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Andy and Jill Lehman family

Entries in adoption funding (38)

Wednesday
May192010

It's not about us! 

We heard a couple speak on international adoption in church when I felt a God-ordained passion to adopt from Africa. My husband didn't catch the passion until he prayed about it for several months.  After studying as much as we could on the orphan crisis we initially ventured out in the Rwanda program.    We requested a healthy infant, as we didn't want to deal with social, emotional, or health issues. 

All of a sudden we had a turn of events. Our adoption agency advised us to get out of the newly established Rwanda program. At this crossroads, we considered getting out of the adoption journey.  After all, there were so many unknowns, frustrations, and pitfalls on this long road.  And, we already had four children. 

We prayerfully realized that we were "called" to adopt and His ways are not our ways. 'It's not about us' became our mantra.  We switched to the Ethiopia program and found two precious biological sisters on the Waiting Child List (ages 6 and 3 yrs). Our older daughter is HIV+. God had totally different plans for us on this adoption journey and we couldn't be happier!! I am even a stay-at-home mom now which would have been completely out of the question had we not trusted in Him. God takes situations that seem impossible and makes them possible. That way He gets all the credit. 

While in Ethiopia we were able to meet the biological parents of the girls, who are both HIV+ and unable to care for them. They told us that we were the answers to their prayers!"

Thursday
Apr292010

A Heritage of Caring for Orphans...

Jedd Medefind, formerly the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, is now the President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, for a coalition of more than fifty adoption, foster-care and orphan-care ministries. The author of two books and numerous articles as well as an accomplished speaker, he lives in California with three children, including a daughter adopted from Ethiopia.

How do you understand the biblical imperative to care for the fatherless? 

What might a church do to help people through the process of reflection preceding an adoption?

What are other ways people can respond to the needs of orphans?

To read the entire interview, click here.

Wednesday
Apr142010

God WILL Make a Way!

At last our amazing children are with us! When we pulled through the gate at their orphanage, a nanny came running out and hugged me as soon as I got out of the van. She was saying, “You came, you came, you did come!” Our children came running followed by all the other kids at the orphanage. We hugged and kissed each other. They called us ‘Mama’ and ‘Daddy’. It is so very clear that God has been preparing their little hearts to be our children!”

It was 13 months ago that James and Tracy Mihnovich accepted the referral for these 4 precious children knowing that God called them and that He would provide the way! When they adopted their son Levi 2 ½ years ago, they knew that with all the orphans in the world there was no way that they could not adopt again... 

Monday
Apr122010

The Local Church is Uniquely Equipped!

I must confess I’m blown away by all God has done through Tapestry over the last 5 years. They’ve made a profound difference for local families and the children those families have fostered and adopted." - Jedd Medefind, President of Christian Alliance for Orphans

Check out this post from Tapestry titled 'Three Things We Have Learned & Three Things We Would Do'! A glimpse at the depth of this post -

In the end, the growth that we have seen speaks far more to the needs of children and families in our community (and every community) and the power and reach of the local church, than it does to anything that we ourselves have done. We are humbled that God has used us to play a small part in the lives of so many, and we are excited about what He has in store for us as a ministry and a community.

During any given week, we receive calls from people across the nation wanting to start an adoption, foster care or orphan care ministry in their church. Many of them have very similar questions: How do you get started? What do you do at your small groups and events?  How do you handle this or that?   Three things we have learned in these past five years are that there are no easy answers (although there are some very accessible and available resources), there is no ’one size fits all,’ and there are no shortcuts (at least none worth taking)."

See you at Summit VI!

Friday
Apr022010

Adoption Has Changed My Kids

We are so excited that Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI has created a solution to the financial barrier many adoptive families encounter!

Elmbrook has an amazing ministry for foster/adoptive families and takes the word community to a whole new level! They are currently holding classes for families interested in adopting, raising funds for a church adoption fund, raising awareness for local foster care children in need, having weekly prayer meetings, and easing the transition for families opening their homes to children.

Check out their ministry blog here. I love this recent post -

Lincoln and I were driving home from Joe's work. We take lovely country roads and always enjoy checking on our favorite animals. Pretty close to home we pass a great country home with 20 or so sheep in the front yard. At that house we have a choice to drive right by the home or turn down another street and miss the sheep altogether.

Today, we decided to take the way of the sheep. We were giggling about how chubby the sheep have become over the winter. We noticed two horses hanging out with the sheep, which is a bit unusual.

Lincoln wondered why the horses were in with the sheep.

I replied, 'I don't know, Bud.'

Lincoln thought for a while and then said, 'Mom. I think the horses adopted the sheep. The sheep needed a mommy and a daddy so the horses decided to adopt them.'

Beautiful."

Advocacy in action... awesome!

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