DOING something

A few months ago I wrote about a post about DOING something, anything, in the realm of orphan care.  I just had to share something that came out of that post...

In the post, I wrote about the organization SixtyFeet,  currently serving in Uganda.  They are ministering to children that are held in "remand centers," which are basically prisons for children who have been abandoned or given up by their parents.  There is much to be done for these children, as they sleep on the concrete floors, eat one meal a day (at most), and suffer daily with unclean water and widespread  disease and infections.

Because SixtyFeet knows that not everyone has the ability to be on the ground in Uganda with the children, they thought of an amazing way for families, including those with small children to be a part of caring for the Orphan.  On April 16th they hosted a nationwide Cupcake Sale.  Anyone, anywhere, was invited to participate.

Leesa, a friend of mine from my Messiah College days, (go Falcons!) read the post and really connected with what SixtyFeet is doing in Uganda.  So she decided to DO something.

She and some other friends hosted a SixtyFeet cupcake party- take a look here to see what they did.  In one day they raised $1200 for SixtyFeet!!!!   That's enough to provide ten beds and ten blankets for children in these centers.   Amazing.

Over $28, 618 was raised in one day across the country through cupcake sales.  Don't think that you can DO anything? I beg to differ.

Sad that you missed out on the cupcake sale? You can still help SixtyFeet by "virtually" buying a cupcake here.

On another note....

Do you live in Alabama? I've got an awesome opportunity for you to DO something for foster care children.

Summer is coming up and everyone in Alabama knows that the only place you want to be when it's 120 degrees and 150% humidity is in the swimming pool.

For the thousands of kids in foster care, that a activity that isn't always easy, for a simple fact- most of these kids don't come to their foster homes with many, if any, personal items.  Bathing suits aren't normally a personal item that they get to take with them.  Big House Foundation wants to DO something for these foster children in Alabama by giving them something personal, a brand-new bathing suit and towel with their name monogrammed on it.  Click here to see how you can help.

***If you live in the Montgomery area, please bring your suits and towels to First Baptist Church and leave them at the reception desk by May 1st.  Any size from infant to size 16.  For girls suits, please give a one-piece or tankini.

The North and the South

I was born and raised in New Jersey and spent all of my life there until right after college.  I grew up loving any Philadelphia sports team, water ice, and the jersey shore, (not the one you see on tv).

I pronounced that clear liquid you drink "wooder" and if I referred to you, it would be in the form of "you guys." 

Then I moved to Atlanta. And I spent ten years in that city where my Southern girl friends worked very hard to "Southernize" me.  I started using the word "ya'll" in a context that didn't include making fun of southerners.  I ate petit fours at baby showers.  The fifth grade curriculum that I taught included the Civil War- and the Southern perspective of how it all went down seemed MUCH different than what I learned in elementary school.  I had always thought that the war was over.   

I feel that since I have spent a good portion of my life in both parts of the continental U.S., I now have the authority to explain some differences between them, in case you weren't aware. 

1.  Baby and Bridal Showers

Northerners LOVE to throw surprise showers.  In fact, surprise showers are the ONLY kind we do.  We hope to catch you looking as nasty and unshowered as possible, surround you with thirty of your closest friends looking their absolute cutest, and then take as many pictures as possible.   And we love Tulle.  We especially love to decorate that "special" chair you sit in to open your gifts with tulle.  Lots of it.

Southerners LOVE to throw "Teas."  You must be wearing a dress and heels and eat lunch before, because the amount of cheese straws and petit fours you will have to consume to fill up is just not lady-like.  Southerners also love to throw "Couples Showers," in which everyone gets to come!  It's a guarantee that the husband will try really hard to find ways to get out of it because no man enjoys watching a woman open gifts that include spatulas or baby wipes. 

2.  Football

Northerners, especially where I'm from, care about one kind of football-- the NFL.  Most people own a jersey and sport it proudly on Sunday.  Going to football games involves wearing the most clothes as possible to keep warm and wearing gloves that allow for you to enjoy that hot dog and ice cold beverage.  (In the case of Philadelphia Eagles fans, most wear gloves that allow them to throw their beer easily at each other, too.) 

