Hope, Faith, and...an iPad!

Wow, I feel like God has really spoken to us this week! My 36th birthday was a few days ago. People kept asking me for gift ideas and I really didn't know what to say. All I really want is to have this huge invoice paid to my adoption agency and have the money I need for two more trips to Russia to bring my children home for good! The problem is I don't think people were looking to spend quite that much on my birthday...

I'll admit, I've been feeling a bit down and at times desperate about this. We have come so far in this adoption process and we're nearing the end, at least in terms of paperwork. Still, the money isn't there to finish this. I've literally been waiting on God, trusting that his timing is perfect, even if it's not what I had in mind.



For some reason this week has been particularly hard and I've been losing hope that we'll have the money in time to get the children home by Christmas. One evening I was praying and asking God for a sign of hope. Then I started reading MaryBeth Chapman's book, Choosing to See (which is amazing!). Beth Moore wrote the prologue and at the end she included a Bible verse. Isa. 43:5 says, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west." My eyes widened and I instantly felt peace.

Also, this week I noticed some of the blogs I follow were trying to raise money for a sweet orphan named Yulia. :-) I was able to watch something amazing unfold. They were able to raise over $20,000 in just 5 days! They raffled off a new iPad as an incentive. I was inspired and thought that would be a great way to raise the rest of the money we need for our adoptions. The problem was that I didn't have an iPad or the money to get one. I debated using my birthday money and my husband's overtime money (which I had planned to put towards the adoption) to buy an iPad and try to raffle it off, bit it seemed a bit risky. I decided to wait and just pray about it.


So you can imagine just how thrilled I was when I found out yesterday that I won the iPad they were giving away!! Now, some may wonder why I donated to the adoption fund for another child when we’re short the money we need to complete our adoptions. The truth is I believe we are ALL responsible for ALL of the orphans in the world. Making a donation to Yulia’s fund was a no-brainer and had nothing to do with thinking we’d actually win.

If you're not familiar with our story, here it is: We met I and Y through an orphan hosting program in July of 2009. We were looking into adoption at the time but decided to try to adopt from our local foster care system because we felt there was no way we could ever afford an international adoption. When we heard about the orphan hosting program through a wonderful charity (FORO-Friends of Russian Orphans) affiliated with our church, we thought this would be a good way to help out an international orphan by giving him or her a sort of vacation experience. What we didn’t know was that God had His own plans.


Not only did He plan for us to adopt Y, the 5-year-old little girl we hosted, but He wanted us to adopt I, a 4-year-old little boy being hosted by another family at our church. We spent nearly three weeks with the children and then had to put them on a plane headed back to Russia. We had no idea how to overcome all of the obstacles to adopt them, but we knew we had to try. Of course everyone thought we were crazy! We already have four young children. With I and Y added, we’ll have 6 kids in a 5-year span (currently between the ages of 4-9). Crazy? Maybe, but we knew they were meant to be in our family and we needed to get them back as soon as possible.

The other neat thing is that 9 of the children who participated in the hosting program are being adopted by families in our community! Seven of the children will attend the same church and school system. FORO brought over 10 more children this past summer for a hosting experience. All of those children are being adopted too! To these children their friends from the orphanage are their family and now they’ll be raised here together. :-) I also think the long-term impact on our communities’ awareness of the needs of orphans will be huge. :-)

God has been so good! He has opened doors that seemed impossible to open. One of the biggest hurdles has been coming up with the nearly $70k it’s costing to adopt these two children. When we started the process we did not have a single cent to put towards it. Through very generous donations by others and extra work opportunities for my husband and I we’ve gotten this far. We still have around $40k yet to pay out (an invoice here for over $23k from our agency and two more expensive trips to Russia). We are still short about $28k of that to have these adoptions paid for. To us this is a HUGE amount, but we know our God is BIGGER! We need the money very quickly too. Everything has been completed and we’re just waiting for the last of the paperwork. Once that comes in a few weeks (and if we have the money ready to go) we will receive our court date and can bring our children home shortly after.


The children desperately want to come home! They’ve been here so they know what they’re missing. We made the first trip to Russia this past July. It was great to see them and we were told that they constantly ask when we’re coming for them. The sad part is that they thought they were coming home with us then. Every 5 minutes one of them would say, “Okay, let’s go home to America!” We asked the translator to explain it was just a visit but she wanted to wait until the end. It was heartbreaking to leave them again.

So since we've been blessed with this new iPad we are hoping repeat the same miracle that's already occured...raise all of the money we need to bring our children home! The details are easy: From now until 11:59 PM (Eastern) on October 15th any donation you make to our adoption fund will enter your name to win the iPad. You can make a donation by clicking on this ChipIn widget.



If you'd like to make a donation by check please contact me at jennifer@jenniferapplin.com.

