Considering Adoption? [long post]:

Hi everyone,

So, in the past few years I have been part of the adoption community there have been several things that weighed on my heart. One of those things is this: sometimes I feel like people are to specific about what they want in a child; not wanting to disrupt birth order or the child must be a girl, or the child must be a boy, or the child must be a toddler or younger, or maybe the child must be from China, or Russia or Ethiopia -- these are the things we want in a child, instead of letting the child be what God sees.

Now I understand that some families must set parameters; there was a family last summer whom had to turn down a special little girl because she was very 'needy' and they already had seven or so other kids, many of them with special needs. All that considered, from what I understand - the little girl needed more than they could give without it being detrimental to herself or their other children if they pursued her adoption. So, I understand it is sometimes what is in best interest of the child and everyone involved. But I want you to think about that for a moment; when you close doors to adopting one child or another -- who is it in the best interest of?

And then read the following:

"This post may not be for you.

I do not know everyone this post is written for.

I do know that this post is not written for everyone who will read it.

Who is it written for?

Maybe it is only for one person?

I don’t know.

And don’t need to know.

I do know…

“I was mute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
My heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:”

This post is only for those of you who have deliberately closed the door marked “Adoption of a Child with Special Needs.” Whether at the first glimpse of this door, or after some research about what may lie through the doorway, you have closed that door.

But nobody is fighting over the “imperfect children.” Why is that?

Did you know the politically incorrect reality that in our attorney’s sixteen years of facilitating adoptions of children with special needs, God has so far sent her only Christian families? Families who treasure these little “imperfect” children as pearls of great price?

These families have rejected the value systems that push “imperfect” children out of the inner sanctum of personal life, the value systems that free people up to continue their valiant fight for the idols of personal peace and affluence.>

So.

Are you one who has closed that door?

Please, write down your list of reasons why you have decided not to take the next step. All the reasons. All the obstacles.

I ask only that you leave the word “calling” off your list, since that word can obscure a multitude of disobediences.

Then pick out a child from the Reece’s Rainbow website. May I suggest “Steven?”

Don’t let that bouncy seat fool you; he was put in there for the photo. He was placed directly back into his crib afterward.

You will find him unattended, in his bed.

Now kneel down in front of Steven’s crib, one hand holding your list, your other hand reaching in to his.

Look into his eyes, and please…

…tell him the truth.

“I could be doing something to help you, but I am choosing not to.

I don’t know whether God has closed the door, but I am closing the door.

Your life is not worth as much to me as [everything on my list].

I don’t believe that God has the power to help us overcome [everything I consider an obstacle] that stands between our family and you.”

Did you keep looking at his eyes while you spoke?

Oh.

You just thought you were looking at him.

You were mistaken.

You were looking into the eyes of the King.

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”

Please, kneel back down, look into the King’s eyes, and tell Him the truth."

I did not write what is in purple above. I re-posted it from this blog. The author found a way to say something that I have had a hard time saying for a very long time because I don't want to offend anyone. That's not the point of this blog.

The author is adopting a nine year old girl, who weighs somewhere around 10 or 11 pounds, I think, whom was left in a crib and suffered neglect simply because she had a special need.

Again, from my own heart now, this post may not be for all of you. I cannot and will not pretend to know the what you face and I respect that. But weigh your reasons. I will fully admit here and now; I was once one of those people -- once the only child I would have ever considered adopting would have been one from China. I couldn't see anything else. And then I found out that dream would never be realised because I did not nor would I ever meet the requirements to adopt from China, which I personally feel goes a bit overboard in what they believe a good parent to be is -- but that is a different post. So, when I learned I couldn't adopt from China I struggled to let that go. I thought of Russia after seeing videos of how the kids were starving and eating fish heads there -- and that dream to adopt from Russia or Ukraine or somewhere in E.E. settled into my heart after learning about the plight of people with special needs. Though I was still restrictive in whom I'd adopt; I decided I could not adopt a child positive with HIV -- that was where I drew the next line.

