Big, big news in AndersonLand. IT'S TWINS! Except they are six years apart in age. And also over a thousand miles apart in their country. And technically they aren't related at all... But still!
Today we got PA on our second child, sweet, precious Wayne. Wayne is four or five years old. That isn't clear as he wasn't abandoned as a baby, but as a slightly older toddler. Wayne isn't a healthy guy. In fact, the bitter truth is that the doctors think Wayne probably won't last out 2014 without American medical care.
He has something called Beta Thalassemia Major. In America, it's typically referred to as Cooley's Anemia. Much like Sickle Cell Anemia, Cooley's Anemia developed as an evolutionary response to contagious diseases common in Asia. Wayne's bone marrow doesn't work to produce red blood cells in the proper way. As a result, he needs a blood transfusion every 21 days, and chelation to prevent iron from those blood transfusions from building up in his organs and killing him. China is experiencing a major blood shortage, all over their country. He's not getting the transfusions he needs. As a result, Wayne's organs are getting enlarged. Eventually they will fail, if he can't get on a regular course of care.
Because of this, Wayne will need to be expedited medically. Daniel will be expedited too because he was our first child and their paperwork will be processed together. We are so excited to have these boys home and in the circle of our family. In a way we are thrilled that this will be so quick. But in the rest of the possibly conceivable ways, we are beyond stressed that we need to come up with $30,000 dollars in just a few months. We are confident that this is the path the Lord wants us to take. The reason we elected to call our blog "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" is because we started this journey with the intention of being led by the spirit to the children Heavenly Father was calling us to adopt. But now we are in the position of needing to call on others to help us do that.
To be frank, I planned to use the little over a year we would have had to raise all of the needed money myself. It was less when it was just Daniel, and we had a long time, possibly up to eighteen months, before we would travel. I thought I could do it without ever really asking for help. I don't like asking for help. I'm not good at it, and I don't enjoy it. I've been largely silent on the subject of how much money we would need and have taken extra freelance jobs to pay for things. When we were taking classes to foster in America, they made a point of saying that we couldn't do it all alone. We would need help. Later, we were asked to fill out a form about what we felt our biggest weakness as a foster parent would be. Separately filling out the form, Mike and I both said, "asking for help" This isn't something that has changed for either of us. But this is bigger than us. This is about Daniel and Wayne and being like Nephi so we can go and do the things the Lord commands.
With that in mind, we would please ask you to prayerfully consider helping Wayne and Daniel find their forever family. Here's a list of fundraisers we are doing and ways you can help these boys, if you feel so inclined.
1. The Novel Name Fundraiser. Please read the subsequent post for more info on this very fun and unique fundraiser.
2. The envelope Fundraiser. We have so much information about Daniel and Wayne. We can't show their pictures for a few more weeks, but we are so blessed to be in contact with people who know them well, and we know so many cute things we can share. I will also include deets in another post.
3. Buy my novels, Glitch, Into Darkness Peering, & Rules of Engagement. All of the proceeds from these novels are going into our adoptions. Plus you get a book out of the deal! Feel free to buy a copy of The Tell-Tale Con if you like, but those monies are both smaller, because of the particular publisher, and longer before they come.
4. Please, please, please pray. Pray for Daniel's spirits as he's getting close to aging out and doesn't know we are coming. I pray he isn't getting scared, defeated, that he doesn't believe he isn't worthy of a family. Pray for Wayne's health. We are going as fast as we can, but even with a medical expedite, these things take time. A little girl has recently died in Wayne's orphanage from the same kinds of complications from Beta Thalassemia Major that Wayne is currently experiencing. She was the same age as well. I don't know if he knows, or if he's scared. But the little girl in question had a family coming for her, and she didn't make it. Please, please pray that his little body will hold on and we can get him the care he needs!
5. Spread the word. Please share our blog and our donation information with your friends. You never know when someone might have a heart for children, for adoption, for children with hematological issues or brain injuries, for China, or for orphans. We need every prayer, every good thought, and every penny or dollar that anyone would feel inclined to share.
6. Donate. If you feel so inclined, please consider Wayne and Danny and donate to our Youcaring adoption account. This is certainly not the only way way to help, though it's the quickest way. http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/adding-andersons/104719?utm_source=widget We have so little time to bring these little guys home. If you don't have the money to donate, please don't worry about it. Pick one of the ways above instead. We can use prayers every bit as much as we can use money.
Thank you all of you for following our journey and bless you for reading the novel I just wrote lol.
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