Orphan Run Mississippi: The Essentials

The purpose of the Orphan Run Mississippi 5K race is to build houses for orphans in Mabaale, Uganda.  Each runner's bib will have the name of one of orphans on whose behalf he/she will be running.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

2 DAYS AWAY!!!

Predicted Weather at Race Time:
46 degrees and sunny
(After running the course on Tuesday in heat and humidity, I much prefer a little chilly!)

Packet pickup and registration begins at 7:00.  You can still sign up before the race here.

Runners who registered online by the deadline will be guaranteed a race T-shirt.  If you signed up late or are going to register on the day of the race, come early to get a shirt; supplies are limited! 

5K Race begins at 8:00.

1 Mile Run begins at 8:30.

Run begins and ends at Longview Point Baptist Church, 1100 McIngvale Road (corner of McIngvale and Byhalia) in Hernando, Mississippi.

Want more?

Watch the Orphan Run MS video

Read 4theVoiceless posts "And Suddenly...Orphan Run MS" , "Prepping to Run for Orphans", and "Orphan Run Mississippi: A Personal Best, Half a House, and You"

Click here for The Latest Updates

Come See Us

4theVoiceless is one of the race sponsors and will have a table set up at the race.  We will have special race-day pricing on our Flavors of Forever Families adoption cookbooks (to assist families through the adoption process):
     1 book - $10
     2 books - $17
     3 books - $20
     ($5 for each additional book)

All of our paracord bracelets and paper bead jewelry will also be greatly reduced for the Orphan Run.  Proceeds from these sales will benefit the construction of the House of Abraham children's home in Jacmel, Haiti.


I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at the race on Saturday.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

4theVoiceless Photos: Top 12 in 12 (1-4)

4theVoiceless Photos: Top 12 in 12

Today: #1-4

Last week, we began a look back at the ministry of 4theVoiceless in 2012 through a series of my favorite photos of the year.  Today, we look at four of my favorites from 2012.

#9-12

#5-8

Click on the photos to read (or re-read) the stories.

# 4

Kards 4 Kids

Approximately 400 hand-made Christmas cards went out from CHC to kids in orphanages in Columbia, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Jamaica, South Korea through the Kards 4 Kids effort of Orphanos Foundation.  Another 30 or so went to kids in Haiti and Star, Mississippi.

# 3

Flavors of Forever Families: A Collection of Recipes and Redemption Stories

In December of 2012, 4theVoiceless published the Flavors of Forever Families cookbook to help raise money for our adoption fund, a fund that will assist financially as families pursue adoption.  The book contains eight unique stories of adoption (along with close to 200 great recipes!).  Reviews on the book have been great, and we still have plenty; click on the link above or the graphic below to get your own copy!

Adoption Stories:

"Temporarily Todd"
"Growing Paynes"
"It All Happened So Fast"
"Found! God's Perfect Timing"
"Give Me Faith"
"The China Connection"

# 2

Lynleigh

Tony Pillstrom and I had just returned from the Together 4 Adoption conference in Atlanta in time for the CHC Hernando preview service.  We had spent the better part of two days learning to lead an adoption ministry in our church, and I captured this shot of Tony back home living it out.  Though not of the best quality (phone camera), this photo is my favorite of 2012.

# 1

Orphan Sunday 2012 -- Washing the Feet of Orphans in Haiti

My very favorite photo of 2012 is, in fact, one that wasn't taken.  The moment just seemed too holy to snap a photo or take a video.  I assure you that the scene is captured forever in my mind.  Read the story behind the towels and then click the photo to re-live my favorite moment from 2012.

2012 -- what a year.  And to think that it all began with a suggestion, a free book, a "chance" meeting, and a "Taco Bell Moment."  I go back to those moments often to realize just how big a work God has done through this ministry this year.  We have much to be thankful for as we reflect on how God has so richly supplied what He called us to do in the first place.

Thanks to everyone who has made James 1:27 ministry happen at Colonial Hills Church and beyond.  I can't wait to see what 2013 brings!

Thanks for reading, both today and all the other times you have visited the 4theVoiceless blog.  I am honored by your interest in what we have to say.

"Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed." Proverbs 31:8 (HCSB)

4theVoiceless,
Al

The Good News First

Update from Haiti

Good news from Haiti: As you can see from the photos below (Thanks to Dusty Cooper from IsleGo for posting these), construction began again recently on the House of Abraham.  The concrete roof was poured for the first floor.  Also, the walls are several blocks higher now than they were when our team was there a little over a month ago.

Further good news:  The kids and staff of HoA will be able to stay in their current house a while longer while work construction of the new home continues.