Almost immediately after making that decision I noticed a little girl before I noticed her HIV status. So I swallowed hard, and said ok, and did some reading and am happy to say that I found HIV something I could work with too. The next time I went to her page she was no longer available. But without knowing it she helped to change me again and to me the message is clear. I will leave the door open too, to special needs. And have faith that with God we will not be given what we cannot handle.

This has been a long post and for that I am sorry. I guess I am trying to say in all these words: have an open mind, and an open heart, to whatever it is God wants you to do; or whomever it is he may lead you to. And so I will sum up with what may be one of my favorite bible quotations:

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it's due when it is within the power of your hand to do so." -- Proverbs 3:27

Take care everyone,
--Debrah

She's Ok..

..following suit and not wanting to endanger her adoption, I too and removing Lilyana's post for now.

Angel's in Heaven

Her name was Angel
She was named for everything she was not
She was not human
But a sweet little five pound dog that saved my grandparents life
She gave them reason to get up in the morning
She gave them a reason to move around through the day
She gave them a reason to keep on going
To still ride a bike at the age of 85
Angel wore birthday hats at parties
Christmas bows on her ears
She had her own party blower at News Years
And her own towels with her name on them
Her favorite food was ice cream
She is part of a long line of loving doggie friends my family has had
Max, George, Callie, Vixen and now Angel
She was the first pet my grandmother had in sixty-five years
She has gone to heaven now
After fighting five days for her life against a disease that turned her own antibodies on her
Please pray for healing and comfort for my grandparents
Whom begged me to tell everyone they were doing good with her
And they were
Another Angel is in Heaven
Goodnight, sweet Angel, Goodnight.

15 Year Old Girl Needs a Family's Commitment in 7 Days!

Seven days.

God created the world in seven days.

We can certainly find a family to commit to a fifteen year old girl.

In seven days she turns sixteen. If she doesn't have a committed family by then, she will spend the rest of her life in an over-seas adult mental institution because she has Arthrogryposis - a joint disorder. She will go to a mental institution because she looks different that the other people in society, has to use a wheel chair to get around -- because her joint's do not work.

She will go there for the rest of her life.

Sixteen.

Can you imagine it?

Can you imagine sitting on a bench in a stale room day after day after day, year after year after year, and knowing that that is all there is for you, that nothing will change, this is what it will be like the rest of your life. Eventually, she will stop, just stop really living, she will start simply existing, and then she might develop the mental problems of those around her.

I have posted many many times on this blog what these mental institutions are like. I have posted videos of people dragging bone thin -not an exaggeration, these children and people in these places are honestly bone thin - people across a dirty floor just to hose them down with dozens of other men or women shoved into a single room. I have posted videos where people are left in cribs their entire lives, videos of a twenty year old in a six year old's body, still in diapers, still in the same crib he was put in when he was brought to that institution, his body locked ridgedly and contorted out of shape and proportion from the lack of movement and the years just laying still.

Its horrific people. Go to You Tube or something and look up Eastern Europe Mental Institution yourselves.

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO THIS GIRL.

I have asked. I have pleaded. I have shown several faces of children over the years I have been doing this. I have to remind myself that I have to have faith. The thing is, I am talking to everyone who comes here- whether you are here accidentally, intentionally, or off a search engine looking for the 'Red Thread'.

This is the 'Red Thread'. This is your part in it.

I beg you to take a few minutes and pass word of this child on, a few miniscule minutes in the grand scheme of things that can literally save her life, change her life, give her life. I know adoption isn't for everyone. I don't know you and I understand that. I understand that I cannot foresee what it is you are facing in your lives. You are not heartless, I understand that too. If you cannot adopt her can you write it on your Face-book, include her on your blog? Tell someone about her? Spread the word on?

A few miniscule minutes that can change this girl's life for good, because either way, very soon, her life is going to change. Let's help it be for the good.

Just seven days.

You can find more about her and even a picture about her here: http://jerdebwalker.blogspot.com/2011/07/sentenced-for-life.html

Happy July 4!

