Category: Prayers For

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A Light…

A week or so ago, i was wondering if i should carry on with my posts for special needs orphans. i wasn’t really considering stopping, it was just a stray thought which entered my brains, making me wonder…

God set me straight – i opened my email that morning and this was the first thing i read:

Light your candle again, and thank God that his light can reach into the darkest places. Pray for children who are abused or neglected and do not know love.

God is good. All the time. Amen.

1 John 3:21 – 23 says:

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

That day’s Bible reading goes on to talk about how the Christian Faith is Love! To love because God first loved us and gave His Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins that we might have live and a personal relationship with Him.

So with renewed assurance that God will shine His Light and with God’s love in my heart, i would like you to get to know little Benji.

Sweet Benji is waiting for his forever family.

Benji is 2 years old and has Down Syndrome. He does not have a family who will care for him and provide him the opportunity to thrive. He lives in an orphanage at the moment. However, in his home country, because of his Down Syndrome, he will be transferred to an adult mental institution at the age of 4; in 2 years time!

Benji does not belong in an institution. He belongs with a mummy and a daddy who loves him and can help him live a fulfilling life. He is so full of potential. His file says he is kind, affectionate and curious, just like any other little boy. He can roll over and has started to crawl. He can focus on a moving toy and grab it and hold on for some time. And he is also making sounds.

There are so many things he can do. But it seems that he has been judged by the things he can not do. That’s just not a fair or complete way of seeing a child.

He needs a caring family who would see his good points and help him work on where he might be lacking. Could you be that family? If your heart is saying yes, then do consider making him part of your family. This is a great age to include him into a family. Please contact Reece’s Rainbow for details.

If you are not called to adopt (not everyone is), then there are other ways to help Benji. Please share his story so that his forever family can find him. Please do pray for him; pray for his daily needs and most of all, pray for a family to bring him home.

You can also donate to his adoption grant so that his forever family can reach him faster. Click on his name or picture to go to his profile page to donate.

Thank you for your kind attention and every effort to help Benji is greatly appreciated.

syc

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Please Allow Me to Introduce…

… Wesley to you. My son and i are praying for him.

12-year-old Wesley needs a family to help him live life to the fullest.

Wesley is an orphan. He wasn’t always one. He spent the first 6 years of his life with his family. And then according to his records, he was abandoned. i can not imagine what that feels like for a little boy of 6. i can not imagine what went through his head when he finally figured out that he wasn’t going home. My heart just breaks.

i have a vague idea why he was abandoned. i believe that he was left because of his special need, which in my opinion isn’t much of a special need. He has albinism and vision issues as a result of his albinism.

However, i think that in his country his condition is not accepted and could likely have been a cause for ridicule and bullying and even family shame. So he had to go. Sad, but that’s how cruel society can be sometimes.

Most people know or have an idea of what albinism is. It is a condition where there is a lack of pigmentation in skin, eyes and hair. So most people with this condition have milky white or very light colour skin (or lighter than other family members), usually blond or very light coloured hair (sometimes it can be brown, depending on the type of albinism) and their eye colour can vary from blue to pinkish or red, sometimes white.

There are associated health issues with albinism. Vision problems is the big one. Because of the lack of pigmentation, the iris in the eye can not protect the retina and this makes them sensitive to light and can cause squinting. It can also cause reading problems. Sometimes the eyes also develop addition conditions such as nystagmus.

Wesley has albinism but he is also a little boy who needs a family to love him, to let him that he is loved even though he may look different. He needs a mum and dad who will support him and encourage him to be everything he can be.

i like what it says on the kidshealth.org page about albinism:

Except for eye problems, most people with albinism are just as healthy as anyone else.

Wesley has nystagmus but that does not mean he has to lead less of a life. This is what allaboutvision.com website says:

  • Don’t lower your expectations for your child. Most people with nystagmus can see, learn and interact well enough to lead very normal lives.
  • Be positive. Nystagmus, while a visible “disability,” is not the end of the world. As they grow up, children with nystagmus need help in understanding why their eyes are different. Reassure children that nystagmus won’t stop them from being normal kids and normal adults.
See how positive he seems, even though he has waited so long. i just know he is a sweet child and can be a wonderful addition to a family.

So can you see that Wesley is as healthy as the next child, except that his skin, hair and eye colour are different and his eyesight isn’t great?

Please pray for Wesley – i’m amazed that with what he has been through that he still has a gentle temperament, is polite and sensible, and gets along well with others. Pray that his forever family comes for him so that he can have the opportunity to lead a full life. His albinism shouldn’t be a factor that he misses out in life, his vision problems can be helped, if not corrected.

His file says that he likes watching cartoons, listening to stories with peers, playing games with kids outdoors, likes playing balls and toy cars best. Just like any other little boy. Could he be your little boy? He has been waiting 6 long years for a family to love him, just as he is. Please step up if God is leading to be part of this boy’s life. Contact Reece’s Rainbow for more details.

In his country, there is little chance that he will be chosen for adoption because he stands out so much in appearance. However, in a society that might be more accepting of his condition, he could thrive. That would likely mean international adoption, which would costs an arm and a leg (almost literally); anywhere from US$25,000 to US$45,000.

Please do not let a lack of funds stop Wesley from having a family. He has a very small adoption grant at the moment. You can help by contributing to that grant and help lessen the burden of his forever family reaching him. Click on his name or picture to donate.

Thank you so much for your kind attention. And if you do make a contribution to Wesley‘s grant, please leave a comment below. i would like to send you a thank you gift.

syc

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Seeing and Hearing Clearly…

This photo was updated in 2011. Such big beautiful blue eyes with such wonderful potential.

That’s what this little guy would like – i think… but i know that what he wants most, what he needs most is a loving family. A family to call his own, a family who would call him their son, their brother, a family who would help him to see clearly the beauty of life and hear well the sounds of joy.

This little guy’s name is Beckett. He is 3 years old and lives in an institute. His special needs are some vision loss in one eye and some hearing loss in one ear. He has NO other special needs. He is otherwise healthy!

How many of you have heard of or even seen with your own eyes, visually impaired or  hearing impaired persons living a full life? We all know that these are minor, treatable special needs in light of today’s advance medicine.

But without a caring family to encourage him, to support him in his minor medical needs, Beckett may never have the opportunity to live that full life.

Please pray for Beckett that his forever family finds him. Pray that his daily needs are met.

Please share his story so that his adoptive family might notice and come for him.

This is an updated photo – 2012. Can you see that little spark has lessen? This boy needs his family to come for him today.

Have you ever considered that maybe you could be the one to give this little guy just that opportunity in life? An opportunity to have a family? Are you his family? If this thought ever occurred to you, please contact Reece’s Rainbow for more details.

Having enough funds or a lack of funds is always a factor in adoptions, especially in international adoptions which can costs up to US$45,000, depending on the country and region. So i also would like to appeal to you to help grow Beckett‘s adoption grant. A bigger grant means less of an obstacle for his family to reach him. Click on his name or his picture to get to donate button.

Thank you very much.

syc