Following The Call » Our lives as we join the mission field in Tanzania

Monthly Archives: April 2010

I could fill a bucket with my tears. [ africa orphan care ]

04.29.10

Oh my goodness. I have SO much to share. But… I need to digest it a bit, so I’m going to save some of it for later, but do want to share a few things with you tonight Matt and I are currently in Minnesota at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit. It is SO AMAZING!!!! It is just like this giant oasis for me right now. God brought this to me at the perfect time. I can not tell you how good it feels to be in a room, praising God with 1500 people who all have a heart for Orphans. These people are as crazy as I am. I love it!!!

A few quick stories from today. First off. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Peder Eidi, ( I live in a cave, so while I did recognize his name, I had NO idea who he was…) he is an amazingly talented singer and an adoptive father. He preformed at our morning session and had me just weeping at one of his songs. I can not tell the story like Peder can, but please listen to the story of his song ‘Why wouldn’t I’ below.

This just resonates deep in my little adoptive momma soul. As a follower of Christ, I am called to care for the orphans, to love them, to embrace them, to call them my own. God did not leave us abandoned, and now we must not leave these children who have nothing abandoned. God has equipped us to provide for them, to love them, to raise them, so Why wouldn’t you? Did you know that in the US there are roughly 300,000 churches, and if about 1/2 of those churches adopted a child out of the foster care system there would be no more adoptable children in the US Foster care system??? Good grief folks… someone needs to start the flame of taking these children in as our own and showing them the love that they deserve. Once you do it… maybe someone else will see you and say ‘hey… I could do that’ and the cycle will continue. And I hope and pray that that cycle will continue until there are no more adoptable children in the foster care system. Wouldn’t that be great?? So my friends, I ask you this. Why wouldn’t you love a child who needs love? Why wouldn’t you care for one of God’s children as your own? What is holding you back?

Next up… At our evening session I had the HUGE pleasure of listening to Mary Beth Chapman share her testimony about what her family has been through in the last 2 years. To enlighten those of you who live in a cave like me, Steven Curtis Chapman, and his wife Mary Beth have adopted 3 beautiful little girls from China. Through this they have become huge advocates of adoption and have set up various programs to assist others in adopting. About 2 years ago they had a horrific accident where there 17yr old son accidently hit their youngest daughter and she was killed. Hearing Mary Beth open her heart, and share this story was more touching than you will ever know. And THEN…. after that her husband gets up and talks about the worship song Blessed be your name. Some of the lyrics to this song are ‘you give and take away…. you give and take away my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name.’ SInging this song, being led by a man who TRULY knows what this means is amazing. As his wife stated, they have come from a deep dark place, BUT they are still able to praise God. Through their loss, the Chapmans are touching lives, and reaching out to others. They are taking that grief and turning it into amazing things. God is Good. Even in our deepest times. Amen? Amen.

Let me just tell you that I was moved to the point, as I stood with my hands lifted to God, that I had completely given up on wiping my tears. I was literally sobbing. Yes my friends, this seems to be a constant theme in my life I spent some time searching on youtube for a video to show about sweet little Maria Sue Chapman… but there was just SO many amazing ones, that I couldn’t pick one out. If you want to see an amazing testimony of faith, go to you tube, and search for Maria Chapman, and watch some of the movies.

-lindsey

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Fund Raisers!!!!

04.27.10

Well hello my friends. Its good to be back in internet land for a little bit J You may be asking what do I mean by ‘back’ into internet land. Here at the DeYoung household we have canceled our internet. And our TV. I am living in my own little world with no idea what is happening in the real world!! I was feeling very convicted that I spent WAYYyy to much time on-line and watching tv. We just have way to much to do in these next few months to be wasting time on that kind of stuff. So, we got rid of it. I can however kinda cheat because I can still check my email (and facebook) on my phone.

I have a few super exciting things to share!! We have a couple fundraisers scheduled.

Fundraiser #1- Sew-a-thon!!! People who know me well, know that I sew a lot of my girls clothes. So… We are holding a sew-a-thon for 2 different evenings. I will be providing all the fabric and patterns for some cute kids clothes, and we will just sew the evening away. Even if you can’t sew… I still need you!!! I have a few things in the works that you do NOT need to sew at all to help with!! Once we are done with the sewing, I will be holding a sale and all proceeds from the clothes will towards our mission work in Tanzania!! If you are available on either/or May 13 and 20 and want to help out with a great cause, please let me know!! Shoot me an email ( Lindsey@followingthecall.org ) with the date(s) you can come and also let me know if you will be sewing or not sewing and if you have a sewing machine and/or serger that you can bring along!!! The sewing evenings will be taking place at Georgetown Christian Fellowship church on Pt. Sheldon in Hudsonville. If you want to help out with the Sew-a-thon but cannot make it on the set evenings you can still help!! We will be taking donations of any homemade childrens items (clothes/hats/headbands etc.) so you can sew/knit or do whatever it is you do and STILL help out with the cause!! If you want to sew at home, but don’t know what to make please let me know!! I will hook you up with everything you need and you’ll be good to go!!

And by the way… the clothing ‘line’ is going to be called ‘Life Threads for Africa.’ Isn’t that cute!! Thanks Tara for the name suggestion.

Heres 2 of my first creations for Life-Threads for Africa-

Fundraiser #2- This is one that everyone can help with!! We are going to be having a garage sale coming up the first Thru/Fri in June. If you have ANYTHING at all that you could donate to the sale please bring it on over!! This is a great time to do some de-cluttering in your house. Its like a win/win. You’ll have more organized closets AND you’ll be helping a great cause!! We would also be happy to pick up any items that you don’t have a chance to bring over. Email me if you need stuff picked up, or would like to drop stuff off!! Lindsey@followingthecall.org

Fundraiser #3!!! We are in the process of arranging a BBQ dinner/super cool hang out evening on Saturday June 19. Put it on your calander!! If you would like to help out with this, please shoot me an email!! Lindsey@followingthecall.org We will be taking donations for some food/pop etc. as well.

Fundraiser #4- Golf outing!!! I am such an avid golfer (ummm…. No I’m not) so I decided to plan a golf outing. Well… that’s not totally true. But Matt is a total golf nut and is super excited to be working on putting this together with some friends. It will be on Saturday, July 24. Once again, put it on your calanders!! Details will be soon to follow with info for sign ups etc.

So there you have it folks. The fundraisers are beginning!!

love these kids.

No one can throw kids as high as Matt. No One. And the good news… he has never even once dropped out children Matt and I are so very VERY excited to get over to Tanzania. We know that’s where God wants us, so that is where we want to be!! Please continue to pray for us as we are working on all of our preparations. It can get to be a bit overwhelming to be working on packing our house up, figuring what what we must have in Tanzania, raising our support and still trying to maintain a semi-normal life. We appreciate all your support and prayers!!!

-lindsey

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Adoption stories.

04.15.10

The heartbreak of Artyem Saviliev’s abandonment has elevated a singular incident into a huge situation which may result in the suspension of intercountry adoption. Suspending adoption, even temporarily, will only cause thousands of children to suffer the debilitating effects of life in an orphanage. While many people have a lot to say about the mother that sent this boy back to Russia, My heart hurts for this woman. It is so important for adoptive families to have a strong network of support that they can turn to for help. Sometime love for adoptive children is not an instant thing. It needs to be worked at and it can be down right hard. I don’t think that most of us have ever been in a position where we felt so helpless in our own home with our own family that we didn’t know what else to do.

Today has been declared ‘Adoption Blogger day.’ Myself and many other adoptive families around the world are going to share some adoption stories to shine some light onto the world of adoption. Lets not let one negative story outweigh all the many many GREAT adoption stories that are out there!! While adoption is not always a big happy field of daisy’s, it IS wonderful, and it DOES create some of the most amazing families. 99.999% of adoptive families are there for each other through the thick and the thin.

Since our adoption of our youngest daughter Kia, I have had a great opportunity to meet many many other families who have gone through the adoption process. One of my favorite families is the ‘R’ family. They are just so darn cute. 7 kids, a couple dogs, a gigantic van, homeschool taught, God loving people. I kinda want to be them. At least a little bit So anyways…. I asked Jill to write me up a little bit about their adoption story. And she was so kind to take time out of her very busy life to share her story with all of you!! So my friends, read on!!

Our adoption story began almost five years ago. At the time, we had three children. I felt a huge calling from God to adopt a child. Unfortunately, my husband did not share in that desire. He really wanted us to try for a fourth biological child. We made a deal that if I was not pregnant by the January of the following year, we would pursue adoption from Guatemala. Almost nine long months later, on December 30th, we found out I was pregnant. I was obviously excited but worried that this would mean “no” for any future adoptions.

