Purple Flowers for Katya

People, I'm telling you, we serve an AWESOME GOD who CARES ABOUT ORPHANS. He has commanded us to CARE FOR THEM--and HIS ARM IS NOT SHORTENED. He can take a church-mouse-poor family (us) and help them (us) complete an adoption debt-free when it cost sums of money that were totally unimaginable to them (us).  We had NO CLUE when we started out how we could ever complete Kristina's adoption. We just knew we HAD to obey the call God had given us. Our (Christian) social worker told us at the start -- when we asked her, "Are we totally insane trying to do this when we are so poor?" -- "I have never seen a family yet that was unable to complete their adoption due to lack of funds when it was a family who was adopting a child in answer to God's call. They are often on their knees clear up to the last minute praying for funds, but the funds DO come."

These are the words of Hope Anne, an Ohio mother of four biological and adopted children, who is in the process of adopting a special-needs child from Eastern Europe.  Hope Anne and her family came to my attention through my friend Ex-New Yorker, who often posts in the comboxes here.  The family had been coordinating care for little Katya, above, who has been diagnosed with Crouzon Syndrome caused by birth trauma -- and for other children in the same orphanage -- through a medical mission that they founded after adopting their daughter Kristina from Russia.  After a visit to Katya in the orphanage, and many subsequent months of prayer, Hope Anne and her husband knew that God was calling them to be Katya's mother and father.


The family, like so many adoptive families, has had an uphill road to climb, but they are very close to receiving a travel date that will allow them to bring Katya home.  They remain, however, in need of funds to complete this very costly process.  Hope Anne and her friends and family are offering various lovely homemade goods for sale to help them in this endeavor.  One friend has made prints of this beautiful painting available, with all proceeds going into Katya's adoption fund.  I love the Lenten-purple flowers.

For more information about Katya and her waiting family, and for other ways to help, see Katya's page  on the Reece's Rainbow site, or go to Hope Anne's blog Bringing Katya Home.  

The family is throwing themselves on the mercy of God to complete Katya's adoption.  As Hope Anne says, "The Love of God propels us forward, in spite of our fears about the severity of her needs, and in spite of any concerns about funds and finances and paperwork."  If you can help with even the smallest of donations, it would be a fantastic way to fulfill the Lenten exhortation to give alms.  May God reward you for your charity!