Today I wanted to share a link to a Mark and Keren Riley's blog. They have allowed an adoptive mother of a Ugandan son to share her story. It's long and it's hard, but it's good. "This is the truth. The messy, hard, ugly truth. The truth about how a well intended mother's heart, messed it all up. Admitting that I...
Today the New York Times published an article about orphan care and adoption in Haiti. The article by Nicole Brennan, Campaign in Haiti to Close Orphanages Where Many Aren't Orphans At All, highlights an important issue. The article also raises some challenging questions. But in many ways, the article does not dig deep enough into what is a very complicated issue. [caption id="attachment_809" align="alignleft"...
I serve on the Advisory Committee for A Child's Voice, a non-profit that advocates for the rights of children in Uganda and across Africa. Today I had the honor of guest posting on the ACV website, telling a story you need to read...
Last night I could hardly sleep. I was thinking about mothers and babies in Africa. About young women who face difficult choices and impossible odds. And about how the simplist of things - a sterile razor blade, a bar of soap, a warm blanket - can mean the difference between life and death for a mother or her child. I was also thinking about...
Wow. I cannot believe a year has gone by. This time last year, I was preparing for my first Noonday Collection Trunk Show. A year later, I've had the opportunity to do nearly 40 trunk shows. I've had the opportunity to share my heart for widows and orphans with hundreds of women in Seattle. I've been been able to encourage...
Over the last few weeks, I went to the Orphan Summit in California and then eventually to Uganda to do research for the book I am writing. In both of these places, I had the opportunity to visit and interview people who are passionate about orphans and adoption in Uganda. In conversation after conversation, however, I watched these friends who share...
As a follow up to my post about Orphans and Adoption in Uganda yesterday, I wanted to share a few ways to get involved. I also wanted to clarify one thing. One person said she agreed with what I wrote until then end where I said "consider adopting older and special needs kids." In saying this, I do not want to...
Most of my readers know we adopted our daughter, Gabrielle, from Uganda last year. Other than sharing a little of our experience adopting Gabrielle, I have been fairly quiet about Ugandan adoptions on this blog. I have wanted to be sensitive to other families in process. But at the same time, I have been learning everything I can about adoption...
When my husband and I began our adoption journey two years ago, we knew little about ethical adoption. We wanted another child. We felt God had put adoption on our hearts. We knew there were millions of orphans around the world in need of families. As we read blogs written by adoptive families, we were captivated by the stories of transformation....
This is a post I originally wrote on December 1, 2011 - World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is celebrated every year on December 1 - but more than 33 million people live with HIV or AIDS every day. I want to share the truth about HIV and AIDS everyday until the stigma is gone. Did you know that more than 30 million people...