The Lottery

     I don't even know where to begin.  My life has literally been turned upside down this past month or so.  All because of this face:

 

I know, what a CUTIE!!!! He's one of the orphans on Reece's Rainbow (reecesrainbow.org), a ministry that focuses on awareness and fundraising for kids with special needs that are up for adoption in other countries.  Why don't we have a program like this in the US? Because there is a waiting list of about 300 families that want to adopt Down Syndrome babies.  We don't need it.  In some countries, special needs kids go to adult mental institutions at the age of four if they are not adopted.  About 80% of those sent to these institutions DIE within the first year from neglect.  There are just NO resources for families with these kids and they are seen as outcasts and not capable of having any kind of meaningful potential.  Well, you know I know different.  And so do a lot of other people.  We know that extra chromosome is something that makes that individual unique and special.  Something that makes them need to be treasured even more, not thrown away.  But that's what's happening.  

      Here's the thing.  I can watch a program, like, Whale Wars, and when they fish that

 big ol' blubbering whale out of his little, okay huge, spot in the ocean, I'm horrified.  When they kill the big fish and it starts to bleed I usually start to cry.  I start to think about the whale's mom and dad or maybe it's little baby whale that won't know where it is and I start to get choked up.  Then I get really mad at Japan.  Then I realize that not all Japanese people hunt whales so I stop being mad at Japan.  Then the show goes to a commercial and I go look for Doritos in the pantry and offer my hubby some and we might change the channel or we might continue to watch the whale carnage.  Okay, that's pretty normal, huh?  

    On the opposite side of the spectrum, there's my reaction to seeing orphans suffer.  I get a link from ABC news tonight with Diane Sawyer and I watch this: (*If the video doesn't work on this blog, you can access it here- http://reecesrainbow.org/background/in-the-news )

and I want to do this:

You get where I'm going with this?  I start sobbing so hard I can't even watch the end of the program.  I'm mad at Diane Sawyer ('how could you have done this story and not kidnapped a couple of kids while you were there?? What were you thinking?  Have you no heart, Diane?').  I'm mad at my husband ('Did you really just ask me to go get Doritos?  How could you think of your stomach at a time like this???' and then I go and grab the Doritos and open the back door and throw them outside to put an exclamation point to my disgust).  I'm mad at the world, begging for God to just blow us up and release us all from our misery- even though I was pretty content with life ten minutes ago, before I saw Diane.  I'm mad at Eastern Europe.  I'm mad at everyone.  I cry so hard I can't speak and then, after I calm myself down,  I tell my husband we're going to adopt.  No....literally.  If you think I'm joking, you don't know me very well.  Husband starts to sweat and says words like "maybe we should calm down first" and "I'd hate to make a rash decision" and I look at him like he's got three heads and a heart full of ice.  My eyes narrow and I pretty much groan the words, "You are NOT telling me we can't adopt a special needs child, are you?" and husband starts to back track a little and gets a cool rag for my exploding forehead and he rubs my arm and tells me everything will be okay and that all rats from a ten mile radius are in our backyard eating Doritos and I threaten him to make a big deal out of it.  Husband realizes he cannot rationalize with me for the next couple of days and so he backs off and I retreat into my little dark world.  So, you see?  I GO NUTS, people.  And I'm as serious as a heart attack. 

   So, after I cried for a couple of days and told God I was really, really mad at Him for creating the world, I decided it was time to act.  I put on a fresh pair of clothes, brushed my hair, and went to buy a lottery ticket.  It's what all passionate people do.  We gamble away all of our money to try and help the needy.  I had gone on Reece's Rainbow and signed up to be a Prayer Warrior for a little guy named "Colton" in the Ukraine.  Well, little does Colton know, but he hit the adoption jackpot when we picked him.  Because, as I said, I'm crazy and crazy people are annoying but we GIT 'ER DONE.  And let me tell you, I'm on the warpath.  We donated $20 to his account and husband said we could do that every month.  That was good for me for about twenty seconds.  I saw his account go up, I got excited, and then I got impatient.   "There's no way I can wait a whole month to see his account go up! He's going to think nobody loves him!"  Of course, little Colton is not yet two years old so he doesn't have a clue he even has an account, but you know, I know.  So, I decided I needed to win the Powerball.  It was the only logical conclusion to not having enough money to help the orphans.  God could fix the numbers and I could get the money and start funding adoptions like crazy and move to the Ukraine and rebuild the orphanages and hire enough staff for every kid to have a personal caretaker and.....well, you get the idea.  The only problem was, God wasn't holding up His end of the bargain.  He wasn't fixing the numbers.  Can you believe?  I know.  If faith is having your jaw hit the floor when you don't win the Powerball, I got plenty of dat.  I glared up at the sky one too many times these past couple of weeks, snarling, "I thought You said You loved the orphans????"  I did win $40 in scratch offs when I became desperate but even that started to pale in comparison to the extreme urgency of the situation.  I started to get upset and crawled back into my little black hole once again.  I was mad at everybody.  Cory wouldn't adopt, God wouldn't fix the lottery, people weren't lining up outside my house to organize a coup d'etat of Eastern European countries so I could become president and change the situation of the orphanages.  All my dreams were going up in smoke.  It was all going to pot.  

