Wherever You Are...

I pray you are safe. I pray someone, anyone, will tell you how precious you are today. I pray for the Lord to overwhelm us with guidance in each and every single step it will take to get to you.

I pray any closed doors we encounter will crash to the ground.

I pray the Lord is preparing your little heart to meet the ones who long to call you little one. To give us wisdom, and endurance for a road which will be long.

We love you little one. We pray for you every day. For your safety, your health, your future.

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Opportunity

Thank you to everyone who has left supportive comments and sent emails, especially in regards to the reaction (or lack thereof) we have had to our adoption news. While we have peace in our hearts and know beyond any doubt God is FOR us, it does also help to know others have walked similar paths and faced some of the same circumstances.

Through it all we are seeing opportunities we can use to teach our children about love, God, grace, and helping others...these opportunities are everywhere. After our daughter passed away we started a foundation to help families who have had children pass away or have a child with a life threatening illness. Our children have helped other families and seen things most children never see. I have watched our son step without hesitation or fear over tubes and wiring from a ventilator, gently pat a little girl with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) on the head and whisper "Happy 2nd Birthday." With tears in my eyes we have listened as our daughter prays for sick children and their families. I have thanked God over and over for giving our family both heartache and joy. For each has stretched my image of what is truly important in life.

As we continue on our road to adoption the P's are learning more about love and God's heart for ALL His children. I am so thankful to be on this journey. In one week we have our home visit appointment for our homestudy. This is both exciting and makes me nervous. Why I have no idea but it does. The homestudy is really preparing us for welcoming another child into our family. We have been reading, doing required education, collecting tons of documents, pouring out our entire autobiographies,and  answering MANY deeply personal questions all the while preparing the P's for another sibling. We have always been very open with the P's and welcome their questions or concerns. Having a sibling pass away has created many opportunities for us to talk to them about things most children never encounter. We approach everything age appropriately and with love. Because of all they have walked through we see amazing little people with compassion filled hearts. But they are still typical children and siblings who get grumpy, argue, tease and generally annoy one another on a daily basis.

I mentioned our church in my last post - I am blown away by the support we have seen. I am humbled, grateful and thankful for all the prayer, support and offers of help we have seen in both our church family and some of our friends/family. We will be making an official announcement to our church congregation this coming weekend. I can't stand talking in public. I get all shaky and nauseated but over and over God places me in situations where I have to get in front of crowds and speak. Viewing them as opportunities to show how God is working through our lives is the only way I don't pass out.

I may break out in hives and possibly throw up but I will keep y'all updated. This week we are finally getting more of our home study things done. The snow has melted and we are on a mission to get it all FINISHED!

This year we will meet our newest child...and we couldn't be more excited about all God is weaving for His glory. Follow us there!
**Yeah! We don't have to talk at church! Our preacher is going to make the announcement!

The Gloves Come Off...Re Post

We have been shown sincere support from many in our church family since we began telling people of our adoption plans. Sitting in church last Fall I recall several sermons on caring for widows and orphans. God used the words of our pastor to begin preparing my heart. I see something in our church which is different from others we have attended. A church which believes people are the church and not the building or the lighting effects. WE are the hands and feet of Jesus. I see a church which wants to do more to help widows and orphans. I was not sure what role our church would play in this. I did pray we would be surrounded in support and prayer. I have fully expected for Eli and I to slowly amass the money we need through fundraisers, saving, selling and prayer.
But...WHY should the church...any church..help widows and orphans? Why should the church...all of them...support families adopting?
I am speaking of ALL churches. And I am not speaking of helping in just a financial manner. I read many adoption blogs and have heard wild stories of people getting no support (emotionally, prayer, or financial) from the churches they have been members of or attended for years. This is appalling to me. I am re-posting from a wonderful, sweet lady's blog who believes heart and soul in caring for orphans. Here you go...to get to the original links in Lu's post please go directly to her blog. She puts it quite bluntly. But maybe that is the way it should be.

The Gloves Come Off

 I am sitting here on Sunday afternoon after watching church on the telly since we can't go in person. Some of the biggest churches in the world are on the telly. Not just on Sundays either. I watch TBN and the God Channel often. Most nights it is on whilst I work.

So, why is this titled 'The Gloves Come Off'?

Here is why... the messages I'm hearing from these BIG churches are about seeking God's face, how to enrich your life, how to be prosperous, how to live the Christian life, how to really PRESS into worship... but NOTHING about the orphans, the fatherless, the ones without a voice. NOTHING. 

I know I just posted about feeling conviction for saying things about ministers and the money they spend on clothing and the price of their worship centres. I did and I do feel conviction for that. It is unproductive to just criticise.

So what has happened since then, less than a week ago? I will tell you.

Since that post I have learned that THREE (possibly 4) of the precious children waiting for families on Reece's Rainbow, the children I work for, have been transferred to institutions. Whatever you have to say about the orphanages' care of these children, compared to the institutions those will seem like they mollycoddle the kids. Their lives, which were already insignificant, have turned to a nightmare.

