Giving Back

Every now and then, a dad has the right to brag a little.  This is one of those times for me.

Our ten-year-old daughter, Aruna, is a smart, beautiful, and creative young girl.  She loves to do crafts, sew, knit, write stories – pretty much anything that she can use her imagination and creativity to do.  She came to us through foster care at age six, and was adopted at age eight.  At the time she moved into our home, she had only been in the United States for about six months, most of which had been spent in another foster home.  She was prone to long, drawn-out tantrums, and demanded attention in whatever way she could get it.  Given her background, it made sense.

Born in Cambodia, she had a pretty comfortable life for a while, with two nannies who used to take care of her while her father worked.  Then, things changed.  She ended up in two different Cambodian orphanages for a time, before coming to the States and going into foster care.

We have watched Aruna as God has worked in her life.  She made the decision to follow Jesus about a month after coming to our family.  Since that time, God has developed her into a loving, giving, charming child who truly wants to live a life that honors Him.

Our church has a ministry called Ugandan Lambs, through which church families sponsor 56 children in Uganda who have been orphaned, mostly due to AIDS.  Our family sponsors Charles – we not only provide for his basic needs, but we also pray for him, write him letters, and send him gifts.  I had the blessing of meeting Charles face to face in January 2009 when I was part of a team that went to Uganda for a short-term trip.

We have another team from our church that is going to visit the kids in August (leaving next Wednesday).  I don’t even know if Aruna was aware of that team’s upcoming trip when she came to me a couple of weeks ago with a smile on her face, saying, “Dad, I’m going to make dolls for the girls in Uganda.”  Now any of you who have kids know that there is a vast chasm between a child’s great idea, and the actual execution of that idea.  I told her I thought it would be a great idea, but deep down, I knew that once she started a new book, or watching TV, or playing a game, or playing make believe with her sister, the dolls would take a back seat to whatever had her attention at the moment.  She might be able to complete a couple…tops.

Well, as much as I hate being wrong, I freely and happily admit I was wrong this time.  Yesterday, we delivered twenty hand-stitched dolls for the team to hand out to the girls our church cares for in Uganda.  Each doll is different – made of different material, with a different ribbon, different color hair.  My wife helped Aruna with the dolls, but it was clearly her gig.  One of our pastors gushed over her efforts, saying that she should make some more at Christmas this year.  He even suggested that she could sell them and the money could go toward whatever she would choose.  She thought about it for a few minutes and told me that she would use the money to buy something for the boys in Uganda, since she’d made the dolls for the girls.

As I reflected on what this little ten-year-old had done, I saw a beautiful picture of what God wants as He blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.  Aruna, a former resident of two Cambodian orphanages, a former foster child, now adopted into a home in which she has everything she needs, decided to use her time and talents to bless a bunch of kids halfway around the world, kids that she will very likely never meet, kids that have little beyond the basics of life, kids that are in a predicament much like she used to be in herself…kids she can relate to on a level most kids never will.

God is very good.

A Conversation with the Tuohys

By now, you’ve likely either seen the movie “The Blind Side”, or you at least have it on your must-watch list.  Released in Fall 2009, the movie tells the story of the Tuohy family, a well-to-do Christian family in Memphis, Tennessee, who took in and adopted a homeless, traumatized teenage boy named Michael Oher.  With the love of his new family and the help of others, Michael went on to football stardom at the University of Mississippi and eventually the NFL.

On today’s FamilyLife Today broadcast, hosts Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine interview Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy in the first of a three part series airing through Friday.

In part one, called Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, Sean and Leigh Anne talk about their childhoods and their early marriage and discuss how God has used their experiences to make them the people they are today.  They talk about how God wants to use us to bless others, which is simply what they did with their son, Michael, in giving him an opportunity to blossom into the person that God created him to be.

To listen to the broadcast, and to read the entire transcript, click here.

