Beautiful news!! Reece's Rainbow waiting child

Do y'all remember Sebastian? I posted about him ten days before my birthday. 

I talked about how his birthday is about a week after mine.

And how if he didn't have a family by then...

he would never have one.

WELL guess what? 

SEBASTIAN HAS A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"....Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning." ~Psalm 30:5

I'm so thankful morning has come for Sebastian. May the Lord bless and strengthen his family as they work to bring him home, and protect his heart as he waits! I'm so thankful that his 16th birthday will, despite the odds, be filled with joy. Thank you, Jesus. 

http://reecesrainbow.org/57191/sebastian

We are soiled, yet saved

My dear Readers,
  My mom recently allowed me to read "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. It is a fictionalized version of the book of Hosea, told in the story of Michael Hosea, who was told by God to marry Angel, a soiled dove. Wow- what an amazing book! I studied Hosea while I read, and it really made the words come alive.
 
   For any of you who have read neither, the book of Hosea (found in the Old Testament)  starts out with God commanding a prophet, Hosea, to marry a prostitute- Gomer. Imagine hearing that from the Lord! Hosea must have been shocked and in doubt. And yet, God had a beautiful plan. He used this to show how the people of Israel had prostituted their love out to man-made 'gods'. And through this story, we can look at ourselves as Israel- God is constantly calling out to us, and yet we don't answer. He sent His son down for us- we had Him crucified. We sell ourselves to lust, bitterness, hatred, and depression. We are so busy with our own messed up lives, we can't let God in. And yet, He says "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like a dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily." (Hosea 14:4-5)
  If we would just turn to God, He could get our lives straightened out!  And God feels that way toward Israel after this all has happened-"...They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets, but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them, they are always before me." (Hosea 7:1-2)   
 "I trained them and strengthened them, but they plot evil against me. They do not return the the Most High; they are like a faulty blow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt." (Hosea 7:15-16)

   And He still loves them. He still loves US. He says "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboliim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.  For I am God, and not man- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath." (Hosea 11:8-9)

  That is beautiful. Every time we do something wrong, God still loves us. He will always love us, no matter how many times we return to the bed of the adulteress. And He does not love as humans love. His love is an unfailing, eternal love.
   In the book "Redeeming Love", there is another message. Every where Angel goes, she is persecuted. Everyone assumes she is still soiled, even though Michael's love, God's love, has made her clean. She feels she has to be a prostitute forever because no one is letting her change- she doesn't deserve to change.  And that has a whole blog post right there, but I'm going to go ahead and address it.  If every time someone makes a decision to change- whether it's leaving prostitution or choosing to obey your elders-, we continue to see the ugly, black marks of sin on their foreheads, then, chances are- they won't stay changed very long! Our sins are just as bad as their sins, and we should support and love them, as Jesus would. He gave us the task to love one another- so let's start living it.
   No matter how strongly opposed you are to divorce, abortion, homosexuality, etc, you can't hate every single person you know who's done that.  My mom phrases it this way- "Love the sinner, hate the sin".
 We are all sinners saved by Grace, and one of us is no better or worse than the other. So let's start striving to be more Christ-like. Let's show the world how much God loves them, and that He will come back for each little lost lamb- no matter how many times they stray. Your Blogger,
 Claire

  P.S.- Many children today are sold into the sex trade because their parents are too poor to feed them.  After reading this book, I realize the horrors of prostitution. Little girls are scarred and abused, left hurting forever.  No one should have to endure this.  Here is a link talking about children forced into prostitution around the world and ways you can help. link   Pray for these dear ones whose lives are a nightmare! And next time you want to judge someone- don't. You never know what kind of things put them in the circumstances they are today in. Instead, show them the Bright Morning Star and the love He has for them!

The orphan crisis- my heart is broken.

