Girls Night Paint Party

This past Thursday, a group of my dear girlfriends and family got together for a fun night of painting to help raise funds for our adoption. We had so much fun painting, and it gave me the opportunity to hand out fact sheets about orphans in Ukraine. I know many people wonder why we chose Ukraine. To be honest, we didn't! We feel that the Lord chose us to be A's parents and we are just being obedient to His call. With that being said, we feel that now that we have a Ukrainian daughter, we would like to share the statistics of orphans in Ukraine with others, so that they will see how dire the situation is for these precious orphans. Here are some facts that I would like to share with you:

·       there are more than 143 million orphans worlwide

·       there are 100,000 orphans in Ukraine

·       orphans in Ukraine age out of their orphanages at 15-17 years of age

·       76% of children are AFRAID to leave their orphanage

·       70% believe they will not be able to get an education or obtain the job of their dreams

·       10-15% of children who age out will commit suicide within the first 2 years of leaving the orphanage

·       60% of girls will be lured into prostitution

·       70% of boys will enter a life of crime

·       many are drawn into the same cycle of addiction that plagued their parents

As you can see from the facts above, there is a GREAT need for these children to be adopted into loving families, so that they can have hope for a future! All they need is a chance!! These sweet children are no different than our own, biological children and they deserve to have happy, healthy, safe lives. If any of my readers have any questions about adoption, please, please email me wendilynn.farrell@gmail.com, and I would be thrilled to chat with you!

For our girls night out paint party, we enlisted the help of the wonderful women behind Sassy Doodles. They were so much fun, and so helpful! They are talented women who host girls nights out and after school paint classes for children in the LR and NWA area. If you would like their contact info, please let me know! When asked what theme I would like for us to paint, I decided on an anchor. The symbol of an anchor holds a special place in my heart. The Lord is truly my anchor, and I thought it would be a perfect thing to paint. Plus, with summer just around the corner, I thought it would fit with summery decor:) Some of the women painted crosses as well, because, well,  who doesn't love a cross hanging in their house? One of my favorite songs right now is Cornerstone by Hillsong, and it talks about the Lord being our anchor. You can listen to it here:

Here are some pictures of our paint party!

Didn't these girls do a great job?? I loved seeing each of the women's personalities displayed in their paintings. Here is my final product:

This painting is sitting on a shelf in A's new room, waiting for her! I thought Hebrews 6:19 was the perfect verse for this painting, "we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure". Thanks to my precious friends, family, and the gracious women of Sassy Doodles, we were able to raise $250 for our adoption, and had so much fun doing it!!