November is national ADOPTION MONTH! Find a way to celebrate it!

There are an estimated 140 MILLION ORPHANS WORLDWIDE right now, and there is so much we can do to bless them even if you are not at a place to adopt.  So this November as we celebrate Thanksgiving lets remember all we have to give thanks for and find a way to give back to these little ones.

My Husband and I had the privilege to add to our family through adoption 2 years ago while we lived overseas in Vanuatu working with Youth With a Mission.  We now have 4 kiddos with 3 having been born from the body and one having been born from the heart.

You can find Bella's adoption story HERE.

Here are some easy ideas you can use to celebrate
NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH this November.

1) Adopt  If you have been wanting to adopt GET STARTED! Here is a great link to Focus on the Family's I Care about orphans website that helps give you a good overview of where to start if you are considering adoption.

I know it is a long process and it involved a lot of time, money and effort but it is SO SO worth it.  By the way if any of you are wondering if you can love an adopted child as much as one with your own DNA believe me it is the easiest thing once you hold the child in your arms and accept them as God's gift to you!

For those of you who do not have the option of adoption at the moment here are a few other ideas that you can implement to celebrate National Adoption Month.

2) Donate to & Pray for someone trying to adopt.  There are so many people trying to adopt that are fundraising so if you can't be one of them consider donating to the cause and help a child find a loving home.  Don't know anyone but interested in helping someone?  Here are friends of mine trying to adopt from Ethiopia

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Lisa and Matt They adopted their daughter Koral in Vanuatu with me while I was adopting Bella and they were both newborns!

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!
3) Sponsor a child overseas through a researched child sponsorship program.  Do your homework as even some of the major names have NOT received very high grades (they use a letter system) for the actual amount DIRECTLY benefiting the child sponsored. Please consider sponsoring through a smaller organization where your funds go directly to the children in need, and do not get eaten up in salaries, overhead and advertising.  These are a few I recommend
Hohidiai Childrens Home in Indonesia through IFCUS

Josh and I have worked with IFCUS hands on and know and trust the leaders.

 

FOVC Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children.  This great ministry was started by a Colorado couple who adopted from Ethiopia and wanted to more for their adopted children's homeland.  I am very excited to get behind this group personally and LOVE what they do and HOW they do it.

YWAM Thailand A wonderful organization that cares deeply for the orphans and children in need.  It is a volunteer organization that works tirelessly for the needs of the children they help.

4) Read adoption stories on Focus on the Family's website  or My Crazy Adoption (Bella's story is featured here along with loads of other AMAZING adoption stories)and let them open your eyes to the amazing things God is up to around the world with adoption.

Project 61: Spreading Hope - A short documentary from Session 7 Media on Vimeo.

Great for families to create awareness with their children and fodder for good discussions.  Pray for the families you read about and those you know who have adopted.

5) SHOP FOR THE CAUSE!  Make your Christmas money work! Use it to buy from sources that support adoption like moms on Etsy who are using their profits to help fund their own or others adoptions.  Here is a link to all the Etsy shops selling handmade goods to support orphans or adoptions.  My friends blog  JUST LOVE 127 has opportunities of how to shop and have the proceeds benefit their adoption from Ethiopia. Or check out Wynne Elders Jewelery fundraiser featuring "Noonday Sun".  Noon day sun gets it's name from a verse in Isaiah "When you satisfy the needs of the oppressed your night will become like the noonday sun"  Just Google it and you will find tons more opportunities to SHOP FOR THE CAUSE!

6) Find out about the needs of the foster care children in your area.  Many foster children will never be reunited with thier families and face years of transitional homes.  Could you be one of those homes and love on those children?  Could you bless a family in your area that takes in foster children somehow to lighten the load.  Could you be an emergency placement home to foster children needing an immediate safe place for a very short time while a foster home is being found?  Look into the needs and opportunities in your area. Check out I care about Orphans for waiting children in your state.

7) PRAY FOR THESE CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD 
You can pray for these children around the world that need homes and shelter and love.

 Go to Pray for an Orphan and sign up to see photos and adopt a child for prayer.  Learn about orphans around the world and how you can pray for them!  Again I say...DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!

These are some of my favorite blog buddies who have adopted...
Lisa at JUST LOVE127 My close friend who is currently adopting from Ethiopia and who came and adopted her baby Koral in Vanuatu while I was living there and was adopting Bella. Want to donate to an adoptive family..look no further.
Rory of Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care You guessed it a GREAT blog about adoptive hair care and other related adoption issues
Amanda of Bacon Tidbits A dear friend from Alaska Who is a self described "homeschooling mama to 6 fantastic kiddos. Including our baby girl and boy who joined our family one year apart and are 4 months apart!"  Great parenting resource!
My Crazy Adoption is a wonderful adoption blog filled with adoption stories, and support. Bella's story is on here as well.
Braner party of 7 A gal in Durango Colorado who has adopted 2 sweet kiddos from Rwanda and has a zest for life!