Whilst I do NOT trivialise the plight of ALL orphans, the ones I work for are the least of the least of these... disabled orphans in the third world. There is simply not a lower 'class' than that. There is simply no one more least than these.

Church! DO YOU HEAR ME?

I don't think you do.

You ask why there are so many orphans in the world but God is asking US why there are so many!

WHAT do you think James 1.27 means?

WHAT do you think Matthew 25.40 means?

WHAT do you think Jesus talked about when he was here?

WHO did he spend his time with whilst he was here?

The churches are FULL people, church attendance is at a high... mega churches are many and minted! People all around the world are 'pressing in' in worship. But the orphanages are also full! This shouldn't be...

What are those churches' focussing on? 'Seeker sensitive' churches. Seeking out people in their community to 'get them into church' so they can hear the Gospel!

Don't get me wrong, I am a Christian and I will NEVER give up God. HE is faithful and just and righteous and worthy of all our praise.

The church... is failing. The church is only teaching part of the gospel... the part that talks about what WE get from it... not what is expected of us. They don't live the Gospel.

How long can the 'church' live on milk?

How long must child after child be discarded and sent to institutions where 85% die within the first year and honestly, they are the fortunate ones. The ones that 'live' are merely existing. Shells of a human being, their bodies don't grow and when they do they grow twisted from being left in beds and cots too small for a person of their age.

This is UGLY is it HARD TO LOOK AT but let me tell you something...

The most beautiful gift God EVER gave me was in the form of a little girl that the world would label defective and throw away. Had she been born in Eastern Europe she would have been thrown into an orphanage and if she survived that she'd have been put on a bus for her 4th birthday, a day which would hold no significance to her since they do not celebrate birthdays in these places, and carted off to an institution where her food would be scarce and shoved down her throat by a 'carers' fist whilst she gasped for air. She'd be left in a room with other children and older people all who have been institutionalised for varying amounts of time, months to years. They likely will be many who have what is known as 'institutional retardation' because they are never taught, never encouraged, only left to their own defences and that isn't much.

 This gift God gave me has been the one thing I could NEVER give up if asked. I could NEVER go back to the person I was before her. I could never go back to not knowing God's heart and touch and feeling His heartbeat. I could never go back.

Yet in the US and UK, you know, the civilised countries who point and shake their fingers  of scorn at Eastern Europe and shake their heads with disgust and condescension,  90% of the people in these civilised places INCLUDING THE CHURCH/CHRISTIANS, when they find out they are being given this precious GIFT that I hold in my arms every day, terminate them. It is what it is... death.  Just as much as it is for the kids in these institutions that will likely die from neglect, just slower and dragged out, it is comparatively the same thing.

And the church just sits back and prays and seeks new members, buys a new stage for their worship performances (yes, I'm hitting with those words to, it isn't worship, it is a performance - in some churches even includes a light show) and we LET THEM DIE.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for the lives of ALL of these kids.

WE ARE TO BLAME.

Why are these countries discarding their children? Because we aren't telling them not to. How can we say 'don't kill them it is wrong' when we have a 90% termination rate for the same kids?

THE CHURCH IS FAILING.

WE ARE FAILING.

And these kids are the ones who pay the consequence.

These are the kids who die at our hands...

In Loving Memory of Margarita & Katarina (above)

 and Anne Marie (Ukraine)

I knew NOTHING of this growing up... because I was never told of it... the church didn't tell me... no one did.

Then God gave me a gift... my child. She is the most perfect example of Christ's love that I've ever witnessed in anyone. The most Godly people I've ever met pale in her shadow... and she's only 4 years old.

What man considers the least of these, God gives them the place of most importance at His table.

And this little child led me and gave me the strength to look. Not just to see and be appalled but to look and see that these children were just as precious as she. They are Jesus on earth. They are the weak, the ones with no voice of their own. They are neglected and abused and unloved... by man. When we are in Heaven one day, we will realise how wrong we were for they will be the ones seated nearest our Saviour.

This is why  I am up until the wee hours of the morning literally falling asleep doing my work to help the people who will go to rescue these children. Because God has allowed me to feel a glimpse of His heart... for these children and for the mums and dads who are being lied to and made to think their children need to be discarded.

It is why the church should also be propping those families up. Those who are willing and able to follow God's call to ALL of us to care for the orphans shouldn't need to do endless fundraising to get the money to go bring these children home, the church should be paying their way.

The church is failing.

So, how can the church sort this?

How can the church rectify what is nothing short than an embarrassment to Christ's church?

Simple.

