ADOPTION NEWS FROM MARTHA OSBORNE AT RAINBOWKIDS.COM

I'm inspired by people like Andrea Roberts of Reece's Rainbow. Once upon a time, she was "just a mom" advocating for orphans with Down Syndrome. Today, after finding homes for over 350 children born with DS, she is the light in the darkness for hundreds of waiting children.

November kicks off the Christmas Angel Tree, where families may view, sponsor, or even consider the adoption of a waiting child with DS. "I think the most important thing we want folks to know is that they don't have to adopt to make a difference," Andrea told us, "raising awareness through blogs, Yahoo, Facebook, You Tube, family friends....every one of those efforts can change the course of a child's life. It really is that easy."

Back From Eastern Europe!

Had a great first trip to Eastern Europe! We spent 2 visits with Marco and Ruben got to meet him and was very pleased. He is a great kid. Here we are with him and some jet lag...

We had straight through flights with Aerosvit which was pretty reasonable and we were very satisfied..No complaints at all. Will take them again if it works out, but not sure with our next confusing trip because I will stay longer than hubby and then Marco will join me for the ride home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We love our facilitator & translator..they are very nice people. We had a cute little studio apartment right in the middle of everything and hope to have the same one or close to it again next trip. Marco was so happy to see us and signed the documents to be adopted very quickly! He also was introduced to an Italian family last month but refused. That's my BOY!! He is smart, calm and happy. He is very grateful for little things. I would have loved to bring him a hand held game but right now we need to keep sacrificing to just get him home. This would have occupied him while he waits for us because he mentioned he waited so long.. We explained his country and we must follow the process and rules & it takes time. Now with the Moratorium possibly coming soon we hope & pray it will miss us and we can get him out with no glitches. We are waiting for our interpol clearance to be approved and then our court date..
Looking forward to getting him home & be done traveling and enjoy Christmas. Our kids are very excited to meet him and have also sacrificed in many ways. I am so proud of them and how they have done through all our adoptions.
We got to meet a few families from Reeces Rainbow also adopting. We had a nice time eating and spending time with them.

Having recently been named Humanitarian of the Year by the Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce, Susan Folk has a modest opinion of the designation.

"It struck me as, 'Well, isn't this the way people are supposed to be?'" said the executive director of Developmental Education Services (DES) of Monroe County.

She was honored with the award during a special Chamber of Commerce celebration last week.

"I think it would be a very difficult award to give, because I know I'm certainly not alone in what I do," she said.

Folk certainly has a lot to be proud of, however.

Her dedication to special-needs individuals has led to more opportunities for them in the Monroe County area.

Since taking on the role of executive director 17 years ago, her achievements include creating a successful community recycling program that provides jobs for those with developmental disabilities, teaming up with the Kiwanis Club of the Stroudsburgs to create a community club and holding a monthly dance for special-needs individuals at the CLU Club in East Stroudsburg.

Developmental Education Services of Monroe County offers day programs to county residents with developmental disabilities. Services include instruction in grooming and hygiene, health and physical fitness, nutrition and cooking, computer learning and social development.

"I'm always thinking, 'What can we do next that's really going to help us be part of the community?'" Folk said.


Working together
She wants people to understand those with disabilities are just like everyone else — a goal she is accomplishing by getting her clients out into their community.

The Aktion Club, a result of her partnership with the Kiwanis Club, is open to anyone who wants to join, but has provided many opportunities for special-needs people.

Earlier this year, the group raised money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. In 2005, it sent more than 100 care boxes to a developmental disabilities agency in Louisiana.

"I think the community is a better place because of us. I think now the stigma of having a disability is less than it was before," Folk said.

The Community Partners in Recycling program Folk helped start eight years ago has also been successful in getting clients into the community.

The commercial recycling program has bins in several hundred locations throughout Monroe County and provides a confidential shredding service.

Since the program began, several clients were able to move on to other jobs and out of their group homes, Folk said.

Money raised from the recycling program goes toward rent for DES's Lindbergh Avenue location, and will fund renovations to the Avenue C building.

"I just have a knack for seeing the potential in a client. It brings me such joy to see them succeed," Folk said, but it wasn't until after high school and a yearlong stint as a nurse that she realized she would enjoy working with special-needs people.

New project to improve support for people with Down syndrome in Ukraine
Together with the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation and the Nordic IT company EDB Business Partner, Down Syndrome Education International has embarked on a major new project to improve support for people with Down syndrome and their families in Ukraine. This three year project will deliver information resources, advice and education services, and will encourage social and political change to improve the lives of the estimated 10,000 people living with Down syndrome across Ukraine.



Down Syndrome Education International has embarked on a 3-year partnership project with the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation and EDB to improve support for people with Down syndrome and their families in Ukraine.



Few babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in Ukraine return home with their parents. Most are confined to baby hospitals and then orphanages.





The Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation is renovating a building where it will base its services.



This Corporate Social Responsibility partnership project will leverage financial support, volunteering and expertise from EDB and its Ukrainian subsidiary company Infopulse



Down Syndrome Education International will provide expert consulting and training services to support the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation develop education and advice services, and information resources




Down Syndrome Education International has agreed a three year partnership project agreement with the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation and EDB Business Partner to provide expert guidance, information and consulting services in support of a three year project that aims to improve healthcare and education for people with Down syndrome and provide better support for their families living in Ukraine. Few babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in Ukraine return home with their parents, and those who do receive limited support. Most children with Down syndrome are confined to baby hospitals and then orphanages. Many die young.

Supporting the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation
Based in Kyiv, the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation (UDSO) is a small charity that is working to provide better support for people with Down syndrome and their families. EDB Business Partner is a leading Nordic IT company with significant investments in Ukraine. As part of EDB's commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, DownsEd, UDSO and EDB have developed a partnership project that will leverage financial support, volunteering and expertise from EDB and its Ukrainian subsidiary company Infopulse, and expertise from DownsEd, to help UDSO to expand to provide ongoing support and services across Ukraine.

Sergey Kuryanov, President of the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation, commented "As a father, I know how difficult it is to get knowledgeable healthcare, early intervention and education for children with Down syndrome in Ukraine. Families are encouraged to abandon their children when they are diagnosed. We want to change this. We want to ensure that people understand Down syndrome and that better support is provided. We are very excited to have secured this support from EDB and Down Syndrome Education International. We could not have wished for more supportive or better qualified project partners."

Delivering new services in Ukraine
One of the first goals of the project is to launch parent support and early intervention and education services for families in Kyiv, and advice and information services serving families across the country, later this year. Together with funding recently pledged by the International Women's Club of Kyiv, UDSO is renovating a building from where it will base its services. The Ukrainian charity will appoint a Services Director and professional staff to lead these services in the next few months.

