Okay I want to start off by saying that we sincerely apologize if you are offended by us reaching out for help to rescue Anna from a life in an institution. Apparently some people don't feel as passionate about helping other humans to have a better life. It's okay to make a donation to the Humane society to help animals. It's ok to donate to our local schools, and saving the trees and birds, but don't ask for a dollar to help save a childs life.
If you know our story, and some of you don't, then just read and know why we are doing what we are doing. I have followed Reece's Rainbow for over 2 years now. I have prayed many, many, many prayers for the children and the families that are adopting. We have donated money to several families along the way. I was born being a "giver" and so I guess it is hard for me to not relate to those who aren't. For over two years I have secretly wanted to go and rescue one of those beautiful orphans with Down syndrome but I knew my husband would NEVER go for it. So for 2 years I talked about the kids on Reece's Rainbow to him and my children but had never asked him what he thought about us adopting one of the children. Back at the first of the year I just out of the blue asked him if we could please adopt one of the orphans from Reece's Rainbow. His reaction blew me away. He said "absolutely not". With a broken heart I went away by myself and spoke these words out loud to God. God if you change his heart we will go and get her. These were words spoken out loud to God. So I just kept praying for him but never asked him again. A couple of months go by and I am sitting at work and Mike and I are emailing each other back and forth. Out of the blue comes this thought - Send him her picture. Ohhhhh you can believe I said right back - I can't do that, he will be mad at me. It didn't take long for me to realize you better send him that picture so I did. Well, our emailing back and forth stopped after that and I just knew he was mad at me. I went home that night and not a word was mentioned about the picture I had sent him so I just assumed he was unhappy with what I had done. The next day he brings it up to me and I started crying and poured my heart out to him and told him that I just couldn't get her off of my mind or my heart. After a few words were exchanged he said to me "we will talk to the boys about it". OK that almost blew me off of my chair!! Did he really just say those words? I couldn't believe it! Over the next couple of weeks of going back and forth he finally says OK we will do it. Well as soon as he said that I was attacked by all of these thoughts that we could never do this and we couldn't pull this off because this adoption will cost $30,000 + and we simply didn't have the money. So I started asking God for signs and honestly, every time I talked to him about a specific thing he would answer me. Riding down the road I told God, we don't have $30,000 how are we going to do this God? Is this really what you want us to do? A few seconds later there is a sign at a church above our house that read "Jump in with Faith". Okay God I get that message. So many times I would have these thoughts racing through my mind and wondered if we were really doing what God wanted us to do. I thought about how EASY it would be to BACK OUT now because we hadn't made our official committments but then God reminded me very quickly of what I had said out loud to him that day. "But you said if I changed his heart you WOULD go and get her, are you telling me now that it's just too hard to do?" THAT day I committed to God and haven't backed down since then, that despite the hardships we WOULD go and get her.
All along I have had the highest faith that God will provide a way for us to go and get her. I haven't doubted him at any point along the way. God knew when he changed Mike's heart that we DIDN'T have $30,000 to go and get her. He didn't have to do any work in Mike if he wasn't going to provide the finances for us to be able to adopt her. I believe that. I believe that in one way or another, God WILL make sure we are able to carry out his plan. BUT last night I read something that just went straight to the heart. People that don't know our story saying that what we are doing is wrong and that we shouldn't have committed to her if we didn't have $30,000. Really? Did God tell YOU that? Because that is not what he told me. Well are you making sacrifices? Of course we are! Mike and I do NOT go on high dollar vacations and do not blow money on brand new cars and a lot of things that we don't need. Last year we went to visit my family in Maryland and that was it, no other vacations that year. This year we went no where, trying to save money... and we are fine with that. Heck we might never go on vacation again and I could care less really. We are trying to save a life people....not asking for money for a brand new car.
I told Mike last night about what I had read, that we shouldn't be fundraising to adopt her. He told me that I worry too much about what other people think about me. Well that's just me and I can't help that. So this morning, a sweet, sweet person said something to me that put everything back in to perspective. You see, she has fallen in love with a wee one on Reece's Rainbow too. She was having a conversation with her pastor about her desire to adopt this baby with Down syndrome and she told him "we don't have the money to adopt him". The reply from her pastor was something like- you can reach out for help and if it is in God's plan everything will work out. She handed me a check to go towards our funds for Anna and I held myself together until I got to my car. She had no idea what I was struggling with after what I read last night that upset me so much!! I was so discouraged last night and this morning that I wanted to shut my blog down and not reach out to another person for help, UNTIL she said what she did to me!!! God is helping me to understand that there are going to be people who don't like what we are doing or asking for money. In fact, there are some people who think we have lost our minds for adopting another child with Down syndrome!!! One person even said to me - why would you do that to yourself? Do what to myself, save a life? How harsh is that? So I am just going to leave it here and say- if you are among those that are offended by us raising money for a good cause, then we deeply apologize. You can delete the link to our blog and never be bothered by us again. And then I want to say to all of you that don't think we are crazy and want to help us and have helped us - WE THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Please help us rescue Anna!
Could you please consider helping us? Perhaps you can't make a donation, will you please pray that we meet the needed amount to go and rescue her from a life in an institution? Maybe you could give up your Starbucks treat for a week, or maybe you could donate more to help save an orphan? Orphans in EE are transferred to an "insane asylum" between the ages of 4-6. Our Anna is already 5 and we are praying that we can get to her before she is transferred to that awful place.
