What is the Mission?

So what mission is this ginger on?  The mission to help people make their international adoptions possible.  Does anyone really have 30,000 dollars laying around their home to adopt a child?  Most likely no.  But sadly, there are many people who are willing to adopt some of the 147 million orphans around the globe BUT money stands in the way.

I am a social worker, so obviously, I do not have boat loads of money to give, but I do have time and a skill to give.  My mission is to open an Etsy store and the profit of the items I sell will go to families and children in need.  Families working to raise funds for their adoptions can advertise my site and when people purchase an item they simply specify which family the donation goes to via the Reece's Rainbow Family or Child Sponsorship account.  Simple yes?!

Don't know about Reece's Rainbow?  Go and find out more!  My heart breaks for these children who are not given the chance to reach their full potential.

This looks like a beach full of people having fun to the average person.  But it is really a powerful image.  Do you see that cream color building that doesn't match the rest?  That is an institution for children with mental and physical disabilities.  Did they get to enjoy the ocean and the sun?  No.  Everyone is having a jolly ol' time while there are children hidden away solely because of a disability.  

That building no longer exists.  Due to it's location it was sold so a Hilton could go in and luckily, they were able to build a brand new building with proper plumbing and a therapy pool!  If every child benefits from it, I don't know.  But my experience while working there tells me only the favorites do.  

 This is the room I worked in.  About 15 beds each filled with a child most of the day.  They aren't in this picture as it was meal time.  They are lined up and fed their meals and then put in pajamas and back in their beds for the night.  Little interaction.  Notice no toys.  

How can you not see that children aren't suppose to live like this?

Where to begin...

The other night at my tennis league I mentioned I got a sewing machine and showed some of the others what I had been making.  When I said I was going to sell them and donate the money to the orphan ministry some one said "oh yeah, you're all about the orphans."

Do I really tout my adoption and special needs message that much that I am the Orphan Saving Girl?  So how did I become associated with orphans?  It isn't because I am a social worker and license foster and adoptive homes.  It is because I worked in an institution for children with special needs in Vina del Mar, Chile.

The truth is:  It is IMPOSSIBLE to forget them after you spend time with them.  

These children who have no mother or father, are real to me.  I spent four months visiting them for about 10 hours a week, I watched as the caregivers sat behind a desk or spent time with their favorite child.  I watched them rush from child to child because there were so few caregivers for the amount of children.

Everyone smiles in the same language became my mantra.  The smiles these children showed me and the giggles I heard were often some of their only ones.

These children aren't just pictures of a far off land or words on someone else's blog.  They are REAL human beings and CHILDREN.  Who should be laughing, playing, learning and most of all LOVED.  Sadly the children where I was will most likely never have that.  Some children were lucky and received a Madrina (similar to the Babas in Eastern European orphanages) and their Madrina would visit it them a few times a week and depending on their needs they could even spend the weekend with their God families.  If they were lucky, they had someone to love them but were not able to live in a family.

I don't know about you, but I was born with a family that loved me, I didn't have to be lucky.  In the United States if you have a special need your family may be sad and grieve some of the hopes and dreams they had for you, but they will not abandon you solely because society says your special need isn't good enough.

I have lived a blessed 25 years and this is my way of helping the least of these.  I am not an overtly religious person, but if you are, Matthew 25:31-46 lays out my feelings.  I have been blessed so I am finding my way to bless others that have not been so lucky.