Adoption Support Meetings – Sioux Falls

becky — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:51:12 +0000

May 17 7 pm

The Joys and Challenges of Foster Care

May is National Foster Care month and we are honored to have a panel of foster parents sharing their hearts on the joys and challenges of foster care.

Sioux Falls – Prairie Hills Covenant Church

Beauty for Ashes

sarah — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:33 +0000

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me…He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted… to give them beauty for ashes…that He might be glorified." –Isaiah 61:1-3

I have heard that:

"Adoption is born of loss and sacrifice."

This Mother's Day I have thought a lot about that statement. In every miracle of adoption someone has suffered loss. It can look different in each circumstance—sometimes it looks like the birth parents surrendering their heart so that their child will have a better opportunity. Sometimes it looks like the child experiencing cold abandonment. Sometimes it looks like the adoptive family experiencing loss by walking through infertility.

Ashes
I have thought a lot about the birth mother of our son and what her Mother's Day may look like when her country celebrates it this fall. I have thought a lot about all that our son has had to grieve in his short life.

Ashes

I have thought a lot about how Jesus came to bind up brokenhearts and how one day there will be no more sorrow or pain or separation.

Beauty

"In adoption the fearful become beloved, the scorned become adored, the nameless become cherished, the lonely become the laughing, and death becomes life abundant."–Hasenbalg

Beauty

Little Emma

niki — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:11:02 +0000

Little Emma died today. She came to Sarah's Covenant Homes, in India, last fall as a fragile newborn. She had spina bifida and hydrocephalus. She was emaciated, ignored, rejected. She was found by a street sweeper, outside of the hospital doors, I believe. Upon rescue, she was brought to SCH, barely alive. Well, if I remember right. She was placed in Sarah's arms who immediately rushed her INTO a hospital that could provide her with life-saving fluids, medicine, heat, etc. Emma fought hard to live. She should have died over and over but she was such a fighter. I think she had more courage and tenacity in her short life, than I have had over my relatively long one. I give up easily. I waver in my faith, in my endurance, in my resolve. If I had been Emma, I may never have made it past one breath outside the womb. I would have likely given up.

Emma lived for months. She gained weight, she gained a "following" of loving Christian people all around the world who prayed for her, payed for her surgeries, sent her special blankets and toys….she even had a family who wanted to adopt her. Emma lived a huge life in a few months. Her impact has been huge. I admire her so much. I will miss seeing her pictures posted on facebook, as her cheeks filled out, her eyes glistened, and she learned to smile. Gosh. I'm sure that Jesus is enjoying this child immensely today. I'm sure our Father is being the best daddy ever to her. I'm so glad she is with Him now….in His arms, surrounded by His angels. She is whole and perfect and loved and redeemed.

I'm going to try to fight harder to live in her memory. Not just to draw breath….but to LIVE. When my broken body reaches the gates of Heaven one day, and I run to the arms of Jesus, and receive my new body, my new name….I want Him to be as proud of my fight as I know He is of Emma's.

She started out an orphan, but became an inspiration, a child of the King, an example. Love transformed her and today, we grieve for her passing. So many of us have cried for her in the past hours…..tears of a mom, a grandma, an auntie and uncle….she will be missed. She will be missed. She's not an orphan anymore and she will be missed.

Mothers Day Reflection

wellon — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:25:17 +0000

Today on Mother’s Day, I am contemplating mothers of the Bible–and my heart
can’t move on from dwelling on Moses’ mother, Jochebed. We may be familiar
with her story: hiding her newborn son for three months, sending him down
the river to be taken in and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. What deep
heartache she must have felt–releasing her son into another’s care, acting
out of desperation, and all the while unsure of the path that would follow.
What same emotions may birthmothers who give their children up for adoption
around the world feel? As we pray for our future children to join our family
through adoption, let us be faithful to pray for those birthmothers who gave
our children life.

In the midst of Jochebed’s sorrow, let us also consider how the Lord used
her for such great purposes. He equipped her with a fierce instinct to care
for her child; he paved the way through strategic planning; he worked in her
heart through faith in believing a greater purpose for her child, through
trust in the One who holds us all, and through belief that though we may not
always understand the circumstances around us, the Lord works for His glory
and our good. May we be both encouraged and challenged by her.

Adoption Support Meetings – Sioux Falls

becky — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:50:01 +0000

May 17 7 pm

The Joys and Challenges of Foster Care

May is National Foster Care month and we are honored to have a panel of foster parents sharing their hearts on the joys and challenges of foster care.

Sioux Falls – Prairie Hills Covenant Church

“happy” mother’s day

niki — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:29:04 +0000

It's friday afternoon and the weekend of Mother's Day. Many of us are making plans for special outings with our kids and families. We may have reservations for a yummy brunch that involves no cooking or clean-up for mom. We may be looking forward to homemade crafts and gifts our kids will bring home from school very soon. These are Happy Mother's Day thoughts. I am a happy mother. I have 4 wonderful children who will celebrate me on Sunday.

