We've been in a tough spot - not knowing what all needed to be done to update our file with the Ethiopian court and how long that would take. We have continued to pray that God will bring our kids home to us soon and were holding out a small - but very unlikely - hope that we could keep our old court date, but were pretty much resigned to the fact that we were going to be put back in the group waiting for court dates and would not be traveling for at least a couple of months. In fact, I somewhat jokingly added "If anyone asks we are okay with keeping our old court date!" in an e-mail last week checking on the status of our file.
Today we received some GREAT news! Our agency representative talked to the judge about our situation and the judge has agreed to let us keep our old court date!!! This feels like a miracle!
Our court date is set for November 23rd and (barring any unforeseen circumstances) we will be leaving for Ethiopia IN ONE MONTH! The court date for the birth parents (this is part of the normal process) is November 1st, so we are praying everything goes well with that as well.
We are still in shock a little bit but we are definitely PRAISING GOD for this good news.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -- Ephesians 3:20-21
Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Is the Orphan My Neighbor? : Why Justice for the Fatherless is Worth the Risk -- Dr. Russell Moore
I guess I could summarize and give some thoughts on Dr. Moore's article, but I think it is best served to just let it stand on its own. I hope you are blessed and convicted by it.
I will never forget seeing her pull the measuring tape out of her purse as she talked about the skull of her child.
The woman, standing in an airport in Russia with my wife and me, was, like us, an American. She, like us, was in the former Soviet Union to pursue adoption. But she was worried. She had heard “horror stories” about fetal alcohol syndrome and various other nightmares. She said that the measuring tape was for gauging the size of the craniums of her potential children, to “make sure there’s nothing wrong with them.”
The reason I think about this conversation so much these days is because I am finding—more and more often—that one of the primary obstacles for Christians in advocating for the fatherless can be summed up right there in that measuring tape: the issue of fear. As much as we might not want to admit it, many of us don’t think much about orphans because, frankly, we’re scared of them.
Orphans are unpredictable. Often we don’t know where they’ve come from, what kind of genetic maladies and urges lie dormant somewhere in those genes. Moreover, in virtually every situation of fatherlessness, there is some kind of tragedy: a divorce, a suicide, a rape, a drug overdose, a disease, a drought, a civil war, and on and on. We’d rather not think about such things, and we’re afraid often of what kind of lasting mark they leave on their victims.
Those of us who know Christ ought to recognize that fear is often a deterrent to justice, a deterrent that has been indicted, crucified, and buried in the triumph of Jesus. In Jesus’ story of the so-called “good Samaritan,” after all, Jesus presents us with a man who “fell among robbers” and was beaten, nearly to death (Lk. 10:30). With little commentary on why, Jesus tells us, simply, that two passers-by, both religious officials, moved on to the other side, to avoid the wounded man (Lk. 10:31-32).
While many have speculated that there might have been theological reasons behind their neglect (the fear of becoming ceremonially unclean from touching a corpse), the most compelling reason I’ve ever heard was from Martin Luther King, Jr., who wondered whether the passers-by were simply afraid.
After all, there were no streetlights on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho—the setting of this story. There was no police force. A man beaten by terrorists is a good signal that the evildoers are still about, perhaps hiding in the caves along the roadside, lying in wait for their next victim. Moving on along, quickly and quietly, probably just seemed like prudence.
But Jesus never was one for justification by prudence alone. He praised a Samaritan—a reviled outcast from the official religious structures—for the compassion he demonstrated toward this man. And the compassion Jesus commended—and commanded from us in imitation—wasn’t mere charity. The Samaritan didn’t simply help the beaten man; he gave him his own animal, set him up in an inn, and paid for all his expenses for his ongoing care (Lk. 10:34-35). Any Israelite hearing this account would have seen immediately what was going on. The Samaritan was treating the beaten man like family.
