Three Things!!

THE WEDDING FEAST
I am getting quite a few people asking if we are still collecting wedding clothes 
for the street boys attending the feast!  
Yes, indeed.  
Please send your package {now} to the address below:  
Three gals from this church are going and they are going to be packing all 
the rest in their suitcases to help distribute the load of stuff we need to take with us!
Southside Community Church
PO Box 69
Cocolalla, ID  83813
Attn:  GO Uganda April 2011
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
***********
~HIS NAME~
Secondly, many of you have asked what treasure number 11’s name is going to be.  Finally!  Finally!  Finally!  We have prayed, talked, prayed, explored, read and {finally!} decided. I will share that tomorrow in a separate post, because frankly, naming one of our treasures is a very big event for us!
***********
ETHIOPIA
Lastly, I have gotten a few emails from folks troubled about the adoption situation in Ethiopia.  I know nothing, just what the emails have said.  There are thousands caught in the process at this point, waiting.  BUT, no matter what is really going on – I am compelled to ask you all to fast with me for Ethiopia and all countries allowing treasures to be adopted.  Let’s do this coming week, maybe Wednesday?  
Even if you are not adopting from Ethiopia, there are many, many, many orphans whose lives hang in the balance and frankly friends – we have the ability {through prayer and fasting} to either do all we can or to turn a deaf ear.  We must never!  Orphans are counting on us to care, to defend them and to knock on heaven’s door on their behalf.   Here is a scripture that I am reminded of:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 
to loose the chains of injustice 
and untie the cords of the yoke, 
to set the oppressed free 
and break every yoke?” 
 Isaiah 58:6  NIV

Please join me next week as we pray {and fast} next week for adoption around the world?  Countries like Ethiopia and others?  We will open it up to other requests as well.  Let’s join together on behalf of the orphans.
Mark your calendars now.
  
Wednesday
**** 
March 9th, 2011
****
Will you join us?  

38 thoughts on “Three Things!!

  1. I will be praying and do some kind of fast….also ~ do you have that address where people could send a donation if they cannot get out to purchase outfits? Thanks.

  2. What good timing! I was just planning to go back through your posts to find the mailing address for sending a wedding outfit and letter! The package will be on its way to Idaho on Monday. Thank you for letting us share in the fun this way, and know that you and the whole team will be covered in prayer as you go to serve our Lord!

    Wednesday will be a wonderful day to fast and pray.

  3. Good timing on the fast as we will begin our Lenten devotions on March 9th with Ash Wednesday. This is always a day of fast for us, though not usually a total fast. However, I have been troubled for the families adopting from Ethiopia too. Great suggestion!

  4. This post was timely for me on all counts!
    ~Have the outfits in my car to mail and was wondering if it was too late!
    ~Wondering if you'd announced the name of your sweet boy.
    ~In shock over the Ethiopian decision. We just got accepted into the Ethiopia program last month and had just begun to start on our paperwork. So many orphans who need families!!
    Praying with all of you!

  5. I am grieving the Ethiopia decision, but also respect their government's desires and work to keep adoptions ethical. I will be joining you all in prayer for sure!

  6. We would love to know that you are your bloggy friends are praying for our family on March 9. We leave that morning flying to Beijing to complete our adoption. We are so excited to meet our daughter. She is 16mo old cleft lip/cleft palate – just adorable!! I am not really fond of flying! 🙂 But, I am resting in the knowledge that HE has answered one prayer after another for this adoption and I know that HE will be with us each step of the way!! Congrats on your new little treasure. He is such a handsome little man!
    SHaun

  7. Hoping to send our package on Monday, too. 🙂

    Can't wait to hear his name.

    And we'll be joining you in praying and fasting this week.

    ~Gini 🙂

  8. I think everyone is missing the point of the issues in Ethiopia. There is some real fraud and unethical, illegal things happening. Yes, those kids need families. But those families need their rights protected and the ability to stay together as a family instead of their children being declared orphans. If a country is talking about shutting down it's not because they are meanies. It's because THERE ARE REAL PROBLEMS.

    So if you're going to pray Ethiopia open, pray it ethical too.

  9. You just quoted my favorite "adoption" verse EVER!!!! Praying for ALL countries, governments, agencies, families doing adoptions…most of all for CHRISTIANS to rise up and be a VOICE for those who have none!

  10. Kait, Being a Godly woman of complete integrity it is a given that I would praying that adoptions worldwide would be doing ethically and above reproach.

    Nothing in my post referred otherwise.