We're praying that all of you wonderful supporters of adoption out there who understand the need and struggle will help us bring our children home!! I used to think that it would be so much easier if we were just wealthy and already had the money. Then I realized that this testimony for these children, who have only known rejection and abandonment, will be so much greater knowing that it was a loving God and the care and concern of many, many people who understood their worth that brought them home.

God has already used this iPad to ransom one child. We're praying it can be used to ransom two more!


James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Blessings,

Adoption Process: One Year Later

Well, as you can tell I wasn't able to keep up with this blog once we started the adoption process (not that I was doing a lot with it prior). Once we said "Yes!" to God regarding adopting these children that also meant saying "Yes!" to a ton of paperwork and working as much as possible to raise the money we need to bring our children home.

It has been a very challenging year. I really had no idea how difficult this process could be (more on that later). Through it all we have relied on God as our source of strength...especially when we've reached points where there was NOTHING else to rely on (I'm learning that God likes it this way :-). God has been GOOD-better than good, through it all! Over and over we have experienced miracles that only He could manage and our faith is so much stronger because of it! I have so much to share, but right now I want to start a separate post regarding a GREAT fundraising opportunity!

Blessings,

Our Leap of Faith

It’s funny how you can be cruising along in life with plans made, working towards your goals and then BAM!!...everything changes. That is what we’re experiencing in the Applin household. We have jumped on the “Russian Adoption Rollercoaster” and we’re in the process of adopting a little girl who just turned 5 and a little boy who is almost 5. Some of you may recall that we already have four children between the ages of 3-8. So this will give us six children in a 5-year-span! How did we get to this point? What are we thinking? Well, let me explain…

I posted below about the Russian orphan hosting program we were participating in this summer. Through a local charity thirteen children between the ages of 4-14 were hosted by ten different families for almost three weeks. We were matched with a spunky little girl who turned 5 just two days after she left (we initially thought she was already five). We also got to spend time with the other Russian children, including a sweet little boy who will be 5 this fall. The purpose of the program was to provide a sort of vacation and adventure to children who have only known abandonment, rejection and loneliness in their short lives. Like most orphans the statistics for these Russian children upon leaving the orphanage is heart-breaking. Only about 10% are able to make anything out of their lives. They are literally kicked out around the age of 17 lacking adequate resources to survive (money, food, job, housing, family support, etc.). The other 90% turn to a life of crime, drugs/alcohol, prostitution/sex trade, or commit suicide. Through this program we wanted the children to see that there is a world beyond the orphanage doors. Through ongoing communication we wanted them to know that there are people who care about them and hopefully they could strive to “make it.” For our family, as well as some of the others, this hosting experience turned into something entirely different. To put it simply, we fell in love! They are already a part of our family in our hearts and now we’re trying to make that official and bring them home!

This brings me back to my point about changes. While we had been looking into adoption for a while we figured we'd be adopting from our local foster care system. Coming up with the money to adopt internationally just seemed impossible! We didn’t plan on adopting two children from Russia (one of the most expensive adoption programs). We didn’t plan on needing a bigger van this soon because ours only seats 7 people. We didn’t plan on growing our family this quickly to the point that it would be very difficult for me to work (at least until they are all in school), as we deal with adoption-related issues and meeting the needs of all of our children. But that is where we are. We said yes with our hearts, not sure how to work this all out. I guess that’s why they call it a “leap of faith!” As we considered the possibility of adopting these two we initially talked ourselves out of adopting both of them. We felt we just didn't have the necessary resources. Most of those resources needed are financial to pay for the adoptions and bigger van, as well as allowing me to take the time off from writing to be the mother these children need. But after a lot of discussion and prayer we realized that we needed to trust in God to handle those provisions. If it is His will it will be done. We realized that just because we don't have those resources now doesn't mean they won't be there when we need them. Even as I type those words, though, that walk by faith is still the hardest thing we've ever done. There is so much at stake-most importantly these two precious little lives.

Right now I’m busy working on the massive list of adoption paperwork and working as much as possible. My husband is taking on all of the extra sides jobs he can. As I write this he has returned home from work and has headed off to earn extra money by cutting down trees (I just hope he remembers that he’s 38 and not 28!). He doesn’t complain. As he puts it he’s a man on a mission to bring home his children who are half-way around the world.

So those are the big changes at our house! Are we crazy? Well,…yes, but I'd prefer to say obedient! More importantly we’re just excited to start this new chapter in our life. Through research I’ve learned that globally there are over 143 million orphans, and this number increases by the thousands daily. I know that when it comes to the orphan crisis we can’t change the world. But I am hoping that at least for these two children we can change their world, and they’ve already changed ours.

We know we can't do this alone and we already feel so blessed by the offers of help we've received! If you'd like to help would you please consider:
-Praying for us and the children! As with any adoption there are many obstacles to overcome. Prayer is the one thing that is bringing us peace and keeping us from feeling panicked that something will go wrong and we won't be able to adopt them.
-Letting me know about any programs that help with adoptions (grants, fundraisers, etc.).
-Making a donation to our adoption fund. I hesitated even putting the button on the top of this page. I'm not very good with asking for or accepting help. But I am learning that this is bigger than "me" and my comfort zone. Any donation would be a HUGE blessing!

