I remember sitting in a tiny hotel room halfway across the world two years ago, my heart broken and my eyes opened, when one of the members of our trip said, "Don't be surprised when you go back home and people don't want to listen to your stories over and over again. It isn't that they don't feel bad for these kids. They do. It's just that they don't know Henry. They haven't held little Christian's hand. They haven't seen Smallma's precious smile. It's a lot easier to fall in love with someone when you can hold their little hands and look into their eyes and see the need for love."

Since I've been back from Liberia, I've learned that numbers don't cut it. There are 300,000 kids in a country with half the population of Georgia. While I know this number is informative, it just doesn't have the ability to break your heart. Numbers don't have that effect. Faces do.

I want to introduce you to Josie. Josie is a seven-year old little girl whose story of redemption reminds me of God's faithfulness every single time I think of that sweet smile. Josie spent the first part of her life in a baby home in Uganda. During this time, she suffered malaria, a disease that can have a drastic effect on little bodies like Josie's. Although she overcame the malaria, Josie was continually sick and running high fevers.

Halfway across the world in Nashville, Tennessee, a family of eight, already passionate about loving orphans, decided to make a trip to Uganda. Suzanne and Mike would take their two oldest children to visit a dear friend who was serving there. During this trip, they visited the baby home where Josie was living. Josie couldn't walk, and when they arrived to the baby home each day her little body was sitting out in the hot sun, her head burning with a fever. Although they showered Josie with as much love as any family can give, the time to go home was approaching quickly, and they knew they had to get back to care for the other four kids at home. Once they returned, however, home didn't seem the same. Grace, their oldest daughter, continued to beg for Josie to be her little sister, and finally, after a lot of prayer, the Mayernick family decided that Josie's home was their family. This decision came with another trip to Uganda, and this trip held devastating news: Josie was positive for TB and HIV. Although this news stunned the Mayernick's, after 24 hours of desperate researching, they were assured that they could provide Josie with the proper treatment in Nashville, and soon, she would be able to live a normal life, just the same as any of their other children. After prayer, love, and a lot of commitment, the Mayernick's took Josie home.

Today, Josie is a precious, outgoing little bundle of joy who is, most definitely, a Mayernick at heart. Her precious Mom, Suzanne, allowed me to come visit their house in Nashville several months ago, and I'll never forget the love I saw in that family. And, yes, they were real people! A real family with fast food on the table, and friends over, and Josie begging, "Pllllllease Mommy, let me go to Chuckie Cheese!" But amidst all the "normal," there was something holy about this family. I got to see a Dad of seven kids watch and laugh at the craziness, greeting me with, "Welcome to our house. This is our life!" I met a lady who is so passionate about giving the 147 million orphans in our world a home, that she sacrificed time (on her oldest daughter's prom day!) to talk with me about what it means to love. I watched Josie, a little girl who, for months, had to have a nurse come into her house every day, run up to me and read a book in my lap. I watched brothers and sisters playing basketball and not realize the color of skin. I saw a family who was willing to commit to the difficult moments, the counseling, the craziness, the tears, and the questions, because they know that Josie, and Grace, and Michael, and Annabelle, and Miller Anne, and Joshua, and Caleb are ALL children of God. Each one of them is precious and irreplaceable and no matter where they came from or what happens in their life, they will fight for them. Because that is what love is.

I'm telling you this story because, tomorrow, a man named Daryl Roberts from my home town will start his venture to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is hiking "from the ground up," in order to rebuild our kids in Liberia, "from the ground up," and at the end of the day, he isn't hiking for the 300,000. He is hiking for the Josie's, and the Becky's, and the Henry's, and the Christian's. He is hiking so that every little mouth of the 300,000 is fed and every tummy healthy and every hand held, so that, eventually, every child will have a story like Josie's.

Join Orphan Aid Liberia in the climb by liking our Facebook Page or visiting our website: www.orphanaidliberia.com

If you would like to hear more about Josie's story, you can check out her amazing mom's blog: www.joiningthejourney.blogspot.com