::Helping others is like helping yourself.::

Want to know my initial passion in helping others? How did I really get myself involved? You know the old cliche saying, "things happen for a reason.." Really, this was coincidental.

So, here.. I'm going to share my story. 

One afternoon (about a year or two ago), I was just stumbling across many DIY house renovation blogs because we love to do renovations around our house. We have done A LOT-- basically, flipping our house. It has been fun tackling so many house projects! Anyways, I happened to be reading my friend, Elisa's DIY blog; she posted about her brother, Alex and his wife, Alexa, who ran the Operation Deaf Orphans (ODO), which led me to read their blog as well. With my fascination and curiosity in reading more about ODO, I adored over the pictures of the deaf orphans in Africa and wanted to do something to help. I loved the fact that ODO helped to build fences around the deaf orphanage (Lance's Deaf Orphans) to prevent intruders and to increase the safety of the children and the staff there. ODO also raised sufficient funds to provide personal/medical essentials for the deaf orphans such as kitchenware, clean bed mattresses, clothes, water, and shoes. They even built a huge vegetable garden for the children to eat from and worked with an organization, "Humura House" to provide two baby cows to produce dairy for the children. After reading more about their stories, I even wanted to be there to help because I know with my crafty and handy skills (based on my house renovating experiences), I could build something functional for them, too! :) The whole concept of helping others was truly inspiring and uplifting. I felt like I was living through their journey by reading every single blog post and checking out all pictures of their mission in Africa. I've decided to donate funds to help ODO to provide more necessities for the deaf orphans. 

"Lance's Deaf Orphans has always been and still is the main organization that supports the orphans' needs. ODO gave them a boost, increased their monthly donations by $200, and brought a team twice with major projects/funding." - Alex. 
 

I also had this aspiration to check into adoption because the pictures of the children (from Lance's Deaf Orphans) said enough for me to bring them home! During that time, I checked into Lance's Deaf Orphans adoption information to read about eligibility. To my disappointment, I found out that I had to live in Kenya for 6 months in order to adopt one of the orphans, which at that time seemed to be unrealistically impossible for me. Instead, I donated some funds to make myself feel worthy knowing that I did something at least to help. Naturally, it made my heart warm. :) Giving is better than receiving. The sense of community compassion without expecting anything in return should be practiced everyday.

Back then when I first donated to ODO, I was getting their newsletters regarding their status with their missions to help deaf orphans. From there, it really pushed me to seek into helping others and the potential of adopting from somewhere else (and look at where we are now- in the process of adopting from Colombia!). 

I love how a random afternoon reading about house renovations would lead me to an amazing opportunity in helping others. Things do happen for a reason!