Birthday Thoughts

Fifteen years old. How is that even possible? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was meeting this 15 month old baby girl in the Buffalo airport? I think what throws me off even more is that she is almost the age I was when we met. And that seems like it was yesterday.

It's true, my baby girl is growing up and turned 15 years old yesterday. I am so thankful for this gorgeous little sister of mine. She is smart and funny and my favorite thing of all, is her love for people. She never wants anyone to feel left out and will go out of her way to befriend the kids who may not have many friends. I have learned and continue to learn a lot from this girl.

As always, around this time of year, I can't help but think about a very special woman on the other side of the world. The woman who gave birth to my sweet Kiah. Does she think about her? Does she have any idea how loved and cherished she is? How she is confident 15 year old instead of that tiny, sick baby who arrived at the orphanage at just a few weeks of age? My position at Dillon International changed a few months ago and one of my new roles is to direct our search program. I work mainly with Korea adoptees and a few Haiti. It has made me think even more about Kiah's birth mother and how much I respect this incredible woman. I just wish I could tell her how well Kiah is doing and how thankful we are to her because she gave us such a precious gift, one that I can't imagine my life without.

Happy Birthday, Kiah. I am so thankful to be able to call you sister.

Sweet Reunion

"Do not fear for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you walk through the rivers, they will not sweet over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

Isiah 43:1-3

Once again another two months have passed since I've posted anything in my little corner of the blogging world. I keep going back and forth between whether I should hang up the reigns of this little blog or not but then there are days when I actually want to share something (like today).

Those of you who have fallen my blog for the last few years, know that early on in my time in China back in March 2012, I fell in love with this precious little Sweetheart.

 

 

I had the honor of giving her an English name, standing in the gap in prayer for her during two surgeries in China, and loving on her until her family was able to fly across the world to bring her home in May 2014. After spending every day for over 2 years with a sweet baby and then letting her go, is one of the hardest things I have ever had to experience. But I knew that she was going to an incredible family and for that I was so thankful.

This precious family not only adopted Sweetheart but adopted me as well, wanting me to continue to be a part of her story. With me moving back to the US, then moving to Tulsa, then getting settled in Tulsa, the time just wasn't right for a visit. But this fall when they contacted me about meeting up with them on their Orlando family vacation the first week of November, I couldn't think of an excuse not too! On November 2nd, I flew to Orlando to spend a precious four days with this sweet girl and her family. It felt so good be reunited once again!







And spending time with her sweet family.

There was lots of swimming and lots of relaxing. This vacation could not have come at a more perfect time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In March 2012 when this precious girl was placed in my arms, I never would have guessed the amazing story He would write. God truly writes the best stories if we will only give Him the pen and allow Him to write it.

{Adoption Awareness Month} ADOPT

Today is the last day of November and today I am talking about adoption. I can't tell you how much my family has been impacted by the miracle of adoption and what a blessing it has been to us. You have heard me talk about it before and so I won't go into details again but friends, adoption is so amazing. Adoption was never God's plan. In order for adoption to take place, there has to be abandonment first and that involves heartbreak and sadness. But God makes beauty from the ashes and He takes something as painful as abandonment and turns it into something good through adoption. Adoption isn't easy. It isn't a perfect little picture and how these children will live "happily ever after." No, it involves a lot of pain and work but it is so, so worth it.

Are you interested in adoption? I'd love to hear from you and answer any questions that you have! Email me! annelifjohnson@gmail.com

Here are some great adoption agencies:

America World Adoption Association

Bethany Christian Services

Dillon International

Holt International

Lifeline Children's Services

“Adoption is a beautiful picture of redemption. It

 is the Gospel in my living room.” 

~ Katie Davis

{Adoption Awareness Month} ENCOURAGE

Encouragement is so very important. I didn't realize how much so until I was overseas, on the other side of the world, by myself, loving on sweet orphans. You have no idea what it meant to receive letters, packages, and emails of encouragement from friends. They were loving me and supporting me from far away. Being overseas can be very lonely and I can't tell you the number of times I would receive an email, letter, or package from someone just letting me know that they were thinking of me, and they would usually arrive just when I needed them most!

Do you know someone who is living overseas? Send them a quick email to let them know that you are praying for them and thinking of them!

