Our very first shared opportunity on It's Better To Give comes from the Chandler family in St. Cloud, Florida. You can see their adorable family in the photo up there; Mike and Melanie Chandler and their sons Caleb (4), Logan (1) and Timmy (due in May). Mike works as a Database Administrator for Walt Disney World and Melanie is blessed by the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom.
In August of this year God impressed upon them to adopt from India. Mike sent me their website, www.twonewchandlers.org, that tells the story so much better than I can, but there are some seriously heart-breaking statistics they mentioned...
"In India and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. India and China collectively eliminate more girls than the number of girls born in America every year."
My heart just dropped imagining living in a country where, simply by your gender, you are murdered. I actually couldn't imagine it. Another heart-stopping statistic:
If girls in India survive the gendercide epidemic, they still run the statistical risk of falling into the trap of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry and over $1 billion of that revenue is from the trafficking of minor girls in the city of Mumbai, India alone, where pedophilia is widespread.
Mike and Melanie are looking to be a part of the solution. They are looking to adopt two sibling girls, Cadence and Olivia, and save them from turning into a statistic.
They have come up with what I think is a super unique way to raise funds. They are called "Life Tree Quilts" and they look a little something like this.
In order to bring two little girls home from India, they are fundraising by making "life tree" quilts for each of them! A "life tree quilt" is a way of giving each sweet girl a personal, sentimental gift when they arrive home which will be a great reminder and memory for the girls, their new forever family and those who contributed to their story of all the hard work and love that went in to bringing them home.
Each quilt displays a whimsical tree adorned with ornamental picture frames and by the end of this fundraiser, they hope that each and every frame will be filled with the photos of the faces of those who contributed to bringing their girls home.
To find out more about how you can be a part of their adoption story, visit their website.
I think this story alone has me being thankful for a whole heck of a lot more this year.
Kelly
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