We need eachother...

This video was created to promote Orphan Sunday last year, but it's great to watch any time and be reminded that as Christians, we are called to care:

Summit Highlights

After a full day of travel last Wednesday, we arrived at our dingy Motel 6 room at 1am-- a room claiming to be non-smoking but smelling anything but.  We slept for a little less than 5 hours and headed to the Summit which was hosted by Southeast Christian Church. 

As we pulled up, I didn't know exactly what to expect.  I knew it would be amazing, and I knew that God wanted me here, but I didn't want to be so attached to the experience I had at last year's Summit that it took away from what I was supposed to get out of this year's Summit. We walked in to this monstrosity of a church to register and right away the Twietmeyer family walked by us.  Tears came to my eyes just seeing them.  Here's a family that has 7 biological children, and has adopted two sibling groups of 3 from Ethiopia (some with HIV or AIDS), and another baby from the US with Downs Syndrome.  They also began an organization called Project Hopeful that works to advocate for and break down stigma's associated with adopting children with HIV/AIDs.  I knew our time there would be great and I was so in awe of how God brought me to this place when we didn't have the money to get there ourselves.

The time we spent at the Summit was amazing.  We got to meet Kiel and Caroline Twietmeyer:

We met Paul Pennington, Co-founder of Hope for Orphans:

We met our adoption coordinator that we've only corresponded with over the phone and email, gave her a big hug and were able to ask her a ton of questions:



We heard from former pro-football player, Luther Ellis, and his wife about their heart for adoption and how God has used their family of 13 to care for the Fatherless (Jamey ran and snagged a picture while I held our place in the lunch line):

We attended several breakout sessions including ones about protecting your marriage from the challenges of parenting adopted children, beginning an orphan ministry in your church, HIV and the orphan, becoming a multiracial family, starting an adoption ministry, current legislation affecting adoption and orphan care, and advocating as a busy mom.

We got to see the Mwangaza Children's Choir and later Sara Groves in concert (sorry, no picture!):

And we left with a lot to consider...

I'm sure I'll be processing all that we took in for quite awhile (I'll blog about some of it!).  One thing was clear and was stated several times while we were there: when you care for orphans, you come close to the heart of God!  I'm so excited to see how God uses all that He poured in to us to "Defend the cause of the Fatherless..." (Isaiah 1:17).  I'll be praying that He continues to work in each of your hearts, and reveals to you how He wants you to live out the biblical mandate to care for orphans and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Breakdown

My husband asked me if he could write something to post on my blog regarding our experience at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VII in Louisville, KY.  These are his words:

 

The Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit was a very moving and rejuvenating experience. It renewed my spirit; it opened my eyes to the plight of the orphan, to the importance of my marriage, and to the work God is calling me. There were great speakers and great worship moments, ones where you knew the Holy Spirit was at work in you and moving the cause forward.  The final night’s speaker was the teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church, Kyle Idleman. He spoke on the three “C’s” that all Christians must truly understand to be followers and not just fans (from his new book “Not a Fan” see link http://www.notafan.com). The three C’s are Control, Comfort, and Convenience. These are three things that as followers of Christ we cannot expect to have when we follow His will. In the moment of his speaking, I was doing the typical Christian response with a nice steady head nod and a muffled amen to show my agreement. The problem was that ultimately it was all head knowledge, not heart and soul knowledge. Little did I know how quickly this would change!
    As we started our twelve hour car ride home, from the summit in Louisville, Kentucky, my mind was working overtime, excited about all the knowledge I had gained. I had thought that after the conference I would get some time to recuperate and let all the great wisdom settle in. God had other plans and wanted to continue my learning curve with some firsthand experiences. As we drove through the heart of Indianapolis our car overheated and left us unable to start it. A few moments after the smoke had settled and we were sure our car was far enough off the interstate so that a Mack truck wouldn’t come barreling down on us, my wife and I looked at each other with the “what do we do now?” look. It was at this moment I felt the honeymoon phase of the summit slipping away. The real world and all its problems came flooding back into our lives on the side of that road in Indianapolis.
    This is where the lesson begins.  No sooner had the car stopped working, when the realization that we needed help started to cross our minds. We needed people who we could count on, those that had been there for us before and had come through time and time again. We needed our families!  Even at the adult ages of 29 and 30 (I am 29 if you were wondering) we need our parents and families. My wife started calling her dad for help and I called my dad for help. Asking for guidance, reassurance, and the “what do we do now?” questions. In the course of this 6 hour delay that included a tow to a local auto shop, a new crank sensor (I don’t know either, but it is needed!), and a bill that could have bought me an itouch, I felt the impact of the three C’s. All my control was taken away because I could not fix the car myself, my comfort relying on our vehicle was gone and getting home around supper time changed to around 1am, making our long day even longer, and the inconvenience of having to sit in an auto shop waiting room for six hours, not knowing if we would have to junk the car, rent a car, or buy a new one all came crashing down on me. Through it all, the Lord was faithful and he did get us home safely in the same car. It wasn’t until driving through Chicago when the lesson he was teaching me sunk in.  

