Meet the Lehmanns

Meet this month's fifth family. The Lehmanns. 

Hi we are Brian & Keri we have been blessed with 17 years of marriage but we are missing a piece of our family, children. We have been unable to start a family of our own naturally, and did not want to pursue other options when there are children here now needing homes. Keri's mother was adopted and so that had planted the seed of wanting to adopt, even if we were able to have a bio kid. After the Lord led us to find Meredith we fell in LOVE and bonded quickly. Then after a little over a month of praying, waiting and seeking God’s perfect will, He gave us a clear answer, “she is your daughter”. With Faith trumping fear we began our journey to bring her home while God trained us to TRUST Him more.

We have been through numerous trials and road blocks with Meredith’s adoption, we really could write a book. To sum up...the paper trail of Meredith went cold, no one could tell us anything, in addition her country was going through changes in how adoptions were handled. You could no longer specify a particular child and all the childrens pictures & profiles from Meredith's country were pulled off agency and adoption websites. But we had already learned of her... In October 2012 with much frustration and confusion and the agency wanting a big amount of $ we put a hold on the adoption process. We met with our social worker and discussed options...she told us to grieve Meredith...devastating! But in God's still small voice deep in our hearts and soul we were going to keep the faith & keep fighting for her, and listen to what the Lord had already spoken. Soon miracles started happening, little ones and BIG ones. With God’s help we tracked down where Meredith was living and found out she was still available for adoption. Then March 21, 2013 we were officially matched with our sweet daughter! It was a total shock to our agency and social workers, this was not supposed to happen! God can move mountains and HE DOES and He can change outcomes of International politics. There continued to be delays and ups and downs but in the end ...GOD WON!!! Leaving on a jet plane August 26, 2014! And God willing we will ALL be HOME September 18th! Thank you Jesus!!! And thank you to all those that have supported us financially we are about $6000 away from being fully funded, yeah! But more importantly thank you so much for your prayers.

Want to help this family?  How about 5 families this month?  60 families this year?  Make your monthly donation of $5 or more here.

Meet the Kindalls

Meet our fourth family. The Kindalls.

We are the Kindall family! I'm Mali and my husband is Gavin and we have been married for ten years; after only seven weeks of dating! You could call us crazy, but when you know you know, right! We have a beautiful three year old boy named Jet and are in the process of adopting a beautiful ten year old boy from a small Easter European country. It has always been in our hearts to adopt one day. Although in our minds it would happen in a few years. God had other plans. We were in the process of adopting two precious little girls from Russia when Americans were banned from adopting from there. After much heartbreak has come something very beautiful and that is bringing home our son.

"Dylan" was given up by his parents at birth because he has Down syndrome. As a result he spent the first 10 years of his life in a couple different orphanages. The mistreatment that he has experienced in his early years of life has left his body scarred but not his heart. He is full of love and excitement for life and very deserving of a loving family. He loves to dance and is very athletic. He is sharp and learns quickly. Whenever there is a task to be done he is right there ready to help. He is a sweet boy and loves his little brother Jet.

We were required to spend the month of April with him in his home country for bonding. Then we were able to return back to the US in May with our boy on a visitor/medical visa having temporary custody until the end of October. His adoption needs to be finalized by then; meaning we still need to make two more trips back to his country. The second trip is in September and that will be court. Then the third trip is to complete all the Embassy paperwork and needs to be done before his visa expires. The process of adoption ended up costing 10K more than originally planned. This was due to an increase in airfare to the country and having to spend 20 more days in country than their agency originally believed. If the adoption isn't finalized in time our sweet son will have to return to the orphanage until we can come up with the funds to finalize the adoption.

Our family cannot wait to finalize the adoption of our handsome and amazing "Dylan"! The thought of him having to return to an orphanage is heartbreaking. Seeing him with his family you wouldn't know that he hasn't always been with us...he is home.

So much love and support has already been shown and given to both our family and our "Dylan" to help bring him home and to keep him here…..we would like to thank everyone with our whole hearts!

Want to help this family?  How about 5 families this month?  60 families this year?  Make your monthly donation of $5 or more here.

