We are Heath and  Stacey  Russell. We met 13 years ago and have been talking about adoption since our very first date! We both have a special place in our hearts for children. Together we are raising five boys who are beyond excited to have a sister to love and spoil!

In 2010 we were told that all the numbers pointed to our son having Down Syndrome. We were given the option to have an abortion. This was obviously  not an option for us! During that nine months I did a lot of research and was shocked to find out that the abortion rate for a prenatal diagnoses of Down Syndrome is 65% in America and 96% in other countries.   I couldn't believe how high those numbers were! I also ran across  https://reecesrainbow.org/  a non profit that advocates for orphans with Down Syndrome. I began advocating for the children and participating at buddy walks. During this time it was clear that, God was preparing our hearts for a child with Down Syndrome, but it wasn't our son. The doctors were wrong! 

It has now been two years since we found our daughter through Reece’s Rainbow and began the adoption journey.  We felt drawn to her and just knew that she was our daughter and jumped in with nothing but faith! She has been waiting in an orphanage in Eastern Europe (Latvia) now for 6 years and desperately needs out! We know if we can just get her here we will love her and care for her. She has a host of medical needs, including a heart surgery, that she will never get as long as she's there. 

We are now finished with our adoption home study  and working hard to get the Dossier in. Now, our  adoption agency has informed us that Latvia has proposed changes to their adoption laws, that will take place in Jan. 2019. The proposed laws are that no child under the age of 12 can be adopted outside of Latvia. This is heartbreaking because, no one else is coming for her!

It’s not clear if this includes children with special needs or not, so our agency is telling us to assume that it does and move quickly! 

In order to be sure that this will not impact us getting her here we must get our Dossier in before January. Right now, finances are the only thing holding us back. We will need $7400 to get the Dossier in. This does not include the 3 trips we have to make before the adoption is finalized. This will just insure that we can still get to her! 

She has been waiting on a heart surgery for 6 years now, If we don’t get her out of there, she won’t survive to the age of 12! 

Asking for help is not easy for us, but we are now in desperate need of help! Our daughter needs out and we can't do it alone. We really need your help! 

We are so grateful that Nichole has set this up for us, and really appreciate all of the support!