Ch-ch-changes! (WW: Maria)

As I'm sure you've heard, in late December, Russia closed to their adoption program to Americans.

The US government passed some legislation the Russian government didn't like, and in retaliation they closed adoptions, and the children are left to suffer. (I'm still not sure why that was a good retaliation tactic, as I'm not sure there are a lot of people in the US government who care about the orphans???) Anyways, they closed.

Some families who had court were allowed to bring their children home, but most in the process, even a lot of families who have already met their child, weren't able to bring them home. And of course, new families can't commit to a child or start the process to bring them home.

Many, many people were affected by this ban, all the advocates for Russian orphans, all the families, and all the children who are now stuck in orphanages and institutions. PLEASE PLEASE pray that this ban is lifted soon, or that a special needs waiver is passed so special needs adoptions can continue. The lives of many children hang in the balance.

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I have advocated for many children in Russia, and while I will still keep praying for them, I will not be advocating for them anymore until they are adoptable. You can find them all at the bottom of my sidebar where it's split into two columns. Please take a moment to pray for their precious lives.

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Lilly and Owen are two children you will find in that section of the sidebar, as they are in Russia, and I have advocated, a lot, for them here.

Rachel and I were fundraising for them over at Handiwork for Orphans, and of course we were and still are devastated about the situation and the fact they, and all the other children can't have the loving family they deserve. Both actually had pretty interested families right before the shut-down.

Since their grants closed on RR (please note all grants for Russian children are currently on hold and will be saved for that child), we had no place to send people to pay for our items. So we needed a new child to advocate and raise money for.

After many prayers, we found our new child (who is not in Russia). While it hurts so much to not be able to help all the ones we want to help, we feel this child needs it most right now.

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Meet Miss Maria:

This precious girl will be 11 years old this year, but is the size of a toddler. She has Down syndrome, and needs a family quickly because she is already living at an institution. 

(Two fun facts about her institution - I visited there while in Ukraine, but only for an afternoon and didn't see her. And also, she is at the same place, and even the same grouppa that Maxim and Ryan were in (who are both now home and thriving in their awesome loving families, both of whom I've met!)! 

She is described as spunky and a bit of a drama queen, and even though she has been living at a bad institution for quite awhile, she still has so much life.

Here's some more about her from her profile:

Girl, born 2002
Down syndrome

Maria is a bundle of sweetness and pure energy! She lives her life sort of like a game of bumper kids, not afraid of crawling over, through, or into other children to get where she wants to go. She is otherwise all girl, giggly and sweet, loving to blow kisses or play with dolls.

She is not speaking, but uses some sign language she may have made up to communicate her basic needs, such as thirst or needing to go to the bathroom. She also makes some of the most hilariously adorable facial expressions. She is not able to stand or walk, and she appears to have problems with her hips. She is very flexible, and often sits with one foot above her head. She can get around quite well in a very unique way of holding her feet and scooting along on her bottom, she moves at a very fast pace. She is a sweet girl who does not know about personal boundaries (such as crawling around instead of over the other children) but is nonetheless very loving and would probably do great in a family where she was the youngest.

We are so excited to be raising money for her... go check out the things we have up for sale! 100% of the proceeds go to her adoption fund which will help her find a family and pay for her adoption when she has a family. Come visit us at Handiwork for Maria!