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!

Desensitized? -- URGENT NEED!

Have you become desensitized? Have you seen too many pictures of underweight children who are severely malnourished that it doesn't phase you anymore?

Zoey.

She is almost 6 years old, and weighs less than 10 pounds.

I didn't realized I had become desensitized until I was telling someone about Princess Carrington, and they were shocked and said that she weighed less than a Thanksgiving turkey!

Not the best comparison, but it's so true! Carrington did weigh less, and Zoey does now.

Your. Thanksgiving. Turkey. Weighed. More. Than. This. Six. Year. Old.

Even if you've seen a situation like her before, really think about her and her situation. She has only weighs 2-4 pounds more than her birth weight. My recently-turned-6-yo sister weighs 5 times as much as her. My 2 yo brother weighs almost 3 times as much as her.

Please don't be desensitized!

PLEASE realize the URGENCY of finding her a family!!!

PLEASE do something to HELP! 

Whether that be adopting, or sharing her everywhere you can!

(You can use the share buttons under this post, or go to her RR profile and use the share buttons there.)

Resurrection

Last Easter I posted the following and I felt the need to repost it this Easter.
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Resurrection

Awhile ago I posted a prayer request for Carrington. She is now HOME! Praise God!

We sang this song on Sunday at church, and it is on of my favorite Easter songs ever! (Well, I don't have very many favorite Easter songs, but I still love this one!)

You are probably wondering what that song has to do with Carrington. Well, on Reece's Rainbow, she was/is listed with the name Anastasiya. This is what her profile looked like before she found a family. (Click on it to make it larger.)

If you go here, there is a list of Russian names and their meanings. A few names down on the list is Anastasiya.

If you can't see that, it says that Anastasiya means Resurrection. Let's take a look at the word 'Resurrection'. From the dictionary, it means: Resurrection: the act of rising fromthe dead.

And how true that is for our little Carrington. I don't know if Anastasiya (spelled a different way) was her real name or was just the name whoever listed her on RR gave her. Either way, it was totally God naming her.

When Carrington (Anastasiya) came home, she was immediately rushed to the hospital. The doctors said her body was shutting down to die and she would have died within a few days if she had stayed at the orphanage. But God's timing is perfect! He planned that she would make it home before she passed away, and look at her now! At home and thriving! Just like God's timing was perfect when Jesus was on earth 2000 years ago. He wouldn't let anyone take Jesus' life before it was his time. And the same when Jesus comes again! It won't be a moment too soon because Jesus was impatient, or a moment to late because Jesus forgot. It will be at the exact perfect time, that God already has planned! And you could pretty much say that Carrington is risen from the dead! (Or if you prefer, her deathbed.)

Do you see now why Resurrection is such a fitting meaning for Carrington? Now go back up and listen to that song again. Jesus has risen from the dead! Amen!

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Carrington went from this -

To this -

And now her family is stepping out in faith to save two more little boys who are far tinier than they should be - Kelten and Teagan.

The Burman's are one AMAZING family, and I'm so glad I have been able to witness Carrington thrive and blossom follow along on their amazing journey as they save the least of these.

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Happy Easter Everyone! CHRIST IS RISEN!

Tree Decorating!

Earlier this week we decorated our Christmas tree.... Here are pics, and my favorite ornaments! :)

I apologize in advance for the blurry pictures... I had my camera on a weird setting to try and make the best of the low light in the room, and didn't realize until I uploaded them that they were so blurry!

Yup, here I go with the watermarks again!

Hey Rach, THIS is Sar-bear, not me! :)

Martroyshka doll! :)

Look! We were only a family of 4! That was back in 2002 though.... :)

Jonathan hanging out on the floor loving the tree!
"You have a camera!! oh YUM!"

"Coming in for a taste test!!"

"HAHAHA Almost got it!!"

"Ok, you won that time, but I've got another plan!"

"I'll distract you with my cuteness!"

Rachel insisted she needed a picture too! "Ma-nan" (her word for Jonathan) can't be the only star!

"Plan B: I'll bounce up and down so fast she can't take pictures!"

"Wow! She still got a sorta good one!"

My 3 favorite ornaments on the tree!! :)

Look! An ornament form last year. It's Carrington!! Little did we know at the time we got this ornament how grave condition she was in. PRAISE GOD she is HOME with her FAMILY and THRIVING NOW!

And this year's ornaments! Tabitha is still waiting!!

Lilly is still waiting for her family!

And of course Lyla (Lilianna) is still waiting!!

(She is not in the picture above, because she is not supposed to be on the tree yet! She along with two others have to wait to go on the tree until Christmas! But shh! Don't tell anyone I said that, I'm not supposed to know that!)

Faithful Friday - The Burman Family

Today I want to introduce you to a family I love so very much!! - The Burman Family!!

(All pictures in this post used with permission)

So everybody knows who Carrington is, right?? I've posted about her a time or two before...

Isn't she GORGEOUS?? You can visit her blog here - Carrington's Courage. Sweet Carrington when from a 11 pound forgotten orphan on the other side of the world, to a VERY loved little girl with ever growing chub! From Orphan to Princess, it's miraculous what a FAMILY, and some LOVE can do!

