$10,000

Today is sad, today hurts, today my girlie lost her family, and a family lost their daughter.  No, Della didn't die, she's still here, but Della's family couldn't continue with her adoption, I am unsure of the reason.  Her family is so sweet, they truly do love her, and I can only imagine the heart break, and aching pain they are feeling.  Will you pray for them? I love them so, and it hurts my heart that they are hurting.

Her sweet family, is offering $10,000 to anyone that is able to go and get "their" little girl.  That right there, just shows their love, for this little girl.  They just want her to be loved, and safe, can you do that for them?  Will you ease their pain just a little bit, by bringing Della home?  http://reecesrainbow.org/59418/della

The Grand Adventure: My Trip To Sofia, Bulgaria

Psalm 10:17-18
"O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    You will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
   so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more."

Such a powerful and meaningful verse.  I can't help but think about the time spent in Bulgaria this past November, with the 3 kids who had just come out of an orphanage.  It was much different to see the kids, and watch them be brought out of the orphanage doors, than to just hear the stories and see the pictures.  Matthew, Jonathan, and Charity are such sweet kids, and it's truly heart breaking knowing that they have been tucked away their entire lives.

They all have so much personality, likes, dislikes, and also got to try so man new things once they were busted out of the orphanage.  It was something special, being able to watch them grow and learn so much in such a small amount of time. They truly blossomed.  Jonathan, had never seen outside of the orphanage, and man did he love it!   The wonder in his eyes, as we pushed them through the city of Sofia , was one of the most beautiful things.  He would swing his feet, as he sang till his heart was content, he would shriek with pure joy when he saw birds, he thought they were the best thing.   Oh that boys laugh, and his smile, he loved to be tickled!  If you stopped tickling him he would give you the most precious, precious, precious, puppy dog face until you tickled him again.   I very quickly fell in love with Jonathan.

I had never talked to, or been around someone who had Autism before.  I hear about autism all the time, and I have friends over the internet, who have kiddos with autism, so I'm slightly familiar with it.   Kids with autism have to have structure, and schedules, they like everything to be a certain way.  Well Miss Charity has Autism, along with a few other needs, and her world was completely flipped upside down.  I can only imagine how she felt, without things being the same day in and day out, as they had before.  She needed to get into some type of schedule.  But these "strangers" (her new wonderful mama, and papa!) came and got her, and took her to the other-side of the world, on an airplane with more and more people.  Charity's world got way too, big way too fast!  She had never been around large mounts of people before, so it was a little overwhelming for sweet girl.  But over all she did wonderfully and  little does she know that her life is going to be 1000x better than it was before!    It was beautiful to watch Charity, smile and giggle, she is very ticklish, and is cuter than ever!

Matthew, oh sweet, handsome, beautiful, cherished, loved, little Matthew.  This little boy, has had such a hard life, but he has managed to fight his way through and survive, it's like he knew that a family would come for him one day.  He has truly shown me that sometimes all we need is love, with in the few days that I spent with him, he flourished so much.  Seeing him start to talk, and react to us when we stroked his hair, or touched his face, it was beautiful.

Bulgaria, in and of it's self was interesting.  Very different from the US ( I didn't expect it to be like the US) they don't put ice in their drinks, and they don't usually eat food hot.   We walked all around Sofia, up and down the streets, in and out of stores, we even got to be 20 ft away from a protest (It was honestly awesome.) while at a convenient store.  We ate pizza while we were there, it was quite different, it had chicken, pickles, and corn on it...strange, but good!   Car rides were an adventure, I road in a taxi for the first time while in Bulgaria.  We went to a mall while we were there, before we picked the kids up, and compared to the "Large Hallway" that we have in Sierra Vista, it was huge.  4 or 5 floors high, SO many stores, we had Gelato at the mall, and it was fabulous!

Airports....Oh Airports.  Until this big adventure, I had never flown before,  I had never stepped foot on a plane.  Well that quickly changed, at first I enjoyed flying (once I got past the nerves!), but after so many flights, I was just ready to be done with it!  I think that if I was able to sleep in seats like that, it would have been better, but I can't even sleep in the car.  I did love take off and landing, I thought it was fun! ;)

Over all the trip was eye opening, and brought lots of different emotions.  Being away from my family for over a weak was extremely hard, jet lag, and time change were difficult, but I'm thankful that I was asked to go on this trip with the Unroe family.   I can now know, and understand a little more of what adoption is like, and that to me is just absolutely amazing.  I have seen a little more of the Fathers heart, my heart grew a size or two while in Bulgaria, I cannot wait to go back to Bulgaria, and see what God has in store for me. :)

I apologize if this post seems rather scrambled.  I've been writing it over the past month, many times I had to stop because I couldn't see through the tears of joy.  But I hope I was able to get the basic idea across.  I loved my trip to Bulgaria, and am so blessed to know the Unroe family, as well as meeting Jackie.  Such beautiful people that will forever have a place in my life. :)


With Love,
Alyssa

God Isn't A Genie

I feel like we all struggle with the way we view God, I feel like often times when we talk to Him, it's when we need something.  I myself, am guilty of this.  I find myself praying to God through out the day, not to thank Him, or just praise Him for being wonderful, but to constantly ask things of Him.    The way my mind views God, is something that has been at the front of my mind recently, and it's been something I have wanted to change for sometime now.

