I cannot get that boy filled up. He came home from school today, and while I was going through the mail in the kitchen, he proceeded to eat:
fresh blackberriesa piece of cake
a honey bun
a Little Debbie Swiss Roll
He then sat down next to me and sighed heavily. "I need something to eat that's SWEET," he complained.
"You can't get much more sweet than what you've already had, but I suggest you get some more blackberries, and just put some sugar over them," I offered. I was thinking, at least the blackberries have some nutritional value.
"Not sweet enough."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just when I think Michael has put the past behind him, he says something to let me know it's always there. We were in Target the other day looking for a tennis raquet, and something came up about birthday presents. He said quietly, "The worse is when you have a birthday and you get NO presents," and I knew he was thinking about the first 10 years of his life.
This is Michael when he was in the orphanage, but he was on an outing paid for by the Antares Foundation, and they were in an indoor playground. None of the kids in the photo have been adopted except Michael.
Here is Michael today, with his friend Clay:
I want to share with you an email I sent out to the 5,000 or so people on my home email address book, because I am so passionate about wanting to help the Antares Foundation.
A few years ago, my son Michael was a little boy in an
orphanage in Northern Kazakhstan, and he faced a very bleak future. If God had
not led me to adopt Michael he would still be there, and I would not have the
delightful boy who is one of the great joys of my life.
There are many older children still in Northern Kazakhstan who will never be
adopted. I cannot forget their faces. I sponsor two little girls in Michael's
orphanage through a wonderful organization called The Antares Foundation, but I
want to do more.
My friend Hallie who has a blog called Wonderful World of Wieners [as in
dachshunds] had a very successful raffle, and most of her prizes were
fairly modest in value, but she raised almost $6,000 for organ donor
Awareness. I donated an autographed book, and won one of the prize packages.
It contained an original painting, some handmade earrings, a tee shirt for
Mike, and some handmade notecards. I was delighted with the prize. She is still
giving away prize packages to donors.
I'm getting ready to do a raffle on my blog the first week of September. I have
gotten a number of things donated including gorgeous handmade wooden items, a
beautiful piece of pottery, a gift card for Target, a Starbucks gift card, etc.
and I am asking everyone I know to donate an item for my raffle, or donate
directly to Antares Foundation. Blog readers who donate will be automatically
entered into the raffle, and people who donate prizes are automatically
entered.
I will let folks contribute for a month or so, then pick the winners, probably
in October.
If you make handcrafted items and have an Etsy store, or you have your own
business or blog, I will give you free publicity on my blog. (If you'd prefer
to remain anonymous, that's fine too.) I get between 100 and 350 readers a day.
Antares folks work hard to help the older kids still in orphanages in northern
Kazakhstan, most of whom face very tough futures. The Antares folks were very kind to me
during Michael's adoption, and Apryl and Laura, who run the foundation, have
become friends of mine. Since I am not working right now [hopefully that will
change soon] I am trying to raise at least $1,000 for Antares, to help with their newest project, which assists older children who have left the
orphanage and struggle to stay in school or find jobs, often with few or no
life skills or mentors to guide them.
I know times are hard, but please think about donating a prize for my raffle,
or just making a contribution directly to Antares. It's tax deductible. Thanks
and God Bless!
Dee