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

--John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Update on the Post Below

All is well, thankfully, so thankfully. Mommy and baby are fine. I am sorry that I can't offer you all more than that because it wasn't me involved. Thanks so much, again. :)

Urgent...

...so urgent. Please, those of you who pray out there, please pray for my family.... that's really all I can say right now.....

If He Was My Son:

IF YOU WERE MY SON:
The day I found out I was carrying you inside me would have been among the happiest moment's of my life. I would have taken your daddy to dinner, and surprised him with a cake that said he was a daddy. We would have gone shopping to pick out sweet baby things for you, we would have talked for days and weeks, picking your bed out, painting and arranging your room. If you were my son you would have been our first child and we would be bragging on how you would be the toughest of all your cousins. We would have gone through a list of names, changing our minds again and again before we we even knew if you were a girl or a boy. We been asked if we wanted a girl or a boy, we would have said, it wouldn't matter, as long as the baby is healthy.

If you were my son the day we found out there was something wrong may have been the day we found out you were a boy, it may have been sooner. If you were my son it would probably be the hardest day of my life. There would have been tears streaming from my eyes that day, out of fear for you, love for you, there would have been tears of pain, loss and yes even denial sweet baby boy. But also there would be the most tears because as I held my arms around my belly, already trying to protect you as they went through the list of what was wrong, I may have been asked if I wanted to end the pregnancy, abort you, and try for another baby later that would be healthy.

If you were my son, your daddy would have been there, holding my hand. And together we would have said no -- no way -- this is our child. With the number of abortions going on out there for special needs God trusted specifically us with your life. It is up to God to decide if he stays with us, not us. And against the people's judgement whom would have thought we should abort you because you were different - we choose to keep you.

If you were our son, in spite of every thing else, we know you are a boy now. If you were my son, we would give you a name now - Owen, the last name of whom would have been your great-grandfather, meaning noble and well-born, if you were my son.

If you were my son the doctor trips would be difficult. People would whisper and talk, and point fingers at us. But you would continue to thrive and grow, and each day would be a day we would treasure.

If you were my son, the day you were born, I would have held you close and whispered how much I loved you forever, no matter what. With tears of joy for being blessed with such a tiny precious treasure I would have told you that it was going to be alright, that we would fight for you and make sure you got the very best in life.

If you were my son:


If you were my son we would take you home. I would love you. I would give you everything I could and advocate for you when you could not. I would chase down every single lead I could for your happiness and well being. I would cherish each moment I had with you as you are a precious gift, because, like all children do, you will grow very fast, and your first birthday would come.


...and you would grow. You would go to school like all children do, play like all children do. You would have grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. You would have family. You would have friends. When they teased I would be there for you. When you hurt I would hug you. You would learn that there is nothing to dislike about who you are, that people tend to fear what they do not understand. And we would help them. If you were my son I would show the world how beautiful you really are.

...and you would still grow. You would know there was nothing you couldn't do or be. You would love and be loved. You would blossom into someone so beautiful that, if everyone knew just how beautiful you were, they would want you for their son too.

If you were my son -- you would not have been left to cry like this:

...you would not have been left alone like this, to waste away like this, you would not have been left in an orphanage to lie like this. You would not have to hurt like this. If you were my son.

But you are God's son.

"I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you."
--John 14:18

He promises he will come for you. Hold on little boy, just a bit longer.

Ok all, the little boy in the pictures above is Owen on Reece's Rainbow. He is a living breathing child. Because he is alive I am guessing the woman whom gave birth to this child held a blessing in her hands but either pressured by society or by choice, she left him alone. Honestly, I do not know the reasons he was left an orphan.

All the same, instead of having a family choosing names and painting his room he was sent to an orphanage. Instead of having love and someone to tell him it will be alright and getting him the medical attention he needs he is most likely barely getting his basic needs met. Instead of having people around him to encourage him he is most likely considered an invalid and a burden instead. Instead of having cuddles and love he probably self-stims alot, maybe by rocking or banging his head. He might sit in wet diapers or dirty clothes until someone notices him or its his turn at last. Instead of having all the beautiful things a child has and needs -- from day one he has been rejected and left in an orphanage instead.

