Family Friday: Joshua & Shayla

I love Family Fridays. It's hard to top seeing God fulfill His promise of placing the lonely into families.

This week, allow me to introduce to you Joshua and Shayla. Knowing that their Father God had spiritually adopted them, they felt God's prompting through James 1:27 to adopt a child into their forever family.  This spring God perfect orchestrated their journey to their little girl, Zola, this spring. 

 Everyone at Lifesong was super friendly and responsive. They would get back to me very quickly. It was very stress-free; it was one of the only 'easy' [parts about adoption.  When we got the "call" that our baby was born and ready for us in Florida, we had already had tickets bought for the next morning to Florida for a vacation! Such a God thing!

-Joshua & Shayla 

Please join us in rejoicing with this family by leaving them a comment!

Updates from Village of Hope & Gift Basket!

We are blessed to give you an update from Village of Hope/Lifesong Guatemala from missionary Christi Ucherek,

"It takes a village to raise a child!" - African Proverb

When God called us to start Village of Hope, we knew that HE would put together the pieces and bring those that He would have serve alongside us. We are completely blown away by all the people He has been sending our way... but, then again, we really shouldn't be blown away by how great our God is and how HE provides to bring His work to completion.

As we prayed and asked the Lord to provide for the first $20,000 needed for Village of Hope, God's people stepped forward to provide an incredible gift basket. From now until August 1st, you have a chance to win!

The gift basket includes: 

HOPE jewelry from Funky Fish Designs

Village of Hope t-shirt (your choice of color and size)

 

$100 TOMS gift card

$100 Amazon gift card

 

$100 iTunes gift card

How do you enter?

-share about this give-a-way on facebook, twitter, or blog: 1 entry for each time you share (you MUST contact us atChristi@lifesongfororphans.org to let us know that you shared)

-each $25 donation: 2 entries

-each $100 donation: 10 entries 

Village of Hope is a ministry of Lifesong for Orphans in partnership with Project Hopeful. The vision for Village of Hope was born out the knowledge that God has a heart for the least of these. Scripture reveals a God who is passionate about the sick, the widow, the orphan, the alien, and the poor.The purpose of Village of Hope is to provide family, faith and a future to the least of these by providing holistic orphan care to special needs orphans, primarily focused on those living with HIV/AIDS in a family-style setting. 

To donate to Village of Hope, please click here.

 

Family Friday: Frank and Sharon

Meet Frank and Sharon, a Lifesong and Both Hands family we were blessed to serve beside.  They adopted a little boy domestically who they named Will Franklin. It is SUCH a joy for us to work with loving Christian families who desire to bring children into their forever family!  Thank you Frank & Sharon for letting us be apart of your journey!

We stumbled upon Lifesong on our mad search for adoption grants and assistance.  I wasn’t much on filling out massive applications and writing grant letters, so it was much to my delight that Lifesong featured the Both Hands project opportunity.  We fell in love with the mission and felt that this was the direction God was leading us.  Lifesong managed all the incoming funds and paid out adoption invoices all while making it a seamless process for us.  What a blessing!  --Frank & Sharon

Both Hands: You Make Beautiful Things...

Another Both Hands project....

Dustin and Katie have answered God's call and stepped out in faith to adopt a little boy from South Korea. The Leonard Family and a team of volunteers worked on a widow's home to help raise funds to cover the high cost of adoption!

Since Mrs. Banegas' husband passed away, it's become more difficult for her to keep up with the necessary improvements and repairs to her home. So on April 28th, the Leonards and the team of volunteers worked on her home for the day.

Each volunteer raised sponsorship for their day of work. Since most of the supplies for the repairs on the widow's home are being donated, 100% of the money raised will help bring home this little boy to his forever family! 

Check out their video that won "The Best Christian Media" Award on Vimeo!

Click here to read a local new's article on this project!

Click here to see Dustin and Katie's fundraising page.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." — James 1:27 

Family Friday: Steve & Kim

 

We have been blessed to partner in fundraising with Steve & Kim as they brought home their precious daughter Charis from Zambia. Listen in as they share some of their journey...

As we walked through the adoption process, we were grateful for the people who approached us asking if they could help. Lifesong became an invaluable partner for us, establishing an avenue for our friends and family to surrounded and support us in our mission to bring home our wonderful daughter. 

We were impressed by the responsiveness and the flexibility Lifesong offered. Once we got the clearance to travel, things moved quickly. Lifesong responding by dispersing monies very quickly. Zambia is not like adopting from other countries. The staff at Lifesong were great to work with because they were willing to adapt procedures to match the uniqueness of the process.

Adopting Charis was the most amazingly wonderful and painful experience all wrapped up into one. The process was a mess. Yet, through it, we constantly saw God’s timing and perfect plan from lodging to “just happening” to meet the one person who could get a document processed quickly.

We praise God for his protection and provision.

Thank you Steve & Kim for partnering with Lifesong--it was our JOY to be just a small part of this incredible journey that God led you on. We commit you and your family to God in prayer...that He would continue to show Himself to each of your hearts and that your family could be a picture of the gospel to those you meet.