NO MORE WAITING!

Six years ago, I helped coordinate the very first Walk for the Waiting, and it's amazing to realize that it's happening again this Saturday.  Sadly enough, the statistics haven't changed that dramatically in the past six years in our state.  Arkansas still needs more foster families. Kids are still aging out of foster care without finding a forever family.  Foster and adoptive families need more support, and we understand this on a personal level better than ever.
(If you want to just go ahead and sponsor us - click here!)


(Pic from our very first walk the day after the twins discharged from the NICU!)

This morning, John and I attended Muffins for Mom and Donuts for Dad at school for the twins.  We loved watching as they sang precious songs in our honor as their parents.  Truly, it is our honor.



Six years ago, I wrote these words about our own adoption, and they all still ring true:

"Their birth mom was not at a place where she could care for them, and she made the loving choice to place them with us, and we are forever grateful for that.  Without that choice, our children would have gone into custody of the state, who would have decided their fate.  However, through God's people and the twins' extended birth family, we were found to be their parents.  We were waiting, and they needed parents.

To me, it was an amazing picture of what could be if all God's people were invested in finding solutions for children and families.  There are so many issues that put children in precarious situations, and God has charged us, as his people, with being a part of mending families and providing care for orphans.  In so many parts of the world and here in the US, there are cycles of poverty, lack of education and systemic abuse that tear apart families and leave children vulnerable.  Now, more than ever before, we are committed to being a part of the solution and hope that you will join us.

Walk for the Waiting helps to fund three organizations locally that focus on different aspects of orphan and family care (The CALL, Project Zero, and Immerse AR).  It is our hope that we will have no more waiting children who must bear the stress of abuse or abandonment and instead we have families waiting to care for them."

Something I firmly believe is that not everyone is called to foster and/or adopt.  However, as believers, this issue is close to the heart of the Lord and should be close to ours as well.  If you are at a place to give - even a little - we would be so appreciative if you would sponsor our family in the Walk this weekend!  To sponsor us, click here - we would be so very grateful!

WALK FOR THE WAITING 2017

Walk for the Waiting was this past Saturday morning, and it dawned crisp and clear and perfect for a large gathering.  This was the 5th year, and it just keeps getting bigger and better thanks foremost to God and also to an incredible organizational leader for the event this year in my friend Kandace.

(My girls with Kandace's new daughter who all came to help us set up the event! 😜 I've actually known Kandace my whole life, so it is a treat to get to work with her in this capacity and see our kiddos together.)




Did you know the stats in the pics above?  The fact of the matter is that even with people tirelessly working, there are still huge needs in our state in the child welfare system.  Children are falling through the gaps and never finding families or permanency or hope.  Just during the setup time on Friday, I interacted with a young man who will age out of the system before long who is still hoping to be adopted.  Can you imagine what that must feel like?  My heart broke all over again as the urgency of it all became clear.  Lives are at stake, and I am praying that the church in Arkansas is moved into action.

We enjoyed the walk (except for the child that spent time throwing a fit in the car before she recovered enough to join us. hint, this was not a twin. sometimes being a middle child is hard.)  The weather was truly gorgeous, and I am always so encouraged to look around and see so many families that look like ours.

This spring, I was in meetings for this event every week, and every week, we opened the meetings with an extended time of prayer and worship.  It is hard work to plan something of this scope and scale.  But - it is worth it.  Getting to see God work up close is truly such a privilege.  He shows up.  He moves.  He makes things happen.

So, even as I write this post, I continue to pray for hearts to be drawn to the orphan in our city and state.  I pray for homes to be opened up and for people to want to serve and get involved.  I fully understand that adoption and foster care are not the route for every family, but I firmly believe that most families have some role to play - whether that be donating or supporting those who are fostering/adopting or mentoring an older teen or praying for children to find families.

If you feel led to donate - we'll certainly still take your money even though the event is over for this year!  (Donate here!)

Past Walk for the Waiting Blog Posts
{2016} {2015} {2014} {2013}

WALK FOR THE WAITING: SPONSOR US!

Dear Friends and Family,

Look - I get it.  You, like me, are asked for money all the time for a million different things.  And this time of the year, the requests are coming hard and heavy.  There are field trips and teacher appreciation and summer sign-ups and end of year everything.  April and May are packed with craziness and requests, and I know this could be just one more on the list.

