Monday, February 7, 2011

Answering God's call to EXPAND our family

Over a year ago, I read  A Hole in our Gospel and prayed to God for him to break my heart for what breaks his.  I never thought that I would be where we are today.  If ever I was thankful for anything it is for God guiding our lives and being our center point and navigator.

Before Christmas, our eyes were forever opened by the plight of the orphans with down syndrome in Eastern Europe.  Just because they were born with an extra chromosome, like Alayna, they are given up at birth to live in an orphanage.  At 4 or 5 years old these children, if not adopted, are sent to live in an institution for the remainder of their lives.  A cold, dank, dismal place without a family, without knowing love, where their limbs become stiff from atrophy and their ribs stick out from malnutrition.

Once our eyes were opened , it began to gnaw at our hearts.  Each day as we continued to look at Alayna our hearts would break a little more with the idea that she or someone else like her would ever know life in an institution just because she sports "designer genes".

At the beginning of January, God laid it on Jason's heart that we should look into adopting from Reece's Rainbow.  We had talked of adoption before but, Jason was never ready to move further in the process, he always cited that it was way too much money.

We have been praying daily and seeking God's path for our family. We are so thankful for our prayer warriors who have surrounded us with prayer to help us discern God's call.


Dariya
 We are thrilled to announce that we are stepping out in faith to follow God's call to add another sweet little girl with down syndrome to our mix.  She is 2 months older than Alayna and currently resides in Eastern Europe but, totally lives in our hearts. 

As Aidan continues to say, "Can't we just go pick her up today?!"

We are very thankful to the many that have donated to her fund already. We have seen God's hand guiding us each step of the way and know we are following His will.
We have begun the process of completing all the necessary paperwork to bring her home and can't wait to go and pick her up.  I have started an adoption link at the top of the blog for our timeline and expenditures.

This is a huge, life changing event for us and we couldn't do it without your help. 

Here is how you can help:

1.  Pray for our family and this process.

2.  Donate to our adoption fund:  (skip a couple starbucks and donate to Dariya's homecoming =) we have about $16,000 to raise.
  • You can give us cash or check, for a tax deductible donation please click Dariya's picture to go to our Reece's Rainbow sponsor page and pay online via credit/debit card. 
3.  Share our story with all your friends, blog it, FB it, twitter it, talk about it at the water cooler...however you can get the word out, we need your help to raise this money get our daughter home. 

Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me (Matthew 18:5)
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy. (Proverbs 31:8,9)

29 comments:

Aimee said...

I KNEW this was coming!!! Congrats, guys! Can't wait to hear more!!! :)

NB said...

yay!!!! HUGE HEART-JOY!! :) super excited about all this REAL love going world-wide...

ch said...

xoxox

JulieG said...

Thrilled, thrilled, thrilled! So excited for you all. What a wonderful way to expand your family.

Stephanie said...

Again... you are my heroes! Love to you and your family.

Elisabeth said...

I was hoping this was your announcement! Rochelle, I am so excited for you and your family! I will be praying for you as you embark on this journey, that the Lord will guide your steps and prepare the way ahead of you.

Dariya is such a beautiful and precious little girl. I know she will be a wonderful addition to your family!

Erin said...

Wow, so wonderful! Such a lucky little girl.

Patti said...

So very happy for you guys and of course we will do all we can to help:)

Lori said...

So excited to hear this news!!! Can't wait to follow your (and her) journey!
God Bless all of you!

RK said...

How exciting!!! Can't wait to see her home with her sister and brother and MOMMY and DADDY! She's going to have a forever family! Praise God!

Jae Marie said...

Congratulations! I remember in the email when I sent the Olga flyer that you said you were praying about adoopting as well, I had no idea it would be so soon! I can't wait to see how your journey to bring her home progresses and I will pray that everything transitions quickly and smoothly for your family and that she is home soon!!

Jackie Wallace said...

Wonderful news. We look so forward to meeting Dariya when you have her home. Such a precious little girl .

MJStump said...

OMG...this is wonderful news! I had an inkling your HUGE news would be about growing your family :)

We will do what we can to help! She is simply beautiful!

Sara Bell said...

Yea That is awesome! I will talk to Ryan and see about a donation! I will get back to you about that, he is on a mission trip right now so I can't talk to him... But she is a cutie!!! Can't wait to learn more about her and watch her journey too!!! Thanks for posting!

To Love Endlessly said...

Absolutely amazing!

Lacey said...

You know I'm so excited, and a little jealous. When I think of her orphanage, it brings tears to my eyes! And you will see it in a few short months!

Cathy said...

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!!! I'm so excited for your family. What a blessing!!! I can't wait to follow your journey and I'm adding your family to my prayer list. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

so exciting...congrats!!! we will be with you through this whole journey and she is absolutely beautiful <3

Melissa Macy said...

We just completed our first adoption of a special needs child with CP from Ukraine. We are planning to host over the summer again and purse a 2nd (possibly 3rd at the same time) adoptions! God bless you and I would love to follow along on your journey!

Beverly said...

so wonderful and heart warming! Congrats and so happy for you guys. I will be praying xoxo

Heather said...

I am blow away!Well,actually I am not.Your family is one of those families that I just say,wow,aren't they amazing?Your hearts are huge and filled to the brim with love for your family,for God and for these precious orphans.We cannot wait to watch you journey towards your beautiful daughter.Each time we visit RR,we see your Dariya and we comment how much we think she looks like zoey ...

We my friends,we sent you prayers and blessings and our whole filled with joy,congratulations!

Julia said...

Just discovered your blog!! Yeah! Welcome to RR and the wonderful world of the crazy adoption process!! Love it!

Denise said...

I wish you could see the HUGE smile on my face right now!!! I am so happy about this!! Congratulations!! Such a little secret you have been keeping. I only have one complaint. If I actually make it to your home state in March....I will be too early to meet her :( You can definitely count on donations from me....just give me a little time to put my resources towards Barbara and Lera's families this month and soon I will be looking to help you!! Still smiling!!! :) :) :)

Brenda and KaCee said...

Dariya is now in our hearts, too. Your family is a true inspiration. We are praying Dariya's homecoming is soon.

Love you all!

Jamie Wooddell said...

You have a very beautiful family! Won't it be wonderful when we can both say our waiting children are HOME!
I look forward to following your journey.

Runningmama said...

Oh My Goodness, I just saw this! I am so excited for your family and for this sweet little girl that will thrive because of your decision. Praying for your journey to go and "pick her up" like Aidan would say!

Kelly said...

Congratulations! It's great to see another KS family adopting through RR! :) Dariya is adorable! :) I will be praying for your family as well as little Dariya.

Kelly said...

I am such a lousy blogging friend:( I missed this post.....UGH!!! Congratulations Rochelle & family!! This is so wonderful.........will be praying for your family and Dariya for a smooth & quick process!! Hoping she make it HOME for her 3rd b-day too!! On my way to your donation page:)

Lorraine, AKA Forever Blessed said...

I am SOOOOOO happy for your family and Dariya, too! You're our answer to prayer for Dariya, as she was our Christmas Angel with RR! We were so blessed to raise money for her in memory of our RR Angel, and we're looking forward to following your journey. www.AllArePreciousInHisSight.blogspot.com