Here Am I

I got to spend a few days last week at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit in Louisville.  Almost 2,000 people in one place with hearts to live out the calling of James 1:27 to care for the orphan in their distress.  I had the privilege of listening to story after story of how people's lives had been wrecked, changed and influenced by choosing to take a step of faith. 

It's funny how I didn't hear many stories of how people had been caring for orphans all their lives, but rather they had been going through their days pursuing what they thought was a full life and God got ahold of them and radically redirected their paths.  That sounds a little familiar to me. :)

I heard stories of people adopting HIV+ children from Ethiopia in the midst of great criticism.  Carolyn Twietmeyer shared how she went to Ethiopia because the daughter she was in process of adopting was very ill and literally on the brink of death.  This little girl desperately needed a blood transfusion but in Ethiopia they don't give out "good blood" to people with HIV because they don't want to waste it on people who are dying.  Turns out this adoptive mom was a match for her little girl.  While she was there nursing her little girl back to health, she found out that her soon to be daughter had two other siblings living on their own in Ethiopia.  Long story short, all three siblings are now adopted and living together here in the States. Check out what this amazing family is doing to fight the stigma of HIV+ children HERE. 

I heard stories of churches in cities across America banding together to take in every single child in their local foster care system.  Their goal is that when a child enters the foster care system that the first call that is placed is to a local church with an active group of foster families who are ready to take in children.  It's so encouraging to see the Church rising up to do what we have been called to do.  Is it scary?  Yes.  Does it require sacrifice? Absolutely.  But, what is life really if not the laying down of our own lives for others?

I heard a pro football player share about how God moved in his heart and he and his wife have now adopted around 8-10 kids...I think they have 4 biological as well.  He is using his influence with his teammates to create adoption funds for families who cannot afford to adopt. 

There was so much love represented in that room of people.  So much sacrifice.  So much joy.  So much passion.  This is the beauty of what happens when God transforms our hearts to beat as His does.  The cost doesn't seem steep anymore...sacrifice becomes the very thing we chase after because it draws us close to the heart of God.  As we watch these precious little lives being transformed before our eyes, we are reminded that God has done that very thing for us. 

Psalm 40:1-3 says: "I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."

There are around 150 million or so orphans in the world today stuck in the slimy pit of abandonment, abuse, disease, loneliness and worthlessness. Their hearts are broken.  Many feel hopeless. And God's answer for them is you.  It's me.  It's people willing to break out of their comfort, their financial security, their routine, their safety, and engage with the children who are crying out to be seen. 

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” - Isaiah 6:8

I am so often guilty of not uttering those words - "Send Me!".  I sit back because it seems others are doing the work and meeting the needs.  But God knows that us saying "Send Me" is just as much about what He wants and needs to do in our own lives as it is about how He wants to use us in the lives of His little ones who are broken and hurting.  "Send Me" should be the cry of my heart because it will lead me into deeper knowledge of who God is and fullness of life.

I pray for a release from selfishness, fear and comfort for us.  I pray that we will start asking God what He wants us to do for His children who have been discarded like trash, who are suffering because of circumstances out of their control.  As we say "Here am I.  Send me!" may our confidence rest in the God who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.

A year ago today...

One year ago today my life changed forever. My heart raced. My breath got caught in my throat. My eyes filled with tears. Time finally quit crawling by and actually froze. And I knew that I knew that I knew. Child #909-33 was mine.

We had been on the waiting list for one year. Waiting for a little baby boy from Ethiopia. But then God stepped in and changed our hearts. He shattered them with the eyes of older kids we had looked into in Uganda. He pounded on our heart’s door with their precious hands slipping into ours and squeezing so hard. He broke them as we watched them carry their brothers and sisters on their backs all day long. And so we gave in. We threw up our hands and gave God all the fear we had about adopting an older child and extended our requested age from an infant to a five year old. It was up to Him. The paperwork to change the age range went through on December 7, 2009. We were told that maybe by March we would get a referral.

Then came December 10th. Just three days after the age change was processed we got THE call. The call that every adoptive family on the planet agonizes over and waits for. It came.

