I've been keeping a secret!

Yep, I have been keeping a secret, since last February, February 18, 2009, to be exact. On that day, I came across a website called Reece's Rainbow. Reece's Rainbow is a non-profit adoption ministry. They help find homes for orphans with Down syndrome and some with other disabilities. Most of the orphans are in Eastern European countries. In those countries, children with Down syndrome are routinely placed in orphanages, as there are no services available to their families. At the age of 5, or thereabouts, they are transferred from their "baby house" to a mental institution. Most of the children die within the first year of their transfer. They receive little or no medical care, attention, or love and are often strapped to their beds. In the United States, children with Down syndrome are treasured and there is a long waiting list of families who want to adopt the few that become available. With the many services and medical treatments available in the U.S., these kids can grow up to be happy, productive members of society. Many even learn to drive, get married, and live independently.

As I browsed through the children's pictures, I fell in love with a little girl named Tonya. I really felt that we would be a wonderful family for her, even though we hadn't planned on adopting any more children. I kept it to myself for a couple of months, thinking that the feeling would pass. It didn't. More and more, I felt that I had been directed to the website and Tonya's picture for a reason. I talked to Mike about it, and while he wasn't against actually adopting her, he expressed a lot of concern about the financial aspects. I don't blame him for that, it isn't like I hadn't thought of that, a lot. I guess where we differ, though, is that I feel very strongly that we would find a way to come up with the adoption and travel fees, if we committed to Tonya and put our minds to it. Mike doesn't quite have the faith that I do, however.

Adoptions in Tonya's country cost about $24,000, which includes travel costs and lodging. Since it doesn't seem to be an option for us (although, I have to admit that I am still hoping and praying that it will work out, somehow!), I have committed to helping raise money for Tonya to be adopted. Even though it would break my heart to find out that another family had decided to adopt her, I would be incredibly happy that she was going to be getting a family and her life will not be lost or damaged forever in a mental institution.

We had a garage sale last spring, which I blogged about, and we raised a bit of money from that. Since our hockey rink was closed, we decided to disband our non-profit hockey organization. Since we had a 501-(3)c status, one of the requirements for disbanding is that we must donate any remaining bank balance to another non-profit organization. A few months ago, I approached the rest of the board with the idea of donating it to Reece's Rainbow. They voted, unanimously, to do it and that money is now a part of her adoption grant. While it is still only a drop in the bucket, if you go here, to the Reece's Rainbow Blog, you can see that Tonya's grant is beginning to grow.

I am blogging about this now because I would like to spread the word about Tonya and the other beautiful children at Reece's Rainbow. They all deserve homes and loving families. There are a lot of families out there, like mine, who would be willing to take them in and love them, but cannot because they just don't have enough money for the adoption expenses. Please take a few minutes to look at these children and see if you can find a way to help them with a financial donation or by becoming a prayer warrior. Right now, they have an Angel Tree and if you send a $35 donation, they will send you a porcelain Christmas ornament with a picture of your sponsored child. Just click on the ornament on the side of my blog for more information.