Grace of a Girl - Part 1: A Dollar, A Difference

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”
– Willa Cather

Love is such an incredible force, one which drives us to do unthinkable things – even at the cost of life itself – for those we care about. I would trade love for nothing in this world, especially when it comes to my family. I’m sure I’m not alone in my sympathies.


In 1998, I extended my love to a new member of my family, a sister adopted from a lonely orphanage in faraway Russia. She was just four when we welcomed her into our home. What happened in those four short years will always be a mystery, but the impact they had on her life will not.

Unable to do anything to stop her, my family and I watched helplessly as my sister’s past swallowed her in the present. Her pain seemed unmanageable, her behavior got progressively worse and nothing seemed to help. At the beginning of this year my parents made the terribly difficult decision to enroll her in a long-term residential treatment center - for her own protection.

The center costs $10,000 a month. One month. We are not rich people by any stretch of the imagination. The center is also more than 1,000 miles from home and my parents must go there every seven weeks to participate in the recovery process. Why did they chose somewhere so far, knowing the weight of the extra expense? Because the center is highly specialized in treating adopted children and is the only one suited perfectly to her needs. Exhausting every financial resource available, my sister is safe for the moment. My family has put everything on the line for love, so that my sister has a fighting chance for a bright and happy future. But it’s not enough.

I’ve been giving every penny I can spare to help, which more often than not amounts to giving my entire paycheck to assist with the mounting costs. Still we are not where we need to be. I am left with one option: I desperately need your help.

My sister is traveling a road of darkness and you can be a point of light along her path to restoration. Our task is not an impossible one if we focus on love and giving. I’m not asking anything outrageous. Just ONE DOLLAR.

Skip going to McDonald’s, pass on the Diet Coke or forgo downloading that new song on iTunes until your next paycheck. Walk somewhere close instead of driving and the dollar won’t even be a loss to you. If by chance you can spare more than one dollar, wonderful. But if not, please do not think for a second that your dollar is too insignificant a contribution.

Raging waterfalls begin with a single drop of water.

Click here to donate now:

The button links directly to a paypal which my mom puts into the trust fund set up specifically to pay for my sister's treatment. We're not non-profit so while it's NOT tax deductible, it IS incredibly appreciated. (There is also a nominal fee, for which we apologize - if we had been able to do it any other way, we would have).

If you'd rather not donate online, feel free to send your donation to me directly. Drop me a line and I’ll happily give you my address. Similarly, you can help by passing this to your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Alone we may fail, but together we can always achieve the impossible. Here’s to LOVE.

And most importantly, THANK YOU.

“Draw a circle, not a heart, around the one you love because a heart can break, but a circle goes on forever.” –Unknown