For the Least of These

My heart was overwhelmed this morning when I opened my email and found a message from Ann in China.  Thanks to several of you, Mycah's friends received their special package this week.  

I cannot say "thank you" enough for being a part! 

We were able to send a package that included 10 warm sweaters, 10 pairs of shoes, 24 pairs of socks, 10 sets of PJs, lots of fruit and a nice cake!  

I am guessing that this celebration took place yesterday…on Christmas Day!  That day may not hold any significance to these sweet little faces, but it does for us!  And it blessed my heart to see these! 

As happy as I am to see these pictures, it also saddens me that these sweet ones…and so many more…still wait.

I was finally able to get some identifying information about the "Sweet 6", so I am hoping to confirm soon exactly what their status is regarding their adoption files.  This is a HUGE answer to prayer since I have been trying since March to get this information.  I would love to find out that they all have families coming for them!

Thank you, again, to those who gave this month.  What a bright spot you created for these precious ones this week!

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'"

Matthew 25:40

Christmas is Coming!

And then comes December!  Wow.  I am not sure if it is life with 4 kids, or that I am getting older, but I can hardly keep up with days, weeks and months anymore!  We have had a blast celebrating this week.  Our Thanksgiving was simple and quiet…mostly.  If football is on, it's never truly quiet!  But oh what a year we have to be thankful for!  God, as always, has been truly faithful.  I am so blessed by the 5 people surrounding my table this year!  

Even though I thought my day of cooking would never end, it finally did!  We ended our day with some family football and a little Duck Dynasty…both of which resulted in much laughter!

Friday we began to unpack our Christmas decorations and see what survived the last 2 moves.  It is the first time the kids have been big enough to actually assemble the tree.  We even have quite a few ornaments that reached the upper branches this year!  Mycah had a blast.  Every box I opened he just asked, "Can my touch it?"

How you do that?

Reach me high!

Why Mycah is not the family photographer!

We ended with a family movie night watching Polar Express.  Nathyn made everyone tickets and "reserved" signs for each seat and sleeping bag.  Each one read "Reserved for the best (brother, sister, mom, dad)!"  He even popped popcorn and gathered everyone's pajamas.  Except mine since he was afraid he would see his Christmas presents in my closet!  A fun time was had by all!

Waiting for the movie!

umm…haven't even pushed play yet?  Teenagers!

It has been such a joy to watch my family enter this Christmas season.  Sharing the Christmas story with Mycah from the Beginner's Bible and putting out the Little People nativity was extra special!  It has been almost a picture perfect weekend.

And then during church this morning, I again thought of them.  

Oh, how I wish they were spending Christmas with a family…their own families!  

I have tried to get ahold of the necessary information to advocate for these children, but I still have not received a response from the orphanage.  

Please pray that I get a response soon!  Precious months are slipping by!

But even though they are still a continent or two away, we can still share Christmas with them!  Would you like to be a part?  Our kids will each be donating part of their Christmas money to buy gifts for the orphanage children.  Although that alone will not be enough to provide something for every child, perhaps with your help we can provide more!  We will be using a contact we have in China to purchase the items and deliver them for us.  She helped deliver care packages to Mycah while he was waiting for us and we were always pleased with her selections and service!  We will be including several pairs of shoes since that is one thing I noticed when we were there…several girls had toes hanging over the ends of their sandals.  There are other things that we could provide such as socks, sweatshirts, hats, treats for the nannies and small toys.  These things are important since there is no heat in the orphanage.  Even though they are in the southern part of China, I am sure it still gets pretty cold and drafty in the older buildings.  

I will be putting the PayPal link back on the side of my blog.  Whatever comes in between now and December 15th will be used to purchase gifts for these children.  There were 6 little girls in Mycah's class, but there are between 60-80 children in the whole orphanage.  I would love to bless their socks off (or bless them on?!) and let them know that they are loved and thought about this year.  And I pray that one Christmas in the near future, they are with a family who can share with them the best Gift of all!!