Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption

We are excited about the upcoming release of Katie Davis‘ book, ‘Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption. Dan Cruver says:

“As I read Katie’s book, I felt like I was reading Amy Carmichael. As Amy did in her life, Katie shows Jesus to be amazingly wonderful not only in what she writes, but also in how she selflessly cares for the fatherless. If you want to love Jesus more and better understand his love for the least of these, read Kisses from Katie. She is for our generation what Amy was for hers: a hero in fulfilling God’s call to care for orphans.”

We are looking forward to having Katie join us at the Together for Adoption House Conference in Nashville on Oct 1st. Stay tuned for more information!

 

The Legacy of Adoption

It’s always great to hear stories from adoptees who also adopt!  Here is just one of those beautiful stories of a woman carrying on the legacy…

Bringing Simon Home

Reece’s Rainbow is an amazing ministry that brings awareness to, and advocates for, orphans with Down Syndrome.  If any of you have ever spent even the smallest amount of time with a child with Down Syndrome then you know how loving, gentle and innocent their souls are.  It is hard to believe that in many countries these children are “tossed-away”, left to die without proper care and love.

Below is a blog-post by a woman named Erin Ardler.  Out of a mother’s love for her own child with Down Syndrome she has become a voice for those who have no voice….like Simon.  Be blessed, encouraged and challenged by her words.  Pass it on, and together, as The Body of Christ, we can bring Simon into the family that God created him for.

Their is something I have wanted to share with you for a while now.  It’s something bigger than I truly know how to put into words,  my heart pounds right this moment as I type….but today I will try….

Just when I thought God’s work was truly being done with Grady  in our lives, he layed upon my ears and heart the cries of the orphaned.  No longer do I hear silence when closing my eyes to pray. The  forgotten ones that are far beyond my reach are now close within our heart and prayers.   In Eastern Europe when orphaned children with Down Syndrome near their 5th birthday they are transferred to a mental institution where within a year they typically die from neglect of basic care and love.  I ask you to watch these videos first. Please. It will explain a lot.

Dark Side of Serbian Mental Institutions
Serbian Neglect Part. 1

As Grady’s 1st Birthday is nearing, I want to share this story with you…

On February 19th, 2010 somewhere in an Eastern Europe a woman gave birth to a little boy named Simon at the same exact time I was in labor with Grady here in NY.

On February 19th, 2010 that same woman in Eastern Europe discovered her child has Down Syndrome and decided not to care for him at the same time here in the United States I was eagerly anticipating finally seeing Grady’s precious face for the first time.

On February 20th, 2010 at 12:25 am I delivered Grady Wayne in Westchester NY and somewhere in Eastern Europe on that same day Simon was transferred to an orphanage, alone, just because he had Down Syndrome.

On February 20th, 2010 I fell head over heals in love with my little Grady Wayne.

On February 20th 2010 Simon had no one to love him. He had no mother to hold his tiny hands, to sing him to sleep, or keep him warm. He was an Orphan.

On February 24th 2010, in the midst of  a very cold winter we brought Grady into our warm home, covered him with blankets, provided unconditional love, and rocked him to sleep.

On February 24th 2010, Simon fell asleep with no mother to rock him and surrounded by the cries of other abandoned children, mostly with Down Syndrome.

About six months ago when I first fell in love with Simon my mind started to race… he was born just a day before Grady… The connection is deep within my soul. I can’t imagine Grady living in the conditions that Simon does, it breaks every piece of my heart when I think of it.

Simon as a baby, the photo I first fell in love with!

On January 21st 2011… You, yes you reading this get to be a part of Simon’s Story, you  get to be a part of Saving Simon from a mental institution like the one in the video above.  You get to be a part of the rest of his story…

Simon is celebrating his 1st Birthday alone on Feb 19th, but our mission and prayers is that this will be his last birthday alone. Will you help us?

Since finding Simon on Reece’s Rainbow (an accredited and nationally known International Down Syndrome Orphan Ministry) I have been praying for him fervently. I have been praying for his forever family to find him soon. While, both Paul and I feel called to adopt one day… unfortunatley ( I say this with tears and a great sigh) we aren’t in the position right now to do so. …If God opens that door to do so within the next year, you bet your bottom we will take Simon…  But until then what we can do is raise money towards his adoption fund to help his forever family bring him home.  It typically will cost around $25,000 + to bring him home… he has $1,000 dollars right now….

Meet Simon Today:

Sometime within the last year  my view on international adoption changed. I used to think why adopt internationally when their are so many children here  in the States who need our help? The realization is that here in the land of opportunity, America, we don’t have mental institutions locking up and killing off children with Down Syndrome. Every child from every nation is God’s child… they all need our help.

