Gratitude

Finally!  A chance to write!

Last night about 9:00 Brian and I were sitting on the couch together, waiting for the kids to finally fall asleep.  I was browsing the Reece's Rainbow website, and remembered that I wanted to show Brian a family who was adopting three children together because I thought their story was so neat.  I clicked on "sponsor a family, new commitments" and my stomach did a huge leap!  There we were, at the top of the page, "Arnold, for the Preece family, Nampa, Idaho".  We both shouted out loud!  For some reason, finally seeing our name with his, right there in front of us, seemed to "seal the deal" in our minds that this was really happening.  We probably stared at that page a dozen times before we went to sleep.  Neither of us slept well as we couldn't stop thinking about our boy and all that lay ahead.

Before we went to sleep I checked my phone and had already received two emails from people I didn't know, congratulating us and making connections for us with other people who played important roles in getting Arnold his grant money so far.  I just felt so grateful to once again be introduced to a community of people so loving, kind, and willing to share with us.

I just started getting this blog together, and it's still a work in progress, I really didn't think we'd be on RR so quickly!  But it is a blessing and we are so thankful to be on this journey.

One of the links a new friend sent me last night was the story of how Arnold got such a large grant.  I will post the link later (I have to get my kids to bed soon), but basically a woman dedicated a week of her blog to educating her readers regarding the abominable circumstances these orphans face when they are "transferred".  It is horrific to see these small human beings cast off to a place with such deplorable conditions.  Her belief was that people aren't doing anything about it because they just didn't know what happened to these kids.  She is right.  I consider myself an educated woman.  I graduated from college.  I'm an avid reader.  I stay current on news and world events.  But I had no idea that there were still places in the world who cast of children, treating them as numbers instead of human beings, the asylum workers helpless to help because of poor funding.  It is almost too much to bear.  But when we know, we know, and God knows we know, and we have to do something about it.  Anyway, one of this dear woman's readers read about these conditions, these defenseless children, and they did something grand.  Something life-changing, even life-saving.  She donated $15,000.00 to Arnold's grant!  FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.  I don't know their circumstances, whether this was their whole life savings or just a drop in the bucket, but it doesn't matter.  The gesture is beyond kind, beyond generous....I just don't have the words.  I hope that they will find this blog and see what a difference their donation has made.  It, along with the other donations so generously given on his behalf, has saved Arnold's life.

You see, Brian and I own our own business, and we don't have any employees. Between his day-to-day stuff and me keeping the books, taking care of our small children and home, we just didn't see how we would be able to come up with the time to fundraise $35,000-40,000 for a foreign adoption.  We looked into domestic adoption, which seemed such an easy course of action compared to foreign.  But something in my heart just knew that saving one of the children from the fate of the Eastern European asylums was what my heart wanted more than anything.  How often do we have the opportunity to truly save a human being?  Because of this generous donor, we were convinced that we could actually pull this off.  We could actually do the rest.  We were getting a good tax refund this year.  We could raise the additional $10,000.00-so much less than the total $35,000.00 required.  So I want to say thank you, to whoever took a leap of faith to save a child.  You did it.  He will be saved.  He will be loved.  He will be cherished.  He will grow up like a little boy should-surrounded by his family and friends and community who love him.  Thank you, ALL of you.