Rutledge6

Intercountry Adoptions - A to Z Overview

2012-02-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

Here is an Intercountry Adoption from A to Z overview that the US Department of State has online. It gives adoptive families a general overview of the steps to adopt, particularly those involving the US government piece of the process. It also contains several useful sites and contacts for getting more in depth information.

January 2012 AfricanChildSponsorship.com Update

2012-01-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

Our God is a God of newness! As the month of January brings new beginnings, Liberia has some new beginnings as well.

The children at the mission schools are now starting a new semester. It feels like yesterday that my family and I were there to stay for a month and see first-hand this new term begin, though it was a full year ago now! I can close my eyes and imagine the singing in the DHCV dorms, all the kids gathering water from the well in the mornings and doing their chores, then changing into their well-used purple uniforms and walking up to the school building. It is always challenging to begin anew, as the kids have to settle back into a routine. Pray for them to have teachable hearts that are yielded to their teachers and caretakers. Pray for the dorm mothers to have strength to guide and oversee, and pray for the rest of the staff as they discern how to best care for and educate so many children... that God would supply all of their needs and continue to show them His love and faithfulness.

The inauguration of President Sirleaf for her second term is also a new beginning for Liberia in many ways. We are so grateful that God has protected the Liberian people from what could easily have turned into more violence and civil unrest. Winston Tubman and George Weah, from the CDC opposition, agreed over the weekend of the inauguration to recognize President Sirleaf' s leadership and work together for Liberia 's future instead of fighting it further. Hilary Clinton was able to attend the inauguration and show support from our country. Please be in prayer with us that God would draw Liberians to Himself as their country continues to rebuild.

The ACFI annual conference is scheduled for a week in February to be held in the interior. They expect that at least 1500 people will be in attendance. Pray for the planning stages. So much work is involved in preparation for the conference, and so much faith is set in the Lord to provide all that is needed. They rely on villagers to provide places for the attendees to stay. This provides open doors to preach the gospel, as many of the villagers will then attend the conference who are not already believers. Please pray for ACFI elders who are now traveling to make the necessary preparations for the conference.

Please pray for those who have or will be traveling to Liberia to serve alongside ACFI this year. David Johnson from SilentImages.org was in Liberia from January 18-24 to take photos and video of ACFI' s ministries. A couple of missionaries will be traveling in the beginning of February to serve at Daniel Hoover Children' s Village for a couple of months. In addition, a handful of men from the US and Canada will attend the ACFI conference to preach in February. If you are interested in learning more about joining a missions team who will be traveling to Liberia May 24 - June 2 to serve the children, please contact Christian Adoption Services, or you can contact us through the sponsorship site at info at africanchildsponsorship dot com. Applications for the trip are due by February 23rd.

Some of you may remember that in June of 2010, the missions team to Liberia helped to plant Moringa trees, and to train the staff and children at the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf to care for them. The hope was that these fast-growing tropical trees would be a great source of nutritious food for the deaf students' diets, and an easy crop to care for. Well, when I saw the few trees that remained alive last January, it was obvious they were not thriving! From what we gathered before and since that time, there were some insect and other issues, and the trees just did not survive. I'm happy to write that we have a more positive report now! A connection was made with a man from Raleigh, NC who has been involved in Liberia for many years and who partners with a man who travels and trains Liberians in agriculture. We were able to purchase some drip irrigation kits from them to help with the Moringa tree issues, as well as with the other vegetables that have been planted at the school.

The trainer, Zay-Zay, sent an update from his recent visit at the Deaf School, in which he stated, "The students learned how to install the drip irrigation... and have also begun brushing the swamp dry areas for our next planting. These deaf students are easy to work with through their interpreter using sign language. The AG assistant makes sure that watering is carried out daily, and weeding is done properly. And the collard, hot pepper and bitter ball is being harvested for a vegetable dish for the children every three days." I cannot convey to you how important it is for this school, in particular, to have this food source! Praise God that this initiative is literally seeing fruit!

Corrie Luebke
Sponsorship Coordinator

Silent Images Documents ACFI's Work in Liberia

2012-01-26T04:58:00.000-08:00

Being able to communicate what God is doing in Liberia with folks in the US can be a challenge. That's why I was excited to have David Johnson with SilentImages travel to Liberia to document ACFI's ministry. He just landed back in the US yesterday, but he was already able to put together a few minutes of photo and video footage about his trip to document several ministries in Rwanda, the Congo and Liberia.

Can't wait to see more of it when we meet together next week!

Adoption Tax Credit Information

2012-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

I tend to get a lot of questions from families I work with as well as friends who have adopted about the Federal Adoption Tax Credit. It's one of the most confusing parts about adopting a child...and those of you who have adopted know that's saying something. I recently answered some questions for adoptive families who brought their kids home in 2010 and 2011 about the tax credit and thought it might be helpful to post my reply here:

Adoptive Families,

In answer to questions regarding the Adoption Tax Credit, I thought it would be best if I sent all of you the following information about the adoption tax refund for those of you who brought your children home in 2010 or 2011.

To start, here is a link to an explanation of the tax refund on the IRS site along with the forms that need to be filed. Here is a link to FAQs about the refund. This should answer most of your questions.

Adoption Learning Partners also offers a free course entitled Adoption Tax Credit. I'm not sure how up-to-date this information is, but they have great courses, so it's worth checking out.

I have found in talking to people who applied for the tax refund in the past year, that the IRS has changed how they handle this issue. My guess is that is because for 2010 and 2011the tax credit is actually treated as a tax refund. This means that you will receive the total amount you spent in adoption costs up to the maximum allowed amount ($13,360 per adoption federally) as a refund all at one time, regardless of whether or not you paid any taxes for the year. With a tax credit, you only receive up to the amount you actually paid in taxes for the year, and then you can carry forward the tax credit for up to 5 years. (Therefore, if you only pay $2000 in taxes per year, you would only get that much credited to you each year for 5 years for a total of $10,000 towards your adoption costs.) The good news for you is that if your adoption was finalized in 2010 or 2011, you are entitled to a tax refund and will therefore be entitled to the maximum amount regardless of your tax liability. In addition, if your adoption was finalized before 2010, and you are still carrying forward a tax credit, you will be able to receive the remaining credit as a tax refund. The bad news is that, from my understanding, the burden of proof to show the adoption expenses through receipts has increased significantly. In addition, the IRS has tended to lose the paperwork and request it multiple times. Therefore, it's important that you keep copies of all paperwork that you send in with your tax return and make sure your adoption expenses are well documented.

I would also advise you to research your state tax laws since many states also offer tax credits. North Carolina, for instance, provides a tax credit of up to half of the federal refund ($6680) for each adoption in addition to the federal tax credit you are entitled to.

Hope this is helpful!

News Articles about Liberia

2012-01-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of articles about Liberia that are pretty interesting.

The first is about former Liberian dictator, Charles Taylor, and his link to US spy agencies. Here is the Boston Globe article.

The second is about Hilary Clinton's two day Africa trip that included a stop in Liberia for Sirleaf's inauguration yesterday. What I think is really interesting is the point that Delaware Senator Christopher Coons makes about the US needing to see a strong relationship with Liberia as a good foreign policy strategy, especially with the interest that China has taken in the country in recent years. This is something that I've discussed several times with friends who are involved in Liberia. Each time I travel there I see more buildings, roads, and programs that China has paid for. It's not hard to see that China sees the value in developing goodwill in Liberia and other African countries that are rich in natural resources and on unstable ground when it comes to their feelings about democracy. Here's the Reuters article.

The Rutledge6 in 2011

2011-12-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

The past year has been a wonderful "catch your breath" kind of year for the Rutledge 6. Here's our top ten list from 2011 and a short photo album slideshow.

Top Ten Things We're Most Thankful for in 2011

10. Dan was able to relocate his office five minutes from home, which has added nearly an extra hour and a half to his day that he used to spend commuting.
9. God provided amazing teachers and a strong year for all four of our kids who transitioned back to public schools this year. Can you believe Kayla will be in high school next year?!
8. Our four children grew strong and healthy and required no trips to the hospital this year. You'd never know Angelyn had such a scary road with a major appendicitis in 2009. She can do flips and back bends along with playing soccer and basketball quite well, though her energy level has still not quite returned to what it was. Zane's allergies and energy level are getting better with allergy shots and a gluten free diet. He was quite the defender on his soccer team. Much to our surprise, Kayla's struggles with anxiety have gotten much better with the transition to a larger school. It seems that her brain thrives on the extra activities she enjoys keeping up with. Henry continues to be healthy and to be a physical force to be reckoned with on all of his sports teams.
7. Nine children came home through Christian Adoption Services and African Christians Fellowship International (ACFI) to their adoptive families from Liberia.
6. God provided $36,314 towards a Liberia fundraising project called Project Hope that enabled 38 families to receive a micro-loan, ACFI leaders to receive a small stipend each month for one year, and maintenance to be done on the children's mission homes and ACFI vehicles.
5. SignUpGenius.com, the free online sign up site that Dan created, continues to grow at a great pace...doubling every six months for the past few years.
4. Dan and Angel have had the opportunity to work together on SignUpGenius.com this year, with Angel taking on some marketing opportunities. It has been really fun for them to spend more of their days together. Dan has also been able to hire several new staff members.
3. We're enjoying a full season of parenting with three soccer teams, three basketball teams, one drama club, one advanced chorus club, one Boy Scout den, one youth group and plenty of birthday parties and sleepovers.
2. Family and friends like you have walked so faithfully with us and allowed us to be part of your lives.
1. A Savior who continues to surprise us with His unfailing love and unstoppable goodness. We're thankful for this Christmas season to remember how humbly He came into our messy world, so that we can live...and live fully.

Merry Christmas!

Funeral March in Liberia was Peaceful

2011-11-22T03:14:00.000-08:00

The symbolic funeral march held in Liberia yesterday by the CDC opposition party was peaceful. This is hopefully a good sign for moving the country beyond the tension of the election and refocusing once again on rebuilding. Here's an article on the march if you'd like to read more.

Update on Emergency Food Need and Situation in Liberia

2011-11-19T04:31:00.001-08:00

Due to the quick response of many to the emergency need for donations to feed the children at the Daniel Hoover Children's Village and the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf in Liberia, Christian Adoption Services was able to send funds in less than 24 hours from learning about the need. The children will have food until the end of the month, at which time we will send the regular sponsorship monthly funds and evaluate if there is a need to send
additional emergency funds.

While it is discouraging to be reminded that peace in Liberia is very fragile and there is so much at stake, this situation is also a great reminder that God's extravagant love knows no constraints. Thanks to all who allowed Him to work through them to display this.

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." Acts 4:32

Please be in prayer for Liberia on Monday when there is a scheduled funeral rally planned by opposition supporters for those who were killed in the pre-election violence on November 7th. There have been some reports of plans for violence during the rally. On a positive note, more influential people in Liberia are continuing to stand behind the elected government of Sirleaf and are calling for an end to the opposition. Hopefully, those who are angry in the CDC will take their grievances to the courts and not the streets as they see more and more Liberians refusing to settle their disagreements with violence.

Emergency Need in Liberia

2011-11-16T17:58:00.001-08:00

I just sent the following email out through the sponsorship program:

Sponsors,

We have been praying that the tension surrounding the presidential election in Liberia would not touch the children at the Daniel Hoover Children's Village and the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf. Thankfully, the children are safe at this time, but I do want to ask for you to pray and consider what you might be able to do to help meet an emergency need. Late this afternoon, I received a call from the founder of the ministry that oversees the mission homes, Ed Kofi with African Christians Fellowship International.

Ed Kofi let me know that yesterday, a few of the ACFI leaders purchased a large sum of food for the mission homes. In addition to needing more food, the plan was to store more than usual at the schools because of the increasing tension in the country. The CDC, the opposition party to the current President, has called on its supporters to rally on Friday, and there are reports that many are preparing for violence. Fearing that they might not be able to get more food for the children for some time and that the cost of basic necessities will continue to escalate, the leaders purchased more food than usual. It was stored in the secured ACFI offices in Monrovia overnight. When the leaders arrived this morning to transport it to the mission schools, they discovered the bars on some windows had been removed overnight and all of the food was stolen, several thousand dollars worth.

Christian Adoption Services will send a wire of funds in the morning to help provide some food quickly. If you are able to help, please consider making a donation on the sponsorship site for this emergency need. Christian Adoption Services will continue to monitor the need for food and send donated funds as needed to replace the food that was stolen.

Above all, please pray for the staff and children at the mission schools. We know that God is their refuge and protector. Please pray for their safety and their faith and for peace in Liberia.

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me. “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. 2Samuel 22:2-4

In Him,

Angel Rutledge

Liberia Program Coordinator

Christian Adoption Services

Liberia in the News

2011-11-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in following what's happening in Liberia post Presidential Election, here are a few articles worth reading:

Liberia’s President Wins Boycotted Runoff Vote in the New York Times

Liberia's Sirleaf Wins 90 Pct in Boycotted Vote ABC News via the Associated Press

The articles above convey some of the facts surrounding the election pretty well. Yet, they fail to communicate the escalating political unrest post election in Liberia. Here are some that reveal this:

Liberian Broadcasters to Make Court Appearance, say Lives Threatened by Voice of America

ELWA Radio Station Gutted By Fire by Heritage (a Liberian paper) (This is especially disheartening as SIM maintains ELWA and has provided a great deal of Christian-based training and resources in Liberia for many, many years. They are well known and respected by the Liberian community.)

From what I have experienced in my limited interactions with government officials in Liberia, I don't see this ending well. There is a pride and desire for power coupled with a need to show how much power one possesses that makes reconciliation or power sharing extremely difficult to achieve. Unless Tubman is uncharacteristically moved to give up his desire for power in order to achieve peace in Liberia, I believe the unrest will escalate quickly. With 80% unemployment, there are an awful lot of young men who could be convinced pretty easily to fight.

Rutledge Family Update in Photos

2011-11-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

Election Day in Liberia Peaceful but Uncertain

2011-11-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

The UN was out in full force in Liberia during yesterday's run off election for President, but voters were not. I texted a few friends yesterday to let them know we were praying for them. One friend texted back that her family was especially concerned because they live in the area where violence broke out the day before. Many people stayed in their homes as a precaution.

The good news is that it seemed to be a peaceful day, and those who chose to vote were able to do so safely. However, Tubman has said his party, the CDC, will not accept the election results and will look to the courts to annul the election. He insists he intends to move forward peacefully, but whether or not his supporters will follow his public statements remains to be seen.

Here's a recent article: Liberian Election Under Cloud after Boycott

Micro Loans

2011-11-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

The micro-loan program phase of Project Hope is launching this week! Many of you will remember that we started a micro-loan program with a loan group of 20 borrowers a little over a year ago. Those 20 each received a $200 loan, which was repaid over the course of 20 weeks. The group convenanted to pay back their loans as a group and met weekly for training, fellowship and praise. It was a great success and such a huge encouragement for everyone involved to end with 100% repayment of all loans.

Seeing how powerful the micro-loan program was for the ACFI churches, we agreed to make it one of the three focus areas of Project Hope. This week, two loan groups will be launching. One group of 17 borrowers will be in their second round of loans. This time they will each receive $400 to be repaid over the course of 20 weeks. A second group of 31 first time borrowers will each receive $200 loans to be repaid over the same course of time. Please be in prayer for these 48 families.

While it's great to hear that 48 families will be impacted by these loans, what I always enjoy the most is reading over their loan applications and then talking to some of the borrowers when I'm in Liberia. It's a great reminder that each loan is attached to a story of God's grace working its way through the lives of real people.

With that in mind, I thought you might enjoy knowing the names of a few borrowers as well as what their businesses will be. Here they are:

Agatha – Come and Taste Business – selling bread
Beatrix - Mother and Child - selling fish
Eshter - Provision Shop - selling coal
Helena - Helena Cook Shop - selling food
Janneh - I.S. Fish Business - selling fish

There are about 20 questions on the loan application regarding how they will secure customers and supplies and how much supplies will cost as well as how much they will charge for their products. But the ones that really make me stop and think are questions like, "What will be the factors or the things that will make it hard for your business to do well?" How can you work to prevent these? What questions or fears do you have about starting a business?

