Buddy Walk 2011

We went to our first Buddy Walk, today! What a lot of fun. We live in a small town, so I was surprised that we even had a Buddy Walk here. Oh, for those who don't know, a Buddy Walk is a walk to raise awareness about Down Syndrome. I was excited to meet some local families raising children with down syndrome. I can't wait to be able to take our boys next year. We'll have a team in the walk and raise money for our local Down Syndrome Society.

This year, we set up a Reece's Rainbow table and shared information about Reece's Rainbow and the Christmas Warrior program. Everyone was so receptive and excited to learn more about Reece's Rainbow. I was invited to share on the stage about Reece's Rainbow and our adoption. I'm not a fan of public speaking, but somehow I seem to keep finding myself with a microphone in my hand. I was brief and then headed back to our table to answer questions.

We had lots of fun items to giveaway that Reece's Rainbow sent ahead of time for this event. Brochures, mugs, pens, notebooks, totes, etc. The biggest hit of the day for our crowd was the bumper sticker. It says, "Babies with Down Syndrome choose life, too!" What a great message and one that every person who loves someone with Down Syndrome agrees with.

My Mom, Rebecca, Julianna and her cousin Maddox all helped share Reece's Rainbow with our new friends. Here are some other fun photos from our day. Enjoy!

McGruff was Julie and Maddie's favorite at the walk!

Don't you love this boy's smile and you can see some of the great stuff we had to giveaway.

I hope your day was as fun as ours. The best part of my day was meeting some beautiful children blessed with that extra special chromosome. I'm so glad God led us here to be a part of this community of people who clearly love their children beyond measure. Every family really does deserve the blessing of a child with down syndrome...

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Blessings,

Mandy

Buddy Walk Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is our local Buddy Walk. I'm setting up a table with information about Reece's Rainbow. I received a box full of fun stuff to hand out at the Walk from Reece's Rainbow. My Mom and a couple of friends are coming to help, along with my six year old, Julie.

Julie and I are going to spend the evening making posters about our adoption and Meredith! A large part of tomorrow will be spent sharing about the kids from Reece's Rainbow and encouraging people to be a part of the Christmas Warrior program.

I'm excited to share about Reece's Rainbow and to show Meredith to lots of families. Will you pray that someone will see her and fall in love? Also, pray that the weather will be nice and that lots of people will be receptive to learning more about Reece's Rainbow! I'll post an update tomorrow on how things went.

Blessings,
Mandy

Christmas in...September?

That's what it felt like today, when I signed up to be Meredith's Christmas Warrior! I'm so excited! What does it mean to be Meredith's Christmas Warrior? It means I am committing to helping find Meredith's family and to raising $1000 toward Meredith's grant!

$1000 is a LOT of money (especially since I'm already driving my friends and family crazing with our own adoption fundraisers) but Meredith is worth every dime and then some! Don't worry, I have ideas...BIG ones! You'll have to wait for them, though.

First, we'll have to celebrate Meredith's birthday, next month! Then, we can shift our focus to Christmas. Now, I don't want you to be jealous. There are other kids who need Christmas Warriors and it's not too early to choose the one you love and help create a Christmas Miracle for that one. Plus, if you start now, you'll have lots of extra time to plan and raise that $1000!

Head on over to Reece's Rainbow and sign up to be a Christmas Warrior. You can choose the child you'd like to help or if you'd rather, you can let Reece's Rainbow assign you one who needs you. If you do sign up, come back and let me know who you chose and maybe we can do some fundraising together!

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Be a Christmas Warrior!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Meredith's Current Circumstances

I inquired further about Meredith's current situation and the news is not all bad for our sweet girl! She was chosen to go to a home for children with special needs. This facility prides itself on giving the children good care and opportunities. Does this mean Meredith needs a family less than the other kids? Absolutely not! Eventually, she will age out of any program she's in and then what will her future be like...bleak.