Who’s in Charge? Part Three

In two earlier posts, I shared about how Terri and I have occasionally put excessive limits on the children we were willing to take into our home as foster children.  I shared that on each of those first two occasions, God redirected us to be open to the children He had for us, rather than the ones we had in mind for ourselves.  And, naturally, on both occasions, when we submitted to His will, we saw that what He had in mind was infinitely better than what we had imagined.  We never would have adopted four of our children had we not abandoned our desires, and submitted to God’s will for our family by being open to the children He wanted to place in our home.

I do think that whenever you open your home to a child, you need to use wisdom.  If you have young daughters, for instance, it might be unwise to take in a teenage boy who has been sexually abused.  That’s common sense.  But the problems come when we start letting our own personal desires dictate whom we are willing to take into our home, and whom we are not.  We really need to go into this with our hands open to what God has for us, not just open to what we think we want.

Well, in spite of the four physical reminders of God’s goodness and grace sitting at our dinner table every night, Terri and I once again decided to close our hands a bit when we told our social worker last fall that we were open to taking in another child.  We specified this time, though, no babies – we were done with the middle of the night feedings, etc…  We asked for a child 2 years and older.  Now, most agencies would be thrilled to have a family that is willing to take in a child over 2, but then, on November 9th, our agency got a call for a six week-old child who needed a home.  Our social worker called our home and talked to Terri, telling her that based on the information she had, this would likely be a very short-term placement – as little as a few days, in fact.  We know the foster system well enough to know not to count on such things, but we also know and trust our social worker enough to know that she was giving us the best information she had.

Terri told me that we had been asked to take in a child who was a month and a half old.  Evidently, I hadn’t had coffee yet, because I know I heard her say a year and a half.  In my mind, it wasn’t 2, but it was only six months away from 2, so surely it wouldn’t be so bad.  We called the social worker and accepted the placement.  It was only on the way to the county office that it became clear to me that this child was only 6 weeks old.  To be honest, I was a little bummed out…okay, I was very bummed out.  This wasn’t the plan.  We were not going to take in a baby this time around.  We thought we had made that clear.  Yet, we had accepted her already, so we couldn’t go back on our word.  And besides, maybe it really would turn out to be just a few days.

We brought her home, and well, a few days turned into a few weeks.  Naturally, the few weeks turned into a few months.  We were in court for her case yesterday, and it is looking more and more likely that I will walk her down the aisle one day.  I would love to share a picture of her, but she is still a foster child, so I have to keep her name and face private for now.  Trust me on this, though – she is beautiful, she is precious, she’s a part of us…and we are so thankful that I hadn’t had my coffee when Terri came to tell me about her 8 months ago today.  Once again, God took our desires and redirected us to be open to what He wanted.  And once again, what He had for us was better than we could ever imagine.

The Baby Conference

This week, Hope for Orphans’ Executive Director, Paul Pennington, will be delivering one of the keynote addresses at The Baby Conference: A Historic Family Summit on the Triumph of Life over the Culture of Death.

The Baby Conference, sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries, will bring to light issues that are pervasive in today’s pro-choice world.  Is it excessive to have 4 children in today’s world?  Is it right to bring a child into this world without being able to provide a $150,000 college fund?  Are children indeed a blessing from the Lord?  The Bible says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3).  The next two verses continue, “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”

The Baby Conference is centered on the celebration of life — the life that we are called, as followers of Christ, to enjoy and cherish and honor.  All life is to be valued.  All of us — the orphan, the widow, the stranger – are fearfully and wonderfully made, in the image of God.  This conference will take a hard look at Scripture and will demonstrate, among other things, how adoption and orphan care fit within the church’s responsibility to what God has called us to do.

Join us, along with Doug Phillips and Jim Bob Duggar, on July 8 -10 in San Antonio for this challenging, yet fresh perspective on how we to look at human life biblically, in a post-modern, pro-choice world.

To learn more about the issues and topics that will be discussed, or to register for this event, please click here.

