A simple idea that could change everything

Have you heard of Give1Save1?

A few months ago my friend Wynne and her husband Steven were the featured family on Give1Save1. Wynne and Steven are in the process of adopting two beautiful babies from Ethiopia. I met them at Together for Adoption last October. Wynne is also a Noonday Collection Ambassador. She’s in Ethiopia right now waiting to bring Camp and Asher (a girl!) home.

What is Give1Save1?

The idea is simple. Challenge thousands of people to give just $1 a week to help an orphan to have a forever family. One dollar is pretty much nothing by itself. But when thousands of people give $1, it can make a huge difference in helping a family afford the cost of adoption. And when thousands of people do this every week for a year, more than 50 orphans becomes sons and daughters. And when the idea grows so that Give1Save1 can feature families adopting from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe every week, literally hundreds of children who are fatherless are given the great blessing of a family.

The timing could not be better. We’re still trying to sort out the details of our dossier paperwork – and some of these details are expensive. With moving to London, our adoption expenses have increased significantly. We’re trusting that the God who turned water into wine is at work – that he will bring our beautiful Lana home. But we really cannot do it alone. Would you consider donating at least $1 to our adoption this week? And would you challenge your friends and family to do the same?

Check out our video on Give1Save1 here!

As a side note, adoption is difficult and expensive for families living in the UK. As a result, international adoption is rare. Every day we seem to have an opportunity to share our adoption story and I hope – and pray – that we may be a part of an awakening in our church and our community. We just watched a documentary on BBC about foster care in London. The young man featured on the show grew up in foster care in the neighborhood we’re living in right now. The documentary broke my heart and – like the documentary about sex trafficking in Eastern Europe the other night – left me in tears. I have so much more to say about this.

Would you join us in praying for Lana? Would you consider helping us get the word out about Give1Save1 this week? Thank you!

And if you haven’t seen it yet, please check out my new blog about our London adventure: From Mom to Mum.

At Noonday Collection, we {heart} mothers

Noonday Collection offers jewelry and accessories that are unique and beautiful, just like the amazing moms in your life.

But even better, everything Noonday Collection sells comes with stories of lives transformed. Most of our artisans around the world are mothers. Mothers who love their families. Mothers who are struggling to provide for their families.

Motherhood is the hardest - and in many ways one of the most important - job in the world. Spending a few months in Uganda last year has given me a new understanding of how hard mothers around the world work to care for their children.

I was just filling a cup of water for my Ugandan daughter, Ella, and found myself close to tears. Realizing how often I take for granted that I can walk across the kitchen, push a button and give her a cup of clean water. Billions of people around the world do not have clean drinking water. Millions of mothers around the world spend their days walking miles carrying containers of water just to cook, clean and provide drinking water for their families. As I remember what I saw in Uganda, I feel thankful for what I have, but also a deep sense of humility. And responsibility.

Friends, we can make a difference. When you buy a gift for the mothers in your life from Noonday Collection, you are giving mothers in countries like Guatemala, Ethiopia and India a way to provide for their families through meaningful work. You are giving the mothers in your life a chance to feel beautiful and to know the story behind their unique jewlery and accessories. And you are helping our family bring Lana home, as well as giving back to support orphan care around the world. Shop online and order your Mother’s Day gifts by May 1. Let me know if you need any help picking out the perfect gift for your mother’s style!

Helping without hurting in Uganda

As a follow up to my post about Orphans and Adoption in Uganda yesterday, I wanted to share a few ways to get involved.

I also wanted to clarify one thing. One person said she agreed with what I wrote until then end where I said “consider adopting older and special needs kids.” In saying this, I do not want to imply that only older or special needs orphans need families. I do want to challenge and encourage my readers to really consider if they could parent a child who is a little older or who had special needs. As our pediatrician put it, “not all special needs are that special” and many are easily treated in the United States. Every family has unique gifts and I would love to see more families truly praying about adopting kids who are not “perfect” in the world’s eyes. In my suburban neighborhood, for example, there are half a dozen kids who have special needs: heart conditions, cleft lip and palate, hearing loss, premature birth and more. No parent expects to have a child who has these unique challenges, but all of us would agree our kids are worth it. I can’t imagine our neighborhood – or our family – without our “special” little ones. Including my son Micah who was born five years ago today with a congenital heart defect. I wish more families would be open to consider children who are HIV positive or who have other special needs! Babies and toddlers who are orphaned need families too, but increasingly these little ones can find adoptive families in Uganda. This is something we can celebrate! The orphans who need international adoption are often older or have special needs. So think about it.

Back to my main point. Here are links to a few people and organizations working in Uganda who inspire me. Read what they have to say, share these stories, and get involved. Some of these groups are advocating for reform in adoption and orphan care – others are supporting vulnerable families.

Learn. Advocate. Give. And make a difference.

This video is from Child’s I Foundation - an organization dedicated to making families, not orphans. The organization supports vulnerable families, advocates for domestic adoption and provides temporary care for abandonded and at-risk babies.

Mark and Keren Riley are working to get children out of harmful orphanages in Uganda. Mark and Keren are adoptive parents and offer a helpful “on the ground” perspective as people who are fighting everyday for what is best for Ugandan families and kids.

A Child’s Voice is a new organization started by adoptive families and a Ugandan lawyer who used to work at the U.S. Embassy handling immigrant visas. This organizations is working to bring transparency to Ugandan adoptions and orphan care and to advcoate for change in Uganda. I’m really excited about the potential A Child’s Voice has to speak up for vulnerable children and families in Uganda.

Noonday Collection is providing opportunity to families in Uganda to have a path out of poverty. Noonday pays artisans a fair, living wage so that they can provide medical care and an education to their children – preventing children from being orphaned or abanonded due to poverty. The Noonday artisans make jewelry out of recycled paper beads and seeds. Noonday also sells shoes made by talented young women who have the potential to go on to change this country.

Tukula is a little like Noonday, but working with a different group of women in Uganda to make beautiful handbags and accessories.

Ok, there are so many more, but my daughter just woke up from her nap. I’m a mommy first. Feel free to comment to add other organizations who are making a difference in Uganda!