Storming the Gates

This post is going to be difficult to read. There are some children who are heavy on my heart and we need to be storming the gates of heaven with prayers. Be advised that there is a photo below that you may not want to see. But really...we NEED to see it. And we need to DO something about it; not all of us are called to help her family directly, but maybe we can help someone else in a similar situation.

There's a little girl whose mommy went over to Eastern Europe to rescue her from an orphanage. This little girl was in an orphanage because she has an extra chromosome. Sadly, many children with disabilities are discarded like trash in some of those countries.

Meet Carrington.

When her mom took her away from the orphanage, she unbundled her little girl for the first time. She wasn't allowed to do so in the orphanage. So she took off her winter garb and found that THIS is what her daughter's body looks like.

How does this photo make you feel? I've been haunted by it all weekend. Carrington is three and a half years old. She weighs 11 pounds. Yes, 11. Her body is shutting down. It's a miracle they got her home to the US (where they expedited through customs and went straight to the hospital). This little girl is in a fight for her life right now. It's only by the grace of God that she didn't die before her parents got there. A friend of Carrington's family has started a blog, so if you would like to hear more about her, visit this blog. Carrington has six siblings at home and I know her family could use some prayers. This little girl was not born in a third-world country, friends. She was born in a country that has hospitals, doctors, surgeons, nurses. But she has an extra chromosome. She has Down Syndrome. Her life was not valuable enough for the individuals who were around her to bother trying to save it.

Here is another adoption story for you. Do you remember last year when the woman in Tennessee sent her adopted son BACK to Russia with a note pinned to his shirt? Imagine what happened to adoptions in that region. After shutting adoptions off for about a year, the Davis family was finally given a court date to adopt Kirill.

Look at this adorable boy!

The court date was last Thursday. The judge said "no." Seriously. She said no. The reason? She said that Kirill was "not socially adaptable" due to "his medical condition" (Down Syndrome!) and he was better off in an institution than in a home with a family. Read more here. The family is appealing. But would you believe that if the supreme court decides to side with the appeal, the next judge who will rule is the SAME JUDGE who denied the adoption in the first place. We have a big God. And He can move mountains. So we pray.

What do we do with this information about the children? Are we compelled to action? In Deuteronomy 4:9, God tells us to "watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live."

Also,

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act." Prov. 24:12