Rainbow of Hope

So, I was thinking about Anastasia one night a couple of weeks ago. That's nothing too unusual - I think about her a lot. April was an especially difficult month, knowing that her birthday was in April. Not knowing which day, but knowing that she was turning seven in an institution that no child should live in. I stayed busy wishing that she had a family to celebrate with - even if it's not mine - which is my constant prayer for her anyway. So in honor of her birthday, we rolled all the change in the big jar with her picture on it that we keep in our kitchen and donated it all to her Reece's Rainbow grant. I just love to see that number going up...I wish she could see it too, and understand that people are loving on her in some small way.

I got off track that quickly.

So I was thinking about Anastasia and happened to think about her RR prayer warrior. I had stumbled across her blog months ago (I wish I could remember how I found it!) but I'm not a good blog reader. There's probably an easy way to keep up with them all, with Google Reader or something, but the only way I know how to read blogs is to visit each one individually...and I tend to forget to do that. There are just so many that I love. So unless new posts are delivered to my email or posted on Facebook...yeah, I forget. (Anyone want to teach me to be more bloggy-reader literate? I'd be so grateful!)

Thankfully, I had linked to her blog in one of my past Anastasia posts, and stopped by to see what was new at All God's Children. As it turns out, not much - she had posted back in February that she was taking a break from blogging to work on the 4Girls4Christ site with three of her friends. Awww...I was sad that there weren't many new posts...but 4Girls4Christ, that sounded awfully familiar.

There was a link to the 4Girls4Christ blog, Rainbow of Hope, so I clicked through to see what she was currently up to. Now, in case you haven't figured it out...4Girls4Christ is, quite literally, four girls for Christ. Three of the girls are 16; one - my Anastasia's prayer warrior - is only 14. But these girls have such amazing hearts for orphans - they've created this fantastic blog where they advocate and raise money to help orphans with special needs. This is not your average little teenager blog - the girls also have a Facebook page with 1780 "likes." They have important things to say, and people are listening.

It was only after discovering their Facebook page that I realized why 4Girls4Christ sounded so familiar. Two of my friends liked their page already - Mandy and Traci, who are both so faithful advocates for orphans themselves. They had shared links to jewelry that the girls were selling to raise money, and probably to some of their other fundraisers as well. That was where I had seen Rainbow of Hope before...and didn't even realize that Anastasia's prayer warrior was one of the "4Girls."

After spending some time in awe of all that the girls were working on, I had to send an email to Sammi to say hello, and to thank her for her efforts and for her prayers for Anastasia. I shared my own blog link with her (desperately in need of updating as it's been for a while), and even jokingly told her that "maybe I'll start blogging again if you will." To which she promptly replied, "I think that sounds good, if you start back up I will too!"

So...I'm calling you on it, Sammi! Even if it's just blogging on Rainbow of Hope and not on your All God's Children blog...I, for one, want to hear what you have to say.  ;)

Everyone, take just a minute and check out these girls' blog or Facebook page. I think you'll be just as impressed with their efforts as I am. You know, when I was a teenager...well, I was a teenager. I thought about school and driving and friends and boys. I've always been a compassionate person, but orphans with special needs were just not on my radar at that age. Maybe if someone had pointed out the need to me then, maybe I'd have done something about it. But I can't imagine three of my friends - as we were at the time - getting on board with me and really working to make a difference. Maybe that's what gets to me most about these girls - they've not only pinpointed a need, but they're doing something about it.

I can't wait to see what they do next. And for that matter, I hope the 4Girls stick together for years to come, because I know God has BIG plans for them.