I have always had a particular unofficial agreement with
God. In fact I have repeatedly thanked Him that He has never asked me to travel
for His works. I have been happily serving him in my wonderful comfort zone of
Canada and the US for as long as I can remember. In fact I joke about it to my
husband all the time. We foster, adopt, run orphan ministries, all things I can
do from the comfort of my own Country. It just so happens that I am not a fan
of ethnic food, REALLY not a fan of bugs, kind of a germ phobic so DEFINITELY
not a fan of public bathrooms…or strange bathroom set ups. But above all else, I am TERRIFIED of flying.
I even pondered adopting from a different country just so that I wouldn’t have
to fly (some countries fly the children out to you). So there you have it, I
have been comfy cozy with where God had me (I think that is the problem right
there isn’t it!).
This past year I have started following an amazing blog www.nogreaterjoymom.com The author is
an adoptive mother and astounding advocate for adoptions; special needs
adoptions to be exact. Many of her posts have to do with children in the
Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Eastern Europe in general where special needs children
remain in orphanages wasting away. By
the age of 4 or 5 they are transferred to mental institutions where they live
out the rest of their lives, no touch, no stimulation, and definitely no love.
Many of them have minor special needs yet so many of them deteriorate to almost
nothing from lack of resources, food, and neglect.
Myself and a few friends recently started the process of
opening a Christian adoption agency. While we plan on facilitating adoptions
from anywhere, foster care and international special needs adoptions will be
our focus, with significantly reduced fees making adoptions more accessible. My
heart is to see the very children in these Eastern European countries come home
to their forever families. I figured this would involve setting up connections
in those countries and merely facilitating adoptions.
Man was I ever wrong! A couple of weeks ago I woke up and
immediately felt God telling me that I needed to go to Bulgaria. That was kind
of strange as God had never asked anything like this of me before, and he knew
our unofficial deal…didn’t He? I immediately
tried to pass the buck off on my husband and asked him if he might be
interested in going. He of course was, as he loves to travel, yet as I asked
him it felt wrong somehow. I had never experienced these feelings before. I had
never had any sort of inkling towards travelling anywhere! I started to argue
with God. “Come on now, really? Me? Are you SURE?”
But he kept coming back with the same answer that it was ME
who was supposed to go to Bulgaria. Since then I have been a bit freaking out.
I wake up in the mornings terrified and ready to call the entire thing off, then
by the afternoon I am excited and researching hotels and country information
etc. I have been on a major emotional roller coaster! Yet deep down, past all
my irrational fears, I feel confidant and excited for what this trip will
bring! I will be going down the first week of September with a small team from
our agency where we will spend a week traveling around Bulgaria visiting the
various orphanages filled with special needs children, forging relationships
and having our Hearts broken for what already breaks God’s. I am hoping to come
home changed and even more on fire to advocate for these precious and forgotten
children that so desperately need a home! Until then I think some antacid might
be in order J
If you are interested in seeing a video series of what life is like for these children please click here.
