Shaun Groves
Sambhaji has been my son for a year now and we’re still getting to know each other. My other three kids know when I’m joking and when I’m not, for instance, but Sambhaji gets those two swapped on a daily basis. More importantly, he’s still learning that I love him no matter what – always will. Some days Sambhaji still doesn’t believe “forever” when I promise it.
Adopted sons struggle to know, understand and believe.
This morning I sat in an overstuffed chair, prayed for understanding, wiped the goop from the corners of my eyes, and began reading with pencil in hand.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. -Ephesians 1:17
I underlined and looked up.
Wisdom. Sophia. Skill, tact, aptitude, expertise in any art, craft, trade.
Revelation. apokalypto. Uncovering, unveiling, disclosure. One of three words referring to the Second Coming of Christ.
Know. epiginosko. Recognition, detection, awareness, observation. Epi shows direction, points to an object that is being known.
Is this how I know God the Father?
To “keep asking” the “glorious Father” to send the Spirit, who alone has the expertise to uncover and disclose God to me so that I can be aware of Him.
I want that. I want to know, understand and believe God more today than I did yesterday. I want to observe Him everywhere today, to hear Him unveiled in every conversation and see him in every moment – to recognize a thousand second comings in miniature.
My adoption makes this hard. God and I are made of different stuff and there’s so much drama and distrust that separates.
Spirit, help me know my Dad in heaven down here today.
Adoption, like nothing else I’ve lived, has deepened my understanding of God, my gratitude for His adoption of me.
I’m the MC at this year’s Together For Adoption Conference in Atlanta September 14 & 15 at Cross Pointe Church (technically it’s in Deluth, Georgia). I’d love for you to be there, to open your bible with us and have the Spirit show us again and again what it means to have God as our Father…and exactly how that affects our relationship with the fatherless.
This is not a conference only for people who have adopted or have an interest in doing so some day. There are great breakout sessions for those folks, but this is a conference first about grasping what it means to be adopted by God and second it’s about the many ways we can care for vulnerable children in His name and support others who are doing the same.
You can register for Together For Adoption here for $99 until this “early bird” rate expires. Or you can go for free!
I’m giving away three pairs of registrations on August 15th. There are three ways to win.
Tweet
One pair of tickets will be given randomly to someone who tweets one of the following messages exactly as it appears here.
#T4aCon2012 in Atlanta Sept 14-15 w/ @tonymerida @NoelPiper @shaungroves & many more for orphans bit.ly/T4A2012 (<--Click to tweet)
We love because God loved 1st. Register for #T4ACon2012 in Atlanta Sept 14-15 w/ @tonymerida @NoelPiper @shaungroves bit.ly/T4A2012 (<--Click to tweet)
@shaungroves is giving away FREE #T4ACon2012 registration for Atlanta Sept 14-15. Enter to win! http://bit.ly/T4AFree (<--Click to tweet)
Comment
Leave a comment telling us why you’d like to go to Together For Adoption. I’ll give a set of passes to the commenter that compels me most. Compel away!
Blog
I’ll award one set of passes at random to someone who writes a blog post of their own about anything related to adoption or orphan care. Leave a link to your post in the comments of this post. And please link to this post of mine in your post as well so others can enter to win.
See you in Atlanta!
Shannon says:
I just added a link to this post to my adoption-related post today: http://www.dinglefest.com/2012/08/things-that-have-been-said-to-us-that.html 🙂
Shaun Groves says:
Thank you, Shannon! Reading now.
Shaun Groves says:
Read it. Great job, Shannon! So sorry you’re have to hear so many hurtful words about your adoption. We’ve heard from lots of people who’ve had similar experiences. But we really haven’t. Maybe because adoption is so common in our area?
Shannon says:
I don’t count them as hurtful, honestly, even though they do make my heart ache a bit. It starts the types of conversations we need to be having to make a difference in how we think about orphan care. I consider it an opportunity to share the sweet truth of God’s adoption of me that motivated us to consider earthly adoption.
