Our Own Little Spaces

It's amazing how it has already become more difficult to find time to blog in the whirlwind of planning and preparing for the girls. I can't imagine what it will be like once they get here! I have to say it is a bit unnerving to constantly hear the phrase "Enjoy it now" referring to anything and everything when people comment on how our lives will change when the ladies arrive. I'm not sure if comments like that are entirely helpful for the already-terrified-of-the-transition adoptive parent. It's much like approaching someone about to jump off of a cliff and commenting about how TALL the cliff is and how FAR it is to the ground.

I did say in my last post that I wanted to focus a bit in this post on how our little life story connects with the Bigger Picture of the global orphan crisis. I have been thinking about a comment recently posted on the Red Letters blog. The author wrote, "I woke up this morning with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why doesn't my church ... do more for the world's poor, orphans, and widows? I am just back from Ethiopia and the need is enormous...Are we going to leave this problem to the UN and political organizations like One.org? I think part of the problem is our obsession with ourselves and another part is the lack of accountability among church leadership. I wanted to encourage each of you to ask your church what they're doing with your tithe to serve the world's poor. If the answer is nothing or if you see priorities like big screen TVs taking precedence over injustice, you've got to ask yourself if you're at the right place." While I think we always need to be careful about being too critical of our churches and our pastors, I do appreciate the writer's passionate attempt to focus our energy and our attention on something so dear to the heart of God - caring for those in need, specifically the poor, widows and orphans. It seems that sometimes as Christians we lose our way in this regard because we just get so focused on ourselves and our own needs in our own little spaces in the world. I'm already noticing this in my own preparations for our girls. Our girls will have the benefit of so much love, so much care and so many resources to help them grow into the women God wants them to become - but they are the lucky ones in that regard. As I work on every little detail of building a nest for our daughters, it is easy to forget about the little ones who will still have no place to call home and no family to call their own long after I am gone from Ethiopia, back to my comfortable home with my new family in my safe little space in the world. That kind of complacency is costly and dangerous. If enough Christians get just comfortable enough, we can get lulled into doing absolutely nothing very well. We can also get so self-absorbed in doing good things for our own that we forget about the many others out there who desperately need our help. I am grateful that our church is looking to the future with a serious eye on reaching out both locally and globally to those in need. Our pastor recently preached on being "extraordinary Christians" by making the love of God tangible in our world. That is our heart's desire. If we can do "something beautiful for God" (to use Mother Teresa's words) by forcing ourselves to look out, rather than just in, more often, the world will be changed - and so will we.

On the note of helping those in need, I want to highlight a great organization that works with HIV positive children. It's called From HIV to Home. They do some amazing work helping to meet the many needs of orphaned children living with HIV. As we all continue to ponder what it means to look outward into a hurting world, it is helpful to be reminded of the words of Jesus who said, "I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant [they seemed], you did for me"(Matthew 25:40). Orphans with HIV are a classic example of the "least of these" to whom Jesus refers. And yet, by serving them, we are serving the King Himself.



If you want to learn more about the state of orphans in other African countries, check out Brandi's great blog. I've mentioned her before. She is a mother and a passionate advocate for the children of Africa. She recently got back from Africa and has some stories on her blog that are both heartbreaking and humorous. She really helps you put a face on the orphan and humanitarian crisis in Africa right now.

On another note, we had a fun date night this past week at Barnes and Noble in the kids' section. We sat on the floor and each picked out a stack of books that looked fun that we then read together. We ended up taking home a great little book called That's Not My Puppy that is perfect for very little "readers". The book ends with a picture of "my puppy" that looks a whole lot like our very own canine companion! We also laughed hysterically at a book called Manners by Aliki which we also bought (I was literally in tears in B&N because this book was so funny). It uses worst-case scenarios to teach kids what not to do and why manners matter. We are wondering if it is inappropriate to give this as a gift to certain children we know! That same night, we also hit Michael's to get some "home improvement supplies" for renovating a cool wooden dollhouse my mom found for the girls. Here are a few fun pics from our date night.




Lastly, many of you have asked how you can be praying for us right now. We would ask that you pray fervently for our COURT DATE. We will not be able to bring Baby E and Little Miss J home until we pass our day in Ethiopian court. We are currently waiting to be assigned a date before a judge. Please pray that we are given a date soon so that we still have a chance to bring our daughters home in 2008. Also, please pray for two special friends of ours that Davis went to college with who are also adding two children to their family through adoption in the next few weeks. J and HJ will be adopting two children (ages 9 and 14) from foster care here in the US. They will be going from a family of four (with two very small children!) to a family of six. Please pray that God blesses them richly for this major step of faith. Pray also for a group that we are currently working on organizing. God has put it on our hearts to try and start a network for adoptive families of African children here in our community. We have already made connections with several families with children from Uganda as well as a family that is also waiting for their children from Ethiopia. Pray that God continues to connect us with others who might benefit from a group like this. Our tentative plan is to call the group the Gold Coast African Adoption Network (GCAAN). If you live on California's Gold Coast and have adopted children (or are planning to adopt) from an African nation and would like to be a part of this group, please email us! We'd love to hear from you.