Morning Light Home and Crisis Pregnancy Center

Chinese New Year

2012-01-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

As this year comes to an end(I can say that cause it is almost Chinese New Year here!), there are so many things I could write about. This year has carried many joys and sorrow, laughter and tears, calmness and storm, but most of seeing God working in the lives of many, including myself. It has been a difficult year in many ways. The ministry of literally saving lives of the unborn, and touching souls of the needy is a rollercoaster at times.

Many times in the ministry, it is quite easy to be discouraged. Things get very tired, but not the physical tiredness that I think I can handle. But emotional tiredness as you try your hardest to not bear the burden of these mommas in crisis on your shoulders. I am often reminded of Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” God reminding us to give it all, burdens included over to HIM.

I love how God uses the most unexpected things and people, to encourage us. In ministry, we need to see God in everything, not just a few things. In our work with mommas in crisis, many times we don’t see how God is working out things right away, but later on. Like this week, I received an email from a young momma who was being coerced to have an abortion. She did not want it, yet, she couldn’t keep the baby and she did not want to lose her boyfriend. Finally, through God’s power, she came to our ministry. She gave her baby up for adoption and her daughter is now almost 2 years old. This momma, Ah J, wrote me this week.

“Shr Mu (what I am called here), I really want to thank you all for being there for me. It is because of your encouragement and company that I was able to give birth to my daughter, that decision is the best decision I will have made my entire life time. Because I believe God planned it all this way, I love God too. God gave me the greatest gift ever, my daughter. She is an angel sent from God, every baby is an angel sent by God. Abortion, is the same as “murder”, I am anti abortion. If I ever come across other women who were in the same situation as I was, I pray that you all can help them too. I watch the happenings at MLH and hope I can help out some way. I am after all “one of the MLH family.”

This my friends, is not something made up. This came at the right time, sent by our Heavenly Father. For every momma we reach, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually, we actually reach more. These mommas know that we truly care about them and when they meet someone in need, they will reach out to them because we reached out to them.

I want to take this time to thank many of you who have donated items to our MLH as well as to those who have financially supported us. Through your donations, you are a part of this ministry. This ministry of working with crisis pregnancies is not the ministry of MLH, but those who are supporting through prayer or finances or material needs. If you haven’t donated yet, please consider donating to keep more babies away from the pain of abortion, as well as sheltering women from the pain of abortion.

As we look forward to next year our theme is “The Value of One.” We will keep strong our faith in God that HE will continue to work strong thru us. As Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Let us all look forward to the ministry of 2012.

Food Bank 12/13/2011

2011-12-13T01:31:00.000-08:00

Today, Alexia,Wuli, Luke and I headed out with a few boxes to pass out. We spent most of the morning doing this. Our first momma is a single mom to 3 boys. She is divorced due to domestic violence. She made it through those first years with one baby on her back, one in a stroller and holding on to ones hand while walking around collecting cardboard boxes. Today she is doing a bit better, but still struggles. We found out that her and her boys had been bathing in cold water because she didn't have the $25US to buy a new tank of propane gas. Thank the Lord, through donations, we were able to help her get a tank of gas right away. Hugs and encouragment lifted the spirits of this young momma. Her oldest is diagnosed ADHD and other two go to therapy for developmental delays. She is doing her best.

Keeping a family together, no matter what is so important. We have single parents and both parent families. Just a word of encouragement, a hug, a smile, letting them know you DO care, it means so much. Sometimes even more than the food you bring!

This past week we received 6 blankets and 300kilos of rice!! The donators dropped it off across the street. We moved it bag by bag....about 30kilos per bag! Go Alexia!! we train our MLCA women:-)

Grandparents in Taitung often are left with the care of their grandchildren. Children's parents may or many not be married, may or may not send money home. So often, the grandparents, even with health problems, are often left struggling to take care of their grandkids. This couple is so sweet. Grandpa was almost in tears and saying "too much!" They had come to town, over an hour one way via scooter!!

While we normally distribute food, someone sent all these umbrellas!! This is awesome and a gift no one normally thinks about.

What we came back to after distributing our last boxes!!

Did you complain today about what you don't have? This momma cleaned up before we came!!