While adoption isn’t uncommon here, I think our approach in sharing a lot about our adoption on the blog and Facebook (including partnering with The Archibald Project to document it (http://www.thearchibaldproject.com/blog/ – the first blog posts there, about Zoe, are our family), so people have felt more comfortable making comments they might not make around someone who has decided to be a little (or a lot) more private than we have.
Shannon says:
I’d like to go to the conference in part because I’m an adoptive momma (we just brought Zoe home from Taiwan last month) but more so because I’m concerned that we’re overlooking an area in adoption and orphan care ministries: special needs. Even Together For Adoption – which does the best job in this area of any orphan care conference – is lacking. Here’s what I wrote to Dan from Together For Adoption in an email a couple weeks ago:
“As a former special education teacher, a current special needs ministry leader (at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC) and speaker and writer, and the adoptive mom to a sweet girl with special needs (heart defect and probably cerebral palsy) from Taiwan, I have to admit that I’m disappointed in the offerings related to special needs: two specific to HIV, and one that lumps Down syndrome with older child adoption and other scary adoption possibilities. Please don’t get me wrong – I’m thankful for what you are doing at Together for Adoption, and I love the emphasis on HIV adoption (a path we’re open to for our next adoption); I just wanted to point out a possible area for growth for future conferences.
I’m seeing more churches step up to engage members in orphan care than I see churches stepping up in the area of special needs ministry. While I rejoice over the former, it worries more for the latter, because research shows that kids who were adopted are more likely to have some degree of special needs, even children adopted as babies (see this and this, for starters; both from a secular perspective, but still telling). In the areas of special needs in general, research shows that families with a child with special needs are less likely to come to church, less likely to be involved in church activities beyond Sunday mornings, and more likely to have high marital stress than other families. In my experience, 3 out of 4 families affected by disability (usually through biological children) who come to our church have been asked by at least one previous church to leave because their child’s needs were too difficult to accommodate; other ministry leaders around the country have echoed those same observations. The good news – from one of the articles I linked above about the higher prevalence of special needs among children who were adopted – is that kids who are adopted are more likely to attend church than other children. Nonetheless, churches – in children’s and youth and, in some cases, eventually adult ministries – need to be prepared to welcome families who enter the world of special needs via adoption. In the future, I would LOVE to see a breakout session devoted to how the church can prepare to come alongside these families and include their children.”
I’ve offered to help Dan or anyone else think through what that sort of offering might look like for future conferences, and going this year would help me offer better input. 🙂
PS – Here’s my special needs ministry blog: http://www.theworksofgoddisplayed.com
Holly says:
Shannon,
I’m sure you are familiar with Joni and Friends, a ministry for special needs kids and families. (joniandfriends.org) I’m not sure to what extent if any they are working with adoptive families, but the Church Relations Coordinator, Rhoni Standefer, would be a good resource for thinking through some of the things you’ve mentioned here, especially helping churches welcome individuals and families with special needs.
Kim says:
I’m feeling inspired to share our adoption story now! I’ve wanted to for awhile on my blog…..I’ll have to dig out the journal and get typing! 😉
I’ll let you know when I have up!
missy @ it's almost naptime says:
I want to go to T4A because our adoption has taken so long, and been so frustrating, that I’ve become numb. Thinking about orphans hurts, because my attempts to do something about it seems tied. And numbness has been replaced by cynicism. With a dose of anger.
But this numbness (is that a word) does nothing to promote the Kingdom while I wait.
I need a revival of my heart and my soul to remind me that there is something beyond the paperwork and the checks and the passed deadlines. I need a reminder of why we’re doing this.