Today a beautiful friend of mine, was praying with me over my hurting heart, and something she said made me tear up, and think so differently of God.   She prayed and said "That you would be the hands over her ears protecting her from every nasty lie"  When I read that, I immediately pictured words, opinions, deceiving thoughts, lies from the enemy,  swirling through my head, at a constant and consistent pace, overwhelming me, making me shut down, and cry out in desperation, and God's hands placed over my ears, as peace, and comfort rushed over me.  It was such a revealing thought, and helped me understand a little more about the relationship God wants to have with us.

This may sound silly but, last night I went and saw Catching Fire (the new hunger games, if you haven't seen it then this may be a spoiler for you.) there is a seen where Katniss is trapped inside a force field, with a very large flock of Mockingbirds, that are mocking Katniss' little sister Prim screaming for help.  The birds are whizzing around her, repeatedly mimicking Prim, Katniss drops to the ground, hands over her ears and is screaming in utter terror.  On the outside of the force field is Peeta, yelling trying to tell Katniss "It's not real, clam down, you'll be okay, I'm right here, it'll end soon!"  He sat there and continually yelled trying to comfort her.

When life gets hard, or when we are constantly being told lies, and we try to deal with it on our own, God is right there on the other side of the force field, yelling, reaching out His hand, trying to help us, trying to rescue and comfort us.  If Katniss would have just turned and looked to Peeta, and listened to his words as he yelled them, it wouldn't have been as bad, if she would have known that it would end, and that it wasn't real, it would have helped ease the moment.   We are like Katniss, we break down, and cover our ears, we try so hard to deal with things on our own, because we view God as a person that is there to just give us things, not to help us, or redirect our paths, not as someone that truly wants whats best for us, and wants us to trust Him.

I feel that if we all viewed God as our best friend, we would have an easier time with hard trials.  If my best friend were to come to me, and warn me, or tell me that if I did a certain thing, or told me that something would harm me, I would trust her.  I wouldn't do what ever it was that she was warning me of.  So, why don't I respond to God the same way?  I have found myself in multiple situations where I can look back and see the warnings God gave me, or the multiple ways that He gave me to get out of certain situations.  He is right there yelling, "Don't do that, don't go that way, look at me, I have a better plan, I can help, I love you and want whats best!"  But I ignore Him, I realize further down the road, when I have given everything I have trying to fix something on my own, that if I would have listened to Him in the first place, I could have saved myself from so much hurt.  If I would have just trusted God, and grabbed the hand that was stretched out to me, I wouldn't have to go through these things alone.

The bottom line is, God isn't a Genie, He isn't here to answer our wishes and make our lives perfect.  He is here because He loves us, and wants to rescue us in the hard times, He wants to have a relationship with us, He wants to be the best friend that we listen to, and tell everything to.  Not just the friend that is convenient to have around, because they give you things.  He want us, all of us, the good and the bad.

He wants you and I to praise Him, when life is good, and when life sucks, when things are going our way, and when the entire world is against us, and we feel like we have nothing more to give.  He wants to rescue us, and show us the better way to do things.

I guess what I'm trying to convey is that God, is here with you and me, day in and day out He never leaves.  What my friend said, made me think of God in a way that changed my view, it made me picture God, not as someone that I pray to who I can't see, but as a protector.  I literally pictured my self on the ground, hands over my ears, screaming in utter terror, because of lies, opinions, and pain, that surrounded me, as these mighty but gentle hands reached down and covered my ears.  It got silent, the words, and thoughts stopped, and God just hugged me.  He reminded me that it would be okay, that one day we would all be rewarded for our faithfulness to Him, and that one day those words, and opinions, would stop and that there would be pure joy, in Heaven.   I have honestly never had a more comforting thought, than the one I had today.  But I am thankful that I had it.

Reece's Rainbow Waiting Child: Dawn #17-1

I have a post that I am working on, it's all about my trip to Bulgaria, but it is going to take me a while to write.  There is so much to write about, I don't want to forget anything, so I have been writing a little bit each morning.   Although that is not what I came here to write about, I want to share a sweet princess with you, one who has waited for a long while, and deserves a post all about her.

She has waited 13 years, for a family to choose her.  At the age of three she was transferred from the orphanage to a mental institution, and that is where she has spent the last 10 years of her life.  Toys that play music are her favorite, and she loves attention.   Her smile is contagious, and her name is Dawn.  She is full of potential, and would blossom in a family.

She looks like the sweetest little girl, who has friends to make, and places to be.  I bet she would love to have lots of siblings, and have a big dinner with a family.  I  also bet that she would love to snuggle on the couch, and watch movies with with a family of her very own.  You see Dawn, has never had anyone believe in her, no one has ever looked passed her diagnosis and seen her potential.  She has always been shoved to the side and tucked away, because to the world she "wont ever contribute to society"  and we both know that is far from true.  We both know, that sweet, smiley, girl above has more to offer than she has been given credit for.  It just takes the right person, the right family, and a lot of love to help her reach her full potential.

Dawn's Reece's Rainbow Profile: http://reecesrainbow.org/4398/dawn-17-1