How many it too many? When will the church hear the call??

April 5, 2011, I attended a statewide conference called the 8046 Conference.  The number 8,046 has been burned into my mind and in my heart ever since.  Now, I must burn a new number in my mind and it breaks my heart. 

8046 was the number of children in OKDHS custody on January 2, 2011 and that number became the overarching theme for the inaugural campaign by Oklahoma Faith Based Initiative, OKDHS, and local foster care/orphan ministries to recruit foster families statewide.  Unofficially, 110 families were recruited. The final count of number of approved foster families is still pending.

ADD 262

8308 will be the new theme of the 2012 initiative.  WHY??  Because, on January 1, 2012 there were 8308 children who, through no fault of their own, were in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS). These children may not be orphans in the sense that they no longer have parents, but their families are not able to care for them due to incarceration, extreme poverty, physical abuse, drug abuse, neglect or abandonment.

As the church, we are called to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27). Oklahoma has approx 8000 children in state custody with no where to go.  Oklahoma has approximately 2000 traditional approved and open foster homes. There are over 6000 Oklahoma churches. If every church commits at least 1 family as a missionary into the field of foster care, every Oklahoma foster child has a home. The solution is SIMPLE.


God doesn’t ask for the people of faith to be involved, rather he demands it.  The apostle James states that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress…. “

You and your church may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world of one child.  The immediate, pressing need is for foster families. 

Local foster care ministries and churches have partnered with OKDHS and the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives to reach a common goal of making a difference in the lives of Oklahoma Children.
The 111Project launched in April 2011 began as a campaign to recruit 111 foster families from Metro Oklahoma City churches. The number goal evolved into an ongoing focus of: 1 church, 1 family, with 1 purpose.  That purpose is to leave no Oklahoma child without a family. 

Some other numbers to think on….Oklahoma’s population is approximately 3.8 million.  Is it acceptable that only 0.05265% of our society is willing to step up to care for these children?  How many children in OKDHS custody is too many?  How many children living in shelters (modern day orphanages) is too many?  What is it going to take to awaken the church to this need, this command, to care for the orphans?

So what can YOU do?  YOU can make a difference by getting involved.  For more information on how to get involved, leave a comment or contact your local OKDHS office to volunteer. 

we need YOU, they need YOU, He needs YOU….

Tomorrow marks a special day in our home.  Tomorrow, December 15, 2011, marks the 2^nd anniversary of when our little Rheagan came into our lives.  I will never forget that Tuesday afternoon.  After picking Alexa up from school, Alexa and I made a trip to Main Street to do a little Christmas shopping.  We didn’t have much time because I was to babysit my cousin’s two little ones that evening so that she could take a final for a college course.  It was around 4:30, we were shopping in a little boutique when a call came to my cell asking if our family would consider taking emergency placement of an eight week old baby.  My heart screamed, “YES,” but I knew I had to discuss it with my husband before I could give them an answer.  So in a quick phone call, Jamie and I decided the answer would be YES.  We knew that if we didn’t take placement the baby would likely be sent to the local children’s shelter.  Here it was just days before Christmas, how could we live with the thought of an infant in a shelter at Christmas?  So, with no more information than the fact it was an eight week old baby, we sprung into action.  After all, I had two little ones, ages 2 and 3, to babysit that evening and now I had to prepare for an infant to live in our home.  In an hour and a half, I had said yes, gathered a crib, baby bathtub, car seat, blankets, diapers, & formula, and prepared for our babysitting commitment that evening.  You might be saying to yourself, “Is this lady crazy?!”  Looking back on it, it does seem that way, but when you answer God’s call to foster, it’s not always at an opportune time.  Within 2 hours of getting the call, our little Itsy had arrived home.  Little did we know that cold December evening that two years later, our little Itsy would be a permanent part of our family and we’d have her baby sister placed with us, too! 

Prior to being called into orphan ministry and bringing two infants into our home, the state of our house was usually pretty tidy.  We always had things enough in order to have guests at any moment.  These days, our home is more like an obstacle course of playpens and baby gates to block the stairs and toys strung all throughout the house.  You might also notice the stockpile of random items on the dining room buffet.  What is supposed to hold food and goodies for entertaining seems to be more of a catch-all for the collection of items to send to Grace Center in Ethiopia.  This morning, I read the following status on a friend’s Facebook wall, “If you applaud young people risking their lives for country, but resist them risking their lives on mission, you may not believe the gospel.”  I believe the Gospel and applaud the efforts of both the soldier and missionary, but I have been burdened for a while now about better supporting missionaries.  Yes, we give money and have even been on mission trips to encourage and support missionaries, but I’ve been burdened to do more to personally support them with love, prayer, and encouragement.  I felt God speaking to me through this status.  I keep thinking and praying, “What more is God calling me, calling my family to do?”  I don’t know the answer to these questions, so for now, I will continue doing what God has called us to do and continue seeking His will for our family.  

So what is it that I or we will continue to do?  Well, God has called us to be missionaries to the local “orphans” by fostering and volunteering through a local orphan ministry.  This local ministry, Abba’s Hands, is hosting our first foster family night out this week.  We will provide an evening of childcare so that foster parents can have a kid-free break.  In preparation for that, I have followed up with several area foster families to make sure they knew about the event.  Let me tell you about Ms. W…she is a single mom of 3 teenagers, a business owner, works full time as a nurse and is a foster parent to 4 children (under the age of 4)!  On more than one occasion Ms. W has told me that the biggest need she has is a foster family night out.  Let me also tell you about the A family…they are a couple who have been unable to have children of their own.  They went from no children to fostering 4 siblings under the age of 4 and both of them work full time!  When I called to follow up with Ms. A on the foster family night out, her response was, “That’s very nice.  It’s a blessing to have people around who understand how hard this (fostering) is.”  The blessing is actually ours…that in our obedience to God’s call, we are blessed by being a blessing.  

