One year home...

Meant to post this yesterday but got too crazy!

One year ago we witnessed this magical moment as Mia came home!!!

Thank you to all who came to our celebration sat. ...more pictures to come later from that night!

Ipad winner will be announced soon!

Last Day for the giveaway!!

"Mia's Miracle Continues" celebration is TONIGHT!



We have all witnessed the miracle of watching Mia bloom

Now she has planted a seed

 For another deserving child to have her chance to Bloom!

Tonight from 6:30-8:30 is the pool party at the murray outdoor pool and the last day for our ipad giveaway!

Please take a minute to get your $10 donations in for a chance to win a brand new ipad! And help our friends bring Susan home!

Who says?

My amazingly talented little brother made this cute video for us with our girls while we were in Ukraine last year and then we watched it all together the night we got home with Mia.....so PERFECT!!!

"Who Says" Tribute to Mia Kareen from Jess Clapier on Vimeo.

The balloon launch in this clip was done for Mia the day we took her from the orphanage...our friends put it together on that day tin honor of Mia's freedom while we were half way around the world!


The friend who hosted this balloon launch to honor Mia is Jodi Lutkin, who is now on her own journey to bring home little Susan from an Orphanage around the world.


This family needs our help!


They do not have a child with down syndrome but because they have been a part of Mia and Bree's lives, they have come to realize how amazing these children are and they have been moved to act.


They  know that just because a child has down syndrome, or a special need, does not mean they are not worthy of the same kind of love and life that any other child would be. 


A year ago, the Lutkin family had no idea that Bree and Mia would lead them to their own daughter. 


Today they are ready to add this beautiful little Susan to their family and keep her from the same fate Mia would have had!

Just like Mia and Bree, Susan's "got every right to a beautiful life!"




"Who says you're not perfect?


Who says you're not worth it?




Who says you're not pretty?




Who says you're not beautiful?

Who says???"


Who says this family should not enjoy the blessings of having a child with down syndrome too?

They are ready and willing but they need our help raising the funds to bring Susan home.



(June 14, 2011) TAKEN FROM POST FROM LAST YEAR ----"For those who have followed our journey from the beginning, you may remember Patti. Patti was the lady inspired to do something for a few special little girls on Reece's Rainbow. Patti was inspired to raise money for Olga and then added Kareen, in hopes that she would also find their families. She had a whole army of prayer warriors working on behalf of Mia Kareen and Olga and BOTH found families within a few weeks of eachother. Patti's blog is where I first really saw Kareen's picture and I KNEW I could not deny the emotions and the feelings I was feeling as I looked into her eyes. She was meant to be mine and somehow we would make it to her!

Patti wrote a beautiful post on her blog as a letter to Kareen. You must check it out HERE.

Leaving behind the other children at the orphanage was so very difficult for me and Patti is one of the many people through Reece's Rainbow who has shown me that although we can't save them all ourselves, we certainly can help find the families who can! And then help those families get to their little ones.

The only thing that got me through the heartache of leaving behind so many other children was the knowledge that, although we can not save them all ourselves, we CAN help save them one at a time by helping those families who are willing and able to go rescue these children!

It is heartbreaking to look in the eyes of a child as they reach for you and cry "mama" and then to have to turn and walk away. That scenario happened to us every day at the orphanage and it still haunts me. If I could have saved them all, I would have. IT.BROKE.MY.HEART....literally!

And when I start feeling overwhelmed and sad for those left behind, I remind myself that we CAN still help these children....by helping the families who have found them! And praying for those who's families are yet to find them!

These children are living on borrowed time...no one knows how they are being cared for, or what living conditions they are in, that is why raising the money to get to them can NOT take years.

It has to be now!

That is why Reece's Rainbow strives to help raise money for these kids and get the word out that they need families and that is why the Lutkin family needs our help now....so they can get there as soon as possible!

We CAN help the Lutkin family get to Susan so please help us do that! 

It only takes $10 from each of you..... just $10 to save a life AND have a chance to win a NEW ipad! Our ipad giveaway ends in TWO DAYS so now is the time to help!

PLUS if you live near us you can come enjoy a night of swimming, food and fun in celebration of Mia's year anniversary home this sat. June 16 from 6:30-8:30 at the Murray outdoor pool! Admission is free and donations for Susan will be accepted that night as well!

Mia and our family are forever grateful for all those who helped us get her home and we want to celebrate this sat with you! What greater gift could we give in celebration of this day then to help another child come home?!!

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary! 

A year ago today Mia's life began as she walked out the orphanage doors with a mom and a dad to call her very own!

"(June 10, 2011)There really are no words for what we have experienced the last 24 hours, well really the last 6 months. When I woke up on "Gotcha Day" I couldn't stop the tears. They just came up all day long as I realized what was REALLY happening. The day that we had been waiting for and working towards for so long was finally here. We were taking our girl from a life as an orphan and giving her the world.

I still haven't really wrapped my thoughts around what it felt like to look at Mia as she slept last night and know that her life was literally saved and that she is no longer lost. A tangible calmness and peace was felt in this little hotel room in a foreign country because one little girl was finally right where she belongs.

She has a family who already adores her. She has more friends than she could even imagine....some of which let off balloons in honor of her freedom last night just like the lanterns in Tangled. She has more prayers going up in her behalf than she will probably ever know and we as her parents are forever grateful for it all!

There are so many details I want to share from "Gotcha Day" but I will make another post for that. The video says more than words could right now!

What better way to celebrate One less Orphan than with a video.....or two ( I thought I better make up for not getting anything posted yesterday)."

