Not Your Ordinary Sunday...

Adopt an Orphanage from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Since it was first introduced to the US in 2003, Orphan Sunday has continued to grow. Today the Christian Alliance for Orphans provides a wealth of resources and stories atwww.orphansunday.org, hopeful to inspire the church towards caring for the fatherless. May we, in our wealth, reflect God's heart to those who need it most.

At Lifesong for Orphans, we want to help inspire you to take action this Orphan Sunday. How can you be a part of this movement? Host a prayer group. Teach a Sunday school lesson. Encourage your pastor to preach about orphans. Host a gathering or lecture at your college campus. Take part in a Both Hands project. Serve Gobena coffee at your church. Launch an adoption fund or Adopt an Orphanage program at your church.  Orphan Sunday Partnership Packages are provided online for more ideas and help on how to utilize resources provided by orphan care ministries throughout the country.

November 7, 2010 marks another Orphan Sunday. Another day to focus on the "least of these." Another day to give voice to the voiceless. Another day to bring awareness to the church and inspire action towards a solution. Don't let this day pass without you. 

We have all been adopted into Christ's royal family. Just as we cannot imagine the Gospel without salvation, we cannot tolerate a Christianity that does not welcome the orphan into the family of Christ. On Orphan Sunday, join us to demonstrate the validity of the Gospel through our love for the widow, the poor and the orphan.  

Keith Swartley, Team Leader, Caleb Resources

Zambia Update

Big things are happening in Zambia for children, once without hope... now with a future!

Please enjoy this update from Lifesong Zambia Director, Dru Smith:

Every child has a right to education. However, for many Zambian children, even though it may be provided by the government, it is unaffordable, unavailable in their neighborhood, or substandard.  For over 100 families in Garneton, Lifesong School is the answer to their prayers. Currently we have 210 children from the poorest of the poor families who attend school each day, even during the three months of break.  When representatives from the Ministry of Education came to inspect our school-they were overwhelmed by what they saw and asked us, "Do you plan to open more schools like this? We really need them!"Lifesong is setting an example and making a difference in Zambia.

~

We were astonished to see all of the work accomplished by 11 friends from Thunder Bay, Ontario.  They spent two weeks volunteering at Lifesong School... leading a workshop with our teachers, teaching our kids about oral hygiene, building us an amazing playground, and more!  We are so very grateful for these dedicated volunteers!

~

When I visited William last month I was amazed to see the improvement in his left foot after his first surgery. It is straight, and the bottom of the foot is flat on the ground! He struggled with balance, but once he stabilized himself, he started walking.  William had surgery on his right foot on September 2 and is making a speedy recovery. His leg will be in a plaster cast until he returns to the clinic early in October. If all is well, he will be fitted with special shoes to help him walk.  Praise God!

Thank you for your continued prayer and support as we serve children in Zambia.

Planning Ahead in Coffee

Anyone thinking Christmas yet?

This week a Christmas tune may have swept through my car speakers.  There may be a gift or two stowed away in the closet for safe keeping.  I may have cast longing glances at the twinkle lights in the basement.

I can't help myself.  I love the feeling of Christmas and when the weather first starts to turn and I smell the crispness in the air, my heart leaps involuntarily... Christmas is on the way!

Many of you are cringing right now.  Yes, I can feel your indignation creeping in... but let's put our differences aside and talk about something really cool you could do this Christmas.

What if instead of giving just another shirt... just another toy... just another... thing, you gave something that continued to give to others?  Continued to give to those who really needed it... to the poorest of the poor... the "least of these."  

There are many ways, you can do this... here is one:

Gobena Coffee offers fresh-roasted gourmet fair trade, organic, shade-grown coffee(yum).  And the best part?  Partnering with Lifesong and Loving Shepherd Ministries, 100% of their proceeds go to help orphans in Ethiopia.  Check out their projects here.  

This year you could serve Gobena with your holiday desserts or give a Gobena tote bag or t-shirt(softest shirt I own!).

It doesn't matter how you do it... but make this year count.  This Christmas let's give more.

... stay tuned for more super cool gift ideas.

163 Million Tiles (guest blogger)

Recently I had the privilege of visiting Lifesong's schools in Zambia and Ethiopia with an amazing group of people... all of us different, from different areas, with different histories, coming together for the sake of orphans in Africa.  We had some amazing talks, laughed a LOT, bonded over interesting foods and a nerve-racking boat ride to see hippos (below), and met some beautiful children!

Today, one of my fellow travelers, Aaron Klein (in the white shirt on the right), has agreed to share his perspective of our trip.  But before we go to that I want to share a little about him.  Aaron is a loving husband, adoptive daddy of two, (it never took much for Aaron to pull out pics of his kiddos... this is one proud papa), business leader, tech expert, education reformer, and orphan advocate. (aka. busy guy!)  With his quick humor and contagious laugh, he was a great addition to our trip!

So, without further ado...

In Monreale, Italy sits a cathedral, decorated with a 100-million-glass-and-stone tesserae mosaic encompassing over 80,000 square feet of wall space. The beauty and intricate detail of a work of art on that large a scale is almost impossible to comprehend. How did they do it?

I had the great privilege of joining Lifesong for Orphans on a vision trip through Zambia and Ethiopia a couple of weeks ago. To say that this trip lit my heart on fire again for the children I met there would be the understatement of the year. It has been said that “I need Africa more than Africa needs me,” and that is true. But I think that it also can be said “Africa has changed me far more than I have changed Africa.”

I know I speak for the rest when I say that it was the individual moments of this trip that took our breaths away. From my teammate Kendall Hewitt describing Lifesong Zambia headmaster John Mumba as “half Cuba Gooding, Jr. and half Nelson Mandela”…to sitting on the grass at Adami Tulu School in Ethiopia, engulfed by 75 kids and chanting the ABCs with them…our journey through these incredible countries was exhilarating, heartbreaking, compelling, challenging and life-changing.

It was moments like those that made me step back and think for a minute about the statistics around adoption and orphan care. 163 million orphans around the world. About 16 million of them have lost both parents. And I began to wonder: how can we really make a difference?

Then it occurred to me that the 80,000 square feet of intricate art forming the Monreale mosaic murals came about because of two things: a multitude of workers, and each one being focused on just one tile at a time.

I’m sure some of those workers were a little overwhelmed at the prospect of designing 100 million tiles when they started the work. Perhaps the size of the task seemed to grow as they worked, and they felt like it would never be completed. Yet they did it, and it’s a masterpiece for the world to see.

In the much the same way, I believe we will solve the global orphan crisis in my lifetime.

It was clear to me as I watched these children be fed, taught, encouraged and loved by Lifesong’s incredible staff: these children are going to grow up changed people, ready to break the cycle of poverty, build strong families of their own, and serve as the future leaders of their countries.

Now we just need to focus on expanding these efforts to touch more lives. And more. And more. And more. Until all 163 million stories are even more beautiful than a mosaic in a church in Italy.

I’m immensely grateful to Lifesong for Orphans, because they’re creating opportunities for us to fulfill this calling, one child at a time. Will you join us?

Thanks, Aaron, it was awesome getting to hang with you in Africa!  Check out Aaron's blog here.

Celebrating Freedom and Family

This summer John and Kelly welcomed home two beautiful girls, Yana and Tavi.  In a letter, they wrote,

Yana and Tavi made their journey home from Bulgaria onto US soil on July 4th, 2010.  Fireworks welcomed them as the plane landed in Kansas City.  It was Independence Day, and the girls were finally free.

Welcome home girls!  We are so blessed to be a part of your story!