"Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone, But still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart - but in it"
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

In her memory



This is written by a mother who lost her adopted daughter, many of you prayed for her. You can read Chrissie's mommy's blog here

Here is what she writes:

I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you." John 14:18

If everyone who has prayed for Chrissie would donate just $1 in her memory, we could save atleast 5 international orphans. (That figure is based upon 100,000 people who have prayed for Chrissie around the world with an average international cost of $20,000 per international adoption.) If everyone who has prayed would donate $5 in Chrissie's memory, atleast 25 international orphans could be rescued.

Did you know that there are hundreds of families waiting to adopt a special needs orphan internationally? All they're waiting on is funding. It is expensive to adopt internationally, and it is hard for many families to come up with a large chunk of cash in one lump sum. But there is never a price too high to pay to save the life of a child, one of God's precious treasures, the least of these.

Did you know that many special needs orphans in other countries will sit in their cribs for 23 hours/day, many tied to their cribs, sitting in their waste, with no clothing or food? Some 12-year-old special needs orphans weigh a mere 20 pounds, as they waste away in their cribs in mental instutions around the world. Most of them don't make it to the age of 12. If they were to be adopted, they would be treasured members of a forever family where they would be given proper nutrition, nurturing, clothing, exercise, stimulation, affection, education, and above all else...unconditional love.

As my husband said in his address during Chrissie's celebration of life service, God may not call all of us to adopt orphans, but His Word tells us how important it is that we care for orphans. (Just get a Bible and look up "orphan" in the concordance.) One way you can easily care for orphans, without even sacrificing your own comfort, is to donate to families who are eagerly awaiting and anticipating saving the life of an orphan.

Finances should not stand in the way of families rescuing orphans, and you can so easily be a part of the solution. All you have to do is donate and your generosity will bring hope, healing and restoration to an orphan who will be rescued, loved, cherished...adopted.

Several of you have emailed me to let me know that Chrissie's story has inspired you to adopt and/or foster children. We are extremely grateful and humbled by your amazing response. Losing Chrissie has been the hardest thing we have endured as a family, but knowing that her miracle legacy continues brings great comfort to our spirits.

Someone recently questioned the amount of money we spent on Chrissie's adoption, medical and funeral expenses, stating that perhaps that money could have been spent to help humanity in a mightier way. I beg to differ (for MANY reasons), but my prayer is that God will boldly display His plan of coming to the orphan, rescuing them from their oppression, and that there is no price too great for such a gift as giving an orphan the love of a forever family. Chrissie's life has already moved several people to adopt, and because of this amazing response, I am honored to say that our "investment" in Chrissie's life has already had a profound effect humanity, which is NOT at all why we adopted her. We had NO idea that God planned to affect lives around the world through the life of our Serbian Sensation, but we are amazed and humbled to see how God continues to use Chrissie's life to affect humanity in mightier ways than we'll ever truly know. Countless people have contacted me to let me know that Chrissie's story has either brought them to Christ or renewed their relationship with Christ. Irredeemable hearts have been redeemed. Souls have been saved eternally. If Chrissie's life moves even more people to give financially in her memory to rescue orphans, we will never know the number of lives saved (eternally as well as on this earth). Remember, Chrissie was an orphan who many felt was not worthy of adoption. She changed our hearts and brought more joy to our lives in her short 7 months with our family than anyone will ever truly know. No matter how short our time with Chrissie, her life was worth it. Worth every penny spent, worth every tear shed. Chrissie brought more laughter, love, hugs, and pure joy to our family than money could ever buy. No amount of wealth or riches or trinkets or treasures could buy that type of joy. None can compare. There is no price too great for saving the life of an orphan. They are precious in His sight.

"For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight." Psalm 72:12-14

The day Chrissie died, numerous blog readers contacted me to let me know they were planning to attend her funeral. Many of you were going to attend at great expense, flying in from a variety of states, not wanting to miss Chrissie's celebration of life. This is when God laid it on my heart to make the service available for viewing online so that those of you who planned to travel would be able to save those travel expenses and donate that money toward rescuing orphans. Many of you have already donated that money, but if you have not yet donated in memory of Chrissie and God is impressing it upon your heart to donate in order to save the life of an orphan, please take a moment to donate in honor of Christyn Joy Patterson. I know it would give Chrissie great joy to know that other children around the world will get to experience the love of a forever family, which was so important to Chrissie. A mommy and a daddy was all Chrissie ever wanted in life, and I know she would want to pass that gift along to every orphan out there if she could. Chrissie would LOVE to let the orphans know of God's promise to not leave them as orphans; He promises to come to them.

If you get our blog updates via email or RSS feeds, you will need to go click on our blog at http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/ so that you can easily donate. There are 3 buttons at the top of our blog where you can simply click to donate. (1) Reece's Rainbow donations are tax-deductible and you will find a link on their homepage to donate in memory of Chrissie. We adopted Chrissie through Reece's Rainbow, and it is an amazing orphan advocacy for special needs orphans. (2) Abby's Wish (the red Chip-In button) is a way to directly donate to a special family: The Riggs Family, whose daughter, Abby, was once an orphan from Guatemala. Abby has Leukemia, but it is her greatest wish to beat cancer and adopt a sibling or two. All funds donated here will go directly toward adoption expenses for The Riggs Family. (3) Many of you have inquired about giving directly to our family, which is why I created the green Chip-In button. Donations here will go directly to The Patterson Family.

Thank you so much for prayerfully considering donating in memory of Chrissie and playing a role in God's promise to not leave us as orphans. Praise Him for promising to come to us, and thank you for partnering with Him in His promise. The least of these are worth it. He says so.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40

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