A Day Set Aside For Olga And Celine

Do you know what happens to precious children who are born with Downs Syndrome in Eastern Europe? They are cast off to orphanages.  First it is a baby orphanage and then when they turn between 5 and 6 they are transferred to and institution where they will spend the rest of their lives strapped to a bed and un-adoptable.  Patti, has chosen to set aside today to advocate for the Abell family who is adopting Olga and needs to raise $7000 to submit their dossier.

I have pasted the information to advocate for her today here and I ask you to do the same on your blog or on your facebook:


Dear friends,

So many of you already know this beautiful little face....

Olga turned five last month. She has spent the last five years in an orphanage in Eastern Europe, without the love of a mommy and daddy- simply because she arrived in life exactly as God designed her. One chromosome too many, and her fate was sealed from birth.

Sealed, because in Eastern Europe, babies who are born with Down syndrome are deemed unacceptable at birth. They are discarded as cast-offs of society, and when they turn five they leave the only home they've ever known...

And I wish I could say that for most of these children, leaving that home means going to a place of safety, a place of happiness, a place where they would finally know the love of a family...know what it means to be cuddled or sung to or read to, tucked in at night, prayed for, loved.

Instead, they are taken to a place that most people wouldn't leave their family pet.


A place of living hell, where they will never know the tenderness of a parent, never know the security of being raised in a family, and there they will stay, one ugly, pain-filled day at a time...until they die.

I read a post last December that stayed with me to this day. It was called from baby dolls to bedstraps.

The blog author wrote about Elizabeth, an orphan on Reece's Rainbow who had been transferred to a mental institution, waiting for a family to step forward for her. Her words still haunt me.

I wonder where she thought she was going as they led her out of the orphanage that day. Did she think that maybe it was finally her turn? That they were taking her to her forever Mommy and Daddy?

And when they instead took her inside that dreadful place, when they shaved her head and tied her to a too-small metal crib

when they turned their backs and

walked

away…



when they left her confused, terrified,

in a room where the wails of schizophrenic adults echo through the cold air

what was going through her young mind?



Did she wonder if she was being punished?



How long did she hold out hope that this was only temporary?

That any minute, they would come and take her back to the baby house

to her baby dolls and teddy bear,

to her best friend, Angelina?


Did she long to free her arms from the restraints

to cover her head with her hands to drown out

the scary noises

the scary sights

the scary smells?



That could be my Lily….


It could be your child.

And what if it were?

What if you woke up one morning

and by some hellish, twilight-zone twist of fate

your child wasn’t still tucked into that warm bed down the hall,

what if your child was trapped

across the dark sea

in that nightmare that is

the institution?

What

would

you

DO?

Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. Proverbs 24:11

Elizabeth is being rescued today, thanks to the efforts of that blogging mama, and others like her.

Olga is being rescued today, thanks to so many of you...you gave so much and created such a large grant that a family was able to step forward and start the process of adoption.

The Abells have done so much already, towards rescuing Olga. I can't even imagine all the paperwork and prayer and emotion and finances that goes into an international adoption. They have done numerous fundraisers, and will continue to do so until they can bring Olga home.

Through the help of so many, a grant of over $13,000 has been raised for Olga's adoption. That grant is set aside for the final travel costs and fees that it will take to bring Olga home. It will take every penny of that and then some.

Right now the Abells are in need of raising the $7,000 that is needed to submit their dossier for Olga. Without that dossier we don't even know if Olga has been transferred yet. Here in America you just pick up the phone and ask these questions. But here in America we don't tie five year old girls to cribs to keep them from climbing out.

The Abells need to submit that dossier as soon as possible- at the very least to find out if she has been transferred already- because I know an army of prayer warriors who is going to want to know that piece of information as well. And at the very most, it could be able to hold Olga at the baby house until the Abells can rescue her. I wish I could say with certainty that she won't be transferred- truthfully we just don't know that.

Olga has been so heavy on my heart for months- friends, I want you to know that I DO trust that God has a plan here.

I prayed like crazy for a way to help the Abells. I truly believe that there is a network of people who love Olga here in blogland...a net that is woven by God and is stretching out across this blessed country we live in, and even beyond to generous hearts in other nations. I really cannot express enough how thankful I am to be a small part of what God has already done for Olga, Peter and Kareen. But I don't think our job is done.

Olga needs us.

I don't want her to spend one more forsaken day in that place than she has to.

We're not doing a giveaway here today. I don't even think we need to do one- I know so many just have a heart to help and to give, and prizes were never the real reason we all gave anyway.

So I'm just asking- for one day- for you to do whatever you could to help Olga. Whether that's $10 or $20 or even a hundred...if you are able to help raise this money for the dossier, please do so HERE... This is the Abell's chip-in. 



This is the link for the Family Sponsorship Page on Reece's Rainbow...every single dollar goes to the Abell's adoption fund, and every single dollar will help.

We're calling this A Day to Save Olga, because there are about 17 of us blogging mamas and one blogging grandpa who have set aside this day to blog, post on Facebook, pray, give and spread the word to SAVE OLGA.

Will you help us?

I know you will:)

One last request.  Celine also needs a family.

