November - National Adoption Month

If you’ve spent any amount of time around here, you know me. And my heart.
And well, it is National Adoption Month, and a BIG part of my heart belongs to orphans. There is no denying that God has completely changed the path that we are going down right now.  You see we were living our lives comfortably and doing some things to help, but I have always had the desire to adopt more and my husband, well not so much!  So I began to advocate for the children that still wait for families.  Go Here  to read that post.

I say this to let you know that even if you are not adopting, there are many things that you can do to help a child who needs a family. 

Here is something we all can do.

Pray. There are so many little ones that need prayer. If you want to pray specifically for a little one, there are many listed on Rainbow Kids.  I love this site.  They advocate for children all around the world.  I encourage you to print out a picture of a little one who waits and put it on your mirror or refrigerator. Pray that this child will be adopted into a family and be able to know the love of a mom and dad.  It will not only be a blessing for that child, but it will be a blessing for you.

Support. Consider sponsoring a child. We have used World Vision and Compassion International to sponsor children by sending a monthly donation.  We are able to write letters and send small gifts to them and they in turn write back to us.  We have grown to love these children and their families that are less fortunate than we are.  There is nothing like knowing that you are partnering in the future of a child's life.

Koli is in Ghana and needs a sponsor.

This adorable little girl in Thailand needs a sponsor.

There are also many charities that do wonderful work in countries around the world and would be so blessed by your partnership.  Here are some that I am familiar with that help in China.

An Orphan's Wish
Half The Sky
Love Without Boundaries
New Day Foster Home
Show Hope

You might also just want to make a one time donation to help with medical care or provide chickens or a goat for a family.  That could be the best Christmas gift of all for a family.

You can also support other adoptive families.  This could be done through prayer, financial support or simply loving and caring for them once they have their new child home. That could mean taking them meals, babysitting, or just giving them someone to talk to.  Adoption is a significant undertaking – like having a baby(or so I've heard. lol), but MUCH more challenging – and newly adoptive parents can use all the help they can get especially in the first year that they are home.  Not only are they busy working on establishing a relationship with their new child, but some families have to master the language barrier, and some have children with medical issues and will have to be visiting doctors on a regular basis.  It is a big change for everyone in the home as well as the adoptive child, trying to figure out where everyone "fits" in.

Adopt. Of course, you can consider adoption. Consider giving a little one the gift of a forever family of their very own.  As much as I believe our family was called to adoption, I do not believe that all Christians are. But if you have thought about it, truly prayed about it and believe that God might be calling you to pursue an adoption, I encourage you to prayerfully take that first step of faith. If you have any questions about adoption I would be glad to help you or guide you in the right direction. 

And then just do it!  Jump in with both feet and take this journey!    Because that is what life is....a journey.  Don't just sit back and let life pass you by.  That's not what God wants.  He wants his people to enjoy all that He has given them.  "not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
1 Timothy 6:16-18

God doesn’t want His people to stand around, waiting for someone else to do what needs to be done. He wants us to get in there and get to work, even when it’s not easy and even when it’s not comfortable. Sometimes it’s in the doing that you find the joy and the desire, so don’t wait until it feels like the ‘right time’ – you might well be waiting forever.

I promise that if you step out, even in just a small way, to care for just one of the “least of these”, you will also be blessed in the process.

‘For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.’
– Matthew 25:37-40

Haircuts in the Park

Our Second Annual Haircuts for the Homeless was a great success!

 This year instead of being outside at the park with a generator, we had access to this salon!

Last year we had 4 ladies cutting hair.  This year we had 9 ladies and 1 guy cutting hair!

 

 

 Thank you to everyone who helped to make this a success.  Everyone who got their haircut was extremely grateful.

We are hopeful that in providing this service we were able to help someone get a job or perhaps just feel better about themselves.  We know we sure had fun.  This is what is means to be the hands and feet of Jesus!

ORPHAN SUNDAY

November is National Adoption Month.  Many organizations, churches and people do a lot of advocating during this month to bring awareness to the children who are in crisis situations and in need of families. 

 

November 4th was ORPHAN SUNDAY.

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan. We are a people called to defend the fatherless…to care for the child that has no family…to visit orphans in their distress.

The goal of Orphan Sunday is to make others aware of God's great love for the orphan and to find your part in how you can help. 

