National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 15

Lori Willis and her son Jonathan set out to capture their joy as a family among the autumn leaves. Lori gave their photographer instructions: "No poses, no stress, lots of fun, lots of giggles!" The result? What came out in the photos was their natural love for one another.

Make it a tradition: each year during National Adoption Month, take a picture together as a family...and share it! Share your photos with your friends and family, with your adoption community, and with Children's Hope.

You'll see Lori and Jonathan (adopted from Russia in November 2005) featured in the winter edition of the Children's Hope International print newsletter, in your mailbox next week. Families happy together—that's definitely something to celebrate!

Note: If you would like your pictures submitted to a Children's Hope publication, please send non-professional photos, or ensure you own the digital rights. ...Our staff loves to view them all; thank you!

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Cry of the Orphan programming for November 15:

FamilyLife Today
Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life, address the recent Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit on the topic of the church’s response to the orphan crisis. (Day 1 of 2)

Children's Hope Executive Director Dwyatt Gantt and Outreach Director Cory Barron attended this conference. Read Cory's take on the church's response here.

Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson
"Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved" (Part 2 of 2)
The Heart of a Birth Mom - Mrs. April Warren and Mr. Nathan Howe — April Warren shares her story of how as a 17-year-old she decided to place her child for adoption. Nathan Howe, April's biological son, shares his story of having been adopted. The two were reunited on Focus on the Family in 2006.

Money Matters
Paul Pennington and Jason Weber from FamilyLife will discuss the joy of orphan care and adoption ministries in the local church.

Andy Lehman from Life International shares about the many financial programs available to help families afford the cost of adoption. In this program, Crown will air selected testimonies from those whose adoption were especially blessed regarding financial obstacles.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 14

As a humanitarian missionary, Ilene Tucker worked in Vietnamese orphanages under the umbrella of Children’s Hope International in the summer of 2006. In 1994, as dedicated USA Water Polo master players, Ilene and Andy Carbonell organized the "Turkey Bowl" to combine their love of bringing together family and friends with their love of water polo.

Although the events do not seem related, for the past two years they have been. For the second year in a row, the Turkey Bowl's proceeds will benefit Children's Hope Development Aid programs. While having fun (players receive t-shirts and the three participating teams are named: The Breasts, The Wings, and The Thighs), these two athletes have also found a way to give back to those less fortunate.

Have you considered what you could do? Whether it is putting together a scrapbooking event, a book club, or a Christmas themed three-legged race, get together with your friends or church members and plan an event to promote international adoption.

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Cry of the Orphan programming for November 14:

FamilyLife Today
Michael Easley (day 2) discusses important cautions to consider regarding adoption.

Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson
"Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved" (Part 2 of 2)
Author Dorie Van Stone tells her story of growing up as an orphan and encountering the God that deeply loves her.

To find a station near you featuring "Focus on the Family" programs, visit www.listen.family.org/findastation.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 13

Yesterday, Cry of the Orphan received a letter from the White House. Jay Hein, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, shared these facts:

The needs of orphans today are staggering. An estimated 143 million children face the world as orphans in the developing world. In the U.S. alone, 514,000 children live in our foster care system, and approximately 115,000 of them are waiting to be adopted. Without parents, children are often deprived of the love and protection they need and are often susceptible to abuse, illness, poverty and other injustices.

Read the letter and share this link with your friends and family. At Children's Hope our mission is to find 'Homes, Health, and Hope for Children in Need'. Five hundred fourteen thousand of these children live in foster care right here in the US. Encourage and lift up those you know who seek to adopt domestically and through the US foster care system today.

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Cry of the Orphan programming for November 13:

FamilyLife Today
Michael Easley, President of Moody Bible Institute and his wife Cindy discuss the topic of infertility and adoption.

Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson
"Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved" (Part 1 of 2)
Author Dorie Van Stone tells her story of growing up as an orphan and encountering the God that deeply loves her.

