I've got sunshine...

Oh how this little guy lights up my day!!

Is he not the most precious????  Little Seryozha, one of my most favorite littles we left behind in Lina's institution.  He is such a smart and fun little guy!!  I was just instantly on cloud nine when one of the ROOF volunteers shared these photos.

And then a week or so later I get a surprise envelope in the mail from Georgia- airmail from France no less!

Little Seryozha's own handprint from their last summer camp. Be still my heart!!  I don't know why the green turned out so drab from my scanner- it is a much prettier shade, much closer to the shade of paint on Seryozha's face above. ;)  What a doll.  This little beauty will be cherished always.  Thank you SO much, Georgia!! xoxoxo We WILL meet in person one of these days!!

I would post pics of my own children and apologize for the amount of time that has gone by since their last photos shared.... but the two little ones have had constant runny noses since Christmas it seems.  And I'm sorry but I just cannot stand photos of kids with snotty noses! LOL  You will have to bear with me as we get through this season.  

We also had some interesting fun *insert extreme sarcastic tone* last week when we lost power for 2 days.... You don't know what you got until it's gone, right?  Oh it was just absolute craziness around here!! Justin asked if the earth ran out of energy. ;) We're still waiting for our phone line to come back- crews are digging as I type to run new lines for that too.  Apparently something fried underground with the electric lines- they had to run all new ones, and the phone line was nuked in the process.  It will be nice to have a fully functioning home again! :) 

My dear friend Patti, who showed us the way to Lina, graciously shared my words about ROOF on her blog.  Do you mind going over to give her a quick thank you? Her post has been up less than 24 hours and already a few more donations have come in.  ROOF's monthly recurring donations are now up to $1,788- almost halfway to our goal of $5,000!!  Thank you SO much, Patti!!! xoxoxo

WHY?

Why do I keep going on and on about these children?  Why should it matter to me what happens in other countries beyond my control?

Little cherub before transfer

same little cherub after transfer to mental institution

Sweet angel before transfer

same sweet angel after transfer

Innocent children with no one to stick up for them.  From the outside, an orphanage can look like a child care center.  Children separated into rooms by age with a caregiver or two.... But child care centers have limits on how many children they are able to care for and thus we have waiting lists.  There aren't waiting lists for orphanages.  Space must be made. 

Caretakers are left with not enough food, diapers, time to cater to each child's needs. And there starts the neglect.  Caretakers must remove themselves emotionally to deal with the circumstances on a daily basis, and in their country children with disabilities are considered a dark omen.  Many caretakers really want nothing to do with *those* children anyway.

In our child care centers here- if a caretaker steps out of line and is not treating a child appropriately- the child will tell their parent if they are able to do so, otherwise a toddler or infant even may cry upon entering the center to show their discomfort in this place.  Parents speak up to the caretakers or directors to resolve the issue, or take their child to another facility where they will receive more appropriate care.  There could be a lawsuit filed against the facility that does not provide adequate care.  

The orphan has NO ONE.  They have no one to speak up to and let them know they are being mistreated.  They have no one to defend them and demand better care.  They have no where to go aside from being transferred to the next institution upon *graduation*.  And of course the child here in the care center gets to GO HOME. Every day... to a loving family, a warm meal to fill their tummy, and a warm, safe bed.  Orphans have no concept as to what any of those are.  

There are currently over 700,000 children without parental care in Russia.  Nearly 130,000 children were eligible for adoption in the country as of late December, according to official figures. In 2011, that number was 82,000, while just 7,400 were adopted by Russian nationals that year.  Care to guess how many of those 7,400 had a disability?  I'm willing to bet you could easily count them on one hand.  And what happens when the numbers in orphanages get too high?  When there isn't enough food to go around... not enough medicine to treat the sick?  The children simply die. 

 They die never knowing love this side of heaven.  No one took the time to calm their fears when they woke up from a bad dream..... 

Instead they were beaten for waking the other children.  No one to comfort them when they fell down and got hurt.... No one who took the time to teach them how to eat properly, but instead scolded them and took their food away for not doing it right. 

