“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18

These are the words of Jesus, comforting his disciples. He will not leave us. Does this not bring joy and comfort to your soul? It brings me so much peace, just to whisper those words in the dark moments of night….He will not leave us.

Few of us know what it is like to be an orphan. As Americans, we are blessed beyond belief….in all honesty, how many of us have ever even met an orphan? In our protected American world, we don’t have much reason to think of orphaned children, hungry and cold, confined to hard metal cribs, neglected and sick, living without love, waiting with little hope of ever finding a family. Can you imagine a child who’s never known the love of another human being? One who may never in his or her life know the embrace of another soul who loves them?

There are thousands and thousands of precious children throughout the world who are living that life.

My friends, my heart is breaking for these children. For the last six months it has been weighing heavier and heavier on my heart, until I can no longer keep quiet about their plight…these precious children are God’s beloved ones, children with so much potential and so much to give to the world! Yet they face being sent to an institution at the age of just four years, where they will never again have even the slightest chance at life. These children have some small difference…down syndrome, a cleft palate, a club foot, a deformed hand. Problems that can be fixed easily here in the United States, differences that make them unique but no less amazing and worthy of love than any other child. And for these differences, they receive a death sentence.

My friends, these children do not make it once they are institutionalized. These precious children face death from hunger, sickness, dehydration, or hypothermia brought on by the dilapidated buildings they are confined to. They face unspeakable neglect. They lie in metal cots, their arms lashed to their sides to prevent them harming themselves out of the despair that the dreary drag of the years of neglect brings on. They never leave the confines of one room, left to stare blankly at the same walls day in and day out, their hands tied to the rungs of a crib. They die of simple lack of love. They die of broken hearts. I have read statistics that report an unbelievable percentage of children sent to institutions die in the first two years. I have seen it as high as 80 percent.

It doesn’t have to end that way.

These children can be adopted and brought home to loving families, the joy that was stolen from them at birth can be restored fully! Miracles of love happen every day. Read about two beautiful children with down syndrome adopted last month from the Ukraine…one sweet angel had never left the room where her crib stood in all her five short years. You can read her story here…please, do! She weighed just 16 pounds at five years of age…yes, you read that right. Sixteen pounds. She was written off as non-responsive and hopeless by the orphanage staff…take a look at her sweet face now! She is laughing and smiling, thriving after just four weeks of love. Do you feel like you’ve never seen a ‘real’ miracle? That perhaps the days of Miracles are over? Here is one unfolding day by day, God’s amazing love shining through the lives of a family who took a leap of faith.

Here is a fellow blogger who has made that leap of faith and committed to bringing home two sweet angels from an orphanage in Eastern Europe. The process isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap, but there are resources out there to help. We can contribute to this worthy cause in so many ways…one of them is as simple as clicking a link! Will you prayerfully consider contributing to their fund to help bring their girls home? One sweet baby has a heart defect that needs surgery right away, they are unable to perform the surgery where she lives and they need to get these girls home to the United States soon. I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating at all when I say that your contribution will indeed help to save a life….in fact, two lives! Please do consider helping, and soon…they have a donor who has agreed to match funds donated in the next two weeks dollar for dollar up to $5,000! Your contribution will be doubled if you’re able to donate soon!

This problem isn’t going away any time soon. The waiting children will be waiting until someone saves them, or until they are lost to an institution forever. I urge you to look into this, if your heart feels pulled to help these children in any way you can…help to finance an adoption, get the word out, raise money through your church, have a garage sale, agree to pray for one of these orphans.

Please, if you blog, would you consider getting the word out to everyone your blog reaches? Send out and SOS for sweet Mallory and Peach!

Or maybe you feel led to bring home one of these sweet babies and bless not only the child being saved from a life of misery and neglect, but also your own heart and the hearts of all those touched by your family?

Please pray about this!

Here are some links….

Reese’s Rainbow (a non-profit agency dedicated to placing orphans with special needs)
Mallory and Peach (read their story, and please help!)
No Greater Joy Mom (the beautiful story of a family blessed by adoptions)
Saving Sofia (another family who just brought their child home)
Adoption Financial Aid (ways to finance an international adoption)
Imagine a Different Life (read about what happens to children who are not adopted…not for the faint of heart!)