Laxmi Akkaraju, Senior Vice President of Global Sourcing, EDB Consulting Group, commented "EDB aims to meet its social responsibilities through initiatives that are tailored to our core operations - IT - and our primary locations - the Nordic countries, India and Ukraine. We are committed to ‘build competence' at all levels of our community involvement. We believe that this is an area in which we can make a positive contribution not only financially, but also through applying our competence and knowledge to the benefit of society. We are delighted to be working closely with the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation and Down Syndrome Education International to deliver lasting and meaningful social change in the communities in which we work."

Bringing corporate expertise and resources
The project will offer opportunities for in-kind support utilising EDB and Infopulse Ukraine core competencies in IT as well as volunteering from EDB and Infopulse staff to work directly with children, adults and their families in Ukraine.

Andrey Anissimov, Managing Director, Infopulse Ukraine, an EDB Business Partner subsidiary, commented "This is an important project that promises to deliver much needed change for people with Down syndrome in Ukraine and for their families. Infopulse is proud to be supporting this work in Kyiv and across the country."

Expert support to build local capacity
Down Syndrome Education International will provide training and support for UDSO's staff to help them deliver effective, evidence-based services. Over the three years of the project, DownsEd will help UDSO build local capacity and establish itself as a key provider of advice, information and services to people with Down syndrome and their families throughout Ukraine.

Frank Buckley, CEO of Down Syndrome Education International, commented "We are delighted to be able to support this project. We have worked closely with EDB and families in Ukraine to develop thorough plans to deliver improved services that will meet local needs. The Corporate Social Responsibility approach has worked exceptionally well - not only bringing finance, but also expertise and local knowledge from EDB and Infopulse. This has added tremendous value to the project as a whole."

Infopulse staff provided advice and local expertise throughout the project planning process and Infopulse specialists are now developing a new website for the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation.

As well as helping families who have chosen to look after their children, the project aims to improve healthcare and education for babies, children and adults living in institutions across Ukraine.

September conference and project launch event
On 22 September 2010, the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation will host a one day conference for families, education and healthcare professionals, policymakers and other NGOs to provide information about Down syndrome, effective early intervention, education and healthcare, to introduce the project and to launch the charity's new services.

Speakers at the conference will include Professor Sue Buckley OBE, Chief Scientist at Down Syndrome Education International and Emeritus Professor of Developmental Disability and the University of Portsmouth, UK, and an internationally-recognised expert on development, education and support for young people with Down syndrome. Also presenting will be Dr Phillip Mattheis, a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, USA. Dr Mattheis is a leading authority on healthcare for people with Down syndrome, a long standing member of the US Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group and a founder member of the International Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group.

Announcing Ukrainian Down Syndrome Development Fund
Together with Down Syndrome Education USA, Down Syndrome Education International and Down Syndrome Education USA have also today launched the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Development Fund to receive donations to specifically support the work of the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation. Donations given to this fund will be directly used to support the development of services to support people with Down syndrome and their families throughout Ukraine. Donors can give online to Down Syndrome Education International or to Down Syndrome Education USA to contribute to this fund. For information about additional ways to give, please contact us.

Further information
The Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation
The Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organisation is a Ukrainian charity. It was founded in Kyiv by parents of children with Down syndrome with the aim of helping people with Down syndrome and other genetic disorders and their families. The charity is working to provide high quality information and services for people with Down syndrome and their families, and to encourage more positive attitudes towards people with disabilities throughout Ukraine.

EDB
EDB is one of the largest IT groups in the Nordic countries, with nearly 50 years' experience of serving leading Nordic businesses. The company delivers solutions that cover the entire range of business-critical IT services from application services and industry-specific solutions through to IT operating services and network solutions. EDB's ambition is help its customers create added value both by cutting IT costs and realising the potential that new opportunities offer. EDB has about 6,000 employees working from locations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Ukraine, Great Britain and India, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. EDB has a turnover of NOK 8 billion (€1 billion).

Infopulse
Founded in 1992, Infopulse Ukraine is one of the leading Ukrainian software development companies and IT services providers. In 2007 Infopulse became a part of EDB group.

Located in Kyiv, Zhytomir and Luhansk, Infopulse employs more than 600 expert professionals. Infopulse provides the full range of services and solutions for a variety of industry verticals including: banking and finance, telecommunications, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and others. Infopulse is a subsidiary company of EDB Business Partner ASA.

Down Syndrome Education International
Down Syndrome Education International (DownsEd) is the leading global nonprofit serving young people with Down syndrome and their families. The UK-based charity works to ensure successful education for young people with Down syndrome through scientific research and evidence-based information and support services.

For 30 years, the charity has advanced scientific research investigating language, cognition, memory and speech development, literacy, numeracy, and education, developing teaching techniques that improve the lives of many thousands of people living with Down syndrome today.

Today, Down Syndrome Education International works in partnership with Down Syndrome Education USA, a US-based nonprofit organisation, to support families, teachers and therapists, researchers and organisations in over 180 countries, helping more than 100,000 people each year.

Further information
For further information about Down Syndrome Education International's work in Ukraine or about our global initatives to support young people with Down syndrome in low and middle countries

REECES RAINBOW HERO OF THE YEAR!

Your votes added up to 30% and Andrea Roberts begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting has won the PEOPLE Magazine HERO of the Year!

More details and some other things to come... but

Congratulations Andrea and Reece's Rainbow!

Reece's Rainbow: We won!!

Reece's Rainbow: We won!!

Down Syndrome Slide Show

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
In 1950, when Marybeth Solinski was born, a diagnosis of Down syndrome was practically a death sentence.
Children with the condition often died before their 10th birthday.

PHOTOS: Marybeth Solinski turns 59 with Down syndrome
CAREGIVERS: Face new challenges as people with Down syndrome age
Yet Solinski, at 59, has outlived her parents. She has even joined AARP.

Her longevity illustrates the dramatic progress for people with Down syndrome. Thanks to better medical care, the average life expectancy for a child with Down syndrome is now 60 years, according to the National Down Syndrome Society, which estimates that about 400,000 people are living with the condition in the USA.

As they live longer, adults with Down syndrome — who have an extra copy of chromosome 21 — are teaching scientists about the genetic roots of aging, says Ira Lott, head of pediatric neurology at the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine.

Scientists today are searching this chromosome, which contains only about 200 of the body's roughly 20,000 genes, to learn why people with Down syndrome suffer disproportionately from some health problems, such as Alzheimer's disease, but are spared many others, such as heart attacks, strokes and certain types of cancer.

By studying adults with Down syndrome, researchers hope to find new ways to combat diseases of aging in the larger population as well, Lott says.

"It's an interesting detective story," says Lott, head of the science advisory board of the National Down Syndrome Society. "People with Down syndrome are unique when it comes to many aspects of aging."

Aging troubles start early

People with Down syndrome tend to age prematurely as they develop conditions such as menopause, brittle bones, arthritis, hearing loss, wrinkles and sagging skin about two decades earlier than usual, says Brian Chicoine, medical director of the adult Down syndrome center at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., the leading center of its kind.

"People say they seem to age overnight," says Dennis McGuire, director of psychosocial services at the same center. "They suddenly develop wrinkles and gray hair."

Solinski, for example, wears a brace on one leg and hearing aids in both ears, and she has had two corneal transplants. "She's more like a 79-year-old than a 59-year-old," says her sister, Lee Cornell of Illinois.

Yet researchers suspect that this unique genetic profile also protects people with Down syndrome from many common ailments. A growing number of researchers are asking:

•What protects their hearts?

Half of babies with Down syndrome are born with correctable heart defects, and most adults with Down syndrome are overweight with high cholesterol. Despite these risks, however, people with Down syndrome virtually never develop high blood pressure, heart attacks or hardening of the arteries, Lott says. Doctors are still trying to learn why.

•Why don't they get cancer?

Doctors once believed that people with Down syndrome didn't live long enough to develop cancer, says Sandra Ryeom, a researcher at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia

Yet, with the exception of a rare pediatric leukemia, even elderly adults with Down syndrome rarely develop solid tumors, such as those of the breast or lung.

Last May, Ryeom and her colleagues found genes on the 21st chromosome that inhibit the growth of blood vessels necessary for tumor growth. Getting an extra copy of these genes, and possibly others, may help the body keep cancers in check by depriving them of blood, she says.

Researchers already are trying to develop anti-cancer treatments based on genes found on chromosome 21, says Roger Reeves of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

•What protects their eyes?

Although people with Down syndrome are at higher risk for cataracts, they rarely develop a form of blindness called macular degeneration, caused by an overgrowth of blood vessels in the retina, Ryeom says. Doctors suspect that the same genes that restrict blood vessel growth in tumors may also prevent abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye.

A link to Alzheimer's?

•Why do Down syndrome patients develop early Alzheimer's disease?

Adults with Down syndrome appear to develop the brain plaques and tangles characteristic of Alzheimer's disease very early in life — even as young as 3 or 4 years old. For decades, however, their brains also appear to repair and compensate for the damage, says scientist Elizabeth Head of the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

"Their brains may be clearing the plaques," says Head, who is now recruiting Down syndrome patients for a study on biomarkers of Alzheimer's. "As they get older, this protective process slows down."

By age 40 to 45, virtually everyone with Down syndrome has these plaques and tangles, although only 12% have dementia, Lott says. By age 65, up to 75% of people with Down syndrome have dementia.

Significantly, doctors have found a gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer's, called APP, on the 21st chromosome, Lott says. The gene, called amyloid precursor protein, is involved in the creation of the brain plaques seen in Alzheimer's patients. People who inherit mutated copies of these genes may develop Alzheimer's disease decades earlier than usual, says William Mobley, a neuroscience professor at the University of California-San Diego.

Yet not all people with Down syndrome succumb. One of Chicoine's patients lived to 83 without dementia.

Solinski, of Chicago, loves learning so much that she takes flash cards on vacation. She pores over children's encyclopedias and Nancy Drew novels. She is learning to cook, she says, to follow in the footsteps of her mother, who died in August at 92. And, she says, "I want to be a great reader like my father."

And Brooklyn resident Edward Barsky is still healthy and independent at 73, living in a group home and navigating public transportation on his own, says his sister, Vicki Ploscowe.

"He's still going strong," says Ploscowe, of Manhattan.

If researchers could learn what protects certain people, they might be able to develop a therapy to prevent Alzheimer's — both in those with and those without Down syndrome, Head says.

Puppies almost here!

Our mini dachshund is almost ready to give birth! She is getting so fat..She should go this week! Anybody who is interested in a pure bread puppy with papers..please email us..they will be ready for Christmas! A percentage of each puppy will go towards the adoption of a little girl from Eastern Europe! rubenandjoann@msn.com

In new Film, Down syndrome is no obstacle to prayer

In new film, Down syndrome is no obstacle to prayer

By Rebecca Wolfson

article created on:

NEW YORK (JTA)—Lior Liebling davens everywhere: in the backyard, in school and on the swing set.

Some congregants at his Philadelphia synagogue, Mishkan Shalom, call him the “little rebbe.”

“The Zohar tells stories of miracle children who were spiritual geniuses,” one synagogue member said. “Well, that’s what Lior is.”

Lior is the 13-year-old featured in the new documentary “Praying with Lior,” which highlights the bar mitzvah of a Jewish child living with Down syndrome. The character study of this charming boy tells of how Lior’s community successfully integrates him into communal life—a challenge many Jewish communities face with mentally and physically disabled members.

Several Jewish institutions, including the Union for Reform Judaism, run programs to improve service to the Jewish disabled, but experts say most Jewish institutions do not do enough to meet their physical, religious and social needs.

“There are people sitting on the outside who desperately want to come in,” said Shelly Christensen, the co-chairwoman of a Reform task force that creates “inclusion committees” for disabled Jews in synagogues, community centers and other Jewish institutions.

While the Jewish community has made progress in recent years, Christensen said, it still has a long way to go in providing disabled members with places to pray, learn and participate.

Down syndrome is of particular concern to Ashkenazim, who are predisposed to the disease; approximately one in 27 carries the gene for Down syndrome.

In “Praying with Lior,” producer and director Ilana Trachtman follows the teenager from his pre-bar mitzvah haircut to the bimah and beyond, checking back with him two years later.

Though he struggles with baseball and schoolwork, Lior is able to pray with sincerity, a feat encouraged by those close to him.

Like Lior’s Reconstructionist community, the children and teachers at Lior’s Orthodox day school admire and accept him.

“There is no such thing as a disabled soul,” Besie Katz, the principal of that school, the Politz Hebrew Academy, told JTA in an interview.

Katz said the students at Politz accepted Lior because while they understood that he had certain limitations, he also had strengths.

“God makes every person with a different test in this world,” one of Lior’s classmates says in the film. “We don’t know what God’s doing. When God made it that Lior has Down syndrome, it also became a test to us—how we treat Lior, if we do things with Lior.”

Politz was able to accommodate Lior in part because of Orot, a special-education initiative that places children with disabilities in Philadelphia’s Jewish day schools. Orot participants typically begin in a secluded learning environment, and in time they experiment with integrated classrooms.

“It is geared for the children to be successful in the mainstream environment,” Beverly Bernstein, the program’s educational director, told JTA.

Orot is modeled on a program called Keshet started 26 years ago by a group of parents frustrated by the lack of Jewish opportunities for their disabled children.

Now those kids are adults, with some participating in Keshet’s transition program for 18- to 22-year-olds. It sets up participants with jobs if they are able to work, and provides recreational programming for young adults.

Orot and Keshet’s biggest challenge, like many Jewish organizations dedicated to inclusion, is funding, organizers say.

They have been helped somewhat by Americans’ growing awareness of people with disabilities, which in turn has raised the consciousness of the issue in the Jewish community.

