The Compassion of Christ

Jesus is compassionate towards children.

1. Jesus was a child.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder. (Isaiah 9:6)

2. Jesus took children in his arms and blessed them.
“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them.” . . . And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. (Mark 10:14-16)

3. Jesus healed a child of a foreign woman.
“O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15:28)

4. Jesus cast a demon out of a child.
And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. (Matthew 17:18)

5. Jesus raised a child from the dead.
Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”And immediately the girl got up. (Mark 5:41-42)

6. Jesus used a child’s loaves and fish to feed five thousand people.
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” (John 6:9-10)

7. Jesus said you should become like a child.
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4)

8. When Jesus came, children cried “Hosanna!” to the Son of David.
The chief priests and the scribes saw . . . the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:15)

9. Jesus predicted the terrible days when fathers would give their children up to death.
“And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child.” (Mark 13:12)

10. Jesus said that if you receive a child in his name, you receive him and the one who sent him.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” (Mark 9:37)

The Blind Slide

We saw ” The Blind Side” last night.  It was a great movie, however, it left out the most important part of the story.    Check out this article http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16080 to get the “rest of the story.”

Orphan Nation

Before the earthquake:

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere

• 95% of aid to Haiti has been reduced since the early 1990s
• 70% of Haitian people live in poverty-annual income of $400 per year
• 15% of all children in Haiti are orphaned or abandoned
• 200,000 orphaned Haitian children live in institutions (the rest are fostered, live with relatives, or are street children)
• 40% of the population is under the age of 15
• A history of an extremely high maternal mortality rate contributes to the number of orphans
• Child-headed households are becoming more common as potential guardians succumb to AIDS or other causes of death

(source UNICEF)

Haiti was a nation with a large population of orphans before the earthquake, now they are “a nation of orphans.”  My daughter went to Haiti during the summer of 2008 and fell in love with the children at three different orphanages. Every natural disaster since then she has made contact with someone who is connected with the children to make sure they are okay.  The orphanages where she worked were in the north, so they have been spared this disaster.  However, she like many of us would like to be on the ground, doing what we can for Orphan Nation.

We send our money to the Orphan Nation (through organizations like the Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse).   We say our prayers to the Father of the fatherless…and we wait.  What opportunities will present themselves  in the future?Maybe one of the best things we can do is support those who will be able to go.  Melissa went with a group from the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio.  There are other organizations like Samaritan’s Purse who have been there for decades trying to make a difference in the lives of  Haitians.   Whatever we do, we will not be able, from this time forward,  to forget Orphan Nation.

Blindside

Most of the time I like to read the book before I see the movie. However, when Blindside came out I wanted to go ahead and see the movie because I had not yet gotten the book. First, the movie was excellent. However, as I have started reading the book, it is definitely one of those, “the book is better than the movie,” especially if you are into sports or orphans. This combination for me hits my heart on so many levels. As a football player (Pee Wee through High School), I can remember what it was like to hit and be hit, and to legally take my aggression out on others. I can also remember what it was like to be an orphan.

If you have not seen the movie, go see it. Read the book, especially if you want more information on football. Reading the book gets more into the “evolution of the game.”

The “orphan” part of the book is what really tugs at my heart. The story of Michael Oher is the story of so many orphans who are lost in the “land of confusion.” It also tells the story of foster care and the older child adoptee, which is very different from adopting an infant.

The life of Michael Oher is a story of heartbreak and hope; misery and miracles. Maybe it resonates with your story. If you saw the movie or read the book, what about it did you find interesting or inspirational?  Share your thoughts!

Orphans and Death

Most orphans do not handle death well.  At least this one doesn’t.  My wife’s uncle George died.  He was 82 years old and was in good health until cancer entered his body like a freight train and took him away.  Tomorrow is the funeral; today is the family visitation.  George was a great man, probably very similar to how my birth father would have been, if he had not died when I was three years old in a one car collision.

This morning as I was reading some comments on his “Legacy” obituary,  tears began welling up in my eyes.  I held back the tears…or at least the crying.    I am afraid of tonight with the family and tomorrow at the funeral. 

I grieve for George’s wife and his only son and his wife.  I grieve for my father-in-law and his wife.  He lost his only sibling and his best friend.   I grieve for my wife and my children.  I grieve for myself, I have lost a man whom I admired and loved.  My body and soul reminds me once again that my father died and I have yet to finish the grieving….and I guess I never will.

Motherless Child

Listen to the children cry,

Did their precious mother die?

Who is going to come for them?

Will it be the State again?

Recession helps foster kids!

Would-be parents turn to foster kids as adoption costs rise

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

The recession has pushed the high cost of private adoptions out of reach for many prospective parents, prompting more of them to look into adopting hard-to-place foster children.

