Help Set the Butterfly Free!!!

Below - from the heart of my daughter, Sarah. Please read and pray about how you can help. Feel free to repost anywhere and everywhere. Thanks! I would love to see Rachel get her birthday wish!




Somewhere on the other side of the world there is a beautiful butterfly just waiting for her cocoon to break open so she can be set free.

But she got stuck in her cocoon and wasn't able to come out the same time as most of the butterflies her age. She is soo beautiful on the inside, and just needs love to help her break free to the outside.

So here's where she needs your help. She needs you to help set her free from the cocoon (orphange/possibly institution) she is stuck in.

You can help set Lilly love free by sponsoring a piece of her puzzle!

Her butterfly puzzle! That's right we are doing a puzzle fundraiser!

After the puzzle is filled up, it will be glued and given to Lilly's future adoptive parents when they bring her home. One day, Lilly will be able to look at this butterfly and see all the many people who loved her and helped her break free!

To sponsor a puzzle piece: 
Donate just $5 (times whatever amount of puzzle pieces you want to sponsor if more than one) to Lilly's grant. You can donate by:
-Using the chip-in on our sidebar (which goes directly to RR, just we can see who has donated)
-Using Lilly's account directly on RR
-Sending a check to:
Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885
(BE SURE to specify in the memo line it's for 'Lilly 3G').

After you have donated, you have to email us telling us how many pieces you sponsored, what names you would like on them (we are just doing last initial), and what method you used to pay. Our email is handiworkforelijah (at) gmail (dot) com. If you do not email us, you will not get your names on the puzzle! You can sponsor a piece for every member of your family, or you can sponsor a piece in honor or loving memory of someone!

We already have a good start on it, since we have put the names of everyone who has ordered from us while we have been raising money for Lilly. There are 500 pieces, and only 37 have names on them. That leaves 463 left.

What we have filled in so far! The upper right wing.

My 9 yo sister gave $5 of her own money to get her name on puzzle piece, and $5 is a lot of money for a 9 yo! Can't you give too? PLEASE help us set her free!

But here's the catch. Our goal is to have it filled in little less than a month from now. In other words, we want to have it all filled in by midnight on May 28th. You know why May 28th? Because that is this girl's birthday:

Rachel. My other half, and best friend. Also Lilly's warrior, and the one who first fell in love with Lilly. I quite frankly, could not  keep this blog running without her help.

She's turning 16, and I can tell you for a fact without even confirming it with her, that there is nothing she wants more for her Sweet Sixteen then for Lilly to have a family. Nothing.

And you can help get Lilly one step closer to that goal by being a piece of the puzzle. Becoming part of her butterfly! Help set her free!

Please bless Rachel, but more importantly, help Lilly find a family by getting your name on a puzzle piece!

Think 463 a lot?? I don't think so! Not for God! Let's knock out that number, shall we? Thank you!!!

Happy 8th "Bird-day" Isaac!

Over the weekend, Isaac had his 8th birthday "Bird-day" party, complete with 6 of his friends and a rockin' Angry Birds theme! This was his first ever "friend" party, so we went WAY overboard all out with the fun theme and an AWESOME cake!

(Lest you think I'm creative enough to come up with all this stuff below on my own, I stole all the decorating ideas from this blog post which contains lots of links for free downloads.)

Dear Isaac,
I can't believe it has been 8 years since I first held you in my arms. The Lord appropriately led us to name you Isaac, which means "laughter". You love life and always have a smile for everyone. I'm especially impressed and encouraged by the compassion and love you show your brothers. You are patient with them, and will get whatever they need. You never complain they can't "play" with you in the way you might want them too, but Elijah certainly enjoys wrestling with you. :-) I can't wait to see how the Lord works in your life as you grow up into a godly young man. Your faith in the Lord is already starting to grow. I believe he has BIG things for you to do in this world. Jer. 29:11


Love you Buddy,
Mommy

+++++++++++
The CAKE!

This is one of the most phenomenal cakes I've ever seen. Claudia, the wife of one of Pat's co-workers, makes cakes out of her home. She is so VERY TALENTED! Just look at the detail. AMAZING! Everything was edible too (complete with a good sugar rush). If you are local and would like to see her work, you can find her on FB at El Postre Cakes & Sweets or email her here. I'm quite sure she could make whatever theme cake you wanted. :-) The cake was one of the best tasting I've ever had too. Thanks Claudia!

Yep, he loves it too!

++++++++++++
The Pinata!

Sarah made the whole thing herself and did a great job! She applied LOTS of layers so it would be really strong. :-)

Braden is winding up, sportin' his Angry Bird hat that Sarah made him last winter.

Anna (above) and Rebekah were "allowed" to participate too!

One last chance to finish it off!  The boys never did completely break it, just put a hole in one side. They eventually just dumped it out. :-) Nice work, Sarah! 

++++++++++
Games!

