NEW WAITING CHILDREN...ET and Bulgaria

These beautiful sisters are a new addition to our site. They are from Ethiopia and wait for their forever family. These two are considered full orphans as both of their parents passed away in 2004 and 2005. They had been living with their 16 year old sister before being placed at Hannah's Hope orphanage. They are said to be very sweet girls and are adjusting well to their new environment. Let's all rally together to find these two their forever family by lifting them up in prayer right now as you think of it.

Also we have several new waiting children added to the OH site from Bulgaria. That country does not allow photos at all so I tried to describe them on the site and I found photos of some random children that resembled them. These children are so precious and beautiful. There is one 2 yr old. There is one 4 yr old boy, one 4 yr old girl and Twin 4yr old boy/girl. One 6yr old boy, one 6yr old girl, three 7 yr old boys, and one 7 yr old girl. Go to the site and look at them. Many of these children have waited a long time to be adopted.....some of them have been waiting their whole life.

There is an Urgent need for the 7 year old girl from Bulgaria. She is at risk of being moved soon to the older kids orphanage if she is not chosen quickly. Once moved they say their chances of being adopted are very slim. The agency is really trying to find her a home quickly. Let's all pray for this little one to find her forever family very soon. She is simply precious. I tried to describe her picture on the site.

Please visit the Ordinary Hero Site and look under waiting children to view the info on these precious little ones as well as many others.

New waiting children coming to the site very soon. I am excited to announce our partnership with Gladney.

Thank you for your continued prayers for all the waiting children.

This Week's Waiting Children and a Praise!!

I am so thrilled to announce that these two waiting beauty's in Ethiopia, that stole so many hearts, have been chosen for adoption. They are listed as the Beauty Queen Sisters on our site. These are the two that walked for miles to show up so that I could take their picture in order to advocate for them. I can't even explain how totally precious they are. I am praising God right now!! Everyone's prayers for these two sisters and God's hand are what led them to their forever family.


This Week's Waiting Children
Precious Brothers ~ I am totally in shock that these two brothers are still waiting to be chosen for adoption. I had the privilege of meeting them and taking some adorable pics of them as well during my last stay in Ethiopia. Oh My Gosh they stole my heart!! They are simply precious which is why I named them as such. Besides being the cutest kids in the world they have very cute, fun, sweet personalities. The little one had the biggest time driving his car up and down my arm while I made the car sound. The older one was pushing another baby around in a stroller playing with it and being so gentle and sweet.

So....OK PEOPLE....someone has got to hear the call from God concerning these boys. Let's crank up our prayers for these two so that their forever family will find them soon.

Girl/Boy Siblings

This incredibly cute and sweet brother and sister pair need a home. That is the bottom line. They are waiting in Rwanda for their forever family to find them. They are full orphans as they have lost both their parents. They are in perfect health and just need a family. The little girl wants to be a nurse when she grows up and help people. Keep in mind that girl's hair is kept shaved in Rwanda in order for them to attend school.




Precious Sisters

These beautiful girls wait for their family to find them in Rwanda. Have you ever seen more precious smiles than what is on the faces of these sweet girls?

These girls are full orphans as they have lost both parents due to Aids. They, however, are in perfect health and just wait for their family to find them and take them home. They are said to have sweet dispositions. Right now they have each other....and we thank God for that.


We ask that you lift up all these children in prayer. Prayer changes things and prayers get answered all the time. Every one of these children have a destiny that they long to meet.

For more info on these children click on their names above to go to the link on our site.
Or visit www.ordinaryhero.org and click on Waiting children.

Lamentations 3:56 (New International Version)

⁵⁶ You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief."

The Latest News and Needs

First of all I would like to say thank you to all who have donated toward our outreach and given backpacks and school supplies for our Project Backpack. It always amazes me to see how generous people can be when given an opportunity to give. We are excited about our Outreach at the Family Life Center on Aug 14th at 4pm to pass out the supplies as well as love on the kids down there. All are welcome to attend and reach out to a child in need. Check out the OH site for more info regarding this outreach.

