His Hands

I just wanted to share a little about the agency that we are pursuing adoption from. His Hands started with two (I think?)  missionary moms that saw a huge need and wanted to meet that need. They stepped out in faith, and are doing incredible things for the Lord. Their website states this:


"This ministry was born from a vision to counsel, care for, and house unwed mothers in crisis pregnancies. Though the ministry still has a strong focus on these young women, it is growing exponentially and expanding its focus. In a country where there are twice as many abortions as live births every year, there is a desperate need for an alternative to abortion. Because of this dire situation, His Hands Taiwan has turned into a refuge for abandoned babies as well as a refuge for unwed mothers."

This ministry is amazing and the lives that they help and change are countless; and they are expanding! Here is their website.

http://hishandstaiwan.org/ee/index.php/hishands/

I received this email from one of the ladies there regarding their new "Adopt a mom" program. These moms as well as this entire ministry are in need of donations, so that they can help as many people as possible. Please look over their website and consider sponsoring a mom, or even committing to praying for this ministry.

 

"We are excited about how God is going to use this means to bless moms.   You can be involved by making a one time donation, designated for the Adopt-A-Mom fund; you can actually be involved with a particular mom if that is what you desire making donations monthly, or one time; or you can make a donation monthly for the program.    Any amount received for this program will go toward helping the moms.  If you should choose to adopt a particular mom, we will get information to you regarding her, details concerning her life and also make you aware of needs that you can be praying for in her behalf. If we can get enough donors involved in this program monthly for even $20 (one less meal at McDonalds)  it will go a long way to support the moms.   Everyone donating a small amount will quickly add up. 

Again, thank you for your interest and we trust you will prayerfully consider being involved and even tell others...............In Christ,  Mona "

  

And spend some time looking at the pictures of these beautiful children! So thankful for this ministry.

Is she not one of the cutest girls you have ever seen?

These pictures bring back SO many memories!  My heart honestly longs to be there (Nepal). It is amazing how much God is re-awakening my heart for orphans. I can't wait to see what He does in and through Eddie and I during this process. We are so excited. We know great things are in store.

The Cry of the orphan

My friend forwarded this to me  . This is a great site. 140 million orphans in the world. We don't all adopt but we can all do something- no matter how seemingly "small" it may be. We need to be their voices, as the body of Christ....we are called to this. It states this clearly in His Word. 

We have explained to Leah why we cancelled our TV, and it has been so fun to talk with her about it. Last night she went to the refrigerator and we didn't have any bottled water. She said "I think our friends in Africa came and got our water". She has been calling them "our friends", and constantly asking me what their names are. Makes me want to sponsor a child to put a face to what we are doing. I know things like this will impact Leah for the rest of her life.

Join the family conversation--Follow us on   - More than 46 million orphans in Africa. - More than 71 million orphans in Asia. - More than 10 million orphans in Latin America. - More than 120,000 orphans in the United States. 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. --James 1.27 (NIV) Watch the preview > You are God's Plan for the Orphan The United Nations reports that the number of orphans around the world waiting for help is more than 140 million. This global crisis is present even in the United States where over 120,000 children now wait to be adopted from the foster care system. But God commands every Christian to act and to care for orphans and we would like you to join us this fall as we serve the orphan. To help raise awareness of today's orphan crisis, we, along with our friends at Hope for Orphans® (a ministry of FamilyLife®), and Show Hope® worked together to produce Answer the Cry, a special video program hosted by bestselling author Francis Chan. Answer the Cry features musical performances by award winning artists Steven Curtis Chapman and Mark Schultz and highlights our own Jim Daly. Answer the Cry also addresses ways that every Christian can have an impact on the life of an orphan. This special program is available to you at no cost--visit CryOfTheOrphan.org to learn more about the video and how you can utilize it for an orphan awareness event in your community. Will you also consider joining us on Orphan Sunday (November 7) to stand for orphans, to defend the fatherless and care for the least of these? More details on how to get involved are at CryOfTheOrphan.org.

Giving up TV for a cause! (long but worth the read!)

 This is a picture from many years ago with a boy that we all fondly named "Junior". His mom had died and his dad was an alcoholic, so he was basically an orphan. He had THE biggest and most captivating smile I think I have ever seen. We have not seen Junior in years, we have no idea where he is in life now. Remembering all these old stories and thinking of these precious children and orphans has really been changing our lives.

