Our journey is beginning...

I’m getting married in six weeks…43 days to be exact.  So I should be thinking about white dresses, flowers, and dances, right?  Now don’t get me wrong they have been a part of my time, but right now my mind and a good chunk of my heart are half a world away.  I can’t stop thinking of Ethiopia.  So I decided maybe its time to share how the adoption journey began.

Throughout my teenage years, my youth minister and his wife shared a heart for the world with me over and over.  Their home always seemed to have an open door for anyone who needed a listening ear or a place to stay for the night.   They are also amazing parents who helped me see what it meant to raise a child who loved God and his promises. 

However, it didn’t stop there.  I remember sitting in the kitchen of their home one day when Sarah asked to pray for a little boy in Africa.  Little did we know God was preparing to move in this child’s life.  Now, many years later, he is playing soccer at an academy in Philadelphia.  His mother is one of my mother’s best friends.  His father coaches soccer, and he is thriving in an incredible family.  And who is to say that those prayers didn’t play an integral part in that story. 

God has continued to place these stories in my life.  I have watched one of my favorite youth sponsor couples get married and adopt their son through foster care.  God placed me in a church in rural Ohio where I was blessed to watch two amazing middle school girls thriving in their homes.  God had started an adoption journey in their hearts.  Their journey has affected my journey.

Then the amazing man I get to marry soon joined the journey.  As you may have gathered, I have known for a long time that I am called to adopt.  I still don’t know all the details, however I can not ignore that calling.  The only way I can explain it is, have you ever done something, maybe a hobby or a class or a career and it just felt right?  This is how I feel about being a wife and a mother.  Because of this, Tyler and I began talking about adoption about two months into our relationship.  That conversation has grown and progressed continually since then. 

For us, adoption is not a plan B.  It is not because we have had any type of fertility issues or been told that we can not have children.  We have chosen adoption because God has called us to do so.  Adoption is our first choice in how we will grow our family.  Please come along side us.  Pray for us.  Pray God will help us build a strong foundation in our marriage.  Pray for the children God is preparing for us.  Pray for their birth family.  Pray for those who are caring for our children now.  Pray about whether or not God is calling you to be a part of our journey.  Pray about whether God is preparing you for an adoption journey of your own.

Oh and if you want to hear more about our journey, ask.  I love talking about how God is moving in us, humbling us, teaching us, and changing our lives.

Are you part of the seven percent?

I very rarely post on this page anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing. I just often find that the topics I have to write about are more suited to our KidMin blog. You can check that out at kidworkz.blogspot.com

However, today my heart is heavy with a topic that is very dear to me. Those of you who know me, know that I am passionate about foster care and adoption. I credit a lot of this to many of my youth leaders growing up. They were passionate about these things and that passion just overflowed from them. Mike & Annie have adopted a child domestically. He is a great kid who is thriving in their home. Shawn & Colleen adopted one of their sons internationally. Tony is an amazing soccer player, great brother, and happy to be loved. Mike & Sarah have four children of their own, but that has not changed their passion for adoption. If they could fit a few more bunk beds in their home, I'm sure they would be thrilled to add to their family.
From a young age, this passion for adoption was stirred in my heart. This love and passion has only grown over the years. However, more recently I have found myself believing that the church is falling short in this area. This Friday, thousands will gather in Washington, DC on the anniversary date of Roe v Wade calling for laws regarding abortion in the United States to be overturned. Yet, in the United States alone there are over 100,000 children already waiting for homes. If laws regarding abortion are repealed this number will only increase. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."
Jesus himself saw that the government was often not the answer to many of this world's greatest problems. We have the ability to change the system. Imagine living in a country where there were no orphans. Imagine a place where rather than thousands of children waiting for homes, there were thousands of homes and families waiting for children. What love that would show. What an example of Christ this would be.
"If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans." I read this statistic for the first time this past Sunday. I can't seem to get it off my mind. 7% seems like such a small number. It seems so easily achievable. Yet, I know as some of you are reading this, you're going, "That's not me." I'd like to challenge you to ask yourself, "Why not?" Or maybe you're saying, I care about adoption, but I can't bring a child into my home right now. There may be many reasons for that to be true. So I would ask you to consider supporting those who can. Educate yourself (and others) on adoption. Promote its value to those in your family, church, community, circle of friends. Offer support to those who are pursuing adoption. They will need a community around them to help support emotionally, physically, and most of all prayerfully. Consider supporting adoption financially, whether by supporting a family who is adopting or an organization promoting and facilitating adoption. Stand beside those families who have brought a child into their home. They need you too.
Or maybe God is stirring your heart. Maybe He is calling you to be part of the 7%. Let me celebrate with you. I know He is calling me to that. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know how it will play out in my life. However, I am excited. I am so thankful that He is choosing to use me as an instrument of His love in the life of a child.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -The Lorax

The Power of Your Words

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about words. Words have a lot of power. In a split second, words have the power to change a person’s mood, day, or even their life either positively or negatively. Proverbs 18:21 says, The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Stanford University recently did a study about the words spoken into the lives of children. On average, in households where parents are professionals and highly educated, 80% of the words spoken by parents to children are positive. Only 20% are negative. Children’s ears are filled with statements about how smart, fast, beautiful, or clever they are.
In the average middle class family, where parents have some form of college education, a child will hear about 50/50 of positive to negative statements. However, in the average lower class family, where there is little education beyond high school, a child will hear negative statements nearly 80% of the time. Only 20% of the things people say around them will be positive. These children’s ears are filled with negativity: you are dumb. You are slow. You are ugly. You are unwanted. You are not enough.
I found this absolutely heartbreaking. This very concept flies in the face of the concept of the tremendous value that God sees in every single one of us. Children who are constantly bombarded with lies that they have no value often begin to believe them. I am reminded of a scene from The Help where Abileen Clark repeats to the child whom she has been hired to care for, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” While her grammar is lacking, Abilene realized the value of speaking truth into this child’s life. My challenge to you today is to break the statistic. Speak truth and positivity into the life of your children and the children who you come in contact with.