Hello Friends,
Months ago Ash and I started to think about what it would like to add to our family, not because our kids are getting old and we wanted little ones running around again. But because we felt like God was speaking to our hearts and illuminating our minds to the fact that we have been adopted into His Family. Becoming a child of God is nothing that we have chosen, or deserved. In fact, we have seen that it is only by God’s grace that he looks on us in love and says, “Come, my beautiful son and daughter. I will be your father.”
In the fall, we both began to work with a non-profit organization called Reclaim Orphans. Due to my background in social work and work within the foster care system and Ash’s background in business development and sales, Reclaim Orphans asked us to come on as volunteer staff members. We agreed readily and are very excited about how God is opening our eyes and hearts. This idea that has grown in our hearts is summed up by the following quote from a pastor. “Fatherlessness is the greatest problem our world faces, not just for the orphan who has lost her parents, but for humanity that has lost God as our Father. We see through Scripture that God's solution for our fatherlessness is The Gospel: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is our good news. It rescues us from fatherlessness. The gospel is good news because it results in our adoption. The only entity that is entrusted with the Gospel is the Church.” Reclaim Orphans is addressing this issue. It exists to educate, equip, and mobilize the local church and families to care for the orphan, both locally and internationally.
Part of our involvement in the organization is attending a development trip August 3-14, 2011. It involves a group of 13 going to Uganda to understand life in Uganda through the different lenses of history, tribal conflicts, disease, spiritual warfare, government and the economy. We will also determine a trip outline for future and current adoptive families that will be traveling there to adopt and care for orphans. During this trip we will be visiting and serving 3 orphanages, 2 in Kampala and one in Kaihura. We will also be visiting and serving at an IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp and at a HIV Clinic.
Here's a video of one of the orphanages that we will be visiting and the services that they provide.
Since before we were married, we talked about what it would look like to foster or adopt children: how would we know it was the right time, what impacts adoption would have on our family, both positively and negatively. Since we were first married, God has always surrounded our family with other families who have adopted. We’ve seen families open their homes and lives to children: some through foster care, some through international adoption, and some through domestic and international adoption of children with special needs. The road has not always been easy for these families. However, they approached adoption in the same manner that we are currently. God is laying the cry of the orphan on our hearts. Their cry is sad. It is weighty. It is overwhelming.
Here's a video of one of the orphanages that we will be visiting and the services that they provide.
I was encouraged weeks ago, as I was overwhelmed with the cry of the orphan in Uganda, (You can read my blog post on the topic of international adoption by clicking here and my blog post about foster care here.) God sent some encouragement through Scripture,
Psalm 10: 17-18 O Lord, You know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear the cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.
When Ash and I travel to Uganda this summer, we are hoping to at least identify a child or children to bring home if not actually bring home a child or children through adoption. God has moved in our hearts. We know that the time is right. Hannah and Noah are excited to have brothers or sisters running around the house. And Ash and I are thankful that God has stirred our hearts and surrounded us with family, friends and a community in our church that is willing to walk with us as follow God’s lead.
As we raise awareness of the plight of the orphan, both here in the United States and in Uganda, more and more families are considering adoption. They are asking, “How can we foster or adopt. How can we help others adopt? How can we care for families after they bring children into their home?” Reclaim |Orphans is helping.
We are asking our friends and family to help. How you ask?
- Pray for our trip. Pray for safety. Pray that the work that God has us there to accomplish is completed.
- Give. Reclaim | Orphans is a non-profit organization that is currently staffed by volunteers. We all have other responsibilities and work that pay our bills, but our passion for the orphan and the families who choose to care for them inspires us to give our time, money and talents to this organization.
- You can give to Reclaim | Orphans so they can continue to educate, equip and mobilize the church to care for the orphan.
- You can give to help fund this Development Trip. Each member of the team traveling needs to raise $3300.
- You can give in order to fund adoptions.
- Any of these donations can be received by going to the website https://reclaimorphans.donortools.com/ You can also mail us a check made out to Reclaim Orphans and note if you you would like to give towards any of these three initiatives. Any donation is tax deductible.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support as we embark on this adventure that God has us on! We will keep you updated on our progress.
Ash & Kathy
Ash & Kathy
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