Bringing home Bethany and Hannah

I'm sure some of you follow the blog Room For More or have noticed the button I have on my blog for Bethany and Hannah. (Another sweet Bethany!). I've been following the journey of this family who is adopting both girls from Eastern Europe. They have Down Syndrome and I've learned that orphans like Bethany and Hannah who don't find loving homes by the age of 4 to 5 have a very heart-breaking life.

As you can imagine the costs involved are quite overwhelming. Bethany and Hannah are so close to meeting their new family and being brought home but before that can happen, a lot of funds still need to be raised. I haven't been asked to write this, in fact I don't even know this family other than by following their blog. But through the blog, readers are able to see that this family is genuine and are very excited to bring their girls home. There was a recent post about the seemingly huge hurdle they are facing financially. It seems that most of the "work" is done, and now it comes down to waiting, travel and money.

So far they believe that God has been the director of the adoptions and has helped to make sure all of the previous steps have been met. They are sure He will continue to help, but at the same time so can others. While checking out their blog you'll see many ways to help with fundraising. Etsy stores and other companies are donating portions of sales to help fund the adoptions. And the big sisters are working on some really neat projects for the girls that are also fundraisers.

On a personal note, this family has opened my eyes to these orphans and I have definitely been touched by them. These sweet little ones have such a hard road ahead of them if they aren't adopted in time. Time in their cases is very short.

In many countries these children are put in institutions if not adopted by the age of 4 or 5 and that is how they spend the rest of their lives. I guess sanitariums like mental hospitals! That's it. Forever. There is very little attention given to them let alone love and affection. It is really heartbreaking. To learn more check out Reece's Rainbow. How I wish I could bring these children home as part of my family. Unfortunately for me, the ability to do that seems so daunting and impossible. I believe that having had a diagnosis of cancer rules me out automatically in a lot of countries. But also, and this affects everyone is the expenses involved. It is so incredibly expensive.

This makes me angry. Admittedly, I am not on the up and up with all that's involved. I do understand that there are processes and costs that go along with adoption. And ideally the adoption agency wants to make sure the children are going to be placed in a capable and loving home. However with such a bleak future for these children if unadopted coupled with the short time limits for adoption to occur, I can't understand why these countries are so picky?! Their system for dealing with these orphans appears to be absolutely cruel and wrong. Seems to me that they should be thankful for those who want to adopt instead of making the process difficult and expensive. Sorry for the negative opinion. I just feel so sad for these children. I also definitely admire and applaud families who face what may seem like road blocks at every turn and keep moving forward busting through each barrier!

So I guess that there are a couple things I can do, I can help this particular family and spread the word to others. I can bring a general awareness of the situation as a whole. And I can ask others to do the same. It's a sad, unfortunate situation. But together we can hopefully help to make things a little better!