Take my Life and Let It Be

Take my Life and Let It Be Verse 1: Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Verse 2: Take my hands, and let them move At the impulse of Thy love; Take my feet, and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee. Swift and beautiful for Thee. Verse 3: Take my voice, and let me sing Always, only, for my King; Take my lips, and let them be Filled with messages from Thee. Filled with messages from Thee. Verse 4: Take my silver and my gold: Not a mite would I withhold; Take my intellect, and use Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose. Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose. Verse 5: Take my will, and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine; Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne. It shall be Thy royal throne. Verse 6: Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store; Take myself, and I will be, Ever, only, all for Thee. Ever, only, all for Thee

Adoption- The Truth of the Matter

Feelin’ passionate tonight so I have a few thoughts to put out there. (And there is another side to this issue- Helping moms and dads who have decided to keep their children. But I am focusing on children who need homes right now) Most of my family and friends are Christian and pro-life. I too, am staunchly prolife as you all know but have you ever thought about how we put so much effort into prolife causes and passionately debate and vote and inform and do all we possibly can to try to put an end to the legalization of this atrocity but not act for those who are born alive? Yes, we should be doing all these things, MUST be doing all these things to help unborn babies survive but how can we in good conscience not consider the lives of the unwanted once they are out of the womb? Who will care for them? We MUST continue to plead for those who cannot speak for themselves. BUT why do we stop short with only (or mostly) speaking for the unborn? What about the millions of children who have beat the odds and have been born to mothers and fathers who do not want them, have abused or neglected them, have very sadly passed away. Or even those who have been born to parents whom, out of great LOVE, placed their precious babies for adoption to give them a better future. Why do we not passionately cry out and plead the case for these flesh and blood, living and breathing and SUFFERING children who are longing for family and a future. Do we do everything in our power to make sure babies are born and then walk away from them? Are we really doing everything in our ability to show orphans the love of Christ by giving them a family or at least by helping and praying for families who are trying to adopt? Acts 20:35 “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” It is a prevailing inaccuracy that only people who struggle with infertility want to or should adopt or that those who do adopt have a special calling or gift for it. I realize that not everyone can afford adoption. Not everyone is in a position medically, emotionally, logistically or otherwise to adopt. And sadly some who are willing and able still might not be approved to adopt for a number of different reasons but friends, there are many, MANY Christians who themselves could adopt but do not. They at the very least could support, advocate for and aid orphan ministries and adoptive families but simply just. don’t. do it. That is the fact of the matter. BUT- Have we not been COMMANDED to love and care for the needy, orphans and widows? It seems to me that many of us simply refuse to step outside of what is comfortable and easy to pick up our cross and follow HIM. What great apathy infects the Church today! We are COMMANDED to care for orphans and yet so many families don't even give it a second thought. If you are a follower of Christ you are commanded to help children without families. Bottom line. It is a biblical truth. Do not tell me you are not called to care for the needy and orphans. ALL Christians are called to serve in this way in whatever capacity God enables them to do it. And if you think the door to adoption is closed, be sure that it was closed by the Lord and not by you. Jeremiah 1: 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Followers of Christ are not called to apathy and indifference but to passion and love and sometimes (many times) discomfort and sacrifice to further the Kingdom of God. Is parenting easy? Is parenting many children or adopted children or children with special needs EASY? Is anything worth doing easy? Praise be to God that our Savior did not take the easy way! Praise God that Jesus himself was not apathetic and indifferent. No! He suffered the ultimate, most painful, humiliating sacrifice of death on a cross to provide a way for us to become children of God! We ourselves are adopted! Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Here is the heartbreaking reality for millions of children. Please watch. (copy and paste link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IC-TyCf0GM" PLEASE read this fantastic post by a very wise and godly woman. She and her husband are changing the lives of many orphans directly and indirectly. God is working great and miraculous things through this family and we have learned so very much through their example. In fact, they are the very reason we even became aware of this great need and eventually felt a burden for children without families. Nobody puts it all together as eloquently as Susanna. (copy and paste link) “Do we care about justice for the oppressed only if that means we get to live the way we want to? What if our lifestyle is only possible if we knowingly turn a blind eye to the basic human rights of others? The reality is that the living conditions for abandoned, disabled children in many other countries are deplorable. The reality is that many of these disabled children are available for adoption, but they sit on waiting lists, passed over again and again until they have aged out. The reality is that they are then imprisoned under appalling conditions for the rest of their lives. The shameful reality is that there are Christ-followers who know about this reality and are qualified in every way to adopt except that they have hearts that are unwilling to make the necessary changes to their current lifestyle. How can we justify this inconsistency to ourselves?” –Susanna Musser http://theblessingofverity.com/2013/05/it-doesnt-take-a-hero-special-needs-adoption-q-a/ Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Our Journey Begins!

After almost two years of talking, praying, researching, comparing agencies, etc. we finally are in a position to begin the long process of adoption! It has been a very exciting week for me. We have been so busy moving into our new home, cleaning out the old one, and just general crazy life with 5 children that I hadn't been actively looking through adoption information. I saw a FB post from an agency I had "liked" months ago saying they had referals for new children in Poland. I hadn't ever considered Poland but saw that they do not have restrictions on family size. I sent for information from this particular agency on their Polish and Bulgarian (which we have had much interest in) programs. That email got the ball rolling unexpectedly fast! I immediately received an email back from a lovely consultant who asked me what ages we were looking at and if we had considered Latvia. Latvia? I honestly wasn't even sure where exactly Latvia is. Between Lithuania and Estonia, across the Baltic Sea from Sweden if you are wondering. :) She had just seen a waiting child listing pop up for siblings in Latvia. A 3 year old girl and her 2 year old brother. I immediately felt my heart skip a beat. We were already talking about specific children! Now, you can't ask for them to place a hold on the children per Latvian rules/law until they have reviewed your dossier and cleared you as perspective parents. We have reviewed the children's file however and are praying ardently for God's leading. The application, homestudy, dossier completion will take months and another family could be chosen. I cannot share information about these two precious little ones but it seems like this would be a perfect match for them and us. Is Latvia where God is leading? I don't know for sure yet so I am trying not to get emotionally attached which is quite hard to do! As I pray for a speedy process and hope that we will be matched, I also pray that a family would be found for these babies no matter what. They deserve a loving mama and daddy so very much. So this is where we are so far. We are applying for the Bulgarian, Latvian and domestic (U.S.) programs. My goal right now is to persue these specific children in Latvia but if they are matched before our dossier is approved than we will probably focus on Bulgaria or U.S. adoption as it is less travel time and expense. We are so excited to see what the future holds. We both have a huge fear of flying but it doesn't even matter to me right now. All I can think about is that we have a child or children waiting for us to rescue them! Needing us desperately RIGHT NOW. And I only wish all it took was to jump on a plane and get to them and I would do it in a heartbeat. It's no different to me than if Finley and River ( or any of the kids) were thousands of miles away. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to conquer my great fear to get to them as quickly as possible. Please pray for us. We need your prayers more than anything else! Please pray for a speedy process that we are in the very beginning stages of. Specifically for the homestudy to go well so we will be approved; for fundraising efforts; and for the Lord to bless this matching process so we will be the right family for the child and vice versa. Thank you for reading and for your support and prayers! And if you feel so led- thank you for donating to our adoption fund. We will keep updating as things progress! Blessings to you and yours- Amanda (with Jon and family) http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/take-my-hand-parker-family-adoption-fundraiser-/66661