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These are the families who have taken a leap of faith and committed to adopt one or more of our orphaned children most recently.
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On their second date, Josh and Charity discussed their desire to adopt children in need for the first time. Both of them grew up around children who were adopted. Charity loved the children in her church who had Down Syndrome, and Josh was privileged to watch his Youth Pastor and his wife go through the process of adopting two children from Taiwan.
Three years after they got married, in 2021, the Smith’s began to pursue adoption from Bulgaria through Lifeline Children’s Services. When they found out that there was a Down Syndrome specific track in Bulgaria, they were elated and eager to adopt a child with Down Syndrome. Now, after 2+ years, Josh and Charity are thrilled to be at the tail end of the adoption process.
In February, 2023, Josh and Charity flew out to Bulgaria to meet their son, Matthew. Now, they await the call to fly out again to bring their boy home!
5/26/2023 — AWAITING FINAL TRIP
Nine years ago, God gave the Busler family a vision that included adoption and special needs. That vision, and God’s continued help and guidance, have taken the family on an emotional, spiritual, and geographical journey to Armenia to ultimately adopt two children (Mikko and Serob) and to begin the process of adopting a third child, this time from the Republic of Georgia.
While in the process of adopting Mikko, their first adopted son, in December 2017, Valerie and Forrest Busler noticed a little sprite of a guy (Serob) at Mikko’s orphanage who seemed to have a big heart. God kept Serob in the Buslers’ hearts, and when they felt that Mikko was stably integrated into the family, the Buslers initiated the adoption process for Serob.
After months of work and waiting, the COVID pandemic put a halt to Armenia’s processing of adoptions, and the Buslers were unsure if they would ever get to bring Serob home. In face of that uncertainty, the Buslers kept their hearts open, trying to discern if God wanted them to adopt from a different country.
During that time, through Reece’s Rainbow, the Buslers found out about little “Nelly” in Georgia (the country, not the US state). A few months later, though, Armenia started processing adoptions again, and ultimately the Buslers were able to bring Serob home in October 2021.
They never forgot about “Nelly”, though, and now they are hopefully only a few weeks away from traveling to Tbilisi, Georgia, to complete her adoption and bring her home to two brothers and two parents who will love her and treasure her.
5/2/2023 — AWAITING TRAVEL
When Gary and Carrie got married in 2003, they would have never dreamed their lives would look like this 20 years later. But God laid adoption on their hearts, so after having daughters Constance and Callie, they brought home their third daughter, Presley, from Eastern Europe in 2017. They thought their family was complete….until God planted that seed in their hearts again. A year and a half after bringing Presley home, Gary and Carrie started casually looking through Reece’s Rainbow children. As soon as “Mikah” was listed they knew he was their son! They began the process in June 2019 and passed court in March 2020 just two days before Covid shutdowns. They would have to wait 4 more months to bring Milko home. Then, only 17 days after bringing Milko home, they gave birth to their 5th child, Rhett. Adding Milko and Rhett at the same time was incredibly difficult. If you asked Gary and Carrie if they would add any more children to their family, they would have again answered that their family was complete.
However, on their first trip to meet Milko in January 2020, they both noticed this other little girl with spina bifida in the same orphanage. She always was sat in a little blue chair and was given a toy. She had the best personality and would talk to anyone who was in the room. She was the sweetest little girl and Gary and Carrie fell in love with her. The following month she was listed on Reece’s Rainbow and they prayed for her and advocated for her for the next three years, even signing up to be her MACC warrior. Many times they would say things like “I wish we could have just adopted her when we were there last time” or “we will definitely bring her home before she ages out”. Eventually that just became “let’s go get her now”. Even though most people think they’re crazy, they are so excited to finally bring home that little girl that touched their hearts three years ago. To read more about the Mitchell family, please visit Reece’s Rainbow Report featuring their family.
5/31/2023 — HOMESTUDY COMPLETE & OFFICIALLY MATCHED!
