We are super excited to introduce our newest daughter, Raina Deaton. She is Six years old and is waiting for us in China. She will turn 7 on April 4th. We are working hard to get to her as soon as possible. This is the picture that I saw on my computer screen. The one that even though we weren't thinking we'd adopt again soon, or if we did we had both decided we would adopt boys.....stopped me clunk, and I didn't hit share...... And my heart said "really God?" another girl? Cause y'all....I knew she was mine. It sounds crazy if you've never had it happen, but it's happened to me three times. People have asked me, "how do you pick? How do you know it's the right child?" I can't explain it. I just knew. But it wasn't a straight path.......I'lll get back to that story later....in the meantime......warning this post has been burning in my draft file for a long time and it's looong..........Meet Raina. Please remember these pictures can not be shared publicly yet!
Raina
That was the picture. Nothing special right. I told you it really can't be explained. The next 2 pictures are Iley and Wrens. I saw Wren first, then we added Iley later after we saw her in Wren's video and picture updates.
Wren
Iley
Then In her file were a couple more pictures of her.
She is missing a lower leg bone and part of her foot on the right leg. (it's there, just bent and tucked behind her) Missing 2 fingers on the right and 1 finger on the left. Her thumb and pointer finger are fused together on both hands. We are looking at an amputation and hand surgeries. Pray for us, and her. How do you tell a child you are going to cut her leg off.? Even though WE know it will be better in the end.
The next couple show her hands better. Man she's cute!
It doesn't seem to slow her down much.
The sweet girl in all the pictures with her is her best friend. She's already home with her new mamma and doing awesome! She misses and talks about Raina a lot, and seems to think she's coming to live with her.......uh oh. She's in Kentucky! So if she misses Raina with everything new going on, think how much Raina must miss her little friends! Wahhhh!
The little girl in the very front is home with her family as well. She's doing good too. She was Raina's other close friend.
Here is the 3 of them together. All these pictures are from the other 2 girls' moms!
She's in the purple crown on the left side.
This cake and fruit was sent by the adoptive family for the little friend with the red crown's birthday.
Things I noticed about her craft: it has a sad face, and one leg is shorter than the other.
Her foot.
The two in the pink coat are screen shots from a video. Don't try to play them :)
Picking flowers with her friend.
Her friend's mom found these next 3 in a news article. No better detective than a mamma on the hunt!
These next few are from a video that I stopped at different points. Don't try to play them :) She did not want to be singled out and made to turn around.
And these last ones are from a video I stopped and took pictures of the computer screen with my phone. So the quality is terrible, and weird. But they were from 1/27/18 So just a month and a half ago, and It looks like they are letting her hair grow!
IF that is a door she is standing in front of...and IF their door knobs are the same height as ours........she's not very big!
We know very little about her. As usual. We have heard from the other families that adopted her 2 friends that their girls were very loved and well taken care of, easily accepted care and affection. It's a small orphanage with 15-20 kids, all with medical needs. It is also an old folks facility. Her little friend says Raina is sad because of her leg boo boo as she calls it. She said she can't straighten it, and the nannies take her to the doctor for it. When the guide told Raina she had a family, she said "hurry mamma" Stab me in the heart I tell ya!
She is described as follows: She gets along well with other children, laughs and plays happily, She is shy, cute and compliant. The caretakers treasured her much. She
was a little self-abased due to hand and feet deformity, did not want to
contact with strangers. Since age 4, the institute
helped her make the prosthesis for her right leg, she liked walking and playing
with use of the prosthesis in the institute. At the beginning , when she was not adapted, she
did not cry even when it scratched her skin, she still insisted walking with the
prosthesis. After learning to walk with it, she was positive than before. She
is the child of school-aged children, but she does not go to school due to
deformity of both hands and both feet. (I wonder if they told her that is why?) Her culture, while rich in history, and beautiful in many ways, is not tolerant of visual disabilities or differences. We have learned her favorite color is red.
I first saw Raina's picture in Dec/January of 2017. As many of you know if you follow me on fb, I post and share pictures of hundreds of cute faces every day. Even more pictures than I share, daily come across my screen. But when I saw Raina's I just knew she was mine....and I didn't share it. I emailed the agency to see if she was still available for adoption, and could I see her file. I looked at it, showed it to Troy, and we talked about whether we could do it or not with insurance, expenses etc. We prayed.....and prayed.....and still couldn't quite make it all work. In the meantime I got an email from her agency saying that another family had locked in her file and were in the process of adopting her. The agency said the family was solid and they had adopted special needs before. Basically it's been nice talking to you, let us know if we can help you in the future. I. was. crushed.....but at the same time wondering and asking God "what was that all about?" I felt so sure that he had confirmed she was mine. I was a weepy mess for 2 solid weeks before I felt peace about it and gave it to God. That was in May. On June 14th, I got and URGENT email from the agency saying that the other family had backed out, were we still interested? This time we said YES!! We are still trying to figure out all the details, but we are trusting that God will put the pieces together in HIS time. We were just supposed to say yes. We started at ground zero with almost no savings to put towards it. We are fundraising and applying for grants. If anyone would like to bless us and Raina with a donation it can be sent directly to us at
Troy Deaton
393 Brook Valley Dr.
Fountain, CO 80817
Or if you want a tax deductible option Check with your local church or charity organization. Many will send it on to us if you specify.
Thank you so much to all who have prayed, donated, and continue to follow our story. God is writing a story that Troy and I would never have dreamed of a few years ago.
