Another Reece's Rainbow angel is gone......

It breaks my heart to say that another angel from Eastern Europe with Down syndrome has gained her wings.  Some people think that it is exaggerated about the poor life that the orphans in Eastern Europe have.  I wish that it was being exaggerated and that these poor orphans didn't have to live the horrible life that they live, with no mommy and no daddy and sometimes no medical care.  Another death, and it has only been several months since sweet Anne Marie lost her life there too.  She was a beautiful little girl, but for whatever reason she was an orphan most likely because she had Down syndrome.  Why does it have to be this way?

Not about adoption at all BUT

I have a friend in desperate need for help/legal advice.  Below is a shortened version of what is going on.  We desperately need advice......if you can't post a comment, and you would like to offer advice, look to the right of my side bar and click on "email me" to send me a message.  She is in another state and I feel so helpless and she feels like she is at the end of her rope :(  So please don't think bad of me for putting this on our adoption blog.  I am hoping and praying that someone out there can help her!


My friends husband of 20 some years confessed last year to having an affair. During their visits with a therapist she discovered that he had multiple affairs throughout their marriage. They are going through a divorce now and he hired the most nasty, most crooked lawyer in the area. When he left he pretty much wiped out their savings. She barely had any money to hire a lawyer and have day to day expenses to live for her and her daughter. Her lawyer has mentioned nothing about this in court to the judge. She left her career 19 years ago when they had their first child. They also have a daughter who is 8 years old and has special needs. She was a very dedicated wife who supported his career as a major airline pilot. This crazy man pushed and pushed in court for her to go and get a job. So she found a job in another state doing the same career path that she had previously in their marriage. Her lawyer told her that it should be fine if she moved out of state and take her daughter with her and that there was a small chance that the judge would not allow her to do it. So she went to court and they told the judge that she had found a job back in her home state, where she would have family support to help her with her daughter so that she could work. The judge said no way and temp. awarded her husband their daughter and that he could move back into the house. So that day she was left with NOTHING. She can't move back to their state to be awarded custody bec. he was temp. awarded the house and she would have nowhere to live and no job. Their divorce isn't final and they are supposed to go to court very soon.

Here's the kicker, her lawyer emailed her yesterday and told her that he is pulling out of her case and that she needs to "find a lawyer that she could trust". OK, so I have been telling her for months that her lawyer had to be getting paid by her husband to do NOTHING for her in court...which is exactly what he has done....NOTHING FOR HER, NOTHING! They have gone to court a couple of times already and it was like her pig husband and pig lawyer had all control. They told lie after lie and her lawyer would say NOTHING!! Her lawyer stopped returning her calls last week and then he sends her an email yesterday saying that he is pulling himself out of the case. Does this sound to you like he was being paid by someone to not defend her at all?? She has already paid this man thousands and thousands of dollars and is down to nothing in her bank account to go and start over and hire another lawyer! I asked her could she get her court date changed since her lawyer backed out on her and she said that in divorce court you can't do anything without a lawyer. She has no money and no lawyer to help her. She says that he is going to get EVERYTHING they owned and their daughter. He told her a couple of months ago that he would be the last one laughing. How can this happen? What do poor people do who can't afford a $20,000 lawyer fee? Do they just sit back and lose everything? Do you think she has the right to demand all of her money back from the lawyer who conveniently pulled himself off of her case? I am wondering if he feels guilty and that is why he said find someone you can trust. 

What can she do? She needs help and I have no clue how to help her. We don't live in the same state and I feel helpless here. If I had money I would go and help her find a new lawyer...but I don't have that kind of money.OH and he was ordered to pay her alimony for three months and then they would review it again. So he paid his 3 months and stopped. It was never brought up again for review and he has paid nothing more to her! I just don't understand how a judge could allow this crap to happen ... whose side is he on??

So for those of you that pray, would you please pray for her to have wisdom and that God would help her through this? She is devastated without her daughter. She called me crying and delirious last night after her lawyer sent her that email. I am really worried for her right now and I am praying that she doesn't do anything to harm herself to get rid of all the pain she is in. She and her daughter were stuck together like glue before all of this happened. They had a really tight bond and I am sure that her little girl is devastated by not being able to see her mommy.  PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!  My heart is breaking for them. :(

