orphans

Uganda Trip Highlights

Dave Sterrett — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:21:19 -0800

Thank you Community Fellowship Church in Staunton, VA and all of my ministry friends who sponsored my Ugandan trip with my father and Larry Barrett. We left on December 12. The previous two weeks were some the busiest of the year as I wrote four papers for three graduate courses I was taking at University of Dallas, as well as grading dozens of short papers from online students at Liberty University. We connected in Washington D.C. and then London and finally to Uganda.

When we arrived, it took us hours to get settled, because our original hotel room was overbooked. We only received a couple hours of rest, before we showed up to Back to the Bible Institute in Kampala. Honestly, I had no idea how I was going to stay awake. Our driver who took on what felt like a crazy excursion through Kampala of dodging of people, random obstacles in the street, motorcycles sometimes with up to three people on the back, cows, and children. This however, did not keep me from wanting to fall asleep. However, when we arrived, I looked in the building, the orphanage, then looked at the faces of five hundred African young adults in their twenties who cheering and giving us the warmest welcome. Their friendly and enthusiasm woke me up immediately and automatically I felt an adrenaline rush. They were the reason we were on this trip. Then the leader of Back to Bible Institute, Alex Mitala, who is currently leading about 20,000 born again churches stood up to welcome us. Alex spoke in English with his translator speaking fervently in the native Lugandan language.

Alex started addressing students from every region of the country. He then started talking about my father, Clay, whom they call “Boombah” which is the Lugandan word for “Mud.” He started telling these students that Boombah and his team were here in train them to be prepared for biblical living and doctrine. Alex started naming all the regions in which students were represented and he told them, “Boombah has been there. He’s trained your home pastors.” Alex continued, “You in the south of Uganda, Boombah’s been there too. He has trained your pastors. Boomhah’s been in the West. Boombah’s been to the East. He has been coming to Ugandan since 1987. Now he has brought his son, Dave and friend Larry.” The young people exploded in applause.

As I listened to Alex, I really felt encouraged by the work that my dad has done. I was only seven years when my father took his first trip. I still remember him returning and giving me a large African drum, that wouldn’t pass airport inspections today. But I as I listened to Alex, I really felt grateful for God’s work through my father in working with Ugandan pastors. Then Alex encouraged the young people not to just sit with those from their own region but to get to know people from other parts of the country. I was so grateful that CFC funded the transportation of bus passes for these young people to come to Kampala. For some of them, this was their very first time to the capital city.

I felt an urgency to preach. After dad and Larry spoke for a couple hours, they fed us. I actually liked the food. The pineapple was my favorite. After lunch, I spoke for a couple hours. I spoke on, “What is truth?” and gave a brief introduction to the Christian practice of apologetics, which means to provide an intelligent defense for the faith. I told young Ugandans that the economy continues to grow that the generation that they are training will have greater opportunities for travel, education, medicine, and business that previous generations under dictators did not experience. I told that them that these opportunities were good, but along with, they will be exposed false teaching like naturalism in science courses that teaches that all of reality is only material or natural. I warned them they would be exposed to atheism but also other forms heretical Christian faith like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that it would be very important for them to have a Christian worldview. I also said that as they practice law, medicine, business or even go into politics, that they will need to use their minds to the glory of God. I told that apologetics was important for three reasons. 1) To Shape Culture. 2) Evangelism. 3) To stay strong in the faith, when the emotions aren’t there.

The students were very responsive. As we continued to teach, Larry talked about the importance of having a daily Bible reading plan, but also to be faithful, accountable and obedient to the older leaders in the church. Dad spoke in greater detail about Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnessess. He also gave a talk about recognizing what Christ did for each on the cross. One evening we also met with Pastor Joel and talked on the ratio about importance of relationships, marriage and purity. Joel’s radio show is on one of the largest stations in Ugandan and goes out to a several million listeners.