Hear me out, because I do not make financial appeals lightly.  I know the competition for your time, attention and resources is fierce.  I meant to get all preachy in this blog post, but I decided to back off.  I'll keep it to this - there is a massive need in our state.  There are children and teens in crisis every day, and every day that they lack permanence, we all lose as a society.  This video shows some of the current stats and also features some adorable Spensts that you might recognize!



So- if you don't feel like you are called to foster and adopt - I totally get it, not all of us are.  But - I bet you can give $10, $20, $100 or maybe more!  If so, would you consider sponsoring my little family in this year's Walk for the Waiting?  We will gladly take your pocket change + anything else you feel led to give.  This issue matters deeply to our family.

The last thing that I will say is that if you are wanting to get a front row seat to see God at work, I would encourage you to get involved in orphan care in some way.  God shows up.  He is near to the broken-hearted, and he wants to place the lonely in families.  Just in the past month, I've gotten to see miracles up close, and I am forever grateful to God for his faithfulness and goodness.  I am praying that he continues to move in Central Arkansas, and I look forward to seeing more and more people compelled to action.  It is the hardest work I've ever done, but also the very best.

If you want to come walk with us - the Walk for the Waiting is May 6th at War Memorial Stadium.  We would love to see you there!  And, if you are able to sponsor us - we would be ever so grateful - click here!⬅️  (it's so easy! you should do it! 😜)

XOXO - Carol

4TH ANNUAL WALK FOR THE WAITING

It's hard to believe that the Walk for the Waiting just completed its 4th year!  It's been a big part of our life these past four years, and it is such a privilege to see it grow and gain momentum as time goes by.  I am so hopeful that God will continue to use the Walk to draw people into this issue and that there will come a time when there are no more waiting kids in Arkansas.  (I wrote about why we walk earlier this month here.)



Yesterday got a bit turned on its head.  On Thursday, I got an email asking us to do an interview about Walk for the Waiting and adoption for the news on Friday.  I wanted to help, so I tried to work it out.  This involved having the news crew meet us at Lily's field trip and a babysitter and John and grabbing the twins early from therapy.  Lily's field trip ended up being canceled in stages (because of torrential rain), but the other wheels were already turning, so we ended up doing an interview at the Arkansas Arts Center and not needing the sweet babysitter who got dragged along in half the fun.  😁😁😁  Life is certainly never dull.



Rain was predicted to continue today, so the entire walk was set up indoors.

We walked around the concourse and tried to keep up with our children who tried to keep up with our friends.



(the free ice cream was a huge hit with this crowd.)

It was such a great day to see so many friends who are passionate about waiting children and finding families for those who need them.



I do feel strongly about this - the fact that children are languishing in foster care without forever families is a devastating thought.  When you read their stories or start to grasp what their lives lack in regards to permanency, security and love, it is and should be heartbreaking.  The system is broken, because people are broken, and children are the ones who often suffer.

So - if God is stirring your heart for any reason - listen!  You will never regret it.  It will have many hard moments, but it will always be worth it.  Every day of the week and then some.

Past Walk for the Waiting Blog Posts
{2015} {2014} {2013}

SPONSOR US FOR WALK FOR THE WAITING

Sometimes the orphan issue feels too big.  Too many things have gone wrong.  The system is broken. Families are broken, and children are paying the price.  They are vulnerable and often devalued by our society.  For whatever reason, last night, this laid so very heavily on my heart.  The numbers are tragic and staggering.

On average, 12 kids enter foster care in Arkansas every day, and there are not enough open foster homes to welcome them.

600 children are available for immediate adoption, because their parents have lost all rights.

Over 250 teenagers will age out of the foster system never finding a family and being ill-prepared for adulthood.

Looking at the numbers is one thing.  Feeling them is another.  Feeling that 12 children are losing families and security and falling into the unknown EVERY DAY in my state is heart-rending.  Knowing that 600 - SIX HUNDRED - children are languishing in limbo waiting for a family to take them in.  And knowing that so many of them will not find a family and will age out of the system, not knowing real, permanent love or being set up for success in their lives.

I remember when I learned about people being homeless when I was a kid.  And I couldn't wrap my mind around it, because I knew that no matter what happened to me, I would always have a place to go and people to take me in.  Even if I made all the mistakes and had horrific luck, people would be there to help me pick up the pieces.  But when you are in the foster care system and then when you age out, there are not people there to help.  You have no network.  You are alone in the world.

