Plenty of Love to Give

It was so exciting to open up the Sunday paper and see a colorful, vibrant spread of pictures of one of our ABBA Fund families! The title of the article was “Plenty of Love to Give” and how true that statement is when it comes to this family!

In 2009, Jimmy and Gayla Renslow adopted their daughter Zuri from an orphanage in Uganda when she was 10 months old.  The Renslows’ attend The Church at 5:14 in Greensboro, NC which is an ABBA Fund church partner.  What a joy to have helped this body of Christ establish an adoption assistance fund and to see these beautiful children come home to their forever families!   Today, we are happy to share that the entire family (Mac, Boe, Leia, Gayla, Zuri and Jimmy) is currently in Uganda finalizing the adoption of their son, Zeke!  Please pray for this family as we await their safe arrival back in America in mid-August.

One thing we love is that not only did this article provide an opportunity for the community to hear of a local family’s adoption testimony, but it was also a chance to inform others about the country of Uganda and transracial adoption.  The article higlighted that out of the 28.5 million people living in Uganda, 2.3 million are orphans and nearly half have lost thier parents because of AIDS (Source: goodsheapheardsfold.org).

A correlating article highlighted transracial adoption in which another family, Jenna and Keith Penner of our church partner Salem Chapel Church in Winston-Salem, shed some light on this issue from their own experience with adopting two children from Uganda.  Although there was some hesitation in the beginning of the process, Jenna is thankful that her heart was pulled to Africa:

“I truly believe that most people are just curious.  They don’t mean to be rude.  It’s our job to be graceful and polite and take those times to educate people.”

“The bigger the family, the more ‘full’ and fulfilled we have felt,” Jimmy Renslow says.  “We only have one opportunity to live this life, and we want to make the most of it, and the more we give away, the more we experience life to the fullest.”

The Renslows are active in helping families interested in adopting from Uganda by being a resource to them. They started the “Out of Uganda” fellowship group which aims to “intentially build a community of African Americans – Ugandan Americans – who support each other. ” This group continues to be a blessing to many families.

You can follow the Renslowfamily at http://renslow.blogspot.com.  Here’s a blurb from one of Jimmy’s posts:

“This in itself is an answer to prayer because the connection has taken more time than it did with Zuri.  It is like experiencing a miracle to feel love well up for someone who is going to become you child. It boggles my mind to watch it happen to our family with each encounter.”

Courtesy: Greensboro News & Record, Life Section: “Plenty of Love to Give” and “Families Struggle with Transracial Adoption.”  July 17, 2011

Abba Fund + Noonday Collection Equals a Fashionable Mission

Noonday Collection launched at 2010’s Together for Adoption Conference alongside the Abba Fund, where 10% of funds were donated to the Abba Fund.  Noonday Collection started as a fundraiser for the founder’s Rwandan adoption, but the mission of Noonday goes even further. Every item sold by Noonday Collection is fair trade and helps to create a pathway out of poverty for the person, family, and community behind the purchase. The company has purchased over $35,000 of product from artisans in only 7 months, enabling those artisans to produce and sell more items, put their kids in school, and even buy commodities for their families like chickens.   They have also given around $5,000 directly to adoptive families to help them raise money for their own adoptions.

“Some days I feel crazy that I started a business to raise money for our adoption. Couldn’t we have done a silent auction or something? But knowing that we can empower so many along the way, both here and in the countries where others are adopting from, has been one my greatest joys. And fashion is such a fun bridge for gospel sharing!” says Jessica Honegger, founder of Noonday Collection.  Noonday is now on the look for Ambassadors. These ambassadors buy into the company and receive a sample box, their own website, and free training. In return,  Ambassadors receive a 20% commission for every sale they make.

Are you informed, fashionable, motivated and fun loving? Then becoming a Noonday Collection Ambassador might be a good fit for you. Enough money came in from Noonday Collection sales in three months to cover the Honeggers’  adoption expenses. “Women respond to fashion, shopping with a conscious, and orphan care. We would love other adoptive families to get their adoption expenses covered while providing artisans in resource poor countries with economic opportunities,” says Jessica.  For more information, please email info@noondaycollection.com. 

Launching a Church Adoption Fund Webinar – Sept 15th

We had great response to our last webinar in August and as mentioned our next one is on Launching a Church Adoption Fund. Join us as we explore how churches can help families meet the financial challenge to adoption costs. This webinar will provide an overview of how to establish a simple yet effective church adoption assistance fund.

September 15th, 2009
1pm EST
To register please email info@abbafund.org

This webinar is ideal for lay people, pastors, elders, staff, adoption ministry teams, anyone interested in how their church can be a part of helping families with the cost of adoption.

Church Adoption Fund Receives Big Gift

Grace Church of DuPage, IL recently established a church adoption fund through ABBA with a goal of raising $20,000 to help families. Before they made it public or did any fundraising God blessed them in a big way. One of their adoption fund team members wrote me:

“We’d been brainstorming about flea markets, spaghetti dinners, car washes and special offerings. I learned last night that OUR GOAL HAS ALREADY BEEN REACHED! Even typing that brings tears to my eyes. We can start dispensing these funds now! What a God of grace and might we have. I am reminded that he is the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hill. I believe that he is pleased with our feeble efforts to develop a culture of adoption at Grace Church.”

Click here to learn more about how you can establish a local church adoption fund and help families with the cost of adoption.

Official Hope for 100 Launch

We are excited to officially announce that launch of Hope for 100, a campaign with the goal of providing loving, Christian homes for 100 children through adoption or foster care.

The first campaign is kicking off over the next two Sunday’s at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, TX.

Our goal through Hope for 100 is to-

• Raise awareness of the plight of the fatherless.
• Issue a specific challenge to the Church to care for a targeted number of orphans.
• Begin to match interested families with families who have already answered the call to be foster or adoptive families to give guidance and
  encouragement.
• Provide an array of opportunities to care for orphans through an Ongoing Orphan Care Ministry.
• Help provide the necessary funds to families seeking to adopt.

This first campaign will also host the “If You Were Mine” adoption conference at Green Acres Baptist Church on January 31st. This one-day conference provides a relaxed, non-threatening environment where you can consider practical information about adoption, foster care and orphan care ministry from an objective and biblical point of view.

After a successful launch, Hope For 100 desires to see its efforts replicated and multiplied in churches throughout the United States and the world.

For more information on how you can help make a Hope for 100 campaign possible and help families adopting financially, or how you and your church can serve as the lead church in a campaign to be carried out by the evangelical Christian community in your area, please contact the ABBA Fund or call toll free 888.775.3422