World Down Syndrome Day 2016

Happy World Down Syndrome day!!!

I have been neglecting to write about the orphans as my life has been pretty crazy lately. So, I started a new blog to focus on writing about my depression so that this one could be used for advocacy. So if you like my posts on depression, head over to my other blog Depressed yet Blessed.

In this blog post, I am going to share 3 girls and 3 boys with Down Syndrome from Reece's Rainbow.

First up is a little guy named Rogan. He will be turning 3 in May. He has Down Syndrome and cleft lip/palate but that just adds to his cuteness!!! I mean look at him!!!


Next up is a little girl who goes by Spring. That is totally fitting for this post since Spring just started!!!


Thirdly is a young man named Joseph. This young man used to live with his momma but she passed away which caused Joseph to go live in an orphanage. Oh how I just wanna give him a hug.... But at least he still looks happy!


Next is little miss Isabelle! Isn't she a doll!! She is growing up so much!!!


Harlan is up next!! Along with his Down Syndrome, he has ADD and is nonverbal. But don't let that hold you back because I am sure he is a sweetheart!!!


And last but certainly not least..... is little Maeve. Doesn't she just look like she needs to be cuddled!?


How are you celebrating World Down Syndrome day??

Smile!!!!

I love smiling. 

People who are close to me and maybe even those who aren't say that they love my smile. 

I used to use it to hide how I was feeling. I'd just throw on my happy face and go about my day. Hiding all the sadness and hurt behind a little lift of my cheeks. Most people would walk by me and think nothing was wrong. When really my heart was so hurt I didn't know what to do other than smile. 

But I have learned that everyone is fighting their own fight. No matter how rough it is compared to what you're going through or have been through everyone is going through something.

When I was going through my hard time I would be unusually sensitive. I've learned that for me little things set me off in a way that it shouldn't. I would go off like a bomb and I wouldn't be able to control it. Someone would say or do something that would light the fuse and I would become a mad, crying, blubbering mess and it wouldn't matter where I was or what was going on. I would just break down. This taught me that there is no reason to be mean or harsh to someone. You never ever know what's going on behind the scenes. 

If you're my friend on Facebook or follow me on Instagram you would have seen a selfie (I know I post a lot of them) with a caption saying "You never know what someone's going through. Smile all the time. You could change someone's day. Or maybe even their life." 

I know that when would smile at me on my bad days it would just lift me up so much. I would just get to being so happy. It didn't usually last for long but for the moment it felt amazing. 

I am not a believer in New Years resolutions because I can never keep them. But this year, it's my goal to make someone at least smile every day. 

I was listening to Air 1 radio today while driving to work and the lady said she doesn't have a resolution for the whole year but resolution for each day. Her daily resolution was to not waste the day. Every day do something good for someone. Make someone smile. Make someone's day. For the year 2016, I don't wanna go to bed a single day saying "today was a waste" if I can make just one person smile my day won't go to waste. Who knows what that person was going through. 

My favorite place to be especially smiley is Walmart. Or any other grocery store. No one really wants to be there. Well actually, I love smiling. Wherever I am. I just love to smile. 

So join me in my smile challenge. Challenge yourself to make someone smile everyday for a week. Smiling is contagious. I've found that when I smile at someone they usually smile back. 

Smile. You never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. A simple smile might make their day. Or maybe even their life. :)

God bless and many smiles,

Dakota 

Paper Towns

I find it amazing that depending on your mood, you can learn different lessons from different things. Depending on my mood, I learn different things from books, movies, people, the Bible, etc.

I just finished watching the movie "Paper Towns". If you've seen the movie and/or read the book you might understand this. If not, go watch it, or continue reading this post. But beware it may have some spoilers.

In this movie, the main girl character, Margo, has a thing for paper towns. Paper towns are places that map companies put on their map as a copyright. Margo says that she wants to go to a paper town with paper houses because she is a paper girl. She travels to a paper town where her friends have to go and find her because she went missing.

Margo running away to a paper town reminded me of suicide. Her boyfriend had just cheated on her and she had just been in a fight with her best friend. She says she had been planning it for a while. But she was waiting until graduation to leave to this paper town. This reminds me of suicide because it's not something that just happens. Usually, a lot of stuff leads to even having those thoughts and sometimes, something little might just pull the pin on that grenade. She left to her paper town, like many people leave their life behind but they aren't going to a paper town. They are still getting away from everything in their life but in a very different way. She didn't want to deal with these things anymore so she just left. She left behind clues so people, in this case; her friend Quinton, would be able to find her. He found her and found out why she left.

