Three matching grants in Rita's honor!

We have a MATCHING GRANT!!! Well, not just one, but THREE!!!!!!!!!!

(Ah the wonderful times when your charitable gifts double as if by magic. ;)

A donor has mentioned that she'd love to help kids who have been featured on previous months to catch up some of those fund raising goals that weren't quite met. She wants to offer $500 to Elizaveta, Aubree and Raymond. (For a total of $1,500 for our kids!) Her personal reason for giving is to see if these children have "enough support." If they don't, and we cannot meet the conditions of her grant, then she will put her funds to use elsewhere. (Although not said, I believe she may give more in the future if we show we are behind these kids!)

Oh we'd love to see our kids have that extra money!

Elizaveta

 

Elizaveta (our June child) has a hundred bucks in her grant fund right now. If we get it up to $600 then this donor will put in $500 more!

Aubree

 





For Aubree (our September child) to receive the bonus $500, her grant fund needs to read $615. Right now she has $115 in her account. If we get it up to $615 then this donor will put her over a thousand!

Raymond

For Raymond (our August child) to receive the bonus $500, his grant fund needs to read $1,700. Right now it is at $1,202.60. Getting this matching grant would put him over two thousand! He, like Rita, is close to aging out of his orphanage and be transferred!

Since we cannot give to Rita, let's help catch up some of our kids who could really use the money! Just click on a child's name under their picture to give. If any of our three children reaches their goal they will receive $500 the day that happens. If any of our children cannot raise $500 then they will not receive the $500 matching grant.

This matching grant ends October 31st.

Rita does not have a donation account set up to helf off-set the cost of her adoption. It may be because she's so close to transfer and they don't know where she'll end up. Regardless of the reason, we only have her file for a VERY SHORT TIME. But if a family commits to adopting her then we can donate towards their adoption through a family sponsership page and all is well. (Seriously we just need one family to step forward and save the day!) We do want to help with these costs and people have wanted to continue to give their $12, but we just cannot do that for Rita at this time. What we can do is share her link: http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=rita. And try to find her mommy! I have personally seen about 50 shares on Facebook alone in the last couple of days. Thank you so much!

Sharing Rita

Have you shared Rita with your friends? On Facebook or Twitter or your blogs?

 

I used to be embarrassed to share anything but the occasional George Takei photo on my Facebook wall. I hate sappy stuff. I hate political debates. I even avoid "awareness." I just wanted to keep it light. That's my personality and shouldn't my social media reflect the real me?

But when I wasn't in a position to help financially I found myself wanting to do something. What can I do? Well it turns out sharing on Facebook actually helps needy children find families. Even though I doubted my cousins or high school friends would appreciate it I started to share.

I learned about transfer. How awful that was. I learned about the fate of kids with arthrogryposis in Eastern Europe. I shared more.

 

I have had a person see a child I've posted and say, "Yes, this is my child. Thanks for sharing!" It's an amazing experience. Life changing.

 

Another member of Bring Hope happened to sit next to a stranger one day and happened to mention a girl waiting for a family on Reece's Rainbow. A few weeks later we found out that woman had committed to adopt that girl! Our jaws dropped!  

 

It happens.

 

Yet another member of Bring Hope blogged about a very similar situation where a friend of hers shared a link at the bottom of her email and helped two children find their family! Read about that cool story here.

 

Those are our experiences from this tiny group of women who have our own lives but find the time to occasionally take a few moments to share about orphans. My challenage is that you (yes YOU! Our favorite reader!) share Rita's link. You can share it any way you want. Copy and paste this address: http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=rita.

 

I'd ask for your $12 donations, but Rita does not have donations set up at all. She's desperate for a family and we're desperate not to lose her. Right now we're just sharing.

 

Let's share Rita with her mother.

 

 

~

If you are interested in more information about Rita, or if you have any questions whatsoever, please email Andrea about her. Andrea's email address is andrea@reecesrainbow.org. I have inquired about kids before who I didn't end up adopting, but just so I could get a bit of information about the child, country and process. Andrea responds pretty quickly.

 

 





Introducing our focus for October: Rita!

