The Banqueting Table November 19, 2012

Someone asked me the other day what type of nutritional background my adoptive kids would be coming from when they arrived. My answer was, “starvation.” Many children in government orphanages in Ukraine are sent out on the streets to scavenge for food. This is a detestable fact, and anyone with a heart would abhor hearing that, but it becomes a source of great distress when you begin to realize that it’s your children – the children God has set aside to be your family – sent out to beg or steal food in the streets. Living in such abject lack. With such lack of care or dignity.

It’s just been one short month since God began making it clear that His design for our family was to adopt children from Ukraine. I remember the pregnancies with my biological children; it’s about at the one month point you realize you are expecting. Each time I was so elated, so filled with joy and excitement that it was difficult to focus on anything else. I was having a baby! I’m amazed to find the feeling now is very much the same. Excitement, joy – yes, a little fear of the unknown as well, but in this particular “expectant” stage there is a terrible urgency. My children may not be safe, they are not protected by my womb from the cold, fearful world, they are not receiving nourishment from my body; they need me to come and rescue them.

I want to send a message out to them: hang on! We’re coming! You are not forgotten, we see you, we are coming for you! I will trust the Spirit of the Living God to speak that to their hearts, because even though I don’t yet even know their names, I have not seen their faces, He knows, he hears, he understands. Even now His hand of protection and provision is there.

I know this because He did it for me. Song of Solomon 2:4 says, “He brought me to His banqueting table; his banner over me was love.” Not because of anything that I did to earn it, but because He IS love. He saw my poverty of spirit, my loss and my lack and made a banquet for me when there was none. He covered me with His love.

I can’t wait for the day that I can bring these children to the table, and teach them of the One who made a way for them to be delivered into a life of abundant love. Those that are starving need starve no longer – for anything! – because He is the Source. This Thanksgiving, as we approach the banqueting table, as we count our blessings, remember the least of these. Remember.

Candlelight Carols November 17, 2012

One of the life messages my husband and I speak to fellow Christ followers is this: Leverage the gifts and resources you have to expand the Kingdom of God. It’s actually one of the foundation stones of Heart of the Bride Ministries, the orphan care ministry we started almost a dozen years ago.

In an effort to raise support to provide a home for children from Ukraine, Tony has done just that. Most of you know he is an accomplished pianist, and that’s an understatement. He has a piano performance degree from Stetson University, and I won’t bore you with all the awards and competitions he’s won over the years. He’s just….really, really good.

He just completed Candlelight Carols – an piano instrumental CD of Christmas hymns. Today is the official launch date of the project, and we’re excited! It is exceptional. ALL of the proceeds will go into our fund at Heart of the Bride specifically to fund the adoption of our children.

The adoption costs will likely be somewhere between $25,00 – $30,000. If you are a music lover, if you are looking for original Christmas gift ideas, or if you would just like to support this adoption endeavor, now’s your chance. Click here to hear a sample and to order, and help us bring them home.

We are humbled and grateful that He uses everything we give him, and through our offerings, however small they may seem to us, they can change a life.