Just Because...Reece's Rainbow children

Sweet Victoria and all the
other children featured
in this post are listed on
Reecesrainbow.org

Dear Readers,

     I love blogs. I love blogging and reading others' blogs. My favorite posts are the ones filled with pictures and beautiful words and miracle stories. Adoption blogs are some of my favorites. One mom whose blog I read is currently in India bringing home her precious little girl. I cried when I watched the video where she met her little girl for the first time. It was the most beautiful thing.

And as I watched, I was so overcome with a desire to go scoop a precious child out of an orphanage. I was so filled with longing to walk through the doors with my treasure just as she did. That aching desire persists. I so long to hold one of these babies in my arms...I so wish I could kiss those cheeks and make sure they know they are loved and safe forever.

But I can't. The most painful thing about orphan advocacy is that I know that even when I am old enough to adopt, I won't be bringing any of these children whose faces I've fallen in love with home. They will either have been adopted already or put in an institution or will have died alone. These sweet babies have my heart. They are each so precious to me. And yet none of them will ever be mine to hold. That hurts.

Whenever I dream about what I want to do someday, I always think about what profession I could have that would most help special needs children. I'd love to be a sign language interpreter, Deaf educator, physical/occupational therapist, pretty much anything working with people with special needs! But I really want to be a mommy. I really want to go to Russia (please, President Putin, open your country back up to us Americans!!) or Ukraine or China and bring a precious child, my precious child home to be loved forever. Someday.

But right now I'm thankful that I have a chance to be a voice for these children. As much as I long to hold them in my arms, for today I am going to love them from across the ocean. 

These are the ones who touched my heart first, and one day when I bring my own children home, God Willing, I will remember them and the gift that they gave me: an overwhelming love for the fatherless.

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more. ~Psalm 10:14, 17-18

                                                           In you the orphan finds mercy.

Hosea 14:3 

Thank you, Lord, for loving these precious children even more than I do. I'm so thankful that my Savior will not leave these children alone...He hears their cries and has mercy and compassion upon them. What a blessing of reassurance. 

Your Blogger,

 Claire

A little note from me to you!

                                         

                                                         I thank the Lord for blessing me with my family! They are
                                                                gifts!

Dear Readers,
   Happy 2013!!
I honestly can't even believe it's here. I didn't really want 2013 to arrive...I kind of wanted to snuggle down in gingerbread, Christmas trees, and endless family time. But alas, Christmas passed and the new year began. We started school again today, and so although I still made some gingerbread cookies last weekend, I'm coming to accept the fact that Christmas is over whether I like it or not.
    Today we started back to school, as I know a lot of people did. It was a hard day, but not really because of the return of Geometry and Chemistry (although those were no fun!). I fainted at the gym this morning and so have just felt shaky and strange all day. I went to the doctor today and so we will see if they can figure out what's going on with me. I'm hopeful it was just a blood sugar problem and I'm really fine! Amazing how things can change in one minute. This morning I had my day perfectly planned out...how I would come in from the gym and do my devotion and get a head start on school, then walk the dog,  diligently work at my schoolwork and perfectly end the day with my first lesson with my new violin. hmm... That is not how my day turned out at all!! I did come home and do my devotion, but couldn't walk the dog, and ended up not getting to go to the much-anticipated lesson because I was at the doctor's. 
     ^"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'" ~James 4:13-15
     This verse came to mind as soon as I was alert and leaving the gym. I kind of laughed at my silliness in thinking I could plan out my day like that. I would have never added in fainting at the gym! And although I sincerely hope I never do that again, I will try my best to never plan like that again. Because the truth is--only God knows what tomorrow holds. If we try to plan it ourselves, well, that is just plain goofiness! So I'm going to try to stop planning like that...and stop worrying...and entirely surrender tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next to the Lord. I challenge you to do the same thing! 
   
   Any way...back to Christmas. 
 We had a wonderful Christmas! Although we felt like it was a little rushed...and although the surgery mid-December put a little damper on the mood...my mom has a gift for making things that could be unhappy the happiest of things ever. So we sewed matching Christmas aprons, baked over 200 Christmas cookies that spelled out the word JOY (our motto for the year),  saw a beautiful performance of The Nutcracker, and spent time just being together & watching some of our favorite Christmas movies (along with Newsies...four or five times!)

Christmas eve!!

     It was definitely a Christmas to remember! We had so much fun together.  

Baking fun! One of my favorite memories!!

It was such a sweet blessing to celebrate Christmas
with Stephanie this year!! She is a gift!

Another fun memory: making a Christmas sign to adorn our door
and bows to match!