The Anderson-Hansen family, Charlie, Liz and their six children (Ethan, Savanna, Nikita, Abby, Emmeline and Cameron) are on a new adoption journey! They adopted their son, Cameron, from DCF in 2021 and Nikita (RR “Bert”) from Ukraine in 2021. Charlie and Liz are both registered nurses. Charlie is a travel nurse who works in the ICU and Liz is a nurse for a group home agency for adults with intellectual disabilities. Liz has always had the heart for adoption and was thrilled when she met Charlie and realized that his heart also led him to adopt. After scrolling through Reece’s Rainbow for years and finding their son, Nikita, they finished their adoption in 9 months! Their son, Nikita, has multiple medical needs including cerebral palsy. Within the month they arrived home, they found so much joy in raising Nikita that they thought “what if we adopt just one more?”. As everyone knows… famous last words in the world of adoption! In Feb 2022, they signed and paid commitment fees for another Ukraine adoption and just days later, they got the devastating news that Ukraine was at war. They waited for a year for adoptions to reopen, when they saw a picture of their soon-to-be daughter in a completely different country! They are now in process with another Eastern European country to bring home their child. They have been soft-matched and are working hard to complete this adoption quickly and efficiently. They are so thankful and blessed for the village that has grown around them and their children and would love to have everyone along on their next journey!
4/21/2023 — HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Wil and Heather have been married for 17 years. They met at College, Wil was Heather’s neighbor across the way. They fell in love and that is where their journey began.
William was in the Army Reserves for 24 years he recently retired in 2022. He has lovingly and proudly served his country serving 2 deployments to Kuwait/Qatar for 1 1/2 years. And another one year deployment to Iraq. Wil works full time at a local cheese plant. He loves to adapt the children’s toys, so they are easier for them to play with. They are his buddies, and they love to help their dad.
Heather is a stay at home mother. She has a health care and childcare background. Motherhood is where her heart called. Heather loves homeschooling the kids and watching them grow and shine as they learn. She also is very gifted at keeping our family organized which, when you have several special needs children you need that. She also loves volunteering with a local animal rescue.
Our journey to have a family started in 2007. After just a few visits, we learned that with Wils infertility and Heather’s the chances of them conceiving were slim to none. After much thought and prayer, we decided to build our family by adoption. We have been blessed with 3 children through adoption. And our hearts are now pulling us to a little girl in Haiti we know is our 4th.
Our oldest Erik is 8 we adopted him at birth from Arizona as a domestic adoption. His list of diagnosed is topped with severe Bilateral Schizencephaly—having only 20% of his brain, spastic quad cerebral palsy, epilepsy, peters anomaly, vision and hearing impairment, gtube dependence and many more. He has many complex medical needs. Erik is completely the sunshine of our lives. He is full of character and charm. He loves to help around the house, whether it be cooking, cleaning or helping dad fix things. He is the worlds bestest BIG brother, he loves to snuggle, hold hands and comfort his siblings or sit and hoot and holler chatting away at them. He’s excited to have a BIG sister and see what it’s like to be a little brother.
Our daughter Aliza is forever 4 she gained her wings in 2020 on her fourth birthday. She was and is our little sparkling princess we miss her so very much. We adopted her at 3 months old from a nursing home. Her doctors ordered hospice because they carried no hope that she would thrive with only a brain stem. Aliza was a sassy, smart, beautiful little girl. She loved doing art projects and snuggling particularly her daddy. She always had a little stuffed friend or doll and never left the house without earrings. We know she is watching over our beautiful princess in Haiti while we work towards bringing home her sister.
Our youngest, Ian is 2 he is our darling little rainbow after our very hard storm of losing our princess. We adopted him at 3 months old from Arkansas. Ian got caught in the birth canal and was without oxygen long enough to cause 80% brain damage. He too has a long list of diagnoses. Despite all those he is our giggly goose and wild child. He loves to be tickled and would snuggle 24/7. He has brought so much joy and laughter to our home. He loves to snuggle his BIG brother and hold his hand or arm. They sit and chat away with each other all day long. Ian is excited to have a BIG sister, he was glad he was going to still be the baby of the family lol.
“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” -Mary K ash.
Just like the bumblebee our children shouldn’t be doing a lot of things, including living they are true miracles!! That’s why we as a family, BEE-lieve in the impossible!!
Many say Erik, Aliza, and Ian are blessed to have us. But truly it is the other way around. They have filled a hole in our hearts that was so very empty. All 3 are/were medically complex. We love them so very much they are our greatest blessings. We know our beautiful star across the sea will be no different.
As our family is now journeying into international waters towards Haiti. To bring home our missing piece to our family. She too has significant medical needs, but she is absolutely perfect in every single way. With a smile that will melt your heart. We would be so honored to have you on this journey to help bring our daughter home.
4/10/2023 — HOMESTUDY in PROCESS
CONTACT
Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 146
Combined Locks, WI 54113
CLICK HERE to contact us.
Your questions will be directed to the appropriate team member.
PO Box 146
Combined Locks, WI 54113
CLICK HERE to contact us.
Your questions will be directed to the appropriate team member.
