Why adopt?

To quote another bloger/adoptive mother:

1. Every 5 seconds a child dies from a preventable disease/starvation in Africa.

2. Globally each day 30,000 children dies from prevenatable disease, food born illness, and starvation. This is equal to 100 jumbo jets full of children crashing.

3. There are 6 million suffering from malnutrition in Ethiopia.

4. In the next month 120,000 children under the age of 5 will perish because of starvation in Ethiopia.

5. Six of the nine regions in Ethiopia are experiencing a drought that has dramatically effected food production.

Once our eyes are open we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act.

Proverbs 24.12

A Step of Faith

As many of you know, I have a heart for missions. It is truly amazing to me to see God's work in the world through even the smallest hands in His family. We are all adopted

into God's family through Christ Jesus and we have all received the call to care for the world's orphans. While not all of us are called to adopt these children, we are all called upon to assist them in some way.

We are stepping out in faith and I know that our needs will be met by God. It feels like God is leading us out on a limb, when in reality God has built the bridge for us to walk over. But my sinful nature – always wanting to know everything and having to have control of everything – keeps me from the enormous blessing of trusting in God's will.

Of course there are worries involved with an international adoption but I have this strange calmness about me when it comes to our decision. With that being said, Matthew and I are confident that God is calling us to adopt two children from Ethiopia and while we know that adoption is expensive, even for one child, we know that God is good and He will provide the strength and support needed to see our children home to us!

God's call to care for the world's orphans

I was doing my daily check of Ethiopian adoption blogs and came across an interesting fact in a post that is circulating.  Here it is:

• There are 132 million orphans in the world, according to UNICEF.
  
• There are roughly 2 billion people who consider themselves Christians in the world.
  

If all 2 billion believe in Christ as their Savior then all are adopted:

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans 8:14-17

Therefore, if only 7% of Christians chose to adopt ONE child, all 132 million of the world's orphans would have a permanent home! 

 But wait...it gets better, if only THREE (yep, you read that 

correctly, 3%) of the world's Christians adopted ONE child, all adoptable orphans would have a permanent home and a forever family. That's all it would take!  

While I firmly believe that not everyone is called to adopt – Christian or not – I do believe that, at the very least, 3% of 2 billion Christians have been given this calling, especially since scripture defines the mark of pure Christianity as caring for orphans!  It's simply a matter of obeying the call and returning the enormous gift of adoption that God has given us to a child who needs a home.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.

James 1:27a.

Busy with...many things

There are so many things on my plate right now. I have a house to get unpacked, my brother’s wedding to attend (or my college graduation), children to watch and on top of it all I have set the end of May as a paperwork deadline. Yep, that’s right . . . I will have all the homestudy paperwork done by the end of May. God is good!

On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. 

Psalm 62:7-8  

God's Amazing Grace

Our family has been blessed with all the many people God has graced our lives with. At our new church, Hope Lutheran in De Pere, we are meeting countless people who show God's love daily but I am frequently reminded of my dear friends in Edgar, WI at St. John Lutheran Church who continually amaze me with their open, caring and loving nature. While my husband was still the pastor at St. John their Sunday School classes supported our adoption in many ways . . . the least not being through prayer. Even this month, with us no longer a physical part of their congregation, they are STILL supporting our adoption. What an amazing gift God has given us and the people of central Wisconsin!

Please pray for these awesome Christians, for their continued blessings and support and as they call a new pastor to serve their congregation.

Philippians 1.3-6  

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU AT ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH

AND

PRAISE BE TO GOD!