A very happy 3 year old playing with a toy given. Joy and excitment.

A reporter went with us today, one question he asked Luke was:"how come you all seem to have such a good relationship with your clients? I don't see this often, and I see alot of stories." I thought that was an interesting observation. I thanked God that HE allowed this reporter to see this difference! It is because of God we can do this, that is the difference. We are not doing this for pictures or for recognition, nope, we are doing it because God put it there before us!

Matthew 25:35-40

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Thanksgiving....2011

2011-11-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

This year, Thanksgiving we had two extras.....Bethany and our foster daughter, Yi Mei. We didn't scramble or worry about getting a turkey, we had KFC:-) YEAH!! along with that, garlic bread, broccili, apple crisp, mashed potatoes and the kids made pumpkin spice cookies (thanks to a family who sent Betty Crocker!!). It was a great time of noise (well, that is normal at my house) and just eating away. We didn't have a humungous get together. We are going to try to go to the English fellowship on Sunday and spend some time with friends there.

The kids and Bethany colored turkey to decorate our kitchen door. I understand they reinacted the Thanksgiving story with Anna as the turkey....should have that on record!!LOL!

Since it is not a holiday in Taiwan, I did have to spend some time in the center. I did have to take a momma to court for an adoption hearing. The staff sent me home later saying it is an American holiday GO HOME!! Luke and I went shopping by ourselves!! rarity!

My post on facebook captured alot: this Thanksgiving we are so thankful to be celebrating in spirit with so many people! We are thankful to the Lord for his protection and guidance this past year, but most of all HIS promises of being with us through it all. We have been through alot, we have gotten to know so many families and friends who encourage and support this ministry. Thank the Lord, not just on Thanksgiving for all HE has done and all HE is still planning to do.
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

ｊｕｓｔ　ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ　ｗｅｅｋ：）

2011-11-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

If you saw my facebook post today, you will know it has been a week. In many ways, we are so excited to see what God is doing, yet at times due to tension still there, we feel like we have to look over our shoulder or becareful of what we say and where we go. But, thinking about that feeling, it is not right. We have done nothing wrong and are in God's will. Why be afraid? God has brought so much to us knowing we can handle it, why not just leave it in HIS hands.

A former momma came by this week to see me. She messaged me on facebook to see if I was there. Honestly, that day, I was busy and tired. But I told her I had to leave in 15min, so if she could be here before then, okie dokie. She was there in 5 min flat!! She comes in saying "Shr Mu....I need a hug!!" Gave her a hug, held her, let her cry and talked to her. Her boyfriend (only one in the past year) had broken up with her. There were many reasons, and we all saw it coming. Nothing really major, just broke up. She is feeling alone, sad, rock bottom. She has a 3yr old, no job and one month left on her place to stay. Talk about lonely. We talked some and then I had to go about my meeting.

Later that day, I was thinking about her. There are mixed opinions about are we holding on, are we helping her? Some say we are not letting her stand up for herself and she is relying on others too much, especially me (gee....I often here that...I help too much!LOL!). I don't know really what to think. I do know that God has her continuing to come to us when she is down and lonely, I do know she has been coming to church regularly, and I do know she is needing help. Physical help as in a job, child care and paying for things, no I cannot do that, but emotional and spiritual help....I will stay by her side as long as it takes!

We welcomed a new baby in the world yesterday. He has a wonderful family already. Being at births are bitter sweet. So excited for the new babies, the new lives. Hearing a baby cry for the first time is so exciting. But then I look down on the momma who is trying to be tough and not cry, or looks away. We try to comfort them, but no matter what it is still hard for them. They just went through hours of pain and labor, then delivery, but will be leaving with empty arms and an aching heart. Their decisions are ones that are so brave. Not having an abortion for one, then facing family, normally being kicked out of the house or arrangements made for them to live elsewhere til birth. This momma was lucky, her family came to visit her at the hospital. But that is a rarity.

It is times like this when I am so thankful that I have a Heavenly Father who I know wraps ＨＩＳ　ａｒｍｓ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｍｅ　ａｎｄ　ｃｏｍｆｏｒｔｓ　ｍｅ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｏｎｅ　ｅｌｓｅ　ｃａｎ。　Ｔｈａｎｋ　ｙｏｕ　Ｌｏｒｄ！！

We have been busy!!

