Remember Annie? The little girl who was a spitting image of my sweet A?
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| Left: My A. Right: "Annie #40-4" |
Annie has been transferred to a mental institution. She is eight and a half. Just barely younger than my dear A was when I said goodbye to her two years ago.
My A was one of the strongest people I ever met. She had more courage in her pinky finger than men four times her age and ten times her size. She faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles and still managed to find joy in every place she went. When she loved, she loved fiercely, determinedly, loyally. When she hurt, she tried to hold it in... but eventually she started letting me be there for her... and every time she broke down in my arms, I broke down just as much or more on the inside. When she hurt, I hurt with her. I still hurt with her.
I couldn't help A. She told me a terrible secret, and I promised to try to help. I did what I thought was the right thing. Even when that failed, I kept trying until my options were exhausted. In the end, there was nothing I could do to help her, and that tears me to shreds to this day.
We can still help Annie.
She can be adopted. Loved. Treasured. Comforted. Just like my A was in the days she spent with me.
But she needs US. She needs us to share her photo, her story - so that her family might see her and move to bring her home. She needs us to help raise the funds to ransom her from the mental institution where she will spend the rest of her life if not adopted. She needs us to storm Heaven on her behalf.
It's 5:00 am and I'm lying in a hospital bed, unable to sleep, crying both for my little girl and for a little girl halfway across the world who I have never met. I feel like I've failed them both. I tried to advocate for both of them. I prayed for both of them. I swore I would help both of them. And I thought, for a while, that at least I would be able to help Annie in honor of my A. I tried. But it wasn't enough.
Maybe if I had screamed louder, prayed more, worked harder, the family that committed to Annie wouldn't have suffered the financial troubles that caused them to have to release her. Maybe if I had done more, she wouldn't be sitting in a mental institution right now.
I failed A. I have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life. I can't live with the guilt of having failed Annie too.
Transferred. To a mental institution.
Please help me help her. Please share her. Donate to her grant if you can. I'm begging you. Since I was admitted to the hospital yesterday everyone has asked me what they could do, and this is it. Share Annie. Share this post. Donate to her grant. Order a bracelet from my facebook shop so that I can donate to Annie. Just help me get her home. That's all I want.
http://reecesrainbow.org/14083/annie-40-4
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