Time to Tweet!

I have never been on Twitter before.  Curious, but never went there.  Facebook is enough of a time-waster, I mean, interactive zone for me. 

But then I learned that I could help Reece's Rainbow just by agreeing to follow them on Twitter!!  Patricia Heaton (the actress) is donating $1 to Reece's Rainbow for every person who becomes a follower on the Reeces Rainbow Twitter page, up to $10,000 for 10,000 followers!   If you are a Twitter person, go here to follow along.  If you don't Twitter, would you consider signing up, just for this great cause?

From the Reece's Rainbow blog:

EMMY Award winning actress, Patricia Heaton, from ABC's "The Middle", after learning about Reece's Rainbow on twitter, has generously offered to donate $10,000 when we reach 10,000 twitter followers. What a blessing to our ministry she has been and in less than two days, @ReecesRainbow has already reached 3002 followers!

You can also tweet any of the children or families on the Reece's Rainbow website to help them to find their 'forever families'!

Please join in and if you aren't following @PatriciaHeaton, be sure you follow her, as well!

We are proud to welcome Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and many others who are also committed to raising awareness for our ministry and our orphaned children with Down syndrome and other special needs!

Thank you, Patricia, for all you are doing for our angels! And thank you to all of our @reecesrainbow followers!

________

Also:  Please remember to keep in prayer the Davis family (Kirill) and the Hook family (adopting Evan).  The Davis' are appealing a judge's denial of their adoption of a child w/DS, and the Hook family is facing the same judge in just a few hours to plead their case with her for their daughter.

New Ministry Video and Prayer updates

Reece's Rainbow has come out with a beautiful new ministry video.  Please take two minutes, five minutes, or all twelve minutes and view it and pray for the many children in need!

Link to the video is HERE


Prayer updates and praises:

• Please continue to be in prayer for the Davis family as they wait for their appeal to be processed for Kirill.  Tomorrow is a dedicated day of prayer and fasting for the Davis family and the two other families headed to the same region.  The Hook family is supposed to be in a hearing Thursday.  Click HERE for Julia's blog, which gives more information about these families and the day of prayer and fasting.
• Praises!  I received a message from someone today who came to the blog for the first time.  She saw the blog in my signature in a post at Richmondmommies.com.  This great person won her company's NCAA pool and, after reading about Reece's Rainbow here, has donated her pool winnings to RR!!
• There are several families in countries right now to adopt. I pray that they have positive visits with their children and that paperwork and other issues be handled smoothly and quickly.
• Carrington, whose picture is on the sidebar, is doing better but still needs prayer.  She was immediately hospitalized when her parents brought her to the states.  Pray that her body heal and grow!
• Pray for healing for some dear friends whose adoption in EE did not work out, and they returned home with empty arms.  Pray for their hearts to be filled with Jesus as they process their journey.
• Pray for Lois' family, the Hogans, who are coping with her loss while still celebrating her short life. 
• Praises for my own little T-21 cutie, who learned to sign "Jesus," "mama," and "dad" this week!
• Pray for Isaiah and Vilis and many others to have a family!

Praying for K

Those of you who are my Facebook friends may have seen a few recent posts about a family trying to adopt a child from Russia and how the judge recently denied their case.  It is HEARTBREAKING.  They have crossed the ocean -- TWICE -- to see their son.  And a judge has said no. 

This family loves their son.  They have held him.  Snuggled with him.  They have appealed their case, and it will take several weeks to know the result.

His picture is on the sidebar -- what a cutie in his glasses! 
Go here to see them and read more of their story from one of their many supporters: 
 Pictures and story of K and his family

Or go to the family's own site, where they beg us to pray for God to be glorified, no matter what the outcome.  What faith.    http://www.oureyesopened.blogspot.com/


All Christians are called to care for widows and orphans.  Let's do our part and pray this little boy home!!

Eradicate what?

A recent research study concluded that a new, non-invasive blood test can correctly detect babies with Down syndrome in utero.  The lead researcher, Philippos Patsalis of the Institute of Neurology and Genetics in Nicosia,  told reporters:

    This method can apply to all pregnancies not only those at risk," he added, describing it as "one of the most important milestones in the history of the institute."
   He said the cheaper and quicker method of blood sampling rather than collecting fluid from the womb will encourage more couples to take the test and therefore slowly eradicate the disease.
   "There is no cure, so this is a test for couples who want to know and prevent it, they are the ones who must decide on the fate of the pregnancy."      
(Click here for the full article) 

 After reading this, I felt kicked in the gut.  This person is a clinician, and he thinks that people with the trisomy 21 "problem" should be "treated" or in other words ....terminated. 


Let me be clear:  Down syndrome is not a disease to be eradicated.  It is not HIV.  It is not smallpox.  It is not life-threatening in ANY way.


Yes, Down syndrome is a condition, some would say a "disorder."  But it is not a disease.  It is not something that can necessarily be -- or needs to be -- "cured."

Yes, Down syndrome is challenging, both for parent and for the child, as well as extended family.  There are more medical appointments.  More therapies.  More interventions.  More need for patience.  More money for things not covered. 



But...there is more joy.  More life in the moment.  More hugs.  More smiles.


By choosing life for my child with Down syndrome, my husband and I stand differently than most in this world.  Yes -- 92% of people who learn their child with have Down syndrome will terminate.

(Disclosure -- we knew we had a 1 in 2 chance of having a child with DS, but did not have an amnio, and so delivery was still somewhat of a "surprise" of sorts).


Ninety two percent.  Don't believe me?  Check out this link from National Institutes of Health.

