Coming soon!!

The RR blog is about to get an overhaul! Coming soon...

Tabs, updated child-info, more family stories...

serious.life magazine!

I wanted you to know about this publication we're a part of called Serious.Life Magazine. They just published the March issue today, and we are in their Featured Blog Directory. It’s a very high quality magazine… you’ll really like it.

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other content. The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia (www.riggsfamilyblog.com). The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries (Yep, hoping to get Reece's Rainbow an ad in there soon... :) ). Besides great articles on interesting people, there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

Again, the subscription is FREE, and I know you’ll enjoy the magazine, so take a minute to check it out and sign up to get future issues. www.seriouslifemagazine.com

So... check out the magazine and let me know what you think!

Bulgaria- Valentine's Project!

A message from Andrea Roberts, Executive Director and Founder of Reece's Rainbow

....in recent months, we have had a tremendous breakthrough in Bulgaria, and now have photos and bios of many children with DS waiting there. We have a very special, Christian partner who is dedicated to these children and has gone to great personal effort to use Reece's Rainbow as a voice of hope for them. Three children have already found families! This is a fabulous program, lower cost than Ukraine or Russia, and one of the easiest countries as far as family size and parent age restrictions.

I learned today that Bulgaria's institutions are JUST AS DIRE AS UKRAINE. I have also learned that nearly all of our currently waiting children there are already living in these institutions, not the baby houses, anymore. You can read in this article, written last Fall, the truth about how these children are living, and what people in much of Eastern Europe think about them.

"I asked to go into one of the rooms and picked up the nearest child, a
living skeleton. And what was wrong with him? He was blind. Just blind.
But now he was starving to death, rocking and banging his head against the
side of his cot. On another visit, I asked the director, a pediatrician,
about a child with Down Syndrome. Why was she here? "She has Down
Syndrome, she will die." I told her that this was not true, that these
children could live fulfilled lives. Angered, she asked: "Are you a
doctor?" No, I replied, but I was the mother of a child with Down's
Syndrome. "But you are not a doctor, so you don't understand.. . these
children have no use. They should never have been born."

If you have been considering an adoption....if you need a program that allows for older parents or larger families or shorter travel times, Bulgaria is our very best program. And

If you're not able to adopt, PLEASE GIVE! Choose Valentine's Day to sponsor one or more of the waiting children in Bulgaria. Instead of spending $200 on dinner and roses, give the gift of a family for a child with Down syndrome in Bulgaria!!

PLEASE SHARE THIS SPECIAL, LAST MINUTE GIVING OPPORTUNITY WITH ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND FORUMS!

The special Valentine page will only be open until tomorrow evening (the 15th). www.reecesrainbow.org

While we were. . . .

While we were eating...
... they were hungry

While we were playing...
... they were restrained

While we were tucking our kids into bed...
... they were alone

While we turned up the heat...
... they laid in the icy cold

While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers...
... they laid in their own excrement

While we sang songs and listened to music...
... they listened to the screams and cries of those around them

While we rocked our babies...
... they silently rocked themselves

While we hugged our kids...
... they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation

While we cried over scraped knees...
... they moaned in their loneliness

While we brushed our daughters' beautiful hair...
... they had their heads shaven to stave off the lice

While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment...
... they caught the flu and went Home.

No longer suffering... but so many more still are.

-Meredith

Angel Tree Results!

The results of the 2008 Angel Tree Project for Reece's Rainbow are in! The angel tree ran from November 1st-December 31st and was a great success! All donations over $35 given before December 15th received a beautiful ornament including the child's photo that was sponsored, and it was a great way for families to give meaningful Christmas gifts to friends, neighbors, and especially teachers and therapists!

The grand total is...$33,267

This is an increase of over $8000 from last year's Angel Tree!

Thank you for giving and for praying for these sweet children all year round!

In His Word it says... a Christmas message

I pray this Christmas brings you blessings beyond measure and a renewed understanding of the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of all those who call to his name!

In His Word it says... Jeremian 22:16

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)

This verse is written of Shallum, son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as the king of Judah. The verse says that Josiah defended the cause of the poor and needy and so all went well. Shallum did not further the causes of his father's heart and was no longer a ruler at this time. The part of this verse that really touches me is that the Lord says "Is that not what it means to know me?"

To know God is to defend the cause of the poor and needy... to help those who cannot help themselves... to give out of your need not your abundance...

This Christmas, just 2 days from now, have you touched on the Heart of the Father? Have you lived out what it means to know Him?