Who’s in Charge? Part Two

Having learned our lesson — that God is in charge, and we’re not — with our adoption of Chris and Ant, you would think Terri and I would move forward in wisdom and not put so many conditions on the children we would or would not take into our home.  Then again, you would be wrong to think that.

After we adopted Chris and Ant, and after we took a short break from fostering, we opened our home again, taking in Ashley, who was twelve at the time she moved in, and fourteen when she was adopted.

Then, in the summer of 2006, we decided to open our home again, but this time, we once again decided to put parameters on the child we would be willing to accept.  The lessons learned from almost losing Chris and Ant because of our own self-imposed limits were distant memories, or maybe they were lurking and we just decided to ignore them.  I’m not sure.

Regardless, we asked our agency to be on the lookout for a baby for us.  We had never done that before.  Terri especially wanted to take care of a baby, and she actually had a pretty sound reason for wanting to do so.  She figured that one day our kids would likely have babies.  And like many first-time parents of babies, they would likely have questions.  And like many parents who have questions about childrearing, they would likely call us and ask us what to do in certain situations.  Well, Terri didn’t really want to have to say to our kids, “we don’t know what to do…call us back when they’re four.”  She wanted to be able to help our kids with their babies.  Noble.  Practical.  Not exactly selfish.

Still, the result of us acting on our desire meant that we called our agency, requested a baby, and pretty much eliminated most of the children in the foster care system from consideration.  Because of our long track record with our agency, our social worker told us she would keep an eye out for a baby.  It wasn’t long before we got the call – they wanted to place an eight month-old baby girl with us, a baby that was likely to be adopted.  The baby was placed in another home for a few days while we got the room prepared for her.  We saw pictures of her.  We shopped for her.  We anticipated her arrival with excitement.

Then, as things often happen in the foster care system, plans changed.  The woman who kept this baby over the weekend decided she didn’t want to give her up.  She had fallen in love with her, and for the first time, had decided she wanted to adopt.  We were deeply saddened by the unexpected turn of events.   To add insult to injury (that’s how we, in our self-absorption, saw it at the time), our social worker told us that she had gotten a call about a “problem six year-old” who needed a home. We had expected this sweet little eight month-old, and now instead we are being asked to take in a problem six year-old who was hitting the other children in her current home, and was having tantrums that lasted up to eight hours – on a daily basis.

In addition to our sadness, we were a little bitter.  We questioned God.  After all, we had adopted three older children, which everyone knows are generally harder to place than infants.  Didn’t we deserve to get what we wanted?  In a word, no.  We didn’t deserve anything of the sort.

We had forgotten what this is all about.  This isn’t about us building our family to look like we want it to look…this is about God using our family to accomplish what He wants.  There is a huge difference.  And what we didn’t see at the time, but did soon enough, was that God didn’t have an eight month-old for us at that time.  He had a six year-old whose options were running out, a six year-old whose social worker said they might have to place in a group home if they couldn’t find a family for her soon.  A six year-old who had been deeply hurt by recent turns of events in her life and was crying out to be noticed…and loved.

Our oldest had lived in group homes while in foster care, though when she was much older than six.  A group home is no place for any child, let alone one as young as six.  So again, God was compelling us to realize that He was in charge, not us.  Again, He was asking us to abandon our pre-conceived notions of what we wanted in favor of what He wanted.  We gave in.

Aruna came to us on August 10th, 2006, and she was adopted on April 2nd, 2008, which was the 5th anniversary of Chris and Ant’s adoption.  She had some adjustment problems, and she had a few of those hours-long tantrums we had heard about and braced ourselves for.  Ultimately though, God’s love touched her heart, and she began to change.  Today, she is a straight-A student who has just finished the 4th grade at our church’s elementary school.  She loves to sew.  She loves to play video games.  She loves to get on her oldest brother’s nerves, and frankly, she’s pretty good at it, too.  She hasn’t had a tantrum in years.