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

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Grady is a blessed little boy, he has never-ending love, mountains of clothes, therapy toys and bins and bins of fun gadgets and gizmos. He needsnothing. So in honor of his birthday we ask our followers, strangers, friends and family to help Simon.

You can do so by clicking on Simon’s picture above or HERE. We ask you to share this post a thousand times, email it to friends and family, blog about it, tweet it, facebook it…and mostly pray about it.  Watching Simon’s adoption fund grow will be an abundant blessing for all. Glory to God.

“Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act.”  Prov. 24:12

 

You can be a part of something amazing. With ever dollar raised Simon is one step closer to home. I am so excited to see what God will do with this fundraiser, I am excited to be a part of something in honor of Grady’s 1st Birthday…. to  finally after months of praying see Simon’s story begin unfolding.

On Reece’s Rainbow website you can keep track of Simon and his adoption process as well as his adoption fund. How absolutely exciting right?

To see awesome stories of once orphaned children already brought home to their forever families click here.

 

Matthew 21:21

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

 

Let’s Make a Miracle Happen!

CLICK on the Donate Button under his Simon’s name on the link above…

ONE VOICE

*LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE DONATED BELOW or EMAIL me at ardler2002@hotmail.com*

Seeing God in the Upper Deck

My friend Jim Moore sent me this by email and I asked him if I could post it here.

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about that Philies fan who gave the foul ball to his daughter only to see her throw it back on the field. If you haven’t seen the video you should watch it here.

The father, who was attending the Phillies game with his three-year-old daughter, had never caught a foul ball even though he had been attending games since he was three as well. But on this night he caught his first foul ball. As he joyously fist bumped with his fellow fans, he handed the prized ball to his daughter. Who promptly threw the ball away!

What has touched the heart of everyone who saw this video is the beautiful way the father responded to the daughter. Never losing his smile he instantly took her into his arms and told her everything was just fine. What a perfect picture of a father who never, for even an instant, loses sight of what is most important – that his child knows how pleasing and loved they really are.

What I keep thinking of how is that father is like our heavenly Father and how rarely I see God as this kind of father. There is no question that this father did the right thing. Every one of us feels it instantly in our gut as we watch what happens. And we all rejoice when we see the little girl toddle into his arms. We know without explanation that this is what a father should do.

So if it is so elementally right, then it must be a shadow of how our Father acts in right relationship with the Spirit and the Son and any adopted child who enters into that relationship. Could it be that this is how God reacts to me as I stumble through my days here on earth? Is it possible that as I struggle to do the right thing – and cluelessly fail over and over again – the Father is smiling at me and waiting to take me into His arms?

In one way I am just like that three year old. Every day the Father gives me blessings and experiences and I blithely throw them away not knowing what they cost or even what they mean. But if what the Bible says is true then nothing ever can separate me from the love of Christ.

In another way I am totally different from her. As soon as things got confusing she went straight into her father’s arms. She didn’t even know what she had done. She didn’t try to fix it. She didn’t promise to do better, read a book, join a group, or make a new chart. I am prone to do all those things. But maybe my Father wants me to run to Him first and dwell in his love instead of trying to fix what I don’t even understand and can never fix.

Ask yourself how you feel about God. When you blow it do you see a God utterly pleased with you who deeply loves you and wants you in His arms immediately? Or does your image of God involve a stern father who cares more about your behavior than your little heart?

Do any of us have any idea how thrilled with us the God of the Bible really is? I really hope we learn soon.

Manry Family Adoption Testimony

I love hearing how God leads others to adopt. Here is a wonderful testimony from new friends we met in Uganda.

Mark and I have had a heart for adoption since before we married. I can remember distinct conversations about the possibility of adopting regardless of whether we were able to have our own children. The vision of a blended family was desirable to us because of the spiritual significance of it reflecting the diverse family of God. We understand ourselves as the wild olive shoots Paul speaks of in Romans 11 that, by faith and through Jesus, have been grafted in among the other branches to be nourished by the rich root. We are thankful to God for extending such a generous and compassionate heart toward us. And we give him glory for our rich inheritance as his children. Adoption is part of God’s long history of redemption, a story that has become our story. As people created in his image, we not only rejoice in the ways we are already like him, but we strive to become increasingly shaped in his image. With this in mind, our family desires to imitate the way God loves…at least the best way we know how! One way we are doing this is by opening our hearts and home to those who don’t know the love of parents or the grace of God.