Birthright Israel and the National Jewish Council for the Disabled, which is part of the Orthodox Union, run a free trip to Israel for disabled Jews. The council also runs summer and work programs for special-needs children and adults.

In the Reform movement, Christensen’s task force encourages synagogue leaders to include disabled members. About half the synagogues in the Minneapolis area, where Christensen lives, now have inclusion committees, she said.

And Jewish communities in Toronto, Los Angeles, Houston and elsewhere are prioritizing the issue by designating staff members to make their institutions more welcoming for people with special needs.

Rabbi Dan Grossman, who spoke on a panel that followed a screening of the film in January at the New York Jewish Film Festival, said he has worked to make his Reconstructionist synagogue, Adath Israel of Lawrenceville, N.J., welcoming by offering seeing-eye dogs, a wheelchair-accessible bimah and half a dozen reserved wheelchair spots in the pews—and not in the back.

Providing a welcoming physical environment is only half the battle, said Grossman, whose hearing impairment made it a struggle for him to become a rabbi.

“Whoever takes the lead role in the congregation needs to take the position that this is important to the identity of the community,” Grossman said of the need to accommodate special-needs members.

“Moses stuttered, Isaac was blind, David was probably hyperactive,” he pointed out.

While the Jewish community has made progress accommodating special-needs children, as Lior’s community did for his bar mitzvah, Lior’s father, Mordechai Liebling, who is a Reconstructionist rabbi, worries that his son will face a tougher environment as he becomes an adult.

Judaism places a high value on scholarliness and education, Rabbi Liebling said, but it's equally important to value people with other abilities.

“I really have a lot of hope,” he said, “that the community will take responsibility and do the right thing.”

“Praying with Lior,” distributed by First Run Features, opens Friday in New York and nationwide in the spring.

SPAGHETTI DINNER FUND RAISER FOR LOCAL FAMILY ADOPTING!!

PLEASE HELP OUT THE FOLIO FAMILY RAISE FUNDS TO BRING HOME THEIR BABY GIRL FROM EASTERN EUROPE! DOWNS CHILDREN IN AMERICA HAVE A WAITING LIST OF FAMILIES WHO ARE PAPER READY TO ADOPT THEM..UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN EASTERN EUROPE..THE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ARE PUT DIRECTLY INTO THE ORPHANAGE AND AT THE AGE OF 5 WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE INSTITUTION...THE CONDITIONS ARE HORRIFIC AND 80 % THE CHILDREN DIE OFF WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR. WE ARE SO HAPPY AND PROUD THIS FAMILY HAS BEEN LED TO ADOPT A CHILD WITH DOWNS AND CLOSE TO WHERE WE ADOPTED OUR 3 LAST GIRLS WITH DOWNS...
THESE CHILDREN ARE BEAUTIFUL & SO SWEET AND BRING SUCH JOY & LAUGHTER TO A FAMILY.
PLEASE COME TO THE FUND RAISERS THAT THIS FAMILY WILL BE HOLDING OR YOU CAN SEND A DONATION IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT..THEIR BLOG ADDRESS IS

www.littleblessingmakesfour.blogspot.com If their chip in is not set up yet it will be shortly...or a button to click to donate through Reeces Rainbow direct and you will receive a receipt.

To watch videos turn off music playlist bottom right by clicking the sideways = sign

Ukranian Polka Band playing "Hot N Cold"

chereshen6ki.wmv

Our friend Pastor Sasha's church visits this orphanage...in Ukraine

Congratulations Folio Family!!

Another local family is adopting from Reeces Rainbow! This is so exciting! Your little Maeve is a doll baby!

Why Rescue Orphans?

Because of the overwhelming need and because God directs us to do so in scripture:
There is no greater gift, one that goes 3 ways, than to adopt a child, with or without special needs. You honor God, you are blessed with an angel in your own life, and you change the course of a child's life forever. If you have any doubts about it, please read below:
"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth" Isaiah 43:5-6
"A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God sets the lonely in families. (Psalms 68:5-6)
"He defends the cause of the fatherless" (Deuteronomy 10:18)
"In you the fatherless find mercy." (Hosea 14:4)
"You are the helpers of the fatherless." (Psalm 10:14)
"It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14)
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27)
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Luke 18:16)
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18)
"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5)
"And Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them." (Mark 10:16)
"Remember those…who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…let us not love with word or tongue, but with action and in truth." (I John 3:16-18)
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35)
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8,9)
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)

WOW Tori has a huge grant!

Tori (9)

Girl, Born October 14, 2005

CP and Spinal Hernia

SIGNIFICANT RISK, PLEASE ADOPT ME SOON!!

This little angel can just light up a room with her smile and her giggle. She is constantly happy, very alert and playful, and is an orphanage favorite. We are waiting for some new photos of her, but she is registered and available to be adopted now! She has had surgery for her spinal hernia (not spina bifida), but it was unsuccessful in her country. She is not able to pull up or stand/walk on her own. We hope she would have much better chances of correction here in the US, but we will not have any x-rays or other records available prior to your trip to share with a doctor for review. She has decompensated hydrocephaly as well.

Children from this orphanage are sent to the institution promptly on their birth date, so we are working hard to prevent that for this little sunshine. She will be bedridden for her short life if she is transferred. Please consider rescuing Miss Tori!


UPDATE: Tori has already been transferred to the institution. It is imperative she be rescued right away.
I have $23,516 in my grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

Down Syndrome

i have a voice

i have a voice - Down syndrome Awareness Project

Thanks for stopping by & visiting our blog..

I love seeing all the visitors from around the world!! England, Ireland, Africa, Ukraine, Australia, Netherlands, Canada & all over the USA and many other countries daily!! I wish I could email with everyone who stops at our blog...Feel free to email us at rubenandjoann@msn.com we can be pen pals!

Company "D"

Who are Company d?
Company d, of Memphis Tennessee is a nationally recognized dance company of young adults with Down syndrome, under the artistic direction of Darlene Winters and choreographer. Company d was founded in 2001 and is committed to creating awareness of the talents and gifts of all individuals.
Through weekly class rehearsals and dedicated practices the dancers have now developed into a company that performs to music that represents many forms of dance including jazz, ballet, and modern. Company d members have learned to work as a team and unite into "one movement" through discipline and commitment. It truly is the spirit and belief of everyone involved that members of Company d not only continue to change and grow in their abilities and artistic skills, but their performances shape and grow their audiences from venue to venue.

"If I could tell you what I mean there would be no point in dancing." -Isadora Duncan

EMILY DOWN SYNDROME ARTIST

Down's syndrome Awareness Montage

For once in his life..He'll know he is so needed and loved by a whole family!

We're coming Marco!

Well we finally got our travel date...We will have Marco home by 1st week of December!
Seems strange but it's really gonna happen!

National Association for Down Syndrome NADS

31 for 21` Challenge

DOXA2010 Monica And David-Trailer 31 for 21 Ocober 15 th

Anything is possible 31 for 21 challenge

Waiting & preparing...

