What a perfect little picture of you for Valentine's day tomorrow
Dear Victoria,
Sorry to leave you hanging about what happened in your behalf on Thursday night. I've had a few people ask me about it, anxious to know what the big secret is, so I won't make you wait any longer. A couple of weeks ago I received a comment from Brady Murray asking me to email him because he had a fundraising idea for us. I excitedly emailed him back because I knew that he had raised over $40,000 for two little kiddo's on Reece's Rainbow, Megan & Eli, in the past few months and I knew he would have some great idea's for us. His email back to us was not at all what we expected. Your dad and I were so touched by what it said, that we couldn't hold the tears back. In fact, I get teary eyed whenever I even think about what he has offered to do for us. I want to share part of his email with you;
"I am a managing partner of a financial planning company based out of Boise called Allegis Financial Partners...We are fortunate to have a wonderful group of talented and cause oriented people as part of our company... I called our President and CEO, Jeff Erekson, and presented him with the idea to sponsor a family who will be adopting a child with Down syndrome from Reece's Rainbow. He loved the idea. We went to work and put together a few different ways that we'll be able to help with the high costs that this family will inevitably be faced with. This was a few weeks ago. In the meantime we have been searching for the family that we felt we should help. I'm excited to tell you that we feel that your family is just that family and we'd like to help sponsor your adoption of Victoria!"
Thursday night we were able to attend the end of year awards banquet with their company and they had us tell our story and how we were led to adopt you. Brady talked about his little boy Nash, that is 4 years old and how they have learned about Reece's Rainbow. He mentioned how an adoption like your's can cost anywhere from $35,000 - $40,000 and how there are many families willing to adopt children like you living in orphanages with special needs, but the financial burden is just too great. He also mentioned the heart breaking truth that when children reach around the age of 5-7 they are transfered to adult mental institutions and within the first year 90% of them pass away due to the poor conditions and lack of care. Then your dad got up and talked about Kaelyn and her miraculous journey into our lives. I then shared how we came to find you. It was such a special experience for us, and we are still in awe that they are going to help us pay for your adoption. They have set up a program in their company that is based on the sales of their associates, and with each sale they will make a donation into our adoption fund. What a wonderful company, full of people who reach outside of themselves and help others.
Brady and Andrea are doing some amazing things to raise money and awareness for the children on Reece's Rainbow at his blog; http://onestepclosertohome.blogspot.com The Murray's are such great examples to us and we hope to be able to help other families the way they have helped us.
Even now, 23 days after I wrote the post "Miracles in the Making" on your little sisters blog, I am truly amazed at how things have come together so quickly. Its crazy to think that it has been little over a month since we started this journey. It feels like it has been in the works for years, and I'm certain it has been, its just what we are suppose to be doing and we can't deny it. There are so many people who are praying for you and invested in getting you here. There is no doubt in my mind that we will witness even more miracles to get you home, and this is a HUGE part of that.
I wanted to leave you with my part of our presentation on Thursday.
Love Mommy
"Shortly after we brought Kaelyn home from the hospital we learned about Reeces Rainbow. I just felt like we would bring one of those precious children home someday. Over the past two years that little thought has grown, but was still something we would do “someday”. We were the perfect candidates in my mind. We were already blessed with a child with Down syndrome and weren’t afraid of it anymore. We are well educated on the medical, social and developmental aspects that come with it. We know the blessings of having a child with ds far outweighs any of the concerns others may have. In the mean time we have been able to witness friends who have adopted children from Reeces Rainbow and have seen the beautiful transformation that occurs in both the child and the family they have joined.
Back in September we were blessed with another little girl, Bryn. It was quite the adjustment at first for all of us, but she stole our hearts from the get go. She has been such a sweet little girl and has shown us that we can continue to expand our family and that there will always be enough love to go around. A couple months after Bryn was born, just after Christmas I saw a special on ABC News about the Cox family, from Salt Lake, who adopted Mia from the Ukraine last year. After going through their blog the thought about adopting moved from the back burner to the front of my mind. It was like Heavenly Father was saying “it’s time”. I came up with every excuse possible of why it couldn’t be time now, but each of those reasons were quickly countered with a way it could work out. I have felt the Spirit confirm to me multiple times that this is what we are supposed to do.
After mentioning it to Wayne I got the courage to search through Reeces Rainbow to see if any of the children stood out to me. I searched the girls ages 3-5 because they are the ones that are closer to being transferred to an institution and have less of a chance of being adopted. I found Victoria’s profile and picture and was drawn to her. When I showed her to Wayne he said, “She looks like Kaelyn”. He was right, she does look like Kaelyn, like she belongs in our family. I contacted the agency over her area and after a couple weeks of waiting we were informed that if we were ready to go forward quickly, we could commit to her. We said yes and haven’t looked back.
I guess you could say that we took a great big leap of faith in going forward with this. That is true, but if we have learned anything from Kaelyn’s life, it’s that God is in charge. He is mindful of His children and if we take that step into the darkness of uncertainty, He will be there to guide our path. We have witnessed His miracles in the life of our daughter and we feel this is just a continuation of her journey. We have learned that we can “Do Hard Things” and in the words of James Douglas Percy “Everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little longer”. There is a little girl living halfway around the world, in Russia of all places, that was meant to be part of our family, and we are going to get her.
We are truly humbled and extremely grateful for the kindness and generosity of your company in helping us with the adoption expenses. When Brady contacted us to let us know what you would be doing it was like a huge burden was lifted off our shoulders. We didn’t know exactly how we were going to pay for every thing, we just knew we could do it, and it would be worth the cost. It has been another confirmation to us that what we are doing is right. Once again Heavenly Father is saying, “See, I’ll handle the details, just get to work”. There are times I feel like we are not worthy of such generosity, but I am quickly reminded of the little girl who is, Victoria deserves a better life. A family that loves her and a community that accepts her and recognizes her potential. She is a daughter of God, and He is well aware of her. I know we will blessed as much or more than her, by having her in our family. We look forward the day we can hold this little girl in our arms and see a smile on her beautiful face. With each passing day we are one step closer to that dream. Thank you for helping us bring Victoria home. "