During my whole pregnancy I would look at blogs, websites, etc. gaining any information I could. Of course, my husband thought I was nuts and would shoot down most information I told him about. When our youngest was around 18 months, I remember crying out to God that I knew He wanted us to adopt but He had to convince my husband…I did not want to nag him anymore. Two weeks later I received an email from a local agency announcing their new program in Ethiopia. Africa has always been a place that captured my heart. I reluctantly mentioned it to my husband and he said to check it out! That was the beginning of our journey to Ethiopia.

Adoption is a lengthy and time-consuming process. Once all the paperwork was done the real hard part began….waiting. I will never forget the day we received the phone call and pictures of our two new girls. It was so hard to see them but know it would be months before we met them.

Our trip to Ethiopia was amazing. The best part was meeting our girls. However, that was also the hardest part. The caretakers were so obviously attached to our daughters and I felt like I was ripping their hearts in two. Our youngest, Josie, was only 8 months old and very tiny. She would cry and cry because we looked, smelled and sounded different. I remember the maids coming into our hotel room to comfort her. The minute they gave her back to me she would cry again. After the third day she really seemed to calm down.

Zuri was two at the time. I could see terror in her face. Looking back I realize she was not happy to finally have parents. She was scared out of her mind because we had taken her from the only thing she ever knew. It was very hard to know how to discipline her and help her through this process.

Now we have been home two years. I cannot imagine our lives without these two girls! They each have a different personality that changes our family dynamics. Truly, they were meant to be in our family.

There have been trials. Zuri is in attachment counseling. She has a lot of fear of losing me and it causes her to act out. Even though attachment parenting is exhausting, we know it is worth it…she is worth it. Everyone has a broken heart that needs God’s loving healing but adopted kids have an even deeper wound. I believe God calls us to adopt children to show the perfect earthly example of His loving mercy towards us – His desire to heal our broken hearts – only a daily basis. His loves shines through us to help heal them. Zuri’s trials have even helped me heal some of my hurts.

Our heart was left in Africa. I know we will return there someday

Jill

I had the pleasure of taking the ‘R’ families pictures over the winter. Aren’t they just so darn cute? Love em!!

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Artyem

04.12.10

I’m sure most of you have heard about Artyem. For those of you that have not heard of him, he is a little boy that was adopted from Russia. The adoptive family has recently sent him back to Russia saying that he was a danger to their family. This has resulted in Russia shutting down adoptions, which is truly a terrible thing. I received an email from the Join Council with a few things that we can do about this situation. One of the things they are asking is that on April 15, you blog about your adoption, or the adoption of someone you know. With so much bad press on adoption, it is important to get out all the GREAT stories of adoption as well. The good stories by far out weigh any bad media that you have heard, so lets allow our voices to be heard as well. Please share your adoption stories on April 15 on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, email me ( lindsey@followingthecall.org ) your story and I’ll share them here!! If you don’t want your name out there for the world to see, thats OK. Give yourself some new super cool name, and no one will be the wiser Even if you do have a blog, email me your story, or a link to you blog. Lets get some good adoption stories out there!! Please read the following email for more to do about the situation as well.

The following is taken from the Council for International Children’s Services

A Campaign and Call to Action

The outrageous treatment of Artyem by his adoptive family has rightfully resulted in outrage by the Governments of Russia and the United States and all who care about children. The tragedy has cast a light on intercountry adoption that says it is not safe, the system failed and adopted children cause insurmountable problems. The heartbreak of Artyem Saviliev’s abandonment has once again elevated a singular incident to a level which may result in the suspension of intercountry adoption. Suspending adoption, even temporarily, will only cause thousands of children to suffer the debilitating effects of life in an orphanage.

You, the community of adoptees, adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, child welfare professionals and child advocates know that the outrageous and indefensible actions of one parent are not indicative of how children are treated by adoptive families. You know that families who encounter difficulties do not simply abandon their child. You know that help is available, that solutions are found and that families can thrive. And you know that suspending adoption does not protect children but only subjects them to the depravity of an institution…and an entire life without a family.

You, the adoption community know the truth. You live the truth. You are the truth.

Join our campaign to bring the truth to light and help children in need find a permanent and safe family.

What You Can Do

1) Sign the letter to President Medvedev and President Obama: The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children. You can sign anytime, but doing so before Tuesday night would help us get the letters to both Presidents before President Medvedev leaves the U.S. To sign the letter, click here.

2) We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!

3) Tell Your Truth with Video – make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by:
Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org.
Video should be a maximum of 3 minutes.
A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your video. For a copy of the release, click here.
Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on our YouTube Channel.