Rita

 

URGENT: Rita is very close to aging out of her orphanage and transferred to an institution. Maybe you've heard the stories and maybe you haven't, but we're talking about an adult mental institution. This is hell for a child. Rita is seven. She's beloved by the orphanage nannies and director or they would not fight to keep her as long as they have. Most children are transferred between the ages of 3-5.

 

At this time there is no way to set up funds for Rita. Reece's Rainbow doesn't have a donate button set up. We're just desperately trying to find this girl's family.

 

Please share her link (http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=rita) or this post. Please share and find her family.

 

From a medical standpoint, little has to be done surgically since this child is walking and mobile. Without intervention she is already at the place where a lot of us have toiled to get our children.

 

From a personality standpoint, you don't keep a child around past the age of transfer unless they are wonderful. If they are hard on you or your staff you have to transfer them. She is not. She is wonderful. And they have obviously been engaging with her on a level that you don't often see. She has no mental delay! In fact they speak of how smart she is! Even my 22 month old with AMC had a mental delay just from having had no parents or one-on-one attention. Not this girl!

 

To read her bio click here.

 

Are you her mommy? Act now. Act fast. Let's save this little girl from the absolute worst trauma of transfer. 

About Aubree from those who have met her

The following was written by Laurel's father. They were able to interact with Aubree a lot while in her birth country. 

Aubree

My wife and I were blessed to meet Aubree while we were adopting our daughter this summer. We had the opportunity to interact with her on nearly a daily basis for three weeks. This dear little girl charmed us from the moment we met her; we both wanted to bring her home too! Unfortunately, our circumstances only allow for the adoption of one child, so we're praying that Aubree's forever family will find her soon. Aubree always greeted us with her beautiful, bright smile and lots of waving – this girl is full of enthusiasm! I think her personality is best described as sunny; I can't remember a time during our visit when she wasn't smiling. She was also eager to hold hands or to give a friendly hug. Some of the other children struggled with being a bit too forceful in demonstrating physical affection, but Aubree, for all her enthusiasm, was always gentle. She also seemed to get along well with the other chidren. In terms of Aubree's needs, her legs appeared to be affected the most by her arthrogryposis, especially in her knees, which appeared to have an extremely low range of motion, bordering on total rigidity. It also seemed to us that Aubree may have some cognitive delays as well, though these apparent 'delays' don't at all dampen her kind spirit. She just needs the patience, love, and support that only a family can provide. Please prayerfully consider brining Aubree into your family. She needs you. My wife and I would be happy to answer any other question you may have, to the best of our knowledge.

If you would like to be put in touch with this family about Aubree please contact us at bringhopeto12in2012@gmail.com and we will connect you. Or if you would like to offer money towards a matching grant for Aubree please email us! Thank you! 

Introducing Septembers Child...Aubree!

Introducing Bring Hope to 12 in 2012's focus child for September

Aubree 

Isn't she pretty?! 

Some quick facts about this young lady:

She was born in August 1999 so that makes her 13 years old last month

She is active, easy-going and friendly 

She is in a school-orphanage, which means she is being educated and its supported by humanitarian groups so likely isn't experiencing extreme neglect and abuse often seen in other orphanages 

She can be adopted by large families and older parents 

She has arthrogryposis and it appears as though it only affects her lower extremities, so just her legs! If her arms are affected they're very mildly affected because she uses her arms to scoot around on the floor

There is a mental delay listed but its hard to say what that means, it could be an institutional delay or she was born with it. It could be as mild as a learning disability or more severe. A very small number of kids with AMC have true cognitive disabilities so hopefully its just institutional 

Her legs are stuck straight! I put the explanation mark behind that because when you have AMC, being born with legs stuck straight usually means fewer surgeries and an increased likelihood of walking. Most kids with AMC are born with their legs stuck flexed at the knees which require several surgeries and castsing to straighten them out so they can walk. Even if she couldn't walk after therapy and treatment, she would like be successfully independent in a manual wheelchair.

Don't be alarmed by her legs being described as "tiny" this is not abnormal for AMC and even people with "tiny" legs can walk and be successful. 

An adoptive family has met her and been at her orphanage and is willing to talk to any potential families about her! 

Reality is....

She has just 36 months to be adopted before she "ages out" which means she has just 36 months until she will be transferred to an adult mental institution where she won't have access to the resources she does at the school-orphanage, she may not get adequate food, water, heat or attention. 

