I'm Joining the Crowd!

Most of the blogs I follow are on this site, so I decided to join the crowd and start my own!

For those who don't know, I am a SAHM to my four awesome children, two of whom joined our family through the miracle of adoption. Our children are 8 (9 in two weeks!), 8, 6, and 4 years old.

Our adoption experiences have truly transformed our lives. Not just through the addition of two incredible people to our family - but it has transformed our priorities, our awareness of the harsh realities of life outside our comfort zone, and it has given us a sense of purpose in this world that we did not even realize we'd been lacking. We are so blessed that our Heavenly Father has set our hands to work in the fields of the fatherless. There is simply nothing like being witness to these precious little lives being forever changed by two things they had not previously known - LOVE and HOPE. Since November is Adoption Awareness Month, I feel safe indulging myself in expressing my passion for the orphan. Besides, this is a blog, so if your eyes glaze over with boredom I won't notice! I saw this recently on the blog of another adoptive family that my husband and I met in China, and I hope she will not mind if I quote her here:

"Fellow Christians -- How are we doing? It is wonderful to feed the hungry and house the homeless. That is important and necessary in every society. But God, in His Holy Word, specifically tells His people to care for orphans and widows. That is what He is calling "pure religion." There are over 100 million orphans (some estimates say 140 million +). What are we doing? We can't just say that giving food to the local food shelf satisfies this command of God. He absolutely tells us to do these things, too, but there is a big difference between what is said in James 1:27 and these other acts of kindness. The difference is that, in most societies, orphans and widows are the most hopeless and helpless people in the society. What can children do for themselves? They can't work (at least in ways that are moral). They can't provide for their needs. God tells His church to meet those needs but, by and large, we are not. We are truly thankful for our church and their heart to be open to orphan ministry! But more churches need to do this. We need to understand that when we say that the other efforts on behalf of the needy are equivalent, orphans go hungry and orphans are left without hope. We must do both. We need to stock the food shelves. AND we need to care for the needs of orphans and widows. If the church was actually doing its job, there would not be so many orphans going hungry on the streets of Manila. There would not be so many children in orphanages in Russia, China, South America and Africa. There really are so many ways we can reach these precious children for Christ. Missionaries do wonderful work. But there are not enough of them to reach this massive number. Foster parents can make a huge impact on every child that comes into their home. Again, there are not enough people stepping up to take on this responsibility."

I think that she expresses herself so beautifully in that post. The church can no longer sit comfortably and hide her eyes behind mediocre service on behalf of our adoptive Father. My earnest prayer is that more hearts will be stirred on behalf of these children who so desperately need someone to give them hope.

Don't worry, my blog will seldom contain "soapbox" moments like these. I hope that friends and family will enjoy keeping up with us here!

~ Jen ~