The most earnest prayer I pray is "Come Lord Jesus. Please come quickly. We are looking for you. We are looking forward to your return. We pray it is soon."
I'm not sure if it's the heat or what, but so many children have passed away recently. So many orphans have passed away. Many of them were alone and unloved.
A lot of loved and wanted children, living with their parents, have also died in the past few weeks. It's a brutal reality. Whether we hear about it or not, it happens. Every day. How can we not LONG for heaven?
It would be easier not to look, not to know, not to be called to pray for these little ones. But I am. And I do. I pray for sick children to be healed. I wait for each orphan to be chosen. For each family called to say yes to God. To listen and obey. To trust and obey. To step out in faith. To sacrifice a little (yes it is so very little that we actually sacrifice when you consider our standard of living compared with most of the world, especially abandoned children).
It's not convenient or easy to say yes. (When are children ever easy?) There are some that say adoption is the current evangelical Christian fad. Oh how I wish it were. There are some communities where several families adopted after one family's journey lit their fellow Christians' hearts on fire for orphans. I wish every community had several adoptive families. I wish it were the norm, not the exception.
I don't believe everyone is called to adopt. Our callings are between us and Christ alone. But my heart's cry for my fellow believers is that we all say as Samuel did, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." I am grieved for the times my Lord was calling and I was not listening. I fall so short. I desperately need my risen Savior. If we are to live eternally minded, we will be about our Father's business - whatever that means for each of us.
Some very kind friends of ours heard God's call to support us in this adoption and have given us a very generous donation. Thank you so much dear friends. We know others are praying along with us for our new son and we are so very grateful for that.
If you've never seen this video (below), please take a moment to watch it. It convicts me every time. Not just about adoption, but about aligning our desires with the heart of Christ. He's a good, good Father, and so worthy.
Click here for the video...DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
IT'S A BOY!
We are once again answering the Lord's call to adopt. This time, He has given us a precious son in Asia! We have been much in prayer about this for quite a while, and we have no doubt that the Lord is asking us to step out in faith, trusting His plan for our family.
The Hebrews "hall of faith" is filled with inspirational accounts of God calling His children to step out of their comfort zones (way out!) in obedience to Him. Every time I read the words "By faith...", my heart swells with anticipation of how God uses each situation for His glory. Likewise, we will obey His call.
Our new son turned 3 in March and was born with congenital heart disease. He had the Glenn procedure done when he was 18 months old and he will need another procedure which can wait until after he gets home as far as we know. How soon he will need the procedure after arriving home will depend on his oxygen saturation among other things.
We will of course be praying for the Lord to heal him how and when He sees fit. Lord willing, he will be home early 2017. To God be all the glory!!
We are so very grateful to those of you who came alongside us as the body of Christ during our adoption in 2013. You were truly the hands and feet of Jesus through your prayers, love, gifts, cooked meals and financial support. Since some of you have already asked about how to help with this adoption, we have created a Youcaring account with an initial goal of $4,000.00.
As always, we covet your prayers. Adoption is often a spiritual battle and we are already experiencing the effects of that. As you pray for our family and our new son, please pray for his heart both physically and emotionally. We know God answered the prayers we prayed for our daughter while she was still an ocean away in 2013. We saw the proof of that when she made it home alive despite her failing health. We praise Him for what He did then and we praise Him for what He is doing now.
Thank you so much!
Click HERE to donate to our YOUCARING account. (And to see his PICTURE! This was when he was a little younger. Love that sweet smile!) You Caring does not take a cut of donations, but the payout company (paypal or wepay) takes 3%.
*****Update on our host daughter from Asia (that stayed with us this past December)*****
A family committed to adopt her about two weeks after she left us. We were overjoyed with this development and kept in contact with her new family as they began the monumentous paperwork process. Meanwhile, we said yes to the Lord's calling and began the process to adopt our son. We then found out that her new family could not proceed with the adoption. Another family is hosting her this summer in the US and we will be prayerfully waiting to see if they or another family will feel led to be her forever family.
Please pray for these sweet kiddos!
***Enter you email in the box in the top right hand corner of this blog to be notified of future updates.***
The Hebrews "hall of faith" is filled with inspirational accounts of God calling His children to step out of their comfort zones (way out!) in obedience to Him. Every time I read the words "By faith...", my heart swells with anticipation of how God uses each situation for His glory. Likewise, we will obey His call.
Our new son turned 3 in March and was born with congenital heart disease. He had the Glenn procedure done when he was 18 months old and he will need another procedure which can wait until after he gets home as far as we know. How soon he will need the procedure after arriving home will depend on his oxygen saturation among other things.
We will of course be praying for the Lord to heal him how and when He sees fit. Lord willing, he will be home early 2017. To God be all the glory!!
