Hope

We've had another busy week here! Friday was Dave's 40th Birthday and he was blessed in many ways....including waking up to signs in the front yard from a friend of his, who wanted to make sure Dave didn't forget how old he is. :-)

As part of Dave's Birthday celebration, on Thursday night, our family went to a concert together. We have long been fans of Steven Curtis Chapman and love his music. Steven sang lots of songs and we had a great time worshipping and celebrating. We also enjoyed some music from his son's group "Caleb" and were blessed by that. Mary Beth Chapman, Steven's wife, also spoke at this concert. If you don't know much about the Chapman family....years ago, their daughter, Emily, went on a Mission Trip and came home on fire for orphans around the world and felt her family should adopt. Her parents weren't ready - so Emily prayed (sounds a bit like what the Jansen girls did for their Dad!) :-) and the Chapman's ended up adopting three beautiful girls from China. About 2 1/2 years ago, through a tragic accident in their own front yard, their youngest daughter, Maria, was killed. This past Thursday evening, the Chapman family shared through music and spoken word, of how everything about their God and faith was questioned as they dealt with this deep grief. They gave testimony about how real God is to them now more than ever before and how they continue to live each day in the hope that they will SEE Jesus face to face, they will see Maria again and there will be no more tears. It is so wonderful to live in that Hope!

You would think that after losing a daughter you've adopted, you might lose a bit of your passion for adoption and orphans. But, the Chapman's haven't lost that passion at all - they have done even more for orphans around the world. Their organization "Show Hope" has increased the work it does for those children who so often fall through the cracks. Our request for today......please go to their website at http://www.showhope.org/ and see what wonderful work is taking place. Take a look at Maria's Big House of Hope....consider having an Orphan Sunday....ponder if you could give up something you really don't need each month to be a "Show Hope Partner". Did you know that every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan? Or that every 14 seconds a child loses a parents due to AIDS? (so how many does that make during the simple reading of this blog?) Or 16.2 million children worldwide have lost both their parents? As a "Show Hope Partner" your money helps in two ways.....The first half of your gift provides care for an orphan as they wait to go home to their forever family and the second half of your gift goes into a fund to help provide adoption grants to adoptive families (Show Hope provides 30-40 grants a month, but sometimes have to decline twice that many a month!).

As a family, we volunteered at the Concert to help Show Hope's Mission - and as a family, we ask you to consider what you can do. We know that not all families are called to adoption - but we are all called to care for orphans. How can you do that?

Today, we were able to attend the Ethiopian New Year's Festival put on by the local Ethiopian Group in Columbus. We were able to eat some Ethiopian food, experience some of their music and dancing, see Ethiopian clothing and see many, many beautiful Ethiopian children. It made us even more eager to make our trip over there! We continue to trust God's timing and provision in this entire process - we know He is in control!