At Back to the Bible, Alex’s school has about 1800 orphans and Joel’s school has several hundred orphans as well. The orphans come from all around the country. Some of their orphans came from the Northern African and were victims of Joseph Coni, the terrorist who lead Lord’s Resistance Army, and forced children to shoot their parents. Last year, when Dad spoke on forgiveness, he remembered meeting one young man who had to shoot his parents and another young lady who was brutally raped multiple times. Both of them experienced a new freedom through Christ’s forgiveness. These students are trained with the English language, as well as mathematics and science.

Out 84 schools in the region, the students at Joel’s school and orphanage were ranked number one in academic testing. Joel, like Alex is a visionary leader and both oversees the educational training of the children and also serves in preaching and pastoral leadership. Both men are constantly raising up young leaders and sending them out and rapidly multiplying. At Joel’s school, the students also learn different trades. We are very thankful for the electricity that Community Fellowship provided for his school. The students also learn trades that will provide for them financially. Both Joel and Alex as well as another leader named John all encourage their students work hard. At the youth conference, we worked with Joel, Alex, and John to encourage their young pastors to be willing to work another job as well. Larry, my father and myself have at different times in our lives have worked other jobs to support our income.

On the final Sunday, Alex had brought in another group for training. These 150 students were children of Pastors. They were probably about fourteen years old or so. I talked about some of the struggles of being a the child of a minister. I encouraged them to respect their parents, but pray for their parents as well. I told them that their fathers will make mistakes and might let them down, but I encourage them to forgive their fathers and ultimately trust God. The three points that I emphasized to them through a long teaching mixed with my own stories and the example of Joseph’s life was to 1. Know what you believe. 2.) Know Why it is true. 3) Forgive as Christ forgave you.

The students were very attentive and took notes. Alex then encourage called them out and asked them to repeat what I taught. I was very encouraged with how each student got up and boldly and clearly recited what I said. One student remembered my own talk more accurately than I remembered myself. I was very impressed with the details that a couple students remembered.

I walked away, knowing that the work of this trip was very important because the Ugandan young people were hungry for teaching. As we sat in the home of one of the lead pastors John and talked with him and Alex, we asked what was the need for Uganda. They encouraged us to come back and provide training for youth pastors. Alex explained that in the history of the country, there have been many conferences but never have Americans come over and provided the type of conference with doctrinal training and the leaving behind of material. For this tip, we had written an 80-page booklet for the youth pastors to study, take notes, and then take an extra copy back to their home pastors. We also gave them our books, Why Trust Jesus? and Safeguards for the Saints.

Dad told Alex that we want to continue to work under them and we don’t want to just be dogmatic with what we think is best. Alex told Dad that we need to continue to provide training for youth pastors and pastors in the areas of doctrine, Christian living, Bible study, apologetics and marriage. Alex asked if we could train another five hundred youth pastors next year. He said that Americans pastors often want to come over and either do big scale evangelism events or do church planting multiplication training. Alex said that they definitely don’t need help in either one of those areas. The Ugandans have many gifted leaders in evangelism and church planting. However, he emphasized that they needed deeper training in doctrine, apologetics and Christian living.

First, I want to thank everyone who sponsored this trip. Second, if you have funds to help with their orphanages and schools, they can certainly need your help. Third, on one of our trips Joel’s rented van broke down. If anyone would like to buy Joel a newer used van, please let my father know. Fourth, please pray if we should lead another conference like this next year in 2012. I am very open to returning, but we will want to pray about it and ask God to give us wisdom.

Advocating For Orphans As Busy Moms

Kristen Howerton — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:03:13 -0700

Today I will be leading a panel at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit about how to be an advocate as a busy mom. I’m already feeling inspired by the things that busy moms have done. Yesterday morning I went to a session on the socio-political aspects of adoption, and I heard the story of McLane Layton, a mom who adopted three children from Easter Europe only to discover that her children did not get citizenship after being adopted. She started lobbying that adopted children be treated as relatives instead of as immigrants, and in 2000 helped put together the Child Citizenship Act.

