Happy Birthday Emmitt!

13 years now Emmitt has waited patiently for his family to find him. I am not feeling so patient today.
Please say a prayer for Emmitt today.
What would be the best gift for him?
A family.
How can you give him this gift?
Tell people about him!
Please give Emmitt the gift of prayer and spreading the word about him today. The more gifts we give the greater the chance that his family will see him.
What if everyone posted about Emmitt on their blogs today?
That would be a birthday miracle for Emmitt.
For more information about Emmitt, visit:  
http://reecesrainbow.org/emmitt

Elena

Elena is a beautiful little girl who has been on my heart for quite some time now.
Unlike M and Emmitt she is not in an institution.
She will be shortly.
You see, Elena just turned 4, which means at any time she could be transferred.
When she is transferred she will likely go to the same institution that M lives in.
She will be bed-ridden, with no mommy to hold her or care for her special needs.
Elena needs us.
I have added a page for her on my blog, and a chip-in to donate to her adoption.
Please help!

Sponsor these Orphans

I am working on re-designing my blog (hard, because I am not a computer wizard).
Please notice that I added some tabs at the top including one that says: Sponsor these Orphans.
Click on this to view bedridden children in the same institution as M who are in desperate need of sponsorship.
Sponsoring one of these children will give them crucial one-on-one care and attention. 
They will be taken out of their beds and into the sunshine, given love and affection, and a chance to play, stretch their limbs, and learn.

Please consider sponsoring. It has enriched my life in more ways than I can tell you.

If you think you can't afford it, think again.

Sponsoring one of these children costs about the same as:
Dinner for two
A tank of gas
Ten trips to star bucks
7 packs of cigarettes
Three tickets to the movie theater

So the question is: what is your priority?
And is it in line with God's priority?

When I saw these children and realized how much such a small amount of money could matter to them, I completely rearrange my budget and my priority. How could I justify doing anything different?

Mission Accomplished!

I just got word from life2orphans that *all* of the $1000 dollars needed for M's medical assesment has been raised. And this coincided with the date that my chip-in ended. Wow!!!!
Thank you to everyone who donated, whether through money or prayer!

Only $86 left

Only $86 left to fund a medical assessment for M.
How many prayers left to find families for these beautiful boys??

Thank you so much to whoever just donated $100. I had to look at the chip-in three times! That is amazing!

P.S. Congrats to school mother for winning "The Boy from Baby House 10." Thank you to all who prayed!

Help! I have been transferred!

I see this phrase appear next to children on the Reece's Rainbow site as they turn 4, 5, or (for the very lucky ones) 6. It is usually followed by a flurry of advocating for these little ones who have been moved from their baby house to the mental institution.
What does it mean to be transferred in Eastern Europe?
For children with a disability, whether physical or mental, it means being moved from their baby house to a mental institution where they will live the rest of their lives. For children who are bedridden (cannot walk) like Emmitt and M, it means they will live the rest of their lives confined to beds or cribs. Only their most basic needs will be met--food, water, clothing.  And sometimes barely even that. They will most likely not go outside of the walls of their institution and will be extremely lucky if they can even see what sunshine and grass is through a window. They will not have education or schooling, because they are considered "uneducadable" and a burden to society. They will be cared for by overworked staff, who will likely not have the time to give them any individualized attention, care, or even the most basic of needs--affection. Some of the weaker of them will die within one year of being transferred. Those who don't will live a slow death of unmet purpose and unfulfilled needs and desires, as their bodies and spirits slowly waste away in the bed they lay in day after day.
Those who maintain a light in their eye--like Emmitt and M--are rare gems that rally even the hardened workers around them to pray for their rescue, their only hope--adoption.
Even in the best of institutions, it is traumatic for a child to be plucked from their baby home and thrust into walls that house older children and adults.
Rallying around the children who have been transferred just makes sense, and many have been rescued this way.
Rallying around those who are about to be transferred also makes sense, and many have been rescued that way.
Rallying around the babies and youngsters who will be transferred at an older age also makes sense, and many are also rescued that way.
But what about those children who have endured in this environment for years--shouldn't we be rallying even harder to get them out?
When I see Emmitt and M, I think it should say next to them: "Help!!! I have been transferred!"
They have both been transferred and we need to rally around them to get them out!
Their amazing ability to endure and maintain their spirit in the most difficult of situations should not make us lackadaisacal about rallying beside them, but should lead a call to action that ultimately brings them to their family.
Their only hope at fully developing and sharing their gifts is to be adopted
Can you even imagine what these two boys could offer to the family that adopts them? What magic and gifts they could bring?
I am truly jealous of the family who finally steps forward to bring them into their circle.

Help! These two boys have been transferred!
The time to move is now. The time to pray is now. The time to act is now.
Let's get them out.

(P.S. If you would like a description of what a mental institution can be like, leave a comment to be eligible to win The Boy from Baby House 10. I am giving away a free copy on Friday.)

Two Boys, One Fate

I have made a mistake.
I was told that Emmitt and "M" were the same boy.
But they are not one boy.
They are two boys.
It is easy to see how someone could have made the mistake.
Two boys.
Both, approximately 13 years old.
Both strikingly intelligent in spite of being given no education
Both engaging and witty, reaching out to everyone who meets them
Both with an inner light that shines through them regardless of their circumstances
Both with spina bifida and unable to walk
Both confined to beds in mental institutions.
Both in need of medical care and a family
Both able to be adopted
Two boys, One fate
One boy, Emmitt, sits in a mental institution in Eastern Europe. He has been listed on Reece's Rainbow for three years now, and has waited for much longer than that to find a family. Vistors who meet him say he still has hope in his eyes, in spite of sitting in the same crib every day.

One boy, M, sits in a separate institution in Eastern Europe. His surroundings are very similar to Emmitt's, but he has a charity group who is working to sponsor an extra caregiver for him and medical care. They are close to their goal of funding a medical evaluation for him. Who knows how close to the goal they are of finding him an adoptive family?  Only God.

Two boys, one fate.
Tied together by both their strikingly similar disabilities, and abilities. Now tied together by one blogger's mistake, and the generous prayers and donations of many others.
What will that fate be?

Prayer Challenge, Boy from Baby House 10 giveaway

Have you read The Boy from Baby House 10?
Do you want to?
I am going to be giving away a free hardback copy this week on this blog.
Here is what you need to do to be entered in the drawing:
1) Chose one of the pictures of Emmitt or M on this blog. (p.s. This one is my favorite)
2) Look at it with an open heart for at least one minute
3) Leave a prayer (comment) on my blog. (Make sure your comment is linked to some form of contacting you)
4) Act however you felt inspired during that one minute

Easy, huh?

At the end of the week (Friday) I will randomly select one person who had left a prayer (comment) on the blog during the week to send the book to.

I am also still doing the $1 drive, and would love to have everybody who leaves a comment donate $1. But it is not necessary to be eligible to win the book.

If you have not read this book, you need to. If you have, give it to someone else, and make sure they know that the system spoken of in this book is still in place in Eastern Europe. Let them know about two little boys (Emmitt and M) who is so similar to Vanya in the book, with unlimited, untapped potential, and an ability to reach out and connect with every single person he meets. Reading this book has made it even more unimaginable to me that this little boy is spending his childhood sitting in a bed in a mental institution, when he has so much potential and so much to give.

What if he could be like Vanya, saved from the institution and entered into a family? What if someday he could tell his own story in a book? 

Just to be clear, I do not believe any child (or adult) no matter what their mental functioning should be kept in the situations described in this book. However, it is striking to me the similarities of Vanya (the boy in the book) and the two boys on this blog. Both with incredible intelligence and the ability to develop language and knowledge in the absence of teaching. Both with strong inner hope and light that has absolutely no earthly explanation. Both with the ability to reach out to everyone around them, and lift the day and mood of adults who should be lifting them.

After reading this book, I know I need to do more; but for now I will do this.
Will you join me?

Guess what?

Only $307 left for M's medical evaluation to be fully funded!

Hopeless

I have been remiss at posting lately. . .and I have to admit it is because for a brief moment I had a spirit of hopelessness fall over me. I mean, these children's future is just so bleak. . .so hopeless. It is impossible to remove M from the institution to get medical care. . .there are so many blocks in the way. It has never happened for a child to leave his country to get a medical procedure, so why would it happen now? Only two children have been adopted from his institution. Two! Out of hundreds that live there. So why would he be adopted?
It just seems there are too many barriers in the way. Too many hurdles. Too many challenges.
But then I am reminded of the title of my blog.
Hope.
And I am reminded of the glint shining out of one child's eyes.
Hope.
How is God moving in him?
Is God moving to provide him medical care?
Is God moving to find him a family?
Is God moving to pull more people to this institution to adopt?
Is God moving to change the conditions of his institution through prayer, donation, and support?
Is God moving to slowly change the entire system for these children in His country?
Once, we had institutions like this in America.
Once, not very long ago we institutionalized less than perfect children! One of my co-workers worked in one of these institutions as a teenager! In barely over a generation we in the United States have changed enough to now be horrified at the idea of institutions and orphanages! Look at how much has changed.
Isn't that Hope?
I do not know how God is moving for this little boy, but I know he is moving. I feel it in myself and His call to action for me. I see it in the movement of people who have met this little boy. I recognize it in his smile and the light that still shines in his eyes.
He has a purpose, and the only way to find it is for me to start yelling again!
So here I am yelling, begging, pleading for others to spread the word.
Let's get 100 people to donate $1 and find out the reason for God's hope.
Let's be God's movement for M and God's Hope.
Do you have $1?
I am hopeful again.