Why Ethiopia? Why not Ethiopia?

It's a question we get from time to time when folks learn we're adopting a baby from Ethiopia: "Why Ethiopia?" This fantastic video answers that question with, "Why not Ethiopia?"



In other news, I realize that if this blog were a flower and my posts water, the blog would have died a quick, dry death months ago. I'm having blog issues as of late, and I'll get to it when I get to it. Other things have just been higher on the list, like checking things off my application and dossier list left and right. Yesterday was a field trip to the county courthouse...eye opening for my older boys and another check off my application list. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure no lawyer has ever been more lost in the courthouse than I usually am.


~Katie

January: The New August

As a kid, and really as long as I was in school, which was so many years and well into our marriage, I looked forward to August with great anticipation. I loved the reprieve from hot summers, from boredom. I relished in purchasing new school supplies, the obligatory pair of gym shoes, new Keds. New books, new notebooks, new pens, a new planner. The expectation of seeing old friends again. A new classroom. New challenges and expectations lay ahead, ready for me to exceed them. I loved fall and the starting over and newness it brought.

But I'm not in school anymore. June, July, August, September...until recently, all pretty much the same to me. When we undertook to teach our children at home, the thrill and excitement of a new school year was overshadowed by impossible expectations for myself, to create and stick to the perfect schedule, to choose the just-right-for-us curriculum, to do it all perfectly this time. All while effortlessly continuing and excelling at my other not insignificant charges, like my paying job, laundry, meal planning and preparing. Oh, and friends and time in the Word. Yeah, then August became an albatross. My love affair with August is over for now.

But January. Ahhh, January. By January, I've usually so thoroughly disappointed myself in the previous year, I know that the coming year can't help but be better. Also, since I'm a sprinter and not a marathoner (in the metaphorical sense only; I don't run, unless there's a kid heading into the street), I know that I have just half a school year left to accomplish my goals for the year. So I like the pressure. Less than half a year before the summer months roll around, when we plan summer family fun. And a break from the dark, cold days of winter will come in just a few short months. So much to look forward to, so much to accomplish. No time to waste. The promises of a new year.

I have great expectations for what the new year holds. We have high hopes for progress on our adoption process. For what our boys will learn academically and how they will grow in the Lord. How our home will more accurately reflect the glory of the One who established it. How our Father will draw us closer to Him this year and continue the work He has started in us.

While I could have done without the heartache we experienced in the last twelve months, I have in no small way seen how the Lord has worked all of our pain for our own good and for His glory. I am closer to Him, knowing that two of my children already worship in His court. He has given me the new lifelong expectation of reuniting with them. In light of our loss, He has fanned the flame in our family's heart to adopt. He has surrounded us with loving friends and supportive family. He has blessed our extended family with new life. He has tested and strengthened our marriage. 2010 was a year of devastation for us, of tearing down and refining. He has begun the work of building up, and we have every expectation that our God will accomplish it.

Our need for newness, for starting over, to be refreshed and recreated is an imprint from our Creator. Our Maker's mark, wherein we long to be made new, just as we are created for eternity, not this vapor of a life. We long for everything around us to be new again. We long for a time and a place where everything will be made new, will be in order, will not fall apart. What a stark contrast to the world we live in, where death and age and illness mar a new creation. What an amazing promise that in the midst of this old world that we can be made new even now. My prayer for you is that you would be made new in the Lord this year, and that He would continue the work He has already begun in you.

Thanking God for the work He has done and for the promise that He will once and for all make all things new, happy new year!

Oh, and just because I don't usually share these, but because I love him so, my tiniest fella. Isn't he so serious?

~Katie

Pump You Up

Hi folks, I'd love for you to watch this video that's been circulating.  This will get you pumped.  The great need that Eric Ludy talks about is exactly why we have this blog, why we humbly beg for your support, your prayers, your help.  Our child waits, and we pray she does not wait one moment longer than absolutely necessary.  We pray that God will cover the sin of our indifference, our lack of urgency, our delay and that she would not suffer one moment longer than she absolutely must before we scoop her up and carry her home.

In case you're wondering, we have quite a few kids' sizes (M and L) as well as crew L and XL left in our fantastic, custom T-shirts designed by the one and only Stacey Simeone.  We'd love to sell out of these shirts as soon as possible.  You can order online to the right, or contact me directly by email at whereourhopeis @ gmail.com (remove the spaces).

