Greta desperately needs a family!

Greta turned 14 this month. She only has 2 YEARS LEFT to find a family. After that she will be transferred to an adult mental institution without the possibility of ever leaving. Please join us in PRAYING GRETA HOME!!!! Greta is one of Reece's Rainbow's Angel Tree children. If you would like to give a gift to sweet Greta you can do so at http://static.reecesrainbow.org/angeltree2012/ To read more about Greta you can go to http://reecesrainbow.org/32794/greta

Carter (Matthew) is home!

Tyler's Home!

Bernadette's Sweet 16

Bernadette "Jessa" waited 16 years to have her life celebrated, but on Nov. 10, 2012 it was CELEBRATED :) She is now a loved, cherished, beautiful daughter/sister to the Rogers family. She has lived up to her nickname "Sunshine Girl"!

Patti's home!!!!

Here's a link to a newspaper article about her adoption. href="http://www.thegatewaynews.com/news/article/5228851">

Marcus has a family!!!!

Here's the link if you would like to read about Marcus' family and/or support them financially in their adoption process. http://reecesrainbow.org/42411/sponsorcrites There are only 5 more children left in orphanage 39 in need of families!!!

Bernadette and Mason are coming HOME

This Saturday August 25th Bernadette (Jessa) and Mason's (Caleb) mom, Erika Rodgers will be flying to Ukraine to bring these 2 precious children home. Please be praying for safe travels and everything to go smoothly.

Meet Bernadette & Mason's Family

The Rogers family is at it again! After being home only 4 months with their precious Prince Malachi and Princess Clare, they have felt the call to return. Erika is always looking on the Reece’s Rainbow site and praying for the children there. She saw an urgent need for 2 teenage boys that had to be adopted quickly. That got the wheels turning and she talked to Mel about if they thought an older child would fit in their family. They have 9 children ages 24-2, with 7 still at home. They knew what would happen to the older children once they turned 16 and felt that they couldn’t save them all but they could at least save one. When they saw Miss Bernadette’s face, they knew she was their daughter. With this energetic family, one is never enough, so they looked at all the children at Bernadette’s institution. Little “Monkey Man” Mason stood out as a ball of energy that they could see the other boys wrestling and playing with. Having just completed an adoption, the family would appreciate any financial help and prayers to rescue these two children who are living on borrowed time. 4/9/12—HOME STUDY COMPLETE, AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at http://www.arainbowfamily.blogspot.com

Patti is getting adopted!!!!

I've been feeling like we were due to have another one of our precious ones from Orphanage 39 find a home, and what do you know Patti is going home :) We now are at the halfway point. 8 kids have families committed to them, and 8 more are waiting for a family. Here are the kids from 39 who are still waiting for their forever family to find them:

Erin: www.reecesrainbow.org/15665/erin3903
Marcus: www.reecesrainbow.org/15683/marcus3904
Mabel: www.reecesrainbow.org/32728/mabel
Greta: www.reecesrainbow.org/32794/greta
Carter: www.reecesrainbow.org/15753/carter3907
Clarice: www.reecesrainbow.org/32799/clarice
Eric: www.reecesrainbow.org/32249/eric3909
Vitaly: www.reecesrainbow.org/403/vitaly3901

Puzzle Piece Fundraiser

Praying Them Home Puzzle
Attention Prayer Warriors! We're selling Prayer Warrior puzzle pieces for $5, and your name, and the name of the child you're praying home will be written on the back. The puzzle will be put together as pieces are sold, and when complete, it will be put into a two-sided frame for display.

The money raised through this fundraiser will benefit a family with an urgent financial need at the time the puzzle is complete.

IF WE SELL ALL OF THE PIECES THIS FUNDRAISER WILL RAISE OVER $1,000!!! All you have to do is donate $5.

Six Weeks, Six Kids

That God is working on behalf of the children in Orphanage 39 is undeniable!  Six weeks ago, Renee (who adopted a young girl from 39) began praying and blogging about the other waiting children.