    Those who read my blog regularly understand that, no doubt. But the truth is that many countries have closed because of a handful of discrepancies while thousands of orphans' lives are forever left in the balance. And that is a travesty – and prayer {and fasting} on their behalf is the only solution.

  11. First off, YAY!!! I am SO EXCITED to hear this sweet treasure's name! I am just slightly (wink wink haha) obsessed with names, especially names of new kids, so I'm very anxious and excited to hear your beautiful son's name!!

    Second, I can't fast for medical reasons, but I will most definitely be praying for the adoption situation in Ethiopia and everywhere.

  12. uh oh…just sent two shirts and ties to CO today. Hope that is ok.

    We should keep Ukraine in mind for fasting and prayer as well. They still have not had the vote to decide the future of adoption in this country. So many orphans wait…..

    Christy

  13. Yes, I will be praying and fasting with you this Wednesday. I have fasted and prayied with you all twice and both times God moved quickly and abundantly, with homestudy dollars and a new job for me this past week, teaching pre-school children computers. Praise our loving gracious father.

    Thank you for the address I have a shirt, shorts, and letter to be mailed this week.

    Praying for Ethiopia, the orphans and the families with hearts breaking for their treasures not yet home.

  14. Linny…could you please give the ladies' my email address, or give me theirs? I have been reading your blog for a long, long time, and am so shocked as I live so close it would make no sense to even mail anything. Thanks!

  15. I have three pairs of shorts, three shirts & 3 new undies…..haven't been able to find ties. I'm working on the letters & photos and then I'll bring them to church.

    Can't wait to hear #11's name….maybe you'll announce it at church tomorrow (hint hint…smile)

    I'm on spring break next week – count me in to fast/pray on Wed. Privileged and honored to plead on behalf of the plight of the orphans.

    ♥ & hugs!

  16. Will be praying.

    also, I just mailed my package for the wedding feast for the boys but mailed it to the River Church. Sorry. Hope that doesn't cause you too much trouble!!

    🙂
    janet and gang

  17. Linny, I never suggested otherwise. But the situation in Ethiopia is not a handful of discrepancies. It's a huge number of kids being pushed through the system without a thorough investigation being done. It's hundreds of "agencies" not being licensed but processing adoptions anyway. It's families being torn apart for reasons that are entirely temporary or fixable. With so many children who are legitimately orphaned the whole world over, I think it is entirely appropriate that countries start examining whether or not international adoption is the best option for children with living parents.

    My point is this – yes, it would be tragic for those who do need families if the country closed. But praying they stay open is not the same as praying for the best interests of those children.

    (For the record, I am praying they stay open but I'm also praying they find a way to fix the issues that are causing all the questions about ethics in the first place.)

  18. We're with you on the 9th. And as a family about to step out in faith to adopt from Africa (seriously considering Ethiopia) we are praying that the corruption and illegal practices quickly are resolved so that the true orphans may find loving families soon. May God move in the hearts of all in this process.

  19. Hi Linny,

    We are in process to bring our treasure home from Ethiopia, so far a year into it. We are very discouraged by all this news and will be standing with you and all that have agreed to join in prayer and fasting. Thank you for your heart!!!

    In Him,
    Cris Remick

  20. As always, glad to see the updates. I will be praying about Ethiopia and the families that we waiting for their children.

    If you can, could you make a post about fasting? I must admit (with embarrassment) that I do not understand it.

  21. I fasted today and will join you on Wednesday. We are in the final stages of our second adoption from Ethiopia-both times older waiting children. In a country with a self-proclaimed 5 million orphans, closing down the program will likely only add to the problems in Ethiopia. Having been there, looked into orphans' eyes, met birth parents and seen the despair, there is no doubt that much is not as it should be in Ethiopia. Reform is needed in many areas to better the lives of those living there-especially the children. I'm praying for God to place the right people in the agencies that oversee adoptions-those that will be of the highest moral character with the children's best interest at heart. Ethical adoption practices should always be the goal at the forefront of any program. As adoptive parents, of course that is what we want. There IS a need for adoption in Ethiopia. Even if there were government programs that helped to reunite families or helped single mothers/widows raise their kids, there would still be countless children that would be left in need of the love of a family of their own. The biggest tragedy is for the orphans that are waiting. May we also not forget that the unethical practices that are being investigated are not from the Father, but from the enemy. He can take something as beautiful as adoption and corrupt it with evil. This is a battle and we need to fight it with the power of prayer.

    Jessica
    http://steadfastminds-ethiopia.blogspot.com

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