As we work through getting all of our doctor visits, blood tests, forms and paperwork completed, we are moving closer to our home study.  Pray with us that as we complete our application, the Lord will provide the funds we need to submit it.  We are so blessed by the generosity of friends and strangers, but we are still far from our goal.

Thanks for coming back.
~Katie

Practical Providence

Our God cares about one child.  About one family.  Here's one encouraging story from one family adopting one little girl.  Our God does provide.  We come to Him with impossible, unreasonable requests, and He happily provides for his children whom He loves.  In ways that we should, but dare not, expect.

This past weekend, we saw families in our church come together to support this family with their adoption fundraiser, a massive, well-attended yard sale.  Although our efforts to help another family raise adoption funds with a yard sale the weekend before were washed out, all of our collecting over the recent weeks was not for nothing.  The rain last weekend meant that blessings rained down for the Youngs this weekend.  Pretty amazing.

Thanks for coming back.
~Katie

Video Games and Orphans

I'm sharing today one way adoption has changed me, or at least changed my perspective.  No, we're not any further in the process, and no, no generous benefactor has materialized yet to write the single check that will remove all financial barriers to our adoption.  (I think $30,000 would do it, FYI, and I think this would cover us if we were able to get siblings.)

But as we take baby steps procedurally and fundraising wise, I continue to observe what I consider significant spiritual progress for myself and my family.  And this week, what I've noticed is how I count orphans where I see dollar signs.  Sounds a bit crude, but this article from USA Today illustrated this phenomenon for me this week.  $360 million.  One day sales for a new video game.  $360 million.  A number so big I can't really grasp it.  In one day.  For a video game.

My overriding thought when I saw this massive, obscene number, is that, assuming $30,000 would help one family bring home two orphaned siblings from Ethiopia, then the amount spent in one day on a new video game could unite approximately 24,000 orphans with their forever families.  24,000 orphans.  One day of video game sales.  And still the orphans and their families struggle and wait.

It's not crazy to think that the folks who bought those games would give the price of one game for one less orphan.  So how do we get those discretionary dollars to the families struggling to finance their adoptions?  How do we convince the masses that a relatively small donation, collectively, can have such a profound effect?

I don't know.  But you can bet it keeps me up some nights.  Brighter folks than I have wrestled with this and work to make the funding of expensive adoptions a reality for real families.  They work tirelessly to offer grants, guidance, interest-free loans, and support to families working to finance their adoptions, and for their work I'm grateful.  They make life-changing differences to orphans and their forever families.  But they are able to help so few, and so many more families and orphans wait.

All it takes is one idea, one gift, to make a huge difference.  So, do you have an idea?  What's standing between the people of a church with an attendance of around 4000 each week from helping as many families as are willing to adopt their waiting children?  I'm inviting you to offer ideas and suggestions here in the comment section.  Got an idea for an individual family fundraiser, or a big idea to help fund a church's Orphan Fund?  Share it here!

Thanks for coming back.
~Katie

Eat Mor Chikin for the Allisons

On the list of adoption fundraisers, this has to be one of the most fun.  The Allison family from our church is raising money to adopt and bring home their son Wyatt from Rwanda.  Everyone in the RDU area is invited to help them out by printing out the flier below and bringing it to the Falls Village Chick-fil-A (6701 Falls of Neuse Rd, Raleigh) tonight (Wednesday, November 10, 2010) between 5 and 8pm.  20% of the proceeds raised from sales with fliers will be given to the Allisons for adoption expenses.  So come on out, and eat more chikin for Wyatt and his family!

Coffee and a Girls' Night Ouch

I'll apologize in advance.  This one stings a little, but here goes.  Mothers and wives need spiritual, physical and emotional healing from the brutality of our job.  It's hard.  Hard on the body, mind and soul.  Our Creator acknowledges our need for rest, and in fact, He tells us that HE will give us rest.  He will fill our cup to overflowing.  He is our fortress and refuge, as if we're doing battle, and He is how we regroup for another round.  So please know that what I'm about to say should in no way be construed as suggesting that moms don't need a break, a retreat, a recharged battery or that we should not take time for those things.  I'm not saying that.  I'm talking about where we get them.

Recently, I had a discussion with a dear friend via email.  It started with talking about the frustration moms can feel at not being able to finish just one cup of coffee while it's hot, not being able to just sit through an entire lunchtime or finish our lunch before it's cold, not getting the respite we're so hungry for, day in and day out.  Oh, when will my kids be old enough for me to get a quiet moment?  I mean, I deserve to finish just ONE cup of coffee while it's hot, right?  I can't remember the last time I slept through the night (and my kids are not tiny babies).  I serve all day long.  I plan, I love, I work.  Just one cup of coffee is not too much to ask, no?

