Maximilian and Philip won't spend this Christmas at home

Maximilian and Philip won’t spend this Christmas at home. We had anticipated this would be a painful Thanksgiving as my Mom is not physically with us—but could not anticipate how much more excruciatingly painful it would end up being. When a few days ago Lisa posted that she had been demanded to come up with $4,000 in order for her adoption to keep on processing I thought I was mistaken in my belief that both she and I were working with the same agency. I thought how happy I was to be dealing with a much more understanding, much more caring, much kinder one—and still hold the people who run and operate it in my highest regard. Yet, unfortunately, the agency’s Board of Directors has now a much harder approach. They are the ones who set the rules—and even the agency’s director is bound to abide by those new rules . . . whether she likes them or not.

It was made it very clear to me that I wouldn’t travel until all fees were paid up. That was not all, though. I couldn’t even have the chance to try. The U.S. Consulate in Sofia holds the visa interviews only on Thursdays—and they are booked solid for December 13. That included the slot already reserved for us. There is another family with already finalized adoptions as well. They are bringing home two little girls who are medically fragile. Apparently their court date was a little after ours—but their agency fees are already paid. I was asked to give my slot to them.

On one hand, it is wonderful that those two little girls will see a doctor sooner. On the other hand, though, the emotional damage to all my children will never heal.

I was allowed to see Maximilian for the first time for a brief moment over two years ago, in August 2010, when I was on my first trip for Stephen, and had hand-carried my commitment letter for Philip and for him. The bonding between that little boy and me was instantaneous—and reciprocal. At one point Stephen held my hand—and Maximilian reached out to hold my other hand. That was almost two years and a half ago. How much should a child wait? I saw both Maximilian and Philip in December 2010 when I picked up Stephen. They knew I’d return for them.

By that time our decision to move out of state had been already made. Unless at the very last moment our local homestudy agency in Southern California agreed to approve for two more children immediately after Stephen’s homecoming we would leave California. It was a total leap of faith. My license to practice law is from California—and California does not have reciprocity with any other state. Personally I don’t regret the move at all (I love RI!)—but Catherine does miss her parochial Young Adults group where she was an active participant and leader since her Youth Ministry time. Gerard and Warren pretended to be really enthusiastic about the colleges and grad schools on the east coast even though they’d have rather made it all the way within the UC system from junior college, where they had had their first class at the age of 10, through actual college with no ACT or SAT and then to grad school with priority for admission. Yet, they didn’t mind the ACT exam and the need to do extra well in college due to the ferocious competition later on in order to enter graduate school. The road trip was too cold for my Mom—and the very first place we’d get acquainted with in RI would be RI Hospital. That was her first hospitalization in April 2011.

Through no fault of our own many issues delayed the processing. I make it clear that none of those delays is attributable to any adoption agency. Despite how desperate I was to move ahead, there were some things I couldn’t handle any faster. The packing was not ready, judges wouldn’t excuse my presence in San Diego, finances didn’t come together, the house I rented in RI was not yet available, fingerprinting and medicals needed to be redone—and the list could go on and on.

When I finally traveled on my first trip last May Maximilian and Philip couldn’t have been any happier. I was told that for a long time Maximilian had kept on asking about me—but then had stopped asking, obviously thinking we had just forgotten about them. They had no idea of how many tears we were shedding. They had no idea of how much we were struggling against all odds to make it happen. They had no idea that their Grandma had sacrificed her mobility and eyesight for the sake of the adoption expenses—not only for them, but for all her younger grandkids, first from Haiti and then from Bulgaria. They had no idea that Catherine, Gerard, and Warren wanted to avoid any barely avoidable expenses for the sake of having them home. They didn’t know that even if not everything had worked out as expected, we had moved from one end of the country to the other in a desperate, faith-filled attempt to have them home the soonest we could.

One of the caretakers in Bulgaria told me that since I had arrived Maximilian was a much happier child.

They expected to be home for Halloween. Maximilian was going to be a knight and Philip was going to be a pirate. Yet, I had not taken into consideration that the courts would close for one month and a half for the summer.

