Have we met before? Oh, yes, yes, we have. We’re already friends. You may not recognize us with our new digs. But, it’s just us.
With all the overlap between the mission and vision of The Sparrow Fund and the We Are Grafted In blog, on top of the overlap in people involved in both, we sorta married the two.
Take some time to click around the new site. Check out who this TSF team is, what they do and why they do it. Go read about their upcoming events including Together Called 2014, the second annual retreat for couples sure to bless the stuffing out of couples and a newly announced trip in early March to serve at an orphanage in China.
The great stuff from WAGI will now complement the great stuff from TSF from this day forth.
You know how it is. You’ve watched every episode of 24, every second of Downton Abbey. And, then you can’t stop yourself from hitting repeat. Once you’ve finished watching, you have the bigger picture, you know where things are heading. When you go back to some of those earlier episodes, you see things in a new way and find yourself nodding your head and saying “ahhh, now I get it.”
In August, We Are Grafted In’s third season will end. With this season finale, we’re going to see a few changes around here. We are super excited to share that WAGI will be becoming the official blog of The Sparrow Fund, a nonprofit whose vision and mission aligns with our own. As we join forces, we trust that we will be able to better encourage and support adoptive families. While we may have a new address and a new look, we will still be what we have been for the last 3 seasons, a place for those with a heart for adoption to share their experiences and be challenged and encouraged.
It just seems right as we transition to hit repeat and revisit some of our favorite posts from our first three seasons. For those of you loyal readers from the start, you’ll remember some of them but will be able to read them now with newness. And, for those of you relatively new to WAGI, you’ll read some words for the first time and likely get hooked for our new season.
So, grab a cup of coffee and sit down with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning this summer. Can’t wait to have you join us, friends.
It’s hard. That’s no surprise. Afterall, there’s brokenness before an adoption ever begins. And, where there is brokenness, there is pain and grief and loss and questions and heartache. In the bloggy world, we read a lot about that stuff. Perhaps when faced with the brokenness, we’re moved to write. But, here’s the thing, there’s a lot of beauty too. There’s redemption, healing, laughter, and utter joy. ‘Cause that’s what our God is about afterall—grace upon grace and redemptive stories.
Today, we’re going to take a little time out of what can be the overwhelming part of adoption to share what could be the overwhelming part of adoption—joy.
Share your link here to a post from your blog that shares the joy of adoption. Then, go share in some others’ joy. Make sure you go check out a few of the other posts here too. I have a feeling that joy is a little bit contagious.
We know. Just the word openness made some of you uncomfortable. But, here’s the thing, though not every adoption is “open” in the sense that the child knows and has some level of relationship with his or her birth family, every adoption can be open in that parents can share information and honor the birth families of their children, even if their names and identities are unknown.
And, that’s what we want to talk about today. Openness.How you do it. Why you do it. When you do it. And, maybe what God has shown you through as you’ve built a spirit of openness in your family.
Share an old post or write a new one this week and share that one. We want to hear from each other so that we can encourage each other as we do this thing God has called us to do.
This post is part of my lenten series: 40 prayers for Russia’s orphans. Won’t you join us in lifting up some of the most vulnerable children in our world today? * Day 8
As we drove around Moscow going to various appointments or to visit Arie, John and I had a lot of time to talk with our facilitator and translator. She was such a wonderful woman, full of kindness andentirely capable. We asked her opinion on many things. Once, John asked her what happens to older orphans. We knew the statistics were grim (majority either turn to crime, prostitution, or suicide), but we wanted to know step-by-step what actually happened to them. In Moscow at least, the children leave the orphanage “homes” when they are 17 or 18 years old and the government provides an apartment (to own, not just rent) and tuition for a college education. Mostly, she said, these young adults are encouraged to learn a trade.
When we heard this, our initial reaction was something like that’s actually not too bad, but then our facilitator went on: the young men and women who have spent their whole lives in an orphanage are often unable to cope with the world once they leave. They’ve had meals prepared, clothes and school supplies bought, they’ve lived in community their entire lives, and they just don’t have the skills to live alone. They become terribly lonely. The worst, she said, are holidays. When every other college student returns to Mom and Dad for New Years or summer holidays, these orphaned students have no one. Just think for a minute when you were in college or just starting out in the world. Think about how many times you called home, emailed, or visited your parents to ask for advice or just for a hot meal and come company. These young adults have no one.
Many of the young children in baby homes right now are the offspring of young men and women who grew up as orphans themselves. Having grown up without an example to follow, they simply do not know how to parent.
There are organizations that exist to help these young people not just survive but thrive. They provide mentorship, classes for life skills, and invaluable direction for those who don’t know where to turn. We should remember to pray for them, especially now.
*
God who guides our every step,
Today we pray for the young men and women who have just left or are about to leave their orphanage homes. They are in deep need of your love and guidance. We pray you will provide for them in very practical ways.
Give them a safe place to live, food to eat, an education, and a way to be fulfilled in their work. We thank you that the government provides many of these things in Russia.
However, we know that it is not enough. We also pray that you will bring older and wiser people into their lives to provide wisdom and direction. We pray you will give them a community in which they experience real love. Give them a place to go for the holidays, someone to call for advice, and a loving hand to hold as they figure out how to make their way in the world.
Provide them with spiritual direction through your church. Bring them missionaries, clergy members, and believers to share your gospel truth. May they find unwavering peace and lifelong direction in your precious word.
As adoptions in Russia close, we pray that you will bless the people and organizations who help these older orphans with all that they need. Make them a blessing in their country.
We thank you for every good and perfect gift; we know they all come for you.
Be with these oldest orphans today, we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
___________________________
Jillian Burden
Jillian Burden and her husband John welcomed their son home from
Russia in November 2012. Follow their journey to adoption and
parenting joy at www.addingaburden.com.
Every child deserves to be accepted, to have a family, to be loved.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18
Join us in linking up with Marie Osborne and #SpreadtheLove this Valentine’s Day!
#SpreadtheLove is a social media campaign and blog link-up uniting bloggers, writers, parents, photographers, story tellers, friends, in honor of orphans, desperately seeking forever families.
Cupid’s busy this week…and so are all the mommies looking on Pinterest for cute Valentine cards to make.
Since it’s the week of the year that romance can be more easily talked about without blushing, we’re hosting a different kind of linkup. We want to hear about your marriages, your relationships, and how adoption has impacted them. Maybe you’re in the midst of some hard stuff still. Maybe you have seen your husband or wife in a completely new way as you have watched him or her parent your child. Maybe there is a lesson you have learned through the adventure of adoption that has blessed your marriage.
We want to read about it. And, who knows, maybe it’s just the encouragement you need to write that Valentine to your special someone.
In celebration of WAGI team member Suzanne who met her new son this week in Shanghai, we are inviting you to share your own stories of the day you became a family.
Whether that day was last month or years ago, share your post, share your pictures, share your heart and let us celebrate with you the spirit of adoption.
Such a significant season we’re in to pause and take a look at adoption perhaps in a new way. In light of that, we’ve been sharing words about adoption and Christmas around here from just a few bloggers. But, we know you have some words about it as well.
Between your cookie baking and last minute wrapping, take a minute and share a post from anytime this month relating to adoption and Christmas. We want to hear your thoughts about the two to either get a front row seat to how you might be seeing things in a new way or be challenged today to see things in a new way ourselves.
If you shared a link here, please GO HERE and copy the code to share these links on your blog as well. It isn’t required, but it’s a great way to help your readers see new things too. And, that’s always a cool thing.
