The Sound of LIfe

I'm pleased to announce that I survived this very busy "appointment week."  Monday started off with Jordan having an appointment with the developmental pediatrician.  The same one we took Slava to last February who officially diagnosed his FASD.  We decided it would be a good idea to have Jordan evaluated also since he has some of the physical attributes (including scoliosis) of FAS.  The doctor confirmed what we already knew, yes, Jordy has FASD.  But the difference between the 2 boys is significant.  Slava has more of a mental disability along with ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder. Jordan's is more physical (small stature, scoliosis, etc.) but instead of the mental disability he has more along the lines of a learning disability and ADD.  None of this was surprising to me, but it always makes me sad. 

Sierra also took her 5 hour driving course and will be taking the driver's test in June.  Jordan and Andrii both had dentist appointments (2 different dentists on 2 different days).  And we finished up our home school co-op classes on Friday and had our closing program Friday evening.  The kids all got their certificates stating that the completed their grade:  Sierra 11th, Andrii 10th, Anna 6th, Jordan 2nd, and Slava - Kindergarten.  Now if we can only actually finish for real!  I'm hoping to be finished in about 2 weeks.  Andrii is almost done, Anna should have another week or 2, Sierra is doing more online courses through Liberty University over the summer, and I continue a light but structured routine with the little boys over the summer.  They need to retain what they've learned plus Slava needs the structured activities.  And this proud mama is thrilled that Curtis is now officially an RPI engineering student.  He's taking 1 summer course and will start full time as a junior there in the fall!  

On Saturday Wayne and I took Andrii, Anna, Jordan, and Slava down to the Sound of Life radio station for a tour of the studio.  When Tom Michaels-Zahradnik came to our home back in November to do a live broadcast for National Adoption Month, he invited us to come down for a tour.  A few weeks ago he emailed to set it up.  The tour was great!  They have a small, jam-packed facility filled with radio technology.  Tom and his wife, Cathleen, gave us a tour and then recorded us for the Sunday Brunch show!

 The Sound of Life is on 91.1 fm plus you can live stream it on the web!

TMZ showing us how it works!

 We weren't really expecting to be on the air, but TMZ took the opportunity to record some segments for Sunday mornings show and we got to talk about Justice For Orphans and foster care!  All the kids  and Wayne and I got to talk.  It was so much fun!

Slava loved it!

 I'm continually amazed at how the Lord keeps opening the door for JFO to be on the radio.  Mary and I would never have thought "Let's try to get on the radio."  But the Lord opened the door and continues to lead us to the air waves!  It's very humbling to me.  Aside from the fact that I like to talk, especially about the Father's heart for orphans, I have no formal training in communications or ministry.  Yet, I keep finding myself in both camps!  I guess that's how we really know it's the Lord and not us!

 After recording the segments, Tom and Cathleen met with Wayne and I to present some ways we can partner with the Sound of Life as business partners and to promote JFO.  We've got some things to pray about.  We really want to support Christian radio;  It is such a valuable ministry here in the northeast.  Did you know that Albany, NY is one of the least Bible-minded areas in the country?  And here we are.  The Sound of Life has 4 transmitters with a 5th one that is currently off-air with the intention to move it to a better location in the Heldebergs (Pinnacle!).  Until that transmitter is moved and on, Albany will not get a good signal.  We're hoping to be a part of making that happen.

 TMZ also presented us with some partnering ideas for Justice For Orphans.  One would be for us to promote National Adoption Month throughout November with lots of promotional announcements, adoption fact spots, and interviews.  Of course air-time isn't free, but Wayne feels like he can help JFO with this project.  A couple other opportunities are more on-going and come with a bigger price tag.  I feel like we will do what we can do, and we'll trust the Lord for what He wants to do and what only He can make happen.  I believe that radio is an excellent way for us to rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless.  This is a big part of JFO's mission.  The Sound of Life spans much of eastern NY and parts of 5 other States and has the potential to reach 1.5 million people.

As the Lord continues to open the door we will step through it in faith.  We know our mission:  (1) Rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless, (2) Advocate for Christian families to adopt, foster, and do global orphan care, and (3) Support and encourage families who have said yes to the orphan.  All for the Glory of the Lord!

