Surely Not...

I saw this on a wonderful blog...I think it's something we all need to be reminded of, to think about....

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Imagine with me for a minute…

Right now, today…

you are small and alone.

You are hungry and lost.

You have no home, no parents, and seemingly no future.

You are scared, and weak, from days without food. You have nowhere to go, nowhere to be.

People walk by you but they don’t even look your way. It’s like you are invisible, nothing.

You keep walking, your feet are bleeding and sore… and yet still you manage to cling to the small bit of hope, the little voice inside your head that says maybe, just maybe, one day things will get better. Maybe one day -you will matter.

It is getting dark outside- inside your fear is growing. Where will you go?

Your heart is beating faster, and your fear becomes overwhelming, consuming your every thought. Then you see it, a dirty, broken cardboard box and you bow your head thanking God for His provision. For you have found it- shelter. Safety, if only for one night.

You slip underneath it, hugging yourself, vowing once again not to cry- because by now you know tears are a waste of your strength. Your eyes become heavy, despite the sweltering temperature. As you begin to drift off to sleep you pray, hoping, dreaming, of a family of your own one day...of a place where you will matter...to someone.

Somewhere else in the world is a family...

They are just sitting down to dinner together.They are smiling and their laughter fills the room.

Dinner is served and they bow their heads and they pray- thanking God for their many blessings… their home, their job, the food that is set before them.They lift their heads and go back to the laughter and the joy.

They talk of their upcoming vacation plans, the lunch date they shared with a friend today and the movie they plan to see this coming weekend.

More laughter, more excitement, more. As the leftovers are scraped into the garbage can and the table is cleaned up, hot bubble bathes are taken by all.

Evening settles in, and the family slips under their down comforters preparing for a good night's sleep.

Before turning out the lights, the husband leans over to kiss his wife good-night. She shyly smiles at him and begins to tell him that she has been feeling that perhaps God is calling them to adopt.

The room grows quiet as they are both lost in their own thoughts…

their minds are flooded with questions, concern, and then inevitably -fear.

How could they manage?
Another child?
Why, they already have two!
Where would they put the child?
Who would share a room?
How could they afford to adopt?
Would they be able to take that vacation?
What would people think?
What if the child, you know, caused ‘problems’?

As their eyelids become heavy, they begin to drift off to sleep...
and they think to themselves ‘surely not’.

Surely God knows this is not convenient.
Surely God wants them to take that vacation they deserve...
Surely he knows how busy they are.
They have plans and they have dreams.
As sleep overcomes them, the temperature in their master bedroom is perfect…
and their pillows are fluffed to perfection.

Life is good for them, just as they had planned...
Because after all, they matter...
Too much...

to themselves.

Orphan Statistics

I saw this on another blog and thought it was really important to share. The need is out there and we as Christians need to answer to such an overwhelming need. God has given us the command to "look after orphans and widows in their distress" and we need to take this into our hearts and act.

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by Jason Kovacs

These are the most recent and reliable statistics on the global orphan situation.

The most recent estimate is that there are approximately 145 million orphans in the world (UNICEF 2008). For this number, an orphan is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents.

*More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, over 11.6 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

*In 2007 67.5 million Children in South Asia and East Asia had lost one or both parents due to all causes.

*Included in the 2008 estimate of 145 million orphans are more than 92 million that have a surviving mother—-with whom they most likely live. Another 38 million have a surviving father.

*Approximately 15 million children are “double” orphans—growing up without either mother or father. That’s about ten percent of the whole 145 million.

*The UNICEF orphan numbers (145 million) are only for deceased parents. If you were to factor in single parents in general, we’d be talking a number many times higher.
The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children. Are the millions of kids abandoned in China not orphans?

*The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include many non-reporting nations (namely, Middle Eastern Islamic nations) where shame and divorce abandonment are rampant. 200,000 + orphans in Iraq, for instance, are not part of the count.