I am still rearranging the furniture & getting the bedroom ready for Marco...I keep changing it to look better each time..Also passes the time away...
Hoping for a travel date this week..if not it's ok because I really wanted to be home for Halloween with the kids..we have a party with the ESU students on October 30 th.. These kids are from the council for exceptional Children...they take the kids & have so much fun with them while the parents get to relax & watch...Respite care! They love when we come because we can supply a lot of kids for them, and I love it so I can watch & enjoy...

"Don't allow the fear of "what if" ruin the joy of "what is". -- Melody Beattie

This just makes advocating for these kids no joke..WOW

I have often thought of adopting Ann Marie and Andrea has even suggested to me to go and get her because it was an easy region...I know we can't save them all but this is heart breaking to many people on our Reeces Rainbow Forum...If you cannot adopt yourself please help a family who is willing by praying for them & making a donation on their family sponsorship page at www.reecesrainbow.org and click committed families and you can pick which one you feel led to help..The Angel Tree is coming up for Christmas and you can donate as little or as much as you want to...

Sad News From Reeces Rainbow...

All, it is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of our sweetest little Anne Marie :(( Jesus will be her Christmas Warrior this year.

Her grant of $1105 of has been shared now with ALEXANDER in the same orphanage. 4 of the older children with DS have already been transferred to the institution now. I know we can't save them all, but this loss really comes as a blow for me. We have been advocating for Anne Marie for SO long.... ;((((((( Your prayers for ALL of the children as they wait and wait and wait.....

For those of you who have signed up to be Christmas Warriors for these kids....the fundraising goal is only $1000, but we all know it costs a LOT more than that to adopt, and that the more grant money a child has, the greater their chances of being chosen. So although your set goal is only $1000, shoot for the moon. Each child deserves nothing less than your absolute best. We have seen MIRACLES in fundraising these last many months, and this year's Angel Tree will be our biggest and most successful EVER with your help.

God bless each of you, and God bless and hold our baby Anne Marie.

God doesn't make mistakes Leonor.wmv

Still Waiting....

No date for SDA yet...should be any day...waiting patiently...sort of...
Starting to pack my suitcase and get things together for the trip...We will be gone for 6 days for our first trip...Then 10-12 days later we will be 3-4 days away..and then back for the pick up of Marco about 12-14 days later. I will happy to be home after 3 trips flying to Europe...LOL But it beats staying away from our family for 5 or more weeks..Last year it was 7 1/2 weeks away and I cannot do that again..I will be taking some donated hair color & my scissors to give the ladies in Vorzel some hair doos..

Ukraine: 42 killed in bus, train collision

Ukraine: 42 killed in bus, train collision
AP



The remains of a bus lay next to a railway train at the site of an accident outside the town of Marhanets, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010. The crowde AP – The remains of a bus lay next to a railway train at the site of an accident outside the town of Marhanets, …

* Train, bus collide in Ukraine Slideshow:Train, bus collide in Ukraine

– 54 mins ago

KIEV, Ukraine – A train crashed into a crowded bus in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, killing 42 people on the bus, including two children, and injuring nearly a dozen others, officials said.

The Interior Ministry said the accident occurred outside the town of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region after the bus attempted to cross the track, ignoring a siren that indicated an oncoming train.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement that two children were among those killed. Police officials had said earlier that 11 survivors were in critical condition with grave injuries.

Rescuers, medics and investigators are working at the scene of the crash. All the casualties were on the bus, railway officials said.

President Viktor Yanukovych declared a national day of mourning Wednesday.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered his government to pay the family of each of the dead victims 100,000 hryvna ($12,600).

He also instructed transport officials to install automated crossing gates at all the nation's railway crossings to prevent cars, buses and trucks from ignoring the siren.

Road and railway accidents are common in Ukraine, where the roads are in poor condition, vehicles are poorly maintained and drivers and passengers routinely disregard safety and traffic rules.

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness month

October is Down syndrome awareness month. A genetic condition generally affecting health and development, Down syndrome occurs when a person has 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. 1 out of every 800 live births result in a child with Down syndrome.

The National Association for Down Syndrome, primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area, encourages families to spread awareness about people who are differently-abled. Their ideas include:

• Distribute NADS posters and bookmarks to area schools, libraries, or businesses (you can order them through the NADS office or the website: www.nads.org)
• Talk to your child’s class
• Write a letter to your local paper
• Organize a special event during October to highlight the gifts of people with Down syndrome
• Organize a “Down Syndrome Awareness Day” at a local restaurant or community event

Use social media as a tool to spread awareness. Find an inspiring quote or story or a video about an individual with Down syndrome. Tweet it or put it on your facebook status. Blog about someone with Down syndrome who has touched your life. Do a search on Google to find out what events are organized in your community. Volunteer to help.

Donate to the Chicagoland Buddy Walk this Sunday, October 10 in Wheaton, Illinois.

For more information and ideas go to the National Association for Down Syndrome

Enjoy this article? Click on the subscribe button at the top of the page to read more from this examiner. Gillian Marchenko

31 for 21 day challenge! Day 11

Love this place....Please turn off the music below to view videos

Misericordia:Disabled Care with Dignity, Chicago

Down Syndrome - Ability Awareness PSA Video Day 10 31 for 21 challenge....I know a day early..might be too busy tomorrow! TV is coming Monday...

Down Syndrome in the 21st Century 31 for 21 challenge

Praise God..Yulia/Julia has a family!

31 for 21 challenge Julie and Derrick Tennant talk about loving your life

World Down Syndrome Day 2010.wmv Poland

Speech in Down syndrome Love this kid... Day 5 31 -21

Meet Jessica! Day 5 31 for 21 challenge

Dreams Day 4 31 for 21 challenge

Day 3 ~ 31 for 21 awareness

Ten things people with Down syndrome would like you to know

BUDDY WALK EAST STROUDSBURG PA

We had a good turn out at our local Buddy Walk..I think our leader expected about 1000 people.. we did the walk around Handing out the Reeces Rainbow Christmas brochures & magnets... Had a few people stop at the table earlier but noticed it was much more effective getting out in the crowds like Andrea suggested, you were right! So will do it this way again next year..Got to talk to a lot of people that way about our own adopted children & we towed them in the little wagon so people could meet them! People seemed open to listen more to the plea for the orphans by them meeting our kids! Some brochures we just handed out... hoping for good exposure for Reeces Rainbow this year with all the Buddy Walks around the globe!

DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOWNS SYNDROME?

Different types of Down syndrome?
First question: "Can you tell me the differences between all 3 (I hope that is right) types of Down Syndrome? I get a little confused on the differences. Thanks so much!"

Thanks for asking, Molette!

Yes, there are three types of Down syndrome:

Trisomy 21, Translocation and Mosiac.