In the past six weeks, SIX CHILDREN from Orphanage 39 are heading home to their forever families!  What makes the women of Praying Them Home even more excited is that most of these kids are coming to Virginia!  We are already dreaming of a big reunion!!!

Stay tuned, we can't wait to see who's next!

Meet the Mortons (Samuel's Family)

You can follow their progress at eightmortons.blogspot.com

Duncan has found a family!!!!

Just the other day we had 3 of the 16 orphanage 39 orphans that we have been praying for find a home, and now we can add Duncan to the list. Praise the Lord with us!!!!! Now, sweet Bernadette is the last one whose time is running out to find a family. She has until November to get adopted. Please pray for God to work everything out for Bernadette to find a forever family. If you would like to see some cute pictures of Renee's visit to orphanage 39 you can view them at www.butbygraceitcouldbeme.blogspot.com.

Pray and watch the Lord work

About a month or two ago a couple of us women decided that we were going to help the orphan crisis by praying. The crisis is so big where does one begin? We decided to look for where the Lord was already working and we would start there. Well, I watched the blogs and the Reece's Rainbow facebook pages and kept seeing people being burdened for the children of orphanage 39, so I figured that must be where the Lord was working. We decided that we would commit to praying for the children of orphanage 39 by name and we would try to get the churches in our area to each commit to praying for a particular child. Since we started praying the Lord has found a family for 3 of the 16 children. Praise the Lord! So, as of now, Alexis, Tyler, Samuel will be united with their families in about 6-7 months. Actually, Samuel will probably go home sooner than that, as he only has until May to be adopted. God is so good. Please join us in praying for the rest of the orphanage 39 children who desparately want a family. If you would like to read more about each child you can visit Renee Alan's blog www.butbygraceitcouldbeme.blogspot.com. She just adopted from orphanage 39 and she blogged about each of the children while she was over there.

Days left for Samuel to be adopted

HTTP://COUNTINGDOWNTO.COM

God Is Moving Mountains!

When I sat down at the computer this morning, I had a message that one of the girls at Orphanage 39 will be an orphan no more!

Sweet Alexis was chosen!  I just told Tonya yesterday that I love Alexis' smile, and that I would bring her home in a heartbeat if I wasn't in the middle of an adoption in another country.  We don't know who her family is, but her family needs to know that this adoption is COVERED in prayer, sweet Alexis is COVERED in prayer.

The goal of Praying Them Home is to find area churches to pray these orphans out of their orphanages and into loving homes, and we are seeing evidence of that prayer working!

In other God news, sweet Bernadette is in urgent need of a family!

And in only a matter of DAYS, her grant has grown from $371 to $5400!!!!!!  Talk about making her family's financial burden lighten considerably!  Whoever you are, wherever you are, THANK YOU!

Don't forget about the Kindle Fire giveaway going on right now on Mandy's blog, and all the proceeds go to Bernadette's grant fund!

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." -Romans 12:15.  Today, friends, we are REJOICING!!!!!

Chandres
 

Update on Samuel

Here is an exerpt from Renee's blog post at www.butbygraceitcouldbeme.com

"So, after yesterday's post, I am happy to say that although we don't have any firm commitments, the interest in Sam was sufficient enough that we all agreed, we are likely to find him a family. So, this afternoon, I went and met with him. Please, go ahead and get your tissues ready, ok?

I love this kid- seriously. I love all of them- I wish I could just take the 70 or so we see all the time and move them all to the East Coast to live with us. But they don't need a new orphanage in a new city- they need families who cherish each one.

Sam- bless his amazing heart- hugged me no less than half a dozen times. He begged our facilitator to not forget him- he asked her if we were coming back (for him)- he cannot believe anyone else would want him, but for some reason, he knows we love kids and disabilities don't matter. The psychologist was stunned that we were asking about him, because he was so old, then she cried.

