Abandoned-Orphaned

Maria's Miracle Fund

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Dear Friends,

Almost eight years ago, a precious family stepped forward at our church and offered to pay for adoption costs for us to receive our first daughter from China. At the time, Lisa and I were on staff at the church and were wondering how we could afford an international adoption on rather paltry ministry incomes.

If it were not for the generosity of our dear friends, Faith Elizabeth Li Ke Lin Myhill would not be a part of our family right now. Perhaps she would still be languishing in a Chinese orphanage. Perhaps she would have been adopted by a family that rejects Christ.

Either way, God used our friends to change the course of an eternal life.

This, in part, is the ministry of Shaohannah’s Hope, the organization founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth Chapman. As most of you now know, Steven and Mary Beth tragically lost their Chinese-adopted daughter, Maria Sue Chapman, a couple of days ago.

"Maria’s Miracle Fund" has been set up by Shaohannah’s Hope in Maria’s honor. The Chapman family has asked, in lieu of gifts and flowers, to make donations to this fund, to help families rescue their own "Maria" from desperate situations around the globe.

Due to the commitment of a World Orphans donor, you can double your participation in this fund and help change lives forever.

From now until June 1st, all checks received at our office, with "Maria" written in the memo line, will be eligible for this matching gift, up to $10,000 ($20,000 total.) In addition, all online donations received during this time period will qualify for the same doubling program. World Orphans will be taking out no administrative fee on these donations. 200% of funds will be forwarded.

For those of you sending in checks, please make them payable to World Orphans and also feel free to enclose a message for the Chapman family. We will send on all the cards and notes accordingly.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS OPPORTUNITY TO FRIENDS WHO WISH TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR THE CHAPMANS AND THE BLESSING OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION!

Until They All Have Homes,

Paul
President

World Orphans
1840 Woodmoor Dr., Suite 100
Monument, CO 80132
1-888-ORPHANS
719-487-1700
Facebook Profile

All contributions are tax deductible and eternally significant.

National Day of Prayer...for families

I am truly blessed to work with the most amazing staff at World Orphans. I’m biased, of course, but I can’t think of any finer group of individuals to serve with. Jodi Vinson, wife of our Executive Vice President, Mike Vinson, is currently organizing a huge benefit concert this fall to raise awareness for the orphan, while also celebrating World Orphans’ 15th anniversary as a ministry. Jodi is also a prayer warrior who spearheaded the development of an interactive prayer room at the World Orphans offices outside of Colorado Springs. She has helped set up similar prayer rooms in various locations, including Jerusalem.

Today, my intention was to offer up a prayer on this blog, to commemorate the day’s Presidential designation as the "National Day of Prayer." However, after having just heard Jodi’s prayer for families on the steps of the administrative building in Castle Rock, CO, I’m compelled to share it with you also. It so moved my heart that there is nothing I can write that would serve God better this day.

I ask that you join me in lifting up this prayer again, to our Triune God who cherishes families...and loves the children who still seek one.

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Father God, Creator of all things,

From the beginning of time you created us as men and women to unite and create families. You created marriage and you alone can sustain it.

Reclaim and breathe fresh life into those families that have given up. You are the God of redemption and reconciliation.

Lord Jesus, seek and save that which is lost. Your enemy is prowling around, seeking to destroy your children, our marriages and our families. Lord, hear and act on behalf of your people.

Cause us to honor you by being in the world, but not of the world. Let us be different and so hold unswervingly to the faith we have. May we rest in your promises, Holy Father. For you alone are sovereign, faithful and true.

Lord Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, our hope is in you. Holy Spirit, renew our minds through the power of God's word, for your word is truth. Help us to recognize the enemy's schemes so we will not fall prey to them, but fight this spiritual battle with the spiritual weapons of prayer and the reading of your word. Transform us into righteous men and women whose prayers are powerful and effective.

Bind up the broken families. Surround them with people to encourage them and help them. Pour your grace upon single parents to rely on the power of God to show them how to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord. Jesus, cause them to take your yoke upon them, as your burden is light. May they find rest and refuge in you alone. Please supply their every need. Through every hardship may your Spirit bring tangible consolation to them so that they will know they are not alone, for you will never leave us or forsake us.

Turn the hearts of our husbands back to God. May they love the Lord our God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and love their wives as they love themselves, giving themselves up for her as Christ loved the church. Make them wise and benevolent leaders of their families.

As fathers, tell your children of the Lord's faithfulness. Lord, make them examples of Christ's love and mercy. Cause each man to be lavish in his demonstration of love toward his family.

Fill each wife with the desire to honor and respect her husband in love and selflessness. Open our eyes to the pressures that daily fall on them. Give us grateful hearts as women who live wisely and make the most of every opportunity to edify one another.

As mothers, let us love and instruct our children, relying on God for His perfect provision for their every need.

May our children be obedient and so honor their parents. Help us to be effective parents, influencing our children to honor and obey the Lord their God. Fill them with a knowledge of your word and will.

For the families who build their foundation on Christ, make Christ visible through us in how we love one another, care for one another, bear each other’s burdens, and share with anyone in need.

