Warner Brothers Pictures will be releasing a horror movie on July 24th called “Orphan.” The film is about a couple who decides to adopt a 9-year-old girl from a local orphanage who “is not what she appears to be.” The message portrayed about adoption and orphans, particularly older children, is extremely negative. One of the quotes in the movie is, “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own.” All of us, as adoptive parents, know that adoption is a great blessing and gift from the Lord. This film’s message is completely contradictory to the “Spirit of Adoption” message.
We encourage you, your friends and your family to protest this release by signing an online petition (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/OrphanMovie) and by contacting your local theaters, as well as Warner Brothers Pictures, to voice your concerns about this movie.
Warner Bros.
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522818-954-6000
Saturday, May 30, 2009
“Orphan” Movie Petition
So...we're checking our adoption agency's blog - and what new info do we find??? When we read this we immediately signed the petition. If you haven't heard about this insanity yet, you might be interested to know:
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Overjoyed...
The past week has been such an exciting whirlwind of events. Since joining the Waiting Child Program of our adoption agency in February it has seemed like we've been on such an emotional roller coaster from week to week just anticipating the possibility of seeing a referral for a child that could be our daughter.
For those of you that don't about the Waiting Child, here is the lowdown. America World, just as many other adoption agencies, has a list of children given to them by China that have a variety of special needs - the needs range from some that require very little extra care to major care. Some of these children are simply listed here because they are out of the age range that most families are seeking - that means that their special need is that they are an older child. We've seen it stated somewhere that the age at which a child joins the waiting list is 6 in China. To say all that, we had been intending to join the AWAA Waiting Child Program for some time - joining doesn't affect your place in line for a "healthy" infant unless you pursue an adoption with a child on the list - in which case you move out of the "healthy" line and pursue that adoption with the waiting child. So, AWAA has children assigned to them by China - and they also receive what is known as shared referrals.
Shared referrals are sent out by China to all agencies that they work with in order to increase the opportunity of finding these children families. Since we joined in February, we have reviewed 5 shared referrals. These are very time sensitive - meaning that we had a very short time to decide what to do. We were the only AWAA family looking at each of these children at a given moment, but across our country and even the world other agencies were reviewing them with familes. So, you can see prayer was extremely important in reviewing each of these children. Just to clarify, we didn't review them all at one time. AWAA allows one family to review one child at a time - which is wise...these are lives that are being reviewed on paper and in photos. There are also steps in place - 1) review the child with your spouse, 2) have a doctor review the child and share about the care needed, 3) Lock down the file with the intent to pursue adoption of the child 4) 48 hours from locking the file down the agency must send in a letter from you describing why you want to adopt that particular child and how you will care for their needs - this is known as Electronic Acceptance (EA).
We got the call for the first shared referral a week after we turned in our application for the program, and after that we saw a new one each month. We almost made it to step 3 with the second and third shared referrals we saw, but the LORD had other plans because they were already being pursued by other families somewhere in the world. In all honesty, those were difficult days - to be so close(we were less than 15 minutes late for the third referral which we saw just a couple of weeks ago) to the child you think the LORD might have for you only to see them joined with another family...very heart wrenching. But God is sooo GOOD!
The LORD has shown and taught us great things through this process.
When we began this journey, we were thinking our first Chinese daughter would be anywhere from birth to 18 months. We saw us adopting older children at some point, just not in the beginning. It wasn't long until God broadened our thinking. Many of you know that this past summer and then again during spring break of this year we took our church to work at Rio Bravo Children's Home in Reynosa, Mexico. We know that one thing the LORD showed us in Reynosa was that if we could've brought any of those children home to be a part of our family we would do it in a heartbeat...no matter the age. After we returned home in March we received a shared referral for a 3yr old...she wasn't ours, but through her - God settled the question of a 3yr old. Another shared referral came for a 3yr old, and again she wasn't our's. The next day we received an email with shared referral photos of children that our agency was unable to match with families. We looked at the email as we always did. There was a precious little girl that completely stood out to me. She was 5 yrs old though, so we closed the email and continued to wait.
We were getting ready to leave for a visit with family in Oklahoma the next day - and all of a sudden her face was in my head and I couldn't forget her. So, Monte and I discussed asking to review her file. We had crossed the bridge of a 3yr old - why not a 5yr old? We agreed and emailed AWAA our request.
During the drive up to family we discussed what it would be like to suddenly have a 5yr old - the challenges and the learning. Her being a 5yr old became less and less of a factor. We were disappointed to find the email stating that her file had already been locked by another family somewhere in the world. It seemed that God had broadened our thinking and enlarged hearts only to say again "Not Yet."
There was another little girl in this same group of shared referrals that had caught Monte's eye - she was 6 and 1/2 - so we asked to see her file. She was still available. I should probably interject at this point that each of these children we've reviewed do each have medical needs. After a LOT of prayer over that weekend we just didn't have the LORD's guidance to pursue her adoption, so we sent her file back Monday morning.
