A New Year, A New Project

2013 has arrived and January marks a lot of anniversaries for our family.  It is hard to believe that it was 5 years ago this month that we started our process to adopt a child from Kyrgyzstan.    We felt like we are embarking on a great adventure and the journey certainly lived up to that. Although, the ending was not as we hoped, I know that we were sent on that path for many reasons and because of it, our eyes and hearts were opened wider that I could have ever imagined. 

It was 3 years ago this month that Drew was born and our dream of adopting came to fruition!  And now, three years later, I find myself forgetting that I didn't actually give birth to that little guy.  He is ours in EVERY sense of the word and we can't imagine our family without him.   He is hilarious, mischievous and loving and keeps all of us on our toes with his antics and his attempts to keep up with his big sister and brother.  I will forever marvel at the tremendous gift we were given by his birth parents and the courage that it took for them to follow through with their adoption plans.   

I certainly wish that the courage that Drew's birth parents exhibited could be mirrored by individuals and governments throughout our world.  There are so many children that need stable, loving homes to grow up in.  They need to live in environments were their potential can be fostered and their talents realized.  Perhaps some courageous things are on the verge of happening in Kyrgyzstan???  We are optimistic that may be the case and that more of the Kyrgyz 65 will make it home.

As many of you know, nine of the waiting orphans made it home last summer before the process came to a complete halt once more.  For a multitude of reasons, the numbers amongst the waiting has dwindled but there are still over 20 families fighting the hard fight to bring their kids home.  Many of which actually spent two weeks in Kyrgyzstan bonding (once again) with their children last spring, only to suffered additional heart break when they were not allowed to return to finalize the adoptions.

Three of those families are amongst those that were given grants by Altynai's Fund so as promised, as long as were are waiting children, the fund will stay active with Lifesong for Orphans.   That has allowed me to take a break while the Kyrgyz government was trying to decide how to proceed and yet, be able to raise additional money when and if it was needed to get the remaining kids home.   It looks like that time has come! 

The newest round of fund raising is going to be a little different though.  In the past, all of the money that was donated to Altynai's Fund went into a general pot of money that was distributed to the recipients based on their need.  This next round is going to be much more targeted and I am going to be partnering with one of the families to specifically raise money to bring their special child home.  Her mom has been working tirelessly to try to find additional ways to raise money for their adoption and approached me with her idea.  So stay tuned because it looks like a great raffle is starting to take shape!