One Year Ago

A year ago today in Ethiopia, Kenny and Jana were introduced to two little boys... two little boys who had consumed their prayers for months... two little boys born in a different land with a completely different culture... two little boys for whom they had traveled across the world to rescue and call their own.

 

When Kenny and Jana first decided to adopt in May 2008, they knew they would face some financial barriers.  They received a matching grant through Highview and Louisville Orphan Care Alliance in partnership with Lifesong for Orphans, and by January of the following year they raised almost $26,000 for their adoption!

Now, 7 year-old Charlie and 3 year-old Sam are thriving.  And though this road has been anything but easy, Kenny and Jana would choose nothing else.  As they watch their boys grow, they are excited to instill an understanding of God's mighty hand in their lives.

I can’t wait until the boys are old enough to understand the testimony of faith that brought them to America and forever into the Cook family. I pray that they will use this awesome story as a part of their own personal testimony and share it for years to come!

~Jana Cook

Happy Gotcha Day, Cooks!

Check out their blog here!

changing a nation

Lifesong Honduras recently had their 4th Annual Alumni Conference.  At this yearly event, former students come back and share struggles and successes and reconnect with old classmates and teachers.

We were inspired as alumni shared struggles and how faith in God and values learned in Plan Escalon have helped them overcome. It's a joy to provide continued support they can rely on and to see them catch our vision to "change the nation" for themselves.  We know we are successful when our graduates, after living in the "safe" environment of our Lifesong program, walk in the convictions they were taught and make them their own when living in the "real" world.

Lifesong Honduras Director, Guy Henry 

Praise God for the work being done in children to change a nation!

Inexpressible and Glorious Joy

Welcome to another Family Friday! We recently received a note from the Dinn family updating us on their family since the adoption of their daughter Joy from China this past May.  Lifesong had the pleasure of partnering with the Dinn's in assisting with their fundraising efforts to bring home their little Joy.

     

We want to thank those who so freely and sacrificially gave so that we could bring our daughter home.  We know that it takes many people giving from their hearts and we are grateful.  Joy continues to do remarkably well and we are so blessed to have her in our family! --Clayton, Angie & family

Thanks Dinn family for keeping us posted on your family...we love hearing (& seeing!) from you.  We pray that God continunes to fill your family with an inexpressible and glorious joy as you continue towards the goal of your faith...the salvation of souls! (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Changed

Recently, 14 year-old Addisyn had the chance to travel to Ethiopia to pick up her newly adopted sister, Havyn. This amazing opportunity left her with a new found vision and desire to serve in a way few teenagers understand.

My favorite part of being in Ethiopia was getting to spend the day with missionaries Gary and Peggy Ifft. Gary took us to Adami Tulu Preschool in Ziway, Ethiopia and I am pretty sure I left a piece of my heart there. 

I knew that I couldn't return home and go on with my life the way it had been. I couldn't open my closet door and see 12 pairs of shoes in there without thinking about those left behind with none. I couldn't go into the mall with friends and spend $15 on yet another t-shirt knowing that $15 would have fed 5 children at the preschool for a month. I couldn't just be a regular American teenage girl anymore- I was different.  And different, I am realizing, is a good thing.

If you would like to read more check out her family's blog here!

Thank you, Addisyn, for your servant heart and passion for a work that is at the very heart of our Father in Heaven!

May God Lift Up

We were more than pleased this to get this precious card in the mail this week from the Michaelian family announcing their recently adopted son Ezekiel 'Zeke' from Rwanda.  You can't help but smile back at this little guy! 

Thanks Michaelian family for giving us the privilege to be big a small part of God's big picture He is painting of your lives.  We pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-19).