 |
| My M last Christmas. She's artsy, if you can tell by the present. Oh yeah, and that's me in skull footie pajamas in the background. Be jealous. |
I believe in being honest with M, and she's not a little girl anymore, she's a young lady. So I told her.
I told her that sometimes children are born with special needs, just like our A and AJ have special needs, but with some kids, it's really obvious as soon as their born.
I told her that in some countries, people don't believe that these kids can do anything or live normal lives, or they don't feel like they can take care of them properly, so they leave them at the hospital or give them to an orphanage, because they hope they'll have a better life.
I told her that often, at the orphanages, these children don't have a better life. Often, they die. Often, they're starved, neglected, and at very least deprived of the love of a Mom or Dad.
I told her that sometimes these kids can be adopted, but there are so many of them and it costs so much money that many of them wait for a long time.
I told her about the place in Eastern Europe where Katie Musser came from (#11), I showed her the pictures of the children and told her how old they were. I showed her the little girl who is now Amelia Brown, and told her "She's the same age as you."
 |
| Amelia back in the orphanage (#11) |
I showed her the video that changed my life... 'The Dark Side of Serbian Mental Institutions'. If you haven't seen it, watch it now.
I hugged her when she cried and asked me how anyone could do this to children, and what we could do to help.
I told her that yes, I wanted to adopt one of these children - or more - someday. She told me that she would like to do it too.
Over the past year, I have kept M updated on the children we both have a heart for. I especially reveled in showing her photos of the progress that newly adopted children were making. You should have seen the shock on her face when she saw Katie Musser just after she was adopted, versus Katie only two months home. 'All they had to do was just take care of her.' She prayed with me as the Brown family flew home. She mourned with me when families lost newly adopted children, or children they were on their way to adopt. I showed her the photos of new children to pray for. I told her the stories of children redeemed by adoption.
Then, this year, in August when the Reece's Rainbow community began gearing up for this year's Angel Tree, I explained the concept to her and told her that I was going to commit to being a Christmas Warrior and to helping a friend raise funds for her Angel Tree child. She asked me how I was going to do it. I told her we were going to have an auction - we did. By the way, Bids 4 Brett raised $220, including 20% for Ollie! I told her I didn't know what else I was going to do - maybe try to make some things - I introduced her to Pinterest and together, we looked for ideas of things to make. We made anything we had the materials for and anything I already knew how to make.
One night in August we were having a 'Girls Night', and we were trying to stay up late to watch a meteorite shower (it turned out to be cloudy - boo!) While we waited and tried to keep ourselves awake, I taught her to make God's Eyes, a historically based craft made with yarn and popsicle sticks. The next day, when I woke up (late - because we'd stayed up so late), M had already been up for hours and made a pile of crafts! Over the next few days she made them in her spare time until a huge pile had been accumulated, the intention always to sell them to help raise funds for orphans.
I'll never forget one night, we were sitting together making crafts, and she looked up and asked me, "Katie? Do you think people will buy these to help those kids?"
"Yes," I told her. "I think they will, not just because they're fun and pretty, but because you made them with all the love in your heart for orphans, and that's pretty special."
And it is. I know you could make one yourself. Or a dozen. But my precious M has a heart to help, and I will do every single thing I can to support her in that. So I'm announcing McKenzie's God's Eye Sale - which will go from now until December 31. I've taken a photo of all the ones she's made so far, and she's up for more if they sell, so all you have to do is make a small donation to Elden (how much is up to you - we are thankful for ANYTHING we can raise for him!), forward me your donation receipt from RR (these don't state an amount in case you'd like to keep that anonymous, they're just proof of payment) at Callmecrazycbus@hotmail.com, along with the number and colors/designs you'd like (or I can have M choose her favorites if you'd like), and an address for shipping, and you too can be a part of a little girl's quest to help an orphan.