2011-10-31T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well, hope everyone is busy spreading the news about our fundraiser!!Can't wait to see who won what and how things are going. This first one doesn't seem to have made an affect, but slowly but surely, things will get moving.

It seems that I can't figure out a good color and blog design. This is not my cup of tea, so please all bear with me!! Adding on the next few days we have people and guests coming out our ears:-). Then when that is all done, Luke goes for a ministry trip to China, to teach to the underground Bible Institute. He was asked "How do you tell God's will and and God's plan?" by a student via chat room last week.....glad he is the teacher and not me!! 0.0

Well, two babies met their forever families and will be at AIT later this week. So happy!! And as God has it planned, one newborn came in and another due any day. God has been good in keeping us busy!! Please pray for mommas and babies as they get adjusted, each a different way.

This weekend we received a phone call from an organization who said they had a hotline phone call. The 20+ year old momma is in the beginning of her 2nd trimester, kicked out of hom and boyfriend broke up with her. She had told our hotline person she would sleep at a friends house and then come here by train. Though when she got here she said she ended up sleeping at a 7/11 with her friend accompanying her. She is living in a fairy tale. Denial, that's what it is right now. She is denying that there are issues. Her parents will want her back, her boyfriend will think all is ok. She immediately said "no adoption." We said we never thought that!!! our purpose to give mommas in crisis a safe haven, physically, emotionally and spiritually during this time. We offer, in fairness, counseling in both, but there is no requirement. I think she was like "OH". She has a way to go. She needs prayer though.

Morning Light Christian Association is working on it's first fundraiser here. We are going to do a Pizza DIY (that is the plan!). Pray for us as we hate to and don't really have the man power to do all this, but at this point, it is much needed. We have some ideas for moms to get some things done and all. So please pray. We really do need coworkers, but we just can't pay them!!

What fundraisers could you all do?

Look what the mommas have been doing....

2011-10-21T02:21:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful mommas have been busy. Our 3 mommas and a single momma have been busy learning the art of cross stitching. They have done Christmas coasters! We are taking orders:-)......

1 set has 6 coasters

1 set = $10

Let me know if you want to order them...

mommas......

2011-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, my Friday was long and was so glad to finally get home! I did find out that our 3 mommas had their prenatals. Two are very close to delivery and one has a bit to go. One is having a c/section and was very happy to hear the dr say, no exercising or anything strenous before your surgery date. Now she has an excuse:p The other, well, she is doing well, hanging on and has swollen feet. But she is doing well. Our other momma, due to previous situation from last year, she is here on trial period. Dr has told her (again) that baby is too small, she is anemic and she needs to take care of herself. Other than us force feeding her, there is only so much that we can do. We watch her intake and all, but she has to want it too.
Unfortunately, this is a mentality we have seen again and again. Momma comes to us in second trimester, which is too late for an abortion, or the abortion would be too expensive and they can't afford it. So, she doesn't really WANT the baby, she can't have an abortion so she just goes on with life. If she takes care of HER body that is fine, but she doesn't want the baby, so why bother really. It is such a selfish mentality. Though, on the other hand, it is a way of "ignoring it and it will go away." They can't keep the baby, so do anything they can to be as distant as possible. It is sad.

I have given a book "When Trouble Comes" to a single momma who has been coming to church. She is one of our "graduates". She has agreed to go through it with me. PLEASE PRAY that she will meet with me. I really feel that her spirit is getting closer to opening up and her seeing her need of a Savior. Pray for Irene.

This week will be busy as usual. Pray as we meet with a non resident as well.

To God be the glory GREAT things HE has done......and will do!

Deana

This is the day....

2011-10-13T02:29:00.000-07:00

"This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Well, today we took Bethany to get her paperwork figured out. I am so glad we don't have to travel hours and hours away like in some countries, but stupid issues, we have them here too.

First, the volunteers there were instisting on speaking English with me and didn't look happy when I was like "WHAT? you need 6 copies of the passport?" She was like NO!! print....she was TRYING to say xerox copy but it was not sounding like that!!

