A Piece of His Story

“I promise that for every disability that you have, you are blessed with more than enough abilities to overcome your challenges.” -Nick Vujicic, Life Without Limits

When Phil and I made the decision to adopt we felt led to pursue a child with physical special needs. I, as physical therapist, want to use the skills and gifts I have been given to care for a child who might not otherwise be adopted. At the same time, God had also touched Phil’s heart, and he knew that orphans with special needs were just as deserving of parents as any child.

This led us to Reece’s Rainbow (RR), an organization that advocates and finds families for orphans with special needs from all over the world. The great people there helped Phil’s sister and brother-in-law adopt our amazing nephew Artem from Ukraine.

When we found Micah and decided to pursue him, Stacia at RR tracked down the adoption agency who had his file and facilitated our first contact with them. Soon RR will be setting up a sponsorship page for us, to allow us to accept donations toward Micah’s adoption fees (more on that later). We are so very grateful for what RR is doing for Micah, our family and for orphaned children around the world.

Considering how to approach publicly discussing Micah’s special needs has been so difficult. In all reality this has nothing to do with anyone else and everything to do with him. First and foremost I want him to know that he was created in the image of God! He has been beautifully and wonderfully made by his heavenly Father who loves him so very much. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our God has amazing things planned for him!

I also want Micah to know that I will love him, just the way he is, always, and no matter what! I want to tell everyone all about him, but at the same time I want to protect him. This is where I am hesitant, because it is his story after all, and he has the right to keep it his. So you can see how this kind of thing could be agonizing for his momma to be.

Still, our son’s differences will be very visible, they will be public, and affect the way he lives daily. But if we have anything to do with it, he will know that these differences do not have to be limitations. He will be able to achieve whatever purposes that God has planned for him.

According to the information we have received, Micah has spinal abnormalities and paralysis of his left leg. He is crawling, and getting around quite nicely in his unique way. We are unsure what his mobility will look like as he grows and develops, but we are prepared for the possibility that he may never walk. He may be able to take some steps and there may eventually be technologies that allow his left leg to move, but it is likely that he will need to use a wheelchair for mobility for some period of time.

Regardless of the challenges he may face, we love him the same, and are so very excited at the prospect of being his parents!

Fundraising: We are currently completing requirements to set up Micah’s RR sponsorship page, and waiting for the completion of our home study in order to apply for grants. In the mean time, I hope you will visit my Etsy shop and consider purchasing an item to help with Micah’s current adoption expenses. I will be adding more items as fast as I can make them! Also, stay tuned for other opportunities to help bring Micah home. We will be starting a new fundraiser later this week!