    And then.  Something happened!  I posted a link to Facebook.  Begging.  Looking for a spark.  Looking for some sort of response.  And a little light flickered.  A former student, Cherie, donated $20.  My cousin, Katie, said she would send out a mass email asking for money- which brought in $120.  My little flame started to get some much-needed oxygen.  I started to think, 'Well maybe everyone hasn't abandoned the orphans.'  Hope kind of made its way back into my heart.  So, here I am, trying to blog about it.  Trying to get people to 'go crazy' with me.  Are you out there, crazy people?  Will you help me help them before I'm the one who really needs help?  I'm desperate, people.  Desperate.  I can't look at the pictures on Reece's Rainbow any longer and not do everything in my power to help them (Prov. 3:27 "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to help").  This train is pulling out the station and I'm about to run over anybody who gets in my way.  Jump on, crazies, we're going on a little joyride.  Either that or we'll end up in a Eastern European prison and my children will learn about me through episodes of Locked Up Abroad.  Whatever.  

   Take a look at this video.  My husband and I put some of the kids from Reece's Rainbow on it to show you just some of the faces that are just waiting to be rescued, to be loved.  I also put some of the before and after pictures of kids who have been adopted.  Miraculous.  I cry every time.  Watch:

     In all seriousness, this is the plan I'm hatching.   I'm looking for people to pledge.  We're going to pledge $50 a month (or whatever you can afford) and, I was thinking, if we could just find ten other families or individuals willing to do the same we could go crazy on some orphans.  That would be $500 a month!  We could all pick one child to pray for and donate to until either they get adopted or their funds reach $2500- when they reach that amount they get put on the "Sizeable Grants" list which is really cool and really gives them a good chance of being chosen.  Then, we would pick another child.  Get it?  Doesn't that sound awesome???!?!?  If it doesn't work and kids aren't getting adopted, then we kidnap.  What?  Woos.  Of course, we need to watch every episode of Bear Grylls just in case we end up in the Ukrainian wilderness with several special needs children.  Be prepared.  Seriously, anybody wanna hop on this runaway train?  I need help.  We could do amazing things together, you-me-and God.  Get crazy.
   One last little thought.  Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus carrying the cross and think to yourself, "Gosh, I wish I was there.  I would have helped him!  I would have bust through the crowd and helped him a bit."  Well, here's your Jesus:

His name is John Mark.  And Jesus is still carrying his cross through the life of this child.  The loneliness of Christ did not cease to exist at the moment of His death.  It exists in each and every person who fails to know what love is.   Have you ever seen the pictures of the Holocaust and thought, "Why didn't anybody stand up???  Where were all the good people to put and end to the suffering?"  Well, here's your Auschwitz:

Little Nathan.  Seven years old and not a shred of hope in his red-rimmed eyes.  Made to stay in a crib all day long, fed only potato water, a suffering soul of the deepest kind.  Do we really believe every life is sacred?  What about his?  The Cross is still being carried, the horrors of Auschwitz haven't really ended.  They just take on a different face in every generation.  But the question remains, who will rise up?

     Fire me an email at senoritamolly@yahoo.com if you want to join the group.  Then we'll vote on cool names for our group.  I'm calling Chick-fil-A tomorrow to see what their fundraising policy is.  They like the Bible over there, and the Bible likes orphans.  It's a slam dunk.  I'm sure you'll start to see their cows holding pictures of orphans soon.  Dream big.

P.S. If ANY of you would EVER consider adopting one of these precious children, I hereby solemnly swear that I will become your Fundraising Director and make sure you get lots of money.   Do not let money get in the way of the dreams of your heart.  God will provide (Just don't play the lotto- He doesn't seem to dig it).