Monday, December 23, 2013

If Only 40 Seconds

A blog post is being shared around Facebook, the post is about what it's like in an orphanage.  Before I go on, I would like to know what you think life in an orphanage is like?  When I say orphanage, what is the first picture that comes to mind? Please, share it with me in the comments below.

Most people think that orphanages are these big "group homes" filled with nannies that love the orphans, plenty of food, and toys to go around, warm blankets, nice beds.  In reality this is nothing close to the truth. In Eastern Europe orphanages are a hell on earth, the kids are starved, malnourished, beaten, and ignored, there are no toys, no food, no blankets, no nice beds, no love, but instead soiled diapers, blistered bottoms, orphanage staff that beat the kids, and some even find joy in hurting this innocent voiceless kids.  You think I'm joking? Maybe you think I'm making this up?  I'm not.  This blog post, that I talked about above?  Has a video of one of the orphanage's staff, or maybe even their director, whipping these children that looked to about 7 or 8.  

As she relentlessly whipped these children, she laughed and smile with each scream.  I made it through about 40 seconds of this video, before my heart was no more.  Faces repeatedly flipped through my head, my heart beating so fast, a pain in my chest that was from anger, and sadness, helplessness, and anxiety.  Hundreds of thousands of children, being abused, beaten and neglected, day in and day out, and their abuser laughing with joy as these children pleaded with their screams, hoping she would stop, and there is absolutely nothing I could do.  I wanted to jump through my phone, and wrap my arms around those precious kids, protect them from the evil woman that was so relentlessly hurting them!  

I still can't get those 40 seconds out of my head.  How twisted do you have to be, to turn around and laugh into the lens of a camera as you are beating innocent children?  Children that have no voice, they can't speak up, or run for help.  I pray that God would change the hearts of people like those.

This still leaves me wondering, what can I do?  How can I give these children a voice?  How can we Chosen To Bless give these children hope, and a way out of the hell the currently live in?  There are hundreds of advocates that are rallying together, finding families, funding families, building these children's grants, blogging/praying for these kids, but it doesn't change the now.  While we rally and raise money, the kids are still beat daily, they are still starved, and cold, neglected.  But the grand thing is that God says:

"O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; 
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more." 
Psalm 10:17-18 

That verse shows us that one day, those kids who have been beaten, neglected, and hated will have justice brought into their lives.  They will be rescued, and there will be no more hurt, their abusers will no longer be able to strike terror on this earth.  With God's help, we will rescue these little ones.   

You are probably wanting to know what blog post I am talking about, I will link it in the bottom of the post.  But I warn you, your heart will no longer be whole, it's a heart wrenching video, but I feel that everyone needs to see it, even if only 40 seconds.  

Although it's heart wrenching I feel that it's important for everyone to watch.  I think that not everyone understands just how horrible orphanages are, I don't think they quite understand that innocent children, are forced to live in these conditions, these kids, they have no choice.   

Kids like Della, live in those kinds of conditions, and soon Mick will too.  Mick turns 4 in July of 2014, he will be transferred to an institution, where he will have to fight for his precious life.  


I'm not sure what else to say, my heart hurts, and I hope that once you have watched the video you will be moved to do something.  Don't turn away, and shrug it off, these are real kids, real problems, that are happening today, right now, and you always have the opportunity to do something about it. 

The video is at the end of this blog post. 

So will you do something?

-Alyssa

Friday, December 13, 2013

2014 Chosen To Bless Fundraising

With 2014 approaching, the Chosen To Bless team is trying to map out what 2014 is going to look like for fundraising.  We are in need of 6 families and/or organizations to fund-raise for this coming year.

We will be planning different fundraisers for different months, those details are not available at this time.  If you are an adopting family, or would like to nominate a family for 2014 Chosen To Bless fundraising, please email us @ ChosenToBless (at) hotmail (dot) com with the name of the family, as well as their blog link, and/or FSP (Family Sponsorship Page)


If you would like to suggest an organization for 2014 Chosen To Bless fundraising, please email us with a link to the organization and a small summary about the organization!

We are extremely excited for the upcoming year, to see what God has in store for the three of us, as well as who will end up blessing!

The months that are currently available, for families to be fund-raised for are listed below:

February

April

June

August

October 

December

Please choose the month that you would like to be fund-raised for, according to your adoption timeline.

Thank you, for being wonderful!
Alyssa, Kaitlyn, and Madeleine


Friday, December 6, 2013

New Chosen To Bless Team Member!

Some of you may have seen our Facebook post last night.  We will be making some big changes to the blog, and we think that you all will be very excited with the newest "change"!

For a while now Kaitlyn and I have discussed adding a new team member to Chosen To Bless, but we just didn't seem to find the right person.  Well we prayed about it, a lot, and figured that God would bring us the right person in His perfect timing!  Let me just say that God is always faithful, always, even in our darkest hour, even when we feel burnt out, He is always faithful!   God recently brought the person that Kaitlyn and I had been praying for, into our lives.  We both knew from the beginning, when we very first met this sweet girl, that she was a God send.  

We were hesitant for a while, afraid that if we added her to the team, and things went wrong we would have to change everything about the blog again.  But as we got to know this sweet girl, more and more, we realized that she is exactly like Kaitlyn and I, and that she has the same passion and love for orphans as us.  Last night we decided it was time that we obeyed God, and ask this sweet girl if she would like to join our team!  We were ecstatic when this sweet girl said "Yes!"  she was so filled with joy and so blessed, but I think that Kaitlyn and I have been more blessed by her, and her sweet heart, in the short time we have been friends!  

I think this is the part where I am supposed to tell you guys, who this sweet girl is, but I'm not going to. Mean, I know. ;)   I will let her write her own post, and introduce herself.  Because I want you guys, our trusty followers, to experience just how sweet she is.  I guarantee that you guys will love her, and I know that she will continue to be a blessing to Kaitlyn, and I , but also the families we fundraise for. :) 

So please keep checking back, hopefully in the next day or two she will have a post up!  Lets welcome her to Chosen To Bless with lots of love! :) 

As always we love you guys, and are really thankful for your support! 
Have a blessed day!