My apologies

for not posting. I took some personal time and neglected ALL blogging for a week. This coming week will have more "In His Word" posts!

In His Word it Says... Redemption

This blog post was written by a fellow adoptive parent, Derek Loux. He adopted three children from Ukraine, all with special needs. The Lord spoke to him giving him a picture of how adoption is so much like the redemption of man. I asked Derek for permission to post this, and I know you will be blessed by his words as well. This is what Derek wrote:

Renee and I are adopting three special needs boys from an orphanage in Ukraine. Two of the boys have Down Syndrome. Roman is high functioning, energetic, and happy; Dimitri has serious mental retardation, failure to thrive, and though he is five years old, he is the size of a 1 yr old. He has sores on his face, a distinct smell of death on him, and yells out if we try to do anything with him other than hold him. Because he has less ability to respond and learn, he naturally gets less attention and care from the orphanage workers in this world of limited resources. The harsh reality of the “survival of the fittest” principle is a life and death struggle that this little boy is losing fast. Our third boy Sasha, is a brilliant six year old who has Spina Bifida (the condition our son Josiah died from in 1996). He is like a learning sponge that can’t get enough! He is happy and alert and thirsty for knowledge and experience. So with two of our boys we get an immediate return on any investment we make. With Dimitri, there’s not much immediate gratification. In fact, it’s unknown when and if there will be a return at all. This is the kind of situation that makes the carnal, fallen, human reasoning think, “Why try? What’s the point? What will this produce? What good will this do? Why not select a boy who has more “potential”? This looks like a lost cause”.

Two days ago we drove for hours into the Ukrainian countryside to the village where Dimitri was born. We met with officials there and signed papers and answered their questions. We also went and saw Dimitri’s house. The day had been long, we were still recovering from jet lag, I was beginning to really miss my six daughters at home and all the familiar things our fragile human hearts entangle themselves with in feeble attempts to feel secure. Sitting in the dark on our very long drive back to Novograd that night, the Holy Spirit began to whisper to my heart, and new understanding about redemption began to take shape.

I was thinking, “Man, adopting this little boy has been so much work. This is exhausting, expensive, uncomfortable ... and it doesn’t feel very rewarding right now.” What am I doing in some little Soviet car in the dark, in the middle of rural Ukraine in the frozen winter, as the driver dodges cats and potholes? What if Dimitri doesn’t improve at all? What if we get “nothing” out of this? … Ahhh, there it was; that dark, fallen, unreedemed, selfish human love, rooted in the tree of the knowledge of “good and evil”. The love the Greeks called “erao” love. The love where we treat someone as precious and treasured for what we can get out of it. This is unlike “agapeo” love, the God kind of love that treats someone as treasured and precious for their good, not for my good. It’s when I love a person in order to meet their needs, having no expectation of them meeting any of my needs. At a whole new level, God is working His kind of love into my weak heart, and He’s using little Dimitri to do it.

On the drive home that night, the Lord whispered in my ear, “This is Redemption. Derek, do you know how far I travelled to get you and bring you back? I had to be separated from my Son, in order to get you, just like you are separated from your children in order to get these boys. Do you know how expensive it was for Me to purchase you? It cost me everything. Do you know how broken, sick, damaged, twisted, dirty, smelly, and hopeless you were? And at the end of it all, you had nothing to give me or add to me. I did it for you. I emptied myself and became nothing so that you could have it all. This is redemption.

My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him. And when He redeems us, we can’t even really appreciate or comprehend it, just like Dimitri will never comprehend or fully appreciate what is about to happen to him … but … he will live in the fruit of it. As his Daddy, I will never expect him to understand all of this or even to thank me. I just want to watch him live in the benefits of my love and experience the joys of being an heir in my family. This is how our heavenly “Papa” feels towards us.

Today, settle your busy heart down and rest in the benefits of redemption. Enjoy the fruits of His goodness, and stop trying to “pay Him back”. You’ll never get close you goofy little kid.


Thank you, Derek, for sharing your heart and God's with us today!

In His Word it Says... Matthew 25:35

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35)

This verse, spoken by Jesus, reminds us that not only are we helping the person who is looking right at us, but by helping that person, we are serving God. Jesus says that when we are doing something for those around us that serves them in their need, we are serving Him as well. When was the last time you looked at a homeless person requesting food and saw them as Jesus, just waiting to be served? Or that person who needed an extra dollar in the grocery line ahead of you in order to buy food for their family? What about the person who has nowhere to go for the holidays and is sitting home alone just praying someone will stop in to say hello? And of course, the child waiting for a home to call their own... Do you see Jesus in them?