Redeemed

I would like for all of you to read this article written by Mary, called Ransomed .  It is a story about her adopted son Micah from Ukraine.  I remember reading about Micahs life shortly after they adopted him in 2009 and the story that they told about the conditions in the mental institution that he was transferred to straight from the baby orphanage.  This story cut a hole in my heart, seriously.  I have been following Reeces' Rainbow family blogs and had never been so slapped in the face with the reality of how these children were suffering.  I had read many family stories of things that their children had experienced, but this one hit home!!  When you read the story they talk about the trauma that little Micah went through while in the mental institution.  I sat crying, sobbing and determined to some how help these children because at that point I saw my daughter Ashlyn sitting in the floor where Micah was.  I saw her afraid and terrorized and it really, really did something to me that day.  My Ashlyn is easily frightened and can sometimes get scared at the slightest change in her environment...the older she gets, the worse it seems to get.  When I read that story I saw her afraid and crying and pushing the other children away.  Why isn't someone helping her?  Why isn't someone getting the other children that are terrorizing her out of her way?  She is afraid and crying and screaming and no one is coming to her rescue!  Where is everyone?  Where is her mama and where is her daddy and why did they leave her like this?  And then I remember, oh that's not Ashlyn sitting there in the floor, no she is safe right here next to me watching cartoons in her warm and toasty pajamas as happy and content as she can be.  She's here.  She's safe.  No one is terrorizing her.  She isn't cold or hungry.  She isn't crying and afraid.  She isn't begging strangers for food.  But guess what?  There are other little Ashlyn's out there who aren't as fortunate as our little Ashlyn  They don't have a mom or dad to tuck them in at night or to make sure their belly is full.  They don't have someone to rub their back or rock them to sleep or comfort them when they or sick and crying.  What can I do to help them?  I am just *one*.  The orphan crisis in this world is too big for just one to make a difference.  Or is it?  We've heard before, you can't save the world Traci.  No but we can save her world.  Anna's world.  Anna's life.  We can be her mommy and daddy and brothers and sister.  We can comfort her when she is sick or afraid.  And you can make a difference too.  Maybe you aren't in a place to adopt a child right now.  Maybe you don't have any extra money to donate to help the many families at Reece's Rainbow right now.  But I know you know how to pray.  I know you know how to spread the word about our many families, through email, snail mail, Facebook, etc.  You can make a difference for the orphans of the world by advocating for them.  Maybe you could send $5 this month or maybe you could send $100 this month.  Any money that is donated goes towards changing the life for one of the 147 million orphans in the world.  You can be a life saver today!  Pray.  Donate.  Spread the Word.

OH and go and read Micah's story

God is in the redemption business!!!

From this:

to this:

Yay God!!!!!!!

One more post for the day.....

I would like to ask of everyone that has donated, prayed, shared our story, etc.  will you please consider making a comment and let us know how you found out about us?  There are so many people that have donated to help us and we would be thrilled if you would share how you found us! Pretty Please?!?  If you aren't a blogger and can't leave a comment, go to the right side bar and look for the envelope that says "email us".  We would love to hear from you!

Huge Thank you's!!!

Our family is still in shock by the big donations that have come in for Anna.  Yesterday I came home from the grocery store, put away my groceries and plopped down at the computer.  I went to our FSP page at RR to see if Anna's grant had grown.  OH-MY-GOSH she had $14,961.00 in her account!  I literally fell out of my chair and on to my knees and started crying so hard and thanking God.  My husband who was upstairs sleeping woke up and thought someone had died, LOL.  I was crying that hard!!  I still get teary eyed thinking about all of the people who have made donations to help us bring our little girl home.  I am STILL in awe that people who don't know us or know Anna would help us as much as you all have!  Ever since we committed to Anna it's like my spirit has known all along that God would make a way for us to go and get her, and he is.  So many people that we know and even people we don't, have shared our story with their friends and family and that's how we have raised the majority of our money.  From strangers.  I have prayed all along that God would get our story out there to people who could help us and touch their hearts to help us in any way they can.  We have had so many people praying with us, again people we know and others that we don't.  Obviously Anna's story has touched the hearts of many people.  I want so bad to thank you all personally but I don't have emails or any way to get in touch with you.  I pray that you are all still reading our blog and see this message because we want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.  You cannot imagine the impact you have made on this little girls' life and ours.  I hope that you all continue to read once we bring her home so that you can see what a difference every penny donated has made for her life.  Please continue to pray for us; we have a scary journey upon us as we travel into a country where everyone speaks another language.  We will be away from our children, while we go and meet our new daughter and hopefully bring her home soon.  Pray that we are able to raise the last $8,000 of our funds to go and make Anna our daughter :)  God has brought us this far and I know that he will be with us all the way.  Thanks to everyone one of you and may God richly bless each and every one of you.

God is making a way!

I just want to give a shout out for the Lord!  Over Christmas we were given a $2,000 gift to help us bring Anna home!  Oh how blessed we are!  Then a very dear friend of mine calls me to tell me that she also wants to give a gift for Anna and she gave us a check for $1,000.  I have been blown away by God's love and mercy throughout our adoption process.  I was recently contacted by a lady whose daughter gave a donation to Anna in honor of her mother for Christmas.  She said that she is too hard to buy for so her daughter wanted to give her a meaningful gift this year.  I am not sure how her daughter found out about our journey and made the donation, but she blessed the socks off of her own mother and ME!!!  What a precious lady of the Lord she is.  We have conversed back and forth for a few days and she has agreed to be a prayer warrior for Anna and help us spread the word about our journey.  Even though her daughter gave a gift in her mother's name, the mother also gave another donation to help us bring Anna home.  For all of you who are in the process or want to be in the process of adopting one of the sweeties from Reece's Rainbow, I want to tell you to just turn it over to the Lord.  If it is meant to be for your family to adopt a precious little child God will work it all out.  I never dreamed that Mike would be excited about adopting a child and a special needs child at that!  I have left all of the finances up to God and am depending on him for every penny that we need to give this little girl a loving and forever family.  God has carried us this far and I have no doubt that he will continue to walk with us on this journey to bring our princess home.