Waiting Children

I almost daily get emails, facebook posts, etc. on orphans that are waiting for a forever family. Today's emails/posts tugged at my heart a little more than usual (if that's even possible) and so I thought I would share them with all of you.

The first email I had waiting for me when I woke up was from America World Adoption Agency. They are looking for homes for these beautiful boys waiting in China. Most people think only girls wait for homes in China but this is not true, there are many boys waiting as well. Here is the email:
"We would like to ask families to join AWAA in praying for the following four boys in our China Waiting Children program, who are currently looking for their forever family. We trust that God will move through our prayers on their behalf and we are eager to see all He will accomplish through our united prayers! Thank you for joining America World in committing these children to prayer.
Logan* is a smiley little 10 month old boy who likes to cuddle. His favorite time of the day is meal time! He enjoys attention and teasing, and laughs out loud when he is played with. He is also a good sleeper. Logan has repaired spina bifida and is a possible Hepatitis B carrier. He is an agency specific referral and is only available for families who have a dossier in China.
Aaron* is a cute 10 month old boy with a ready smile. He has discovered that he can roll over. He is a sound sleeper and likes to suck on his fingers while he sleeps. Aaron has been diagnosed with hypospadias, mild hydrocephalus and a congenital heart defect. He is an agency specific and special focus referral.
Colby* is a bright-eyed, handsome little boy who just celebrated his 5th birthday. Colby is a special focus referral and has been diagnosed with congenital meningocele, hydrocephalus and a genital malformation. He is enrolled in kindergarten and enjoys playing with other children. He is an active child who enjoys playing hide and seek, listening to music, and playing with animal toys.
Ethan* is a smart, active six and a half year old boy. He likes to watch cartoons and dances when he hears music. He is a social boy who enjoys playing with other children and likes to visit places with lots of people. He likes playing outside and one of his favorite toys is a toy cell phone. Ethan has a repaired cleft lip and palate and is an agency specific and special focus referral.
Please join us this month in praying for Logan, Aaron, Colby and Ethan. Please pray for their development and health, for their nannies/caretakers, and for a family to come forward for their adoptions.

The second one was actually on a post I follow on Twitter called heart4adopt. Each day they post children here in the US that are waiting, in hopes that they find them a forever home. Today's children are so precious. They are a sibling set of 4, yes 4! You can find out more about them by clicking this link and click on Wednesday's child. They update this site every day with a new child/children, so you can check back each day if you would like.

So if you know someone who is looking to adopt, please share this information. Please also pray that these children find a forever home soon! As always, please let me know if we can help you in any way.

Caring for Orphans by Keeping a Family Together

Part of caring for the orphan involves keeping families intact so that their children do not become part of the overwhelming number of fatherless children in this world. This is the ideal way of caring for orphans; if at all possible. My friends, the Blocks, are helping to do just that. They recently picked up their family and moved to Guatemala to serve the orphans there (they cannot be adopted because Guatemala has closed their doors to international adoptions). Yesterday they posted about a man named Javier and his wife who has a tumor. She cannot get into the hospital there because it is not considered "life threatening" so she has lived with the tumor for months. Without surgery she could die and leave her husband to try to care for their children. So the Blocks posted Javier's story on their blog and within minutes collected the amount needed for Javier's wife to see a private doctor and have the surgery! The Blocks helped keep this family together; helped keep these children from losing a mother. If you want to care for orphans but don't know how, keep an eye on this blog from the Blocks, they are constantly posting needs that they come across in Guatemala. If you do donate, know that every penny of what you send to them will be spent on exactly what they say it will be spent on. Pray about it and if God is asking you to help, please do!

Wraping Around Adoptive Families

Feel that you are not called to adopt? You can still care for the orphan by providing support to those called to adopt. There are many different ways to minister to God's orphan children and to adoptive families who have welcomed these children home.

Adoptive Families Need Your Help
Due to the challenges of adopting a child, many adoptive families desperately need support from their church families. Asking for help however, can be difficult to do. Many adoptive families may interpret their struggles as failure, question their calling to adopt or, worst of all, feel abandoned by the God who called them to the journey of adoption. Struggling adoptive families need their church families to wrap around and support them during times of trial. When churches do this, they mirror our heavenly Father, who wraps His arms around us during times of joy as well as times of trial. Families struggling in these situations need compassionate, non-judgmental brothers and sisters in Christ to walk beside them to help bear their burdens. Adoptive families need others to WRAP around them with prayer and practical help.

