Adopted by Design

God Places the Lonely in Families

We are excited to share a new America World video with you. Rejoice with us in the work the Lord is doing to bring the fatherless into forever families!

View the video here.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God places the lonely in families. Psalm 68:5-6

To learn more about how you can care for orphans, please visit our website. 

NCFA National Adoption Conference: June 13-16

National Council for Adoption (NCFCA) is hosting their annual adoption conference on June 13-16th in the Washington D.C. area. America World is a member of NCFA and several of our staff will be attending the event and assisting with seminars. On Saturday June 16th prospective adoptive parents are invited to attend and learn more about adoption and foster care. The day will include speaking sessions with adoption experts, including AW staff, who are available to answer parent’s questions. Families interested in learning more about the topics that will be discussed and the schedule of events can visit to the NCFA website for more information.

Georgia Adoption Picnic

America World's Georgia office held an adoption reunion last weekend and a great time was had by all! Over 80 people attended which included families, board members, volunteers, and even several potential adoptive families. It was a beautiful day and everyone had a wonderful time. There was face painting, balloon animals, popcorn, hula hoops, balls, a bounce house and even a piñata! 

Families said:

“Thank you so much for such an amazing day with other AWAA families.  It was awesome!  I hope that next year we have even more families!  I think once the word gets out, they won't be able to miss it!”

"We had a great time and loved meeting all the families.  It is always great to have a chance to fellowship with other families that look like ours, and "get" us - if you know what I mean."

 

Several more state picnics are already scheduled for this summer, and there may be more to come. See the Events page and scroll down to "All Adoption Events" to find out what's happening in your area. 

Live Simulcast of Summit VIII

For the first time, some sessions of Summit VIII are live streaming on the web. See this link for a schedule of the broadcasted events and take part in the learning and worship of this year's Summit. 

http://www.summitviii.org/SUMMIT-LIVE/ 

Pray for Summit

The Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VIII is next weekend. We hope that those of you who are attending will stop and visit America World's booth in the exhibition hall and get to know us!

Friends, even if you are not able to attend the Summit, please be in prayer for this monumental event in orphan care. Jedd Medefind of CAFO provides these specific prayer applications:

• That God would prepare each person coming both to give and to receive much at Summit.
• That the countless details and the myriad volunteers, speakers, exhibitors, and attendees would all come together smoothly.
• That seeds sown and cultivated at Summit would bear much good fruit—for the fatherless, the Church and God’s glory for decades to come.

We echo these prayers and are excited to see what God will do through Summit VIII!

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

A Simple “Thank You” Can Go A Long Way

When families have finished their adoption, they often look for ways to help advocate for adoption. Our agency recently learned that here in Virginia, the authentications office sometimes gets “thank you” notes and pictures from families who have completed their adoption. The employee who told us this said that they post the pictures of the kids up on the wall to encourage them in their work.  She said, “the pictures help us see how important the paperwork is!”  When we heard that, we thought it would be great to ensure that every state’s authentication office hears from families as to how important their work is.

If you’ve completed your adoption already, would you consider writing a note to your Secretary of State’s Authentications Office? The contact information can be found here.  A simple note saying, “Thanks for your work – you helped us with our adoption” may just go a long way in encouraging these employees who certify thousands of documents each week to help with the adoption process. And remember, pictures are worth a thousand words, so perhaps if you included a picture and first name of your child, it will help these offices see how very important their work is.

Seminar Spotlight

America World offers free Adopted by Design seminars all over the country to prospective parents throughout the year. These two-hour seminars seek to answer some of the challenging questions that parents face when considering adoption. 

We are thrilled to have many adoptive parents who continue advocating for the fatherless by leading these seminars in their community. One of these is Melody Lietzau and family in California, who adopted their daughter from the China Waiting Children program. 

Melody's favorite part of leading seminars is being able to share the ways her family saw God working so clearly through their adoption journey. They had never considered adopting, let alone adopting a child with a severe condition, but the Lord made it clear that was where he wanted them to be. 

One of the most common questions Melody gets at seminars is about finances- how do you pay for adoption and why is it so expensive? To answer, she shares stories of how the Lord provided for their adoption countless times above and beyond what was expected, and encourages people not to worry about this aspect of the adoption. She says, "I love challenging people to step into the uncomfortable and to realize that God doesn't call us to comfortable things. He promises us that he will never leave us or forsake us, and the Bible is pretty clear about caring for orphans. We love having the opportunity to share in this way and being able to represent an agency that we have so much respect and gratitude for."

We are grateful to the Melody and all of our Associates for giving their time to be a local voice for adoption. See our Events page to find a seminar near you- we are confident you wil be blessed by the message and personal testimonies of adoptive families! 

China Reunion Trips

We are excited to share about a new opportunity for all of our families who have adopted children from China. Beginning summer of 2012, America World would like to offer a unique chance for our families to reunite with those they traveled with during their adoption process and share another experience in China together.  We are hopeful to organize a reunion trip for all interested.

Your time in China would include some sightseeing in Beijing and your child’s local province, and also include some cultural activities for you and your adopted children.  We are hopeful that this will be an opportunity for your child to return and learn more about his or her country and culture and for other siblings, family members and friends to experience this alongside them.  The timeline and exact itinerary for the trip can be flexible, and we would love to work with your family/travel group to coordinate a trip that works best for you. The trip will be hosted by some of our longtime adoption travel guides in China. If you are interested in taking this trip, we would ask that you reach out to those families from your travel group to see if they are interested in reuniting in China and let us know. 

Our vision is to create a reunion trip with families you traveled with for your adoption.  We understand that groups varied in size and number, and that not all families would be able to take this trip.  We are happy to organize a trip for an entire travel group or just one family.  Similar to your adoption, we will set up a tour package which would include hotels, daily meals, domestic flights, ground transportation, English-speaking guide services, activities, and more. The cost of this package would range from $1700 - $2500 per person.

Due to the number of families that we have been privileged to serve throughout the years, please only contact teresa.spencer@awaa.org if you are interested in a trip for this summer. We will send out another email in the future for those families interested in a trip for 2013 and onward.

Haiti Mission Trip Testimonies

We are back from our Reverse Hosting Mission trip to Haiti. What an incredible trip!  Here are the perspectives of a few of our team members.  We hope you will join America World on our next trip to Haiti!

“It has been a culture shock to say the least to be back home. I look around at all the “stuff” we have accumulated and I think of what was needed to survive for most of the people on the street. I think that is inevitable to have that concern and have those thoughts flood through your mind. We think we “need” things that ultimately are merely wants or pleasures. America is so blessed. I had an amazing time getting to broaden my horizon of the different people and lifestyles of the world. God’s love for Haiti is not dependent on what they possess and His grace for me is not dependent on what I have to offer.” Andy Rosenbalm

 

“I'm sure we are all experiencing all kinds of emotions since our trip, but one thing for sure, is that I can't stop praising God for giving me the opportunity to experience what I did last week.  It was everything I prayed it would be.  I wanted a jolt from my "of this world life" and I certainly got that!  I feel that John's insight on how I would feel upon my return was spot on!  He told us not to feel guilty for the life we have, but to rejoice in the knowledge that God has an awesome plan.  The other thing I prayed for is that we would provide some comfort and God's love to the children of Haiti and in my heart I know that happened.  I am in awe of the adoptive parents and the selfless challenges they are sure to face.  Know that I am praying for them and their families.  I will miss the fellowship we all shared last week and I know that the trip will always remain one of the most special experiences that I will have in my lifetime.” Dan Stern

 

“Daniel and I are both missing Haiti! We fell in love with the people and culture and especially all those sweet children we were able to bless. In actuality, they blessed us far more.   Haiti has a way of getting into your soul and becoming part of you. I think I saw God there profoundly in the way that love was given, shared and imitated not only among our team, but the children, Jonas and Sandro, the drivers and everyone else we interacted with.  We will never be the same." Terry Lacey

For more information regarding our Haiti Adoption Program or America World Reverse Mission Trips to Haiti, please contact Michelle Reed at Michelle.Reed@awaa.org.

Eternal Investments

In June of 2011, I asked each of you to prayerfully consider giving toward a need that staff became aware of at the orphanage in the Gansu region of China that America World has been blessed to support. 

Specifically, I asked for your consideration in donating money toward 35 chairs designed for supporting older children with cerebral palsy.  We were overwhelmed by your overabundance of generosity and heart to care for the orphans of this orphanage.  Although we only needed $8,400 for these chairs specifically, we were able to raise nearly $25,000!

The orphanage’s new facility was officially opened in November of 2011, and with your overabundace of generosity, we were able to provide the children there with not only these special chairs, but also more equipment and items to benefit the children currently residing there, including additional medical equipment, beds, walkers, clothing cabinets, and a new playground.

We recently had one of our in-country staff members visit this particular orphanage, where she was able to take some pictures of the equipment that your giving has helped to supply.

I hope that you are blessed by these pictures - not because of the physical items themselves, but because of the impact that each one of them will have on the lives of orphaned children.  Thank you for the way that you have participated in the Lord's calling to honor and love Him by providing for and loving children yearning to be called a son or daughter.

Thank you for the way that you are actively transitioning from being an adoptive family to an orphan advocate and making an eternal investment into the lives of the fatherless!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on how you, your family or church can get involved with caring for the Lord's children.  We are desirous to continue to build His kingdom by partnering and supporting your ideas and efforts.

 

In Him,

Jason West, Director of Development (jason.west@awaa.org)