For the families who do not yet know Christ, may the light of the Gospel shine into their hearts. Draw them into the faith community and give them a hunger for your word.

For children without families, please provide families to come forward to adopt them and show the love of Christ. Since we have been adopted in love into the family of God, may we also be the example, as dearly loved children of God, to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

For it is only by the Grace of God that our nation and families stand. Our nation will only be as strong as the families that inhabit it. Help us, Father, to stand firm.

May we all have the love of the Father,

the obedience of the Son,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,

in the midst of every family and every relationship.

I ask all this in the powerful name above all names,

Jesus Christ,

AMEN

Many Would-Be Grandfathers

I received this e-mail from a friend earlier this week.

It really touched my heart.

Many children need a home. Many potential grandfathers are waiting...

In Memory of Doug Rice

Dear Paul,

Today, I am mailing the monies donated to World Orphans in memory of my dad. These past 6 weeks have been surreal, somewhere between sorrow and rejoicing. The void he has left in my life is profound.

God's mercy met my dad in the form of a blood clot. He had suffered all of his adult life with a severe chemical imbalance tempered only by a deep and resounding faith in Christ. It gives me great joy to know that at long last he has been healed and is where you and I long to be - with the lover of our souls.

Being Papaw was by far the greatest joy of my dad's life. He had six grandsons and only one granddaughter - our Devrah. Her life began on a sidewalk in China - abandoned, unwanted, but God had other plans. It's been three years since he brought our lives together miraculously.

I am so grateful for the cherished memories of Dad playing Candyland and eating pretend cookies she had baked in her toy kitchen. But by far, the sweetest memory is that he carried only one picture in his wallet. The very first one he had gotten of Devrah. Her adoption referral picture.

My dad's love for Devrah reminds me that there are many would be grandfathers in the world that are just waiting for an opportunity to share God's love with a child who needs it. World Orphans gives churches throughout the world the chance to let them do just that. Thanks Paul for your vision and commitment to abandoned and orphaned children.

May God continue the work until they all have homes.

With God's love,
Elisabeth Fung

In the world today, there are over 143 million abandoned or orphaned children. James 1:27 instructs followers of Christ to rescue orphans in their distress. To learn more, visit World Orphans' blog at www.abandoned-orphaned.com.

Welcome Home & Happy Birthday Norah!

On Friday, World Orphans’ VP, Scott Vair, and his family arrived home from China with their new bundle of joy, Norah. The Vairs had just missed Norah’s first birthday when they received her in China, so we threw a little belated party for her at our house – a ‘welcome home’ and ‘happy birthday’ for a precious little girl who is orphaned no more.

(Image: The newly-expanded Vair family, just as they were to enter their house for the first time with Norah)

(Image: Norah and her blob of a first-birthday ice-cream cake)

Comings and Goings

Today, one man completed his journey from China with his family to bring his new daughter home.

Today, another man completed his journey to Uganda to pack up the belongings of his family and deceased daughter.

As Scott Vair stepped over the threshold of his home in Colorado, new memories were being created.

As David Ochoa stepped over the threshold of his old home in Jinja, past memories came flooding back.

Possibilities and closure. Celebration and reflection.

Norah and Talitha.

An orphan rescued. A child remembered.

All Seems Right

"When they brought Norah out she was wide eyed. We hugged her and held her and fed her a bottle. We drove away, leaving behind a life in an orphanage to a new life in our family. All seems right now that our daughter is home."

- World Orphans’ Vice President, Scott Vair, reporting on receiving their new little daughter from China today.

(Image: Debbie receives Norah)

 

(Image: Proud Papa)

 

(Image: Trevor and his new sister)

(Image: Charlotte and her darker-haired sister)

To read the full account and view more photos, please visit here.

Paparazzi

Our Vice President of Projects, Scott Vair, is presently in China with his family to pick up their new baby girl, Norah. I do hope that many of you will visit his blog, A Heart For Orphans, to follow their journey in plucking one little girl from the future grip of the enemy. Many of these girls will be sold as wives or into the sex trade upon leaving a Chinese orphanage. Norah, on the other hand, will now be raised within a strong Christian family who will introduce her to her Father in heaven, the Father to the fatherless.

Scott’s latest entry speaks of a "great irony." The trip is about receiving their newest daughter who was abandoned because of cultural preferences and constraints. Yet, their first daughter, Charlotte, is getting an abundance of attention from the people.

(Images: Charlotte and the China paparazzi. Photos, Scott Vair)

I’ve seen it before, especially when we took our light-haired son, Caleb, on a trip to Taiwan 20 months ago. You are swarmed by throngs of people who want to take photos of your child. Your child feels like a rock star with bulbs flashing and people jostling for a position to get photographed with them.

 

(Image: Caleb and the Taiwan paparazzi, 2005)

Meanwhile, children are being discarded into institutions...perhaps by some of the same people seeking photographs with your own child. Often they are forced to do so. But ultimately they chose to do so simply because the child was a girl instead of a highly-prized boy.

