Welcome, Solomon!

As Christians, we can go along our day-to-day life believing that God is present and working in the world around us, but never really SEEING him.  It could be because we are too busy to notice, or too skeptical to accept.  Have you ever said, "I wish God would put up a big, flashing billboard!" ?  Not a real billboard  - but something we just couldn't miss!  Well, Solomon's story is one of those big, flashing billboards!  God is here, God is at work! He has orchestrated details and situations too amazing to be coincidental.   The whole Mestas story for the past 7 years, since their first adoption, has been that way. And Eileen & Jerry  have been shouting, "Do you SEE GOD?"  Read Eileen's blog  and see for yourself.

Solomon arrived in Raleigh yesterday afternoon to a sea of balloons, signs, and new friends!

James 1:27   Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 

Ephesians 1:4-6  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Answered Prayer!

"M" is safe and is back at the orphanage in Ethiopia! Thank you for your prayers! Check Eileen's blog for more information.

MISSING CHILD

PLEASE PRAY FOR A SPECIAL LITTLE ETHIOPIAN GIRL WHO HAS RUN AWAY FROM HER ORPHANAGE AND IS ALL ALONE ON THE STREETS OF ADDIS ABABA!

Our dear friends, the Mestases, are in the process of adopting "M", a 12-yr-old little girl from Ethiopia. Older children waiting for adoption in Ethiopia and elsewhere around the world battle discouragement and hopelessness, as they know that they will be "kicked out" of the system at some point and that most adoptive parents come for babies and toddlers. "M" has lost her entire family and is all alone in the world. Jerry, Eileen, and Ellie met "M" last fall when they went to Addis Ababa to bring home their 3 newest children. Almost immediately upon returning home, they felt the Lord impress this little girl upon their hearts, and they began inquiring about adopting her as well. They have started the process, but "M" won't be told that a family is interested in adopting her until their paperwork is finished and accepted by the Ethiopian courts.

"M" is missing from the orphanage as of 5 days ago. The streets of Addis Ababa are teeming with orphans and homeless adults, and are a very dangerous place. PLEASE PRAY for "M"'s safety and for her speedy return. Pray that she would KNOW that God loves her and is even now paving the way for her "forever family" to come get her!
Eileen will provide updates on her blog: http://www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com/

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Penny Wars for Orphans

My daughter just completed a fundraiser for the Kolfe Youth Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in her dorm at college, where she is an RA. It was International Week, and each dorm held a fundraiser for an international charity. After reading about Kolfe on my friend Eileen's blog, Sarah knew she wanted to do something to help.
(read about the Kolfe Youth Center, an orphanage for boys ages 12-18 at
The Forgotten Boys , and watch the slide show here.)

They held a Penny War! Her dorm has 8 floors, with about 36 students per floor. In the lobby, they had a table with a large jar for each floor. All during the week, students could drop pennies into the jar for their floor, and the floor to collect the most pennies at the end of the week won - something - I don't know, a pizza party, maybe. Now the cool twist was that coins other than pennies - nickles, dimes, quarters - were NEGATIVE points in a jar. So students would drop those coins into the jars for other floors, hoping to boost their own floor's chance of winning the prize. At the end of the week, the dorm had raised over $200, which they are sending to the Gladney Center for Adoption's humanitarian aid fund for Kolfe.

Matthew 25:35 -40
Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"
The King will reply, " I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Steven Curtis Chapman Concert - An Unexpected Blessing!

Amanda and I received an unexpected blessing when we were able to serve as volunteers at the "Show Hope" booth at the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Roanoke Rapids last night. Show Hope is part of Shaohannah's Hope, an organization founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, to engage the body of Christ in caring for the world's approximately 16,200,000 orphans and also to help remove the financial barriers to adoption through providing grants for those families choosing to adopt.

We weren't planning to go - Roanoke Rapids is an hour and a half away and we don't have money for things like concert tickets. But we found out on Wednesday from our friends the Mestases, who received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope to help with their recent adoption from Ethiopia, that there was a need for volunteers for Saturday night, so I emailed the contact person and we were accepted. That meant a free T-shirt, free seats in the concert, and since the Mestases already had backstage passes, we got to go with them to meet S.C.C. after the concert! All in exchange for spending time before the concert and during intermission passing out brochures and holding buckets to collect money for the "Change for Orphans" campaign, which they do at every concert. At the end of every concert, the money collected during the evening is given to a pre-selected family who is in the process of adopting a child, to help make their dream a reality! This night, the audience donated $3000, plus an additional $1000 from an anonymous donor made it a gift of $4000 for a sweet family from Fayetteville who is adopting an 8-yr-old boy from China.