She needs someone to step forward and start the process of adopting her.  She currently has a grant available to any family wanting to step forward to adopt her.  Will you be her forever family?  Will you pray for Olga and Celine?

Gardening Season Will Be Upon Us Soon

What will you be planting in your garden this year?

Stepping Out and Being Bold

I am going to step out and advocate for a precious little girl who needs a family soon.  Her name is Celine and she is five years old.  She lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.  She has downs syndrome.  I found her through Reeces Rainbow website and she currently has a grant available toward her adoption.  However, in order for her to come home, she needs a lot more money given to her grant fund.  The Lord has been laying her on my husband and my heart lately.  We want to adopt her, however, we do not even have the funds to begin the home study or to pay the agency fees.  She needs a miracle.  Very soon, she will be transferred to an institution in which she can no longer be adopted.  We serve a Big God who is in the mountain-moving business and I know that if He wants her to have a family, He can move these mountains to bring her home.  Would you prayerfully consider giving to her grant fund through Reece's Rainbow?  I have put her picture and a link to her page on the side of my blog.

Getting Personal- For Women Only

Do you ever struggle with cramps, heavy bleeding, irregular periods, or moodiness?  If you do, I have a solution that really works.  It is called red raspberry leaf tea.  This morning, I woke up feeling very crampy so I made a pot of red raspberry leaf and spearmint leaf tea and I feel a TON better.  My two favorite herbs for menstrual problems are red raspberry leaf and spearmint leaf and they are available from Bulk Herb Store.  Plus, if you order from them from my link on my blog I get credit.

Here is how I make my tea:  I use a coffee filter and spoon 1 teaspoon per cup of dried herb to be used into the filter.  Usually, I mix different herbs.  This morning I used half spearmint and half red raspberry leaf.  Then I add a cup of water for each teaspoon of herb used.  I choose to use our coffee pot because my husband has not been it and I am not a coffee drinker.  If someone in your home is a coffee drinker this can also be made using a little stainless steel tea diffuser and adding hot water, letting it simmer to desired darkness and then removing the diffuser.

I could not just leave this post with no pictures, so I had to include our happenings today.  The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day outside today.  Yesterday, we also went to the library and my children are loving reading their finds.  Plus, I found a few great recipes yesterday that we are making today.

It's Official

Today was day five of Aaron being sick and struggling with fevers that would spike to 104.5, lethargy, stomach aches, and not really eating.  I decided that it was time to call the doctor and see what in the world was going around.  They told me the flu and strep throat.  I said, "well, he doesn't have strep cause he is complaining of his stomach hurting and not his throat."  They also told me that the flu was lasting a full 7 to 10 days with some patients experiencing post flu symptoms for up to 2 weeks after the 10 days.  So, I decided to just call the doctors office back and schedule an appointment and boy am I glad that I did!  The doctor was also suprised at the results.  She thought for sure that he had the flu.  He has strep throat!  So, she gave him a big shot and hopefully he is now on the road to recovery.  She also advised me to throw away all of our toothbrushes after 24 hours and get new ones.  Tonight my husband was complaining of a sore throat.  This time we will not be waiting 5 days.   Tonight Aaron did go to bed with a high fever and chills.  I hate using Motrin, but that is when I do use it.  Thank you for the prayers for Aaron and I am so thankful that we went to the doctor and he got a shot.  Hopefully the road to recovery for him is just around the corner and his appetite will return.  Five days of not really eating is not a good thing.

These two pictures were taken today just after bringing Aaron home from the doctor.  He is smiling because he had just finished a sucker from the doctor's office.  This was the first smile I had seen in five days.  Emily insisted that she get a picture too.

Please Pray For My Sweet Little Aaron

Aaron has been sick now for four days.  He has been running a fever, sleeping most of the time, and has no interest in food.  He says his stomach does not feel well.  I have been making sure that he is staying hydrated.

This is a picture of Aaron at AWANA taken several months ago.

When You Have To Stay Home From Church

There will be time when sickness may come to you or to one of your children and you have to miss a Lord's Day service.  What do we do on those days to still set it aside as a Sabboth to the Lord?  We want to hear from the Lord and we are sad when we must miss, but there are many things that we can still do to make it a joyous day.  We live in a day of internet access in which the opportunity to hear good, solid, Biblical preaching is available.  I suggest to use this time to listen to a sermon online, spend an extended time reading your Bible if you can, listening to music that focuses our mind on Christ and what He has accomplished for those who are in Him, serving your sick child and loving on him or her, reading books that focus our mind on Christ.  Set this day aside and be intentional to make it special even when you cannot be together with other Christians.  It is only one day a week that we really get to do this and we ought to look forward to being with God's people and hearing from the Lord.

I say all of this today because I was looking forward with great anticipation to hearing my husbands sermon from Colossians this morning on the Colossian hymn: Colossians 1: For by Him and through Him and to Him are all things..."  Our son has had a fever and a stomach ache for the past 3 days and I was really hoping that this morning he would be better.  However, last night the fever was just getting the best of him and he was up a lot.  He is just laying around, drinking water a little at a time, and going to the bathroom.  My energetic little boy is just sick.  It is my duty to serve him and love him through all of this and I wouldn't do anything different.