When the court finally reopened, because Maximilian had turned 10 in August his presence was required in the courtroom. Even the judge was surprised to hear how very well he spoke. When after the hearing Toni asked him whether there was anything he’d like her to tell me, he replied, “Please tell mom that I love her.”

Since they first met me, this will be their third Christmas away from home, where they belong. I failed them. I feel I have failed all of them. Can you imagine what Christmas will be like without my Mom being physically here with us any longer and with Maximilian and Philip being across the ocean only because I couldn’t gather the fees on time? Worst of all, I don’t even have the luxury of trying at least.

For many years since she was a girl Catherine has been taking care of the Thanksgiving dinner. Now the twins do the turkey, and the three of them make the younger ones participate pouring something, mixing something, doing something.  Yesterday Catherine’s comment was, “I messed up everything!!!”  Things couldn’t have been worse—even some canned food was wrong, and the entire dish needed to be thrown away, and—to crown it all the yuckiest thing also happened: we found a dead mouse on the kitchen floor next to the door to the backyard. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!!!!!

Once again I want to stress that I don’t blame Victoria, Carla, or Toni. Even if Victoria is the director, I do realize that she does regret this change in policy. Yes, I did count on paying part of the large amount of my still outstanding fees after my pick-up trip. Nevertheless I was not expecting them to do for me anything that I’m not ready to do for anyone else. The majority of my clients are immigrants with no status. Actually, with the exception of our fellow parishioners and the Reece’s Rainbow community, they are much more loyal, much kinder, and much more appreciative than most U.S. citizens typically are.  Yet, they could vanish into thin air from one day to another—but I have always trusted them with my fees all the same . . . and they have never failed me. On the contrary, sometimes I feel I have “too much on my plate” and I have been the one failing them—but then I have also taken the initiative to plead ineffective assistance of counsel against myself on their behalf—and am proud to have had both the courage and the integrity to do so. In California I used to do bankruptcy law—which means that obviously my clients were not the most solvent people—but, once again, I always trusted them as well . . .and only once in many years had one client who betrayed my trust.

We are literally destroyed, disheartened, devastated, distraught. It feels like I’ll never see my two new sons again. We don’t even dare voice it, but it feels the same to all of us.

I don’t know what else to offer in exchange for your help now: legal advice, etiquette consultations, personalized online books with your kids’ very own stories (or eventually printed, if you’d like to pay some minimal printing costs), help with you future fundraisers, help for all the waiting children—anything I can do for anyone. Please feel free to ask—after Maximilian and Philip get home . . . if that ever happens because at this point I’m afraid I’ll never be able to hug them again.

I’m posting again the link to the videos from my first trip. Please watch how very much we cried on the day of my last visit. We cried our hearts out in Bulgaria then. All of us here have been crying our hearts out over many months. I didn’t want Catherine to use her tripod for the Thanksgiving pictures. I didn’t want to be included. I didn’t want to get scared of how I looked. Now I’m at a point at which I have no more tears left. On top of everything, there is something I will never be over about this horrible Thanksgiving Day: with so very much going on I couldn’t just cry only for my Mom.

The videos are unlisted, and the links are as follows:

1. Fourth day visit (this is very nice, yet very long one--so you may want to skip and go to the latest ones)
2. Philip with photo book. Greeting new family members through video.
3. Family photo books. Learning the names of family members.
4. Last visit, May 11, 2012
5. First video of last visit, when Maximilian was told that I'd need to go back to U.S.
6. Last moment of last visit (everybody crying).

1. http://youtu.be/K9uLH_3KnF0
2. http://youtu.be/xqFWcMdSc9w
3. http://youtu.be/YmcPOCRCDzY
   
4. http://youtu.be/tP9J_BPouec
5. http://youtu.be/cedswW_GixA
6. http://youtu.be/-4-8Khcuq5g

I know that time is limited for everyone---but those videos are really worth seeing!!! Tissues will be needed.



And these are fourth and fifth day pictures from my first trip:

These are fourth-day pix (Thursday, 05/10/12). No words are needed.

Mommy keeps on getting more and more kisses.

They look so thin and so tiny. Why couldn't I smuggle them in my carry-on luggage?

I don't look so nice in this picture--but the moment was one I did want to preserve.

The fifth and last day started with some nice smiles. . .

