How it started.

In a nutshell, I have dwarfism.  My family doesn't and my husband's family doesn't, but he and our son also have it.  Our type is called Achondroplasia which means the bones in our arms and legs are short, we need step-stools (or a talent for climbing) to reach things, and will have a few people stare at us for the rest of our lives.  It really isn't that big of a deal.

In the midst of raising our 1 year old, Ronnie and I stumbled across the world of much needed adoption advocacy - little person adoptions, specifically.  We had tossed around the idea of adopting before since I had severe hyperemesis my entire pregnancy, and would frequently look at the adorable faces on the LPA Adoptions page and others - even though we knew we weren't in the position to adopt anytime soon.  We would feel so sad to see some of the same children who hadn't found their family yet and would usually pray for them and go on with our day.

Then a few months ago, a wonderful lady wrote me.  She had adopted a beautiful boy internationally who had Achondroplasia and left me the link to her blog to look at.  This little boy was so easy to fall for!  He was thriving and smiling and fitting into the family perfectly.  Reading further, we became horrified by the conditions some of these international orphanages were in and neglect some of these kids would go through.  We were so ignorant.  I couldn't believe the way the nannies would treat the children they were supposed to protect.

More research led us to Oliver.



And that was it.  We fell in love with him and were hooked.  We've seen his photo before but never knew his story, and after a lot of prayer we felt led to do something.  If we couldn't take him, we needed to help whatever family could.

This is when I truly believe the Lord led us to Leila's blog.  She had previously been advocating so hard for Oliver and did a matching grant to get his adoption funds from $13 to over $3000!  What heart!  Genius!  This is what we would do.  A matching grant.  A matching grant to kick-start his funds again and draw more interest in his adoption.  And that's how it started.