On the topic of homosexuality...

This is not the sort of thing I normally post (this is after all a blog about orphans with disabilities), but I think this is something everyone, especially Christians (who often are against gays) ought to read. Please read this post. Link from Molly.

And for any of you not convinced...

Ruth 1:14: The same Hebrew word is used to describe Ruth's love for Naomi as is used in Genesis 2:24 to describe Adam and Eve's love.

2 Samuel 1:26: David declares he loved Jonathan more than any woman.

Matthew 19:10-12: Jesus said some are born eunuchs (a word used at the time the Bible was written to refer to homosexuals).

Matthew 8:5-13: Jesus healed the sick man, and the Greek word used to refer to the man is also used to refer to a same-sex partner.

Source/read more: Would Jesus Discriminate?

We will now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Katrina

Katrina lives in Bobby's institution, in one room with the rest of the girls that live there. She has a lot of health conditions, but is such a sunshine.

Jane was given the privilege of meeting her, and you can read about that day here, with lots more pictures. Katrina has a really big heart and is affectionate.

Honestly, I think that there are only two reasons she hasn't been scooped up already. One would have to be funds, as always. If you want to increase her fund or get more information on her, you can do that here. The second reason would probably be that families see her list of diagnoses and are scared.

She would be such a treasured addition to any family! If God is calling you, put your "Yes" on the table. He has a better plan for any of our lives than we could possibly come up with ourselves. We have so much to be gained, if only we follow His plan and don't get caught up in our earthly fears.

Will you go where you are called?

One Year Ago

Sometimes I go back and read posts I wrote several months or a year ago, mostly ones that have several children in them. I always smile seeing how many of them have found families...and shout again for the ones who haven't. Most of the time, the majority have found families. The post I looked at today was different.

I wrote this post almost exactly a year ago, and in it are the pictures of seven children.

Since then, three of them have found families. Praise the Lord for that.

Olivia - HOME, adopted outside of RR

Ryan - being adopted

Timothy - being adopted

Four of them, however, are still waiting.

Sweet Bobby - recent pictures (March 2012), an $843 grant, and a region that often waives the ten-day wait. The earliest pictures we have of him show him lying in an orphanage crib, aged five, so he has been waiting at least three years.

Brave Presley - very happy and affectionate, a $1402.50 grant, and other photos available. He has been waiting at least a year, and is undergoing treatment for his leukemia without even a mom or dad to help him through it. I can't imagine how he does it, and with a smile too!

Precious Noel - so much potential here, and a $50 grant. It has been over a year and a half since I first saw her picture. When will someone see past her picture and realize that she's their daughter?

Beautiful Alicia - loving girl, waiting in an institution now, a $497 grant. She has been waiting multiple years to be adopted, and her sisters were adopted without her. Her special needs are nothing to be scared of; that's just part of her!

I hope that by the time I look back on this next year, all of these children will have been found!

Waiting Wednesday - Igor

This little one has been waiting a long time. Igor was born November 26, 2004. His only special need is arthrogryposis.

Igor is described as loving, affectionate, and friendly. He has been transferred to Orphanage Institution 1, and can be adopted with any of the children there. He needs to get out of there as soon as possible! There are many other children there, and they all have so much potential. Many of them have large grants, too!

Igor is available to large families and older parents, but any family considering him should have a homestudy approval for an older, institutionalized child. Single parents cannot adopt from this institution.

If you want to grab Igor's button, you can look in the sidebar of this blog. (Please take a minute and leave a donation or a comment to the blog if you do, as they are in the process of adopting a son with arthrogryposis and I am sure they would appreciate it.)

I Haven't Forgotten

It took nearly two months of hollering, but we raised $1030 for this sweet little girl at Christmastime. What a blessing it was to have that prayer answered.

I changed the above photo of her, the newest photo we have, to my cell phone background in November. I won't change it until she is home safe. I don't ever want to forget Carmen. She has a special place in my heart.

My sister-in-law has commented more than once that if it were only possible, they'd bring her home. Oh, how I'd love to have Carmen as my niece! But it's just not possible right now, and there is no way around it.

Carmen has been listed for quite a while now. I don't see how anyone could resist the urge to scoop her up and take her home!

But I know that one day she will be home. And until then, I didn't want to forget. And I didn't want you to forget either.

Because her mama might be reading this post right now.

The newest orphan on my heart

You can see this happy boy's profile here.

"Happy Birthday"

Today was my birthday. I spent the day with friends and family and had balloons, presents, and of course a cake. Had I been born with special needs to parents in eastern Europe, I would not only not have had any of these things, I would be a mere year from aging out of the system and becoming unadoptable.

Today, I want to show you the children born this month.

For many of them, we don't know when their birthday is, just that it's sometime this month. It could be today. It could be tomorrow.

The truth is that it does not matter to anyone over there. These kids won't get any recognition on their birthday that they are one year older.

There will be no birthday cakes.

(Older sister)

There will be no parties, no pinata, no Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

There will be no balloons and no presents.

Many of them will lie in their own waste for hours today.

They may be picked up only to be fed today.

Sometimes it makes me so angry. Birthdays are supposed to be a special day!

I remember how much I looked forward to my birthday as a child. I would count down the days every year and have a hard time sleeping the night before, just like a kid should.

What do these kids get for making it around the sun another time?

The ones with HIV are one year closer to being put out on the street.

They will be forced out of the orphanage or boarding school doors. Many of them become statistics.

10% will commit suicide before age 18.

Only 27% will find work. The rest will do what they need to do in order to survive.

60% of the girls will become prostitutes.

70% of the boys will become criminals.

Those are just statistics for the kids with HIV...the others face lifelong institutionalization. Some will be transferred again at age eighteen. Others will not even receive the joy of a car ride.

Whether they are sent to another institution or not, on their sixteenth birthday they will become ineligible for adoption.

The ones with younger biological siblings who are also up for adoption will be eligible for adoption until the age of eighteen; however, age is often a deciding factor for a family, and they are far less likely to find a home.

For these kids, to leave the institution after their final transfer and sixteenth birthday is not possible.

They will not walk out those gates ever again. They will stay there until they die.

They will never join a soccer team, help bake cupcakes for a party in school, or own a pet.

There are 147 million orphans in the world. Can you picture 147 million children? I know I can't.

We are called - no, commanded - to save them.

If we don't, who will?

I have heard many times that we should save "our own" first. "Our own" meaning American kids in need of a family.

And to that, I say...let's do both.

Let's rescue ALL the kids out there. I want to keep shouting for them until every single child is home, safe.

And until every single one has a birthday cake in the years to come.