It's very sobering to read responses about concerns that they might get sick and not be able to carry on the business, or that supply costs will go up so high they won't be able to make a profit, or that someone will steal everything from them. In the US we have so many support systems we don't even pay attention to....insurance, a criminal system based on laws and not bribes, decent medical care, etc. Even if the members of our loan groups work hard faithfully and put into practice what they learn each week, there are still many risks. Thankfully, that's where being part of a group who helps each other and agrees to pitch in when something goes wrong for one of the members is key to the success of the loan group.

I know the folks in the loan groups would really appreciate your prayers. I'll post from time to time how they are doing.

Tubman Pulls out of Liberia's Run-off Election

2011-11-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

Bad news for Liberia's run-off election for president on Tuesday: Liberia Election: Tubman to Boycott Run-off. Please join me in praying for the people of Liberia.

Adoption Grant and Loan Resources

2011-11-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Do you want to adopt or are you in the middle of adopting but have found yourself struggling to come up with the funds to pay all of the costs? You probably realize that the paperwork and time commitment to process your adoption can be overwhelming by itself. Trying to research all of the potential adoption grants and loans on your own can be more than one family can handle. Thanks to Resources4Adoption.com, you don't have to handle it on your own. Resources4Adoption.com is offering a downloadable adoption grants chart of over 60 available grants for $15. This chart has a listing of over 60 individual adoption grants…including those that are no longer active, those on hold, and those that are opening back up in 2012. They also have an ebook on resources and a chart on adoption loans available as well. While I haven't personally used any of these resources and can't vouch for the accuracy of all of the information, I have looked at their free sample chart, and it looks like a complete chart would be well worth the cost.

This chart is now available from the Resources4adoption.com website as a PDF download for a small fee.

Birthmother's Retreat

2011-11-02T07:01:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd share this peek into a birth mother's retreat that Christian Adoption Services hosts every year. It's just one of the reasons I love working for Christian Adoption Services.

The Birthmother Retreat- An Inside Perspective

by: Jess Durrell

Sitting around the bonfire, the sounds of girls laughing and joking (in a manner reminiscent of high school study hall) resonated in the nearby woods. The firewood they had clamored to fetch themselves only hours earlier, now crackled and roared- resulting in a magnificent heat. A somewhat unlikely group of friends, these women of widespread ages and differing backgrounds looked like sisters to me. Though the activities of the day had strengthened the bond between them, their unity was born of one shared experience- an unplanned pregnancy which resulted in the choice of adoption. As the women made their smores and clamored playfully for the last piece of chocolate, it occurred to me that they might be reclaiming a bit of childhood they had missed out on or were forced to hurry through as a result of their pregnancies.

From the moment I arrived at the camp grounds, it was apparent to me that this weekend was a labor of love for the pregnancy workers who had planned it. The girls were cared for, uplifted, and given the opportunity to share their struggles and victories. Each activity was carefully planned to communicate a message of hope and Christ's love, and the birthmothers embraced the encouragement. The weekend was a celebration of the strength and bravery that it took for these women to choose adoption for the benefit of their child(ren). When the ladies opened the gifts from their child's adoptive families, the implications of their choice became apparent. Each birthmom proudly held up the photo of her child- beaming at the knowledge that he/she was living a happy and secure life as a result of the adoption. Several carried snapfish photo books of their children and adoptive families around with them all weekend, waiting for the opportunity to describe each photo to another birthmom or staff member. The pride and joy on their faces made it obvious that these women truly felt that they had made the best choice for their child.

For me, being a part of this year's birthmom retreat solidified the importance of this event and reminded me of what sets Christian Adoption Services apart. I am honored to be a part of an agency that cares for the long-term health and well-being of the women who choose to place their children for adoption. The event also reinforced the value of photos and updates from adoptive couples- I cannot stress enough how much these meant to the women at the retreat. I want to personally thank each couple that sent in photos and notes for the retreat and encourage you to continue to do so when prompted in the future. These updates help remind each birthmother that her choice (though painful) was the right one and that her child is loved and provided for.

Liberia's Presidential Election Set to Move Forward

2011-11-01T07:15:00.001-07:00

Winston Tubman has agreed not to boycott the November 8th presidential election in Liberia now that the head of the National Election Committee, James Fromayan, has resigned. Tubman called for Fromayan's resignation over allegations of fraud in the first round of the elections, and though Fromayan still maintains there was no fraud, he is stepping down for the greater goal of peace. Here is a BBC article about the issue. Good, good news for Liberia.

As I continue to talk to people in Liberia, there is a sense of everyone holding their breath. It's hard to know on any day what might happen to turn the tide from peace to chaos or back again. For example, there was a letter mistakenly issued by one official last week that Winston's party actually won the greater number of votes in the first round. This doesn't make headlines in the US, but in Liberia it was a big deal and is still being talked about. When something like that happens, it's hard to convince people that there was no truth in it...that it was just a mistake.

We also don't hear a lot about how it is affecting people's every day lives in Liberia as they wait for the run off. The basic necessities like food and gas are very expensive. Fear does crazy things to an economy, particularly one that is already unstable. Some people have decided to keep their kids home from school. Memories of having to flee at a moment's notice and getting separated from family members have not grown dim for many. Still, overall, I hear hope. There is a strong hope that this time will be different, that this time, people will keep their heads about them and wait for peace to continue. Fromayan stepping down from the election commission is one example of this.

Update on Election Runoff in Liberia

2011-10-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

There's still a lot of uncertainty about the long term stability in Liberia with the runoff election between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Winston Tubman coming up on November 8th.

One interesting development in the past week is the Prince Johnson has thrown his support behind Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Prince Johnson came in third in election results with just under 12% of the vote, so his support could very well sway the runoff in Sirleaf's favor. Interesting point to note about Prince Johnson is that he's also a senator from Nimba County, so he has and will continue to affect politics in Liberia. Even more interesting in a macabre kind-of-way is that Prince Johnson was a warlord during the Liberian civil wars who took power after watching his fighters torture and kill then President Samual Doe. There is even video of him drinking a beer as he watched his fighters cut off Doe's ear. Looks like he's hoping to solidify his influence in Liberia with his support of Sirleaf and enjoys his self-proclaimed title of "Kingmaker."

Here are a couple of articles about Prince Johnson and his support:

Article 1
Article 2

There's also been some threats towards those in the media who are covering the election. This could have a significant impact in a country where misinformation easily sways popular opinion.

Here's an article from Reporters without Borders.

Praises about Liberia

2011-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

I had asked for prayer for the founder of ACFI, Ed Kofi, who was suffering for several months with severe back and leg pain. He was able to have surgery a couple of weeks ago and though it wasn't expected for him to have relief from the pain for a couple of months, he is already feeling 80-90% better. It has brought me so much joy to talk to him the last couple of times and literally hear the pain lifted from his voice. Thanks be to God who arranged for this surgery to take place despite major obstacles and has brought great healing!

It's also no small miracle to hear about Liberia's election process that was carried out peacefully and transparently on Tuesday. If you follow much political news in Africa, you know that it's rare in the last couple of years for a country like Liberia to hold a peaceful democratic election. There will be a runoff election for the President's office in November since none of the candidates had a simple majority of the vote. The results are still unofficial, but it looks like the runoff will be between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf/Joseph Bokai and Winston Tubman/George Weah. Here's a Wall Street Journal article about it that's worth reading.

I've asked friends in Liberia for their perspective and the theme I'm hearing is that they are thankful for peace surrounding the voting, but they are still anxious. The cost of most goods, particularly food, has gone up very high because of the political uncertainty. That's never good in a country with 80% unemployment. They are tired of being so poor, and even though there has been some progress with the international community forgiving their debt and continuing peace in the country, they are tired of corruption in the government going unpunished. They are also tired of seeing American educated Liberians getting all of the good jobs. These are similar frustrations that led to war in the first place. Whoever wins the election will have to show that they are working for the common Liberian pretty quickly or it seems likely that Liberians won't be patient for much longer.

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

2011-10-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Can't hurt Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's chances at the polls on Tuesday to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Glad to see Liberia getting any help they can to maintain peace. Click here to read an article about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), and Tawakkul Karman (Yemen)being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. If you haven't seen the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell that shows Laymah Gbowee and other women in Liberia who were influential in bringing an end to the civil wars in Liberia, it's worth checking out.

Celebrating Adoptions

2011-10-03T05:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, our families who were stuck in the moratorium on adoptions in Liberia have little by little been able to bring their kids home. We're thankful, even as we know there are more waiting and we long for them all to be with their families. For awhile, as two came home and then another and a couple more, I held my breath, not wanting to post anything for fear of more politics getting stirred up and hurting those still waiting.

Adoptions, every single one of them in my experience, are hard faith work. It's no small thing for a child to be taken from a place of being fatherless to being placed in a family. It's a tangible, earthly example of the way God chooses each of us, not because of what we have to offer but simply because He longs to love us and show us how good He is. We have an enemy who will fight long and hard against the world seeing that kind of beauty. And yet, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere, the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

I have to be honest. I find it a bit hard to celebrate when I know how many children are still waiting for a mom and dad to love them...when I know how successful large organizations like UNICEF have been in recent years at stopping international adoptions. Yet, God calls us in everything to be thankful.

And there is much to be thankful for. Recently, I hung these photos in my office. They are photos of families who have brought their children home from Liberia in the past year. They are a good reminder to me daily that God is a god of miracles, that despite all of the loss and heartache, God is still moving and still redeeming lives.

One of the photos is of three children who are still waiting to come home. They are a good reminder, too. I have hugged these children and talked with them and carried notes back to the US for their family for them.

Would you celebrate with me even while we continue to pray for God to work miracles, to continue to show the world what a beautiful thing it is to be chosen and loved, not because of what we have to offer but because of the goodness of the one who loves?

Happy Family Day 2011!

2011-09-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight we ventured out for a little late night frozen yogurt with our photo albums tucked under our arms to celebrate Family Day. We made it through the tasty treat and one of our photo albums before a sudden down pour let loose.

Hard to believe we've only been the Rutledge 6 for the past four years. Seems like forever ago that we brought Henry and Angelyn home from Liberia on September 27, 2007.

A lot has changed in four years...

Thankful that the kids in the photos on our fridge so long ago are now our kids forever.

2011-09-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

We received tragic news about one of the children in our African Child Sponsorship Program last week. The family who sponsored Sarah wrote these thoughts in memory of her...

In Memory of Sarah~
My husband and I have sponsored kids before... kids we prayed for but never met. Kids whose names we knew, yet we had no knowledge of their lives. When we met Sarah, our perception of what a sponsorship relationship could look like changed forever. In June of 2010, we were part of the Liberia mission trip, and spent time at both Daniel Hoover Children's Village and at the Oscar and Viola Steward School for the Deaf.

Sarah was deaf. She did not demand attention, but simply stood back and watched us interact with others. It was obvious that she wanted to be a part but just wasn't asserting herself. We later found out that she had only been at the Mission for a short while and had very few sign language skills... so her communication was severely limited and had been for her entire 8 years of life. We knew no sign either, but we both fell in love with her and decided to sponsor her. Our time together was spent simply holding her, smiling and playing little hand games.

When our family spent a month in Liberia this past winter, we spent significantly more time with Sarah and the other children. She'd learned so much sign language, and we'd done our best to learn the alphabet and some basics... but still... pretty tough to communicate. She was THRILLED we were back, however. She'd spend all the time she could in our laps. We were able to bring a package and some pictures from our previous time with her as well. It was hard for all of us to say (sign) our goodbyes.

Sarah had to leave the mission several months ago, and return to whatever family claimed responsibilty for her, after she started to frequently faint or have seizures. (I'm unsure which is accurate.) This week, we learned that she died tragically while staying with her family, in circumstances that seem to have nothing to do with her medical concerns.

No, we didn't know her extremely well. We didn't know her hopes and dreams, or if she had any at all. We didn't know her history or the circumstances of her life before the mission. But, I have held her while she was sick with a high fever... and Jason gave her his big 'ol sandals to wear one day, which she thought was quite funny! My children have met her. We wrote her letters and picked out pretty dresses for her. We have a framed picture of her in our home. My point is, we loved her. And we are extremely saddened that when we return to Liberia one day, we will not get to hold our Sarah.

I will never know what we meant to her, but I am confident that she knew we loved her. I have been thanking the Lord that we had a chance to love her in ways that were tangible to her in the short life she had. I am grateful to have had the privilege of showing her that somebody cared... that she was of great worth to Jesus... if only through a smile, a letter, or a hug.

Whether you realize it or not, your sponsorship of a child does the same thing... it shows them that they are worth something to Jesus, and that someone loves them. So, thank you. The reality is that you cannot know what may be down the road for these children. When you pour into their lives, it is not in vain.

In Honor of Sarah,
Corrie

Would you like to learn more about sponsoring a child in Liberia through AfricanChildSponsorship.com? Click here.

Presidential Election in Liberia - Peace at Stake

2011-09-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

With fourteen years of civil war in their rear view mirror and instability in neighboring Ivory Coast reminding them that elections can be a threat to peace, Liberia has already been a country on edge in recent months. October 11th elections cannot seem to come fast enough. Each day there seems to be another reason to question whether or not Liberia will make it through this election season with their commitment to peace and rebuilding intact.

The most recent threat has come from a challenge in the Supreme Court by minor political parties to the major political parties running in the Presidential election. There is a residency requirement of ten years in the constitution for Presidential candidates which was waived in the last election because of the war. The current President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and her main rival, Winston Tubman, do not meet the requirement since they were out of the country during portions of the war. A referendum intended to shorten the residency requirement to five years was voted down last month.

If you'd like to read more, here's a decent article on the situation: "Liberia mulls Sirleaf's poll eligibility"

Would you pray for the future of Liberia and the October 11th elections specifically?

Project Hope Goal Exceeded - $36,314 Raised

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

In the last few days, three donations have come in for Project Hope pushing the total beyond the goal that God impressed upon us to set of $35,000!

For those of you who have been following Project Hope's progress, you will remember that $35,000 seemed like a crazy goal for our little band of Liberia lovers to trust God for. But knowing that God is in the business of taking small things (like mustard seeds of faith and a little boy's lunch) and turning them into mountain movers and lunch for five thousand, we pressed on in our belief that God could do the impossible.

Isn't it something that God would use our desire to project hope in Christ throughout Liberia to increase our own hope in Him?

I'll post more photos in the coming months, but I wanted you to see a few glimpses of how Project Hope funds are being used already...

Daniel Hoover Children's Village Boarding School is in continual need of repairs. With six months of hard rain a year, constant high humidity, and 150 children creating significant levels of wear and tear, you can imagine that it's quite costly to keep the facilities in decent shape. Here are some photos of repairs that are in process with funds from Project Hope.

Beds being repaired

Roofs being repaired

School chairs that were built and/or repaired

Several doors were replaced and tile was put down in the kitchen

The courtyard in the school needs to be covered. The majority of funds for this will be raised outside of Project Hope.

Another focus area of Project Hope has been to provide a year's worth of staff stipends for key ACFI leaders. We hope to continue to expand other self-sustaining initiatives for the ministry, and in the meantime, these staff stipends will enable the leaders to care for their families while staying committed to serving the Lord through their work with ACFI.

From time to time in the months to come, I will share a photo and letter from one of the ACFI leaders who receives a stipend from Project Hope.

Meet Augustus Kumeh...

Augustus Kumeh, ACFI Vice President of Outreach

We hope that you will take time today to praise the Lord with us...

Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Psalm 150

Meet Surprise and Isaac

2011-09-16T05:27:00.001-07:00

Isaac Taylor

Surprise Toe

Can I share with you a part of my ministry in Liberia that is hard, but still, so good? Each summer, I talk to my co-worker in Liberia, Georgia, and she tells me of the many families who have been coming into her office, pleading for a spot for a child of theirs to attend the boarding school at the Daniel Hoover Children's Village or the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf. Can you find sponsors for them, she asks?

"Send their photos and a little information about them," I say. "We'll pray and see what the Lord will provide."

This week, Georgia sent photos of Isaac Taylor and Surprise Toe. (I always wish the photos were better, that they could capture who the children really are, but then I think, in many ways, these photos capture exactly what is needed.)

Sweet, little Isaac. Don't you wonder what his mother thought when she named him? I wonder if she hoped for a little more laughter in her life. The tiny bit that I do know about Isaac is that his father is blind, and his family is very, very poor.

