Waiting Wednesday: Jimmy-URGENT!

Waiting Wednesday! :) Today, meet Jimmy!

His current pic

And youngest to oldest in guessogical order... Isn't he just the cutest baby???

I LOVE his smile!:D

Jimmy (China)

Boy, Born March 30, 2007
China  

From a missionary who visited with him in May 2010:  " Jimmy is a delightful three year old with Down Syndrome.  He is decribed as being quiet and playful.  Jimmy doesn’t walk by himself yet, but he can get anywhere he needs by holding onto furniture and walls.  He only says a few words, but understands so much more. Jimmy has a close relationship with his foster father.  When foster dad hugs him and raises him up, he laughs happily.  Jimmy also loves the outdoors.  When foster mom takes him to pick up his older foster brother from school, he raises his head in his stroller, looks at the sky, and laughs heartily.  He is curious about everything. " 

Update in July 2011:  Jimmy, now four years old, has been on the shared list for a long time … At the time his file was submitted, he didn’t even walk yet! Now he runs. When the file was prepared, he didn’t speak at all. He’s still a man of few words, but he does call those in his foster family by name …  If his family doesn’t find him soon, they may move him out of his foster home to make room for another child who they feel may have a better chance at a family."

More photos available, along with full medical records

Please contact:Ky Patterson

$1009.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Sweet Jimmy is in a foster home in China, but here's the catch - if he doesn't find his family soon, he will get sent back to the orphanage, because he is getting too old to find a family easily. Not only that, but we must be fishing because there is an even bigger catch!! If he is sent back the orphanage, they won't renew his his paper work. that means he will NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE!!! He will be given up on at the age of 4. FOUR! (We're done fishing, but we aren't golfing!) Four years old is too little to be give up on! Friends, his situation is URGENT! If we don't find him a family NOW, he will have no hope. He will never be able to feel the love of FAMILY! Don't let him become LOST forever!

Now is the time to act! PRAY! SPREAD THE WORD!! COMMIT!!! 3 simple steps!

1. Pray
2. Spread the Word
3. Commit

Are you ready? Are you set? GO!!!

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LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!

And yes, I am posting this at the bottom of every single post, and I won't stop till she has a FAMILY! So, if you get tired of seeing it, find the girl a family! :)

Kayaking

First off, I've gotten several new followers as of late, and I just want to say WELCOME! My blog certainly isn't much to look at, but I hope you enjoy reading! :)

As I've mentioned in a previous post, my friend Rachel and I spent a week at my grandma's house last week. We had a very crafty week, and I'll post about most of it on my other blog - For His Glory Handiwork; but some parts of our week don't exactly fit into my crocheting blog... such as Kayaking!!

I was soaked by the time we were done.. from her paddle! She would splash me, and I would splash her back but then Grandma would turn around and see me... So I'm the one who got in trouble even though I was the one soaked! I tell ya, life isn't fair!

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! And a perfect day!!

Please excuse my use of the word canoe instead of kayak in this video! :)


Oh and guess what! My camera case is waterproof (or maybe water resistant?), but that feature doesn't work unless the camera is IN the case! :)

I LOVE this picture!! It captures so much of Rachel's personality, and my mischievousness (its my gray kayak bumping into her!)! ;) She is one of those people you just want to be around, and I am so honored to call her a friend! Go check out her blog - Proverbs 24:12

Stay tuned! More to come about our trip!

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Don't forget!!! LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!!!

'Mazing Monday - Hailee Salem

Today... I want to introduce you to beautiful Hailee! Like most MM posts, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking!

VIOLET & SOPHIA for the Salem family–Midlothian, VA

Ukraine

Follow the adoption journey of the Salem family on their blog at at http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/


Before...

After...

 A.M.A.Z.I.N.G what a family can do....

The only picture they had of her before they met her...

Water Baby!

Recently Hailee was very sick and was hospitalized. She is now back home and slowly gaining strength, but please continue to pray for her! She has lost too much weight for how little she is, 20 pounds is too little for a 6 year old!! Because she is so tiny she couldn't fight back the infection, and was sick with multiple things at the same time. Poor girl!

But, even with being sick, and how tiny she still is, this girl continues to amaze me with how much she has changed with being home just a year!!!

Stay strong, Hailee!!! Many love you!!

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REMEMBER... LYLA STILL NEEDS A FAMILY!!!!

Faithful Friday - The Spitz Family

Awhile back I post about a sweet little girl named Bellie for 'Mazing Monday, and another sweet girl named Charlie for Faithful Friday because the same family that adopted Bellie was going back for Charlie. That amazing family is the Spitz family!! I also posted their story yesterday for Waiting Wednesday for another little girl. Confused yet? Read my post yesterday and hopefully you won't be anymore. :) Except for one thing - I said in that post that the Spitz were going back for Gavin, when I did a Faithful Friday for Charlie. I'll explain below. :) Meet the Spitz family!!!