When we started telling Mximilian that after that visit I'd have to go back so as to work on the second stage papers and return for him and Philip.

We cried and creid together. I was not much comfort because I was crying as well.

And we kept on crying, and crying, and crying. . .

I'm not sure what Kolinka told him, but for some time that wonderful, heartfelt smile of his was back on his face.

We took some pix with all the staff members who are close to our boys.

Pavletta, she other social worker, is wiping some more tears.

More group pix. Maximilian is really close to Domka, the lady in white standing right behind him--to the point that in one of my early visits he had asked whether Domka could come to U.S. with us as well.

And that awesome smile is back on his face. . .

. . . until the moment of the final good-bye arrived.

Why couldn’t I just bring them home?

As the final moment was approaching, Philip ran up to me, hugged me, and burst into tears as well.

Philip decided that his brother and his mom shouldn’t cry any more. Still in tears, he started pushing Maximilian’s chair towards the door. As staff members accompanied them along the corridor, I could still hear them sobbing. Please watch the videos.

Please pray—and, putting my stupid pride aside, please try to help.

God bless,

Lillian Godone-Maresca

http://themiracleiwitnessed.blogspot.com

Each one matters

It appears to be a trend nowadays to focus more on the group than on each individual. That is how today's society quite often loses sight of the real dimension of the problem. Big labs may be testing a new drug that has the potential of saving many lives in the future--but in the meantime they seem not to care about those whose lives could be saved in the here and now . . . but the drug is not sufficiently tested yet. It may be those patients' only hope--but due to potential liability issues it appears all right to the general opinion to let some people die today thinking that after all many others will be saved tomorrow. What about those people? What about their families? What about those unfinished tasks, those unfulfilled dreams, those empty spaces at some families' tables?

Quite often non-profit organizations are not an exception to this dehumanized way of looking at things. Food banks and many other institutions that collect edibles, medical equipment, clothing items, or toys for the poor may have piles or truck loads of supplies ready to be distributed at a certain event or shipped out to a pre-set location--but sometimes wouldn't spare one single item to give to someone showing up at the door with an immediate need.

Besides how unfair it is to neglect any one human being or any one human being's needs, we shouldn't forget the beneficial effect that one story with a happy ending has upon the general public and, in turn, among many others with similar or comparable needs. The successful story of one individual who won the battle against an given disease has the potential of inspiring and giving hope to many others with the same or even similar condition.

By the same token, any single successful adoption story is a call to action among a wide circle of relatives, fellow parishioners or members of the same faith community, co-workers, friends, neighbors, medical providers--and even occasional acquaintances who due to one reason or another become in contact with the adoptive family and adopted child. How many people decide to save a child after someone else in the same social circles did it? How many people lose their fear of adopting an older child after seeing a well-adjusted teenager adopted by someone else? How many people realize what a blessing a special needs child can be after a family gathering or social event where someone else's experience becomes the eye-opener they needed?

Most importantly, the adoption of children with severe developmental and physical disabilities is a strong, eloquent, powerful testimony about the infinite dignity and infinite value of human life. It is a testimony that shouts out against the fallacy of the "unwanted child" myth to which pro-choice propagandists resort in order to support the murder of babies in the womb. If more women knew that no matter what their ultrasound report may have been, their babies will be loved, cherished, nurtured, cared for, and treasured by adoptive families, there is no doubt that the number of abortions would decrease. There is no doubt that more babies would have their chance at life. There is no doubt that more precious little human lives would be saved.

We all know the famous story of the boy throwing the starfish back into the water. The boy's answer to the man who had questioned the purpose of saving one if not all could be saved was that yes, it did matter--because "it matters to this one." Everyone agrees. Then more of a reason we need to agree when instead of starfish we are talking about humans. Moreover, unlike starfish, humans nowadays have the priceless instrument of social media to share their experiences and have their voices heard. One successful story has the potential of sending out waves all across the globe for others to imitate. In plain language, and paraphrasing to some extent the Three Musketeers' motto, the successful story of one has the potential of becoming the successful story of all. And-we're not talking about three men, or three cities, or three countries--but absolutely everyone on the face of earth, over the mountains and across the seas.

