Dark auditorium. Hands upraised. Vibration of drums and guitars flood every corner of the huge space and flow out the doors. Behind the band, huge screens panel the walls. On screens are faces. Faces of children. Two contemporary songs, drums driving, with voices and hands raised around the room. Fervent worship. Then comes a...
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(Michael and Amy Monroe) Knowledge and understanding is key. We need to dig deep, become learners. Remember, compassion for our children shouldn’t have a shelf life. “They’ve been home 3 years” is not an excuse for losing our compassion for a hurting child. Default strategies are often not helpful. What worked to successfully parent...
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This session was co-led by Michael and Amy Monroe, who have a church ministry that encourages adoptive families. They also have four children, two of whom were adopted. MICHAEL Michael reminded us that parents are the agents of healing for adopted children. To do that effectively, you have to be healthy yourself. There’s nothing...
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(Today I am live-blogging conference sessions at the Together For Adoption Pre-Conference.) ———— The speaker is Karyn Purvis, author of the book The Connected Child. More resources including videos are on the Empowered To Connect website. Adopting a child is not the same as bringing home a child by birth. New adoptive parents ask:...
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I rouse myself at 8 AM for a run with 3 of my boys. I head for the shower afterward, and my two little girls beg to keep me company. Usually I have the shower to myself, but thinking of the next four days I say yes. They grin in delight. We know goodbyes...
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Our older girls (part 1) Our older girls (part 2) On May 15th, 2007, our dossier left for Ethiopia. The next thing we were waiting for was the news that our case had been submitted to the Ethiopian courts. As we waited we were anxious to let our girls get a glimpse of our...
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I’m sooo excited to be attending the Together for Adoption conference! It’s Sept 30-Oct 2nd in Austin, TX. Are you going? Are you thinking about going? If you live anywhere near Austin, please do–I’d love to meet you there! Turning in your registration before Sept 1st will get you the lower early bird registration...
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Our older girls (part 1) Although John and I were in immediate agreement when considering adopting these 9 and 11 year old girls, the journey had its share of obstacles. Money, amazingly, was not one of them. Between a tax refund and the sale of my first book, God had that covered. The first...
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People ask now and then about our adoption stories, and I always refer them to the ‘Adoption’ category/tab at the top of the blog. Not too long ago I skimmed through the category myself and realized that although I blogged some about our 12 and 14 year old daughters’ adoption as it was in...
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Just got done booking a plane ticket and I’m all excited. I’ve been invited to attend the TOGETHER FOR ADOPTION conference September 30th thru October 2nd in Austin, TX. Read here if you want to know more about the vision for this conference, but one big goal is to equip and inspire the church...
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