As I mentioned, this adoption journey we have been on for over a decade is about God and His plans, not us and ours.  God is simply not concerned with our plans.  He isn’t concerned with how we want our family to be made up, or what we want it to look like.  He is about fulfilling His purposes in the world, and as we discovered yet again, His way is always better.

We also rediscovered another truth about God back in 2006 — that He is a loving Father who loves to give good gifts to His children…and does so in abundance. Seven weeks after we were blessed with the wonderful gift of our daughter, Aruna, we got a call from our social worker.  A two day-old baby girl was in need of a family that would foster and likely adopt her.  Two days later, on September 29th, we brought her home from the hospital, and on August 14th, 2007, we adopted our first baby, Hallie.  We made a million calls to our parents and other friends asking advice during her infancy, and we are now in a much better position to answer our children’s questions about their babies one day.  We’re also in a better position to answer our kids’ questions about problem six year-olds one day.

We smile as we think back on those months in 2006 when we again wrestled with God and were again brought to our knees, first in submission and repentance, and then in gratitude and awe.  Our lives are forever enriched and blessed by our precious Aruna and Hallie, and we cannot imagine what life would be like if we had gotten our way.

What an amazing God we serve.

Behind A Frowning Providence

(The following comes from our June 2010 E-Newsletter. You may subscribe to our bi-monthly e-newsletter by clicking here.)

Some of the very best things in my life have happened as a result of some of the hardest things in my life. There was a day that Robin and I learned that we had lost a baby and the ability to ever have a biological child short of in-vitro fertilization. It was a hard day. It was hard to pray or understand. But little did we know that as this was happening a little girl was soon to be born. This little girl was our daughter Kit whom God brought to us just 6 months later. Not only was she a gift we could not have imagined, but also through her, the Lord led us to more of our children, some born on the other side of the world, and ultimately to this ministry.

In his new book about Ruth, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, Pastor John Piper shares a quote from William Cowper, an 18th century poet and hymn writer:

“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.”

Joseph experienced this frowning providence when his brothers sold him into slavery. But as you know, God knew this very act would bring about the rescue of those same brothers from famine and His grace would be demonstrated through the centuries like a chain in His word to us in the 21st century.

Every adoption begins in hurt of some kind. Sometimes being the parent of a child through adoption involves a lot of hurt. We all come from a hard place because of the first Adam’s fateful choice in the garden. Thankfully, the second Adam also made a choice in a garden, a choice not to save Himself, a choice made so that we might receive adoption as sons of God through Him.

As we consider with eyes wide open the road of adoption and loving the fatherless, let us remember why Ruth the Moabitess was able to say to Naomi in Ruth 1:16-17 that she would follow her from all that was familiar and safe…how she committed herself to this widow to the point of saying that Naomi’s God would be her God and Naomi’s people her people.

Ruth was grafted into this family and met her kinsman redeemer because as Piper says, “Here we have a picture of…faith in God that sees beyond present bitter setbacks. Freedom from the securities and comforts of the world. Courage to venture into the unknown and the strange. Radical commitment in the relationships appointed by God”. In this case, a relationship that led to line of David and The Messiah.

May those called to adopt, or to love a foster child, or to serve churches overseas in loving orphans be likewise radically committed to the relationships appointed by God for them. May we see the world as the work of God, and that we are privileged and blessed to be invited to join Him in His work. May we see God who sometimes uses frowning providence in bringing about His will, as the very One in whom we will very soon see His smiling face.

Who’s in Charge? Part One

Who’s in Charge?  Part One

In our home, we will celebrate July 4th this Sunday like many Americans.  But the next day, July 5th, is going to be a day of celebration that for us will easily surpass the 4th.  July 5th will mark the 10th anniversary of our sons, Chris and Anthony, coming into our home, as the first two of five (and soon to be six, Lord willing) children that we would adopt from the foster care system.  And as much as I anticipate celebrating with great joy, I am sobered by the reality that if had been up to my wife and me, it never would have happened.

