More Than Turkeys

Thank you. 

In a world where much of what you hear is negative, gloomy, or depressing, we want to take a moment to just say thank you. 

We're thankful family who love us, friends who support us, and a God who sustains us. 

Here in Mexico, it doesn't feel so much like the regular Thanksgiving week, but we can still be thankful! We miss you and hopefully we'll get to see you for a little bit when we're home around Christmastime. 

How do we move forward?

How many of us get excited when someone comes to us and says:

"You're doing it all wrong"?

Probably not the words you wanted to hear; am I right? 

Over the past few weeks, we've been learning things that we wouldn't have imagined. Through a recent training by a group from Costa Rica (Casa Viva) and reading a couple insightful books (When Helping Hurts and Toxic Charity), it feels like God has taken a wrecking ball and let it come smashing through our glass walls of what we were used to doing. 

In certain ways, living in Mexico makes us feel like we're 50 years behind. For example, foster care was implemented in the United States to replace children's homes and institutional orphanages years ago. After much research, studies show that for children living in an institution, their emotional, physical, and social development are drastically decreased. But when those children are in a family environment such as their biological family, a foster family, or an adoptive family, their overall development is greatly increased and they stand much better chances of experiencing restoration and healthy growth to prepare them for life. 

However, foster care does not exist in Mexico. We heard from Casa Viva even more confirmation that children need family settings instead of institutions. They need out of children's homes and in real homes instead. To share a bit of their story, Casa Viva is a Costa Rican group that is ran almost completely by Costa Rican nationals. They began to work with their government to introduce and help facilitate foster care in a country where foster care did not exist as an alternative. Children's homes do still exist in Costa Rica, but they are no longer the first and only alternative for children who have no parents or someone close to take care of them. All this to say, children's homes are still much better than if the child were living on the street, but we should be working towards a long-term goal of restoration and seeking a family environment of some kind for each child. 

What do we do now? 

While there are still kids in children's homes who need love and taken care of in the meantime, we would like to move towards more long-term goals of establishing relationships between children and families. How does that happen? We build more relationships with the local church and help equip and work with them to step up to the responsibility. 

And as we've been reading the two books I mentioned, that's what we're coming back to over and over again. The local church is the one responsible to step up all around the world and carry out the call of "defending the orphan and pleading for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17). 

The beautiful and sometimes suprising truth is that you don't have to go to another country to do that. Look around you. You have the opportunity to love your neighbor as yourself wherever in the world you are. 

--Nathan 

163 Million

Be the difference for ONE.

On certain days, the weight of seeing what some of the children, adults, and families have gone through, hearing their personal stories, and learning about the difficulties and odds that surround them weighs heavier than other days.

It's been one of those weeks.

After hearing statistics and research that show the effects of what living in an institution has upon children and not only their physical development but also their emotional, social, spiritual, and educational development, it's easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you can't make a dent in the situation.

And to be honest, that's not far off from the truth. You and I can't transform the child's life. That's the miracle of Jesus and His beautiful story of redemption, pursuit, and restoration. It's humbling to know that I can't fix a situation by simply snapping my fingers (not to mention, I can't even snap--true story). But it's so comforting to know that we have been adopted into His family and that He allows us to be part of His kingdom story (wherever in the world we are).

It's the story that He's been weaving together since before we ever realized.

That truth is what picks me back up and gives me the motivation to keep going. No amount of legal bureaucracy, government officials, politics, corrupt systems, spiritual darkness, or human opposition can stand up against the power of the Holy Spirit.

After reading Isaiah 1:17 "Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow," one can see promises for those who carry that out. With today being "Orphan Sunday," it's a great opportunity for the church to step up and be a voice for the voiceless.

Ways you can help:

--Pray: For the estimated 163,000,000 orphans around the world; for those who have lost one or both parents, as well as for those who are a "social orphan," who might have biological parents still but for one reason or another are not in a family setting.
--Become foster parents: Help show the love of Jesus by taking children into your home and inviting them to be part of your family.
--Support a foster family: Make them a meal, take the kids out to a park.
--Depending on where you live, find out if there's a children's home that you can help at.
--Adopt: Easier said than done, but I guarantee if you ask anyone who has done this, they wouldn't regret it for one second.
--Support an adoptive family: Bring them in as part of your extended family. Help them in any way you can. Do they need diapers? A babysitter? School fees?
--Pray more: Pray for governments to make wise decisions that protect children; for orphans of any kind to experience healing, restoration, and fulfillment in walking out the purpose Jesus has for them; and then pray for anything else you can think of. :)

No matter how overwhelming the responsibility we have may seem, it's worth it. And remember, we have Jesus as the source of our strength.

--Nathan