Thanks Be to God!!! And--thank you, Mom!!! - Part One

Hello, everyone,

 I will admit to holding the big news for Part Two in order to make people read Part One. I needed to. I'm totally honest in every post, without the slightest embellishment, and must admit to that compelling need to let people know of every miracle I owe to the extraordinary family I was given. 

No, I'm not trying to make a case for canonization. I have no doubts that my Mom was already canonized directly by God in His glory. But I cannot remain silent about some things that I witnessed, some things I can swear to with my hand on the Holy Bible. Only a few days before falling into a semi-comma, my Mom was suffering from excruciating pain and unbearable thirst as liquids had been banned by doctor's orders in order to prevent fluids from clogging her airways. Yet, amidst her terrible suffering she did pray for four children whose lives were at stake--four children she didn't know, and yet four children she was deeply concerned about just because they were kids trying to hold on to life. 

For all those of you who may have guessed who I'm referring to, yes, you're right. I'm talking about Selah, Nikita, Cheyenne, and Chloe. For all those who don't have the least idea, I'm only giving out first names and some very basic non-identifying information. I myself don't even know any more. Selah is a precious girl with special needs who had been in a near-drowning accident, and was in a comma for a long time with no response at all. Nikita is the son of an adoption facilitator in Eastern Europe. He had suffered very severe head trauma and it looked like he would never recover. Little Cheyenne had been the victim of child abuse and per the words of someone who knows the family very well she was "almost gone," and it seemed it was "only a matter of when." Chloe was, and is, battling leukemia. I clearly remember my Mom's words, "I'll pray for the four of them. It is my time now--but it is not their time. Those little ones need to live." 

Nikita was the first one to surprise everyone by being able to talk and walk again. It was a true miracle as he had been operated on in an under-staffed and under-equipped hospital. Cheyenne was the second miracle. After it looked like there was nothing else to be done, currently it's a matter of working towards full recovery. Selah took longer to respond. The very same day when my Mom passed to Eternity I don't know how I found myself thinking about Selah. It was perhaps a defense mechanism in order to try to cope with my own terrible, extreme, unberable grief. I was standing in our kitchen. I looked out of our window far into the woods--and saw my Mom smiling with that tender, loving, caring, compassionate smile of hers. Will you judge me wrong if I admit to having prayed for Selah at that moment--but mostly thinking that I wanted to prove the power of my Mom's intercession for her? Perhaps I should keep that to myself and not tell it to anyone--but I want to be totally honest so that all of you can totally believe me. When a couple of weeks after Selah's mother posted about the little girls' limbs getting stiffer I felt really discouraged. I guess my faith was not that strong as it should have been. I understood those symptoms as an indication that there was nothing else to expect. But I was wrong!!! Selah started improving and having very promisory reactions that now allow doctors to change their death perspective into a recovery one. From what I know about Chloe, she's doing well and is back to dancing. 

On October 1 at 7:30 a.m., exactly one month after my Mom's passing to Eternity, amidst the morning rush to get Thomas, Nicholas, and Stephen ready for the school buses, I felt I had to check my e-mail--and I did find what I was looking for: a message from the Toni Vladimirova, the Bulgarian attorney who is processing the adoptions of Maximilian and Philip (most of you who read my posts know her very well already) stating that the judge who had been assigned to hear our case was a very kind, adoption-friendly one, who had not asked for any additional paperwork.

Part Two 

Introducing Maximilian Joseph GODONE-MARESCA and Philip Daniel GODONE-MARESCA

Please don't laugh if I say that I had asked Toni to only give us a rough idea as to the date of the court hearing without giving us the exact date.  The anxiety would be a little more bearable that way.

Well, let's shout it out once and for all: As of October 23, 2012, Maximilian and Philip officially became Godone-Maresca's in the full sense of the word. They are my parents' grandsons, my children's brothers, and my sons!!! 

Because Maximilian had turned 10 last August already, the judge had requested his presence in the courtroom. Toni told me that he did amazingly well. He told the judge in full both his current and his new names, said that Philip and he would be going to U.S., and also said that he loves his family very much.

After court, Toni would tell him that she was going to e-mail me and asked him whether there was anything he might want to tell me. Maximilian replied, "Please tell mom that I love her."  

