I am so thankful to our wonderful God for so many things. Thankful that I have a beautiful life, amazing children and a wonderful husband. I am so thankful. I am so blessed. I am also thankful for my eyes being opened to a world that I didn't know existed up until about a year ago. Once your eyes are forced open will you shut them again or keep them open and LOOK? Really look at what is going on in this world... And will you act or close your eyes and walk away?
Thru this bloggy world I've been blessed to get to know the amazing ministry that is Reece's Rainbow. Along with marveling at the amazing things this ministry does and the beauty in the hearts of the people that work there, I've also had the rose colored glasses removed.
Take a moment and go to http://www.reecesrainbow.org/. It's an eye opening experience and yet the stories that are there are pure redemption... Redemption for those that have been cast aside and deemed worthless to their country, their town and their own parents. Those that were chosen to love them instead can't, don't or are too scared to keep them. WHY? Isn't that the question we all would have... Or we all should have. Because these children, these babies, these perfect little souls are different... All different for different reasons - Down Syndrome, cerebal palsy, arthrogryposis, spina bifida, FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), autism, and HIV... And just because they are different they are thrown away, locked up in baby houses until the ripe age of 4, 5 or 6 and then sent away to ADULT MENTAL INSITUTIONS... where they inevitably die. My heart aches for these children.
You see... My sister was born 18 years ago and she was born with Down Syndrome. To me, at the age of 14, she was no different than every other baby in this world. She was my sister and I had a fierce love and desire to protect her no different than if she had been born without that extra special chromosone. She was LOVED and wanted and treasured. My sister's story is different than many others though, my dear sister died at 4 and a half months old. She was born 10 weeks premature and with heart complications. During her heart surgery she passed away. At the time of her death you wonder why? Why bring a baby here and allow her to suffer for her entire life and then die? Why why why? So many questions... God is the only one who has the answers. What I do know is that a seed was planted in my heart. She will always be a part of me and her legacy is destined to live on.
Now that I'm an adult, a wife and a mother of my own I can not imagine losing a child. I can not imagine leaving my child either. And I feel saddened by the thought of what those children live with every day. I look into the faces of my 3 beautiful children and I remember looking in my sisters eyes and I can not imagine a child living their lives feeling unloved, uncared for and alone. ALONE - do we really understand the magnitude of this? The children in these baby homes have a caretaker that takes care of many children. When these babies cry, are hurting, are in need they are just one of many... There is no mommy or daddy to hold them, rock them to sleep, comfort them when they have a bad dream, kiss their boo boos or sing them songs. No child deserves to live like this...
What are the answers? Only you can know what God is asking you to do... Only you can know what you CAN do... The options are vast - Pray, Adopt, Donate, Educate, Advocate, Publicize, Pray some more... Look into the eyes of the children listed on the waiting children pages... And ask yourselves this... Are your eyes open or have you blocked out what you are seeing in theirs? And what if this was YOUR child? And you can only imagine what God feels right now... Watching HIS children suffer like this.
http://reecesrainbow.org/carmen-3-g
This face... I can't sleep at night thinking about this face...
http://reecesrainbow.org/coralynne-3g
Or this one... Waiting, for a Mom, a Dad and a family to call her own.
My heart aches... And yet I feel blessed and thankful to have had my eyes opened... And God, our God does things for a reason... He crosses paths, He opens our hearts and our eyes. We decide what to do with it from there!
I've been blessed to 'meet' those that have opened their lives, their hearts and eyes forever... Amazing awesomesauce people... I stand in awe over how giving and beautiful their stories are...
http://www.ahomefordarya.blogspot.com/ - Marianne
http://www.gatheringthemfromtheeast.com/ - Shelley
These are the two that started it all... There's SO many more now... But, I adore these girls... Go give them some love for me!