About 5 minutes after sending that email the phone rang. It was our AWAA Family Coordinator(FC)...and the 5yr old was available again. This doesn't happen often, but if paperwork is not submitted in that 48 hour timeframe or if a family decides against pursuing the adoption then China resubmits the child to the database. Our FC asked if we would still be interested in reviewing her file...well, of course - we most definitely would like to learn more about her!!! So, we went through the steps and made it all the way through this time! What a marvelous work the LORD has done! A HUGE thanks to Bob and Crystal for their timely medical input! Our EA was sent Tuesday - May 12th! Now we just wait for China to approve our acceptance of her - which is called Referral Approval (RA).
We can't post her picture or give many details about her until we receive the RA. Just know, though, she is a CUTIE! What a great JOY it is to have finally seen her face! Now, we are diligently completing an online course about adopting an older child because it is required to be done before we receive the RA. We're trying to learn some Chinese. Our home study is being updated again so that we can get USCIS approval for an older child. We're trying to get our house in order...especially her room! Gotta figure out what exactly a 5yr old needs because our family and church family want to have a shower for us...any input out there? And last but certainly not least, we're tallying up our finances and the upcoming expenses! So, please add any and/or all of these to your prayers for us. Also, please PRAY that the LORD prepares her little heart for us just as He is preparing our's for her. Thank YOU!
Overjoyed,
Missy
For those of you that don't about the Waiting Child, here is the lowdown. America World, just as many other adoption agencies, has a list of children given to them by China that have a variety of special needs - the needs range from some that require very little extra care to major care. Some of these children are simply listed here because they are out of the age range that most families are seeking - that means that their special need is that they are an older child. We've seen it stated somewhere that the age at which a child joins the waiting list is 6 in China. To say all that, we had been intending to join the AWAA Waiting Child Program for some time - joining doesn't affect your place in line for a "healthy" infant unless you pursue an adoption with a child on the list - in which case you move out of the "healthy" line and pursue that adoption with the waiting child. So, AWAA has children assigned to them by China - and they also receive what is known as shared referrals.
Shared referrals are sent out by China to all agencies that they work with in order to increase the opportunity of finding these children families. Since we joined in February, we have reviewed 5 shared referrals. These are very time sensitive - meaning that we had a very short time to decide what to do. We were the only AWAA family looking at each of these children at a given moment, but across our country and even the world other agencies were reviewing them with familes. So, you can see prayer was extremely important in reviewing each of these children. Just to clarify, we didn't review them all at one time. AWAA allows one family to review one child at a time - which is wise...these are lives that are being reviewed on paper and in photos. There are also steps in place - 1) review the child with your spouse, 2) have a doctor review the child and share about the care needed, 3) Lock down the file with the intent to pursue adoption of the child 4) 48 hours from locking the file down the agency must send in a letter from you describing why you want to adopt that particular child and how you will care for their needs - this is known as Electronic Acceptance (EA).
We got the call for the first shared referral a week after we turned in our application for the program, and after that we saw a new one each month. We almost made it to step 3 with the second and third shared referrals we saw, but the LORD had other plans because they were already being pursued by other families somewhere in the world. In all honesty, those were difficult days - to be so close(we were less than 15 minutes late for the third referral which we saw just a couple of weeks ago) to the child you think the LORD might have for you only to see them joined with another family...very heart wrenching. But God is sooo GOOD!
The LORD has shown and taught us great things through this process.
When we began this journey, we were thinking our first Chinese daughter would be anywhere from birth to 18 months. We saw us adopting older children at some point, just not in the beginning. It wasn't long until God broadened our thinking. Many of you know that this past summer and then again during spring break of this year we took our church to work at Rio Bravo Children's Home in Reynosa, Mexico. We know that one thing the LORD showed us in Reynosa was that if we could've brought any of those children home to be a part of our family we would do it in a heartbeat...no matter the age. After we returned home in March we received a shared referral for a 3yr old...she wasn't ours, but through her - God settled the question of a 3yr old. Another shared referral came for a 3yr old, and again she wasn't our's. The next day we received an email with shared referral photos of children that our agency was unable to match with families. We looked at the email as we always did. There was a precious little girl that completely stood out to me. She was 5 yrs old though, so we closed the email and continued to wait.
We were getting ready to leave for a visit with family in Oklahoma the next day - and all of a sudden her face was in my head and I couldn't forget her. So, Monte and I discussed asking to review her file. We had crossed the bridge of a 3yr old - why not a 5yr old? We agreed and emailed AWAA our request.
During the drive up to family we discussed what it would be like to suddenly have a 5yr old - the challenges and the learning. Her being a 5yr old became less and less of a factor. We were disappointed to find the email stating that her file had already been locked by another family somewhere in the world. It seemed that God had broadened our thinking and enlarged hearts only to say again "Not Yet."