To find a station near you featuring "Focus on the Family" programs, visit www.listen.family.org/findastation.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 12

Seventy-five orphan care and adoption ministries and organizations joined hands with FamilyLife, Focus on the Family, and Shaohannah's Hope to plead for the cause for orphans. Children's Hope is proud to be among them.

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Today marks the first day of the Cry of the Orphan campaign, which aims to spread the message of orphan's needs to millions of people across the country. Every day this week, popular hosts Dennis Rainey of FamilyLife Today, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Howard Dayton of Money Matters will focus their radio broadcasts on the orphan crisis—and give you a call to action.

Tune in today for Cry of the Orphan programming:

FamilyLife Today
John Fuller, co-host of Focus on the Family, speaks of his experience as an adoptive dad.

To find a station near you featuring "Focus on the Family" programs, visit www.listen.family.org/findastation.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 11

Hold a simple candle light service honoring all the members of your child’s family —their birth family, foster family, and orphanage caregivers.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 10

Tonight, take the time to read your favorite children’s adoption book before bed time with your child/ren.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 9

Going into the weekend, call and offer support to another adopting family waiting for a referral or working on their dossier. If you know someone considering adoption, call and support this person as well. As an adoptive parent, your experience can be their greatest resource for insights into both the expected and the unexpected in international adoption. Share also the many dimensions of parenting and the joy it has brought to your life.

Looking for a family to speak with? Children's Hope reference families would love to hear from you.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 8

National Adoption Month provides an opportunity to remember all involved in your international adoption.

If you are a Children's Hope China adoptive family, write a letter today to your child’s orphanage and/or foster family with an update on your child. Send your letter and photos to Children's Hope, attention to Ann Tollefson. We will provide translation and ensure the orphanage receives it. Please include your own name, your child's original name, American name, date of birth, adoption date, orphanage and province.

(Many countries, other than China, send required updates directly to their orphanages. If you would like to remember an orphanage in a different way, consider donating to Children's Hope, earmarking the funds to a specific orphanage, or include both your child's orphanage and its children in your prayers.)

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 7

National Adoption Month is a celebration of family. If you are not an adoptive family currently, it is difficult to realize the array of emotions involved in adopting a child—internationally, domestically, or through foster care.

Hallmark Channel online is presenting a series for National Adoption Month, simply entitled Adoption. The series portrays real-life experiences of those involved in adoption from birthmothers, families involved in infant domestic and foster care adoptions, and several families adopting internationally. Please note: a few featured families completed their adoptions several years ago and have been home with their child for some time. Although the timelines and fees mentioned may vary from today, the emotions remain the same. (For current adoption timelines and fees, visit our Adoption Programs Overview page.)

You may delve deeper into real family experiences by visiting Children's Hope Family Stories online. If you are a Children's Hope family, consider writing your story to share with others and spread awareness of the joys of international adoption.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 6

Get involved. Search out an adoption related event in your area to participate in this month. Children's Hope spotlighted events:

Journey To Me, along with Adoption Options, presents Beyond Consequence's Dr. Bryan Post and the Creating Secure Attachments for Adopted Children seminar.

When: Nov. 10, 2007, 8:30am - 4:30pm
Where: Cherry Hills Community Church
3900 Grace Blvd
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
Cost: $50.00

Founded by adoptive parents, Journey To Me, provides adoption resources to help families. The Creating Secure Attachments for Adopted Children seminar will be Journey To Me's first fundraiser. This is an educational event for adoptive parents, waiting parents and people considering adoption.

Adoptive Parents Committee presents Children Are the Hope of the World, the 27th annual Tri-State Adoption Conference.

When: Nov. 18, 2007, 9 - 5pm
Where: Montclair State University (New Jersey)
Cost: (see brochure)

This conference is for those who are considering adoption as a way to build their family, those who already adopted, and advocates who are involved in the adoption and foster care fields. The event includes over 85 workshops offered by adoption professionals for prospective parents and adoptive parents. Click Here for the brochure.

