Teenage Attitude

Hundreds of Teenagers from Across America

It's been many months since I have posted, not because I don't have a long list of people to highlight, but because in the responsibilities of daily life, blogging doesn't usually make it to the top of my priority list!

Today, however, I wanted to let the world know about hundreds of selfless teenagers who have decided to forego summer vacation or lazing around by the pool and instead, to work and serve around the globe caring for orphans, building homes, improving schools, and most importantly, sharing the hope we have in Jesus! Even more amazing, these young people had to earn the money they needed in order GO and SERVE!

Throughout the last several decades, teenagers have been labeled with a negative reputation. But check out what they are capable of!

Nineteen students from Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, are serving in the Philippines for 3 weeks (follow their blog). Over 500 students from across the nation are serving with Brio missions/Susie Mag in Guatemala for 2 weeks (learn about this trip and follow the blog entries). I also know of students currently in Haiti and heading to Honduras. Never doubt that a 15-year-old can impact this world in a huge way!

Adoption of a Different Kind

Dave and Jan DeKlavon

With increasing awareness about the worldwide orphan crisis, many individuals, churches and organizations are rising to care for those who are lonely, in need, or without a family to call their own. When I consider the word adoption, however, I think of care and concern beyond a mere legal declaration. The English major in me decided to analyze the root meaning of the word, and I found the dictionary definition interesting: "to take by choice into a relationship." Synonyms include embrace and espouse. And orphan is defined as one deprived of some protection or advantage.

Accordingly, Dave and Jan DeKlavon, who have no children to call their own, have adopted hundreds of individuals through the years. Dave (or Dr. DeKlavon to many students) is the Associate Dean for Boyce College, which is part of the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY. But rather than viewing his role at Southern/Boyce as merely a 9-5 job that pays the bills, Dave and Jan have chosen to invest their very lives in the young people who walk onto the Boyce Campus every year. Not a month goes by when they aren't hosting one group of students or another in their home - feeding hungry college tummies with food, and developing souls with nourishment of a spiritual sort.

But it isn't simply that the DeKlavons hospitably open their home; it is much deeper and more profound than teaching and entertaining college students. Realizing many of these students are away from home for the first time and navigating their way in the "real" world, Dave and Jan make an intentional effort to take by choice into relationship so many of these young people, who benefit from the love, wisdom and commitment of two people who have not lost the art of connecting with others in a meaningful way.

During a recent ice storm in the Louisville area, seminary and Boyce housing had no power, leaving hundreds of students stranded. Rather then offering a perfunctory "We'll be praying for you," Dave and Jan converted their entire home into a makeshift dorm, housing dozens of young ladies until all power had been restored one week later. Jan spent seven days feeding girls, listening to their dreams, their hopes, their heartaches, and serving as an adoptive mom of sorts!

While Dave (known to my 5-year-old as Peeplavon, for his obsessive love of marshmallow Peeps!) is a highly educated, brilliant man with so much to offer, I have always been impressed by his humility and gentleness of spirit. Both he and Jan could be justified in sporting large egos, but instead, have chosen to quietly serve and love others under the radar, without drawing attention to themselves or openly bragging about their education, credentials, who they know, or what they do to impact young people. They simply show others Christ's love in their daily lives by enacting Romans 12:13, "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."

I am grateful for mentors and leaders like Ms. Jan and Peeplavon!

Never Too Old

CHRIS AND SARAH PADBURY

I first met Sarah Padbury during my newlywed days, while living in Colorado Springs. We became acquainted through a mutual friend who worked with both Sarah and myself at Focus on the Family. We did not know each other well during that time, and lost contact after Scott and I moved to the Louisville area shortly thereafter. Years later, however, we reconnected via our mutual friend, who realized that God had drawn both of our families toward adoption and mobilizing the church to engage in orphan care and adoption advocacy.

We often hear heartwarming stories about children who have been abandoned or orphaned, finding families to call their own. But considering the staggering UNICEF report of 143 million orphans globally, the truth is that far too many children grow up without ever experiencing the fundamental love, safety and security of their very own family. It is a difficult fact to consider; imagine being an adult with nowhere to go for holidays, no one to call for advice, no mother to teach you how to be a mother yourself, no father to model manhood to you. Honestly, it is a sobering thought to consider being alone in this harsh world.

While those involved in the adoption community realize that children who are not adopted eventually grow up, the stark reality of orphaned children transitioning into adulthood without a sense of belonging anywhere is a concept rarely presented in tangible fashion. My friend Sarah, however, and her husband Chris, came face to face with a young lady whom the world might otherwise label a statistic. Sarah first met Carmelita in 2007, while serving on Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's Task Force for Foster Care and Permanence. Carmelita was one of many young adults who had aged out of foster care and were invited to speak to the task force about changes they felt would improve foster care. "I was drawn to her," Sarah remembers, "and we exchanged numbers."

