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.

Surrendering All

KATIE DAVIS

Ah, to be 20 again! For those of you who, like me, are rapidly approaching those middle years (ahem, 40 is looming awfully close!), it may be slightly challenging to recall the youthful vigor and enthusiam of 20: the time when life was carefree, we sported our rose-colored glasses, and we felt entitled to it all.

Last November, I had the privilege of meeting a 20-year-old young lady from Brentwood, Tennessee, who, by all worldly indications, should be obsessed with sorority functions, the latest Uggs boots, and maintaining a perfect manicure. If you are not be familiar with the Volunteer state, Brentwood is an affluent suburb south of the Nashville metropolitan area, and the home to many notable residents, including Dolly Parton, CeCe Winans, and Dave Ramsey, to name just a few.

Scott and I were attending an annual adoption fundraising event in Nashville and sat across from Katie during the main banquet. I was struck by her maturity and tenderness of heart. She was an obsessed young lady alright, but rather than being preoccupied with all of the material trappings that so readily tempt privileged young Americans (and old alike!), Katie was consumed with a passion for the people of Uganda. In particular, her heart had been won over by a group of Ugandan children.

In December of 2006, at the age of 18, Katie traveled to Uganda for the first time. Seized with an immediate love for the Ugandan people and culture, Katie knew that she would never be the same again; her heart had been captured! Katie met Pastor Isaac Wagaba, who entreated her to come teach kindergarten at his orphanage in Buziika, called Canaan Children's Transit Center.

Katie returned to Uganda in the summer of 2007, to teach kindergarten at Canaan. Walking the children home from class each day, she was shocked to observe the significant number of school-aged children sitting idly on the side of the road or working in the fields. Very few government-operated public schools exist in Uganda, and there were none in the area where Katie was working. Most schools are privately run and therefore, require fees for attendance. Because of the extreme poverty in Uganda, many children are simply unable to afford schooling.

Feeling prompted to do something about the situation, Katie initiated a child sponsorship program, matching orphaned children who cannot afford schooling with sponsors in the US (now called Amazima Ministries). For a mere $300.00 per year, sponsors send these children to school and provide school supplies, 2 hot meals each day, and all necessary minor medical care. While Katie originally hoped to match 40 children through the sponsorship program, 150 had enrolled by January 2008. By the grace of God, in December 2008, the sponsorship program had successfully sent all 150 children to school for a full year and provided them with life's essentials.

Every Friday after school, the 150 children in the program, in addition to others from the village, come to Katie's home in Uganda for fellowship, a hot meal, baths, and Bible study led by a Ugandan employee. The children sing praises to the Lord until late at night and then fall asleep covering the floor of Katie's house. In the morning, they are fed a hot breakfast and sent home re-energized.

Amazima also strives to provide the children with spiritual growth. While the children are attending school, two Ugandan Amazima employees spend time in the six villages where the children in the program live, holding Bible studies and spiritual growth activities with the families and guardians of the children. Each child in the program is also visited by a social worker once every two weeks for a home visit to ensure that they are getting proper care and thriving in their home environment.

Katie has been back in Tennessee for a few months, but will be returning to what she warmly calls her "home in Uganda" on January 19th. Her goals for 2009 include enrolling another 50 children into the school program, in addition to the 150 already participating.

You can read all about Katie's adventures in Uganda, sponsor a child, and see many more photos of her children on her blog.

Think you're too young to make a difference? Think again! Katie Davis is transforming lives, both physically and spiritually, in Buziika, Uganda. And in the process, her own life has been changed.