That time of year is approaching...for most of us it's a time for parties, giving gifts, decorating our homes, buying that special dress or outfit to wear to church or that once-a-year holiday family photo, cozying up to fireplaces on cold winter nights with our significant others, drinking hot chocolate, making snow angels and having snowball fights, opening up presents, indulging in enormous amounts of food from old family recipes, thinking of where we will all ring in the new year...this is a wonderful time of year for most of us...but not for Melanie and all the other children like her. You see, Melanie lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. Melanie was born with Down Syndrome and has been deemed as inperfect and placed in an orphanage to be hidden away from society. Most children born with Down Syndrome in Eastern Europe are killed at birth and if not, they are thrown away in orphanages. "IF" they are lucky, they will stay there in the orphanage with the hope and prayer that a loving forever family will adopt them...but this does not happen to most. Most live their days in an orphanage until they turn 4. At that time they are placed in mental institutions where 85% die within the first year....alone...they die never having a mommy or daddy to hold and love them. It is an outrageous tragedy! Melanie can potentially be one of these children. She also is in need of medical care. She needs heart and intestinal surgery...she needs to come to the United States...she needs us. You can help us bring her home. So while you are preparing for one of the most celebrated times of the year, sitting in the drive thru of a Starbucks for the 4th time that week or deciding where to take the kids for dinner for your 'weekly' eating out excursion, maybe you can find it in your heart to think of my Melanie (and others just like her) and think where she will spend her holiday this year, where she spends all her days with no one to buy her presents, take her out for ice cream or McDonalds, no one to hold her, to love her like a mommy and daddy do, to kiss her boo boos, and make the boogie man go away at night. Please help us change this. My husband and I are adopting this precious angel. We are trying to raise the money to do so, which will be the only obstacle...but a very large one! We need $24,000 by February...won't you please consider donating?

All donations are 100% tax deductable. You can contribute using the 'chip-in' button on the upper right side of this blog or you can click on the link below to see how you can make a difference and save a little girls life, literally....

http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorsader

If you choose to send a check to Reece's Rainbow, be sure to write our names (Sader/Melanie) in the memo section of your check, or attach a note. If you choose to make a donation via paypal, be sure to write in the message section of the transaction our name: (Sader/Melanie)

Thank you sooo much and God Bless You all!

"Once our eyes are opened, We can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

It's been quite a while since my last post...I'm not very good at this!! Obviously! But I better get better since we have officially begun our adoption process! YAY!! We've actually started the process, but today we are officially taking donations to adopt 'Melanie'. It's going to be a long road, but hopefully a smooth one. Paperwork upon paperwork, hoping a praying that 'rules' don't change along the way, that 'things' don't get lost, and that we are seen as sane and fit! LOL! The last part I really don't worry about! LOL! I'm so excited to begin this journey, to share our story, to see God work in our lives...this will be all for His glory as this story unfolds and we see His hand in it all! To think we may be a family of 4 hopefully by next Christmas...makes my heart well up! I look back on my life, I think of my earlier adult years and remember how I never really wanted children, it wasn't a priority, if I did, then fine, if I didn't, that was ok too...and now look at me, look at how God has changed my heart...He's turned it upside down and inside out!!! I have a gorgeous little girl who I'm CRAZY about...REALLY!...and now I want more! I visit the Reece's Rainbow site regularly (daily) and I want them all!! I realize that's not possible, but to have more than one child with disabilities is not impossible at all...with God we can do anything. I think of where my heart once was, and I know where it is today, and that in itself is a miracle! So I am, along with my husband (I will speak for him as we have talked about this many times, he probably more than me), looking so forward to our future, to see what God has in store for us and we feel in all our hearts that this may not very well be the end...Melanie may only be the beginning.