Welcoming with Love

For more information about each boy, please read this blog post. 

Your invited to a Chinese buffet luncheon this Sunday 2/28

If you want a causal way to meet any of these boys or have any questions about the process of hosting, please join us this Sunday 2/28 at 12 pm at WEPC in room 22 (downstairs) and the gym will be open. Children are welcome. Please RSVP by 2/26 to Heather Jarvis heather@wepc.org so we know how much food to provide. 

All three host families will be present, please join us for awkward noodle slurping. No chopstick skills required ;) 

Broken World

Ever since last Sunday, my mind has been churning. Orphan Sunday and life have done a doozy on my heart this week. I've been thinking and thinking. Torn between trying to process and wanting to stuff my thoughts down. It didn't help that Darin was away most of the week on business so I didn't have a processing partner.  Or someone to talk good sense into me when I was up too late scouring orphan care websites and blogs!

Up until about 4 years ago, I don't think I ever thought about the orphan. How sad is that? Perhaps I was too busy thinking about myself. Then God put it on my radar front and center. I learned more. I read more. I listened and thought I had it figured out.

Until I stepped foot into Irina's orphanage in Ukraine and my eyes were opened in new ways. The faces of the children who ran after us begging for candy will forever be etched in my brain. The names Katya, Anya, Stas, little Irina, Luba, Sasha, Lena, Vika and Aloyna are uttered in regular prayers. I can still smell the sweet little girl with cross eyed blue eyes that I had the privilege to hold and pray over.  She was wearing a blue fuzzy sleeper and couldn't bend her body. She had severe disabilities due to alcohol abuse in utero. I think this brokenness grieves my heavenly Father. It wasn't meant to be this way.

As we near the one year mark of adopting Irina, I can't help but look back. Irina is amazing and she has come a long way. She has had a lot of hurdles to leap over as she has learned for the first time how to be in a loving family. She is discovering that we are worthy of her trust and that we will care for all her physical needs. For 10 years she survived. Now she is realizing that she can LIVE.

However, as I consider her future I've found myself grappling with a new emotion. I feel angry. Without the brokenness of this world, Irina would be in a loving family with her birth parents in her homeland. She would have been fed, clothed, and CHERISHED. She would not have been abandoned. Isn't that how God really intended families to be? I don't doubt for one minute that God knew we would have the opportunity to step in and show Irina real love, BUT she still has so much more to face as she overcomes the wounds of her past. It's not fair.

A new compassion is being uncovered in my heart for my daughter. A new compassion is being uncovered in my heart for the orphan. The reality is that Irina has new opportunities that MANY other orphans will NEVER have, especially the older kids and the kids with disabilities. How can I dare complain? How can I take even a moment for granted? I long for heaven.

Oh Lord Jesus, keep my heart soft for ALL your children. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come.

By Jill Smith, group member, adoptive mom

New RVA Group for Adoptive Moms (or Moms to be) and Foster Moms

Calling all women whose families have grown through adoption (or going to!) and/or involved in foster care! Regardless of where you call your church ‘home’, we welcome you! 

The purpose of this group is to encourage women to fellowship together, be reminded of the gospel and love of Christ, and share some tangible ways to love our families and children in light of our unique family stories. 

We will have an initial kick off time on September 22 at 9am at West End Presbyterian Church (WEPC)*, rm 35 basement level.
Going forward, mark your calendars for every 3rd Sunday of the month (again 9am at WEPC).

We will be using the Created to Connect: A Christian’s Guide to the Connect Child. You may purchase the guide online, place your order at our kickoff or download a free pdf at: http://empoweredtoconnect.org/guide .

Excited for this opportunity and hope you will be too! Invite your friends and join us!

Questions/Comments, please email Cindy at 1blessedfam@gmail.com
*feel free to use the nurseries and Sunday school available at the same time

Forever

For weeks, I have been struggling to remember that I am not just preparing for 1 trip, 1 first meeting, 1 first hug and kiss (if she will let me) 1 set of gotcha day photos taken, etc.

