Fact: Nearly 144 million children across the world are orphans.
Fact: Every 2 seconds, another orphan dies from malnutrition.
Fact: 87.6 million orphans live in Asia. 43.4 million orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa. 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Fact: 6,000 children are orphaned by AIDS every day. That is newly orphaned child every 14 seconds.
Think about it: Vulnerable children, with few means of supporting themselves, and are often forced to work in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service, and in the sex trade. They are much more likely to be victims of human trafficking.
Fact: Malnutrition plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. Every year, malnutrition is associated with the deaths of five million children under the age of five.
One Rice Bowls Orphanage Partner reports, "In our area, it is estimated that 90% of orphan children have become sexually active by age 12, whether by abuse, exploitation or simple lack of role models in their decimated family unit."
Think about it: How much did you spend on lunch today? Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion, live on less than $1 per day.
Fact: 854 million people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union.
http://www.ricebowls.org
Matthew 22:37-39
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Discovery Center
My mom, sister Joy, and brother Jordan came to spend the night one day last week and visit. We had planned to go to the zoo but the weather was still too cold. So we ended up going to the Discovery Center in Springfield and had a great time. Didn't get a picture of my mom with her grandkids, silly mom :)
We are busy planning, preparing and praying for trips coming up that the Lord is letting us be apart of. My Cambodia trip is now set for June 7th-20th. We have tickets bought and itinerary was sent out this week. Can't wait to go and serve.
And Brennan will be going to Israel at the end of April with a great friend from church. This friend has been to Israel at least 10 times with work, so he will be the guide for the trip too! So excited to see pictures of all the things and places they will see; places where Jesus healed people and performed so many miracles!
Blessings.
We are busy planning, preparing and praying for trips coming up that the Lord is letting us be apart of. My Cambodia trip is now set for June 7th-20th. We have tickets bought and itinerary was sent out this week. Can't wait to go and serve.
And Brennan will be going to Israel at the end of April with a great friend from church. This friend has been to Israel at least 10 times with work, so he will be the guide for the trip too! So excited to see pictures of all the things and places they will see; places where Jesus healed people and performed so many miracles!
Blessings.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Blessed beyond Words
Where do I even begin is what I am asking myself this morning.
Today is my 29th birthday and I woke up celebrating because I am thankful for the life God has given me, the wonderful husband he has blessed me with, great family and great friends all around me, and two very special adorable children He has brought into my life. My cup runneth over, and yet He still blesses me with more each day, I do not deserve this.
Today, I woke up overjoyed, knowing in just a few months I will be traveling to Cambodia with some great ladies to serve alongside them, loving and encouraging girls at Rapha House. I am blessed.
The Holy Spirit has been nudging me to do more recently. God has given me so many opportunities to love on others, to love on orphans, to travel to different countries, to live and serve in Haiti. He has opened my eyes to what truly matters and that the things of this world are nothing. He has changed me and molded me and I desire more of Him in my life each day.
So after much prayer, and a powerful day only the Holy Spirit orchestrated together; I will be going to Cambodia in June.
I always have dreamed taking a trip like this to serve, but thought I could never leave my kids, I would never have the money, etc.
And yet God shook me yesterday and said, "Daughter, I brought you those two sweet children from Taiwan, and I have called you to love every child as your own. Love them as I love you, love them as your own."
I appreciate and covet your prayers. Our trip dates are June 5th-16th.
Life here continues to go too fast, my kids are growing up way too fast.
My Lyndlee is enjoying school and I too am enjoying teaching her. Sure, we butt heads somedays but I love watching her learn. She will be starting preschool in August and I know she will love it. She has such a sweet heart. She thinks every kid is her friend and tells us that; kids at parks, kids at the grocery store, kids everywhere. Our good friends are coming back to the states in between switching mission fields, and I was encouraging Lyndlee that we need to share our toys with our friends while they are here. I thought this would be a great lesson, but she was teaching me this morning as she was picking out her favorite toys, her special things to give to her good friend Nai. Love her heart and can't wait to see all the ways she will serve the Lord and others. She already is a good mommy to Gavin and the other kids I watch. She constantly is watching them, telling me when they are being naughty and looking out for them. Sure, she has her sister/brother moments with Gavin and they fight, but I love seeing how she loves him so!
And Gavin, I love that wild crazy kid. I have a picture of him in Taiwan, prior to his heart surgery when he was so little, tiny, pale, and wasn't eating or moving much. I have it on my fridge to look at on those days when I am pulling my hair out from going crazy, to remind me how far the Lord has brought him! God is good! I still laugh hearing Mama Bev tell him he is so calm and quiet and that she wanted to bless us with a calm child after our sweet dramatic Lyndlee. Well, he is not quiet or calm ever, well, when he is sleeping he is. I love his energy and can't wait to see all that He will do for God's kingdom. He will be on fire for the Lord and his energy will never die! He is constant and keeps us laughing. He loves food, even steals food from the other kids I watch because I guess he thinks I don't feed him enough. He is the "burp king" If you burp or he burps, he gets all serious, looks at you and says "excuse me" and if you don't acknowledge him by saying thank you or saying excuse me, he will just keep saying it over and over.