And Surprise Toe. I think I feel a certain softness for her because my children's Liberian surnames were Toe...a common last name in Liberia. Her first name says so much, too, don't you think? Was she a surprise? Was her momma hoping for that good kind of hopeful surprise of a life that mommas long for when they give birth? The little bit I know about Surprise is that she is deaf. In a country where there are so few services and even less compassion for the deaf, Surprise would benefit so much from care at the Deaf mission school.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring Surprise or Isaac, please contact me on Facebook. You can also go to AfricanChildSponsorship.com to sign up for a sponsorship. In order to protect the privacy of the children, we only show a few children in each age range on the sponsorship site, but there are many more available like Surprise and Isaac. For $40 a month, the children can attend school and receive lodging and food. Sponsors receive monthly e-newsletters with updates about the mission boarding schools and receive a letter and a photo of their sponsored child at least once a year. You can check out the sponsorship site now to view past newsletters and photos.

Your prayers for Surprise and Isaac and children like them in Liberia are so appreciated!

I Want to be Godzilla

2011-09-12T06:52:00.001-07:00

Remember that conflicted villain/hero of Japanese films, Godzilla? Yeah, interesting commentary on nuclear bombs, but that’s not what I’m referring to.

I’m talking about my dog…Zilla. I know it’s a little weird to write about your dog. And I have to be honest, it always makes me uncomfortable when I get Christmas letters written from the perspective of the family pet, but bear with me. I’m not going there.

See, Zilla is a bit unique as far as dogs go. Like most dogs, she’s really devoted, particularly to me. I guess you could say she sees me as the pack leader. But, here’s the thing, she’s not just your run-of-the-mill dog devoted, she’s obsessed with being near me. She adores me more than life itself. It’s actually how she got her name, Zilla, which means “shadow” in Hebrew. She is by my side every moment of the day that I’m home. If I move, she moves. In fact, while I’m working on a project, even if it’s just typing on the computer, she’ll often sit by my side gazing up at me with this look of adoration that’s really quite pathetically sweet. When I leave for a bit and return, she’s at the door watching for me and whines for a couple of minutes while I pet her to let me know how terrible it was not to see my face for even a short time.

I know, you might have known a dog like Zilla, but her devotion is a step above the rest of her species. See, she doesn’t even like to go outside unless I go with her. My kids have created all kinds of funny techniques to trick her into taking a quick walk without me. Even though she longs for a good walk, she simply doesn't like to go beyond the driveway without me. She even has a hard time going out to the bathroom if I don’t step outside with her. I know. See what I mean…she’s taken doggie devotion to a whole new level.

Zilla views her job as being loved by me. And she’s really good at. She soaks up every word of affection, every scratch of the belly and wags her tail for more. Being good at receiving my love makes her a phenomenal protector and a good stress reliever on discouraging days. Though you might think those are the jobs a dog should be focused on, Zilla doesn’t. They’re just a by product.

For about three and a half years until early spring of this past year, I found myself living in crisis mode. There were the family challenges of bringing home a son and daughter from Liberia and tackling health issues for my kids from malaria to a ruptured appendix to asthma and sensory issues and on and on. There were the ministry issues of a moratorium that kept families separated from their children for two and a half years, and the desperate needs of a church called to care for children without vital resources. Out of my emptiness, God provided His fullness.

Over the past several months, I’ve been listening to God wooing me to a new place. I’ve questioned, “Lord, are you going to lift the moratorium on adoptions in Liberia? Will you have me continue to work on adoptions, or should I focus only on orphan care in country? What about my children? I think I will need to be more available to them now that they are in public school. What will life look like in a month, in six months? What do you want me to do?”

And His steady answer has been...Be God’s Zilla. Make your job to be loved by me. Sit at my feet while I work and look on me with utter adoration. When I move, you move. Be my shadow. Don’t go anywhere without me. Long for my affection. Seek my touch. Don’t focus on what I want you to do. That’s just a by product of being loved by me.

Isn’t that a sweet calling?

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9

If you read John 15, there’s a whole bunch about remaining in Jesus and following God’s commands, which essentially involve loving others. But the thing that Zilla has helped me remember is that those things come without thinking when I do my main job…remaining in Jesus’ love.

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:7-8

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

I belong to my lover,
and his desire is for me.
Song of Solomon 7:10

Yep, it may sound strange, but I want to be God’s Zilla. Want to join me?

Back to School 2011

2011-09-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

August 2011

Our kids started school one week ago. Each year I take a photo of them in this spot...so much looks different in this year's photo, don't you think? It makes me happy and weepy all at the same time. Tissue anyone?

August 2010

August 2009

Angelyn was in the hospital with a ruptured appendix for close to a month at the start of school in 2009.

August 2008

August 2007

We became the Rutledge 6 on September 28, 2007

Besides all the growing, hairstyle changes and addition of the dog, you can see the kids aren't wearing school uniforms this year. We've transitioned everybody from a sweet, small private school to public schools this year. After Angelyn and Henry came home and the boys had a final year of preschool and the girls were in public school, we felt like we needed a greenhouse environment to grow our family deeper in so many ways. Having them at Arborbrook gave us more time (the school days were shorter and I homeschooled on Fridays) as a family, and the school was a good fit for everyone to grow spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

Then, last spring God gradually revealed that it was time to transition back to public school. We feel like our family is ready for the challenge of growing deeper outside the greenhouse environment we came to love. But I have to tell you, this momma is praying a lot daily! Stepping out when God wants to challenge you is...well, challenging, right?

Would you pray with me for strong roots to grow in soil that is some days rich and fertile and other days rocky and dry? I seem to keep moving from plant to plant, praying for a little more sunshine for this wilting one, a little more water for one so thirsty and thanking the Master Gardener for the signs that some leaves are sprouting on brand new limbs that have shot out of nowhere.

"On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. “‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’”

Ezekiel 17:23-24

I delight greatly in the LORD;

my soul rejoices in my God....

For as the soil makes the sprout come up

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise

spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 61:10a,11

ACFI Founder Needs Prayer

2011-08-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Georgia Freeman, Ed Kofi, Cece Kofi

Will you pray for Ed Kofi, the founder of the ministry our family serves with in Liberia? I'm ashamed that it's taken me this long to post about this need. He's a humble man who doesn't like attention brought to himself, so I rarely post anything specific about him.

He's had back pain going down into his leg for awhile and went to see a doctor about it right before he left for Liberia in June. The doctor thought it was likely that his sciatic nerve was being pinched and encouraged him to get an MRI. Knowing there were several missions teams traveling to Liberia over the summer to work with ACFI, Pastor Kofi prayed for relief from this thorn and headed back to Liberia.

As the summer progressed, the pain became worse so that he was only able to stand for about a minute at a time. When I would call to check in with him, he was usually in some unimaginably painful situation, like the time I called to find out that their vehicle had broken down in the middle of traffic and he needed to help push it off to the side...could he call me back shortly?

Since he returned to the US a few weeks ago, the pain is so bad, he's essentially unable to work. Can you imagine leading a church planting ministry that has planted 300 churches in six countries, and yet, you don't have health insurance because you make so little and give so much away? Some friends here have been able to get him an MRI and a cortisone shot recently. He received the shot on Friday, and we were hoping it would give him some immediate relief, especially since one of his daughters was getting married on Saturday. Unfortunately, the pain remains so far.

If the cortisone shot doesn't work, it sounds like surgery would be the next option. We will need to pray for God's provision for that to happen if it's needed.

When I saw him and his wife on Saturday, they said, "Well, we bless the Lord. We'll wait on His time." They are confident that God's plan is best regardless of their circumstances.

Would you pray as God leads you?

A poem by Amy Carmichael reminds me of the Kofi's consistent attitude...

O Prince of Glory, who dost bring
Thy sons to glory through Thy Cross,
Let me not shrink from suffering,
Reproach or loss.

The dust of words would smother me.
Be all anathema
That turns me from Gethsemane
And Golgotha.

If Thy dear Home be fuller, Lord,
For that a little emptier
My house on earth, what rich reward
That guerdon were.

And by the borders of my day
The river of Thy pleasure flows,
The flowers that blossoms by the way
Who loves Thee knows.

August Sponsorship Newsletter

2011-08-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

It was a full summer for our partners in Liberia with several mission teams serving alongside them. Becky Lloyd and Vandora Henderson, who joined us for our trip last year, were able to go with Becky's husband, Charles.

Here is a link to a newsletter about their trip.

Becky and Charles with kids

Vandora with girls at the Deaf Mission

Progress on the Vocational School at the Deaf Mission

Kids at the Deaf Mission with crafts they made

Driving during the rainy season is challenging to say the least

Independence Day Celebration at Daniel Hoover Children's Village

Roof repairs at Daniel Hoover are badly needed

The dining hall at Daniel Hoover

Article on UNICEF and the US Regarding International Adoptions

2011-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another article on the effect UNICEF's stance on international adoptions is having: The United States and UNICEF Wage War against International Adoptions by Andrea Poe. Ms. Poe is a journalist for The Washington Post Communities and writes Red Thread: An Adoptive Family Forum.

Project Hope Update

2011-08-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

Over the past several weeks, I've been coordinating with our leadership team in the US and the leaders of ACFI in Liberia on the details of allocating funds from Project Hope.

What a gift to see one of the goals of the project being realized...to strengthen and equip the church leaders in Liberia to fulfill the work God has given to them. Working out a system of accountability and transparency for the funds to be distributed has been one of the ways that God has been building a stronger relationship between all of us. It's also helping the ministry in Liberia transition from a culture of survival to a culture of rebuilding. In a culture of survival, there is no need for accountability or transparency. Relationships are temporary and getting through today is the only focus. In a culture of rebuilding, long term relationships are critical and planning for a future, a tomorrow is not only a possibility but a necessity.

This transition is not easy! Our brothers and sisters in Liberia have been incredibly patient with us as we have requested detailed lists of maintenance project needs along with the supplies needed and their costs. We were just able to send an initial payment for a large project at the Daniel Hoover Children's Village to remodel two of the dorms that are in the worst shape. We've asked for before and after photos as well as receipts along the way. These seem like easy requests from an American mindset. Yet, the reality is that it's taken four years to get to the point where we are confident these are reasonable requests. The technology and education that is needed to make these things happen is quite daunting!

In addition to the maintenance projects, we were able to team up with a local Charlotte church to send the funds for a new vehicle to be shared between the ACFI leaders. The one vehicle they had, which was used not only for the ACFI leaders to get all of their work done but also for mission teams and adoptive families when they are in Liberia, finally reached the point of not being worth repairing.

We are also in the process of starting two new rounds on the micro-loans. Applicants have gone over the information about the loan program and are now filling out their applications. It looks like 17 of the 20 individuals who were in the first loan group will be returning for a second round of loans and 25 individuals have been given the right to apply for an initial loan. We're anxious to see their applications. How inspiring it is to see the hopes and dreams of people written out on paper, especialy people who didn't have the chance to embrace the hope of a future for so long. There is something so permanent about writing out these things that have only been stored up in a heart, don't you think?

The final part of Project Hope, the staff stipends, is also close to the point where funds can be distributed. We have been given a list of staff and the monthly stipend amounts they will be given. We are just waiting on letters from each of them introducing themselves to donors.

Thank you for partnering with us on this project. It's becoming more and more of a passion for me to work with groups of people to build up the church body for the radical, life transforming work that God intends to do through her. How crazy and Godlike to be part of building up a part of the church that happens to be on another continent with a back story so completely different and yet so very similar to my own. Thank you, Jesus, that we are one in you!

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6

Team NC in Liberia

2011-07-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I got a call from Becky Lloyd with a brief update from Liberia. She and her husband, Charles and Vandora Henderson are there for a couple of weeks to love on the staff and students at the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf. We're thankful that they're also doing a lot to support our child sponsorship program by delivering sponsorship packages and getting updates on the kids.

If I didn't love 'em all a bunch, I'd be jealous that they got to be in Liberia to celebrate Independence Day earlier this week. (Freed American slaves who had settled in Liberia issued a Declaration of Independence on July 26, 1847.) A group from Ohio try to throw a large Independence Day celebration at the Daniel Hoover Children's Village each year, and this year was no different. Students who go to their relatives' for the summer travel back with their families, and the staff and students at the Deaf Mission also join them all for a big party with lots of food and celebrating. Becky let me know that their group helped chop sausages for the 350 attendees. I can't wait to see pictures!

The NC folks are staying at Daniel Hoover Village with the director and his family and traveling to the Deaf Mission during the day. Becky and Vandora are ASL interpreters, so they are able to communicate better than most missionaries with the students. What's fascinating to me is that there are the same obstacles for someone who knows American sign language in trying to communicate with a Liberian using Liberian sign language as there are an American trying to speak American English to a Liberian who speaks Liberian English. Both can be done, but it takes some time to learn the dialect.

It sounds like construction is continuing on the vocational school at the Deaf Mission. Becky was actually surprised at how big it will be. The folks in Liberia were hoping for a September completion date, but it looks like it will probably take at least until January for the construction to be done. The major hold up, of course, is having to stop when they run out of funds and wait until they get some more.

If you get a chance to pray for Becky, Vandora and Charles, please pray that their trip would be a good balance between getting some tasks done that they hoped to accomplish and just hanging out and building deeper relationships that are encouraging to them and our partners in Liberia. You could also pray for Charles, that his body would adjust to the heat.

I'll post photos when they return!

Breakfast Thanks

2011-07-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Most mornings at breakfast the kids and I will go through a short passage of scripture to discuss. This summer we finished up Ephesians and are almost done going through Philippians. There's nothing at all fancy about this. No extra devotional materials...just God's word and our thoughts. It's been a great reminder to me of how sweet God's word is and how powerful it is in out lives. It seems that whatever we happen to be learning or struggling with the rest of the day, what we read each morning speaks life into our thirsty hearts. (Please pray that God would protect these times as we transition into the fall and mornings become more hurried.)

This morning we talked about the everyday gifts we're thankful for. Pretty fitting while studying Philippians, don't you think? Here's our list:

Zilla (our dog)
Eating breakfast whenever we want
3 meals a day
Our house
Being able to choose one summer camp
Banjo music
Mango pineapple smoothies
Good friends
Project Hope money to take care of needs in Liberia
Our TV
The way flowers add color to life
Legos
A mom and dad
We can go to a pool when it's really hot
That we're all unique
Our toys
The color orange
Cars to get around
Clothes to wear
Our electric flyswatter
My own bedroom
Brothers and sisters
Wet grass
SignUpGenius is growing

Financial Management Information System Launched in Liberia

2011-07-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article about a new measure in Liberia to try to improve accountability and efficiency in government expenditures. Would be great if it could be successfully implemented.

July Sponsorship Letter

2011-07-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners... Isaiah 61:1

Though we always have cause to celebrate our freedom in Christ, July is specifically a month of celebrating independence; both here in America, and in Liberia! July 26th is Liberia's Independence Day, and a small team from Ohio as well as a small team from North Carolina will be there to celebrate with the children. As I've mentioned before, many of the children at Daniel Hoover Children's Village are with family or friends for the summer months, but many of them will return for this celebration. The children at the Deaf Mission will all be invited and included in the fun as well! While I'm not sure exactly what the day will hold, I do know that the teams will help to provide a fun meal and drink for all of the children.

Johnson and Francis ~ brothers at DHCV

The three person team consisting of Charles and Becky Lloyd and Vandora Henderson from North Carolina landed in Liberia yesterday (July 24th) and will be delivering the sponsorship packages to the children that some of you have sent for that purpose! That really excites me because I can remember the joy that I saw on the children's faces when I was able to deliver the packages to them this past winter. They just light up and get shy all at the same time, as if they are thinking, Me? It's really for me? So, from my heart, THANK YOU for making the effort to get this to your sponsored child if you were willing and able. It will be a blessing... without question!

Project Hope is closer to the $35,000 goal now with $32,906 committed at this point! Names of individuals connected to the ministry of ACFI have been submitted for the next two rounds of micro-loans, and the applicants are working on their applications at this time. This program will enable our brothers and sisters to learn about finance and accountability and to start a small business of their own, an opportunity that is more than a rare thing in Liberia. How exciting! The monthly stipends that Project Hope will allow us to send for staff within the ministries are also almost ready to be sent. Our hope, and the hope of the ACFI leadership, is that being able to provide at least a small monthly gift to their staff will encourage them to stay a part of the ministries instead of eventually seeking a way to provide for their families elsewhere when they feel they have no other choice and need to bring in some income. The sum alloted for maintenance needs will be distributed when priority projects have been identified, and will be used with careful accountability. A large chunk of the funds will be sent in the next couple of weeks to go towards repairs at Daniel Hoover and the vocational school at the Deaf Mission. There seem to be never-ending lists of things to be fixed, but having spent time at DHCV and the Deaf Mission, I have a deeper understanding of why this is so. The children and the weather are incredibly hard on everything... from septic systems to simple plastic bowls. It is a great joy to be able to provide for at least some of these very real needs.

