Broken wings learn to fly

Two weeks ago our sweet boy Dryden spent his first birthday in a family. It was very low key because his sweet little self was so damaged by Ukraine. He was scared of people who live outside of the home and he would self harm from something as little as eye contact from an unfamiliar face so low key was perfect for him.

We decorated his room, and basically just loved on him all day. All of the children love birthdays(what children don't?) and they were so excited that Dryden would have his first. My oldest bio spent almost all day by his side, Dryden holds a very special place in his heart. And Dryden has a special love for all of the children in the home. He would let them climb on him, snuggle him, feed him, touch him. He put trust in them. They didn't have to build the relationship and work so hard to show him he was finally safe. It was like he just knew they were his very special army. It was adults who had failed him and I will never understand why special needs children get the treatment they do in Ukraine from the adults who should be protecting them. He spent 14 years secluded and tied to his crib. Never held, never loved. I'm so thankful I could change all of that. He deserved it.

 It is so devastatingly sad that it took 15 years for someone to see his worth and celebrate his life. I will always be bitter about that. ALL children deserve LOVE without wait. ALL children deserve a family.

My husband fly fishes and that day he came home with the most beautiful hand tied fly. Papa was  excited. He told me ''look what I got Dryden for his Birthday''. I was confused. A fly! Really! my husband beamed. He said you can hang it from somewhere in his room for him to look at he might never use it but ''MAYBE he MIGHT''. This is the kind of hope we hold. We want to turn mountains into rainbows for our children and we hoped that just ''MAYBE'' one day he would have his rainbow. We believe in him. When we adopted him he couldn't sit up, crawl, speak, or really move very much independently but all of that changed. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it.

                                                        Our sweet boy on the move

We are so honored to have gotten to share his Birthday with him. We are blessed to call him our son. He waited his entire life to feel something he should have got from the start. Something we give him everyday. LOVE. He became stronger with that love, he even started learning words, he began to crawl, and was eating by spoon. He was improving every day and he gained a smile that could light  up any one's world.

The next thing I will share is very difficult for us. It is hard to write  because I don't want it to be true. I have spent the last week trying to convince myself that there is no way this can be happening, but it is.  I don't want to have to share this very sad devastating  news but you all deserve to hear because you loved him too.

Our hearts are shattered to say that this was the ONLY birthday Dryden will share with his family because two days later on May 18th Dryden let go. Our broken boy grew the most beautiful wings and flew from this tainted earth that caused so much suffering.  It came unexpected and that only adds to the hurt.  We loved him so very much and feel very blessed to have the almost 6 months we had with him but it wasn't enough. From the moment we knew he existed we knew he was ours and we really wish we could have spent a lifetime with him. We have two biological children with a terminal disease but I have never lost a child. Loosing a child is by far the hardest loss anyone can go through. He was so perfect and amazing and I spent so much time filling my life with his. He was a special kind of special. He was so loved and so cherished and is very missed.

Mama, Papa, and all your brothers and sisters will always love you. You will always be our sweet amazing boy. NOTHING can replace the love you gave our hearts. We are forever grateful to hold you in our hearts. Fly high our sweet love.

Papa and Me

Oh papa you make me laugh

Happy hands

Cherished

 

Sitting without support

 

Mama and my Brother

Independent little man

He loved his pillow

In his big boy chair

Loved

Beautiful Boy

Story time, always one of the gang

His favorite spot

Siblings at play

Sweet dreams buddy.

''Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love''

-Mother Teresa

The fate of the forever wait

                                                     Do you like having to wait?

Sometimes as we wait time seems to creep by for what feels life forever. At least it does for me. I had to go to Tractor supply last week for goat food and I swear  it felt I was in line for an half hour. The person ahead of me was dealing with a email issue and the system wasn't accepting his new information. There was only one register open. At the point of me being in line for 10 minutes a man comes up behind me. He huffs and waits maybe a minute before he began to get restless. He then started pacing and looking at his watch. A worker started to open a register near and despite me being their for much much  longer he literally took off like lightning to the register telling her thank goodness I didn't have to wait in that line. I didn't move but watched the line fill faster than I could of got to it. There are lots of times in our life were we have no control over our waiting, and it seems like time stands still. Most moments the reality is we are inpatient, feel entitled, and we have better things to do than wait, and people can be plain out rude with their disregard of the world around them. I waited a total of 13 minutes, and I watched people get upset about waiting less. Now think about this for me

                                                           What if you had to wait?

                                                                      AND WAIT.
                                                   
                                                     WITH NO CHANGE EVER!

                                                                     TRAPPED.

                                                                     FOREVER.

This is the reality of so many children and many adults trapped in institutions all over the world. Most of these countries are very poor unable to even afford proper food but they could do better. Some children live their entire life never leaving a crib. Many die young and many are still in a crib 16+ years later. Many still using a bottle and in a diaper when they shouldn't be. No toys, no art on the wall. No one picks them up, many will never see what it is like to go outside. When I adopted my children they were double diapered and it weighed more than they did. I think they might have got changed once a day.  I saw the tragedy of children living in cribs first hand. I adopted 3 children from cribs ages 15,14 and 6 last December, and one of the children I am planning to adopt this year is also in a crib. She is THIRTEEN!. The walls are bare, no toys hanging about. Her special need is DOWN SYNDROME!! NO CHILD deserves to spend forever in a crib but a child with DS can lead a pretty normal life. It is so sad. This child was transferred to an institution at a very young age and at that point she received very little care and very little change. Spending most of her days in a crib, her spirit nor her body had what it needed to grow.

                                             THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING.
                                                                      But. It. Is.