Read this:

  ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27, New King James Version)

and this:

  ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’   
(Matthew 25:40, New King James Version)

and this:

²⁷  Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,   
      When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
       (Proverbs 3:27, New King James Version)

 ¹¹   Deliver those who are drawn toward death,   
      And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. 
       ¹²  If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”   
      Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
      He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
      And will He not render to each man according to his deeds? 
       (Proverbs 24:11-12, New King James Version)

 

Then, 

teach your congregation about it.

 

• There are 147 million orphans worldwide.
• If even 4-5% of those people worldwide who claim to be Christians stepped forward to adopt these children, there would no longer be any orphans.
• There are families (MANY just in our yahoo group alone) who are willing and qualified to adopt these children, they just don't have the extra funds for the costs involved with overseas adoption.

The church should be helping these families to adopt. 

The church should be encouraging families to adopt.

AND for those who can't adopt...

God doesn't expect you to give everything away, go hungry and become ill yourself. He DOES expect you to give what you can... do what you can.

If you can help promote someone's adoption or the Angel Tree via twitter or facebook or your blog, then you should be doing that!

   

If you can help by donating to their adoption fund or to the kids on the Angel Tree, then do it! Even if you have to make a sacrifice... I'm not saying you should go hungry, but I am guessing most people could forego their Starbucks coffee once a week and give that money to the orphans, who incidentally do go hungry.

If you are a minister or have a business or anywhere you can be a voice, then you should be. Healings and worship are wonderful, they draw people to the church, but once they are there, you should be telling them about the orphans and widows. You should be TEACHING them how to care for them.

If you have a way to tell the nations about the value of the life of these children 

SO THE ORPHANAGES CAN BE EMPTIED FROM THE OTHER SIDE... 

meaning, they don't get filled in the first place!

Then DO IT!

If you have room in your home and qualify to adopt, THEN DO IT!

The church IS failing...

                        but we don't have to...

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No More Snow..No More Snow

For the love of all things good and right. NO MORE SNOW. It's been beautiful, fun for the kids to play in. Tons of memories....but 8 - 10 inches of snow in Alabama makes everything close down! For days we have enjoyed the white stuff. It's been insane wonderful. When will it go away??? There are sheets of ice on side roads, parking lots, and schools have been out for days. An owl flew into power lines and we lost power for a short while. That was exciting. Let me tell you. Middle of the night searching for the flashlights, kids yelling in their rooms. Everyone piled together in our bed. Think we are going to need a bigger bed for more children. Do they make a bed that spans the entire length of a wall??

People, this is serious. I don't have enough chocolate in the house.

Maybe we should have taken it more serious when people were lining up at the store stocking up on bread and milk. Maybe I should have bought a secret stash of Snickers. Maybe I am losing my mind. We had so many things to get done for our home study this week.

I think this God saying "your plans?" HA!

Is this a tractor clearing our roads?? Is this normal? You don't have to answer that. Praying for rain.

Just Numbers to Some

As many of you know, our eyes were opened to the millions of orphans needing homes because of a little girl named Julia. A good friend of mine, also mommy to a cockayne child, sent me a simple message one morning "there is a little girl with cockayne on a website for adoption."

And so it began.

My eyes were opened to staggering statistics, heartbreaking circumstances, desperate stories, and in the midst hope.

Hope as God was showing me His love

For Orphans.
Families by the hundreds welcoming children into their homes.

But my heart was breaking for what breaks His.

To be burdened is hard stuff.

It is looking at your life, what is important, what REALLY matters in a whole different way.

What really matters?

It's not the American dream.

It's saying "yes" to God. Not turning your eyes away to the reality that IS orphans.

Children should not be just numbers or statistics.
But millions are.

We have said "Yes" to adoption. Why wouldn't we?

But my heart has felt both joy and sadness over the reactions we have had.

Some family and friends are incredibly supportive. Some are semi-negative. I am actually okay with these because it gives us an opportunity to answer questions.  But the ones which have hurt the most?

 Those who won't even ACKNOWLEDGE our adoption.

I have to wonder, if we were having a child biologically would they be acting different?

This child we are praying for, raising money to adopt, loving already will be our child no matter how she comes into our family.

This from the book "Radical" by David Platt...."The idea of billions in poverty or twenty-six thousand children dying from starvation and preventable disease before we lay our heads on our pillows tonight seems hard to imagine. Millions of orphans in Europe, Latin America and United States. As overwhelming as these numbers were, they were still just numbers before we traveled to get our son.We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. It is easier to pretend they are not real before you hold then in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.

"We can let these numbers remain cold, distant and almost imaginary. Or we can open our eyes and our lives to the realities that surround us and begin considering the faces that are represented by these numbers."

Little One is real. As are the 147 million orphans needing homes around the world.

Little One is not just a number to us.

God willing, she will someday know herself as "daughter, sister, granddaughter,beloved child of God "

God alone has placed this child on our heart and we won't turn away.

We are seeing even more fully God's heart in heartbreaking situations.

Living with eyes wide open is a good place to be.
Have your eyes been opened? What will you choose to do?