Mentors Needed
As a result of helping lead a bible study with the women(most all of them are mothers) in the Gateway program at the Family Life Center and Hope Center, I have come to realize the great need for mentors for these ladies. I always allow the women to talk with me afterwards and there was one women who came up to me and specifically asked if we had mentors. She said she just really needed someone to stand with her during this tough time and encourage her to make the right choices. I told her to write her name and info down in my notebook. When the other ladies saw what she was doing and what it was for, I looked up and they were all lined up to sign up to have a mentor.

These women are at a crucial place in their life. Most of them have no family support at all. Many of them have left their families due to abuse and other circumstances. Many of them are overcoming addictions and need encouragement to stay on the right path. They are learning about God, for a lot of them this is the first time. They are so hungry for truth and guidance. They are assigned bible passages to write as a part of the bible study and the instructor showed me how some women complete a weeks worth of studies in one day because they are so hungry for the truth and hope.

I had one woman who has been clean for 4 months and she had expressed an interest in wanting to share her personal story and have God use it to help people. I always use my own personal testimony to break ground with the women and show them that they are not alone. This precious woman shared her story for the first time in front of people and it was so powerful. First of all, I had never heard of so much abuse happening to one woman in my life. But as I looked around and saw tears flowing from the eyes of those women who walk beside her every day, I knew that her words were speaking straight to their hearts. She ended with a message of hope. She said she knows that God has better things planned for her life and that she hopes to turn her life around and use it for God.

These women need encouragement, guidance, hope, truth, and most importantly, God's love shown through an Ordinary Hero. These women are no different than you and me only they have been brought up around hopelessness and the wrong road to life therefore it has led to bad decisions and abuse. We encourage anyone interested to sign up to be a mentor by writing to a specific woman in the Gateway program. I have been told the highlight of their day is to receive mail. Many women never receive anything. This is a great way to get to know someone and also give them something to look forward to. When writing you would need to include stationary and stamps in order for them to write back. It is a simple yet wonderful way to reach out to many of these mothers and give them encouragement.

Some needs of the women in the bible study and the Family Life Center are :

Large Print Bibles~ These women are doing their study with donated small print KJV bibles. They could really benefit from large print NIV or NKJV bibles. They need notebooks, pocket folders, pens.

Bus Passes~ These women are always in need of all day bus passes in order to make it to job interviews. There is a huge shortage of these at the mission.

Phone Cards~ There is always a need for phone cards in order for these women to make the necessary phone calls to follow up with job interviews. There is one open phone at the mission and it is not enough for all of them.

Bath items~ There is a shortage of towels, washcloths, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

Cleaning supplies~ There is always a need for cleaning supplies. You can imagine what it is like with all of the women basically living on top of one another and sharing just a few stalls in a bathroom.

Contact us at info@ordinaryhero.org to make an item donation towards any of these needs. If you would rather make a monetary donation you may do so by clicking here.


Brighten A Child's Day Kid 2 Kid Pen Pal Project

We are also excited about getting our little ones involved in making a difference in the life of another child in need. We are in the beginning stages of organizing and launching a pen pal outreach for children to have the opportunity to make friends with a child living in a shelter. All children just love getting mail. They especially need a friend and something to brighten their day when life's realities are so hopeless all around them. So a fun, simple card, maybe with some stickers or a gift card stuck in the envelope mixed with a word of encouragement letting that little one know that he/she has a friend to talk to can make all the difference in the world. It also shows our own children the importance of giving and loving those less fortunate. It opens their eyes to the needs in the world.

If you are interested in your child participating in this pen pal project email us at
info@ordinaryhero.org for more information. Holly Fisher, our pen pal project coordinator will be in touch with you.


Again, we thank you for being an Ordinary Hero and for making a difference in the life of a child in need.

