Orphans Deserve Better....

Hi everyone! It's been a little while since I've updated. We're still trying to get settled, heal, etc. but we're slowly getting there. Praise God that He is a God of restoration and healing amongst many other things.

We are continuing to wait for Jasmine and do have a slight update for you. We did ask CCAI about our timeline as we're now 12 months into the Waiting child program. According to them, they think our wait will be longer than 12 months because apparently there are a lot of people who are interested in children w/similar conditions that we are interested in. What that actually means in terms of time, remains to be seen. We still believe that it will be this year, at this point, but it's starting to look like late summer/fall time frame now. We will keep you posted, of course. We soooooo can't wait until we get that call and believe me, you will all be the first to hear about it! :-)

In the midst of unpacking, we were given an opportunity to take Lily to the Barnum & Bailey circus when it was in town. Thanks to Bethany Christian Services for the free tickets because we all had a BLAST as a family! I'm going to upload some photos for you to enjoy. We had such a great time and it brought some much needed relief and fun into our lives after all of the stress. Thank you Bethany!

Also, thank you all for your continued prayers for our former foster daughter. While DHS has chosen to do nothing, she is currently safe and we are staying in regular contact with her. Praise God that her family has even allowed her to come stay with us this weekend! We are trying to rebuild that friendship with her and as long as she allows us to stay in her life, we're praying that God will use us to touch her heart and give her the love and support that she needs. Please pray for us this weekend that we'll be able to re-connect with her in meaningful ways and pray that her heart will open to God.

I'm a member of Christian Alliance for Orphans and received an email from them this morning that I wanted to share. Apparently, Warner Brothers is coming out with a horrer/thriller film called "Orphans." I watched the trailer and I'm absolutely HORRIFIED with the messages that this film is sending about orphans and adoption! The story is about a family who adopts an older child named Esther who proceeds to terrorize the family. In one of the trailers it says that "there's something wrong with Esther." In another, Esther says "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own." What a HORRIBLE message to send to both adopted children and orphans in general. They are in their situations due to NO FAULT of their own and they are not damaged goods. I'm sharing this because Christian Alliance for Orphans is asking people to sign a petition asking Warner Brothers to donate some proceeds to orphans and consider adding a message portraying the truth and beauty of adoption. Additionally, they are asking those of us who have an adoption story to share so that the truth could be heard. If you interested in either signing the petition or sharing your story, please go to www.orphansdeservebetter.org