Hope For the Orphans

Last December, Lydia decided she wanted to raise money for orphan children with Down Syndrome through an organization called Reece's Rainbow. She made flyers and placed them in mailboxes throughout our neighborhood offering to babysit while parents went Christmas shopping. Many families responded, and the fundraiser was a success. To top off the celebration, Lydia told her dad she would forgo receiving Christmas gifts if he would match her donation. Happily, he did......and Lydia plans to do the same this year.

Since the month of October has been set aside for National Down Syndrome Awareness and the month of November has been set aside for National Adoption Awareness, I thought it would be interesting to combine the two.

I hope you'll take a few moments to watch the attached YouTube video. It is very compelling, because it beautifully shows the children without hope when they were stuck in an orphanage and then shows the transformation that took place after only a short while with their new families....no longer orphans. A little bit of love goes a mighty long way, and this video proves it!

P.S. The face on the video belongs to Micah....he is a little fella' Lydia's support went to help last December. He is one Lydia chose from the many. It turned out, a family in nearby Spring Hill adopted him, and now we are friends with the family. In fact, they are one of the three families who have young children with DS we go to church with. Is God amazing, or what??? He saw ahead and placed Micah in Lydia's heart through a photo on the Reece's Rainbow website long before our families would "officially" meet.

"Once our eyes are opened, we cannot pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."
Proverbs 24:12