Friday, January 17, 2014

A special family.

When we were in Kyiv waiting for Grace's visa, we met up with a friend who was also in Ukraine working to complete her adoption.

We've known her for over 3 years, but only online. We live states away from one another and had never met in person.

I was thrilled when we realized we might be traveling at the same time, and have a chance to meet her. To meet Shelly, the amazing mama of the Burman Bunch.

Shelly and her husband, Brian, adopted 3 kids from the institution I visited on my mission trip several months before I was there.

Then, two months after we adopted Elijah, they were back again, adopting Miss Carrington from Elijah's former orphanage, and Miss Reagan from the institution Elijah and Carrington would have been moved too.

Carrington is only 9 days older than Elijah. When Elijah's bio mom found out shortly before he was born that he had Down syndrome, she went to see Carrington in the hospital, who was also born with Ds.

Carrington came home near death (literally, she wouldn't have made it a more than a day longer), weighing only 11 pounds at 3 years old.
She is now a healthy and happy princess loving her life with her amazing family!

But the Burman's decided they had more love to give, and now, after several more adoptions, both domestic and from Serbia, they are back in Ukraine again, on a mission to make FOUR little boys a part of their forever family.

Shelly is still in Ukraine with a friend, and they have a court date, which means time is running out to raise the $7k+ they still need to come home. The boys can't come home if there isn't enough money to buy their plane tickets...

The Burman's have been through SO much. Without going into details, they have faced much opposition in this adoption and past ones. Things have happened that have left them short of thousands of dollars. All they want is to bring their children home, and they can't do it by themselves.

When mom and I were in Kyiv with Grace, we went shopping. Not just for a few souvenirs to bring home for our family, but for authentic Ukrainian items to put up for bid in an auction. An auction that would help bring the Burman's raise the money they needed.

That Ukrainian auction has been going on Facebook for two weeks, and it ends tonight. But there is still time to bid on these things and more!


So I am asking this. Would you head over to the Freedom Auction and place a couple of bids on these authentic Ukrainian items? If you are the highest bidder, every penny you donate will go to help the Shelly come home with her boys.

And if you don't want to bid, you can also make a tax deductible donation to their Grace Haven page!


Also, I want to say this. I know there is some drama surrounding this family, and I know that some may not appreciate me supporting them like this. But listen.

I've met Shelly, I've watched her children grow up in pictures, I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt, that she and Brian want what is best for their children, and they will do whatever it takes to bring their children home. They know children do not belong in orphanages, and they want to give them the LOVE of a FAMILY instead.

London and Carrington, former orphans, now loved and cherished sisters!
They need our help. Can we give them the love and support, both with prayers and donations, that they need? Let's set aside everything else for awhile and focus on what matters. Getting children out of orphanages and home to their family.

Let's do this. Let's bring the the Burman boys HOME!

1 comment:

  1. its fantastic to hear how the burmans are doing, i followed their story for a long time but for monthd now i havnt seen anything about them at all, i just wish them all the luckl in the world,

    ReplyDelete

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