We were newly certified foster parents at the time, and like many, we had placed parameters on the children we would or would not take.  We were fairly open in terms of the basics – age, gender, number of children, race…but we had been clear about one thing.  We were not interested in children whose cases were unlikely to lead to adoption.  In our minds, we didn’t want to “simply foster”.  We wanted to adopt.

God allowed us to hang on to that condition for a couple of months.  We were limited, of course, in that many of the children who come into the system are likely to be reunified with birth family, and we had essentially cut ourselves off from ever having a chance to care for and love those children.

Then one day, in late June of 2000, while visiting us in our home, our social worker asked us a question that seemed innocent enough, but it was a question that challenged us to be open to what God had, not what we thought was best for us.  He asked us if we would be open to a placement that would not likely lead to adoption.  It may have been Glenn’s voice, but it was clearly the Holy Spirit speaking, asking us who was in charge…us…or God.  Terri and I looked at each other and said the only thing we felt we could say — that we would not necessarily be closed to it.

Glenn left our house and went back to his office.  Within fifteen minutes of his leaving, he called us.  Two brothers, ages 4 and 5, were in a temporary emergency foster home and were in need of another foster home. They could only stay at the shelter until July 5th.  He didn’t even know their names yet.

Glenn told us the boys would likely not be adopted, and that they could be in our home for as little as five days (they had a court hearing scheduled for July 10th at which birth relatives might show up and ask for custody).  Terri asked if they could sleep in the same bed, since the bedroom we had set up for kids had a double bed and a crib in it, having been set up that way for a previous placement that never happened.  Glenn said no, they would each need their own bed.  Terri asked if that meant we would have to go out and get two twin beds for what could essentially be five days.  Glenn said yes.   Terri told him she would talk to me and call him back.

We were torn.  We didn’t want to say no and possibly get on the agency’s bad side by turning down these kids.  At the same time, it seemed like a lot of work and expense to go through for what could be only five days.  What was the point?  The point was, of course, that we were wrestling with God.  Were we going to do things on our terms, or were we going to be open to be used by God for His purposes, no matter the cost and inconvenience to ourselves?  Was our foray in foster adoption about us, or was it about God?  Those were the big picture questions that we only saw in retrospect.  At the time, we simply saw the little picture question – would we take in these two brothers that needed a home for perhaps five days?  Put that way, we felt we just couldn’t say no.

We said yes.  We spent the next few days preparing the room for two boys that would very likely be just fleeting memories one day.  And then, on the morning of July 5th, Glenn brought them to our home.  We’ve all heard the cliché of love at first sight, and we acknowledge that it can happen in certain contexts, but we also know it doesn’t happen often.  It happened to us on July 5th 2000.  I don’t attribute it to anything other than the fact that God knew Chris and Ant would be our sons, that He had planned it that way, and so He had begun knitting our hearts together long before they stepped out of Glenn’s car and into our home.

The five days turned into weeks, which turned into months, which turned into years.  On April 2nd, 2003, these kids that we almost turned down, became our legal sons through adoption, formalizing what God had ordained long before.  We think back and are so thankful that He allowed us to wrestle with Him, and we’re even more thankful that we lost.  Did we learn our lesson from all that?  For a time, yes, but then we’ve gone back to putting conditions on subsequent placements as well (more on those in parts 2 and 3), demonstrating yet again that our sinful hearts always think we know what’s best.  Thankfully, we have a gracious and patient God who always reminds us that this is His plan, His story, and that when we submit to His will, and allow Him to use us as He wants, the blessings are more than we could ever imagine.

These past ten years with Chris and Ant have been an adventure.  Of course, there are times we would all love to forget, and times that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.  Through it all, we’ve been so blessed to see them grow into the young men they are becoming.  Anyone who knows them will tell you that these two kids that almost weren’t ours are pretty amazing guys.  Terri and I can’t imagine what life would have been like without them.