Evening Devotions at the Mission School

Along with praying for Liberia and for the many children that we care about, I'd like to ask for specific prayer for a friend of mine. Some of you know Queen-Edwina Sieh. Queen is the eldest daughter of Randolph and Francis Sieh who oversee the Daniel Hoover Children's Village. Earlier this month, she was in a motorcycle-taxi accident in route to school, and hurt her leg badly, sustaining serious burns.

Queen has been fortunate enough to be supported to attend college classes in Monrovia this year. She has to walk to the village to catch a ride on a motorbike (kind of like an individual taxi), which takes her into Monrovia. Once there, she waits for a bus, which sometimes is too full and other times doesn't come. If she can't catch the bus, she has to catch a taxi, which is more expensive, despite the fact that one often shares a taxi with about ten other people all on laps and squished together. Once she finishes the bus ride, she has to walk the rest of the way to her classes, after which, she does it all again to get home where she will have to study and help out with all of the work at the mission home each day.
Please just pray for complete healing. Liberia is a harsh place to be ill or wounded. We are thankful that Queen has an amazing attitude of gratefulness, even through this, and that she loves Jesus whole-heartedly.

Thank you for partnering with us to love and serve the children of Liberia. God is so faithful and good to bring so many of us together through this desire, even though we may never meet in this life. It really is awesome to be a part of what HE is doing!

With Joy,
Corrie Luebke
Sponsorship Coordinator

My Friend, Queen

2011-07-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

I wish you could know each person I love in Liberia. You would love them, too, I'm sure of it. One of them is Queen, and I thought I'd tell you a bit about her today because she could use some prayers for healing right now. At the beginning of July she had an accident on a motorbike and hurt her leg badly, sustaining serious burns. I got a chance to talk to her this weekend, and I was so encouraged to hear her joyful voice. (This joy in the midst of pain is one of the characteristics I love about Liberians that still surprises me so often.)

Queen is one of the daughters of Randolph and Francis Sieh who oversee the Daniel Hoover Children's Village in Dixville, Liberia. If you travel to Liberia and visit this boarding school, you will very quickly come to know Queen. She is one of the older girls who helps out a lot with the younger children and is always an invaluable presence for mission teams as we try to serve at the mission home. She has this gentle way of taking charge and making sure things get done, which always strikes me as being very Christlike. It's countercultural for her, so I'm sure it must be the Holy Spirit.

A team member from a past trip helped Queen start college last year, and it's pretty amazing to hear how thankful Queen is, especially when she told me when I asked about her accident what it takes to get to class. She has to walk to the village to catch a ride on a motorbike (kind of like an individual taxi), which takes her into Monrovia. Once there, she waits for a bus, which sometimes is too full and other times doesn't come. If she can't catch the bus, she has to catch a taxi, which is more expensive, despite the fact that one often shares a taxi with about ten other people all on laps and squished together. Once she finishes the bus ride, she has to walk the rest of the way to her classes, after which, she does it all again to get home where she will have to study and help out with all of the work at the mission home each day.

The best thing about Queen is that she loves Jesus a whole bunch. It radiates from her, whether I'm with her, talk to her on the phone, or get a note from her. She's really thankful for her family and her life and the opportunity to serve Jesus right where she is. She's one of the only Liberians I know who doesn't want to leave Liberia and come to America because she realizes that Jesus is in Liberia and America is not heaven. She's convinced that Jesus has work for her to do right where she is...and she's so right!

Will you pray for Queen today?

Nominations for the CCAI's Angels in Adoption Program

2011-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Do you know an adoptive family, an orphan care advocate, a social worker, an adoption coordinator or an agency who has lived out God's call to care for the fatherless?

Every year the Congressional Coalition on Adoption provides Members of Congress the chance to honor a person or agency from their district who has helped in the effort to find families for children in need. The CCAI calls it the Angels in Adoption program. Individuals submit nominations via their Members of Congress who make the decision about who to honor each year. You can learn more about submitting a nomination on the CCAI's website.

The Christian Alliance for Orphans also has a good description of the process on their blog here.

Nominations are being accepted until July 31st, and the gala to celebrate the honorees will be held in Washington, D.C. October 3-5.

I'm going to go make a nomination now!

The Value of being a Hero

2011-07-12T04:12:00.001-07:00

I like a lot of things about American culture. We value education and hard work and being honest (even if we aren't a lot of the time). We are good at being efficient and orderly and throwing away trash. (I used to take this last one for granted, but not since spending time in Liberia.) I like that we value philanthropy and helping those in our city and around the world who have less than we do. (Which, let's be honest, is pretty much a whole lot of people.)

What I really don't like about American culture, though, is the value we place on being a hero. Have you ever noticed that pretty much anyone you talk to has a big dream about how they are going to change the world...or at least their sphere of influence?

I don't think this is all bad, though I do wonder at times why we can't all just agree to do the little things God calls us to do really well. (I am guilty of this at times, and I'm thankful that God is patient to continually draw me back to His story instead of my story.) Still, I do think He has placed in our hearts a desire to be part of His grand story, so this desire to "make a difference" is not inherently wrong.

It's just that no one has taught us to value how much loss it takes to actually make a difference, not to mention become a hero. We have bought into the lie that being a hero means going on some romantic adventure where God protects us from any real danger and we wind up looking amazing in the end. Except that's not the story God's word tells:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

So our model for heroism is to be willing to suffer...humiliation, disrespect, pain, even death without any promise that things will all work out in the end (meaning this side of heaven). And the real kicker is that even when we take on the attitude of Jesus and humble ourselves to be obedient to whatever God calls us to, it's not so that we can become a hero. It's so that our lives will reveal that Jesus is the one and only true Hero.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body." 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

His fame is our goal, not our own.

Man, this is a hard, hard reality. Can I say like Paul, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead"? Philippians 3:10-11

We can only if we believe that in suffering, in dying to all that we hold dear, save Jesus, we will find complete joy.

I'm thankful for the heroes in my life who seek after the true Hero as they live this reality out...Susie and Ed and Denise and Scott and Jason and Corrie and Dan and Georgia and Queen and Dora and so many more. They teach me what it means to choose the hard work of true joy.

Adoption Training Video

2011-07-08T04:51:00.000-07:00

The folks at Texas Christian University's Institute of Child Development continue to lead the way in providing valuable adoption training. They have a new DVD out that is intended to help families who are parenting children with trauma-based behavioral issues.

The DVD, Trust-Based Parenting: Creating Lasting Changes in Your Child’s Behavior,
provides four hours of valuable training. Right now it is $45, which is 30% off the regular price. It's worth many, many hours of counseling.

I love the resources this group develops because they are so down-to-earth and practical for families, while at the same time being research-based. If you or anyone you know is parenting a child who has been through trauma or is in the process of adopting one, this is one of the top resources I would recommend getting.

Election Campaigning Has Begun in Liberia

2011-07-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

On July 5th, Liberia officially started their campaigns for the upcoming election for the presidency, all seats in the House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate.

When you think about how drastically the future of a country could be affected with that many offices potentially changing at once, it's no wonder that many Liberians are more concerned about the potential for violence following the election than who will actually be elected. They are very aware of post election situations that occurred in countries like Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Zimbabwe as well as their own relatively short history of peace. Hopefully, the UN's presence along with a fair election process will provide what's needed to maintain peace.

The general election will be held on October 11th and runoff elections will held on November 8th.

Here are a couple of interesting articles about the campaign:

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's address on Campaign Eve
Analysis of the major parties

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Will you join me today to pray this verse for Liberia?

Rutledge Summer

2011-07-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

Knowing I would be juggling two part time jobs while my kids were home for the summer, I prayed that we would thrive these months, not merely survive them. It has been a sweet blessing to watch God answer this prayer. Since I don't have a lot of time to post these days, I thought a few photos would show some of what we've been up to.

Recent NCFA Adoption Statistics

2011-06-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

NCFA (National Council for Adoption) has just released its Adoption Factbook V. Here are a few facts that are worth noting:

Domestic adoptions increased from 2002-2007 by 2.6%. The reason for the increase is mainly due to more foster care adoptions and more adoptions by relatives.

Infant domestic adoptions decreased from 2002-2007 by 18.9%.

Intercountry adoptions decreased from 2008-2010 by 35.8%. From 2004-2010 they decreased by 51.7%.

The NCFA also notes that while intercountry and infant domestic adoptions are decreasing, the number of American families wanting to adopt has increased and many wait years to be able to adopt.

There are many reasons for the disparity in the number of children needing families and the number actually being adopted. Some include lack of education for birth parents about adoption as a viable option for an unintended pregnancy, corruption in adoption practices in developing countries, stricter regulations on what makes a child available for adoption, slow processing times, and a worldview that promotes children remaining in their country of origin as more valuable than growing up in a family.

Whatever the issue of the day is that makes adopting hard, the reality is it's a spiritual battle.

"God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:6

What is God calling you to do to fight this battle? Here are some ideas:

1. Pray. I have yet to coordinate one adoption or watch a family member or friend who have had an easy adoption journey. You can help by standing beside a family in prayer who is in the process of adopting or has brought a child home.

2. Stay informed about what is going on in the world of adoption and be ready to get involved to advocate for adoptions. These three organizations have blogs and sites that will keep you up-to-date: Joint Council on International Children's Services, National Council for Adoption and The Christian Alliance for Orphans.

3. Help a family who has adopted. The battle doesn't end once a child comes home. Adoptive parenting is a huge gift but also full of challenges. Throw a homecoming shower, offer to listen without giving advice, help pay for counseling or extra educational services that the adopted child may need, offer respite care when needed, or think of creative ways to serve an adoptive family to give them more time and energy to parent.

I can be tempted to be discouraged that adopting is so hard, but the great news is that if it's worth such a battle to our enemy, then there's a whole lot of eternal value at stack. That's the kind of battle I want to be on the front lines for. How about you?

New Delta Flight

2011-06-25T04:44:00.001-07:00

Looks like Delta is planning to add a third weekly flight to Monrovia soon. It's a good sign that the US sees the stability of the country continuing even with upcoming elections.

Adopting an Older Child Post

2011-06-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

The reality of how challenging and, yet, potentially amazing it is to parent a child who has suffered a lot of trauma is always with me. As a mom and as an adoption coordinator, I live this truth out every day. I came across a post about Adopting an Older Child on the blog Rage Against the Minivan today and knew it needed to be shared. All that is in this post I have found to be true in my experience as an adoptive mom and adoption coordinator.

Project Hope: Nearing the Goal

2011-06-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

With no small amount of amazement, I'm thrilled to say we are nearing the end of labor on Project Hope with $32,116 committed towards the $35,000 goal! Preparations are being made in Liberia, so we can make sure that the funds are used for God's glory. Keep praying with us that God would do all that He purposes with this project and that we would be faithful!

Project Hope Donation for Vocational School

2011-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Another "BAM! look how easy this is for me" from God. A $1000 donation came in for the building of the vocational school at the Oscar and Viola Stewart Mission School for deaf students.

Here is a photo with three of the workers at the Deaf Mission who are so joyful as they watch the school being built even now! We're praying the school will be finished and ready for students in the fall.

Our Youngest Project Hope Fundraiser

2011-06-10T13:47:00.001-07:00

Emily, age 8, is our youngest Project Hope fundraiser. Emily's family already sponsors two children in Liberia, so when she heard about Project Hope, Emily could have easily decided that her family already helps children enough in Liberia. Instead, completely on her own, Emily decided to make a PowerPoint presentation about the kids in Liberia to share with her classmates. Then she baked cookies and took them along with her presentation to school where she spoke to her class about Project Hope and sold the cookies, raising $16.50. Oh yeah, and if that's not amazing enough, Emily goes to a public school! Pretty cool how God uses everybody who is willing to be used. Way to be open to God's leading, Emily!

Project Hope Celebration

2011-06-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment: it is its appointed consummation." C.S. Lewis

Last night we had a conference call to discuss the allocation of Project Hope funds. Such a joy to be at the point of handing out God's blessings to see how He will use them to bless again!

Here are some of the specifics...

Two rounds of micro-loans will be funded, so that one new loan group will receive $200 loans and folks from the last loan group will be eligible for $400 loans. This will bless close to 40 Liberian families with the ability to start or expand a small business and receive business training!

We will send $900 a month for one year to fund some stipends for ACFI staff members. Over time, I'll post more about these dear folks!

About a third of the Project Hope funds will go to maintenance needs, primarily at the two mission boarding schools that ACFI maintains. (i.e. septic tanks emptied, repairs to water supplies, vehicle repairs, screens and beds repaired, fence repairs, technology for Central Administration, and building repairs.) Already, we received news yesterday that torrential rains have caused a lot of damage to several buildings. I have to admit that it makes me sad to think that money will need to go to this unexpected need, but I know God had the timing worked out perfectly and the need is not unexpected to Him.

We've also allocated $1000 to go towards the vocational school construction at the Deaf Mission. As more funds come in for Project Hope, they will primarily go to meet this need. Below are a few photos of the beginning construction of this school that will provide deaf students with much needed job skills, so they can one day leave the mission school and support a family...such a rare blessing for someone with a disability in Liberia.

Thanks for trekking this mountain climb with us the past couple of months. I love looking around to see all of the faces of those who have walked with us. Did you realize that you were making the climb with us, I wonder? In those prayers of asking what God would have you give. In those moments of writing checks and placing the stamps in a hurry to get on with so much life calling you. In skimming the updates and wondering in your heart at God's provision. You have climbed with us.

Even more, have you noticed the one leading us? A backpack of cool, liquid strapped to His back. He knows how thirsty we can get for this water that gives life. A knowing smile He throws over His shoulder when we pause to rest. We tell Him that maybe this is as high as we need to climb. After all, we're tired, and this is pretty high after all. "Drink this," He says, and we are refreshed and continue on in His footsteps. And even now, as we stop to gaze at the view...the beauty of all He has created and sustained...I know He is not done with us yet.

Thanks, Lord, for the mountain climbing. For the water that refreshes, the high places you set in front of us that need to be scaled, the sweet company of those who make the trek with us, and most of all for your presence along the way.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20

Adoptions in Liberia

2011-06-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to finally be able to post about children coming home to their families. CAS/ACFI have thankfully been allowed by the Liberian government to finish up cases that were started before the moratorium. We're hopeful that all of the children will be with their adoptive families by the end of the summer. Several families have traveled in recent months and brought their kiddos home already, which is nothing shy of a huge miracle. These families waited for 2.5-3 years and believed for much of that time that they would have to parent from an ocean away by providing funds for their kids to be raised in foster care and then travel to see them as they were able. During that time, I watched families spend a week or two with their kids in Liberia, and then literally have to be ripped apart as they sobbed for each other but had to say goodbye.

Often, I would write to the families verses I felt the Lord providing as encouragement. This one seemed to come most frequently:

Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.

Psalm 126:5-6

What a huge gift from God to stand on the other side of that promise! So jump up and down doing the Happy Dance, shout "Woohoo!", share this news with a friend who needs encouragement that God is able and so, so close to the brokenhearted....just DO SOMETHING to praise God for who He is. He deserves it!

Project Hope Total

2011-05-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Praise God for bringing in $25,060 for Project Hope! Though May 29th has come and gone, we still have a couple of folks who are working on fundraising for the project. Since the funding needs stretch out throughout the next year, I will continue to post updates about funds that come in as well as how the needs are met in Liberia.

Thank you for joining us in this huge mountain climb. It's amazing to see the way the God has provided! God is good...all the time. All the time....God is good!

I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly. Psalm 40:10

Wus Dis Hope?

2011-05-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

You may remember that our 2010 mission team was given the honor of naming the baby of one of our leaders in Liberia. We chose the name "Hope" explaining that we wanted to have a little Hope in Liberia. Over the past year, we've been able to watch our little Hope grow in Liberia and decided to name Project Hope after her. Our desire is to be used by God as He projects hope throughout a country in desperate need of it.

It's been fascinating to me to hear my friend, Georgia, talk about the response of other Liberians when they hear that her daughter's name is Hope.

