Dear friends, So many of you already know this beautiful little face....
Olga turned five last month. She has spent the last five years in an orphanage in Eastern Europe, without the love of a mommy and daddy- simply because she arrived in life exactly as God designed her. One chromosome too many, and her fate was sealed from birth.
Sealed, because in Eastern Europe, babies who are born with Down syndrome are deemed unacceptable at birth. They are discarded as cast-offs of society, and when they turn five they leave the only home they've ever known...
And I wish I could say that for most of these children, leaving that home meant going to a place of safety, a place of happiness, a place where they would finally know the love of a family...know what it meant to be cuddled or sung to or read to, tucked in at night, prayed for, loved.
Instead, they are taken to a place that most people wouldn't leave their family pet...
A place of living hell, where they will never know the tenderness of a parent, never know the security of being raised in a family, and there they will stay, one ugly, pain-filled day at a time...until they die.
I read a post last month that stayed with me to this day. It was called From baby dolls to bedstraps... The blog author wrote about Elizabeth, an orphan on Reece's Rainbow who had been transferred to a mental institution, waiting for a family to step forward for her. Her words still haunt me.
I wonder where she thought she was going as they led her out of the orphanage that day. Did she think that maybe it was finally her turn? That they were taking her to her forever Mommy and Daddy? And when they instead took her inside that dreadful place, when they shaved her head and tied her to a too-small metal crib...
when they turned their backs and
walked
away…
when they left her confused, terrified,
in a room where the wails of schizophrenic adults echo through the cold air
what was going through her young mind?
Did she wonder if she was being punished?
How long did she hold out hope that this was only temporary?
That any minute, they would come and take her back to the baby house
to her baby dolls and teddy bear,
to her best friend, Angelina?
Did she long to free her arms from the restraints
to cover her head with her hands
to drown out the scary noises
the scary sights
the scary smells?
That could be our Reagan….
It could be your child.
And what if it were?
What if you woke up one morning
and by some hellish, twilight-zone twist of fate
your child wasn’t still tucked into that warm bed down the hall,
what if your child was trapped across the dark sea
in that nightmare that is
the institution?
What
would
you
DO?
Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. Proverbs 24:11
Elizabeth is being rescued today, thanks to the efforts of that blogging mama, and others like her.
Olga is being rescued today, thanks to so many of you...you gave so much and created such a large grant that a family was able to step forward and start the process of adoption.
The Abells have done so much already, towards rescuing Olga. We can't even imagine all the paperwork and prayer and emotion and finances that goes into an international adoption. They have done numerous fundraisers, and will continue to do so until they can bring Olga home.
Through the help of so many, a grant of over $13,000 has been raised for Olga's adoption. That grant is set aside for the final travel costs and fees that it will take to bring Olga home. It will take every penny of that and then some.
Right now the Abells are in need of raising the $7,000 that is needed to submit their dossier for Olga. Without that dossier we don't even know if Olga has been transferred yet. Here in America you just pick up the phone and ask these questions. But here in America we don't tie five year old girls to cribs to keep them from climbing out. The Abells need to submit that dossier as soon as possible- at the very least to find out if she has been transferred already- because we know an army of prayer warriors who is going to want to know that piece of information as well. And at the very most, it could be able to hold Olga at the baby house until the Abells can rescue her. We wish we could say with certainty that she won't be transferred- truthfully we just don't know that.
Olga has been so heavy on our hearts for months- her picture is up on our refrigerator and will not come down until she is safe here in this country.
We DO trust that God has a plan here.
We truly believe that there is a network of people who love Olga here in blogland...a net that is woven by God and is stretching out across this blessed country we live in, and even beyond to generous hearts in other nations. We cannot express enough how thankful we are to be a small part of what God has already done for Olga, Peter and Kareen. But we don't think our job is done.
Olga needs us.
We don't want her to spend one more forsaken day in that place than she has to.
There is not a giveaway today. The prizes were never the real reason we all gave anyway.
So we're asking- for one day- for you to do whatever you could to help Olga. Whether that's $10 or $20 or even a hundred...if you are able to help raise this money for the dossier, please do so HERE...
...every single dollar goes to the Abell's adoption fund, and every single dollar will help.
We're calling this A Day to Save Olga, because there are about 17 blogging mamas and one blogging grandpa who have set aside this day to blog, post on Facebook, pray, give and spread the word to SAVE OLGA.
Will you help us?
We know you will :)
"Papa" and Grammy
