Feb 21 2011
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Haiti

Haiti, where God resides…

I recently spent a week in Haiti serving with a medical missions team from Long Hollow.  The men and women on this team served our children in Jeremie, Haiti with such love and kindness.  It was an honor to be with a group that truly gave up themselves and became the hands and feet of Jesus.

Stephanie Passons, a Physician Assistant at Long Hollow Family Practice, was a last minute addition to the team.  When she heard about the cholera affecting the Jeremie area she signed up for her second trip to Haiti.  The following is an excerpt from the blog post she wrote upon her return.

“…once our eyes are open, we cannot pretend we don’t know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know and holds us responsible to act.”

Proverbs 24:12

On the heels of my last trip to Haiti I have been struggling with putting into words how I felt, what I saw, and how God moved in that place. All I know is that He did… Being called to go back to Haiti was another life changing experience. Everything fell into place beautifully and within a week of the call I was headed back to a place I fell in love with last November. I heard someone say tonight, “I can guarantee you that there is a zero percent chance that God does not reside in that place…” After being there for a week I can testify that God does indeed reside in that place. Acclimating back to reality in America is hard because I question whether God resides in a lot of the places to which I accustom my daily living. Not that they are bad places in and of themselves, I just had a feeling in Haiti that I don’t experience here. Almost like a “God shaped hole” in your heart that is only filled by going there. The best part of missions and especially this trip is that not only does it transform those we go to serve but it transforms us. You finally begin to experience life because you die to yourself which goes along with many of the things Jesus taught us… you are first when you become last, you are great when you become the least, and you truly live when you die. A beautiful quote from Jen Hatmaker who wrote a study I just finished tonight said it better than I could ever explain:

“Missional living cures apathy better than any sermon, promotes healing quicker than any counseling, deepens discipleship more than Bible studies and creates converts more effectively than any other event.”

It transforms both the slave and its master… and it indeed transformed me yet again…

Could God be calling you to the place where He resides?

Click here for more information on Summer Haiti trips.

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Feb 14 2011
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Haiti

“How can we help?” What to do when your friends adopt.

Not every family will be called to adopt.  You might be interested in orphan care or thrilled when your good friends decide to adopt or foster a child, but God just hasn’t convicted you to take that step.  If you are in this category there are several things you can do to help your friends and fellow church members who have heard the call, obeyed and taken a step of faith.

1. PRAY FOR THEM.  In a get on your knees and beg the Father kind of way. What should you pray for?  Start with these suggestions and let their needs guide you from there.

  • Pray that the children feel safe with their new family.
  • Pray that the parents will have a steady flow of patience, strength, discernment and wisdom from above.
  • Pray for endurance, children do not attach and adapt overnight.  This can be a long and difficult journey for some.
  • Pray a hedge of protection around the family.  They will experience spiritual attacks like they have never endured before.
  • Pray that God would heal the wounds of the child(ren), that fears of abandonment and mistrust will be overcome.
  • Tell them you are praying and follow through.

2. Perform acts of service

  • Provide a meal after the children have come home.  The first few weeks are full of trials and sleepless nights.  Taking meal preparation off their hands is an incredible gift.  It is appropriate to visit with the family when you take a meal, but be careful not to stay too long.
  • Clean a bathroom, or the whole house!  You may have a hard time getting Mom to agree to this so I suggest that you call her up and say ” I am planning to help you get some housework (or laundry) done next week, I can come Monday or Wednesday at 9am, which would you prefer?”  Don’t ask if you can help, or what you can do, being direct and giving an option allows her to accept much needed help without feeling like she has to protest.  Come prepared with a little cleaning kit in tow so that you can get to work instead of asking where the cleaning supplies are.
  • Give a gift card for a restaurant or general purpose store like Wal-Mart or Target.  The families will have unexpected expenses come up, or things they need for the newest member of the family and a gift card allows them to get exactly what they need.
  • Donate clothing in the child’s size.  If a family is bringing home an 8 year old boy and your 10 year old son has a tub of outgrown clothing, offer to let mom and dad go through the items and pick out what they need.

3. Give

  • Supporting a family financially as they struggle to gather the last bits of funding to complete their adoption is a huge blessing.  A little goes a long way.
  • Buy their t-shirt, cook book or whatever it is they are promoting to raise funds.  When you sport their wares you not only contribute, but help spread the word as well.