This is 92% of those who know---who have to go through an invasive test, such as chorionic villus sampling at 13 weeks or amniocentisis at 18-20 weeks.  Both of those test have fetal risks.  And this isn't counting those who may have terminated prior to 13 weeks.

But this new test brings new ethical issues.  There are currently some who don't want to "harm their baby" and go through the tests -- but might they do so now, that there is a simple blood test?


Have I not scared you -- or myself -- enough?  Here are some more sobering facts.

From the Wall Street Journal in 2005:
Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center examined birth-certificate data and, in a paper published last year in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, estimated the number of Down syndrome live births in the U.S. declined 7.8% from 1989 to 2001. They suggested that the drop was due to the use of prenatal diagnosis and the termination of pregnancies.

From Science Daily in 2009 [note:  Slotko, the researcher mentioned, has a sister with DS]
Research reviewed by Skotko showed a 15% decrease in births of babies with Down syndrome between 1989 and 2005 in the United States. 


I could keep quoting.  But it is disturbing.  And it's not just about Down syndrome.  The NIH study includes Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome, and others.  What's next -- autism and cerebral palsy?  Are we going toward a Gattaca society where even the slightest thing -- say, a child's gender, or chance for brown eyes, or my middle daughter's too-curly hair -- is to be silenced and finished?

This is scary.  I know that many people may read this and think it doesn't apply to them.  They aren't pregnant.  They don't have a child with Down syndrome.  But....you are alive.  You have life.  You have dignity.

At what point did God decide you were worthy?  Did Jesus choose some on the cross to die for, and some not? 

Of course not.  He died for all.  But our world changes the question, and so let's pose it again.   At what point did another human being choose your worth?  That, my dear, prayerful friends, is the ultimate question I am struggling with tonight.  And I say this angrily, humbly, prayerfully, and with a heart full of tears.  For my heart was not what it is now, or what it will be in the future.  But I have three precious beauties upstairs, one with an extra chromosome, and through them, God has taught me much.

Blessings to all who have gotten this far!
Gwen

Vilis has a FAMILY!!!!

Edited on 3/27/2011:  I received word today that Vilis no longer has a family committed to his adoption.  I don't know the circumstances, just that Vilis is still in need of a loving family!  His grant today lists at $8430.  Hope someone will commit to him soon and bring him home!!!

 -----------------------------------------------
When I first learned the awesome news, I began to squeal and run and holler for my husband.  He must have thought I had seen a mouse or something.

But no -- I saw something much better.  Vilis was here on the "My Family Found Me" portion of Reece's Rainbow.  We have been Reece's Rainbow Warriors for Vilis and Isaiah (both pictured in the sidebar at right) for weeks and months.  Thank you, God, for answered prayer. 

This is awesome!  Congratulations, little Vilis.  I look forward to reading about your new family and hearing about you. 

And while I rejoice fully for Vilis, still I pray for many others waiting.  For Isaiah, Jonah (about whom I'll write soon), Karina, Doug, Mandy, Tomas, Heath, Pauline, and so many others whose names are becoming written in my heart.

Jesus and Justin Bieber

My daughters and I were out yesterday when my seven-year-old became aware of the song playing in the background.

"This is Justin Bieber," she announced.  And then she paused and asked, "Who is he?"

I explained that he is a singer and made a movie, the trailer of which we had seen a month or so ago when we went to "Tangled" during Christmas break.  Since we don't listen to much popular music, I was surprised that she recognized and remembered the song and singer.  But we don't live under a rock, and  I figured that between the Disney channel and sports and clubs, she'd heard of him and his music, to which she agreed when I asked. 

Then she added, "Someone in AWANA [Bible club] has a T-shirt she wears all the time with him on it, and she sings this and says she loves him."  Then she looked at me like that was a very strange thing to do, to love a singer.  But I also know that she's a curious kid and also a sensitive one, always wanting to make sure that she is doing the right thing.

So I said, "I'd rather you know about Jesus than Justin Bieber.  And I think you do know Jesus."  And she smiled broadly and nodded, as if she knew a special secret, and then she changed the subject to other things, leaving me to cherish her honesty and simple faith.  

I give all credit to God for giving me those words, and for leading her to Him.  But I worry about a world where more people know who Justin Bieber is than who Jesus is, where people proclaim love for someone on TV or on screen versus someone who can live in our hearts forever.  And that's not Jesus' fault -- it's mine, and yours, and everyone who knows about Him and who is called to proclaim his name. 

Yet it is easy to glamorize the things we see and hear so much, rather than that which is often unseen (or segregated to one hour a week on a Sunday morning).  It's easier to pick up People magazine at the doctor's office than to spend time in prayer or reflection.

 But God tells us in 2 Corinthians not to lose heart (chapter 4, verse 16).  And two verses later He continues to remind us of what is important:

 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 


This is a wake-up call for me, to focus on the "unseen," on the faith in our Lord, than just what is in the world around us.   What can we do to make sure that the words of Christ are more well known that the ubiquitous notes of some pop song?

A Bystander's Perspective

This post has been making the rounds of Facebook today:

Today I may have actually learned something

It's about a man's perspective of a Starbucks employee who has Down syndrome, and how he realizes her everyday humanity.

I appreciate his honesty, because most people aren't that open.  But while I don't know all of his thoughts, I can relate to the idea that some people are uncomfortable around someone different from them.  I didn't have much experience with people with disabilities before Henry.  My eyes have been opened -- and softened -- to the myriad needs in the world around me, just because my youngest has an extra chromosome.

I hope he sees Amber again, and speaks with her just as he would any other employee.  And, to Amber, I look forward to Fridays, too!