Ah-hem

Time for a couple of announcements, folks!

I hope that many of you in the US realize that it is National Adoption Awareness Month!

Did you know that while more than 30% of Americans say they have "thought about" adoption, only 2% have actually adopted? As someone who has experienced firsthand the pain of children around the world who have no family to call their own, no one to tuck them in at night, and experience continual injustice and heartbreak due to overburdened legal systems.....please hear me, it's not the thought that counts, it's what you do about it!

Please plan how to make a difference in the life of a hurting, needy, abused child TODAY.

It doesn't matter to me where you choose to invest your time, prayers, and resources, so long as you do it, but allow me to make a suggestion.... =)

(Okay so I'm sure you know where this is going, although I have been honored to present the ministries of others here on my blog on occasion. However, the responsibility of providing for the round-the-clock care and growth of our children does rest on my shoulders. Of course I recognize that it all comes from God but for some reason I feel like when coffers get low, I'm the one everyone looks to. Since I was 22!!)

So, as Casa de Amor Children's Homes provides a temporary family and healing, happy home environment until each child receives a forever family of his/her own, here are some current needs...

$50 to repair a bad part of the roof at the Baby Home so that all the important papers in the office are not wet when the rainy season arrives in full force

$100 will cover baby B's specialized hearing test, needed ASAP

$700 will cover a car payment for the Alseth family as they purchase a desperately needed small SUV from another missionary family

approximately $4000 is needed by year's end to be able to provide a house for Casa de Amor II for all of 2010

a donation of any amount such as $10 or 20 will go towards Christmas presents (one of our former baby's new Bolivian parents are offering to buy presents for 10 of our children, so that leaves 32 others)

And then continual, ongoing needs...

$25 will provide one month of speech therapy for a child (might seem frivolous, but have you ever experienced the aggression of a toddler who has not a single word in their vocabulary to be able to communicate instead of bite/scratch/hit/throw a temper tantrum? Or the autistic-like behaviors that come as a result? Y-e-a-h, not pleasant...)

$40 will feed a Casa de Amor child for one month

$400 will cover all water and electricity bills for all three houses

And then of course there is child sponsorship! (Consider it for a Christmas gift!) There are still a few children without a sponsor, including the newest twins.

It's easy to give by credit card via paypal (www.casadeamor.org/supporting.html) or sending a check to GOAL, PO Box 3201, McKinney, TX, 75070. If you'd like to specify towards one of these needs, please do so!


Well that was a long winded first announcement, oops.

Second announcement!

This Sunday, we're heading to Nashville for the "Orphan Sunday" event, yeah!! Check out details here and see if a church in your area is participating or hosting a live feed of the concert:

http://www.orphansunday.org/

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.