Jennifer says:
Well, my story is that God has put a fire in my heart for the orphan. I just recently returned from Ethiopia in June and haven’t been the same since. My journey to Ethiopia grew my relationship with Jesus…and made me realize just how sweet His love is for each of us…He left the 99 to go after the 1…As a mom I had so many reservations, guilt, fear for leaving my 3 little children and going to serve the least in Africa. Since going it has given me a huge call to share what all God brought me through to get me out of my comfort zone in this area and encourage other moms to do the same. There really are no words for the time that I spent serving women and children in Ethiopia…life changing. I came home with the passion that something needs to be done…we the American church need to wake up…I truely feel if we all rose up and served in this way…the orphan, the widow, the homesless…served people who can’t repay us…unbelievers would be moved toward Jesus instead of driven away. Shaun I stumbled upon your blog months ago…I believe through one of Ann’s posts…thank you for using your platform in this way…you have definitely been an encouragement in my walk. And here’s my latest blog post.
http://forgetusnotfundraising.com/2012/08/03/god-where-is-the-church/
Sarah R. says:
My husband and I are currently approved through our county DFCS to adopt through foster care. I have been encouraged reading your story. This process has shown us in very new and real ways what it means to trust God for each day and live through the strength the Spirit gives us instead of our own. We live in north west Georgia and would love the opportunity to attend this conference!
Sajan says:
I would definitely be interested in attending the conference. My wife and I were prophesied over recently, and we were told we should look into adoption. Up until then, we had always talked about the idea, but when we received that word, we took that as a confirmation that we are indeed called to adopt. We have no kids yet, and we don’t believe we’ve received the green light to start yet, but in the meantime I’m happy to learn as much about it as I can.
Kristin says:
I love the truth in this post. Our two kids — 5-year-old Cate and 2-year-old Ben are — are both adopted domestically. I’m a planner who gets caught up in logistics and details. The adoption process forced me to throw this out the window and trust God in a new, challenging way. And, you know, God was faithful. I shouldn’t be surprised. But he filled my heart with the peace that passes all understand that lingered for that adoption process and into our second one more than two years later.
My relationship with God was forever changed because of the process he took us through to have a family. I remember praying to get pregnant. Those were my words. But my desire was really to have a family. God knew that desire and he had his own way of getting my husband and I there. And, like always, his way was better than anything I could have planned.
We’ve got our home study updated and are hoping for a third adoption. At this point, we’re still praying about meeting a birthmom independently. I trust that however it happens, God has a plan that is bigger and better and more everlasting that anything I could put together.
I think it’s awesome there is a conference where God-sized stories are shared and believed because as adopted children of the King, we need hope and grace until we get to our forever home in heaven.
Abby says:
Shaun, do past blog posts about orphan care count? I’ve stepped away from blogging for a season, but I do have past posts that I could link here.
I would love to go to T4A. God closed the door to our family adopting (international & domestic) but at the same time he continued to grow my heart for orphan care around the globe. Our church has a relationship with an indigenous church in Kenya that cares for 24 orphans on the church property. World Orphans facilitates the relationship. It’s been a huge blessing to me to travel several times now to our “sister” church and serve alongside them in ministry for the sake of the Gospel.
My 14 yo daughter and I recently returned from one of these trips. I would love to bring her with me to this conference…it’s so exciting to see God grow her heart for orphan care as well.
Our family is looking forward to hearing/worshiping with you tonight in Knoxville!
Kris says:
urp. Your site ate my comment. Trying again….
I have long wanted to adopt, even when I was a child. Right now, in this season, we don’t feel the Lord calling us to adoption, but I think for us, it’s always on the table. We are praying. He is listening.
God knows what’s best.
Amy Hunt says:
Really, friend? You, too? 🙂
Kris says:
yes, when I was little I used to talk about how I’d adopt a bunch of kids. Now, we’ve had four of our own, and the closest we’ve come to that is our two compassion children.
I give it up to God. If He wants that for us, He will make a way, and ready our hearts–it was a year and a half after the compassion seed was planted, before we finally sponsored. You know that whole chronos vs. Kairos thing we’ve talked about 😉 Just waiting on Him.