Mom’s Perspective: Reflections on waiting for your adoption…

This post was written by Missy Leventhal – wife of HFO Ops guy David Leventhal.  Missy & David have four children and are in the process of adopting their second child from China (a three year old little boy).  Missy recently reflected on what she’s learned through the waiting process.  Missy does her blogging at www.theleventhals.com & her Twittering at @missyleventhal.

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I’ve had several people ask me recently how I’m doing with the wait.  So far I think I’m doing pretty good.  We’ve had enough to distract us with buying a new house and preparing to move, along with the normal hustle and bustle of keeping up with the other four, that I haven’t had much time to sit and think about the wait.  Don’t get me wrong, I think about my boy often!  I’ve just done a better job this time around not letting the wait control me.

I’ll explain…

As we got to this point with Abigail’s adoption I was consumed by blogs and yahoo groups.  I would check them multiple times throughout the day to see if any of the families ahead of us in the process had gotten word of travel approval.  I would get caught up in this cyberworld and WASTE hours upon hours glued to my computer. Daily.

It was not good.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with blogs or yahoo groups…I obviously have a blog and I still participate in a yahoo group.  They are great outlets and great sources for support.  However, when you are so consumed by them that you can’t even step away to play with the children already in your home, or when they stir up anxiety and anxiousness it’s just not good.

Also, the first time around I feel I fantasized about Abigail quite a bit.  What she’d be like, how she’d act, what we’d do together, how the other kids would play with her…it was dreamy!  She was perfect!  I fell in love with a picture and a perfect, made-up child.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with being excited and anticipating how things are going to change.  But at some point the expectations formed through this anticipation are going to meet up with reality and some adjustments are going to have to be made.

For me the depths of my expectations did not help me with our transition, and it took me months to figure out that the disconnection I was feeling with her was due, in a large part, to my unmet and unrealistic expectations.  As I’ve come to understand my own heart more through much prayer, educated myself with some great books like The Connected Child, and surrounded myself with other godly adoptive families through our church’s adoption ministry (Watermark Tapestry), I’ve learned that I must evaluate and adjust my expectations so that they are more realistic.  I must love my daughter for who she is and for how our God has created her, rather than try to make her into something she’s not.  This is not a new concept to me, but it is one that took me being very intentional to really change my heart.

So, I guess you can say, I learned my lesson the first time around!  I do get excited about meeting Joshua and discovering his personality.  I can’t wait to have him home to love on him, play with him, and cuddle him.  I can’t wait to see how his little life is going to impact the lives of our other children.  But I’m trying to be more realistic and almost hold my emotions an arm’s length away so that I can fall in love with him, and not what I imagine to be him!  Does that even make any sense?

Do I like waiting? No.  I’d have him home today if I could.  But I know waiting is part of the process.  I know that my Lord loves him even more than I do, and I know that He can take care of Chang Shun just fine without me.  I know that He has invited me into this process and is giving me the privilege of being this little boy’s mommy for a time.  I know that all of my kids are HIS before they are mine, and so I must hold them with an open hand and trust in His loving care…much easier said than done!  But I’m working on it!

Summertime, Your Kids…and Orphans?

Summertime.  The very word conjures up images of parks and pools, baseball and barbeques.  Summer is a season when we allow ourselves just a bit more laziness…a time in which we seek relaxation, and family vacations.  The fact is, it seems that everyone loves summer.

In the midst of summer, though, we need to pause and think of those who might not welcome summer as robustly we do.  For the orphan, summer doesn’t bring to mind all those thoughts that make it a favorite season for many of us.  No, for many orphans, summer is simply 92 more days to survive the dangers of life, to wait for rescue, to long for love, to hope for a better future.  In the midst of our summertime content, we must remember the orphan’s year-round discontent.  We also need to remember that God has not forgotten the orphan, and that we must remember them too.

In our June E-Newsletter, which came out today, we highlight the story of some schoolchildren in Birmingham, Alabama, who were touched by the orphan crisis in Haiti and decided to do something about it.  They raised nearly $4000 to help bring much needed relief to children suffering in the aftermath of January’s devastating earthquake.

