What's Hot About Caring for Orphans

10 hot, invigorating ways you can change your life by changing the life of an orphan or adoptive family: 1. Spend time with a  foster kid. You may be the first individual in their lifetime that is reliable.

2. Share your academic expertise. Are you a scientist, IT specialist, occupational therapist? Share with an orphan, step by step, how you got there.

3. Take the birth child of a new adoptive family to a movie, out to eat or shopping. If their family recently adopted, their world has been shaken and you can help the whole family in a big way just by letting them know that it will all be ok.

4. Buy school backpacks for a family that grew from four to seven because they adopted three siblings.

5. Take care of the kids once a month on a designated night for one year so the adoptive or fostering Mom and Dad can have time together.

6. Tell an adoptive/foster mom who is going through tough times that she is doing a great job.

7. Offer to help a family pay for a few months of counseling for a kid who has a broken past and wounded heart.

8. Sponsor an orphan in another country for $25-$30 per month.

9. Share your vacation home with an adoptive family by offering a free week stay.

10. Take an orphaned sibling group out to buy new sneakers for school. Kids like to have shiny new things, especially for school.

So where might you find adoptive families, orphans and foster kids? Call your local social service department, local churches, or ask neighbors and friends who they know that could use your help.

Many of these ideas were developed from our own family needs, what I have learned about poverty (which is where most orphans come from), and the needs I see in the families around us who adopt older sibling groups.

Be extravagant with what you have to offer. It's hot.