Abby says:
Okay, so I didn’t wait for you answer, but here’s the link to one of my blog post (from 2010) about orphan care: http://meetourfamily2.blogspot.com/2010/08/harsh-reality.html
Gina says:
I just wanted to say “Hello” on your blog! I checked it out without a prompt from Ann! I enjoyed visiting with you and Becky last night. Jared agrees that we need to have you guys over again for a campfire and much needed laughter. See you all soon…
Amy Hunt says:
I’ve had this nagging tug to adopt. And it never goes away. I read words from Steven Curtis Chapman once that said something like if God lays it on your heart, you’ll be a part of it. And I’ve always wondered in what ways our story will involve adoption.
As a daughter of an estranged father and a step father who raised me as his own, I have been overwhelmed with a father’s love and ultimately Our Father in Heaven. I’ve learned to parent my own son from this perspective of God’s love for me, though I’m incapable of loving so perfectly I trust in His purposes for my life.
I’m completely overwhelmed by the choices people make to bring children into this world and then dismiss God’s plan for them–so often for them to learn from their very own. I know God is teaching me about His love through children–whether it be my own son, or through children in far away places, or through an experience we may have of adoption.
Regardless, it’s his desire for us all to know His love for us and I’m committed to listening. Fully. and Deliberately.
Zoë says:
My dear friend was subject to abuse and neglect from birth. She was adopted when she was four years old. Unfortunately, she was adopted by people who were also abusive. It nearly destroyed her. I thank God that she had the opportunity to go to Mercy Ministries, where she was able to learn that God loves her, and that nothing will ever change that. She has peace now, something I thought I might never see.
I have another friend who adopted a little boy with Down’s Syndrome. He is now nearly 17 and quite poorly, but two years ago he was baptised. I admire his parents’ quiet strength, and unquestioning attitude to doing what is best for him.
I want to thank all of you who have adopted. You do such an amazing job. You may feel like you’re not up to the job sometimes, or that there must be someone else out there who would do a better job, but in reality, you’re amazing.
Lindsay says:
The results came in, and it was bad news: Sterile. Completely.
They cried, and our shoulders got wet. We cried, and our pillows got wet.
We offered everything we could to the people we loved like siblings. A surrogate womb, if that’s what they wanted. Funds for adoption, if that’s what they wanted. Partners in the foster care classes, if that’s what they wanted.
In the middle of their pain, our hearts cried, “Let us love you!”
Just a few months later, they figured out what they wanted…what God wanted for them. Adoption. Rwanda it would be.
So we loved in the only ways we could: we prayed, we laughed, we cried, we prayed some more, we gave funds, we raised funds, we signed as witnesses, mourned with every delay, and rejoiced at every milestone.
Eventually, they matched. Then, they passed. (Court, that is.) We had a shower and got the nursery ready. Our son’s crib took its place in our might-as-well-be-a-nephew’s room. We couldn’t wait for it to hold another little boy that we loved more than we could understand.
They flew to Rwanda, and we had plans to meet them at the airport and welcome them upon their return. But the day before they came back, we received an email asking us not to come to the airport.
Their family preferred that we not be present, since we weren’t “blood.”
My heart broke. When the friendship ended, my heart shattered. And my passion for adoption suffered. To love someone so completely, no matter what blood flowed in their veins, and then to lose them so completely because my blood didn’t match theirs…
That was a little more than two years ago, and the broken places have finally started to mend. There’s a long way to go down this path of healing, but I want to love adoption again…wildly, without fear of loss.
The opportunity to sit with others who have loved, lost, and had the courage to love again would be great. The opportunity to learn from those who understand best how to love orphans would be wonderful. But taking a step in faith, believing that God will fix what has been broken…that would be an incredible gift.