*I think we’re looking at a number quite higher than 15 million “double orphans.” We often communicate that the real number of kids that fall into our care categories is somewhere around 40 or 50 million.

*According to data released in 2003 as many as eight million boys and girls around the world live in institutional care. Some studies have found that violence in residential institutions is six times higher than violence in foster care, and that children in group care are almost four times more likely to experience sexual abuse than children in family based care.

*As of 2002 in Europe and Central Asia, over one million children lived in residential institutions.

*Worldwide an estimated 300 million children are subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse, including the worst forms of child labour in communities, schools and institutions, during armed conflict, and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage.

*In the US there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care (Based on data submitted by states as of January 16, 2008). 130,000 of those children in foster care are waiting and available for adoption. Children waiting to be adopted include children with a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children whose parental rights have been terminated, who are 16 years old and older, and who have a goal of emancipation are excluded from the “waiting” population. An individual child is included in the count for each year that he or she has these characteristics on the last day of the year.

*Approximately 51,000 children are adopted from the foster system each year.
That leaves 79,000 children annually in the US needing an adoptive family.
Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Several foster care alumni studies show that without a lifelong connection to a caring adult, these older youth are often left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations:
Outcomes
Earned a high school diploma 54%
Obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher 2%
Became a parent 84%
Were unemployed 51%
Had no health insurance 30%
Had been homeless 25%
Were receiving public assistance 30%

Sources: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm, http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/GlobalReport/2008/2008_Global_report.asp, http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09-FullReport-EN.pdf, Young adults ages 18-24 years old 2.5 to 4 years after leaving foster care: Cook, R. (1992). Are we helping foster care youth prepare for the future? Children and Youth Services Review. 16(3/4), 213-229. Cook, R.; Fleishman, E., & Grimes, V. (1989). A National Evaluation of Title IV-E Foster Care Independent Living Programs for Youth (Phase 2 Final Report, Volume 1). Rockville: Westat, Inc., http://chrisitianallianceblog.org/?p=74, http://abandoned-orphaned.typepad.com/paulmyhill/2009/08/the-count.html

I list these statistics with a broken heart and realization that each number represents a real, living child who is in desperate need of care and a family. We can become easily overwhelmed with these statistics but I pray for my self and for the church that they would lead us to pray more specifically and passionately for them. I pray they will move us to act with greater urgency to see each one of these children cared for in the name of Christ.

“Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:17

As We Wait...

We started this journey when we mailed our application to Adoption Avenues on May 6th, 2009. Our journey started long before that though. We prayed for over a year…I should say that God led and we prayed, and prayed, and said “Really God?” and prayed some more. God is so good and so patient with us. We are humbled that He is allowing us to parent to more beautiful children. We are honored that He will loan us two more amazing blessings.

On October 6th, 2009 our Dossier (paperwork) was registered with the country of Ethiopia, an amazing country…filled with beauty and a warm spirit of joy based not on the material.

I wish you could see the dirt roads. Often we prayed as we were propelled through crowds in our steel missile on wheels. Swarms of goats, human bodies, donkeys, and carts filled the streets. Many exclamations of, “Oh! Uh! Yiii!” filled the car. The noises came from us as we almost made goat burgers many times. The horn was used, not as a cautionary contrivance, but as a blaring sign saying, “I’m coming!!! Ready or not!”

I still think of one little girl walking down the road with a baby tied to her back. It was in the middle of nowhere. I, at the time, thought she must be walking somewhere…to family or some such. Now I wonder, with what I have learned, if that child was doing the opposite of what I thought…walking nowhere. It still brings tears to my eyes knowing the number of street children in so many countries…knowing that these little ones may have been totally and utterly alone. My only comfort is that God is with them and He can do so much more than I ever could.