The simple act of connecting during a meeting led to many meaningful interactions between Carmelita and the Padbury family, which had been built exclusively through adoption. Chris and Sarah first adopted 3-week-old Mariah, and then four months later, a baby boy named Ethan; both were domestic adoptions. Ten months later, the Padburys traveled to China to adopt 11-month-old Hannah. "In 14 months we went from no children to 3 babies ages 10, 11 and 14 months old!" Sarah exclaims. "When our triplets were six years old, we returned to China to adopt Jacob, a three-year-old who was born with a cleft lip and palate." Next came Jalaya, a six-year-old who was in foster care and had been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, ADHD, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Home for two years now, Sarah enthusiastically declares, "The world says, 'hopeless,' but God says, 'Precious with Purpose!' "

The Padbury family, however, was not yet complete. As their relationship with Carmelita grew, Chris and Sarah realized that while she is now an adult, Carmelita's childhood dream of having parents to claim as her own had gone unfulfilled. Six months after meeting, Carmelita and her two young children, ages two and three, moved into the Padbury home. "On Father's Day 2008," Sarah explains, "we - all 7 members of the family - officially asked Carmelita to join our family. She said yes and we all cheered and cried over the dinner table." Chris and Sarah began the process to legally adopt 24-year-old Carmelita, whose adoption was final in September of 2008. The family celebrated with a big party that was officiated by their pastor. Chris and Sarah became instant grandparents, and are now the proud mom and dad of six children, ages 24, 11, 11, 11, 8 and 8.

Chris and Sarah, along with social worker Brian Felker and pastor Robert Gelinas, started Project 1.27 as a ministry outreach of Colorado Community Church. It has now moved beyond the church doors to include 18 church partners, and its adoptive families represent more than 100 churches! Learn more about the work God is doing through this vital ministry by visiting the Project 1.27 website and watching this video.

As the Padbury family has modeled, there is no age limit on the impact of giving the gift of family to a child. Truly, a person is never too old to need the love of a mom and dad!

Forget Me Not

RACHEL ROSS

From the tender of age of 13, Rachel Ross prayed for the opportunity to spread the message of God's love in Romania. Never did she realize how fully God would answer her prayers! She first visited Romania as a teenager, in the summer of 1999. During her time in this impoverished country, Rachel worked in local children's hospitals and orphanages, returning every summer until 2003, when she served a 6 month-internship in the country.

It was during this period that Rachel's heart was captured by an abandoned baby girl named Zorica Izabela. Rachel fell instantly in love with little Iza and knew that she could not leave her alone in this world. Because of a moratorium on Romanian adoptions, Rachel would be unable to adopt Iza through the traditional process typical of international adoption. The only possibility of becoming Iza's mother would require extreme sacrifice - an indefinite move to Romania so that Rachel could fulfill new Romanian adoption criteria.

And so, with the blessing and support of her parents, Rachel moved in 2004 to Oradea, Romania, where she spends her days and nights steadfastly caring for abandoned and seemingly overlooked babies and children, while pursuing formal adoption proceedings to become Iza's forever mother. Though the adoption is not yet finalized, each day brings them one step closer.

While working in a a Romanian children's hospital with 5 floors of abandoned babies, Rachel's heart was so burdened for orphans that she started Forget Me Not Ministries, an organization whose mission is to improve the lives of the Romanian children whom God has NOT forgotten! FMN Ministries now has a large house and land in Tinca, Romania (the gypsy village from where so many of the abandoned babies came), where they plan to expand and build a 25,000 sq. ft. daycare able to house 200 babies, children, and at-risk youth.

Watch a video highlighting the work of Rachel and FMN Ministries, and read more about the organization at the official website. Again, a box of Kleenex is a must have before viewing the video!

Rachel praises God for each little life with whom she is able to come in contact; even in the face of heartwrenching circumstances and children barely surviving, she rejoices in the comfort of knowing that God hears each child’s cry, knows their pains and has a plan and a future for their precious lives.

Never underestimate the amazing ability of God to work through a young woman whose heart is sold out to Him!

Wheelchairs, Homes and Love

DICK RUTGERS

It all started with a week and a half misison trip to Guatemala about nine years ago. Dick Rutgers witnessed a need in this poverty-stricken country, and knew that he could not simply return to America and forget all that he had experienced. And so, instead of coming home to the U.S., he moved to Chimaltenango, Guatemala, the place he has now called home for many years.

Dick works with Hope Haven International and Bethel Ministries, distributing wheelchairs to individuals who might otherwise have very little chance of accessing these medical devices that we take for granted in America. As an extension of this wheelchair ministry, Dick also works to provide education, necessities and love to children in orphanages and local villages. Many of the children Dick lavishes with love have medical diagnoses that, in the United States, would be manageable with quality medical treatment (spina bifida, club feet, tethered cord, etc); sadly, though, in Guatemala, a lack of resources and medical care often confines these precious lives to cribs in orphanages for 23 hours a day.

One little boy on Dick's blog captured (and broke) my heart. Sam Sam was labeled autistic by the orphanage, because he rocks back and forth and consistenly bangs his head. Dick, however, believes this behavior is a direct result of spending all but one or two hours a day locked into a crib. As much as he can, Dick visits Sam Sam, removing him from the crib, and taking him out into the fresh air, where he can play and be loved.