He says that when "I" was hungry you gave "me" something to eat, and yet the people replied saying they never saw him. But it was Him that they served as they gave to the people around them. There are so many names for this...

"being Jesus with skin on"
"living by Faith"
"compassion ministries"
"Luke 4 ministries"
"community outreach"

But reality is... living your life and giving just a small piece away to someone in need around you... this is what Jesus is about. Serving and showing love.

Do you have a heart for people? Can you spare that extra cheeseburger as you pull on to the interstate and see someone hungry by the side of the road? Can you share that extra $5 and buy a toy for the local drive for families struggling? Do you dream of another little one to call you "Mom" or "Dad"?

Another way you can reach out this holiday season is by sponsoring a child on Reece's Rainbow by going to www.ReecesRainbow.org/angeltree2008.htm. Help one more child come closer to having a family this Christmas. Think of all those "Jesus" faces looking out from their need. Which will you help fulfill? Will you feed Him? Give Him water? Invite Him in?

In His Word it Says... Matthew 1:16

Did you know that the Bible lists out the genealogy of Jesus? Maybe you've noticed before and skipped those first 16 verses in the very beginning of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 1 verse 1? These lists are often cumbersome to read through and many of the names hold little significance to most of us, but it's not those names that bring this genealogy to mind. Of course they hold significance, but did you ever read verse 16 really closely?

Matthew 1:16 "and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ."

Joseph was Mary's husband. The ADOPTIVE father of Jesus. The earthly father that raised Jesus as his own flesh even tho he wasn't a biological relative. The one that taught Jesus his trade- in carpentry- and raised up the Savior of the world.

Now, take another look at that verse, Matthew 1:16. And think of all those verses of genealogical fatherhood (16 verses) going back 14 generations showing the significance of Jesus' family. Significant enough to be the entryway into the New Testiment put together by God's hand. All based on the heritage of Jesus' adoptive father.

There is no question that adoption is the heart of God!!

In His Word it Says... God's Mission: Adoption

Today I don't have just one specific verse to share, but instead I want to share this devotional that was shared with me last November by a friend named Kathy. Also, thank you Alexandra for bringing this post back to my thoughts! God's mission for each of us is adoption! Not necessarily for every person to adopt, but that every person would BE adopted. Not only is adoption God's heart, but it is a perfect illustration of the relationship God wants to have with each of us.

God's Mission: Adoption
by Max Lucado

When we come to Christ, God not only forgives us, he also adopts us. Through a dramatic series of events, we go from condemned orphans with no hope to adopted children with no fear. Here is how it happens. You come before the judgment seat of God full of rebellion and mistakes. Because of his justice he cannot dismiss your sin, but because of his love he cannot dismiss you. So, in an act which stunned the heavens, he punished himself on the cross for your sins. God's justice and love are equally honored. And you, God's creation, are forgiven. But the story doesn't end with God's forgiveness.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:15--16 NASB).

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Gal. 4:4--5 NASB).

It would be enough if God just cleansed your name, but he does more. He gives you his name. It would be enough if God just set you free, but he does more. He takes you home. He takes you home to the Great House of God.

Adoptive parents understand this more than anyone. I certainly don't mean to offend any biological parents--I'm one myself. We biological parents know well the earnest longing to have a child. But in many cases our cribs were filled easily. We decided to have a child and a child came. In fact, sometimes the child came with no decision. I've heard of unplanned pregnancies, but I've never heard of an unplanned adoption.

That's why adoptive parents understand God's passion to adopt us. They know what it means to feel an empty space inside. They know what it means to hunt, to set out on a mission, and take responsibility for a child with a spotted past and a dubious future. If anybody understands God's ardor for his children, it's someone who has rescued an orphan from despair, for that is what God has done for us.

God has adopted you. God sought you, found you, signed the papers and took you home.
From The Great House of God
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 1997) Max Lucado

In His Word it Says... Luke 18:16

When I was in Eastern Europe our plan was to adopt a 'known child' that was 5 years old and had Down syndrome. During our paperwork phase she was transferred to an institution in a different region from where she started. We were told this was in hopes that it would be a better place for her to be until we got there. When we arrived to meet her at the institution we were met with difficulty. The director didn't believe that we would sincerely want a child with disabilities... who would? He truly believed we must have an alternative motive for adopting other than to bring her into our family to love her and raise her and give her opportunities.

