My Mom introduced me to Life as a Pilgrim awhile back. 

I was catching up on her blog this morning and when I came to this post, I was so taken with her photos from a Chinese orphanage wrapped in sweet prayerful prose. 

Her post is entitled, “We wait for you to Ache“. 

It just so fully describes why so many of us advocate and fully “ache” over not only the orphan crisis, but the each and every one of the orphans in the world. 

 The photos are adorable on their own. 

 Enjoy!

(Click on the red to get to the blog and the post.)

UPDATE: Can you hear me cheering you on? 

I have a minimum of 100 hits a day on here and I know that you all have big hearts from the

 e-mails I receive.

The first person to enter this Giveaway will not only receive their entries, but that person will also receive the Audiobook, Safely Home, by Randy Alcorn!

I had a comment about the Audiobooks as well.  If you are like me, you are a reader and prefer the hard copy.  In our house, my husband has little time to spend with a book.  He prefers to listen as he drives.  My teenager, prefers to listen on his I-Pod.  Maybe a little something while you exercise?  Or if you have already read these, perhaps a gift for someone else you were hoping to impact?  The options are endless.  🙂 

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Remember this post from awhile back?  

Well, as of a couple of days ago, International China Concern  had received donations towards Yang Jing Yuan’s surgeries totalling approximately $4,000 US.  

Praise God for His provision for this little one!

The raising of the remaining $26,000 US seems impossible to fathom, but I know that God has both this boy, and his family who are under great pressure to abandon him, absolutely and completely in His sight. 

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So, in order to draw attention to Yang Jing Yuan and to ICC, I have decided to hold a little giveaway here on my itty bitty blog.

I would like to hold a draw for a gift pack of the following three Amazing, Life Challenging and Very Popular Resources, all in Audiobook format!

That’s right – these aren’t just any old paperbacks, but full unabridged CD versions, read by the authors themselves!

Now I have to be honest and let you know that each of these has been gently used by Stephen (as in listened through once and put back into their cases) as he has travelled  back and forth to work.  

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These CDs are in excellent condition and all *you* need to do is… 

Leave a comment or e-mail me at [email protected], letting me know that you did one or all of the following:

1. Posted about the giveaway on your blog and linked back to this post.

2. Tweeted about the giveaway to all your peeps.

3. Made mention of the giveaway on your Facebook account.

and/or (of course),

4. Donated to ICC

(Just click on the word ” ICC” above, I don’t need to know the amount, every single dollar counts!).

You will receive one entry into the giveaway draw for each item you complete and comment on. 

That means you can receive up to 4 entries!

 I will leave this giveaway active until the evening of October 22, 2010. 

That evening I will have one of my herd draw one generous soul’s name.  

After I’ve drawn the winning name, I will post it here on the blog and mail off the prize package! 

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Here’s a little glimpse about ICC, child abandonment in China and the orphan crisis there. 

And thank you so much, in advance, for Taking a Look, Spreading the Word and Sharing some Love.

It’ll make a Big Difference – to a small boy.

 Oh and for a bit of trivia, for while you are watching this documentary, Hengyang is in Hunan, which is also Samuel’s home province. 

Each year Steve & I grow in our determination to partner with an amazing organization that is very close to our hearts, International China Concern.  We first learned about them one Sunday a number of years ago.  We had been attending a Chinese Baptist church in the city we used to live in, and I remember being so impressed by the calling that the young founder and his wife had to reach out to children in China.  The thing that stood out to us was that they were all about helping Chinese families stay united and therby reducing the astronomical abandonment rate in China. 

Abandonment of Chinese children happens for many, many reasons, but one of the significant ones is due to the fact that there is no system of socialized health care there.  Compound that with the fact that most families (yes, even with the growing numbers of Chinese middle class and the country’s over all economic growth) live well below the poverty line, even by Chinese standards.  In a situation like that, parents sometimes find themselves faced with only one option  in order to find medical care for their child – abandonment.  The hope is that their child will be found and given the care that they need to survive. 

Not a fathomable situation, that’s for sure.

What Steve and I love about ICC is that fact that in addition to providing family-like care homes for children with extremely complex or life long disabilities, ICC also provides education, support and medical care to families who would have otherwise been forced into making a decision to consider abandonning their child. 

Once a year, the children in their care in Changsha (the capital of Samuel’s home province of Hunan, where we will officially become his forever family!) and Hengyang walk a 10km walk in order to raise money for their projects in China.  And ICC supporters around the world join them in their walk all in their home cities.  The goal is to have enough supporters join them that they will be able to collectively walk the length of the Great Wall of China.  An ambitious goal! 

I won’t be able to join the walk in body this year (yes, I’m s.t.i.l.l. on crutches!), so I thought I’d share it with my online friends instead. 

Visit the Walk the Wall  site to see how you can sponsor one of these amazing kids on their walk and take a look at their video (lots of amazing kids!).