See, Sam came to her a couple of months ago- he needed an adult friend, one to talk to, one to hear him. He shared his heart- that he is very sad, that he is almost too old for the orphanage, and he doesn't have a family. No one wants him. He feels broken, like no one understands him and appreciates him like a family should.

He said he has no one special for him to say "I love you" and "I believe in you" and "I will help you". And because of that, he was very sad.

So they prayed- she said Sam's faith is very strong and he wants to be somewhere where it can grow bigger. They prayed he would have someone, maybe even a family, knowing there was no feasible way it would happen.

Ready for the Godbumps (goosebumps from heaven!)? That all happened a couple of months ago- right around the time we got confirmation from God that we were moving ahead with Emma's adoption.

So we arrive- and suddenly an English teacher wants us, random adoptive parents with redneck accents who have no business teaching anyone how to say anything other than "ain't" and "ya'll", to come in and present to her class.

And we met Sam.

Because God knew, and God ordained, and I'm so amazed each time He moves.

Sam's waiting on his family. I officially appointed him captain of the soccer team at Orphanage 39 today- made him in charge of researching wheelchair soccer for his friends and teaching them how to play with the ball we gave him today.

I promised I wouldn't forget him.

He asked for someone to come get him.

Yes, Sam wants to be adopted. He wants it with every fiber of his being. He wants a Christian family, one that will let him Skype with his friends at the orphanage and his two friends already adopted into the US. He wants a family to help him further develop his soccer skills and who will tell him they love him and he belongs to them.

If you are serious about him- let's get this moving. If you don't know what to do, email me and I'll help you.

______________________________________________________

As we were leaving upstairs, kids started to approach. "was this our last day here?" We said yes, and they frowned. And looked panicked. And then started asking our facilitator and the psychologist in rapid Russian a bunch of questions.

They want to know if there are families for them too.

"They like us- they will try hard to be very good and obedient kids- they will practice their English-"

They said so much- everything they could think of to try to persuade us to take their picture like we did Sam's, to help find them a family.

So I didn't say no. I said yes. I took their pictures, and am going to list at least one more boy in addition to Sam tomorrow. And as the kids listed at 39 get adopted, the psychologist and director and I are going to work together using the facilitator as the translator, to help list the rest of the kids I met."

Samuel needs our help & prayers IMMEDIATELY

This is a repost from www.butbygraceitcouldbeme.blogspot.com


"This is Samuel. Isn't he adorable? Seriously- he's just a sweetheart.

URGENT PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This post is not going to be the prettiest, nor the most eloquent. I'll be lucky if I manage to run spell check!

You heard me mention earlier this week about the kids in the middle school grades in the English class, right? And how they were amazing and hilarious and wonderful?

Well, I just can't get this one boy- I'm going to call him "Sam"- out of my head. I keep getting this feeling that this child is supposed to be in someone's family. I just can't shake it. It's on my mind all the time.


So I talked to the facilitator, and this morning, we met with the Director. She LOVES Sam- and was more than happy to fill us in all about him. She figured he was too old for anyone to want, but he IS available for adoption- it just has to happen fast. Like NOW.


We need a family, one either finishing their homestudy, or who can update a prior homestudy, and get it into USCIS before May 1st for approval for a boy up to age 16 at time of referral. He will be 16 in May.


Ya'll, this boy faces transfer here- because there is nothing for him here- and you will literally fall out of your seat when you hear why.


His fingers have banding on them. He has little nubs for some fingers, and others are partly formed and then twisted together.


So below you're going to see my report on him and I'm going to hover precariously out the window to get satellite internet to upload one of the pics I have. (If someone is interested email me and I'll try to send you another one!) I WANT THIS BOY IN A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have about 24 hours to get some kind of confirmation from someone that they are interested and want to pursue him, so I can officially go ask him if he really does want to go to America with a family. We're leaving here tomorrow a week earlier than we planned, and I'll see him one last time then.


