Empowered to Connect Conference Dates

Upcoming Empowered to Connect Conferences - a two-day conference designed to help adoptive and foster parents, ministry leaders and professionals better understand how to connect with “children from hard places” in order to help them heal and become all that God desires for them to be.

February 17-18, 2012, in Dallas, Texas at Irving Bible Church

 April 20-21, 2012 in Denver, Colorado at Mission Hills Church

To register for these conferences, click here.

Project Sunshine - The Forgotten Initiative

Just had to share with you these AMAZING before & after pictures from a recent Project Sunshine in Peoria, IL. A Project Sunshine is an outreach of The Forgotten Initiative (partnered with Lifesong for Orphans) who seeks to bring joy & purpse to the foster care community.

Project Sunshine gives an 'extreme make-over' to foster care agencies rooms that are used for foster care children to bring a smile not only to children, families, and foster parents, but to the caseworkers as well!

Take a look at some of these!

BEFORE...

AFTER...

(pictures by Kristi Zobrist)

Wow! We are impressed! To learn more about The Forgotten Initiative and how you can be involved visit their website here.

Connecting Hearts Conference

When?: February 25, 2012 (8:30 am - 2:30 pm)

Where?: East White Oak Church (11922 E 2000 North Rd, Carlock, IL)

What?: a FREE conference to help educate & equip YOU--a worker in HIS field

Why?: The Connecting Hearts with the Forgotten Conference exists to help people capture the heart of God for the fatherless among us and throughout the world.

Visit The Connecting Hearts with the Forgotten Conference to see sessions, speakers, schedule, exhibitors and how you can register for this special event! 

Lifesong will be there...will you?

2011 Highlights & Year-End Giving

Lifesong projects impact 3,000+ orphaned & vulnerable children each year.  

The Lord has continued to lead Lifesong this year in ways that we could not have imagined!  

Here is a glimpse:

·       Created 45 jobs for orphan’s caregivers through micro-lending & sustainable Strawberry Farm in Zambia

·       Installed 59 computer systems in Honduras, giving skills to break cycle of unemployment thank you RetailROI!

·       84 children now have their FIRST school in 14 years (due to civil war) in Marshall, Liberia

·       Completed 100^th repair of a widow’s home & hit $1,000,000 mark in adoption funding through Both Hands partner

·       Helped 638 children become adopted into US Christian families, removing financial barriers through Adoption Grants & Loans (disbursed over $3,500,000 in adoption funding)

·       Our joy to partner with 167 churches through Adoption Funds & Orphan Care initiatives in 32 states

·       Launched Adoption without Borders (indigenous adoption) in Ukraine and have helped 120+ Ukrainian orphans become adopted by Ukrainian Christian parents

·       Helped Sergey, Andrei and several other Ukrainian orphans launch a landscaping business w/ over 1,000 plants (job skills & sustainability)

·       Sveta and 835 other children have been mentored through Constant Christian Presence

·       Now helping 550 orphans & vulnerable children through education & feeding programs in Ethiopia

·       Renovated 15 foster agency waiting rooms to help foster kids feel loved through“Project Sunshine”

Thank you for prayers, giving & your heart for orphaned and vulnerable children around the world.

You can DONATE NOW! (tax-deductible), a year-end gift before 11:59pm on December 31st! 

100% of your donation goes directly to orphan needs – absolutely ZERO administrative costs are deducted (paid for by TMG Foundation). 

2011 Gifts of Purpose from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Encourage Growth

Check out these two fabulous videos from Dr. Karyn Purvis as you walk the road to helping your children heal -

The Importance of Repairing Your Mistakes

There is no such thing as a perfect parent — and that is actually good news, so long as parents are willing to focus on repair when they fail and make mistakes.

Watch as Dr. Karyn Purvis explains why it is important for parents to repair their mistakes, and how repair can actually encourage growth and strengthen the relationship between parent and child.

The Importance of Repairing Your Mistakes from Tapestry on Vimeo.

Understanding Sensory Processing and Difficult Behaviors

Sensory processing issues often play a significant role in some of the challenges that adoptive and foster families face. And yet, parents are often completely unaware that sensory processing is in fact the issue.

Sensory processing is an important topic for anyone who loves and cares for a child from a hard place. Beacuse of their histories, children from hard places often experience altered brain development which impacts the way in which they process sensory data.

In this brief video, Dr. Karyn Purvis explains what sensory processing is and why an understanding of it is vital for adoptive and foster parents.

Understanding Sensory Processing from Tapestry on Vimeo.