Life gets hard and this post is by no means advocating for suicide or stating that the movie Paper Towns is advocating for suicide.

Paper Towns is showing that sometimes you need to get away from your problems. People do that in many ways. I often do it by blogging. Margo did it by going to a paper town.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Please comment or email me at ayoungmissionarysheart97@gmail.com

God Bless,
Dakota

I can see clearly now.......

I like to tell myself that the depression is gone. But is it really? Or am I just in a happy moment, day, or week. This current "phase" of happiness has lasted longer than any of my past "phases." Usually, they last a day and then someone does something that puts me back into that place. My not so fun place.

I would try to make my happy moments last but I usually knew that it would come to an end soon. It usually would. I got to the point that no matter who did what to me or about me I would keep a smile on my face, especially when I was around the people who hurt me.

I don't know if the people around me realized I was depressed. I tried to hide it but I think that hurt me even more. If you are close to me, do not hide your feelings or your depression. I hated having to hide my feelings around the people I know and love. It probably did more damage than not.

I'm finally starting to realize that I was self harming myself by not showing my feelings. It wasn't something I wanted to do or tried to do on purpose, it just kinda happened.

Over the summer, one of the students at my school committed suicide. It really opened my eyes more to depression and what happens if it doesn't get taken care of. It broke my heart that people would get so depressed that they would end their lives. Truth be told, that news of hearing about the passing of a fellow classmate really changed my life. I was headed down the same path and my eyes were opened when I saw how everyone was affected by the loss of our friend. I didn't even know this student personally and it affected my life. I only knew him by seeing him in the hallways. When I saw how everyone reacted and rallied with his close friends and family, I realized that I didn't want my friends and family to have to go through that because I made an unchangable decision. #ctH everyone still rallies with his family. Our football team represented our #69 all season. Everyone keeps his spirit alive by wearing their pink shirts and pink bracelets.

It was one day over summer or football season that my eyes were opened and I could see clearly. I could see what was going on in my head. It was over those weeks or months that I started, slowly but surely, working on getting out of this depression.

I am ending this year way happier than I started it. I am ending it feeling beyond loved by so many people.

Being depressed is like being stuck in a dark rain cloud when everyone around you is at the beach on a sunny day.

I am now at the beach on a partly cloudy day.

And....

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.

Much love and God bless,
Dakota

Depressed yet Blessed

Two posts in two days, crazy I know.

Depression isn't talked about very much. And it should be. I think I'm going to do a series on it. This is my second post about this subject.

Almost 4 years ago, my grandma passed away to cancer. My whole family's lives were effected by this. There was nothing that anyone of us could do for anyone. Each of us had our people that comforted us for the time being. Honestly, most of those people aren't a part of any of our lives any more and if they are, they aren't as big of a part.

If you have never been depressed or know someone who has been depressed, which I think is very rare, it's hard. You have a desire to be happy. In my case, I wanted to be alone all the time but at the same time I had a huge fear of being alone. I didn't want to be alone but I didn't want anyone to be bothered by my sadness. I would just want to sleep all the time. If I wasn't sleeping, I was eating.

 At 16 my life changed dramatically by divorce. My life continues to change. Just in the past year, my mom got a boyfriend, and my dad got married. It was hard for me to process everything and it got rushed by my parents moving on so quickly. I'm still not sure if I have processed all of it. It all just happened so fast. It was unexpected and I tried to deny it for the longest time. I held onto every single hope I could find that my parents would get back together, and unfortunately they never did. Weddings were hard. Graduation is going to be hard. My wedding and raising my kids will not be what I had envisioned it as when I was growing up. I basically have to start over on what I thought the rest of my life would look like. But God has a plan.

Two Christmases ago, I would have never thought that it would be the last Christmas I spent with both of my parents under the same roof. I still try to see both of them on Christmas but it's difficult with them living so far away from each other. Last Christmas I was still living with my dad. This Christmas I have to drive 50 minutes to one parent and 1 hour 15 minutes to the other.