These crafts are great decorations and kids love them. All the kids we babysit begged to pick colors for one of their own (yes, we absolutely let them). Several hang on my Christmas tree every year from a fundraiser *I* headed up in elementary school. After that fundraiser I spotted them all over the place. On back packs, on rearview mirrors, around belt loops, hanging in various places in people's homes, attached to magnet backing and placed on refridgerators, anywhere you can think of. Each one comes with a hanging loop to make decorating easy. You can affix magnets easily with hot glue if you so choose. Here are a couple pictures I took tonight of M's master stash:
 |
| Made with love by McKenzie, 13. |
My M has a heart of gold, a heart for orphans and kids of all shapes and sizes. I love her more than life itself and I want nothing more than to help her help an orphan this Christmas. Would you please consider supporting her efforts?
 |
| For gratuitous cuteness (and, okay, a brag on how awesome she is - M sharing her cell phone with one of the girls we watch and showing her how to play a game <3 |
And, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm tacking on another fundraiser here. Earlier this week I read about something called "Singing Christmas Cards". It's just what it sounds like - you dress up in some sort of holiday related costume, and for donations, pay the person of the donor's choice a visit and sing them a Christmas carol. Guaranteed to produce some laughs (and I don't mind even if they are at my expense!) I happen to own THE MOST EPIC Christmas costume of all time, hand made by my amazing mother, and I'm prepared to make this happen. For a $10 donation to Elden's grant, I will perform a singing Christmas card with your choice of song for whomever you would like to send it to. For a $20 donation, you can send three carols. I am local to Columbus, Ohio and can deliver these in person in the greater Columbus area. If you would like to send a card carol to someone outside this area, or just prefer this method, I'm happy to record the carol and send them a video. I'll even dance a little. If you make a donation for one or more of M's God's Eyes, I'll knock $2 off the price, in case you'd like to deliver a little gift with your card carol. Again, just make your donation to Elden's grant here, forward me the 'receipt' along with your choice of song(s) and your recipient's address(es) or e-mail address(es) at Callmecrazycbus@hotmail.com, and I'll get your card out ASAP. If your card is to be delivered in person, please try to include a day/time that you think would be best for delivery. Also, sending one to yourself just for your amusement is totally allowed. Er, just a disclaimer... I was in choir in middle school... but I'm not exactly a vocalist, if you get my point. If my voice is terrible, just consider it a part of the comedic effect ;)
 |
| Epic Christmas Costume |
Finally, I just want to share a couple other fundraisers that are on my heart right now.
My friend Laura is launching a new fundraiser (since our auction closed Monday) for Brett called 'With Love From...' - the goal being to obtain a love offering of $5 from at least one person in every state. If you give, please pay directly to Brett's grant (linked above) and let us know via blog, facebook or email where your love offering is coming from so we can add your state to the map! This fundraiser is just starting out, so we don't exactly have a lot of states covered yet... we'd love to add yours to the map!
 |
| Love from Laura in Missouri so far! |
Also, my friend Jenni, who is raising money to commit to a sweet little boy from Katie Musser's former orphanage (#11), is partnering with another family for a Wii U giveaway! This runs until December 15 and your chances of winning are AWESOME! You can read about their fundraiser at Jenni's blog here. They are in a time crunch to pay some agency fees and desperately need to raise this money, but don't have the benefit of having a Reece's Rainbow FSP yet. If you would like, or know someone who would like a Wii U this Christmas, would you please consider entering to help them out?
So there you are. Lots of fundraising going on, and I know it's a tight time of year for everyone, but I hope you'll pick at least one and give a little bit... maybe as a Christmas present to me? ;)
Oh - and for the sake of updating - $285 has currently been raised for Elden through Angel Tree and $193.30 for Brett (not all auction proceeds are in yet) - so a total of $478.30 has been raised for the two boys - almost halfway to $1,000, and halfway to me losing my first eyebrow! I'm getting excited! (Yes, I realize that I am exceedingly weird). Also, for the record, I've been doing this crazy thing called 'getting up early' lately, and this other crazy thing called 'taking a bath in the morning', which is why there haven't been many bedhead photos (that and they are really exceedingly embarrassing) but I will try to get back on track - if you promise to help me get those grants up so I can stop taking bad pictures of myself!
Finally I just want to send a sincere thank you out to everyone who has supported Elden and Brett so far. If the words existed to tell you what it means to me, I would say them, but there just aren't any words strong enough to express the depth of my gratitude. I grin like an idiot, and sometimes cry a little bit, every time one of them moves up though, if that tells you anything. Thank you so much. You all are truly amazing and none of this - angel tree, fundraising, Reece's Rainbow, over 800 adoptions in six years - would be possible without you.
Oh, and PS: Look who's on My Family Found Me...
 |
| ZOEY!!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment