Giving a meaningful gift this Christmas

Well, I get asked from time to time about sponsoring children, so I have decided it is possibly easier to post it on my blog.


I know personally that these organizations are doing amazing things for children in Romania, China, Russia, Africa, India, Nepal and possibly a few other places.
I would love to put a challenge out for you to consider even just a few dollars towards one of these charities this Christmas, to help someone who is desperately in need.  It takes a small amount from a lot of people to make a difference.  I think sometimes it can feel overwhelming at the need in the world and so we often do nothing.  I have seen over the years that we can make a huge difference if we choose to, and for that person our small decision is everything.

The Boy and The Starfish

One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish, and one by one tossing them back into the ocean.

He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.

The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead."

The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"

The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a lot of difference to this one!"

http://www.orphansaidinternational.org/index.htm
Working with Orphans In Romania, Russia, Nepal, India and soon Uganda

http://www.hopechest.org/
Working Russia, Swaziland, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, Haiti, Guatemala, Moldova, and India.

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/programs/medical/sponsor-a-child/
Working to improve the lives of Chinese Orphans, medical, foster care, school, nutrition etc.

http://www.orphansatplay.org/GiveaGrandmaDonationHolidayCards
Russia

http://www.worldvision.org/
World Wide


http://altrusa.info/amity/amity_index.htm

Waiting for the phone to ring

This week I rang the adoption agency about something really unexciting, not expecting to hear anything, because even though our homestudy is in Russia it has to be translated etc for a few weeks longer before it goes to the MOE  and they start finding a child for us.

WELL........She said "no" all the translation is finished and this week they have been talking about children for us.  She said we wont find out this week because she has other families over in Russia at the moment, but fingers crossed it maybe next week.
Hence to say we are so excited at the moment.   I don't know if I will be able to go out next week, I think I will be waiting by the phone :)

Update

I found out today that our documents/homestudy is on its way to Russia.
It is funny that each step, even paying agency fees etc, feel like we are getting closer to our Child.
We have been told it possibly will be quite quick given we are open to a big age range and either gender.  The other referrals that have been coming in have been between 2 - 4 weeks after the documents arrived, and then we have to travel two weeks after.
So now that everything has left New Zealand, we have lots to plan and think about, even down to names.
And I really need to up my Russian language practice!

Before and After

 It is amazing sometimes to look back at Jasmine before she found her family....us.  I can not imagine our little monkey not being in our family.  I just love all the funny things she come out with, we are always laughing at something.   One of my personal favorites was: "hey mum we can use those banana's to make blueberry muffins".
Jasmine is very impatient to have another adopted child in our family, and we are also requesting an asian child again.  Eastern Russia has a large asian population.  Fingers crossed.