Right now, there is a crisis of fatherlessness all around the world. Chances are, in your community, the foster care system is bulging with children, moving from home to home to home, with no rootedness or permanence in sight. Right now, as you read this, children are “aging out” of orphanages around the world. Many of them will spiral downward into the hopelessness of drug addiction, prostitution, or suicide. Children in the Third World are languishing in group-homes, because both parents have died from disease or have been slaughtered in war. The curse is afoot, and it leaves orphans in its wake.
Not every Christian is called to adopt or to foster children. And not every family is equipped to serve every possible scenario of special needs that come along with particular children. Orphan care isn’t easy. Families who care for the least of these must count the cost, and be willing to offer up whatever sacrifice is needed to carry through with their commitments to the children who enter into their lives.
But, while not all of us are called to adopt, the Christian Scriptures tell us that all of us are called to care “widows and orphans in their distress” (Jas. 1:27). All of us are to be conformed to the mission of our Father God, a mission that includes justice for the fatherless (Exod. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; Ps. 10:18; Prov. 23:10-11; Isa. 1:17; Jer. 7:6; Zech. 7:10). As we are conformed to the image of Christ, we share with him his welcoming of the oppressed, the abandoned, the marginalized; we recognize his face in the “least of these,” his little brother and sisters (Matt. 25:40).
The followers of Jesus should fill in the gap left by a contemporary Western consumer culture that extends even to the conception and adoption of children. Who better than those who have been welcomed by Christ to care for the most feared and least sought after of the world’s orphans? After all, who are we, as those who are the invited to Jesus’ wedding feast? We are “the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame” (Lk. 14:21). Since that is the case, Jesus tells us, we are to model the same kind of risk-taking, unconditional love (Lk. 14:12), the kind that casts out fear.
Yes, orphan care can be risky. Justice for the fatherless will sap far more from us than just the time it takes to advocate. These kids need to be reared, to be taught, to be hugged, to be heard. Children who have been traumatized often need more than we ever expect to give. It is easier to ignore those cries. But love of any kind is risky.
The Gospel means it’s worth it to love, even to the point of shedding your own blood. After all, that’s what made a family for ex-orphans like us.
http://www.russellmoore.com/2010/10/07/is-the-orphan-my-neighbor/
I will never forget seeing her pull the measuring tape out of her purse as she talked about the skull of her child.
The woman, standing in an airport in Russia with my wife and me, was, like us, an American. She, like us, was in the former Soviet Union to pursue adoption. But she was worried. She had heard “horror stories” about fetal alcohol syndrome and various other nightmares. She said that the measuring tape was for gauging the size of the craniums of her potential children, to “make sure there’s nothing wrong with them.”
The reason I think about this conversation so much these days is because I am finding—more and more often—that one of the primary obstacles for Christians in advocating for the fatherless can be summed up right there in that measuring tape: the issue of fear. As much as we might not want to admit it, many of us don’t think much about orphans because, frankly, we’re scared of them.
Orphans are unpredictable. Often we don’t know where they’ve come from, what kind of genetic maladies and urges lie dormant somewhere in those genes. Moreover, in virtually every situation of fatherlessness, there is some kind of tragedy: a divorce, a suicide, a rape, a drug overdose, a disease, a drought, a civil war, and on and on. We’d rather not think about such things, and we’re afraid often of what kind of lasting mark they leave on their victims.
Those of us who know Christ ought to recognize that fear is often a deterrent to justice, a deterrent that has been indicted, crucified, and buried in the triumph of Jesus. In Jesus’ story of the so-called “good Samaritan,” after all, Jesus presents us with a man who “fell among robbers” and was beaten, nearly to death (Lk. 10:30). With little commentary on why, Jesus tells us, simply, that two passers-by, both religious officials, moved on to the other side, to avoid the wounded man (Lk. 10:31-32).
While many have speculated that there might have been theological reasons behind their neglect (the fear of becoming ceremonially unclean from touching a corpse), the most compelling reason I’ve ever heard was from Martin Luther King, Jr., who wondered whether the passers-by were simply afraid.
