Today is the tenth anniversary of an organization that's near and dear to my heart, even though I just stumbled on them about three years ago. And it really was a stumble. A complete 'accident'. I followed a link a friend posted of the fundraising of a friend of a friend and ended up on the Reece's Rainbow Facebook page. It was all downhill into addiction from there haha.
No, actually, the truth was, it was hard. It was eyeopening and soul stretching and a very painful growth looking into the reality of the 'life' that children live inside of an institutional setting. I remember I cried and cried for weeks as I learned new details every day. It was crushing. That was something that, to tell the truth, I never wanted to know. And once you see, you can't unsee. For awhile I told friends, 'if you don't want this haunting you every day for the rest of your life, just don't look. Don't even start researching, because that's it.'
Reece's Rainbow is a non-profit organization that advocates for and offers grants to children who are waiting in foreign orphanages with special needs that might make the process of finding a family even harder and the odds even smaller than other orphans. They specialize in finding homes for children who are rocking that extra chromosome, but they also have children listed who do not have Down Syndrome, but some other kind of special need. I first saw one of my sons, Finn, listed there, though it was long before I ever planned on international adoption when I saw him there. They have provided millions of dollars in grants to children and families and the work they're doing is world shaping, something most of us will never get to say.
I would venture to say that finding Reece's Rainbow is among the top five best things to ever happen to me. Was it hard? Oh, yes. Was it life changing? Completely. Was it worth the pain of learning about the conditions of foreign orphanages, embracing the pain of children with no voice, adopting our own children and dealing with the HARD changes of bringing traumatized children into your home? Absolutely yes. A dozen times over.
In ten years, do you know how many children Reece's Rainbow alone have helped to bring home? 1580 and still counting. That's ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED and EIGHTY orphans that are now sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, much loved and treasured. Now THAT'S an impact on the world! Especially for a group that is not an agency. They don't process any adoptions, just help find homes and offer money to those that step out in faith after seeing a world encompassing need and following a nudging from God that, yes, maybe they could fill it.
In addition, RR is a place where other people can donate to your adoption tax free, or where you can sell things and have a place to gather your money and keep it safe until later. We sold so much and got so many donations, that in the end, our deposit from Reece's Rainbow was over twenty thousand dollars. And without every penny of it, Finn and Jake would not be making plans to go swimming at grandma's later today.
This is not an ad for Reece's Rainbow. I'm not getting paid for it, or recognized. It's just a shout out on the anniversary of an organization that has my whole heart for giving their whole heart to a generation of children who have no voice.
Happy anniversary Reece's Rainbow! Congratulations on your ten years of performing magic.
Amber
No, actually, the truth was, it was hard. It was eyeopening and soul stretching and a very painful growth looking into the reality of the 'life' that children live inside of an institutional setting. I remember I cried and cried for weeks as I learned new details every day. It was crushing. That was something that, to tell the truth, I never wanted to know. And once you see, you can't unsee. For awhile I told friends, 'if you don't want this haunting you every day for the rest of your life, just don't look. Don't even start researching, because that's it.'
Reece's Rainbow is a non-profit organization that advocates for and offers grants to children who are waiting in foreign orphanages with special needs that might make the process of finding a family even harder and the odds even smaller than other orphans. They specialize in finding homes for children who are rocking that extra chromosome, but they also have children listed who do not have Down Syndrome, but some other kind of special need. I first saw one of my sons, Finn, listed there, though it was long before I ever planned on international adoption when I saw him there. They have provided millions of dollars in grants to children and families and the work they're doing is world shaping, something most of us will never get to say.
I would venture to say that finding Reece's Rainbow is among the top five best things to ever happen to me. Was it hard? Oh, yes. Was it life changing? Completely. Was it worth the pain of learning about the conditions of foreign orphanages, embracing the pain of children with no voice, adopting our own children and dealing with the HARD changes of bringing traumatized children into your home? Absolutely yes. A dozen times over.
In ten years, do you know how many children Reece's Rainbow alone have helped to bring home? 1580 and still counting. That's ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED and EIGHTY orphans that are now sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, much loved and treasured. Now THAT'S an impact on the world! Especially for a group that is not an agency. They don't process any adoptions, just help find homes and offer money to those that step out in faith after seeing a world encompassing need and following a nudging from God that, yes, maybe they could fill it.
In addition, RR is a place where other people can donate to your adoption tax free, or where you can sell things and have a place to gather your money and keep it safe until later. We sold so much and got so many donations, that in the end, our deposit from Reece's Rainbow was over twenty thousand dollars. And without every penny of it, Finn and Jake would not be making plans to go swimming at grandma's later today.
This is not an ad for Reece's Rainbow. I'm not getting paid for it, or recognized. It's just a shout out on the anniversary of an organization that has my whole heart for giving their whole heart to a generation of children who have no voice.
Happy anniversary Reece's Rainbow! Congratulations on your ten years of performing magic.
Amber