Though we were unable to adopt her, there is a verse that was brought to the forefront in the many hours that my husband and I spent praying and reading the Bible during those difficult days. My husband took the photo of our family that we'd brought with us- including our then-two-yr-old little girl with Down syndrome and wrote this verse on the back of it. We may never know what became of that visit, or what difference it made or didn't make in the heart and mind of the director of that institution, but we trust that God's Word speaks louder and softer, appropriately so, to reach out to the current needs of the heart and body.

Luke 18:16 is the verse that I'm describing. It was spoken by Jesus after people started bringing their babies to Jesus just to have him touch them. The disciples tried to stop them but Jeus said "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." He then goes on to say "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

God is very clear in His Word that children- all children- are important to Him, and this statement helps us to understand the weight that Jesus has for children. ADULTS must come to God as children do or we won't be able to find Him. That ceaseless, blind trust that a child has is required for Faith in Him!

"Do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these..." What are we doing to help children come to Him? Are we training up the children that God has entrusted to our care so that they will know Him and know the Bible? Are we reaching out to others that don't have the opportunity to know and understand the love of God? This includes all those little ones in foster care in our own cities, those in our country, and those around the world. God's heart for adoption is shown again through His love for children, and his desire for each of us to encourage the children to come to Him, and for us to even be the ones to carry them to Him. Just to be touched.

This week, is there a way that you can help a child to 'touch Jesus' by providing for them in a way that Jesus would?

In His Word it Says... John 14:18

God's Word- the Bible- has many references to orphans and to adoption. One verse that stands out to me as a short and yet compelling statement about adoption is John 14:18. "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." In this verse God isn't actually speaking directly to people that have no parents (orphans) but rather to his disciples and telling them that He won't leave them without a comforter and one to follow, but he instead will return to them and will send the Great Comforter (the Holy Spirit) in his place when he goes to the Father.

In the context of the last supper when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to the disciples, Jesus still speaks to the heart of those that don't have parents and those that are waiting and wondering what it is that God might have for their lives- feeling like they're without a leader, without a father, without a hope.

Jesus promised the disciples that He wouldn't leave them as orphans. Nor will he leave the millions of children around the world without any hope.

In verse 15 Jesus says "If you love me, you will obey what I command." He repeats himself in verse 22. Has he prepared you to be a voice for the children? Is he leading you to become that parent for some of his orphaned children? Or maybe he's leading you to help the orphans in another way...

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." Will you follow the call to adopt? Will you allow yourself to be Jesus' hands and feet in providing for the life of a child?

Angel Tree

Have you made your donation to a waiting child on the Angel Tree yet?

Time is running out to receive an ornament for your donation! All donations made by December 15th will receive an ornament with their sponsored child's photo on it. The Angel Tree will continue until December 31st. A great way for that last minute tax deduction too...

December's Emphasis

December's Emphasis on the Reece's Rainbow blog will be what the Word says about adoption. I hope you'll check back every OTHER day for a little nugget of Truth this holiday season as we highlight the Bible and God's heart for adoption.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" John 14:18

Grab this button and post it on your blog to encourage your readers to explore God's heart for adoption!

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A HUGE THANK YOU!

Thank you to all of the families that contributed to our featured family posts! I hope that these families and their stories have touched your heart and maybe helped to answer some questions about special needs adoptions. I also hope you've bookmarked some of the blogs because these are an awesome group of families and their stories each touch on so many aspects of parenting a child with special needs! Of course, you can always come back here to find the links- just look for the "featured families" label on the sidebar or go through the archive list for November 2008!

Tomorrow we will announce December's emphasis and the button for next month will be posted with the code as well.

Don't forget to visit the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree at www.reecesrainbow.org/angeltree2008 to sponsor your Christmas angel this year!

The Leahy Family

My apologies, this post was set to go yesterday but due to the holiday I didn't check on it and sure enough, it didn't go. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Following God’s plan for their family in spite of their different original desires, the Leahy family has expanded their family through the adoption of one very special little girl :)

We are Dennis and Debbi. We have been married for almost 8 years now. We have been blessed with two beautiful children so far. Colin is biological and Tatum came to us via China. We hope to add one more before we are done!

Our son Colin turned 3 in August. He is a very gentle soul and a joy to be around. Although, he does not yet speak, he is very expressive and has the best giggle! He loves numbers and letters and is a fish in the water.

When Colin turned 2, we started discussing the idea of expanding our family. Our talks kept winding up in the same place…adoption. We had first brought up the idea while we were still dating. Through teaching dance, Debbi had come to know a few families that were built through adoption, both domestic and international. We both felt that it was something that we would someday undertake.