And now, the bad news: In messaging back and forth with Fenel earlier this week, I have also learned that construction stopped again shortly after these photos were taken.

The project is about $25,000 short of being funded.  Please take a moment to pray that the funds would be raised up, that these precious kids would have a permanent home, and that God would get the glory for it.  If you would like to give a Christmas gift toward this project, you can do that here.

Cookbook Update

We have sold over 100 Flavors of Forever Families cookbooks in the first week!  Thanks to everyone who has invested in families and the children they will adopt into them.  If you haven't gotten your book yet, they will be on sale at CHC Southaven and CHC Hernando before and after services at least until Christmas.  You can get one online here.  (For online orders, please order by 12/17 in order to get yours in time for Christmas!)


Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Adoption Stories: The China Connection

The 4theVoiceless adoption cookbook, Flavors of Forever Families, released this past Sunday.  As we have stated in various ways in previous posts, the goal of the cookbook is three-fold:

• To raise awareness (and ultimately, funds) for adoption.  The part of this book that sets it apart from other cookbooks is the adoption stories from so many angles.
• To provide a tool for people to share their faith.  What God does through His adoption into His family of those who place their faith in Jesus Christ reflects what lengths he is willing to go to redeem fallen man.  God's adoption of us is reflected in so many ways in the adoption of children into families.
• To provide some really good recipes.  Many are recipes you could find in other cookbooks, but I guarantee you that we have some unique ones, too!

Over the last couple of weeks, we have shared parts of some of the stories in the cookbook:

• Jay Trawick's story of adoption and re-connecting with his birth family.
• Joe & Annette Payne's story of the call to adopt and the resulting frustration of waiting, waiting, waiting...and finding God's will for their family in the process.
• Vicki Sharp's story of two domestic adoptions that both happened in a rush of circumstances.
• Larry Gideon's story of an intriguing journey to find his birth family that didn't know he existed.
• Joel & Lisa Basinger's story of a journey through James that led them to a greater "Faith" journey.

Today, I want to share parts of the stories of the Kobes, the Pillstroms, and the Satchers.  Like the Paynes' story that we shared earlier, all of their stories involve adoption from China.

The Kobe Family: The Family That God Built

God really started our journey to China long before WE started our journey to China.   For eight precious months, He allowed us the privilege of being parents to our sweet little daughter Helen.  Born to us with a rare chromosome disorder, she was taken home to Heaven, but she left in us the desire to parent again.  This seed was planted and then nurtured through friends who had adopted  from China....

Our wait was the longest 11 months I have ever experienced, but once again, God's timing is wise.  I think it gave us additional time to work through our grief over Helen (She died June 2002.).  It gave me time to wallpaper and re-wallpaper –  never quite pleased with the results –  the room that was to be Lillian's.  It gave us months to read about hundreds of names, only to eventually turn back to family names....

Our story is not finished.  This year, God has opened a door for us...

The Pillstrom Family: Made in China, Loved in America

Our story starts with a ten-year-old little girl with big dreams.  I will never forget Christmas 1984.  The toy of the year was the Cabbage Patch Kid.  That was the only thing I asked for, and apparently so did every other little girl in America.  I didn't get a CPK that year, but what I received was the start of my heart for orphans.  My parents had a family friend hand make me an “adoption doll.”  She was hand-painted with green eyes and brown hair, just like me, and she was beautiful.  I'd never heard the word adoption until that day, but I was hooked!  Several years and about 10 Cabbage Patch Kids (of all colors) later,  I knew that one day I would adopt a child.

Fast forward 20 years.  Tony and I were married with one son and a child on the way.  We knew we were having another boy, but what we didn't know was God's big plan for our family.  Kaden was born in 2006 with a bi-lateral cleft lip.  No one that we knew of  in either of our families had ever been born with a cleft.  Tony and I knew then that God had something big planned for us....

(Tobie wrote a post for this blog several months ago that tells more of their story.  You can also follow their story on her blog.)

The Satchers: From an Orphanage to Our Home

Our adoption story really began many years ago for me personally.  I have a neurological condition, which contains a genetic mutation, that makes it 50% likely that any biological children would also be born with this condition.  With the difficulties I have faced throughout my life, I did not want to put someone else through my pain.  After marriage, my wife and I discussed this possibility, and we decided to take the risk and have a biological child.  Shortly after Arabella was born, I began to notice through some physical signs that she most likely had NF1 also.  This burdened my heart greatly because I know the difficult journey she has ahead of her.  After Arabella was diagnosed with NF1, April told me she wanted to talk about adoption for our next child....

In life, road blocks occur, and just after we decided to look into international adoption, my father died suddenly.  This sent my life into a whirlwind and put our adoption on hold....

At the time that I am writing this, we are still a family in process.  We are trusting God to provide us with the current expenses for the adoption, and we trust that we will be matched with the perfect little Chinese girl who will complete our family… for now.

(Michael wrote a post for this blog several months ago that gives some background of their story.  You can also follow his family's story on their blog or Facebook page.)

Read the rest of these remarkable adoption stories in Flavors of Forever Families: A Collection of Recipes and Redemption Stories, available here online, at the CHC offices during regular business hours, and at CHC Southaven and CHC Hernando on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights until Christmas. 

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Adoption Stories: Give Me Faith

Two days away from the release of Flavors of Forever Families: A Collection of Recipes and Redemption Stories, we offer a taste (pun intended) of another adoption story.  This is Joel and Lisa Basinger's story (written from Joel's perspective) of how God brought a feminine touch to a boy-heavy family:

Give Me Faith

If I have been asked this once, I have been asked it a thousand times, “Why adoption?”  There isn't a simple answer to this question.  First of all, we don't have any issues with fertility.  Lisa has been interested in adoption for a while.  I on the other hand, thought we had a big enough family with three boys and couldn't see providing for another child.  God had other ideas for us! Almost two-and-a-half years ago, I decided to do an in-depth study of the book of James.  Little did I know, before I finished chapter one, I would go through a complete transformation.   James 1:27 states, "Pure and undefiled religion is this, to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from this world."  Wow, what a revelation!  it is clear that we, as Christians, are all adopted into Christ's family through His sacrifice on the cross and directed to care for the fatherless.  Does that mean that we are all called to adopt into our family?  No, but it is clear that we are called to care for orphans, just as we are called to make disciples of all nations.

So I don't think the question should be "Why adopt?"  I think it should be "Why not adopt?”  We explored international, foster care, and domestic adoption and went back and forth several times until God led us to an amazing adoption agency in Abilene, Texas.  During this time of exploration, God worked in Lisa's heart to have her explore different aspects of adoption: race, special needs, drug use of parent, and gender.  Through each of these, Lisa learned to trust God to be faithful to give us the child He wanted us to have.  We submitted the beginning of our paperwork in April of 2012 and attended the adoptive parent orientation in July.  We met some great couples that are still friends to this day.  We submitted all of our paperwork in September, and we were approved to be shown to potential birth mothers on October 15.  We were excited; several of the other families that we went to orientation with had already received babies, so we thought it would happen quickly.  We continued to  wait while we kept seeing friends get matched.  We started to get impatient; meanwhile, in February, God decided to move us from Mississippi to Texas.  Maybe He knew what he was doing...

Coming: The China Connection

Next week on the blog, the China connection.  The first time I ever heard the suggestion of an orphan care ministry at CHC was at small group one night in the home of a couple who had twice adopted from China.  Several of the stories in Flavors of Forever Families are of adoptions from China.  There seems to be a special kinship among families who have this experience in common, so next week on the blog will be China week, when we will bring you a sample of each of these stories. 

All of the adoption stories can be read in their entirety in Flavors of Forever Families -- even as you browse the rest of the book for some new favorite recipes.  Order your copy today or pick one up at either CHC Southaven or CHC Hernando this Sunday! 

Previous previews:
"Temporarily Todd"
"Growing Paynes"
"It All Happened So Fast"
"Found! God's Perfect Timing"

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Adoption Stories: Found! God's Perfect Timing

Flavors of Forever Families: A Collection of Recipes & Redemption Stories is a cookbook/adoption story book that will be available at Colonial Hills Church this weekend and online next week.  In the days leading up to the book's release, we are sharing parts of the stories that are included in it.

Today's teaser comes from a story that I discovered during a hospital visit, of all things, earlier this year.  This may be the most fascinating adoption story I have ever heard.  I have known Larry Gideon for many years, but I had never heard his story.  I am very grateful that he shared it with me and now with you.

Found! God's Perfect Timing -- Selected Quotes

 "She put me up for adoption because she was already on what was then called “relief” for herself and the six children living at home."

"I was adopted by closed adoption through the now-defunct Tennessee Children's Home Society (TCHS) in Memphis, run by the notorious black market baby broker Georgia Tann."

"I really had no desire to find out about my birth mother.  I never knew her and surely did not want to hurt Mama's and Daddy's feelings by making them think I was not happy with my life with them." 

"Daddy passed away in 1999, and Mama –  already diagnosed with Alzheimer's –  never recognized me again after Easter of 2001."

"... I was the only qualified person to open them.  I agreed to make the request."

"...my sealed adoption records were mailed to me."

"After getting over the shock that I had other siblings, Joy and I began searching for my relatives." 

"... I was about ready to give up, but my wife was determined."

"This woman said that the first names sounded like the names of her cousins from west Tennessee..."

"She said that now it all made sense."

"Our mother had told her and our siblings living at home that she was going to Paris, TN, to have a tumor removed from her abdomen."

"Our mother had given false information about our family..."

"My sisters thought he was delirious..."

"...she asked if she could ask me a very personal question." 

"...after what she had just heard from me that she was entitled to ask me anything." 

"I am told that had I made this contact with my birth family as little as a year before I did..."

"God knew we were going to need some type of replacement family when this happened..."

"It is only because of Him that this remarkable story is here for me to share."

 Larry's story is one of eight that are part of Flavors of Forever Families.  There are some pretty good recipes in the book, as well!   Get your copy for only $12.  Pre-sales will be going on at Information Central tonight at CHC Southaven before Wednesday Night Reveal classes and at CHC Hernando after Reveal classes.

Prior teasers:

"Temporarily Todd"

"Growing Paynes"

"It All Happened So Fast"


Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al

Adoption Stories: It All Happened So Fast

... and with just a click, it was gone.

Months of soliciting recipes.  Weeks of gathering stories and photos, categorizing recipes, changing it all when more copy arrived.  Ten days of formatting, re-formatting, tedious proofreading, editing, re-formatting again.  A furious last edit.  And then, this morning, with just a click, it was out of my hands and on the way to the printer.  Flavors of Forever Families: A Collection of Recipes and Redemption Stories will be a reality by the end of the week.

There were about 10 of us who looked over at least part of the final project.  Even so, there will still be some things that we missed, I'm sure. None of us has ever produced a book before.  I hope everyone who invests in this project by purchasing cookbooks finds at least a few new favorite recipes, but the purpose of the book is adoption.  To tell the stories.  To pave the way for more stories of adoption.

I have given you a preview in blogs past of some of the stories that will be included in the book:
     "Temporarily Todd"
     "Growing Paynes"

Here is another adoption story that had me frozen in worship as I entered the story into the book this past weekend:

It All Happened So Fast

by Vicki Sharp

The Sharp family: Steve, Elliott, Vicki, & Sarah

Our story started on September 14^th, 1985, the day God put us together as one.  We thought we would be like any other normal couple and be able to conceive children.  However, God had another story planned for us.

Over the next six years, we both visited several doctors and had many tests performed to discover that they were not really sure why we couldn’t have a baby.  So we started sharing with our family and friends about how we wanted a baby.  One night a friend called and asked if we would like to try to adopt a baby.  She had met a woman during a meeting about tough love with teenagers.  She said she had a girl working for her who was pregnant and didn’t want to tell her family.  She agreed to let us adopt her baby and ten days later we were the proud parents of our son, Elliot.

We thought Elliott would be our only child, but he decided he wanted a baby sister or brother so he started praying.  A couple from church had adopted children from the state so we decided we would try.  We attended classes and were approved to adopt.  Meanwhile, a cousin of Steve’s called and asked us to come and talk to a girl about adopting her baby.  However, she had left a message that she had given the baby to another couple.  We didn’t want to give up so we continued to pray.

One day while I was working in the church nursery, another friend told me she had been talking to a girl that was trying to give her baby up for adoption.  We received a call early one morning from our friend asking us to meet the girl now because she was in labor.  Steve was very shy about praying out loud, but after a heartfelt prayer from him, she said she wanted us to adopt her baby.   So seven days later we had a new baby girl, Sarah.  We truly believe that only God could have planned our adoptions. 

Steve passed away to be with the Lord earlier this year, but he was always eager to share our story; he always said it was his testimony.

 
This weekend, Vicki handed me two treasures: Steve's life story as he had written it when Elliott was six years old and a letter Steve had written to his small group leader after Sarah's adoption.  I could hear Steve's voice in my mind as I read his own words of praise for what God had done in building his family through adoption.  Steve's words are included in Flavors of Forever Families.  I pray that his story continues the legacy of adoption that he built in his own family.

More stories will follow throughout the week on this blog as we move toward the book's release this weekend.  The books will be available for $12 at CHC Southaven and CHC Hernando this Sunday.  We will release info next week on online options.  I want to personally thank you on behalf of the families who will move closer to bringing a child into a forever family for your investment in the steps of faith.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al