So, after much prayer and struggle (honestly) we have decided to cancel cable (including local channels). To some, this is no big deal. To us, this is HARD. Eddie LOVES (cannot stress that word enough) watching sports of all kinds. I LOVE watching shows. I love just relaxing and not thinking and watching a good tv show. Honestly, it brings comfort and relief and something to look forward to after a long day.

A week or so ago my friend Carrie called to tell me that they were cancelling cable and donating the money that they would have spent on cable to a cause. I am going to copy and paste part of her post because it is ultimately what challenged us and brought us to this decision. I have to say, when Carrie first told me I was thinking "oh that's nice for you, but heck no!", and I said to her jokingly "you will still be my friend if we have cable right?:)". I had NO intention of doing this. Here is part of her blog below. I would encourage you to look at the website. You can view pictures and videos, including a mom scooping poop out of the water and then giving the "clean" water to her children to drink. Dirty water kills around 5,000 children a day (according to some of my research).


"So there it is, we are going to turn off our cable and use the money that would normally go to pay the bill to help build a well. Our friends the Pickers (another precious adoptive family that we have met along our journey) has started raising money to build a well in Africa. We are going to take 6 months of cable bills, for us that totals $312 dollars, and are adding it to their fund to build a well through Charity Water. But it doesn't end there...

We are issuing a challenge to you: WILL YOU JOIN US??? WILL YOU COMMIT TO GIVING UP YOUR TV FOR 6 MONTHS AND GIVE THAT MONEY TO BUILDING A WELL? Maybe you don't have cable or for whatever reason you need it, you can still join us, is there something in your life that is a regular monthly expense that you are willing to sacrifice for 6 months? Maybe you get your nails done, or get coffee every morning, or maybe you do net flicks, or have a hobby you could let go of for 6 months for someone to have clean drinking water for the next 20 years.

If God lays it on your hearts to join us, we rejoice! We know that this is truly the Gospel. But I also want to throw in a little disclaimer in here before I close this post, that we don't think there is anything inherently evil or wrong about any of these things. It is just as simple as reordering our priorities so that we can put God's work in the forefront of our minds, lives, and hearts. To really be His hands and feet, to literally offer a cup of water in His name.

SO WHO'S WITH US? WHO WILL JOIN US ON THIS JOURNEY AND WHAT WILL YOU BE GIVING UP ALONG THE WAY? If you are with us please leave a comment on this post (or email me) a comment and let us know.

The next step is to decide what service you are going to go without, total up what the six moths will be, and then go to the Charity Water fund-raising Site that the Pickers have set up to build this well and donate your money. You can find out more about there work and see AMAZING videos of there well projects here. I encourage you to go to there site and look through the videos and pictures, it make this little 6 month challenge so much more real, at least it did for us.

My prayer is that God has already been moving among you and there are lots (or at least some) of us who will be willing to step out there and sacrifice something for God's people. There are a lot of great causes out there, and lots of Christian ones as well, but how neat to actually give life giving water to a whole community for 20 years by something as simple as not watching the tv?

For now I leave you with this simple verse...

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, “Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me.” Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, “Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me.” These will ask Him, “When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?” And Jesus will answer them, “Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!” Mathew 25:31-46"


 I just think it is funny how God works. He stirred in both Eddie and I's hearts, and would not let us get away with NOT doing this. I know He calls each of us to different things. But the point is that we must be obedient to whatever He is calling us to. First, because we love Him and He is our Lord; but also because we don't want to miss out on what He has for us when we do obey. We are excited to do this. God has been working in our hearts and lives in numerous ways. The adoption is the beginning of this journey, but we are seeking to truly be His hands and His feet. Not in a big one time thing, but in daily acts of self sacrifice and love. It will be hard, but I know the blessings that will overflow from this will be so much greater than the momentary relief of watching TV. And we love to do these things as a family and be this example to Leah. We want to raise her with a heart for all of God's people. I have seen true poverty. I want my life to reflect the words that come out of my mouth.

I know this is long. Thanks for reading. If any of you feel challenged to do something similar that would be awesome! If you do, please leave a post so we can join together in prayer and in service!