Now lets go back to the man in line at tractor supply. He felt entitled to his time and freedom. Maybe a bit to entitled to the point he was rude by cutting in front of others waiting longer. This little girl I plan to adopt has been waiting for 13 years not 13 minutes. Imagine that. It is nothing short of torture. I don't like sitting in the same spot for an hour so I especially could not imagine a life time of it. I know I don't paint a really good picture so maybe this will.

4 children way to old for cribs. All much older than they look.

Not a single toy in any of the cribs. Bare walls.( Reign is on the left) 

13 years!! She still waits.

Nothing in her crib not a single toy.

Finally she has a blanket. She holds tight to it.

This is Reign the little teenage girl we plan to adopt.

Her life is her crib.

PLEAE. HELP. US. CHANGE. HER. FATE.

There has never Ever been an adoption from her orphanage. From this institution NO child has ever escaped the fate of the forever wait.

In a place far away from Reign I adopted  4 children last year.

In December of 2016  we changed the fate of a child who was also in a crib. He spent 14 years alone, often sedated and sometimes tied up. Also way to small for his age. These photos are from his life in Ukraine. 

In the same institution we adopted another child who barely escaped fate. We adopted him just weeks before he aged out of the process of adoption. Also often tied up and very starved and sedated. These photos are from his life in Ukraine.

We changed the fate of one more child who spent most of her time in a crib, and was due to be transferred to an institution where she would spend ALL time in a crib, we don't expect she would have lived a year in those conditions due to her already terminal disease. Here she is placed in a chair for a photo in front of her crib.

As you know we adopted 1 other child but he was not bedridden waiting in a crib. What we did learn though was his life was still spent with lots of time waiting in his bed. I'm not sure why but it is very common that rather than dealing with the kids day to day they place them in bed. 

THERE THE WAIT.

There are many children who are waiting that should not be in their cribs and you can help. You can help me adopt, you can share kids who need to be adopted, or you can adopt.

Here are some other kids who wait.

The first little girl has a family coming for her. Thank goodness. I have met her and she is in a very bad place stuck in a crib. She is 16.

Here is another boy who is with the girl above. Also trapped in a crib he is 8. Except this photo is before transfer. He is like a skeleton now. He had such a light about him and is available for adoption. I was his Christmas warrior last year and he has a grant over $1000. Meet Quinn.

To find out more about Quinn click here

                                            

Another child who really needs a family is Logan. Logan is 4 and due to be sent to a very bad institution this summer. One that is known for isolation and caging children and men for days on end. This particular institution does not do well for kids who are in a crib. Most die within the first year. Look at Logan! He is nothing short of amazing. He is in what is called a baby house orphanage now.  There is a charity that helps care for him and gives him therapy(he will loose all of that). He is doing great but we expect him to not survive the upcoming transfer please share him. His adoption grant has over $4500.

To find out more about Logan click here

Lets not Let the Wait. Their fate is to die in their cribs but we can change that.

Go to the links of the two children above to donate to their waiting grants.

Or you could help us adopt by donating

To our You caring account here

Or

To our Reece's Rainbow account here

Thank you so much to all who help.

  

                                                                    
                                                  

HomeStudy Update

Our home study is almost complete and that means it is time to start dishing out the dossier. The paperwork process is almost as stressful as worrying about funding but I can dish it out pretty fast.  But I can't really start my dossier until I know funds are coming because it expires fast. We are ready to bust it out but funds have now stopped us. We need $2,400 more to continue seamlessly. This will cover the USCIS(immigration approval) fees and oversight agency fees(Hague certification) and fingerprints. There are lots more little fees along the way that we will tackle on our on but we need help with this to move forward. I would prefer not to travel in the winter because my kids at home are delicate and I don't want to leave them during sick season, they need me here. So lets get this knocked out fast so that we can get to our girls sooner. We are having to add another room to add the girls and that will be another adoption cost that we are independently tackling so it would be super awesome to get help now with these two things.

I have a video of both girls, and I will share them with you all to celebrate this goal once it is met. They are not in the same orphanage but rather in different parts of the country therefor this will be two separate adoptions with two courts. This makes things a bit more expensive but they are so absolutely worth it.

We are selling these kid shirts to help us along. They are premium shirts and come in multiple colors. size xs-xl. I believe that all my children are absolutely worth it. Don't you? Here is the link to order

We also have stickers in honor of DS awareness and our Extraordinary future daughter.

The stickers are an easy way to help and spread love for those who are extraordinary. Both the shirts and stickers print every three days. Here is the link to order,

I have some exciting news for you all. The little boy Jayce that I have blogged about a few times has found his family. He is a teen boy who was otherwise going to age out soon. I am absolutely thrilled beyond measure because he is in a very bad place. Just look at his body wasting away. This is the sad truth about the orphan crises, no way this boy should be almost 16. He is the same place as one of my girls, and that scares me, they need out fast.

Some more fun news is that my husband and I got out of the house and went on a date for the first time since we left for Eastern Europe last year. It felt weird and empty without my 7 littles but it was very needed and we had an amazing time. I think we will have to NOT wait so long next time but it is really hard to get out of the house and find care for all 7. BUT WE DID IT!

Thank you all very much for following our journey. If you feel led to help us tackle the financial stress that is trying to stop us in our tracks(slow us down) we would really appreciate it. The kids need a family. To tackle the fees I mentioned above they will need to be donated to either our PayPal.Me/lovemakesusstronger or to our You Caring Page.


Or if you need a tax deductible link we have one of those too, to help us with our huge final chunk.. Click her to donate via Reece's Rainbow to grow our family grant.

I hope you all have a blessed loved filled day, thank you for helping save orphans.