It’s always exciting when we meet others who “get it”.  It’s even more exciting when we see children “get it”.  When we see kids gripped with God’s heart for orphans at a young age, we can only imagine what God will do through them later in life.  Kids loving orphans are infectious and inspiring.

What might God want to do through your children in reaching the least of these?  Dads, would you be willing to set aside a portion of your free time with your kids this summer and look at what God’s word says about orphans, and what His expectations are for us in relation to them?  Moms, would you be willing to take on a project serving orphans with your kids this summer?  Perhaps you could collect shoes for orphans overseas.  Perhaps you could pray for the children in your local foster care system.  Perhaps you could collect money to help offset the cost of adoption for a family in your church.

At Hope for Orphans, our job is to serve the church as it serve orphans.  That includes your children.  We have developed two tools that we hope will better serve you as you seek to educate your children of the mandate from God, and the needs to be met among the tens of millions of orphans in the world.

The first tool is our website for children, which can be found here.  At the website you will learn more about God’s heart, you will find ideas of how your kids can serve orphans, you will read about what other kids have done to address the orphan crisis, and much more.

We have also developed a curriculum for children, called God’s Heart for the Orphan…and Me!.  The curriculum is designed to be used in Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible Schools, or even in your own home with your family.  It is an interactive children’s Bible study that exposes children to God’s passion for orphans and waiting children.  You and your kids will talk about what God wants us to do for orphans, and you will be given the tools to take action and start making a difference in children’s lives right away.

If you have ideas of how you and your children will serve orphans this summer, or perhaps have served together in the past, please share them by commenting below.

Would you consider making this a summer in which your children and family become more closely aligned with God’s heart for orphans?  Imagine what God might do in you and through you if you commit yourselves to just that.

What to do next?

Wow, this is a question that I have wrestled with.  I’m sure you have, too.  Time is so valuable these days, and balancing work, kids, wife, home maintenance, church, small groups, and THEN ORPHAN MINISTRY can be quite challenging.

Many times, we have seen local church orphans ministry champions ask the question, “What can our ministry do next?”  Perhaps they have launched their ministry with a church-wide orphan-related project and now they are stuck, trying to figure out what they can do to sustain the momentum and to keep people engaged.  Maybe they have more developed ministries that have been engaged for some time, doing various projects, hosting prayer times, partnering with an orphanage, holding a fund-raising banquet, conducting adoption and orphan care awareness meetings, but they still need some new ideas.

At Hope for Orphans, we have the blessing to be networked with local church orphans ministry champions from all over the country.  Local champions that live, breathe, and dream about helping orphans!!  With their help, we have created a strategy library to help YOU as you lead your church.

Two weeks ago, I met with several local champions in Southern California.  They are on FIRE for the Lord and for seeing churches in their region mobilized to care for the thousands of children in their local foster care systems.  I visited with some of the folks from Dark to Dawn (www.DarktoDawn.org) and discussed some of their strategies.  Among many of their initiatives, they recently held an event at which emancipated youth spoke of their experiences.  What a great idea to have youth speak truthfully about what they have experienced, with the goal of having the local church step up to the challenge of loving and caring for these kids. Also, we met with a representative of the Gold Coast Orphan Alliance (www.weheartorphans.org), who conducts “House Parties” to raise awareness of the plight of the orphan.  People throw house parties for Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Tupperware; why not use the same model for orphan care?  Sell a few T-shirts and beads made in Africa, and feed orphans for a month with the proceeds.  Invite your neighbor or family members.  Utilize that time to do what you do best – share the need, share the calling, and point people to action.

Our strategy library is constantly being changed and updated with new ideas.  We hope to have many more strategies added before too long.  If you’re looking for more ways to engage your church, or if you would like to share some of your ministry’s strategies with other local champions, please visit www.hopefororphans.org/Display.asp?Page=strategylibrary.