After all, there were no streetlights on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho—the setting of this story. There was no police force. A man beaten by terrorists is a good signal that the evildoers are still about, perhaps hiding in the caves along the roadside, lying in wait for their next victim. Moving on along, quickly and quietly, probably just seemed like prudence.
But Jesus never was one for justification by prudence alone. He praised a Samaritan—a reviled outcast from the official religious structures—for the compassion he demonstrated toward this man. And the compassion Jesus commended—and commanded from us in imitation—wasn’t mere charity. The Samaritan didn’t simply help the beaten man; he gave him his own animal, set him up in an inn, and paid for all his expenses for his ongoing care (Lk. 10:34-35). Any Israelite hearing this account would have seen immediately what was going on. The Samaritan was treating the beaten man like family.
Right now, there is a crisis of fatherlessness all around the world. Chances are, in your community, the foster care system is bulging with children, moving from home to home to home, with no rootedness or permanence in sight. Right now, as you read this, children are “aging out” of orphanages around the world. Many of them will spiral downward into the hopelessness of drug addiction, prostitution, or suicide. Children in the Third World are languishing in group-homes, because both parents have died from disease or have been slaughtered in war. The curse is afoot, and it leaves orphans in its wake.
Not every Christian is called to adopt or to foster children. And not every family is equipped to serve every possible scenario of special needs that come along with particular children. Orphan care isn’t easy. Families who care for the least of these must count the cost, and be willing to offer up whatever sacrifice is needed to carry through with their commitments to the children who enter into their lives.
But, while not all of us are called to adopt, the Christian Scriptures tell us that all of us are called to care “widows and orphans in their distress” (Jas. 1:27). All of us are to be conformed to the mission of our Father God, a mission that includes justice for the fatherless (Exod. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; Ps. 10:18; Prov. 23:10-11; Isa. 1:17; Jer. 7:6; Zech. 7:10). As we are conformed to the image of Christ, we share with him his welcoming of the oppressed, the abandoned, the marginalized; we recognize his face in the “least of these,” his little brother and sisters (Matt. 25:40).
The followers of Jesus should fill in the gap left by a contemporary Western consumer culture that extends even to the conception and adoption of children. Who better than those who have been welcomed by Christ to care for the most feared and least sought after of the world’s orphans? After all, who are we, as those who are the invited to Jesus’ wedding feast? We are “the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame” (Lk. 14:21). Since that is the case, Jesus tells us, we are to model the same kind of risk-taking, unconditional love (Lk. 14:12), the kind that casts out fear.
Yes, orphan care can be risky. Justice for the fatherless will sap far more from us than just the time it takes to advocate. These kids need to be reared, to be taught, to be hugged, to be heard. Children who have been traumatized often need more than we ever expect to give. It is easier to ignore those cries. But love of any kind is risky.
The Gospel means it’s worth it to love, even to the point of shedding your own blood. After all, that’s what made a family for ex-orphans like us.
http://www.russellmoore.com/2010/10/07/is-the-orphan-my-neighbor/
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Great news to share!
We have continued to experience God's love through your prayers, notes, and encouragement during this time of grieving for the loss of Bethel. The Lord is healing our hearts and we are thankful.
We also have some great news to share! We have accepted a referral for a beautiful 11-week-old little girl. She is healthy and looks like a teddy bear waiting for a squeeze. While Bethel will never be replaced in our hearts, we are thankful for the opportunity to welcome another child into our family. And we are especially thankful that we did not have to wait too long, so our little man's wait is kept as short as possible.
Looking forward, the courts (are supposed to) reopen in Ethiopia next week. First, our agency will have to submit paperwork to have our current file withdrawn (we were in line for a court date at the end of November). Then we will have to refile with the information on the new baby girl, and then wait for a new court date. It is unknown exactly how long this process will take but we expect our agency to be ready to do what they can as soon as possible. However, there will also be lots of families filing for court dates next week, as the paperwork with agencies has been building during the two-month court closure.