I remember hearing Tariku’s heart breaking story. I remember scouring the information in the referral document. We got three attachments in the email…the first one was all the information about him, but I just wanted to see a picture him. I clicked on the second attachment and all that was there were pictures of the burns on his hand. I didn’t need to see the burn pictures – they didn’t matter in that moment. I just wanted to see his face!! Then finally I opened the last attachment. It seemed to take an eternity to load. My body was shaking. I just wanted to see his face. I just wanted to know the moment I saw him that he belonged in our family. I was so nervous…what if I didn’t feel a connection? Can you even feel a connection through a picture?? Then his face filled the screen.  His tentative, sweet, precious little face.

I remember drinking him in instantly. I can still feel my heart exploding. I can remember my sobs as I smiled like someone who’s crazy in love. I knew in a matter of two seconds. It was meant to be. God had moved heaven and earth for this moment. It was no mistake. Tariku was ours.

This little boy who was alone now had a family.  My heart soared.  That empty space inside of me that was missing my little boy somewhere on the other side of the world was instantly full.  God had fulfilled his promise to both of us.

And now, this beautiful little boy is thriving and growing and happy. 

There's nothing like the moments I spend tucking him in bed at night.  He tells me about Ethiopia. About his history.  All while his sweet little hand rests gently on my face.  He goes on and on about what he remembers...what he felt.  The good and the bad.  The pain and the happiness.  Often, I can't help but let the tears roll down my face as I realize all my little one has been through.  Other times, I just lay there in wonder and smile until it hurts.  The little one I dreamed of for so long lays beside me.  Safe and happy and loved.

I can't imagine my life without him.  I am just so thankful.  I am so in awe of what adoption has meant to our family and how it has transformed our lives and the way we want to spend them. I can't help but think...what if we never pursued adoption?  What if the obstacles scared us off?  What if the fact that we only had $1,000 of the $20,000 needed had kept us from starting the process?  What if???

We wouldn't have gotten to see God provide every penny of what we needed.  We would still be stuck in our safe little lives, numb to the 147 million orphans in the world.  We never would have gone to Uganda and seen first hand how orphans like our son struggle to live day in and day out.  We never would have felt moved to spend our lives on behalf of vulerable children.  We never would have moved across the country and accepted a job with Children's HopeChest advocating for orphans.  We never would have had the life altering encounter with God that we have had.  And we never would have experienced the joy of having Tariku as our son. 

Fear stinks.  Plain and simple.  It robs us of the depth of life we are meant to have.  It steals our joy.  The reality of living in safety, risking nothing actually ends up suffocating us.  Adoption is scary.  Lots of things in life are scary.  But none are scarier than missing out on what CAN be if we would just take even one little step or one big, bold, blind leap of faith. 

How the World Gets Changed

I'm just giddy today.  One week ago yesterday Tariku started his campaign to raise $5,000 for a water well in Africa for his birthday.  I knew we'd never get to $5,000 and I knew that I just needed to be content with whatever we had raised in the 90 day period of time.  Well yesterday, exactly one week after starting the campaign, the well was fully funded and then some.  WHAT????!!!! 

I've had lots of questions over the past week..."how did you think to do that?", "how did you get that much money raised?" "how did it happen so quickly?".  I've been thinking about these questions and have some thoughts on them...

First of all - "How did I think to do this?".  Well, the journey I've been on over the past few years has brought me to the place where I realize that stuff doesn't matter.  There is incredible need in the world we live in and I am wealthy compared to the rest of the world, even when I don't feel like I am.  I have found greater joy in giving of my time and resources than in any gift I've ever received.  Ever.  I want my children to grow up with that same experience and I want them to start NOW.  What child really needs another action figure or toy??  Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying children shouldn't receive presents.  Mine do and will in the future.  But, what I am saying is that if we have any hope of changing the world we live in, we need to start NOW modeling for our children that giving is a pleasure AND a responsibility we have to our fellow man. 

The other part of why I thought to do this was simply because of Tariku's story.  He likely would have been one of the statistics...4,500 children die daily from water related diseases.  His brother died from diahrrea due to their water source and Tariku was drinking that same water.  That sends chills down my spine.  He was spared, but so many are not.  This is PREVENTABLE.  And we have the resources to do something about it.  I had learned about charity:water over a year ago and had been really impressed with their work and their model of educating and involving people. The connection just seemed natural. 

