Project Update Day: Happy Friday

Happy Friday to all you friends of 4theVoiceless!

Much of the attention on the blog for the last couple of weeks has been focused on our recent trip to serve the House of Abraham children's home in Jacmel, Haiti, but I wanted to use today's blog to give some updates on some other projects that we have going on.  Many of these will be coming to a close soon.

Kards 4 Kids

Our ministry friends at Orphanos Foundation sponsor an annual project called Kards 4 Kids.  Homemade, handwritten Christmas cards go to kids in orphanages in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Jamaica, and South Korea.  Here's one unique aspect of this project: the cards are written in the child's native language!  (There is a list of Christmas greetings in each language; they have done most of the work for you.)  Click on the K4K link above to find out more.

If you attend Colonial Hills Church (Southaven or Hernando) and would like to be a part of K4K, encourage your small group leader to pick up a packet or two in our leader meeting or find me Sunday, and I will get you a packet (Southaven before and after 1st service, Hernando after the service).

If you are one of our followers from outside the Mid-South, you can click on the K4K link above and get every bit of the information that I have.  You do not have to go through 4theVoiceless to be a part of K4K, but we would like to know if you participate.

Deadline to have these turned in to Orphanos is November 30!

Adoption Cookbook

We are down to the last few days to gather recipes for the cookbook.  I must have them by Wednesday, November 21.  Go here to submit a recipe online.

We will still take recipes in all the different areas, but we especially need international recipes, crock pot recipes, and starter/appetizers.

We will be compiling and formatting all the recipes, as well as the adoption stories that we will sprinkle throughout the cookbook, over the next couple of weeks and will have them published in time for Christmas.

Dignity Bags

I wrote about this project on the blog back in October.  Click here to read the background on this project.

One of our small groups has committed to providing the toiletries for the first bags and is working on getting the bags themselves through one of the group member's company.

I know that there are sometimes avenues toward serving others that go untapped because those with access to certain goods and services never see how they could be used in ministry.  If you have access to basic toiletries that kids who are picked up by DHS social workers might immediately need (toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, comb, brush, etc.) for free or for cheap, you can help us provide this for kids who are already going through a painful experience.

Ditto with nice duffel bags that provide some sense of dignity (as opposed to a garbage bag) to children who are being removed from their homes most often because of abuse or neglect.  If you have access to such bags for free or for cheap, please help us provide 100 bags to our local DHS social workers.

For our out of town readers, would you consider making a call to your local DHS office and asking if dignity bags would be a need for them, too.  Many of the issues with at-risk children could at least be improved if the church got involved in a helpful way such as this.

House of Abraham

Finally, as some of you may have read yesterday on our Facebook page, construction on the House of Abraham children's home in Haiti has stopped due to lack of funds.

Dusty Cooper of Isle Go Missions wrote a  guest blog back in August about the origins of the House of Abraham and the need for this new home.  Our recent trip confirmed everything Dusty wrote (not that I expected any different) and then some.

4theVoiceless will have a table set up at the CHC SHE ministry crafts fair on Saturday, December 1.  All of the profits from our sales of paracord bracelets and paper bead jewelry will benefit the House of Abraham.  These make great stocking stuffers and will provide great opportunities to share with friends and family members the work that God is doing in Jacmel, Haiti, to provide for the needs of 13 kids and to provide hope for a nation.

Several of you from outside of this area have asked how you can give directly.  Click here to go directly to Isle Go's "Donations" page.  Be sure to note "House of Abraham" on your check or, if you give electronically, in the box next to the amount of your donation.  I know that Dusty and Fenel and all those who have already invested in this project will be extremely grateful for your help.

Get Involved

How will you live out the biblical command to care for orphans?  I have laid out in this blog several ways you can get involved, and most of them don't take a lot a resources, just a willingness to help and a heart for the orphan.

God did not plan for us to remain spiritual orphans.  Nothing better reflects His heart for spiritual orphans than our care for physical orphans.

John 14:18
"I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you."


Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Friday Little Bits: Not There Yet, But Closer

My friend Jacob and I leave for Haiti in three days.  We will be meeting a team from Illinois in Miami on Sunday before flying to Haiti on Monday morning.  I have been telling people we leave for Haiti in (as of this morning) three days when I won't actually be in Haiti for (now) four days.  Leaving here doesn't equal being there.

As I prepared to write the blog this morning, the thought occurred to me that 4theVoiceless's current ministry projects resemble our day on Sunday when we will have left Memphis but not yet arrived in Haiti.  Progress but not ultimate destination. 

• Hope for Haiti has made some nice progress, but we are at 27% of our ultimate $35,000 goal to build a new House of Abraham.

• We have collected over 80 recipes and some of the adoption stories for our adoption cookbook, but we haven't yet reached completion.

•  One of our CHC small groups has taken on the task of providing dignity bags and some basic toiletries for social workers to be able to gather children's belongings in when they are taken into foster care.  We haven't given these things to DHS yet, but we're getting there.

• We are just getting started with our Kards 4 Kids Christmas project, but our church will have an opportunity to jump on board on Sunday, November 4 (Orphan Sunday!).  By Christmas we hope to have 700 hand-made cards in the hands of orphans and those who care for them in Mexico, South Korea, Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, and Jamaica.

• We have several families in the process of adoption or fostering.  Not there yet but moving forward.

Waiting is often very difficult, but it is part of the process of almost every aspect of orphan care ministry.  Waiting is easier when there is movement.  Not always movement to the final destination but toward it.

Thanks for reading.  Please pray for our team as we are in Haiti from Oct. 29-Nov. 5.  I will update on our Facebook page as I have access.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Friday Little Bits: A Garbage Bag? That's Not Right!

I have handed out many copies of Tony Merida and Rick Morton's excellent book, Orphanology.   The book is a great overview of orphan care -- why we should get involved in it and how we can get involved in it.  I have now been a part of two groups who have gone through a study of the book, and Rick has personally spoken to a group of those at our church who were interested in getting involved in some aspect of orphan care.

Righteously Indignant

Of all the great examples in the book, there is one that seems to make people righteously indignant every time.  The authors tell of social workers going into homes to pick up children to remove them from dangerous situations.  When they arrive, they often hurriedly pack the children's belongings . . . in a garbage bag. 

Reading or hearing about this usually provokes a reaction somewhere between frustration and infuriation.  Not at the social worker.  Not even at the parents.  At the garbage bag.  For a child who has already been through the pain of abuse or neglect, is it too much to ask that their belongings be packed into a decent piece of luggage?  Aaarrrrggggghhh!!!

Could Do, Should Do

With all the staggering statistics about at-risk and orphaned children around the world, it is easy to be so overwhelmed that we do nothing.  But providing "dignity bags" seems to be something that people say, "We should do something about that.  We could do that."

And we should.  Psalm 139:16-17 (HCSB) says, "Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all [my] days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.  God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me [to comprehend]; how vast their sum is!"  A garbage bag doesn't reflect God's heart toward these children -- quite the opposite, in fact.  They have an enemy who will tell them for the rest of their lives that they are worthless.  Believers in Jesus Christ, we should reflect our Redeemer from the moment these children are taken from these horrible situations.  Beginning with a "dignity duffel" and continuing from there.

The Call

Through one of the foster parents in our church, we were able to make contact with our local Department of Human Services and let them know our desire to partner with them in providing these dignity bags along with some basic essentials (toiletries, diapers, etc.).  This week, I received a call from a social worker from DHS.  After a few words of introduction, she started off with these chilling words: "It's true."  They really do pack children's belongings in a garbage bag.

And we really can do something about that.  Check back here in the weeks to come to find out how.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al