It was such a wonderful Christmas! I hope yours was wonderful, as well. 
   Thank you for listening to me on my soap box as I talked about this morning, and for hearing me reminisce about Christmas! I pray your 2013 is filled with blessings, and that no matter what it holds, you will be able to find JOY and trust in the Lord!
Your blogger,
 Claire
  

Ramblings of Claire...

  It's amazing how the smallest things instantly take me back to Argentina...

My Mom, Benjamin, Mason, and their host family

A bumper sticker that said "Dios Te Bendiga" made me remember a fun memory with my mom and brothers' host family. Leda and Jairo, their hosts, were so kind to me...I loved   them as if I, too, had stayed in their home!


As the girl who taught herself sign language to communicate with one person, I clearly don't like communication barriers.  In fact, they drive me batty.
   And when the power was out in my home in Argentina, I had no way to communicate with my precious host family. It killed me. So I asked Leda to write down a few simple phrases in Spanish. "Dios Te Bendiga" (God bless you) was one I really wanted! "Te extrano" (I miss you) was another one I really wanted to know how to say. After all, we were leaving for Colon, and I needed to communicate to my family how much I would miss them the following three days. (this coming from the girl who says "I love you!" about a hundred times before my mom can hang up the phone :) )
     And finally, I wanted to know how to say "Podria Banarme?" Because before I had had to move my hands over my head, indicating I wanted a shower. And then one day my host dad started telling me (I thought) how to say it in Spanish. But as I stood there, repeating him in my horrible accent, Emily realized what I was saying and laughingly shouted for me to stop! Wonderingly, I looked around at the red faces around me. What had I just said??? Reynaldo had had me say something like "I need a shower because my armpits smell bad". Hahaha! No one could stop laughing. So, I finally asked Leda how to say it, confidant that she would give me the right words. hehe
     And that one bumper sticker on a car in Arizona took me back to that moment immidiately.....
 
    Another time Mom, Cate, and I were walking in "Claire's" to pick up a sleep mask for Cate. While we were waiting for the cashier to ring us up, my mom let out a gasp. She pointed to a bin on the checkout counter. It was filled to the brim of bracelets with little icons of Mary, Jesus, and the Apostles on it. I picked one up and knew my mom and I were both remembering our day at the prison. She had comforted one of the prisoners, who, as a token of her love and thanks, gave my Mom her own little bracelet with icons  on it.  It touched my mom's heart that this woman gave to her out of her heart. And just the sight of those was enough to almost bring us both to tears.


 
   After that visit to Claire's we stopped at Carter's (aka the Baby Store :) )  for my adorable new cousin.  There I was, surrounded by Baby clothes and baby shoes and baby hair bows and baby lotion and baby onesies and baby shampoo...and I missed my little baby brother and sister in Argentina.
 
       I know you all probably think I'm pretty weird, haha! My little pile of gifts to send to Argentina grows by the day...
  
  On another note, school is about to start!
 I'm  pretty excited, but I'm also kind of nervous.
  This summer has been amazing...we have been blessed by the opportunity to travel, and then after that Mom made sure that everyday was fun. I will miss being able to read all day!
  We will be in tenth grade, and although I know I have time, I'm getting very anxious about college. I recently checked out a HUGE book at the library titled "2012 College Majors"...and then a cookbook because we all know looking at that book is going to stress me out and I am going to need to bake! :) I have no idea what to major in or where to go to college. I just want to HELP...and as there isn't a major for that, I'm stuck! Honestly, I do know what I want to do. Kind of.
    I want to help people with special needs and their families, especially those who aren't getting the care they need, like those in Africa or orphanages around the world. My question then, is how best to serve them? I've been thinking I'd love to do Occupational Therapy, but I would also love to do Deaf Education so I bring language (and there forth God's Word) to those who currently don't have any. I would love to become a professional sign language interpreter, but also think Bible Translation would be really cool. Oh, and I want to be an adoptive mom. :) SOO...in short, I have a lot I would love to do, but the question is, what is God telling me to do? I have no idea. So I would very much appreciate your prayers as Benjamin and Mason and I start this new school year....that God will grow us and teach us and open doors to reveal His ultimate plan for us! I'm hopeful that it will be a good year. I'm grateful to be taking my memories of Argentina into this school year, and although I really miss everything and everyone there, I know that right now God's plan is for me to be in Arizona. And I am excited for that!!
 
   Thank you for listening to my ramblings!! Much love and Dios Te Bendiga,
Your Blogger






  

Christmas.

It's almost Christmas!! I'm so excited. I love everything about this season- from October to December I'm in Heaven!! Although I love Easter dearly, I feel very close to Jesus around Christmas.
We should feel this way every day, I know, but at Christmas I feel like just the reminder that Jesus went through the same things as me and walked on this earth's dirt comforts me. a lot.

