If you can't remember your last birthday, then remember one that sticks in your mind (I know, some of us are getting older and this remembering stuff doesn't go so well anymore).
Here's my last birthday.
Yup. I was in the hospital. It was actually my third day in the hospital due to complications following surgery to remove stones from my right kidney. I was in a lot of pain and on both oral and IV pain medications. The machine that dripped antibiotics and saline into my veins would start beeping frequently - every time I moved my arm the wrong way. Notice how I'm holding it out straight there? I was trying to avoid the beeping, which I would then have to page a nurse to stop... even at 4:00 in the morning.
But then... check out all those presents! They were wrapped and lovingly loaded into a huge thirty-one bag by my mom, and brought to me at the hospital early that morning. Even more astonishing, after having been by my side as long as visiting hours would allow the previous two days (leaving the hospital after 9 pm the day before my birthday), she also brought my favorite homemade chocolate caramel cake that she had made after she got home the previous night. Complete with candles and ice cream.
We shared cake and ice cream with the nurses and the other patients on the ward, as well as their guests. Other nurses came into my room to join in singing Happy Birthday.
I turned 24 in the hospital.
It was an improvised birthday.
It wasn't the one I had planned.
But I was lucky. I was blessed with people who were willing to do whatever it took to make it special.
In about five hours, it will be August 23, 2013, in a certain Eastern European country.
What's so significant about that?
Many people would probably say 'nothing'.
But not me. That day is special to me.
It's someone's birthday.
"Just an orphan" they might say. "One of thousands."
"An idiot child" they might say. "Nothing will become of him."
But they're wrong. Because twelve years ago, God saved this little boy, nicknamed "Brett", from certain death.
You see, Brett was born in a field in the country and immediately abandoned by his birth mother. Maybe she knew he had down syndrome. Maybe she didn't. All the same, she left that little baby there to die.
But a stranger came upon that baby hours later, whose cries had grown weak, who was now hypothermic and covered in bug bites. That stranger took the baby in his arms and sought help. Maybe he knew he had down syndrome. Maybe he didn't. All the same, that stranger saved Brett's life.
He was taken to the hospital. The doctors nursed him back to health. Then, as a child without parental care, and a child with a special need that was not widely accepted by the citizens of that country, there was no place for him to go but the orphanage.
Brett spent three years in the orphanage. In his country, after a child's third birthday, if they remain an orphan, they are to be sent to an older child orphanage, or to a mental institution. Brett drew the short straw. He was sent to a mental institution. From what we know, it is a very rural one, probably lacking in resources, most definitely unseen by many outside eyes.
That is where he was when this picture was taken for his adoptable child profile - the picture that sat on Reece's Rainbow for years.
That is the picture I saw a year and a half ago... and fell in love with. I could just see those little arms reaching up for a hug.
But years passed. Birthdays passed. We finally got an updated photo... one that is not horrifying as some we have seen, but that made me sad all the same, to know that the sweet little boy in the photo had to do all that growing up without a mommy or a daddy. This is Brett today.
And on August 23, 2013, he will be twelve years old.
But there won't be cake or candles. There won't be assorted gift wrapped packages. There won't be a mommy to pack up a birthday in a bag and bring it to the institution where Brett currently resides.
It will just be another day. Another orphan who is another year older. No one to care.
Even in a hospital bed, in tremendous pain, I had a better birthday than Brett has ever had.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Imagine, as a child, spending your birthday with no cake, no presents... not even someone who loved you.
It's not fair.
And there's only one way to change it.
Mommy, Daddy, this little boy is crying out for your love and attention. Please don't look the other way. Don't be afraid because Brett is 'older'. He is mentally still a small child. He is friendly. It is said by those who have met him that he is not aggressive and would likely do very well in a family.
He just needs to be given a chance.
If I could adopt him myself, I'd have done it already. By the rules of both my country and his, I am too young.
For those of us who know we cannot personally adopt him, we at least could offer Brett a birthday present... maybe a little donation to his Reece's Rainbow FSP, to help the family that does step up to adopt him? That can be done here.
But this is not the case for all of you. Some of you have the power to rescue Brett. The requirements to adopt from his country are very do-able, as international adoptions go:
- 2 trips, 5 days each
- Approx cost only $19-25k! (depends on how many people travel, time of year for travel, etc)
- NO UPPER AGE LIMIT
- Single mothers may apply
- Easy dossier, very few restrictions
- Only one parent has to travel
CANADIAN FAMILIES WELCOME!
Please, won't you help me make sure he never has to spend another birthday in that stark, cold institution?
Remember... EVERYONE can do SOMETHING.
Pray... Share... Advocate... Give... Adopt... SAVE A LIFE.
Thank you for bringing this sweetie pie to my attention! Praying with you that this is his last birthday without a family.
ReplyDelete