Things have been said to me or about me to others that have gotten back to me that ultimately hurt me. People are trying to help but they do more damage. The intention is well I know but people with depression need to be approached about their depression and their actions while depressed very carefully. They are trying to do the best they can under their circumstances.

I gained friends that had gone through depression before and I thought they would help me when unfortunately they did more damage than my friends who haven't been depressed. They were the ones who would tell me "just try and be happy". Believe me, I wanted to be happy just as much as you wanted me to. I am so very blessed to have the friends who have loved depressed Dakota just as much as they love happy Dakota.

God has blessed me with so many new relationships through this hard time. I honestly didn't thank him enough.

Depression made me a very self centered person. I didn't want anyone's help. I didn't want God's help either. But as soon as I turned back to Him, He slowly started to change things. He changed my living situation. He changed my work place. He changed my church. He changed my family. Sometimes I don't agree with what He is doing but i can look back know and see that he is doing good. I will look back on today in a couple months or years and I'll be able to see the good that he is doing right now.

I'm not sure why He keeps putting it on my heart to write about my depression but I'm sure I'll see why one day.

A lot of this I have never really opened up about before. I guess it's just easier for me to type and blog about than it is to read about. But I'm okay with that.

Thanks for reading.

Much love and God bless,
Dakota

Depression

Typically, I only blog about orphans.... Tonight, there is something different on my heart. It's actually became a part of me... Who knows if I'll actually end up publishing this post, but if you're reading this, I must have...
Disclaimer: I'm not posting this for attention, in fact it's the last thing I want. I am posting this so other people know they are not alone because I felt that way the whole time I've been depressed.

Depression, it is in fact a real thing. People can impact you in a way that puts you into a deep sadness and then other people can bring you out of that deep sadness, sometimes it's temporary and sometimes is permanent.

The people around me have recently been telling me that I'm a lot happier. It's not that I wasn't happy before, but I was pretending to be happy. Maybe I was pretending to be happy for myself and maybe I was pretending to be happy for others. But today, I can say that I am genuinely happy. There are several people that I can thank for that but that's a whole different post. Some people tell me that it's just the time of year, being Christmas and all, but I don't think it has anything to do with that because I am not even in the Christmas spirit this year. I don't know why.

I can link most of my depression to my parents divorce. But other things such as bullying, abandonment, break-ups have made it much worse. Divorce is not easy. In my case, it was something I never saw coming and wished that I would wake up one day and have it be a terrible nightmare but that never happened.

During the past 2 years, people have tried to pull me out of this depression but really, it gave me anxiety because I wanted to please them and I just couldn't. They would say things like "you're not the person you used to be" and "don't let something like that bother you, just be happy and ignore it like everyone else does". Those things broke me down.

Through this I have found out who genuinely cared about me and who didn't. I've lost relationships I'd never thought I'd lose and gained relationships that I never thought I'd gain. And now I can look back and say that I am happy that that happened. I'm okay with loosing those people. I now know the people who actually do care. Who want to be a part of my life whether I am happy or sad. And I can't thank God enough for those people.

Multiple people who I didn't think would ever hurt me put me into this depression. It was a long two years and in fact, I'm not fully out of this depression, I'm not sure when I will be. God is working through me and through other people to work on me and my heart to make sure I will be happy again. I am happy right now. This has been a learning process.

I am here to let you know that if you are struggling with depression, you are not the only one. I am here to listen to you and to pray for you. Depression got the best of me for over 2 years. I don't want anyone to experience that.

I have never actually been diagnosed with depression. But there is something about depression that someone knows about themselves that they know when they are depressed.

Alright, I'm done ranting. Feel free to comment, email (ayoungmissionarysheart97@gmail.com) and id be happy to help you.

God bless and much love,
Dakota

Thanksgiving and some Updates

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I have so many many things to be thankful for this year. I am only going to list a few things that I am thankful for in this post, but note that I could write a novel on just things that I am thankful for.

• Jesus, my Lord and Savior for suffering so that I won't have to
• The caring heart that God has given me to care so much for these orphans
• All of my supporters in this blog and of my fundraising and Angel Tree
• That I am alive and healthy
• I am celebrating this holiday with people I love and who love me
• my job
• That I am capable of typing this post while bouncing a baby in his bouncy seat
• google (heehee)
• and many many many more

Updates!!!