A father to the fatherless…is God in his holy dwelling…
God sets the lonely in families…
Psalm 68.5-6


Leave a comment and let me know what your family plans on doing to celebrate National Adoption month.  


Please celebrate on behalf of the worlds 140 MILLION ORPHANS who need you to do something!

Bellas adoption story (she turns two on Tuesday!)

This is a copy of an old post I did on an old blog I had while we lived in Vanuatu in the South Pacific doing volunteer mission work.  We now reside here in the US and as her birthday is coming up on Tuesday I just wanted to post this to honor the God that put us all together.  What a blessed miracle she is!

We just adopted…BELLA is finally home & we are all in love with her!

Josh and I have felt it on our heart for years to adopt even before we had kids.  We have tried several times to look into different options but before things could go very far it would always fall through.   We know that at the core of Gods heart is a longing and a desire for children to have life, be loved and cared for.  Here is the answer to YEARS of prayer and a life saved!!  Introducing BELLA CHRISTIAN NEELEY born Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 7:11 am 3.52 kilos, or 7.74 lbs

“True religion is this to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”-James 

I got the call on Sun at 1:45 am that Mary had gone into labor and we (Amanda my friend & I) were to meet her at the hospital.  So I got dressed fast and ran in the dark to my friend Amanda's house down the road a ways to get her.  There was a little confusion and we finally got a hold of the guy who was to take us to the hospital (remember neither of our families have cars, and bus’ don’t run in the middle of the night here unless they are just getting done drinking or coming from a kava bar (not good if you are the one getting a ride!).  We had woken him up and it turns out he went right back to sleep! So an hour later we figured out what happened and had to wake Amanda’s husband  Jeff (you can’t go out as a girl with out a guy in the  middle of the night for safety reasons.)  Then we had to pray for a Taxi cause it was the middle of the night and just as I prayed one showed up (we had only seen two vehicles period in the last hour we had been there!)!

Finally after much waiting and praying Little Bella was born at 7 am!  

This photo is of when she was only 20 min old!  Pre bath.  I was the very first person to touch her after delivery except for the nurse who delivered her!  She was under a heat lamp crying while the nurse attended to Mary (birth mother) and I was able to touch her and soothe her.  I was even able to give her her first bath !

The kids and Josh came as soon as they were allowed at about 8:30 on their way to church which happens to be right behind the hospital.  They were all so excited to meet her!

Notice the falling off diaper! Dahlia was crying cause all She got to hold were Bella’s feet.  Pierce and Dahlia just love having a little sister.  Dahlia keeps tugging on my pants saying “I can’t see my baby” when I am holding her. 

This morning she got out of bed saying “Ours baby! Ours baby!”  Like where is our baby?  Usually she yells “mama” and waits for me to get her out of bed.  Unfortunately at this point Bella much prefers if Josh or I hold her…Don’t know why :) 

This is the brave lady who gave Bella to us.  She is sitting with her daughter on her left and her sister on her right.  She is 36 and is not married, and the father is long gone.  Her parents are not willing to take another of her children as they have raised the other kids (the girl above 18 and two boys 7 and 10).  She knew we were her answer to prayer as to what to do concerning the baby.

Giving the baby up was hard for her to do even though she had planned it for months.  It was a bit emotional at the actual passing over when she got off the bus before us.  She didn’t say anything and I croaked out an awkward “Thank you, thank you” not knowing what else to say.  I am pretty sure she didn’t see me crying as I received the baby from her sister who was with her cause she wouldn’t look at me.  I think she was trying not to let me see her emotions.  I  wrote her a letter and stuck it in her bag at the hospital.  I just wanted to go beyond the language barrier and say that we were honored and thanked her for choosing life for our now daughter.  I reminded her that the love we feel for this baby is the same love God has for us (including her) as He says in the Bible he has “adopted” us in to His family.  I continued to tell her that God has a plan for her life and for Bella's life and that we were blessed to be a part of it.  I also reminded her that God brings the best out of a very bad situation and that this was exactly that.  We have asked her to write a letter to  Bella telling her why she choose to relinquish her to us and that it was not because she didn’t love her…  I hope that she will do that for Bella's sake and for hers. 

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We find it amazing that somehow God arranged it all to go so smoothly.  What a blessing little Bella is to us.  Truly Gods gift to us.