31 for 21 - Craft Sale!

In my blogging hiatus over the summer, Rachel and I did several craft sales.

We had a tent in our town's yearly celebration festival thingy on July 20/21. It was two LONG hot days, but we made $252!!

Yes, that's Rebekah going under that table... this was the best picture we got.

Then we did the Farmer's Market twice. We made $219 on 7/29, because it was the end of July, but very chilly (we were wearing jeans and sweatshirts and still cold), therefore people bought lots of hats and scarves. And on 8/17, we made $129, probably because it was a bit warmer!

{Can't find a picture, not sure we took one at either sale...}

On 9/14, we did participated in an Applefest sale, making $116!

And today, we participated in the Oktoberfest sale. It was from 9am-5pm (most sales are until 12pm or 1pm), so very long, and I wasn't feeling well, but it's over and we made $176!

Roughly half of this money is going to the Hebbe family to help them bring home their precious boys!

They passed court, so I can finally share these sweet faces!

And the other half, brings me to today's waiting orphan with Down syndrome! Maria!

Rachel and I raising money for this sweet girl with Handiwork for Maria. She has (soon-to-be) over $16,000 in her account! Yes, SIXTEEN GRAND! That's almost all of the costs for a family to adopt her!

You wouldn't have to do much fundraising to go her and she is such a happy, joyful spirit, just waiting for you to go get her. So what are you waiting for??

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And I would feature Lilly for the child stuck in Russia, but since I already did, here's a beautiful girl who is in the same region/place as Lilly and also has Down syndrome, a heart condition, and strabismus - Anastasia.

 She also got a new picture the same time as Lilly... doesn't she look great?!?

Look what God has done! | 3 years

This past week we celebrated my little brother's 6th birthday! Who is that little brother? Elijah, as in handiworkforElijah.

Which means Handiwork for Orphans has been open for 3 years! THREE YEARS!

And during that three years God has blessed this ministry more than I can believe, and we're not done growing! 

Let's recap:

• 3 years
• Founded in Sept 2010 to help bring my little brother home from Ukraine
• Added Rachel as the missing half of HFO in June 2011
• Hundreds of hats made and sold
• Hundreds of dishcloths and other items made and sold
• 25+ craft sales
• Several people inspired to start their own shops selling items to help orphans
• Hundreds of people made aware of our cause and the plight of the orphan
• Over $7000 raised (estimated)
• 16+ orphans helped to find their families and come home
• 6 of those have families working to get them!
• and 8 are HOME with their forever families!

God is SO good! And we are so grateful to Him, and to everyone who made this possible.

Here's to another 3 years, to more money raised, to more children helped, to more families completed, to more love made.

Dude wasn't cooperating for pictures....

Thank you Elijah! For getting this party started!

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Our current child we are raising money for is Maria.

Check all the fun stuff we have fore sale including our newest item - these infinity scarves!

Plus we have LOTS of new cute hats you probably haven't seen! (Find them here!)

Matthew 18:14

Matthew 18:14 used to be the name of this blog. I have since changed it to What it Means to Love, but the address remains 'matthew18vs14'.

"It is not the will of our Father in Heaven that any of these little ones should perish."

I love that verse, and it fits so well with this blog, because that is the underlying theme. Whether it's sharing about children who need families, praying for those stuck in countries no longer open, helping families with fundraising and such to bring their children home, helping families bring their children home by taking care of their other children, or loving on children already home... it's not God's will that ANY of them should perish.

Not Angela.

Not Owen.

Not Mark.

Not Ekaterina.

Not Jacob.

Not Aisha.

Not Lilly.

Not Sutter.

Not Allen.

Not Maria.

Not Hope.

Not Angelia.

He is not willing that ANY should perish. 

Let's be His hands and feet, and do everything in our power to keep them from perishing.

Sweet Lovie

Today we got new pictures of sweet Maria!! She's absolutely precious!

She has so much joy, let's find her a family before she loses that!

Waiting Wednesday: Iris

Side note: This is my 500th post! Not sure what I rambled about in all those posts, that's a lot of posts!

There are two girls, who reside in the same institution, and both of them need families. The other thing that makes them stand out is they both have $15,000 grants. FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! That's well over half of their adoption paid for!

The first girl, is a familiar face, esp if you follow along over at Handiwork for Maria [Website+Blog+Facebook+GooglePlus]. It's Maria!

Read about how she went from $10 to $15k in her grant here - Bittersweet. Also includes information about the grants of Russian children, that have now been moved to children still available, due to the Russian adoption ban.


The second little girl may not be as familiar, but you may have seen her on other advocating blogs. And she is the one I'm going to introduce you to today for WW. Her name is Iris.

