Robert is good about understanding that I do a better job loving and managing the kids when I get to spend a few days away from our 24/7 family schedule. I'm always on the watch for family weddings, reunions and opportunities to be involved with promoting adoption - things that are cheap for one person to do but out of the question for a family of 13. These are usually long weekends (with the wonderful exception of two years ago when Carrie and Mike invited me to Korea to help bring their little Joy home) and they allow me to step out of everyday life and talk to other adults in full sentences for days on end.
This year I am headed back to Minneapolis for the Summit VI conference at the end of April. For those who are not familiar with the Summit's it is a call to the Church and the world to be aware of and involved with the plight of the orphan. As I am looking at the reality of the year 2010 there is no reason why orphaned children should be dying of starvation and preventable diseases today. We are rich (as individuals and as a country) and though it may not be cheap to care for the needs of the fatherless child, that does not remove the responsibility from us.
Our family takes it all very seriously. We partner with Patty and Weldon to help care for the medical and personal needs of a little guy named Noah in India, save our change for a feeding station in Swaziland, and have been willing to open our hearts and home to more than the average number of kids. We are always on the lookout for places to speak up for the fatherless and understand that it's too easy to follow the wide road and think 'we have done enough.' Enough will the day that no child starves to death and no one is alone and terrified. Until then there is always time to pray and the overwhelming opportunity to love the orphan creatively with what we have. With that in mind, I am headed over to Summit VI to encourage, be encouraged and sharpen my vision for what it means to really love the fatherless in our world today.
3 comments:
Yet another bright ray of sunshine that I needed to feel this morning! I can't wait to see you when you come back in town!
Amen!
We are going to Summit as well...hopefully we will get to see you :)
Ohhh, very cool. I am still trying to figure out how to come to CO for mine...;) watching somebody else parent their kids is a lovely vacation choice, don't you think? ;)
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