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I wanted to share with you that Vicki and I are in the front-end of a process to adopt a child from Ethiopia.
Where do I begin...
Vicki has always been interested in adopting a child and I (being a fella) was a bit more practical and thought it was a great idea... for someone else.
But, a few years ago we began to consider adoption on a deeper level. We checked into it a little bit, but then decided to try for another child. We had Willem. He rocks by the way.
So, now fast forward a couple years to early 2007. I started to a more in-depth personal study on the good news = "The Kingdom of God." God's Word revealed to me how addicted I am to myself, comfort, control, and financial security. It also opened my heart to people who are hurting and in need of God's love and practical assistance. I also had a lot of opportunity to do a study on God's view of the poor, the widow, the stranger, and the orphan...
I finally got around to preaching on the "Kingdom of God" in November of 2007 and the messages were directed firmly at me and my heart. Vicki and I felt called to do something for the "least of these," but what?
Around that time we were invited by my uncle who works for Bethany Christian Services to attend a dinner and to hear presenters share about adoption. The hope of the dinner was to raise awareness for the needs of orphans to pastors. It was a night to encourage pastors to move their churches into the position to do something for the orphans and to encourage adoption.
Although the event was targeting me as pastor to move our church into action - I felt God's overwhelming heart burst inside me and I felt a call to action. (I already knew that Vicki was ready, willing, and on the edge of her seat - I just needed to catch up.)
So when it came time for a response - we wrote down that we felt called to adopt a child.
Over the following months we learned about the different ways you can adopt and help an orphan. We weighed the family dynamics and felt it was best to adopt a child younger than Willem. (Ideally we would love to have another girl...) This decision moved us to do an international adoption. We attended meetings - learned about countries - learned about the process and the needs. Vicki and I felt our hearts directed toward Ethiopia where there are 4-6 million orphans (depending on stats you follow) Half of them are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS.
Meanwhile I headed off to South Africa to encounter the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to connect with our friends at Vox United. While I was there I had a growing passion for orphans and those impacted by poverty and HIV/AIDS as well as Africa. It was a confirmation for us.
So - we continued taking classes, getting paperwork, and stepping out in faith.
Today - we are finished with our homestudy and have a long road ahead of finalizing paper work, coming up with the finances (we hope to do some fund raisers), and just plain waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I need patience.
I hope to start a blog for our adoption journey that will, God-willing, lead us to Ethiopia to pick up the child that has been birthed in our hearts and one day into our family.
I'll keep you posted regarding starting another blog.
Thanks for being my friend and sticking with me all this time - I realize I have not been consistently posting and the posts have become random thoughts, but I imagine that may be changing. :)
sd
Where do I begin...
Vicki has always been interested in adopting a child and I (being a fella) was a bit more practical and thought it was a great idea... for someone else.
But, a few years ago we began to consider adoption on a deeper level. We checked into it a little bit, but then decided to try for another child. We had Willem. He rocks by the way.
So, now fast forward a couple years to early 2007. I started to a more in-depth personal study on the good news = "The Kingdom of God." God's Word revealed to me how addicted I am to myself, comfort, control, and financial security. It also opened my heart to people who are hurting and in need of God's love and practical assistance. I also had a lot of opportunity to do a study on God's view of the poor, the widow, the stranger, and the orphan...
I finally got around to preaching on the "Kingdom of God" in November of 2007 and the messages were directed firmly at me and my heart. Vicki and I felt called to do something for the "least of these," but what?
Around that time we were invited by my uncle who works for Bethany Christian Services to attend a dinner and to hear presenters share about adoption. The hope of the dinner was to raise awareness for the needs of orphans to pastors. It was a night to encourage pastors to move their churches into the position to do something for the orphans and to encourage adoption.
Although the event was targeting me as pastor to move our church into action - I felt God's overwhelming heart burst inside me and I felt a call to action. (I already knew that Vicki was ready, willing, and on the edge of her seat - I just needed to catch up.)
So when it came time for a response - we wrote down that we felt called to adopt a child.
Over the following months we learned about the different ways you can adopt and help an orphan. We weighed the family dynamics and felt it was best to adopt a child younger than Willem. (Ideally we would love to have another girl...) This decision moved us to do an international adoption. We attended meetings - learned about countries - learned about the process and the needs. Vicki and I felt our hearts directed toward Ethiopia where there are 4-6 million orphans (depending on stats you follow) Half of them are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS.
Meanwhile I headed off to South Africa to encounter the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to connect with our friends at Vox United. While I was there I had a growing passion for orphans and those impacted by poverty and HIV/AIDS as well as Africa. It was a confirmation for us.
So - we continued taking classes, getting paperwork, and stepping out in faith.
Today - we are finished with our homestudy and have a long road ahead of finalizing paper work, coming up with the finances (we hope to do some fund raisers), and just plain waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I need patience.
I hope to start a blog for our adoption journey that will, God-willing, lead us to Ethiopia to pick up the child that has been birthed in our hearts and one day into our family.
I'll keep you posted regarding starting another blog.
Thanks for being my friend and sticking with me all this time - I realize I have not been consistently posting and the posts have become random thoughts, but I imagine that may be changing. :)
sd
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Kevin Stinehart