I am a grown man; I have an amazing partner in my wife. I have parents who were willing to drive from 3 states away to get us if needed. I had a brother in law and sister who live by Chicago who were willing to drive down and pick us up if needed. You see I have a family. I have a family and when the chips are down, families rise to the occasion, to protect each other, to care for each other, that is what family does. Do you see the point; do you see the importance of this reality? What if I were an orphan, a foster child who had aged out of the system at 18 years old and was stranded on the side of that American interstate? What would I do? Who would I call? And the reality is that we have too many orphans "sitting on the side of that interstate" in places of distress wondering who to call. I believe that God expresses his love for the orphans and the oppressed. I believe he talks about the orphan to Israel in the bible over 40 times because they don’t have control over their circumstances, they can’t find comfort in families, and they don’t have the convenience of support and resource of others.  

If we want to be like Christ then we, the church, must recognize our status as orphans who have been adopted in to the family of God. As we reflect on the amazing reality that God adopted us in to His family when we had nothing to offer Him, we can't deny the power of what adoption does for a person.  Our hearts should be grieved over the children living without the earthly family that they so desperately desire.  When our hearts break in the same way that God’s does, I believe it will bring us closer to being followers, not merely "fans", of Christ. And ultimately I think it will help us…help orphans.

Happy Birth Mother's Day!

I just found out that today is officially Birth Mother's Day.  Today, I will be sending up prayers for the birth mother of our baby.  With our referral most likely coming to us in the next month or two, it is very probable that this woman has already given birth to our baby.  I have no idea what her circumstances are, how old she is, what she's like or what she looks like, but I'm deeply grateful that she has chosen to give her child life--and because she has, our hearts will be forever connected.

Once there were two women who never knew eachother.

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make your one.

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.

One gave you the seed of talent, the other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide,

The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me through your tears

The age-old question through the years,

Heredity or environment--

Which are you a product of?

Neither, my darling--neither;

Just two different kinds of love.

--Author Unknown

A Touching Story...

We have been ministered to by a married couple whom we've never met.  They are the founders of an incredible ministry called Hope for Orphans. 

We just learned that their grandson, adopted from Korea with pulmonary atresia, passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of six.  Read the deeply touching blog post written by Paul Pennington regarding his grandson's death.

What Would I Tell a Family Considering Adoption?

Last night I was asked what I would tell a family considering adoption.  I don't know how articulate my answer was in that particular moment, but after thinking about it there are a few simple things I would say:

1.  You don't have to be perfect.
2.  You don't have to be rich.
3.  You just have to be willing.
4.  If you feel God tugging on your heart in the area of adoption then, with your spouse, prayerfully consider doing it.  God may want you to go through a season of preparation before you take that step, but be willing to ask Him, with an open heart, if this is what He's calling you to do.  He will answer you!
5.  Keep in mind that we tend to overthink things-- you don't have to have everything figured out before you take this step of faith-- and that's what it is, a step of faith.
6.  Don't forget the children who right now are languishing in orphanages or foster homes, deeply, intensely longing for a family to call their own.  Then ask yourself, why can't we give them one?
7.  Remember that you cannot solve the entire orphan crisis, but you can do something.  If God is not calling you to adopt, then what is He calling you to do to defend orphans?  Do it.  Take a step.  One small step can lead to another and another. 
8.  Ask yourself, "If not us, then who?"

"Learn to do good.  Seek justice.  Help the oppressed.  Defend the orphan.  Fight for the rights of widows."  --Isaiah 1:17

Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VII...Here we come!!

It's official-- we're attending the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VII this coming May 12-13th!  We balled our eyes out for two days straight, and experienced the Holy Spirit moving powerfully in us when we attended last year in Minneapolis, MN.  However, because of being in the midst of adopting while raising a family on a teacher's salary, I didn't think we'd be able to go again this year.  Praise God that He had different plans!  My husband had the idea to approach our church leadership about attending to represent our church and they were completely supportive and totally on board with the idea.  I can't wait to soak up as much as I possibly can and be in the same room with so many people whose lives I want to emulate.  Food for the soul, I tell ya!  The other cool thing is that we get to come back and share with some of our church leadership regarding all the ideas we picked up at the conference about engaging the church to help care for orphans.  Oh yeah, and did I mention that our adoption agency is located in Lousiville?--so we'll get the chance to stop in and meet with some of the people whose voices we've only met, but have worked alongside us on this journey to bring our baby home.  Can't wait, and all this only a few days after I turn 30.  Couldn't think of a better way to begin this new chapter of life!