We are also on Twitter for those of you who "Tweet". Come follow along on our journey.

Kelly Putty
Founder/Director
www.ordinaryhero.org

Project Backpack 2009

Please join ORDINARY HERO in providing necessary school supplies to the children living in the Family Life Center @ the Nashville Rescue Mission. The Center typically houses 30 children. As of today, there are 23 CHILDREN calling the shelter “home”. How can you help? These children need required backpacks and school supplies in the next 2 ½ weeks! Let us know what you can provide for these children: a backpack, supplies, and/or a monetary donation. We will provide you with a child’s name, gender, and grade specific supply list (approximately 10-15
items @ a cost of ~ $15), and make arrangements to
get the supplies to the children. You
are welcome to join us on August 14th when we visit
the shelter to deliver their backpacks full of supplies.
These children will be attending Buena Vista
Elementary, John Early Middle, and Pearl Cohn HS.
Are you ready to help insure that a homeless child
goes to school with supplies? Contact Bev Stacey @
davebevstacey@comcast.net. Does it
work better for you to make a monetary donation?
Just CLICK HERE.

Would you recognize America's Homeless?

Do we really know what "HOMELESS" looks like?
I was leading a bible study several years ago and wanted to teach my ladies group to appreciate their lives a little more and, frankly, to get them to take their eyes off of their own problems that seemed to be the center of their world. While, granted, some of them did have problems in this world, as we all do at times, it ALWAYS helps, without fail, to encounter those less fortunate than ourselves. When I say encounter, I don't mean run across a news story or pass a homeless person on the side of the road. When I say encounter I mean sit next to, talk to, ask one his life story, hold a little child, wipe snot from that little child and love that little child, realizing that they may not have been shown love for some time.

So my group shows up for what they thought was our normal bible study and told them all to go pile in my suburban....we were going for a ride. I had done this before with my own children when they would start acting rotten and it worked wonders to open their eyes to things other than their own wants and needs. I had the same plan in mind for this group of ladies. We head downtown and I am looking for the homeless on the side of the streets and they are no where to be found. I had baked bread and brought coffee and we were going to pass it out to them. Someone on the side of the road finally suggested that we go to the womens shelter up the road. Well I had no idea there even was such a thing. We drove and found The Family Life Center. I had never been there before and was only here this time merely by chance and the advice from someone on the streets. We all piled out of my suburban and by this time it was around 8 oclock at night. We knocked on the locked door and someone came to the door and saw us standing there with all of our snacks and coffee and hesitantly waved us in at such an hour when everyone was settling down for the night. They sent us to the back room where they told us to wait for the women to come down for a late night snack. As we walked down the hallway I glanced into the chapel and saw rows and rows of women sleeping on the hard pews. Once in the back room, I sat and waited with anticipation. ALL of the women with me had never been around homeless women before and I had only been around the ones that lived on the streets. So I think we all had our own ideas of what sterotype of a homeless woman was going to round the corner and eat our snacks. I could tell that we all were a little uncomfortable and completely out of our comfort zone. Most of us lived in middle class suburban communities and many would not be there had I not surprised them with our little downtown drive.

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They seemed to be small footsteps and they were running. When they entered the room, I was in complete and utter shock. These little footsteps were from about 10-15 children. They came in hurredly in anticipation of what snacks lay before them that they had been told to come down and eat. Many of them received their snacks and then graciously crawled up into our laps for love and attention. They had great big smiles on their faces as they ate the bread and the cookies that we brought. I quickly realized that we did not bring enough as it was gone in about 2 minutes.

As I watched these children who seemed to be filled with life and love and a sense of hope regardless of their surroundings I was so utterly and completely humbled. How can we complain about our lives and the inconviences that we have when there can stand a homeless child in front of us and greet us with a great big grin when he doesn't know where he will lay his head down at night and when he will get his next meal? What is it that these children know that we do not?
Jesus talked about it....
Matthew 11:25
[ Rest for the Weary ] At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

As I looked around the room, I noticed every one of the girls that I brought with me were having a one on one conversation with a homeless mother as she struggled through the shame to tell her story simply because someone cared enough to ask. These women were not what anyone invisioned. These women had children. These women had a name and a story and a heart that had been broken from despair of not knowing how to care for not only themselves but their children as well. These women had no one in the world who seemed to care. These women were desperate.