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Where it all began- "The Hill"

When I was in 8th grade my dad took our family (and a couple other students) on a three week trip to Nepal. It had always been a dream of my dad's to see Mt. Everest so the year before he took my mom.  It changed their whole world and he knew he had to bring us there too. My parents didn't save for our education or things that the world deems important. They saved to give us life changing experiences like this, that I would not trade for ANYTHING. I am so thankful to my parents for giving me the gift of travel to third world countries, there is no substitute for that.  It changed my whole world. I can say without a doubt that Nepal is my favorite place I have ever been. I can't remember a time when I felt more at peace, more alive, more full of joy, more purposeful. My favorite place of all time is "the hill". This is where my dad first developed relationships with some of the people (more stories on that later). We went 4 years in a row to Nepal and each time we would go back to visit "the hill", and "my girls". My special girls names were Mothula and Sushila. From the instant I saw them, my heart was forever changed. Every morning when we would walk down our hill from where we were staying, they would be waiting for us. They would each take one of my hands and we would walk silently up the hill to their homes. We could not speak a word of the same language (but would try to teach each other words:)) But sitting in their "home" (a mud hut with maybe one room for everyone, mud floors, animals etc), I felt completely alive. I felt like I could stay there forever. I didn't "need" anything. They gave us honey that actually had dead bees in it that they had collected for us. They gave us what they could and they did it with such happy heart.  We would braid each others hair. They gave me their bracelets and I gave them mine. We would spend hours together, not talking, but saying so much. I remember giving "my" family $100 on year. The mom cried and told me that would give them enough rice to get them through the year. I couldn't believe that. Each time we would leave, my heart hurt. We would drive away in our bus, watching their bare feet run after us, waving and smiling. Tears would stream down my face, because I LOVE them. My heart broke for them. I wanted to make a difference. I have not been back to Nepal since my junior year in high school, but a part of my heart will always be there. It was during this first visit that I knew someday I would adopt. Back then, the statistic was that one in every 7 children were orphaned. We would go on treks in the mountains and see infants sitting in a pool of their own diarrhea, dying; knowing there was nothing we could do. This was everywhere. These little children were everywhere. It was absolutely heart breaking and hard to put into words. But somehow, these kids on the hill- their smiles- they lit up my world. They stirred a passion in me that at many times all but disappeared, but God did not let the flame go out. He is reigniting that flame and has also put the passion in my husband's heart, for which I am so thankful. Each year when we would go back to visit, they would have pictures of us in their huts, tacked to their walls. They were their treasures. It brings tears to my eyes to remember these amazingly special times...times that I so hope I can one day give to my daughter and our other children as well. This adoption is just the beginning of the adventure that God is unfolding in our lives. The world may look at it as foolishness, but we look at it as the very cry of God's heart; and we are so honored to be a part of it.

May our hearts grow softer and our voices rise louder…

  
“Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  Deliver the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked.”  Psalm 82:3-4


http://abbafund.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/orphan-statistics/

If I could take them all home I would.

Gloria at the "His Hands", where we will be adopting from.

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Guest Blogger- My dad! A MUST read!!

Jesus Love will save a child. Jesus love will hold a child. Jesus love will place a child into the arms of a sister overwhelmed by His Love; a Love that only He knew would be ready to someday, save and embrace an amazing life that was fearfully and wonderfully made by God, to be placed into the arms of a sister whom Jesus Love was preparing to receive. The book, "Crazy Love" just happened to be holding up the pictures of the two girls which kept falling off my book case and I used that one book to keep them standing up for my eyes to



(PS You have to click on the picture to see the whole thing)

“THERE’S A LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO” …I can face tomorrow, because He’ll hold me forever.

The little girl in Gloria's arms is Bishnu. I found Bishnu sitting on the ledge of a mud hut porch in Nepal and could see she wasn't going to live much longer. I carried her, with Bishnu’s grandmother at my side, and took her back Ruann’s and my hostel-like room where our good friend Jeevan worked as the manager.

We asked for food to be sent to our room and later Jeevan came in and was astounded to see Bishnu on Ruann’s lap and feeding Bishnu with her hand. There were no forks as the people in Nepal eat with their hand. We asked Jeevan if he would be willing to go with us to a doctor and find out why Bishnu weighed about 1/3 of what she should have weighed and why she had 'no life' to her. Usually kids in Nepal love to see a foreigner hoping maybe for a pencil and they always have a smile; always unless something is seriously wrong with their health.