I heard the story of another mom who was in the process of adopting 9 siblings from the Philipinnes, only to find out that an error made in the Hague Convention prohibited the adoption on siblings over age 16. In the sibling set she was trying to adopt, two children were over 16. She contacted her senator and they worked to ratify this point.

I heard the story of Carolyn Tweitmyer, who was in the process of adopting a child with HIV and learned that there was a law requiring a USCIS medical waiver for any child with HIV to be adopted,. This waiver could take up to nine months to process, as sick children languished in third world conditions without access to care or a family to assist them. Carolyn advocated to change this law, and children with HIV no longer require this red tape.

Busy moms can do big things.

I’m excited to talk about how to advocate for orphans as a busy mom. Five of us with very different experiences and passions will talk about how we are advocating in our own way. Some of us have adopted, some have chosen a different path of prevention for orphans. All of us have been touched by the crisis, and incidentally each of us had our hearts stirred while on a short-term mission trip, seeing the orphan crisis first-hand. Here is a little about the other presenters:

Kristen Welch writes at her parenting blog, We are THAT family, and offers an honest mixture of humor and inspiration. Her first book, Don't Make Me Come Up There, a book for busy Moms, was released March 1, 2011. After a life-changing Compassion International trip, Kristen and her family recently launched a non-profit ministry in Kenya, Africa called The Mercy House, with a Compassion Leadership Graduate. The Mercy House is a maternity home for young, pregnant girls. The ministry advocates for the global orphan crisis by aiding and educating in women's maternal health.

Jodie Howerton is the mother of three children, two biological and one recently adopted from South Africa. . Her church recently launched a massive Orphan Care Initiative that aims to assist in the placement of thousands of orphans around the world and at home, into adoptive homes. She is passionate about adoption and foster care, and deeply concerned about the plight of the world's street children. As the mom of an HIV+ son, she finds herself directly connected to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and is still learning how to best advocate for her little boy. She also sits on the board of "Until Then," a non-profit advocacy group working to advocate for street kids around the world.

Megan Terry is is a stay at home mother to three children through birth and adoption. She fell in love with Africa years ago and adopted a toddler from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2009. She volunteers with Our Family In Africa- a humanitarian organization serving the needs of vulnerable orphans in DRC. She also travels to area churches and civic groups speaking about Africa's civil wars and how it relates to Africa's orphan crisis. She has taught lessons to area children about what their lives would be like if they lived in the third world and also teaching them practical things that their classes can do to help orphans around the world. Megan's passions lie with helping people connect in personal ways to hurting children. She helps churches and civic groups organize shoe, clothing, mosquito netting and formula drives and connects traveling adoptive families with these supplies to deliver to their children's orphanages. Megan and her family organize many fundraisers throughout the year to benefit orphan care initiatives in Africa as well as educate participants about adoption, orphan care, and ways that they, too, can become advocates.

Kathleen Hamer has been married to her best friend, Dan for almost 34 years. They have 5 children, 3 children they made the old fashioned way and 2 adopted from Kenya almost 7 years ago. Dan and Kathleen found their 13 year old son, Derek living alone on the streets of Kenya when he was 5 years old. God called them to adopt Derek and his younger brother Reggie. This was the genesis of Kathleen's passion for the forgotten street children of the world. Kathleen and her family started the non profit Until Then () to bring awareness, action and advocacy for street children around the world. Until Then, partnering with churches and businesses has launched drop in centers for street children in Kenya, as well as developing community development programs that focus on agricultural assistance, family psychosocial support and clean water projects.

These are some of the questions we will be looking at for tomorrow, and for those reading along at home, I would love to hear your answers!

What is your specific area of passion? How was your heart moved in that direction?
How do you think being a mom effects the way you view the orphan crisis? Does it give you more compassion?
What are some of the limits to advocacy as a busy mom? Obviously we can't all jump on a plane to Africa all the time. How do you find the space and time amidst the soccer practices and carpool line?
How do you involve your own kids in your advocacy? Have they ever felt put out by the work you do? How do you strike a balance between giving back without taking away time from your own family?
If you have adopted, how does being an adoptive parent play into all of this? Do you view your role as an adoptive mom as a catalyst in your advocacy?
Do you work outside the home (or at home)? How does the family/work balance play into the ways you would like to advocate.
If you could dream big, where do you see yourself in 3 years?
What changes are you most passionate about bringing about, and how can you play a part in that in your current lifestage?
How might things look differently when your children are older?

