Miscellany Monday: November 17, 2014

Saturday morning was the last soccer game of the season.

I have a love/hate thing going with soccer.  (This applies to any outside activities, actually.)

I love that my kiddos love it.  I love that they are learning new things - physical and mental - through their involvement with it.  I love the friends that we've made through soccer, that we never would have met otherwise.

I love that my kiddos all love the same activity, and that (by bumping LK and D up an age bracket) they are all on the same team.

I LOVE that Jas was their head coach this season.

I don't love running around...and time away from home.

And since the "loves" far outweigh the "don't loves"...we'll continue to play soccer.



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The eight of us hit the stores this week.  The children each had a "shoe box" to fill for Operation Christmas Child.





This has become a wonderful tradition for us every November, and I love how much the children love to participate.


As the children have gotten older, they are much more involved in picking out the items...and packing them.  We had quite the packing party last night!

D is smiling like this on purpose....where does G get his weird smiles from?

We pray that the Lord would use each of these boxes to bring light and joy into the the life of a child...

....and use this small gift in a powerful way, as only He can.



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Yesterday our church celebrated Orphan Awareness Sunday.  Jas and I were were blessed to be asked to be on a panel to discuss Orphans and Adoption.

We jumped at the chance.   They were able to drag us up there because we were going to be able to talk about our precious kiddos...and brag on our amazing God.

G and A got to come up with us during the first service, since there is no child care available in that service.
G wanted to get his hot little hands on the microphone SO BAD!

I checked with the older children before we agreed, to see how they felt about us talking about them and their adoptions...wanting to always be sensitive to their feelings.  They told us to go for it.

It was a neat panel discussion, in that 4 different households were represented, who have responded to the orphan epidemic in different ways...from mission trips to adoption.


Lord, I pray that we would each be sensitive to your leading, and obedient to be Your hands and Your feet in whatever unique way You have planned for each of us.  Amen

Last Day in China with Lily Kay: Re-Post from Two Years Ago Today

It is nap time on our last day in China. All three of my babies are napping.

We've bought our last presents. We've picked up all our laundry. We've had our last lunch in Guangzhou. After nap it will be time to get down to The Packing - yuck. The only thing worse than packing to come to China, is packing to go home. We've got three suitcases, and they better weigh less than 44 pounds each when we check them in in the morning, thankyouverymuch.

But we'll worry about that after nap...right now I'm thinking back over the past two weeks. About the miracle that Jas and I've seen unfold right. before. our. eyes. Look at this picture Jas took this morning:



It is my favorite picture from our trip.

A precious little girl...holding on tight to her mama's neck...showing off her new silly trick - comfortable enough to shut her eyes tight even though she knows her mama and baba want her eyes open.

This is the precious girl that I was so excited - yet so nervous - to meet??? Two days before we left for China, I cried on the phone to a friend about how nervous I was – Would she like us? How would she attach to us? How could she ever adjust to such a huge change in her life?

And what about her special needs? She has a urological issue that we need to see about once we're home. Her first appointment with a specialist is one week after we get back.

Medicine every day for the rest of her life? A possibility

Surgery(ies) ? A probability

Have we fallen head over heels, and are already blessed beyond measure? Absolutely!

Zibing is so....well, ours now. She has started taking us for granted. She takes for granted that she can slip her hand into mine. She takes for granted that it's o.k. to jump on daddy when he's on the floor. She takes for granted that she can crawl into my lap anytime she wants. She takes for granted that we'll help her brush her teeth...that we'll peel her tangerine...help put her straw in her milk carton...read books to her at bedtime...and kiss her sweet lips goodnight...

Shouldn't every child be able to take those things for granted?

Yes! But 147 million children in the world can't...and that breaks my heart. And I'm glad it does...because it breaks God's heart too.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...” (James 1:27)

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.” (Ps. 68:5-6)

“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” (Isaiah 1:17)

If the Lord is tugging at your heart strings to care for orphans, listen. Obey.

That may mean adoption. Or, it could mean helping someone else adopt (2/3 of people have considered adoption, but only 1% have done it...usually because of money). Join God in His concern for “the least of these”...it's an investment that has returns for eternity, but also in the here and now.

People are all the time telling us that our children are “so lucky/blessed.” But I'll let you in on a secret, we're the ones who are blessed!

Orphan Awareness Month

November is Orphan Awareness month and our Love The Least ministry will be doing presentations at two different churches over the next two Sundays.

Our dear friends Amy and Andy put together a short video to show during the services. I get tears in my eyes every time I listen to this song ("There Are No Orphans of God" by Avalon) and see these pictures: (you might see some faces you recognize)

Love The Least - 2011

As we were all up on the stage practicing our presentation last night I couldn't help but marvel - and almost cry - when I realized that two of the couples that are now doing the presentation with us first watched us do this presentation 3 years ago at a different church, and were greatly impacted...and now they're standing up with us, and will both be traveling to bring home their precious children in the next few months (these three childrens' pictures are in the video!).

One Hand for the Widow - One Hand for the Orphan

Last year when we were in China bringing home Miss Lily Kay, we met Janet and Kevin (and big brother Philip), bringing home Eli:

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this precious family better, and I've kept in touch with Janet since we've been home.

She is not going to like reading this...but I pray to be like Janet when I grow up!

Such a sweet and grace-filled person you will hardly ever meet. At a time in their lives when most couples would start looking forward to kicking back and taking it easy...not the Bourkes! When their oldest (and only, at the time) son Ted graduated and moved out - that is when Janet and Kevin started over...and started adopting! First came Philip...then Eli...

...and now they are adopting again! This time they're adopting 7-year old Miss Sophia Yilin! (And YAY - now Janet won't be the only girl in the house anymore!)

And through an amazing ministry, Lifesong for Orphans, we have a chance to help not only this precious Sophia...but some precious widows right here in the US at the same time!

In the first chapter of the book of James, the 27th verse, you'll find this verse:

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.

We may not all be called to adopt (I guess only us lucky ones are called to that!), but James makes it pretty clear that we are all called to help! If you can help the Bourkes help Sophia and several widows all at the same time, please click here to find out more!

Taking Our Show On The Road

Our orphan awareness ministry has been talking and praying for more than a year now about how we can help get the word out and make more people aware of the orphan crisis.

We put on our Love the Least Conference.

And quite a few people came to us to hear.

What else can we do?

We can get out and talk with more people where they are!

So we are taking our show on the road!

And we're starting tonight.

We've been asked by one of our friends to come to her house and talk with a group of her friends and coworkers about the orphan crisis... and what they can do, as individuals, to help orphans here and around the world.

We've got handouts.

We've got videos.

We've got our personal testimonies.

But most importantly...we've got God's blessing as we go and talk about these precious treasures that are so near and dear to His heart.

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)