God is so good to us. I long for our children to be in our arms…but I also long to bring more children home. We’ve asked ourselves, “Can we make room for just one more?”. It’s a hard question. We could absolutely make room, but God has always led us to all our children and we trust Him to show us the path we are to take. I sit here with tears in my eyes though, I think of the older children watching us turn down the road to the orphanage that holds the little ones. I’ve heard that they wait and watch which road the car turns down. I often picture their eyes.

Please pray that God continues to lead us and give us peace in the pain of leaving children behind. Just the thought takes my breath away. I know our twins await and that brings me AMAZING joy. I celebrate and scream in jubilation at the blessings that wait in the far off land we call Ethiopia. It’s just tempered with a sadness of all the children that still wait.

In all these thoughts rolling around in my head, I celebrate the knowledge that we are now waiting for our children to come home…officially. We have waited five months thus far (since we sent in the application) and I now have my mother’s arms “officially” waiting. Though “unofficially” they’ve been waiting a long long time.

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Praises!!!
God has brought us a long way in this adoption. He’s touched hearts and supplied funds in ways we didn’t think possible!
We are now waiting!


Immediate Adoption Process Prayer Requests
*That the funds pour in like water in a surge of blessing and that God blesses us with the funds to accept the referral and travel when the time comes.
*That God’s hand is on the remaining paperwork and that they proceed with not a glitch, quickly and correctly. These are the papers we will need to accept the referral of our sweet little blessings, the papers to pass court, and the papers to bring them home.
*That our twins may be gathered into our family with a quickness blessed by God.

All Adoption Prayer Requests:
Please Pray…..
*For these little ones God has chosen to place in our family…for their physical and emotional health in a difficult place.
*For their biological family…that God has His hand on them and brings them peace in whatever they must face and the choices they will be making. Also, please pray that they come to know Christ and the peace only He can give.
*That God has His hand on this adoption, guiding us, bringing peace, and financially providing.
*Last, though it may seem a bit premature, please specifically pray that once we are referred our little ones, that they come home quickly and pass court the first time (many are starting to have multiple court dates and a LONG wait until travel). The Ethiopian government is being very cautious and caring with their wonderful children though and for that we are so thankful.
* That we have peace and not stress, trusting God in every step.

We also pray that hearts are convicted daily to open their families and lives to orphans around the world.

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Also, please join us in prayers for four beautiful Christian families and five sweet children who are facing obstacles above and beyond what a adoption process usually looks like. Governments will literally have to move for these older and special needs children to come home. Families are waiting for them and we are SO excited to see God work in these lives and these governments to bring these adoptive blessings home!

Olivia Mame (Ethiopia)-I would like to ask your prayers for a little sweet young girl in Ethiopia named Olivia Mame. There are some very immense road blocks, serious ones, that have to be conquered in order to finish the adoption of this precious young lady.

Jubilee (China)- A Christian family is struggling through major hurdles with their international adoption from China. Please pray for this family and for the government to move to bring her home.

Daniel (Liberia)-A little one with hydrocephaly awaits his family. Please pray that Daniel does not deteriorate farther and that people in authority to move this case feel the passion to see this through quickly.

Ronaldo and Julia (Guatemala)-For years this family has been trying to get their beautiful future children out of Guatemala. Every time it seems close there is another glitch. Please pray with us. Please pray that EVERY problem is resolved and every piece of paper has the perfection only God can give.

Being a Disciple

In a sermon about discipleship I heard and read some things that really hit home. The thought of going beyond has really hit me hard. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface at times. God has granted us salvation through His amazing Son Jesus Christ. His grace, His mercy is amazing. These are some of the quotes from the Bible and a fantastic teacher at Church of Sunday.

“Go therefore and make of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you….”
Matthew 28:19,20

"Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the comforts of modern civilization. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap happiness that would have been rejected by the least of the philosophers."