I had my shooting competition on November 14th and we raised $640 which was split between Nicholas and Marlowe. We also had a chili cook off on November 22nd and we raised $161 which has yet to be put into their accounts because I haven't made it to the bank yet. 

I could not do this without all of your prayers and support. Please continue to support and pray as you feel led. 

If you would like to donate to either Nicholas or Marlowe you can here:

Marlowe: http://reecesrainbow.org/1144/marlowe-b-390

Nicholas: http://reecesrainbow.org/66622/nicholas-2

I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU!!!!!!

Have a happy happy Thanksgiving!!!

Angel Tree 2015

Finally. Finally it almost my favorite time of year again. It is so close that I can almost taste it. Just kidding, that would be kinda weird. Anyways, this years Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree starts in just 3 days!!! And I am super pumped about it. 

This year, I have agreed to raising $1000 for not only one but two boys with Down syndrome. Marlowe and Nicholas have already got me wrapped around their little fingers.

Nicholas is four years old. He is physical developmentally on target for his age. He plays well with others and walks while holding onto something. He is very responsive and would THRIVE in a family.

Marlowe is fourteen years old. He has Down Syndrome, Inborn cardiac malformation – persisting arterial channel, Lung hypertonia, Severe lagging behind in his development. He walks with help from an adult. Marlowe is nonverbal. He is a very calm young man. 

All donations between November 1st and December 31st count towards the $1000 goal I have to raise for each child. 

All donations go directly to their adoption grants that will be accessible by the family that commits to adopting them.

If you make a donation of $35 of more you can get an ornament with a picture of them on it. 

I have God on my side for this and I have no doubt that He won't get me through this. He put it on my heart to do it and He will get me through it. 

If this is your first time reading my blog, Reece's Rainbow is an orphan advocacy site advocating specifically for orphans with special needs. Every year they do an Angel Tree which is just a way of fundraising for the children's adoption grant. This is my third year in a row doing it and I just love it. I have reached my goal every year so far. God gave me a burden to help the fatherless and this is one of my favorite ways to work through that burden. 

Come back soon!

God Bless,

Dakota

Another Tee-Shirt

I am still warrior-ing for the Chaves Family. I have done one shirt fundraiser and just launched another one today. This one is great for fathers day. Our goal for this fundraiser is 25 shirts. There are unisex shirts, womens fitted shirts, youth shirts, sweat shirts, and long sleeve shirts. I know it is getting warm outside here so it is time to treat yourself with a new teeshirt. This one is perfect. Grab one for you and one for your husband or daddy.

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/be-strong

Two year Blog-avirsary

Two years ago today, I started this blog, with two missions. One, to raise money for my first mission trip, two years ago. And two, to raise awareness for orphans with special needs. I did both of those things. Since I started this blog,

• I went on one mission trip fully funded by friends and family's generous hearts
• I went on another mission trip funded by myself
• Got a job
• Salome found a family
• Nathaniel found a family
• I was a successful Angel Tree warrior for Silvia and Leilani
• Had two successful t-shirt fundraisers
• My relationship with Christ blossomed
• Rita found a family
• Collier found a family
• Simon and Samuel found a family
• Silvia is no longer available for adoption
• Brenton has a family
• Emil has found a family

And these are just the kids that I advocated for here on this blog. God works in amazing ways.

Currently, I am the family warrior for the Chaves family whom are adopting Nathaniel/Zebadiah. Next year, I will be able to add that to my list of things that I have successfully done.

I cannot wait to see even more kids find families in the next year. God works in amazing ways and I can't wait to see how God works in my life and others life in the next year. I hope that my blog will change someones life. Open the eyes of the world to what actually goes on inside the walls of an orphanage. An orphanage of children with special needs. 

When I found out what actually found out what goes on inside the walls of orphanages for children with special needs my life completely changed. One hundred percent changed. For the better. I have met so many amazing people who have the same ultimate goal as me. Finding families for orphans with special needs and bringing them home as fast as we can. 