Summer and Dave

Their 6 beautiful children

 When they decided to go back, they committed to Charlie -

But then they found out she was being adopted by another family. Not giving up God's calling of adopting again, they committed to handsome Gavin!

From their FSP profile - 

MICHAEL for the Spitz family — Jamestown, NY

The Spitz family would have never believed if you had told them 5 years ago that they would be working on their 4^th adoption in 2011.  They had already been blessed with Taylor (now 17), Conor (now 16) and Nicholas (now 13).  But in 2007 when they were placed with a beautiful blond hair foster son their view on adoption changed quickly.  Then in 2008 they were placed with a foster daughter, a sweet tiny little girl who proved instantly she too would be a part of their forever family.  The Spitz family was beyond BLESSED to adopt Owen (3 yrs) and Sara (2 yrs) in 2010.  In February 2010 Summer read an article about Reece’s Rainbow in People magazine.  She was so drawn to the article that she got right on the RR website!  After just a few moments on the RR site it was apparent to her that she needed to talk to the rest of her family about adopting a sweet child blessed with an extra chromosome.  The family was all on the same page and they couldn’t be prouder to announce they adopted precious Isabelle (3 yrs) from Eastern Europe in January 2011.  The journey to adopt Isabelle was incredible but the children they left behind will always way heavy on their hearts.  They are crazy excited to bring home this amazing little boy they know has been waiting for so long.  The wondrous blessing of having a child with Down syndrome is something they say they don’t know how they lived with out prior to Isabelle coming home.  Now the dream of having two lovely little ones blessed with that extra chromosome is only months away!!  The Spitz family is truly grateful!!!!  Please help this family by supporting them with prayer and please visit the family blog and donate a $1 or $2 toward this new journey.  They Thank You!!!!

8/15/11–DOSSIER COMPLETE, USCIS APPROVED

Follow the Spitz family's adoption journey on their blog at www.luckytolovelyla.blogspot.com  

$1050.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

As you know from my post yesterday, they are an amazing family! However, with this being their 4th adoption, they don't have $20,000 just lying around. Please donate to this sweet family RIGHT HERE!!!!

Summer gets soo excited when new donations come in... just look at these posts! :) http://luckytolovelyla.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-donation.html

http://luckytolovelyla.blogspot.com/2011/08/handstand-he-wants-handstand-he-will.html

Maybe after you have donated, you can request something.. a back flip off a diving board into ice cold water maybe?? You better not ask for that unless you fund the rest of their adoption! ;) 

But seriously... going back a second time to EE, which is their fourth adoption, and they've committed through RR FOUR times!!! Of course, not all four went though, or are still in process, but that's some serious commitment! And I've said it before, I'll say it again, they are an AMAZING family!!! Every dollar you donate will soo be worth it! So go HERE... now! And help bring Gavin home!!!

Their header.. I love it! Then again, I designed it, so I'm biased... ;)

And remember - Lyla still needs a family!!!

Waiting Wednesday: Lyla/Lilianna

Psstt... Caleb! I finally have a post up! ;)

I know.. it's not Wednesday anymore. Rachel and I have been at my grandma's house this past week, and she isn't to fond of me and the computer mixed. ;) But now I'm back home, and I'm post about a sweet little girl who needs a family desperately - Lyla/Lilianna.

The pictures above are recent, and the ones below are a bit older...

Lilianna

Girl, born November 2009

Lilianna survived!!   She had an adoptive family previously, but they were not permitted to adopt her at the time because she was in the hospital and not expected to live.  But she DID!  We are thrilled she is healthy enough to be relisted!   

Sweet little Lilianna has a congenital heart defect (ASD and VSD) and possible pulmonary issues.  She is also missing her left forearm entirely.   Lilianna has bright blue eyes and needs a family right away.  We have many pictures of her!

$22.50 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Isn't she just gorgeous? Such a sweetheart! And guess what! Like all the other children I feature for Waiting Wednesday - she needs a family. Remember when I posted about the Spitz's? I love their family soo much, and they are working on completing their 4th adoption (2nd international)!! They brought home Bellie from Elijah's former orphanage, and she is doing AMAZING!

