Last week this was emailed to us and the message is so true, we had to share.
Please watch and ask yourself if you could be that family! If you do embark on this journey, we promise you that it will be the most rewarding experience of your life. Get a tissue handy…
Call us if you are interested in adopting a boy. We'd love to speak with you! 314-890-0086 or reach us by email at info@childrenshope.net.
Conference Dates and Location:
Nashville, Tennessee - September 23-24, 2011
(at Brentwood Baptist Church)
All registrations will be 50% off thanks to a generous donation from Focus on the Family.* Use discount code: FOCUS when registering online. Please pass these special savings on to your contacts and friends! *Limited availability
A 4-time work team has returned to Ethiopia to provide muscle in building The Bright Hope School garden's security wall. This school teaches to the 2100 children whose sick parents suffer from leprosy or AIDS, and seek treatment at the nearby hospital.
The school's sustainable garden is made possible by Children's Hope families and friends and adds fruit, vegetables and eggs to the kids' diet (otherwise, often made up of toast alone, prepared by the school for breakfast).
This weekend, a work team member posted a valuable life lesson to the team's blog:
"Oh, how I missed hauling rocks on my back in a potato sack. Seriously. Today, as far as manual labor goes, that's what we all we did… rocks. Back and forth. We would walk the trail from the pile where our Ethiopian friends would ask, “Sint? (or “How many?”) and we’d tell them "2, 3, 4, or 5" scoops from the shovel (as you can probably imagine by my physique, I routinely asked for 5).
One time on our way to fill up our sacks my friend (and team member), Trecie told me the life motto she had developed. She said she could either choose to look to the left and make her life about that, or she could look to the right and make her life (or day) about that.
As we hiked the path back to the pile that was slowly (very, very slowly) depleting you could look to your left and find a 100 yard hedge of thorn bush lined with trash, dead roots and even a bone or two. Or you could look to your right and take in Bright Hope’s garden brimming with green vegetables shooting up through the dirt, neat rows and freshly watered soil. Trecie said it’s her goal to look right. I like that."
This week on CHI-TV: Families call frequently asking, "Should we change the name of our newly adopted child?" Sharon Turner, Ethiopia Program Director for Children's Hope International, discusses this sometimes "hot" topic, with both the benefits and drawbacks of both retaining birth names and also those of giving a child a new American name. Sharon's experience may help in your thought process of making the best decision for your family.
If you are a family that has considered this question, join the conversation by commenting and letting us know your thoughts and insights.
Watch the video "Should we keep our child's given name?" below.
Having problems viewing this video? Watch it on YouTube.
Check out the CHI-TV archives to find more answers to your questions. Or ask your own question by emailing Communications@ChildrensHope.net. We'll have one of our experienced staff respond to you personally. Your question might even make the next segment of CHI-TV!
If you are reading this post via email, you may click here to jump to the blog to comment.
You've completed all of the paperwork. You've waited for immigration approval and your referral. Now you are about to embark on a trip to another country to meet your child for the first time. "Wow, there's another little person at the end of the adoption process!"
One of your next thoughts might be: "How do I bond with my child?" "What are some fun toys we should take on our adoption trip?"
Ashley Bennett, Adoption Social Worker and Consultant for Children's Hope International, is here to answer exactly that question, this week on CHI-TV. Watch her video below.
Completed families - what did you take with you? What did you discover was a great success? What did you bring that was a flop?
Fun Toys to take on your International Adoption Trip from Children's Hope International on Vimeo.
Check out the CHI-TV archives to find more answers to your questions. Or ask your own question by emailing Communications@ChildrensHope.net. We'll have one of our experienced staff respond to you personally. Your question might even make the next segment of CHI-TV!
If you are reading this post via email, you may click here to jump to the blog to comment.
