living

This verse has left me quite uncontent with my apathy and laziness recently:

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17

We only have one life to live and then and eternity with God. I know this, i just haven't been living like it. I want to seize the day and love others fully, genuinely, sacrificially like Christ does.

My friend Stephanie sent me this song. She wrote it and is singing and playing it. It was perfect timing. Enjoy!

Mary

I can’t get Mary out of my mind. About a week ago 6 year old Mary was visiting her uncle. Mary is one of the 600 orphans in Indian that we care for through Global Partners. Because our children’s homes have no legal rights over the children, to be in good standing with the community sometimes we allow a child to visit a relative if he or she has any and they request. Her uncle is very poor man but a very trust worthy man. While he was out working, Mary was stolen from his home. The police said that many children in that area have been stolen. Little girls make a profit and are sold into the sex industry.

They said they have never found any of the stolen children.

I know the statistics and I know this happens all of the time throughout the world, but this girl we know and I can’t get Mary out of my mind. She was a new orphan waiting to be sponsored.. we have over 200 that need monthly sponsors now. Without the children’s homes the fate of these orphaned and abandoned children is horrific. Most of the girls will be abused or sold and the boys the same or become street children or thieves for someone else.

When you see this so close…when, you know the child’s name…. somehow the reality of what is going on in the world really sits in and everything else falls into perspective.

We don’t have a picture of Mary but here is picture of another child that lives in one of our homes about the same age as Mary.

Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors. Psalm 72:4-5

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

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

If you want to provide clothing, shoes, and basic needs for an unsposored child this month please give here: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=a81f63 . It is $30/per child for the Christmas gift or any amount you want to give will help. 100% of the funds giving go toward what they are designated to with GPPD.

paper conception

For most people pregnancy doesn’t happen on the first try. And if you have ever had to wait for God to bless you with a child it seems to take forever. Jonathan and I know a little about waiting for a child.. we had 2 miscarriages before Elijah was born and now we know this wait for our adopted child. Even though it has only been since May when we officially started our homestudy…this child has been in our hearts for years and it seems like it is taking forever.

The last day of July we completed our homestudy and had all the paper work ready to send in the dossier (paper work for Ethiopian Government). The following day our agency said the rules had changed and we had to wait to mail in the dossier till we had approval from US CIS. We had to wait longer than expected for the US CIS approval because of our homestudy agency had misworded our homestudy. It has been hard for Jonathan and I both to be patient even though it has only been a few months. We both know that God has a bigger plan. So we trust… and we wait.

I now I sit here in tears looking at our completed dossier and US CIS approval.. about to leave for the post office. Our baby is coming. I don’t know if we will have a boy or girl or 1 or 2, we said we were open. The birth order rule makes it so he/she/they will most likely be under the age of 2. We initially asked for a girl but my heart teeters between both… God knows… i will just trust.

People in the adoption world refer to the paper work as being “paper pregnant”. So it would only make since that this would be our “paper conception”. And with the miracle of adoption you can “conceive” when one of you is at home and the other one is, well … on the other side of the world… in Slovakia. So here is a picture story of our “paper conception”. Thank you, Skype!

Now we will wait again as God connects the child/children he has pre-destined for us to love and parent into our arms. Pray all goes smoothly with our paperwork.. and that both of us would trust Him the giver of all good gifts!

Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this. Psalm 37:4-5