4) Tell Your Truth with Words and Photos
Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. Send us your stories through:
Photos (please do not send more than 10)
Essays (maximum 500 words)
A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your story and/or pictures. For a copy of the release, click here.
Joint Council will then compile the stories and pictures, translate them into Russian and post them on our website and/or blog.

5) Share Your Truth
Joint Council will post, forward and share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Joint Council will be updating our YouTube Channel and Facebook page as the stories get compiled and translated, please subscribe to us on YouTube, Twitter and Fan us on Facebook.
You do the same by posting on your Facebook, Twitter, blog and website!

Want to help more?
Are you willing to speak to the media about your Russian adoption? If so, please email betheanswer@jcics.org with the following:
Your name(s)
City, State of residence
Contact Phone Numbers
Contact Email
Short 4 sentence bio about your adoption
Do you speak Russian?
We are in need of individual volunteers who can help our staff translate the videos and text quickly. If you are interested in helping, email Joint Council at intern@jcics.org.
Do you live in the Alexandria, VA area?
Joint Council is in need of short term volunteers over the next two weeks, email rebeccah@jcics.org if you would like to volunteer.

It really is important to do something about this situation, as bad media like this can snowball and truly affect the world of adoption. Let’s not let that happen.

-Lindsey

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Life in a nutshell.

04.04.10

My friends!! I feel like I have left you hanging with no ‘real’ blog posts in awhile!! Never fear! I’m here now and ready to spill all thats been going on!!

So. Where should I start?? How about mission stuff?? Matt and I are in the midst of support raising land. We have to raise 100% of our support before we can leave for Tanzania. What does this mean?? It means we have a lot of work ahead of us! We sent out our first batch of letters in February. After talking to some friends and family, it turned out that many, many people who we sent our letter to did not realize it was from us and junked it without ever opening it. I can totally see how this happened, as the envelope was from the mission organization we are going with, and did not say our names any where on it. Had I not been familiar with the organization, I probably would have junked it as well. So… that was a little bit discouraging. But, never fear!! We have decided to make the best of it and move on to plan B. We are now doing are best to meet with as many of our friends and family as we can, to share our hearts and exactly what it is that we will be doing, why we will be doing it and how they can be a part of it. If any of you would like to set up a time to meet together, please let me know!!

So. Thats fund-raising.

Next up…. house. We listed our house. It was horrible. I cleaned and sorted and packed and trashed more stuff from our house than I ever though possible. Its one thing to be moving to a new city a short drive away, but moving to Tanzania??? I needed to downsize what we own, because we will have to put everything into storage!! So after like a million trips to good-will dropping stuff off, we FINALLY had our house organized and put it on the market. So.. we had a couple showings, and it seemed to be going well when all the sudden… guess what happened… go on… guess!!! Nope… we didn’t sell it. But God certainly did answer our prayers in a way we never would have imagined!! We were put into contact with a man, (whom I have never met, but just might kiss him when we do meet… ) who’s ministry is renting missionaries houses. He does everything. we don’t have to worry about it at all. If the renters move out, he deals with it. If the pipes break and the basement floods, he deals with it. If the entire house bursts into flames, he deals with it!! What a blessing this man is. So God definitely answered our prayers in a better way than we could have imagined!! In June/July we will probably begin looking for renters, and move out once that process is completed. We may need to find a place to live for a couple months depending on how timing all works out. You may want to keep your doors locked at that point or you might come home to find we have moved into your basement.

So… thats our house.

On to our life in general. I am so very happy to report that Matt’s last day of school is this coming Monday!!!! It seems like he has been in grad school forever, yet I can not believe he is already done! Kinda funny… when he started grad school, our goal was for him to graduate school, be able to get a better job, make more money, buy a bigger house etc. And now… we are in the process of downsizing everything, selling much of what we own, we are taking a job in another country where our income is umm… we’ll just say less than what it is now and we are so very excited about it!! It is a blessing that Matt went to school when he did, as he will be able to put all that knowledge to use in Tanzania. Once again… God’s plan is always better than our own. In celebration of Matt graduating we loaded up the kids and headed out on a little vacation. We spent 5 nights in a little cabin in Tennessee. It was wonderful just to get away from it all, and enjoy some family time!!

So… I suppose thats my life in a nut shell. If you read through this whole post, you deserve a little prize. go scoop yourself a nice big bowl of ice cream. (side note: did you know there was a time in my life where Matt and I had ice cream every single day together?? Ok. I better be totally honest. It was for like 3 years in a row when we were first married. We really like ice cream )

-Lindsey

A few pics from vacation: