I am doing the Joy Dare this year. I thought I would share some of the joys so far.
9- "If you need more rice, ask me."
12- The moose in the blue dawn.
13- Luke 11:1-4 Knowing Jesus wants me to ask.
15- Northern lights at -1 degrees.
19- Jason grocery shopping for me.
25- Willa
29- Getting to be part of the Wishing on Willows launch team.
32- Sabbath celebration candles
57- Standing upfront singing with my students. I love my students so much. It amazes me.
63- Reading Frankie's Orange with Caitlin.
70- My Bible
74- Real friendships, good friendship in Ckvl.
75- The love of Jesus from Tai Tai
78- Contra-dancing for two hours! So much fun!
88- My guest bathroom as a shelter from tornado.
92- Seeing Mama.
103- The hugs of my little students
113- Cheryle to help grade papers.
138- Handprint tree from Caitlin (Dominic's sister).
140- Hope in giving to Ganshert adoption.
148- Ckvl
Friday, February 22, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
We shall be called...
In December Matthew and I went to an Andrew Peterson concert. Before intermission he shared that he had recently been on tour with Steven Curtis Chapman. During the Steven Curtis Chapman concerts they would play a video about Show Hope.
Here is a similar video:
And as Andrew Peterson watched it night after night on tour he began to feel the need to do something. To be a part of the adoption miracle. So he went home (from being away on tour for weeks while his wife was at home alone with their three children), put down his bags, and said, "We need to adopt." At the concert he laughed and said, "I'm not going to share what happened next." His point was that, while he was moved about adoption, he and his family are not the ones called to adopt. However. And this is a HUGE however. He believes that everyone is called to do something to help.
James 1:27 says, "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."
We may not be able to take an orphan or widow into our homes, but we can look after them.
I review books and in part of that I have come to know an author, Katie Ganshert. Through her blog and facebook updates I have read about her and her family as they move toward adopting a beautiful child from the DR Congo in Africa.
They, like many families who adopt, fund-raise apply for grants, and do what they can to raise the money so they can fund the adoption process. Adoption isn't cheap, but that's where the rest of us come in. We can help.
One of the Gansherts' fundraisers involves a 500 piece puzzle. Each puzzle piece can be sponsored for $10 and your name, or whoever's name you want written, will be written on the back. Here is what they Gansherts wrote:
"When the puzzle is all put together, we will frame it in a double-sided glass frame and hang it in our little one's bedroom.
And someday....someday.....when our child's old enough to understand, we'll take that frame off the wall and we'll snuggle up in a chair and we'll turn that picture around and we'll point at all the names. I'll read each one out loud and with this precious child wrapped in my arms, I'll whisper, "Look how much you were loved. Look at how much you were wanted. Look at all these people who helped bring you home."
Maybe you aren't called to adopt. But you are called to help. To show love to the orphans.
I encourage you to be a piece of the puzzle, a piece of the miracle of adoption.
You can go through Show Hope to help sponsor grants for families who are adopting, or you can find families to support individually.
But do something. Be Christ's hands and feet.
ps. This is day one of the Ganshert puzzle
And this is day ten:
There are still 315 puzzle pieces to go. Doesn't it thrill your soul to see those puzzle pieces? To know that each one is someone saying, "I love you, I care for you little child even though I don't know you."
Matthew and I sponsored on the first day. We knew it was something we had to be a part of. I want that little child to know, when he or she sees our names that they were loved by strangers and prayed for by strangers--that are all a part of the body of Christ.
Won't you consider being a part of the miracle of adoption?
Here is a similar video:
And as Andrew Peterson watched it night after night on tour he began to feel the need to do something. To be a part of the adoption miracle. So he went home (from being away on tour for weeks while his wife was at home alone with their three children), put down his bags, and said, "We need to adopt." At the concert he laughed and said, "I'm not going to share what happened next." His point was that, while he was moved about adoption, he and his family are not the ones called to adopt. However. And this is a HUGE however. He believes that everyone is called to do something to help.
James 1:27 says, "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."
We may not be able to take an orphan or widow into our homes, but we can look after them.
“One of Show Hope’s biggest needs is sponsors and they need people willing to step up and give so that these children can find homes,” he shares. “For me to get to work with Show Hope and to be a small part in building the kingdom in this way, to show these children the love of Jesus, is profoundly moving,” Peterson continues. “It’s a small price to pay for a blessing that big.”
They, like many families who adopt, fund-raise apply for grants, and do what they can to raise the money so they can fund the adoption process. Adoption isn't cheap, but that's where the rest of us come in. We can help.
One of the Gansherts' fundraisers involves a 500 piece puzzle. Each puzzle piece can be sponsored for $10 and your name, or whoever's name you want written, will be written on the back. Here is what they Gansherts wrote:
"When the puzzle is all put together, we will frame it in a double-sided glass frame and hang it in our little one's bedroom.
And someday....someday.....when our child's old enough to understand, we'll take that frame off the wall and we'll snuggle up in a chair and we'll turn that picture around and we'll point at all the names. I'll read each one out loud and with this precious child wrapped in my arms, I'll whisper, "Look how much you were loved. Look at how much you were wanted. Look at all these people who helped bring you home."
Maybe you aren't called to adopt. But you are called to help. To show love to the orphans.
I encourage you to be a piece of the puzzle, a piece of the miracle of adoption.
You can go through Show Hope to help sponsor grants for families who are adopting, or you can find families to support individually.
But do something. Be Christ's hands and feet.
ps. This is day one of the Ganshert puzzle
And this is day ten:
There are still 315 puzzle pieces to go. Doesn't it thrill your soul to see those puzzle pieces? To know that each one is someone saying, "I love you, I care for you little child even though I don't know you."
Matthew and I sponsored on the first day. We knew it was something we had to be a part of. I want that little child to know, when he or she sees our names that they were loved by strangers and prayed for by strangers--that are all a part of the body of Christ.
Won't you consider being a part of the miracle of adoption?
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