What's All This About and How Did I Get Started With Reece's Rainbow

 First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Shelby, and I'm a 29 year old wife, nanny for two families, and photographer. I also cook for a family as another part time job, but am in no way a professional chef...although, private chef does sound impressive. Point blank, I am busy. Another point blank, I want to be busier. What? Who wants that? I want to adopt with a passion. Life's circumstances have made it incredibly difficult to go for that right at this moment, but I refuse to sit still. I have been dreaming about adopting a little girl from China. More specifically, a little girl from China with Down Syndrome and beautiful black piggy tails and the cutest smile you've ever seen. I have had this dream for many, many years. A friend of mine named Kristin kept posting about this little girl called Anastasia from Russia, who she was very much in love with. She has down syndrome, so she immediately caught my eye, as I just can't help but bubble up with love when a down right perfect passes by. I kept seeing her posts again and again, until one day I clicked on the link. That link was to Anastasia's Reece's Rainbow page. I started clicking around the site, after reading about Anastasia, only to discover hundreds of orphans with down syndrome waiting on their families. I became very attached to the site, and would check it every once in a while dreaming and hoping.

 A few years went by and I had nearly forgotten about it, but I was married now, and having children wasn't coming easily for us, and it started to stir in my head again. I asked Kristin how it was going, because I knew they were starting to save to go get Anastasia the last I heard. She said Russia had closed adoptions to the US. My heart sunk for her. I went back to the website and discovered the Facebook group and requested to join. That's when I really fell in love with this organization and everyone involved it it, either working for the non-profit or adopting or advocating. I fell in love with the organization itself, which advocates for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs available for international adoption, and raises grants for the waiting children, so families can more easily be able to afford adopting them. The more people I talked to, and the more I looked around the site, the more I discovered my love for orphans, and the HUGE need for families for these children.

 I fell in love with two of the children in particular, and inquired about adopting them with my husband. It didn't work out that we were able to adopt them. The little girl was adopted by another family, YAY, but the little boy, Logan, unfortunately got very sick and passed away, never knowing the love of family. Oh, how my heart broke with that news, and I cried for days and days! It was soon after this that I discovered the Family Warrior Program and signed up for a family....and another....and another....and another...and frankly, I'm kind of addicted to the joy of helping families bring home the children they call sons and daughters. Also, I love seeing these children home and thriving afterwards. All the while, I'm over here, longing to adopt a child. God hasn't opened the door for that yet, as much as I bang on the door and plea for God to just open it already. I know that HIS plans are best, and I will TRY to be patient and wait for His clear direction. However, I refuse to sit still. There's plenty I can do while I wait: Pray, Advocate, Donate, Educate, Etc. Etc. Etc.

So here I am, starting this blog to promote orphans and families adopting. Here I am trying to do as much as I can for orphans until God says, "Okay, now it's your turn to bring one home." I do not have a great track record for remembering to post blogs in the past, but I have set alarms on my phone to remind me. Hopefully it will work, but bear with me regardless. I have been encouraged to try again, and so I will. It's my goal to have 5 posts a week. That's a lot, so it may get reduced in the business of my schedule...but there's just so much to share, so I really want to just make it a daily habit to create a blog post. My plan is to have the following type of posts:

Monday : Fundraiser Spotlight
Tuesday: Urgent Needs
Wednesday: Orphan Spotlight (Reece's Rainbow AND Elsewhere, International AND Domestic)
Thursday: Family Spotlight
Friday: In Other News (random stuff I feel y'all should know)

So, what's all this about?

• It's about doing something while I wait, and not just being idle.
• It's about finding families for orphans.
• It's about helping families in the process of adopting.
• It's about being God's hands and feet.
• It's about caring.
• It's about showing people that children with special needs ARE lovable.
• It's about helping families afford the rather expensive process so they can get to their children sooner, like in Kristin and Anastasia's case. 
• It's about helping orphans find their families so they do not have to die alone, like Logan
• It's about helping those who love, find a way to adopt.
• It's about defending the fatherless.
• It's about delivering the needy.
• It's about loving God's children.