But taking that stance is not fair to me or to those of you who are living life in my circle of friends. We are meant to do this life thing together and so much of our personal growth and the blessings in our life come from helping one another out. I'm trying to branch out and grow, and truth be told I can't do this all by myself, so...here goes...I'm asking for help. Can you help?
There are over 163 million orphans in the world. To put this number into perspective the Rose Bowl here in Pasadena holds about 94,000 people.
You could fill this stadium 1,700 times with kids and still not seat all the orphans in the world. Take a moment and really think about that number. It's mind boggling.
There are approximately 325 of these orphans available for hosting through New Horizons this Winter. Of those 325, less than a third of them have been spoken for. This is a sad statistic. Can you help?
If you are even thinking about this just a little bit, I encourage you to go to the New Horizons for Children website www.newhorizonsforchildren.org and sign up to view the photolisting. There is no obligation beyond this...all they ask for is your e-mail address so that they can send you the password. Who knows, maybe you will see a child that will capture your heart!
If you decide that hosting is not in the cards for you at this time, perhaps you could donate a scholarship amount to one of these kids? There are several who already have partial scholarships, but it costs $2,950 in passport fees, airline tickets, and other documentation to get them here. Sometimes having a scholarship makes all the difference in a child being selected for hosting.
Or if it would be easier to donate in a more personal way, maybe you could help us out? We have decided to sacrifice our vacation this year and to use the money we had budgeted to pay for half of Nastya's fees, but we are trying to raise funds to cover the other half. We have had some generous donations already (thank you VERY much to those of you who have donated...a proper thank you is coming!), but we are still trying to raise about $1,500 to cover the rest of Nastya's travel fees. Can you spare $15 or $25 to help us bring her to America?
Your donation (made through the link at the top of this page on the tab labeled "Help bring Nastya to America") or at http://www.active.com/donate/winter2012/meetNastya
is made directly to New Horizons so it will be tax deductible as a charitable donation. I hope this is a win-win for those who feel led to help in this way.
Here's another way to help. Are you planning to shop on Amazon anytime soon? We have a special link here: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/shop-on-amazon/
New Horizons earns 7% of all purchases and can then apply that money to scholarships for the kids that are most in need. All you have to do is shop for stuff you were going to buy anyway!
So you can see, the answer to my question is "yes" there are many ways that you can help! Pray about it and see if God moves you to help one of these children who aren't able to ask for help themselves. Hosting for winter closes on October 29th so if you are thinking about getting involved in any way, I hope you will keep that date in mind.
If nothing else, can you please pray? Pray for these children. Pray for this program. And, please, of course, pray for us. Thank you all very much for all the words of support an encouragement so far and thanks for continuing to read this blog. I hope your lives will all be impacted in a positive way as you travel this journey with us!
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...
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