Brent and Spencer and Hailey

This is a long post, but please bare with me.  You gotta read all the way to the end...

About a year ago, I posted this on my blog (you can click the link or just read below):
http://bringinghomeourgirls.blogspot.com/2010/12/family-needed.html

Here is precious Brent!! He is 5 already and at great risk of being transferred to the institution.

I know it looks like this little guy has a woman's sweater on. The other day somebody asked me how old "she" is.    Hmmm...

Sometimes a picture can make it or break it for an orphan! Unfortunately, the ugly reality is people look at "looks"!  It's true!!  I am not saying this little guy is not cute! Because he is adorable!! I am sure this is not his best picture. It doesn't really matter, though!! Look and see past the sweater and the old picture! Look and see what what a treasure this little guy really is!

Brent (35)
Boy, Born June 21, 2005
Look how darling this little one is! Brent is HEALTHY, with no noted heart conditions. He is active and an Orphanage favorite. He is considered lower functioning than Spencer or Kareen, but will truly blossom like a flower in a loving family environment. He is almost 5 and will be facing the institution soon. He is blessed to still be at the baby house.
Please give Brent a chance! Brent can be adopted with SPENCER.

This was our first picture of Anna. We really couldn't tell alot from this picture. And this was the only pic we had for 7 months. Believe me, my mind was doing way to much imagining of what our little princess was gonna be like and if she was even still there... silly I know!!

We went from this....

to this.......

Still a somber little face, but so much different than the original pic.

And now this....

See... really a picture only tells a little bit.
You will not know what a treasure you have, until you see the "real thing"......

Please consider adopting Brent! Or donate to his adoption fund this Christmas and give the gift of a family!!! You will never regret it!!!!!

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Then about a month later, I posted this:
http://bringinghomeourgirls.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-posted-about-brent-last-month.html
I posted about Brent last month. This little guy is only 5 1/2 yrs old...
5 and 1/2 !!!!
Who out there reading this blog has a 5 yr old?? Or remembers when when your child was only 5. What a precious year it was, right?!! Maybe your little boy learned to ride a 2 wheeler that year, maybe he learned to read, maybe she got her ears pierced or started kindergarten, or whatever..... Could you imagine your little 5 yr old being taken away from all they've known and moved to some kind of institution-like setting. Where no one really cares about them.....where they can't really care about them -- there are just too many! And where they are probably only fed some kind of porridge, bathed once in a great while maybe, and made to lay in a crib for the majority of their life..... It doesn't sound so great sounds horrible, doesn't it?

Well....this is what Brent is facing! Brent is a live human being. A real life little boy!! Not just a picture hanging out in a file somewhere. A real live person! I think sometimes people look at the cute pictures of the kids and feel bad for them or whatever, but they don't really know the child, so it just doesn't affect them that much.

It wasn't until we actually left for Eastern Europe, witnessed the country and the people, and saw and held our little girls for the first time that we really understood that they are living breathing little people with personalities and likes and dislikes!! We knew in our minds they were real, we prayed for these girls and thought about them constantly, worried for them, we were desperate to get to them! We were in love with their pictures! But still, somewhere inside, I couldn't really see them as real people. Maybe I'm just weird or something, but I guarantee you, now I know!! My family and close friends know! They have seen us go through the adoption process, leave our kids and family and cross the ocean, meet and hold our girls, and fall in love with them! It is amazing really. Maybe I am still just in awe of what we have done, what God has done! And that our girls are really here! It is still so hard to believe, and we are so excited that we can now give them everything they need!

But there are so many more. So many! We can't stop here, we can't stop telling people, advocating for these little ones! This is what God expects!

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and knows our souls, know that we know, and holds us responsible to act." (Proverbs 24:12)
"It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14)

They are His children, and we must be his hands and feet. We must be willing to go and rescue these little ones!

"You are the helpers of the fatherless." (Psalm 10:14)

"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5)

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18)

"A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God sets the lonely in families. (Psalms 68:5-6)

Here is Brent's picture again. Along with 2 more children who are in the same orphanage as Brent. Brent will be moved very soon to an institution. Spencer and Kareen, too! They may have a little more time than Brent, but maybe not. They are both nearing institutionalization age and if they need more room at the orphanage for younger children, they could very possible move them soon, too. All 3 of these kids are HEALTHY! That is huge!!

