Most people know about the parable of the fish and loaves of bread that a boy offered when Jesus' disciples were needing to feed a huge crowd of people....where He takes what is given, blesses it and multiples it, providing much more than was needed.... miraculously!
God is still in the business of doing miracles. Its not always physical ones, often it happens in our hearts and minds. I wanted to share one that our family has been blessed by recently.
Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign. It used to be called Angel Tree, and it is put on every year by Reeces Rainbow, an organization that helps orphans with special needs find families. Over 9 years ago we heard about Reeces Rainbow and first saw a picture of our son Sean. We were forever changed & long story short, brought him into our family in 2009.
The next year our Lily was on the Angel Tree.
See, when we adopted Sean we had prepared to adopt Lily too, but found out that she was not "paperwork ready"....and couldn't be adopted. We didn't think we could come back--I was pregnant, we had no money (especially since it would cost much more to adopt her separately) & honestly, not only was leaving our children to travel across the world WAY out of our comfort zone--but we realized Sean would require constant supervision and was extremely active. Regardless, my kids prayed and begged their Daddy if they could fundraise for her....he agreed, and guess what our kids got that Christmas? A commitment to Lily...and an ornament with her picture on it from the Angel Tree. Many miracles God worked in our hearts and how He provided--but that is for another day.
That is why Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign is so dear to our hearts. Adoption advocates come together and advocate for and raise money for children on the webpage from November 1 until New Years Eve!! This year my 18 year-old daughter asked if we could be a warrior family for a child on MACC..... with all going on with our family, I hesitated to committing to raise $1000 for a child but we decided that we would do our best and step out in faith. When she found out that there were a couple children left and someone could be a warrior for 2 children, guess what she asked me? Yup! How could I say no? The hardest part was picking which children. A few of her favorites were already taken but she showed me a few with big needs.
Aura Lee had lost her family...and her pictures show that she is deteriorating quickly in the institution.
You see, overseas, when special needs orphans turn 4 years-old they are usually transferred to an institution...with adults. In addition to not having the love and stimulation of a family, they are often neglected, mistreated by adults and older children, and its not unusual for a healthy children to not survive. So we picked her first.
Then we chose Harold, who has hydrocephalus--and has not gotten the treatment he needs for it. That means that he has too much fluid on his brain causing his head to swell. His sweet picture shows a twinkle in his eye and him reaching for something--he looks like he is full of life and joy despite his circumstances.
Now here is where it got interesting. Shortly after we committed to advocate for these children, Naomi shared with me a picture of a brother and sister whose host family had fallen through. They were all set to come over from Ukraine to the US and spend 4 weeks over Christmas time with a family, but no longer had a host family. The fee was greatly reduced though still a considerable expense. Naomi sends me pictures of orphans often...she has a huge heart for orphans and probably knows about 100 of them by name! She talks to her Daddy and I often about her desire to help orphans and shares about specific ones. Hosting has always been something she would love to do but we couldn't afford it and well, life was already busy with our 9!
For some reason, I shared it with my husband and inquired about it...there was a family deciding whether to do it or not. When that fell through my husband and I talked and prayed...and talked to the kids and prayed. Our kids were all on board. And we had extra from my husband's courses that he teaches and well, we don't REALLY have to get long awaited couches right now. So we decided to apply. It was only a few weeks until they would came so it was a flurry of getting a home visit, sending paperwork, and getting things ready! They arrived December 15th!
Its basically been a blur ever since! As a result, we haven't had much time to fundraise for Aura Lee and Harold. We crocheted some hats, potholders and other things, made bracelets and painted....and put on a fundraiser Auction on Facebook with these and some donated items.
My daughter shared her heart on a blog post and we spread the word. Despite not many coming to our auctions, we made a few hundred dollars....but not anything near our goal.
Yesterday, we found out that Harold has been bumped up to $1000 by a generous grant!!! I know that we likely had no part in those generous donations, but it doesn't matter....God did it, in His chosen way. We could've said we can't host orphans this year as we have too much to do...but we knew He would want us to open our homes to these children. We believed would be the best gift for our children, even if it meant less material gifts. And it was! The fact that God allowed each of them to meet and even exceed their goal blessed us so much. You can read more about these Aura Lee and Harold on Naomi's post here
Remember the fish and the loaves? It reminded me that when we do what we can,
and give what we can give--whether its our money, or our time, or our home.....God multiplies it abundantly to accomplish His purposes! If you feel that you can't make a difference for orphans, I hope our story encourages you to give and do what you can. God sees everything you do and He is sufficient.
Guess what? Tonight is the LAST night for the MACC fundraiser! There are orphans who still need donations to get to their goal of $1000. There are many orphans on there who need families too!