Pat did the games for the kids, which he is very good at! They had a blast! To go along with the Angry Bird theme, the three teams built structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks. The structure to hold the most weight (DVD cases) won!

The winning team!

++++++++++

Decorations!

A huge thank you to Sarah for cutting out all of the pieces for the balloons and cups! Cute, huh?

I actually won these treat bags on the Hidden Treasures Auction I posted about the beginning of April. What a fun donation and it worked out great for me (I could choose my theme). I loved that she even donated things to put in the bags too. Thanks Hollie!

At Isaac's request, we served spaghetti and meatballs.

Black and red tableware were easy and fun to complete the theme.

++++++++++
Gifts!

Since Braden and Andrew live over 30 miles away, his mom stayed the whole time with Baby Dax! Yay! The girls were fighting over who got to hold him. Even Rachel got her turn!
It was nice to have some company in the kitchen too while the party was rockin' outside. Thanks for coming Michelle!

What a wonderful celebration of Isaac's birthday. I hope you enjoyed, Isaac. You are so very blessed to be loved by so many!

Jonathan signing!

Sarah here - Elijah and Rachel are signing all the time, and Jonathan is just getting started!! He already has his first 3 signs (if clapping for 'yay' counts!), though he doesn't use them consistently...
Here's a video I took during lunch today on him signing (sorry for my arm being on the way, I had it on my lap):


And yes, I know I'm being very mean and making him sign it... ;)

Easter!

Happy Easter! We had fun dying eggs the other night - 

Elijah saying and signing "Blue"

And from this morning- I think the turkeys realized it was safe to come out since it's Easter, not Thanksgiving... They still better be careful though! :)

We had never seen them this close to the house before!

Rachel and her Easter Basket! :)

Here are a few (ok, maybe more then a few) pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt this afternoon at Aunt Pat's house!! :)

Little man was in the middle of an unsuccessful attempted nap inside with Mom, so big sis and Dad collected his eggs. And Mom declared the content of the eggs to be hers since Jonathan can't eat them. :)

Love her squinty sun face smile! :)

Seconds after this picture was taken, the egg opened and the contents fell into the watering can thingy, and the precious candy was very hard to retrieve! :)

This is what happens when all three little miss their afternoon nap (and J missed his morning one because of church)... didn't get any pictures of Elijah, aka grumpy frumpy man on the floor! :)

Happy Easter from the Birschbachs! 

We hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of our our living Savior, Jesus Christ!

Less than 48 hours left...

This is a very fun way to help out an adoptive family! A blog auction! My children and I are having fun bidding on items and checking to see if we've been outbid. One of the children is at the orphanage in Bulgaria where some of the children are living in very appalling conditions. Please prayerfully consider helping this family. Bidding ends Sat night at 11pm CST.

Hello friends!

I just wanted to remind you that we have less than two days before the Tiniest Unroe auction wraps-up.  It is going well...and there are some REALLY good deals available.  The iPad 2 is still well below retail value, as are MANY items that are listed.  There 106 items available...gift cards, art, crafts, items made with love by Keith's brothers and sisters...so many things.  Please stop by and check it out before time runs out.  The Unroe family is bringing home 5 children (with Down syndrome) at one time.  We have the privilige of helping to provide the ransom for these little ones!

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com

Blessings,

Amy R

The Irony of Good Friday

Taken from Mentoring Moments

*An old Hebrew legend tells the story of a man’s journey through a desolate area. He rode his mule and carried his rooster which served as an alarm clock to wake him for his morning devotions. Near dusk the first night of his journey, he approached a small village and decided to spend the night. But the inhospitable villagers turned him away. The only shelter he could find was in a cave nearby. He made his bed and lit his lamp, but a gust of wind swept into the cave and blew out the light. While he slept, a wolf killed his rooster and a lion devoured his mule.

The next morning he surveyed his losses and began to wonder why he was the object of such misfortune. He walked to the village to try to buy food but, to his amazement, he found no one alive. During the night, bandits had plundered the town and massacred the inhabitants.

The man said to himself: “Now I understand my troubles. If the townspeople had received me, I would have joined them in death. If my rooster and mule had not been killed, their noise and the light from my lamp would have revealed my hiding place. God has been good to me.”

*The day was called “Good Friday”– an irony in itself. The Greeks called it “Great Friday.” But Jesus’ disciples didn’t believe it was good or great as they saw their leader arrested and taken away to be crucified.

Good Friday—against a background of violence and hatred, it was the ultimate sacrificial love story. To look at it then, it was the worst of times. It was the season of Darkness; death had seemingly triumphed. It was the winter of despair; all that was bad had conspired to conquer all that was good. Jesus was dead and the tomb was sealed and guarded to make it inviolate.

Easter—with the dawn came understanding. Suddenly, it was the best of times. It was the season of Light; the sealed, guarded tomb had not been able to hold the Life within. It was the spring of hope.

A great irony. Out of death came life. God has been good to us.

Vicki Huffman