We are so busy in the day to day with Collins that it is difficult to find a few minutes to write, but here's an update on her life and the many things going on with our family. We had a great weekend with Spencer. It was his first time home since he left for Master's College on Aug. 11th and his first time to meet his little sister. It was WONDERFUL to have him here, but then so hard to see him go again on Sunday. Of course he and Collins had a great time playing together (soccer, basketball, baseball - yes, Carl has already bought her a pink bat!). Spencer's girlfriend, Savannah also came back this weekend from Liberty, after having met Collins the week before and winning her heart with a black purse and lots of girly things. We took Collins to the Reynolds Homecoming game on Friday night, a Girls Conference on Saturday that Savannah and I taught at, and then had all of Spencer's friends here for a party as well. She is dearly loved by all his friends. As one of them said, "Forget about Spencer and Conner. Its all about Collins for me from now on!" Sunday she was dedicated at church. I knew in my gut that she would do something. Guaranteed. And she did....Our family of 5 were all on the stage with the pastor. As he was talking she took a swat at his face! He ducked, made a quick comeback about her having a future in the "golden gloves'....Too much! She is really something else. Another family in our Sunday School class had their Chinese adopted daughter dedicated as well. The journey to get these girls has been so long and hard, and there we were, 2 families blessed beyond reason. As my friend Lorie wrote about the morning- "The forgotten were remembered, and the abandoned were chosen." So, so true. 2 little lives saved. We took Spencer to the airport and she cried the whole way home. That evening was difficult too. As we were putting her to bed, she just cried and cried like her heart was in a million pieces. Finally, after she was asleep I felt like having a big, hairy cry. I was face to face with the suffering of an orphan. I'd just spent hours in the trenches with her, and she's one thats on the way out of all that goes along with abandonment and rejection. But seeing her pain brings to life the pain of millions around the world. James 1:27 tells us they are in distress, and it just grieves me to think of what AIDS and poverty and the dysfunction of the family has done to 143 million around the world. Recently I heard from a friend that a girl that we knew of in college had been through a horrible tragedy. Her husband and 2 daughters were killed in a plane crash. Losing everyone at once? Its unspeakable pain. Collins lost everyone at once when she was left outside the gate at a Chinese orphanage at approximately 20 months. My stomach is churning as I write this. Its so hard to conceive at what that felt like for her. Spencer was 21 months when Conner was born. We have so many videos of him at that age. To comprehend his loss if we had left him outside an orphanage gate at that time is unbearable. To lose Dad and Mom and Grandma and Poppa and Gran Jan all at once. It's too much. I hope God will keep it all fresh in my mind: the child-headed households in Africa because of AIDS or the orphans that Carl and Spencer loved on in Haiti this summer because they lost their family in the earthquake. Conner was able to go to Guatemala on Spring Break to love on orphans. He told me the hardest part was going in and bonding with them, and then having to leave them. It's all too much, so much pain. But thats why we're here, to be the hands and feet of Christ to the least of these. And we can all do something. If any of you reading this feel a tickle in your spirit and would like to help in some way, I've got 2 opportunities right now:
1. Our Orphan Ministry and Sunday School class made 750 bracelets each with a child's name on it. We got the names from a website that lists foster children who are waiting to be adopted. These are mainly from North Carolina and states in the southeast. This is a serious commitment to pray on behalf of a very needy child who needs a touch from God and the love of a family. The tag on each bracelet reads: Pray that the child whose name is on this bracelet will be ADOPTED TWICE. FIRST by God/ SECOND by a Family. Then the verse at the bottom says "God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6
2. There are missionaries that we know well through our church who work with orphans overseas, one family in Haiti and the other in Africa. They are seeking to find people who will give monthly to support specific orphans. Many of these are orphans that our church members have actually met on mission trips. I have great respect and trust for their organizations. In choosing to support a specific child, we have photos and some information on them that we could get to you.
In either of these opportunities, you can email me at jtoth44@gmail.com for more information. I can send you the bracelet, or connect you to one of these orphans in Haiti or Africa.
Thanks for listening,
Jill
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