Taking Cookies to the Next Level

A year ago, our family baked and sold cookies to help bring Karina, an orphan from Ukraine, home to a loving family.

Selling cookies and telling people about Karina involved our whole family. My children, especially my oldest, caught the vision of bringing Karina home. Our "Karina Cookie" adventure turned into a journey of learning about orphans and about God's tender heart for them.

After Karina came home, we began praying for her classmates. As she told us about her friends, they changed from being faces in a picture to children who need a mommy and daddy to love and care for them.

We found out that Edic is talented at drawing and Vladik likes to eat sunflower seeds. We found out that deep down they are terrified at the thought of turning 16 and being turned out of the orphanage and onto the streets for survival. We found out that they long for something they have never known . . . a family who loves them.

We found out that when you pray for God to act on behalf of the helpless, He gives you a heart for them that is a faint reflection of His heart for them.

As I rock my two year old to sleep, as I scoop up my four year old and hug her until she squeals, as I tell my five year old how proud I am of him, I am so aware that these kids across the ocean have never had that.

I often tell my children "You are a gift from God." I want them to know what a treasure they are in my life. And the children dropped off in orphanages are also priceless treasures. The mother's heart within me longs to let them know they are loved.

I have the opportunity to go with a missions team to meet orphans in Ukraine and find out more about reaching out to them. Our family is embarking on another cookie journey. This time we are making "Children of the World" cookies to help raise money for my trip. I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for this cookie adventure.