I made my first trip to Haiti in 1998. Fell in love with my first orphan in 2000. Started a non-profit to help Haiti in 2003 and started taking teams down on short-term mission trips soon after. I fell in love with Wanna and Fritzon (and a lot of others in the same orphanage) in March of 2010 and had to wait over 2 years to start the adoption process due to the laws of Haiti and a process that is always changing. Our documents were finally submitted and accepted in the fall of 2012 and are currently moving through the court system. We are quickly (hopefully) approaching the end of our adoption. This is my blog to talk about all things related to our adoption and any thing else I think is relevant to it. Enjoy!

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Saturday, December 10, 2011

When Love Takes You In

I'm not sure how I've never heard this song before but I just cried as I listed to the words of Steven Curtis Chapman's, "When Love Takes You In".  What an amazing beautiful song about the love that takes in a child into a home.  Here's the video and lyrics.  If you don't understand adoption just listen to the words and think about being the child that is praying every night for a family.




I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream
Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in
And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be
When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever
cause this love to lose its hold
When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Adoption Poetry

Here are some poems I wrote many years ago.  Until I was in my mid-twenties and married I struggled with deep issues of abandonment.  As a child who was taken from her mother at a young age, placed in foster home after foster home, rejected and abused by an adopted mom and rejected often by peers, I had a lot of build up issues.  I'm happy to say that most of them are gone and replaced with a deep desire to help others simply because I don't want anyone to feel the pain I felt and because I love God and this is a desire I believe He has put in me.  I wouldn't change any part of my life or what I went through because I am happy to be exactly where I am, doing what I'm doing, loving the family I love and living the life that destiny brought me.  I choose not to live in regret because one changed event would mean a different set of circumstances and I can't imagine that (nor do I have time to try to).  Enjoy!

A Place for Me?
A place all my own
that's all that I long.
A place that's mine,
a place I belong.
Is there such a place?
I'm not even sure.
A place that's safe?
A place that's secure?
Will there ever be, 
a place just for me
or is this a dream
that will just never be?


A Real Love

When you tell me that you love me
When you tell me that you care
I want so much to believe you
I don't want to have to be scared
Scared that you're going to leave me
Scared that you'll walk away
Scared that those were words
You never meant to say
So help me understand
Please help me to believe
That this is a love that's real
That this love will never leave


Monday, December 5, 2011

Auction - Juicy Couture Yellow Fluff Handbag

Juicy Couture Yellow baby Fluff Handbag
Preowned
White Leather flowers on both ends
Rhinstone gold chain Charm pullie with the Juicy J logo


Bid to help us raise adoption funds.  
The bidding will be open from Dec. 5 - Dec. 6. at 5pm.  
Simply reply with your e-mail address and bid amount and at 5pm, Dec. 6th 
the one with the highest bid wins.  
Happy bidding.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

What's the point of adoption?

So I have recently been harassing my FB and Twitter friends for donations to help with our adoption.  I shared the blog before this on on my wall and was asked by a teenager, "What's the point in adopting?".  He said he wasn't trying to be rude, he just didn't get it.  I was actually very sad that he didn't know and if he doesn't know then how many others don't understand the need for adoption.  Here was my response:

I'm not sure what your home life was/is like but think about times in your life when you were scared....who was there to make you feel better? When you accomplished something great, who was there to congratulation you or cheer you on? Was it family? Now imagine not having any of that. Imagine never getting tucked in at night because there are 50 other kids and only a few workers who treat you like a job, not a child. Imagine that no one listens to your dreams, your hopes or your fears. Imagine turning 18 and going into the world and you have NO ONE to turn to when times get tough. You have NO WHERE to go at Thanksgiving or Christmas....no one to celebrate with. Why would anyone want to withhold that from a child? Being in foster care or a children's home or an orphanage is not the same as having a family. When you aren't a part of the family you know that you all alone and whether it's true or not, deep down you believe that no one wants you or loves you. Would you want to go through life thinking that no one loved you enough to call you their child? If I could I would take every child in or find a good, loving home for every child so they never had to feel like that. I know how it feels and no one, especially children should have to feel that way.

I've filled my life with a lot of distractions and unnecessary things.  I've pursued personal goals and accomplished many of them but as I get deeper into my own adoption and as I connect with others going through adoption or helping families with adoption the more the fire in the core of my being burns with desire to do more.  This may be IT.  This may be what I've been destined to do with my life.  I love technology, I love people, I love Haiti, I love to help those in need, I love orphans and hurting teens......put all that together and I can become an advocate, a doer and leader in adoption and connecting families together.  All these things I've filled my life with have been preparing me for this season and while I'm scared to fail I am so excited to see what God can do with me.  Please pray that I will do what I'm called to do and I will do it well.