Ick

Abuse within families, gang rape, coercion, fear tactics, ick. Sick. Orphans placed into foster care where they are abused again instead of having a safe haven. Ick. Girls with no place to call home, defenseless against the physical strength of men who want to take advantage. Children sent to the streets to work, beaten up when they come home penniless. Hungry. Where is the love? Where is the justice?

Prov. 23:10-11 Don't stealthily move back the boundary lines or cheat orphans out of their property, for they have a powerful Advocate who will go to bat for them.

Isaiah 58:6 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. 7 What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. 8 Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. 9 Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, 10 If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. 11 I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. 12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

Good News for Street Kids

We attended Bethany's information meeting last week (a requirement to initiate the process with their agency). We just learned about an adoption conference here in Minneapolis at the end of the month so we plan to attend that.

I'm encouraged by the orphan care I'm learning about. I just finished reading A Cry From the Streets, a story of faith and beginning of caring for street kids in Brazil. It's from the YWAM International Adventures Series, and each book I've read so far in this series has been gripping. I highly recommend them! I'm encouraged to learn that YWAM has outreaches to street kids in India and Colombia as well (and probably lots of other countries). I'm also thinking of my friend Monica who works with street kids in Peru through Word Made Flesh and our friend Ken who lives in the Philippines working with street kids.

I'm excited about this and hoping we can officially begin our application soon. We're hoping Dave gets a full-time job in the next 2 months and we'll find out if we're staying in St. Paul or not.

Hope Center is Beautiful

We visited the Hope Center in India last December. The children are remarkable singers, and full of joy! We were encouraged to see how well orphan care is working in this instance. :) The picture we of desperate poverty we had gotten from Slumdog Millionaire and other sources was not what we experienced (thankfully!). The kids were generous, kind, helpful, and confident. Global Action is building apartments and asking host parents to live with 7 children and make a commitment of at least 10 years. We are hopeful that enough couples will come. It truly is a beautiful place where your heart feels so full because the children are so rich in spirit. I miss them!

You can hear them sing a little at the end of this movie.


Anyway, there have been many days I've gotten tired of waiting to turn 28 so we can apply to wait some more (to turn 30 to be cleared for travel). In the meantime, we've talked at length about what makes sense for us. Logically, adopting from a Spanish-speaking country makes the most sense. We speak (decent at least) Spanish. Our community has some Spanish-speakers, but we don't really know anyone who speaks Hindi. When reading about attachment as well as developing identity, language seems like a big bonus. I've read a number of vignettes about children acting out because they're afraid and by the time the parents bring in a translator, they find that the child isn't being disobedient but is afraid of something.

Mostly though, Spanish is fun. There's research about different personalities and frame (or viewpoint) switching when using 2nd (3rd...) languages. For me, when I speak in Spanish, I tend to be more free with compliments and terms of endearment. I think speaking Hindi would also be like that for me, but my vocabulary is about 20 words big right now (on a good day).


In other semi-random thoughts...it's good not to rush, I love reading books, I'm having fun training my dog, and I love teaching ESL. My students are super encouraging, hardworking, and good-natured!