What breaks your heart?

Well, I can hear crickets chirping from my last post, and I will probably get crickets with this one too, but I am going to do my best to say hard things anyway.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I don't know about you, but when I hear that, I can't brag about the ways I am taking care of orphans and widows. Most of the time, I do a pretty lousy job of it. When was the last time I took a widow a meal? When was the last time I volunteered in an orphanage (umm, never)? And while Kate NaNa once was an orphan, she is an orphan no longer. She has a forever family and thankfully no longer qualifies.

I also can't brag about keeping myself from being polluted by the world. Let's face it. There are a lot of way to be polluted, and I am not going to get into them all here. I am going to focus on one way.

All too often I think that the Church looks way too much like the world. I'm not talking about an organized Church (I could, but that's a whole 'nother discussion). I am talking about believers that should be the hands and feet of Christ, but aren't. Specifically, I think that we are too comfortable. We don't want to be bothered or step out of our comfort zones. And yes, I am guilty here as well. We are more concerned about having the newest technology or what we are going to wear tomorrow than we are about orphans and widows. I am not saying that gadgets or nice clothes are a bad thing. I am just saying that if we think more about these things than we do about the things that God cares about, the things that break his heart, then maybe our priorities are a little out of whack. When was the last time you wept for the orphan?

There are children out there without mommies and daddies out there. Many of them need special medical care. They need surgery to repair their cleft lips. They need club foot castings. They need life saving heart surgeries. They need foster care.* Are you still comfortable?

I don't know about you, but sometimes the needs feel a little overwhelming. Sometimes I don't even know where to start.

So, I have put together a list of ways you can participate in orphan care. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Not even close. It is simply meant to get you started. Some of these are Christian organizations. Some of them are secular in nature.

• In my last post I mentioned Compassion International and World Vision. World Vision's orphan sponsorships focus on children whose parents died with HIV/AIDS.
• I have a friend who works with orphanages in Ukraine. Last time I talked with him, he was looking for sponsors for children. Contact me if you would like more information. (Update: This is called MASTER Provisions.)
• My agency, A Helping Hand, does tons of relief work with orphans, specifically in Guatemala and China. They also gave birth to an organization called Orphan Voice that is run by their founder. They work in Southeast Asia. You can sponsor children, or volunteer to go on a trip.
• Both Hands - This is an awesome organization that helps widows and orphans at the same time! Basically, adoptive families get sponsorships to do work on the homes of widows. Very cool.
• Come up with your own awesome idea. Two of my friends recently held a big book sale, with all proceeds going to families who are adopting internationally. I love that. My friend Tara has a photography business and does adoption promos. I love that too!
• Start an adoption ministry at your church.
• Support the Dave Thomas Foundation. Yes, this is the Wendy's guy.

All of the following organizations operate in China (I am sure there are other amazing organizations doing work in other countries. China is just what I know about.):

• Maria's Big House of Hope, a part of Show Hope - Many of you will remember the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter. To honor her, there is a beautiful and amazing facility in China that serves special needs children. You can click on the links to find more information about sponsoring the facility, volunteering at Maria's Big House of Hope, or helping fund adoptions.
• An Orphan's Wish - Another wonderful organization with sponsorships for kids with special needs.
• Starfish Cleft Home or Starfish Foster Home - Both of these facilities allow folks to sponsor children who need surgeries and/or special medical care.
• Pearl River Outreach - Sponsorships for this organization pays for children to be taken care of in foster families rather than orphanages.
• Love Without Boundaries - This organization funds medical care, foster families, and lots of other great stuff. They have child sponsorships, and even a cool online store.
• Half the Sky Foundation - This is another organization doing wonderful work in China. You can sponsor children here too. (By the way, my friends are adopting a little boy from a HTS facility, so that's another reason to support them.)

Since this is National Adoption Awareness Month, I am definitely not done, but I will save it for another post.

* RE foster care - Foster care cannot replace forever families. They are usually temporary situations. However, in our family, we are thankful that Kate was privileged to be in foster care for much of her time in China. Foster care allows much more individualized care of children (obviously), but it also allows babies to form attachments with their foster parents which is an extremely important part of their emotional and mental development. We firmly believe that part of reason that Kate has adjusted so well is because she had a wonderful foster mother.

Waiting Children and Show Hope

I am still working on my book, but I wanted to stop in to let you all know that A Helping Hand Adoption Agency just received a new list of Waiting Children. These children are waiting for their forever families to find them. Some of them have been on the list more than a year, some of them have just been added. Whether you are considering adoption or not, please stop by their website and pray for these precious children.

I also just received my monthly newsletter from Show Hope (formerly Shaohannah's Hope). They have recently opened their new facility in China, Maria's Big House of Hope, named after Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter. Click on the above links to learn more about this awesome project and more about adoption.

November is National Adoption Month

OK. It's my turn to get on the soapbox.

I don't remember when I first wanted to adopt. It is something that I have wanted since I was a little girl. It has always been in the back of my mind. When I was in high school I saw one of those nighttime news expose' shows about orphanages in Romania (Primetime or 20/20 or one of those). That was when I started thinking about international adoption. I don't remember if Tim and I talked about it before or after we married, but we both had a heart for orphan care, and after his trip to China in 97, he was in love with China.

Fast forward to November 2005. Will was 3 months old. I had just turned 29, and Tim was quickly approaching the same age. We knew we were going to be eligible for Chinese adoption soon, so we started praying about whether or not God wanted us to go down that road. Immediately God answered that prayer. Adoption was everywhere I turned - Newspaper ads, magazine stories, a TV episode that had an adoption plot line, and a billboard. My favorite "sign" from God was when we were getting off the interstate, and there was a handwritten, cardboard sign that said "Adoption" with an arrow below it. It was pointing in the direction that we were turning. Leave it God to literally give me a sign when I needed him to be clear.

Anyway, I know people adopt for many reasons, and I don't want to hash those out. What I want to say is that if you are a Christian, you are called to care for orphans (James 1:27). Psalm 68 says that God is the father to the fatherless, and that He sets the lonely in families. God cares about these children.

Now, this doesn't mean everyone is called to adopt. Some of you are called to sponsor orphans financially. Some of you might be called to go on a mission trip to an orphanage. Maybe you are called to be a Big Brother or a Big Sister to a child right here at home. Maybe you are called to start an adoption ministry in your church to encourage and financially support others who want to adopt.

But some of us are called to adopt and to foster. According to Steven Curtis Chapman, "If only 7% of the world's 2 billion Christians would care for a single orphan, we could end the orphan crisis." That statistic floors me. There are so many beautiful children out there in need of parents, and you might be the parents who need them right back. Just today, I have heard about 2 different lists of waiting children. A Helping Hand Adoption Agency has four beautiful Chinese boys on their waiting child list. And here is a link to information from another agency about four healthy teens who long for homes. If they are not adopted in the next few months they will be too old for adoption. I am more familiar with China's special needs program, but I encourage you to look into your state's foster program and/or other international adoption programs too. There are so many options.

If you are interested in orphan care, I encourage you to pray about what you should do. Check out http://www.shoahannahshope.org/ for more information about financially supporting orphans and families, adoption ministries, financial assistance, and just getting started with adoption. They blessed our family with an adoption grant, and we are so thankful for the work that they are doing around the world. Think about it. More importantly, if you are a Christian, pray about what you are supposed to be doing to care for orphans.