W. Wrestle in Prayer
For previously wounded orphan children, the Enemy stole their childhoods, killed their dreams and destroyed their futures. But that's not the end of their stories. Christ has come that these children may have life and have it to the full. God wants to restore and redeem their beginnings. He has a plan and a future for these children. So when a Christian family welcomes a little child in Jesus' name; provides a loving home; and introduces her to the One who made, loves, heals and delivers her, the Enemy does not stand idly by. The spiritual warfare involved in rescuing orphans is very real and often overlooked. Adoptive families need you to wrestle in prayer on their behalf.
Pray for: Strength and Patience, Grace and Mercy. God's truth to be revealed to the families amid the schemes and lies of the Enemy. Spiritual eyes to see the truth behind their struggle and strength to exercise their faith and trust in their mighty God. Ears attuned to the living God, who will walk them through their trials.
Also Pray Specifically For The Child: That God would heal wounds of rejection, abandonment, fear and mistrust. That God's love, which never fails, will cover him in all he does. To know and believe that there is hope in Christ. To trust in and receive her new family's love and desire to help her heal.

R. Respite Care
No matter how wonderful, committed and loving adoptive parents are, they need a break from the demands of caring for their children. Respite care is defined as "short-term or temporary care...to provide relief to the regular caregiver". Times of respite allow parents to focus on their marriage, take time to regroup, and enjoy much-needed peace, quiet, and rest.
There are several unique aspects to respite care: Respite should not begin until the child has been in the home for several months. You must get to know the children beforehand. The respite must be long enough to be worth the trouble of preparing for it. Respite time shouldn't be a "vacation" for the child where they are free from the rules of daily life. If possible, provide respite in the child's home in order to maintain as much of the structure and schedule as possible.

A. Acts of Service
This is a list of ways you can provide an act of service for an adoptive family:
Meals: Provide a meal or two for a family who just brought their new child home.
Errands and Shopping: Pick up a few things for the adoptive family at the store or run an errand for them.
Laundry: Pick up the family's laundry, take it home, and return it folded.
Yard Work: Have a yard cleanup party for the adoptive family.
Cleaning: Arrange to clean a family's house for them while they are away.
Financial Assistance: Provide a monetary gift to help offset adoption expenses.
Gifts for Homecoming Celebration: Adoptive families don't often have a "baby shower" so a gift to the adoptive family is a great way to provide an act of service.

P. Promises of God
Providing encouragement with God's Word through notes, calls or emails can be a powerful source of comfort and strength for families. Hope-filled words combined with listening ears, understanding hearts, kindness and mercy will deeply resonate.

That's a W.R.A.P.
While not every family is called to open their home to a child in need, everyone can be involved in caring for orphans. Take time to explore how the Lord may be asking you to serve the adoptive families in our community and church. Often it's the smallest gestures that mean the most.

Do We See America's Orphans?

A great post about the Fatherless in our own back yard. Take a minute and read it. Be changed.
Do We See America’s Orphans

Orphan Hosting Program for Summer of 2012

I received some additional information this morning about the hosting program that I want to share with you all. It has been confirmed that the children will be coming from Ethiopia. They will be boys ages 8-14, girls ages 10-14, and maybe some sibling sets. They will be staying in Fresno for 3-4 weeks next July and are all adoptable! The last hosting event Welcoming Angels did was with 10 children from Ethiopia and of those, 9 have been adopted! You do NOT need to want to adopt to host a child, but you do have to advocate for the child! Some of the 9 I mentioned were not adopted by their host families, they were adopted by neighbors and friends that fell in love with them! We can make this happen in Fresno, at NorthPointe! How amazing would it be to have 10 little Ethiopian children running around NP and then placed in their forever families?!

I was originally told the costs would be up to $3500 but was told today that it will be more like $2500 and she is trying to get the costs lower! That is great news! One of the ways to get the costs even lower is to find a doctor and dentist to treat these children pro bono if they become ill or there's an emergency, so that it lessens the costs of insurance for the children. So if anyone knows of anyone who may be interested in volunteering their services, please let me know. Also, if any of you are interested in hosting, please let me know as soon as possible. We need a minimum of 5 families to host...let's make this happen NorthPointe!

