PAINFUL REALITY

I have been trying so hard to find the words to describe Rush's fate had we not stood up to fight for her...but to be honest...it is almost to painful for me to write about...i can't even seem to get through the sentences...

My heart is being torn apart about this...God is stirring up a deep passion inside of me to make a difference in this life for HIS children...I am not capable...but HE IS through me!!! God has allowed Down syndrome to change my life...change my perspective of being "different." 

I have been following many other families who are in the same boat as we are...giving back a life to a child who has been denied by their society and families. This is an answer another mother gave as to why they are adopting a special needs child and why internationally...her words cause me to fall to my knees and cry and the tears just don't stop. I am aware of everything she says, these facts caused my heart to move towards Rush, QUICKLY, yet it is still is so hard to digest...so hard to comprehend...with her permission, I had to share her words that painted the painful truth...

 http://addtothebeauty-evensen.blogspot.com  (Rachelle and her husband are adopting Gideon known as "Eddie" on Reece's Rainbow)

Why a special needs child?  Why international?

"Celebrating his fourth birthday was such a magical time for Josiah this year.  He had a dozen friends over, toured the fire station, ate cake, and was surrounded by loved ones.  There he is, sitting in the driver'seat of a huge red firetruck!  And yet it was a bittersweet occasion for me, as I had recently become aware of what happens to a child with special needs in some countries on their fourth birthdays.  You see, four years old is the age.  The age where a child with Down Syndrome, or Cerebral Palsy, or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Hydrocephalus, or Arthrogryposis, or APERT syndrome, can no longer live at the Baby House in many countries.  They were handed over to an orphanage when they were born with a disability.  This was encouraged by the doctors, nurses, family members, and society.  Everybody agreed that this was where such a “defective” child belonged. 

And then, on these children’s fourth birthdays, there are no cupcakes, no candles, no songs, no gifts.  Instead, they are taken outside, put in a car, and driven away.  They own nothing, so they take nothing with them.  Often, nobody even tells them what is happening.  They arrive at a new building, are taken inside, and the gates are locked behind them.  Most will never come out.  Never.  Unless an adoptive family comes to rescue them, they are in Mental Institutions from age four until they die.  A life sentence. 

Their head is shaved.  They become numbers.  Bodies that will occupy cribs.  They are assigned to a room.  High functioning?  Low functioning?  Some committee somewhere decides each child’s fate, and their future is determined by that committee.  They are taken to their assigned room, and that is where they remain.  No more toys.  No more books.  No more orphanage nannies.  No more hugs.  No more therapy, if there ever was any at the orphanage they came from.  There are reports that some of these children are drugged, twice a day, in order to keep them in a sleepy stupor.  Then they lie in their cribs, in a daze, bewildered at what they might have done to deserve such punishment.  What could any child, any human being at all, do to deserve such a fate? 

The will to live quickly evaporates as children become resigned to their new life.  In some of these institutions, only 50% of these children live to see their fifth birthday.  Not that they will know it if they do.  Nobody celebrates.  Nobody even seems to care.  Some institutions are better than others.  Sometimes there is somebody there who cares.  But for many of these lost ones, their lives just plod on, without hope, without a future.  Children who had previously shown great potential quickly deteriorate.  Children with cerebral palsy who had been walking are now tied to beds.  Of course they forget how to walk.  Children with Down Syndrome who had been able to count and sing songs now moan and bang their heads against the bars of their cribs.  Of course they forget how to talk.  They become thin and pale and weak.  Children starve to death.  They die from lack of medicine.  Lack of routine surgery.  Lack of love. 

And once Derek and I became aware of the plight of these orphans, we simply could not go back to pretending not to know.  We KNOW.  We have seen photos.  Read testimonies.  Spoken with people who have seen.  If these children had been born in America, they would have everything they need.  If they had been born neurotypical, they may have been taken home by their parents.  If not, they would at least be raised in the better orphanages, with a basic education and basic human rights.  But they were not.  They were not born in America, and they were not born without disabilities.  And so they waste away. 

But God cherishes every one of those loves just as much as any American kid.  God does not want us to shrug and turn away, simply because those children are not American.  Or because it costs so much.  Or because it takes so much effort.  Or because the process takes so long.  Or because it will be extra work to parent those children.  Really?  Do you really think any of those things is a barrier to the Lord God, creator of heaven and earth?  He loves those little ones.  He has given us the command to love the least of these.  To feed His lambs.  To look after orphans in their distress.  He has called us to do this, and He will give us the resources and the strength to do this.  He will bless our family through this amazing little person, and He will provide everything we need to parent this child.  We trust Him.  This is His child.  He will be right there every step of the way."

PAINFUL REALITY...