The usual answer to this is, "oh, your kids will grow up in a blink, and you'll miss it and forget how hard it was," or "this is such a short season of life, and it will pass and get better," or "here's how I cope" type tips.  These words are meant to be encouraging, and there can be truth to them.  But I think that ultimately, they undermine the TRUTH.

Oh how I have struggled, agonized, fought the war in my head over the need to tend to my little ones and my need for a full cup.  It's easy to think about how to do that, too, when you spend so much time at the end of your rope, as so many moms do.  (Incidentally, I think this is by design, since the end of my rope is usually at the foot of the cross.)

After six years of struggling, asking friends how to fit in the quiet time, the hot coffee, get the kids to play nicely just long enough to have my lunch without mediating, intervening, spanking, comforting or serving, I have my answer, hallelujah.  And the answer to whether or not my hot coffee is too much to ask for is:  yes.  Yes, it is.  If that coffee is what I need to make it to nap time, bedtime, tomorrow (not physically, but emotionally), then yes, that hot coffee is not what I need.  I have not earned it.  I do not deserve it.  I am not entitled to it, and to think otherwise is to believe the lie.

For years, I've pitted in my mind and my heart to serve in the mission field of my family against the message I was getting from other well-intentioned moms, from Oprah, from the super-fit, lycra-clad, perfectly coiffed and showered and Starbucks-toting BOB jogger-pushing mom leaving the park after her 2-mile jaunt at an hour I was proud to drag my crew into it.  Their answer?  You deserve a break, and you too can get your act together if you follow these 7 easy steps, so that you can get the hot coffee, the lunch, the quiet time, the spa escape you need to feel whole again.

But I had such guilt at feeling like I needed a break.  I beat myself up over strategizing and fantasizing about sending my kids off for a week, for thinking I NEEDED to fit these retreats from responsibility into my regular schedule.  Then I felt bad for feeling guilty about feeling like I needed a break.  Oh, the angst I suffered over this tugging.

But to you, guilt, I offer my apology.  I know that you were just my conscience.  To the Holy Spirit who persistently and patiently pursued me in the desert of my wandering, thank you for not giving up.  I know now that I was being lied to.  I was being led to an idol of my own comfort and entitlement.  The Enemy dressed itself up and told me that I was entitled to a hot cup of coffee, to going to the bathroom uninterrupted, to a full night's sleep, to new clothes, to more frequent girls' nights out (OUCH).  That I deserve and need them.  Oh, the lies.  Hold all those lies of entitlement and neediness up to the light of Scripture, and they wither and flake away like the gross two-foot high collection of wall boogers I've started noticing around my house.

Sweet Holy Spirit, you stirred my conscience, and I didn't understand why I felt uneasy about the advice I was getting.  But now I do, and I'm so slow to recover and call that spade a spade.  Forgive me!  Here's what I'm entitled to:  a sinner's death immediately.  Every moment I draw breath and serve is an immeasurable mercy to me.  I do not deserve hot coffee.  And I do not need it, either.  If I need it to do my job, I am trying to cross a spiritual gulf on stepping stones.  Here's what's really not fair:  my perfect Savior died my humiliating death FOR ME.  He died, that I might live.  And here is what I NEED:  Jesus.  Not coffee.  Not a GNO.  Not an uninterrupted viewing of Swamp People (or whatever your poison is).  Just Jesus.  If He's not more than enough, we have a serious problem.

Friends, no one is a worse offender than me.  I battle daily, all day long, my sense of entitlement, my need for my own time out.  I even give up the battle all too often (so many times every single day) and just give in.  I am bad at this, and I am not a good example.  But sinner that I am, I've heard the Truth.  I've outed myself  before as an idol worshiper, and I'll do it again.

I am not advocating throwing out the coffee maker or quitting the gym.  I'm encouraging you that leaning on them in the place of on Jesus is to tread into dangerous waters.  It is idol worship, and we must stop it.  Enjoy your coffee; don't worship it.  Go to your GNO, and encourage your sisters in the Word, not the world.  I cherish my time with dear friends over coffee; I am recharged by naps and time alone.  These are gifts that the Lord has given me, because He loves me.  Not because He wishes for them to usurp His throne in my life.  I'm encouraging us to lean wholly on Jesus to do the battle we do in raising godly children and being godly wives for His kingdom and His glory.  And I'm encouraging you to keep one another accountable.

Thanks for coming back.

~Katie