Last night I finally got a chance to talk to my best friend Stephanee via our new Skype phone. She told me that although she didn't know how it would all come together (She always says that, and the Lord always works in mysterious ways!), that they were planning on facilitating another year of Christmas for orphans from Ukraine. She asked me if I would help spread the word about some of the children that are hoping to come for Christmas.
These hosting programs and the children they bring are dear to our hearts because we have seen how many orphans find their forever families this way. This is how Stephanee's two precious girls Katya and Ana came to their family. They first hosted Ana for Christmas several years ago and found out that she had an older sister. There were many unanswered questions, but their family chose to step out in faith and pursue Kateryna and Anastasiya's adoptions. We cannot imagine their family without Katya and Ana in it.
Since then, God has used their family to minister to others supporting and pursuing adoption (including us) in huge ways. When Katya and Ana came home they began praying for the rest of their friends to be adopted also. And almost all of them have! And they came home to families in the same area! Talk about specific prayer request. God hears the cry of the orphan! Once we witness all these things..."Once our eyes are opened, we cannot pretend we do not know what to do..." Prov. 24:12. Our eyes were opened to other orphans. Other orphans like Katya and Ana once were. Other orphans like our girls in Haiti. We cannot pretend they do not exist. And we want to spread their stories!
Shortly before we moved to Haiti, Stephanee told me about two boys that needed a host family for the summer. I was super busy trying to pack up our lives and didn't have much time to be involved. But I wanted to do something. So I simply sent out a prayer request by e-mail that these boys would find a host family. I was surprised (though I know I shoudln't have been) at the family that God chose to respond. The Patterson family has 10 children (7 are adopted). They are now in the process of adopting the two precious Ukrainian boys they hosted (to make a total of 12 children)! I guess the 10 children thing kind of threw me off for a minute, but after Lorraine was the first to respond to my e-mail, I thought, "You sure are a funny, amazing God".
So today I was remembering Stephanee's request to spread the word about the next hosting trip and as I went to my blog to do so I saw that Lorraine Patterson had already beat me to it! Go Lorraine! Go God! Below is Lorraine's post from her blog at:
http://allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/2011/10/christmas-orphan-hosting.html
Imagine spending Christmas in a cold orphanage without parents, without gifts, without stockings, without a Christmas meal, without loved ones to lavish you with love as you celebrate the birth of Jesus with family and friends.
There are 147+ million orphans in the world who will have no choice but to spend their Christmas alone, without a family, this Christmas.
You have the opportunity to make a difference. There are TONS of ways to make a difference. You can donate Christmas gifts to orphans, pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, take a mission trip to serve orphans over Christmas break (here's Elisabeth piping in and saying that anyone who wants to do this in Haiti can come on over), donate to help a family bring their child home in time for Christmas, “adopt” a local shelter at Christmas, bring an older child who has aged out of the foster system into your family for Christmas…the ways to help are endless, really.
You could also consider hosting an international orphan this Christmas. I just happen to know of a couple of sibling sets from an Eastern European country who have a strong desire to come to America over Christmas as part of an orphan hosting program.
Would you like to help make their Christmas wish come true?
These hosting programs and the children they bring are dear to our hearts because we have seen how many orphans find their forever families this way. This is how Stephanee's two precious girls Katya and Ana came to their family. They first hosted Ana for Christmas several years ago and found out that she had an older sister. There were many unanswered questions, but their family chose to step out in faith and pursue Kateryna and Anastasiya's adoptions. We cannot imagine their family without Katya and Ana in it.
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| Katya and Ana are the first two children on the left next to siblings Ben, Jadon, And Allee. |
Shortly before we moved to Haiti, Stephanee told me about two boys that needed a host family for the summer. I was super busy trying to pack up our lives and didn't have much time to be involved. But I wanted to do something. So I simply sent out a prayer request by e-mail that these boys would find a host family. I was surprised (though I know I shoudln't have been) at the family that God chose to respond. The Patterson family has 10 children (7 are adopted). They are now in the process of adopting the two precious Ukrainian boys they hosted (to make a total of 12 children)! I guess the 10 children thing kind of threw me off for a minute, but after Lorraine was the first to respond to my e-mail, I thought, "You sure are a funny, amazing God".
So today I was remembering Stephanee's request to spread the word about the next hosting trip and as I went to my blog to do so I saw that Lorraine Patterson had already beat me to it! Go Lorraine! Go God! Below is Lorraine's post from her blog at:
http://allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/2011/10/christmas-orphan-hosting.html
Imagine spending Christmas in a cold orphanage without parents, without gifts, without stockings, without a Christmas meal, without loved ones to lavish you with love as you celebrate the birth of Jesus with family and friends.
There are 147+ million orphans in the world who will have no choice but to spend their Christmas alone, without a family, this Christmas.
You have the opportunity to make a difference. There are TONS of ways to make a difference. You can donate Christmas gifts to orphans, pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, take a mission trip to serve orphans over Christmas break (here's Elisabeth piping in and saying that anyone who wants to do this in Haiti can come on over), donate to help a family bring their child home in time for Christmas, “adopt” a local shelter at Christmas, bring an older child who has aged out of the foster system into your family for Christmas…the ways to help are endless, really.
You could also consider hosting an international orphan this Christmas. I just happen to know of a couple of sibling sets from an Eastern European country who have a strong desire to come to America over Christmas as part of an orphan hosting program.
Would you like to help make their Christmas wish come true?
Meet M & S, ages 14 and 12 (siblings)
who are BEGGING to come to America for Christmas!
And another sibling set, I & Y, ages 10 and 11,
who would also LOVE to spend Christmas in America.
If you live in the USA and are interested in hosting either of these two sibling sets this Christmas, please immediately contact Stephanee at stephaneep@hotmail.com.
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