Southerners care about one kind of football--College Football- specifically the SEC.  At birth, before the baptism or naming of the child, it is bestowed on them which team they will pledge allegiance to and some children are then subsequently named after said team.  Going to games involves looking as cute as possible in your team colors.  The most preferred attire is a strapless dress or skirt. Big, chunky necklaces and earrings displaying your team logo is strongly suggested.

3.  Cuisine

Northerners call it Cream of Wheat.       

Southerners call it Grits. 

Northerners refer to grilling hamburgers and hot dogs as a "Barbeque"

Southerners refer to pulled pork and chicken as "Barbeque" 

Northerners have never seen nor eaten one

Southerners call them cheese straws

There has got to be some things that can unite us, right?  

One thing for sure is that no matter where you live, a live television news report will only interview the person with the least amount of teeth, the craziest hair, and the smallest vocabulary.  

Speaking of hair..... it seems the North and the South DO have something in common...

The North has the "Donald"

The South has Bama Bangs (aka The Southern Swoop)

In either part of the country,  it's just a bad combover. 

Something to think about...

This past week we completed our two home visits!  Our social worker is wonderful, loves big dogs (whew), and really understands how important moving as quickly as possible is to us!  She is now writing up our home study and once it is complete, we send all of our information to DHR and wait for it to be approved.

So we still have some time before we are "home-study ready."  However, we're a lot closer than we were a few weeks ago!

On a different note...

I recently read an article on the state of orphans and the role of the church when it comes to orphan care. I think this is an article that hits on a topic that needs to be discussed in ALL of our churches.  This is not an issue for other churches to worry about.  This is a call, straight from Bible, for ALL believers and ALL churches.

Here's just a small quote from the article about the state of foster care in our country...

By their mid-20s, less than half of those who graduate from foster care are employed.  More than 80 percent of males have been arrested, compared to 17 percent overall.  And 68 percent of the women are on food stamps, compared to 7 percent overall.  

The statistics are staggering and sobering.  But there is good news.  Those statistics can change.  It starts with one family at a time, stepping out on faith and out of their comfort zone, and opening their hearts and their homes to children that need love and stability.

Ok, that's my soapbox for the day.

Take a look at the article... I'd love to hear your thoughts!

The Least and the Most

Last week was spent serving in the Dominican Republic.  It's a place we know well, as it was Brian's tenth trip and my third trip to the community of Cielo in Santo Domingo.  A team of 40 (including my parents and mother-in-law!), were able to start building three homes for some hard-working Dominicans and Haitians.

 In case you weren't quite sure of its location: 

We were able to spend a lot of time with the children of Cielo; doing Vacation Bible School, playing sports, and teaching them English while trying to learn spanish from them.  (FYI to Americans: putting a spanish accent on english words does not make them spanish. ) 

There was one morning that truly stood out during our time there.  

We had the opportunity, as we have done in past years, to visit a Leprosorium (otherwise known as a Leper Colony).   It's community of people who have contracted leprosy over the past decades.  Almost all have been shunned by their families and most have lived at the Leprosorium for many, many years.  

Leprosy, once it is regulated by medicines, is not contagious, though it wreaks havoc on the body.  Most of the residents are disfigured and missing limbs.  Many are elderly at this point and have never left the community once they were admitted.  Very few are visited by anyone on a regular basis.  

They are the Least of These.  By society, they are forgotten.  They very rarely get human contact, as the stigma of their disease cripples the hearts of those they once called family.  

We were able to spend some time with them and through translators we got to know a little of their stories. We sang with them and laughed with them.  For some, we just held their hands.   

We gained much perspective in our brief time with them.  

Their Joy is evident immediately.  And it doesn't come from their material things.  It doesn't come from their jobs or their place in society.  In just listening to a few of their stories, I quickly saw that their Joy comes from knowing that this is not their home.  Yes, the Leprosorium is where they currently live.  But this is not the end for them. 

Their joy comes from knowing their Savior.  And knowing that HE is their home.

I was reading in Psalms today, and Moses said this so well:

"Lord, through all the generations YOU have been our home! 
Before the mountains were created, before you made the 
earth and the world, 
you are God, without beginning or end."  Psalm 90:1


At the end of our time together, our group was gathered with some of the residents in their community center. One of the Dominican men asked if he could share with us.  He stood up, hunched over with a cane, and called the translator over.