Suzanne says:
For me, even though we foster and have adopted through foster care, I never want to quit and say, “See? I have heeded God’s call to care for the orphan. All done now.” I don’t want to rest on my laurels, as it were…since there’s always somebody ready to give me the recognition I do NOT deserve for fostering/adoption/what have you…I want to follow God’s call even though it is a continual call to be uncomfortable, to sacrifice, to die. I don’t want to be more noble, more special, stronger or any of those adjectives that people like to throw around with orphan care. I just want to be obedient and to find out what that looks like for me, for my family, right now.
I also can’t overestimate the value of going and just sitting in a room with other people who are fighting the same fight. I highly encourage anyone who is in the trenches with foster care, adoption, orphan care of any kind to attend something (even if you don’t win these tickets) because there is nothing like it. It’s rest for your soul. You don’t have to explain yourself. You don’t have to explain your children. Everyone else understands. Just be there, and breathe easy for a couple days.
I’m linking to a post from last month (but I’ll add this post’s link at the bottom)…
http://www.expectinghope.com/2012/07/parting-is-such-sweet-sweet-sorrow.html
Kelli says:
Adoption is very near and dear to my heart. I know you understand because we have discussed it. This event sounds amazing.
Mary J. says:
We didn’t travel thousands of miles over the ocean to a foreign country to adopt, but we did cross over an ocean about 8-9 hours from our house.
We met our daughter two days after she was born and it has been pure bliss since. The journey to her was not purse bliss, but I would not change a single thing! God has shown me so much in our adoption journey and I realize every situation he pulled us through was for the Glory of Him and Him alone – I believe our family has an awesome testimony of how we came to be a family and how much we were willing to wait and fight to be parents, though much heartbreak and heartache.
After spending five days in the NICU with a precious baby girl in January 2011, my husband and I made the difficult decision to walk away because we knew we could not provide the proper care that the baby so deserved. Two months later we made the trip again to be there for the birth of another baby we were matched with. After the birthmom had a C-section, she decided to parent. Our third trip to the same state was to meet another birthmom who selected us to be parents and a month after that trip, after doing some research, I found out she never intended to place her baby for adoption. Our fourth match was for a one-month baby girl and we parented her for 11 weeks until the birthfather contested the adoption and was granted custody of the baby, so we had to drive back down and literally give the baby back to the agency.
We had a tough journey, but God was present throughout and it made us stronger not only as a couple, but in our walks with Him. In February 2012 our forever daughter was born!
We love adoption and I would so love to go to this conference!!!! I love fellowshipping with others who have adoption in their hearts some way!
Erin says:
Shaun,
I tweeted! But I don’t need free tickets – I live right here in Atlanta and and am heading over there anyway. Got to attend in Austin a couple of years ago. Didn’t know you were mc! Fun! See you there!
Kate says:
I have wanted to adopt since I was 7 years old. I vividly remember my dad explaining to me that there are children who do not have homes and that we needed to fix that. It was a new concept to me and I knew that when I grew up, I wanted to help. Fast forward two decades and I’m now married with a child of my own. Before we started expanding our family, my husband and I were actively involved in an orphan care ministry at our church. That increased our desire and our knowledge of what it means to be adopted by God. (Sadly, we moved away yet hope to start such a ministry one day at our new church!) I am so thankful God gave me a loving husband who desired to adopt, long before we even met. Right now we cannot pursue adoption, but we can support others who are adopting and encourage those around us to adopt more.
Carrie says:
I went to Jamaica in high school on a mission trip and it broke my heart. I have 3 boys right now. Part of me thinks I want to have another naturally but there’s a tug in the back of my mind, a memory of what I saw in Jamaica and how much I wanted to adopt for years and years after I left my heart there. So, I’m in a holding pattern until my heart is lead in the right direction.