There was another little girl in this same group of shared referrals that had caught Monte's eye - she was 6 and 1/2 - so we asked to see her file. She was still available. I should probably interject at this point that each of these children we've reviewed do each have medical needs. After a LOT of prayer over that weekend we just didn't have the LORD's guidance to pursue her adoption, so we sent her file back Monday morning.
About 5 minutes after sending that email the phone rang. It was our AWAA Family Coordinator(FC)...and the 5yr old was available again. This doesn't happen often, but if paperwork is not submitted in that 48 hour timeframe or if a family decides against pursuing the adoption then China resubmits the child to the database. Our FC asked if we would still be interested in reviewing her file...well, of course - we most definitely would like to learn more about her!!! So, we went through the steps and made it all the way through this time! What a marvelous work the LORD has done! A HUGE thanks to Bob and Crystal for their timely medical input! Our EA was sent Tuesday - May 12th! Now we just wait for China to approve our acceptance of her - which is called Referral Approval (RA).
We can't post her picture or give many details about her until we receive the RA. Just know, though, she is a CUTIE! What a great JOY it is to have finally seen her face! Now, we are diligently completing an online course about adopting an older child because it is required to be done before we receive the RA. We're trying to learn some Chinese. Our home study is being updated again so that we can get USCIS approval for an older child. We're trying to get our house in order...especially her room! Gotta figure out what exactly a 5yr old needs because our family and church family want to have a shower for us...any input out there? And last but certainly not least, we're tallying up our finances and the upcoming expenses! So, please add any and/or all of these to your prayers for us. Also, please PRAY that the LORD prepares her little heart for us just as He is preparing our's for her. Thank YOU!
Overjoyed,
Missy
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Great Bow Giveaway from Sara Beth Bows!!!
So...really - who doesn't love a giveaway??? Especially when it's for some adorable bows and you're expecting or have an even more adorable daughter! Sara Beth Bows is a family business that helps raise money for their adoption of Sara Beth - a daughter from China. The pic above is just one set that is being given away - there are 2 other sets - this was just my fave. So, if you're into bows for little girls, go check them out and enter yourself! Oh, and don't forget to mention that Missy W. sent ya!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Book Drive for Guatemala
WOW...GOD is sooo Good! 400 Cans of Formula are headed to babies in Ethiopia! Let's keep informed and involved in what He wants to accomplish in Ethiopia and throughout the rest of the world.
I came across this book drive for some children in Guatemala over at Journey of the Heart. Here is a snippet of info:
The books will be going to the library in Tierra Linda that Dave from Connexions is trying to get up and running and the other half to the Los Robles school!! You can purchase books especially for them and they will be shipped here for FREE and then on to Guatemala via Medrano. OR You can choose to purchase books for your family and the total of your order will help the school to earn free books!! If we can reach a goal of $500 we will then begin to earn 50% of free books!! Please take a moment to look at the site ad consider helping us to stop the cycle of illiteracy in Guatemala!! Learning to read can mean BIG changes in the life of a child!!
The book drive will end May 26th, so if you're interested head on over to http://www.ubah.com/BF31840
I came across this book drive for some children in Guatemala over at Journey of the Heart. Here is a snippet of info:
The books will be going to the library in Tierra Linda that Dave from Connexions is trying to get up and running and the other half to the Los Robles school!! You can purchase books especially for them and they will be shipped here for FREE and then on to Guatemala via Medrano. OR You can choose to purchase books for your family and the total of your order will help the school to earn free books!! If we can reach a goal of $500 we will then begin to earn 50% of free books!! Please take a moment to look at the site ad consider helping us to stop the cycle of illiteracy in Guatemala!! Learning to read can mean BIG changes in the life of a child!!
The book drive will end May 26th, so if you're interested head on over to http://www.ubah.com/BF31840
Friday, May 8, 2009
URGENT Need in Ethiopia
We recently became aware of an urgent need at America World's transition home in Ethiopia. This home is for children awaiting adoption. MANY of these children are severely malnourished. They need a specific formula. Many of the America World families that have been traveling to Ethiopia have begun packing extra luggage just for this formula - to deliver to the children that will still be waiting for their families. You can read more about one such family that is awaiting travel plans HERE. Children's Hope Chest is working to provide America World with this much needed formula. Please go HERE if you would like to donate money for the formula or to just learn more. If you don't want to pay online you can give by check through the mail, here is the info you need to do that:
Children's Hope Chest
Attn: Ethiopia Formula Drive
9240 Explorer Drive, Suite 202
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Please indicate "Ethiopia Formula" in your correspondence and in the check memo line.
Would YOU join us in giving for this formula so that one more child might live and grow as they wait for their family...what a wonderful surprise if that family turned out to be YOU or us???
Children's Hope Chest
Attn: Ethiopia Formula Drive
9240 Explorer Drive, Suite 202
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Please indicate "Ethiopia Formula" in your correspondence and in the check memo line.
Would YOU join us in giving for this formula so that one more child might live and grow as they wait for their family...what a wonderful surprise if that family turned out to be YOU or us???
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