COURAGEOUS FAITH
Guest post from our friend and a fellow adoptive mother Adeye Salem. (Click on the heading to go to Adeye’s original post on her blog).
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During the more than ten years that I have had this blog, one of the sweetest blessings for me has been the incredible people who I have met along the way. They’re the families that remind me that a surrendered life is truly the only way to live. They’re the precious families that I have seen choose the road less travelled–and walk it out with so much grace, love and abandonment. Easy? Never! Worth it? Always! I am so grateful for the families that have always been such a sweet reminder to me that giving God everything that we have and everything that we are is a life I long to live.
Several years ago I connected with Stephanie–a fellow adoptive mom who, like us, had opened her heart and her home to children who struggled more than others. One of their sweet girls comes from the same orphanage as our Hasya and, like our daughter, was so desperately malnourished and was also abandoned in a crib.
Family! It changes everything for a child.
Stephanie and her husband Brian run a ministry called Ting Ministries which brings help, relief and the unconditional love of Jesus to many around the world. The Carpenters have adopted seven beautiful daughters who all have some type of special need – some mild and some more severe – but they are all their treasured daughters. Their special needs include: deafness, blindness, post traumatic stress disorder, cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia, spina bifida, feeding tubes, epilepsy/seizure disorder, need for cochlear implants, club feet, and other orthopedic issues, failure to thrive, global developmental delay, institutionalization, etc. Their first adoption was from Russia. Sasha was never supposed to walk and was headed to a mental institution. She is now 20 years old and a double major at Bucknell University. God of miracles!
With their huge hearts for the fatherless, it was no surprise that God called this faithful family once again, this time to bring home two of the neediest, most forgotten older girls who desperately need someone to come for them. For many months the Carpenters have fought to get one of the girls paper-ready and available for international adoption.
Anyone who has ever adopted a child from hard places can testify to the fact that when we step out in faith and fight for a child to come home, the battle rages. This family has faced trial after trial as they have trusted the Lord for the lives of these two girls. But God has been faithful! The process is moving forward and the Carpenters are praying for a medical expedite since both girls are not doing well.
Having walked in their shoes a few times, I so understand the heart and enormous amount of faith that it takes to say yes to children who come from unfathomable situations, even if the whole world is against you. Even if every fiery dart of the enemy causes setbacks and heartache. Even when you have no idea how God is going to provide.
I long for money to be the very last of their concerns. Increased regulations and fees sadly mean that adoptions are costing even more than they did just a few months ago. Of course it shouldn’t be that way, but it is, and we can’t change that. The cost of adoptions should never be an obstacle that keeps a family from a child! Now, more than ever before, families stepping out in faith to bring children home NEED the church to rise up and be a part of their journey by sowing financially. Our churches need to be pouring into adoptions, as do we, the bride of Christ. The problem of millions of abandoned children in the world should be our problem, and there are ways that we can all do something–even when we never feel called to adopt ourselves.
The Carpenters have a long, difficult journey ahead of them as they journey toward bringing Hope and Brittan home. And once home, they’ll face unknown medical issues, many hospital visits, and the usual period of adjustment as a family. Both girls have extensive special needs, and so much is unknown at this point. How beautiful would it be if finances were the last of their concerns? How amazing would it be if the financial burden was completely lifted by those of us who have a heart for the orphan? Let it be so, Lord!
Would you please prayerfully consider joining with this precious family in prayer and in giving? They still need about $17,000 to be fully funded. I know my God can do it! All donations are tax deductible through their ministry and can be made HERE.
Thank you so much for praying and for trusting that these two little darlings will be home very soon. I am so grateful!