Then Bethany takes all her paperwork out (that she thought she left in the USA but found it here!!) and Mr. Chen, head of something at Foreign Affairs was like "oh, do you know Hillary Clinton? she needs to sign your paper, this no have her sign." He was trying to be funny in an unfunny way meaning, Secretary of State signature. YEAH! they NOW say that, oh, she needs to have her fingerprints checked by FBI. -.- never a dull moment here.......poor Bethany.......I wanted to cry for her. SO I will be up at AIT tomorrow with a momma (birth mom interview) and ask them about it or if they have the forms or whatever. So totally annoying!

So, then Alexia comes back this afternoon. Had two phone calls that were rather, um, not unpleasant, just like "is everyone in a high position here on drugs?!" (ok, that was very unChristian like, but sometimes you wonder!). First, the form we were given to refill out about how many moms we have had here the past three months, we did. We filled it out according to what they gave us.......well, it wasn't what they WANTED. They also gave out the wrong email, so we can't just get the exact form they wanted.......are you confused? I am!! Last week they sent us paperwork saying they redid the form, we copied that as they wrote it because they never emailed their form to us. We did the paperwork and took it over, now they say it is not the right format.......seriously wonder if they are trying to cause problems here (wouldn't be suprised!)

THEN the paperwork for our association... get this......we have to have "stand by" for our committee members so if something tragic happens and we need a replacement, then we have one. Well, we were informed that we had two on standby and there could only be one -.- so we had like 30min to redo that paper with one persons name on it, not two.....thank the Lord Alexia keeps good paperwork trails. She was on it and did it right away!!WOOHOOO!!!!!

But this is how my day has been......how was yours? :-)

Double Ten....

2011-10-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "Double Ten Celebration" 10/10 is the day marking Taiwan's 100th Birthday.

Our moms didn't do anything special, just stayed at home, our family went to lunch out in the rain:p

Yup, it rained all day.

Today, 10/11, we got back to work. Met at the office, had a staff meeting. Though as I think about it now, we did not start or end in prayer. Unfortunately, I am being quite honest and saying that it seems when we have meetings things pop up and people running back and forth and we forget about prayer. We need to start a regular meeting time and starting with prayer!!

Saturday we had a new momma move in. She looks sooooooooooooo young.....well.....she is! She is 21yrs old. Lynn (I call her that) thought her long time boyfriend would want the baby and her, but well, as the story goes........nope. Her family kept her at home as long as possible til neighbors started getting suspicious. So she moved in on Saturday. That makes 3 mommas we have right now.

I was looking back over our monthly reports, and it seems we average 5 mommas a month, though not at one time. It seems there has not been a month since Chinese New Year where we have NOT had a momma living in the home. Unfortunately, the home is old and the weather here is humid. We repainted the first two floors back in February, and now they are starting to bubble and peel.....great! So we are possibly looking for a new place. There are a few issues we are working out and how we can do this under our new association. But we know God will work it out. We also know that this is a work that cannot stop. Too many mommas need a place to live, a place to care for them.

Pray for our current mommas: Lynn, Judy and Baby (that is what she says her name is -.-)

pray they can stay healthy physically and we can heal them spiritually.

Oil in my lamp....

2011-10-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

This is a ministry is not for the faint of heart. There are times when you just want to smack people, and times when you don't know if you are coming or going. Times when you really want to go to a seminar, but for some reason God puts things in the way and you just follow God's leading.

A mom called, we had talked to her before. The "story" was that she was pregnant with another man's baby and her husband didn't want the baby. I followed up with this momma on Friday. Well, not what it seems. Baby is her husbands, but she wants a divorce because he is too traditional.....more or less meaning that her (21yr old with a 3yr old and now pregnant) idea is to just have fun, where her husband's idea (he is 30yr old and working, they have been married for one year!) is she needs to be responsible. So, she ended up hanging up on me. Another story for that book in the making!!LOL! (she was the one I wanted to smack....very immature!)

