I thought I'd take this moment to share more of my heart with you. Last year God laid orphan care on my heart. There are millions of orphans in this world, last year there were 147 million, that number has increased and continues to increase everyday. Here in our comfortable American lives it's easy to ignore this because we live in a very wealthy country. Even when we think we are poor, we do not truly grasp what it means to live below poverty. It is time to stop being ignorant and do something! Below are some stats for you to ponder:
Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa
Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans
Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone)
These are just a few of the statistics, the rest are very overwhelming, I'll save them for another blog. Clearly there is a huge problem in this world, you can choose to ignore it, or choose to do something about it.
We are currently adopting, but this is only the beginning. I plan to defend this cause for the rest of my life!!! I'm not quite sure how yet, but I will keep you posted. You may not be at a place in your life where you are able to adopt, and thats okay. There are so many other ways you can help! Here are some ideas: You can sponsor a child, there are some great ministries that can help you do this (Compassion, World Vision, Vision Trust). Donate to organizations that help with orphan care (check out the links on the right of this blog). Buy products that go directly to helping with orphan care (147 million orphans link). Help out a family who is adopting. This list goes on and on, get creative.
My final question that I will leave you to ponder: How are you going to make a difference in the life of an orphan?
February 17, 2010
February 9, 2010
Control
These last couple weeks I have learned that I do not have control of this adoption; it is all in God's hands. I have found myself trying to take control, but each time it seems to back fire. I have thought a couple times now I have had our dossier completed, but have then found random errors that need fixing. I have also tried to come up with ways to make extra money to help pay for this adoption, but again was reminded that I need to trust God to provide. We have definitely learned so much already, and this is only the beginning of our journey!
January 27, 2010
Frustration
So now I am going to vent. I just found out from our case worker that our other background checks are complete. These are the ones that could have taken a couple months. A definite mountain moved by God. So our homestudy could have been close to complete if L didn't have to be re-fingerprinted. Which by the way he did yesterday and I had them over-nighted. So pray that they are processed quickly. In the mean time, I keep trying to remind myself that God's timing for everything is perfect, and some situations are completely out of my control!
January 25, 2010
Last Homestudy
Today was our last home study visit. Now the 1st part of a lot of waiting begins. We are now waiting for background checks to be complete in order for our case worker to finish our home study. Did I mention how amazing our caseworker is, definitely a God send.
We also ran into another bump in the road. Our case worker told us today Luke's fingerprints would have to be redone for the background checks. The FBI had trouble reading his typed name. Which last time it took L over 2 weeks to even get his fingerprints done because the hours don't exactly coincide with his job. So pray that he can get them done ASAP and that our background checks get done quickly. We've heard that the child abuse check could take months.
In the mean time, there are 9 families in Rwanda right now getting their children. I have enjoyed following their blogs, praying for them, and crying with them as I watch the videos of them getting their children. I know, a little sappy, but it seems to keep us going as we begin our long wait to get our children.
We also ran into another bump in the road. Our case worker told us today Luke's fingerprints would have to be redone for the background checks. The FBI had trouble reading his typed name. Which last time it took L over 2 weeks to even get his fingerprints done because the hours don't exactly coincide with his job. So pray that he can get them done ASAP and that our background checks get done quickly. We've heard that the child abuse check could take months.
In the mean time, there are 9 families in Rwanda right now getting their children. I have enjoyed following their blogs, praying for them, and crying with them as I watch the videos of them getting their children. I know, a little sappy, but it seems to keep us going as we begin our long wait to get our children.
January 18, 2010
The Process
So I realized after the first post that we left out a few details that you may want to know. The country we are adopting from is Rwanda. We are requesting two one-year-olds, a boy and a girl. Just because we are requesting 2 children, does not mean the government of Rwanda will approve us for 2 children; of course we hope this is not the case. This is one thing we will have to leave in God's hands; He knows what is best for us! This whole process should take about a year.
Currently we are in the middle of doing our home study. For those of you not familiar with the term home study, here is our definition. It's where a complete stranger comes into your home and seems to know everything about you (after reveiwing many documents that we sent to her). She then interviews us (4 different times, some being separate) and determines if we are fit to adopt. This case worker then writes a detailed report about us that will be used for other parts of our adoption process.
We are also currently in the process of collecting documents for our dossier. The dossier is the packet of papers that will get sent to Rwanda. This part of our "paper pregnancy" has definitely caused some high blood pressure on my part. Had some issues getting my birth certificate from the state of California, but thanks to a fabulous website called vitalchek.com, the U.S. Government has helped me to get it since California is definitely having some issues! Also ordered the wrong backround checks and had to re-order those.