I am finding it easy to compare to the preparations of a wedding. There is a lot of prep, a lot of waiting and then... THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I still remember the moment (once we took off on a plane for our honeymoon), I realized I should have been more focused on my soon-to-be-marriage than my fleeting 6 hour wedding day. Not b/c something bad had happened, but because I had lost all sense of perspective.

This feels very similar.

Awhile ago, I complained to a friend that I felt I was always praying the same things for Sugar Plum... that she would be feed, kept safe, be healthy and loved, etc. And while all those are good and necessary for my mama instincts, she basically told me to be praying about the rest of our life together ;)

So when I look at her new pictures, I am struck by the reality that I DO NOT know this little girl. I had memorized her in the original pictures and apparently convinced myself that I knew her. Well, yesterday was a stark reminder that I do not. And while Owen reminded me that I didn't know him before he was born, I still can't shake the new found fear.

I don't know why this is suddenly hitting me. Perhaps it's because we are getting closer? Perhaps it's because our family's picture ironed onto a blanket is in the hands of a precious child in China?

Perhaps it's because we are welcoming a complete stranger into our lives forever!

I can look at her pictures and search intently for all the "good" I can see. It looks clean, she looks well, she is smiling. For all I know she was placed in the best spot in the orphanage for these pictures.

I have been haunted by some photos recently taken by families there now who are receiving their children. As much as I would like to think these places are ok. Growing up in an institution without a family is not ok.

I am terrified about what it will feel like to leave all the other children behind. How can I possibly only bring 1 home? Will this haunt me for the rest of my life? I suppose, I hope it does. Because 1 less, is NOT enough.

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. James 1:27

For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord. Psalm 117:2

My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

I am forever His. May this change who I am, forever.

Written by Ali Fogarty, group member, in process of adopting from China
 

Alyona

The Schwarz family will be hosting a precious 13 year old orphan from Ukraine for the month of August!  It was discovered that she would not be able to come for her hosting trip because the previous family was not able to keep their commitment.  A family had to be found for her or she would be told she wasn’t coming to the US.  

Here is sweet Alyona:

   

Do you see the look in her eyes? She still has a look of hope.  She has a spark of ‘look at me, I’m worthy’.  That’s what we see...how worthy and delighted Jesus is with HER! So, she’s coming aboard to our home 7/28 for 4 short weeks.  Not long in the span of her orphanage life.  We already ache (how is that??) for her return to her world.  Still, we ache with a hope that her story is about to change. 
 

 

Here’s what we know:
Alyona’s parents rights were taken in 2007.  She is behind in school a little, but catching up.  She is a hard worker and her teachers love her.  Here’s all we were initially told:
Alyona – born July, 1998.  Alyona is a very nice and kind girl, she is friendly and generous, quiet and shy. She likes dancing and playing outside games with her friends, she likes drawing and reading books. Her favorite color is pink and blue, she likes animals and wants to have her own puppy some day.
Her parents lost rights in 2007.  Has older siblings, no problem with separation, they don’t stay in touch with Alyona, don’t visit her at the orphanage.
Available for adoption.

That last line sits so heavy for us as part of her “identity”.
Motivated by God’s grace that we’ve experienced and know, we move...toward her and in Him.  That’s about all we DO know.  Christ in us...and for Alyona.

We are hoping to communicate the Gospel and Christ’s love to her in her short time, in spite of language barriers and even in light of her being orphaned. 

Many of you are already being the body of Christ to US and to her through your offers of support.  If you would like to partner with us in this mission opportunity, we’d love it! Consider any of the following ways: 

PRAYING! Please commit to praying for our family, our time and for Alyona’s heart. Also pray and consider others to share her need for a forever family!
Financially.  If you are led to give to support our cost for the hosting program($1,500), then please do.  We will be covering all her clothing, food, and expenses while here. Any additional funds will begin her ADOPTION FUND.
    ~You can contribute via paypal or check;

We also have a paypal account that will send donations directly to us. Sign in to YOUR paypal and make a ‘person to person’ payment to andyschwarz2@gmail.com
 

If you are partnering with us, please email us a picture of you/your family to include in a book for Alyona, send it to: andyschwarz2@gmail.com . We’d love to ‘show’ her the body of Christ coming around her this way.

Written by Cindy Schwarz, group member, adoptive mom