I have a great man in my life. He is such a great husband and father, always serving and loving others. I love his heart for the Lord, for our youth, for our church, for others around the world that don't know our Lord. I love how He listens to the Lord's calling, wherever that might take our family. He just wants to serve the Lord. He is jumping right on board with helping to listen to the Holy Spirit and send me to Cambodia. He is taking care of the house, the kids, everything while I am gone.
I am blessed to have such an amazing friend to share life with, to raise our children up in the Lord.
I love my quiet time with the Lord, my prayer time and Scripture reading. I usually get at least 30 minutes of quiet time with no babies or children talking to me. They are all napping peacefully! Here are some verses I am loving from Ecclesiastes.
4:6 Maybe so, but i say it is better to be content with what little you have. Otherwise, you will always be struggling for more, and that is like chasing the wind.
8:17 Nobody can understand what God does here on earth. No matter how hard people try to understand it, they cannot. Even if wise people say they understand, they cannot; no one can really understand it.
12:6 Soon your life will snap like a silver chain or break like a golden bowl. You will be like a broken pitcher at a spring, or a broken wheel at well. You will turn back into the dust of the earth again, but your spirit will return to God who gave it!
Today is my 29th birthday and I woke up celebrating because I am thankful for the life God has given me, the wonderful husband he has blessed me with, great family and great friends all around me, and two very special adorable children He has brought into my life. My cup runneth over, and yet He still blesses me with more each day, I do not deserve this.
Today, I woke up overjoyed, knowing in just a few months I will be traveling to Cambodia with some great ladies to serve alongside them, loving and encouraging girls at Rapha House. I am blessed.
The Holy Spirit has been nudging me to do more recently. God has given me so many opportunities to love on others, to love on orphans, to travel to different countries, to live and serve in Haiti. He has opened my eyes to what truly matters and that the things of this world are nothing. He has changed me and molded me and I desire more of Him in my life each day.
So after much prayer, and a powerful day only the Holy Spirit orchestrated together; I will be going to Cambodia in June.
I always have dreamed taking a trip like this to serve, but thought I could never leave my kids, I would never have the money, etc.
And yet God shook me yesterday and said, "Daughter, I brought you those two sweet children from Taiwan, and I have called you to love every child as your own. Love them as I love you, love them as your own."
I appreciate and covet your prayers. Our trip dates are June 5th-16th.
Life here continues to go too fast, my kids are growing up way too fast.
My Lyndlee is enjoying school and I too am enjoying teaching her. Sure, we butt heads somedays but I love watching her learn. She will be starting preschool in August and I know she will love it. She has such a sweet heart. She thinks every kid is her friend and tells us that; kids at parks, kids at the grocery store, kids everywhere. Our good friends are coming back to the states in between switching mission fields, and I was encouraging Lyndlee that we need to share our toys with our friends while they are here. I thought this would be a great lesson, but she was teaching me this morning as she was picking out her favorite toys, her special things to give to her good friend Nai. Love her heart and can't wait to see all the ways she will serve the Lord and others. She already is a good mommy to Gavin and the other kids I watch. She constantly is watching them, telling me when they are being naughty and looking out for them. Sure, she has her sister/brother moments with Gavin and they fight, but I love seeing how she loves him so!
And Gavin, I love that wild crazy kid. I have a picture of him in Taiwan, prior to his heart surgery when he was so little, tiny, pale, and wasn't eating or moving much. I have it on my fridge to look at on those days when I am pulling my hair out from going crazy, to remind me how far the Lord has brought him! God is good! I still laugh hearing Mama Bev tell him he is so calm and quiet and that she wanted to bless us with a calm child after our sweet dramatic Lyndlee. Well, he is not quiet or calm ever, well, when he is sleeping he is. I love his energy and can't wait to see all that He will do for God's kingdom. He will be on fire for the Lord and his energy will never die! He is constant and keeps us laughing. He loves food, even steals food from the other kids I watch because I guess he thinks I don't feed him enough. He is the "burp king" If you burp or he burps, he gets all serious, looks at you and says "excuse me" and if you don't acknowledge him by saying thank you or saying excuse me, he will just keep saying it over and over.
I have a great man in my life. He is such a great husband and father, always serving and loving others. I love his heart for the Lord, for our youth, for our church, for others around the world that don't know our Lord. I love how He listens to the Lord's calling, wherever that might take our family. He just wants to serve the Lord. He is jumping right on board with helping to listen to the Holy Spirit and send me to Cambodia. He is taking care of the house, the kids, everything while I am gone.