Her family, the amazing Burman's, have been called to rescue more precious little ones yet again!! They committed to sweet Teagan Chance awhile back, and I happily helped Mrs. Burman design Teagan's blog - A Torch for Teagan! And because the Burman's have a habit of bringing home multiples, they just recently committed to Kelten Drake as well! :)

Teagan Chance - 4 years old

Kelten Drake - 12 years old

Kelten looks like chubby two year old, but he is actually 12 years old! Yes, no typo, he is TWELVE YEARS OLD, and weighs just 26 pounds. The boys are in an orphanage where the children are EXTREMELY tiny and malnourished. We're talking about 11 year-old's that come out of this orphanage with the circumference of their upper arm measuring 3 inches. Can you see their urgency in getting these boys home??

Right now they have an AWESOME giveaway going on! A brand new 32GB Ipad2 can be yours for the taking!! With Christmas coming up, this gift would make anyone happy! It's a wonderful giveaway for two wonderful little boys!! 

To enter, just go to this post on Teagan's blog  - Donate to the chip-in on the sidebar, and leave Shelly a comment with how much you donated so she can get you entered. $10 gets you one chance at it, $20 gets you two chances, $30 gets you three, you get the picture! :)

PLEASE go donate and enter... these boys NEED you to help get them home and this family GREATLY appreciates all and any help you can give!!! 

Let's bring Kelten and Teagan home!!!

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Siblings and Prayer Requests

According to a new study put out by Dr. Brian Skotko, 97% of siblings ages 9-11 said they love their brother/sister with Down syndrome. Similarly, among siblings ages 12 and older, 97% expressed feelings of pride about their brother/sister with DS and 88% were convinced they were better people because of their sibling with DS.
(info "stolen" from Our Journey to Anya)


I agree 100% with that!!! I am definitely convinced that I am a better person because my brothers have Down Syndrome! What's it like to have a sibling with DS? I think Madelaine, Carrington's big sister, says it perfectly! - 

Hey everybody, it's me! Having siblings with Down syndrome isn't that much different from having "normal" siblings. It's hard to describe what it's like because in my opinion and experience, to really understand what it's like you need to experience life with them and all of their quirks. They've definitely changed my life in the way of my career goals. Because of all of the things I have seen my siblings do, I want to help other children with special needs be able to do all of those things and more. I also want to have or adopt a child with Down syndrome. Preferably a girl because girls are just so much more fun to shop for. At least to me they are because I am a sucker for ruffles and quite frankly, I don't think a little boy would enjoy wearing a ruffled shirt :)

With four siblings who have Down syndrome I have learned that words aren't the only way of talking. My siblings communicate with us in so many ways, with sign language, their eyes, and the far less preferable way, crying and screaming. The occasional raspberry (courtesy of Carrington) gets our attention as well :)

I would definitely say the hardest part about having siblings with Down syndrome is all of the doctor appointments and hospital visits. Always running all over the place trying to get to each appointment on time... it gets stressful sometimes. But the love and trust my siblings have for me, that is the best part of any and all days that I spend with them.

(Taken from Carrington's Courage with permission)


Most of the time I forget that my brothers have Down Syndrome! It doesn't define them, and no they'll never "get over it", but I love them just the way they are! And honestly, if I had the choice, after knowing them, I would never change the fact they had DS! No, of course I wouldn't want them to spend as much time int eh orphanage with out a family as they did, but because of them, I am a much better person then I was before we adopted them! I don't avoid people with DS like I used to, now I got up and talk to them. My brothers have changed me forever to the better, and I am soo very grateful!! ♥

I love you my EXTRA SPECIAL brothers!!

"Live Life BIG - Get to know someone with Down Syndrome!"

Prayer Requests for today-

• Please keep praying that we will hear something out the list! It's driving me (and many others) a bit crazy not to know!
• Please pray for a friend of ours that was in a very serious car accident and broke almost everything on the left side of his body!
• ***PLEASE pray for an adopting family who is getting ready to travel and has been robbed of some VERY important things that they NEED before they travel. I can't even imagine what she is going through right now!!! :(
• And of course keep praying sweet princess gets a family! :)

'Mazing Monday - Carrington Burman

This is my 100th post!!! I don't know what I rambled about in all those posts, but I say 100 since March isn't bad! :) I've posted 22 Waiting Wednesday posts, 11 Faithful Friday posts, 10 'Mazing Monday posts (including this one), gained 25 awesome followers (and many ( I hope!) reading that aren't officially followings), and had over 25 hundreds hits on this page! I credit it all to one thing - The fact that God adopted us first! If he hadn't there would be no hope, no love, and no 'Mazing Monday's!

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Quite awhile ago, last March in fact, I posted a prayer request here. That request was for a little girl by the name of Carrington! Please read that here. Then shortly after she started recovering, I wrote this post - Resurrection. Today, she is THRIVING and blossoming into the beautiful girl God made her to be!

TORI & ANASTASIYA for the Burman family‏ — Mansfield, TX

   

Visit Carrington (Anastasiya)'s blog here: http://carringtonscourage.blogspot.com/

In the orphanage -

In the hospital -

And today-

Is she not the sweetest EVER??? Amazing isn't a strong enough word for her transformation!!! I love you Princess Carrington!!!!

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Alrighty people... I've been posting her pic for long?! Why aren't you (ya, you!) going to get her??