Dear Readers,
  Ah, usually before I begin a post like this, I spend days finding more facts, more Bible verses relative to it, etc. But, as we are leaving for Hawaii on Saturday (oh.my.goodness!) , and I REALLY needed to share this, I decided to leap off of what I have.
   So, how much do you know about orphans? What about kids with special needs in the Ukraine or Guatamala? While I might be wrong, I'm guessing not much. I, for one, don't know very much on this subject.
  But what if someone told you that, around the world, orphans with special needs are crammed into  cribs all day, on lots of drugs to make them sleep, and only experience human touch when they are taken out of their cribs for changes and feeding? And, that these kids live like this for the first four years of their lives, where they are then sent off to a mental asylum, where 95% die within the first year? What would you say? Would you believe this?
  I recently read a blog post stating these things. And while I can only hope that not ALL orphanages for special needs children are like this, I know  at least one is. And for me, that is enough. The fact that even one of God's precious children has to live like this for the few years he has infuriates and sickens me.
   I know about one orphanage in China, created by the Chapman family in memory of Maria, that is home to special needs kids. I follow their blog, (Maria's Big House of Hope-- on the right) and I guess was hoping that all orphanages serving these kids were just as wonderful. But they're not.
  Now, understand that I do not know the details of every special needs orphanage around the world. But I know that when  I googled "Special needs orphanages", there were a lot of websites that came up, telling about their attempts at making better these orphanages. There was also a news website that the caption said something like "The nightmare soldiers found in an Iraqi special needs orphanage". Nightmare?

  I don't think God planned for us to need orphanages. He couldn't have wanted His precious children to feel lonely or unloved. But since we are living in a fallen world and have come to require orphanages, they should be better than this. Would you want your kid laying in a crib all day-hungry, cold, and desperate for affection-at age 3?  Then we shouldn't let others live like this.
  Jesus cared about people with special needs. The Bible also commands us to take care of the orphans.
So- what will you do? Please- find out more about this, spread the word, and most importantly, pray. Pray mightily for these little ones!
  Remember-- “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:39-41 
                                           Let's do something about this. Your Blogger,
 Claire

A letter

 Dear Ones, (yes, those who read my blog ARE in my list of dear ones! :) )
   It is storming right now... I just changed my blog background, and it makes me smile. A lot!....  Mom  and Dad are on a trip to celebrate 20 years of being together. Oh, my heart is so happy for them! I love to read Mom's posts and know what bliss they are in. But I miss them. A lot. 
  So, I feel the need to write, as I always do when I feel anything! The storm makes me feel cozy, the blog background makes me feel blissful, and missing my parents makes me feel, well, like something is missing in this little life we call ours for the time being. (oh, so dramatic! I'm reading a 'Left Behind' book, and poeticness/end of the world truths seem to flow out of the book and straight onto the keyboard. Bear with me!) Wow that was a lot of rambling! I guess all those things I haven't been able to talk to Mom about all week got dumped on here. Aren't you all lucky?! What would I (and all of you!) ever do without her?
   That question has seriously popped into my head a lot recently, with us starting high school next year and all. I actually googled a bunch of stuff yesterday looking for college! Well, if typing in anything to do with Deafness/disablities on Mississippi State's page can be called 'googling'! Seriously, y'all, MSU has got to get some kind of new program in the next four years! I desperately want to go there, but the only thing I could find on their page was a story of how a correspondence class was teaching people to help the Blind live independently. That is wonderful, and I am glad we are doing that, but my whole point is that I DO NOT want a correspondence class! I want to be in Starkville, on campus, with my brothers! (God willing...)

  Well. That feels better. So if any of y'all hear about any new programs or anything at MSU--let me know. Ah, well, it's all in God's hands! Wow, that storm is blowing!

   Do y'all like my blog's new look? I really reeeaally want to learn how to quilt, so trnasforming my blog into a quilt seemed like the perfect idea! I aim for it to be a cozy, Christ-centered corner of the internet, where you can wrap yourself up in the love of Christ and all your fellow believers'!  And for anyone who has yet to find Jesus, I pray that He will use what I write here to lead you to the Bright Morning Star. (I recently read this name for Christ, and absolutely love it. He IS the Bright Star leading you out of your dark tunnel, calling you to Him, warm and bright with love. What a perfect name for our Savior!)
   Thank you for listening to my letter. I needed to write one today! With Love,
                                                                                                     Claire