I mentioned in my presentation that when God first got a hold of me in regards to orphans it was when I heard James 1:27 for the first time three years ago. (I mean it was the first time I HEARD it and listened up). I realized shortly after that I couldn't name an orphan. I didn't know one. I could name a couple people I knew who HAD been orphans, but that's about the best I could do. So, in my presentation, I listed the names of several of the kids at New Day and what I now knew about them. That's when I broke down because I had a sort of epiphany right there in the middle of the presentation that New Day has not only been life-changing for so many orphans, but in a very real way, it has been for me and my family as well. Being able to be involved in these kids lives has been a gift for me, my husband, and my kids. My 6 year old runs over to the computer each morning asking to see pictures of "the kids." Anyway... I encouraged the women to get involved and get to know the kids for themselves, and to go ahead and see what God will do as a result. I can't wait to hear the stories at the end of the year.
Her e-mail reminded me that this blog and the work of NDFH is about so much more than only helping the children. Obviously, that is our primary objective. But, we also want to be a conduit for people who live far from orphans; people searching for a way to be involved in orphans' lives in meaningful and tangible ways.
We couldn't do this work without partners like you. And, since you are critical components of our work, we want to connect you with some ways that you can help the foster home. Sometimes it's hard to know what you can do. You have a heart for orphans, but then what? Well, we want to answer that question. Here are a couple of ways you can be involved in meaningful and tangible ways, and if this doesn't answer your question, there are more ways on our website!
Remember the days when mom gave you some spare change to buy milk at school? And remember trying to use some of your milk money to buy candy instead? Well, we could really use some milk money, and we promise not to use it for candy!
Right now our single greatest supply need at the foster home is infant formula. We use a lot of it -- over 1,000 bags a month! In our formula project alone, we will spend over $50,000 USD on formula this year! (That doesn't count the other expenses of managing the formula project or the formula we use at the foster home.) Due to a rapidly increasing enrollment in our project, our expenses have more than doubled in the last 8 months, and we need your help.
For starters, you can put the Milk Money button (available on the right) on your blog or website to help us raise awareness, but we hope some of you will do more than that. We hope you will get involved in helping us meet this incredible need. We give a few ideas for how you can do that on our website, but you probably have more! We're open to helping you execute just about any plan in any way we can, so contact us if you have other ideas and need our input or help.
If you want to help make Christmas at the foster home full of giggles and pure joy, check out Operation Giggle, a special project set up by Sherri. Sherri came up with this plan to help get all of our children a Christmas present, wrapped up and selected just for them.
We can just see it now... Christmas morning and our playroom will be brimming with children, nannies, staff, and foster parents. After we've had a chance to share the Christmas story, Santa will come in -- dressed up, of course -- and pass out a present to each child, sent with love by people like you from all over the world!
So if you want to get involved, contact Sherri. She needs people who are willing to help sponsor shipping costs and people who want to buy presents for the kids. We're so thankful that Sherri is coordinating this for our children, and we think it is a great way to get our blogging community involved in giving our kids a very Merry Christmas!
Phew. That was a long post. I feel the need to cap it off with a picture of a cute kid. This is little Timothy, one of our newer arrivals and a true charmer.
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Aw my boy Timothy! Sweetest smile I've ever seen... Tell him "gigi" says hi...(that's what he called me when we met...) Oh my soul aches to see these babies again!
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