Meet the Fraleys

“I don’t want kids”

“I never want to go to India”

“I don’t want to work with teenagers”

That’s how our adoption journey started. Three absolute statements made in the confidence of youth about how we expected our life as a couple to unfold.  Looking back, we wish we would have said something like, “I never want to be independently wealthy” or “I don’t want a beach house” cause absolute statements like that seem to make God want to prove He has a sense of humor…

Aaron and Julie (that’s us!) met at Bible Collage and were married soon after graduation.  While they had hoped to find work in a local church, a strong attachment to living in a house with the associated comforts forced them to settle into boring adult jobs.  After four years of this, Aaron was begging God for any job doing what he actually went to school for.  And lo and behold, a church position opened up…as a youth pastor.  Desperate to escape another day of data entry, Aaron had a change of heart about that whole “working with teens” thing and took the job.  Surprise, surprise, he loved it!  

After a few years of working with other people’s kids, the idea of having one of their own began to grow on them.  After five years of marriage, they welcomed their daughter, Winter, into the family.  It didn’t take long to realize that they loved being parents!  Two years later, Noah came along, adding a son to the party.  Being a mom and dad turned out to be the most rewarding thing they had ever done.  Soon they were thinking about adding some more kids to the fam.  But some health problems for Julie prevented them from growing their family.

But then, an idea!  A stoke of genius!  Why not adopt?  Julie’s dad had been adopted, so it was something that the family had been aware of.  Why not grow our family that way?  After a ton of research, we decided that adoption was the plan for us!  Now the question was, where should we adopt from?  I’m pretty sure you have guessed the answer.  Coincidently, Aaron’s best friend was Indian and we had the opportunity to learn about the country, the culture, and the need that so many children had for a mom and a dad.  We could fill that need!  We are really good at being a mom and dad!  

So we went from “never going to India” to “I cannot wait another minute to go to India!”  Why the change?  Because there are two beautiful little girls over there that are Fraleys even if they don’t know it yet.  After going through the application process and a forest worth of paper work charmingly known as a dossier, we were matched with two sisters, Abigail (6) and Autumn (3).  Now we are playing the waiting game as governments move oh so very slowly in finalizing the adoption and getting our girls home to us.  While we wait, we are working hard to raise the remaining $5000 we need to travel.  Hopefully we will receive news soon from India that we have a court date and can bring our cuties home!

Want to help this family?  How about 5 families this month?  60 families this year?  Make your monthly donation of $5 or more here.

Introducing Dell and Kiril's Family

Introducing our second family for the month! 

Dell and Kiril's family! 

We are so excited to bring Dell and Kiril home where they will be treasured and loved unconditionally. Our whole family is anxiously waiting until the boys are home forever! We appreciate being chosen as one of this months 555 families. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support as we prepare to travel in the next few weeks to bring our boys home.

Want to help this family?  How about 5 families this month?  60 families this year?  Make your monthly donation of $5 or more here.

Meet The Jenks

First family bio for the month, introducing the Jenks family! 

We are just a regular family who has felt lead to adopt. We have four bio kids ages 24-16. After years of trying to have another baby, Rebecca had to have an emergency hysterectomy in 2011. We started to explore other ways to add children to our loving family. We were open to the idea of adoption, and had considered children with special needs, but it was not until we were sitting in church one evening praying for God to give us a sign, when a group of teens and adults with Down syndrome came and saw in the pew right in front of us that we knew this was the path we were going to be taking. In 2012 we adopted Veronika (now 3) and Gavyn (will be 3 in Sept) - they both have DS. We felt strongly that God was leading us to international adoption again and this time an older child with DS. When we saw Veronika listed on RR we instantly knew she was to be our daughter. Six months later we added Emilija to our adoption as well.

We met the girls for the first time in March and they have been with us ever since on a visitor's visa. While they have been with us since March (in the USA since April) their visas will expire in October, so our adoption has to be final before October!! We have our second trip to their country this month for their orphan court, and then our third trip in Sept where we will finalize their adoption.

Want to help this family?  How about 5 families this month?  60 families this year?  Make your monthly donation of $5 or more here.

Your Impact

I (Natalie) had lunch with a previous 5/5/5 family this week. The mom was telling me that their adoption of two children was going to cost $60,000!!! 

Even if the pay $500 a month from their own budget (a huge amount), that will only bring them to $6,000 in a year. That's only 10%!!! That still leaves them needing $54,000!!! 

While their numbers are extreme, the cost of adoption is high. Families need help.

You may look at that number and think your $5 isn't going to help. But it is!!!

400 people have liked the facebook page. If everyone gave $5, we'd have $400 to give to 60 different families this year. If 10 of their friends also gave $5, we'd be able to give 60 families $4,000 each! If ten of their friends gave $5, we could fully fund 60 families a year.

$5 adds up. It really does help.

http://reecesrainbow.org/555families