"Hope? Wus dis Hope? I never hear dat name," they say.

"But, Georgia," I say, "how can this name be strange in Liberia? You have 'Blessing,' 'Joy,' 'Faith,' 'Wisdom,' 'Hardtime,' 'Peace,' 'Praise,' and 'Patience.' How can 'Hope' sound strange to people?"

"It just sounds strange to their ears," she says. "They don't hear of hope much."

I nod. Understanding the depth of how true this is.

"But anyway. It doesn't matter." (I hear this expression often. Usually it comes after Georgia shares about a need that's desperate that there's no way we can meet. I wonder for a moment if this name we've placed on her daughter will be too hard for Hope to carry through life.)

But then Georgia's face brightens, and she says, "A women's conference...before they call it Women of Wisdom, but this year, they hear Hope's name, and they name it Women of Hope instead."

I laugh and say, "Yes, see? In time this new name will take root in Liberia, too. I'm telling you, Mama, hope is contagious. When Hope becomes President, all of the mothers will name their babies after her."

Georgia laughs with me, "Yes, das true. It's a good name."

And it is, don't you think? Even if people find the sound of "Hope" strange to their ears, it is a good name.

This story reveals so well what it is like to work in Liberia, to share the light of living in Christ. We are a people who are accustomed to living in darkness. The hope of a transformed life in Christ sounds foreign to our ears and even as we hear of it and it tempts us, we question whether or not to commit to this hope, this new name, this identity that so few people around us wear. But in time, as we wear the name, it catches on and people begin to say, "What dis hope? I never hear dat name."

And we tell them about Jesus. Then, before we know it, they begin to consider. "Hmm, maybe I will try out this name 'Hope' too. I like the sound of it."

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:5-8

BAM! God Does it Again

2011-05-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

No way! Are you kidding me? Just got online to find that another $3500 came in for Project Hope over night, bringing the total to $25,060.

BAM! BAM! BAM! And God glorifies Himself again.

A Big Day for Project Hope!

2011-05-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

Wow! No words to express my amazement at what God can do. Project Hope is at $21,560. Almost $7000 came in during the last day and a half.

I like how God sometimes gives us those, "BAM!" moments. You know what I'm talking about? It's like the Trinity must get together and go, "Okay, okay...watch this, right? They'll never believe this one. BAM!"

And we're amazed because how can God so easily do the impossible? God likes to show off this way, doesn't He? And it's so right how He brings Himself such glory.

I've been reading Ezekiel recently, and I've been struck by the repetition of God saying over and over, "Then they will know that I am the Lord." Unfortunately, for Israel, they had to learn this as a result of God's terrible judgment, which in reality was a blessing to draw the Israelites back to God. I'm so thankful that this "BAM!"...this, "Then they will know that I am the Lord," is such a joyfilled blessing.

Project Hope

2011-05-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

We're in the final week of support raising for Project Hope. A friend asked recently if I was disappointed that we're pretty far from the $35,000 goal. The answer? No way!

The reality of serving in Liberia is that there is an endless list of needs that really are quite desperate. If I gave in to feeling discouraged every time they weren't all met, I'd be depressed constantly. But that's not how my friends in Liberia feel living with these needs, so why should I? Like my Liberian brothers and sisters, I will choose to believe that God's ways are perfect and beyond my comprehension. He supplies the manna for today...exactly enough.

So whatever the total raised by May 29th, I hope you'll join with me in celebrating with thanks what only He can do. Then, we'll get to watch together over the next year as He reveals how it was exactly what was needed.

SignUpGenius Shoot

2011-05-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

Here are a few photos from a SignUpGenius video shoot we did the day after the Upward shoot. I'm sworn to silence on the content of the videos until they're released later in the summer, but oh, my word, can Dan write him up some comedy. The photo of him with the mustache will get me to giggling all by itself. Thankfully, that bad boy 'stache ended up in the bathroom sink as soon as the shoot ended. Eww!

Upward Video Shoot with Skylark

2011-05-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months, I've been working some with Dan on his media company's projects in addition to my work with Liberia. Mainly, I've focused on writing articles for SignUpGenius.com, but the past 6 weeks we spent working on pre-production work for Upward Sports videos. Last week we shot the videos for two days.

Video shoots are always a bit crazy with so many details that have to fall into place all at once, but these were also crazy fun. Dan wrote the scripts, which are intended to complement the Upward Sports devotionals. They teach virtues with scripture and a comedic cast of characters. I enjoyed helping create the characters by being in charge of props and wardrobe...two long days of playing dress up, if you will.

Here are a few photos to give you a feel for what it was like. Yes, that strange looking scientist next to my daughter, Kayla, is Dan. Kayla got to play the roles of a reporter and newscaster, and Dan gave into his itch to act by taking on the role of Dr. VonShnickleHoffer for three of the videos. I helped with production work.

Post-Adoption Support from Focus on the Family

2011-05-07T02:32:00.000-07:00

Focus on the Family now has a free post-adoption phone line for adoptive families! The phone number is 800-A-FAMILY (232-6459) and is staffed Mon - Fri from 8am - 10pm EST by counselors who have been trained by Karyn Purvis. This service is being promoted in 3 adoption magazines, through some web banners, and with adoption agencies and families who have attended their Wait No More events.

Thanks to all the families who have spoken out over the past several years about the need for post adoption resources. Your voices have been heard, and we've been seeing a greater and greater response from the Christian community to meet this need. Praise God for His faithfulness!

Focus on the Family also has other resources to help in your journey to care for orphans at their iCareAboutOrphans website.

Project Hope...Amazing!

2011-04-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a feast God provided in one day! I opened the mail last night and found two checks...each for $1000 towards Project Hope. You know those meals when your grandma makes your favorite food you haven't had in years or it's Thanksgiving Day and you waited until 3pm to eat anything and then every single bite tastes so good you eat until your belly hurts real good? Well it was one of those kind of manna days. Mmm, mmm good! Thanks, God!

Project Hope - Staff Sponsorships

2011-04-28T03:44:00.000-07:00

One phase of Project Hope is staff sponsorships. A significant challenge in leading an African church ministry is being able to develop and retain strong leaders, particularly because they so desperately need paying jobs. If you think about how small the pay is for most ministry jobs in the US, you can imagine how that translates in Liberian ministry. Workers often go months without any pay. These sponsorships will partially support a ministry worker and his or her family, and they will be a consistent source of income that will assist ACFI in retaining and developing these folks. Plus, they will serve as a huge encouragement that others value these folks' service for the Lord!

As a sponsor, you will receive a letter from the person you support, so that you can pray for him or her along with their family. Your commitment would be for 12 months, and sponsorships of $30, $50, or $75 a month are available.

Check out the sponsorship page!

UNICEF and USAID to work on Adoption Policy for Vietnam

2011-04-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a must read article for anyone interested in the future of internatonal adoptions entitled "Vietnam, UNICEF, and US Work on Adoption Policy: Will the Best Interests of Children Prevail?" . The writing has been on the wall for several years. Little by little, UNICEF is being given more power to eliminate international adoptions. They do a lot of great work for kids, but on this issue, they are dead wrong. There is no way to justify eliminating the right of a child to be raised in a family.

Spring Photos

2011-04-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos from spring events in the Rutledge family!

Easter Celebration!

2011-04-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

What a joy filled day! In addition to celebrating Jesus conquering death by raising from the dead, we got to see the symbol of this in our kids' lives as Angelyn, Henry and Zane were all baptized.

After a great celebration service, we went out to brunch with my mom and snapped a few photos at a nearby park while we were waiting to get a table. (If you know our family, this is the only way we get family pictures. While we're on our way to some event and we all happen to look decent, Dan grabs the camera and takes a bunch of photos. When the kids were little, I tried the coordinating outfits and setting up a professional appointment, but I always ended up sweaty and near tears. Back when Kayla was two, after waiting at the mall for two hours while chasing her around, she fell and split her lip open, and I decided it just wasn't worth the stress. It hasn't gotten any easier to get all four kids to stay still, but at least we only have to do it for a few minutes at a time.) Today they were especially willing to smile quickly since they didn't want our table getting passed on to another family. I take what I can get.

Project Hope Update

2011-04-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

Thankful to report that $7899.71 has been committed to Project Hope at this point!

I have to admit, fundraising is such a painfully joyous process. I fluctuate moment by moment between feelings of wonder and fear. It's scary to wait for a miracle, isn't it? To be right in the midst of the waiting, the waiting without seeing beyond today.

I wonder if the Israelites felt this way in the days and months after the manna started to appear. Can you imagine being in the middle of a desert, without any hope of food unless God made it appear every day? Waking each day hungry, your heart starting to beat faster as you considered that maybe today when you peeked out your window, nothing would be on the ground. And yet, each day, year after year, there it was...just enough for the day.

I don't like that I'm like the Israelites who wanted to gather a stockpile in one day. They didn't want to have to trust God one day at a time. They wanted to work hard, depend on their own strength and gather a storehouse full at once. They weren't interested in the miracle of having just enough for each day. But there's something so joyful about opening the mail to find one or two checks each afternoon. To watch the blue on the thermometer climb a little bit at a time.

I like to think about what each donation can do. This $200 will provide a loan for one family...the hope of creating a business, the God joy that comes from working hard and providing for a family. This $2000 will clean out the septic tanks for a year at one of the mission homes, so the children don't have to go out into the tall grasses and tempt death with their poor sanitation. This $75 will provide a missionary with enough to live on for a month so he can continue to preach the gospel in the villages.

This is the way manna should be eaten. One bite at a time, so I can savor it fully. To taste and see that the Lord is good day after day after day.

Cute Necklaces to Support Project Hope

2011-04-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Look at how fun these are...

Remember my post about creative ideas to support Project Hope? Ami has put up a lot more necklaces on this site to purchase. Seriously, I would buy a bunch of these as gifts if I walked into a store and saw them. Can you believe they're only $8-12.50 and shipping is only $2.50? If you buy more than one, the shipping drops to $1.

Church Commits to Helping Deaf Children in Liberia

2011-04-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Merrimon Avenue Baptist in Asheville has committed to seeking sponsors from their congregation for children at the Oscar and Viola Stewart Mission School for Deaf Children in Liberia. As a church that has already been committed to the deaf in their local community with a deaf ministry at the church, the partnership is a perfect match.

Becky Lloyd, founder of Signs for Hope and a member of Merrimom Avenue Baptist went on our mission trip to Liberia last summer and fell in love with the children and staff at the mission school. After witnessing the dedication of the staff and the eagerness of the students to learn and build relationships , she returned to the US, anxious to share their story. She has continued to maintain a relationship with the school's director and his family and hopes to lead a vision trip back to the mission school this summer.

If you'd like to learn more about sponsoring a child at the Oscar and Viola Stewart Mission School for Deaf Children, please go to AfricanChildSponsorship.com.

Project Hope Update

2011-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

Just received another $500 towards Project Hope! A few more steps up the mountain...

Message from ACFI's Founder

2011-04-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an update from ACFI's founder, Ed Kofi, about what God has been doing through ACFI during the past three months.

Dear Beloved,

We bring you Calvary greetings and goodwill.

With thanksgiving we acknowledged God's bountiful blessing through your faithful prayers and intercessions on our behalf. We truly thank God for your prayer support.

Spinning around the sub-region of West Africa including Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, etc our missionary journey has been successfully productive. Some 55 lost souls have been born into the family of God, baptized and added to the Church. Training seminars for Pastors, Evangelists and Gospel Workers and open air gospel crusade meetings held in Ghana and Sierra Leone profoundly strengthened the
brethren thereby adding momentum to the gospel witness.

In Liberia, several gospel outreach missions were conducted at many rural villages and towns before the hosting of our Annual World Missions Conference. About 2000 participants representing seven nations attended the conference. The majority of the participants came from remote rural villages and towns across Liberia. Hundreds walked for many days and others traveled in canoes by sea and river routes.

In early March, a missions team of 5 from the Samaritan Road Project Ministry, Ohio, USA arrived in Liberia as guests of ACFI for a 3-week working visit. The team members were 3 ladies and 2 men (mechanical engineers and heavy-duty mechanics /operators). During their visit, the missionary mechanics repaired and restored several ACFI machines which have been in dire need of repairs. The machines include 2 catepillars (D5 & D6), a john deer tractor, a dump truck, etc. Using the repaired machines, they cleared and plowed a large portion of our 10 acres of farm land to prepare for the harvest. We have already begun to plant vegetables and other crops for our feeding ministry.

Meanwhile, construction work for the completion of both Daniel Hoover Children Village Mission School project and the Oscar & Violet Stewart School for Deaf Children has fully begun. Building materials are being mobilized including the molding and purchasing of concrete blocks, timbers, steel product, etc. Contractual understanding has also been concluded with a local construction company now in charge of the projects. As the Lord provides fundings, it is our hope that these projects will be completed by late July and ready for dedication in early August. We will supply you with photos in our next progress report. Please pray with us for God's divine supply of needed funds to speedily expedite the work because raining season in Liberia is closing in. The construction cost for the Oscar & Violet Stewart School for the Deaf is estimated at $40,000. Up to date, $16,000 have raised. We believe that God will provide the rest of the funds to complete the project. We bless God for the many friends that have given generously towards this project.

On another positive note, in early January, the Earl Wright Family at Fishing Creek Baptist Church, York, South Carolina donated a 16-seated mini school bus to ACFI for the children's ministries and evangelism. The bus is due to arrive in Liberia soon. This is an answer to our prayer. ACFI does have serious difficulties with transportation in almost every aspect of our ministry. The bus will surely add much effectual momentum to our outreach endeavor. We are still praying for transportation for our Guest House and central administration to be able to commute back and forth to work daily in a hostile transportation environment.

Please pray with us for hundreds of ACFI members who fled the Ivory Coast because of the civil war in that country. They are suffering for lack of food and other basic essential needs. Others are missing and could be dead. Pray also for their little children, sick and malnorished. They need urgent help. Please stand with us as we try to intervene with some limited relief.

Thanks for your prayers with me and my family. I will be returning to the US soon. I am bringing this missions trip to an end for now.

Kind regards.

Bro. Ed Kofi

Project Hope Starts Strong!

2011-04-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Wow! Project Hope is off to a strong start with $4000 in pledges coming in today. We're on our way up the mountain, friends! I think I'll do a little Liberian dancing with my children to celebrate.

Remember David's words to Michal in 2 Samuel 6 when she chastised him for celebrating God's goodness with his crazy dance moves? "I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." Yep, that will be me.

2011-04-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Great ideas are coming in already for Project Hope! Here are a few:

1. Ami is selling beautiful handmade necklaces at great prices and donating the proceeds to Project Hope. She has a few up now on this site and will have more photos soon: (I already bought four of them for my daughters and their friends. So great for birthday party gifts!)

2. Matt and Tori are hosting a beach volleyball tournament and cook-out at a park near their house for their small-group and friends with a Project Hope entry fee.

3. Bob is donating what he would have spent on traveling to Liberia this year towards the micro-loan portion of Project Hope!

4. Our family is sponsoring at least one of the ACFI staff members, and we're raising support as if we were going to Liberia this year. I'm going to go through my jewelry and see what I can sell, too. We're still praying about what else God might have us do.

What relationships, talents, resources has God given you that can be used to bring Him glory through Project Hope?

I told Dan the other day that I love raising funds for Liberia. He looked at me like I might have forgotten for a moment how hard it is. "I know, I know," I said. "But overall, it's really fun to watch all the ways that God provides that I never would have imagined."

It's a fresh reminder to me that He is Yahweh Yireh "The Lord Provides." It's so interesting because there are several ways to translate Yahweh Yireh to fully understand what this name means. It means, "The Lord will see to it" or "In the mountain the Lord is seen." It was the name Abraham gave the mountain where God provided the ram instead of Isaac to be sacrificed. We have a God who sees all that we need ahead of time and provides.

So, yes, it's uncomfortable to be needy. It's uncomfortable to have to climb a tall mountain and see how tall it is without seeing God's provision until we're at the top. But what fun to stand on the summit and finally see how God has provided!

This is not a spectator sport! Won't you join us for the climb?

Project Hope Begins

2011-04-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, we’ve been able to watch God impact many lives in Liberia. So many of you have been part of it. Thank you! Because of your prayers and sacrificial gifts, we’ve had the opportunity to serve alongside African Christians Fellowship International (ACFI) as they live out the gospel among their people.