Before they brought Bellie home they committed to a beautiful face, and started the process to bring her home. The picture they fell in love with is the bottom picture above - of Liliana, known to them as Lyla. They name of their blog was "Lucky to Love Lyla". (I'm not even going to start about how many times Summer has changed the name of that blog!!! LOL) Well, then the worst happened. Lyla got sick, really sick, and was in the hospital, to sick to be adopted. After much prayer, they committed to bringing Bellie home. And now they are going back for Gavin (more on him and Spitz's tomorrow). Now they find out that Lyla is a miracle baby, and is still alive!! They know they can't bring her home, but they don't just let it go. Nope. Not this AMAZING family. Instead, they are yelling at the top of their lungs for a family for their girl! I don't think I've ever been able to post such an amazing story of love and commitment for a Waiting Wednesday post.. but I am very honored to do it. For Dave, Sweet Summer, Tay, Conner, Nick, Owen (adopted domestically - March 2010), Sara (also adopted domestically - August 2010), Bellie (adopted from EE - December 2010), Gavin (still waiting for mama and papa to come pick him up), and most of all for one of the first RR princesses I fell for - Lyla!

To read more.. PLEASE visit Sweet Summer's post - Lucky to Love LYLA

AND the BEATIFUL post written by my awesome friend Caleb - Full Blast

So shout from the rooftops for this daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!! She needs a family, and besides.. is it gonna hurt you at all to put up a FB, Tweet, or blog? Who can resist these eyes??

Not me, that's for sure.

Talk about a great day!!!

That was this past Wednesday. After hearing the news about Andrey, his huge grant, and his family, and posting about him... I got another email with the subject line "Talk about a great day!!!". How could the day get better? Well it did, because when I opened the email I saw a picture I hadn't seen before, but I definitively recognized and loved the face... I haven't posted it till now because I haven't had permission to share it, but now I do, so you can see this beautiful boy!

Yep, I got a new picture of my boy Logan!!! Oh my, his hair! So cute! And his smile! I love this boy! :)

I know most of you have seen all these pictures, but I just wanted to share them again to remind you how cute he is and for my new readers. :)

Please keep praying for a family for him, and the law would change so he can be adopted before he turns 5 (Sept 2012)! He isn't listed on RR because he isn't available, but that doesn't mean a family can't start their paperwork for him! They just can't commit until her becomes available. Please spread the work for this little one and feel free to link back to any of my posts here. Thank you!

Waiting Wednesday: Molly a.k.a. Ovalyn

After posting about Andrey earlier, I'm featuring another little girl in his orphanage today - Ovalyn.. more commonly know as Molly! :)

Molly

Girl, born June 2006

 Molly is a smiling, adorable girl!  

She has an organic lesion of the central nervous system, left-sided hemiparesis, delay of psychological and motor development, right-sided fixed torticollis, farsighted astigmatism

From a missionary who visted with her recently:  "Molly is an absolute definition of pure joy! From what I've been told, Molly suffers from shaken baby syndrome. As a result, she has significant physical limitations. Molly can hold her head up by herself and sit with support however she cannot stand or sit by herself. Despite all the injustices that Molly has faced in her life, she is a ray of sunshine and is rarely seen without a smile on her face. She is content, happy and full of joy. She loves simply watching the happenings around her and laughs and smiles whenever anyone so much as looks at her. She loves to be held or to be given any type of loving touch. Molly is a very determined little girl. If she focuses hard enough, she is able to control her arms/hands and often reaches for toys, etc. She is a little mischief in her along with a great sense of humour and was always making me laugh. She would take my hand in hers and bring it up to her mouth to lick it and whenever I responded with an exaggerated, "Eew!" she would just laugh and laugh. When I took her outside in her stroller she would move her head up and down so that her hat would fall over her eyes and then, when I would bend over to fix it, she would grab onto the strings of my jacket, again, just laughing away! Technically, Molly does not speak but I have heard her attempting to say certain words in Russian. She is a very smart, motivated, delightful little girl who I believe would truly blossom with a loving family and access to physical therapy, etc. My heart breaks to think of what will happen to this little girl, now so full of life, if she is left alone in her bed day after day which is what will happen if she is transferred. I can tell you from experience that Molly will be such a blessing to whatever family is fortunate enough to call her their own and that she will give/teach you so much more than you will ever be able to give back. " 

$1032.50 is available towards the cost of my adoption!

Molly! Ahem... *Ovalyn* is another sweety at the orphanage in I visited last summer! Below is a post from Andrea G about her, but first, I want to clarify about her name... :) Ovalyn is not her real name, but what I named her. :) Most children on RR are renamed before they are listed, and Ovalyn was listed while I was at Michelle's house.... I was insisting on one name, Michelle on the other... but because Michelle was the one listing her, she won. I had my revolts though. None of them worked unfortunately. ;) So she remains Molly.. she will always be my Ovalyn though! :) She is also known as Obeliskini... I'll leave you to wonder about that one.

