Orphans at Play...Give a Grandma

If you hadn't noticed, there is now a new widget (I like to use that word) on the right hand side of my blog.

It's to be used to donate money to Orphans at Play, a non-profit organization that is working mainly in Primorsky Region, Russia to get 'Grandmas' into baby homes and orphanages.

Primorsky Region may be better known as Vladivostok, the area that our three oldest children were born in.

As such, that area has a very special place in our hearts. Very few days pass in our household that Russia isn't mentioned. In some ways, it seems a little odd to be discussing 'birth families' and baby homes, but in others, it is our families normal. I can't help but wonder if Ty will feel a little left out. The others can brag about having two families, they get to celebrate two birthdays (the day they were born and the day they joined our family), they can boast about having two Christmases (December 25 and January 7). And poor Ty? He has one birthday, one family, one Christmas.

But one thing that Ty has that our other children did not is a bond with his mom and dad. He knows us. He doesn't feel abandoned, though sometimes when I'm occupied with the other children I'm sure he wonders. He doesn't feel the need to mommy shop. He doesn't have night terrors due to being in an orphanage.

He is well attached, and we didn't even have to work at it.

Why am I saying this? I work with an organization known as Orphans at Play. While I am currently not doing my part and pulling my weight with them, my heart is still there. Life at home has been too full and busy to stretch myself any thinner, but I hope to someday join the forces again.

Last winter we gathered together and collected 27 suitcases full of coats/jackets/hats/mittens/etc. to send to baby homes and orphanages in Vlad. That's happening again this winter, though I am not the collection point. I believe that you can go to Orphans at Play to find the contact person nearest you.

Last winter we also collected funds to do some work in Russia. This year we are doing the same, with high hopes of reaching $10,000 in the next six weeks. We help put in playgrounds at baby homes/orphanages, fund Christmas parties, purchase items that individual baby homes/orphanages need.

Basically we're loving on the orphans from the other side of the world.

Back to the widget. We'd love to collect money for the Grandma program. What is that you ask? Allow me to attempt to explain.

It's well known that children who are adopted can at times struggle to accept their parents. They can struggle to feel loved. They can struggle to fit in with any group...except the 'bad' ones. They can be totally de-tatched from society.

Why? Because in their early years of life they didn't have the opportunity to attach to any one person in life. They were tossed around from one foster home to another. They were thrown into a baby home in another country living with a rotation of up to 15 caregivers in any 24 hour period. They learned that if they start to trust one person that person will disappear from their life.

Giving a Grandma simply means just that. By chipping in just a few dollars, you can fund a part of a Grandma....someone who will go into the baby homes several hours a week simply to love on the children. Someone who will be a set figure in the children's lives. Someone who may allow the children to form an attachment, which will in turn allow them to attach more fully to their parents as they learned that not EVERYONE they love disappears.

The Grandmas go in and play games, hold, hug, talk...simply take time to get to know the children. Something that the day to day caregivers may not have the time to do.

If you go to Orphans at Play website, you will also find a store that you can purchase from to support the work we do in Russia.

Thank you in advance for being the hands and feet for the children left behind. Thank you for helping us get Grandmas into the baby homes and orphanages, thus giving a few more children a chance to feel true love from an adult.