Yes, many photos are difficult to look at.  But if we turn our heads and look away, that doesn't make the problem go away.  The government these children are fighting for their lives under- is trying to hide them away from society.  Mental institutions are hours outside of town out in the middle of no where so their society doesn't have to deal with them.  Our facilitator had never even seen a person with Down syndrome EVER until she took her first adoptive family to meet their child, the first child with DS adopted from this region- one year before we adopted Lina.  

If Russia could get itself together and take care of it's own children that would be WONDERFUL.  But these children should not suffer in the meantime.

Praying fervently

My heart is in Russia.  I wish I could hug all twenty odd thousand of these devoted people who want what's best for their countrymen and their children.

Protesters carried signs with photos of each Duma member who voted for the adoption ban. The word printed across their head- SHAME.

This has become more than just a march for orphans.  This is about the Russian people's voices being heard. This is their protest to Putin's attempts to return Russia back to it's soviet roots.  Over 100,000 Russian citizens signed a petition against the adoption ban as well as a petition to dissolve their corrupt parliament; both petitions were turned down for review even though Russian law states they must submit and discuss any petition by the people with more than 100,000 signatures.  This is the type of corruption the people of Russia are up against.  This is not a battle that will be easily won.

A friend of mine is in country right now for their third trip, trying to bring their sweet child HOME. Her words:

Just visited with our boy. I had to tell you about our talk with our facilitator. She was at the protest with her family and she said it has been like a war here, and they feel like soldiers. She said at one point, there was a helicopter over the protest, and part of her thought they might bomb the protesters. In her mind, she said, she was willing to die for this cause! Can you believe that? She also says that everyone, the judges, the Ministry of Education, etc are all on our side. I asked her about the amendment and she said, "we can only hope". She had tears in her eyes when she told us about the protesters, many who were rich people. Some had brought their children. She said the signs were not all political, many were just pleas of parents. One mother had her daughter on her shoulders. Her daughter was holding a sign with some words from a popular children's poem that talked about how even when children play hide-and-seek, their parents will ALWAYS find them. Her mother held a sign that said "children don't know borders." We both had tears in our eyes as we talked about this, and I told her how all of us at home are praying and holding on to any shred of news we can get.

PLEASE pray with me that the Russian government will wake up and listen to their people.  Please pray the Supreme Court will find this adoption ban unconstitutional and reject it completely.  Please pray for all our adopting families, especially the ones in country RIGHT NOW pleading for their children to have a better life outside of a debilitating institution.  

Wordless Wednesday- Pure Awesome!

Meet some of the ROOF volunteers!

Below is a brief video where you can see some of the ROOF volunteers in action!  Again these are dedicated VOLUNTEERS devoting their own personal time to helping the most needy children.  They are doing amazing things!


What may appear like normal everyday activities here in the US are a privilege and very special experiences for the orphans.  Just a new face to pay them some attention means the world to them, for they have NO ONE to love on them.  No one to rock them when they have a bad dream at night... no one to kiss their boo boo's all better.  So many everyday things I do with Evan like rocking him when he gets up in the morning and even playing around with him while getting dressed... and it saddens me that Lina never had those things when she was tiny.  While Evan and I laugh and giggle as he throws his legs up over his head as I'm trying to put his pants on him- Lina would have most likely been beaten for such behavior.

Lina spent her first FIFTEEN MONTHS of life in a hospital.  How often do you think a nurse took the time to hold her?  Especially when children with disabilities are frowned upon and hidden away in the Russian culture. I believe this photo of Lina was taken soon after she was admitted to the orphanage at 15 months old.  I just want to pick that sweet baby up and love on her.

She just looks so empty, breaks my heart.  And my heart continues to break for all the children still waiting.  Still waiting for someone to step forward and love them as their own.  Love and attention does SO much as we have seen with Lina.  And if politicians are going to stop families from claiming these children, we need to support the volunteers who go in to interact with these children now more than ever. ROOF is their only hope at leading a *normal* life once they age out of the institution.

My blog has had a tremendous increase in traffic since we were mentioned in the Washington Post and shared on a couple other high traffic blogs- we've had well over 1,000 page views in the last week!! 462 people read my original plea for help- this is amazing.  If each of those people could commit to $10/month we would get ROOF into the Bobrovsky institution to help these poor children who were issued a death sentence upon entry.

