Appointment & Orphan Ministry

So, I have finished up the homestudy paperwork finally (we missed a few things) and I redid the background checks since they are no longer good. Now I just need to go and see a therapist who will write something up that my post-partum issues are resolved and I will be just fine parenting more kids. I had an appointment last week but it was snowing and the road were not the greatest so I cancelled it. Now Matthew is going to reschedule it for me since I have lost my voice today.

Hope also received a call from a pastor at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Plover, WI about joining them in their orphan ministry. It turns out that the pastor and his wife from Beautiful Savior adopted children from Ethiopia. We have also made other numerous connections with families in the area who have adopted or are planning on adopting from Ethiopia and there is growing interested in starting up a group of families to meet every now and then to keep our childrens' culture alive.

In other news I am attempting to put together a Q&A section regarding our adoption. So look for that in the days to come.

"Orphan" due out in July

On July 24 Warner Brothers will release their horror film "Orphan." The movie is about a family who adopts an older girl, Esther, who "is not what she appears to be." The film is currently being promoted, and the trailer can be seen here. The adoption message is extremely negative, and plays into the stereotypes of adopted children, particularly older children, as damaged.

The adoption community is protesting the release of the film and was successful in getting the line "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" removed from the trailer. Executives at Warner Brothers claimed they "messed up" and have re-cut the trailer to remove the offensive line. However, the promotional posters still use this tag line. If this movie focused on a (insert a word) child, would Warner Brothers be able to get away with it? But, stick an adopted older child into the storyline and its okay? This message plays into the fears of the general public. I can attest to the fact that adoptive parents and those planning on adopting deal with these fears, misconceptions, and prejudices on a daily basis.

While I myself love a good horror movie, I find it difficult to understand why Warner Brothers would promote a movie in such a way. I have to agree with Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Institute, who says “The film preys on who these older kids are. That's why we have so much trouble getting older kids adopted. I fully respect that they are not going to pull a multi-million-dollar movie out of the theater, but they can mitigate the damage and make the ads less corrosive.” I have only seen the trailer. I will NOT see the film. And right now I don’t feel like seeing anything that Warner Brothers, Dark Castle Entertainment, or Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way (who claims to support the world’s orphaned kids) has produced or distributed.

I urge you to contact, with me, the makers of the film, as well as your local movie theater chains, with your concerns. Maybe I am overly sensitive like many people think, but when it comes to my children can I really be too sensitive?

Contact information:

Warner Bros.

4000 Warner Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91522

818-954-6000

Silver Pictures

4000 Warner Blvd. 90

Burbank, CA 91522-0001

818-954-4490

Time Warner Inc.

One Time Warner Center

New York, NY 10019-8016

212-484-8000

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.