Operation Christmas Child

This year we got 2 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes to fill. We had a great time shopping & picking out things to go in the shoe boxes. It was hard to begin with for Samuel to understand that the things we were buying we not for him. He got it though & had fun picking stuff out…especially for the little boy box. We chose to fill a box for a little boy & a little girl, both in the 2-4 year age range. I hope the items bless the children that receive them. We paid for the shipping online so we could track our boxes online! They each have a bar code that will be scanned & we can track which country the shoe boxes go to! I thought that was a great idea to follow them & show Samuel, so he continued to understand we were sending the boxes to little kids who don’t have very much. I’m so thankful that we are abundantly blessed & hope that we bless others no matter how much or how little we can.

 

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Update on Kirill

Remember Kirill? The little boy I posted about a while ago that was in Eastern Europe waiting for his forever family, but the courts denied their request to bring him home? Well, a few weeks ago they had their appeal & guess what!?! Kirill gets to come home!

Read all about it on Tesney’s blog here. You can also read updates on them & about 2 other little boys that need your help to come home! Please take a second & head on over to Our Eyes Opened.

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Little boys

Would you consider opening your home to a little boy? All you need is a loving home. There are so many little ones, especially boys that need homes. Samuel is our light & joy! We don’t know what we’d do without him. Christ doesn’t call us all to adopt, but you may be wondering, how do I know if God is calling my family to adopt? I can tell you this. If you do go down the road of adoption, He won’t say “No, you shouldn’t do that, I’ve called someone else”! It’s not something bad that He will “scold” (for lack of a better word) you for. There are so many babies around the world waiting for their mommy & daddy to come get them. I’m not saying you all should adopt, but would you consider it? Would you look into it, pray about it, & talk about adoption with your immediate family? I promise that God WILL provide! Adoption is wonderful! It’s a life long amazing journey! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to send me an email! I’ll gladly answer any questions you may have!
Take a look at this video & see if it doesn’t touch your heart. Please share this with all of your friends & family as well.

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Helping Orphans

Would you like to help & support bringing a child to their forever family & home? I just wanted to let you know about 2 of my blogger friend’s fundraisers to bring their babies home.

The first one is Mary Leigh. She is selling some awesome t-shirts! Here’s what they look like & the different colors!  Please check out her site here if you are interested!

The second one is Kelly. She is doing a t-shirt fundraiser as well! I love the baseball t-shirt she has! She also has regular t-shirts in a lot of fun colors! Please check out her blog here if you’re interested in helping them out! Here’s what they look like!

Please help bring these babies home!

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"Covered in Hope" project

Samuel’s first birthday is coming up at the end of this month. I wanted to let you all know about a project we are doing to honor our son. I can’t believe he is going to be 1 year old! Time is flying by. We love our little man so much & are so thankful that we were chosen to be his parents. There couldn’t have been a better fit!

I have met many friends through my blog. Some are adoptive moms from Ethiopia or Korea, some are in the process to adopt a child, some are experiencing infertility & going through IVF or other infertility treatments. I’m so thankful for this network of friends that I have met. One of them is Kristi. She has 5 little ones at home. Four are biological & 1 is adopted from Ethiopia. They are in the process to bring #6 home from Ethiopia right now. She recently traveled to Africa & shared a lot from her journey on her blog. One of the things that she has started since her trip there is “Covered in Hope.” Here is a quote from her blog about what Covered in Hope is about: “I will be collecting new or used cloth diapers UNTIL I’m told that ALL the millions of naked booties are covered!! And every time we package these diapers and SEND them on to Ethiopia, we’ll pray for that specific child that WEARS these diapers to be COVERED in HOPE…that God will protect them and bring them a family soon!!”

You see, the orphanages do not have access to pampers or disposable diapers. Even if they did for a short while they’d run out fast. The cloth diapers will be used & re-used for a long time. If the children do not have on a cloth diaper (which most don’t) they use the bathroom on themselves. Which as you can imagine makes swarms of flies which in turn causes a lot of these little ones to be very sick. 😦 Having diapers is something that is so easily accessible for us. I think we take small things for granted at times.

So, what are we going to do about it? Our family is blessed by you all! We want to give back to other orphans. To honor our son we are asking that everyone would donate new or gently used cloth diapers, or please consider saving your ‘pocket change for a diaper change.’ All proceeds will go to buy cloth diapers for these little ones. Thank you for being a blessing to other children in need!

Please contact me if you would like to make a donation. Please share with all of your friends & family as well! Let’s cover those little ones! Here’s a link to Kristi’s blog post about it if you’d like to view it: http://weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/2011/01/cloth-diapers-and-more-cloth-diapersand.html

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A selfless donation

Last night we were privileged to attend a birthday party of a seven year old sweet little girl. Her name is Rachel & she is a precious China baby! She has a sister that is a doll too from Cambodia, Allena. They are all family friends. You see, their mom & dad (Terri & Allen) decided when they adopted Allena & Rachel that they would do something special on their birthdays. I believe they were both around 2 years old or so when they came home to their forever mommy & daddy. They said the girls were overstimulated & had so many toys, that they decided to have their birthday parties asking the guests to bring donations to benefit the orphanages where Allena & Rachel had been. Well their girls are older now & their mom & dad are proud that they both still continue that tradition. However last night, Rachel wanted her friends & family to donate funds to another cause…our adoption! How sweet & selfless of a seven year old to ask everyone to donate towards our adoption instead of bringing her gifts! I want to be like her when I grow up! 🙂 How many children today would ever think of that? Especially on their own? She did receive some gifts as well. People wanted to give to her as well because of how big her heart is! Mom, dad, & grandparents gave her gifts as well, so she was not left out on her special day.

We can never thank Rachel, her family, & her friends enough for their generosity. What an amazing family! They are helping bring Samuel home to his forever mommy & daddy! There are no words, nor enough, to describe how thankful we are! Samuel will know the selfless act that Rachel did to help him get home & the generosity of all of her family & friends. I hope that I can instill values like this into my children.

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The numbers are real

My hubby & I are reading the book “Radical” by David Platt together. We aren’t very far in the book yet, but I saw something one of my blogger friends posted. It was a quote by David Platt & it is from the book we are reading. So I searched through the book & found what I was looking for. I decided I’d like to share this with you guys. It reminds me of my time in Belarus. Last year I went on a mission trip to Belarus & visited orphanages with children of different ages. It was a very eye opening experience & hard to put into words. That trip is what spurred our moving forward with our adoption. This excerpt speaks for itself. I encourage everyone to read this book.

“…All at once the numbers became real…and personal.

We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.

So when you and I hear staggering numbers and statistics about the poor and needy around us and around the world, we have a choice. We can switch the channels on our mega-TVs and continue our comfortable, untroubled, ordinary, churchgoing lives as if the global poor don’t exist. We can let these numbers remain cold, distant, and almost imaginary. Or we can open our eyes and our lives to the realities that surround us and begin considering the faces that are represented by these numbers.

…These are the faces I see when I envision twenty-six thousand children dying today of starvation or preventable diseases.

As I see their faces, I realize that I have a choice. You and I both have a choice.”
(Radical, by David Platt, pg. 139-140)

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