Orphan Sunday

As many of you know, this past Sunday was Orphan Sunday.  This is a day for Christians to all come together and do exactly what the Word of God tells us to do- "Defend the cause of the fatherless.." Isaiah 1:17.  Although we should be doing this on a daily basis anyway, this day is important because many events are planned across the entire world to raise awareness of orphans, adoption, etc.

Of course, this day is especially important to me this year.  Our family can't wait for the day that we get to bring our little girl home.  To us, she is already apart of our family, however, she has not felt that love yet of having a family.  Seriously can't wait for the day that I get to tell her that I'm gonna be her momma forever! 

This year, Eric was asked to preach on Orphan Sunday (not because it was that specific day but because the preacher was going out-of-town).  However, this was no coincidence. 

As most of you know, we live on a Native American Reservation.  I have never heard the word "orphan" ever come out of anyone's mouth here.  I have only heard the word "adopt" a couple of times.  It's just never talked about.  For many, "adopt" is not something that they want to hear because there are many families whose children have been "taken away".  They have never thought of it in a Biblical sense that we, who are believers, have been adopted into the family of God.  So, Eric got the privilege to preach that message and to challenge the church to get involved and do something about the orphan crisis.  It was so awesome to be apart of this reservations first ever Orphan Sunday event!  Eric was able to share many statistics, both globally and locally that really opened the eyes of everyone.  One of those statistics was about the Gila River Indian Community (where we live).  Last year, 400 children from the reservation needed to be placed into foster care.  There are only 2 foster homes on the whole reservation.  Many of the kids were sent to group homes because there was no where else for them to go. 

There were several people afterwards that came up to Eric and asked, "What can we do?"  Praise God!!   That needs to be the question that we all ask.  If we are believers, we are called to do something!! 

One event in particular really stood out to Eric and me that day.  There are 2 girls in our youth group that have just started coming in the last couple of months.  We don't even know if they are believers, but the message really got to them that day.  They decided to get a coffee can and attach the bulletin insert on the front of it.  They went around the entire community where we live and collected money for orphans.  That night, they brought it back to us and said, "We didn't really know what to do, but we had to do something."  How awesome is that!!!

How about you?  Did you do anything special for Orphan Sunday?  

Brittany