This list is just the beginning of what you can do for an adoptive or foster care family.  The widely circulated saying “it takes a village to raise a child” may not be altogether correct but in my opinion it definitely takes “a village” or in this case “a church” to adopt a child.

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Feb 11 2011
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Haiti

love a l.o.t. Live from Haiti

I am currently spending my days with about 136 orphans in Jeremie, Haiti.  Let me tell you, there’s probably no better way to spend your time. 

Our team arrived last Saturday and we have been hard at work giving immunizations to the kids and responding to their medical needs as well as those of the community around the orphanage.  The team has exhausted themselves, given all and been greatly rewarded in exchange.  It has been such an honor to hold a feverish child and be the instrument that brings them to health again.  I have wept so many times when a child comes with something as simple as an ear infection, gets treated, and then just cries for someone to hold them, comfort them.  Think of the simple things we do for our children on a daily basis.  Stroking their face with a cold cloth, or giving tylenol and tlc during a virus.  That is a luxury that few orphaned children experience.  I am so thankful for the work ESMI (El Shaddai Ministries) is doing in Haiti and so overwhelmed by the part that Long Hollow is allowed to play in that ministry. 

Gerald has been working with a group of the older children doing some music therapy related exercises.  He is a wonderful teacher and it has been so special for us all to hear the singing coming from his classroom.

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Jan 27 2011
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Haiti

Let’s Talk Adoption

Have you ever been in the midst of an adoption discussion?  Most likely you heard words like, referral, dossier, home study and waiting thrown around as if everyone with a brain should immediately comprehend what in the world that all means.  I remember doing some initial research on adoption before we started our process and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the correct way to pronounce dossier.  (which, by the way, is pronounced Dos-ee-ay)  Consequently, I avoided using the term until I heard our social worker say it at least 6 times.  Only then did I tentatively throw it into the mix during conversations.  For those of you who are new to the adoption process or have friends/family in the adoption process, I have put together a little list of adoption terms.  Hopefully this will arm you for those obscure references and make you feel like part of the club rather than someone trying to decipher a foreign language.

Dossier: A set of legal documents which are used in an international adoption to process a child’s adoption or assignment of guardianship in the foreign court.  This thing is nuts to compile, basically a full time job.  If your friend is currently putting one of these together it’s probably appropriate to a. offer child care or b. bring meals thrice weekly.  Adoptive parents typically sleep with this under their pillow in case of fire.

Home Study: A process through which prospective adoptive parents are educated about adoption and evaluated to determine their suitability to adopt.  Parents will also spend a significant amount of time compiling documents and fearing social workers during this time.  Good news?  The social workers are actually pretty fabulous.

Waiting: Pretty straight forward.  This comes after all documents have been turned in to the right people and before you are matched with you child.

Matching: The process of bringing together qualified prospective adoptive parents and willing birth parents who are compatible with each other and who can agree on the terms under which the adoptive parents can adopt the child.  Many times there are not birth parents involved in the process, in this instance the agency will match a child to a family based on age, family status and many other factors.

Referral: A child referral is when an agency matches what they know about you and your family with what they have learned about a child from an orphanage and the caregivers.  This is a HUGE day for families in the waiting process.  They will receive their child’s picture and files on referral day.  Basically an all out tear-fest.  Typically the family will allow an international pediatrician to view the file and offer advice.

Equally important to terms used in adoption are the terms used to talk about the child and the circumstances surrounding the adoption.  Not all topics surrounding an adoption are appropriate to ask/talk about.  Families have every right to keep elements of their child’s adoption private.  However, if you are in a situation that allows for some of this discussion to take place it is a good idea to utilize the following terminology.  The following list is from the Focus on the Families “I care about orphans” website.

Accurate

Birthparent

Birthmother/birthfather

Parents/mom/dad

My child/Their child

Making an adoption plan

Deciding to Parent

Child in foster care

Waiting Child/Child in need of family

Birth Child

International adoption

WAS adopted

Physically abused

Typically developing child

Child with Special Needs

Incorrect

Real Parent/natural parent

Real mom/real dad

Adoptive parent/adoptive mom/adoptive dad

Adopted child/own child

Giving away/relinquishing/putting up for adoption/put up

Keeping the baby

Foster child

Adoptable/eligible/available

Child of their own (very offensive)

Foreign adoption

Is adopted

Beaten/hit

Normal child

Special Needs Child

If you just read the list and have come to conclusion that you have probably offended everyone you know who is currently in the adoption process, that’s probably not the case.  However, it is important to be sensitive when speaking about certain subjects pertaining to adoption.  Adoption IS something to celebrate, but adoption is also the result of an unnatural break in a child’s history.  We owe it to them to treat their stories with dignity and respect.