Christmas 2009

December 2011 with Thomas and Nicholas

Christmas 2011. We cannot imagine Christmas 2012 without her being physically with us.

Smiling at Nicholas only a few days before her hospitalization last March. Can you see the love in her eyes and her smile?

Kissing Maximilian and Philip's pictures after coming back from hospital with the congestive heart failure diagnosis

Last Sunday's Gospel Reading

Hello, everyone,
Well, I must admit I'm not well at all. Yes, the word repetition is on purpose--but my one-week delay in writing down this post was not. We are halfway into a new weekend, and a new Gospel reading is carrying an equally beautiful new message. Yet, no biblical message is ever outdated. The teachings from the Book of Books are always current, always up to date, always applicable to present day situations, always inspirational, always propelling us to action for the sake of others.

Leaving preambles aside, and letting go of the fact that I should have written and published this one week ago, I'll go to my point.

Last Sunday's Gospel reading started with the question His disciples asked Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (Matthew 18:1), and by calling a little child to Him, He answered that "the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 18:14.

And then, Jesus kept on saying:

"Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes Me. But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith in me would be better drowned in the depths of the sea with a great millstone around his neck. Alas for the world that there should be such obstacles! Obstacles indeed there must be, but alas for the man who provides them!" Matthew 18:5-7

Don't you find here the perfect description of what any adoption process is all about? Jesus loves all children, and welcomes them all. He identifies with all children because they all need protection and love. In a very special way, given that He identifies with the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the foreigner, the incarcerated, and the sick (Matthew 25:35-40) even most compellingly Jesus identifies with children who are dying in poverty and malnutrition, who are foreigners from remote areas of the world where medical care is not available and sanitary systems are not yet known. Most compellingly He identifies with children who are foreigners living in forgotten lands from where they need to be rescued for their lives to be saved--even if by rescuing them families do not immediately reduce the cost of the domestic foster care system. Most compellingly He identifies with children who risk lifelong imprisonment--not due to the commission of any terrible felony, but simply due to the terrible reality that somehow their looks or abilities are slightly different than those of the average population. No, they won't go to jail--they will go to places that are much more ominous, much more sordid, much more sinister and dismal than any prison can be. Those places are called "mental institutions," where older children and adults with physical challenges and yet perfectly normal minds, or with some developmental delays and yet peaceful, loving dispositions are barely kept alive with minimal feeding, lying down with urine and feces in dirty beds and somber rooms that are freezing cold in the winter and burning hot in the summer.

What Jesus says about the obstacles was said about 2000 years ago--and yet in His compassionate divine will, it perfectly matches the very essence of the adoption process today. Adoptions are complex legal processes which establish permanent family relationships among human beings. As much as we might like to be able to select a child and have that child home within a week, the whole legal mechanism cannot be mobilized that fast. Adopting a child cannot be as easy as going to a pet shop or to the local animal shelter and returning home with a puppy. Children are human beings who become family members--not pets that can be gotten from morning to night. They are worth every penny spent, every prayer said, every tear shed, every form that was filled, every paper that someone else needed to complete, every fundraiser that did not succeed, every sleepless night their new family went through, every shiver that went down their backs, every moment when it felt the wait was too long and they could take it no more. In other words, some degree of difficulty, anxiety, and struggle is inherent to the dignity of the miracle of adoption. Jesus Himself says "obstacles indeed there must be," but then gives a very stern warning to anyone who places unnecessary hurdles: "But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith in Me would be better drowned in the depths of the sea with a millstone around his neck." After saying that some obstacles may be unavoidable, He also says, "but alas for the man who provides them."

 That Gospel reading is flagrantly applicable to the cause of special needs adoption, older child adoption, concurrent adoptions, and back-to-back adoptions. It is also directly applicable to the cause of older parent, single parent, and large family adoptions. It is wonderfully applicable as a wake up call to anyone who may be considering adopting a child, adopting one more child, or adding another child to an adoption process that is currently in progress. It is perfectly applicable as the powerful words of reassurance needed by any families that for whatever reason are struggling, crying, and praying to get their adoptions finalized despite some obstacles placed by Satan along their way. Finally it is blatantly applicable as a blow in the face to those who not only don't do it but go as far as to try to make things unnecessarily difficult for those who want to do it.  