China Journey

I just came back from dropping off our Vice President, Scott Vair, and his family at the airport. After a few days in Beijing, they will head to South China to pick up their little girl, Norah.

Scott and his wife, Debbie, just missed celebrating Norah's first birthday with her. But they rejoice in knowing that many more will now be shared together as a family.

I’m of course reminded of when Lisa and I made the journey ourselves six years ago to pick up Faith, our little jewel from China. I know and feel their excitement and eagerness.

 

(Image: Our little bundle recieved in Wuhan, China, November 2001)

Over the next few weeks, please be sure to check out Scott’s blog here so that you can follow their journey and better pray for them as God transforms an abandoned orphan into a much-loved daughter and sister.

Then God Changed the Plan

I had a huge surprise awaiting me when I returned from East Africa . Next to my bathroom sink, I was greeted by the following:

   

Wow!

To say that this was totally unexpected would be a severe understatement indeed.

Our flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Frankfurt, Germany was a baby train. Many adoptive parents were departing Ethiopia with the new children they had just welcomed into their families. As many of you know, Lisa and I were narrowing the field of agencies to initiate our own Ethiopian adoption. As I saw all the children in the Addis airport, I knew that I was ready for another.

God has changed our target country and timing on a second adoption quite frequently. But we have certainly loved his interruptions.

FIRST SURPRISE

As the necessary waiting period was coming to an end after adopting Faith into our family, we began to fill out the application to begin the adoption of a second abandoned baby girl from China.

Then God changed the plan...

Caleb was conceived as the China paperwork sat on our dining room table.

SECOND SURPRISE

When Caleb was two years old, we researched the field of agencies and requested the application materials to adopt an orphan from Thailand. We took careful steps to not get pregnant.

Then God changed the plan...

Even though we were taking precautions to prevent a pregnancy, God decided that He was above such things. He’s funny that way. We know how these things happen. We just don’t know how it happened.

Hannah was conceived while all the adoption agency forms were again sitting on the dining room table.

At this point, a good friend in Dallas offered up some sound advice for us: "Next time you plan on adopting...just abstain!"

We now look at our darling Hannah and say to ourselves, "We were actually trying to not have this child? What were we thinking?"

THIRD SURPRISE

And now we come to the present.

We had limited the choices to three agencies that facilitate adoption from Ethiopia. We were about to pull the trigger on making a decision and beginning the process.

Then God changed the plan...

We knew this was a possibility but, for the most part, we were again trying to prevent a pregnancy in order for our next child to be an adopted one.

I guess we didn’t learn our lesson, but now eagerly await the next precious child that God has decided to bless our family with.

In these cases, we love how His plans are decidedly different than our own. We chuckle and laugh and then proclaim, "Thank you God for your plans and purposes!"

And...yes...you guessed it, the adoption agency paperwork is all sitting right here by the table.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

(Image: Lisa and the gang in Maui, Hawaii, a few weeks ago)

If you wish to leave a comment or prayer for Lisa, please do so here at the blog as she rarely checks her e-mail account. Thanks so much for loving us and interceding for us.

Special Ones

When we arrived at her church-based home, Brenda immediately came up to me and said, "Do you remember me? I have another song I’d like to sing for you this time."

On my last visit to this home in Kampala, Uganda, the sounds of Silent Night wafted through the air from behind me. It captured and enthralled me. Brenda, an orphaned girl with the voice of an angel, then sang her rendition of the Christmas composition for me and our film crew. It was late February, but that simply didn’t matter at all.

I told Brenda that I of course remembered her and that she was one of the highlights from my last trip to East Africa. Upon hearing this, her whole being beamed and embraced me. She then held my hand and clung to my side for the duration of the visit.

(Image: Paul & Brenda)

There is something special about Brenda, a unique soul connection that I can’t quite describe.

A visitor to an orphan home or orphanage shouldn’t show favoritism to any one child. This can be quite damaging and produce long-lasting negative effects. However, God always seems to give you a certain affinity with at least one child. In this case, it was Brenda. At the last home, it was Percy. At the home before that, it was Peruci. My list stretches for pages and pages.

(Image: Percy wearing borrowed items from the team)

Typically, this particular child approaches you first to initiate and hold the magnetism. At such moments I have often thought, "God, are you drawing me to adopt this orphaned child?" Given the frequency of such feelings (and the fact that I have visited a couple of hundred homes and institutions for orphans over the years), I realize that can’t possibly be the case. If I was to have adopted just one child from every place I have stepped foot into, I would have no less than two hundred children in my family right now. I would have adopted fifty last year alone.

Instead, I adopt them into my heart. Their faces constantly come to memory and I pray for them often, even with glancing prayers as God lays specific kids on my heart at random moments. I think this is his special way of holding the thread in place; of making sure it wasn’t just a tour of a facility and its inhabitants; of constantly reminding me that there are special, tremendously-valuable souls in each home. It is also his method of ensuring ongoing intercession for children he has assigned to us for such a purpose.

I count it a privilege. I am honored to hold such a large family of children in my heart.

(Image: Paul and Peruci)