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Winning!

We can’t say the word “winning” this year without at least a split-second image of a manic Charlie Sheen.

But true winning is finding a path of forgiveness and love.  Winning is finding God’s way through pain instead of our own.  Winning is finding the passion that can drive us forward to make a difference, to love out our faith and impact lives.

Alex Krutov is a winner.

Alex has found hope in the midst of hopelessness, laughter in the midst of fear, perseverance in the midst of abuse.  Enduring horrors no one should ever endure.  Watching friends die.  Burying them in unmarked graves. Accepting the impossible forgiveness and grace of Jesus.

I am a winner.

I have seen God use my painful past to help my girls heal.  I have rediscovered my passion for writing.  I am serving, and expecting nothing in return.

Joe Lalonde is a winner.

Joe runs a great blog about leadership and faith, and is a fellow member of the blogger community Killer Tribes.  Joe has won the drawing for Alex’s book, Infinitely More, and a Starbucks Gift Card.  Thanks to everyone who entered and shared!

You are a winner.

Look at the past year, and think about your goals for next year.  Find the threads of winning that weave through your life.  They’re there.

Leave a comment to congratulate Joe and tell us why you are a winner.

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Sunday was my one-month anniversary at RiverOfThoughts.com and Monday was my 100th post related to Adoption.

To celebrate these milestones, and to wrap up National Adoption Month, I want to give away my favorite moment of peace:  a good book and a frilly coffee!

This means I’m giving away a copy of Infinitely More by Alex Krutov, along with a Starbucks Gift Card!!! 

Enter yourself in the drawing by following three simple steps between now and next Tuesday, 6 December:

1. Find your favorite post on my blog site.  How?

  • Visit the Adoption Story or Portfolio pages for links to some key moments
  • Use the Search feature
  • Browse the Archives
  • Click on a subject in the Tag Cloud

2. Share that post with people you know.  How?

  • Tweet it
  • Share it on Facebook
  • Email it to someone (or many people)
    Look for the super-easy buttons to do all three of these things at the bottom of every post!

3. Comment Here!  (this is the important part!!!!!)

  • Tell me which post was your favorite
  • Include your real email address when you comment
    (your email will NOT be available to anyone but me, and I will ONLY use it to notify you if you win)
  • Explain how adoption has touched your life, whether through your own adoption journey, through friends, or not even at all

I’ll announce the winner in next Thursday’s post, and I’ll contact the winner privately by email to get a mailing address……

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Last month, a team of twenty-one people from Pathway joined the full-time missionaries at Dulce Refugio in Aguascalientes, Mexico to impact the lives of 54 kids. In addition to a lot of hard construction and maintenance work, our youth ran four days of VBS lessons and crafts, and showed these kids that while they may feel forgotten by their own culture, God has not forgotten them.

Every one of the kids at Dulce Refugio is here for a reason and every one of them has a story. Jose was found as an infant and nearly died. He has had many medical problems, and the doctors said he may never speak or walk, but now he is beginning to do both.

Francisco was abandoned by his mother at the age of three. He ran away from Dulce Refugio a few months ago and everyone feared for him. Months passed before the Director found him living in an abandoned car near the park that we visited, and brought him back to Dulce Refugio. Less then two weeks later, his mother came looking for him at Dulce Refugio, and the family was reunited.

Melina’s mother died when she was 11 and she felt adrift with no hope until she came to Dulce Refugio and found a place to call home and people who showed her that she is valuable and loved. She is 19 now, and she continues to stay at Dulce Refugio, helping care for the kids.

Without Dulce Refugio, these kids would have very different and tragic stories. God is working in amazing ways here, but the needs require His people to step in and be His hands and feet. Food, utilities, and clothing don’t cost much less in Mexico, but incomes are dramatically lower than in the United States, and it takes approximately $120 per month per child for food, clothing, and shelter to care for these kids.

Through the Orphanos Foundation and Children of Hope, our family is now sponsoring four children that we met at Dulce Refugio. We receive photos and regular updates from the program, and we can connect personally with our sponsored kids through letters, sharing encouragement and hope. Information on the sponsorship program can be found here.

(Please note that Children of Hope is based in Canada…donations made directly to them are not tax deductible for US residents and may also be subject to currency exchange fees. US donations may be made by mail or online through the Orphanos Foundation, with a note to direct your funds to Dulce Refugio; Orphanos also offers an automatic debit program for ongoing sponsorship.)

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Now that we are home, the project manager in me wants to share a status report:

Boys’ Dorm: the team helped mix and pour 33 meters of concrete support beams, and helped cut, bend, set, and tie 100 re-bar rings in preparation for the next pour. This represents support for the ceiling for almost half of the first floor.

Irrigation Trenches: the youth team dug 40 meters of trenches in preparation for an irrigation system for the kids playground; not only will this give the kids a safe surface to play games and soccer, but it will also help reduce the dust flying around campus!

Dorm Bathroom Storage: the team replaced slider rails, refaced, and reinforced 112 drawers in six kids’ bathrooms (18 drawers per bathroom).

Window Bars: our team cut, fabricated, and painted 760 bars to make nineteen grates to be mounted on the windows of the current kids’ dorm. This will protect kids from accidental falls!

Director’s apartment: Part of the construction plan is building a one-bedroom apartment for Marcella, the Director of Dulce Refugio, who currently lives in a room in the Girls’ dorm. Our team helped build and trim out the two custom closet organizers (from scratch….no running down to Lowe’s around here!!) for her beautiful and well-deserved new home.

Kid Lovin’: every day, our team invested in 54 kids’ lives here at Dulce Refugio through playing soccer, pushing swings, giving piggy-back rides and sharing in their daily activites. Our youth ran four days of VBS lessons and crafts, and showed these kids that while they may feel forgotten by their own culture, God has not forgotten them. Even with all the work that our team has contributed, the relationships and the transformation of our own hearts is the most incredible part of this experience.

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