Can't wait to see what God is going to do within the next year. :) 

URGENT!!!! NEED OF A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, I know, every orphan urgently needs a family. But this one, in my opinion, needs a family ASAP. The care takers in his orphanage have put him in a MEDICATION SLEEP because he has frequent seizures. He need out to get the medicine that can control the seizures but not make him sleep all the time. This little boy is Christian. Christian is four years old. It is quite possible that he has been sleeping for all four years of his life. He has Congenital brain malformation, epileptic syndrome with frequent polymorphic seizures, cranial bones deformation, chest deformation, knee- and elbow-joints contracture. That is a long list of disabilities but it is manageable. Please pray for this sweet little boy. Christian needs a family. Pray for any families who may be considering him, that they will feel led to bring him home. 

I am.....

Today, during youth group we were talking about who we are. When someone asks you "Who are you" what is the first thing you would say? I am a child of God, a daughter, a sister, a preschool teacher, a high school student, an orphan advocate, a family warrior.

I am a child of the One true King and he has burdened me with orphans, those specifically with special needs, even more specifically, urgent special needs.

I am a family warrior. This is new to me. I have been orphan advocates, angel tree warriors, family advocates but now I am officially a family warrior. Orphans is who I am, it is what I do.

I am a family warrior for the Chaves Family. They are adopting Nathaniel, also known as Zebadiah. Zebadiah has hydrocephalus. It has gotten so bad that he can not even lift his head. His head has grown to be the size of a basket ball. And incase you didn't know. A basket ball has a diameter of nearly a foot inches. His needs are URGENT.

This is what happens in orphanages/mental institutions. They do not get the children the medical care that they need. Zebadiah will be turning 5 in August. He has had excess fluid in his brain and it has been building up for over four years. HE NEEDS OUT.

Since I am their family warrior, I am going to pray for them and help them fund raise. One way that I am trying to fund raise is a tee-shirt fundraiser. I absolutely love this shirt, but sadly, it isn't selling as fast as I had hoped.

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bring-zebadiah-home

I would love it if you ordered one of these shirts. A portion of each tee-shirt ordered is going to be donated directly to the Chaves family. 

Praise the Lord that the Chaves family has stepped up to rescue this little boy and get him the care he needs and deserves.

Valentine's Day

I am loved.

I have never lived a day in my life feeling unloved.

Sure, not everyone likes me,

but..

I have enough people who love me.

More than the people who don't.

People I love.

I hope no one that I love ever lives a day thinking that they are unloved.

Love.

Something that most people take for granted.

Something that thousands of kids live with out.

Something many people die without feeling.

Foster kids...

I work with many foster kids, some who have been in foster care their whole short life.

Some who are new to this situation.

Some who you can tell just feel completely destroyed and abandoned.

Some who keep to themselves.

Some that you can tell are dying to vent to someone but just aren't ready.

We have to assure them that they are loved.

That there are people for them to talk to.

People who won't judge them.

Or start rumors...

Some who understand the terrible things that are going on in their families.

For them, my heart breaks.

Shatters.

Completely shatters.

Orphans.

Who have never been loved.

Never kissed good night.

Never had their favorite meal on their birthday.

Never had a mommy kiss their boo boo to make it all better.

Only know the walls of their bedroom.

Some were abandoned unwillingly.

Like when their parents unexpectedly died.

Some were abandoned because they had a disability.

 

GOOD NEWS PEOPLE!!!
WE CAN CHANGE THIS FOR THEM.

We can help people bring them home.

We can bring them home.

We can fight for them.

FIGHT

FIGHT

FIGHT

for them

THEY ARE WORTH IT

Absolutely and totally worth it.

100% worth it

We can fight for foster kids and orphans in our country.

We can fight for orphans and foster kids in other countries.

Wherever they are,

WE CAN FIGHT FOR THEM

WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR THEM

They do not deserve to be forgotten.

 

So instead of spending money on flowers tomorrow,

take that money and give it to an orphan's adoption fund, a family who is adopting, a foster kids, foster families, foster homes.

Flowers only last a few days.

Love lasts forever.

Money helps children get the love that they deserve and have been missing out on.

Do your research.

Find a cause that you support.

Donate this Valentine's day instead of wasting money on flowers for a loved one.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Share your favorite cause with us!

Where I feel Led

Angel tree is over. I raised $1,516 dollars. Not I, God raised $1,516 dollars. $1,324 for Silvia and $192 for Aria. I wanted it to be split more evenly but anonymous donors blessed these girls with the amount that is currently in their grant fund. All I can say here is GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME, ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD. That is all.