She is a girl in a country that places a low value on little girls. She also has down syndrome and cerebral palsy in a place that esteems perfection. Where weakness is not tolerated and only the strongest survive. She is blessed to currently live in a place where she knows love and care. This means she should not have a problem attaching well and fitting in nicely with her forever family.

Just like every other child, Meredith deserves a family. God wants Meredith to have a family. He is calling someone to be her Mom and Dad. They will need to trust Him to equip them to walk where He leads. Don't miss your opportunity to be a part of Meredith's Miracle. Search your heart and ask God if she's yours and share her story. Together we can change the life of a little girl. If you want to read more about Meredith, please, read her Reece's Rainbow profile.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Be a Part of Meredith's Miracle.

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

How can You adopt Meredith?

I know it's the question on everyone's mind. I'm so glad you finally asked. Meredith needs a family, but there are some requirements you need to meet in order to become her family...

First, you'll need to make sure you meet USCIS income requirements listed here. There's a handy chart that tells how much you need to make based on the size of your family. Once you're sure you qualify, there are a couple of other things to consider. Meredith's country needs you to have no more than 4 children currently living in your home. They'd like you to be married for at least 5 years and 30 years old. The good news is that only one parent has to travel to pick Meredith up and that parent only needs to stay in country for 10 days. That's a super fast trip for an international adoption.

It seems like a lot of requirements, but I'm sure she's worth it. I'm also sure that the family God has chosen for Meredith is going to meet each requirement, because Meredith was meant to be theirs from the very foundation of the earth. God wants to set Meredith in a family. It's His thing...setting the lonely in families.

If you've read this and think we just may be Meredith's family, please, feel free to contact me or you can direct your questions to the appropriate person at Reece's Rainbow. Here's their Contact Information!

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Be a Part of Meredith's Miracle!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Why Meredith?

There are lots of things I could write here. I already shared about why we love Meredith over on our family's adoption blog. I'm going to just share that first post about Meredith here. So, if you read over there, you may have already read this one. Here goes...A Forever Family Friday post from April of this year...


Sweet, sweet girl, today. She stole my heart and Marty's the first time we saw her. We weren't convinced at the time that we were going to adopt a child with special needs/down syndrome and we were even more convinced that we were bringing home a boy, but when we saw her we were smitten. We inquired about her, only to learn she had a family already reviewing her file. We knew they would take her and they did commit. I'm not sure why, except for God, but she has lost her family. She kept that family long enough for us to move forward and commit to Dawson. Sometimes, God uses one child to open the door for another and that was very much the case with Meredith and Dawson. We were so willing to take her regardless of her needs that we had to take a second look and see if there was another child we were supposed to love this way.

Earlier this week, Meredith lost her family and became available for adoption again. We immediately began to inquire about whether we could adopt from 2 countries at the same time. (Yes, we are that crazy.) The answer is yes, but it's hard to do, because the travel time may have overlapped. We knew we had to let her go, again. Our hearts were sad, but she did prompt us to take the time to search through the littles on Reece's Rainbow, again, and who did we find? A little boy named Isaac. A boy who has waited too long for a family. A boy who had a family that desperately wanted to bring him home, much the same way we felt about Meredith, but God closed the door. That's another story that I will share later. So, now God has used sweet Meredith to lead the Rhodes' family to not one son, but two. How could we in turn do anything less than trying to find her forever family.

So, her she is...

Meredith. There just aren't words to tell you how my heart fills up when I see this girl. She needs a Mommy and Daddy, who will treat her like the princess she is. She needs to be covered in kisses and carried high on her Daddy's shoulders. She must long to be snuggled in her Mommy's arms and rocked and loved. Meredith has a grant through Reece's Rainbow and it is a fast process to get to her. She could be home this year, if her family is motivated and moves quickly. I know you're in love. How could you not be?

Please, please share this post. If Meredith's not your girl, please help us by sharing her sweet face and helping us find her family. You can read more about Meredith on her profile here: http://reecesrainbow.org/meredith1

Thanks for letting me share and please join me in praying that Meredith's family finds her quickly.

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy