In 2003, I went on my first mission trip to Ukraine and visited an orphanage there for the first time. After the third mission trip, I was beginning to hear God's heart for orphans and recorded in my journal that I wanted to do something to help orphans. In an effort to do that, I turned to the Internet and stumbled upon the blog world. The first blog I read was Kristina's Story. Reading blogs has began a journey for me. Where it is leading me, I'm still not sure. I know it is a path that God is laying piece by piece before my eyes. Since then, I have read many blogs by adopting couples and the majority of them are couples with children.Another part of the journey is reading books. I have posted about Tom Davis' Fields of the Fatherless. In this book, Tom states, "If only 7 % of professing Christians around the world responded, every single orphan in the world would have a home". He also quotes John Piper as describing adoption as the 'visible gospel'. According to Ephesians 1: 5 we've all been adopted into God's family. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
November 8th is Orphan Sunday. I encourage all readers to pray about promoting Orphan Sunday in your church. There are free downloadable resources at http://www.orphansunday.org/.
You can also order hard copies of the material. They have posters, fliers, bulletin inserts, as well as, sermon notes and small group Bible study material.
In a little more than a week, my family and I will return for our second mission trip together. Please pray for us as we make final preparations As we make the trip, please pray that we will clearly hear God's voice concerning orphans and orphan care. There are some links on the right of the page to blogs of adopting families. You can learn many details about the process of adoption through reading their blogs.