 

 

This year Robbie and I were honored when our church asked us to speak before the congregation.  We told how amazingly blessed we were to be able to adopt a child and see how her life has changed the lives of so many others.  You see, by following God's call to "help the orphan" we brought home a beautiful little girl.  Two years later we adopted again.  In sending our girls to preschool, one of their teachers has also adopted two children.  Friends of ours have adopted.  Friends of our friends have seen their families and adopted.  Not only has God used this one little girl to change our lives, but He has used her to bring at least 12 other children into loving homes as well.

We love that God placed the need to "help the orphan" on our hearts.  That is why instead of expanding our family biologically we are adopting again. 

 

 

Our pastor asked everyone to bring in children's shoes. These shoes were then placed on the steps to the alter. At the end of our one hour service there were 150 pairs of children's shoes on the steps. This is the number of children who became orphaned while we held service. 

1 hour, 150 children orphaned!

 

 

 

What can you do to help?  Pray.  Pray that God would open your eyes to help these chldren in a practical way.  I understand that not everyone can adopt(though I wish it were so), but you can make a difference in a child's life. 

You can sponsor a child.  Compassion International is a great organization.  www.compassion.com

You can become a foster parent.

You can help a family who has foster chldren.

You can volunteer at a foster home facility.

You can offer your time and/or services/hobbies to help someone fundraise for their adoption.

Here is a great place to look at other ideas as well:

http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/agencies-and-ministries/advocacy/

What a Beautiful Day

We had a yard sale this past weekend.  I know, I know we are always having yard sales.  This is our 4th one just this year!  We have held a yard sale for each of the families that we know that are adopting.  We all gather stuff and when we have enough, we have a yard sale.  When I first started doing this, I asked people all the time if they wanted to donate anything.  Now, people approach me and tell me that they have items to put in our next sale.  It is awesome!  I have been doing this for the past four years now.  The proceeds of these sales go to the family who is closest to bringing their child home.  If there is not a family that we know of in the adoption process, we have a Foster Home in China that we support.

Well this sale was a little different because it was for our family.  I feel really comfortable asking for donations and money if it is for someone else, but have a hard time if it is for me.  So when it came to pricing the items, I just couldn't think. 
The morning of the sale, I made a sign that said all procceeds would go towards bringing our daughter home from China and I asked the Lord to bless the day.  The first few people started to arrive, and I still had not priced anything.  The first person came and asked how much her stuff would be.  I told her, "We have wonderful friends who have blessed us by donating all these items.  Please pick out what you would like and think of a fair price and that is the price you will pay."  I had a lot of people give me some very puzzled looks, I had some people who took advantage of that, and I even had some people put their things back and say they couldn't think of a price.  But for the most part, most of the people were fair and some were even generous. 
And I made a few more contacts.  This time with an organization who helps children who have been removed from their homes because they are in a dangerous situation.  They place these children into a safe shelter until they can return home safely or until they can find a place for them to live.  Man, the Lord really knows my heart!

Thank you Lord for blessing us with such a wonderful day!
 

Did we "Survive" the Week?

This week I spent less than $10.00 on our grocery bill.  No, I did not leave out some zeros on that number.  If you remember my post from HERE. Then you will know what I am talking about.  I went to the store and bought a gallon of milk, some shredded lettuce, and two bell peppers.

This was our menu for the week.

For breakfast:
eggs and bacon
my daughters famous pancakes (those are chocolate chips and syrup)
eggs and toast
cereal (three days)
On each of these days we ate whatever fruit we had, grapes, banannas and apples.
We drank milk each morning.

For Lunch:
hamburgers
Ramen noodles (my girls favorite)
chicken salad sandwiches (2 days)
peanut butter sandwiches (2 days)
ham sandwiches
There were also chips, fruit, apple sauce, raisens, bell peppers, nuts and towards the end of the week Halloween candy mixed in there.
We drank water.

For Dinner:
potato soup and potato chips (to kick us off)
Boston Butt (two nights - and some put in the freezer)
spaghetti
tacos (two nights - we love tacos)
stir fry chicken
We drank water or milk.

 

 

Did I mention, we LOVE tacos?

 

 

Yummy, stir fry chicken

 

Come and Get It!

We delivered our Boston Butts for our fundrasier.  We had a lot of fun on this chilly morning.  Thanks to everyone who purchased a Boston Butt or Chicken.

 

 

 

I had quite the helper!