Love

Love is defined in a dictionary as “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person”

The King James Bible defines it as “Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends”

Throughout our lives, if we are fortunate, we will know many kinds of love; the love of a parent, the love of our friends, teenage love, the all-consuming love when you meet the person who you want to share the rest of your life with, the love you feel for your child and the love that child gives back to you……….there are so many different kinds of love.

Not everyone is as fortunate as you and I, but last week I was shown just what it is like to “Love your brother”.  Whilst visiting a Children in Distress community project in Curtea d’Arges, Romania, we gave biscuits to the children as a treat.  These children were from the surrounding villages, very poor communities; one boy had a pair of shoes on that were 3-4 sizes too big (probably shared by the family). Another boy on receiving his biscuit, carefully ate half of it and then asked if he could take the other half home for his brother.  That really shook me!  I have eight grandchildren who all have biscuits “on tap” and I’m sure would not have been restrained enough to leave half of a much coveted biscuit for their brother back home.  How lucky that little boy at home was, to have a brother who loved him so much.  Needless to say, he was told to finish the biscuit himself and was given some to take home for his family.

Throughout my visit I saw love freely given to all of our children by their carers. You might argue that they are paid to love the children and I would say straight back to you……….”No, they are paid to look after our children”; the love they give the children is of their own free will and it is obvious to everyone that they DO love the children in their care and the children know it too.  To see their happy little faces despite their many disabilities is a sight to behold.

Here is one of our supporters, Glynis, enjoying a cuddle with one of our new little boys, Marian – as you can clearly see, both are enjoying the experience!

 

It is a humbling experience to visit our many projects in Romania; why don’t you join us on one of our supporters’ trips? I promise you that you will never forget the experience and you will certainly feel the love that is given and received by all.

Jane x

Hope Help & Hospice Care

I find that the season of Spring fills me with hope, don’t you?  After the dreary months of Winter, the snowdrops start the season off by appearing in our gardens, pristine white and crisp against everything else which is still quite dull after Winter, followed by shoots appearing all over the garden; daffodils, grape hyacinths, bluebells, crocuses, tulips, the beautiful Lenten rose.  Soon everything is bursting; the birds into song, blossom on the trees, the daffodils finally bloom and it fills my heart with hope. 

We each have different hopes for the year ahead and all kinds of hopes and dreams flit through my mind.

John Addison (1672-1719) once said “Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for”.  Well I’ve found something to do in that I work for Children in Distress; something to love (in my case it is someone - actually lots of little ‘someones’! - the children we care for) and something to hope for – a better life for the children we care for.  Hope, Help & Hospice Care is what we give to our children in Romania.  

 

Would you like something to do? Contact Children in Distress; we always need people like you to help fundraise so that we can continue the invaluable care of our children.  If you’d rather not fundraise you can do it indirectly by donating goods that we can sell to raise funds or knit, sew, crochet blankets, items of clothing and toys for our children (we send shipments of such items to Romania every 10-12 weeks or so, dependent on how many goods we have to send and available funds to pay for the shipment), if you are good at woodwork, you could make toys; we have one lovely male supporter who makes wooden trains for the children (which they love!) – there are endless ways in which we can find you something to do!  In return, we can give you something to love because I guarantee that once you take the step to do something for our children you will love them just as we do and following on from that, you will have something to hope for; a better life for them.

This week I am taking a party of supporters out to Romania to show them the work we do and to meet some of the children we care for. It is a small party of supporters; seven, but out of those seven people are five who have never been to Romania before and have never met our children and staff before.  Those five people have already found something to do in that they have been supporting Children in Distress and now it is our turn to give them something to love and when they return from Romania next weekend they will also have something to hope for.

“At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division” - Jesse Jackson