Birthmom had a beautiful baby girl today and thanks to all of you AMAZING ORDINARY HEROES and adoption advocates and prayer warriors, birthmom went from having not one file to look at, to 3 files for potential adoptive parents, in a 24 hour period of time!! I am just amazed.....and the emails keep coming as well with other potential matches.
This is how it works people. This is how we all come together to SPEAK UP for those who can't speak for themselves. A simple email forward or click on the blog can mean life and a family to a little one who has no hope. There is just a simple gap in communication and getting the word out to the right people and we are trying to fill that gap through our SPEAK UP campaign. SO WATCH OUT!! YOUR INBOX COULD HAVE SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL WAITING FOR YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW :-)
If you would like to sign up for SPEAK UP, to receive email notices about waiting children looking for their forever home please email info@ordinaryhero.org and mention SPEAK UP!!
Many thanks to all of you who passed on this info. I look at the picture above and just think of the life that God has chosen for this precious baby, and how exciting it is that He uses all of us to help connect the dots.
If you are one of the families on the list for this little one then please email me and let me know how the email, phone call, or blog post got to you.
The most rewarding part of being an adoption advocate is seeing it work right before your eyes.
Some of you may remember one of my previous posts about adoption of full African American babies and the great need for adoptive families.
WELL HERE IS A GREAT NEED......
I was contacted by Adoption Associates in Michigan with an urgent request. There is an African American birthmom who is scheduled to have a C section TOMORROW. She requests a full African American family or Interracial couple for her baby and there is still not one file to show her as far as an adoptive family that would like to adopt her baby. I can't imagine that, first of all, she chose life for her baby, and now wants a better life than what she can provide, and there is not one file to show her. So I am putting the word out. Yes, there is a cost involved and if you have ever decided to adopt internationally or domestically then you know of the costs of adoptions. I will tell you up front that the cost of this adoption will be somewhere between 16-20K. But for those of you in the adoption world, you know that it is part of it. We are in the works here at OH to start an adoption grant fund to help those of you called to adopt and this would be a perfect situation.....but we have to get money in the account first :) We are working on that and have our first fund raiser on April 29th which is already sold out...whoo hoo!! If you would like to donate toward our Adoption Grant Program and help us get it built up then click on the donate button at the top right of this blog. Put "adoption grant" in the memo and we will put it where it needs to go to get us one more step closer to helping those who help these little ones.
So until then, I would encourage any of you interested in this sweet baby who needs a home TOMORROW, or knows someone who might be, to spread the word or contact Jane Bareman, Executive Director of Adoption Associates at baremj@adoptassoc.com or call her at 616.667.0677 for more info.
The sex of the baby is unknown.
Thank you to all of you amazing people in the adoption world!
Our new tshirts are in!! I LOVE THEM!! They are just what I wanted......so soft. They are made by Alternative Apparel and are their vintage soft brand. They are white and say CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE in gray. Our red OH logo is on the back as a tag print like our first shirt. These shirts really get the message across. They are the vintage soft sheer so you see me wearing the one pictured above with a white tank underneath. This shirt comes in different sizes and has a great fit. Not too tight. You see me pictured above and below wearing a medium which doesn't hug me too tight at all. I could have gotten away with a small too, I believe.
Click the "white shirt" link to the right on my side bar to order your CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE white shirt today. Also don't forget our original gray shirts as well, which include men's sizes. If you have any questions regarding the shirts, email Charlene at charleneordinaryhero@comcast.net
I am excited to announce our Ethiopia mission trip, July 15-24, 2010. We will be serving the orphan and the street children in Addis Ababa and outside the city in the countryside. I am sending info out to those interested in more details of the trip. Email me at kelly@ordinaryhero.org if you are interested in receiving more info on the trip.
You can click here to watch a quick video that will allow you to take a glimpse of what our trip will look like. Or you can watch below. (You might want to silence the music at the bottom.)
(Pictures have been blurred according to agency recommendation.)
Here I am.....putting a giant call out to those of you who are wanting and willing to lay down your lives for others and drastically change your life for the better as you step up to the call of adoption in a way that very few do at once. I have been asked by the agency director of Celebrate Children International to help advocate for these two groups of precious waiting siblings.
I know there are families out there that have been called to adopt sibling groups and I know that God will lead two of those families to these precious children. If you have been praying about adopting a sibling group don't automatically assume that these kids are probably for two other families and not yours just because the time is not right or finances aren't necessarily great, or you are just not ready yet. Because let me tell you from experience and from talking with just about every other person whom has adopted.....you always have to step out in faith, the time is mostly never perfect, and you will almost never have the money :-) That is what stepping out in faith is all about. But the most amazing thing of all is watching God in action. Suddenly when you have enough faith to say "Yes, we have room" you watch God's provision start to take place. He meets all your needs.
Here is a brief description of these sibling groups.....please read!!
This sweet sibling set of 4 girls have been relinquished by their HIV positive mother because she has so many children and with her diagnosis of HIV, she knows that eventually they will loose her.Their father has died and she has no family to help care for her children. She has relinquished them for good, hoping that they will have a good future.The youngest girl is HIV positive.
This sibling set of 5 (girl, boy, boy, girl, boy) has a sad history.They were sent to the orphanage by the government for their protection and welfare.Their mother is HIV positive (she may have died now) and the oldest girl is HIV positive.While we hope that they can find a family together, it is possible to adopt the second and third oldest boys together or the oldest girl and the youngest girl and baby boy together as their paperwork has been processed as such.
So here is the next question......How many completely lost interest as soon as they heard that one child in each group is HIV+ ??
We all need to get educated on HIV and realize that with the proper treatment and meds, these days, children can live a very healthy and normal life. There is an organization called Project Hopeful run by my friend, Carolyn Twietmeyer, who can not only educate you but offer support, grants, and all kinds of help when adopting an HIV+ child. Please click on her site and contact her with any questions regarding children and HIV. They have adopted over 10 children, several with HIV. This is their mission to help others realize that these children will lose their lives if they don't have our help, because our help means that they get love and proper treatment, which means they get their life back. You talk about saving the orphan......you are not only giving that child a family....but you are giving that child HOPE.
Also, please visit my friend, Tracy's blog. They are using Celebrate Children and are in Ethiopia right now with their new sibling group of 4 to add to her family of 5. So yes, she will now have 7 children. Her stories of these sweet siblings and how grateful they are to finally have a Mom and a Dad are sooooo heartwarming. If you are considering this, then this blog will encourage you....and if you aren't considering this, then you might be after you read her stories.
Siblings in Ethiopia are very close to one another. How sad for the others to have to watch the fate of one sibling suffer from a disease that could be so easily helped. These kids are precious and they shouldn't be automatically discounted because there are so many of them or because one in the group is HIV+. I have 3 sisters and I can't imagine if we were orphaned that we wouldn't be considered because there are so many of us or because one of us might be sick. I totally relate to those 4 sisters pictured above.....I just can't imagine what they have to deal with, but thank God they have each other. These are children that need a home, love, and desperately need us to come in and be the hands and feet of Jesus. God has laid these kids on someone's heart. Is it you??
If you have any questions for me, you can contact me at kelly@ordinaryhero.org.
To inquire about these children please contact
Sue Hedbergsue@celebratechildren.org
or contact Celebrate Children, International at (407) 977-2810.
I am following up from yesterday's post.......