Some of the highlights of these past three years have been leading missions teams to serve at ACFI’s two homes for children, overseeing a sponsorship program in which 55 children are now supported, and building relationships with some of our very dearest friends.

From a micro-loan program with a 100% repayment rate to an agricultural initiative that’s struggled to take root, we’ve partnered with ACFI to discover the best ways to help the ministry thrive. And thrive it has! At their annual conference in February, ACFI commissioned 180 indigenous missionaries to go out into the fifteen counties surrounding the capital of Monrovia and preach the gospel. God is good!

This year, we began preparing for our third annual missions trip when we sensed God had another plan. It's always been really important to me to be a good steward of the resources that God provides, so when it looked like our team this year might only be 7-8 people, I went back to review our objectives for the trip. No matter how much I wanted to go, it was obvious that in order to have a significant impact and justify the cost of the trip, our team needed to be larger. In the end, our team leaders prayed and were led to delay the trip until the spring of 2012.

In that amazing way that God has of turning discouragements into opportunities, we soon realized that not only would we have a lot of people available for a spring 2012 trip, but we would also have the opportunity to strengthen ACFI’s ministry in an even greater way in the interim. And so, the vision for Project Hope was born.

Since partnering with ACFI, we’ve learned that one of the greatest struggles for an indigenous ministry is retaining its valuable leaders. Without a consistent way to compensate its fulltime staff, the ministry runs into the challenge of training people up into positions of leadership and then losing them to other jobs or ministries that have more resources.

The goals of Project Hope are twofold:

1. To provide ACFI with the financial resources to retain godly leaders who are qualified and equipped to lead their outreach and children’s ministries for a minimum of one year.

2.To project a renewed hope into ACFI churches over God’s ability to transform lives through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ.

The vision for Project Hope is a lofty one…to raise $35,000 by May 29, 2011.

While the amount seems great, we know we serve an even greater God who is able to take our individual loaves and fishes and multiply them exponentially. So instead of raising the same amount to send a team of 10 Americans on a weeklong missions trip, our little group is committed to raising the funds needed for one year in key areas.

Here is how the money will be used:

1. Two rounds of Micro–loans: These loans will be used by ACFI members to start small businesses. Loan members commit to meeting weekly for a business lesson, worship and repayment of the loan over a 20 week period.

20 loans at $200 are already funded
20 loans at $400 are partially funded

The need: $6800

(Remember that we already ran one round of loans and saw a 100% repayment rate! That means we already have one of the next rounds funded with the repaid loans from round one, and 20 people were able to start small businesses that are still bringing in income for their families.)

2. ACFI Missionary Staff Salaries: Funds will be pooled to provide partial monthly stipends to ACFI mission home staff, administrators, pastors and missionaries. Each sponsor will be paired with one of these Liberians and will receive a photo and letter from the supported staff member.

10 sponsors at $30 a month for one year
10 sponsors at $50 a month for one year
5 sponsors at $75 a month for one year

The need: $14,100

3. One Time Needs at the Children’s Homes

Maintenance (i.e. emptying septic tanks, roof repairs, vehicle maintenance)
Vocational school at the Deaf Mission (to equip deaf students with career skills)
Technology (an ongoing internet connection and maintenance of computers)

The need: $14,100

The great thing about Project Hope is that God is already doing amazing things to transform lives in Liberia. It’s our privilege to come and walk alongside as He continues.

Would you join us?

To give you can go to the sponsorship site and sponsor via Paypal, or you can send your donation directly to Christian Adoption Services with "Project Hope" in the memo line of your check (624 Matthews Mint Hill Rd, Ste 134, Matthews, NC 28105). You will receive a tax receipt for all donations.

If you have a creative idea for raising funds, post a note to me on Facebook. I'd love to include it here!

Emma Thompson's Journal from Time in Liberia

2011-04-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here is an article with diary entries from actress, Emma Thompson, and her Rwandan adopted son, Tindy, about their recent time in Liberia.

Project Hope: Watching Hope Grow

2011-04-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

The significance of the name Project Hope runs even deeper than what I've already mentioned...

This is a photo of my dear friend, Georgia, and her little girl. Before Liberia's civil wars started in 1989, Georgia had a hopeful future. She had a home and a family, a mom and a dad and siblings. She worked hard in school and earned a medical scholarship, which she used to go to college to become a nurse's assistant.

Then, came the war, forcing her to flee. In the chaos that descended on her village, she was separated from her family and caught in the crossfires of a battle. She was shot in the hand and leg and left along the road with many others for dead. After a couple of days, her brother, who had been searching for her, came upon her and got her to a refugee camp to heal. For the next couple of years, Georgia would move from one displaced person's camp to another as rebels took over. She would lose her father who was beaten to death and later her mother.

But still, through all of the loss, God's grace would find her. In the camps, Georgia heard the gospel and accepted Christ. She began to work with children as a nurse's aid and then received training from African Christians Fellowship International (ACFI) to teach. When the fighting again approached their camp, Georgia worked with ACFI to rescue the orphaned children in the camp and brought them to Monrovia where ACFI began their first orphanage. She has faithfully served the ministry since the early 90's to care for orphaned and indigent children.

Today Georgia is a foster mom and the Children’s Ministry Director for ACFI. She creates beautiful handmade African quilts, which she sells to Americans to supplement her limited income and help other women in her community start small businesses to send their children to school.

Nine months ago, Georgia asked our last missions team to name her newborn baby. We prayed and chose the name Hope because we want to watch Hope grow in Liberia.

Project Hope is about equipping more men and women in Liberia who love the Lord to use their gifts for His glory. We want to see Hope grow in Liberia. We want to see other children like Hope grow up strong in Jesus.

Project Hope...the details are coming.

Project Hope: Soon to be Unveiled

2011-04-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

What's in a name? I've been studying the names of God recently. His very essence, the core of who He is and why He moves and acts the way He does exists in His name. He is El Shadday "God Almighty for Whom all Things are Possible", El Roi "The God Who Sees Me", Yahweh Rophe "The Lord who Heals" and so much more. In order to know Him, I need to understand His name.

In praying over a new vision God recently gave me for our work in Liberia, I asked Him for a name. This was one of those rare prayers where I felt like I had an immediate answer...Project Hope. Ok, I thought. It's simple and straightforward. It communicates exactly what we're trying to foster in Liberia...hope in Christ. And then, God began to reveal to me that just like His name, there's so much more to this name than I first realized.

I looked up the definitions for "project" and here's what I found:

Project (Noun)

1. An undertaking requiring concerted effort:
2. A plan or proposal; a scheme.

and

Project (Verb)

1. To form a plan or intention for
2. To calculate, estimate, or predict (something in the future), based on present data or trends
3. To send out into space; cast
4. To send forth or transport in the imagination

As I read these definitions and listened to what God's vision for Project Hope would be, I sensed Him saying, "Honey, this is going to require concerted effort. This is a scheme against the darkness, a plan for light. I am going to project a greater hope in Liberia through my church. Will you imagine with me?"

I like this part, don't you? I'm a good imaginer. I imagine a Liberia where the church is the place people go to find hope. In many ways, this is already true. I imagine a place where children have families who are equipped to care for them. A place where deaf children are celebrated, not discarded. A place where woman don't expect to be abused and where men show their strength in being godly leaders.

This vision is already starting to happen, in small ways, in little pockets. I see this in the ministry we work with in Liberia, African Christians Fellowship International. Project Hope is about equipping them to project hope in Christ. I'm ready, are you?

Project Hope. It's coming...

On the Homefront

2011-03-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hmm, how to summarize the blessed chaos that is our family? We are all healthy, which is wonderfully boring. Some of you may remember the days where we had 5-8 doctors appts. every week. We are now down to Zane only going once every other week for allergy shots. He and I are still on a gluten free diet, which has helped tremendously with allergies. He still struggles with asthma when the weather changes drastically, like oh, right about every day recently, but it's such a normal childhood thing, right? Angelyn went off her monthly injection to ward off womanhood a couple of months ago. You might also remember that we had to start that 3 years ago. To be honest, we were dreading the day when a simple shot would keep hormones at bay. It's been a rough road, and it felt like we were pulling all of our resources some days. We weren't quite sure what life was going to look like without the shots. I'm thrilled to report, it's actually been helpful. It seems like it may have been part of our challenge that Angelyn's emotions were dulled to the point of almost not existing. Not good when you're trying to build relationships. So, now, we still are working hard and some days are better than others, but we've taken a turn to a point where the desire to grow closer and learn from each other is mutual. On a side note, I struggle consistently about whether or not to post about the hard times with my kids. It's not that I worry about what readers might think of me as a mother. (Really, I'm much harder on myself than any of you could ever imagine being.) What concerns me is that, in this case, Angelyn doesn't get to tell you how this all looks through her eyes. I imagine that I could appear pretty nasty if she wrote about the hard times from her perspective. And yet, I don't want to leave out the fact that three-and-a-half years after our kids have been home, we are still in the process of healing, and I'm still in the process of learning how best to love unconditionally and fess up to my own sin. Of course, this was always true, even before Henry and Angelyn came home, but I needed them to reveal that my desperate need for Jesus is way greater than I ever realized. So make sure when you hear from me that adopting older children is a happily ever after story with a whole lot of heartache, that you get the fact that as a parent, I dish out a share of that heartache. I don't like it, and by God's grace, He's changing me over time, but there it is. Now, the happily ever after part. There's a lot of it. My kids are still crazy about each other. They are the best of friends and still look at me like I'm the freak when I tell them to contain their wild energy that threatens to destroy any semblance of order I work to create. Kayla is in that hormonal stage where she gushes about how wonderful it is to have such great parents and thirty seconds later dissolves into tears because we make some comment about needing to help get breakfast on the table. Then, five minutes later, she leaves a note by my side apologizing. So funny and sweet. I wish I knew someone like her when I was her age. I think I would have done anything to be her friend. She's the kind of person who makes everyone feel better about who they are just by spending time with her. Angelyn still impresses us with how hard she will work at something when she puts her mind to it. Sometimes at homework, all the time at sports. She is so strong. It's been a blessing to see her strength starting to be focused in positive ways. She is a friend to everyone, and so helpful around younger kids, especially little girls. Henry is the kind of kid that makes teachers and parents think they are doing a great job without really knowing why. He is a peacemaker, a hard worker, and good at sports and academics. We are still working on connecting in relationships, which is coming little by little. It's not that he ever pushes anyone away. He just doesn't think to need much. So we work on helping him to see how good it feels to be in relationships with people. Zane...ah, Zane. He is our charmer who tries to charm his way out of anything that slightly resembles work. The baby of the family, except that he has two parents who don't buy it. Still, his smile and joy from being with people are infectious. His teacher recently told him that he reminds her of a young Justin Bieber. Oh, say it isn't so. Dan and I are doing well. We could always use more downtime just for fun, but who couldn't, right? We somehow still find a lot to laugh about everyday. Recently, I started working for him on his web venture, SignUpGenius.com, for about ten hours a week in addition to my work with CAS. I enjoy writing some articles, and soon I'll be working on helping him to prep for a video shoot. It makes life a bit too full, but it helps to provide what we need for raising four kids. If you are so inspired, I'd love some prayers for staying centered on Christ in the midst of a full life. Without Him as my sustainer, I am empty. Aren't we all? So let's pray for each other that we would remain in Him and joyfully bear much fruit.

Update on Adoptions

2011-03-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

I apologize for going dark here for so long. Several reasons for the silence, though none of them involve a lack of things to write about. I'll try to catch up a bit. I know, I know, most of you reading really want the scoop on adoptions in Liberia. (I try not to take it personally that it's the main reason many folks read the blog.) I could be like the nightly news and leave this info. to the very end of my updates, but really, doesn't that irritate everyone? Besides, the story isn't headline worthy anyway. Unfortunately, I can't give you a lot at this point. We're still working to finish our adoptions that started before the moratorium. As for the future of adoptions in Liberia? Still uncertain. I don't see anyone working on a new law or even a new process that will be put into effect anytime soon. There have been on and off rumors that the moratorium will just magically lift at some point. Stranger things have happened in Liberia. It could be that one day we all get word that adoptions are open again. It could be that we never do. Politically speaking, there's no reason for President Sirleaf to even touch the issue at this point. She's going into the election, and no matter how much we'd like international adoptions (and the rights of children, for that matter) to be a big issue, they aren't. So for now, she's done what is needed politically. She's given a small window for special needs adoptions, so that no one can accuse her administration of letting kids die who can't get life saving medical care in Liberia. For those of you who had adoptions started before the moratorium? It's basically up to those who process adoptions in Liberia to decide what to do.

Sponsorship Program Update

2011-03-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

The AfricanChildSponsorship.com monthly update is too good not to include here. Remember that our sponsorship coordinator and her family spent a month in Liberia recently. In this month's newsletter, Corrie shares her thoughts about their trip:

Wow. I really have a hard time knowing where to begin as I sit here and desire to share with you about our time in Liberia. My husband, our two kids, and I traveled to Liberia in January and stayed for four weeks at Daniel Hoover Children's Village. We had the joy of also having our two Liberian children, who we've been in the process of adopting for several years now, stay with us the entire time. It was the first time all six of us had been together as a family! This was a huge part of why we decided to go in the first place... to be together. There was another main reason as well, however. We have been happy to be invested in the children of Liberia through sponosrship, the adoption process, and through last June's missions trip, but we sensed God just had more for us to be a part of. We really wanted to have more time to spend there, getting to know the staff and being a part of everyday life.

The trip was eye-opening in so many ways. It was challenging living among 200 children who are clamouring for your time and attention constantly. It was a joy to get to get to interact with them and let them know they are loved. It was a privilege to come to call the staff members our friends, to hear their hearts, their joys and their difficulties... and to become a part of their lives. We spent many days at the Deaf School loving on the kids there as well. We were able to experience a typical day in the children's lives; the good and the not-so-good.

The children were just beginning their second semester of school when we arrived. There were some children who went home and will now stay with family, as well as new children who came to enroll. Once the first week passed, things fell into more of a dependable routine; chores in the morning, school, change out of uniforms, eat the main meal, free time, gather for devotions, settle into the dorms for the evening. Though things are not at all "organized" as we think of it here in America, there is thought that goes into the events of the day, and this pattern is roughly followed each school day. Weekends are for chores, washing and braiding hair for the girls, football (soccer) for the boys, and for resting in any cool place you can find.

The children are in such good hands. I wish I had the time and space to tell you all about the dorm matrons we got to know, about the Sieh family who directs at DHCV, and about Pastor Harrington who is the head (and father figure) at the Deaf School. They are outstanding individuals. They care for the kids, have their best at heart, and are acting in obedience to the Lord as they do what He has called them to. It is utterly apparent to us, however, that there are just not enough care-givers to address the needs of so many children. Many kids are extremely helpful, but a good handful of them (at least at DHCV) are quite unruly at times, and that makes for a big challenge for their caregivers, as the ratio of matrons to kids is about 1:50. (This is not the case at the Deaf School, as the ratio is much more balanced.) As you can imagine, there is very little one-on-one time that can be given to the kids, which is not an optimal way to be raised into adulthood. We found ourselves wondering what could be done to try to help in these struggles, and to be honest, we just don't know. God will have to continue to strengthen the staff, and reveal his plans to us all. We are deeply grateful though, for the way that God's word is taught faithfully to the children, and that they are grounded in the most important things of all.

It was extremely encouraging to once again experience the affection and joy of the Liberian people. I am struck each time we are there, that despite the extreme poverty and tumultuous history of the country, the people are overwhelmingly full of joy and thankfulness. The kids are needy of attention, to be sure, but they are not neglected by any stretch, as you hear of accounts in orphanage settings in Russia and other countries. These children are full of life and happiness, creativity and a great capacity to extend and receive love. That, to me, is incredible... and a testimony of the relational focus within the Liberian culture. We spent many, many hours sitting and snuggling, braiding hair, playing soccer, talking and sharing, and listening to the kids' beautiful voices as they sang their many songs to us.

One highlight for me was having the honor of bringing packages to children whose sponsors sent something to them. They all were so excited to get these special parcels... just for them! Most end up sharing some of the the goodies inside with their friends. I want to say THANK YOU to those of you who were able to send something... it is an extremely impactful thing to connect to your child in this way. The sponsorship program continues to get more organized as we have more opportunities to work in Liberia and partner with the staff to get updates and pictures. The funds from this program are a blessing that I just can't do justice to describe. Without this outside help, the ACFI ministry would surely struggle to provide the most basic needs of the indigent and orphaned children. As it is, financial difficulties are the norm, and there is no end to the needs that are faced each day... but the sponsorship program is beginning to bridge that gap, and certainly has been a sweet way for people like you and me to start to see God's heart for his people in Liberia. Thank you for being a part.

I thought I'd end with something I did on my last day at DHCV. I was sitting on our little porch, on the rickety benches where all the kids would come and hang out with our family. A group of "my girls" was with me... these were some of the older girls, (Henrietta and Nowai among them ~ for the benefit of their sponsors!) and I was asking them about what they remembered of the civil war. All of them had stories.... all of them. They all had very vivid experiences to share with me, each had seen very horrible and gruesome and violent things. I couldn't fathom my own children, ages 5-11, having lived through the things that were being told to me. I couldn't imagine what impact that would have on them for the rest of their lives. And I certainly couldn't believe that I was sitting here with these girls hearing them talk of rape and beatings, mutilation and bloated bodies in the streets, as if it were something not-too-out-of-the-ordinary. It was their history. It was their childhood. It was unreal. I knew it all before. I've read lots of books on Liberia's history, but the reality of it all hit me when my sweet young friends, who I got to hug everyday for a month, were remembering it. What struck me most though, was that each one, with great conviction, told me that they and their loved ones would never have lived through it all except by God's grace and goodness to them. They praised Him, and their thankfulness was deep and real.

That's what's amazing about Liberia. There are great heartaches and trials, but there is a deep dependence on the only one who can make a way through. Jesus, for those who know Him, is their true anchor. They trust Him for their food each day, for their health and very life, for peace in their land. These things are not taken for granted. So, while we Americans certainly have help to offer them, we have at least as much to learn.

The verse I tried to hang on to while in Liberia was Nehemiah 8:10, but interestingly, it sums up quite well and simply the way Liberian believers live their lives. I hope it encourages you today!

"The joy of the Lord is my strength" Nehemiah 8:10

With JOY,
Corrie Luebke
Sponsorship Coordinator

Update from Liberia

2011-01-20T07:04:00.000-08:00

Corrie sounded good on the phone this morning and a bit refreshed after a good day yesterday. Still, she's had trouble sleeping with caring for four kids, dealing with the heat, and having the extra company of small, moving critters who want to share their space. Please pray that God will provide the rest she and the others need to keep going for the long haul. Thankfully, He's providing enough adrenaline to make up for lost sleep right now!

Corrie's family and Brenda arrived at Daniel Hoover later in the day on Tuesday. As they expected, there were many excited children waiting to greet them. This proved to be a little too overwhelming for their American kiddos, who melted down for a bit. Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning, and they awoke yesterday to a new day and adjusted really well. Corrie said that having Brenda there has been a huge help!

They have been getting some updates on both mission homes and enjoying time with everyone. Yesterday, they did go to the Deaf Mission for a couple of hours and ended up having to walk part way back to Daniel Hoover when their car got a flat. Corrie said it was a true Liberian experience!

The most important prayer request right now is for one of their Liberian kiddos. Since Monday she has been struggling with a fever and on and off headache and nausea. Corrie was concerned about her getting dehydrated but the last few hours, she's been doing much better. They are going to watch her carefully and get her to a clinic if she starts feeling bad again.

Thanks for your prayers!

Safe Arrival

2011-01-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

The family and woman traveling to Liberia to serve at ACFI's mission homes arrived safely in Liberia as scheduled today. Praise God! I received a brief email from them about an hour after their scheduled arrival time saying they had gotten in and were being well cared for. I'll post more details after talking with them all tomorrow.

Thanks for praying!

Liberia Trip 2011

2011-01-13T05:54:00.000-08:00

It's time to start planning for the Liberia Trip 2011! The dates for the trip are May 29 - June 13, 2011. (There will be an option for part of this time for those who would like to go but can only go for one week.) Please pray and decide if you'd like to be part of the team by the end of January. We will have our first team meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, February 1st. Statements of Interest to apply and hold your spot on the team are due January 31st.

This year, in addition to our work at Daniel Hoover Children's Village Mission School and the Oscar and Viola Stewart School for the Deaf, we will focus on ACFI leadership development. We will also explore the other ministries of ACFI to understand how we can continue to assist the ministry in becoming self-sustaining under God's direction.

There are many needs for varied talents and skills on the team. I'd love to have you join us!

Please go to the following site to download a Statement of Interest and collect more information about the trip: Liberia Trip 2011 Google Site

I know many of you have in mind others who might want to join the team. Please forward this information onto them.

Please Pray for a Family Traveling to Liberia

2011-01-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

I'd love for you to join me in praying for a family of four and a woman traveling to Liberia to serve at ACFI's mission homes. They will be there mid-January to mid-February. The family traveled with me to Liberia in June and besides serving on our mission team, they were able to spend time with their two Liberian children they've been in the process of adopting for two and a half years. When we left in June, they were hoping to go back and spend a month with their kids around this time as they continued to serve alongside ACFI.

Here are some snippets from Corrie's prayer letter, so you can hear her heart directly:

Hi All!

I wanted to touch base with you all and ask you to pray for our
family! We are traveling to Liberia for 4 weeks. This time our American children, ages 9 and 11 will go with us. Our Liberian children should be able to spend the whole time
staying with us, so we will be a "whole" family for the first time ever. :) For those of you who have been there, you will understand in an especially real way how challenging this will be. While we are very excited to go and serve in whatever ways the Lord sets before us... we know that this will be a difficult trip on many, many
levels.

So... please commit to pray for us if the Lord prompts you to! (A woman named Brenda will be joining us for the first week as well, so you can pray for her too!)We will stay in a dorm at Daniel Hoover Children's Village the majority of the time.

Safety and protection: flights, in driving in Liberia, personal safety
for our family, etc.

Health: from big things like serious injury and malaria, to little
things like the flu, sunburns, or reactions to foods, and everything
in between. I don't know about you, but the idea of throwing up in a
Liberian toilet just doesn't sound nice. (Not that it sounds nice any
other way either...)

Sleep: Staying at DHCV means no lovely fans all night long! :) This
one is a biggie to me... I barely slept in Liberia in June, and I am
concerned that my kids will have the same issue (especially coming
from frigid winter weather). We really need the Lord to
help us adjust and give us the ability to get rest each night.

The kids: Our American children will be overwhelmed. They just will. But, we
know that the Lord can give them what they need. We will be around
LOTS of children on most days. Pray that my kids share themselves
with love and compassion, and yet have the ability to stand their
ground, speak up, and not let all of the activity make them shrink
away and fall apart.

Communication: We all need a supernatural ability to quickly learn to
understand Liberian english (especially so we can have more meaningful
time with our Liberian kids), in order to really interact with the kids
and staff. I'd love to build some deep relationships on this trip,
and just need the Lord to allow us to fully understand others and to
be understood. We have learned some basic sign language, and also
desire that the Lord helps us to have special time with the deaf
children!!

Serving: We just desire to be a blessing as we go. Pray that God
clearly shows us, each day, what we should be doing to bring him glory
and to serve others. We are intending to spend quality time with the
children and staff, touch base with the other children who have
adoptive families in the states, check up on how the bakery and micro-
finance stuff is going, work on sponsorship updates, work on the
computer issues, take note of what might be best to focus on for this
summer's mission trip... but above all, we want to love on the
children.

Family time: We are excited to be a family of 6. Pray that God gives
us opportunites to parent our Liberian kids meaningfully, time away from
the chaos when we need it, and the ability to homeschool all 4 kids to
a certain extent. We will also need oodles (yes, oodles...) of
patience and forbearance with one another. When it's 90 degrees,
you're sweating all over, and have 4 kids who want to sit on your lap
b/c they NEED you... I imagine I might want to run away. :) We need
God's kind of love... patient, kind, not self-seeking, not easily
angered, always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres!

Adoption: Please just pray for our hearts (all 6 of us) to be guarded and protected,
but ready for whatever God does. We do not expect the kids to be able to come home with us, nor is that the reason we decided to go to Liberia, but we are certainly not done believing that God can complete what he has begun, if it is his plan to do so!

The Need: Pray that God gives us a continued brokenness for the great needs of the Liberian people without being too overwhelmed by it. We'll be asked for help, money, etc... and we just need the Lord to show us what our portion is.

Nitty-Gritty: Pray for God to help us in the little things too: having very little electricity or running water, drinking and brushing teeth only with bottled water (or risking sickness when we forget!), that our systems would handle the change of foods and lack of the fruits and veggies that we're used to (since they are not all safe for us to
eat), communication being difficult- that we'd be able to touch base with people when we need to via phone or e-mail, remembering to take our malaria medications each day, and dealing with being dirty, sweaty and smelly most of the time! :)

That's all I can think of for now. I know, I know... it's PLENTY.
There are just so many facets to this trip. Spiritual, emotional,
physical, mental... I feel we'll need to totally depend on God for all
these things!

2010-12-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to some faithful donors, 500 children and adults in Liberia got to enjoy a Christmas celebration with food and those at the Deaf Mission received some much needed clothes! Merry Christmas!

2010 Rutledge Fam Photos

2010-12-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

We usually send Christmas letters each year, but this year we thought we'd try something a bit different. Here's our year in review via photos...

Zane and Henry played Upward Basketball last winter. Just like in soccer, they make a great pair with Zane playing hard defense and Henry racking up points on offense.

My director in Liberia, Georgia, got to travel to the U.S. for her first visit in January when escorting a child to her family. The kids loved introducing her to all things American...including snow.

In true Liberian fashion, Georgia came bearing gifts...one was an African shirt for Christian Adoption Services' Director, Jim Woodward.

I was a bit nervous about science fair projects times four, but the kids helped me out by all doing a variation on the same experiment. Conclusion, plants mainly need sunlight and water to grow. Everything else may or may not help. I know, we felt like it was groundbreaking, too.

Dan got to "play" in our church's kids' ministry by taking on a recurring role that called for many strange get ups.

The kids impressed Dan with breakfast in bed for his birthday.

Angelyn had several friends over for a "Praise God, I'm All Better" party in the spring after recovering from a very severe appendicitis at the beginning of the school year.

We got to go to PA for Easter to visit with Dan's sister's family and see their new house.

I drove the kids to Louisville, KY over Spring Break to visit with my dad and some friends who moved there from Charlotte. They loved time with Grandpa and sleeping in a hotel with a pool.

Kayla played the role of Dorothy in Arborbrook Christian Academy's spring fundraiser and sang "Over the Rainbow."

Henry and Zane played flag football in the spring.

Kayla and Angelyn played roles in Church at Charlotte Kid's Choir spring musical.

Angelyn enjoyed her first year of tap and ballet. She was a natural.

Dan and I went for our first ever week long vacation to celebrate 15 years of being married in May.

Kayla got to do some professional acting for her dad.

Dan shot 48 short videos for Upward's soccer, basketball, cheerleading and football programs.

Kayla was the host for a second year of the soccer videos. She had fun dressing up in lots of different outfits as she appeared to travel around the world via the magic of a green screen.

Kayla celebrated her 11th birthday this year.

The same day, Henry celebrated his 8th birthday.

While I was out of town for Christian Alliance for Orphans' Summit VI, the kids and my mom threw a garage sale to surprise me with some extra funds for the June Liberia trip.

Zane wanted to celebrate his birthday by playing some video games and laser tag at Sports Connection. I love his warrior heart.

I got to lead our team of ten to Liberia in June where we got to support the ministry of African Christians Fellowship International, particularly their work with orphaned and indigent children.

A highlight of every trip to Liberia has been visiting with Angelyn's birth family. It was bittersweet this trip as her two siblings, Matterline and Sayfou, were still stuck waiting for their adoption process to be completed due to a moratorium.

A week after I returned from Liberia, Angelyn had to have another surgery...this time to repair a surgical hernia from her appendicitis surgeries and decrease the size of her scar. It was quite a big surgery, but we praise God that it went so well. She's now healed up completely and able to do everything she used to do without any pain. Dan's parents were a great help to stay at our house, so I could stay at the hospital.

Aunt Bekah, Uncle Dave and Cousin Jamin came to visit as soon as Angelyn got out of the hospital. It was fun to see Aunt Bekah pregnant!

We got to join Dan's parents and for their annual camping and sandcastle building weekend with other families they've been friends with since college. The French family (Dan's sister) was there, too, so the cousins got plenty of play time.

We had fun at Dan's cousin's wedding in Ohio in August.

Trying to take a family photo as a human pyramid.

Our niece, Kiva Grace, we born in September. She's a doll baby, huh?

First day of school for two first grade boys, a fourth grader and a seventh grader!

All four played soccer in the fall. It's great to still be able to have four kids on two teams.

Angelyn got extensions for the first time thanks to some friends of ours who were also adopted from Liberia.

My birthday in October.

My crazy girls. They are definitely sisters...either laughing or yelling at each other.

My best friend.

A cause for much rejoicing! Matterline and Sayfou finally got home after three long years of waiting to join their adoptive family.

Daniel came home to his family after waiting just as long. What a blessing to see these three kiddos on this side of the Atlantic.

It's good to see these three together, especially looking so healthy and happy.

Angelyn and Grandma Dee had fun going out for a special dinner to celebrate Angelyn's birthday.

The kids get to have birthday parties on their 5th and 10th birthdays. Angelyn was very excited to celebrate turning 10 with her friends.

For Halloween, the girls and I dressed up as punk fairies. (What, you've never heard of punk fairies?) The boys were ninjas.

Sometimes it's the simplest moments that leave the best memories.

Dan ran his first 5k in October. It was great for the rest of us since the race passed right by our front yard. After waving to him, we ran a few blocks to catch him at the finish line.

The boys fascination with Legos continues.

The kids enjoyed picking out the menu and making signs to advertise for "Lunch for Liberia" at their school. The students bought a lunch of nachos, apples and a cookie for $5 and helped raise $1000 for the special projects on our next mission trip.

Uncle Rich visited for a couple of days at Thanksgiving and brought Christmas gifts with him. He's always been extremely generous and enjoys picking out gifts the kids wouldn't dream of actually getting.

Merry Christmas!

Praise - Lunch for Liberia

2010-11-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

Lunch for Liberia was hands down my favorite fundraiser to date. Today we served over 200 plates of nachos, apples and cookies to students and staff who were thrilled to do something as simple as pay $5 for lunch and support caring for kids in Liberia. A whopping $1019.71 will go towards the special projects on our next mission trip in June 2011. God is big!

Lunch for Liberia

2010-11-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow our family and the Peeds will be serving Lunch for Liberia at Arborbrook Christian Academy where our kids attend school. We'll be serving at least 160 students and staff lunch for $5 a plate. All of the earnings will go towards the special projects we work on during the next mission trip. I love this fundraiser because it's a no brainer for families. It gives them a chance to take the day off from packing a lunch and get a hot meal for a reasonable price while supporting missions. Very cool!

Catch me on Facebook to share some of your creative fundraising ideas!

Local News Story

2010-11-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

Hoping that this article spotlighting the ministry God has called our family to in Liberia will inspire others to join with us in caring for orphaned and indigent children!

Micro-Loan Program Update

2010-11-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

Thankful for an area of great praise...

The loan group of 20 individuals, which was started in the spring, successfully completed their first round of microloans on October 15th with 100% repayment! It's really quite unbelievable, but this group stuck together and each person repaid $10 a week of a $200 loan and met weekly for a business lesson and fellowship.

Here is a note from the group:

On our June 2010 trip and since then, we've talked to loan participants to get their thoughts about the future of the loan program. What we have agreed upon is that it would be wonderful to use the funds that were repaid by this group to fund a new loan group of 20 individuals. At the same time, we would like to raise $8000 to fund bigger loans of $400 for the graduating group, so they can expand their businesses. Wouldn't it be amazing if this loan program could grow each cycle in this way?

One of the frustrations felt by Liberians is that most of the big businesses in the country are owned and run by foreigners. Liberians need the education, capital and accountability to build businesses like these for themselves.

Wouldn't it be great if we could solve the orphan crisis in Liberia by making sure Liberians had the resources to care for their children?

If you would like to invest in the next cycle of this loan program, click on this link, to make a donation. You will receive regular updates about how the group is doing and their repayment rate throughout the 20 week cycle.

And, hey, if you'd like to meet the people who are benefitting from these loans and tour their businesses, consider joining us on our 2011 Liberia trip, May 29-June 13, 2011. Email me for more info.