The idea that my children get to experience a family and love and security when so many others don't feels unbelievably unfair.  The heaviness can settle in, and I want to be able to do so much more than we are able to do.

So, this year, like the last three years, we will be walking in the Walk for the Waiting.  There are so many things we can't do, but we can do this.  We can support organizations that are in this fight.  We can talk about it to raise awareness of the issue.  We can walk.



And so can you!  If you want to register for the Walk yourself - click here!
If you can't make the Walk but want to sponsor our family walking (which we would love!) - click here!

Please know that we are so grateful for any support for this, because our family is passionate about this issue.  We are invested, and it matters, and we appreciate anyone who joins us in any way to be a part of it.  Hope to see you April 30 at War Memorial Stadium!

WALK FOR THE WAITING & EXTRA EMOTIONS

After the wedding Friday night, we were pretty wiped out.  Though we didn't necessarily feel like heading out to the Walk for the Waiting, we believe enough in what it is about that we dragged ourselves there.



It was a beautiful morning, and it felt good to be out and about and walking, though we took both double strollers, because we knew the girls would probably not feel up for walking the mile around the stadium after everything the week had held.

As we walked, I realized that I was "idling high" or a little extra emotional.  I knew some of it was from it being a long week.  Part of the rest was being among other adoptive families.  It is so encouraging to be able to look around and see families that are colorful like ours.  Everyone there is bought in to orphan care, and it really does rally the heart.



There were also cheerleaders doing chants for us "walkers."  This was funny in the sense that walking a mile slowly is not something that really needs a lot of cheering on.  However, every time we passed a group of them, I would tear up.  I so badly want children without families to get that opportunity.  It is tragic to know the numbers of how many kids just in our state that do not have parents.  If you have a chance to foster or adopt or encourage families that do - I urge you to take it!  It matters so very much.



We did hang around for a tiny bit to enjoy ice cream and listen to the music.  The kids had a ball.  (And enjoyed seeing our Lindsay!)




It should be noted that everyone wears the number zero to represent that we are shooting for zero waiting children.  However, Bella looked at the number and said, "Does that mean Zero Running?"  Ha!  This time it did, in fact, mean that as well.

Later that night after everyone had left and the dust began to settle, the date rattled around my mind, and it hit me that May 2nd was the day my dad had died.  He had been gone 12 years that day.  Some of my extra emotions started to make more sense.  It's funny how I don't really realize it's even happening, but the sadness that marked that day so many years ago leaves a mark that is deep.  I cannot believe it has been 12 years.  I know I say that every year, but it is always true.  I do miss him so.

Last night I got a text from my mom that an acquaintance of my parents' from years ago had written a blog post featuring my dad and the role that he played in her life, though they knew each other only briefly.  It was such an encouragement and treat to read something by someone I never knew who had known and loved my dad.  He was such a special man - truly.  Here's the post, if you are interested in reading it - my dad's name was Mike.  Thanks, Janet for sharing your kind words and remembering him!

GETTING IN THE FOSTER GAME: GUEST POST WITH LINDSAY

A few things have happened that have seemed to hijack April, and so, here I am, less than a week out, joining in with this year's Walk for the Waiting.  But - it's never to late to join this party.  I can't believe its the third year for this amazing event, and I am so looking forward to Saturday!  In honor of this event and as one reminder of why we do it, I thought I would share this story.

Remember back at Christmas time when my amazing babysitter turned dear friend shared her mad Christmas crafting/decorating skills with us?  Well, Lindsay wrote a post for our church's adoption ministry's newsletter and graciously said I could share it here as well.

And - so you can put some faces with this, here are Lindsay and Dave, some of the world's cutest people.  Plus their dog Wrigley, who is also cute.  Must be a family thing.

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Hi everyone! What a joy to share a bit of our story with you. Foster care is something that we, truthfully, never envisioned for our family, but the experience is one that now, we know weʼd never trade.

Before we were married, Dave and I had the typical “these are how many kids Iʼd like to have and when Iʼd like to have them” chat like couples do. We settled on 2 children and that we should wait 2 years before thinking about having any. You know, in the way that any precious, mid-20s, married for 3 months newlyweds decide the way their lives are going to play out. Kinda like that. Our second anniversary came quicker than we imagined, as anniversaries are prone to do, and we concluded that we still werenʼt ready to try for babies. I think I underestimated how much fun marriage was and adding a tiny at that time felt like it would cramp our style. Because weʼve got so much of it. So again, we agreed to revisit the conversation in another year or so.