But later, a former mom who adopted her baby out, came by. She does every so often. She told me the funniest thing (she didn't think it was funny....she was quite serious.) She went to the temple the other to do the ritual (long story), and she saw someone she faintly knows, but the lady was crying and all and so our momma, Ah Fen, went and talked with her. The lady was in despair of some issues and contemplating suicide, she had no one to talk to so she came to the temple to talk to Matzu (Sea goddess), but she felt the sea goddess was ignoring her (uh...duh!! yeah...it is a block of wood or metal decorated well!). So Ah Fen tells her she can tell her problems to the foreign pastor's wife (me!!LOL!!) and told her story. The lady is like "so they will talk to non Christians?" yeah!! but churches ask for money and I don't have money.......Ah Fen told her, well, they have never asked for money and I have eaten there alot (she tends to come to potlucks!!LOL!). The lady said she had been at a church for a bit but when she ran out of money, she was asked to leave (ok...that is the 3rd time I have heard of a story like that!). So anyway, Ah Fen was like "Shrmu (what I am called in Chinese, means Pastors wife!LOL!) I may have talked her into coming on Sunday." Though Ah Fen might not come-.-

But I was excited to see that we had made an influence on her that she could and would tell others to talk to the "foreign Shrmu".

See, that is what we are here for!! Making an influence!!God knew I needed that at that time.

Pray was we reach out to another momma this week. She will be with us a short time, so pray we can have an influence on her!!

We still need Morning Light Angels!!

To Give or Not To Give

2011-10-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

As you know our ministry, Morning Light Home, is having a fundraiser. I know, you are probably think "yeah, yeah, yeah....you are always asking for money." Well, I feel like that too! On this end of things, I will be quite honest and let you know that I abosultely hate asking for money or donations, seriously.....it is like begging I feel. But at the same time, I feel that the Christian family needs to be made aware of the needs of the ministry here and pray about how God can use them in the ministry.

It is very hard finding funds. We started this ministry at our house 2 years ago. Then we "partnered" with a Christian organization that was "so excited" about the helping the women here in Taiwan. The organization had an inhouse agency that did adoptions. Crisis pregnancy center, adoptions, they went hand in hand, no problem. But towards the end of last year, we were beginning to not have peace anymore under the agency as they were giving pressure in areas that we felt were not necessary. After much prayer, counsel and thought, we chose to step out on faith and leave them. Especially after we asked "I thought we were partners" and that was taken off the website, and we were told "we are your boss." We do appreciate the time that we were under them and we learned alot. We humbly backed down and decided to let God be our boss and help us fight our Goliath's.

http://www.goodmanphotography.com/

Taiwan is not a third world country. You can not make it on $30US a month here. That would pay for a month of national insurance, but leave you with $5US for the rest of the month. To rent a small room is $60US, one gallon of milk is $7US+ (ask me how I know!). Taiwan on the outside looks like a developed country, but on the inside it is not. It is a country covered by the dark cloud of Satan's lies and sin. It is a country where abortion is birht control. It is a country where 40%of adult married women have had an abortion and 50% of unwed adult women have had one. It is a country where the live birth rate is 166,00 in 2010, yet the yearly abortion rate is 300,000-500,00. A country where last year 3,000 babies were aborted just becaue they were girls.

Taiwan has a population of 23+million, yet there are only 3 crisis pregnancy centers. Praise God we are all Christian centers. There are family counseling centers that counsel moms to abort. So you can see how important our work is? it is a spiritual warfare to say the least. In our ministry,the only home on the east coast of Taiwan, we have ministered to over 100 mommas in these 2 years. That means over 100 babies saved from the awful pain of an abortion, and 100 mommas saved from the spiritual issues involving an abortion. We have heard many times over, "I am so glad you all are doing this, where else would I go?". Families ignore them or cast them out of the house, friends slowly go away, boyfriends abandon them, they can't get a job, no place to live. That is why we are here, ministering those that no one wants to minister, yet at a crucial time in their lives.

You can probably see from the above the urgency in getting our funding to keep this ministry going. Even if you just donate $5US, that is helpful. The blog has items you can donate and get a chance to win. Or you can be a Morning Light Angel and support us for as much as you can. You can send it through paypal (panshrmu@yahoo.com) or you can get our mission agency address on the blog.