No, I'm not talking about the so-called "trolls." Those are very sick people who feel miserable and want to make other feel miserable as well. They are sick in their hearts and make hurtful and hateful comments to those who are trying to adopt--and yet all they achieve is to poison themselves. Maybe nobody ever loved them, and that's why other people's love makes them sick. Maybe they're suffering from emotional imbalance. Maybe deep inside themselves they do regret what they are doing. Anyway, when it comes to successful adoptions, to successfully rescuing children from neglect, abuse, and disease, the presence of a few "trolls" lurking in the background and leaving nasty comments on people's blogs is not a major concern.

The compelling message of that beautiful Gospel passage clearly condemns the attitude of anyone who due to one reason or another tries to hamper the adoption of any child. It clearly condemns the attitude of those social workers and others in the adoption field who are scared of their own shadow and always find that income is not high enough, or the house is not big enough, or childcare resources are not solid enough. Those are the social workers and agency directors that despite a family's impeccable records and desperate desire to adopt, or adopt again, fear that a homestudy approval or the approval for one more child could eventually bounce back and result in some sort of liability for them. Those are the ones who shiver like scared rabbits at the thought of eventual, potential, and quite often even imaginary liability and seem to consider that a child's life is not worthy a very small risk of having to provide a few explanations. Those are the ones who value their pockets more than they value kids' lives--and yet they're acting worse than little kids themselves because when it comes to liability their fears are much more unreasonable, much more irrational, much more illogical than some children' fears of finding a monster or the Boogie Man in their closet.

Under those cowardly attitudes that are meant to be shaken by the Words of Jesus we can also include the negative, or, to say the least, uninvolved reactions of many others who are in a position to help and yet refuse. I am talking about those physicians who decline to sign a medical clearance letter or form because of some minor health problem that a prospective adoptive parent may have. Let's make it straight: typically people who are in the last stages of their battle against terminal illness don't ask for a bill of good health in order to adopt. Those who are contemplating adoption tend to be in reasonably good health. Nobody ever said that 'perfect' health should be needed. What is better for the child or children in question: to be adopted by a parent who may have a minor or controllable health issue to deal with, or not to be adopted at all?

I'm also talking about those CPA's who decline to provide self-employed prospective adoptive parents with the proof of income wording required by the country from which they are adopting only because, once again, the fear of liability haunts them as a Halloween monster or Boogie Man that may jump up at them from inside a closet. They are scared that in signing that certificate of income that their clients need so badly they may be overstating assets or income. After all--what if they are? What is preferable: to overstate a little a person's financial resources or to underestimate the life of a child?

I'm also talking about those employers who refuse to use the language required by some jurisdictions in terms of the adoptive parents' stability on their jobs. They just don't like the sound of any wording that eventually could be interpreted as a guarantee of indefinite future employment. Once again: prospective adoptive parents are not likely to hold adoption-related letters against their employers even if at some point in time the company ends up downsizing and the Human Resources Department needs to let go of them. Most adoptive parents won't even think about using the letter they got for adoption purposes in order to avoid getting the pink slip.

As I was looking online for the exact Bible passage, another one happened to come up--and I am sure it was not by chance:

 
"Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
Matthew 18:14

Finding the above citation which I very well knew but had not had totally present in my mind before rekindled how I had felt when listening to the Gospel reading and the sermon that had followed it. For a moment it had been like seeing my Mom looking into my eyes from above and encouraging me to carry the message as far as I could by using that strong call for writing that I got inside my veins from my Grandma and from her. For a moment it had been like hearing her voice telling me to listen to our hearts despite all the obstacles that may appear along our path. For a moment I had heard her voice reminding me that "where there is a will, there is a way." And--what can be more powerful than a human will that represents a whole family's will, and, ultimately, coincides with the will of God?

I don't know how clear or unclear I am about the meaning of my paragraph above. For those who think you guessed it, yes, you're right. For those who didn't "get" it, let's wait until after Maximilian and Philip are home.