I was praying, asking God what He wanted me to do next. He led me to the Morse Family. I don't even know what exactly made me think that this was the family I should support but I knew it was the right decision. I found myself messaging Mrs. Morse on facebook about my idea. And she hoped right on board with my idea. I had seen a saying floating around Facebook and I LOVED it. It said "The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us." I wanted it on a T-Shirt. But I wanted it to support a child or a family. So I got to talking to Mrs. Morse and she loved the saying too. We got the fonts just right and after having many issues with the tee-shirt building website, I finally got it to something I would actually purchase.

front

back

 

 

This shirt is only available for 21 days (AKA January 24th). Reserve yours NOW before it is too late. You won't want to miss this one.

 

I am so thankful that the Lord has led me to the Morse family. They are adopting a little boy named Cliff. He is 6 years old, weighing in at 11 pounds.  He has infantile cerebral palsy, microcephaly, club feet, congenital megacolon, and hypotrophy.

 

Hang in there Cliffers. Mama and Daddy are working HARD to bring you home.

 

 

Remember, YOU are LOVED.

NEVER forget that.

 



I am the Voice for the Voiceless

Many (if not all) of the orphans I advocate for don't get heard in their orphanage. Many of us advocates act as their voice. Yelling, Screaming, Shouting for these kids before they are found and Shouting and rejoicing with them and their families once they are found, once they are rescued.

I love shouting for these kids. Getting them out there. But what I love even more is watching kids come home and change immensely. Happier, fatter (in a great way :)  ) and most of all, loved. Some of these kids waited sixteen years without being loved. Remember Salome? I yelled for her for months. Up until her aging out date. Then I just stopped because I thought there was no hope left for her. Then just a few days later, she was on the My Family Found Me page on Reece's Rainbow. Now check out this blog post. This is an update on my friend Salome.

Meet Mikah.
He has been in his orphanage for twelve years. That is twelve Christmas's that he has spent alone. Twelve birthdays that went without celebration. Mr. Mikah has hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy.


This is an old picture of Mikah. Someone who met him just last month took new pictures of him. They also said he was happy and engaged when they were visiting him. That is wonderful. He looks so unhappy in the photo above. So sad and depressed. Longing for a mommy.

He looks so much happier. He is still waiting for a mommy. Longing to be loved for the rest of his life. Love that he can feel. I love him and many other advocates love him but he can't feel it. He doesn't even know we exist. He needs a mommy to hold him, to rock him to sleep, to comfort him when he has a bad dream, to hug him when he is crying.

 His orphanage has made a huge change in how they care for kids. Just by looking at sweet Mikah you can tell.

Now meet Brandon.

Brandon is in the same Region as Mikah. Brandon is 10 years old. He has spastic diplesia cerebral palsy. He lived the first eight years of his life with zero medical attention.



This picture is before he started getting proper medical help. I am so happy that he is receiving medical care, but there is always more that can be done. He has spent ten years in his crib. Rarely being taken out. He needs a momma to hold him and love him. He doesn't know what love feels like. Instead of wishing for a PS3 or an iPhone all Brandon wants for Christmas is a family.



Look at Brandon two years after receiving professional medical care for the first time. He looks so happy. Imagine how happy he would be if he was in a home with a momma and daddy and brothers and sisters. The smile I see on Brandon's face melts my heart. The agency representatives that visited took the more recent photos in fall of this year. They reported that Brandon is responsive and interactive. They watched him play with a light up toy with buttons. *imagining his face on Christmas morning playing with a new light up toy*

These boys make my heart melt. They are so much happier. BUT they could be happier in a loving home. Please pray, shout, advocate, and donate to these sweet boys. Pray for their families. If they already know that one (or both) of these boy's are theirs. And if they don't that they would realize it and start the process to bring them home.

Remember that every dollar counts. Every penny is one less penny the family has to worry about while they are working to bring their child home. Every dollar, one hundred less pennies that the family has to worry about. Even if you can't donate, pray. Pray for their families and that God would lay it on their hearts to reach out for them.

Thank you!

Merry Christmas

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes!

 

You read that right!!!

 

I am hosting a giveaway.

 

This is going to be a fundraiser for Silvia's Angel Tree Fund.

 

To be entered, you must donate at least $15 to Silvia's fund.

