Dreams come true…sometimes quicker than we may think!
We have wanted to have a Forever Home for some time now but didn’t seem to quite get the connection until one Sunday in October this year when we where out to lunch with some friends.
We started talking about Acres of Love and what an amazing job our good friends Ryan and Gerda Audagnotti have been doing there over the last ten years. As we talked I started to tell a story about a young boy from one of the homes who had prayed for a Forever Mommy and Daddy for Christmas. He wanted to be in a home for Christmas…
As I said those words over and over tears welled in my eyes and my throat got choked. I said to my husband Rob who was sitting opposite me…”we must do the home for Christmas …how many people want to be home for Christmas…there are even songs written about it…how many children praying right now that they will be out of their terrible situations by Christmas….let’s try and see if we can do it….”
We immediately called the USA and spoke to Ryan…it was 10 pm. He answered and I asked if it would be possible to have this hope bought and children's lives saved by Christmas…he said “It’s possible…not necessarily easy…but possible”
That is all I needed to hear. I told the rest of the table “yes he says it can be done” (I didn’t mention the potential difficulties!!!) I asked Rob if we could go to our church family that evening and ask them to “downsize” their commercial Christmas and “upsize” their FOREVER side of Christmas.
Within days I had emails offering support. Within days I became bolder and bolder asking people exactly what they could do! We have a lawyer in one of our congregations and he is helping with some of the necessary legal preparations so we can run an office of Acres of Love here in Australia. We had a printer who has printed some Christmas cards for those who want to tell others they have given a gift to these children on their behalf for Christmas…and so it goes on…I will not turn down any offer of help…it could fit in somewhere sometime!
So here we start on the beginning of a great journey…that will last Forever and count for ETERNITY!
Our love is great for these children and our respect for those who help them unequalled. What a great life …that we can help these little ones.
Christie Buckingham
Senior Pastor
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