For the time being the immediate need is to send out the message of Jesus' Words as far as possible. I'm not talking about evangelization because most people know that Jesus identified Himself with the homeless, the hungry, the foreigner, the incarcerated, and the sick (Matthew 25: 35-40). Most people know that He said, "Let the little children come to me." (Mark 10:13-14). He even "was indignant" to see that his disciples were scolding the children because in their opinion the children might bother Him.
Yet, not everyone sees the pressing need to take immediate intervention in order to make sure that as many children as possible, including those in remote foreign lands, get rescued before dying due to poverty, hunger, malnutrition, neglect, inadequate medical care or total lack thereof.

We cannot afford to be indifferent. Children keep on dying every day. Regrettably, in many of those cases, timely medical intervention would have prevented their premature passings. Those deaths were avoidable. Needless to say, none of us alone can do much--but we all can do something at least, whether it is by rescuing one child, several of them, or by helping others do the rescuing. We may adopt. We may advocate. We may donate. We may help others fundraise. Nobody can do everything--but nobody can afford doing nothing either. Nobody can claim to have "nothing to do" with what is happening to children they have never seen or even heard about before. It doesn't matter. Those children are sick. Those children are dying. Those children are longing for a family of their own. With some medical care and some therapies they can bloom. That is what God expects from us. Once again,  "it is not the will of your Father, Who is in Heaven, that one of those little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14)


Specific Advocacy for a Few Little Ones--including some who may not be so little any longer . . . but who never had their chance to be little ones, to be looked after, to cuddle up in mom's lap or get hugged by dad. They never had grandmas or grandpas, sisters or brothers. They never got comforted when not feeling well. Still it may not be too late--if someone moves fast. For different reasons, these children won't have another chance. This is their very last chance--and I do mean their very last one.

Kolya - My Angel Tree Child

Kolya has DS. He is described as being high functioning, loving, helpful, a joy to be around, and loyal. Can such description be any better? Please, read his profile, look at the light in his eyes, share, make a donation to his FSP, or--even better, make a commitment to become the family he desperately needs!
reecesrainbow.org/4606/kolya


Emmitt
reecesrainbow.org/1399/emmitt
 

Emmitt is already in one of those horrible mental institutions, but is resilient, courageous--and is good, kind, polite to everyone. He is intelligent, and his only disability is that he cannot walk. He is aging out. In a few months everything will be over for him. I simply find it hard to believe that nobody came forward for him yet. Our family would LOVE to have him--but a widowed mother cannot adopt from where he is. Can't someone save him, for God's sake?


Dayna and Zach

The only reason why I'm featuring them together is because for these two children time is of the essence--or time is up!!! The issue is that for them "time is up" doesn't mean that they won't be able to get an A on a test because of not having arrived to answer all the questions. It doesn't mean that they won't be able to finish a puzzle. It doesn't mean that they will lose the game. It means their earthly life will be up--or, actually, over, for different reasons. Dayna desperately needs life saving heart surgery that she won't get where she is right now. Zach is about to be transferred to be buried alive in a horrible institution where he will barely get fed to keep his heart beating--but nothing else: no stimulation, no education, no recreation--no family, no love. Is there nobody who can come forward for them? God bless.

http://reecesrainbow.org/33298/dayna



http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2012/09/this-one-too-lord.html

No Greater Joy Mom: this one too, Lord!

www.nogreaterjoymom.com


Please--think about it, pray about it . . . and hear God's voice whispering into your ears and into your heart. I'm sure He will have something to say. Just listen--and act!  

 
"And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity."1Corinthians 13:13

²⁷ Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows in their hardships, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world." James 1:27 

And--I will post it for the third time:

"Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
Matthew 18:14

Children are dying every day--most of them due to complications that could have been prevented with proper medical care. Young men and women are dying every day in those mental institutions where they never even belonged in the first place. It is time to do something about that--and if we are already doing something, it is time to do even more. Once again, that is exactly what Jesus expects from all of us:

"Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my Name welcomes Me." Matthew 18:5

After all, He is not asking for anyone to do anything hard. He is asking for people to do something that will not only have eternal rewards, but much sooner earthly ones as well--everlasting rewards of love and joy both in this life and in the life to come.

Thank you all.

God bless,

Lillian Godone-Maresca