Two Names, Two Lives, One Race Against Time

Brandon and Scottie.  The names could belong to anyone, anywhere. Brothers, highschool friends, hired help. The names could mean anyone with out the pictures, without the facts. Without both of these things, the people attached to them would be easy to ignore as we would not know them. It is very easy to ignore something we don't see. But that does not erase them or make them go away. Please don't look away, please keep reading and let for just a minute the lives of these two people take over your thoughts. 

Brandon and Scottie. Two boys. Two different countries. Two different conditions. Put along side one another by one word. Time! You see time hurts us all but you may never know just how many things, Time, is going to take from them. Families, Love, a Future, A sense of belonging, and maybe even the chance to hear about God. You may have guessed their story by now. You may know what I am going to tell you but I am going to say it anyway. Brandon and Scottie are orphans. 

Their chance to have a family is going away. The flame of HOPE in both of these boys hearts is about to be snuffed out. By what you ask? Time.

 They are aging out. Most orphans age out at sixteen, some at fourteen. It's hard to believe that both of these boys have been in a orphanage that long. Sixteen years! Sixteen years in a orphanage. Sixteen years knowing that from the minute you were born, someone didn't want you. Sixteen years hoping, dreaming even, for a family to walk in that door but nobody ever did. And maybe, just maybe after sixteen years, thinking that nobody ever would. Nobody cared.

Maybe you'll forget about these two boys as soon as you leave this post or maybe you'll remember these boys in the years to come. Whichever one may happen to you, I would like to introduce you to Scottie and Brandon.

                                        This is Brandon!!

   He may not look like much on first glance but take one more look at his face, his smile. His smile needs no words! God made this boy to shine for him. His smile says that although he is different, God made him special. That though he may be weak, God is strong. That he is precious no matter what other's may say.

 Brandon has Down Syndrome. He was born July 2000 and he is aging out this July.

When a child with special needs ages out, they may as well be given an early death sentence. At age four they are transferred to a adult institution. I was once told the story of a healthy little boy with Down Syndrome who was transferred to an institution. In a couple months this little boy had died.

 My brother Joshua was four when we adopted him and my sister Lily. He was the child that we added on to our adoption as we were already going to adopt my sister Lily. When my parents got there, they found out that unlike what we had been told, he could not take care of himself at all. He could not feed himself, he wore diapers, he could not speak, he could not support himself in any way.  My parents didn't know what they should do. The road ahead with a child that disabled was dark and full of shadows.

  Joshua was at the time fed by bottle. We were told that they had started to feed him mashed up banana to get him ready for the institution. I hardly believe that he could not have survived a month there! We were not sure of the future. My parents knew that he would in a way tie our family down some. But our answer was yes! It had to be yes. We could not look him over and forget. We could not abandon him to death. We could not say no after our heavenly Father had placed him in our path and believe me when I say that although the road has been hard, I could not imagine life without him. He is our little angel.

 So please look past Brandon's disability and love him for the person God made him to be.

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                                                           This is Scottie!

              

Scottie has HIV. He probably understands more than Brandon what his 16th birthday will bring. Someone wrote on his post about him, that he is very much hoping that his family will find him before its to late.  He is also very concerned about his condition. (HIV) He is aging out in August. A 1600a must be filed  by August 2016.

  I know that some people may get scared at the idea of a person who has HIV. It can seem scary or even dangerous. But to be honest, to me Scottie is just like a child that has a food allergy. There are different things any parent has to do to keep each of their children safe and their needs met. Each child has a need. Scottie has a need.

Scottie has HIV but my dad has told me of people who have lived with HIV and have had a normal life. Please don't let his condition scare you. He wants a family of his own, who will love him double for the years that have gone by without love.  He needs to be told that he is special despite HIV. Despite spending his childhood in a orphanage. 

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It has been a year or maybe more since I've last brought a child before you. I can see that my post was the last post written on this blog. Please look upon these kids as more than orphans or disabled kids. They were made by God just like you and me and He did not make them to spend the rest of their lives in the institution. When Jesus said "You are worth more than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31) he was talking about Scottie and Brandon too.

I know I have been keeping you for awhile but I wanted to show you one more child. But this child is different because I won't be begging you to consider sharing about her or adopt her. Time is up for this precious angel. The curtain has fallen.

                                                               This is Isolde!

If you look her up on Reece's Rainbow, her name will not be under the waiting children. Her name is under the list "Aged out before family was found." I don't know about you but those six simple words cause so many emotions to fly around in my mind. The biggest one? Anger probably. Because to me those six words should have never crossed her page. Those six words should have never been connected to her picture or to the pictures of the countless other orphans that are also on this page.

Someone should have looked on her page, at her picture and said, "That is my daughter. She belongs in our family." but nobody did. And the bell of time has clanged its final ring.

 This girl that God made, this girl that God made for a special purpose can only watch as other kids are adopted around her. Can only think "Why?" Why did no one come? Why?

I turned sixteen the same year and month she did but my story is a lot different, but what if our paths in life had been the opposite. She could have been born to a father and mother who loved the Lord. She could have been raised alongside siblings and family members that loved her for who she was. I could have been in her place. I could have been stuck in a chair while watching kids run by. I could have hoped for a family as the years ruled by. My heart sinking as child after child was taken and no eye ever turned to meet my mine. Longing for love but getting none. I could have realized as my 16th birthday rolled in, that I had no more time. That the sun had risen in the sky and left me alone in the dark never to see that light again.

 All this could have happened to me but it didn't. Isolde had this life not me. I have sobbed thinking about the life this girl could've led if only someone had adopted her. 

 Please share, share about Brandon and Scottie before the light goes out. Even if you can't adopt them, you can share about them.  We can still save them. Jesus loves them and he made them perfect. You can see his finger prints all over their faces. Please share today about these precious boys who are "worth more than many sparrows."

      Thank you so much for reading this post, it means a lot to me, Scottie and Brandon.

             In Christ,

           Naomi Adamson

 ^"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-30