are The Body
If we are the body of Christ, why does almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day? We're not doing everything we can. Because there's enough for everyone's need. Just not everyone's greed.
In 2005, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school. 72 million kids, who were at the age to be in school, weren't.
- Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen. Our focus is on defeating others, instead of educating our future. The money is out there, but we are too greedy.
- Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. 1.1 billion people. 1,100,000,000 people, don't have adequate access to water. And that water they do have access to, isn't that healthy. Twice that many lack basic sanitation. So people get sick. People are getting sick and dying from preventable things.
Here in America, you have access to water pretty much 24/7. Go walk into your kitchen, there's water. Water to drink, to cook, to flush toilets, to water our gardens. 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
Can you believe that? We use more water to FLUSH A TOILET then 1.8 billion people have access to everyday. Doesn't that bother you? In the US, we use an average of 600 liters of water a day- per person. One person in the US uses the same amount as 30 people who don't have water in their house. We take long showers, not thinking about how much water we're using, because it's not going to run out. Doing laundry, doing dishes. Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water. Yet in the US, we can get it in five seconds. You can probably see a water source from where you're sitting right now.
1 in every 2 children is living in poverty. Yet we have 7 year old beauty pagent participants with their own TV shows. We have shows where parents will spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to dress their children up and show them off.
There are 157 million orphans in the world. There are 2.18 billion people who call themselves Christians. There is no way this can be right.
157,000,000 orphans.
2,180,000,000 Christians.
James 1:27 is pretty clear. "Religion our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans in their distress." If you call yourself a Christian, look after orphans.
So where's the problem?
Our problem is that we aren't being the body. We need to become the body, and save these little ones. We're getting too comfortable in our faith, just taking the forgiveness, and not giving back. That's not what being a Christian is about! We serve because we are saved, not to be saved. When you realize that freedom, you can't help but share it with others! It's like having the cure for cancer. You're not sharing it because you want to save yourself, you're sharing it because you can't help share! Good works are the fruits of salvation, not the roots.
It's like an apple, it doesn't have to think about growing apples, it just does! It doesn't make apples so that it will be kept care of, it makes apples because it is taken care of.
We are the body of Christ. Every one of those things I mentioned can be fixed. There are multiple organizations that have made it their mission to eliminate one of those problems.
A body only works if everything works together, and does what it is supposed to do.
And as a church, we need to be welcoming. Church is not a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for the broken. We all need healing. So don't judge others. You know you do it. Put yourself in their shoes. Because people notice, when you won't make eye contact, or avoid passing them. They notice when you talk about them. And although the saying goes, "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", words do hurt. Sticks and stones hurt physically, but physical wounds can heal. Emotional wounds are so much worse.
We don't want to be excluded, so why do we exclude others?
We're all human, we're all messed up. We all have secrets, and things we are ashamed of. We've all sinned, we've all hurt others. No one is better then anyone else. So don't try to be.
It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know
But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road
But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
When You Wish Upon A Star
Monday, May 6, 2013
Nobody's Child
I wish I could conjure up the most eloquent blog post ever right now, but I can't.
I'm actually pretty preoccupied by my health tonight, and I didn't really want to write a blog post.
But then it occurred to me.
While I sit in my warm bed in my warm house, not wanting to type on my laptop...
...a little boy sits, and maybe he's cold, having nothing that's really his own... not wanting to be an orphan.
And I owe it to him to write this post.
Around a year and a half ago, for some reason and without ever intending to, I fell in love with this little boy.
Back then, he looked more like this:
I don't know what it was about him. Maybe his picture. Maybe his story. But I think, mostly God.
That little boy is Brett, and he lives in a mental institution in Eastern Europe, because he was abandoned at birth because he has down syndrome.
And when I say abandoned at birth... I mean it quite literally. Most of the children in orphanages or institutions were born in hospitals or at home and surrendered from there directly to the orphanage. Not Brett. Immediately after giving birth, Brett's birth mother left him to lie in a field. He became hypothermic and unresponsive, went into shock. When a stranger came upon him and took him to the hospital, he was covered in bug bites.
Brett very nearly didn't make it through his first day on this earth. If that stranger hadn't come upon him, for whatever reason, by whatever twist of fate... he would have died, a nameless baby who belonged to no one.
But that didn't happen. He was saved. Saved... and then taken to a hospital... and then to an orphanage. At three years old, he was transferred from the orphanage to an adult mental institution. Adult. Three years old.
Saved... but for what kind of life?
This is the question I ask myself every day - and it can only have one answer. Brett's story isn't over - not yet. He was saved that day, on August 23, 2001 (yes, I have his birthday memorized), for something greater than the life he's living now... and all he needs to get there... is you.
You.
Yes, YOU.
If you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. Brett needs YOU.
