Dasha.... A God Story

There are SO many sad stories in the world. Yet there are SO many good stories. I'm about to share with you a real life story how God can take a bad thing & turn it into good. So many people ask "How can a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people?". I never know how to answer that question. Its a hard one to answer. I only know that I'm not God & I don't know the bigger picture. I hope you'll read this and see how good our God is despite the bad things that happen in this world.

On June 21, 2010 a young Raleigh police officer took his life. His wife, Michelle, reached out to her local church (my church) Hope Community in Raleigh, NC. Our church immediately helped Michelle with childcare for her two small children and our pastor, Mike Lee, even flew to Michelle's hometown in Michigan to conduct the funeral. Michelle's 2 year old daughter, Lucy, has special needs and our congregation pulled together a large sum of money to help Michelle financially during this trying time.

Several weeks later Michelle flew back to Raleigh to say thank you to the church for their generosity. She brought her sister Danielle with her as support. During their visit, they learned that Hope was hosting orphans from Ukraine for 3 weeks through Redline United. The Ukraine kids had been there for almost 3 weeks and were leaving the next Monday. This was the 1st time Hope hosted orphans & hoped to get all 16 orphans adopted by local families. It was that Sunday that Danielle (Michelle's sister) learned about DASHA.



Dasha is a 15 year old girl who needs to be adopted soon. Once Dasha turns 16 in February 2011, she will be transferred from the orphanage to a vocational school with poor conditions and statistics say that she has a 60% chance of ending up in prostitution. Danielle immediately felt God calling her to adopt Dasha and returned home to MI to explain to her husband her experience in Raleigh. It didn't take long to convince her husband, Al, that they needed to save Dasha and have been committed to making this adoption happen with full force.

They are currently holding fundraisers & have even sold their most precious possesions such as wedding rings. Anything to save Dasha.

You can check out their blog here http://donations4dasha.blogspot.com/

They are hoping to raise $35,000 in order to adopt Dasha and so far have raised over $13,000. Unfortunately they are under a time crunch & have to adopt her by the beginning of next year.

I heard about this story & it broke my heart. Maybe it was because I just got back from an orphange in Belize & saw how orphans live. Maybe its because its such a great story of how good can come from bad. Or maybe because God is doing something in my own heart about children who need families. Whatever it is, I feel compelled to help. God has truly blessed Todd & I and we feel fortunate that we can help Michelle & her family. I hope that you'll reach out and help this family save Dasha.

In Him,
Candice