I have a very heavy heart. As I anticipate Mother's Day and bright spring flowers and love and affection….I am also acutely aware and aching for the children in the world without a mother. I am aching for the mothers who are waiting for their children who have not yet come home. I am aching for the women who desperately want to be mothers.

What do we do with all this? How do I joyfully accept and enjoy my rightful celebration of Mother's Day and still acknowledge the pain of my fellow sisters around the world, who are hurting this weekend? I need to trust the Lord to help me do this one with grace and sensitivity and humility. I need to be grateful, and hopeful, and considerate. We all do.

I wish you all a very good, and happy Mother's Day….in Jesus precious name.

Adoption Support Meetings – Sioux Center

becky — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:29:34 +0000

May 10 7 pm

The Joys and Challenges of Foster Care

May is National Foster Care Awareness month, and we are honored to have Jamie Schroeder, a foster care provider and adoptive parent from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, come and talk about the trials and triumphs in her fostering journey.

Sioux Center – First Reformed Church

Adoption Support Meetings – Sioux Center

becky — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:28:08 +0000

May 10 7 pm The Joys and Challenges of Foster Care May is National Foster Care Awareness month, and we are honored to have Jamie Schroeder, a foster care provider and adoptive parent from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, come and talk about the trials and triumphs in her fostering journey. Sioux Center … Continue reading »

God’s Best… His Perfect Will for You.

daleea — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:25:37 +0000

Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, "ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo and Beon, the country which the LORD defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." therefore they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan."
And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: "Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them. So the LORD's anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, "Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneth, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.
Numbers 32: 1-12

So often we see something, a circumstance, a way of life, and it is pleasing to us. We think, "This is what I want." we claim it as our own. God is telling us to follow Him! But we, like spoiled, all knowing children say, "No, Lord, I want this!" This is what we had hoped for, always wanted. This is what we disobediently, unfaithfully SETTLE for. Not holding out for the promise of God, the blessings of God that He is leading us to, if we just will trust and obey Him. If we will lay down our desires and seek God's desires. If we will just follow Him. He will lead us to the promised land. God's plans for us, His will for us is so much greater than anything we could ever fathom for ourselves. Do you want what you think is best? Or do you want God's best?!!!
Don't set up camp in the wilderness! Follow God to the promised land…
Wholly follow Him!
He is faithful and oh, so worthy and His perfect plan for your life will far surpass your wildest dreams…

(I have been thinking of these scriptures and their truth….. Holy Spirit checked my heart as to what I shared above….. yes, it is true. However I was remiss, for I only painted part of the picture…… I need to take it full circle. While what I said is true, it only shows one side…. Our side, and God's blessings for us….. His perfect will for us. However, even more importantly it is a way for us to bless God. To walk by faith, to obey Him, to journey deeper and deeper in our relationship with Him, from glory to glory, all for God's GLORY! It is a way for us to witness to others of Who God is. Of His love and faithfulness….. it is an opportunity as we persevere to press on in the strength of the Lord for others to ask us the reason for our Hope…… an opportunity to share our reason… JESUS! God will bring people into your path that do not know this Hope…. this Savior, this agape love of God. It is an opportunity to shine bright in, and through Jesus Christ…. the reason for our hope.

God's Speed on your journey to the promised land…..)

Momma’s Wanted

joy — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:00:18 +0000

Yup. My boy can be a momma's boy. He can rough and tumble in the yard, pretend to race motorcycles, climb a tree, spit in the grass, plow his tractors through the dirt, but when it's all said and done…he wants to know where his momma's at.

There's comfort in a hug, a smile, a look, that says, "you're OK kid." There's healing in taking the time to be around with his trucks and cars under my feet, to listen to his silly jokes that makes no sense, to watch him ride his bike for the millionth time, – even when there are a million and one things to do.

There's love that is spoken when you get to have a cupcake even if you didn't eat every last bite of your green beans, you have to write thank you notes for birthday and Christmas gifts, when your mom makes you brush your teeth without washing off all the toothpaste first, when you always get tucked in at night with snuggles and hugs.

There's the Gospel message being lived out in every family that is willing to take one child, saying, "yes" to James 1:27…not desiring comfort and what is easy, but rather willing to do what is often hard and exhausting. Choosing to love the forgotten and broken often grows a radical faith…cause you often have to run to Jesus because it can get so hard.

There's tremendous, countless blessings in taking a child, who knew no momma and giving him one that will be there when he comes in all dirty and sweaty from playing outside. He isn't asking for a perfect momma and that's a good thing because I'm not and there is no such thing. He just wants and needs to know that when he needs her he can find her.

Is there a boy or girl somewhere in the world

looking for a momma

and YOU happen to be the one they are looking for?

Defend the Fatherless