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Jan 26 2011
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Haiti

News from Haiti

As many of you already know we have recently learned of a cholera outbreak among our children at the Jeremie, Haiti orphanage.  Two children passed away last night and many more are sick.  Please join us as we lift them up.  Please pray for protection against sickness, strength for the caregivers and ultimately that God will be revealed even in the midst of tragedy.  For more information please check our website.

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Jan 20 2011
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Haiti

Family Stories

A big thank you goes out to the Scott family and the Cornett family for sharing their Adoption stories.  If you haven’t checked out the family stories page, now is the time.  I look forward to adding many more testimonies of God’s provision and guidance!

 

 

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Jan 13 2011
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Haiti

We are adopted…so we adopt

I have mentioned before that adoption and orphan care concerns are on the rise in churches across the nation.  As they should be.  It is important to not only respond to that rise, but explore the reasons behind it.

Over the last few months I have spoken with numerous families.  Each one bearing a reason for their call to adopt.  Some families are unable to become pregnant, some have five kids and room for one more and other families just can’t spend another night knowing that there are fatherless children across the ocean and down the street.  All of these reasons are wonderful, beautiful, admirable reasons but as Christians we must look further as we delve into the depths of figuring out our part in caring for the least of these.  In fact, we don’t have to look terribly hard to find the root of our natural desire to adopt.

The doctrine of adoption is fairly simple.  We were in sin, slaves to it in fact, with no way to reconcile ourselves to God.  In his graciousness our Father God sent his son to die so that we could receive the gift of salvation.  When we accept that gift we are called sons and daughters of God! We are Adopted.  Like I said, pretty simple.  But what comes after that adoption is exponentially important.  We begin to walk with Jesus.  Talk like Jesus.  At least that’s what we are supposed to do.  What I’m getting at is this: following the pattern of our Lord will eventually lead us to a place where we fully realize our own adoption and follow suite in the way we care for the orphan.  I love what Russell Moore says about this in his book Adopted for Life, “Jesus reconciles us to God and to each other.  As we love God we love our neighbor; as we love our neighbor we love God. We believe Jesus in heavenly things- our adoption in Christ; so we follow him in earthly things- the adoption of children.  Without the theological aspect, the emphasis on adoption too easily is seen as mere charity.”

As Christians we don’t do charity.  We don’t live a missional lifestyle so we will be noticed or so that people will hold us in high regard after we’re dead.  We live so that others may know Christ through us.  We teach because he taught.  We love because he loved. We go because he came.  We adopt because we were adopted.

Galatians 4:4-7But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a women, born under the Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘ABBA, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

-Erica

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Jan 11 2011
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Haiti

Welcome Home Jadon!

We are so excited to welcome home the Scott family from Ethiopia!  Cindy and David Scott and big sister Lily recently made their final trip (of two) to Ethiopia to bring home their  son Jadon.  He is a precious 3 year old little boy who is incredibly full of life and reportedly loved the snow we received in the 3 days since his homecoming.  What a privilege it is to see the Lord at work in his young life.

Big sister is always close by!

Jadon and Mommy

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Jan 07 2011
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Haiti

Biblical Foundations for Adoption

What does the Old Testament have to say about Orphan Care:

  • Psalm 10:14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.  The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
  • Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash and make yourselves clean.  Take you evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right, seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
  • Psalm 68: 5-6 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
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Jan 06 2011
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Adoption

What exactly does an adoption ministry do?

That’s a very good question.  Long Hollow, like many other churches across the US, has suddenly seen a rise in families interested in answering the call to adopt and provide orphan care.  This ministry exists not only to support those families but to advocate for the millions of orphans worldwide.  Our mission statement includes the following objectives:

  • Shed light on the call to care for orphans at home and across the globe.
  • Provide families with resources as they consider adoption or foster care.
  • Help families begin and navigate the adoption process.
  • Create community among adoptive and foster care families.
  • Promote orphan care opportunities outside of adoption.
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