The doctor said she had advanced TB and would need hospitalization for one month. Ran and I were leaving for Taiwan the next day. I gave Jeevan enough money to care for her and asked if he would be her official caretaker for the duration of Bishnu’s hospital stay? Hospitals in Nepal don't provide anything beyond the normal medical procedure and all daily needs, like eating, are left to the family.

He or one of his workers sat with Bishnu 24 hours a day for 30 days. She recovered. And Jeevan then spent the next week alone and read the entire New Testament that I had given him five years before.

When he was done reading he went to a local pastor I had introduced Jeevan too and he asked the pastor to pray with him immediately for Jesus’ love compelled him to surrender all and follow Him. Jeevan found a love that would not let him go and he then went home and made a plaque that he hung below the Hostel’s name. It read, “For me to live is Christ. To die is gain.” It is a passage from Galatians and it was hanging for all to see where just a few years before it was against the law to profess Christ and meant six years in jail.

Jeevan’s sign, if interpreted as “trying to convert a Hindu”, could earn one year in jail. Later he shared, “When I took Bishnu from Ruann’s and your arms, the love of Jesus that you had been telling me about, went through me like electricity. I knew He was real." He also told us something that we hadn't known. Nepal and India have a caste system. Jeevan was in the top caste and Bishnu was below the bottom caste and was called an “untouchable". My request was the kind that ends relationships, but he said, "You and Ruann come to my country and cared for people of my land and loved them more than I did. I couldn't tell you "no".

That story went through my mind when I looked at the two photos of “Sisters in Nepal. Gloria is soon to pick up a baby that most likely would have been aborted had it not been for this ministry that shares with women that there is a “Love” that can help you give something that doesn’t look possible.


Gloria has two young happy and highly energized sons that are 2 and 5. She just moved out of the country- some 12,000 miles away, and shed tears of joy and pain saying goodbye and following Jesus to the ends of the earth. She brought with her another kind of pain that only she could feel and put her in a wheel chair upon arriving in Taiwan, which was a result of a very traumatic brain surgery she underwent just three weeks before she boarded a 30 hour flight to the land she calls “home”. She is pregnant which in itself compounds the emotions of saying goodbye to mom and family. When you put all these amazing life changes into a young woman it is safe to say that you usually find that person responding to a need with, “My hands are full right now”.


Yet she got on a train, alone, and went to an orphanage in southern Taiwan in search of a child who soon would need the Loving Arms of Jesus; the same loving arms that hold a smiling Bishnu in the “Sisters in Nepal” picture.



I just said to myself, “I should have used another photo I have of the two sisters taken one after the other.” In this photo Brenda is holding Bishnu. But when I glance at the photos back on my book case, I am not sure why but it is the right two pictures.


Gloria passed “a miracle” into Brenda’s arms for a second photo years ago in Nepal. The story from beginning to end was: “THE AMAZING LOVE OF JESUS”.


Today, Jesus continues to amazingly and wonderfully overwhelm Jeevan just as He did through the life of a needy child, Bihsnu, many years ago. Today there are hundreds upon hundreds of lives that have been overwhelmed by Jesus Love through Jeevan. Today each of these two sisters continue to give and receive Jesus Love just as it shows in these Nepal photos taken years ago. The same Love that caused Jeevan to do something he could only exclaim rather than explain; that Jesus love was like electricity that produced an unshakeable conviction that surpasses all understanding, is going to overwhelm us all again with AMAZING LOVE passed between the same two sisters in two photos.

Jesus Love will save a child. Jesus love will hold a child. Jesus love will place a child into the arms of a sister overwhelmed by His Love; a Love that only He knew would be ready to someday, save and embrace an amazing life that was fearfully and wonderfully made by God, to be placed into the arms of a sister whom Jesus Love was preparing to receive. The book, "Crazy Love" just happened to be holding up the pictures of the two girls which kept falling off my book case and I used that one book to keep them standing up for my eyes to



I decided I would take a picture of the three items outside into the sunlight, up against our shrubs. Right before I pushed the shutter button an "unwanted" glare appeared, but when I looked at it after it looked "planned". Just like these stories were planned by a loving God, so He signs with the symbol of “Crazy Love.”