I just wanted to give an update from my last blog. As you all saw, I had the honor of createing a necklace "Boss Your Heart" for Chrissie Patterson , who joyously is dancing with Jesus.
I desperately wanted for the family to have their necklaces for the funeral , Princess Royal celebration. Thru a series of what I'll God set ups I was able to attend this royal celebration!
It was such a great honor to be able to go meet with Lorraine at Forgotten Saw Ranch, before the funeral. I hope and pray that they were blessed by the necklaces. I know I personally am forever changed by Chrissie and the Peterson family. I have seen the power of what love, adoption, and foster care can do, but for some reason this little princess along with our precious Lord has stirred something in my heart that I can't quite put my finger on :) My eyes have opened.
Let me say this... I have been exposed by people in the past in a very forceful manner...
It almost made me feel like if I didn't foster or adopt that I wasn't in God's will, or that no other ministry is as important as theirs. Anything that has to do with orphans, wether it be sex trafficking, adoption or foster care is definitely something that God has mandated. I don't believe that EVERYONE needs to adopt, foster or rescue children, however we all need to do our part :) We all need to step up and bring awareness to the Millions of orphans that are just waiting to be loved...chosen... and forever loved by a family.
We can donate our time to help babysit families that do adopt, we can offer a dinner, a date night, offer funds, take grocery's... the list goes on and on!
So this trip is really even stirring in my heart my relationship with my own kids and how they would respond to orphans... I honestly can't quite answer that. There are so many things I have spinning in my head, that I think it's going to take a bit to sort thru...
I am so grateful to my wonderful husband for giving me the chance to come on this trip. To the Patterson family, you ooze Jesus and hope. Your home at Forgotten Saw Ranch was so peaceful and I could tell in the short time that I spent with you that you are definitely as loving and genuine as you appear to be on your blog. Thank you for giving me the honor of being apart of such an intimate part of your life.
So here is what I want to know from you ?
If your a pastors wife does your church currently support any orphanages or Missionary's that work for orphanages ?
Open Question for anyone: Do you have a foster, adoption or orphan ministry at your church ? If so, what does it look like.
If your a family who has adopted would you please post me a link to your story ?
I would love the honor to come visit your blog... i have a long flight tom. :)
4 comments:
we are currently in the process of adopting out of the foster care system. I am sure that the child will be older as that is what God seems to be telling us, and we are fine with that.
Our church does a "sacks of love" ministry that is through our Baptist Association in our county. While not specifically for orphans (you don't find that many orphans in the US these days), it is designed for children who do not have enough to eat.
Our church also supports the Connie Maxwell House which is a children's home.I am not sure exactly what is done for them, but I know we budget money for something. There are many areas of need including fostering and adoption, and while not everyone is tasked with that in particular, EVERYONE can do something to ease the burdens that our children face.
I am not sure what county you are in, but I have some contacts over there if you want to find out how you can help your small section of the world. There's a whole lotta need where you are!
Hey there! Great blog post! As a new (adoptive) momma...I can surely tell you how grateful I am that our Creator God is the author of adoption and that everyone can play a part in advocating for the fatherless in some way. We support The HOme of God's love in Taiwan. This is the orphanage that our son was adopted from. It was established over 40 years ago by American missionaries (who are still serving and running the orphanage). Our church also partners with a local foster care agency (one of the biggest actually, and it's Christian-based) called 4 Kids of South Florida. We personally believe that as a church, it's sometimes best to partner with organizations that are already established (and this is what they are best at anyhow) then try to create something from the ground up. This is especially difficult as a new church plant like we are. Unless of course you have people in your church willing to take the lead and commit to the vision long term. We started blogging our adoption experience but had to put it on hold once we launch our church plant. But, you can still take a look at most of our journey through the actual process. www.elswickadoption.com is the web address. I will also be posting stuff on my new blog www.melissaelswick.com so swing by and visit...I'd love to hear from you too! XO :)
We don't have anything like this set up. In all honesty its not something we have even dicussed or talked about (although we have talked about supporting the widows of the church, which we do. But that is another discussion for another day). Traditionally in many black families grandmothers, aunts, etc have been foster parents to their grandchildren, neices, nephews, couisns etc for years. I'm sure this is not what you are talking about but as a child that was raised literally in a village I feel very blessed to have had the family I had. My aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins helped to raise me, along with my mom and I know many women in our church who have had to take on the role of mentor, foster parent, adopted mom (without the paperwork) grandparent raising grandchildren. I have always been under the impression adoption can be very expensive and because of this many that I know would never be able to adopt. I personally have been blessed to know several friends and a few family members who have adopted though (some have had some awesome stories, and a few have had some heartaches). I never felt this was something I was personally "called" to do. And I don't think everyone is cut out to be a parent, let alone adopt. I think its something we should be aware of and support, but not necessarily something everyone should be involved in. Hope that made some sense? Not sure this is where you were going with the discussion though. (: I will say this...I have been very upset at the flack some people have gotton recently for adopting someone outside of their race. I think if you have a heart to adopt, and there is a child in need it shouldn't matter what color the skin.
We work with an orphanage in India in an adopt a kid kind of way. We also are huge supporters of Compassion International.
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