_____________________________________________

Kristen is the mom of four children via birth and adotion, and chronicles her surrender to the loser cruiser at Rage Against the Minivan.

What I Wanted to Say . . .

Kristen Howerton — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:18:03 -0700

Well, folks, my fifteen minutes is up. I was glad have a chance to share a bit of our adoption story on a national media outlet. Leading up to the show, my mind was racing with points I wanted to make about adoption. It's something I'm so passionate about, and it's hard not to replay what I wish I would have said. Here's a bit of it . . .

I wanted to talk about seeing an article in Time magazine when I was 12 years old that forever impacted my life. I wanted to talk about how haunted I was of the images of Romanian orphanages, and the thought of children growing up without love or affection. I wanted to talk about how I cut out the photo and had it in my bedroom for years, and how I always knew that I would adopt.

I wanted to talk about the research on reactive attachment disorder, and how common it is among institutionalized children. I wanted to emphasis how insidious this disorder is, at the individual level as well as on a societal level. I wanted to talk about how it can form within the first few months of a child's life, if they do not bond with a parent. I wanted to share the stories of families I know who are recovering their children from this disorder that is so damaging to the souls of children. I wanted to talk about how this is a hidden disorder, because the children look so normal to the outside world.

I wanted to talk about the literature on institutionalized children, and how passionately I feel that the love of a family is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

I wanted to talk about the effects of institutionalization I am seeing in my own home. Even though my son is only three, and even though he was in an amazing orphange.

I wanted to talk about how deep my love is for my adopted children. I wanted to share the way I love them every bit as much as the daughters I have birthed.

I wanted to talk about how you can only "save" a child once. After that, it's called parenting, and it is hard work. I wanted to emphasis that while I think adoption is a piece in solving the orphan crisis, it should not be a considered a rescue effort at the familial level. And furthermore, adopted children have the same right to be ungrateful and bitter towards their parents as biological children.

I wanted to say that while some internationally adopted children may choose to return to their birth country to give back in some meaningful way, some may choose to work at a local Starbucks or spend their 20's figuring out their career, and that's okay. I wanted to challenge the notion that adopted children somehow need to "make good" or redeem themselves by being special, as that narrative is often pushed in entertainment.

I wanted to address the meme of adopted children as lucky. I wanted to point out that adoption results from loss, and that adoption loss is often deeply felt.

I wanted to talk about how poverty is not a reason to remove a child from their birth family. I wanted to talk about how adoption should not be seen as a way of moving children from an "inferior" to a "superior" culture. I wanted to talk about how children can grow up happy and loved in any country if they form secure attachments. I wanted to talk about how a lack of affection is the most disgusting form of poverty, and how that happens right in our own backyard, even in the wealthiest of families.

I wanted to talk about the reasons women place their children in orphanages, and how we need to be looking into family preservation when possible. I wanted to talk about education, and birth control, and access to medical care, and how proud I am of the work Heartline is doing on those fronts in Haiti.

I wanted to talk about the cultural stigma of adoption in sending countries. I wanted to talk about why it is unrealistic to propose that international adoption be eradicated in favor of in-country placements, because of some of the barriers in specific countries. I wanted to talk about the emphasis on blood lines and the stigma of both adoption and out-of-wedlock children in Korea, the one-child laws in China, and the restavek/child slave situation in Haiti. I wanted to peel back the layers of the cultural issues that result in children being sent from one country to another.

I wanted to talk about the need for reform. I wanted to talk about the business of adoption, and how agencies are charging exorbitant amounts to complete adoptions. I wanted to talk about the disparity of costs between adopting healthy white infants and children of color.