 

If you donate more than $50 you get 2 entries per $15 after that.

 

Forward your email me your receipt to me at elephantgirl1997 @ gmail .com to be entered

 

Well, I guess you want to know what I am giving away.......

 

I am giving away a $25 Visa gift card.

The giveaway ends at midnight my time on November 30th.

 

Thank you!!!!

 



IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is here!

 

The Angel Tree is here.

 

It is finally here!!!

 

I have been waiting for this day since September.

 

Actually since last year.

 

The Angel Tree has been up and running since midnight this morning.

 

Silvia still is at $0.00 even though I have money to donate, its just not in my bank account...

 

Tomorrow, I am doing a presentation at my church for Orphan Sunday.

 

God willing, I will bring in more money for the adoption funds of Aria and Silvia.

 

http://static.reecesrainbow.org/angeltree2014/ Those are all of the kids on the AT this year.

 

You can donate to my AT baby here: http://reecesrainbow.org/78577/silvia

 

And Aria mine and Alyssa's AT babe at http://reecesrainbow.org/82060/aria.

 

God be with us.

 

And these precious fatherless children.

 

They need your love.

 

God, please find them families during this Holiday season.

 

Thank you Lord, for giving me this opportunity to raise money to help bring these precious children home.

 

Your Love Amazes me.

 

Check out this video that one of my fellow advocates created.

Viewer Discretion Advised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhOs9UZ9Lpw

Growing Up

Growing up, all I wanted to be was mom or a preschool teacher, or both! Right now I am living the dream of working at a preschool. And I absolutely LOVE it. So glad that I'm getting to experience it at such a young age.

I grew up with my cousin who has cerebral palsy. We would go to her school for plays. But I never thought I would have such a heart for kids with special needs.

As I am nearing that age where I am going to have to start deciding what I want to be when I grow up, not that being a preschool teacher for the rest of my life is bad. I am exploring other careers.

I follow a lot of Facebook pages on kids with special needs. I see how they transform through physical therapy. I started thinking about doing that. Even though I always told myself that I NEVER wanted to work in the medical field.

I don't know if this is God's path for me or not. So I will pray about it until He shows me.

My Angel Tree Baby

I almost didn't do the Angel Tree this year. I struggled to raise all the money for my AT babe last year and I didn't want to fail to provide for another orphan. I know every amount helps. I ended up raising the whole $1000 dollars for Leilani and sadly, not much more has been raised for her since then. I saw that there was a little baby on the tree this year. She was born in March. God showed me that she was the one who needed me this year.

I hadn't even been checking the kids on RR lately because I was so overwhelmed with school. I was looking at the newly listed kids last night and saw another baby, or at least that's what she looked like. I felt my heart melt. I had already committed to raising $1000 for my AT baby and she wasn't on the angel tree but I had to help her. It wasn't an option to not help her.

The baby that I committed to for the Angel Tree is





























 Silvia. Silvia is a name that means a lot to me. Silvia is the name of one of my supervisors at work whom I look up to in many ways. Since the first time I saw baby Silvia on RR she has had a special place in my heart.

Silvia, I will not let you down.



Silvia, Baby girl, I love you so much. You and Aria both. We are all in this together. I will do everything I can to get you girls home with a great family with a loving mama and daddy who will hug you when your scared and take you to the doctor when your sick. They are out there. I will SHOUT and YELL for you until they see you. Baby girls, my heart breaks for you and I will be praying for your mamas and dadas to see you.

Aria Plus 1

Aria is not on the Angel Tree this year but Alyssa and I have decided to put her on our own Angel Tree. Not only am I going to raise $1000 for my AT baby who I have yet to reveal, I am also going to raise $1000 for Aria.

In order to reach these two goals before the end of the year, I started two tee shirt/ sweatshirt campaigns.


The Philippians 4:13 campaign is located here: http://teespring.com/dlphilippians



The I Can't Keep calm campaign is located here: http://www.tfund.com/dlangeltree

Alyssa also has a shirt campaign going on.


The Every child deserves a family is locate here: http://teespring.com/Every_Child

The Every Child campaign is benefiting Aria and Alyssa's AT child Charlie.

Both the I Can't Keep Calm and the Philippians 4:13 shirts are benefiting Aria and my AT baby.