As to how we got that much money raised so quickly...that's simple.  People WANT to be involved in changing the world.  They do.  I have found that many folks sit back and do nothing because they are paralyzed by the massiveness of the problem and don't feel there's anything they do can make a dent. Haven't you all heard "Well, it's such a huge problem and my little donation isn't going to really help."?  It's really not that people aren't willing to give (although there certainly are those people!), it's just that they don't realize the impact they can have.  I love how charity:water breaks it down...$20 provides 1 person clean drinking water for 20 years.  That makes the person who thinks their 20 bucks won't make a dent see that it will indeed make an incredible impact for the one person they are helping. 

I also think that when people hear a statistic like there are 147 million orphans in the world they say, "Man, that's really sad."  It's overwhelming to them.  But when you share a story with them about one of those orphans like my son, Tariku, there's a connection.  People can connect to a story about a little boy.  They can see that they can help him have a future.  Our community of friends and family GAVE us close to $15,000 to adopt Tariku.  Ben and I were inspired to adopt as we saw friends whose lives were changed as a result of it.  People were inspired to help us bring our son home from Ethiopia.  Others were inspired by us bringing Tariku home and are now in the process of adopting their own children.  And now, people have heard Tariku's story and made the connection that he was one of the people in the world drinking water every day that may have killed him.  And so, once again, they acted.  None of it ever would have happened without telling a story.

So, how do we tell our stories effectively?  We live in the information age.  We have the advantage of social media like FaceBook, Twitter and Blogging.  But for all those folks who aren't technical, there are other ways!  Good old fashioned letter writing is what helped bring in the finances for our adoption.  Share your heart.  Share what you're passionate about and why.  CONNECT at a deep level with the people you are sharing with.  People want to be moved.  It's not about making it a production. It's about being authentic.  Help people understand why you are passionate about whatever the "thing" is.  Once they understand and are connected at a heart level, they may become fellow advocates!  My neighbor, for example, was so moved by Tariku's water project that she sent an email out to everyone in her address book.  My nephew shared Tariku's story at school in his classroom and gave out information.  Friends shared Tariku's story on FaceBook.  All of these seemingly little things mobilize people to get involved.

Stories change our lives.  They compel us.  Find a story and tell it.  Maybe it's your own story...maybe it's someone else's.  If you're feeling today like you can't really make a difference, don't buy the lie.  You can.  Find something you care about and if you don't have a story of your own to tell about it, find one. We all need to hear it. That's how the world gets changed.

   

A Gang of Little World Changers

In case you may have missed it, my 5 year old son is raising $5,000 to build a well for the Bakaya people in the Central African Republic for his birthday.  We launched his campaign almost four days ago and so far he has raised $3,000 towards the well!  All of us are blown away.  You can go here to donate if you like.  Or here to read Tariku's own story of growing up with contaminated water in Ethiopia.

One of the amazing things to me is that there have been so many children who have contributed to Tariku's water campaign.  I've had a couple of emails like the following over the past few days:

"Amy, I talked about this with Luke and Anna. Luke is so sad for Tariku and for losing his little brother. That would be like Luke losing Charlie, who just turned one year old. Luke is getting his bank, and we are talking about how to give more! Thanks for impacting my kids, too!"


"So, it's been a few more days, and wow!!! Almost $3000! Just amazing!!! My kids are still talking about the well and asking several times a day what the total is. I feel so grateful that my kids are experiencing this at such a young age."

"After reading Tariku's story and watching the video, our kids were appalled that clean water is not available to everyone and amazed that this is really going on in our world right now! They were also effected that someone they knew came from this exact situation. ("Ella's brother didn't have clean water AND he had bugs in his tummy???!!!") It really made it tangible for them.  Immediately after watching your video, Alli went and literally dumped out her "spending" jar and said, "I want to give it all" and Jack came over with a fist full of his spending money and said, "Bam! Give it all, mom!" It literally made me cry!!! How neat to see God working on their little hearts...not to mention mine!"
 
Isn't that just awesome?!  It is humbling to see children understanding the injustice of a world where not everyone has clean water.  And even more so, that they are not just understanding it, but are going to their own piggy banks and emptying them on behalf of others.  I would imagine THAT would bring a smile to any parent's face. It sure does mine.
 
Then today we actually had Tariku's birthday party.  The kids who came were asked to forgo buying a new toy for Tariku and simply bring a donation to the well, and if they felt compelled to give something to Tariku, to bring a used toy from their house. So, with 19 kids from five different families (we had three African countries represented in our little gang of kiddos!), we celebrated Tariku.  And we celebrated the fact that an entire community in Africa will have clean water thanks to them. It was so fun and cool to watch the kids engage. 
 
We sat them all down in front of the laptop and let them watch this video:
 

charity: water 2010 September Campaign: Clean Water for the Bayaka from charity: water on Vimeo.
 
I couldn't believe how they stayed engaged.
 



 
They watched as we explained what they were seeing.
 

 
And they all smiled when Tariku started pointing to the kids drinking clean water at the end of the video.  His excitement was so ridiculously sweet!  I just love my little man!
 

 
Wow.  Kids are awesome.  We are so grateful for our awesome friends who have stepped up to not only learn about clean water, but to give to and to pray for those who don't have it.  I don't know, folks...I think we might all just be raising little world changers.  Maybe it's time we start seeing them as such.

The Impact of Our Stories: WATER

Clean water.  We turn it on in our kitchens to wash the dishes or to get a drink.  We use it to shower.  We use it to cook.  We give it to our pets.  We lavish it on our thirsty grass in the summer.  FACT: My grass drinks cleaner water than most of the people in the world. 

When we went to Ethiopia to adopt our son, Tariku we learned his story more fully.  He had lived for four years or so with his birth father and step mother.  They collected their water from a small dirty pond that was contaminated with God knows what.  His family had no other choice.  They needed water and that was the water they had to use.  Tariku's little brother became very sick and had severe diarrhea from the water.  At the age of one, he died. From dirty water.

When we brought Tariku home from Ethiopia in April he had severe stomach and blood parasites from the water...likely, the same parasites that ultimately took his brother's life.  Of course, here in America he had clean water and access to medication that got rid of the parasites relatively fast.  The same sort of simple care would have likely saved the life of his brother.

Parents all over the world today do not have a choice about the water they give their children to drink.  Their kids must have water and if the only water that is available is contaminated, then that's the water they get.  Tariku watched his brother be born and die in the same year all because there was no clean water available in his village.  As a mother, as a sibling, as a human being...this angers me.  Everyone should have the ability to drink clean water.  Period.  Have you ever taken the time to count how many outlets you have in your house for water?  I counted mine today and I have 10 places I can go in my house at any time to get clean water. Ten.  Most people in Africa can't even get to an unclean water source within a ten minute walk.

I'll never forget that about a month after we brought Tariku home from Ethiopia we took a weekend trip to Washington DC.  We visited the World War II Memorial where there is a gigantic fountain.  We walked down to the edge of the fountain and Tariku got on his knees and leaned over and cupped the water in his hand as if he was going to drink it.  I told him not to drink it because it was dirty and that wasn't what it was for.  In that moment I realized that water was much cleaner than any water he'd ever drank in Ethiopia.  He looked up at me confused after I had told him not to drink the water.  He said "For animals?"  I said no.  Then he said "To wash?"  I said no.  Then he said "What for then?".  What for, indeed.   Here we are in America, where we have the luxury of clean water being simply a decoration to look at.

If we can afford to have clean water as a decoration...if we can pay for it to water our lawns and fill our swimming pools, can we not afford to help a community like the one Tariku came from provide clean water for their families to drink?

Tariku is turning five in just a few days.  In celebration of his birth, his story and his miraculous presence in our lives, our family is going to raise the money to build a water well for a village similar to the one Tariku grew up in.  Isn't it cool that you and I can do that?! 

All it takes is $5,000 to impact the lives of 50 families.  That's 50 families who will be able to drink water without worrying it might kill them.  What an incredible opportunity we have to make a life changing difference for an entire community. 

Tariku's story is heartbreaking in many ways, but it is mostly a story of love and hope.  The hope that one little boy can help make a difference for 50 families just like his birth family.  That is a story I can't wait to watch play out.  And thanks to charity:water you can be a part.  We have three months to raise this money and it's going to happen.  I feel it.

Click HERE to read more about how to get involved or to donate.  Let's help Tariku tell his story so that 50 families can live to tell theirs.  Thank you!