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Sunday, January 18, 2009

My Sponsor Child

After learning about child sponsorship programs, from others who are sponsoring a child, I recently decided to sponsor a Chinese orphan, through the Phillip Hayden Foundation. He is a special needs orphan. He has and arm deformity, cleft lip & palate, an imperforate anus , as well as a heart condition. He is 14 months old, and such a cutie!

I couldn't figure out how to put this slide show directly on the blog, but here is a link to it. Enjoy!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=7df8f74fa671de750699e7&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Book Review #3




The Waiting Child- By: Cindy Champnella

I don’t even know were to begin with this book, it was by far the best book I have ever read. I really loved it, and if you haven’t read it I strongly encourage you to do so. It is defiantly one of those books you don’t want to put down, and you want to story to keep going. The good thing is Cindy Chapnella is working on a second book, so I am excited about that! Here are a few summery’s taken from the cover of the book: “How the faith and love of one orphan saved the live of another, The inspiring true story of a four-year-old Chinese orphan who convinces her adoptive American family to return to China to rescue the little boy she couldn't forget.”
“Adopted by an American family at age four, Jaclyn traveled to her new home with a great burden. Her new family had to leave behind a little boy who had been under her charge at the Chinese orphanage where Jaclyn fought the odds against abandonment, institutionalization, and hunger- not for herself, but on behalf of this even smaller child, whom she regarded as her responsibility. Jaclyn’s saga spans oceans and cultures. The Waiting Child is an extraordinary story of human resilience in the face of profound loss and suffering- and a testament to the ability of a loving heart to prevail over great adversity. Jaclyn’s unshakable determination to bring to her new life the child she had cared for in the institution, the one she believed with all her heart was “her baby,” will change all assumptions made about the human spirit. In the end, this moving story affirms everything that is good and hopeful in life, when, after a two-year effort, the little boy is brought to this country as the adopted son of Jaclyn’s American aunt and uncle.”
Also Cindy Chapnella is working on a second book, I can’t wait to read it! The second book will be about Jaclyn’s adjustment to America. I am not sure when It will be published or the name.
I also wanted to share this moving poem, that was added to the book. It is a poem that lets you see from the orphan's point of view, and lets you know what is going through their mind when they see all of their friends get adopted, but there is still hope for them to one day find a forever family!
An Adoption Poem
By Debbie Bodie
I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with him
I played pretend you'd chosen me.
I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no-one want a child of three?"
I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.
I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?
I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.
Can this be true? I'm almost six!
And there are infants here, you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me.
Copyright 1997

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Book Review # 2


The Strength of Mercy-By: Jan Beazely

This book was about a family that had a desire to adopt and God led them in His way (it never is the way we think it will happen, but it is His greater plan) for their daughter to go and find a baby for them. Their story is so awesome, and it reminded me that everything does work out for good, even though at the time it may seem unfortunate. In the end you see the bigger picture of His great plan. Just like in the book this family had to go through a lot of hard circumstances, but in the end they adopted a little girl from Romania just like they had once dreamed. And as they look back on it all the events had to happen in order to find her and to be able to call her their own. This is a great book and I want to recommend it.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Book Review







During my time off from school I have been busy spending my days reading some books on the subject of orphan care and adoption. The first one I read was “Small Town, Big Miracle” It was a great book and I want to recommend it to you all. Here are a few things I got out of it:
In one particular part in the book it is listing some of the most popular excuses people have as reasons not to adopt, this was by far the most convicting:

“It’s really not convenient.” And here is what the author answers with:
To be blunt, this isn't about you. It’s about the children. It’s not convenient for a two-year-old girl to waddle around in the same diaper all day, alone in her house. It’s not convenient for a six-year-old to steal from the store so he can feed his little sister at home. It’s not convenient for a five-year-old to be beaten up by a drunken dad. No I am not sensationalizing. These are real-life stories happening right around you-in your town. You don’t foster and adopt for your own gratification. You do it for the kids’ sake. You do it with the same unconditional love Jesus gave you. I've been as frank and honest as I can, giving you some of the roughest cases we've had with adoption. Yeah, it’s tough. Adoption isn't for wimps. But when you partner with God to rescue a child, when God chooses you to pluck her out of a living death, there is no reward like it-to hear her laugh for the first time, to see her chase her new found friends in the playground, to feel her little arms around you as you kiss her cheek good night.”

“Think about this-when you reach out to the orphan, you’re reaching out to one of your own. Because we’re all adopted. (God predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ-Ephesians 1:5). God rescued us from bondage, from fear, and He adopted us as His sons and daughters. He gave us His name and gave us a new start. So now we can call Him Daddy (Abba, as in Romans 8:15). This awesome Dad has given us a rich gift, and He wants us to pass it on. He longs to reach out to the kids who have been left behind, to the kids who are hopelessly shifted from foster home to foster home. And He want to use our arms, your arms. God calls us to rescue these kids from bondage and fear, and adopt them as our sons and daughters. To give each one a new name and a new start.”

“Here’s the model: God chose us. He expects the best from us. He loves us and adopts us. Through Jesus, He freely gives us His grace.
We Chose our child. We expect the best from her. We love her and adopt her. Through Jesus, we freely give her grace.
God rescued us from the darkness and bondage and brought us into the light and freedom. We rescue our child from darkness and bondage and bring her into the light and freedom.

The above quotes were taken from the book “Small Town, Big Miracle”
Martin,Bishop W.C. Small Town, Big Miracle. Tyndale House Publishers. Copyright 2007.


More book reviews coming soon.