If you have been around here for the past couple months, you have probably heard us talk about Reece’s Rainbow. They host our FSP (Family Sponsorship Program) page. That allows people to give to us with tax deductible contributions.

But if you didn’t come here through the Reece’s Rainbow community, perhaps that’s all you know. Reece’s Rainbow just put a new awareness video out and it’s great. But before I link to that, I want to tell you about Reece’s Rainbow.

Most people think of international adoption in one of several ways. They either think of sweet little blue eyed Russian babies, or maybe little girls with dark hair and eyes from China. Maybe even, you think of gorgeous Ethiopian toddlers. I can’t think of many people that haven’t said, “Oh, my cousin/sister/friend adopted a baby from ___. That’s the American view of international adoption. Most adoption agencies will tell you that adoptive families want the healthiest, youngest child with the shortest wait possible.

Where does that leave all the other children in the world? What about the little boy with the cleft palate? What about the little girl born blind? What about the child with the heart defect? Sometimes these conditions are repairable in the US, but in their home countries, there isn’t hope. And, the flagship of Reece’s Rainbow, what about all those kids with an extra chromosome? Unfortunately in many countries around the world, the education, medical care, and frankly, money, isn’t there to care for these kids so they are given up by their parents to live in understaffed and underfunded orphanages, and then later mental institutions because there aren’t social services available to integrate these kids into society.

Reece’s Rainbow finds these kids through their own advocates, through adoption agencies and through orphanage directors and photo lists them. What’s the big deal about a photo listing?

Well, let me tell you about a little boy named Hudson. I had the privilege of naming Hudson. It’s a boy name I love that he would never let me use. Hudson is almost two. He has blond hair and blue eyes. He lives in Eastern Europe. Hudson doesn’t have a mommy and a daddy just because he has cerebral palsy.

You skimmed over that right? You said, “okay, and ?” right?.
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Well, what if I show you his picture? Meet Hudson.

Your heart skipped a beat didn’t it? You said, “Oh my, he’s cute!” right? I did too.

I’m ashamed to say that I could have *read* Sweet Girl’s profile a million times and never stopped to think about her. I definitely wouldn’t have inquired about her. But I saw her picture and I heard God’s voice and now we are 8 days away from going to plead with the judge to let us have her forever.

Without Reece’s Rainbow, we wouldn’t have found our sweet girl and hundreds of other families wouldn’t have found their children.  It’s a ground breaking ministry that works to place special needs children in forever families. And they do it all for free.

If you want more information on Reece’s Rainbow, special needs adoption, or international adoption in general I would love to talk to you and tell you what I know.  Or you can click here: Reece’s Rainbow

If you want to donate to Hudson’s grant so that the financial burden is less overwhelming for his future parents, you can click here: Hudson (edited later to add that Hudson lives in Russia and Russia is currently closed to American adoption so Hudson’s grant is frozen).

And without further ado, here’s the video I promised. This video isn’t sad or depressing. It’s purpose is to celebrate and give hope.  Even though she’s not home yet, He and Sweet Girl are pictured – see if you can spot them – It’s one of my favorite pictures. J