Martyrdom of Early Church Leaders

Matthew-Killed by sword wound in Ethiopia
Mark-Dragged by horses until dead in Alexandria, Egypt
Luke-Hanged in Greece
John-Boiled in oil in Rome but miraculously survived. Sentenced to the mines on prison island of Patmos. Freed & died a peaceful death as an old man
Peter-Crucified upside down
James(Less)-Thrown over 100 ft. down from pinnacle of Temple. Survived, so his enemies clubbed him to death.
James-Beheaded in Jerusalem; Roman officer who guarded him chose to be beheaded as a Christian w/James.
Bartholomew-Flayed to death by a whip in Armenia
Andrew-Severely whipped in Greece by 7 soldiers, then tied to a cross to slowly die; continued preaching to his tormentors for 2 days until he expired
Thomas Stabbed with a spear in India during missionary trip
Jude-Killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith
Matthias-Stoned and beheaded
Barnabas-Stoned to death at Salonica
Paul-Imprisoned, tortured, then beheaded by Emperor Nero

"A student wants to know what the teacher knows for the grade, to complete the class or get the degree, or even perhaps out of respect for the teacher. A talmid (disciple) wants to be like the teacher, that is to become what the teacher is."

These are just some of the things that made me think and dig so much deeper. There's so much more. These statements are not to heap judgment on others, but have convicted me and became very personal.

Has it Been This Long?

It was years ago (this month) in a small city in California that I ran into my mom’s room saying a phrase I never thought would come out exactly the way it did, “Mom, I think my water broke.” I never thought that I wouldn’t KNOW if my water broke, but “think” it did. A few minutes later, there was NO doubt.

My husband had gone before me to Germany to report to our military base (I couldn’t fly…I was too far along in pregnancy). It was a quick trip to the hospital and a long labor. Tom wasn’t ready to come out into the world. I would call my husband from my hospital bed and put the phone to my abdomen. Even the nurses laughed as they watched his heart rate go up as he listened to his daddy. We would watch him squirm and kick the phone (at least I think it was a kick) as I placed it on my VERY pregnant belly.

He arrived screaming into this world and hasn’t stopped since. He goes at everything with passion (except maybe cleaning the kitty litter box…and I guess I’d be worried if he did). He loves with passion, tackles with passion, and serves with passion. I have many “favorite” memories, but a few that I’ll share today.

Moment #1- When he became not only my son, but my brother. He was immersed in water committing His life to Christ.

Moment #2-When he climbed out of the pool in Ethiopia, his feet bleeding from carrying orphans across the pool over and over and over again, and he turned to look at me and say, “Mom, can I go back in again and keep carrying them….please?”.

Moment #3….on the streets of Ethiopia. We were walking along the side of the roads, poverty surrounding us. He looked at me and asked if we could take the guard accompanying us and go across the street and give his money to a destitute mother with a little child….that I didn’t even notice.

My son is a privilege to parent. Yes, he’s human and on occasion duct tape sounds mighty tempting (JOKING), but he’s a wonderful son. I thank the Lord for the blessing of loaning him to me. I can’t imagine the agony of what God gave us. I look at my son and am stunned by the enormity of God’s gift.

Thank you my Most Amazing Heavenly Father for the gift of Tom.

Let Me Tell You About Jesus....

My eyes and my heart have just absorbed so much in 37 years. Sometimes it’s hard to breathe as I read more and more about the children out there subjected to the abuse, starvation, and neglect.

We read about child trafficking. We hear how people are stealing children, but often we forget about those that remain as maltreated possessions of the cruel and money hungry.
Often we forget about those that are genuinely starving IN the care of an orphanage, because support is so scattered. We forget about the little child, covered in filth, walking the streets at this very moment…as you sit at your computer…a child living on the edge, vulnerable to the dredges of the child sex trade. Being treated like cattle, worse than cattle…. there for the enjoyment of the perverse.

