Letting God Decide

Photo listings!

Page after page of precious faces complete with character descriptions highlighting qualities and sharing areas in need of attention.

Like a catalog.

Each photo silently screaming...

"Choose ME!"

So hard for me to look into their eyes without feeling overwhelmed and hopeless.

During our last adoption, we "chose" several kids. None of them worked out. Finally, in exasperation, I prayed, "Lord, YOU choose for us! We can't!"

And that's when...

God moved.


Today, as I browse through the photo listings at New Horizons' hosting website, I breathe the same prayer. "Father, choose for us. Send us the one(s) You know we can help. Don't let my limitations stand in the way of what You can do. Amen."

I'll keep you posted as to how God directs.

Until then,

I wait...

and pray...

and let God choose.

Whom Do I Choose?

I keep going over the photos in the orphan listing at New Horizons.

It's so overwhelming!!!

They are all so precious and beautiful -- single kids, sibling sets (some as large as 5)

My heart breaks and I want to grab them and tell them all how special they are!

But...

I look at my pocket-book and think, "Oh, we can't host anyone!"

Then...

I look at Jesus and remember that He can do ALL things.

Oh...

I wish my faith weren't so shaky.



November 1 is the deadline for applications. I really want to know God's will for us. I am praying almost constantly about this. Please pray with me that we won't be limited by our lack of faith or our insecurity, but that we will allow God to lead.

Thank you!

Somebody Else Got Him!!!

I could feel down in the dumps.

I could be upset.

I could be jealous.

After all, the boy I had my heart set on was taken.

TAKEN!

Right out from under my nose!

But I am SO happy!!!

He's going to be hosted this winter. How wonderful is that!!!

We'd been praying about whether this was the one God wanted us to host, but didn't quite feel like God had given us the green light. We waited and prayed and waited some more. And prayed a lot. But no nod came from above.

Then, yesterday, when I checked the website again, his photo had been moved to the HOLD section. Which means someone is planning to host him. I am so happy for him!! I pray that this will ultimately turn into an adoption for him, since he will be turning that dreaded fifteen soon. God please work it out!

And now, we happily go back to our knees, asking God to open our eyes to the child/children He wants us to host.

116 Faces - Can You Help?

I'm borrowing today's blog post from New Horizons for Children's website. You can visit it here. Please read it and pray.

116.

One hundred sixteen.

Just think about that number for a minute. Think about ‘Hundreds Day’ when elementary school students need to collect 100 of one item to bring to school that day. To celebrate the 100th day of school… and to teach them how big 100 really is. To us, it kind of sounds like a little, but when you have to sit and count out that many items, it starts to seem like a lot, like you will never reach that point when you finally get to say “…98, 99, 100!!!”

When I say 116, I’m not thinking of counting buttons, Legos, or Teddy Grahams… I’m thinking about souls. One hundred sixteen souls, children, orphans. 116 children without parents. Each with their own stories, hardships, losses. 116 names, faces, and special spirits that need love.

116 is the number of host families NHFC still needs for this Christmas. We have 116 awesome kids who are still waiting to be chosen by a family who will love them, bless them, build them up this Christmas.

On the other side of that 116 is another number 88. 88 families who have joined our cause. Together they have committed to love and cherish a total of 118 orphans. They have said they are going to give what they have been given and share it with these children this Christmas.

Would you consider joining our cause, the cause to fight for these orphans? Will you do it for just 1 out of the 116 who are still waiting?

I wish I had enough time and space to tell you about all the awesome children who are still waiting to be chosen.

Andrey is the same age as many boys who are leaving the orphanage, but he has decided to stay because he is committed to his education.

Beautiful Anastasija who deals with a poor self-image because of scars from her past.

Sasha who is not afraid to stand up for the younger orphans who are bullied.

Nikolajs who speaks with a strong stutter, but it disappears when he shares his incredible singing voice.

Deniss and Lena, brother & sister, who are talented ballroom dancers.

Markuss, who is a kind and gentle boy who gets bullied often.

Viktor who would love a new Bible after his old one was stolen.

Sweet Irina who dreams of a good family with a mom and a dad.

…and that is only 8 of them. There are 108 more out there who are just as loveable and in need of someone to love them!

What can you do to help?
*Pray for the waiting children.
*Share their photos from our Facebook album.
*Share the Christmas 2012 hosting video.
*Contribute a scholarship to a waiting child.
*Shop on Amazon.com to help Markuss’s scholarship fund.
*Sign up to see the full list of available children and see if they are the host child for you.

116 waiting children.

Each one with a name, a face, arms to be hugged, a heart to be loved, a soul to be fed.

Each one matters.



God places the lonely in families
Psalm 68:6a (NLT)

Urgent Post! Please Read!!!! What are You Doing this Holiday Season?

With the holiday season descending upon us at lightening speed, it is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of festive preparations. However, I propose taking a moment to scoot all those preparations to the back burner and focus on the orphans sitting in front of you. What? You don't see any orphans at your feet? Read on!

New Horizons for Children, Inc. is a fantabulous organization. I just can't say enough good things about the work they do for the older orphans. They actually travel to the easily forgotten orphanages of Latvia, Ukraine, and now China to search out, interview, and select orphans to be hosted by Christian families in the United States for a 4 - 6 weeks period. This herculean effort allows children who would otherwise be only a statistic to become a real, live, flesh-and-blood CHILD to an entire community of people.

This is important, because many people who have never in their wildest dreams considered adopting, suddenly meet an orphan and that experience rocks their world. When you host a child, you get the privilege of changing a statistic into a reality. My older sister once said, "It's so easy to forget about the orphans of the world when you don't actually see them. But when you see that one face in front of you ... wow!"

This December, New Horizons for Children will be bringing another group of orphans to the United States. Not everyone can host, but EVERYONE can help! To do so, we have to hurry!

In less than a week, the Winter 2012 hosting opportunity will close. There are still a BUNCH of beautiful children who have not been selected. Some have scholarships. Some do not. I am asking all my regular readers, and even those who just drop in every so often, to do at least one of the five options listed below:

1) Host a child: Go to the New Horizon's for Children, Inc. website and fill out a pre-application, browse through their photo listing and CHOOSE!

2) Donate towards the hosting cost of a child: All donations (and hosting expenses, for that matter, are tax deductible). If you can't decide on which child to donate towards, you can donate towards the child our family is praying about hosting -- U205 Oleksiy.

3) Shop through Amazon.com: Go through the link listed on this page and a percentage of your purchases will go towards hosting scholarships.

4) Repost this: I don't care who gets credit for this blog entry. I just want children hosted. The more people who simply copy and past or post links back to here, the more potential families are reached. That is my goal!

5) Pray: Every child on earth is a gift from God. Please pray that these precious children will learn just how special they are. Pray for host families. Pray for donors. Pray every day.

Thank you!

Pieces to the Puzzle

Adoptive parents want to give the world to their children. We try so hard, but, are, unfortunately, limited. Oftentimes we are unable to give them their past. We don't share all their memories. We don't know their complete history. And, many times, our photo albums don't begin with their birth pictures. Like an incomplete puzzle, the gaps in their history stand out, rendering an incomplete picture.

Recently, through Facebook, I received some priceless treasures. My son's brother posted some pictures of the two of them as small boys. I am beyond thrilled! Not only that, both boys (ahem! young men) are getting closer to their biological cousins, aunts, and uncles, who knew them as little boys and are able to share stories and family history with them.

I am beyond happy. All those questions I couldn't answer while Quinn was growing up are finally being answered.

Wanna see my boys when they were little boys? Thought you might. :)

Quinn and Paul are the blonde boys in front.