It will cost around $20,000 to adopt her and she has just $5 toward the cost of her adoption right now, a family will more easily be able to step up and commit to her if the financial burden is less. 

How you can help...and give Aubree Hope

Share: Share this post or her picture or a link to her Reece's Rainbow Profile via email or social media! You never know who may see it and want to add her to their family or make a donation

Donate: Consider making a donation, large or small toward the cost of her adoption! Just $12 can make a difference, thats $12 her family doesn't have to raise. Thats the equivalent of giving up just 2.5 trips to Starbucks! Click here to donate!

Aubree and her situation remind me...

so much of Laurel's (Our focus child in February) situation. Laurel too was in a better orphanage and wasn't severely neglected but she has AMC that also requires her to use a wheelchair

Laurel was also an older teen but only 6 months from "aging out" 

BUT.....

6 months later Laurel is now Alexandra Hope Harlan, she has been adopted by a wonderful family and had an AWESOME 16th birthday party with her new parents and her friends from the orphanage instead of being transferred!! 

I hope that Aubree can have this happy ending like Alexandra has! 

Alexandra with her parents!

I just hope and pray it doesn't take another 3 years for it to happen, I hope Aubree can have a 14th birthday party like Alexandra had for her 16th!! 

A post from Raymond's Prayer Warrior

As we end August and the month for Raymond we share a blogpost from his prayer warrior, Samantha! She will continue to pray for and advocate for Raymond to find his forever family. 

http://loverescueme-samantha.blogspot.com/2012/07/raymond.html

If you haven't done so already, consider making a $12 donation to Raymond adoption fund! This money will be used by the family who steps up to adopt him for the fees and expenses associated with completing his adoption. 

Click here to donate! 

This little boy deserve a family, love and a home outside an institution. He is a full of untapped potential! 

If you can't donate, please consider sharing this link and/ or his picture on a social media site, you never know who could see it and decide they could parent him! 

Introducing our focus for August: Raymond!

Raymond

Here's Raymond. He just had a birthday a few weeks ago and is now five years old. 

The only picture we have of little Raymond is a blurry one. Here's what I can tell you having been in the AMC community and seeing the different body types: his wrists look good. A large percentage of AMC kiddos have wrists that are clubbed. They look hooked like this:

Note the bent wrists.

The baby in this picture is my daughter. She could touch her fingers to her forearms. It made holding things very hard for her. It took serial casting and daily stretching and nightly splinting for those wrists to come to neutral (straight). Raymond won't need any of this. His wrists look good. Notice also that the infant's shoulders are inverted. You can tell that the palms of her hands face away from her body. Go ahead and do that with your own arms and see how your shoulders feel. That takes a supination stretch to undo, or a supination splint (a giant wrap-around thing) to train the arms to work in a way they can be used. Raymond will not need any of that either as far as I can see. That's wonderful! 

So what will he need? What I'm seeing for Raymond is clubfeet which will require Ponseti serial casting.  

And I'm also going to guess his knees are stuck in that bend. That may require casting or surgery. I know about knee surgery from what my daughter went through. Here's the link to her knee results after surgery or you can see this graph:

What I'm saying is that Raymond's AMC is HIGHLY treatable. He is getting zero treatment for it now, but he could really shine in a new family. I see walking in his future. But not where he is now.

Raymond is our focus this month. We'll not just focus on his AMC or how treatable it is, but we'll also try to really see Raymond through this blurry picture and get to know the little boy there. I have a soft spot for Raymond. You see he was born the same year as my daughter, and right now my daughter is running around with walking sticks and playing and laughing while Raymond is trapped in a crib. He is destined for life in a tiny prison. That does not make sense to this mama's brain. Please consider donating towards his grant fund by clicking here. Or please consider sharing his picture on Facebook. He needs people to really see him, through his situation, through his terrible picture--see the little boy who wants a mommy and has SO MUCH potential. He needs someone to make up for five missed birthday parties. He needs cute little glasses to make all the ladies swoon. He needs straight little feet that a couple months of casting can provide. He needs a chance. He needs a mom. And we need to stand in the gap between a life in a crib and finding his family. We need to share and donate and scream and holler and yell and panic over his fate.

We are needed!