He's eleven years old now, still waiting in that mental institution, legally free and available for adoption and listed with Reece's Ranbow with a grant over $2,500 to aid with his adoption. I can personally promise to help raise the rest of the money required for the family who adopts him. His country is really a great one to adopt from - easy travel, inexpensive, very stable program, Hague country, I've heard nothing but good about the facilitators and agency staff.
What are you waiting for?
Recently, one of the adoption facilitators traveled to Brett's institution. The report came back that he has some nonverbal communication skills, is extremely flexible (typical for kids with DS), and would likely do very well in a family and is not aggressive (something that has been seen in many institutionalized children). Brett also has alopecia, which is why he lost his hair. No big deal. I shaved mine for him on New Year's this year! There are all sorts of fun things to do with a bald head. And this little detail of his appearance... should absolutely NOT be what stops him from having the family he deserves. From my own limited experience with institutionalized children, I suspect he would be a wonderful and loving son. Others with more experience seem to concur. More pictures and videos of Brett are available from the agency.
There are two possible outcomes for Brett. Only two. He doesn't have the limitless opportunities we have in this country.
The first one, the one I want for him, is a happy ending. A family. A mom and dad, or maybe just a mom, to say YES to Brett... where others have said no.
Lately, there have been a string of older boys (the most at-risk group of orphans) appearing on the My Family Found Me page at Reece's Rainbow. And every time a new one shows up, I rejoice for him, but my heart says, "Why not Brett?" Fifteen year olds, aging out in a matter of days, have had the adoption community rally around them and been adopted just in time. Teenagers, on the cusp of being fully grown adults. By comparison, Brett isn't 'older'. He's eleven. I remember eleven. We traded pokemon cards, danced to music, played dress up in our parents' clothes, loved board games, had sleepovers. Brett is still a child. And he has Down Syndrome. His developmental 'age' is likely much lower. He's just a little boy... in the body of an eleven year old. So I ask again... Why not Brett? Why, never Brett? Why is he not one that people rally behind? Because he doesn't come from the 'right' institution? Because no adopting families have met him? None of these things are his fault! No more obstacles than have been overcome in previous cases.
He's just another little boy, locked away in a place he doesn't belong... probably very rural, from what we know, which is likely to increase his hardship, especially during the winter. Heat and food can be hard to come by in rural areas without reliable routes of transportation for all seasons... so while you're celebrating Christmas, instead of celebrating with you, eyes lighting up brighter than the Christmas tree, he's probably cold, and hungry.
If Christ our Lord was sitting in that institution... would you not save him?
But He is.
He is in every one of us... especially the least of these.
Which group are you in? Those who do, or those who don't?
Because, the second possible outcome of Brett's life is unimaginable. I don't need a long paragraph to describe it. He will spend the rest of his life in a mental institution with sub-par care, until one day, he dies there. He will rock, chew his hands, bite his tongue, stare at blank walls, shiver, maybe starve... and then he will die. He'll be buried in an unmarked grave, or maybe a grave marked only with a wooden stick and a number. Again, nameless, and again, belonging to nobody... the same way he started out.
That is not the life he was saved for. I refuse to believe it. That can't be his future. Not after all the obstacles he's overcome already. Brett is a fighter - in a good way, of course - but there's only so much he can do for himself in his position. Right now, he needs you... to help him fight... to get him out... to save him from fading away as alone as he started out.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so let me allow the pictures to illustrate the stark contrast between these two futures.
Here's the one he can have if you say YES to him.
And here's the one he'll have if you turn away.
I've been pleading for Brett since the day I saw his picture. Like the day the stranger came upon him in that field, I believe it was fate that I saw him. But I can't adopt him. I'm too young for his country's requirements and I always will be. The law requires parent and child to be at least 15 years apart in age. I've posted his picture everywhere. I've written countless blog posts for him. I've done fundraisers for him. I shaved my head for one of them! Since that day a year and a half ago, his grant has grown by over $2,500 (although certainly not by my own hand). But I can't save him. Not alone.
I'm a realistic person. I know not everyone can or should adopt... but I also know that people do, every day... and sometimes they choose older boys, just like Brett. Why not him? And if you're in that group, like me, who couldn't adopt him no matter how hard they tried, that doesn't mean you can't do anything! Brett needs two things. He needs money in his Reece's Rainbow account, to help the family who commits to him. You can donate to him here. But more than anything, he needs to be seen. So I beg you to share this blog post... far and wide. If you never do anything I ask again, please, please do this. Just this would be enough. And if not for me... do it for the abandoned little boy in the field, cold and alone and covered in bug bites. Or do it for God. Just do it... please. This is our chance to get Brett seen... before it becomes an aging out emergency.
Donate. Share. Pray. Adopt.
Be one of those who gives to the least of these... not one of those who turns away.
Please. I'm begging you. Don't turn away. Don't let him stay the way he is right now... nobody's child.
Other blog posts about Brett:
- http://callmecrazycbus.blogspot.com/search/label/Brett
- http://crazy-arewethereyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Brett