Editor’s Note: In honor of National Adoption Month, we are featuring stories from some of our adoptive families. If you’d like to learn more about the ways you can Be a Family to a child, please visit www.beafamily.org.
While Julia had no family in Russia, she had her classmates at Children’s Home #47. She had Viktor, Katya and their teachers. She knew how snow crunched under her boots, and how warm she felt in her favorite royal blue jacket. How her black bread and oatmeal tasted. She knew which tiny bed among 42 others was hers, and what she’d be doing the next day. And the next. And the next.
Last fall, she mourned those dimming slices of the familiar. And I’m sure she will again. (more…)
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Several years ago, I felt led to participate in a FamilyLife-sponsored mission trip to Guatemala where I visited orphanages and my heart was broken for the 100 million orphans in our world.
This led to the beginning of our family’s adoption journey — a journey that would stretch our faith and finances and take us to the very limits of ourselves. As we waited three and a half years to bring our precious Maria home, watching her grow up in pictures without her family, we often questioned God’s purposes.
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Note: This devotional is taken from the It’s Your Mission trip blog. It was a Sept. 13 blog entry from a team that distributed shoes to children in Honduras.
Today was definitely a first for me; and I think it’s safe to say it was for most everyone here. Today, we met the children at a private orphanage that cares for orphaned children living with AIDS.
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“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
I Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV)
What is your “it” that is causing you to feel that you can’t go another step, yard, mile, second, minute or hour in life?
What is the “it” that causes you to lose sleep, not eat, overeat, be anxious, be depressed, have a panic attack, be angry, stressed out or even have suicidal thoughts?
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Several years ago, I was asked to speak at a national adoption conference on a topic of my own choosing. I could tell that the conference organizer was somewhat taken aback when I announced that I would like to speak on forgiveness.
What does forgiveness have to do with adoption? A lot, actually.
I know this from my own birthmother asking me, “Do you think you can ever forgive me?”
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God’s word says that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). In the verses following that one, the acts of several Old Testament saints are highlighted in a kind of faith ‘hall of fame.’
Nestled in verse six the writer of Hebrews tells us, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (more…)
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A clear part of our search in life is to discover the path to service that is a true calling for us. There is nothing like using our time, talents and abilities in the service of love for others. This I have found in the opportunities to volunteer with Buckner.
Since I retired in 2004, I have been sorting and packing shoes, starting in a shopping center, and then in various warehouses until the opening of the new Center for Humanitarian Aid warehouse. A small group of retirees gathers every Wednesday morning to sort and pack whatever is needed. We have fun working together, but never forget that each item that we touch will benefit a beautiful child in some far, distant place. (more…)
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Buckner’s newest independent living community in Austin opened its doors in early December 2010. Even though the building is beautiful and elegant, something was missing.
In a conversation with a woman whose parents had passed away, I inquired as to how she was holding up since her loss. She shared she was doing okay, considering how overwhelming it had been for her.
She said she had recently gone back to clean out her parents’ house to prepare it for sale. She said it looked the same as ever and there were so many memories still present in the structure, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. Something was missing. Now that her parents did not live there, the old house was no longer a home. In her words, “the soul had left the house.” (more…)
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