Consider the story of another child - a young lady whose home caught fire when she was an infant. An older brother heroically rescued her, but the devastation of the fire left her without her entire right leg and arm. With only one arm, she was unable to maneuver a traditional wheelchair, so the only way for her to attend school was to be carried 4 blocks each way on a daily basis. Imagine the feeling of giving her the first chance of her life to experience independent mobility! That is precisely the gift Dick gave her by providing her a power wheelchair. Dick describes that day by saying, "Not only did we get the opportunity to give her the first opportunity of her life to move around on her own but while we were working we were able to share with her and her family about the love of Jesus. Was it a good day today? Yes! Even if my house burns down by this evening it was a perfect day."

If you are seeking motivational, faith-inspiring reading, might I encourage you to read Dick's blog in its entirety? He has journaled his experiences and thoughts on life in Guatemala, and I can guarantee that reading his blog will both inspire and convict you. Take a month at a time on his blog and read them like chapters of a book. The videos he has included will no doubt require at least one box of Kleenex, so be forewarned.

Here I sit in my comfortable home in America, during a winter storm, with warm heat, a pantry full of food, and a health insurance card which guarantees my family access to medical services for any ailment that might plague us. Meanwhile, children like Sam Sam and millions more, live life in the confines of physical and even worse, spiritual poverty ~ without even the most basic dignities of life, not to mention love.

You can help these children and families being served by Dick and his team in Guatemala. In March, my husband, Scott, and our dear friend Brad Clark, will be joining Dick for a week to build homes for local families. If you would like to send supplies, shoes, clothing, medicine, etc., please contact me and I will gladly send you a list of wanted items that Scott and Brad would love to transport when they go.

I will close this entry with a powerful quote from Dick. "Please remember if you are fully content with whom you are and what you are doing perhaps it is time to take a good look at your self. There are people physically and spiritually suffering and dying all over the world. If God has put you in a position where you can reach out to even one of them and you are not doing so something is wrong."

May God break our hearts with the things the break His, and may He reveal to us tangible ways to show others the love He has given us through His Only Son Jesus.

Same Kind of Different as Me

DENVER MOORE, RON AND DEBORAH HALL

If you are looking for an uplifting book to read, a break from teenage vampires and run-of-the-mill romance novels, I recommend a New York Times bestseller that I just finished last night - Same Kind of Different as Me. This non-fiction book tells a story of the unlikeliest of friends—Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Told in two voices, the book alternates between the perspectives of Ron and Denver.

Ron Hall is a wealthy international art dealer who travels the world buying and selling rare and expensive works of art. He has grown rich but has also grown selfish and has drifted away from his family. When Ron hesitantly volunteers at a homeless shelter (upon the insistence of his wife, Deborah) he soon meets Denver, a man Deborah believes will change the city. Denver grew up in Louisiana, picking cotton in virtual slavery that seemed little different from the life of his ancestors one hundreds years before. He eventually walked away from the cotton fields and roamed the nation before settling into a homeless lifestyle in Dallas-FortWorth. It was here, in a homeless shelter, that the two men met, one serving food and the other being a reluctant recipient of this charity.

While I often force my way through works of non-fiction, this one read like a novel that you don't want to end. It is a story of faith, friendship, and unexpected, life-changing love. Ultimately, it is about the One True Love we find when we allow Christ to wholly transform us into the people He designed us to be.

Enjoy this video, featuring photos of the authors and music by Chris Tomlin. And be sure to visit the official website to learn more about the ongoing ways Denver and Ron are changing the world!

99 Days to Live

ELIOT MOONEY
Imagine the shock of first-time parents hearing the news that their pre-born child may never even live to birth. When Matt and Ginny Mooney learned that their unborn baby had Trisomy 18 (also known as Edward's Syndrome), the odds were not in their favor. This condition results from an extra #18 chromosome, and most babies with this diagnosis die before birth, or shortly thereafter.

Rather than sinking into despair over this grim news, however, the Mooneys determined to celebrate the life God had perfectly created in their child. "We are excited to have our first baby!" the couple shared in their online journal. "We could not express how important it is for you to understand that we are not in despair. Rather, we are excited to have this baby at this time. This is our first child, and we cannot wait. Of course, we would do anything in order for this baby to be healthy, and we have cried enough to last a while; but we feel the Lord is sovereign and, therefore, this is the baby for us. And we anxiously await our gift."

On July 26th, 2006, at 4:59 p.m. Eliot Hartman Mooney was born. Matt and Ginny decided to celebrate the miracle of Eliot's life by throwing a birthday party for him every day at 4:59 p.m. Twenty days after his birth, the new family of 3 celebrated Eliot's homecoming from the hospital. In spite of multiple medical complications, Eliot Hartman Mooney defied the odds and lived for another 3 months - a total of 99 days of life. In that time, Matt and Ginny lavished their son with love, and were in turn, blessed with the gift of Eliot's life.

Never doubt that EVERY LIFE matters! This young boy's life changed the hearts and lives of all who knew him. Be sure to watch the Mooney's story.