October 2nd- My heart

My children are my heart. Being a mom is what I dreamed about as a child. I had visions of other 'jobs' but being a mom was always the one thing I wanted to do-- and to do RIGHT. From 8 and 9 years old when I'd walk down the street to my neighbor's house and play with their toddler while the mom made dinner, to 11 when I started babysitting for another neighbor on my own, through junior high and early high school where my babysitting happened 2-3 times a week but I still couldn't drive yet... In high school my senior year I "nannied" for a wonderful family who I loved working with. I was full time in college through dual-enrollment and watched the sweetest little 2 yr old a lot of the day then the twin 10 yr olds after school whenever their parents needed me. I loved it.

That 2 yr old changed my heart, and Mike's too. We'd been dating for 2 years when I started watching her, yep, high school sweethearts. And little D had CP. What a joy. What a sweetheart. What a SMART little girl that has grown up to be a beautiful and intelligent young lady. Her family surprised me. They weren't sad about her disability. They were her advocates. Her sister and brother would pick her up and haul her around with ease. She wasn't going to break :). I learned a lot in that year working with that family before moving away for college.

With the birth of our son the journey began, and with our daughter it changed paces. Now we were the family with a child with a disability. And God had prepared us, he'd brought us to this place and we are so glad he did. He then used our daughter to open our eyes to a whole new world. First, that of hospitals and illness. We met many families and learned how to give and RECEIVE support through Brianna's open heart surgery. A lesson in humility. After her surgery we began to learn more about this wonderful thing called community that existed in the world of disabilities-- specifically Down syndrome. What a wonderful support system we found in the land of the Internet.

But our eyes were to be continued to be opened. It wasn't long before our eyes caught sight of a new ministry, formed in June 2006- right about the time of Brianna's heart surgery. It showed children with Down syndrome that didn't suffer from Down syndrome (because Ds really doesn't CAUSE suffering!), but they were suffering because of their Down syndrome. They had been discarded. Cast away. No longer a part of their families or society. Hidden. And now... they lay in cribs with no one to answer their cries, no one to hold or feed them, their bones protruded from their skinny frames and they faced a future of more of the same.

You've got it, Reece's Rainbow. God brought us on quite a journey. Our hearts were with children. With disabilities. With health and wellness. With community. Then they all came together with the discovery of these children that needed something. It was a full year later that we began looking at those faces again, longing to bring one home, and another 6 months before that came to fruition and Emma and Micah joined our family.

But our hearts didn't stop being pulled when we added to our family making us a family of 6-- half having that extra 21st chromosome. We knew there was more of a need. A need for the families that were stuck in the bureaucratic process and needed more assistance to get through it. And again God used us. My strengths are organizational, leadership, and relational areas. Before the adoption I'd been laid off at my job due to a structural change. Now I had 4 small children, and a lot of available time AT HOME during naps and after bed. So I answered another call.

Reece's Rainbow has gone from being something that caught my attention to a passion that I spend about 30 hours with each week. I consider it a privilege to be a part of this wonderful organization! As families commit to a child from Ukraine, they are passed along to me. And up until I found I was pregnant with Lynae, it was just me. Forty seven families were in process at that time. And the first words out of Andrea's mouth (the Executive Director of RR) when I told her I was expecting were along the lines of "oh no!". We needed God to come through again! This wasn't my ministry. This is HIS.

And He did. As always :) Within the last 7 months God has taken the Ukraine program and the willing and able vessels that have been a part of it in some way or another and built up the program. Now as the family coordinator I have 3 family assistants working with adoptive families. Two post-placement assistants. One person working the weekly 2-hour chat room and helping with travel info for families. We are able to build the paperwork for families to reduce stress and frustration, check all their documents before they're mailed oversees, communicate with the facilitators in Ukraine to troubleshoot, and provide any other support that families may need.

My children- all 5 of them- are my heart. But now, there's this other piece out there. There's this ministry that unites families and children. It rescues them from certain death in a mental institution. It brings the face of death into the world of life. I've seen it in our own home. And SO MANY other times in other families.

My heart has grown... God has used our lives, circumstances within them, to prepare us for His work which He wanted us to do. He's placed other people within our paths for the purpose of teaching us. And the catalyst? The one thing that started everything and yet was left unchanged? Down syndrome. Thank God for Down syndrome entering into our lives and the many wonderful things it has brought along with it!

And when you find you have a moment to pray- a dollar to give- a life to touch... check out Reece's Rainbow's website and find a child or family that needs you. Your prayers, your financial support, your words of kindness. www.reecesrainbow.org