Last year she was just beginning to see the light

Now look at her

 Remember only one more week to enter the ipad giveaway and help the Lutkin family

Officially ours

June 9, 2011 -

"The 10 day wait is over and As of 5:00 (Ukraine time) Miss Mia Kareen is now officially and legally OURS!!!!

Born January 15, 2007

Born into our family June 9, 2011

Today marks the 5 year anniversary of Reece's Rainbow. What a perfect way to celebrate this anniversary...with one more child finding a family!"

What? You mean I officially have a family now?

On June 9, 2011 Mia had no idea that she would never be alone again...

June 9, 2011 was the last night Mia slept in this orphanage

The next day  we busted out of that place for good!

 I had to laugh when I saw this picture and caption from last year"Final dinner at "our restaurant" Tequila Boom! This is my Tequila Boom face and my "I now have 4 kids face" Ha Ha! I imagine my face would have been a little more shocked if I knew in 9 months I would have 6 kids!

The Drive

We traded in our minvan this week for a suburban and all the girls have been so excited to ride in the new car and check it out. As I was watching Mia explore the new car this week and get so excited to ride in it, I  remembered this post a year ago....(funny enough this post was on the same day a year ago as we bought our new car this week)

What is this car all about? Mia is so eager to know.

Where does it take you?

Where does it go?

There have been many times while we have been here that I have really been hit by the frightening reality of what could have been.

Mia wants so badly to go for a ride in one of the many cars she sees coming and going from the orphanage each day.

She knows enough about it to know that it takes you somewhere. Somewhere new.

Had we not found her and come for her when we did, Mia would still have gotten to go for a ride in one of these cars but it would have been to a very different place than she will be going on Friday.

I can't bear the thought of what could have been for her.

She could have woken up one morning and thought it was a day like any other, then to her surprise she would have been taken outside and placed in a car.

She would have been excited, thinking this meant her dream had come true. She was finally going to be able to go for a ride in one of these magical machines that took you somewhere.

She would be thinking her turn had finally come,

maybe on the other side of this car ride was a family waiting for her...

But instead she would have been taken to a place like this....

My friend reposted this video yesterday (one of Mia Kareen's advocates had made this video when they were raising money for our sweet girl...even before we knew she was out there) and watching it again with Mia's picture at the end just really hit me hard. The tears were flowing as the it really sank in that THIS would have been Mia's reality. It has always been hard to imagine such a thing really happening, but being here with Mia now just haunts me to the core, to know that she would have been taken to live her life in a place like this and she could have been there right now.

She would have been taken away from the ladies who had cared for her all her life. Taken away from the only friends she had ever known, and the only life she had ever known, only to be left alone in a world where she did not deserve to be, in a mental institution.

She would not have understood why she was brought there.

Was it something she did?

Was it forever?

She would not have understood that the ONLY reason she was brought to this place was because she had down syndrome. It was not her fault that she was there.

Only a few weeks after committing to her, we learned that she was already scheduled to be transferred soon. Fortunately the director at the orphanage was willing to keep her at the baby house until we came. But had we not found her when we did, she would have been moved to this horrible, unimaginable place... forever.

As I have watched her these past few weeks and have seen the light she possesses shining through

I can not bear to think that instead of the sparkle shining through her eyes, she would have lost all hope and that sparkle would never have been found again.

Thanks to Andrea and Reece's Rainbow, the many people who advocated for Kareen to help us find her, the many people who prayed for her, the many people who donated and raised money for her, the many family and friends who have supported us and loved her from the beginning, and for the hand of the Lord placing us on this path,

Mia Kareen will leave these walls in 3 days...

FOREVER....

she will get to take that car ride she has been waiting for

and finally see what is on the other side of these walls

but this one will take her where all her dreams can come true.

This car ride will take her to a place she deserves to go

I got chills and tears re-reading this post as I still am frightened to the very core of the thought of what might have been for Mia. 

As I watch her do things now...

 capable and deserving of a LIFE....

and then I think of her instead sitting...and eventually dying... alone in a room with NOTHING....

I can't breathe!

As we watched the KSL story the other night our brother in law (who is also the father to a child with down syndrome) said he just lost it when he saw the picture of the kids confined to a play pen in Mia's orphanage as he thought of his own daughter sitting beside him being placed in that playpen all day where no one would get to see her personality and she would not get to play and explore and show people how amazing she is...all because she had down syndrome.

It is almost harder, ok it is harder now, that I know Mia and I know what she is capable of, to think of her being sent to an adult mental institution. 

Now that I know who she is 

and what she has to offer

I can not bear the thought of what might have been.

Seeing Mia thrive

makes me want to shout from the rooftops 

that EVERY child like Mia deserves to be saved, and loved, NOT shut away! NO child deserves to take "the drive" to a world they should never have to know

Susan is one of the MANY who deserves to be loved, not shut away

and because of the Lutkin family she will get that chance before she has had to experience too much life on her own...she will be one of the lucky ones

but the Lutkins can not do it alone

they need our help

Our ipad giveaway ends in just over a week and we have a long ways to go!

If you live nearby (or want to take a road trip ha ha) please come join us in a week on June 16 at our "Mia's miracle continues" celebration where we can celebrate AND pay it forward! It will be an evening of swimming, friends, food and fun AND we can help another child find her way home! We will have opportunities to donate that evening but the admission to the pool and waterslide will be FREE! Details are HERE! If you are not in the area you can still donate online!

Let's help keep one less child from having to make "the drive" they should never have to make