31 for 21: Day 24 Looking After the Orphans.....

while the future for a child with Down syndrome born in the united states is virtually limitless, with so many opportunities available to them, the future for little ones born with Ds in other countries, particularly eastern european countries like the ukraine, is bleak.  for the most part, they are left at the hospital at birth, then placed in orphanages until the age of 4 or 5, at which point they are often transferred to mental institutions with little hope for a future.  reece's rainbow is an international down syndrome orphan ministry that seeks to match forever families with these precious children.   in the tremendous online Ds community that i am involved with, there are many families who are in the process of adoption through reece's rainbow.  we are admonished in Scripture to care for orphans: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27)


the cornish family has already adopted two children from the ukraine, are currently adopting a child with Ds in florida, and are in the process of adopting at least one, possibly two more children with special needs from the ukraine. to learn more about their adoption journey, visit their blog:  http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/ or watch their video testimony: 

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

this poem, written by meredith, poignantly shares the plight of these little ones.

"While We Were..."

       by Meredith Cornish

While we were eating…

… they were hungry

While we were playing…

… they were restrained

While we were tucking our kids into bed…

… they were alone

While we turned up the heat…

… they laid in the icy cold

While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers…

… they laid in their own excrement

While we sang songs and listened to music…

… they listened to the screams and cries of those around them

While we rocked our babies…

… they silently rocked themselves

While we hugged our kids…

… they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation

While we cried over scraped knees…

… they moaned in their loneliness

While we brushed our daughters’ beautiful hair…

… they had their heads shaven to stave off the lice

While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment…

… they got the flu and went Home.

No longer suffering… but so many more still are.

In memory of those that have never felt the love of a family, but have passed away alone.

as painful as this is to read, i could not participate in 31 for 21 without blogging about the needs of these children.   it is amazing how God is at work in the lives of so many families who are already blessed with a little one with Ds, who are doing everything within their power to adopt and save other little ones with Ds!  


"Once our eyes are opened, we can not pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." (Proverbs 24:12)