For those of you who might have missed it, Tori is the little girl that Starling "adopted" this month on Reece's Rainbow. This is an all-volunteer organization that promotes and supports the adoption of special needs kids in Eastern Europe. In Tori's country, these kids live in an orphanage until they are five, then are shunted off to a mental institution intended for adults. They generally die from neglect. In fact, a little girl that was listed on RR died just a few weeks ago at an institution in Tori's country.
Starling and another woman had taken on Tori's cause because she just turned five and was moved to a mental institution. (She has cerebral palsy, which is not a mental issue anyway.) For the past few weeks, Starling has been working very hard to raise money for this girl. In fact, our family is apparently single-handedly organizing a run/walk/roll around Lake Winona at the end of the month. (!)
So this morning, as Bear and Jaybird are fighting with one another and Mouse is on the couch throwing up, I get a call from Starling. She says, "Are you sitting down?" Someone -- we don't know who -- gave Tori a major grant, pushing her fund up to $23,500. That should completely cover the cost of her adoption, meaning that the likelihood of her being adopted soon just went way, way up. Most of the kids, even those in worse shape than Tori, get an adoptive family within a few weeks of being fully funded.
After I got off the phone, the older kids wanted to know why I was crying. :)
Initially, we thought that our generous friends in Boston decided to fully fund her; they had already made a very big donation. But when we called, it turned out it wasn't them. The donor remains a mystery.
Now, we just need to pray for a "ready-to-go" family -- one with all the paperwork completed -- steps forward. And yes, the fun run is going forward; the money will go toward one of the many other kids who aren't as lucky as Tori.
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