We said our goodbyes and loaded back up in my suburban and headed back to the reality that we all knew. The car was very quiet and everyone seemed to be in a sense of shock from what we just witnessed. We all had pictures in our minds of the little faces that we left behind as we headed back to our homes and our loving families and our warm bed. What was it that we were feeling at that time?
James 2
¹My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"^a]">[a] you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

It is completely amazing how what you don't know can hurt you, it can keep you blinded to the truth that is right in front of you. Are we blinded or do we choose to keep the blinders on?

We left there changed that night. Everyone left with great appreciation of the blessings in their lives as the focus was lifted off of themselves and onto another. That is the key!

Now fast forward about 4-5 years....I am now very comfortable going into the shelter. I look forward to what opportunities lay there because I run across someone who seems to be planted right in my path who needs to be blessed in some way EVERY time. I head down the other day to the homeless shelter to lead a bible study for the homeless women. I run across some of the most precious children and hand them a marker and a single piece of paper. I get their mom's consent and I have them write the sentence "I need a Hero." for a future video that I am putting together.
They graciously did as I asked and wrote the sentence and held it up for me to take their picture. I did this to show what adorable kids live in the shelter and really do need a Hero to come in a make a difference in their life.
They were very sweet and yet had a sense of uncertainess about them.


After I took their picture I turned and started talking to their mothers. When I turned around they were all drawing again back on the paper that they had written the sentence on. They were adding their own touches. They were decorating it with what was inside their hearts. Their little spirits started to shine through. This was something they did completely on their own without any prompting from me or anyone else.
As their one little sentence started to turn into an expression of themselves, I noticed that they became more at ease and started warming up to me and laughing and really enjoying this one moment that they stood with a marker and a piece of paper and drew like children do, which ends up being the expressions of their heart.

Here is this little girl that lives with her mother in a homeless shelter and has nothing to call her own and yet when given the opportunity to express herself she draws a heart, a flower and a smiley face.

These children have no less imagination, dreams and desires for their own lives then our own children do.

When given love....when given attention....there is no telling what will blossom out of them that would have otherwise stayed buried.
These girls have only known each other for a few days and yet they seem to have a bond. They seem to cling to their friendship in this time of uncertainty when they both have found the same familiar ground to rest their heads when their worlds are so different.
Who knows how long they will be there.

Who knows how this time in their lives will impact them.
Who knows if these girls will remain friends or what their futures hold.
But one thing they teach all of us....God never intends for us to walk our journey alone. He never intends for us to get overcome by our circumstances. There is always someone who can give hope, or simply just be a friend whether for a few days or for a lifetime. When you have someone to walk along side you, they tend to carry the load with you and it makes it so much easier to bare. That is what these girls do for each other. That is what an Ordinary Hero can do for them. That is what Jesus does for us. And in the end...no matter what the reality looks like....there is joy.
Lord help us learn from them.

Matthew 18:3
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Another Ordinary Hero

Check out our friend's, Ken and Kelly's, Gotcha Day Video. What an amazing adventure to bring home their precious daughter from China. The song "Change the World" was written and sung by Tommy Sims and he sang this special version for them at their fundraiser just before they left for China to join her to their forever family.

This is one example of what an Ordinary Hero looks like.

If you don't feel like silencing the music at the bottom of the page then you can click here to go right to youtube and watch it.

OH is on Facebook...Come Join.

We are excited to announce that OH has a facebook group. This a great way to connect with others who are like minded when it comes to helping a child in need. We invite you to join our fb group of ordinary heroes and share your ideas, comments and topics of discussion as we all lock arms to help a child in need and make a difference in today's generation.