He has a friend adopted into Washington state- he knows about adoption. He is very supportive of adoption. He was so happy for Emma and pleased that she would have a chance. He has a name that is used in both the US and EE. He is friendly, very intelligent, doing very well in school, is loved by his classmates, and respected. The director managed to get him sent to a futbol (ie soccer) camp in Poland a couple of years ago- he is VERY good at soccer, and loves it. He quizzed us quite well on our knowledge of it hahaha! His English is good enough that we had several conversations, and I think within getting him home to the US, he'll be fluent in no time.

He is an adorable teen- would make a perfect big brother or little brother or only child. He is very easygoing, very athletic and the teacher says he is very easy to work with in class.


Fingers, people. The kid, who when you see him walking down the hall would NEVER appear to belong at a special needs orphanage for kids with physical disabilities, could be sent to an institution or kicked into the streets by the government, for having a few finger issues.

Sam needs a home NOW. Please repost this link- please share it, please shout it from the rooftops. Call your neighbors, your church friends, your aunt and uncle. If anyone has a spare bed and a seat at the table, and is willing to adopt a great son- one that is thriving and just needs a chance- I've got him, right here.


I don't have pics of his whole head-to-toe self, but he is about 5'8" to 5"9". He is built like an athlete. He looks like a soccer player. He grins so quickly and laughs very easily, is respectful, very polite and was so curious about America he could barely contain it.

THIS boy, Samuel, is the one that had all the questions about what people with disabilites can do in America- this is the curious one that was in the class. He wants to go to college, he would love to play college soccer, and honestly, he could do it. He's good.

Here, in EE- no future.

There, in the USA, the world is his oyster.

Please, this boy needs an immediate commitment- delve in your hearts- see if you have room for him in your home. It's an easy region, 1 day passports are available, the director rocks! and you'll love your trip.

The director gave me special permission today to see if I could get him a family. Please- help me!!!!! If someone commits asap, we have permission to list him with RR- so the family could use an FSP there to help fundraise- and I will raise the roof hollering for you to get him some help. I'll even do some real life fundraisers- I'm open to suggestions. And my prior offer goes for him as well- the minute he has a family committed with RR, hubby and I will be putting money into his fund!!!!"

Here's a link to a must watch video

I don't know if you can ever be the same after watching it.

Praying Them Home

I tried to hand this post off to one of the other founders of Praying Them Home. The first post on any blog is so significant and sets the tone for the entire future of the blog. People will read this one post and decide if coming back is worth their time. They'll make the crucial decision about whether to click the "Follow" button and come along for the ride. I hope, I get this close enough to "right" that you'll come back, because it's not about me, or Tonya, or Chandres, or Stephanie, or any of the others who may contribute here in the future. This is all for the King and His glory...

It's all about the kids. The precious children waiting for families on the other side of the ocean. You see, to be born with a (dis)ability or special need of any kind in Eastern Europe means a life sentence to an orphanage and eventually to a mental institution. It means the society you were born into has decided you are worthless and should be hidden away from the rest of the world. Life is hopeless for these kids, unless, that's right, unless, they are chosen. Chosen by a family to be adopted as a son or daughter. Then, life is very different indeed.

Our efforts here are to raise awareness, to educate, to encourage you to pray. Our intentions are to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the children. We have recruited local churches to join us on our mission. We have chosen one orphanage to begin with. You can find the children living in orphanage 39 listed here on Reece's Rainbow or you can click on their names on the left hand side of this blog. Each child has been assigned to a local church. That church will pray over their assigned child for one quarter and then we'll rotate the kids. Our hope is to find these children's families. We believe that God is going to tie our community to their community. Our hearts tied to their hearts. We will stand in the gap for them until God places them into a family.

We are unsure where this ride is taking us, but it's all in God's hands and we're committed to following where He leads. Will you join us? Will you pray for the kids of orphanage 39? Will you start a movement in your own church or community? Can we unite in an effort to pray them ALL home? Let's be the hands and feet of Jesus. Let's rise up, Church and do what God has commanded us to do.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy