One celebration wasn't enough for today...

I had to come on here right now, because I just found out that Frank has a family!!!!! You can read about them HERE but they are also adopting another sweet boy who was about to age out. What an amazing family! I am so thankful that this young man will now be called, "son."  What a glorious end to the day!

Wahooo!

Hello everyone! First off, I must announce that sweet Vytas has a family coming for him! YAY!!! So thrilled for him and his future family!

I am still praying for Frank to find his family, but with a $12,000 grant, perhaps someone will see him and take the leap. He isn't in danger of aging out yet, but is far from a baby or toddler....this is one of the hardest age ranges to place. But I am confident that there is a family out there somewhere who is just right for this great young man.

And a little update on our progress....Yesterday, we received our letter from USCIS. We are APPROVED! That was our final document for our dossier, so we will be going down tomorrow morning for our county authentications and possibly heading over for apostilles.

We are having a garage sale this weekend at a friend's house. It is the first official "garage sale weekend" for one of the local towns, so we are hoping that the bargain hunters are out in full force. The kids are selling baked goods and possibly snow cones at the sale as well. They are very excited about that.

I have been humbled and completely amazed at all the donations people have brought by for the sale. We have something for everyone. I have no idea how much we will make, but I do know that we have amazing family and friends. Our church family has been extraordinary in all of this. We are blessed to have one other family with adopted special needs children and the entire congregation has fallen in love with them. They are sweet kids and they are absolutely thriving. Everyone is excited to meet our Carolina and watch her blossom and grow. For that, I am eternally grateful. I could not ask for kinder, more Christ-like people in our lives. We are blessed beyond measure.

Bittersweet...New Hope For The Ones Who Wait

Last week, it became clear that the ban on American adoptions from Russia would remain in place for the foreseeable future. So many families are hurting over this decision and even more children will never know the love of a family. It is a very hard time for the families who had committed to children, and in many cases met them, before being told they would never get to bring them home. My heart and prayers go out to these grieving families and children.

As many of you are aware, Reece's Rainbow provides grant funds for orphans with special needs. Many of the waiting children in Russia had sizable grants, but no committed family. This week, staff of Reece's Rainbow has started the tedious and time consuming process of reallocating the money from the Russian waiting children, to waiting children in other countries. Out of the ashes of a terrible loss, comes New Hope. Many children are now receiving significant grants that will hopefully help families to feel confident in stepping out to claim them as sons and daughters. 

Here is one of my very favorite New Hope recipients. Please allow me to introduce you to Frank.

Frank wants a family. He is very tiny, but he is almost 13 years old. He has a mild mental delay and was living in a boarding house when, for reasons unknown, he was transferred to a level IV adult mental institution. This boy is smart, kind, has very good language skills and just needs out of there. Frank received a New Hope grant from Reece's Rainbow and now has nearly $12,000 in his adoption grant. Please, if you are considering a son...or maybe adding one...please consider Frank. There are many photos and videos of him available and I can even put you in touch with someone who saw him for 7 weeks last year while adopting their boy. Please share Frank far and wide so his family can find him.

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=frank

If a family is already headed to his country for an adoption, Frank's grant would more than cover the fees for adding him. If a family is starting from scratch, his adoption is around 2/3 covered and he as several advocates (myself included) who will happily help out with the remaining funds. Please help us find a family for Frank.

Next we have sweet little Vytas

Vytas is a darling boy who turned 5 this month. He is very small due to having Down Syndrome and being in an orphanage, but he would thrive in a family where he can get therapies and interventions. Vytas also has a couple great advocates pulling for him over at Hope for Vytas

Vytas' grant currently has over $10,600! What a blessing to his future family!

http://reecesrainbow.org/40627/vytas

And Brandi

Look at that happy smile and sweet pigtails! Brandi is 5 years old and has Cerebral Palsy and microcephaly (smaller head size). She is described as "physically active" and her profile even has a picture of her enjoying time on the piano. Such a gorgeous little girl!

Brandi should be getting ready for kindergarten, not a mental institution. 

Brandi received New Hope funds and her adoption grant now has over $10,600! 

There are more to come later, but for now, I would love it if my followers would consider praying for these children to find families. Please share them on your own blogs and social media sites. It was through a Reece's Rainbow posting on Facebook that I first started scrolling through pictures of orphans. It was there that I saw our sweet Carolina's face. It was reading the blogs of other adoptive parents and advocates that my heart was completely broken and changed for these kids. It was people sharing their experiences and their fundraising ideas that we finally gained the confidence to step out and BE one of those families. 

Our little one will soon know that she has a Mama and Daddy who love her. 2 years ago, I never would have thought we would be doing this now. You just never know who will see one of your advocacy posts and realize they are seeing their child. So many people loved Carolina before I ever saw her. Take it from me, there is a special place in a Mama's heart for those who helped advocate for her child. 

Behind The Scenes

Many things are going on behind the scenes in our adoption. USCIS is processing our fingerprints. The state of Ohio is *very slowly* processing our request for notarized copies of our background checks. We have a few documents to get redone, but that should happen by next week. All of these updates are pretty boring, but something else happened this week that has touched me deeply.
As everyone by now knows, I am having a Facebook auction to help raise the rest of our funds.

https://www.facebook.com/Carolinasfamily

A wonderful woman in my life bid $100 for a hairbow! Why? Because she wants Carolina home where she is already loved. Talk about unexpected..and deeply humbling.

And as if that weren't amazing enough, I was also given several items to auction from a woman at church. What is so fantastic about that? Well, I'll tell you. This woman is a widow living on a very modest income. Twice now, she has gone through her small home and rounded up items to add to my auctions. When I told her she really did not have to do that, she simply replied,"But I want to help you and I don't have any money."
I don't know how to explain how humbled and grateful I am. I don't know the stories behind all the donations we receive, but I am thankful beyond words. I am truly reminded of the "Widow's mite." I am witnessing people give out of the love in their hearts for us and Carolina, but most importantly, these wonderful people are giving out of a desire to be like the Savior. To help raise the ransom for one of His precious children. I am completely overcome with love and gratitude. Completely overcome...

Guess What?

I didn't have many blog readers when I wrote This Post about sweet Kurt. I fell in love with this sweet boy's face and I was certain he'd be the one that God directed us to adopt...but the call came for Carolina. I have spent the last several months trying to figure out if there was any way we could add him to our adoption, but there just is not. He is not near our daughter. And so, I have prayed and hoped and shared his face in hopes that he would find his family. Well....Kurt HAS BEEN FOUND!  His Mama saw his face during the Forty to Forever campaign and realized she was seeing her son. You can read about them and help them along in their journey by clicking HERE

KURT....FOUND!!!!

My heart is lightened and I am rejoicing with the Biggs Family and MANY others that sweet Kurt will be going HOME instead of an internat or an institution. The possibilities for Kurt are endless. This will not be the last you hear of Kurt and his family on here...I hope to have something put together soon to help them out...stay tuned! 

We are getting so close...Auction time again!

Hello loyal blog readers! It is April and we hope to travel in June to bring Carolina home forever! We are so close to being funded, but airfare is higher in the summer. We have an auction over at Caring for Carolina that will run for the next 8 days. We are still accepting donations for the auction as well. Please check out our thermometer over on the right hand margin of this page to see how close we are! Thank you all for being part of our journey!