May Musings

It's May and the smell of lilacs is in the air (achoo)!  I love how May bursts forth with green grass and flowers, but I don't enjoy the allergies that come with it.  Thankfully, I only sneeze my head off for this one month.  The kids and hubby blessed me with a nice Mother's Day dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants.  I enjoyed seeing my parents and my in-laws also.  This was a pretty good week too.  I always enjoy my "no appointment" weeks.  Although the girls did manage to drag me to the mall for some new summer clothes and such.  I also had to buy, for the first time ever it seems, new shorts for the little boys.  They are finally growing and had nothing to fit them!  We rounded out the week with our home school co-op on Friday.  Now to enjoy the weekend...and my birthday!

Fruit of the Spirit Tree

 Many of the Character Concepts we've been working on with the little boys are actually fruit of the Spirit.  I got this project idea to do with them.  They had fun gluing the leaves and fruit on as we talked about each one.

Jordan and Bethany at Karate

 I couldn't resist snapping this pic of Jordan fighting Bethany on Thursday night.  Sierra is also the orange belt in the back ground.  I missed filming Slava's first free-fight with a little boy his size.  It was so cute and he was so thrilled to do it.

Pool Time...almost.

 The little kids are always chomping at the bit to open the pool.  The cover came off today, but the water was icy cold and very green.  We may need a new pool liner this year too.  My wonderful husband, who maybe gets in the pool once a year on the hottest day, does most of the work maintaining it.  Actually, I think he'd be happy to back-fill the hole, but I refuse to be home all summer with the kiddos and no pool!  The past few years we've had the liner patched, but this year we probably have to have it replaced.  Wayne is less than thrilled with yet another project and expense, but I think we'll have to do it.

Sierra and her new reading glasses!

This odd child is thrilled to have glasses!  Go figure.  But with all the reading, writing and computer time she logs in, I'd say they are a must.  Sierra makes a party out of everything!  

 My Fisherman Son, Curtis

Curtis has been doing a lot of Striped bass fishing this season.  He's caught quite a few too.  This was just 2 he netted Thursday afternoon.  The were 32" and 34" long.  

Today just happens to be my birthday, and Wayne Jr. called to let me know that we're all going out to dinner tonight.  That was a surprise.  I didn't expect to go out since we went out on Sunday for Mother's Day, but I won't argue!  Tomorrow will be a busy day too.  After church we have a family birthday party to attend, and Justice For Orphans is hosting an event at Gospel Community Church.  We have John Moritz from Hearts of the Father Outreach coming to speak at 7pm.  All in all it's a busy weekend which will lead up to a busy week of appointments.  But I am blessed!  

Justice For Orphans' New Website!

We are so thrilled to launch our new website!  Please check it out at the link below and let us know what you think!

http://justicefororphansny.org/

A Blessed Mom

After barely recovering from Summit 9, I had to jump into a rather busy week.  Thankfully Monday was a pretty calm day, but I was so tired and my allergies were acting up, so I rallied the troops to help me with dinner.  With the beautiful weather we finally got some steaks on the grill.  

Sierra - the grill master!

 While Sierra was grilling, Andrii was doing some yard work, and the little boys were actually playing together!

 Maybe we won't show this one to Dr. Carl either!  

 On Wednesday Mary & I had the privilege to share about Justice For Orphans with 13 pastors from the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies.  Our church hosted this event and our Pastor allowed us to share about orphans, JFO, and Orphan Sunday.  Out of the 13 churches represented, none had ever done an Orphan Sunday service.  And there was one pastor their who is the dad to 7 adopted kids!  We challenged them to pray and consider doing an OS service.  We feel very strongly about pastors having the Father's heart for the orphan.  If a pastor reflects God's heart then his congregation will follow.  I am so thankful that I am in a church where the pastor has modeled a heart for the orphan.  According to the Word of the Lord in James 1:27 it is the Church's responsibility to care for orphans.  It's not a suggestion, it's a mandate from God.  We know that not everyone is called to adopt and/or foster (but if each Christian asked the Lord about it we'd have way less orphans in the world and way more sons and daughters in Christian families) but everyone is called to do something!

Me and Dr. Karyn Purvis

 Suzanne d'Aversa, Slava's social worker, told me about Dr. Purvis coming to an adoption/orphan conference in Albany.  I was amazed that she was going to be in my own backyard, not to mention that there was an adoption conference I'd never heard of!  NYSCCC (NY State Citizen's Coalition For Children) hosts an annual conference in Albany every year.  Since my hero, Dr. Purvis, was going to be there and since I wanted to check out this conference, I braved it alone.  It can be a little disconcerting to attend an event knowing as a Christian I would be a minority.  After all, this was a secular event compared to the Summit.  On the way I asked the Lord to help me to make some connections and I reminded Him that I'd love to meet Dr. Purvis.  I highly respect Dr. Purvis.  Her life's work has been to help kids from "hard places" and their adoptive families.  She is the Director of the Child Development Dept. at Texas Christian University and has traveled the world teaching how to connect with traumatized children.  She offers hope to struggling families.

The conference was a blessing.  As I was browsing the booths, wearing my Orphan Sunday t-shirt of course, a woman asked me what OS was.  She was going to be visiting 3 churches in northern NY to talk about adoption/foster care and was thinking of calling it "orphan Sunday".  She had never heard of Orphan Sunday, so I had the opportunity to hand her my card and share about JFO and OS.  Then Suzanne d'Aversa introduced me to 2 women she knew who were adoptive moms also.  They wanted to know how their churches could get involved in helping families....2 more JFO cards handed out!  Then, as I stood in the buffet line for lunch, who do you think was standing in line directly behind me???  Yup, Dr. Karyn Purvis!!!!  I thanked her for coming and for the hope she brings to families.  I shared that my husband and I had attended her Empowered to Connect event last September in Nashville and that I was just at the Summit last week and sat in on her workshop there.  And hoping to not sound like a stalker, I mentioned that we were going to do ETC's Train the Trainer program this fall.  She was so nice and genuine.  I sat through 3 of her workshops and her keynote address at lunch.  Her teaching is so understandable even though she gets into brain function, brain chemistry, and human development which shines so much light on why kids from hard places do what they do.  And she does it all with her Christian faith shining through.  Like I said, she's my hero.  I'm so thankful for how the Lord heard my prayers and very specifically answered them!

Wayne Jr. & Kerri Graduated!

The kids just completed their first year study at a satellite school for the Global Awakening - School of Supernatural Ministry.  Here Wayne Jr. is getting prayed for and prophesied over.  The words spoken over him brought tears to this mama's eyes.  I am so blessed to have kids who love the Lord and are filled with His Spirit.  God is so good and so faithful.

Today was another busy day, but Wayne and I brought Andrii, Jordan, and Slava with us to the graduation.  I didn't have the heart to leave the little boys yet again.  They keep asking me when I'm going to another conference.  Slava woke up at 1:30am, came into my room, and told me his ears hurt really bad.  This was a moment of victory actually.  I felt bad for his little ears, but this was the first time in almost 3 years that he has come to me telling me that he hurt.  It was a little miracle.  Kids who do not get their needs met during the first months of life, stop crying and asking for help since they learn that no one can be trusted to come and meet their need.  Slava's actually coming to me in the middle of the night reveals that he is beginning to know that he is safe, he has a voice, he can trust us, and we will come and meet his needs.  Praise the Lord for this victory!  On the way to the graduation we saw the doctor.  The poor little guy has a double ear-infection.  Tonight we just cuddled and met his needs, and he was soaking it up!  It was a good day for this blessed mama!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Orphan Summit 9 - Nashville 2013

Christian Alliance For Orphans' annual Orphan Summit 9 - amazing, moving, challenging, motivating, overwhelming, and inspiring!  I'm just back from the Summit in Nashville and thought I'd share on the experience.  This is our 2nd time attending the Orphan Summit and I'd have to say that it was just as excellent and overwhelming as last year.  The very first Orphan Summit - 9 years ago - had 39 people in attendance.  This year there was a record-setting 2,500 people!  Brentwood Baptist Church was maxed out and, for the first time ever, CAFO couldn't accept registrations at the door.  If you didn't pre-register, you didn't get in.  Mary and I were relieved to have pre-registered of course!  

 Mary & I on Wednesday evening after checking in.  We got our cool name tags and free coffee and sat on the lawn to dig through our goody-bags and enjoy the Nashville sunshine!

My really cool name tag! 

 We stopped at the help-desk to pick up some ribbons to add to our name tag.  It made us feel pretty important to sport all those ribbons for the causes we're connected with.

Thursday morning began with worship and opening prayers by Pastor Mike Glenn of Brentwood Baptist and Pastor Daniel Kaggwa from Uganda.  Over 25 countries were represented at the Summit as well as every State in the Union except Vermont.  We will have to do something about that!  Jedd Medefind, President of Christian Alliance For Orphans welcomed us and our very talented emcee was Peder Eide (worship leader, speaker, and adoptive dad).

On stage:  Congresswoman Michele Bachmann with Dennis Rainey & Bob Lepine from Family Life.

 Aside from being pro-life and pro-family, Congresswoman Bachman and her husband fostered over 25 older kids in there home while they were raising their own little ones.

After the morning General Session we attended breakout sessions throughout each day.  Pictured below is Dr. Karyn Purvis.  She is the the teacher that Wayne & I went to see at the Empowered To Connect conference last September.  She will also be at an adoption/foster care conference in Albany on Friday, which I plan to attend as well.  I highly respect Dr. Purvis and have learned so much from her regarding parenting "kids from hard places."

After lunch on Wednesday Mary and I watched a movie screening on the documentary "Stuck."  It detailed the painful realities and conflicts that arise in the process of inter-country adoption.  It was emotionally draining as literally millions of children are "stuck" in orphanages around the world with no hope for a family.

The Wagner Family interviewed by John Carr from Bethany Christian Services.

 The Wagner family (parents seated far right) have 3 biological kids and fostered/adopted 5.  They were featured in the Orphan Sunday 2012 video.  In the evening we were treated to some music by recording artist, Show Hope founder, and adoptive dad - Steven Curtis Chapman.  It was a real treat.

Friday began with worship and another live interview by Dennis Rainey & Bob Lepine of Family Life radio.  This time they spoke with Bishop W. C. Martin of Possum Trot, Texas.  He pastors Bennet Chapel and in 1997 he and his wife began fostering and adopted 4 children.  Since then his small congregation has stepped up to foster/adopt 76 children.

George Dennehy playing guitar with his feet.

 A while back I saw a video on facebook about adoption and it featured the Dennehy family.  George is one of the several children they have adopted.  He is from Romania and was born with no arms.  When he was adopted at 14 months old he only weighed 9 pounds.  In many Eastern European countries, if a child is born with a deformity it is considered a curse of God.  So in the orphanage he was given even less care then the other orphans.  Adopted by the Dennehy's it was discovered that he has musical talent.  He can play the cello, piano, bass guitar, and acoustic guitar.  George treated us to "Amazing Grace" which he sang and played the guitar for.  He has an incredible sense of humor even telling us that his nick-name is "no arm guy"!  He has been able to travel back to Romania recently to meet his birth parents and even spoke about how adoption saved his life on the radio in Romania.  Romania is currently a closed country as international adoption is not permitted there.

Mary and I with Bishop Martin.

 On Friday we attended a lunch meeting for Orphan Sunday coordinators.  We learned about some new OS resources to help us in connecting with churches to promote Orphan Sunday.  Pictured below from left to right (Larry Bergeron pastor and author of Journey to the Fatherless, David Aruda - pastor and OS coordinator for Massachusetts, and Jodi Jackson-Tucker - international director for Orphan Sunday.

 Orphan Sunday first began when a pastor in Zambia wanted to inspire his poor congregation to help the orphans in their community.  An American pastor attended that service and was so moved that he brought the idea back to the States and since then Christian Alliance For Orphans has spearheaded the campaign to rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless.  In 2013 it bounced from Zambia, to the US, then back around the world with a million Christians in Ukraine celebrating Orphan Sunday last year.  It has been reported that pastors of churches in Ukraine want to make a "Ukraine without orphans!"  They are promoting foster care and adoption within their own country.

Above is the new face of Orphan Sunday for 2013!  I'm thrilled to report that this face is of a Ukrainian orphan!  Posters and post cards as well as other resources will be available at the Orphan Sunday website.

Some of the other workshops I attended included Biblical Counseling and a Successful Orphan Care Ministry, Building A Church Orphan Ministry 201,  Human Trafficking Targets:  How You Can Help Protect Orphans & Children in Foster Care.  We also watched a screening of the movie King's Faith  which depicted a young man aging out of the foster care system and how he got a second chance on life.  Friday evening's General Session included a performance by recording artist Nicole C. Mullen (also an adoptive mom), music and testimony by country performer Jeremy Wayne.  Jeremy was a homeless street kid at age 13 when his mom and step father abandoned him on the side of the road.  His story was amazing.  The last speaker, pastor, author, adoptive dad, David Platt, challenged us with a message reminding us that adoption is the Gospel.  Using Ephesians 1 (God chose us in love...He predestined us for adoption) Platt pointed out that adoption begins with a parents' initiative to adopt, not a child's.  The Gospel does not begin with our pursuit of God, but His pursuit of us.

All in all it was an excellent conference.  I came home inspired to adopt some orphans and do foster care.....and of course rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless!