why give?

New Day Foster Home is currently in a campaign to raise 10K toward their acute care fund.  I honestly can't think of anything I'd like for Christmas more than a donation to be made in my honor.  I mean, sure, I'd love to have some cold weather running gear for my early morning 5K training, and if Santa wanted to remodel my kitchen while I'm at Mama's for Christmas, that would be fine.  But at the end of the day, I have what I need and what I really want is for the medically fragile children at NDFH to have a fighting chance.

I suppose that many don't understand my passion those precious children at New Day.  If you don't know my peanut...or even if you do but you don't know his backstory...please read below to get a better picture of my love for NDFH.

I'd like to introduce you to my son Daniel.

photo curtesy of Studio BECK

He recently turned five…and he is dirt and noise and motion with just enough sweetness thrown in to make him irresistible.  

He climbs monkey bars.

He rides a two wheel bike.

He ice skates…with a little help.

He swims.

And he loves…BIG!

photo curtesy of Studio BECK

He is an integral part of our family, woven into the very fabric of our lives.  He's been with us a little over two years now, but I honestly can't recall the time 'pre-Daniel' anymore.  Simply stated, we would not be the family we are today if he were not part of our story.  

His story though would have been much different were it not for a place called New Day.

You see, Daniel was born with a rather significant heart defect, one that no hospital in his province had the resources to correct.  He spent the first several months of his life a very sick little boy, laying flat on his back with no strength to try and roll over.  Eventually his orphanage, out of options to help him get any better, made a plea for help.  Thankfully, due to the generosity of people I will never know, New Day Foster Home had the resources to take him.

He was given specialized formula to help him gain strength, a life changing surgery, therapy to help him catch up on his development, and was loved well...really well.  Not only was his heart defect healed surgically at New Day, but his broken heart began to heal there as well.  It was the love showered upon him by his nanny, the staff, and later, his foster parents that taught him how to open his heart to love and be loved.  

According to odds, he shouldn't be the healthy, happy little boy he is today…perhaps, considering his lot in life, he shouldn't even be alive.

But here he is, my dynamic son, pictured above celebrating his fifth birthday as royalty on a visit back to the place that gave him a second chance at life.  While others would have given up hope, here he was given hope in the form of surgery and loving care.  He would not...could not...be the healthy, loving boy he is today if it weren't for New Day.

Sometimes, despite the medical care they are provided, the children New Day cares for don't make it.  Benjamin, whose memory this fund was set up in, didn't.  But he was loved in the months that he was alive.  Not abandoned, not forgotten.  Loved.

And loving on 'the least of these'?  Well, that's something that I want to be about as well.  

There are days that I am overcome with gratitude for this foster home.  They gave my son life…and they ask for nothing in return.  I am forever thankful though, so I continue to spread the word.  It is something I joyfully do, for I have received a gift, my son's health and his precious spirit, because others freely gave.  And so I do what I can to help pass the gift on!

Is there someone in your life who would be honored if you gave in their name?