I’ve been reading about some children in an orphanage remaining under the fist of unscrupulous adults in Sierra Leone. Profiting off these children, but treating them like dogs. Refusing to let children go and having the connections to fight the release of these children within the government. Money being the reason for horror. They have a safe and secure haven that God has provided waiting for them, but yet they still remain. I don’t doubt God will triumph over this adversity and bless them in unimaginable ways, yet….right now there is fear for their welfare. Fear of the abuse (all forms) heaped upon the remaining children. The children they are clinging to like the last scraps of a shredded hope for profit.

The need in Kenya has been shared with us….effected by the drought and the lack of sufficient crops. Children there not knowing where their next meal will come from. The flu having already hit with the ability for medical care absent or closely so. So many children, already ill from malnourishment will fall victim to this next scourge upon them.

In Ethiopia, a beautiful country on my heart daily, new orphans are created every moment. One in six children will die by the age of five. Aids still ravages the landscape. You can meet the most amazing people who have nothing…literally. Street children are not unusual to see, but remarkably common. Take a moment…picture your child…with no one. Picture them sitting on a street corner knowing mommy or daddy will not be coming to pick them up. This is reality. I see my eight-year-old Anna, having no one and yet at eight being an older child on the street.

I remember being in Russia, seeing the stream rise from the huge trash bins and smelling the urine as we walked around Max’s orphanage as we introduced him to the outside world. I remember watching the fear in his eyes as he touched a tree for the very first time. Seeing the bones protrude under his translucent skin.

I visited with a sweet woman and she shared with me some insight into her adoption of a little one from India. She told me to watch “Slum Dog Millionaire” if I wanted to see what life was really like there. She said it’s remarkably accurate. I did. I cried as I saw the filth perpetrated on children. It made me sick with the thoughts of what adults can do. I physically felt ill at things I had yet to imagine because they are so heinous. Blinding children so that they may make more money begging…. and so many other tragedies that no child should have to live through.

In our own country, hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear of some horrible act against a child. CPS is bogged down with the neglected, unwanted, and abused little ones of our society.

Yet they wait. They hunger. They shiver in the cold or swelter in the heat. They have crust covering their eyes and noses and have flies crawling across their faces. Their ribs protrude as they hold out their hands that are often no bigger than the palm of yours. They smile as they fill their mouths with dirt or leaves to try to fill their little stomachs.
They are children of our Heavenly Father that we ignore.

We ignore them for vacations, cruises, larger televisions, or nicer clothes. We ignore for an expensive restaurant, or the all treasured new game system. We ignore them for a new computer program or the new power tool. I’m the worst. I ignore them for convenience. I ignore them for a quick meal out instead of cooking. I ignore them for the instant pleasure of a purchase that I don’t need, but want.

I do think it’s a blessing to be able to enjoy what we have, but for us to conclude what we do for these little ones is ever enough is naïve. It will never be enough. “The poor will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Matthew 26:11.

Yet, I remain in tears today…with my heart heavy…loaded down, with the burden of need for these little ones. What difference can we make for these children? We have the opportunity…through our Heavenly Father, to make every difference. We have the opportunity to say not only, “I can”, but “I will”. We can not hold the hand of our child, our precious blessing, and not realize how blessed we are. We cannot ignore the tugging on our shirts saying, “I have no one, will you leave me here too?” Our hearts cannot remain intact, ignoring the wail of the motherless…the fatherless, alone on the streets…in orphanages…being sold…alone…abandoned…cold…hungry…alone…alone…alone….

As I sit here tonight, I pray from the bottom of my heart that each and every Christian will listen to the child tugging on their shirt. I pray that they will hear the little voice from next door or across the world. I fall to my knees and beg, plead, and cry out for someone to hear the voice…and answer the question “Will you leave me here too?”

I long to hear the answer….

“You are my child, a child of the most amazing Heavenly Father. I will not ignore you. I will adopt you, as God adopted me. I will have mercy, as mercy has been given to me. I will feed you, as I have been fed. Let me tell you about Jesus….”