So what are you waiting for? Join facebook if you haven't already and come find us :) We are listed under the name 'Ordinary Hero'.

We Can All Make A Difference

There are children in need all over the globe. We are all put on this earth to make a difference and to leave our mark before our work here is through. I just received an email from a friend with some great reminders for us all. I thought I would share.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

It is amazing when you know what you have been called to do. I have known since I was a child that I had a calling to serve children, and be the voice that some of them do not have. Voice =to give utterance or expression to; declare; proclaim: to voice one's discontent. I am honored to serve our children and be one of many that have decided to make it our life’s mission.

More than 13 million children in America are poor, but they live in working families. A disproportionate number are Black and Latino. Poor children lag behind their peers in many ways beyond income: They are less healthy, trail in emotional and intellectual development, and are less likely to graduate from high school. Poor children also are likely to become the poor parents of the future. Every year that we keep children in poverty costs our nation half a trillion dollars in lost productivity, poorer health and increased crime.

Many African children go to sleep on empty stomachs; walk over 5 miles every day to get to a “shed” called school; and sit through class hungry because he or she did not eaten in days. Several of the children have to leave school early, risking their education, to sell fruits and goods at the market, just so their family can eat one solid meal for the day. This can definitely cause a child to live of life of no hope or even second chances? This is the story of many everyday African children.

God, we have pushed so many of our children into the tumultuous sea of life in small and leaky boats without survival gear and compass. Forgive us and help them to forgive us. Help us now to give all our children the anchors of faith and love, the rudders of purpose and hope, the sails of health and education, and the paddles of family and community to keep them safe and strong when life’s seas gets rough. Marian Wright Edleman (The Sea is so wide and my Boat is so Small)

For the rest of my life I will continue to pray for a world in which all individuals, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, can reach their full potential and contribute to the well-being of their family, their community, and their nation. People of all countries and cultures share both the desire for a better life and the power to create one.

Please do your part to ensure that the next generation of children will not be left behind.

Yolanda Conley Shields
Adassa Adumori Foundation

Who Will Speak Up?

Proverbs 31:8
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.


What does the above scripture mean to you? Do you often wonder what speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves looks like? Do you want to do something to help but don't know what to do?

With millions of orphans who wait for a family in this world, there is a problem. We are not speaking up as loud as we could be. There is something that we are missing, that we have not tapped into yet that will make a world of difference to a world of orphans.

We have found a simple way to Speak Up that has been proven to work. It does not cost a penny and waiting children are getting adopted as easy as a click away.

It works like this... You join our Speak Up Campaign which only involves you sending us your email address. We then send you a weekly email with waiting children's pictures attached. You forward the email to your contact list of people you feel would be interested in considering the child for adoption or advocating for the child. THAT'S IT. Someone in your contact list thinks of someone they think might like to consider the child for adoption or advocate for the child and they forward it on. The next thing you know a child is being chosen for adoption and God used you as a tool to connect the waiting child to his/her forever family. There is nothing in this world more rewarding then knowing that you played an important role in speaking up for a child that cannot speak for himself and because you did, that child now has a home and a family. So the question is...Who will send the blessed email? There is an email waiting to be sent that holds a child's picture in it that will stir the heart of another. That child will be just what their heart has been waiting for. Who will send it?
This is so simple and yet I have seen it work every time I have ever tried it.

Let's all link arms for these children who wait...and wait...and wait for their family to come. If you lean toward a certain country to advocate for then feel free to speak up. This is something we can all do to make a difference in the life of a child in need. You can be an Ordinary Hero just by speaking up. Let's speak LOUD!! More waiting children will be added to our site soon.

Contact us at info@ordinaryhero.org to join the list of advocating heroes. Let's Speak UP!