He wanted to sing us a song about our God.  And so he started singing.  As the song went on, he stood taller and taller.  And by the end of the song, he was spinning around and belting out lyrics at the top of his lungs for us.

And we were humbled.  Because this time at the Leprosorium wasn't about us and how much joy we could bring these residents.

It was about how much the Least of These could show us about our Most High God.

HE is our joy.  And HE is our home.

It just so happened

that we got home from our mission trip to the Dominican Republic about midnight on Friday. Our kennel is closed on Saturdays...... which meant that we couldn't pick up Knox until Sunday after 2:30pm.

This, in turn, guaranteed that I could clean our house on Saturday and it would STAY clean until after our first home study visit with the social worker at 1pm on Sunday.

Amazingness.

And yes, don't worry. We admitted to our social worker we had a dog. No use trying to hide this guy.

Knox will get a stern talking to before he meets our social worker on Wednesday.  No jumping up to lick her face to say hello.  Only paw-shaking.

Our first visit went great.  I had talked to enough other adoptive families to know that I didn't need to clean the undersides of our furniture and or repaint the scuff marks on our wall.

Though I did think about it.

We stuck to simple dusting and vacuuming.  And if you haven't had a home study visit yet, trust me, that was enough.

The actual interview part was very relaxed and easy.  Though Brian and I have no idea how we will be as parents, we know that we are called to BE parents and that some, if not all of our children, will come from adoption.  So we were more than happy to talk about that for as long as needed.

Our next and final home visit will be this Wednesday morning. Woohoo!  We have a social worker who understands that finishing this home study is important to us and wants to help us expedite the process.  We are VERY thankful for that.

Thank you to those of you who were praying for us on Sunday during our visit.  We are so thankful to having you walking alongside us in this journey!

First Visit

We've officially got a date for our first home study visit!

In order to get a date on the calendar as soon as possible, we agreed to have our first visit with the social worker about 36 hours after getting back from our week-long overseas mission trip.

Obviously, we thrive on stress and mayhem.

In all honesty though, we're excited about the visit.  We know that this brings us one step closer to meeting our child!



For those of you out of the adoption loop, I want to ask you to pray for the current situation with adoptions in Ethiopia.  Due to some unethical adoption practices by a few agencies, the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia has made the decision to drastically slow down the processing of adoptions. Where they were processing around 50 cases per day, they will be cutting it down to about 5 per day.  This impacts many families in process as well as the children in Ethiopia.

There absolutely needs to be investigations into potential child trafficking and unethical behaviors.  We are praying that it will not be at the expense of children who are truly orphaned and ready to be placed with an adopted family.

I have two friends currently in Montgomery who are now in the process.  One family has a referral for their baby daughter and are waiting for their court date,  while the other family is waiting for a referral.

This is always a possibility in the world of international adoption. You are not guaranteed a smooth process or even a happy ending.  My heart breaks for the families who are now truly faced with the possibility of not only waiting, but not having an answer of when the wait will be over.

Thankfully, we have a God who is Sovereign. And nothing, absolutely nothing, surprises Him.

Especially after all of the chaos that happened around the world today, I think this passage is such an amazing promise:

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and 

the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging."

Psalm 46: 1-3 

We're moving forward!

We officially have Child Abuse and Neglect clearance from ALL of our states!!!

After pestering our agency on a almost daily basis, they agreed to email the folks processing our clearance forms and check our "status" with the paperwork.  Once our agency realized that we had been waiting over eleven weeks, they felt it was time to check in.  Our annoying persistence paid off!

Our paperwork has cleared, we have now been assigned a social worker, and are waiting to hear when our first home visit will be!

Now I have to go clean.

And give this guy some obedience lessons before the social worker comes to visit.

I think we'd be friends

in real life.  


That's what I often imagine as I read blogs of women I've never met from all over the country.  


So in case you ever have considered that about me, I think there are some things you need to know: 

1.) I drink large quantities of UNsweet tea with extra lemons.  I'm usually seen carrying a Chick-fil-a cup full of it on a daily basis.  This causes many southerners to look at me with distaste and call me a Yankee.

