Between donations and proceeds from the notecards, enough money has been raised to pay for 11 weeks of English tutoring for a group of 5 boys I met in an orphanage in Ukraine. That's almost a whole semester! I'm very excited about the opportunities I've had to tell others about orphans in Ukraine. People's response to the notecards have also been encouraging.
As our family has looked for ways to reach out to the orphans in Ukraine, Three Monkeys & Company has taken shape.
Three Monkeys & Company began with a cookie and a four year old's desire to help an orphan in Ukraine find a home.
Our purpose is to stretch out a hand of relief to the orphans in Ukraine. This is based on James 1:27. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
We strive to do this in two ways:
By giving all proceeds toward specific projects of orphan ministry
By raising awareness of the situation of the orphans in Ukraine through stories and writeups on our products and packaging.
Our current project is English tutoring for a group of five boys in an orphange in Odessa, Ukraine.
Results hoped for:
We hope to give people a way they can stretch out a hand of relief (through buying our products) and inspire them to think about ways they can reach out to orphans by using their own gifts and abilities.
Motivation for what we do comes from 1 John 3:16-18
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Three Monkeys & Company is another answer to my question:
Now that we know about the orphans in Ukraine, what do You want our family do?
Over the past 18 months, God has answered this question in different ways.
We've made and sold cookies to help friends with adoption costs, we've written letters to orphans, we've prayed for families in the adoption process, we've made Valentine cards for orphans, I traveled to Ukraine and met the children we've been praying for.
Participating with God in His plans for the fatherless has been an adventure. And as we seek to raise money to pay for English tutoring for these precious boys, it looks like another adventure is unfolding.
