Anya

Anya
Home 8 months!!

Monday 20 December 2010

Where doing nothing means NOTHING

I want to share with you a post that was written by a Reece's Rainbow family. The post was written by Julia, the mom of Aaron. Aaron was adopted out of a mental institution. The post speaks of what this family experienced first hand while they were at the institution to get their son.

She writes.....

We live a harried life. Running here, there and everywhere. We work, take our kids to this activity, then that activity, rush to meetings, juggle schedules and cook, clean and work side-jobs in our spare time. We rarely have time to do Nothing.

We love doing Nothing. A day where we have no appointments, no meetings and no places where our children have to be. An evening where we can stay at home, curl up as a family with a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie. An afternoon where we can take a walk or play in the yard. Nothing. Nothing so that we can do what we find pleasurable. Reading a book, building a puzzle, playing a game. Nothing has warm connotations, happy thoughts. Nothing is what we live for as a family.

For us, in America, Nothing means Everything.

For the Lost Boys and Girls, Nothing means NOTHING.


This is what NOTHING looks like for the Lost Boys at Aaron's former institute. This was Aaron's Nothing. A shed with Nothing in it but carpets and benches. Nothing.

On warm days, 20 plus boys will be led to this shed. 20 plus boys will go inside this shed. A bench will be placed across the door so that they will not be allowed to leave. Then, those 20 plus boys will do nothing. They will sit inside that shed. They will sit. They will rock. They will cry out. They will moan. They will stare at the walls. They will hit each other. They will hit themselves. They will sit. They will sit. They will wait. After hours of sitting they will get to leave for another shed, to eat. They will be forced to eat quickly so that they can be led back to this shed. To do Nothing. In the afternoon they will be led to their rooms. They will be made to lay down on their beds. For hours they will lay on those beds. Some will sleep to escape. Others will lay and do Nothing. Staring at the walls, ceiling - staring at Nothing. When it is time to get up, they will go back to their shed. Again, to do Nothing.

On rainy days, or cold days, they will stay in their buildings. They will not leave those buildings. They will not venture downstairs or get to visit the other boys in the other buildings or even in the other part of their building. No. They will stay in their section. They will sit in the sitting room. It is as empty as the shed. Benches and carpets. They will sit. They will sit and they will do Nothing. They will rock. They will moan. They will hit each other. They will hit themselves. They will sit. They will wait. They will stare at the four walls. They will do Nothing.

Once in a while, on weekends, they will get to hear music. The bigger boys will get to do jobs. Some jobs that are heart-breaking. The best behaved boys will get to kick a deflated ball sometimes. Sometimes a stick can be found for drawing in the dirt. Sometimes they will even let a child or two play in the sand pile that is often used as a toilet. Sometimes. On really rare days, when visitors come, they may even get out a hidden toy or two. Rarely. Most of the time, they do Nothing.

Nothing for the Lost Boys and Girls in Eastern Europe means Nothing.

End of post.

Please visit the Reece's Rainbow website. If you would like to do something for the "least of these" this Christmas, please consider donating to the Angel Tree Program. The website is www.reecesrainbow.org. You can donate online. Cost is the biggest obstacle for families to adopt these children. Donations no matter what the size do make a difference. Please consider helping one of these precious children find their "forever family".

Stephanie

Friday 17 December 2010

Our blog is up (kinda)!

YES, we are adopting a precious little girl from Russia by the name of Anastaysia. We found her on a website named Reece's Rainbow; a ministry that advocates for the orphans of Eastern Europe as well as other countries who because of their disability are not wanted by their birth families.

Our story is long, but I will make it short here. As many of you all know we have a little girl by the name of Ellis Anne. Ellis Anne is 2 years old and was born with Down Syndrome. She has had 2 major heart surgeries to save her life. To say the least, she has changed our lives. The first year of Ellis Anne's life was hard, but we would not change what God taught us during that time. Our family was complete with the birth of Ellis Anne, or so we thought. Then God laid it on our hearts suddenly to adopt a little girl who only needed a family to love her. Basically, we were told that He could not give us one reason that we should not adopt......so, we committed to adopt sweet little Anastaysia.

We don't know the first thing about adoption, but are learning. I am not a blogger, but I am learning about that too! I do know that before we committed to adopting Anastaysia, that I poured over the adoption blogs by the Reece's Rainbow families.....it was through these blogs that I was able to see the children's lives being changed. Children who were stuck in cribs. Children who never got a hug from anyone. Children who were drugged just so they would sleep the day away so that they would not require any care. Children who just needed a family to love them. How could we say, "no God, this is just not a good time....our lives are so busy right now, our plate is full, I can't care for any more kids, No God I just can't do it right now." Nope we could not do it...we could not say, "no", so we said "YES." We are VERY excited about adding another sweet girl to our family.

A quick update on our adoption: We have completed our home study and are now compiling our dossier.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.

Stephanie

Depraved Indifference