To better paint a picture of how the children in this institution are suffering due to their complete lack of support, here are a few photos of sweet Kirill- the first while he was still at the baby house receiving proper care:

Here he is 3 days home from the institution where he spent exactly one whole year:

He was literally starving to death since he had feeding issues and the institution staff had no means of working with him while caring for 15 children with severe needs. That and the fact that they have no funds for proper nutrition to feed the children to begin with.

And here's Kirill in May of 2012 on his birthday :) Just shy of one year home with his forever family.

Such a happy healthy boy now!! Who knows how much longer precious Kirill could have survived in the institution where none of his basic needs were being met.  I worry so much for the ones left behind those walls, the ones who don't even make it to their teens due to the starvation and lack of proper medical care.  We MUST step up and support those who CAN make these things possible.

Sign up to give life and hope to these children HERE.

ROOF update

Huge thanks to all those who have donated to ROOF!!  Several have set up monthly donations and I am SO thankful to each and every one of you!!  From the gentleman in Switzerland who is graciously donating $250/month (!!!) to another kind soul donating $15 a month.  Large or small, all the donations add up and make a huge difference to these sweet children in Russia.  If you can only give $5 or $10 a month- it still bumps that thermometer up closer to the $5,000 goal.  I was chatting with Georgia, the chairman of ROOF, which is how I learned of these fabulous new numbers, and she was explaining the thermometer to me.  You may have noticed just yesterday the thermometer read $1,473 yet with these new donations they are still at $1,553.  What happened was with their last update, they lost a few monthly donations that had lapsed. But sometimes all that's involved is getting an updated credit card number since it likely expired (this happened to me a few months ago).  Hoping those individuals will be willing to update their information to continue donating so the thermometer can continue to go up.  We still have work to do to bring in more donations.  I am determined to get there so we can help these sweet children who are literally withering away.  Honestly, I'm scared to death to check the federal database to see if they are still listed since they could have passed away. :(  I ask you to continue sharing the post found HERE - share on Facebook, Twitter, or feel free to copy and paste the whole post on your own blog- anywhere you can get the message out!  My sweet friend, Susanna, was willing to do just that- while she is currently in another Eastern European country working on her own adoption.  Thank you SO much, Susanna!!  My original blog post has had 452 page views so far- if each of those people gave just $10/month we would meet our goal.  Please PLEASE consider helping these sweet children. Right now they exist in a mental institution until their death.  With ROOF's help they can have hope for a bright future.  They can receive proper nutrition as well as educational opportunities.  They have none of these things right now.

Here are a few of the sweet faces waiting behind the walls we so desperately need to get inside.  These children don't have time on their hands.

This sweetheart is 8 years old and fits in an infant's high chair

This little guy is 8 years old also, so small and fraile

Don't let the sweet rounded face fool you... this little guy just turned 10

This sweet girl just turned 10 also, oh how painfully thin

This little guy just turned 11 :(

This little sweetheart just turned 11 also.... 11 years too many without a family. My heart breaks for each and every one of these children. We MUST get to them before it's too late.

~Donate Here~

Helping behind closed doors

Everyone has been in a frenzy since Putin signed the ban on US adoptions last week, wondering how we will ever reach the sweet children who are suffering due to this new law.  While we wait for politicians and foreign governments to hash things out, there is still a way we can reach some of these children... children who are in the most need.  Children who are locked away in psycho-neurological institutions... mental institutions.  Children who have no hope of escaping this way of life unless they are adopted.  And the only families interested and able to adopt these children with special needs were here in the US. Our Lina had been living in one of these institutions for over a year when we got to her, and part of my heart will always remain there in Russia with the ones we left behind. 

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you have heard me sing praises to Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund based here in the states that works in Lina's former institution, Belskoye-Ustye.

