This post is being made by friends of Diane and her family. We are
heartbroken to announce that Diane and her husband are currently at
their daughter's bedside in St. Mary's Hospital in the inpatient ward
for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Their daughter, Lillian, who has
Down Syndrome is deathly ill and is fighting for her life. Diane herself
is also sick. Lillian is in critical, but stable condition in the PICU.
Doctors are not
sure what has caused the infection in her lungs. Please pray for
healing for both Lillian and Diane, that Lillian's heart will not be
affected, and that doctors will have
wisdom to find out what has caused this infection. We would appreciate if all comments made while this is ongoing would be of a positive and supportive nature. If
anyone is in the Rochester, MN area who could be supportive of the
Higbie family in any way, please post in the comment section below and
share your email address, and a friend of the family will contact you.
During this crisis, the Higbie family desperately needs your
prayers, but they also need your support. Diane and her family have an
urgent need to raise a minimum of $6,000 by
the end of this weekend to cover the agency fee that is due at time of
travel. They will also need additional funds to cover their travel
costs. Any donations towards their adoption fund would be greatly
appreciated. Project Hopeful, Grace Haven Ministries, and Ten for
Orphans are coming together in support of this family.
For those
of us who understand the situation, privately Diane and her family have
been told that even with a referral for Lera, they will not receive the
money that was previously raised through the other non-profit
organization they were working with. Diane and her family were accused
of forging their home study, and then this organization began harassing
their home study provider. Their home study provider is a highly
respected professional who is
known for his volunteer work and support of military families in
assisting them to adopt. As Diane was previously in the military, he was
able to provide their home study. The Higbies have provided all of the
required documentation needed, but to no avail. Even if this were not
the case, the organization will not provide funds for their first trip
regardless
of paperwork because a submitted dossier and travel date are required,
but in this particular situation, their dossier must be submitted in
person to be accepted. For now, the family needs to move forward because
they have no expectation of receiving the funds that were previously
donated for Lera.
As mentioned, they have an urgent deadline to raise at least $6,000
by the end of this weekend, but as they are currently facing a crisis
with their daughter, they are unable to focus on anything else. If you
can do anything to help alleviate this additional stress and burden by
contributing towards their financial need, it would be a tremendous
blessing.
All future funds raised will be dispersed from non-profit
organizations to the appropriate agencies with no funds given directly
to the family. Currently, there are two funds set up to receive
donations for the Higbies. You can donate through Project Hopeful by
clicking on the Donate button located on the upper right hand side of
this blog. You can also donate towards a matching grant through Grace
Haven Ministries. A family has offered a $500 matching grant (to double
to $1,000) for the Higbie's adoption of Lera. Go to http://www.gracehavenhome.com and click on Donate. Please specify "Lera" when you make your donation.
Thank you for ministering to this family in their time of need!
Messages of support and encouragement that are posted on this blog will
be printed off and shared with the family. Above all, please keep this family in your prayers!
Friday, May 11, 2012
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13 comments:
I am not that far away. If they need ANYTHING please contact me at deanleah at comcast.net . I have three kids with DS and have done my share of ICU stays!
Praying for your little girl!
Sarah
Praying for healing and God's peace in this tough time.
Praying for your beautiful daughters, here and abroad. May God give you peace and healing.
Higby family, you are in our prayers.
Of course your family is in my prayers
Praying for you all! Healing for Lillian and all the monies to come in!
In my state, both social workers and home study agencies must be licensed by the state (and it's really easy to check, as the information is available to the public). To adopt from Russia, the honestudy agency accredited to work in Russia, ie not on the Russia "blacklist". Again, this info is publicly available. Just google "Russia adoption blacklist".
There's gotta be more to this story.
I work at Mayo and we live nearby. Will help in any way that we can. Please email at melrn784@gmail.com
Praying for the Higbies! We're sharing your story to try and help on all our blogs and our facebook pages. Praying for all of you and Lera!
Amanda
We are praying for your family. Just an fyi, though.. We couldn't get the "donate" button on the top right hand corner to work. It's not a problem b/c we were able to donate through Grace Haven Ministries, but I thought you might want to know in case other people are having a problem accessing the donation page. We are praying for you all, especially Lera.
Their social worker and homestudy agency both check out. The organization they were fundraising through before just isn't happy that they aren't using the org's agency and coordinator. If they had seen any forward progress in the past 2 yrs they wouldn't have switched agencies. They switched because they had no choice.
Praying for this family!
Elk Grove, CA
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