All things considered, we've only hit some minor bumps in the road. I'm sure there will be many more to come. We will continue to keep you posted on where we are at in this process. In the mean time, pray for God's perfect timing!
Currently we are in the middle of doing our home study. For those of you not familiar with the term home study, here is our definition. It's where a complete stranger comes into your home and seems to know everything about you (after reveiwing many documents that we sent to her). She then interviews us (4 different times, some being separate) and determines if we are fit to adopt. This case worker then writes a detailed report about us that will be used for other parts of our adoption process.
We are also currently in the process of collecting documents for our dossier. The dossier is the packet of papers that will get sent to Rwanda. This part of our "paper pregnancy" has definitely caused some high blood pressure on my part. Had some issues getting my birth certificate from the state of California, but thanks to a fabulous website called vitalchek.com, the U.S. Government has helped me to get it since California is definitely having some issues! Also ordered the wrong backround checks and had to re-order those.
All things considered, we've only hit some minor bumps in the road. I'm sure there will be many more to come. We will continue to keep you posted on where we are at in this process. In the mean time, pray for God's perfect timing!
January 12, 2010
Why
As we have shared with our family and friends that we are in the process of adopting from Africa, we have received many responses. The main response is complete excitement for us, our family, and our future children. Along with this response there have been many comments on how we are doing such a noble/admirable thing. This response in itself is why we chose to create this blog. In addition to keeping everyone up-to-date on where we are in this adoption process, we also wanted to clarify why we are doing this.
As Christians, we have learned that our plans many times do not match up with God's plan for us. And, God's plans for us many times lead us to do things that are very different from the world around us. With that being said, if you had asked us a year ago, we would have told you we were done having children. But over the last year God made it clear to us that we were to have more children, and that they were not to be our own. So we are not doing this to earn gold stars or brownie points. On the contrary, we are do this because it is where God is leading us and all the glory should go to Him, not us. We are simply being obedient.
We have also been asked by many people, "Why Africa?" or one of my personal favorites, "You do realize those children will be more black than the black children here?" There are currently 147 million ophans in the world, and there are a lot here in the U.S. But we felt like our government does a good job of financially supporting these children through our foster care system. There are other countries on the other hand that have more of a need for help than ours. Not to mention, unfortunatley we will still live in a time where many people do not want to adopt black children. We recentley read an article talking about how the adoption rate in China has increased greatly and some people believe this is due to the fact that Chinese children are closer to white than other children. Our point being, in addition to God leading us to Africia, there is a definite need for homes for black children, even here in the U.S.
My challenge to each of you is to find ways that you can help. This doesn't mean you need to adopt, but there are many ways you can help the millions of orphans here in the U.S. and all over the world. Check out the links above our pictures.
I would also like to ask you to pray for us on this journey that we just only begun. There will be many ups and downs that require a lot of patience and us waiting on God's perfect timing.
As Christians, we have learned that our plans many times do not match up with God's plan for us. And, God's plans for us many times lead us to do things that are very different from the world around us. With that being said, if you had asked us a year ago, we would have told you we were done having children. But over the last year God made it clear to us that we were to have more children, and that they were not to be our own. So we are not doing this to earn gold stars or brownie points. On the contrary, we are do this because it is where God is leading us and all the glory should go to Him, not us. We are simply being obedient.
We have also been asked by many people, "Why Africa?" or one of my personal favorites, "You do realize those children will be more black than the black children here?" There are currently 147 million ophans in the world, and there are a lot here in the U.S. But we felt like our government does a good job of financially supporting these children through our foster care system. There are other countries on the other hand that have more of a need for help than ours. Not to mention, unfortunatley we will still live in a time where many people do not want to adopt black children. We recentley read an article talking about how the adoption rate in China has increased greatly and some people believe this is due to the fact that Chinese children are closer to white than other children. Our point being, in addition to God leading us to Africia, there is a definite need for homes for black children, even here in the U.S.
My challenge to each of you is to find ways that you can help. This doesn't mean you need to adopt, but there are many ways you can help the millions of orphans here in the U.S. and all over the world. Check out the links above our pictures.
I would also like to ask you to pray for us on this journey that we just only begun. There will be many ups and downs that require a lot of patience and us waiting on God's perfect timing.
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