Fundraising is a full time job! I am in awe of the families that completed this journey last yearly almost entirely on the fruits of their fundraising. I am also so thankful to those who have reached out to sell on our behalf, open their yard for a sale, share our story on their blog/website/facebook,etc., buy and wear our t-shirts as living advertisements, eat themselves silly at the Sweet Tomatoes buffet and so much more. Each one of these efforts brings us one step closer to bringing Ruslan home forever.
We were driving in the car today, and Mason saw something that we drove by (some frog something or other..not sure if it was a sign, or what!) He said, "Mama...that reminds me of Ruslan, because I saw that when Ruslan was here, and that makes me think about him!" Ruslan is in our hearts and on our minds so often.
We know it is a long, uphill battle to raise the funds needed to bring him home. We also know that we are all in, that we are fully committed to this walk as long as He would have us on it. That no effort is to little, no donation too small, to make a difference and bring us closer to that goal.
We plan to send a small gift, and a note back to Ruslan when a local family returns to Ukraine to finalize their adoption in a couple weeks. We can only imagine him receiving our note and gift...maybe unsure how to react, but knowing that we are thinking about him and loving him. I am so thankful for a family willing to reach out to him on our behalf in the midst of their own journey, and for the opportunity to send him a little "booster shot" to the affirmations we planted in his heart this summer. I miss that boy with every fiber of my being.
Thank you hardly seems enough to say to the so many people who have been praying, donating, advocating and more. It truly takes a village, and we are so humbled and blessed to count each of those people as partners in this journey. They will be such a significant part of this little boy's history, and it is our hope that they will also be a part of his future. We can't wait to tell Ruslan about the many, many people that were fighting for him. That for the first time in his life, there were people who CHOSE him, and didn't discard him- there were people that LOVED him, not merely tolerated him, and that his parents may have abandoned him, but his Heavenly Father will NEVER forsake him.
We are forever indebted to those individuals that chose to make this their cause too, that chose to invest in a little boy they may never know or meet, that chose to give sacrificially of time, emotions, resources and talents. We have a gratitude that can't be adequately expressed, and we are blessed beyond measure.