While not every Christian is called into the mission field or this type of ministry, Christians are called to help. Please pray about what part God would have you do in protecting the lives of the unborn.

Til the Trumpet Sounds,

Deana, Alexia, Wuli
Morning Light Staff

Past and Present

2011-09-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

These are past moms, not current ones but this is a blast from the past:-)
These mommas, their babies were adopted by great families, and will be 2yr old soon. Yet, these mommas keep in contact with us. We pray that these moms have great memories while with us. Here they are eating "hot pot" for lunch.

small plants.....giving them something to do....we have these at the office here. This activity is really theraputic, allows them to relax and chat. Then as the plants grow, they have a sense of accomplishment.

Our recent girls have been busy doing these crafts!

Birthday party for one of our girls!!! fun times(past mommas)

And on we go....

2011-09-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should post, but not sure what to post............so, this is a personal post instead of directly ministry oriented......

Family: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED that our beloved Miss Bethany (Jie-jie...means big sister) is coming.She will be here a week from Friday..YEAH!! she is going to visit some friends of hers and get over jetlag (easier said than done!LOL!) and we will set up the stuff and what she feels will work for her. Then October 3rd school starts! The boys have been working on reading and math, I just don't have the umpf to do all of it when I get home. I am so thankful for my family. Sometimes I get worried.....my kids, in all reality are behind in comparison with their peers, both American and Taiwanese, in education. Being bilingual is far from easy. I mean, they can read well in Chinese, the oldest two can read in English (when they want something!LOL!)....Noah, well, he is Noah!! But, they are happy (ok, except for the bickering part....I just think my kids bicker more than most ....annoying!!). But yet, my oldest is working!! what started out as a volunteer (well, mommy volunteered him!!LOL!)at a local vet's office, we know the family and they are cool! they love him so much and how he works that they pay him. He turns 13yr old on 9/10 and he has a job!!!WHAHHHHH.....what other kids can do that? My other two are learning things little by little, sure math, they know (especially when dealing with money). Shakespeare and Mozart or all that stuff....no, they currently don't know it.....maybe some day....They are not illerates either....ok, sounds like I am trying to make myself sound good. I am so thankful for my family and my kids. My kids have never complained why they have to be the ones to open the doors at church, turn on all the lights and fans and all that getting ready stuff while mom goes and picks up mommas for church and dad is preaching at another church. They haven't complained why mommy gets busy, why is daddy in China again. They haven't complained (yet anyway), why we have two teen girls living at our house. I love my kids!!! God has given us great kids. When you pray for your own kids, pray for missionary kids.....they need it as much if not more! they, like pastor's kids, share so much of their parents with others, it is unbelievable. Extra prayer for strength and wisdom is greatly appreciated.

On another note, our landlord (our family home) is sick and wants to sell her house. We have no money to buy a house. But we aren't being kicked out right away either, just kinda the....great, when do we look for a house. I love our house right now......Today Luke said a lady who is a friend of our landlord wants to buy it and stopped by today to ask if we were going to buy it. For $250,000US, no...don't think so. We have to find a big house with our budget......so pray for us, do not need nor want this stress at this time.

Hmmm.....

2011-08-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

Well, Luke has been back a few days and so my brain can finally function. I will admit that the two weeks he was gone seemed like an eternity..................I admit exhaustion!!! And those who know me, that is not something I do often:p

Monday started off with a bang and the rest of the week has followed suit. Monday we had a case that we have been talking to via hotline. Well, she called to say she was at our front door 0.0 So we all ran down to meet her. She is a sweetie. Her story is sweet and sad, and unique.

See, this mom is a Christian and has a 19month old with the same man. She says that her mom (single mom) was hurt alot over the first baby, she can't bare to tell her about the second one. Her church forgave her and took her under their wings, allowed her to serve with the teens at church. She feels HOW can she serve now at church? what about the testimony to the teens? what will people say? Being at church is so hard for her.

The father? He is not a Christian and at first was saying marriage ONLY if she stopped going to church, stopped being a Christian and did the temple worship and held incense and all. She said no. He said bye. His parents? sure get married, have an abortion and start anew....that was a new one!! Never heard get married and then have an abortion......whatever.

She is struggling with her faith as she has falled AGAIN. She has one person at church (Charasmatic) who knows and says we need to have some type of healing/repentance prayer. Now, Luke and I were talking to our team, repentance prayer is nothing we can do for her, it has to come from her heart, not ours. We can pray God leads her in prayer, softens her heart and opens her heart to what she needs. I cannot say she is not a Christian, that is not for me to say. But I can pray for her.

This is the 2nd young Christian momma we have had recently. Both have hidden from church and fear of what church members say. That so breaks my heart. Unfortunately, churches around the world are so judgemental that they turn people away. I am sure you can think of someone in your church who has had a baby out of wedlock, how did your church handle it? how did you? Should we as Christians be able to handle it better? God has forgiven us accepted us, should we do the same for others?

What her final decision will be with the baby, we don't know for sure. She is early on in her pregnancy. The great news is that she knows she WILL NOT abort!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! she has thought about it, but she says she has nightmares then.....um....yeah..... the important part is that here she can work through issues and move on. We pray that here she can come closer to the Lord and see HIS purpose in all of this. We pray that our mommas can be changed when they leave her!!
Pray with us as we work with them!

our schedule begins....

2011-08-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well, today we got an email and a phone call from our first "booking" for the semester. We were asked to go to Chang Bing Junior High School, with a total of 120 students for the entire school. Grades are 7-9th grade. Last year was our first year teaching. This school is awesome. At our Respect Life Rally we had tents for people to sell things. Well, this school decided to make crafts and sell them. At the end of the rally, they brought the entire days worth of money and donated it to Morning Light. It was almost $100US!!!
Now, you are probably saying "oh, wow". But let me tell you.....this group of students and teachers had to travel by bus or car. It is almost 3hours ONE WAY!!! they paid for the trip themselves....left EARLY in the morning to come and didn't get home til late. Many come from rural area (well, ok...ALL as there is no train that even goes there!! only a bus!!). Now, are you saying "OH WOW!!!" we were quite encouraged by them.
So, when we saw their email......we immediately let them know YES!!! so excited. This school is right on the water, beautiful scenery. But being so far out in the country, they are the last to get money so the school is rather pathetic with leaks and broken things and all. Honestly, we are excited to go there and visit. It will be for a long day, but worth it.

Our banner runs next week in our neighboring county. Please pray for this. Normally each time it runs, we get at least one phone call. Now that abortion month is coming up, we are hoping to rescue more babies.

Pray that we can get more people in our area on the "anti abortion" team. Unforutnately, many churches tell people it is the mom's body and she can do what she wants. Yes, this comes from pastors and taught at seminary!!! scary eh? we are praying about being more vocal in the community about pro life. Pray that we can do that and it not cause any problems!!

Still need Morning Light Angels.......the angels will cover the costs of the Unwed mother's home so we can continue to have our services for free!! so please consider what you can do.

8/20

2011-08-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

***I just had a big post all done and all, but erased it....it might seem overwhelming:p.... normally when I say...I have been thinking, everyone runs ---LOL!!!

On 8/20 we have the last of our two meetings to form our association. Morning Light Christian Association will be formal and then we just go on from there:-). Why are we doing this? According to statistics Taitung population is 20% of single parents. Though this does NOT include grandparents taking care of grandchildren, disabled parents and low income families. The need is great. Unfortunately, it seems that helping certain people in society is a fad. I have seen a trend. Everyone gung ho on getting "healthy lunches" to the villages. It happens for a year or two....then slowly money is placed somewhere else. Right now a big thing on helping single parents, and I am sure in a few years, that it will change to something else. Haven't heard of those helping drop out teens (a rarity), just like places like to cover up unwed mothers. Seems that things that might "bring disgrace" to the county or city are quietly done. But things that are done to help make the politician look good are done LOUDLY.............this is a topic that bugs me......so I will stop here:p

These ministries will be with the church and our new association.MLCA wants to do more. Simple. Through MLCA we can get better grants from USA and Taiwan, we can do fundraising within Taiwan and well, we can work more with those in need. Our ministries will be Garden of Grace (daycare for needy families), Blessings Food Closet (not the official name), after school classes for children of low income and single parents, and an office working with in need teenagers (aka, drop outs and dysfuntional families.).....The last one is a need that is great. I was personally approached by a judge asking if we accepted teens! The gov't has had such a big problem with teens recently that they do not know what to do. So we have plans (don't I always!!LOL!).....so prayers.