We began researching programs and felt that we would choose a country that had escorting available. With a young child already at home, surely that would be the way to go! We also thought we would apply for a little girl who was as young as possible and “healthy”. Well, that wasn’t God’s plan!

As Debbi did more research, she found a little girl with Cerebral Palsy in Korea with a smile that could light up a room. Although, it was not meant to be, she opened the doors through which we would travel. China began calling to us as we learned of all the children who are abandoned. We began discussing the needs that we would feel comfortable with and all seemed pretty manageable. Again, not His plan!

One day, Debbi received an email that an agency had a new waiting child list. On that list was our daughter. There she was staring at us with big brown eyes and a rather large cleft lip and palate. We were put on the waiting list to view her file, but told that a family had already committed to her and there were two other families ahead of us. As it turns out, all the other families pulled out. Not only did she have a cleft lip and palate, but also very high levels of lead in her system.

After 10 months of waiting, we boarded a plane for China. Colin came along to meet his new sister. He was amazing the whole trip! We met Tatum on July 7^th and she immediately clung to Daddy. It took Mommy and Colin a bit longer to become just as cool in Tatum’s eyes!

We have been home for 4 months now, b us it seems that we have always been a family. Tatum has blended in seamlessly and everyone loves her. Her smile is infectious and she is always waving to someone wherever we go.

Tatum has had 2 surgeries so far. The first closed her lip and nose. Three weeks ago, she had another surgery that closed her hard and soft palate. She also received ear tubes. She is doing amazingly well, but can’t wait to eat solid food again!

She will need at least 2 more surgeries in the future, but we will take these as they come.

Our children have taught us to slow down and even the smallest of things. They are the greatest joys in our lives! The most rewarding part of raising them is the love that they give. It is also amazing to watch the relationships blossom as we move from strangers to family.

The most difficult part would be getting over your own self-doubt and realizing that, with God’s help, you can handle the challenging times.

Continue to follow the Leahy family at www.monkeymooandtootsie.blogspot.com

Thank you Dennis and Debbi for sharing your family with us!

The Cornish Family

Hi there, yes, it’s me, Meredith, resident blogger. I am blessed to count our family among those that have adopted children with special needs and would like nothing better than to share with you on this day of Thanksgiving the many joys our family has shared this year. Here’s a little about my own family’s adoption…

We are Michael and Meredith Cornish and last fall when Mike and I had been married for a little over 6 years we felt the call for adoption. Adoption wasn’t anything new to us… both of my grandmothers had spent time in children’s homes and my parents adopted two of my 5 siblings. Mike and I had two biological children, Kristopher, now almost 5, and Brianna, now almost 3. When Brianna was 2 months old we were surprised by a diagnosis of Down syndrome, but rather than fear, loss, or sadness over this diagnosis, we soon learned that it was an answer to our prayers. Mike and I had considered special needs adoption before her diagnosis but this was our ‘yes’ that this was our time!

Our original intention was do adopt domestically a child with any range of special needs, but we did focus more on Down syndrome. During a search online I once again ran across a website I’d “watched” for some time called Reece’s Rainbow. With no expecta tions for our plans to change, I decided that I wanted to encourage this ministry and wrote a simple letter to the director, Andrea Roberts, thanking her for advocating for children with Down syndrome and letting her know that we were considering adoption ourselves but were focusing now on domestic adoption.

Within minutes I had a reply, within hours my husband had said “Yes” to international adoption, within days we had been introduced through photos and profiles to children that might fit in our family, within a week we’d committed to the child we thought would be our daughter, and within a few short months we were traveling to go meet her!

Our adoption took some unexpected turns during our paperwork part of the process when the daughter of our hearts was transferred to a mental institution due to her age. We knew it was a possibility but were hoping that she would be able to wait at the ‘baby house’ until we got there. When we did travel it was with the knowledge that there was a possibility that we wouldn’t receive her referral, and even after that, that we might not be allowed to adopt from the specific institution she was at—one that had never had any adoptions and was unknown even to the state department of adoptions in Ukraine.

Our prayers were answered when we did meet this daughter of our hearts, 5 years old, walking, communicating, feeding herself fresh fruit, and in a very well-cared for institution setting. She smiled when she saw us, played with us, and cried when we said good bye that first visit. Our fears were also realized when our adoption was denied by the orphanage director. Due to many reasons that I just don’t have time to share here, we had to say goodbye and after spending a week in her city returned to the capital city for another week, seeking out what God had for our family after this devastating blow.