Jesus blesses each of us, I believe, with little encounters to remind us of Him. I wish we could just see Him now, but these gifts He gives us can be pretty sweet. So I have a story to share.
My family and I were at the airport, and this girl came up to us- just dying to say hi. She was in a wheelchair, and someone I presumed to be her brother told us-as she came up excusing herself profusely-that she just really wanted to say hi.
So she introduced herself, and then as we told her our names she just kept shaking her head and telling us how much she loved us, and how much she was praying for us. And she meant it! It wasn't just an ' oh, I'll be praying for you...'. It was an 'oh! I love you! I just LOVE you! And I'll be praying for you because I love you.'

How often do you get that from a stranger?? Not often enough is my guess. I was touched by dear Bridget, to say the least. I've been thinking about her these last few weeks, as I promised to pray for her, too. She embodied Jesus' love- unashamedly and freely giving it to all. It blessed my heart to meet her.
After we met her, Mom and Dad told me what her parents had told them. Bridget had been a junior in college when she was in a car accident. She suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury.
My first thought was sadness. Even as a freshman in high school, I have dreams. I know she probably had big dreams and goals, too. How would I have felt if that had happened to me? Life really is so fragile. But I remembered this Bible verse as I thought of her recently...

 "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. " Jeremiah 29:11

 Hope. A future. The life Bridget lives today may not be what she imagined when she was my age, but her life is in perfect alignment with God's vision. And it is beautiful. I know my family isn't the only one she has touched, and my prayer is that she will continue to be able to touch many more. She is following God's perfect plan, and is living proof that Jeremiah 29:11 is true. God does NOT mean to harm us. He gives us a future. As hard to see as that may have been for Bridget's family after that accident, it is clear that He has a perfect plan for her and that He is using her in amazing ways to bring people to Him.
Isn't it comforting to know this is true for each of us? Whether we minister from a hut in Africa, a classroom at home, or a wheelchair at the airport, God has a plan for us. And it is perfect.
May you rest without worry for the year 2012 as you enjoy this Christmas. Your Blogger,
Claire

Don't let your dream go!

 Dear Readers,
    Today, we don't have ballet practice, so are all watching college football. (it has finally started, much to my dad's relief!) And, while I really could make a whole post about ballet again, I'm feeling compelled to write something different.
 
 Well, I have to tell you- missions have really been on my heart lately. If you know me, you know that missions are ALWAYS on my heart, but as my friend recently traveled to China to adopt a younger sister, they are REALLY on my heart.  Looking at the pictures she posted, I felt the need to go there. Not just God lightly pressing on my heart- I felt like I would spontaniously combust if I didn't get to China soon. And, just going to China wouldn't be enough. No, I had to go to China and rescue an orphan! She showed a picture of all these babies with special needs just laying on hard steps...when they cried someone came to see to their needs, but otherwise they had no human contact. My heart broke and crashed into a gazillion pieces.  (It didn't help that our next sermon was all about missions...or that the one after that told a story of how babies left alone die...) I wanted to mail myself to China. Or Africa. SOMEWHERE!!!

   Now, I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with this. No, that last paragraph was not just me venting with no purpose--I do have a point! :) I know that everyone here has a dream. You all have something your heart aches to do, but that is just slightly out of reach. Well, China is that thing for me right now. (it changes  frequently!)  And you know what? I can't, in reality, mail myself to China. We can't, at the moment, bring a baby home. And all of us who have a hope that is far from current reality, need to get to a place where we're okay with that. We need to settle for the fact that today, you can't pack your bags and move to Papua New Guinea. Today, you can't buy the dozen acres of land you'd like. Today you can't open your own dance studio. Today you can't go adopt a baby.  But today you can do God's will.
  
   He has put these desires in your heart for a reason! He doesn't want to dangle them out in front of you for the rest of your life; but He does want you to learn to trust Him.
"Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails." ~ Proverbs 19:21
  
   God knows what you can do today, and He isn't going to push you past your limits. Where your owns plans and dreams, just might. But hold on to that dream! I strongly believe that everyone is a missionary. Wherever you are, whatever you do- you are an ambassador for Christ. You don't have to pack up and move into a foreign land to serve Him! But if you have a dream you can't reach today, don't give up. We met missionaries in Mexico who didn't have a season in their life where they could pack up until they were 60.  So, even if you can't adopt a baby today, or head to Africa today, if God really wants you to do it- nothing on earth can stop you. So please, don't give up your dreams!! I won't give up mine. 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