I wanted to talk about how, when we called our Christian agency about a healthy African American boy from LA county who was in need of a home, we were told that they had no prospective adoptive parents willing to accept a placement of a black child. NOT ONE.

I wanted to talk about race preference in adoption, and the fact that a minority status qualifies a child for "special needs" status in the US, regardless of age.

I wanted to talk about the discrimination Jafta has faced already. I wanted to talk about how transracial adoption has opened my eyes to the over and covert racism that still exists in our country. I wanted to talk about how frustrating it is when I discuss Jafta's experiences of racism and people dismiss me as being overly sensitive.

I wanted to talk about how, despite how much we long for it, we have had difficulty finding inclusion in the African-American community. I wanted to talk about how, after two years of going to the same barbershop, the elderly proprietor finally admitted to Mark that he was just now "cool with us". I wanted to talk about the sting of wanting to immerse Jafta in his culture, while recognizing that having white parents may set him up for rejection.

I wanted to talk about the deficits that we will have as a white couple raising black children. I wanted to compare it to a single mom raising boys . . . how we will need help from others. I wanted to talk about how painful it can be as a parent to know that, while I can empathize, I will never fully understand my sons' experiences as African Americans, or as transracial adoptees. I wanted to talk about how every adoptive parent needs to suck up their pride and admit that we can't do it alone.

I wanted to talk about how much I have learned from reading the writings of adult adoptees, and how their experiences of loss and isolation inform me as a parent, and also break my heart.

I wanted to talk about the persistent question I hear asking why people adopt internationally instead of taking care of "our own kids" in the US. I wanted to talk about how every child, in every nation, is deserving of a family, not just American children. I wanted to say how petty I find this question.

I wanted to talk about the way our government renames orphans and calls them "wards of the state", and renames orphanages and calls them "group homes", and how we collectively turn a blind eye to the fact that we have hundreds of thousands of children waiting for families in the US. I wanted to talk about how inefficient, unprofessional, and overworked the LA county social workers were. I wanted to talk about how many times Jafta's adoption was stalled, during the course of three years, due to someone not doing their job correctly.

I wanted to talk about aspects of Jafta's case that I just can't share because I want to protect his privacy, but that would make your head spin in anger at the mismanagement of children in the system. I wanted to share what it was like to spend three years wondering if my child, my first son, would be returned to someone who had proved, time and again, that she should not be trusted with children. I wanted to talk about the ways DCFS lied to us, and the discoveries we made along the way, and the need for reform and funding for our fostercare system.

I wanted to talk about a system that requires foster children to be placed in an adoptive home for 6 months before terminating parental rights, regardless of an absence of reunification efforts by the birth parents. I wanted to talk about how this scares away prospective adoptive parents, and hurts children by leaving them in a limbo even after years of no contact with birth family. I wanted to talk about how children whose parents have failed to reunify should be made legally freed for adoption AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, so that more people would be willing to step forward and adopt.

I wanted to talk about the 18-year-olds I regularly see on adoption photolistings. Kids like Percell who, despite being old enough to live independently, place themselves on national photolistings because they desperately want to be adopted. Because, in Percell's words, he "wants to become a member of a permanent family". I wanted to talk about what life must be like for Percell, and other kids like him, who age out of the fostercare system despite a deep desire to have a family even as they enter adulthood.

I wanted to talk about the 300,000 orphans that were not eligible for adoption in Haiti BEFORE the earthquake, verses the 900 that were adopted. I wanted to talk about how many children around the world will age out of orphanages, due to lack of paperwork or other factors that make them ineligible for adoption. I wanted to talk about how people who can't adopt can support these orphanages, and to share about some of the orphanages who are doing it well.

I also wanted to talk about the reality that, in third world countries, most orphanage conditions are deplorable.

I wanted to talk about what responsibility we have to caring for our world's orphaned and abandoned children, and the small part adoption can play in that effort. I wanted to talk about how much we should all be bothered by the numbers of children in our world who are missing out on basic human needs. Security. Love. Affection.

I wanted to say that we should all be doing something. Not everyone should be adopting. But we should be doing something. And we should all be a little sick about it.

Orphan Movie, Orphan Stigma

Kristen Howerton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:44:55 -0700

One of the most discouraging things I have heard people say about adopting a child is that "you never know what you are going to get." I supposed there is some truth to that statement, but I feel that it is usually said with some air of genetic superiority . . . that somehow a person's own familiar chromosomal makeup would be preferable to the "crap shoot" of adopting. It's interesting to me that this notion is held in a society that seems to blame bad parenting on every childhood deviation from perfect behavior. I also think it is interesting that anyone should think that their own family blood line to be better than another without taking into account the mitigating factors of education, privilege, prenatal care, and good parenting. In fact, even in the presence of these things, families from all walks of life have some blips in the tree here and there. Which is why I always find it a little rattling when I've been asked about my son's birth family in a way that indicated the answer would be some sort of an indictment on his character or potential. (This is also why I am tight-lipped about it, because I know the prejudice of "guilt by genetic association" is still pervasive).

Don't get me wrong, I realize that there are genetic components to things like mental illness, addiction, cancer, diabetes, etc. But if those were deterrents to parenting, then my husband and I should never have had our own biological children, because Lord knows we've got enough of that crap in our own family of origins. Most of us probably do. Then there are a host of other issues that can crop up during pregnancy or childhood that have no foreshadowing in the genetic code. Because the universal truth is, when you decide to be a parent, whatever way that happens, you don't know what you are going to get. That's a risk you take whether you get pregnant or adopt. So forgive me when I get annoyed at that truth being applied so liberally and exclusively to adoption.

The reason I'm feeling a little testy about this today is that I just saw a preview for a movie called Orphan. Now I am not the type to send out boycott emails, or jump on the latest bandwagon of Things to Be Alarmed About. But one of the things that stuck out to me in a preview is someone indicating that very warning to a prospective adoptive couple: you never know what you are going to get. I've not seen the movie, but from the looks of the preview, the couple adopt a little girl who ends up being some sort of a monster who wreaks havoc on the lives of an idyllic suburban couple. I am not blind to the fact that the adoption of hurting children can really wreak havoc on a family, but an exploration of attachment issues does not seem to be the goal of this movie. Orphan is a horror film, and it's perpetuating an insidious notion that adoption is a scary prospect. I think it is bringing unneccesary fear and stigma to the adoption of older children, and I'm kinda pissed about it. And yes, I'm rattling off about a movie I haven't even seen yet, and I HATE when people do that. But based upon the entire plot premise I don't think I need to waste my time, and no matter how it ends, the moral of the story is clear: this couple shouldn't have adopted.

There are 140 million orphans in this world, and I can't think of a population in greater need of compassion. Why a movie company would choose to vilify orphans for a cheap thrill is beyond me. I'm not going to link to a petition or call for a boycott. I don't really think that stuff effects much change. Instead, perhaps it's a call for all of us to contemplate how we can honor and respect the least of these when our entertainment industry does not.

La Casa De Mi Padre (My Father's House)

Christy Tennant — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:06:47 -0700

Between 2002 and 2004, I visited an orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador four times. La Casa de mi Padre (My Father's House) was founded in May 2002 and currently rents two homes on adjoining property in Colonia San Francisco, San Salvador. Each home, one for girls and one for boys, has a houseparent couple who models a loving, Christian family. The two homes can now serve up to 37 children.

The picture at the right is of me playing guitar on one of my trips. That's what I mostly did there - played music and sang with the kids.

The little boy behind me is Alejandro. He was a sweet child who loved to run and play with the other kids - and he was always interested in my guitar. But on my last trip there in 2004, the workers at the orphanage had grown very worried about Alejandro. He had become withdrawn and was misbehaving at school. He had grown very thin. When I saw him, it seemed pretty obvious that he was severely depressed. All he wanted to do was sleep.

The one thing that seemed to get him out of his shell a bit was my guitar. So, toward the end of my last visit, I got the crazy idea that Alejandro needed a guitar of his own. Something that was uniquely his, that he did not have to share with all the other orphans, unless he wanted to. So I went on a trip around town to find Alejandro his guitar.

When he came home from school that day, he went to his top bunk in the room he shared with all of the boys in the orphanage, just like he did every day. But that day, when he got to his bed, he found a bright, shiny, brand new guitar. "Es para ti," I said. "Es tuyo." It's for you. It's yours.

He was very excited. He even smiled. I cried. A lot.

Fast forward five years to March 2009. I had lunch with my friends Aubrey and Esther Knight, who help run My Father's House International. Aubrey (Dr. Knight) had just returned from visiting La Casa de mi Padre. As we sat there catching up, he informed me that Alejandro was not only still playing guitar, but he was leading worship for the house devotions at the orphanage. I burst into tears. See the picture above left; that's Alejandro and his guitar today.

In 2005 La Casa purchased a 28-acre farm in Santo Tomas. This is located just 10 miles outside of San Salvador, one mile off the highway to the airport. This farm will provide a permanent location that is conducive to optimally serving the children. The land will allow La Casa to provide healing and hope for up to 80 children with the following assets: eight children’s homes, on-site school, counseling building, food storage building, missionary and staff housing, guest lodge, pavilion, and playgrounds.

The work going on at La Casa is life-changing for the orphans who end up there. While I have not been back since 2004, I have stayed in close touch with several of my friends at My Father's House International, a wonderful organization devoted to serving orphans.

If you have ever thought about God's mandate throughout the Bible to care for orphans and wondered "What can I do?" have I got an opportunity for you! No one is feeling the effects of the current economic crisis more than non-profit organizations that rely on people's generosity to make ends meet. Would you consider making a donation to La Casa?

Click here to read the latest newsletter!

AND CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION!

The Journey Begins

jodie howerton — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:13:13 -0700

For some time now, Mike and I have have felt an undeniable pull toward adoption. For the last several years, however, our lives have been too consumed with church work, various crises, and parenting the 2 kids we already have, to thoroughly process what this meant.

Lately, however, this pull has become so strong, so magnetic, that ignoring it is no longer possible.

We have traveled overseas numerous times in the past 15 years to places like Kenya, South Africa, Venezuela, and Mexico. On each trip we encountered mind boggling poverty, orphans, innocent children without parents to advocate for them or provide emotional or spiritual guidance. Many of these children were well-cared for in orphanages, transition homes, and health centers. Many, however, were not.

With each trip, each new exposure to injustice, our hearts broke open a little wider. I began to have serious doubts that I was actually living out my faith in a practically compassionate way. Ignoring or over contextualizing James 1:27, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you," became increasingly more difficult.

A few months ago, we had lunch with an Indian minister named Pastor Gilbert who works with the poorest of the poor in the diseased, dirty, and often treacherous slums in his community. He and all his church staff have adopted street children. He challenged us saying, "Take in a child. If you don't have enough food on your table, or love in your heart, then I will quit my job."

And then, there were the friends and relatives who began adopting. Mike's brother, Mark, and his wife, Kristen, adopted our nephew from the Foster Care system in California. Our friend Lynne adopted a little girl from China. Our friends Dan and Kathleen, empty nesters in their fifties, adopted two little boys from the streets of Kenya. Our friends Josh and Neely are in the process of adopting a three year old girl from Ethiopia.

So, we're in.

We're following the crowd on this one.

After much prayer and discussion with each other and our kids, Mike and I have decided to become foster parents in theFoster-to-Adopt program in Washington State.

Alex and Caleb have each started sleeping on the top bunks in their rooms to leave an open place below for a new brother and sister. They pray every night for their new siblings. They've told all their friends.

And, now I'm telling the Internet. :)

We start our classes for certification in May.

Somehow I don't think Pastor Gilbert will need to quit his job.