The staff might love him. I am thinking most at most places the staff do. I hear allot about how the staff at the orphanages do love the children, but I also hear about how they are doing all they can do with the little they have among a great number of kids. To see him like this may be just as hard on them. I am very glad that Reece's Rainbow found him and chose to advocate for him and show his beautiful face to the world.

Please,think for a moment what if he was your son? What if he was born to you? What would you do? How would you react? Wouldn't you love him anyway? Think, seriously think even if you came to this blog only looking for 'the red thread saying' if he could be your son? Or more importantly - is he your son? Even if you never considered adoption before?

Please, I am joining Christine here in her plea for this little boy. I too have been keeping an eye on this little guy nearly since the day he was first posted. That said, I have to admit I almost passed her plea by, just for a few hours I told myself. I almost waited to post this, I thought, 'I will put him on my blog, tomorrow.' And I tried to move to the next site, my email, or whatever it was I was going to do next with my day.

But I couldn't get him off my mind. So I came back and posted about him. It is all I can do to be part of God's promise to Owen. Won't you be part of that promise too? If you can't bring him home, please post about him on your blogs, on Facebook, on everything you know. It will only take a little bit of your time and Owen doesn't have time to wait until tomorrow. He needs us to act now. Please click here for more information about Owen.

Thank you, everyone,
With all my heart,

-Debrah

1 Year With Jesus:

For sweet little Chrissie, whom taught the people of this entire world so much, and for her dear family for sharing the precious gift of her life with us. Love goes on for ever and ever. You are all in my prayers.

Heidi:

Hi everyone, this is Heidi. This is a child I saw for the first time today. It was one of those moments where you are just scrolling and scrolling down the page of pictures hoping those kids get homes and you get to this one photo of a child - and your heart jumps, your throat constricts, your breath stops. It's a feeling of knowing you have to do something. You have to do more than just hope. God calls some of us to help some people and others to help others. So today I am including a post about little Heidi.

I admit, in light of my post below this one, I thought I would post this entry about Heidi tomorrow so that my announcement could be read. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I had to do this now. That is, after all, was a much more important announcement than just moving blogs.

And that announcement is that Heidi needs a home. This little girl has already been transferred, and look at her, look at the adorable trusting innocence in her face. I think about what transferred means and get cold all over.

Here is Heidi's information from Reece's Rainbow:

Date of Birth: June 2005
Gender: Female
Eyes: Gray
Hair: dark brown
Character: normal. She smiles, plays, eats well.

HELP! I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED!

Heidi is such a love! Brown hair and big brown eyes, she longs for a family of her own. Heidi is moderately delayed. She is able to walk on her own. She does have an astigmatism and strabismus, and also has an additional chord in the left ventricle of her heart.

MORE PHOTOS AVAILABLE

I AM ELIGIBLE FOR AN OLDER CHILD GRANT

Heidi is listed here on the Down Syndrome page for Girls ages 6 and up. You may have to scroll a little but she is there. Heidi is also listed here as available for single women to adopt, which is where I found her originally at. Again, you may have to scroll but this time quite allot.

Yet, like all the others I have written about here, I cannot go and get her and bring her home. Can you? Do you know someone who can? This is a six year old girl we are talking about - six years old - locked up in what is likely a Eastern Europe Insane Asylum. Google those.

Then think about this little girl there.

We have to get her out.

All Good Things

Hi everyone...

For a while now, many months in fact, I have been thinking of ending this blog and moving over to another I've had going for a while. Alot of that depended on what happened to a little girl I love, and just like this blog was started for and dedicated to a little girl whom captured my heart - so will the new blog be - for a little girl that I must never forget.

Who knows. I don't know for sure yet. I realize that my blog is finally starting to catch on. I have ten followers and a few hits here every day. I am hoping if I do persue this move that you all will come with me. I am hoping that anyone who is directed here might also come that way.