Trivia - Did you know - That there are 2 people named Ovalyn in North Carolina, 1 in Nebraska, 1 in Indiana, and 1 in Flordia!?!?!? I love it! :)

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Please Note about Andrea: I have mentioned her in several blog posts before and linked to her, as well as reposted posts she wrote about kids. However this is NOT Andrea Roberts, founder and director of Reece's Rainbow. Andrea G, the one I talk about here, is a young woman who has a heart for God, and is living her life to serve His children, whether in Africa, in a certain Eastern European Country, or right at home in Canada. She spent 6 months in the city of Molly, Andrey, Logan, Aiden, Maxim, Brody, Ryan, Victoria, and Andriy's city. You can find her blog here. Just wanted to clarify that Andrea Roberts is different! :)

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I know, it’s not Monday but something happened yesterday that was just too exciting to wait ‘till Monday to share… the last of “my angels”, "Molly", was listed on Reece’s Rainbow!!! (stay tuned later this week for the amazing, “Wow God” story of how that all came to be) On top of that, today is a very special day… today is Liza’s birthday! So you see, I just couldn’t help it, I had to do "Molly"“Where is my Mama Monday” post today.

From what I’ve been told, "Molly" was born a healthy baby until one day her father took her in what should have been his safe and loving hands and shook her so hard that it resulted in a lesion in her brain. I do not know whether her parents abandoned her at the hospital because they did not want to care for a “disabled” child or if their rights were terminated as a result of the abuse that she suffered. All I know is that when "Molly" was discharged from the hospital, she was sent to a baby orphanage as opposed to the loving home that she deserved.

To say that "Molly" had a rough start would be a huge understatement however you would never know it to look at her. I believe that "Molly" may be the most content, happy, joyful little girl I have ever met. I saw her nearly every day for months and I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen her without a smile on her face. Unlike many of the children around her, "Molly" is unable to stand at the side of the playpen or even sit without support yet she doesn’t let that get her down. Whether lying flat on her back or propped up in a walker, "Molly" finds such joy in observing the other kids around her. Many evenings I would sit on the floor amongst a half a dozen rambunctious toddlers tickling them, tossing the over my shoulder, dancing with them and teaching them to play ring-around-the-rosie. I couldn’t bring"Molly" on the floor with me as she would have been trampled by the other kids. I felt sad for her but she certainly didn’t feel sorry for herself. She would simply watch, smiling and laughing away, entertained by our antics and happy to see her friends having fun.

"Molly" has significant physical limitations but I sometimes think that cognitively, she may not be “disabled” at all. Like I said,"Molly" loves to laugh and she has a great little sense of humor. I remember the first time I took her outside, before I had gotten to know her very well. She kept moving her head in such a way that her hat would fall over eyes and every few minutes I would have to stop pushing her stroller to bend down and adjust her hat. At first I thought that it was an accident, that maybe the way her head was moving up and down was out of her control. It took me a few laps of the building before I caught on to her little game. You see, whenever I bent over the strings on my sweater would dangle in front of her and she was mustering all her determination to reach out and grab them! At only four-years-old at the time, I’d say this little girl is smart as a whip!

God taught me so much through "Molly" and her pure, unconditional joy in spite of the numerous injustices she has faced in her short life. Whenever I was feeling discouraged I would look at "Molly's" beautiful smile and listen to her infectious laugh and know that if "Molly" could find something to rejoice about then so could I. Unfortunately, another injustice lies around the corner for"Molly" and just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. Sometime within the next year, "Molly" will be transferred to an orphanage for older children with special needs. Because of her physical disabilities, she will likely be classified as “bedridden” and forced to spend her days lying alone in her bed. It kills me to think of what will happen to this precious, social little girl whose greatest joy is people watching when all of that is stripped away from her. How long will her spirit, now so full of life, be able to survive such an existence? I, for one, do not want to find out.

Tuesday "Molly"  turned five-years-old. There was no party, no cake, no presents. In fact, it is unlikely that there was any acknowledgment of that day whatsoever. Will you help me to make sure that "Molly's" birthday does not go unnoticed? While other five-year-olds are getting ready to start kindergarten, "Molly"is about to be transferred to a place where she will never leave her bed. This precious birthday girl is not asking for Barbies, a tea set or a sparkly princess dress. What she needs is a mommy and daddy who will love and cherish her the way she should have been loved and cherished right from the start. I can think of no better gift for"Molly" on her birthday than a chance at a family. Because "Molly"is already 5-years-old she does not have a grant of her own but if you are reading this and wondering if "Molly" is your daughter, I promise that I will rally behind you and do everything I can to help you raise the money you need to bring her home so please don’t let that stand in your way. In the meantime, I am asking everyone who’s reading this to please help me celebrate "Molly's" birthday by sharing her story with everyone you talk to today/this week and joining me in praying that this time next year, "Molly" will be celebrating her birthday with her forever family. For more information, click here.