Here's an explanation of the three types from the National Down syndrome Society:

Down syndrome is usually caused by an error in cell division called "nondisjunction." Nondisjunction results in an embryo with three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two. Prior to or at conception, a pair of 21st chromosomes in either the sperm or the egg fails to separate. As the embryo develops, the extra chromosome is replicated in every cell of the body. This type of Down syndrome, which accounts for 95% of cases, is called Trisomy 21.

The two other types of Down syndrome are called mosaicism and translocation. Mosaicism occurs when nondisjunction of chromosome 21 takes place in one-but not all-of the initial cell divisions after fertilization. When this occurs, there is a mixture of two types of cells, some containing the usual 46 chromosomes and others containing 47. Those cells with 47 chromosomes contain an extra chromosome 21. Mosaicism accounts for about 1% of all cases of Down syndrome. Research has indicated that individuals with mosaic Down syndrome may have fewer characteristics of Down syndrome than those with other types of Down syndrome. However, broad generalizations are not possible due to the wide range of abilities people with Down syndrome possess.

Translocation accounts for about 4% of all cases of Down syndrome. In translocation, part of chromosome 21 breaks off during cell division and attaches to another chromosome, typically chromosome 14. While the total number of chromosomes in the cells remain 46, the presence of an extra part of chromosome 21 causes the characteristics of Down syndrome.

Digger & Penny...

Headed to Vorzel for Hairdoos next month..

We don't have our date yet for travel but I got a message today from a girl at the orphanage where my 3 little one came from..The ladies are so excited I will be coming back to do their hair LOL They were so funny..I have to say the best make-overs I ever had the opportunity to do...They were good sports! Here is the FB post from Danielle:

Today the dr had me speak with her daughter on the phone to translate that they want to know when you are coming back. They showed me your picture so that I would understand. What should I tell them? Are you going to be in Kiev next month? I have never seen them so excited when I said that I thought that you were possibly coming back soon. They really like you!
-Danielle

Best& only missionary thing I ever got to do in another country...

Sending a package off to our future son! Still not sure what his name will be.
Marco Yura Torres
Yura Marco Torres

The Ike Special - Varsity Edition (2010)

Adoption Season for Evangelicals

Last Saturday at Grace Chapel in Denver, Focus on the Family (in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Human Services) hosted an information session for parents interested in adopting children out of the foster-care system. More than 150 families were represented and 55 of those have already begun the process. It was a successful and fitting end for the summer of 2010, which turned into a season of adoption for evangelicals.

In May, megachurch pastor Rick Warren held a "civil forum" on the subject. An audience of 800 attended and thousands more watched the webcast from their homes. "Orphans and vulnerable children are not a cause," said Warren. "They are a biblical and social mandate we can't ignore. A country half the size of the U.S—that's how many orphans there are in the world. We're not talking about a small problem."

Adoption was the cover story of Christianity Today in July. It included a feature by Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in which he described in heart-wrenching terms the circumstances of his own adoption of two brothers from a Russian orphanage.

Mr. Moore, the author of a book called "Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches," has become a sort of go-to person for evangelicals on the issue of adoption. In trying to explain why Christians have a particular duty to adopt, he told me that "every one of us who follows Christ was adopted into an already existing family."

Which is to say that unlike Judaism or Islam, faiths that one is born into, Christianity requires each member to have an individual relationship with Christ. And so, in that sense, it is as if each Christian is adopted.

Yet it is the efforts of Focus on the Family, a group which has previously been most known for its political involvement on issues like abortion and gay marriage, that have produced the most striking results so far. The group announced two years ago that it would be devoting a considerable amount of its resources to a new initiative called "Wait No More." Focus is partnering with different state governments—six so far—to reduce the number of children on foster-care roles.

In Colorado alone, Focus has moved about 500 of the 800 kids in foster care into permanent homes over the course of less than two years. The group has had success helping infertile couples desperate for families, but also in placing children with couples who are older, some of whose children have already grown up and left home.

The Focus efforts are particularly interesting because foster kids are typically not young, and often have emotional or even physical problems as a result of a lack of prenatal care, or neglectful birth or foster parents. Sometimes they can only be adopted with siblings, and so a family must take on two or more children at the same time.

Foster children are also likely to be of a different race from their new adoptive parents. As more and more evangelical churches take up the cause of adoption on a large scale, their congregations have begun to look like the multiracial sea of faces that Christian leaders often talk about wanting. But it does involve parents giving up on having children who look like them.

All of this makes the growing evangelical interest in adoption seem particularly countercultural. With the widespread availability of artificial reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization, many couples who previously would have chosen adoption can now use surrogates, donor sperm or donor eggs to have a baby who shares their DNA (or whose DNA they have carefully chosen), and whose prenatal care they can closely monitor. Taking a child as he or she comes to you may be a difficult choice for some parents to make these days.

The contemporary cultural message that we can have complete control over our children goes beyond making sure our babies are healthy and our children are given good moral direction. We take yoga classes with our infants, we attach GPS devices to children's backpacks and we call our kids in college on a daily, if not hourly, basis. There is no doubt that the world can seem a more dangerous place, with too many other influences, particularly new media, trying to exert control over our children. Now that Americans are having fewer children, we fret more over each one, too.

But how much control can we have? A Christianity Today cover story earlier this year on "The Myth of the Perfect Parent" discussed the sense many religious parents have that they've failed if their child strays from the church. Given this backdrop and the wider cultural messages about parenting, one wonders how these evangelical adoptive parents overcome their own desire for control, bring a stranger into their home, and then take responsibility for raising him.

The most persuasive explanation comes from the author of that article, Leslie Leyland Fields, who exhorts her readers: "We are not sovereign over our children—only God is. Children are not tomatoes to stake out or mules to train, nor are they numbers to plug into an equation. They are full human beings wondrously and fearfully made. Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith."

Ms. Riley is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values.

THE CLOWNS OF GOD

This passage is from a book entitled, The Clowns of God, by Morris West. In the
> book, a deposed pope has gone through many trials and tribulations and it is the
> time of the Second Coming. When he meets the Returned Christ, the former pope is
> afraid and unsure much like the apostles when Christ first arose. This passage
> takes place in a mountain hideaway where children from a school for Down
> Syndrome are among those present. The Returned Christ is speaking about one of
> these children as he holds her.
>
>
> "I know what you are thinking. You need a sign. What better one could I give but
> to make this little one whole and new? I could do it; but I will not. I am the
> Lord and not a conjurer. I gave this mite a gift I denied to all of you--eternal
> innocence. To you she looks imperfect--but to me she is flawless, like the bud
> that dies unopened or the fledgling that falls from the nest to be devoured by
> ants. She will never offend me, as all of you have done. She will never pervert
> or destroy the work of my Father's hands. She is necessary to you. She will
> evoke the kindness that will keep you human. Her infirmity will prompt you to
> gratitude for your own good fortune... More! She will remind you every day that
> I am who I am, that my ways are not yours, and that the smallest dust mite
> whirled in the darkest spaces does not fall out of my hand... I have chosen you.
> You have not chosen me. This little one is my sign to you. Treasure her!"
>
> Molly

The Arc PSA - Respect

Advocacy and Resources for Citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities

WOW!! great job, this is a wonderful news! Here is the new legislation that protects people from 18 to 59 years old that suffer from abuse or are neglected. Many of us voted for this change. This is history! Well Done!!

Another great news: as many of you know we are under the umbrella of the ARC of NEPA.
The name ARC, until few weeks ago, stood for Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States.
Now, they have changed their name, not for the first time, but always trying to adapt to the changes made due to the impact that words have in people's lives:


Advocacy and Resources for Citizens with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families.



This is a great improvement in the law that tries to protect and give the same rights to people with intellectual and developmental challenges. Our children are facing a better future thanks to families like you.



Here is the law that made this possible:
Senate Passes Rosa's Law! Critical First Step in Removing Term "Mental Retardation"

Last week, the Senate passed Rosa’s Law, legislation that would remove the term “Mental Retardation” from all federal laws and replace it with the more commonly used term “Intellectual Disability.” CEC has long supported this legislation in the Senate and will now shift its efforts to advocating for its passage in the House.

Rosa’s law is named after Rosa Marcellino, a Maryland girl with Down syndrome. Similar legislation proposed in the House is known as the Elizabeth A. Connelly Act in honor of a former member of the New York Assembly who was influential in pushing for services for those with disabilities. The bills are the same, except for their namesakes.

It is important to point out that this change would not alter the eligibility requirements for any services and supports. It would, however, ensure that current language in all legislation impacting this group of individuals was consistent. CEC believes that replacing antiquated terminology with more common and accurate language is an important and respectful step for people with disabilities.

As this legislation now moves to the House, CEC encourages you to contact your Representative and urge them to co-sponsor this important legislation. Find your elected official by entering your zip code into CEC’s Legislative Action Center and tell them why this is important to you.

We are coming for you soon Funny Boy...

MARCO YURA TORRES teasing me...!

First Day of School!

I had to post this Darlena! This is what it's all about...She looks great & modeling for the camera! Great job you are doing with the Princess..she is so happy!

BUDDY WALK EAST STROUDSBURG PA

Please come join our East Stroudsburg BUDDY WALK at Dansbury Park..Saturday October 2nd 11 am...I'll be at the Reeces Rainbow Table handing out brochures about how you can adopt a child with Down Syndrome and other designer genes...Look for the Big Banner!

From Kim in our Adoption Support Group....

My husband and I had a child with Cockayne syndrome, like Julia…they are precious, sweet spirits. These little ones never weigh very much, when they have the severe type of cockayne like Julia. They are tiny little children with huge hearts! They do have shortened life spans but the journey you take with them is worth it J These children love to be held…

We would grab her in an instant but I just found out about RR only a week ½ ago. When I saw Julia’s face and heard the conditions of her care I was brought to my knees. God told me to DO SOMETHING last week so I started a blog for Julia and a facebook page under Julia’s Hope. Seeing her little face in that crib, knowing what she is capable of if given the chance – this has moved me to tears and action! Trying to get awareness to many, many to help get her into a mommy and daddies arms…soon. If anyone wants to talk to me about the syndrome please feel free – going on a local tv show next week to talk about Julia and RR. It would be wonderful to have a family committed to her by then!!!



Kim

Circle of Hope

(256) 759-2178 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (256) 759-2178      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Serving families of children with life threatening illness

Unique College Experience For Students With Disabilities - Regional News - Poconos, Coal Region Story - WFMZ Allentown

Unique College Experience For Students With Disabilities - Regional News - Poconos, Coal Region Story - WFMZ Allentown

Our Dossier was Submitted!

Our documents were submitted this past Monday..so we are waiting & hoping there are no more found mistakes..Our translator found a couple but was able to fix them. So praying there are no others and our next email is a travel date!

WISH I WOULD HAVE HAD THIS LAST YEAR FLYING HOME WITH 3 TODDLERS FROM THE UKRAINE!

CARES Kids Fly Safe Air Travel Safety Restraint

How You Can Help Children with Down Syndrome

How You Can Help Children with Down Syndrome

Monroe & Mommy

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Meredith finally meets her new future son! This is a beautiful picture of her & Monroe..
He is a beautiful boy and she is looking for a new name for him...This name is just given by Reeces Rainbow to protect the children...She is very anxious to get back to pick him up so they can meet his medical needs...and love him up!

Brian is a beautiful boy in need of a family asap!

Brian is a bundle of love :) Blonde hair and big brown eyes, he is waiting for his family to come for him. He was born with hydronephrosis and does have hypothyroidism.

Brian is already 4 1/2 and needs a family quickly. He can not be adopted from the place he will be sent. He is blessed to still be at the baby house, which is one of the nicer ones. We have had several families adopt from here, and this region is a beautiful place to visit. There are MANY children with Down syndrome and other special needs waiting in this orphanage who can be adopted together.

Hope someone will consider Brian!
I have $4350 in my grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

Hamilton Has a family too!!

The orphanage where we adopted our 3 little Angels from is clearing out! We are so happy about this...Of course it makes room for more children, but they are getting families so fast! This is great news..We are praying also for Anya & Misha & some others there to get a family soon...she was recently visited and got great pictures of her smiling..but they were deleted accidentally...so hoping another girl has some...

Check out www.reecesrainbow.org

Congratulations Malone Family!! You guys are great!

My Family Found ME!!! Westley!! YAY!

Kelly Fitzgerald

We're coming soon!

Final Documents Gone!

The rest of our dossier will be in Kiev by Monday or Tuesday...I met the fedex man at the North Buiding in Harrisburg today just after the docs were apostilled! Still hot off the press!
While getting the docs done..I met a courier that makes her living taking documents for apostilling...she was talking to the lady behind the desk and she said her son's principal just adopted a Downs child..I knew they had to be from Reeces Rainbow! Sure enough it was the Lakota Family who adopted Juliana...This worker was so nice & happy to help all families with their apostilling process of adoption..If you haven't adopted International..you don't know what you're missing! LOL Wowie..Talk about paper work...glad we are done...The cost to apostille a whole dossier is approx. $500 +

We should be in Ukraine by October 23 rd..we plan on meeting some other families while there and revisit some contacts & wonderful friends we have made...We'll be very busy over there...planning on doing a few hair doos as well..Some ladies are waiting in Buccha as well...I will be making 3 trips instead of staying the entire time due to school in session...Our new son should be home with us by Thanksgiving!

Reece's Rainbow

Reece's Rainbow

Adoption - Lifesong for Orphans

Oh my...tears of joy..I am so happy Marco still wants to come..Here is the email:

Dear Jo Ann,

Yes, Yura wants you to adopt him. He came back on the 5th of September late in the evening. Right after he returned he asked the worker of the orphanage : Did my mother came? He is waiting for you.

Best regards,

Natasha


We are all so happy & can't wait to go and get him!

From the heart of Lu Poppies...

