One Friday evening in March(the 5th to be exact), I was looking over my FaceBook page when I noticed a post from my friend Maria. Now, I will tell you that Maria and I have known each other since High School, but haven't been in touch until recently when I spotted her on another friend's FB page (that's a whole other story!). I honestly believe that God put us back in touch to lead me to her post. She was doing a fundraiser for a little boy on Reece's Rainbow, to add to his adoption grant. When I saw the picture, I can't even describe the feelings that I had. I fell totally in love!! He has blonde hair and dark eyes. He is so sweet and beautiful!
I messaged Maria to see what she could tell me about him. She only knew his RR name (which isn't his real name I have since found out). His name is one that we considered if Olivia had been a boy! Was this a "sign"? Perhaps...
Next step, get in touch with Andrea from Reece's Rainbow. I emailed her, and she sent me more information. He is 3 years old, ONE day older than Olivia. He is in Eastern Europe. He has Down Syndrome but is doing very well developmentally. That's really about all she could tell me. She asked that I not post his name (or photo)anywhere until we have "committed" to him officially.
After looking over the website for what seemed like hours, looking all of the sweet faces, I just couldn't get the face of the little blonde boy out of my head. I looked at the requirements that would need to be met to bring him home, to our family. I will admit that they are daunting. The biggest hurdle is the money. Then there is the time "in country" that we'd be away from home and our family, jobs, etc. Not to mention the mountains of paperwork that we'd need to do to prepare.
My next task (and yes, it was a task!), was to talk to John. Ummm, yeah. The first time I mentioned it to him, and showed him the picture, he laughed at me! It took me almost a week to get over that and bring it up again, this time making sure he knew I was serious. We talked about the little boy, the financial issues, the future with another special needs child. He said "Ok". I kept saying over and over again, "If it's meant to be, God will work things out for us". I mean, there has to be a reason that He put Maria back into my life after so many years, and there has to be a reason that I had such an intense reaction to the little boy's picture.
I will admit that the reactions to the thought of adopting him have been mixed, from "how soon can we adopt him?" to "what the H*** are you thinking?". Of course, all of those things have gone through my mind too, which is why it has taken me so long to actually DO anything about the idea. There are a couple of other things running through my mind that could turn out to be a "glitch". Health history is one. The country where he is is very strict about certain things in the history of the parents, so I need to get more information about that.
First step, raise the money for the Home Study. I have been in touch with a social worker and know that the cost will be right around $1000. Gulp. I'm not sure where that money is going to come from, but I know that if we are faithful, and work hard, it will come. I have loads of fundraising ideas, and there are grant available once we have the HS done. I have some serious work to do to get the ball rolling on raising money. I'm giving myself a deadline... Mother's Day, May 9,2010. I am going to email the SW today and see when she can come and get the appointment on the calendar.
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