I love Steven Curtis Chapman's music! It was awesome to see a crowd of people made up of teenagers, parents with small children, middle-agers, grandparents... all ages were there, all enjoying the music and the atmosphere of praise and worship. The concerts are real family affairs - even on the stage! Steven's sons, Caleb (19), and Will Franklin (17), perform on stage with him, playing guitar and drums and doing backup vocals.


















Carla has a great video of the evening, including some more pix of Show Hope volunteers, on her blog here.

They Chose Me

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
-James 1:27 (NIV)

learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
-Isaiah 1:17 (NIV)

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
-Luke 18:16-17 (NIV)

Adoption Testimony

My friend Eileen's testimony about God's provision of finances for their adoption of three children from Ethiopia was featured on Crown Financial Ministries "Money Matters" radio broadcast today! You can hear the program, and Eileen's testimony at the end, online here.
Listen to the whole broadcast or click on "listen to adoption testimonies".

Baby Shower

Yesterday was the baby shower for my friend Eileen, who will soon be bringing home 3 children from Ethiopia. The weather was gorgeous, so Theresa set things up on her spacious front porch and yard. Check out Eileen's blog to see a group photo of all the ladies and young ladies present. Eileen, Jerry, & Ellie will bring this photo with them when they travel to Africa , and give it to the birth mother, a 20-yr-old woman who is dying of AIDS. They want her to know how many people are waiting back here in NC to welcome her children , to love them and watch out for them. The excitement and joy here on this end is matched by the pain and sorrow in another life on the other side of the world.

EXCITEMENT at the Mestas house!

Our good friends, Jerry & Eileen, got some very exciting news today! Visit their blog HERE! Then see what Ellie, their daughter, wrote on her BLOG.
WOO HOO!

A Heart for Orphans

My favorite book when I was young ( okay, one of my favorites - I was a big reader ) was The Family Nobody Wanted by Helen Doss, the autobiographical story of a young couple who adopted 12 children, most considered "unadoptable" because they were of mixed-race. As a young teen, I must have read this little dog-eared paperback dozens of times, and I still have it. I always thought I would someday adopt children, just like the Dosses.
Well, I got married fresh out of college, and having babies wasn't a problem for us. We struggled a bit ( mostly he ) with how big our family should be, but ended up with 5 precious children, spread over 13 years. They are a joy and a pleasure and a gift - and costly and frustrating and time consuming. But I can't think of a better way to spend my life than in pouring myself into raising and teaching and loving these unique gifts from God. I hadn't given adoption much thought until this past year, when I started to spend a lot of time with friends who have felt God's call to enlarge their family through adoption. www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com. Suddenly it seems that God is doing some serious shaking up of the Christian community in regards to the plight of orphans. Family Life and Focus on the Family have recently joined together with Shaohannah's Hope ( started by Christian recording star Steven Curtis Chapman ) to form Voice of the Orphan, to raise awareness of the orphan crisis worldwide and to spur Christians to action. Family Life also has their own Hope for the Orphans, to provide information and assistance for individuals and churches interested in adoption and adoption ministry. Oprah Winfrey has featured orphans and adoption stories on her TV show. Of course, celebrities Madonna and Angelina Jolie have also gotten lots of media attention for their international adoptions.
Most amazing to me is the subtle work going on the hearts of everyday people like you and me ~ people with busy families and full lives, who are feeling their hearts being pulled toward the orphan. Several people in my own circle of friends have been surprised to learn that each was feeling similar stirrings in their hearts. The need is huge, gigantic, overwhelming. But one family can totally transform the life of one child ~ giving them hope and a future that they otherwise would not have. Many families can rescue many children. Hundreds of families, hundreds of kids....
God doesn't ask us to save the world. But he might be calling us to stretch out of our comfort zone and share our abundance with one desperately needy child, and give them a FAMILY. Or to come alongside and help others in that task.

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Visit my friends' adoption blog

My friends, Jerry and Eileen, are in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia. These children will join the five they already have ~ three biological ( one is married now ) and adopted twins. Their story is amazing. Read about it on their blog ~ www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com