Orphanology, by Rick Morton and Tony Merida

For those of you who can't really comprehend what Jay and I are doing I would strongly urge you to indulge in a great book that I am currently reading called Orphanology, written by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.  This will give you a bit more insight as to one of the many reasons we feel the calling to adopt.

Link to the book on Amazon.com >  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=orphanology&sprefix=orphanolo%2Caps%2C392

This book informs you not only of our role in taking care of orphans, but what that really looks like in our day to day life. It helps you understand statistics and how we as a church are responsible for the well being of orphan children. Whether you are adopting/fostering or supporting those who are adopting/fostering, we all play a role in protecting God's children in the United States and the rest of the world. Yes, this problem seems too large for a few people to handle, but we HAVE TO TRY. Sitting around, having knowledge about what is going on in our own towns, cities and/or counties and doing nothing is not good enough.

Excerpt from Orphanology that really puts the issue at hand into perspective -

How many orphans are currently living on the earth? It seems like a pretty straightforward question, and you may be surprised by the difficulty answering it. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there are estimated to be between 143 and 210 million orphans worldwide, though this number is uncertain. While this estimate is staggering, it likely fails to give a full picture of the scope of the problem. You see, UNICEF only includes children who have lost one or both parents to death in its calculation of the worldwide orphan population. While this approach to defining who is an orphan isn't really wrong, it does fail to account for many of the children who are truly fatherless. 
     
There are several organizations that offer you a way to be involved in making a difference. One I would like to highlight simply because Jay and I are involved is Compassion International. Compassion is a christian child advocacy ministry that provides the opportunity to sponsor children all across the world. We are currently sponsoring a little boy from the Dominican Republic and a little girl from Indonesia. It is so cool to receive the packet of information about the children, their needs, what their environments are like. It tells you about their day to day lives and how your sponsorship is going to affect that in a positive way. You are also able to have direct contact with your sponsored child. If they do not speak/write in English, you get the original letter and then one that has been translated so you can read it.

http://www.compassion.com/about/about-us.htm

This experience has been so fulfilling to pray for children to come to know the Lord personally while watching them grow and gain education. It has given me perspective in the sense of what the Lord has provided Jay and I with and despite the negative things that are going on in this country, what an amazing place it is to live.  I am so thankful the Lord chose for me to live in this great nation.

Please keep us in your prayers as we finish up the last of our paperwork. I have been so thankful that the Lord has provided us with fast results when getting paperwork from other people. It has really blown me away, the work ethic behind some of the people that have helped us. We are truly blessed to have met and encountered the people in our journey so far and I know this is only the beginning!