ROOF first entered the institution in 2000 and found it to be an absolute nightmare.  Lack of running water, holes in the ground for toilets, "bath houses" so scary that the volunteers opted to bathe down in the river instead... odors so strong it brought tears to their eyes when they entered the building.  When we arrived at Belskoye-Ustye in November 2011, we found nothing of the sort.  The facility was very clean- there were no odors whatsoever, the children passing by in the halls appeared happy and nourished, and Lina was even eating an apple two of the three days we came to visit on our first trip. We found lovely children's furnishings both in Lina's groupa as well as the psychologist's office where we spent our time with Lina.  

ROOF began running a summer camp during the month of July, and this past year they have been able to increase the frequency of sending volunteers to work with the children.  This is the only exposure to educational opportunities these children get.  ROOF is now working on new programs for the older children ready to age out of BU, in hopes of saving them from transfer to an adult mental institution which is a death sentence.  ROOF has already spared a few from this fate. They have also been able to expand to a few places in Moscow.

So how do WE help?  There is a second psycho-neurological institution in Pskov, one that is still the hell hole that Belskoye-Ustye used to be.  I urge you to read Tesney's account of visiting this place when they were in the process of adopting Kirill.  He was the first child adopted from this institution, and I fear he may be the last if this ban holds firm.  There are several children listed on Reece's Rainbow who are currently fighting for their life behind these walls.

If ROOF can reach their goal of raising their monthly funding base (made up of loads of small donors who give $25/month) to total $5000, they promised to find a way to expand to this second institution.  This institution has haunted my dreams these past few nights.... Mike and I signed up to donate our $25/month back when we first learned of ROOF, before we had even traveled to meet Lina but learned she was living at BU.  We needed to help her anyway we could before we were able to get to her ourselves, and our donations continue to serve the ones left behind.  You can sign up HERE to either donate monthly or give a one time donation.  They currently have $1,473 coming in each month through recurring donations, and in order to reach their $5,000 goal they need 141 more people to donate just $25 monthly. That's about a half tank of gas these days, or one trip taking the kids to McDonald's.  I beg you to please consider helping these children who have no other hope.  If the Russian government closes these doors to US adoptions, we need to be able to help the children behind those doors.  This law does not affect ROOF's ability to work there.  These children have committed no crime and should not have to be punished for being born with a disability. Please. Help.

Look out, Kindergarten... here comes Lina! :)

Today's the day! Lina started Kindergarten at our local elementary school with the big kids!!

My gosh, is it me or does she look so grown up!!! *sniff sniff* While I thought she blended right in with her preschool class, now she is really looking like an elementary school student!! How did this happen???  We're still working on smiling for the camera ;) and even LOOKING at the camera long enough for Mommy to take a pic! I won't bore you with all the outtakes trying to get her to look, keep her eyes open, AND smile. :)

I drove her to school for her first day- and instead of riding the bus the other two wanted to come along too for Lina's big day.  Kaylin grabbed one hand while I held the other as we walked Lina into the building.  Kaylin went on to her class, and the assistant principal met us in the lobby.  She walked us down to the Special Ed room since Lina's one-on-one assistant wouldn't be there for another 20 minutes when the school day officially starts.  Well Lina made herself RIGHT at home and started going for pencils, highlighters, foam puzzle on the floor.... she was ready to go!  From there we walked down to the Kindergarten classroom and Lina was ready to dig in again.  There is just so much to explore!  The teacher already assigned her a little *buddy*, a classmate to help her around and get acquainted since this strategy worked very well in her preschool class.  Lina was so into everything that she didn't even want to stop to hug and kiss me goodbye! *sniff sniff* I'm sure she is having a fabulous day. :)

That doesn't mean I'm not anxious to hear how everything went!  Wondering how she managed at lunch and getting through this afternoon... quite a long day!  It's been SO quiet here in the house this afternoon... Evan and myself alone at lunchtime.... As hard as I fought to get Lina into Kindergarten and as excited I have been for this day- it sure was hard letting go this morning.  Off to e-mail her teacher and try to get some tidbits on how things have been! Lina will be riding the bus home this afternoon for the very first time too- hopefully I can grab a pic! :) Love you babygirl, you sure are growing fast.  You have already come SO far since we brought you home, and I can't wait to see where Kindergarten will take you next. xoxoxo