Every year that cagey old Grinch shows up at our house and STEALS OUR STOCKINGS.
Losing our stockings at Christmas is a HUGE issue because we can't start any of our Christmas traditions until they are found.
Traditions that include listening to the Christmas story and putting Jesus in the manger on the Advent Calendar. Traditions that include dumping the contents of our stuffed stockings out on the floor and chowing down on the candy inside. Traditions that include each person finding Angel Tree dollars in those stuffed stockings and then 'spending' that money on sweet orphans who are lost and alone on Christmas morning.
Ben told me the other day that those Angel Tree dollars hurt his heart every year. They hurt mine too. In the midst of our Christmas celebrations we are confronted with the reality that hundreds, thousands, millions of children around the world don't even know what a Christmas stocking looks like.
My heart is going to hurt even harder this Christmas.
My little girl is across the ocean.
She's not here and that makes this Christmas a bit of a wreck for me. The empty place at our table feels terribly empty right now. The empty hook hanging on our chimney makes me sad. Each time we pray around our kitchen table and cover her little head with a whispered prayer we are reminded that we are missing a piece.
She doesn't know about the problems we have with the Grinch or that I have been looking for a stocking for her to fit on that lonely hook.
She has no idea that we have a few presents for her set aside. Simple things that we will take with us when we meet her the first time.
She doesn't know about us. That hurts my heart.
I haven't bought my Angel Tree dollars yet. I plan on doing it soon. Five years ago the Angel Tree led us to Aaron and our lives were radically changed forever. Even though Harper's isn't on the Angel Tree this year, we never would have found her without Reece's Rainbow.
205 children are on the Angel Tree this year. 200 children who still need families.
200 children who desperately need us to be their voice.
Is their space in your stockings for Angel Tree dollars? Do you want your heart and your children's hearts to be "hurt" a bit in the middle of your Christmas festivities? Click to buy some Angel Tree dollars. It's a great family tradition!
P.S. Make sure you redeem them BEFORE the end of the year!
the missing piece in the hous, in your hearts, on the puzzle...
ReplyDeleteI hope that one day she will be able to read your words and feel you were waiting and loving on her long before you met...
:)
What a precious thing to share, Julia. This has really touched my heart tonight, I am praying for your family.
ReplyDeleteI remember hanging Natasha's Christmas stocking up in December 2012 and hoping to get a court date any time that month so it would be her last Christmas alone. We still hang her stocking up in hopes that one day she will come home and see her name on it and know how much we have loved her for so long. I very much understand the empty place and the table and the empty stocking over the fireplace. Praying for more children to find their families this Christmas and for the ones that already have ones that love them to come home quickly.
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