So that's the news about our exciting leap of faith! I'll keep you posted. :-)

Tonight we get to see her little face!!

This summer we are participating in a Russian Orphan Hosting program. There are ten families from our church hosting 13 Russian orphans (there are three sets of siblings). The children, along with the two chaperones, will be arriving exactly one month from today from the Arkhangelsk region! They will be visiting for nearly three weeks. We have been matched with a 5-year-old little girl :-) Our other kids are 8, 6, 4, and 3, so she'll be right in the middle and our daughter (the oldest) can't wait to have another little girl in the house to play with. :-)

Tonight we'll be attending a meeting to go over some of the details, have a quick lesson in speaking Russian (the children won't know any English!) and finally see pictures!! Initially we weren't supposed to find out who our host child is until tonight's meeting. So it was a great surprise when we found out on May 8th! But...for some reason I was mistaken and thought we'd see pictures before today, so I've been patiently waiting (or NOT patiently waiting according to my husband ;-).

I can't believe it is only a month away until she arrives. I feel like I'm nesting. I first started "nesting" back in the spring when I thought we were preparing for our home study through the county (more on that later), but now I'm really feeling the push to clean and purge, clean and purge. I must admit though that it is a lot nicer doing it this way than when I could barely waddle around with my very large pregnant belly!

Fellowship of the Unashamed

This text was found on a scrap of paper in the home of an African pastor shortly after he was martyred.

This Beautiful Boy Needs a Family!!

I was checking out some blogs and was immediately stopped in my tracks when I saw this picture. He is absolutely adorable! Actually something about his smile reminds me of my youngest son who is about the same age. He needs a loving home, which every child deserves. Please pray that he gets one. If you'd like to learn more you can check out this information.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families...
Psalms 68:5-6

Why I'm Boycotting Warner Bros. "Orphan" Movie

I recently heard about the new movie, "Orphan" that is to be released in July. I was definitely bothered after watching the trailer. Especially because there is a line where the adopted child says "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own." I then heard about a new group on facebook called I Am Boycotting Warner Bros.' "Orpan Movie" and I knew I had to join. Here is the group's description:

On July 24, Warner Bros. is releasing a horror/slasher film titled "Orphan" (http://orphan-movie.warnerbros.com/). The messaging in the trailer perpetuates misinformation about adoption, and it serves to reinforce the perception that older adoptees are very troubled. Those of us in the adoption community face these very real prejudices and misconceptions from the general public on a daily basis.

We encourage Warner Bros., Dark Castle Entertainment, and Appian Way to consider very carefully where and how they market this film, as the potential for emotional damage to children is great.

This group was launched by concerned parents to let these film companies know that this film is reprehensible to us, and we will be boycotting it. We will not allow children to be maligned while these companies profit from preying on the public's unfounded fears.

We ask anyone who joins this group to share this information widely, and to discourage your local theaters from showing this film.

The good news is that this boycot is having an effect. Here is an update from the moderator of the protest group:

First off, thank you for adding your name to the “Orphan” protest Group on Facebook. The membership has reached almost 1,000 in the course of just a few short days, which goes to show how very important this issue is to many.

I wanted to share with you that I just got off the phone with Scott Rowe, Sr. Vice President of Corporate Communication at Warner Bros. You will be happy to know that they have changed their marketing materials and have removed the offending statement “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own” has been removed from all future trailers.

A few items of note:

• The current trailer (with the offending statement) will still be used during the previews of the horror film “Drag Me to Hell”, which opens this week-end. Unfortunately, on such short notice, there was nothing that can be done about this.

• The next movie that the trailer will be shown at is “The Hangover”, which comes out June 15th. By this time, the current trailer will be replaced with the new trailer (sans statement).

• They will swap out the trailers for all television advertising. They have not yet begun advertising for this film yet, so there should be no worries of children seeing it.

• The current trailer is still on the Web site, but they are working to rectify that immediately and Scott has spoken with the Warner Bros. Web team about this again this afternoon.

• Because the film is Rated-R, it will only be shown as a trailer for other Rated-R films. The trailer will also only be shown on television after 10 p.m. (i.e. not during times when young children would be expected to watch).

As I am sure many of you have assumed, there is a hook to the film that ultimately removes the child/orphan stigma, which is neither here nor there as it relates to current public positioning of the film -- and that issue is no more.

The producers and distributor took your concerns to heart and have made the changes in the public-facing marketing materials that we had hoped.

I would like to add that Scott mentioned that Warner Bros. employees get death threats for things as trivial as changing the release date of the new Harry Potter film. “Yet, the adoption community, who are protecting their children and who have every right to be angry, has been nothing but respectful.” he said.

Kuddos to all of you! Please do pass this information along so that others can know that their voice was heard.

It looks like sometimes voices are heard! :-)