She is older, and a great helper in her grouppa, loving on and taking care of the younger kids. Her only medical need is HIV+, which is easily controlled by medication. She does have birth marks on her face, but was not burned or anything.

She soaks up every bit of attention she is given and longs for a family of her own.

I've heard many people say that they would love to adopt, but it costs so much. You can't use that as an excuse this time! Iris's adoption is nearly paid for, and considering how popular she is in the RR community, it wouldn't be hard to raise that last bit! Right now, she also has the largest grant of any child on RR, at nearly $15,500. Maria is only half a thousand behind her. :)

PLEASE consider adding this beautiful girl to your family!!

More about her:

Iris

Girl, born 2001
HIV+

Iris is a lovely young lady; she is described as curious and enthusiastic.

From someone who met Iris in 2012:  Iris is a sweet girl who loves attention and physical affection. She loves to be hugged and will play with your hair and sit in your lap. She is a big helper within her group, and is a good friend (more like a big sister) to many of the other kids in her group. She is very affectionate with those kids, and will play with them and try to pick them up. She has great play skills, and loves dolls. She also enjoys playing with balloons (hitting them back and forth to other people), and coloring with markers. I have been told she was not burnt, but that she has a birthmark. She is taking medication for her hiv. Her cognitive abilities and social awareness are not what you would expect from a child of her age, and I am not sure how much of this is due to orphanage delays.

Large families welcome. Married couples only; travel required.

Also read more about older child adoption by a family who has adopted an older girl, and who is advocating for Iris - Tiny Green Elephants.

Ch-ch-changes! (WW: Maria)

As I'm sure you've heard, in late December, Russia closed to their adoption program to Americans.

The US government passed some legislation the Russian government didn't like, and in retaliation they closed adoptions, and the children are left to suffer. (I'm still not sure why that was a good retaliation tactic, as I'm not sure there are a lot of people in the US government who care about the orphans???) Anyways, they closed.

Some families who had court were allowed to bring their children home, but most in the process, even a lot of families who have already met their child, weren't able to bring them home. And of course, new families can't commit to a child or start the process to bring them home.

Many, many people were affected by this ban, all the advocates for Russian orphans, all the families, and all the children who are now stuck in orphanages and institutions. PLEASE PLEASE pray that this ban is lifted soon, or that a special needs waiver is passed so special needs adoptions can continue. The lives of many children hang in the balance.

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I have advocated for many children in Russia, and while I will still keep praying for them, I will not be advocating for them anymore until they are adoptable. You can find them all at the bottom of my sidebar where it's split into two columns. Please take a moment to pray for their precious lives.

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Lilly and Owen are two children you will find in that section of the sidebar, as they are in Russia, and I have advocated, a lot, for them here.

Rachel and I were fundraising for them over at Handiwork for Orphans, and of course we were and still are devastated about the situation and the fact they, and all the other children can't have the loving family they deserve. Both actually had pretty interested families right before the shut-down.

Since their grants closed on RR (please note all grants for Russian children are currently on hold and will be saved for that child), we had no place to send people to pay for our items. So we needed a new child to advocate and raise money for.

After many prayers, we found our new child (who is not in Russia). While it hurts so much to not be able to help all the ones we want to help, we feel this child needs it most right now.

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Meet Miss Maria:

This precious girl will be 11 years old this year, but is the size of a toddler. She has Down syndrome, and needs a family quickly because she is already living at an institution. 

(Two fun facts about her institution - I visited there while in Ukraine, but only for an afternoon and didn't see her. And also, she is at the same place, and even the same grouppa that Maxim and Ryan were in (who are both now home and thriving in their awesome loving families, both of whom I've met!)! 

She is described as spunky and a bit of a drama queen, and even though she has been living at a bad institution for quite awhile, she still has so much life.

Here's some more about her from her profile:

Girl, born 2002
Down syndrome

Maria is a bundle of sweetness and pure energy! She lives her life sort of like a game of bumper kids, not afraid of crawling over, through, or into other children to get where she wants to go. She is otherwise all girl, giggly and sweet, loving to blow kisses or play with dolls.

She is not speaking, but uses some sign language she may have made up to communicate her basic needs, such as thirst or needing to go to the bathroom. She also makes some of the most hilariously adorable facial expressions. She is not able to stand or walk, and she appears to have problems with her hips. She is very flexible, and often sits with one foot above her head. She can get around quite well in a very unique way of holding her feet and scooting along on her bottom, she moves at a very fast pace. She is a sweet girl who does not know about personal boundaries (such as crawling around instead of over the other children) but is nonetheless very loving and would probably do great in a family where she was the youngest.

We are so excited to be raising money for her... go check out the things we have up for sale! 100% of the proceeds go to her adoption fund which will help her find a family and pay for her adoption when she has a family. Come visit us at Handiwork for Maria!