Send them a package! I love, love, LOVED receiving packages from friends back home. Ask them what they would like in it. There may be some candy, baking supplies, candles, etc. that they are missing from home and would love to receive. I know one of my favorite care package items were candles. Especially around the holidays when you are missing home! Shipping overseas can be expensive, so go in with someone else to bring a little "taste of home" to friends overseas.

Send letters! Just a little note of encouragement can go a long way. Emails are great but there is just something extra special about receiving a hand written note. And let's be honest, receiving mail is just so much fun!

Do you know a family who is adopting? Adoption is hard, friends. Really hard. Not just financially but emotionally and even physically. Again, send them a note, email, or text to let them know you are thinking of them.

Do they live nearby? Make a dinner (it is especially nice when it is something that can be frozen in case they have other meals already planned or given!) and drop it off. There is such an important period of attachment between the child and new family so don't stay, but leaving a dinner for them would be greatly appreciated.

Offer to watch other children they have so that the parents can spend lots of time bonding with their new child.

Offer to shop for groceries or other things like diaper and formula they may need.

I have a lot of photographer friends out there. Offer to take pictures for free for a new adopted child's family. Maybe capture some moments at the airport when they arrive home with their new child or a few months later, offer to take some family pictures!

Friends, there are so many ways we can bless families who are in the adoption process. Let's be a blessing to them!

{Adoption Awareness Month} SPONSOR

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and I am doing a series of how you can make a difference in the life of an orphan. Whether it's through praying, giving, going, supporting, or sponsoring, you CAN make a difference! I don't believe that everyone is called to adopt, but I do strongly believe we are all called to do something.

Today I am focusing on sponsoring a child. You can sponsor a child through many great organizations. A child's sponsorship usually costs around $35/month. That is right... only $35 a month to make a difference in a child's life. Of course this specific foster home is near and dear to my heart and you can sponsor a child here!

There are also some other great organizations:

Compassion International
World Vision
Orphan Outreach
New Day Foster Home

{Adoption Awareness Month} SUPPORT

Continuing with my National Adoption Awareness Month blog series. Make sure you read my previous posts on other ways you can make a difference in a child's life: Pray, Go, and Give.

I spent several years in China and I relied on my faithful supporters from all over the world to partner with me in the work I was doing. Asking for support and for people to partner with you financially is a very humbling experience and I can't say it's something that I enjoy doing. What I learned from the humbling experience of support raising is that often times people WANT TO GIVE. They maybe are not able to go on their own but want to play a role and giving is a way that they can be involved!

Don't know of an individual serving on the mission field but still want to support? There are many families who are in the process of bringing precious children home. Adoption is expensive and many families take a leap of faith to bring their children home.

Not sure who to give too? My good friend, Meredith, just recently arrived back in China to work with orphans for the next year! She has taken a leap of faith and trusting God with the finances for her year overseas. Please prayerfully consider giving to her!

Have questions? I'd love to hear from you!

{Adoption Awareness Month} GIVE

To continue in my series for National Adoption month, today I am talking about giving.

Giving can be interpreted in many ways. It could be the giving your time, your talents, or of your resources. In this case, I am talking about giving of your finances. Maybe you aren't in a place or a position to go. But you still want to make a difference and play a role in the miracles that are unfolding! You can GIVE!

There are some great organizations working with orphans from all over the world. If you don't give to an individual, then give to the general fund for some of these organizations!

New Day South Foster Home

Dillon International

Show Hope

Want to give something to an orphan for Christmas this year? Find out more info here.

There are so many ways you can GIVE. You have no idea what a difference you can make.

{Adoption Awareness Month} GO

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

John 14:18

Since November is National Adoption Awareness month, I am doing a series of several posts on how you can be involved in orphan care. Whether it's through adoption, going, giving, or supporting, I want to give you tangible ways to do something. Because after all, we are all called to do something.

On Friday, I talked about how the most important thing we can do is PRAY. And that is so true! But maybe the Lord is nudging you to do something more. Maybe He wants you to GO! I can not encourage you enough that if the Lord is laying it on your heart to go, then go! Whether it's for a few days, a week, two weeks, a month, a year, or ten years. It doesn't matter how long or where, the Lord will use you.

The time I have spent in China and Mexico, which is where my first mission trip was when I was 15 years old, have been such life changing experiences. The Lord has broken my heart for what breaks His and I will never be the same. Let me warn you though, when God opens your heart and your eyes to the hurting and poverty in this world, you will NEVER see the world the same again. I think that's a good thing, but it's a hard thing. And I will leave that up to you and your own opinion.

