Every child loves bear hugs...Every child deserves someone who will give them one...
"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed..." Psalm 10:17,18a
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
These scriptures come to mind this week as I've been in contact with some people whose hearts are burdened and full of love for the orphan.... That's one of the lovely things about Blog Land; you get to connect with so many people, in so many place, that otherwise would never have crossed your path. And of course, our Mighty God has his hand on this... I love thinking about how he delights in using our technology...our blogs to accomplish his purposes! So I will attribute it completely to God that I am now aware of a few more homes that are flinging wide their doors and inviting God to do his work through them through adoption. Specifically two...
Stina from "Anchor & Evergreen" who is in the process of adopting Mateo.
Under her blog header she writes:
"i am a lady who fell in love with an island and then without trying, fell in love with an ill island baby. i had the pain and privilege of saving his life. leaving him was very very ... VERY difficult.
i went from being like a bird to being like a tree. this baby became my anchor. i stopped traveling all the time so that i could grow roots and pursue adoption to make matthew my son. this blog carries our story."
Read more...
Danielle from "Loving Every Moment" who is in the process of adopting Sergey.
From her latest post she writes:
"So as many of you know we are adopting a little boy from Eastern Europe and we are so very excited about this! But as many of you also know International adoption is not cheap, after all is said and done we will be paying close to $30,000.00 for our little boy, who by the way is completely worth it:) And seriously which one of us would not pay even more to save the lives of our children? Some of you may be asking yourselves, "Why are they adopting if they don't have the money?". Well we believe that God is calling us to bring this beautiful, precious little boy into our family and He has asked us to step out in faith. We already know that He has gone before us and has prepared the way. And we also believe, and know from past experiences, that when He asks you to do something the best thing to do is listen and obey. I also believe that He wants to be glorified throughout this process and wants to see His beautiful bride, His body of believers be His hands and feet. And what better way than to come along side fellow believers and play a part in bringing home this sweet angel."
Read more...
Both of these ladies are asking for crafty items for donation to help raise funds, in addition to monetary donations.
Visit Stina's blog here... her fundraising has not officially begun, but she is currently trying to spread word in preparation for it. An Etsy store will be available to purchase items to support Mateo. Follow along on her blog to keep up to date with her progress and what you might be able to do to help.
Visit Danielle's blog here... she is in the process of collecting crafty items for a fundraiser, "Dream Big" which begins April 11-25.
Go and read these stories... allow your heart to be vulnerable to their joy, their pain, their hope, as they strive to bring these little ones home. Consider what your part might be.... and then attribute it to God's mighty and powerful hand, that he can use you... to encourage and provide for the fatherless!
Blessings,
