Merry Christmas from ABBA Canada Foundation
We wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas! We are thankful that you have stayed connected with us to keep up with what ABBA Canada is doing. With the support of the ABBA Canada community, we have been a part of the adoption journeys of 138 families. That's over a 138 kids that will experience the joy of a forever family! We know you receive this newsletter because you have a passion to see every child who is waiting for a family, get the opportunity to have a family of their own. We ask you to continue advocating for those still waiting for a family. We ask you to pray for children that will spend this Christmas waiting and we ask you to pray for our ABBA families who are in the adoption journey, with it's many ups and downs. You can read through our grant recipient family stories on our website here: www.abbacanada.com You also have the opportunity to give towards a family's adoption costs. All donations to ABBA Canada go directly towards adoption grants, without anything being deducted for administration costs. All donations received before December 31st will be eligible for a 2019 tax receipt. Donate here. Have a great Christmas and please enjoy the story of one of our grant recipients below.
From an ABBA Canada family
Please enjoy this story from Luke & Natasha. We chose a few snippets from the stories they have shared with us that paints a beautiful picture of a beautiful family that has just expanded again through adoption.
“I’m not sure how to describe the days leading up to meeting your child for the first time.
So many unanswered questions, so many emotions…
We are meeting our 10th baby in two days. She is living with 130 other children and most of them will only know that place as home… why? Poverty. The likelihood of poverty being part of the reason for the amount of children in orphanages is huge. Adoption is a heavy thing to process.. it’s not rescuing a child, or doing a nice thing. Adoption is a gift that is priceless. Adoption is a story of a birth mom that decided to give her baby up after carrying her baby for 9 months… she went through the pains of child birth and heard their first cries. That decision is now part of our hearts that we carry too. When we meet Lucy, I will not only see a precious beautiful little girl, I will also see a brave, beautiful Mama. Adoption is a continuation of two stories and two worlds. Instead of walking by the woman squatting in the dirt waiting, Adoption is taking that woman’s hand and saying, I see you. I choose you. Your story is part of my story now and my story is part of yours. Where you go, I go…. You are not alone. You are loved. What I wouldn’t give for the opportunity to thank each of the birth moms in our family for their courage. To share with them, the moments they’ve missed…to hear their stories and learn from them. Adoption is a story of two choices. One person saving a life, and the other providing for that life.”
“Something beautiful happens when a child becomes part of a family. Each day Lucy shows us a little more of her story. We get to see her little personality a little more. Like a bud of a flower that slowly starts to open.”
“When we lay Lucy down in our bed between us for nap time or bedtime she lays on her tummy and puts her thumb in and doesn’t move. Almost like a dolly that has a sleep mode. We see her little eyes looking around but her head doesn’t move an inch. Someone might think, what a great baby… but those of us who have had the privilege of napping a two year old, knows this isn’t a normal thing. We know that when children live in an orphanage they learn their voices aren’t heard so they stop trying. Lucy is sweet, brave, goofy, giggly, gentle and bossy. We have so many moments each day where Luke and I share an overwhelming sense of feeling blessed beyond what we could ask or imagine.”
“Why are we adopting again.. 10 kids? We love children but how many millions of ways can we be involved with kids. Adoption is expensive. Plain and simple. We already have children biologically and adopted. Why another one? No wonder this is the question every single person asks us after seeing our family photo. So I've wrestled with finding an answer I can say, in broken English and with some crazy sign language, to a beautiful people group here that are genuinely asking.
Here it is:
If I…. Had lost or could not be with my family, what would I want? I need a family. Adult Tash needs a family. Love is a verb, and I am loving how I need to be loved.”
To read more grant recipient stories, click here.
ABBA Canada Fundraising Gala April 24, 2020
We want to invite you to our 2020 ABBA Canada Fundraising Gala at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in Vancouver. Last year, we enjoyed an amazing meal, live entertainment, powerful stories from adoptive families, a live auction and a keynote speaker. At the end of the evening, over $80,000 was raised for adoptive families in Canada! We hope you can join us this year on Friday, Apr. 24th, 2020. We are excited to have ABBA grant recipients Kim and Clark Moran share their amazing story! We also have a few ABBA Canada video stories to premiere. It's going to be a powerful evening. There are options to sponsor an entire table or purchase individual seats. If you are interested in joining us, please click here.
