The Crew

The Crew
Christina, Matthew, Joshua and Katie Grace XiHua

Friday, March 27, 2009

PAPERWORK!!!


  We received our Thailand dossier packet in the mail today from the agency!  It was a BIG stack of papers.  More than I had imagined.  I waited for Jacob and we opened it together.  We were both excited and nervous!  We just barely had a chance to look through the first 10 pages or so, and we have to leave it as we are going out of town for the weekend.  So, we will be busy over the next month or more reading information, filling out paperwork and documents and getting everything officiated! .....one step closer...

Sunday, March 22, 2009

FORMAL APPLICATION APPROVAL!


  Last week we had the approval go through for our formal application!  (This is a 2nd, more detailed application)  We are excited and waiting to hear when we will get started on the Home Study portion of the adoption. This should be scheduled in the next couple of weeks, I assume!  

Sunday, March 8, 2009

JUST A FEW STATISTICS


There are approximately 143-210 million orphans in the world.
Everyday 5,760 more children become orphans. 
Many live in the street.
Each day 38,493 orphans "age out" of their orphanage as teens.
Suicide, AIDS, homelessness, crime and prostitution is their future almost certainly.
Highest numbers in Africa, China, Russia, Ukraine and many more.
1.4 million orphans in Thailand.     UNICEF

  In Thailand, among other countries, numerous children are sold into prostitution and slave labor.  They are forced to work until they are no longer physically able.  This is not something that we can possibly close our eyes to anymore in today's society.  It's not like when we were children and we "heard stories" about what happens in far away places.  It is time, in this day of technology and travel, where we can't ignore the facts anymore.  We can't act like we don't know what is going on, you can read it, see it, everywhere. Sometimes I see a photo or video of a lonely or starving child and I imagine one of my childrens' faces in his or her place.  Abandoned, completely without protection, afraid, hungry.  Just try it sometime, imagine your child or one close to you, and see if your heart doesn't just break in a million pieces!  
Proverbs 31:8-9  Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all who are left desolate.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, maintain the rights of the poor and needy.


Tuesday, March 3, 2009

DONATE?


  Why donate to a family's adoption?  As we were researching the idea of International adoption, we found that it would be a venture that not everybody could hope for because of the costs.  But, every site I investigated about financing an adoption gave ideas about fundraising and writing grants and we came to find that this is how many working class families are making this happen.  We definitely have the means and the desire to care for an orphan, but the money up front is overwhelming.  A major portion of the costs (about 1/3) go to a required donation to the Country's Orphanage or to their child welfare system.  In addition to that, there are medical fees, immigration and visa for the child and for his or her paperwork to be released and adopted.  So, your donation will be giving a child a chance to be released from their orphanage and brought home to a loving family.  It is a donation of humanitarian love and we will care for the child happily.  (the remainder of the fees are about 1/3 to our home study, agency, and documents- and the final 1/3 for travel costs) We are doing everything we can to make this happen- working extra hours, paring back on extra spending, fundraising and grants.  Like we said in the Blog description, we are also setting up a fund to help other orphans as God is calling us to step up and make a difference.   If you have any questions, you can email us at overseas.adoption@gmail.com .  Thank you so much for your generosity and care!

Many hungry children near the boarder of Myanmar and Thailand-click on photo