Why?

--Officially, there are 730,000 orphans living in Russia alone. There are more orphans in Russia now than after World War II.

--Out of the 730,000 only 200,000 live in orphanages and internats. The rest live on the streets or in the underground sewers.

--Statistics show that only one out of ten Russian orphans becomes a functional member of society.

--The others are lost to drugs, prostitution, crime and suicide. Millions of Russian children are on the run living on the streets or in underground sewers desparately needing basic food, medicine and clothes.

--In Ukraine and Russia 10-15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.

--Worldwide, there are offically 144 million orphans. If .06% of the Christian population would adopt one child into their family, the orphanages would be empty.

"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."

James 1:27

Not every Christian is called to adopt, but each of us are called to look after the orphans. The Greek verb used for the phrase "look after" is the word episkeptomai. This compound verb with the prepositional prefix epi- places an emphasis on the act of looking. In the context of James' instruction, the verb would carry the connotation of giving active care or help.

According to James, we need to have these two things in our portfolio of faith in order for God to consider our faith pure, faultless and undefiled. First we must actively look out for the orphans and widows. Secondly, we must keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. I find it very interesting that James connects these two ideas together. I believe it is because we have been polluted by the world that we are no longer actively looking after the orphans and widows, which is why there are over 144 million orphans today.

Many people have assumed we were adopting only because of losing the triplets. Therefore many people assumed we would not adopt when they heard we were expecting again. But we are still adopting. Our decision to adopt was never based on if we could or could not have children of our own. For us, it wasn't a last resort option to have a child.

Yes, we realize the adoption process is expensive. We have no money or savings for it, but we completely trust God will provide. Yes, we realize the child we adopt could have physical or behavior problems. We believe God didn't call us to love only perfect children, but to love all children. We believe God will be our rock, that he will guide us, and continue to fill us with His perfect love so it may overflow into the life of our child. Yes, this process is overwhelming, we are scared, we know we will be hurt, and we sometimes selfishly don't want to adopt. We realize the journey we are embarking on will be one with many valleys and few mountain peaks, but God has called us and we cannot turn our backs on his call.

Next week we will offically embark on our adoption journey. We are adopting from Russia, which is why I focused my statistcs there. We are planning to adopt a little boy, as young as possible (12 months) and no older than four. We will begin raising money in earnest, I will be filling out grant and scholarship applications.

Please join us in praying for the following:

--Pray for God to reveal to you how you might actively look after the orphans and widows.

--Pray for God to work in the hearts of his people, that they will be moved to care for His children, the orphans and the widows.

--Our biggest and most obvious need is finances. Please pray for God to provide the finances we need. $7,000 in the first month for agency fees, homestudy fees, legal paperwork fees. We need to raise $30,000 total.

--Pray for Matt and I. That we continue to trust God and lean on him to be our strength.

--Pray for our precious baby that is out there somewhere, that God will provide for his needs and keep him safe until we can bring him home.