Hope

Hope.  Webster defines hope as "cherishing a desire with anticipation".   You might currently be hoping for a promotion.  Or a bonus at work.  Or even a new job altogether.  Maybe you're hoping for a new car or the latest smart phone for Christmas.  Maybe you're hoping for healing.  Or peace.  Or reconciliation.  We hope for all sorts of things.  We don't hope for things that mean nothing to us.  We hope for what's important to us.  Whether it be material, emotional, or spiritual, we hope for that which we desire.

Hope.

It has a completely different meaning for Quinn.  You see, Quinn's hope is fading.  It has been for a while.  Hope for Quinn is a dimly lit candle who's flame is barely providing light at all.  There's not much left to hang on to.

Quinn was transferred from his orphanage earlier this year to a mental institution in Eastern Europe.  He now spends close to 24 hours a day in a crib.  No eye contact.  No stimulation.  Just himself, his self-soothing behaviors, and the little hope he has left.

Quinn hopes for a family.  His down syndrome made that next to impossible in his birth country. International adoption was the hope he clung to. But transfer to an institution changes things drastically.  80% of children transferred to an institution die within their first year there.  EIGHTY PERCENT.  That statistic doesn't help Quinn's chances at all.

He needs a family.  Now.

He needs someone to step out in faith. Someone to say "yes".  Someone to be his family.  Down syndrome should NOT be a death sentence.  But without a family, it will be one for Quinn.  Children with down syndrome are shunned in this country.  They are placed in orphanages and left to die.

When did we go so very wrong?  These are children of God.  And yet we have allowed the world to corrupt our thinking as we let children like Quinn sit in an institution and die.  God made Quinn just as he is.  He loves him.  I have this image in my head of God weeping over the state of these children.  The ones He created in His image.  The ones He loved enough to give His Son for.

Quinn needs a family.  It's the only hope he has left.  Could you be his family?  What are you scared of?

 Friends, God is MORE than capable of providing.  We're living proof that He can provide the funds for your adoption.  He can provide the doctors, counselors, and support for you as you walk this road.   He can put people in your path who have walked the same road.  There is nothing to fear.

Will you pray that Quinn finds renewed hope soon?  Hope in the form of a family.  A family to rescue him.  To love him.  To provide for his needs and so much more.  A family to show him Jesus.

I was blessed to watch a video and read a report of Quinn today.  This little boy has so much life left in him!  I know he can bring so much joy to someone out there!  You just have to look at that smile above to see it.  

If you might be Quinn's family please email Nina at nina.t@chiadopt.com.

***I so desperately want Quinn to find a family that from today on, every dime I make from the Owls for Orphans project will be set aside for the family who comes for Quinn.  Our adoption is not yet fully funded, but we know God will provide.  Miah has a family coming.  Quinn still needs one.  I'm stepping out in faith here knowing someone out there will come for him.  Is it you?