God has also called us to support the ministry of Grace Center for Children in Ethiopia (www.graceforethiopia.org).  After I visited Grace Center in 2010, our family has partnered with them to support their work.  We’ve supported Grace Missionaries in prayer, giving monetarily, as well as sending “love packages” to encourage the missionaries and even by volunteering at Grace Center.  I had heard that one of the missionaries was having a difficult time dealing with life on the mission field, she was burned out, so we sent a love package especially for her.  On each item in her package we wrote a verse or sited a verse to do with that item.  For example, for candy we wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  It was fun looking for scriptures to go with each item.  I guess it was as much fun for the missionary and her family to open the box and look up each scripture on the items.  I remember getting the sweetest email from her after she had opened her love package!  This afternoon, I packed two more love packages for Grace.  I usually ask if there is a list of needs at Grace before I send a package, this time I asked them what they wanted for Christmas.  Their wish list included beads and craft items for special needs children, games, kool-aid, books, movies, Bible studies, and measuring spoons.  Wow, to compare that Christmas wish list to that of my children!

I share all these things, NOT to toot my own horn.  I share because so many people want to do something; they just aren’t sure what to do.  My family’s approach to living out James 1:27 is taking in local orphans and caring for them, but we can also live it out by supporting the work of missionaries who serve orphans both locally and globally.  I don’t believe God calls each family to take in an orphan, but I do believe He calls all of us to do something to minister to the needs of orphans.  Fostering isn’t easy, but all the other ways our family ministers to orphans are SIMPLE.  So simple, anyone can do it! 

What can you do?  Support a local missionary who is a foster or adoptive parent in prayer, baby sitting, or providing encouragement.  Support a global missionary in prayer, encouragement, sending love packages or money.  Become a missionary by fostering/adopting or start an orphan ministry.   

The point is, DO SOMETHING! 

We (missionaries) need YOU, they (orphans) need YOU, He needs YOU!

Legacy and Beauty from Ashes….

As I attempt to recover from yesterday’s excitement, I have been thinking about a few things….how God can always turn ashes into beauty and how those things impact the legacy we leave.  So if you are my friend or follow me on Facebook you know by all the recent posts, that the adoption of our precious daughter, Rheagan, was final yesterday!  Praise the Lord from whom ALL blessings flow!  This morning Rheagan got to open some really neat gifts from dear friends and relatives….who cannot read the fine print!  After all, the invitation did say the greatest gift was your presence not presents!  But, thank you for ignoring that because in your obedience to Him and not to me, we’ve been blessed even more! 

In one large gift sack given by a dear “Uncle & Aunt” of mine, we found a very precious handmade apron & chef’s hat…to which we be will donning for upcoming Christmas baking!  Also in the bag, we found a handmade blanket and pillow.  One might think it isn’t much, but to me it’s much more than the few yards of fabric and thread…it’s threads of our lives, woven together to help tell a story of ashes to beauty and a story of a legacy.  Thinking of these gifts and how they are the first heirlooms from my side of the family Rheagan can keep and pass on to her children, I began thinking of the heirlooms I’ve been given and what legacies they represent.

If you open my treasure chest of heirlooms you will find many things handmade, hand sewn from members of both my mom’s and dad’s sides of my family.  One thing that might jump out at you is the bright yellow and green afghan.  Wow, they are bright…what was I thinking when I told my Granny (my dad’s mom) that my favorite colors were green and yellow?  It was probably my 3^rd grade year when my Granny asked Aunt Happy to crochet an afghan for me.  I remember how awesome I thought it was when my Granny brought it home from a visit to Aunt Happy’s in Arkansas.  Although the yellow and green afghan doesn’t bring much joy to me today, the memories and the legacy it can tell my children warms my heart.  You see, the legacy of this afghan, like Rheagan’s gifts, is much more than just the brightly colored yarn.  My Granny lost her momma at the age of three and her dad at the age of nine.  Granny was an orphan at a very young age…until Aunt Happy took her in and cared for her.  I really hadn't thought about it before today, but Aunt Happy was probably the first person that modeled James 1:27 for me.  Of course, I only witnessed their relationship as adults, but even after my Granny was grown, Aunt Happy was in a sense her “momma” and in turn was the only “Great-Grandma” I ever had.  So there, in that really bright afghan lies a part of the legacy lived out, a story of ashes to beauty, and a legacy left for me to live out and leave for my children and their children.

If only that was the end…For years I’ve heard the story of when my mom’s dad, Grandpa Walter, and his family came from the Indian reservation in North Carolina.  How they came to Oklahoma in wagons and because of the death of my Grandpa’s Aunt, they brought two orphans Johnny & Glenn (my Grandpa’s cousins) with the family.  These orphaned brothers were raised with my Grandpa and his siblings and even though they would actually be cousins, we’ve always considered them uncles, after all, they were like brothers to my Grandpa.  Again, a story of ashes to beauty and James 1:27 being lived out in my family long before my existence, but being shared in a legacy.  One day when I’m old and can’t remember any of the legacies to share, Rheagan will have hopefully seen it lived out and when she opens up her treasure chest of heirlooms, she can share the legacy and the stories of how James  1:27 was lived out in the lives of her family before her…the lives of her forever family.  I hope when she pulls the apron & chef’s hat and the little pillow & blanket from her treasure chest, she will remember to share how it was given to her by an “Aunt” and an “Uncle” who was once an orphan.  You see, the “Uncle” that gave the gift to Rheagan was the same “Uncle” Johnny who came to Oklahoma in the wagon with Grandpa Walter’s family! 

Thank God for the beauty from our ashes and for family legacies!