We are so very grateful to those of you who came alongside us as the body of Christ during our adoption in 2013. You were truly the hands and feet of Jesus through your prayers, love, gifts, cooked meals and financial support. Since some of you have already asked about how to help with this adoption, we have created a Youcaring account with an initial goal of $4,000.00.
As always, we covet your prayers. Adoption is often a spiritual battle and we are already experiencing the effects of that. As you pray for our family and our new son, please pray for his heart both physically and emotionally. We know God answered the prayers we prayed for our daughter while she was still an ocean away in 2013. We saw the proof of that when she made it home alive despite her failing health. We praise Him for what He did then and we praise Him for what He is doing now.
Thank you so much!
Click HERE to donate to our YOUCARING account. (And to see his PICTURE! This was when he was a little younger. Love that sweet smile!) You Caring does not take a cut of donations, but the payout company (paypal or wepay) takes 3%.
*****Update on our host daughter from Asia (that stayed with us this past December)*****
A family committed to adopt her about two weeks after she left us. We were overjoyed with this development and kept in contact with her new family as they began the monumentous paperwork process. Meanwhile, we said yes to the Lord's calling and began the process to adopt our son. We then found out that her new family could not proceed with the adoption. Another family is hosting her this summer in the US and we will be prayerfully waiting to see if they or another family will feel led to be her forever family.
Please pray for these sweet kiddos!
***Enter you email in the box in the top right hand corner of this blog to be notified of future updates.***
Thursday, December 3, 2015
We're hosting!
We wanted to give a heads up to those of you who may see us over the next month...we will have five kids in tow. I thought about a quick text but there is really no concise way to announce our exciting news plus explain a few things you are sure to be curious about. Also, we may or may not have enough brain power to coherently discuss hosting when we see you because... we will have five small children with us...lol.
There are several agencies/organizations that coordinate summer and winter hosting programs for orphans. Here is a link to the FAQ page from Project 143:
http://www.projectonefortythree.org/about/faq/
We are hosting through a smaller adoption agency that doesn't have an FAQ page, but this one from P143 answers some common questions about hosting.
The main goals of hosting are to demonstrate the love of Christ to orphans and increase their chances of being adopted. As stated in the faq above, orphans who have special needs and are not babies (orphans over the age of two are considered "older") basically have almost no chance of being adopted. But the percentage of children who are adopted after hosting is MUCH higher!
It is not our intention to adopt our host daughter at this time, but we will of course be prayerfully seeking the Lord's direction throughout this process of advocating for her to be adopted - whoever her family may be.
I love the passage in Corinthians about the parts of the body of Christ. We long to "know our role" in the kingdom and fulfill our role in service to our Savior. In the adoption community, there is a saying that is often quoted:
"Pray/Advocate/Donate/Adopt...Do Something."
I love how God calls His children to different areas of service for Him. He has called us to serve orphans and 'tis the season for hosting for us.
Please pray for our sweet girl's heart as she bravely crosses an ocean into an unknown and pray that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide us to be able to serve and love her with His powerful anointing during her visit. We appreciate your prayers and support as always!
Matthew 25:
We wanted to give a heads up to those of you who may see us over the next month...we will have five kids in tow. I thought about a quick text but there is really no concise way to announce our exciting news plus explain a few things you are sure to be curious about. Also, we may or may not have enough brain power to coherently discuss hosting when we see you because... we will have five small children with us...lol.
There are several agencies/organizations that coordinate summer and winter hosting programs for orphans. Here is a link to the FAQ page from Project 143:
http://www.projectonefortythree.org/about/faq/
We are hosting through a smaller adoption agency that doesn't have an FAQ page, but this one from P143 answers some common questions about hosting.
The main goals of hosting are to demonstrate the love of Christ to orphans and increase their chances of being adopted. As stated in the faq above, orphans who have special needs and are not babies (orphans over the age of two are considered "older") basically have almost no chance of being adopted. But the percentage of children who are adopted after hosting is MUCH higher!
It is not our intention to adopt our host daughter at this time, but we will of course be prayerfully seeking the Lord's direction throughout this process of advocating for her to be adopted - whoever her family may be.
I love the passage in Corinthians about the parts of the body of Christ. We long to "know our role" in the kingdom and fulfill our role in service to our Savior. In the adoption community, there is a saying that is often quoted:
"Pray/Advocate/Donate/Adopt...Do Something."
I love how God calls His children to different areas of service for Him. He has called us to serve orphans and 'tis the season for hosting for us.
Please pray for our sweet girl's heart as she bravely crosses an ocean into an unknown and pray that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide us to be able to serve and love her with His powerful anointing during her visit. We appreciate your prayers and support as always!
Matthew 25:
31 “But when the Son of Man[d] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[e] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[f] you were doing it to me!’
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