November is National Adoption Month. Sunday November 4th is National Orphan Sunday. A day set aside for us to remember the 147 million children in the world without parents. It's also MY BIRTHDAY!! So, give to a great cause as my birthday present! Even though I believe you should be supporting orphans anyways!
I wanted to highlight several ministries that support and advocate for and directly help orphans of all kinds.
#1 The Olsson Family We met Amy and Sten Olsson on our first trip to Ethiopia. They adopted their daughter Marra Frehiwet at the same time we adopted our Yoseph- from the same orphanage. They are now fundraising for adoption #2, a 6 year old girl waiting in Ethiopia. The link above is to the Facebook-A-Thon launching on Orphan Sunday. Their goal is to raise $5,000 in 5 days. Their daughter is ready and waiting for them as soon as they get their paperwork together. The paperwork itself costs alot and they are trying to hurry and go get her. Donations are tax deductible!
#2 Project Hopeful Advocating for orphans with HIV/AIDS and other special needs and the families who adopt them. They advocate for children from all over the world and educate many families about adopting a child with special needs.
#3 Bring Love In This is an incredibly exciting ministry in Ethiopia. They set up homes, and bring in loving, caring, Christian women who are widows. They then enable and support these women to adopt orphans into their home. They support both widows and orphans! They hope to support these children all the way through college. This gives the children a family and keeps them in their country so they can become contributing leaders in Ethiopia.
#4 Show HOPE This is the ministry of the Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman. They focus on orphan care, surgeries for orphans in need, and grants to adopting families. Our family was the GLAD recipient of a Show Hope grant. They are an incredibly trusted ministry.
#5 The Dave Thomas Foundation Have a heart for children in American Foster care? The Dave Thomas Foundation is the leading advocate and supporter of families adopting from the US foster care system.
#6 Very soon our family may be fundraising!! Hint, hint.... stay tuned!