The answer was clear very quickly, and we requested a referral for another little girl with Down syndrome. This little one was almost 5 years old, had been in a crib her whole life, had a major heart defect, and was not able to sit up or even hold her head up well. We had learned of her during our paperwork phase of adoption and at one point had even tried to figure a way out to adopt her and our other little one at the same time, but it seemed impossible. God worked it out that she would come home to us after all.

We met little Daria- later to become our Emma Hope- as well as a little boy named Daniil- our Micah Daniel- and quickly took to them both. Blonde haired, blue eyed tiny little kids, Emma was 17 pounds at 5 years old and Micah was 11 pounds at 18 months. This definitely wasn’t the adoption we had visualized with these two children who were essentially infants and both very sick… but it was what God had for our family and we knew that since He had directed us there, He would provide for us as well!

Micah and Emma came home to our family in March of 2008 and since then have entered seamlessly into our family! Kristopher and Brianna survived the 7 weeks without Mommy (4 without Daddy too) and welcomed their new siblings without hesitation. Micah quickly gained weight, strength, and gross motor skills and now is cruising furniture and crawling all over the place. He’s made up quickly for any lost time in the orphanage!

Emma went through a heart cath, tonsil and adenoid surgery, and then open heart surgery since coming home and after recovering from her heart surgery in August she has made tremendous gains including gaining weight, beginning to eat pureed food from a spoon (both were completely bottle fed), learning to sit steadily, gaining complete head control, and now even baring weight on her legs/feet with support and bracing!

The most demanding part of parenting my four little ones, three with special needs, this far has been the many initial appointments we’ve had with the new kids. Both of our adopted children had significant medical issues in addition to having Down syndrome and we have spent 4 total weeks at hospitals and had over 30 doctor’s appointments between the two of them this past 8 months. We are so blessed to have the support of wonderful grandparents and friends that have been willing to step in and help with childcare so that all of the kids don’t have to attend every appointment with me, and Mike’s work has been very understanding of his occasional time off to be with our other children whenever someone has been hospitalized.

Without question, the most rewarding part of parenting children with special needs is the love that they return unconditionally. A smile, hug, laugh, kiss, a new skill learned and the joys and struggles that go into each little step. I’m honored to be called “mom” to each of my four children!

Thank you for reading our family’s story, you’re invited to view our blog at www.cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com to learn more about our family.

If you haven’t checked back recently, please go to the Reece’s Rainbow Angel Tree and take a look at all of the children with Down syndrome that are waiting for their forever families! New children are being added as they arrive in our database, and it’s exciting to watch each of the children’s grant funds grow. Have you found something for those hard-to-buy for people on your Christmas list yet? Consider sponsoring a child in their name and give them an ornament with that child’s photo on it. There’s no greater gift than that of a forever family. Visit the angel tree at www.reecesrainbow.org/angeltree2008.htm

Angela and Paul’s Family

Paul and Angela share their home not only with their biological and adopted children, but they’ve opened up to foster children as well! What a loving family they are with a beautiful story!

I’m Angela from New Zealand originally from UK. My husband of 29 years, Paul, and I have 8 children including Joe 26, Samuel 25, Beth 23 (all birth children), Rachel 21 (adopted from foster care aged 8), Lily 20 (adopted came to us aged 5 months has DS) Hannah 18 (born to us), Noah 9 (born to us, has Down syndrome, brain damage – infantile spasms, Hirschsprung’s disease), Isaac 3 (adopted has Down syndrome, heart surgery, fundoplication gastrostomy, hiatus hernia repair and is tube fed). We also have a foster daughter age 7, whom I call J. She has been with us 9 months.

We chose to adopt children with special needs because we enjoyed parenting and we wanted a challenge. Two of our adoptions were in UK and one was in NZ. The most surprising part about the adoptions was that we became objects of pity for having a disabled child. We had a much easier adjustment than we expected though. We had been told we’d “ruin the lives of our other children” by a family member- so I guess we were expecting trouble! The most demanding or difficult part of parenting a child with special needs is remaining patient – especially with a 20 year old, fighting health, education, benefits systems, and dealing with the attitudes of other people.

The most rewarding part of parenting a child with special needs is the personal development - overcoming challenges to me. Also, watching the child develop as well as the usual joys (and challenges) of bringing up children.

If you’d like to follow Angela and Paul and their journey through parenthood, visit their blog http://www.trisomytribe.blogspot.com.

Thank you, Paul and Angela, for sharing your family with us!