Guest Post: To Love the Unloved

Have you ever felt the disire to do something that is going to effect a whole lot of people?

The thought of your life making a difference to so many more....

But then you realise you are just one. You can not make a difference.

We have all had those feeling. It is how you choose to take those feelings and act, that shapes who you are, and your purpose in this world.

We are just three teenage girls.

We have a passion.

We have a love.

We have a hope.

We have a vision.

And, we have chosen to act.

Sunny is 20. She has a 19 year old brother who has Down syndrome. She lives in London.

Savana is 20. She has a 3 year old sister who has Down syndrome. She lives in America.

I, Taylah, and 16. I have a 3 year old cousin who has Down syndrome. I live in Australia.

Each of us have an intense love for someone with Down syndrome. We see them in a way most of the world choses not too.

Did you know that 90% of babies with Down syndrome are aborted before they get to enter this world?
9 out of 10! Their lives are taken because they have a disablility. It just doesn't seem right, does it?

Did you know that in Eastern Europe, children with disabilities, such as Down syndrome, are left orphaned at birth.

They live in an orphanage untill they are 5 years old.

Once they turn 5 they are placed in an adults mental institution where conditions are so horrible most don't survive a year.

With adoption costing over 30,000 it is likely that most of these children wont ever see outside the walls of a crib.

When we were given the facts we decided that it was too devistating to just sit back. We decided to ACT!

'To love the unloved' was founded in December, 2010.

Since then, we have helped fund the adoption of 13 precious children!

Each month we host giveaways for a child or family from Reece's Rainbow (an adoption ministry that helps find homes for orphans with Down syndrome) on our blog!

There are so many ways that you can help 'To love the unloved' out!
Firstly, you can give a donation and enter the give away!

Secondly, you can drop by and leave a message of encouragement and support!

Finally, please keep us, and these precious babies in your thoughts and prayers!

Christmas is an incredibly important time of year for us and many of you! It is the time of year that many of us celebrate the birth our Saviour Jesus Christ. It's a time of Love, Kindness and Giving, a holiday where we appreciate all that we are lucky enough to have. We hope you will join our cause this Christmas and enjoy the time you spend with us, as we 'change the world one orphan at a time'

Visit our website: www.tolovetheunloved.weebly.com

Our blog: www.tolovetheunlovedblog.blogspot.com

Our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1251151709&ref=ffa#!/tolovetheunloved

Or emails us: tolovetheunloved@gmail.com

Thank you so much!

Love,

Tay, Savana and Sunny!

Thank you so much, ladies!  It was a pleasure to have you as guests here!

A Hope and a Future

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 29:11 For I know what plans I have in mind for you,' says ADONAI,'plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future. (Complete Jewish Bible)

I am so glad that God has things in mind for us we never could have thought of for ourselves.  A year ago, I never could have conceived of the blessings that He has brought into our lives, let alone wished for them.  A year ago, I was a wife and mother to a 20 year-old son, feeling very much the almost-empty-nester that I was, bored and tired and frustrated with my life.  I had this fantasy that moving to Mexico would make it all better.  I knew I loved God, but I didn't feel particularly close to him, and I was sure that He didn't think about me much, either.  I had let illness and depression take hold in my life, with no concept of how to move past them.  But God knew the plans He had for me, plans to prosper me, and not to harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future.  But not just me.

It was about a year ago that I overheard my son talking about some friends of his that were expecting another baby.  Their son was just 4 months old at the time, and they were in dire financial straits.  I did not know these friends of his (whose names shall be kept private:  I will refer to them as C and S), but it was put on my heart that I should pray for them and their unborn baby, so I committed to pray for them daily.

It was also about a year ago that another of my son's friends came to live with us.  Chrissy came from a bad situation at home, and had been essentially homeless for a couple of months, and was running out of places to "crash".  We knew that there were issues with him, like  illegal drug use, that we would have to deal with.  But he was just such a likeable kid that we knew we had to help him.  So into our house he came.

"Raising" Chrissy was not always easy, and it wasn't always fun.  Three times he snuck out of our house late at night only to come back high on dope.  He was lazy, unmotivated, prone to quick temper, and often "forgot" the rules we laid out for him.  But over the months he was with us, we grew more and more attached to each other.  His behavior improved.  He became more responsible.  And he learned about Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness.  It was then that Shane and I knew we could make a difference in the life of a child.  We had actually talked about adopting Chrissy, but he was so close to his 19th birthday as to make it unfeasible.  But the seeds had been sown.

A few months later, I met the friends of my son that I had been praying for.  C was very heavily pregnant by that time, and their situation has worsened to the point that they had to leave her other children in the care of a friend while they struggled to find work and a home, as they knew they were being evicted from their apartment soon.  I felt like I should help them, but what could I do?  We had already taken Chrissy into our already-crowded home.  We barely kept our own household running and our own bills paid.  I convinced myself that praying for them was the best I could do.

About 3 weeks later, we were put to the test. They had been evicted with nowhere to go but a fleabag hotel that I wouldn't leave a dog in.  So we made the decision to take them into our home as well.  Chrissy had by then decided to get an apartment with a friend of his, so  it seemed to be a sign that we were doing the right thing.

On April 11, 2011, I was blessed to be present at the birth of the little girl who would later become my daughter.  Having never actually witness a birth before, it was an amazing experience!

Two days after this little angel came into our lives, her birth parents were given the news that the doctors suspected that she had Down syndrome.  Being so young, and having never really experienced spending time with anyone who had Down syndrome, this was a devastating blow to them.  Their first thought was that they would never be able to give their little girl the help she would need to make her way in the world.  With broken hearts, they talked about placing her for adoption.

That night, after I had talked to C, and she had told me what they were considering, my husband Shane and I had a long talk.  We decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with C and S, and offer our help in any way possible, up to and including adopting her ourselves.  During that talk, we all decided that C and S would bring the baby back to our home and stay with us for a while, so that we could help them, and they could try and raise her themselves.  Little D (her birth name) came home to stay on April 15.

This is where I will be deliberately vague about what happened next.  What I will say, so as to respect everyone's privacy, is that the decision  to place her with our family for adoption was officially made on July 1, 2011.

The little girl that we now call Abby (Rebekah Abigail Destiny) has been the light and joy of our lives.  There have been learning curves to meet, issues to face, and challenges to overcome.  But we wouldn't trade a minute of it!  She is absolutely amazing!  Every victory is so much sweeter, every challenge so much more heartbreaking.  And through it all, she is the sweetest, most loveable baby girl you'd ever want to meet.

Her name, Rebekah, means, "to tie or bind together."  Abigail means, "Father's joy."  She is certainly all that and more!  She has bound our family together in ways I never thought possible!