Another Day, Another MIRACLE

Seriously, ya'll, you're missing out!! I've never before seen God work in such a clear and powerful way as I have since I got involved with New Horizons for Children!! I have had the privilege of having a front row seat to miracle after miracle and HE's showing no sign of slowing down :)

Yesterday New Horizons received a message via Facebook from a generous family who wanted to make a SIZABLE donation to "A" (the little boy I told you about yesterday, if you missed that story read it here). Sadly (ha, as if) I had to break the news to her that God had already come thru in a BIG way for that kiddo and she'd just have to choose a different child to donate the funds to! What a terrible problem to have? :)

So we talked back and forth and discussed the best way to put their donation to use. We decided to choose a kiddo who also qualified for a $500 grant being offered by the in country facilitators from one of our Eastern European countries. So not only would the child they choose receive their GENEROUS donor (it was $1500 people!! HALF the total fees to host)  BUT the family could also claim the additional $500 in grant money for a total of over $2000!!

We settled on a VERY special boy named "D" with a medical condition that sadly is so misunderstood by our culture (even after huge advances medically) that most families simply wouldn't even consider hosting him due to their own fears. "D" already had $220 in his scholarship fund so their donation brought him up to $1750 and then we also advertised the fact that he qualified for the ONLY remaining $500 grant (we started with six last week). BAM! "D" was chosen tonight by a host family!!

Once again God has "funded what he favors"!!

And that, my friends, was just today!

I wonder what God has in store for tomorrow???

Would you like a front row seat to some miracles of your own?? It's not too late to sign up to host a child this summer! We're still matching kids from Eastern Europe and China!! Fill out our pre-application to host and your regional coordinator will contact you! I guarantee you won't regret it!!

And to our donor family, you know who you are, THANK YOU!!! You quite possibly just saved this little boy's life!! I pray that God will richly bless you!!!

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Miracles DO Happen

If you ever want to see God MOVE just get involved in something that HE cares about!!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen HIM work since I first got involved with New Horizons for Children!!

Let's not forget the miracle I saw him do on Dz's behalf on the VERY LAST day of matching!!  I got a call from my regional coordinator to tell me a donor had just stepped up to cover his hosting fees if only our family would say YES to hosting him!! If not for that donor we wouldn't have hosted Dzintars last summer and this blog wouldn't even exist. If you need to refresh your memory (or you are new here and need to catch up ) you can read about Dzintars related miracles here!!

So today I watched, via facebook, as another miracle unfolded right before my eyes. New Horizons has a facebook page and from time to time the children who we are trying to advocate for are also on facebook and will post on our page. This week a young boy named "A" realized the deadline for kids from his area to be chosen was looming and began communicating with us via our page. Families from around the country saw his pleas for a host family and they took action today. In a matter of 40 minutes, with his deadline just HOURS away, our current group of host parents (who are still trying to raise funds for their own hostings this summer) rallied together and put a scholarship in the amount of $1820 on this child and he was chosen by a host family!! But God didn't stop there, an additional $520 dollars was donated (again by our current summer host families) before the day of was done! In less than 8 hours this child, who until then wasn't going to be hosted this summer, had families raise $2340 and because of that he was chosen by a host family! That my friends is a MIRACLE!! I have no doubt that God has big things in store for "A" and his host family this summer!!

So because I believe in the God of miracles and know that he desires to do "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" I am asking you to help me make another miracle happen!! 

These boys NEED to come back to their winter host family!! UPDATE: The boys have been chosen by a different family, God had other plans and we are so grateful that they have been chosen!!! If you'd still like to donate to a waiting child check out our photolisting and choose a child to bless today!!

Will you rally around their host family and help them come up with the funds??? You can donate via PayPal here. Just be sure and specify it's for Sasha and Zhenya. If you donate (or have already) would you mind shooting me an email with the amount so I can update their account??? As we come to the end of our matching period our office staff is SWAMPED and can't keep up with all the incoming funds/donations and emails. My email is smaljian@newhorizonsforchildren.org. Please, please, please, help these boys! They have a loving and committed family, they just need a little help getting here!! You may never know the impact your contributions may have but you will be a part of the story God is writing in the lives of these two young men!!

Earth Day

This Earth Day I challenge you to think not about how to rid the earth of pollution but rather how to make a difference in the life of one of the 143 MILLION orphans of the world!

Life and Death

Here's a post written by one of our other New Horizons for Children regional coordinators that was so powerful I just had to share it here as well!

It was inspired by two events, one a conversation with her 9 year old son regarding hurtful words which were spoken to him by a relative and the other the attempted suicide of a young girl at one of the orphanages we serve in Eastern Europe.

Please read and share: Life or Death

An Invitation to Help

My women's Bible study at church just started a book by Max Lucado called "Out Live Your Life". We're only a few chapters in and I'm already hooked. Here's just a few paragraphs that captured my attention in the first chapter:

Ours is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever. We are bright, educated, and experienced. We can travel around the world in twenty-four hours or send a message in a millisecond. We have the most sophisticated research and medicines at the tips of our finders. We have ample resources. A mere 2 percent of the world's grain harvest would be enough, if shared, to erase the problems of hunger and malnutrition around the world. There is enough food on the planet to offer every person twenty-five hundred calories of sustenance a day. We have enough food to feed the hungry.

And we have enough bedrooms to house the orphans. Here's the math. There are 145 million orphans worldwide. nearly 236 million people in the United States call themselves Christians. From a purely statistical standpoint, American Christians by themselves have the wherewithal to house every orphan in the world. 

Of course, many people are not in a position to do so. They are elderly, infirm, unemployed or simply feel no call to adopt. Yet what if a small percentage of them did? ...

...We can't just snap our fingers and expect the grain to flow across the borders or governments to permit foreign adoptions. Policies stalemate the best of efforts...

...But this much is clear: the storehouse is stocked. The problem is not in the supply; the problem is in the distribution. God has given this generation, our generation, everything we need to alter the course of human suffering. 

I'm so in love with this book. Have you ever stopped to wonder what your legacy will be once you are gone? What have you done to make your life count? To make a mark in this world? 

There are so many ways to get involved and make a difference. Some are "front and center" and evident to everyone. Others are more "behind the scenes" and their true impact may never known. 

Today I want to invite you to help two boys whom you may never meet...their names are Sasha and Zhenya and they need your help. UPDATE: The boys have been chosen by a different family, God had other plans and we are so grateful that they have been chosen!!! If you'd still like to donate to a waiting child check out our photolisting and choose a child to bless today!!

 

These boys are very close to my heart. They live in the same orphanage as Dzintars and Zhenya and Dz are friends.  What breaks my heart about these two is that they were offered multiple times over a two year period by New Horizons for Children and other hosting organizations and NEVER chosen...that is until this winter. When a family in Southern California stepped out in faith to host them! After years of being left behind, these two were finally CHOSEN! These two had an amazing four weeks with a loving family who adore them and they'd like to return. Though Sasha had tried to protect his heart for the possibility that he might not be asked back by telling his host family he would be working this summer and unable to come for a summer visit. He has now said "if we will be invited it is my priority to come. If family will not invite us then I will be working this summer. I hope we can come together!" 

Here's the problem it will cost more than $6,200 to bring them back this summer and that's a whole lot of money for a family to come up with, not once, but twice. Their host family desperately wants these boys, they love them and want to be able to share their summer with them, they simply do not have the funds to do so. My fear is that when these two aren't able to come back to their host family, they will think their host family doesn't want them and this will just be yet another form of rejection in their young lives. 

I know most of you are thinking "Why not just tell them they can't afford to bring them again?" This seems like a simple solution to us, but for kids who have grown up in an Eastern European orphanage and have little to NO concept of money this simply will not due! They will simply think their host family doesn't want them! They see our houses, our property, our vehicles and our STUFF and compared to life in their country think all Americans are rich! The "we can't afford it" line will simply be seen as an excuse, another rejection added to a long line of people who have let them down. Can you imagine who they might feel?

So I ask you, would you consider contributing towards their hosting fees so they can return to a loving family this summer? You may never know the impact your contributions will have on their young lives, but I promise you they WILL have an impact! These boys will know they were chosen and loved and the love of Christ will be poured into them this summer by a family who is desperate to be the "hands and feet of Jesus" in their young lives! Would you help them? 

These are amazing boys, whom I have met and spent time with. Boys I've laughed with and joked with. They are just two of the 145+ million orphans in the world today, but they are two that we can do something about! Together we can make a difference!  

If you'd like to contribute towards Sasha and Zhneya's scholarship fund I'd be ever so grateful.  To make a tax free donation use this PayPal link: http://goo.gl/07b1R. On the second page, once you've logged in you'll see a very small line in blue that says "+add special instructions to the seller". Please click that link and in the space provided write that you'd like to contribute to brothers Sasha and Zhenya's hosting fees! That should ensure the funds go directly into their account! 

Let's bring these four back together!!

 

  

Adorable Alert

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?? This is Cheng Chu and he along with many other little dolls from China are available for hosting with New Horizons for Children this summer!

Our China dates are mid July to late August! We just began matching kids with families early this morning and already have more than 30 kids matched with families!! Praise the Lord!!

Cheng Chu is not only ADORABLE, but he's a special little guy who was born without arms! It doesn't slow him down in the slightest. The interview team has a video of him playing with Play Doh with his feet and he can also draw and play games using his feet as hands. He is articulate and smart but was a little overwhelmed at the end with all the attention.

For quite some time I've been reading a blog called "A Road Less Traveled" that an adoptive family in Utah has used to record their life with their kiddos. They have a precious little princess named Sophi was they adopted form China a few years ago who was also born with no arms. Sophi is adorable and if you'd like to see what a child with no arms can do you've to check out their blog this link will take you to a whole page of posts just about Sophi! Try not to smile when you see her sweet face!!

If you'd like view the other China cuties you can do so by filling out a short form here and the link and password will be emailed to you! Just be sure and fill out the China form not the Eastern Europe form! Join me in praying for Cheng Chu and the many other cuties from China still needing host families.