To find more adoption related events in your area, visit www.nationaladoptionday.org.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 5

During a terrible rainy season, a family headed by a young girl had to evacuate their home. Her younger brother insisted on going back for his bear, saying, "It has a heart on it and means somebody loves me." They rescued the bear, and minutes after they left the house, it was washed away by the rains. Another small girl in Zambia, ostracized at her school for having AIDS, told her teacher her bear was her only friend. It was buried with her when she died."

—Knitting for Peace (Betty Christiansen)

During National Adoption Month, you can begin a special craft that would mean more than you could know to an orphan who lives in a country affected by HIV/AIDS. The Mother Bear Project provides knitting and crocheting patterns for a labor of love to benefit a child who has no family of their own.

“It’s something they can hold onto and love,” says Children's Hope (Ethiopia Program) adopting mother, Victoria Reese. When Emily Rice in the New York office spread word to her families of the Project, Victoria shared the idea with her mom who was on board immediately. “My mom lives a little more than an hour away, but she has completed one and was willing to come visit and show me how with the pattern.”

The Reese family decorated their bears with Redskins colors. Together with her sister, her family has been brought together through the experience, for the greater good.

“I want these children to know they were not forgotten,” says Victoria.

For more information on the Mother Bear Project, visit their web site at
www.motherbearproject.org.

 

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A Long-Awaited Day Arrives for Ten Children's Hope China Families!

Children's Hope received 10 China referrals today! The 10 beautiful little girls are from the Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Liaoning provinces. Nine of the girls range in age from 6½ to 13 months; one toddler girl, just over 3 ½ years old, was referred to a St. Louis family. When her parents were presented her referral, they said, “We are thrilled; she is so beautiful!”

These families waited 23 long months from the day China entered their paperwork in December 2005. Our Chinese expedited family waited 14 months. These families will travel to China to finalize their Chinese adoptions in approximately 8 weeks.

This group of referrals were for Children’s Hope families with log-in-dates 12/1/05 through 12/8/05. Congratulations to these families and all our China families who have moved up in line!

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 4

If you have adopted internationally or are currently in the process to adopt, display a map of your child's homeland (one from each country, if you have adopted from more than one country) prominently in your home. Review the geography of the area of their orphanage or foster care.





Make a special dinner common to the region. For an added treat, take care to search out harder to find ingredients. Let everyone participate and make sure to laugh if things do not turn out perfectly!

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 3

While cuddled up on the couch this weekend, watch your adoption video as a family. Open up your picture boxes and together look through your adoption trip photos and describe the feelings and details of the most important days of your family uniting.

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 2

Whether you are a supporter of adoption, a family considering adopting internationally, or a family completed through adoption—take a moment today to get to know your peers.

Children's Hope families share about their adoption process through their online journals on the Children's Hope blogroll. Along the right-hand sidebar of this site, you will find families in all stages of the adoption process:

Waiting couples and singles are putting together their paperwork for China, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, Russia, or Kazakhstan. These families are waiting for a day to mark down in the history of their lives—the day they are matched with their child.



Traveling families are in the midst of it all: traveling to meet their child face-to-face, bonding in their child's birth country, and officially completing their adoption, uniting their family forever.





Completed families are now home, spending everyday learning to be an advocate, a superparent, and a conscientious adoptive mom or dad to each child in their family.

Spend some time today visiting these families' sites and send them encouraging words and comments. Let them know you are there and join in on the conversation. You'll be visiting a part of the Children's Hope adoption community!

 

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National Adoption Month—Celebrate Day 1

Today is the day to display your Orphan Tree of Hope at your church or place of business! Over 80 churches around the nation are decorating their Tree of Hope today, to display 50 ornaments with either photos of children in need of sponsors or aid projects in need of funding. If you are not able to promote a Tree of Hope in your community this year, develop personal awareness by visiting www.HelpAnOrphan.org to learn more about current Children's Hope development aid projects which directly touch children left behind.

Want to get involved in the Orphan Tree of Hope next year? Contact Michelle at TreeOfHope@ChildrensHope.net.

 

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