This story is a serious one.
I have prayed for a couple of months about
sharing it.
Because of the yukkiness of it, I just couldn't
bring myself to.
However, the circumstances are such that,
the time is
now.
I would ask that
you kindly read it in it's entirety or
feel free to skip
it altogether.
At this moment, I am sitting in the comfort of
my home,
the kids are watching Despicable Me {one of my
personal favorites}.
We picnicked on the floor for lunch {my littles
favorite thing to do}.
Liberty made a yummy Mexican dish she found on
Pinterest.
It wasn't an expensive nor was it a fancy meal,
but it was yummy.
This morning my treasures and I were talking
about life.
One of them was sharing their heart about being
an orphan
and their pre-family days.
It was a serious discussion.
And although their life was not-so-nice prior to
coming home,
they are home.
Safe.
Protected.
Loved.
Cared for.
Wanted.
Snuggled.
No longer lonely.
No longer wondering.
"What's wrong with me that I don't have a
family?"
Such a sharp
contrast to a situation on the other side
of the
world.
At this moment Dw, Graham, Savannah and the rest
of the June 2013 GO Team
are speeding their way toward Uganda.
They will land in a few hours.
They have chosen to GO because of the needs they
have either seen or heard about.
But this trip is different, on a level that is
hard to describe.
Let me back up a speck.
A few years back Dw and I began a ministry
{501c3} called
International Voice of the Orphan.
We felt that God would use it be the voice of
the orphaned
and vulnerable children around the world.
Among many "arms",
one of the most prominent is the our feeding
program.
Many of you have graciously given to it.
Shopping at Orphan Wares or donating something
handmade
for others to buy,
provides food for Front Lines + feeding
program.
International Voice of the Orphan's Front Lines+
Feeding program feeds
both the street orphans of Kampala and an
orphanage where we have served.
Which brings
me to the yukky part of the story....
A couple of months ago we received a Facebook
message.
It was from our "daughter" Praise who runs the
orphanage, House of Praise,
where we serve and where we feed the children
there..
Praise wrote that the day before, one of the
little treasures in
House of Praise had had an accident outside, his
finger had been cut pretty badly
and they had wrapped it up.
However, in the night a rat had come, smelling
the blood,
had gnawed on his finger and had eaten a good
portion of it off.
His finger now had
the bone largely exposed.
He was taken to the
hospital where they attempted to fix the finger.
Friends,
What are we doing?
We {me included}
live in a beautiful home,
where laughter,
joy, friendship,
food, commodities,
perks and goodness flow freely.
Yet on the other
side of the world,
a little boy in an
orphanage has a good portion of his finger eaten off
by a rat in the
night as he sleeps?
I can barely talk
about it.
This just shouldn't be so.
We must do something!
Little ones who already feel rejected
by life,
having a rat gnaw their finger off as
they sleep?
We cannot sit back!
We must do more!
Trust me, I hate asking for
anything.
But I promised the Lord I would spend
the rest of my
life being the Voice of the
Orphan.
Which brings me to
now....a few days ago
we received a
message from a friend of IVO.
They wondered if
they could talk to Dw.
Dw called and spoke
to the husband.
This generous
couple had been praying and had
wondered if we
would be willing to take their very generous donation
and use it for
Matching Grants?
We were
overjoyed.
The team that is
speeding their way toward Uganda is going to work
on several
projects.
One of their
projects will be to begin building a rat free dorm for House of
Praise.
They will build as
much as we can afford.
That's where the matching grant comes in.
Trust me, I hate asking for anything.
But I promised the Lord I would spend the rest of
my
life being the Voice of the Orphan.
Every dollar donated will
have
a dollar matched
from this generous
donor.
As you look around your home,
open your fridge, peek in your pantry,
glance in your closet, gander into your
garage...
Is there a chance that you give a generous
gift
to build this dorm for House of Praise?
The thought of rats running freely as the little ones
sleep
is something that is
beyond our comprehension.
These are the
projects that the team will be doing,
{and gifts, no
matter the project, will be donor matched}:
~ dorm for House of
Praise
~ building a rabbit
hutch for API
~ a secret project
{that will be shared before too long}
~ a Legacy Pastor's
Conference where local Ugandan pastors will be
challenged and
encouraged to live lives
that leave a Legacy
for future generations.
If there a chance
you can help with one of these?
There are two
places to donate:
or
IVO's Facebook page has a donate button here.
{please like our
page while you are there,
it encourages the
heart so much}
Or if you prefer to mail a check:
International Voice of the Orphan
3820 West Happy Valley Road
Suite141 - #510
Glendale, AZ 85310
As always,
100% of the money donated to the projects will be used
for the projects.
Thank you, in advance for your gift ~
no matter how big or small, we commit to steward
it well.
