A Poem

The night I first saw you
You were
Scared
       Hurt
              Angry
                     Lost
You wouldn’t look into my eyes
Your gaze was fixed
Downcast
You wouldn’t trust me
Wouldn’t dare
To think that I might last
Any longer in your life
Than those who scarred your past
I loved you, held you,
Gave you a piece of my heart
Gave it up forever,
Though I knew we might part
But you didn’t want
My love
Afraid it was an act
You refused it
Pushed me back
The words I spoke to you for healing
You fought like an attack
You were angry
I don’t blame you
I was angry for you too
Your hurt was deep
Your pain was vast
I didn’t know what I could do
But the God Who made
And loved
You
Is the God
Who’d see us through
With time
You came to trust me
Your numb, closed heart
Began to feel
And it was beautiful
When you smiled
God would whisper, “Spirit, heal”
But then, too soon
Came the fateful day
When we had to say
Goodbye
Yet that could not take my love away
I’ll know your name
I’ll see your face
I’ll love you still
Until I die

Read This...

http://daddystractor.com/2014/02/24/the-heartbreak-of-foster-care/

So true.

Wait No More -From Focus On The Family

Right now, more than 107,000 legal orphans in United States foster care are waiting for adoptive families. The US also has more than 300,000 churches, and God has given clear commands for Christians to take care of His orphan children.
Considering Adoption? Want to help someone who is? Find out more at icareaboutorphans.org

Look for recent and upcoming Wait No More event locations near you.

Arizona

California

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Michigan

Missouri

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Texas Washington

Dancing with Orphans

I don't know anything about the organization associated at the end of the video. I just heard the song and thought I'd share it. I hope you enjoyed it.

-Ashlin

A Beautiful Song

I wasn't originally going to post this. But the post I had been working on was deleted. I don't mind though, because this song is better than what I was writing.

Orphan Lullaby

P.S. I have an upcoming post in which I am going to give you a challenge that will last one week. Be ready.... :)

Adoption Poem

Not flesh of my flesh,
Nor bone of my bone,
but still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute;
You didn't grow under my heart
but in it.

I didn't give you the gift of life,
But in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real,
As if it had been so.
For us to have each other
Is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you
The gift of life,
Life gave me the gift of you.
- Unknown

They Chose Me!

I hope you like this video. It is a pretty song with a great message!

Pure Religion Before God -Part III (Quotes)

"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."(unknown)

"Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven." -Henry Beecher

"An aware parent loves all children he or she interacts with — for you are a caretaker for those moments in time." -Doc Childre

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." -Nelson Mandela

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." -Emma Goldman

"Why is it that a child's death amounts to a tragedy, but the death of millions is merely a statistic?" -Patrick McDonald

"If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!" -Dwight L. Moody

"Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold." -Brad Pitt

"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment." -Wess Stafford

"Nothing that you have not given away will ever truly be yours." C.S. Lewis

"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed." -Mother Teresa

"The Bible insists that the best test of a nation's righteousness is how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable in its midst." -Jim Wallis

"It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." -Mother Teresa

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." -Martin Luther King Jr.

The Last quote I have is from a tombstone inscription in England. "For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Do all the good you can, To all the people you can, In all the ways you can, As long as ever you can."

Please visit here to read what the Bible says about it.

Song and Poem

Okay the song and poem aren't really related but I thought I'd put them into one post! ; )

I'm not a big fan of Toby Mac but I love the message in this song of his. (There weren't any good videos on youtube anyway!) So the lyrics are all that I'm putting for the post.
Joy (This Christmas)

Now Johnny's never got his wish on December 25th
That's what he said when he left the orphanage
9 years old, but Johnny was an old soul
Gonna spend his first Christmas in a real home

Showed me a picture that he drew the night before
Was a picture of a man standin' outside a door
I asked him who it was and he said someone I only see in dreams
Comforts me when I cry myself to sleep

Father of the fatherless
Be with your sons and daughters this Christmas.

"Believe in angels?" Johnny asked me starin' at the sky
I said, "I do" and saw a sparkle in his eye
Big brother for the weekend respondin' to the season
Took the chance that giving's better than recievin'

Two nights, a new family, some holiday cheer
We laughed and sang, came on a midnight clear
We gave, received, and as we headed to close
We looked to the heavens and it started to snow down blessings

Father of the fatherless
Be with your sons and daughters this Christmas.
Father let us not forget
The children who are all alone this Christmas.

Religion that God our Father
Accepts as pure and faultless is this
To look after orphans and widows in their distress
Merry Christmas everyone!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Heaven and nature sing (4x)

You ain't livin', you ain't livin'
Father, this Christmas
You ain't livin' till you choose to give


And here is the poem:
Once in royal Davids city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

For He is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us, He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;
And He cares when we are sad,
And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And He leads His children on,
To the place where He is gone

Pure Religion Before God -Part II

James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

Every two seconds another child becomes an orphan,

Every 2.2 SECONDS, another orphan child AGES OUT with no family to belong to and no place to call home

Galatians 4:4-5

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. . . to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons

John 1:12

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name

Our adoption by God is the ultimate expression of His love, and was the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ life on earth and death on the cross. This is truly the Gospel of Adoption, and it is written in Galatians 4:4-5 and John 1:12

If orphan children never experience a family’s love, how can we expect them to comprehend God’s love?
Adoption by a Christian family is the best way for orphan children to become adopted children of God. Not all are called to adopt, but anyone can love and minister to orphan children by helping other families adopt.

Pure Religion Before God -Part I

James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

Did you know that in America people spent $15 billion on bottled water last year?

Americans spent over $7,000,000,000 on beauty products and well over $10 billion at the movies?

Because America produces twice as much food as needed per person 40 percent of all food produced in America is not eaten!

And still 5 million children will die of hunger or hunger related causes this year.

Did you know that 1.1 billion people live on one dollar a day, and that more than 3 billion people live on less the $2.50 a day? That’s almost half the world!

Did you know that:

Well over 80% of people live on less than $10 a day,

22,000 children die each day due to poverty,

An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS,

and that one in every two children are living in poverty!

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)

400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)

270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

The Lord can use you! Through your life, your prayers, your giving!

26,000 children die of easily preventable causes, every day! That ought not be!

Matt. 25:40,45 ^"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ ... Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ "

(emphasise added)

Most people would agree that Americans are a little spoiled. Or they might say that Americans are "blessed". It is more blessed to give than to recieve.

When Love Takes You In

I really like this song, and I hope you do too! I like all of Steven Curtis Chapman's songs, but this one especially because it's about adoption!
(Don't forget to pause the playlist on the side of the blog first.)