Take care everyone, out there, and goodnight.

Oksana, Oksana...

Ever since I saw your picture I have been drawn to to you - to think of you, pray for you, check on you to see if you had a home yet, to knowing that if I was allowed to I would go right across the sea to adopt you - for three years now.

For a while, I wondered if anyone else even noticed you as I watched other kids I have kept up on and prayed for get adopted. And yet, my sweet Oksana with her beautiful eyes and little blue bonnet, waits.

But people have noticed you sweetie. My feeling this way is just me wanting to see you have a family so badly. And I have to trust that everyone is waiting for God's perfect time for you, that the waiting leads to something beautiful.

So today, on Mother's Day, I felt the need to do share about you on this blog. And as for others to share about you too. It takes only five minutes and a tiny bit of blog space to help this little nearly forgotten girl's family come. I am praying they will find her soon. Please pray with me. Please post with me. Lets get this little one home at last.

Visit Oksana here at Reece's Rainbow today. You may have to scroll down a bit but she is there. Thank you.

For My Beautiful New Baby Niece Kayla

Today you were born. Welcome to the world little one. I love you and wish and pray for you to have the most beautiful life. Your aunt Deb.

We Pray for Children:

I read this on another blog. Of course I will re-post it. I hope you will too.

A Prayer for Children
Written By: Ina J. Hughs

"We pray for children
Who give us sticky kisses,
who hop on rocks and chase butterflies,
Who stomp in puddles and ruin their math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who've never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,
Who've never ‘counted potatoes,'
who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,
Who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
Who bring us fistfuls of dandelions and sing off key, who have goldfish funerals, build card-table forts, Who slurp their cereal on purpose, who put gum in their hair, put sugar in their milk, Who spit toothpaste all over the sink, who hug us for no reason, who bless us each night.

And we pray for those
Who never get dessert,
who watch their parents watch them die,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind,
who can not find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real.

We pray for those
Who spend all of their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store,
and pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
And never rinse out the tub,
who get quarters from the tooth fairy,
Who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church and scream on the phone,
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at,
and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
who aren't spoiled by anybody,
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move,
but have no being.

We pray for children
Who want to be carried,
and for those who must,
For those we never give up on,
and for those who don't have a chance,
And we pray for those who will grab the hand of anybody
kind enough to offer"

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Please Repost, Please Pray.

THIS IS WHY:

Yes, I shouted that. THIS IS THE ANSER FOR PEOPLE WHOM ASK ME WHY NOT ADOPT KIDS IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. This is the body of a 3 year old girl whom is -- by what can only be described as a blessed Miracle -- still alive. Three years old, weighing only 11 lbs.

Her parents just adopted her from an eastern Europe country. They found this the first time they undressed their little precious daughter and the moment their plane touched down in America on March 17 they rushed this child to the hospital where it was found that her little body was already shutting down, no longer receptive of any food and she continued to loose weight. A tube had to be placed directly into her intestine to prevent stomach reflux. This little girl - Carrington - is lighting a fire across the net and in the hearts of people all over the world. I understand kids in the USA need homes and by far I am not out to deny them in fact I encourage it and may adopt from foster care myself one day. I understand that international adoption is not for everyone. But please -- do not lash out at those whom it is for and ask them why not adopt from their own country. Their hearts have been broken for a child on the other side of the world. My heart is breaking for her - and this little boy too:



This little boy is -Kirill- with the mommy and daddy whom have battled so long and hard to go across the seas to adopt him also from an eastern European orphanage. When they presented their case to the judge she told them no - that they could not adopt him because she felt that kid with Down Syndrome was better off in a mental institution.

Maybe maybe someone should slap that picture of Carringon's little body down in front of the judge and ask her flat out if she thinks that is what is better for him, because, that all I see in this -- that her choice will allow this to happen again. If she argues its just one case -- no, its not. Kids DIE of malnutrition and neglect in these institutions and orphanages over there ALL THE TIME. All the time. This is just ONE precious case that has the chance to be brought to light.