Adoption Update

2010-11-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much on adoptions from Liberia recently mainly because the situation is so unstable and constantly changing that it's hard to know what to post with any degree of confidence. It's also really hard to explain the degree of injustice and illogical thinking in any way that makes sense because, well, it just doesn't on any level.

The nuts and bolts update is that the moratorium is still in effect. Two people at the Ministry of Health decided to let three agencies process special needs adoptions in the interim while they say a new policy for all adoptions continues to be in the works. I could say a lot about why three agencies were chosen and three were not, but we're still trying to get kids out with court decrees, so I won't for now.

Getting kids out who already have court decrees is another touchy subject. Some are getting out. Some are not. The rules change depending on the day and who you talk to or who you happen to be when you ask about the rules.

Here are a couple of factors that make the situation particularly unstable:

1. Since President Sirleaf instituted the moratorium, there is no adoption law to go by. There is a constant struggle within government in Liberia (I suppose in any government, including the U.S., though it's much more blatant in Liberia) to display power and acquire money. Without a clear rule of law, a sense of anarchy reigns, and that is what has happened with adoptions. Someone wants to display their power, up pops a new rule. Someone wants to make money, you can't move an adoption forward without paying. (I will say that there are a number of people in government positions who want to stop this. They just haven't had the power or the stamina to do it so far.)
2. The 2011 elections have recently added a whole new dynamic. If you hadn't read, President Sirleaf dismissed all but one member of her cabinet at the end of last week citing the upcoming elections as the reason. There are a number of reasons being given for why such a drastic measure was taken, but in terms of adoptions, it means there are now some new potential players in the mix for making decisions. In the short term, it's hard to know if that will be useful or not. In the long term, it likely means continued instability.

I don't know where this will all go. My hope for now is that all agenices, including CAS, can get the kids out that have court decrees. If we can do that and the situation remains like it is now, I'll be happy to continue with our orphan care programs in country and put the adoption program on hold until they can be done legitimately.

Days like these, it's easy to fret. Childrens' futures, in some cases even their lives, are at stake. I keep tripping over the desire to take responsibility for what happens to them. It's hard to live in the place of letting God break your heart day after day and still trust Him to be completely good and completely sovereign. But that's where I'm at. Are you there, too?

Psalm 37:1-9
1 Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

Be still...refrain...trust...commit...do good...hope in the Lord...delight yourself in the Lord. It's so counterintuitive, isn't it?

Homecoming

2010-10-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

After a 3 year adoption journey, Matterline, Sayfou and Daniel are finally home! Quite surreal to welcome them home with their families on Thursday night at the airport. I know they and their families would welcome prayers for all that is to come as He knits their families together.

I'm torn between this joy and the longing for the other children whose families are still waiting to have their homecomings.

It really struck me on Thursday night as the children arrived and there was a tangible sigh of relief from all of the many people who had gathered to welcome them home, that someday, someday we will be part of the Great Homecoming. No matter what happens here. No matter how much heartache. No matter how much injustice. One day, it will all be made right...and we will be together celebrating with Jesus. Come Lord, Jesus. Come. Amen?

Sweet Birthday Blessings

2010-10-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

My boys both made me the sweetest cards for my birthday. Henry's had more writing on it than I've ever seen from him. Knowing it takes a lot of effort both to write and express himself in words, it communicated a lot of love. Zane drew a giraffe and a turtle with party hats and birthday blowers in their mouths. He has a gift of making me smile.

Angelyn secretly spent the past three days knitting me a scarf. She even took it to school and worked on it during recess. This tangible witness of her love for me came at a really good time.

And Kayla...my kiddo for whom words come easily. She wrote this for me:

She Does

A mother is a friend,
When no on loves you,
She does.

A mother works so hard,
She tries to raise you
How God would want her to,
She does.

A mother makes you smile
When she wakes you up,
Even though it's going
to be a long, hard, day,
She does.

A mother makes you healthy food,
Because she loves you,
She does.

My mother?
She does all of this and more,
She does.

She helps people who have no mother,
She does.
She makes me laugh,
She does.

She helps me with everything,
She does.

She keeps everything organized,
She does.

She's always on time,
She does.

She will be there,
She does.

I LOVE HER!
And I know...

She does too!

And then there's Dan. My rock. My every faithful Daniel. My knight. He took off work today and reserved a room at a hotel for me to get away from it all. He knew how much I needed time to be still, to sit at Jesus' feet, to listen to quietness.

Oh yeah, and he also got me the Insanity workout DVDs because he knows I can only be still for so long. Thank you for knowing me, honey!

Motherhood or a Sitcom?

2010-10-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like your life is a sitcom? After patiently waiting until 9:30am for my birthday breakfast in bed, my kids finally came in and said, "Mom, will you PLEASE come down and get our breakfast already?"

"What? Well, why did you make me stay in here all this time?"

"Cause we wanted to play. Now we're hungry!"

Sigh.

They made up for it by folding two loads of laundry and going on a long walk with me later on. The girls gave me the giggles by trying on hats and scarves in Target and walking down the runway...er, I mean the aisle.

Motherhood is crazy that way, isn't it? Just making you cry one minute and filling you up the next.

Update Since Liberia 2010 Trip

2010-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

There is much to update on progress and challenges on the initiatives from our June 2010 trip to Liberia.

Many of you will remember that we split our time between loving on the kids and trying to assist ACFI as they grow in their ability to care for children in need in Liberia.

One of the focus areas that was closest to my heart was doing some training with about a dozen key staff leaders. We spent a couple of training sessions going over 2 Timothy 2, particularly 2:2 "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." We talked a lot about the responsibility we have as Americans to entrust all that we have been given in our spiritual education to reliable men and women in the Liberian churches who will also be qualified to teach others.

It's easy in any relationship in which one group has a lot of resources in every sense of the world to fall into a one way relationship with another group that has incredibly limited resources. But that isn't God's heart for us. Every relationship is two way and should build up both sides and then spread to those around them.

So we talked about that along with specific ways that we could help each other overcome the cultural differences that might stand as obstacles in our ministering together.

To be honest, I thought we would have to have this type of training many times before we saw any real change. We had certainly talked about it enough in the past. But something clicked on this trip, and it's blown me away how much stronger our relationships have become in the last few months. There is a new level of openness between us and a commitment to work diligently together that has really inspired me.

One very practical change has been in our communications back and forth. Previously, there was a struggle to get any communications via email. I now receive them multiple times a week. Praise God!

One challenge has been in regards to the Moringa trees we helped to plant in June. Before planting, the Liberian's we were working with thought it was important that we get a pesticide to kill all of the fire ants, which we did. Fire ants are an incredible bother to the staff and children at the mission homes. If you've ever stood on a fire ant hill in flip flops unknowingly, you'll understand what I'm talking about. So killing the fire ants before planting the tree seeds made the chore so much easier for the workers, most of who had flip flops on at best for shoes.

However, what they discovered was that soon after the trees began shooting their way up out of the ground, other insects began to eat them and destroyed the majority before they could get another pesticide on them. What they did find, though, was that the trees that did survive were those where fire ants still remained. So, it seems that even though humans don't like the fire ants, neither do the other insects, and this is a good thing.

Thankfully, we left hundreds more seeds with them in June, so they will plant again next rainy season and prayerfully have a better crop.

Another huge praise is that the bakery business our team helped get up and running has been successful! The bakery facility is used both to bake bread for the children at the mission as well as to bake bread to sell to surrounding villagers. The staff are able to make bread 2 - 3 times a week to sell. They sell approximately $75 - $85 each time they bake with the cost of one day's worth of bread being about $60. Transportation can be a bit tricky because they take the dough off site for mixing/kneading and then bring it back to the mission home to prepare it for baking. They are using taxis and motorbikes to transport the dough and supplies right now, which cuts into their profits and causes safety issues. (Can you imagine carrying a 40 pound bucket of dough on your lap while riding a motorcycle?) If bread is baked approximately 2.5 times per week, the net profit should average $37.50 - $62.50 each week, which is a huge accomplishment for such a young business in Liberia!

Both homes have also been able to establish running water again after using funds that were raised by team members to make repairs. The only downside is that they need to run their generators for some time each day to help pump the water through the dorms, and they still don't have enough money to buy a daily supply of gas to do this. We are hopeful that as sponsorships increase, more funds will be available for this gas. (If you are interested in getting more info. about our sponsorship program, please go to http://www.africanchildsponsorship.com/.)

We're beginning to talk now about one or more trips for next spring and summer. We will again split our time between loving on the children and helping the ministry to grow in their ability to care for them. We hope to raise funds this time to cover some larger maintenance needs for both homes. With a six month rainy season and a couple hundred children, wear and tear on the facilities can be pretty dramatic. We are also praying for the ability to add a vocational/trade school program to each mission home. Please pray with us that God would reveal His plans for the coming year and trips and provide abundantly for all of those plans.

On a Lighter Note

2010-09-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

The scales have tipped to weighty issues too often on my blog, and as you can imagine, in my life in recent days...okay weeks...okay months...okay, I'll stop there. But, never fear, my kids have a way of keeping it light. Here's a little snapshot of some typical family time:

Me: You know, the so-an-so family is thinking about adopting.

Zane: Cool!

Girls: Yeah! I hope they get a girl.

Henry: No, boys are better. But they do have two boys already.

Angelyn: Yeah, so they need another girl. Oh, she'll be so cute!

Kayla: Yeah, except boys are easier. With them you just add water and you're done.

Me: You just add water?

Nods from the boys.

Angelyn: Yeah, with girls you need to add stuff like eggs...

Kayla: and sugar and all kinds of things that make it complicated

Me: Eggs and sugar?

Angelyn: Yeah, girls are harder. They're into fashion and everything.

Me: Hmm, that is true.

Nods from the boys.

Kayla: Still, they need to get a girl.

Angelyn: Yep, a girl.

Nods from the boys.

Me: Well, girls are worth it. Even with the fashion.

Honestly, it's not bad to be a mom and have your most frequent "complaint" with your kids be that they have entirely too much fun with each other. I thought the first year Henry and Angelyn were home that eventually the feeling of being part of some never ending sleepover would eventually fade and then I'd have to start refereeing the fights. I imagined myself dunking punches as I tried to pull apart four sweaty bodies all screaming, "It's mine! Now give it back!" (Hmm, come to think of it, I think that might be a memory from one of the not-so-good days during their first year home, but I'm going to choose to forget that one.)

Anyway, when they grow up, I think all four will reminisce about these days that are full of drama productions (only a few brought on by the hormones of my girls), science experiments, football games, song performances, climbed trees, soccer matches, complex Lego worlds, and crazy inventions.

Now if I could just get past the incessant dull headache that always comes the day after a sleepover. You know the one you can usually nap off as soon as everyone heads home and you say to your kids, "Please be quiet just this once while Mommy gets a little rest."

Once in awhile I try this on my kids, but they just look at each other and then back at me as if to say, "Rest? Seriously? We all have tons of energy left. What's wrong with you, Woman?"

See that' s the problem with having four kids. You're completely outnumbered. You make seemingly sane requests like, "Please don't use my sewing scissors to wittle your walking stick" or "What made you think that swatting your brother with the electric fly swatter was a good idea?" and they just do that thing where they look at each other and then back at you and you know they're thinking, "What's wrong with her? We're all fine with it?"

And then you feel like the unreasonable one because, well, it's four against one, right?

Still, when you have one belting out an operatic version of "The Star Spangled Banner," one repeatedly singing the words, "Pink pajamas...penguins on my bottom...pink pajamas...penguins on my bottom" and two wrestling at the same time that they're all four brushing their teeth in one bathroom...while you're looking at your watch praying they'll all finish by the time carpool shows up....

You just can't help a little unreasonableness, even if you do have to hide a smile behind your hand while barking at them to hurry up already and get their pink, penguined bottoms downstairs and out the door.

Presidential Election in Liberia

2010-09-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

Not having lived through the atrocities of the wars in Liberia, I don't feel justified in giving an opinion on who should or should not run for president of their country. I've talked to enough people in Liberia and read and seen a good amount of footage from the wars to grasp the ongoing tensions and fear that still grips people, (I've even since evidence of it in our own family). Still, it is not my own pain.

So on one hand I read this article, and think, Hmm, yes, I suppose it makes sense that Prince Johnson would run for president. And I suppose it makes sense that there will be a fair amount of people who will vote for him. But then there is my American side that has never had to face a life filled with injustices, and I think, Really? I mean, really? A former warlord and a soccer star? These are the best options for President of Liberia to run against Sirleaf?

Praying for Liberia's future...

UN to Remain in Liberia

2010-09-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

The UN has decided to extend its peacekeeping mission in Liberia for at least one more year. With elections a year away, this seems to be a no brainer.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited the needs for improved security, a better functioning criminal justice system, enforced recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (based on helping the country heal from the civil wars), and an accessible human rights system as some key factors the UN would like to see addressed before they can consider their peacekeeping mission a success.

Read more in this UN article.

Honestly, I can't imagine how frustrating the slow progress is to Liberians who have to live there day in and day out. The reality is that sin left completely unchecked is really messy. If you can't trust that laws will be enforced and that if you obey the laws, you can generally expect to be protected, then as soon as the UN leaves, the country will be a free for all again.

I'm thankful for a little more time, and I do see more and more Liberians who are willing to stand up for what is right even if it doesn't benefit them personally. My time in Liberia has shown me how powerful the spread of the gospel can be to transform a country. Praying for the church in Liberia to press on...

Calling All Church Leaders!

2010-09-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

How about joining me for a free, yummy breakfast on Tuesday, October 5th? Just invite one of your church leaders from the Charlotte area to come along with you to Westminster Presbyterian Church from 9:00a.m.-10:30a.m. You'll both get to hear some incredible testimonies from a young adult adoptee and her mom, a birthmom and a local pastor who's also an adoptive dad. You'll also be given some great resources you can take back to your church during National Adoption Month in November. Our hope at CAS is that more churches will embrace and be equipped to care for the fatherless.

I'm really excited that I've had the chance to lead this effort for our agency, and I've been humbled by the willingness of the folks at Chick-Fil-A and Caribou to donate fruit, cinnamon rolls and coffee and The Flying Biscuit Cafe to give us a great deal on eggs, bacon and biscuits.

It's going to be an inspirational event. I'd love to see you there!

Click here for the Breakfast Invitation

New Life 91.9 Interview

2010-09-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the interview!

New Life 91.9 Interview

2010-09-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Erica at New Life 91.9 radio station interviewed me briefly about our family's adoption, and it aired this morning. If I'm able to post the interview, I'll do that when I get a copy of it.

For now, I thought some of you who are new to our story...or some who checked in mid-way through...might enjoy getting a glimpse of some of our early posts on bringing our children home.

Why Did We Decide to Adopt?

Henry's Visa is Denied

Thoughts on the Plane Ride Over

Snapshots of our Time in Liberia

Answered Prayers

Great Birthday

We are thankful for a God who is true to His word...

"provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61.3

Praise God for the incredible ways he bestows upon us crowns of beauty instead of ashes!

Liberia Adoption Update

2010-09-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

For those who are wondering what became of the meeting that was held in mid-August about adoptions in Liberia, the plan is still to form a new committee to write an adoption policy and then lift the moratorium once the policy is in place. The official who will chair the committee has been traveling since right after the meeting took place but should be back tomorrow. Anything could change, but I do believe this new committee will get the job done and does care about the children of Liberia above power and money.

Still no timeframes or answers about what will be in the policy. Let's pray together that is would be one that has the best interests of the children, birth parents and adoptive families as its focus.

State Department Update on Liberian Adoptions

2010-09-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Nice to see that the State Department is openly addressing corruption on the part of a few government officials in Liberia. I have a feeling this particular event took place at the airport, but it wasn't with one of our families, so I'm not positive.

You can access this update here.

Adoption Notice: Liberia

August 31, 2010

The Department of State is aware of cases where adoptive parents have been asked to pay a fee for an exit clearance letter in Liberia. Americans should be extremely cautious about any requests for payments of fees associated with exit clearance letters. Liberia’s Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization does not charge a fee for the exit clearance letter. Any requests for such fees should be immediately reported to the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. Embassy in Liberia
111 U.N. Drive
Mamba Point
Monrovia, Liberia
Tel: +231-77-054-826
Fax: +231-77-010-370
Email: ConsularMonrovia@state.gov

The U.S. Government does not condone bribery or corruption of any kind.