Water, Water, Precious Water…

On Sunday, my lovely Sunday School Pre-school class children came into class, each holding a lovely tulip in their hands. They gave the tulips to me! i was surprised and very very happy about it. It’s so nice to receive gifts, especially unexpected ones and when they are your favourite flowers,… well… i was simply over-the-moon!

Since it was a surprise, i had no vase to put the flowers in, they were sort of dying by the time we got home with them. i pulled out my trusty plastic vase and filled it with water. As i was doing that, Tobias said, “Mummy, you need to put some sugar in there.” Apparently, that’s what they were taught in school. (i love how the school here doesn’t just focus on academics but also teach the kids to appreciate nature and the world around them.)

So i did put a little sugar in there and by the evening,… well here are the before and after pictures for you to compare.

Isn’t it amazing what a little water can do for a desperately thirsty flower? They went from limp and almost passing out to standing tall and proud.

Now beginning at the end of February, i have been regularly posting about Reece’s Rainbow and the special needs orphans it advocates for. i have become a prayer warrior for two of those kids (Heath & Heather). i also advocate for other kids listed on the RR website on my Facebook, almost daily and sometimes even multiple times a day.

i get the feeling that some of my friends might think that i have gone off my rocker – so to speak. But i have not. Some may think: “What’s the point of praying and advocating? Will it really change anything?”

Yes it will! Like the water and sugar to the tulips, so are my prayers and advocacy efforts for these orphans. i truly believe that God Himself, Jesus Himself, the Holy Spirit Himself, will carry my sugared water to these orphans and feed them.

Many of these orphans (not all, Thank God), live a sort of half-life. They are alive, they are given enough to keep them alive but being in understaffed and underfunded institutes means that they are being left to sit in their chairs all day with nothing to do, no one to interact with… many rock or hit their heads to self-stimulate… that just isn’t a life at all! We are made to be community creatures; without community, without some sort of interaction, one slowly wastes away. And that is exactly what is happening to these orphans.

i also pray and advocate because i believe with all my heart, that having a family who loves them and cares for them, who wants them and wants to interact with them, a family who will play with them, talk with them and do all the fantastic family stuff with them – that – THAT will allow these precious ones to blossom and bloom… a loving family will be the water with sugar which will enable them to stand up tall and proud, no longer wilted or stunned or unwanted.

So open your hearts to these orphans: love them, pray for them, advocate for them, adopt them…

MEET LANGLEY

Birthdate: October 2007
Gender: Male
Eyes: Blue
Hair: light brown
Nature: Quiet
Diagnosis: Down syndrome
From one of our adoptive families who met him in December 2011: ” I saw him today. After days of scanning faces, I walked into Bella’s groupa and SAW HIM!! He is a doll. He is so cute! He looks healthy and is walking. I had a banana for Bella (which they wouldn’t let me give it to her) and he took it. He bit right through the peeling. If they would have let me, I would have given it to him. Oh sweet boy…you need a mama!!!”
Friendly, emotional, affectionate boy. Active, social, friendly. Easy going. Eats well independently. Plays well with toys and likes to help others.

REMEMBER MY LITTLE HEATH

PRAY FOR MY LOVELY HEATHER

If you do help any one of these little ones in any way, please do leave a comment below so that i can send you a personal Thank You.

syc