New OH Button :)

I am excited to announce that thanks to a wonderful blog friend and her computer tech husband, I have a new button that will lead people to our ordinary hero site. Please consider adding this button to your blog as we hope to spread the word and let as many eyes fall on these waiting children as possible. These are children waiting....some are waiting for a family, some are waiting for a friend, some are waiting for hope in a hopeless situation. We can all make a difference in the life a child in need. Let's spread the word.

Many thanks to April who stepped up and donated her services to our organization by volunteering to create the button for us. You are awesome!!

Calling Ordinary Heroes

Our brains are swirling around here with all kinds of ideas to help children in need we are getting ready to launch. I really do thank those of you who have written in and expressed ways that you would like to get involved. My goal with Ordinary Hero is to get each one of you who wants to serve involved in our organization using your gift. We all are gifted in some way. Even if you don't feel you have a gift, but your heart really tugs toward a certain area of need, that is where God wants to use you. We hope to help as many children in need as we can through Ordinary Hero but we also hope that by doing that, we unleash all kinds of gifts and desires in the ordinary people of this world who have longed to help in one way or another but have not found their calling or an outlet to do so.

A couple of needs off the bat that I am going to throw out there.....

1. If those of you in the adoption world feel that your agency would be willing to allow our site to post their waiting children then let me know. I have had a request for Haiti children and HIV+ children as well as American children.

2. If any of you locals in the Nashville/Brentwood area know of a storage facility that could be donated to our cause then please email me. We are in need of a place to store donated items that will be used to furnish homes for the moms and her children that leave the homeless shelter and move into a home. Most of them move with no belongings at all and are in great need of furnishings. We have found kids sleeping on the floors. So we need a place to store the stuff...REALLY BAD.


Please email me at kelly@ordinaryhero.org if you can help in any way or have any ideas about the needs that I posted. I will be posting about our different projects coming up asap.

Thank you for being an Ordinary Hero.

Waiting Children in Rwanda

I have gotten a great response from the news stories that aired regarding our nonprofit, Ordinary Hero. I am very excited about the people who want to jump on board to help children in need. I am putting together outreach projects at the moment in between designing my nonprofit website(1st time I've ever done this), advocating for children and more children, carting my own 7 children around for the summer and chasing down my dog, literally every day from the neighbors because he has turned into such a scaredy nerd from the 4th of July fireworks and still hasn't gotten over it and just keeps running off. I can't complain though. I love it all even if it is a lot of work.

I am VERY excited about introducing the new WAITING CHILDREN FROM RWANDA.
These kids are so precious. There are the two sisters, above and the two pics below. There are two individual girls below them. There are two individual boys below them. Next there is a sibling group of 5, yes I said 5, and they are AWESOME! They include a set of adorable twin boys, a girl who is the oldest and a two year old baby brother. Then there is a set of boy/ girl siblings. There is also a boy from Bulgaria which is the next country I am introducing in the next day or so. I have three or 4 kids from there.

We need to rally together here people!! Spreading the word is how these kids are getting adopted....that and prayer. So start praying and start sending people to www.ordinaryhero.org to check out these new little ones that are waiting for their Ordinary Hero to arrive and bring them home. You can read their bios on the site. I seriously believe that all of us together combining our faith and our address book will find these kiddos forever families. I have seen it happen too many times.

I need a base of people to stand with me and I thank all of you who have already agreed to stand with us in our advocating efforts. Yall are awesome!! I can't wait to share the good news of who is getting adopted. And don't forget the last list of kiddos from Ethiopia. Make sure to check them out and pray over the ones who are not chosen yet.

I have a button you can add to your blog that directs people to our OH site coming soon from a sweet blog friend offering her services. Can't wait!!













Now you can go to Ordinaryhero.org and check out these kiddos.

And if you haven't really felt the call to adopt yet don't feel guilty. Everything is in God's timing. But I must say you have to watch my sister's Gotcha Day video. It certainly will at least put a lump in your throat, and grab your tissues for you softies out there. This is what the miracle of adoption looks like.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH