Our Story

Our Story
We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands.
~ Kristi Larson ~

Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone, But still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, You didn't grow under my heart - but in it!
~ Fleur Conkling Heylinger ~
Adoption is not the call to have the perfect, rosy family. It is the CALL to Give LOVE, MERCY, and PATIENCE.



Sunday, January 15, 2012

Kisses from Katie - A MUST Read!

In a mere 24 hours from first picking it up, I finished reading all 264 pages of the book Kisses from Katie written by a loving and daring young woman who was willing to say "Yes!" to God's plan for her life!  It is a MUST read!

To give you a taste of Katie's passion and her heart - here is a snipet from her book!
(It is a little long but well worth it!)

"Adoption is wonderful and beautiful and the greatest blessing I have ever experienced.  Adoption is also difficult and painful.  Adoption is a beautiful picture of redemption.  It is the Gospel in my living room.  And sometimes, it's just hard.

As a parent, it's hard not to know when your daughter took her first steps or what her first word was or what she looked like in kindergarten.  It's hard not to know where she slept and whose shoulder she cried on and what the scar on her eyebrow is from.  It's hard to know that for ten years yours was not the shoulder she cried on and you were not the mommy she hugged.

As a child, it's hard to remember your biological parents' death, no matter how much you love your new mom.  It's hard to have your mom be a different color than you because inevitably people are going to ask why.  It's hard that your mom wasn't there for all the times you had no dinner and all the times you were sick and all the times you needed help with your homework.  It's hard when you have to make up your birthday.  It's hard when you can't understand the concept of being a family forever yet, because your first family wasn't forever.

Adoption is redemptive response to tragedy that happens in this broken world.  And every single day, it is worth it, because adoption is God's heart.  His Word says, "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"(Ephesians 1:5).  He sets the lonely in families(Psalms 68:6).  The first word that appears when you look up adoption in the dictionary is "acceptance".  God accepts me, adores me even, just as I am.  And He wants me to accept those without families into my own.  Adoption is the reason I can come before God's throne and beg Him for mercy, because He predestined me to be adopted as His child through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of His glorious grace.

My family, adopting these children, it is not optional.  It is not my good deed for the day; it is not what I am doing to "help out these poor kids." I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress.  I adopt because Jesus says that to whom much has been given, much will be demanded(Luke 12:48) and because whoever finds his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it (Matthew 10:39).

God was showing me His heart and His Word in new ways right there in the life I was living through the children I was serving.  Armed with this new sense of who He is and who I was as His servant, I continued trying to give myself away in every circumstance.  I wanted to do God's work, let Him display Himself through my life, and change my world as much as possible every single day.  Most days, that didn't include anything other people would find impressive.  It simply meant being faithful to the people and the responsibilities God had given me."
~ from Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Pretty amazing for a young woman who moved to a 3rd world country at the age of 19, founded an organization for over 200 children to attend school, and adopted 14 young girls as her own, all to make a difference for God's kingdom!

No comments:

Post a Comment