I have had this idea since the devastation in Haiti, that I can't believe THIS is what it took to get "our" people to see "their" people. I am ashamed and confused and grateful all at the same time. I am still continuing to hear comments about "our" children who so badly need help....here, in our own back yard. It irks me every time. Don't people know that we know that there are children EVERYWHERE hungry, tired, lacking love, etc, etc.? I just read a post on a Haiti disaster forum that said something to the affect of: Yes, we know "they" need help....but "we" need help too! Why would we go across the world to save "them" when we don't save "us". Therefore I am ashamed that we can't see people of the world the way God sees them...His people. We are ALL HIS PEOPLE!!!! What will it take to get us all to come to a place where we are okay with helping WHOEVER needs help, regardless of race or culture or anything else that stands in the way???? I can't even begin to wrap my mind around such cynicism. Am I grateful that the disaster happened? I am confused about what I think----it took THIS to get us to see a country who has been hurting for decades. It took THIS to want to run to a place where people are living in the streets, hungry and starving to the point of
death, and THIS to want to finally act on behalf of all of the orphans. What will it take to see God's people throughout the world? Haiti is now in the hearts of the United States and I am hoping....praying, that we can help them the way they need help. It can't stop here....we can't forget in a few days, or months, or years. I have seen the lists of Americans offering....begging to take a child, or two, or three out of the hell they are experiencing in Haiti. It's what this world needs and we need it right now. I pray these open hearts continue to embrace the children of the world...ALL of the children of the world. Adopt those babies! Not out of haste and guilt, but out of LOVE for all of God's creations.
Look at these adorable Amharic Tees on Maya's Mercato blog. Put your name in a drawing and if you win they'll throw in a sweet tote too! Can't beat that! Or just go there to see a beautiful Ethiopian princess.
I made this video for Dic for his 40th Birthday. Many of you have probably already seen it, but I love it, so I thought I'd share again. ~You may have to pause the music on my BLOG to hear it. Look on the right side...where it says "pick a tune", and click the pause button~
I finally figured out how to post our new little "coffee shop" on my Blog!! Yay!
So here's the deal:
We have teamed up with an amazing coffee business on-line to raise money for our adoption. You can just click on the AFRICAN SKIES(this is just a kind of coffee, not the actual business name-I couldn't get their cute logo to copy/paste) picture on the side or click here to go there directly.
This Godly couple opened their store ~JUST LOVE COFFEE~ to help adoptive families earn money to bring their babies home. They have adopted two girls themselves and so with his coffee expertise and the coffee grown in Ethiopia (and Rwanda, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico), they are helping people all over the world! You'll just have to go to the link and check it out! We have our own little store where you can purchase items (lots of other things if coffee isn't your favorite!) and part of the proceeds will be added right to our adoption account. What a marvel idea, eh?
We have known that we would need to ask for help during this process and sometimes I have mixed emotions about that. I worry because we don't want anyone to feel like we're begging them for money...we aren't.....God will get us through this, because this is what HE wants. But then I think about the number of lives that will be affected from us giving this one child her Forever Home. It affects her..., it affects us..., it affects all the people she will touch through her lifetime..., the people who decide to go through with their own adoption because they saw the Chiolises do it..., her birth-mother and her family, the children around her who now can feel a sense of hope that maybe their forever family is coming soon..., and the care-takers in these orphanages who LOVE these children and want nothing more than to see them grow and thrive with love.... OUR asking for money is NOT IN VAIN!!! So please only give if you want to, and know that your prayers are even better than your cash. God WILL provide-we have faith in Him. And for that matter if you are reading this and YOU have a concern that we will see heart-ache.....don't worry. I know we have many family members who don't feel like they can offer their support and I think they are just scared. I don't know that for sure, but I can feel it. So if you're worried--stop. We have soo much support from those who love us and God has enough for all of you too. We may have some difficult times along the way, but in the end God will prevail. We would love it if every one could just give in to it and love on us during this process. We would like that, but we don't NEED it for this to come to fruition. One day you will see where our hearts are and you will love our daughter just as we do. In the coming days there will be one less orphan! Who can see the bad side of THAT?
I've had many people ask me about wanting to adopt. I can't say I always knew that it was something I would someday do....but I did know that all I ever wanted to be was a mommy. I played with dolls and treated them like my own children until it seemed no longer appropriate to do so. I knew I would have HUNDREDS of babies! I have, although, always had African children in my heart, but not necessarily from Africa--I thought some day I would be the mum of a child with dark skin. Why? I don't know...must be something God planted in me from the beginning of time.
So we have our three beautiful boys and I always thought 3...or 4 was a good number of kids, maybe because my parents had four. After we had Luke I started thinking that I no longer needed to have a baby to be fulfilled...that life was rather fun and we could go in a moments notice without having to stop and change diapers, or nurse a little one. And then we met some new friends at church. And before I talk about that I want to say that we really had never gone to church as a family before....some Christmases, or maybe a Mother's Day or two. So THIS was an amazing thing (all of us going together) and something I had prayed about before marriage or children. So God placed these people in our lives and we became connected. Soon after our meeting we learned that they were adopting from Africa. And, of course, we became a part of this as we were close friends. Because of them I had begun to follow Bloggers all over that were either adopting or play a very large part in doing God's work on the continent. I had fallen in love with Africa-I developed a love for people I had never met before. But after watching them go through the trials and tribulations of adoption I had decided that if we ever did adopt it would be domestically.
Last July (2009) our church was planning to host a children's choir from Uganda--called the Matsiko Children's Choir (if you've followed my blog at all you have seen pictures and heard stories--to see more: click here) and I was put in charge of placing 25 boys and girls with host families. In the end we had three girls to ourselves. For four days I got to have GIRLS in my house!!!! It was the best experience our family has had together ever. We knew these children came from poverty and disappointment and yet they held God up and praised Him and they cherished their lives and constantly wore their beautiful smiles. They now have a chance at life because of the International Children's network. They toured the U.S. for 9 months and they will go back to Uganda this month. Now they have opportunities--they have shoes and clothes and food. There has been a house built for them and they will go to school and be successful. It broke all of our hearts to see them go.
Dic (my hubby) has never shared my desire to adopt. We are limited financially and I think this is the biggest reason--which I know is a concern for most men. But when the girls left, they left a piece of them in his heart. He started to see my desire for adoption as well as for the African people. We really started talking about what it would entail. There were days when we were both gung-ho, and then days when we, Dic especially, would get scared about how we would pay for it. So it has been off-and-on for many many months.
I have been working on just giving everything to God. As a family we have never taken leaps of faith. I tend to do it more on my own, but it took me this long to realize that when I felt soo passionately about something that it was God who had put it there. It took me this long to realize that God has my life all mapped out for me...He has since the beginning of time. So to just let go and let Him take the lead hasn't been easy. I don't think it ever really is, but now that I know that I just need to listen and wait I feel more at peace. God has known all along that this was something we were going to do, and I believe that this HUGE step will take us even further. I was thinking last night about how much God is leading His people to the aid of the less-fortunate. Not that there haven't always been those with huge hearts giving all over the world. Maybe this is just MY generation and our turn to take the lead. Maybe...just maybe, there won't be an impoverished world in the coming age. God is keeping His promise--that He will take care of His people and it's all in His time.
I look back at the years and see how everything has fallen into place. Now it isn't so surprising that Dic all the sudden started going to church, or that we started going to the church that we did, or that we became such good friends with the Oswalds, or that the children from Uganda came to be with us, or that we would worry about the finances. Because everything is the way that He planned it...all in His timing. And today I feel at peace that I'm sending in our adoption application, because I know that this was the RIGHT time...the PERFECT time.
We are beginning a journey that we never knew we'd be on. And contrary to belief, we aren't doing it just because someone else has done it, but it sure helped lead us. I have had so many positive comments and many more negative, which I was warned about. And in the end it doesn't matter how anyone feels about it but us. I just hope that our journey and our story will lead others in the same direction, wherever that may be. Adopting a child that may not ever have chance otherwise is soo very humbling. If I could find homes for all the lonely children, I would. And maybe that is the NEXT chapter in my life. Who knows what else God has been planning since the beginning of time.
