Reece's Rainbow

As you can tell by the buttons on the right, I am an advocate for Reece's Rainbow, a special needs adoption ministry focused on international adoption of children with Down Syndrome.  Andrea Roberts, the director of Reece's Rainbow (RR), started this ministry after giving birth to her son, Reece, who has Down Syndrome.  She was contacted by the hospital where she gave birth to him, to come back and speak to new parents of children with Down Syndrome about the journey that lay ahead for them.  From there, she began RR to raise awareness about the countless children with Down Syndrome that await families in orphanages around the world.  Theses children are shunned by thier families and their countries, viewed as having absolutely no potential for a fruitful life.  In some countries, babies born with Down Syndrome don't even make it to the orphanage, much less a loving home...they are literall thrown away, left on the street to die.  When these children reach the ages of 4-6 years, they are transferred from the orphanages ("baby houses") to mental institutions, where many die within one year.  That means that many of these precious lives are only on earth for less than seven years!  That is staggering, and entirely unacceptable!!  Even in the United States, with a pre-term diagnosis abortion rate of over 90%, the public perception of people with Down Syndrome is still largely misled. 

There is no rhyme or reason as to why I am drawn to these little ones.  I do not have any family or friends with Down Syndrome.  My personal involvment, previous to discovering this cause, was very limited.  The answer is simple:  God gave me a heart for them, an undeniable love for them, and led me to literally stumble upon Reece's Rainbow when searching for something entirely different.  It should go without saying that we must not lump every person with Down Syndrome into one general category; they are as individual and uniquely made as the rest of us.  In fact, a common phrase among parents of children with Down Syndrome is, "They are more like typical chidren than they are different."  That being said, another common perception expressed by these parents is that individuals with Down Syndrome have an enormous capacity to love, and are often so very honest, almost to a fault.  Love and honesty...things we could all use a little more of in our lives!!  These children deserve a chance to thrive, a chance to show the world what they have to offer, to shine the unique light of Jesus that was knit into that one little extra chromosome!  I do not believe that extra chromosome is a mistake; it carries an extra measure of love and honesty, an extra measure of childlike innocense, an extra measure of pure joy.  Jesus said, "Permit the children to come to Me, do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these!" (Luke 18:16) 

I feel a heavy burden to help these children, who retain much of that childlike innocense by design, come to Christ.  Please visit http://www.reecesrainbow.org/  to learn more about how we can all help to bring each of these kids into loving homes.  And for those who are still waiting in orphanages or mental institutions, we must launch powerful prayercrafts for them, that they will come to know Christ before their lives on earth are snuffed out, so that when they take their last breath, they will enter His kingdom as sons and daughters of God; that they will know the loving embrace of their Father.