We appreciate your continued prayers for the court process, our children waiting on us, our healing, and trusting in the Lord as we wait. While the journey has definitely been difficult, we are thankful that we can also experience joy and blessing in the midst of it and we cannot wait for what God still has in store for our family.
We also have some great news to share! We have accepted a referral for a beautiful 11-week-old little girl. She is healthy and looks like a teddy bear waiting for a squeeze. While Bethel will never be replaced in our hearts, we are thankful for the opportunity to welcome another child into our family. And we are especially thankful that we did not have to wait too long, so our little man's wait is kept as short as possible.
Looking forward, the courts (are supposed to) reopen in Ethiopia next week. First, our agency will have to submit paperwork to have our current file withdrawn (we were in line for a court date at the end of November). Then we will have to refile with the information on the new baby girl, and then wait for a new court date. It is unknown exactly how long this process will take but we expect our agency to be ready to do what they can as soon as possible. However, there will also be lots of families filing for court dates next week, as the paperwork with agencies has been building during the two-month court closure.
We appreciate your continued prayers for the court process, our children waiting on us, our healing, and trusting in the Lord as we wait. While the journey has definitely been difficult, we are thankful that we can also experience joy and blessing in the midst of it and we cannot wait for what God still has in store for our family.
For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. -- Acts 2:39
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
THANK YOU !!! ... and now back to the waiting...
We cannot put into words how thankful we are for all the love and support we have received from each of you through your prayers, cards, flowers, kind messages in many forms, and general encouragement through this difficult time. Surely the Lord has sustained us and showered us with His love through you.
We had a wonderful service for Bethel on Sunday, September 5th. It was a blessing to be surrounded by so many people who loved our daughter. It is impossible to list each person's specific contributions, but we want to give a special thanks to Lee-Anne Fenwick for coordinating the service, Brad Frame for leading the service, Angie Pryor for playing piano, the Browns for being willing to share their thoughts on sweet Bethel, Paul Yerrick for doing the music (with an assist from Aunt Sherry), Julie Gould for making the video and the picture card, Dr. Moore for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak, and everyone who helped with the service and the reception. You guys were awesome!
We had a wonderful service for Bethel on Sunday, September 5th. It was a blessing to be surrounded by so many people who loved our daughter. It is impossible to list each person's specific contributions, but we want to give a special thanks to Lee-Anne Fenwick for coordinating the service, Brad Frame for leading the service, Angie Pryor for playing piano, the Browns for being willing to share their thoughts on sweet Bethel, Paul Yerrick for doing the music (with an assist from Aunt Sherry), Julie Gould for making the video and the picture card, Dr. Moore for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak, and everyone who helped with the service and the reception. You guys were awesome!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Memorial Service
for Bethel Shannonhouse
Dr. Russell Moore will be Giving a Message on
Sunday, September 5th - 5:00 PM
The Chapel at Southeast Christian
Reception to Follow in the Fireside Room
Children are welcome to attend.
Reception to Follow in the Fireside Room
Children are welcome to attend.
Please park in LOT C From the main entrance off Blakenbaker, it's the small lot on the right. Enter at Door 16.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. --Psalm 61:1-3
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A post we were hoping not to make...
On Tuesday afternoon we received a rather grave report on Bethel's health. She got sick and became critical very quickly. We held out hope and prayed for a miracle, but unfortunately we are saddened to tell you that we were informed this morning that Bethel did not make it through the night. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers over Bethel and for our family. Our kids took the news pretty well and we are feeling the love from all of our family and friends. We believe Bethel was brought into our lives and hearts - and yours - for a reason. We don't fully understand that reason right now but trust that the Lord is already at work to bring good from this tragedy. We will be having a service for Bethel and provide details soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)