The fall of 2013 (our second anniversary was in May 2013) is when our hearts and lives began shifting. Dave works at Fellowship and sometimes church work is messy and hard and hurtful. Some things happened that really made me stop and consider what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. One of the hardest pills for me to swallow has always been the way the world views Christians. My heart has always been a little extra sensitive to nonbelievers and some of my deepest heartache has come from watching people who claim to follow Christ treat each other and people who think differently than they do. We (myself totally included) have done a fairly awful job of representing the message of Jesus and I knew I didnʼt want to be lumped in the category of “another uncompassionate Christian.” Wading through all these hurts and emotions felt more like drowning.

But looking back from the other side, I feel like those moments were probably more formative than I could have realized. It was out of that time that I began to read the words of Scripture differently, more literally. Specifically in the passages that spoke to social justice and the role of Believers in the world around us. I began to look at the life of Jesus, where He went, who He went to, and what He did. I had always explained away my inactivity of Gospel work with statements like “well, no one has leprosy in my world, so I donʼt know who Jesus wants me to seek out.” Or “Jesus speaks in metaphor quite a bit (which He does when reiterating important points), so surely the prisoners and prostitutes that He hung around with are metaphors for something else, too.” Am I the dearest? Donʼt you just want to punch me? As I began to peel back the layers of His word, I realized more and more that Godʼs heart for the Church was to love Him and give Him away to the world. Jesus came FOR PEOPLE, and if I wanted to be like Him, I needed to be for them, too.

Like I mentioned, Dave works at the church, and has worked at churches for a while. He leads worship for students and does it so genuinely and sincerely. I would always watch him and teaching pastors and missionaries who have “obviously spiritual” gifitngs and feel like I missed out. Like some people got gifts they could use “for God”, and some didnʼt. And I definitely didnʼt. I love to throw parties, laugh, create, bake, and decorate my home. It felt shallow, in light of “all Dave was doing” with what the Lord had given him. During the course of this season, I read a book called Restless by Jennie Allen with a group of dear friends. The book talks about embracing our own gifts and passions and experiences, rather than wishing for someone elseʼs. I learned that my gift and love of hospitality had SUCH an important place in Godʼs plan for His world; I just wasnʼt clear on how that looked in my life.

I just love how the Spirit aligns hearts together when He wants to make His will clear. So many times I am blown away at the confirmation the Lord gives and our story really is no exception. At that time, we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. I think it hovered just over 1000 square feet, and the ability to have people in our home comfortably was not really there. Dave is by nature very introverted and refuels by being at home. He would tell you, for quite a while, he used our small apartment as a means of disobedience. Despite clear commands in Scripture to live closely in community and bear each otherʼs burdens, he hid behind the excuse “we just donʼt have the room.”

Dave began to feel the Spiritʼs leading to look into home ownership, not just because it was the “American” thing to do, but truly as a step of obedience. We purchased our first home in March of 2014! We knew that we wanted to view our home differently and that we truly wanted it to be the Lordʼs. We didnʼt want to be weird about creating “our sanctuary” or a place to “retreat to”; rather, that God would have His way with whatever He wanted to do with those 1700 square feet. We prayed over every inch of our home that it would be a place where Kingdom work was done, where people would always be safe and welcome, and that they would walk out of the door knowing more of Christ because of what happened in that space.

So armed with a desire to live very literally how Jesus did, a renewed sense of passion, and a brand new home, we set out to put our feet to our words. If our home was to be a place of safety, refuge, and love, we had to take actual steps toward that. We knew a few families from Fellowship who were involved in foster care, so we decided to start asking some questions. We attended a CALL (Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime) information meeting and began working our way through the steps of becoming an open foster care family.

We officially opened in September and got our first placement a couple weeks after! We became first time parents to the cutest, happiest, most precious 8 month old boy. Even though he was only in our home for about a month, he filled it to the brim with a joy we really didnʼt know was possible. Each day that he was with us, I felt like I learned a new facet of Godʼs character. I experienced such a deep communion with Him and those were some of the most precious moments I think Iʼll ever have. I know we provided our little guy with a safe and loving home, but Iʼm pretty sure he gave us more than we did him. There really arenʼt adequate words to describe the overwhelming grief that came when he left. Despite the thankfulness for another familyʼs restoration, ours felt like it broke in a thousand pieces. Everything in my life has pretty much “gone my way” and I naively assumed that the trend would continue. Weʼd adopt him, have our cute little family, and that would be it. Because thatʼs how my life should go. I guess I was hoping I could skate through life without a huge amount of suffering. 

Learning how to grieve really is a life skill and what I have gained in the midst of it is a deeper sense of compassion for those who suffer. For the world. For the people that God so desperately loves and came for. Suffering is universal and Iʼm surprisingly thankful for the new kinship that I feel with the world around me. Iʼd always had a fairly “hands off” approach to peopleʼs hardships, but now, we know names. We put faces to drug abuse and domestic violence. We can never unsee or unknow that real heartache exists in our world and in our city. And even though thatʼs tremendously hard, I am so humbly grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be in community with this new extended family.

Jen Hatmaker describes our calling as “the place where our burdens meet our passions.” After years of confusion on what my calling could be, I really feel like Iʼve hit my sweet spot. Jesus has graciously allowed me to learn how to leverage my gifts for His kingdom and itʼs been such a privilege. We continue to pray about what our family might look like, but, unlike 4 years ago, we hold any plans for the future so loosely. We want our family to be a reflection of heaven, and we want to be obedient in however the Lord chooses to do that in our lives. Dave and I feel so fortunate to be on this journey with all of you and are thankful to sit at the feet of and learn from those who have gone before us!

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Thanks so much for sharing, Lindsay!  To sponsor Lindsay and Dave for Walk for the Waiting - click here!

NO MORE WAITING CHILDREN

Ya'll, over the past two years+, my heart has been blown open for children that do not have a family.  And now that I am raising children who very well may have had a different life, this issue is even closer to my heart.  I recently watched a video that did an amazing job illustrating what this hardship and lack of permanency can do to a child.  It's called Removed, and though it is difficult to watch - I believe it is incredibly valuable to give a better understanding of this issue.



Last year, I was able to help plan the first Walk for the Waiting, and though I haven't been able to help plan the event this year, the Spenst family will still be participating in this year's Walk.  It is April 26th at War Memorial Stadium at 9:00.  Here's a short video giving more deets.



The official Walk for the Waiting website is here at Walk for the Waiting.Org.  You can register to walk yourself, or you can donate to the cause.  If you can't walk with us, we would love for you to sponsor our family in the Walk - click here to do that.  (Pretty please?)


(us at last year's walk - it was the twins' first full weekend home!)

The Walk for the Waiting is a collaboration between Immerse AR (works with young adults aging out of foster care), Project Zero (advocates for children available for adoption) and The CALL (recruiting and training foster families) - all orphan-care ministries based in Central Arkansas.  All funds raised will go to these organizations to help further their missions of finding families, giving permanency, equipping with life skills and providing hope for these children and young adults.



The reality is that the orphan crisis in Arkansas and all over the world is everyone's problem.  Kids that grow up without a family have bleak outlooks, and they often become the marginalized of our society.  I hope and pray that God will show us all the best way to engage in this issue.

And, I hope to see you April 26th!  (or at least to see you on our donor list. 😉)

WEEKEND: WALKING & MORE

Last week was a week for the ages.  As life would have it, we brought home the twins, had the biggest week in our restaurant's history and topped it off with the Walk for the Waiting on Saturday.  We were apprehensive going into it, but God was beyond gracious to us (as usual).  We both had more energy and grace than we deserved for the amount of sleep that we were getting.

Thankfully, my mom was here for a long weekend to help with everything we had going on, which was such a blessing.  We did fun stuff like "First Bath at Home" for the babies.



And I taught Mom how to wear a baby with the Moby wrap.  She was a natural.

Walk for the Waiting was Saturday morning, and it was amazing.  I had tears in my eyes much of the morning as I watched people arrive, register and walk.  The turn out was fantastic and more than we imagined possible as a first year event.  It was another example of seeing that with God, all things are possible.  So far, WFW has raised over $232,000, and the total continues to rise.  Unbelievable.  It was truly a privilege to work with the committee to help organize this event, and seeing the fruits of our labor was very sweet.

The girls had a blast with their friends that were there.  This pic was taken when they were all playing on top of John's car, since that is super fun.  Don't worry, there were Daddy spotters nearby, though they may have been taking pictures as well.



We got a family picture at WFW.  Bella was trying desperately to get away, and in most of the shots, she looks miserable.  But in this one, she just looks slightly ornery.

This is how she looked in most of the rest of them.  You win some, you lose some.  Or you lose most of them, but whatever.

On Sunday, I went to the shower of a dear friend who is adopting a girl that will be born in the next month!  I can't wait to meet her and help welcome her to their family!

After the whirlwind week we just had, this week looks like a walk in the park.  Except for the fact that my mom left, and I have four children in my charge.  Today was still out of the norm, since mom was here through this afternoon.  She finished up every last bit of our laundry, which makes her my own personal hero.  (She already was.)  We got a great laugh when Lily put this "hat" on our cat and was so proud of herself.  Poor kitty.




And then it was time to drive Mom to the airport, and I had to hold back tears.  Some of her parting words to me were, "You should get help if you need it.  You don't have to do everything yourself."  Mom - I just wish my help could always be you!

John stayed with the kiddos while I took Mom to the airport and went to a doctor's appointment.  He managed to take all four to Lily's gymnastics class, which impressed me to no end.  I am so thankful to be doing this all with John.  There is no one else I would rather wake up with at 1, 4, and 7.  It helps keep me sane to have him there and awake with me, especially when we have sleepy twins that don't feel like eating exactly at that moment.



We take turns on which one to feed, because Violet almost always eats better than William.  But then, all the sudden, they can switch it up on you.  We also regularly do twin swaps in the middle of feedings to help wake them up.  But, as is usually the case, they are not always as interested in sleeping when we want to sleep.  Especially William.  (Are you sensing a theme?  Cause we are.)

Tomorrow will be my first day on my own with all my little friends.  Praying for strength and patience and planning small outings to help keep me sane.  We shall see how this goes!

NO MORE WAITING CHILDREN

These past several months have been unreal - truly.  I have written a lot about adoption, and I imagine I will write much more as time goes on.  We are learning so much.  We honestly felt like God led us to international adoption as his plan for our family, and we walked that path until God made a way for something else, clearly.  I can see now that we needed to walk that road to get to the point where we were open to two children at the same time who could possibly be special needs.  I don't know that we could have gotten to the point where we would have been able to say "YES" so quickly when the opportunity for the twins presented itself.

I have been helping to chair the Walk for the Waiting committee since its inception in early January (I blogged about it here).  I knew it was exactly the work I was supposed to be doing, but I must say, it was a bit strange to be pursuing an international adoption while simultaneously working for the waiting children in Arkansas.  As I mentioned before, we believe 100 percent that we have walked the path that God had for our family, and that included pursuing international adoption.  And, if that had been his plan for us, we would have been thrilled to welcome home Ethiopian children.  I believe that God calls and equips families differently to work in orphan care, and it is amazing to see the stories that he writes for each family.

All of that said, I know it is not a coincidence that our adoption of local children came about while I was working on Walk for the Waiting.  We were a waiting family.  We were waiting for God to show us which children he wanted us to care for and how best to do that.  We were trying to be as open as possible to whatever God had for us, and he made a way for these precious children to be entrusted into our care.

Their birth mom was not at a place where she could care for them, and she made the loving choice to place them with us, and we are forever grateful for that.  Without that choice, our children would have gone into custody of the state, who would have decided their fate.  However, through God's people and the twins' extended birth family, we were found to be their parents.  We were waiting, and they needed parents.

To me, it was an amazing picture of what could be if all God's people were invested in finding solutions for children and families.  There are so many issues that put children in precarious situations, and God has charged us, as his people, with being a part of mending families and providing care for orphans.  In so many parts of the world and here in the US, there are cycles of poverty, lack of education and systematic abuse that tear apart families and leave children vulnerable.  Now, more than ever before, we are committed to being a part of the solution and hope that you will join us.

Walk for the Waiting will help to fund three organizations locally that focus on different aspects of orphan and family care (The CALL, Project Zero, and Immerse AR).  It is our hope that we will have no more waiting children who must bear the stress of abuse or abandonment and instead we have families waiting to care for them.

We are looking forward to the Walk for the Waiting this coming Saturday, and we are also looking forward to whatever other work God calls us to in this area.  Would love to have you join us!

(for more info on the Walk - go to Walk for the Waiting.org)
(to sponsor our family in the walk, click this link and sponsor away!)