My Prayer For All Children

My Prayer for All Children I pray that all children will be loved for who they are, for no reason other than that they are.I pray that all children will be loved as first best, not second best; that they will be loved with an intensity that can move mountains, because life will present plenty of mountains that will need to be moved.I pray that all children will have someone who will…-seek them, and only them, out of the crowd on the stage; -push them to reach for their goals and discover their unique gifts; -hold them accountable for their actions with love and dignity; -advocate for them through this maze called life; -explain the unexplainable; and -smile when they walk into the room, just because they did. Mostly I pray that all children will have someone who knows them well enough and loves them deeply enough to see the divine spark that is unique in them. I pray that this be the birthright of all children throughout the world. And since this birthright can only be fulfilled by parents, I pray that each child, regardless the circumstances of their birth, finds their parent and each parent finds their child.Thanks God. Amen.-By Dawn Davenportwww.creatingafamily.com

Please Pray For This Child

Last week someone posted on a yahoo group about a little girl that desperately needs a home. I can't get her off my mind because this is the last chance for this child. Please, please if you are reading this pray for this child to find a family. Go to the link I will provide, print her picture off and put it somewhere you will remember to pray for this child.

This is what is written about this child:
This beautiful, high functioning little girl is waiting for her family, and is living on borrowed time. Darina is already 4 1/2 years old, and was born with cerebral palsy. Despite the fact that she walks and runs, is aware and verbal and social, her diagnosis alone will mean spending the rest of her life in a mental institution.
PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO HER!
One of our own adoptive families who visited with her in March of 2008 shared this with us: " A little girl named Darina stole my heart today. She was eating when we went to photograph her so we came back a few minutes later. The caretakers had changed her clothes into a cute little dress and must have told her that the picture was for her to get a mama. She came running to me saying ?mama, mama? and grabbed me around the knees. She is such a cute little thing and I hated to disappoint her by not scooping her up and walking out with her. Two of the children in her group have recently been adopted (one is still visiting with his adoptive parents) so it is obvious she was ready to get picked up and brought to the playroom. She did stand still for a picture before rejoining my lap and even after I stood up and was leaving she grabbed my hand and requested more photos. She told me I am beautiful and she was very vocal in talking with her caretakers. Little Darina has Cerebral Palsy, and although she walks and runs and is obviously very aware and verbal, the doctor told me that she will be transferred to the institution in a few short months instead of joining her peers at school. She is already four years old and time is really running out for her."

You can find her picture and information at www.reecesrainbow.com/darina.htm .

To be honest CP is something that scared me because I knew nothing about it. The mom that posted about this girl adopted a child with CP and below is what she wrote about CP. It made me understand it a lot more so with her permission I'm posting what she wrote.

Cerebral Palsy has a spectrum like many other physical challenges.Usually it's caused by some damage to the brain that effects movement in the body and may include speech or cognitive ability.Many people imagine a child with CP to be a drooling and mentally retarded confined to a wheel chair. This may be true in the most severe cases but is definitely not always true at all.This image is what causes the stigma. Everyone works with someone or knows someone who has a child with CP but, they may not realize it at all because symptoms are so mild.Many times people with CP do what everyone else does..grow up, go to college, get married have a career.Orphanages are full of children with mild C.P.. These are kids who can often walk and talk and are bright children.At times the institutional enviroment causes an exacerbation in symptoms. Many babies in orphanages are delayed anyway, imagine a baby who may need rehab and isn't even getting out of her crib every day.My own beautiful daughter Nadia was one such child. She was premature abandoned at a gas station weighing only 4 pounds. After a 3 week stint in NICCU she was sent to a small orphanage that was doing the best with what meager resources they had but were overwhelmed. They looked the other way and referred her as a healthy infant.That didn't bode well with the family who went to adopt her nsn and found her barely able to lift her arms.A few months later I met her and knew she would be fine. The orphanage sent her for rehab and she learned to walk and talk. It took us years but we were finally able to adopt her last Summer, when she was almost 5.Today no one even knows that she has CP. If I tell them they barely believe me. She rides her bike and is going to kidnergarden next year. Although she presented as a child with a more severe degree of CP when she was an infant,in fact she has a very mild case and virtually no symptoms at all. The doctors at the CP clinic just have her in once a year to monitor her and say they can't believe she even has CP.In just the last couple of years China has begun listing children with more mild CP for adoption. Before Nadia they did not do this, they couldn't imagine anyone would be interested. I let them know loud and clear we were interested in Nadia.Most kids with CP were adopted as infants as nsn referrals until the adoptive parents discovered their child was not meeting milestones.Cp is not a progressive condition. Although symptoms may change people with CP pretty much have the damage done when they are born (not saying it happens then because no one knows) but you get what your get and rehab from there.I believe Darina will be just like any other kid.So many people these days have bright, active, lovable kids they have adopted that just happen to have CP.If anyone ever saw beautiful Nadia I would have had to fight through a line of a thousand people wanting her...in her case good thing no one knew what I knew because now I get to be her Mom.

Why Adopt?

"It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish". (Matthew 18:14)

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27)

"Remember those...who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us...let us not love with word or tongue, but with action and in truth."
(I John 3:16-18)

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:16)

To find out information about waiting children you can go to http://www.squidoo.com/specialadoption .

One Year Ago

Last night I was playing some jazz in the kitchen and dancing with my beautiful new son. I looked in his amazing eyes and realized that it was one year ago that I first saw his precious face and couldn't get him out of my mind. I was doing research for our orphan ministry at church and had looked at hundreds and hundreds of waiting children but Jaxson face stuck with me. We started praying as a family that he would find a good, loving ,Christian family. Little did we know what God had in store, little did we know God was about to bless our socks off. This is the picture I saw a year ago that I couldn't get out of my head.

When we saw this picture we did not qualify for China and had no plans to adopt anytime soon. We would have never dreamed he would be our son but God knew all along.

I no longer have to look at a picture and pray over this child. Now we can look him in the face, kiss him like crazy and pray over him holding this precious child in my arms. God took us on a long journey to put the perfect child in our arms.

Happy Father's Day Daddy (Baba)!!!

Hi Daddy,

I love you because because sometimes you let me play with your train with you. Sometimes you let me play with the messy paints. Sometimes you let me pick out a toy at the store. Love, Amaya

Daddy,

I love you because you are king. Daddy, I like you to play kites with me. I like when you read me books. Love, Paige

Baba (Daddy),

I love you because you love cars and tractors. I also love you very much because now I have a baba to give me lots of hugs and kisses. Thank you for being my baba! Love, Jaxson

Chris,

Thank you for being a WONDERFUL father to our precious 3 children!

Love, Sarah

HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!!!!!!!

I am so excited to finally start a family blog and a blog to share my passion for orphan care and orphan ministry. A friend helped me come up with the name of the blog because we simply don't know if God if finished building our family yet.

God first blessed me with a wonderful Christian man 10 years ago. In October we will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. This wonderful Christian man is a man that is open to whatever God calls us to and that is a man that is a gift from God.

After 4 years of infertility God blessed us with a miracle child and 9 months after Amaya was born we were very surprised with another miracle pregnancy and that is our daughter Paige.

God placed adoption on my heart as a teen and finally after all these years God has given me a chance to be the mother to a beautiful 2 year old boy from China who was born without one of his arms.

Now we have a house full of toddlers with a 2,3 and 4 year old and I don't think our house will ever be clean again but it is sure full of love and lots of hugs and kisses.