I am blessed to have such an amazing friend to share life with, to raise our children up in the Lord.
I love my quiet time with the Lord, my prayer time and Scripture reading. I usually get at least 30 minutes of quiet time with no babies or children talking to me. They are all napping peacefully! Here are some verses I am loving from Ecclesiastes.
4:6 Maybe so, but i say it is better to be content with what little you have. Otherwise, you will always be struggling for more, and that is like chasing the wind.
8:17 Nobody can understand what God does here on earth. No matter how hard people try to understand it, they cannot. Even if wise people say they understand, they cannot; no one can really understand it.
12:6 Soon your life will snap like a silver chain or break like a golden bowl. You will be like a broken pitcher at a spring, or a broken wheel at well. You will turn back into the dust of the earth again, but your spirit will return to God who gave it!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Heavy Heart
There is a blog post going around by a dad. I wanted to post it here, and while I agree with most of it (took out some swear words though) I personally don't agree with all of it, I am not for sure if this is the right approach, at least in my own life. So many years this was my approach and it didn't help me to be angry and hold on to these things.
Sure, we parents who have adopted have all experienced the complete non-sense people will say to us about our kids. My husband and I have experienced all of these listed below and many many more. They are endless, they happen all the time, and most likely will continue to happen. When it first started happening, I would get so angry. Don't get me wrong, I still do and struggle with this anger, but more often this anger has turned into sadness. Before it was anger and just feeling sorry for myself. But you see, God has changed my heart and my silly pity parties. Many years I longed to be pregnant, was jealous of others getting pregnant and did not understand why this would happen to me. But God has taken that anger, jealousy, hatred, selfishness and has given me joy, understanding, peace and love! I no longer desire to be pregnant! Yes, I believe pregnancy is such a wonderful gift from the Lord, and I can only imagine feeling your baby grow inside of you is such a miracle. But you see, I know God has different plans for my life and I love it!
So when these things happen, when people say things that are hurtful, it makes me sad knowing my children will have to put up with this one day, that these comments will hurt them. It makes me sad thinking of these people saying it. So I feel these are times to test me, to see how I will react to these people. Will I react in anger or in love? Will I teach my children that God loves everyone, even people that say hurtful things to us? Will I show kindness instead of being rude right back?
I have failed so many times at these experiences, I am so thankful to God for giving me chance after chance. My prayer is always oh God, keep changing me and helping me along this journey.
I love talking about adoption, I love talking about my kids and their stories about how God brought them into our lives! They are amazing stories, all the glory to God, and I love sharing them. My beautiful Lyndlee Jya-Ying and my sweet Gavin Pan are not plan B, they are not what we settled for just because I couldn't bear children. They are my children, the children the Lord chose for me, the children God blessed me with.
Thank you Jesus for my children and help me always show love to others.
God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:15
Dan Pearce, Single Adoptive Dad Laughing
Never, ever, ever, ask how much a child costs. This includes the phrase, "how much did you pay for him?" First of all, it's none of your business. Second of all, if you're interested in adoption, research it through the appropriate channels. Speak with an adoption agency. Adoptive parents don't purchase children. They simply pay legal fees and agency fees. Just like biological parents pay hospital and doctor bills. Don't turn the child into nothing more than a commodity.
Never ask if a celebrity inspired the adoption. Believe it or not, Tom Cruise, Connie Chung, and Angelina Jolie did not convince me one way or the other in the biggest decision of my life. Are you serious?
Never ask "where is his real dad?" Forget the fact that it will hurt my feelings. How do you think it will affect my son's feelings to feel like I'm not a real dad to him? Adoptive parents are real parents. The term you're looking for is "birth mother" or "birth father".
Don't say things like, "as soon as you adopt you're going to get pregnant" when you find out somebody is adopting. First of all, there are usually many, many years of pain and financial burden strapped to infertility, treatments, and heartache. Do you really think that what you're saying will help them? Secondly, while it is funny when it happens, it's rare.
Never say, "why did she give him away?" Do I really need to explain why this one would hurt a child? The proper term is "placed". A birth mother and birth father place their child for adoption. And again, it's personal and none of your business, so don't ask if you aren't my BFF.
Don't say, "it's like he's your real son". This is similar to number three, but worthy of mentioning. He is my real son.
Don't say, "do you love him as if he was your own?" Ummm... probably more than you love your little terror, that's for sure. And again... he is my own.
Never say things like, "you're so wonderful to adopt a child". I am a parent. Just like anybody else with kids.
Don't start spewing your horrible adoption stories. "This one time, my friend's sister's aunt's dog's previous owner's niece adopted a baby and the real dad came back and they took the baby away after they had him for two years." First of all, it probably isn't true. Second of all, how would you feel if I told you about all the ways you could lose your child. Adoption is permanent. And in the extremely rare circumstances that something like that happens, it's not something you should spread because the hurt that exists for all the parties involved must be immeasurable.
Don't say things like, "is it hard for him to be adopted?" Well, it wasn't, until you asked me that right in front of him you freaking idiot.
I don't want to hear about your second cousin who was on a waiting list for twelve years and never got a baby. Granted, this one was much more annoying when we were going through the adoption process. Nobody wants to know that some people never get chosen. Show some kindness. Even to ugly people.
Sure, we parents who have adopted have all experienced the complete non-sense people will say to us about our kids. My husband and I have experienced all of these listed below and many many more. They are endless, they happen all the time, and most likely will continue to happen. When it first started happening, I would get so angry. Don't get me wrong, I still do and struggle with this anger, but more often this anger has turned into sadness. Before it was anger and just feeling sorry for myself. But you see, God has changed my heart and my silly pity parties. Many years I longed to be pregnant, was jealous of others getting pregnant and did not understand why this would happen to me. But God has taken that anger, jealousy, hatred, selfishness and has given me joy, understanding, peace and love! I no longer desire to be pregnant! Yes, I believe pregnancy is such a wonderful gift from the Lord, and I can only imagine feeling your baby grow inside of you is such a miracle. But you see, I know God has different plans for my life and I love it!
So when these things happen, when people say things that are hurtful, it makes me sad knowing my children will have to put up with this one day, that these comments will hurt them. It makes me sad thinking of these people saying it. So I feel these are times to test me, to see how I will react to these people. Will I react in anger or in love? Will I teach my children that God loves everyone, even people that say hurtful things to us? Will I show kindness instead of being rude right back?
I have failed so many times at these experiences, I am so thankful to God for giving me chance after chance. My prayer is always oh God, keep changing me and helping me along this journey.
I love talking about adoption, I love talking about my kids and their stories about how God brought them into our lives! They are amazing stories, all the glory to God, and I love sharing them. My beautiful Lyndlee Jya-Ying and my sweet Gavin Pan are not plan B, they are not what we settled for just because I couldn't bear children. They are my children, the children the Lord chose for me, the children God blessed me with.
Thank you Jesus for my children and help me always show love to others.
God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:15
Dan Pearce, Single Adoptive Dad Laughing
Never, ever, ever, ask how much a child costs. This includes the phrase, "how much did you pay for him?" First of all, it's none of your business. Second of all, if you're interested in adoption, research it through the appropriate channels. Speak with an adoption agency. Adoptive parents don't purchase children. They simply pay legal fees and agency fees. Just like biological parents pay hospital and doctor bills. Don't turn the child into nothing more than a commodity.
Never ask if a celebrity inspired the adoption. Believe it or not, Tom Cruise, Connie Chung, and Angelina Jolie did not convince me one way or the other in the biggest decision of my life. Are you serious?
Never ask "where is his real dad?" Forget the fact that it will hurt my feelings. How do you think it will affect my son's feelings to feel like I'm not a real dad to him? Adoptive parents are real parents. The term you're looking for is "birth mother" or "birth father".
Don't say things like, "as soon as you adopt you're going to get pregnant" when you find out somebody is adopting. First of all, there are usually many, many years of pain and financial burden strapped to infertility, treatments, and heartache. Do you really think that what you're saying will help them? Secondly, while it is funny when it happens, it's rare.
Never say, "why did she give him away?" Do I really need to explain why this one would hurt a child? The proper term is "placed". A birth mother and birth father place their child for adoption. And again, it's personal and none of your business, so don't ask if you aren't my BFF.
Don't say, "it's like he's your real son". This is similar to number three, but worthy of mentioning. He is my real son.
Don't say, "do you love him as if he was your own?" Ummm... probably more than you love your little terror, that's for sure. And again... he is my own.
Never say things like, "you're so wonderful to adopt a child". I am a parent. Just like anybody else with kids.
Don't start spewing your horrible adoption stories. "This one time, my friend's sister's aunt's dog's previous owner's niece adopted a baby and the real dad came back and they took the baby away after they had him for two years." First of all, it probably isn't true. Second of all, how would you feel if I told you about all the ways you could lose your child. Adoption is permanent. And in the extremely rare circumstances that something like that happens, it's not something you should spread because the hurt that exists for all the parties involved must be immeasurable.
Don't say things like, "is it hard for him to be adopted?" Well, it wasn't, until you asked me that right in front of him you freaking idiot.
I don't want to hear about your second cousin who was on a waiting list for twelve years and never got a baby. Granted, this one was much more annoying when we were going through the adoption process. Nobody wants to know that some people never get chosen. Show some kindness. Even to ugly people.
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