Moment of Truth

Moment of truth. Travel dates are 3.5 weeks away. We are about $15,000 from fully funded right now. That is how much it costs to add an adoption from an orphanage in a different region. Due to circumstances beyond our control we are needing to go to 3 separate orphanages when we planned for 2. $36,739 is what we need this page to read HERE.

My husband asked me with tears in his eyes how we could leave one of them behind. A lot of you read and shared his "Papas Wanted" post about our last adoption from his perspective. He loves our kids and the kids we have met SO much that he has even talked with me about MOVING to this country to fill a need that exists. He is an incredible husband and father. His heart is breaking over this situation right now.

Because the truth is we can't leave any of them behind. I am flooding this post with photos.

Amos aged out in December of LAST year. He turns 17 soon. We need to file an I600 for him immediately upon accepting his referral so that he can still be adopted. We sent the I600A LAST YEAR to be eligible to save him, even though we were about to move across the country and it was crazy. He was Barton's friend. Barton who we adopted after he aged out. No one was coming for Amos. We saved Barton from that cage of adult men. That is the same place Amos needs to be saved from. His court has been one of the most difficult I have ever heard of in this country. We went through it last time and we still said YES to Amos.

This is the adult facility in Amos's region.

Here is adorable little Amos when he was younger.

Here is Amos, bigger now, but still adorable to us.

We put Violet at the end of the list sometimes. We committed to her and Lee last, but I also feel selfish saying "We just really like this girl and think she is awesome and want to be her family." We think that about all of our kids, but Violet isn't urgent life or death like the others. Yep, I feel selfish to say we want to adopt a 13 year old girl with special needs who has spent her life in an institution. Orphanages and institutions are bad places. Children are abused, even in front of visitors. That is what happens when the caretakers are being watched and on their best behavior. Violet has waited so long. No one has come for her. She deserves to be safe and loved too.

These are both photos of beautiful Violet, one with her head shaved and one without.

This gentle girl deserves to be safe.

Lee is with Violet, but he is in the bedridden wing. These children are being abused also. Bedridden kids who can barely move are covered with bruises. Then there is neglect. Kids are starving. He is starving. He turns 13 in November, and he is a wisp of what he was when we met him two years ago. His file has a terminal diagnosis in it. We had to decide when we learned about it whether or not we could bring him home, knowing we might have a very short time with him. We said we would be brave. We said we would bring him home and love him, no matter how long he had left. But now I am afraid the orphanage will starve him to death before we come. I HAVE NOT and WILL NOT come to terms with that. He can die here in my arms and it will break me completely but he will know he is loved. He cannot die there alone. Not this boy I love so much.

Emaciated and bruised in the bedridden ward, this is one of the formerly healthy girls we met two years ago.

Here is Lee two years ago and now. His arms are so skinny.

He was once so alive. Now I am afraid he is losing hope.

And sweet little Daisy, we expected her to be transferred in with Lee. I am glad she isn't starving too. She is still waiting at the group home because the change to fostercare has been delayed. This fostercare arrangement makes kids unavailable for adoption. At 18 in this case they will be sent back to the same places they were originally destined. Her fate would be sealed. She would starve in those rooms later, but it would still happen. We are coming for her, that noisy little girl who has spent her life tied into a crib for lack of supervision. Our sweet little Daisy.

There is a set of tights tied around her waist and tethered to the crib to keep her in.

Our lovely little Daisy is waiting for a family to give her the chance to explore the world.

Who could we pick? Which child is not worth $15,000? The answer is of course that they all are. Every child is. These children we have chosen are worth it. We won't leave them behind, but right now the money isn't there. We are working on it. You have ALL been amazing in your support of us. Offering fundraisers, sharing, donating, praying. Thank you. We are rolling out a couple more fundraisers tomorrow. We have tried loans, no go there. We have a very small amount set aside to hospitalize Lee immediately when he gets home. I don't think we can safely touch that money, with what he will need.

We have done this before. We have brought home older kids with special needs. They have thrived. We have worked through institutional behavior. We are ready to do this. We can't wait! We need to get our newest kids home too.

Theo, Barton, Orion and Evan. They have grown more in the last two years than anyone dreamed. They can't wait to help their new brothers and sisters grow also.