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it's due when it is within the power of your hand to do so." -- Proverbs 3:27

Someone needs to remind that judge of that Proverb too. If she is doing so she has no right to let her personal feelings on this matter interfere or I don't feel she should be allowed to have the position she has.

Please understand I write what I write because I am on FIRE about this. I do not mean any disrespect for the families involved. [The children's names are linked to support blogs if you click on them.] I hold them in my prayers and I hope you do too. Also please think of going to get one of these kids if you can, or donate to them if you can. They need you. The are all precious little Kirill's and Carringon's...

The Road You Leave Behind:

A couple years back I was driving along, and about 20 miles from home the tire on my car blew out. I had the spare tire in the trunk but not the knowledge or tools I needed to fix it. I didn't have anyone in the city whom could help me, or my phone to call anyone. It would have taken me over an hour to walk to where I worked to call my dad. That was my only option, or so I thought.

As I was locking the doors a red car pulls up behind me and a kid of about 16 gets out and asks if I needed help. I admitted what my problem was and without another word he got the tools needed out of his own car and changed my tire out. This kid told me all he was thinking was that this could have been his sister standing out here.

To this day, every so often, I am reminded of this. And will carry it with me the rest of my life.

Simple kindness does exist. It is stronger and goes sooooo much further than anger and hate. You are remembered longer. You leave a better impression behind.

Here's another one for you. Also a couple years ago.

I was driving around in my van in the busy part of the city in the busy part of the day and had pulled up at a stoplight. On the street-corner was a middle aged man in his wheel chair whom had just pushed the button to change the signal so he could cross the road. As the light changed another man whom was approaching and getting ready to cross walked up behind him and pushed the first man's wheelchair through the intersection...

...when they got to the other side. Both men went their separate ways.

Wow, I thought, that was nice! And they didn't even know each other! Until I saw them part ways I thought they had.

Isn't it horrible that simple kindness is amazing these days?

I got another one for you:

So a bit over a year ago my sister and I were driving the same van and the engine was finally getting ready to give out. And it does at a stoplight in the middle of a busy road. I managed to roll off onto a side street which thankfully was built on a long and downward sloping hill where I turned into a hospital parking-lot by the momentum of the hill alone. We were hoping to get the van into a parking spot at least before it stopped all the way.

It stopped at last about ten feet from a parking space.

Keep in mind this is a Chevy Astro van and I am not a big person. Neither is my sister whom is with me. So, I get out of the van and tell her to steer while I try and push.

I struggle. I strain, I give it everything I have and cant get it to do anything but roll forward just a few inches before it rolls back. By this point I was so frustrated and angry I could hardly breathe. Out of the corner of my eye I had seen this car drive by, slowly so the driver could stare at us [yeah, i noticed], before they drove away.

Well, three minutes later this car returns and pulls up next to my broken down van. An old lady gets out, significantly older, and she walks up to the back of my van and without a word helps me push it into that parking spot.

I quickly learned not to be so judgmental, about people staring and what they might physically be able to do or not do. I was stunned that the van had moved. I looked at her and thanked her, so much, that i just didn't have the words.

She said very nearly the same thing the sixteen year old boy had. Only her words were - I saw you as I drove by and I thought -- what if those were my girls. Then she told me that her next thought had been that -- they are someone's girls [meaning my sister and I] and she just had to come back.

Now, I never saw any of these people again. But these simple little acts of kindness have struck a cord I will remember always, and I hope you do too.

With all the trouble in the world, and yes, there is alot of trouble in the world right now; earthquakes, people protesting their governments and being shot in the streets, our own citizens protesting it all as well, the shootings in Tucson, the hostages taken and slain at sea, North Korea and South Korea...

I saw a picture online. It was part of some sort of memorial with all sorts of pictures and flowers and candles about.

It was written on a white sheet of paper in marker and it read:

Love is greater than H8

My memories above of my own vehicles breaking down reminded me of the song I posted in this video.

P.S. Whomever is Googling me in Maryland will you please step forward? I would love to know about you too. Thank you.