For anyone who makes a donation to help bring Anna home, you will receive one of the pink awareness bracelets you see above that reads "Saving Anna". When the fundraiser is over we will put your name in for our drawing of one great prize! We will be giving away one 16 gb iPad with wi-fi.
If our donations reach $10,000 or more (from today until fundraiser ends) we will UPGRADE the prize to give away one Apple MacBook pro!!!
Should we have a miracle and reach$20,000 we will give away TWO Macbooks!!! Help us spread the word so that we can hopefully reach our goal and give away two great prizes!
Either of these would make an awesome Christmas present for someone! Please share our link and tell your family and friends, co-workers, etc. about our fundraiser and help little Anna's funds reach our goal to go and rescue our Princess! You can make a donation by clicking on the "chipin" box to the right or you can make a tax deductible donation by clicking here on Anna's picture.
Thank you and God bless.
p.s. for those of you have donated to the chip from September you are included in our giveaway as well.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Resting with Jesus
Just look at that sweet face. Can you imagine no one loving on her and giving her kisses and hugs? Some people say- who would love a child like her? Yes that is how people from her country in Eastern Europe feel about children with disabilities. But so many people at Reece's Rainbow DID love this little girl, me included. I can't tell you how many times I prayed for this sweet girl. I just *knew* that any day now someone would step up and commit to be her mother. Never in a million years did I think I would read those awful, awful words. Anne Marie has gone to be with Jesus.
Her fight on earth is over. She is not alone anymore. She doesn't have to bang her head on a crib just so she will have stimulation from something....
She doesn't have to sit in that stroller anymore and watch all of the other "healthy" children run around and play. She doesn't have to sit and watch more of her friends be taken away by loving families, while leaving her behind. She is in the arms of her sweet savior forevermore.
What did she die from you ask? Dehydration...yes she was dehydrated. She apparently got a virus that was going around the orphanage, became dehydrated and her little body just couldn't take all of that neglect anymore. This hurts my heart so immensely. I just can't stand the thought of a baby girl that no one took time to love and nurture, died from dehydration and probably also, a broken heart.
Our family is on a rescue mission to save a sweet little girl just like Anne Marie. She is five years old and also has Down syndrome. Her name is Anna. Anna lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe as well. Her parents refused to take her from the hospital when she was born. She was sent to an orphanage at 17 days old where she has remained since then. Anna is living on borrowed time. She turned 5 years old in May and we have been trying so hard to get to her before they transfer her to what they call insane asylums. Yes, that is where children with disabilities go in EE around the ages of 4-6 depending on what region they live in. Our family WANTS to add Anna to our family so that she will no longer be subject to hunger, trauma or neglect. We want her, despite her disability. There are so MANY more families who want to do the same thing but can't afford the high cost of international adoption. We can't afford it either! We took a step in faith as we committed to her, believing that some way, some how, God will provide the ransom cost that we need to go and get her. Could you please help us to save this little girl before she becomes another statistic? How can you help? We are starting a fund raiser tomorrow for another great prize, and HOPING and BELIEVING that God will provide a way. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation you can click on Anna's picture to go to Reece's Rainbow and make a donation. Please be sure to mention "Anastasia for the Williams family" so that your donation will go towards Anastasia. Thank you and God bless.
Meredith Cornish is a mommy to 7 children, almost 8 and possibly 9! She wrote the following poem for another child that lost their life due to sickness and neglect in an Eastern Europe institution. Here is her website if you would like to follow her journey as well.
Cornish Adoption journey
While we were eating…
… they were hungry
While we were playing…
… they were restrained
While we were tucking our kids into bed…
… they were alone
While we turned up the heat…
… they laid in the icy cold
While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers…
… they laid in their own excrement
While we sang songs and listened to music…
… they listened to the screams and cries of those around them
While we rocked our babies…
… they silently rocked themselves
While we hugged our kids…
… they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation
While we cried over scraped knees…
… they moaned in their loneliness
While we brushed our daughters’ beautiful hair…
… they had their heads shaved to stave off the lice
While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment…
… they got the flu and went Home.
No longer suffering… but so many more still are.
In memory of those that have never felt the love of a family, but have passed away alone.
By: Meredith Cornish
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
RIP Anne Marie
Ohhhhh my heart is hurting so bad right now. I just found out that Sweet lil' Anne Marie has gone to be with Jesus. I can't even count how many times I prayed for her to find a family of her own. I looked daily to see if anyone had committed to bringing this sweet girl home. I just knew in my heart that it WAS going to happen for her. Many prayers and tears went up to heaven for her and I was sure it would happen soon. But it didn't. Did she die all alone? No, I tell myself. Jesus was right there with her and always was. I've been crying so hard I could hardly breathe. You know what is really sad about this? There were several families that would have made her their own daughter, but only one thing was in the way. Finances. That stinks! No child should ever be alone or die alone without a mommy and daddy to love them, only because they don't have $30,000 or more to adopt them. I know many families out there that would love to make one of these precious children a child of their own. If you aren't able to adopt, could you possibly make a donation to help a family in need who would love to adopt?
Look at these children listed and pray ask God what he would have you do about it.
Reece's Rainbow
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