I’d love to attend. I live north of Duluth so it would be doable.
cshell says:
About this time last year we were in your neck of the woods shooting a TV show with Steven Curtis Chapman. We had the honor and priviledge of sharing our adoption story that was made into a TV show for GMC. It aired in January of this year.
http://www.watchgmctv.com/news/song-changed-my-life-debuts-gmc
Kim Hall says:
I visited my Compassion assisted child in Honduras in June. Our child visit day was supposed to be happy…and while it was a beautiful, life-changing day, I’ll never forget the look in Luz Maria’s eyes when she told me her Father had died. Now her mother cares for seven children by herself. No time for a letter to tell me before our visit; the news came as a complete shock. I had even bought her father a gift! Luz carries so many burdens and so much hurt. I told her before I left that God is her Father…I would like to know more about how to pour encouragement into her life, to let her know that her perfect, Heavenly Father is bigger than her poverty and loss. I know she is one of many “fatherless”…
Amy E Schwartz says:
Wrote (http://hissurrendered.blogspot.com/2011/06/20-boxed-children-and-148-million.html) a while back…and the sequel is (http://hissurrendered.blogspot.com/2012/08/why-sponsor.html)
Emily Doss says:
I would love to go to T4aCon2012, but right now all or our “extra” money is going towards bringing baby #2 into our family through adoption. We adopted 2.5 years ago and are in the waiting phase again for baby #2. I would love to join other adoptive parents & share stories of God growing our family.
Michelle says:
My family is currently waiting for a referral from Ethiopia. We are in the process of changing our request from an infant, to a request including ages 0-7. We are trying to prepare emotionally/mentally for the challenges we may face in adopting an older child. This preparation includes the desire to attend one of the adoption conferences coming up in the next year. Thanks for posting this give-away!
SarahJ says:
We’re in the process of an adoption from India but we have been waiting for almost 4 years. I’m so ready to bring a little girl home into our family!
I’d love the chance to go to the conference.
I blog too, from time to time: http://www.unfamiliarpaths.com
Many of my blog posts are about adoption, waiting, etc. 🙂
Lisa H says:
Four years since our adoption was completed, I find myself tired and forgetting the deep rich truths that called us here in the first place. I can’t live off the intellectual and spiritual fat of the land from those earlier days…. I need a fresh reminder. I want to relax and delight in His big truths. T4A send like just the right spot. Compelling? I don’t know. But hoping to get this hunger fed and get this crank turning again!
Jake Riley says:
Not really able to “compel”, but I do want to say that the ministry and resources of Together For Adoption have aided me immensely in understanding more with my heart what I already knew with my head, concerning the goodness of God in making sinners His legal children.
Every day when I come home, I see a little boy with a completely different skin color that I am “unashamed to call brother”; and as a young man entering life, I want to display God’s love to the fatherless as He allows me to start my own family. That’s why I appreciate T4A’s and would love to attend the conference.
anelisa d says:
We’ve been praying about adoption for few years. We think now is the time but the process and finances are still overwhelming to us. We would love to come to the meeting in Atlanta, we don’t live too far but our finances are tight. You and info on the conference is posted on my fb page.
Gencie says:
God has given me a heart for orphan care and adoption, and I am looking for ways to carry that out in my community. My husband and I hope to adopt some day, but not quite yet.
Roberta Fanelli says:
I am going to the conference but because of our adoption costs only 1 of us can go. I would LOVE for my husband to attend the conference with me instead of sitting in our hotel room . Our adoption journey has opened our eyes , thanks to God, our own adoption and has given us a heart for orphans. Our lives are changed forever and we are Grateful to God our Father for opening our eyes!
Sara says:
It would be a balm for my weary heart to be able to attend Together for Adoption with my husband.
Six years ago, my husband and I knew we were called to foster care and adoption. Mostly foster care, but we knew we wanted to adopt. Two years ago, we were lisenced as foster parents through our county. One biological child, ten foster children and many heartaches later, we traveled across three states to bring our two beautiful little boys and their lifetime of special needs home from Florida foster care.
Six weeks ago, my husband walked out on us, because we had sinfully allowed the weight of this world, the things we’ve been through, and the rocky path of foster care/adoption to burden our relationship to the point of breaking. Six weeks ago, I begged the church family I grew up with to lay hands on me and ask God to restore my family.
One week ago, by the grace of God and the faithful prayer of many, my husband moved back home with us.
I lift my voice daily to thank God for bringing us back together despite a situation this culture would support and encourage to be unrepairable. It has not been easy, and we have both had to humble ourselves before the Lord to face our sins, but by the Blood of the Lamb I know our marriage and our family will bring glory to the one true God.
I believe being able to attend Together for Adoption with my husband would not only give us some precious time together to rest and regroup as a couple in Christ, but it would help renew my husband’s vision for our family related to the calling we know we have as foster and adoptive parents.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share!
Lana W says:
I hope to be able to attend the Together for Adoption conference, still trying to work out the details!
Lana W says:
http://iprayedforthis.blogspot.com/2012/08/love-is-love.html
My blog post from today – thanks for inspiring!
Joy Ward says:
My husband and I don’t have a compelling story of loss or infertility, but after three biological children, the call to adopt was clear. We are waiting now to be chosen by a birthmother, and although we said yes to racial differences and medical issues, we have been waiting a long time. The wait is hard and sad, and makes little sense to us, but God has something up His sleeve, and I can’t wait! What a gift it would be to go to Together for Adoption and be renewed!
karen schnaufer says:
hi! we would LOVE to go to this conference and have contempkated buying tickets but since we are in the beginning stages of the process and money is an isdue we don’t want to get caught having funds when we need them. Although I know that something like this would very informative and helpful for us. The process is very overwhelming in itself and in further reading, I am realizing the the huge impact it has on everyone involved. We ate thirsty for knowledge in whatever will make this a less “bumpy ride” and smoother transition for our adopted child as well as our bio children. We ate also extremely interested in Orphan relief and missions; this is something we are suggesting in our church. Please consider us for these tickets as I know it can only help us on our journey! Thank you!
Joy Ward says:
I linked this giveaway to a post I wrote on our adoption!
http://www.insomanywards.com/2012/08/longing-for-aslans-country.html
Hannah Gaz says:
I am a young 22 year old who has a huge heart for orphans and children in foster care. I would live to attend the conference to learn more how I can make a difference. I am going to school to become a social worker so that I can help make a difference in the children’s lives in charleston.
Kay says:
Hello,
I just retweeted about the contest – we’re already registered, but would love to see what you think of this post & video from Uganda about how child sponsorship helps adoptive families there. http://www.friendsoftouch.org/2012/07/adoption-sponsorship/
Looking forward to T4A!
Lee P. says:
September 15 will be my 5yr. anniversary with my husband. It’s a conference we would love to attend as adoption is in our future (though admittedly not very near future). However, we are both currently unemployed. I just graduated with my Masters and be wi be returning to school to get his next week.
I am adopted, so the idea and reality of adoption don’t scare me. I am excited, though realistic (or at least I think so). My husband however, is one of three boys the old fashioned way. He has more questions. We both have questions. We have decided on domestic, but as I am the result on an international adoption from Haiti – I want toward more about the international process as well. I also seek community.
Lastly, but by no means offset importance – I want to learn more and think more of adoption as God’s adoption of me. As I move through Dan Cruver’s book my eyes have been opened in a new way. I seek to learn more.
Anna Guntlisbergen says:
Here is a link to my blog-
http://glittersmallworld.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-all-started-with-one-boy.html
Shaun, if you would like to learn more about my little boy’s story, feel free to watch our beautiful video- http://vimeo.com/30869252
Anna Guntlisbergen says:
I would love to go to the conference because the Lord has been showing me his heart for orphans and adoption. My husband and I are currently starting a non-profit to support baby homes in Africa, and then we are planning to move to Uganda or Lesotho to continue it from in country.
Anna Guntlisbergen says:
also, retweeted 🙂
@anna_at_glitter