Thursday, August 27, 2009

Great News!!!!! Praise God

Yesterday, August 26, 2009 we received a referral for TWO children. Yeah!!!!!!!! So, apparently it WAS God's plan all along for us to adopt two. Even if it took longer than I would have liked and even when I started to doubt if we were in step with God. The waiting is the hardest part.

Our referral was for an 11 mo. old girl and a 2 yr. old boy. They are precious and we accepted the referral today. We are on cloud nine.

Courts are closed right now so we won't be given a court date until they reopen in October. We are praying that we will get a quick court date and be able to travel to bring them home by late October or early November. But, it could be further out than that. Again we wait.

We are unable to post photos of the children until we pass court and they are officially ours. But take our word, they are TOO CUTE.

God has orchestrated everything perfectly as usual.

Please pray for us as we gather the remaining funds needed to pay the agency/country fees, the humanitarian aid money and any travel expenses.

Our babies will be home soon!

God is SOOOOO good.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

4th Annual Adoption Seminar & Expo

As many of you know, Mike and I run an Adoption & Orphan Care Minstry through our church called God's Visible Love. We will be hosting our 4th Annual Adoption Seminar & Expo on Saturday, September 26th from 8am - 4pm at Providence Baptist Church on Glenwood Ave. There will be general sessions where adoptive families will share their testimonies and breakout sessions covering an array of topics (domestic infant adoption, foreign adoption, adopting from foster care, etc.) The cost is $5 per person and covers breakfast, lunch and materials. We will also have many local adoption agencies on hand at the expo to share information and answer questions.

On-line registration will be available on September 1st at www.pray.org .

Please feel free to share this information with anyone who may be interested.

We hope you can make it.

As a pre and post curser to this, the Southern Baptist Convention has recently passed this resolution:

WHEREAS, in the gospel we have received the “Spirit of adoption” whereby we are no longer spiritual orphans but are now beloved children of God and joint heirs with Christ
(John 14:18; Rom. 8:12-25; Gal. 3:27-4:9; Eph. 1:5); and

WHEREAS, the God we now know as our Father reveals himself as a “father of the fatherless” (Ps. 68:5) who grants mercy to orphans (Deut. 10:18; Hos. 14:3); and

WHEREAS, our Lord Jesus welcomes the little ones (Luke 18:15-17), pleads for the lives of the innocent (Ps. 72:12-14), and shows us that we will be held accountable for our response to “the least of these my brethren” (Matt. 25:40); and

WHEREAS, the Scripture defines “pure and undefiled religion” as “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble” (Jas. 1:27); and

WHEREAS, the satanic powers have warred against infants and children from Pharaoh to Moloch to Herod and, now, through the horrors of a divorce culture, an abortion industry, and the global plagues of disease, starvation, and warfare; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have articulated an unequivocal commitment to the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn; and

WHEREAS, a denomination of churches defined by the Great Commission must be concerned for the evangelism of children—including those who have no parents; and

WHEREAS, upward of 150 million orphans now languish without families in orphanages, group homes, and placement systems in North America and around the world; and

WHEREAS, our Father loves all of these children, and a great multitude of them will never otherwise hear the gospel of Jesus Christ; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, June 23-24, 2009, express our commitment as a denomination of churches to join our Father in seeking mercy for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we call on each Southern Baptist family to pray for guidance as to whether God is calling them to adopt or foster a child or children; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we encourage our pastors and church leaders to preach and teach on God’s concern for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we commend churches and ministries that are equipping families to provide financial and other resources to those called to adopt, through grants, matching funds, or loans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we ask our International Mission Board and North American Mission Board to prioritize the evangelism of and ministry to orphans around the world, and to seek out ways to energize Southern Baptists behind this mission; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we encourage Southern Baptist churches to join with other evangelical Christians in recognizing November 8, 2009, as “Orphan Sunday,” focusing that day on our adoption in Christ and our common burden for the orphans of the world; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we hope what God is doing in creating an adoption culture in so many churches and families can point us to a gospel oneness that is defined not by “the flesh” racial, economic, or cultural sameness but by the Spirit unity and peace in Christ Jesus; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that we pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on Southern Baptist congregations so that our churches increasingly will announce and picture, in word and in deed, that “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”