The Most Beautiful Faces...

I have ever seen! These girls are literally the faces of an institution. They are faces that the world has tried to hide away, but oh, how beautiful they are! They DESPERATELY need a family to go and GET THEM OUT!!! They are fortunate enough to still be adoptable at this point. My prayer is that a family will come forward QUICKLY, but if not these two girls are at the TOP of our "next adoption" list. We just can't get them quickly enough. They remind me of the blog written by Derek Loux, who tragically passed away in December. We never had the honor of meeting him, but his family has forever changed us. And we are so blessed to be a part of this "adoption revolution." ...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORRINA!! YOU ARE LOVED! (Yes Corrina will be SEVEN years old tomorrow and YES she only weights TWENTY ONE pounds!)

REDEMPTION
By: Derek Loux

Friday, December 12, 2008

Renee’ and I are sitting in the office of a telephone company in Novograd Valenski, Ukraine, using wireless internet. We are in the middle of adopting three special needs boys from an orphanage here. 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 year 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 frozen December, 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.

Katie (1) (SECOND PICTURE)

Girl, Born August 28, 2002

This beautiful Katie is in the same institution with Miss Corinna, below. They are both just waiting and waiting, day after day, month after month, for their forever family to save them from this miserable existence. Even through all of this, Katie finds a reason to smile and wave to the world with her tiny, precious little hand.

Katie has light brown hair and the brightest blue eyes!

We are waiting on medical info for Katie, but from our missionary who visited with her: "Katya looks pleasant, she is very happy and smiling a lot. She is able to indicate her wants and needs. She does not have any words yet, but she tries! She has good use of her hands, she plays with dolls and toys. She is crawling, can sit and tries to walk (with help). She likes blocks and other toys, sensory toys, dolls, pencils, crayons and books!"


Many more photos available, please consider saving or sponsoring Katie's adoption! Would love to see one family adopt both girls! We have already lost at least (5) children with DS from this institution, let's make a chage for these kids and find some adoptive families!


More photos available!

Please contact Andrea for more information

Corinna (1) (FIRST PICTURE)

Girl, Born January 12, 2003

Corinna is a beautiful little girl who has spent the last 2 years of her life in a mental institution. She has SO much potential, and is close to walking, but spends much of her days lying in bed for lack of anything else to do. She was sent to this facility from another baby house we work in now, so it is imperative that she be saved!

She does have some strabismus, but no heart condition. She is able to stand on her own, but is not walking quite yet. She is very much a baby, even at 6 years of age. She is only 21 pounds at this time :( But she will really blossom in the care of a loving family, and has every reason to be able to walk and run and really thrive. There will be very little left of this "shell" once she gets home into her new life! She has tremendous potential, and could be another amazing success story!

The orphanage staff tell us she does like to play with toys, is interactive and affectionate, and has "potential to improve".

More photos available!

Please contact Andrea for more information