Please pray for these little ones to find their family!! Maybe you would even donate to one or all of these children's adoption fund. Every little bit counts and will help their future family be able to bring them home sooner! They are truly living on borrowed time!!! Maybe you can help get the word out and help us find their family!!

The family/families for these three beautiful chilldren ARE out there! Of that I have no doubt! We just need to help them find each other! :))

Brent
Boy, Born June 21, 2005
Look how darling this little one is! Brent is HEALTHY, with no noted heart conditions. He is active and an Orphanage favorite. He is considered lower functioning than Spencer or Kareen, but will truly blossom like a flower in a loving family environment. He is almost 5 and will be facing the institution soon. He is blessed to still be at the baby house.

Please give Brent a chance! Brent can be adopted with SPENCER.

Spencer
Boy, Born July 7, 2006
This blonde haired boy is ready to come home! He is almost 4 and will be facing the institution this year. He is HEALTHY, with no noted heart conditions.

Kareen
Girl, Born January 15, 2007
This pretty muffin is waiting for her family! She is healthy, with no heart condition noted in her records. She has brown hair and hazel eyes, and is already up and learning to walk! Her records indicate "meiotic nondisjunction", but this is just a fancy word for what happens to create "Down syndrome" genetically. She is considered higher functioning and is really doing well. She is an orphanage favorite, and the dircetor has asked for a family to save her from the institution.

I have $3694 in my grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

UPDATE!! I wrote this post a couple days ago and just now got to post it. And I just visited the my family found me page at reecesrainbow.org and discovered that Kareen's family has found her!! That is sooo awesome and I can't wait to see who her family is!! Yay Praise God!!! You can still donate toward her adoption and help her family raise the funds to bring her home!!
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As I was reading through these posts, I was thinking about how I could advocate for Brent and Spencer again.  Kareen is already home praise God and you can read about that sweetie and her family here. 
But Brent and Spencer have now been transferred to a mental institution. They did not get adopted.  They are still waiting for their family to come and rescue them.  Maybe they don't even think about having a mama anymore!  Maybe they have given up any hope at all.  I doubt it though...  Brent is 6 now.  Spencer is 5 1/2.  Five!  FIVE!!!

Oh my, it is so heartbreaking!

And as if I didn't feel bad enough about these little ones, I realized something else as I read through their files. Spencer turned 5 on July 7th of this year.  His birthday is 7/7/06.  Well guess who else turned 5 on July 7th of this year?!? 

OUR very own sweet, cute and special girl...Hailey!!  She has the exact same birthday as Spencer!!!  Oh My Gosh!!  OMG!!!  I am in tears as I realize the significance of this.  Hailey is NOT in a mental institution.  She is in a good place (mind you, not all kids with DS in China are receiving such great care as Hailey).  But think about this... 

Two children, born on the same day. One is a boy and one is a girl.  One is born in Eastern Europe.  One is born in Asia.  Both children are born with an extra 21st chromosome.  Both children have many things in common, many things not... 

The girl's family kept her for the first 8 months of her life.  Maybe they knew about her Down syndrome but most likely they didn't.  When she was ill with a respiratory infection, they took her to the hospital where they were told that she had Down syndrome, and they abandoned her thinking they could not take care of her special needs. 

The boy's family most likely abandoned him at birth.  They probably were told about his disability when he was born, and decided right then and there that he was better off in an orphanage, at the advice of doctors. 

That is what I can only imagine happened to Spencer.  Obviously, I know more about Hailey's story. 

These two children, born on the same day, on different continents,  were abandoned to orphanages because of their extra chromosomes.  And that is where their commonalities will end.  Their stories are taking a drasticly different turn.  Hailey will be coming home to a family.  Spencer has been sent to a mental institution.  (If you would like a reminder or to see what that is like, click here.) 
That thought alone breaks. my. heart!  

But it doesn't have to be that way.  Someone could still adopt Spencer and Brent.  I am praying hard that a family will step up, see past the not so great pictures of them and see 2 precious faces that just want to be loved. See their sons.  Please God bring a family for these 2 boys.  That is my Christmas wish this year. 

Please take a moment and donate to Spencer's adoption grant. Even just $5.00.  It's so easy!! You can do that here or here.  Don't let money be what stands in the way of Spencer getting the opportunity to come home to a family, just like Hailey will be.  And please pray that their family will find them quickly!