"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth" Isaiah 43:5-6

"Remember those…who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8,9)


"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40
This is our journal to rescue an orphan with Down syndrome who lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. Anna was left at the hospital by her parents, who refused to take her home because she was born with Down syndrome. In Anna's country people with disabilities are looked down upon and are typically hidden away in orphanages from birth and their outlook for life is not very good. Once the orphan turns 4-6 depending on the region they live in, they are then transferred from the orphanage to mental institutions or insane asylums. Our family desperately wants to make Anna our daughter before she is transferred as she is already 5 years old. We will love her and give her the family that she deserves and give her a future full of hope, despite her disability. When our family stepped out in faith and committed to adopt Anna we didn't have the money that it would take to get her here. God has worked miracles in so many aspects of our adoption. The biggest miracle is that I have had faith all alone that God would send the money we needed to adopt Anna. Through many answered prayers, God made sure we had every penny we needed to make her our daughter!

Please watch this video and see what God says about orphans and the starving children!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

We are home

and soooooooooooo thankful to finally be here!  I ended up getting strep throat the day before we left for home and have been trying to recover from that, jet lag, being gone for a MONTH and catching up on my family and life!  So for now you will get some pictures from the trip and hopefully you will get an update soon too!

Feeding chasing the birds


She did not like ice cream at first, but it didn't take long for her to finally enjoy it!






Anna loving on Katya, a wonderful Godly Russian woman that God placed in our path on our journey through Russia




Entertaining a few people at Red Square


Hanging with our new friend Gentry who is adopting Maria,
you can follow their journey at A family for Maria





This child would not fall asleep anywhere except her bed, until this day.....
I never thought it would happen!



A Down syndrome sighting in Russia! This little man lived in an apartment above the passport agency!
It's very rare to see someone out and about with Down syndrome, believe me, we got lot's of stares at our girl when we walked around the city.  They are not used to see people with disabilities out in the community, as they are typically shut away in mental institutions.  I honestly could not believe that this man lived in the community where we saw him.  It was a small community out in "the sticks", LOL. He was so funny. I was in the car waiting on our facilitator to pick up Anna's passport and he was waving and talking to me and he was such a hoot!




Posted by at

4 comments:

Katrina said...

Can't believe you are finally home. What a relief that must be. I hope you can get caught up on life soon. Since we have just started I feel like I am drowning in paper work. Just so glad you guys are home safe.

August 3, 2011 at 1:06 AM
The Annessa Family said...

Your little girl is breathtaking! Seeing that older man with DS reminds me of my brother and brought tears to my eyes.

I dont know how or why the man you saw was able to break free from that cycle of being put into a MI, but thank you Lord that he did.

Brooke
www.TheAnnessaFamily.blogspot.com

August 3, 2011 at 8:54 AM
amyl4 said...

Welcome Home Tracy! Your little Ana is the most beautiful little girl! I love the pictures, thank you for sharing them with all of us! I hope you are feeling better soon!.....
And a BIG thank you for taking the pic of the man with Ds, it made my heart smile seeing his happy face!

August 3, 2011 at 8:55 AM
G said...

Did he live with a parent, do you know?

August 16, 2011 at 11:36 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)