Maybe you are thinking,

"Where can I go?" or "I want to go, but where do I start?"

There are so many options and it can be extremely overwhelming if you don't know where to start. Below you will find links for a few organizations that are great options. Also, many Church's go on mission trips! Whether it's overseas or right here in the United States. I can't encourage you enough to GO. And experience it for yourself.

ACT Mission Trips

New Day Foster Home

Orphan Outreach

Show Hope

These are just a few links of great organizations that I know of but there are many others! Have questions? I'd love to hear from you! Email me.

{Adoption Awareness Month} PRAY

Last week, I wrote a post about how November is National Adoption Awareness Month. But more than that, I want to talk about not just adoption, but orphan care as well and how you can be involved and make a difference in the life of a child. We are not all called to adoption, but we are called to do something. The Lord talks a lot about orphans in the Bible and how we are to take care of them. Probably the most quoted verse when talking about orphans is James 1:27:

"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."

God has a special place in His heart for the orphans. He doesn't just ask us to care for the orphans if we feel like it, no, He commands us to. 

This month, in honor of National Adoption Month, I am going to focus on several ways that you can make a difference in the life of the child and resources to help you get started. 

The first one is PRAY. I know, it should be a no brainer right? And the "Christian thing" to do. That may be the case, but friends, prayer is so very important. It is the most important thing we can do when talking about orphan care. I have seen the Lord move mountains when prayer was involved. In China, I saw miracle after miracle in the lives of the children I cared for. Children who should not be alive today, are not only alive, but thriving. If you do nothing else, then pray, pray, pray.

Here are some things to pray for if you need some direction:

** Pray for the children in foster families & homes, government & privately run orphanages all over the world.

** Pray for the nannies and caretakers.

** Pray for the birth families. We don't know their story or why they had to give their children up, but it was probably the most difficult thing they ever had to do. We often look at the birth parent as the "bad guy" when really, they may have given their child up out of love, to give them a chance at life.

** Pray for the funding for these foster home and orphanages. That they may provide the care these children need.

** Pray for FOREVER FAMILIES to adopt these children!

** Pray that there will be another option and that these families DO NOT have to give up their child for adoption! Pray for a way for them to stay with their birth families.

These are just a few ideas to help you get started!

Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and last Sunday, November 2nd, was Orphan Sunday. I am falling way behind this month. Church's around the world are focusing on the orphan crisis worldwide. 147 million orphans. That seems to be the number that is talked about again and again.  I have really been thinking about what to post about this month (on all those days I have not posted anything!) and how to share my heart on this topic. 

It is one thing to hear a number. To be so overwhelmed by it that you don't even know where to start. Or how to make a difference. Friend, after being there, on the font lines, loving on sweet orphans for the last 2 1/2 years of my life, it is so much different than a statistic. These are real loves, real children, and real stories. And I want to help you make a difference and find ways how you can be involved.

This all hits even closer to home when I think about my very own sister. She is no longer part of that statistic. At a time, she was, but no longer. She is a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a grand-daughter. She is loved and she is cherished. And so are all those sweet 147 million orphans worldwide. They may not have a family of their very own yet, but they have a Heavenly Father who loves them completely.

As I mentioned earlier, it is so easy to be overwhelmed with the orphan crisis and not know where to start. Friends, not everyone is called to adopt, but we are all called to do something. When I was in China, it didn't make the orphan crisis less overwhelming. It probably made it even more overwhelming! I remember in June 2012, the first time I stepped foot in a government run orphanage. A "home" to over a hundred children. Children who only wanted to be loved and cherished. Who yearned for a family of their very own. And my heart broke.

And this was just one orphanage. 
In one city. 
In one country. 
On one continent. 
And knowing how many more children there were out there, just waiting.

How could I, just one person, do anything to even make a difference with a problem so great?

I felt the Lord so clearly speaking to my heart that day in that orphanage. I couldn't change everything. But I could make a difference in the life of a child, one at a time. I realized that day, that no, I could not end the orphan crisis. But I COULD make a difference.

And if I made a difference for even just one child, it was all worth it.

Friends, what is the Lord placing in your heart? How can YOU make a difference in the life of an orphan? Throughout the remainder of November, I will be elaborating more on these 7 points in what you can do to help:

1.) Pray.

3.) Go.

3.) Give.

4.) Support.

5.) Sponsor.

6.) Encourage.

7.) Adopt.

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me."

Matthew 25:40