Please consider helping them--even if its $5 or $10....God can multiply it! And He may just do a bigger miracle in your heart too!And if you do not read this before New Years Day, and the end of MACC, don't let that stop you. These kids are waiting and have been waiting for a long time. You can help them any day of the year. And it WILL make a difference ...to them and to YOU. It sure has for us.
"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8
God is still in the business of doing miracles. Its not always physical ones, often it happens in our hearts and minds. I wanted to share one that our family has been blessed by recently.
Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign. It used to be called Angel Tree, and it is put on every year by Reeces Rainbow, an organization that helps orphans with special needs find families. Over 9 years ago we heard about Reeces Rainbow and first saw a picture of our son Sean. We were forever changed & long story short, brought him into our family in 2009.
The next year our Lily was on the Angel Tree.
That is why Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign is so dear to our hearts. Adoption advocates come together and advocate for and raise money for children on the webpage from November 1 until New Years Eve!! This year my 18 year-old daughter asked if we could be a warrior family for a child on MACC..... with all going on with our family, I hesitated to committing to raise $1000 for a child but we decided that we would do our best and step out in faith. When she found out that there were a couple children left and someone could be a warrior for 2 children, guess what she asked me? Yup! How could I say no? The hardest part was picking which children. A few of her favorites were already taken but she showed me a few with big needs.
Aura Lee had lost her family...and her pictures show that she is deteriorating quickly in the institution.
Then we chose Harold, who has hydrocephalus--and has not gotten the treatment he needs for it. That means that he has too much fluid on his brain causing his head to swell. His sweet picture shows a twinkle in his eye and him reaching for something--he looks like he is full of life and joy despite his circumstances.
Now here is where it got interesting. Shortly after we committed to advocate for these children, Naomi shared with me a picture of a brother and sister whose host family had fallen through. They were all set to come over from Ukraine to the US and spend 4 weeks over Christmas time with a family, but no longer had a host family. The fee was greatly reduced though still a considerable expense. Naomi sends me pictures of orphans often...she has a huge heart for orphans and probably knows about 100 of them by name! She talks to her Daddy and I often about her desire to help orphans and shares about specific ones. Hosting has always been something she would love to do but we couldn't afford it and well, life was already busy with our 9!
For some reason, I shared it with my husband and inquired about it...there was a family deciding whether to do it or not. When that fell through my husband and I talked and prayed...and talked to the kids and prayed. Our kids were all on board. And we had extra from my husband's courses that he teaches and well, we don't REALLY have to get long awaited couches right now. So we decided to apply. It was only a few weeks until they would came so it was a flurry of getting a home visit, sending paperwork, and getting things ready! They arrived December 15th!
Its basically been a blur ever since! As a result, we haven't had much time to fundraise for Aura Lee and Harold. We crocheted some hats, potholders and other things, made bracelets and painted....and put on a fundraiser Auction on Facebook with these and some donated items.
But God still provided. One day Aura Lee got a huge donation to the MACC that put her over $6000!! That moved her to the top of the page.
The other day, Harold was at the bottom with about $270 raised....we've been so busy with hosting Victor and Victoria the last 2 weeks that honestly I've not gotten to much else besides cooking/serving food, cleaning up, laundry (with a broken washing machine), Christmas and other activities, getting to know them and lots of translation, and of course caring for our other children! Heres a few pics...but make sure you read the rest of the story!
Yesterday, we found out that Harold has been bumped up to $1000 by a generous grant!!! I know that we likely had no part in those generous donations, but it doesn't matter....God did it, in His chosen way. We could've said we can't host orphans this year as we have too much to do...but we knew He would want us to open our homes to these children. We believed would be the best gift for our children, even if it meant less material gifts. And it was! The fact that God allowed each of them to meet and even exceed their goal blessed us so much. You can read more about these Aura Lee and Harold on Naomi's post here
Remember the fish and the loaves? It reminded me that when we do what we can,
and give what we can give--whether its our money, or our time, or our home.....God multiplies it abundantly to accomplish His purposes! If you feel that you can't make a difference for orphans, I hope our story encourages you to give and do what you can. God sees everything you do and He is sufficient.
Guess what? Tonight is the LAST night for the MACC fundraiser! There are orphans who still need donations to get to their goal of $1000. There are many orphans on there who need families too!
Please consider helping them--even if its $5 or $10....God can multiply it! And He may just do a bigger miracle in your heart too!And if you do not read this before New Years Day, and the end of MACC, don't let that stop you. These kids are waiting and have been waiting for a long time. You can help them any day of the year. And it WILL make a difference ...to them and to YOU. It sure has for us.
"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8