2.) I'm not creative. This is not a statement of humility.  It's fact. In my elementary school, students had the opportunity to be invited on a yearly basis to try and "test" into the "Talented and Gifted" program.

That was never me.  In fact, in the fifth grade, I was one of four kids in my class who were not invited to take the test while the other twenty kids in our class were.  I can still remember sitting in the classroom just waiting for the rest of the class to get back.  Bless my heart.

3.) To further prove number #2, I can honestly say that I never think of my day in terms doing crafts, painting, or sewing.  I can guarantee that I will never attempt to show you how to refinish furniture,  paint a mural, or embroider a onesie on this blog.  I prefer, instead, to surround myself with very talented people to do those things for me.

4.) Once I find a fashion piece I like, it becomes my "thing." (Probably that creative issue again.)

• I rocked the colored jean my senior year of high school.  If it came in a color, I owned it.  Mauve jean? Check.  Dark green jean?  Check.  They're coming back in style soon.  Trust me.  
• For a few years I owned the tailored blazer.  Literally and figuratively.  In fact, I still actually own them; in navy, brown, mustard, cream, green, black...   Let me know if you need to borrow one. 

• My current obsession are sweater coats and scarves.  I own a lot.  In fact, there's a good chance that on any given day, I'll be wearing one or the other.  Or both.  I need an intervention.    

5.) I can't do a cartwheel.


So what do you think? Would we be real-life friends?  








 

Because All Children Deserve a Family

There are nearly 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. 

Over 250,000 will never return home.

Over 123,000 need adoptive homes right now.

More than 29,000 aged out of foster care in 2008, at age 18 without anyone, to live on their own, unprepared and unsupported.

In Montgomery County alone, there are over 300 children age 8-12 in foster care that are currently eligible to be adopted.  

Maybe you're past the point in your life of raising babies or toddlers.  

Maybe you've got some kiddos at home that keep asking for a sibling. 

Maybe you've got kids in college and some empty bedrooms in your house and  extra time on your hands? 

Maybe you should go check out the Heart Gallery

Eight years ago, this organization was formed to help give a voice and face to the thousands of children hoping to find a family.  The Heart Gallery is a traveling photographic and audio exhibit created to find forever families for children in foster care.  

These are children that have not been given a choice in their circumstances. They are not in foster care because they were disobedient or unstable. This is not their fault. 

They long to have what most of us take for granted.  A family.   

They are children. They have the same hopes and dreams as the ones who live in your house.   They play sports.  They sing and paint. They laugh and giggle.  And they don't have anyone to fight for them.  

Currently, the Alabama law on adoption is keeping this from being an option for us, as you need to be married for three years.  But after looking at the Heart Gallery tonight, I've been trying to figure out ways to get around that pesky little law.  

No matter where you live, I urge you to go to Heart Gallery and take a look at the kids in your state.  And tell your friends.  This is a solvable problem, my friends.  And you can be a part of the solution.  

 

And the Winner is....

the great state of Pennsylvania!!!

Out of the six states that either Brian or I have lived in,  Pennsylvania returned our Child Abuse and Neglect form first!!! 

Though I had to list EVERY address and EVERY person I have lived with since I was born on the PA state clearance form, (no, I'm not kidding),  they were extremely efficient and had given me written clearance in just three days.  

We've been warned that some states are taking two months to get clearances done. (ahem.... Georgia and Tennessee). 

The South, though I love it dearly,  is really starting to try my patience with getting things accomplished in a timely manner.  I mailed a letter to Birmingham to sign up for the online adoption training courses we need for the home study.  For those of you who still aren't quite sure where Alabama is located, much less Birmingham, it takes approximately an hour and half to drive from our house to Birmingham.

My letter, however, took two weeks to get there.  Apparently, Alabama is still using carrier pigeons as a method of mail transport.

In any case... we have five more to clearances to go and we can begin our home study visits!!

Georgia. Florida. Tennessee. Alabama. New Jersey.   Bring it.  

Oh, and my husband is a winner this week too.... 

I came home from work Monday to this delightful surprise!!!

Two Words.

Sugar. Coma.

Most of it has been eaten by one Word.

Me.