From abandoned and alone...to loved and cherished

Our fundraiser for Ruthanne ends in a week and we need your help!!!

And this is why........

Over the past couple months as Mia has had so many medical procedures, appts, 2 surgeries and hospital stays, we have been asked alot about her birth history. And as we have retold what we know about her entrance into this world, the emotions come flooding back as we explain to others the plight of children born with down syndrome in these foreign countries.

Mia was born at 34 weeks. We don't know all the details, and we don't even have a picture of her baby years,  but what we do know is that she was born with the cord wrapped around her neck in a traumatic birth, and that she spent a few months in the hospital....completely alone. Within the first few days, her birth parents found out she had down syndrome and they walked away.

Mia spent the first few months of her life laying in a hospital bed with strangers coming and going and no one to hold or comfort her. She entered the world completely alone.
Once she was healthy enough to leave the hospital she was sent directly to an orphanage to live for the next 4 years of her life.

As I have been by her side through the recent surgeries and hospital stays, my emotions have been so raw thinking of her doing these types of things all alone when she was so young.

In the orphanage, if a child got sick, whether it was a cold or something more severe, they were transferred in a medical van like this one,  to a 'treatment facility or hospital/doctors of some kind" off site where they were left to be treated until they were well again and could return to the orphanage.

With so many children living together, they didn't want all the other kids to pass sickness around so any type of cold or sickness meant some kind of isolation, usually off site, with strangers and fear of so many unknowns.

It did not mean snuggles and hugs to make you feel better, or reassurance through the pain, that things would be ok.

This knowledge has always made me sad, but until the last few months it hadn't really sunk in,
what this was like for a child,

for my child.

To be taken somewhere unfamiliar when you are sick and hurting,

every time you are sick or hurting,

 and then to be left there and have no idea what was coming next,

If you have children, you know how many times they get sick with even little things like colds, those first 4 years of life, and to think of Mia having to experience each of those times all alone, usually in isolation, just breaks my heart!

Its no wonder Mia had so many fears while we were at the hospitals recently.
Any child would be nervous being transferred by ambulance to a hospital and having to stay there for a few days, but most children are not afraid that their parents or family will not be there by their side. Most children have no reason to fear that they will be left alone...

But Mia did.
Even after 3 years of constant reassurance of the love of a family, she is still haunted by those feelings of abandonment that determined her first few years of life.

And when I think that I, her mother, never got to hold her as that sweet innocent new baby and teach her that she had someone to love her, just breaks my heart all over again.

When she woke up from her knee surgery last week and they brought her into the recovery room she was holding back tears and as she was choking back tears she said "Home... mommy, daddy, Kyra Adrie, Bree...babies,,,,home? "

I almost lost it right there in front of all the doctors as I looked deep into those eyes of hers and saw that fear that she felt at that moment.

She feared that the feelings of her past were going to take over, and that she was going to be left there and taken away from this family and home that she has grown to know and love.

When I told her we were staying right there with her and would take her home soon, she said "ok", and breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped her tears.

Was she remembering all the times she suffered through sickness and pain alone and never knowing who or what was next? It seemed that way by her reactions.

Whether or not she remembers specific memories from her first 4 years, I don't know for sure, but given the experiences with her the last few months, she must still remember the feelings.

The feelings she used to know so well, of fear, sadness, and loneliness....
feelings that no one was able to help take away from her for 4 long years.

We have always said that the hardest part of Mia's adoption was leaving the doors of that orphanage seeing what we had seen and knowing what we knew, and only being able to take one child with us.

I will always be haunted by the faces of the other lost children that I couldn't save, the other children who will only know these feelings of fear and abandonment that Mia still tries to suppress every day.

Those particular children in Mias orphanage may never have a chance again, given the current state of unrest in their city and country. So all I can do to help ease my heartache for those left behind is pray for them, and pray for those other waiting children who can be saved.

One of those waiting children is Ruthanne

Ruthanne has the chance to be saved from this life of loneliness and fear . She too has down syndrome and has been living in an orphanage all alone.

The Enger family followed Mia’s story and along the way, their hearts were led to this little girl in China named Ruthanne.

They know she belongs in their family, just like we knew Mia belonged in ours. They have fears, they have unknowns, they have made sacrifices and witnessed miracles along this path to their lost little girl, just like we did with our journey to Mia.

They have taken the leap of faith that it will all come together and work out , somehow, so that they can bring this little girl home before she has to spend one more day alone.

Ruthanne has a family doing everything in their power to come for her. They are selling pies, hosting fundraisers, scrapping together any means possible to pay the "ransom" it takes to bring her home, but they are still falling short.



She doesn't know it yet, but she is already loved and soon she will know what that feels like.

When just like Mia, Ruthanne will be taken from lonely orphanage walls and given a family like she could never have dreamed was possible.

When we were fundraising for Mia it was one of the most faith trying parts of the process. It was the most difficult thing to do to ask people for money, to ask people for help, and every time a donation came in it was sacred to us.

  While we were in the process with Mia, Our friend explained it well when she said this " The first thing we feel when a donation comes in is a little guilt because we know it caused that family to have to give something up during tough times. We think of each person or family and know it wasn't easy to give what they did.

 Then the Spirit reasurres and reminds us that this is much bigger than dollars and certainly much bigger than us. And the guilt is replaced with gratitude.

 Gratitude for abundance. Gratitude for friends, family and even people we have never met, who are loving Kareen (Mia) along with us.

 As gratitude finishes settling in, joy comes along for the ride. We're that much closer! "

I know most of you reading this have already helped over and over again with Mia and others that I have talked about, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that! I sincerely can never thank you enough for what you have done for our family and for Mia. So if you can't help financially then please help by sharing and finding others who can help.

To witness a child change from abandoned and alone....to loved and cherished.... is really more then words can say.

It has reached the depths of my soul and changed me in ways I could never have anticipated, and the only way I can help heal my broken heart for those who may never be saved, is by continuing to promote and advocate for those who can. 

So if you can spare anything, please visit our FUNDRAISER for Ruthanne and lets help another little girl never have to live in fear of loneliness again. 

Lets fill the grid for the Enger family! We still have a lot of squares we need to fill for sweet Ruthanne!!! 

You choose your donation amount based on the squares that are still available.

We still have prizes left and everyone who donates will be entered to win an apple tv!

We have one week left to black out this grid with donations and bring Ruthanne one step closer to the life she deserves.....one step closer to finding peace and love that only a family can bring!