The Oasis - Our Ethiopian Adoption: All Fall Down

The Oasis - Our Ethiopian Adoption: All Fall Down: A great post on adoption and, more importantly, orphan care.

International vs. Domestic Adoption

Strolling through a blog I love to read, the Blocks, and I came across this old post from them about international and domestic adoption that I wanted to share with you. If you have ever considered adoption this one's for you: click here to read the post!

Sam is This Week’s Waiting Child

An adoption agency I follow on Facebook often posts children that are waiting for a home. Many times, because many people share the child's information on Facebook, Twitter, and other outlets, the children find homes! Thank God for social media and how it helps to advocate for waiting children! Check out this week's waiting child and foward this to your friends. You never know who's heart will be broken for one of these children...allowing these children to find forever homes!
Sam, Minnie and Me — Sam is This Week’s Waiting Child

From the Eyes and Heart of an Adopted Child

Came across this blog post and really loved the perspective from a young woman named Erica who was adopted as an infant.
Hope at Home: An Adopted Child's Perspective on Adoption: Erica

Caring for Orphans in Ethiopia

Bethany Christian Services is doing an amazing job caring for orphans in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has the largest population of orphans, mostly due to AIDS, and Bethany is not only finding forever homes for them here in the US, they are also helping families there in Ethiopia foster these children and they have a sponsorship program which helps families earn a profit to care for their children instead of giving them for adoption. Click this link for a great video.

Heartbreak and Adjustment of Adoption

Came across this blog post tonight of the heartbreak of orphans and the hard, hard, adjustment of adoption. Yes, adoption of an orphan IS beyond worth it, but it IS also very hard. Click the link below for a blog about a family's struggles "after the airport".
After the Airport

Welcoming Angels

Special Needs-Cleft Lip

Don't let the term "special needs" scare you from adopting a child with this label. Many children are considered special needs because they are either older and healthy or they have a need that is easily correctable like a cleft lip. Here is a great article of adopting a child with a cleft lip, click here. These children need forever homes as well, so be open to the child God already has chosen for your family.

Orphan Hosting Program

Our newest project is working with Welcoming Angels to hold an Orphan Hosting Program here during the summer of 2012! There are well over 145 million orphans in the world today. Not having a mom or dad is just a small part of being an orphan. The real pain of being an orphan comes from living your life under a banner of being REJECTED, UNWANTED, and OPTIONAL. The value and self-worth issues continue...for life. Christ was clear. He instructs us to care for and love orphans. YOU can care for an orphan and show them they are loved and valued by God by hosting them in your home. These children are all adoptable, ages 8-15, and from either China or Ethiopia (we have not heard which country they will be coming from). The children will be here for 3-4 weeks during the summer. This is a great opportunity for those considering adopting because you can see what it is like having another child, especially a child from another country, in your home without the "commitment" of adoption. However, this program is NOT for those only considering adopting. Any family can host a child, and in doing so, maybe someone in your immediate family or circle of friends falls in love with the child you host and decides to adopt him or her. Think of the look on these children's faces when they experience things they have never seen before! What an experience for them! We have to have at least 5 families commited to host a child and we pray that all the children who come next summer find forever homes while they are here. There are costs involved to host a child and the applications are due in February, so contact me ASAP if you are interested in opening your home for an orphan.

Meals for Families

One new thing we have started recently is providing meals for families who just received placement of either foster or adopted children. When families welcome these children into their homes, there is a big adjustment period. What better way to help then to deliver a few meals to these families? We have a team of women who have signed up to prepare meals when needed but would love to welcome more women (or men) on this team. If you would like to prepare a meal when we hear of a family in need, please contact us.

2011 Orphan Sunday Video

Orphan Sunday is coming in November! Click here for this year's moving video!

Adoption Tax Credit

Here is a great article on the adoption tax credit for 2011, 2012, and beyond. The tax credit helps tremendously with the costs of adoption. Click here to find out more.

Sponsor an Orphan

Sponsoring an orphan in another country is an easy way to care for an orphan. Bethany is a Christian adoption agency, with an office here in Fresno, who has a sponsorship program. Click this link to find out more. A little of your money can go a long way in their country, help an orphan today!

Adoptive Children and "Looking Different"

Here is a great article from Dillion International about adoptive children "looking different" than others. Especially great for those of you who have adopted internationally. Click here to read the article.

Orphans and the Church

Watch this short video from Steven Curtis Chapman about orphans and the church. Click here.