Rescue those being led away to death: hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does He who guards your life not know it?"
I consider it my duty to inform the world of these children who are being dragged away toward slaughter. Who hears? If anyone needs understanding of what these children face, here it is: these institutions have been deemed "concentration camps for childre," and so they are. ARISE, whoever will, on their behalf.See More
The Journey: Doing Nothing...
ann-orphans.blogspot.com
What if you knew adopting would literally save the life of a child? Does it help to know it’s our duty, as God’s warriors to stand up for the orphans? *Maybe it’s what God has in mind for your family and aren’t His surprises really Blessings we hadn’t thought of yet?!!

Project from Reeces Rainbow...

We are losing more and more of our children at the special needs orphanage of Torez due to Malnutrition! In the last month alone, 2 children with special needs lost their lives at the orphanage of Torez.
You can make a difference! You can help SAVE a child's life by giving them the food that they need to keep their fragile little bodies healthy. Please donate TODAY by contacting meganf@life2orphans.org or visiting the Life2Orphans website to purchase or donate food. Below is information on Malnutrition. For the cost of a coffee each day you can help a orphaned special needs child see his or her next birthday by keeping them healthy!

What Is Malnutrition? What Causes Malnutrition?

What can YOU do?

You can stop the pain and low mortality rate by donating NOW to special needs institutions like Torez through the Life2Orphans feed the children program! For pennies a day you can help a child with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and many other special needs conditions nourish their little bodies, so that they will not endure the pain of malnutrition. Please visit HTTP://WWW.LIFE2ORPHANS.ORG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and donate to Torez a special needs orphanage today. Your love and generosity will help save a child...We have lost too many special needs children so far (several this year) at the hands of malnutrition Please feed a special needs child’s body, heart, and soul today! Begin donating NOW...CONTACT meganf@life2orphans.org or go to Life2Orphans.org and donate online.

Malnutrition - Individuals are malnourished, or suffer from undernutrition if their diet does not provide them with adequate calories and protein for maintenance and growth, or they cannot fully utilize the food they eat due to illness. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malnutrition is the gravest single threat to global public health especially in the area of special needs children in Eastern Europe Poor diet may lead to a vitamin or mineral deficiency, among other essential substances, sometimes resulting in scurvy - a condition where an individual has a vitamin C (ascorbic acid) deficiency. Though scurvy is a very rare disease, it still occurs in some patients (very often with orphans) - special needs children living in institutions, or those that live on a diet devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables. Similarly, infants or children who are on special or poor diets for any number of economic or social reasons are severely prone to scurvy According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, it is estimated that over two million people are affected by malnutrition (subnutrition), and a high percentage are the children in orphanages and institutions.

Poor diet may lead to a vitamin or mineral deficiency, among other essential substances, sometimes resulting in scurvy - a condition where an individual has a vitamin C (ascorbic acid) deficiency. Though scurvy is a very rare disease, it still occurs in some patients (very often with orphans) - special needs children living in institutions, or those that live on a diet devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables. Similarly, infants or children who are on special or poor diets for any number of economic or social reasons are severely prone to scurvy.

According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, it is estimated that over two million people are affected by malnutrition (subnutrition), and a high percentage are the children in orphanages and institutions.




The World Health Organization (WHO) says that malnutrition is by far the largest contributor to child mortality globally, currently present in half of all cases. Deficiencies in vitamin A or zinc cause 1 million deaths each year. WHO adds that malnutrition during childhood usually results in worse health and lower educational achievements? While malnutrition used to be seen as something which complicated such diseases as measles, pneumonia and diarrhea, it often works the other way round - malnutrition can cause diseases to occur.

According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary:


Malnutrition is "Faulty nutrition resulting from malabsorption, poor diet, or overeating."
Undernutrition is "A form of malnutrition resulting from a reduced supply of food or from inability to digest, assimilate, and use the necessary nutrients."
What are the signs and symptoms of malnutrition?

Loss of fat (adipose tissue)
Breathing difficulties, a higher risk of respiratory failure
Depression
Higher risk of complications after surgery
Higher risk of hypothermia - abnormally low body temperature
The total number of some types of white blood cells falls; consequently, the immune system is weakened, increasing the risk of infections
Higher susceptibility to feeling cold
Longer healing times for wounds
Longer recover times from infections Longer recovery from illnesses
Reduced muscle mass
Reduced tissue mass Tiredness, fatigue, or apathy
Irritability
In more severe cases:

Skin may become thin, dry, inelastic, pale, and cold
Eventually, as fat in the face is lost, the cheeks look hollow and the eyes sunken
Hair becomes dry and sparse, falling out easily
Sometimes, severe malnutrition may lead to unresponsiveness (stupor)
If calorie deficiency continues for long enough, there may be heart, liver and respiratory failure
Total starvation is said to be fatal within 8 to 12 weeks (no calorie consumption at all)

Children - children who are severely malnourished typically experience slow behavioral development, even mental retardation may occur. Even when treated, undernutrition may have long-term effects in children, with impairments in mental function and digestive problems persisting; in some cases for the rest of their lives.

What are the causes of malnutrition?

Malnutrition, the result of a lack of essential nutrients, resulting in poorer health, may be caused by a number of conditions or circumstances. In many developing countries long-term (chronic) malnutrition is widespread - simply because people do not have enough food to eat.

Poor diet - if a person does not eat enough food, or if what they eat does not provide them with the nutrients they require for good health, they suffer from malnutrition. Poor diet may be caused by one of several different factors. If the child develops dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) because of an illness, or when recovering from an illness, they may not be able to consume enough of the right nutrients. Many special needs children suffer from this!

In poorer, developing nations malnutrition is commonly caused by:

Food shortages - Food shortages are a significant cause of malnutrition in many parts of the world

REMEMBER - "TOGETHER CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE" PLEASE HELP THE SPECIAL NEEDS ORPHANED CHILDREN OF TOREZ TODAY!

EAST STROUDSBURG BUDDY WALK!~~SATURDAY OCT 2nd

Please come out to the 2 nd annual Buddy walk...It will be at Dansbury Park Oct 2 nd
Details can be found at The Pocono Parents of Down Syndrome www.ThePPODS.org

If you want to join our team it's TEAM TORRES just email me at rubenandjoann@msn.com

The walk is 1-2 miles around the park...but you may also just sit and relax..

We will have a REECES RAINBOW TABLE...Just look for the Big Banner...we will have brochures from Reeces Rainbow about adopting a child with Downs syndrome or other angels with other needs..

PLEASE JOIN US OCT 2 ND AND MEET MANY LOCAL FAMILIES THAT HAVE BLESSED WITH DESIGNER GENES!

Waiting for Marco!

Still waiting for Marco to arrive back in Ukraine....sometime this week..
In the meantime we are trying to clean and prepare for his arrival..and heave junk...I am getting organized now that the kids are back at school..Finally have tomorrow to stay home and not leave for anything...just cleaning.