Adoption has forever changed so many of us, hasn’t it? It’s moved our hearts and expanded our thinking. We stood in orphanages and felt the sting of tears, knowing that while we were receiving the gift of sons and daughters, we were also leaving behind a staggering number of fatherless children. It is easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed, but our hope is that we don’t stay there. Our hope is that even when our adoptions are behind us, we’d continue to lock arms and serve with our time, our giving and our prayers.

So this December, as you sip cocoa, listen to carols and soak in the twinkly lights of Christmas, we hope you’ll join us here at No Hands But Ours, in reading and prayerfully considering what more we could do for China’s vulnerable children.

Life-changing moments often take us by surprise.

We go about our daily lives. We live in our comfort zones. We do what we need to do to provide for our families.

But then something happens. Love breaks in. You see something you can’t un-see, and it moves you to action.

When Mary Beth Chapman traveled with her then 11-year-old daughter Emily to Haiti, she saw something that changed her life forever. She saw first-hand the plight of the orphan. It tugged at her heart, and she knew she had to do something.

That something turned into Show Hope, a movement to care for orphans. What was born from that life-changing experience has now become an organization that has helped thousands of children across the world find healing and the love of a family. We believe that family is more than blood, that adoption is a picture of the Gospel, and that everyone is called to be a part of the movement to care for orphans.

We believe that every child has a story. Those stories are full of love, redemption, and hope. But many also experience brokenness and pain.

As we enter this very special season—the Christmas season, we want to celebrate the gift of Jesus to the world. Immanuel, “God with us,” came to earth as a marginalized child. He was born in a barn, and he slept in a feeding trough. Jesus’ entrance to this world showed that God is with the outcast and those in need. In response to this, we have a holy invitation to care for children in need.

A lot of people feel the call to care for the fatherless, but they don’t know how to do it. We want to help people become involved in caring for orphans, and a great way to do that is the Gifts of Hope catalog.

Through Gifts of Hope, people can help provide basic needs, food, and medical care to children with acute medical and special needs at our Care Centers in China. Gifts can also go toward providing a Show Hope adoption aid grant, so that more waiting children can come to know the love and protection of a family through adoption.

Mary Beth had her life changed forever in an instant. Many of us have had our own moments that cause us to say, “Life will never be the same. I have to do something about this.”

This Christmas, you can help provide life-changing moments for others. You can give Gifts of Hope to children in need.

You can join the movement to care for orphans.