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Monday, October 18, 2010

Loved by Choice


In July of 2007, Tim and I traveled to China to bring our daughter home. It was a wild feeling to sit and wait in a very hot and stuffy government building to meet your child for the first time. There was a whole lot of unknown...how would she react to these strangers with big eyes? How would I react to her...would or could I love her like my three biological children? All my fears and concerns quickly vanished when the Chinese nanny handed our daughter to me. God did a miracle in my heart.....I WAS IN LOVE!!

It was so exciting to see 9 baby orphans meet their forever families that day...but this was just one room. ONE room in an orphanage of many rooms and one orphanage in a country of many, many orphanages. Our hearts broke for our daughter's story of abandonment and our eyes opened to the desperate needs of million of orphans.

Shortly after returning home the Lord used His word to confirm what we were already feeling.

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts & keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act" Proverbs 24:12

One thing we really wanted to do was to share our adoption experience with others. We ordered the "Launching an Orphan Ministry in your Church" by Family Life, Hope for Orphans. (We would really recommend this for anyone interested in getting their church on board with adoption and foster care.) We shared our heart with some like-minded friends, prayed, and so it is that LOVED BY CHOICE adoption, foster care and support ministry was born.

On Sunday we had our third information seminar. We invite a speaker from an adoption agency and foster care service to share about their programs and offer pamphlets from several adoption agencies. It was a great time of sharing our story and answering questions. We are so thankful and excited to be a part of this growing ministry to encourage families to get involved in caring for the least of these!!

We came home to a sign on the door for "The Show". It was an exciting show put on by our kids. It was a mixture of gymnastic and circus-like moves. We were given tickets and snacks--I loved that they had worked on it together.
I hope you all have a happy Monday--pray about what you can do to get others, especially your church, involved with adoption and foster care in your area. "Speak up for those, who have no voice".

6 comments:

  1. My husband and I are doing a small bit in our church on orphan Sunday to raise awareness. Our hope is so be able to start something similar. I love the name "Loved by Choice". Could you maybe blog more about that?? I would love to hear and get more ideas. That truly is my passion (and I haven't even adopted yet). This post makes me so excited for things that God has in store:)

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  2. Distance being such a hindrance to seeing and interacting with you and the kids, I love seeing all the pictures! ;) The boys are so good with the girls!! Just love it!

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  3. Oh, I love that ya'll have started an orphan/adoption ministry in your church! How awesome! We have started ours kind of "own our own" but hopefully we wil have something with our church soon too!

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  4. Oh my goodness that is so stinkin cute!!! And I will totally be picking your brain in a few months about starting that ministry in your church! We are moving wherever the Air Force sends us in 6 months and will be anxious to see if our new church(wherever on earth in the US that turns out to be) has an orphan ministry.

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  5. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I always love to know who or if anyone is reading!

    Love your blog and the amazing call to care for the orphans. What a true calling in your life.

    I pray for good things with your upcoming adoption from Korea. It is all such an exhilarating experience...adoption.

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  6. Love it when my kids orchestrate "shows!" So fun and wonderful to see their creativity and team work. I know you were blessed by your kids' production!

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