{"id":88,"date":"2009-12-10T17:31:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T17:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html"},"modified":"2011-12-05T08:34:59","modified_gmt":"2011-12-05T13:34:59","slug":"why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[Updated December 2011]<\/p>\n<p>This little girl absolutely melted my heart.<\/p>\n<p>Her orphanage, Kolmbocha, is far from the capital city in Ethiopia. I asked the director, &#8220;When was the last time you had any visitors?&#8221; His answer? Eight years. My hope this Christmas is that sweet little girls like Hiatt won&#8217;t be forgotten by my friends and family here in the US.\u00a0 There are many orphanages like this one that need sponsors like you.<\/p>\n<p>To find out more about the Children&#8217;s HopeChest &#8220;community-to-community&#8221; sponsorship program for your church, business, or online group, just complete <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hopechest.org\/engage\/\">this form<\/a> and we&#8217;ll get back in touch with you very soon.<\/p>\n<p>Also, you can give a gift of hope this <a href=\"https:\/\/secure3.convio.net\/chc\/site\/Donation2?1760.donation=form1&amp;idb=1488427650&amp;df_id=1760&amp;FR_ID=1100\">Christmas<\/a>.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/secure3.convio.net\/chc\/site\/Donation2?1760.donation=form1&amp;idb=1488427650&amp;df_id=1760&amp;FR_ID=1100\">Make a gift<\/a> in honor of someone special this Christmas&#8211;a gift that brings hope to orphans like Hiatt.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Meet Hiatt\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/8105860?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Updated December 2011] This little girl absolutely melted my heart. Her orphanage, Kolmbocha, is far from the capital city in Ethiopia. I asked the director, &#8220;When was the last time you had any visitors?&#8221; His answer? Eight years. My hope this Christmas is that sweet little girls like Hiatt won&#8217;t be forgotten by my friends&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,58,5],"tags":[121,210,120,200,42,96],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-hivaids-2","category-the-poor","tag-aids","tag-ethiopia","tag-hiv","tag-orphans","tag-poverty","tag-sponsorship"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[Updated December 2011] This little girl absolutely melted my heart. Her orphanage, Kolmbocha, is far from the capital city in Ethiopia. I asked the director, &#8220;When was the last time you had any visitors?&#8221; His answer? Eight years. My hope this Christmas is that sweet little girls like Hiatt won&#8217;t be forgotten by my friends&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-10T17:31:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-05T13:34:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt - Red Letters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt - Red Letters","og_description":"[Updated December 2011] This little girl absolutely melted my heart. Her orphanage, Kolmbocha, is far from the capital city in Ethiopia. I asked the director, &#8220;When was the last time you had any visitors?&#8221; His answer? Eight years. My hope this Christmas is that sweet little girls like Hiatt won&#8217;t be forgotten by my friends&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html","og_site_name":"Red Letters","article_published_time":"2009-12-10T17:31:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-05T13:34:59+00:00","author":"Tom Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html","name":"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt - Red Letters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-10T17:31:15+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-05T13:34:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/12\/why-christmas-should-be-about-orphans-like-hiatt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Christmas Should be About Orphans Like Hiatt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/","name":"Red Letters","description":"Christian, Christian Inspiration, Christian News, Christian Activism News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92","name":"Tom Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","caption":"Tom Davis"},"description":"Tom Davis currently serves as CEO of Children's HopeChest (www.hopechest.org), a global orphan care ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs. A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}