Thursday, July 24, 2008

China and Russia adoptions are down

China adoptions to the US - 7,906 in 2005 down to 5,453 in 2007 - a decrease of 31%
Russia adoptions to the US - 4,639 in 2005 down to 2,310 in 2007 - a decrease of 50%
The overall decline has been consistent through 2005 - 2007 for the first time since 1992 according to the US State Dept. and 2008 will probably continue the trend. More reason to get involved in supporting indigenous orphan care around the globe.

We also have many needs at home with over 129,000 children in foster care available for adoption as mentioned in Jasons Kovacs' recent post on Desiring God. Ways to get involved - The ABBA Fund, Shaohannah's Hope, and many other organizations...

Upcoming Together for Adoption Conference

Coming to Greenville, SC on November 1, 2008 - Theme - "Our Adoption in Christ: What it Means for Us and for Orphans". Look forward to seeing you there!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Jason Kovacs post

Great article by Jason on the Desiring God website. He does a great job advocating for the care of 132,000,000 orphans in the world and the 129,000 available for adoption in the US alone!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

SCC at Biltmore - Asheville, NC

We bought our tickets this morning! Looking forward to the concert on August 1st. Amazing to see God's blessings on the first two concerts back...

Saturday, July 12, 2008

May 24 Post - Dallas and Nashville

This is a post and one comment that was lost due to technical difficulties...

Dallas and Nashville

The last few days have been a roller coaster ride. Wednesday night we heard the news about Maria Sue Chapman as Heidi was checking some of our favorite online adoption groups. The Chapman family has been in our prayers continuously since this happened. Thursday morning at 5am I set out for RDU to fly to Dallas for a meeting with Halftime as I was representing The ABBA Fund and LegacyChild. It was a very encouraging time spent with several ministries invloved in orphan care, micro finance, mission work, etc. Included were The Heart Gallery, Crown, Wycliffe and Partners Worldwide. It was great to learn from other ministries and to develop strategies to incorporate "halftimers" into our organizations.
Friday afternoon I received a call from a close friend. He was feeling like he should attend the memorial celebration in Nashville for Maria Chapman. He found a flight from PA and I changed flights and arrived this morning at 9am to meet him. We arrived at the church 1 hour early. It was a time of grieving and rejoicing over a beautiful life. Family and friends shared how she loved her family and was the happiest when they were all together. There were times of laughing through the tears as stories were told about little Maria by her preschool teacher, close friends and
family. It was truly life changing and I will be forever impacted by the music of Michael W. Smith and others, the humble and powerful prayer by Robin Hill, the healing truth spoken by Caleb, the challenge and reassuring by Kerry and Scott Hasenbalg, the clear gospel presentation by Emily and the many other evidences that God was in our presence.
Thank you to the Chapman family for sharing these personal moments with all of us. God is using the Chapman family in an amazing way. Although this tragedy is confusing now, as time passes, God's purpose and plan will become clearer. One of the amazing illustrations that was shared today.

Posted by Dwain Gullion at 4:47 PM

Kieth said...

Dwain, Melissa and I have been praying for and thinking of you guys, the
Chapman family and all the other folks involved in the adoption
ministries over the past few days. It was great to talk with you on the
phone tonight...please keep in touch and let us know of specific prayer
requests that you have. God bless!
Keith and Melissa Glover

May 24, 2008 6:32 PM

Friday, July 11, 2008

SCC back on stage

"Blessed be your name" - Steven Curtis Chapman performs at Lifest in Oshkosh, WI.