At Adoption-Link in Oak Park, Ill., a lot of people call to inquire about private adoptions, but when told the fees, they say, “Oh my goodness, I can’t afford that,” says director Margaret Fleming. She refers them to foster care.

Private adoptions can cost $20,000 or more because of agency, travel and birth-mother expenses. Many parents want healthy newborns, so demand typically exceeds supply. Foster-care adoptions can cost nothing because states pick up the tab. Many of the 129,000 foster kids available for adoption are older — median age is 8 — and are more likely to have emotional or physical problems.

Applications for private adoptions are slowing, but those for foster care are holding steady or increasing, according to interviews with state officials and more than a dozen large adoption agencies.

“The pendulum is swinging,” says Sharen Ford, of Colorado’s Department of Human Services. She sees two primary reasons: cost and the decline in the number of foreign-born orphans available since several governments changed their adoption policies. Guatemala and Vietnam have stopped taking new U.S. applications; Russia and China have tightened eligibility.

In November, Ford says, an adoption fair in Colorado Springs drew 1,300 people, and 260 decided to adopt foster children. Ford says many were surprised to learn that the adoptions cost nothing and that most of the kids get state health insurance and monthly subsidies. She says Colorado’s foster-child adoptions are on pace to increase 8% this year.

In Michigan, the number of families given new licenses to become foster parents, often the first step toward adoption, increased from 65 in November to 122 in January, says Edward Woods of the Michigan Department of Human Services.

“Our adoption inquiry rate is as high as it’s ever been,” says Dixie Davis, president of The Adoption Exchange, a national organization. She says it got 3,284 inquiries in March, up 9% from a year ago.

There are no current national figures on adoption of foster children. In 2007, the most recent year for which government figures are available, there were 51,000 adoptions of foster children, a number largely unchanged since 2002. There are about 80,000 private adoptions each year, the National Council for Adoption says.

Agencies report increased interest in foster kids:

• Arizona Adoption & Foster Care, a private agency in Mesa, Ariz., has 79 families approved and waiting to adopt from foster care, up from 49 a year ago. Its number of such adoptions doubled last year to 30, and so far this year it has handled 19, director Marcia Reck says.

• Adoptions Together in Silver Spring, Md., is getting 50 inquiries a month, up from 40 a month less than a year ago.

• At Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., adoptions from foster care rose from 402 in 2007 to 459 last year. Kinship Center, a private agency in Salinas, Calif., has been getting 20% more inquiries for foster care in the past six months, executive vice president Carol Bishop says.

Parents who adopt foster kids say the subsidies, which can range from $300 to $1,000, are helpful, but what motivates them is their desire to give children a home.

“I knew there was a real need,” says Shauna Brown, who adopted two sisters, now 6 and 9, from foster care last year. In Texas, Terra Coyle, 50, says she felt drawn to picture ads of needy foster kids. Last year, she and her husband adopted two girls, each of whom gets a $400 monthly subsidy. She views the money as “icing on the cake.” She says adoption is “the best thing I’ve ever done.” Her 8-year-old told her, “I just love being part of this family.”

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most clever and inspiring movies I have ever experienced.  It opens with a police inspector in Mumbai, India, interrogating and torturing Jamal Malik , a former street child from the Dharavi slums. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – hosted by Prem Kumar. Jamal has made it to the million dollar question, however, they believe that he has cheated.  How could an orphan, without an education and from a life of dire poverty answer such challenging questions?

 

Remembering significant events of his arduous and painful past, Jamal explains why he knew the answers.  As each question is posited, he has a flashback which reveals the answers to him.    Just in case you have not seen the movie, I will not reveal any more details.  However, there are two significant moments which reminded me of my own past.  One involved falling into a pool of poop in order to escape an outhouse.  The other is Jamal kissing a scar on the woman of his dreams.

 

These two scenes ignited enourmous emotions erupting from my soul.  I know what it is like to go through go poop — both literally and figuratively (from the ages of 12 to 18, I cleaned out cattle trailers).   Also, I have a scar which signifies a momentous event in my life.

 

Orphan Boy

Orphan boy, orphan boy
what are you going to do?
Your daddy died,
your momma left
the state is coming for you.

Orphan boy, orphan boy
where are you going to go?
A big white house
with a bunch of beds
lined up in a row.

Orphan boy, orphan boy
is a family coming your way?
To take you to another place
perhaps a loving home
is this going to be, “the day?”

Ophan boy, orphan boy
is your life in order now?
Why the tears –
is it because of the pain
is that why you scowl?

Orphan boy, orphan boy
the day will come indeed
when you will say
your life has been blessed
when you will have no need.

Orphan Poetry

original orphan poetry coming