Birthdays

Anyone celebrated a birthday lately ? It was my husbands last week - he turned 56 - he has celebrated 56 birthdays surrounded by family and friends. Never known a birthday without a special meal, a yummy dessert, and gifts galore. Have you ? Maybe once or twice you were away from family - working out of town, maybe sick in hospital, even deployed abroad - but mostly, you celebrate with family, another year gone by, with many more to come.

Today is Ruslan's birthday - here is his profile on Reece's Rainbow -

Boy, Born November 12, 2002

ALREADY TRANSFERRED, PLEASE ADOPT ME SOON!!

Ruslan is a handsome young man who is in desperate need of a family right away. He has strabismus, and is also a CARRIER of Hepatitis B. (www.webmd.com) He is asymptomatic at this time. We are trying to get more details on his Hep B….he is living in the general population of children, so they don't appear to be very concerned about him transmitting it to other children. (Typically, children with blood-born viruses such as Hep B and HIV are isolated in special orphanages and never available to be adopted, so we are thinking that maybe he tested positive at birth and hasn't been retested, or he isn't showing any outwards symptoms).

From a nurse in the infectious disease unit in a pediatric hospital:

*** Hepatitis B is something that children in the USA are routinely vaccinated for. If parents have not received the vaccinations, they can easily go to their physician and receive the series. With these vaccinations transmission is extremely minimal as vaccinated parties can have immunity to Hepatitis B. Titers (simple blood test) can also be drawn after taking the vaccines to make sure immunity has been acquired. Hepatitis B is also treatable with medications and people can also just be carriers of the virus. This health condition is labeled chronic, but with proper medical treatment and simple precautions it is very treatable and the risk of transmission is minimal at most. ***

Ruslan has already been transferred out to the institution due to his age, but he can still be adopted!! Please open you heart to little Ruslan….he needs you!

$0.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption

See that big fat ZERO ?? Ruslan turned NINE today. Nine years without a mommy and daddy, 9 years without a family to celebrate his birthday with. Wouldn't it be just the best thing ever if this was the last year he missed his birthday celebration ? Can't you just imagine him surrounded by a loving family, eating cake and opening gifts ? Please help him - please go to his profile on Reece's Rainbow - go HERE - and donate a little to give him a chance - a chance of life, of love. Please.

Dane also had a birthday today - he turned 6 - click on his name to see his profile - he has a whopping $10 in his grant. Wouldn't you like to give him a little birthday gift, too ??

Kelly turns 9 tomorrow - another zero - what better gift could you give her than getting rid of that 0 ???

Then there's Victoria -

Victoria

Girl, Born November 13, 2005

HELP, I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED!

Victoria is too cute! She has brown hair and blue eyes, and is in the same orphanage as Andriy and several other children with Down syndrome. Victoria is a smart little girl and very *able*. From her medical records: congenital cataract of both eyes (blind), microphtalm, delay of psychological development. Outgoing, can walk independently, knows her way around in her group, is interested in studies, responds well when adults refer to her.

From a missionary who has spent time with Victoria: "What a sweetheart! Gentle, calm, outgoing, and very affectionate. She has made a lot of progress since she was at the baby orphanage. Vika has had some self-harming tendencies but the workers have been working with her on that… Whenever she would start banging her head they would pick her up, lay her across their lap and start massaging her back. Now, when she gets upset she goes to them and lays across their lap all on her own, no longer resorting to self-harming behaviours. Vika is independent and was walking around all over the room hardly ever bumping into anything. She doesn't speak much but she does say "Mama". She also knows how to let the workers know when she needs to go to the bathroom. They also said that her fine motor skills have greatly improved as well. Finally, she is a real snuggler. First thing she did when I called her over to me was climb up onto my lap. I tried to get better pictures of her but all she wanted to do was cuddle in close… how could I say no to that???"

This orphanage is one of the good ones. Small, with all higher functioning special needs children of "preschool" age (ages 4-8). There were only 6 kids in Victoria and "Andriy"'s room and two workers caring for them. It was clear that workers care about them very much and showed them plenty of love and affection. The director is not only open to adoption, she is actively looking for families for all of the kids so that they don't have to be transferred once they turn 8-years-old! Unfortunately, "Andriy" and Vika are in the lowest functioning group and they usually have a hard time finding families for those kids… but maybe that's something RR can help with :)

$2452.80 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Not a zero - but she so needs a family !! She should celebrate her 7th birthday next year with a family, just as Ruslan, Dane and Kelly should. Please - donate of you can - but if you can't, spread the word, tell everyone you know about these kids - help them eat cake next year !!

Numbers

I spend some time each evening looking through the waiting children listings on Reece's Rainbow - checking to see who is a zero no more. I usually just look at the older children, obviously, but today I started to look at the younger children, aged 0-5. The difference in the sizes of the grants is amazing - a few dollars in most of the older kids grants - thousands in the younger kids grants. Which I'm not complaining about - it's wonderful that those children have that much !! It just saddens me to see how little the older children have - especially knowing that some of them are in their teens and close to being unadoptable. Knowing they'll spend their lives in institutions, or worse. I believe the children with HIV age out of their orphanages and are left to fend for themselves, probably living on the streets as best they can. These kids deserve SO much more, and it's so sad to know that the only thing between them and a wonderful family life is money. So wrong, but so true.

To put into perspective the differences in grants on Reece's Rainbow between the younger (0-5) and older (6+) children - for the younger age group, there are 310 children listed who have donation buttons (76 are waiting for more information before they can accept donations). Out of that 310 - 42 of them have zero in their account.

Now look at the older children - 283 listed, with 241 with donation buttons. How many zeros ? More than HALF - 138 children in the older age groups have absolutely nothing in their grants. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nil.

Sad. What can we do ? If I could, I'd donate to every single child and get rid of every single zero. If I could, I'd donate so much that every single child is fully funded. If I could....but I can't. I give what I can, when I can. All I can do is ask for help - for a few dollars here, a few dollars there - it really doesn't take much, if you think about it. I'm NOT asking anyone to fully fund a child - that's just crazy. All I ask is that we get rid of all the zeros in the older age groups. Go to Reece's Rainbow, look at the waiting children in the 6-9 and 10+ age groups, and look at the faces. Read their stories. Imagine your child living without a family forever. Give a little. Help save a life. Skip your morning coffee, give that money to one of the listed children. It's easy.

I am amazed

I usually check "my" kids on Reece's Rainbow every 2 or 3 days, to see how their grants are doing, and see how many less zeros we have. I'll be gone for the weekend, so even though I ran through the names last night, I had a quick look this evening, too. I am stunned - since last night, SIX more children have lost their zero !! This is truly amazing and wonderful - and I don't know how to say thanks except to just say it - THANK YOU !!!! Whoever donated to Andrue #16-4, Madden #61-1, Sheridan, Alexei, Luke (China) and Alex - I thank you - and so would they, if only they knew !

FORTY less !!!

I just wanted to share that since starting the campaign to zero the zeros, we now have FORTY less zeros !!!! FORTY children now have cash in their grants - they ARE worth something, and they ARE worthy of a family !! We also have THREE children who have families actively pursuing their adoption !! That's the best news of all - after all, that is what Reece's Rainbow is all about - raising money and raising awareness, so these wonderful children can find a forever family. Please help, if you can - every $ helps.

Please, also, read and share this blog - any donation to a child on RR may save a child from fearing the approaching clouds - http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-rainy-days-they-stayed-inside.html

GREAT NEWS !!! One of our little boys - who until VERY recently was a zero - has been chosen for adoption !!! He is on Reece's Rainbow's "MY Family Found Me" page - which means a family have stepped forward to commit to adopt him !! I can't wait to see who his family is, and to hopefully follow them on their adoption journey !! This is Sadler - who is no longer a zero - and will soon no longer be an orphan !!

Congratulations to Sadler and his family !!!

Far from zero

While focusing on the zeros, I get to see the faces of all the older children, and some of them have substantial grants, so I thought I would share. Who knows who might be reading, and falling in love ?

Just click on their names for more info.

Preston has $12435.40 in his grant:

Nicholas has $5002 in his grant:

Maxim has $4565 in his grant:

Alexander has $8000 in his grant

Victoria F. (Vika) has $19175 in her grant!

Evie 9HA has $6147.70 !

Celine has $7095.80

Kate has $3105 !

In our "Other Angel" department, we have Gregory, he has $4398.97 in his grant !

and last but most definitely not least, beautiful Lorie, who has $3831.50 !

Please, if you are considering adoption, or know someone who is, please don't forget about our older children - they are so very deserving of a family.

Children aged 10+

I have been focusing on the children aged 6-9 years old listed on Reece's Rainbow, as it is only recently that they have had their own, individual grants (it used to be that there was a collective grant for these older children, which would be awarded to the first child adopted, and then it would revert to zero). I was under the impression that the children aged over 10 would still have a collective grant - HOWEVER I now see that most of them have their own donation button, meaning they now have individual grants !! GREAT news ! SO - I will now be advocating for these children, too - and unfortunately, that means we have an extra 41 zeros :( That won't slow me down, though - I KNOW we can get rid of all these zeros, too !!! ALL of these kids deserve a chance, and if getting rid of their zero makes them even slightly more likely to be adopted, then it's worth the effort. SO - please spread the word however you can, and help zero ALL of the zeros for the children aged 6 and up !!