WE WILL CONTINUE to do our MLH/CPC. According to the gov't, this is private home so we don't need money (HAHAHA!! if they only knew!). Just our resources will be spread out more, our opportunities to reach out to the forgotten people will be greater. So keep your eyes and ears open...and your hearts!!

saddened.....but encouraged

2011-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love it when our Heavenly Father speaks to us and shows us things at the right moment? Just so awesome....shows how much HE loves us!!

This week has been hard. We have had a 17yr old who gave birth already and a 14yr old special needs student who is 7 months pregnant under our ministry at Morning Light. Both cases have given our team a not to great view of the gov't, though we know they have restricitions due to finances and honestly help. Anyway, both, due to their were reported (in Taiwan, girls who are pregnant but under 16 must be reported), and of course it was not til MUCH later that the gov't does their job. (trying to control myself here and be Christian like!). The 17 year old we find out, her case was not as simple as "meeting someone on the internet." AND it seems that her father knew about. Unfortunately, there are more and more cases of poor young girls being used to make money for their family (another story on its own and DON'T get me started!!).
The 14yr old, she does have a GREAT gov't social worker, that I will say. This worker cared enough to call us (ok....tearing up here) and tell us...."Deana, it is has taken a turn for the worse, not what we thought. Her mom lied to all of us and made her daughter lie."***sigh***I don't know who I am more mad at.....the adult relative who did this to a special needs girl or to her mom who ignored it and had her lie!!!!!
We have never run into cases like these, and then BOOM! two at one time. Though one thing Alexia said to me "maybe God is showing us there is a need for another home". We know where the two girls are being kept at, it is a home with the gov't. They have 12 beds and right now 13 girls.......where as we have 8 beds and now down to 2 girls.........nice eh?.........so don't want to get started on that!!

That was the saddened part. The encouraged part was yesterday afternoon, a local pastor came to talk to me (well, Luke is not here) about our church being a spot for "teenager welfare"....well, not welfare as we think in the USA. Let's see (after 15yrs in Taiwan, my brain doesn't function well in English!).......it will be a small center of sorts for teens. We can have classes of all kinds but it will be a place where teens come to and we go and care about them. I am really excited!!!! Then guess what....RIGHT after the pastor left.....a former foster daughter came up on her bike walked in and hugged me!!!"Hi mommy!" ***sniff sniff*** after being with us for 3 years (had rough times, rough love), she stops by. She is still in gov't care due to some circumstances. She really wants to come back and live with us, but that is not possible. BUT she will start transitioning to dormitory for school and so that is great!!!! we have more freedom to visit her and bring her to church on Sundays....I am really excited about that!!

People will call us crazy....I call myself crazy!!....... but we just do as God leads.....no one ever said following God's will will be easy, nor did anyone say you will be rich........nope.....Satan attacks via relationships, health, finances.......you know.......pray for us as we follow God's lead. It would be great to have another missionary couple or even a native couple standing beside us. We need extra help...........where is it? pray for hearts to be burdened to come and minister to Taiwan in unusual ways:-)

Rejoicing in HIM.....

2011-08-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today, I was able to finally find some quiet time with the Lord. I will be quite honest and tell you that unfortunately, this has been rare lately. It seems like Satan always finds something to distract me, and well, I fall easily. But so thankful that today I was reading in Psalms 4 and 5 and read this (though I'd like to put all of it up, I will spare you, go read it yourself:p): ¹¹But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
For some of you, you might understand why this is so special. It was a great reminder today to keep trusting in HIM and HIM alone! And how to keep trusting? by rejoicing, be joyful...shout for joy!!! God defends us, why should we be afraid.

We have had some situations lately. I will be honest, it has been hard when someone, whether a moron doctor or a freshout of college social worker picks on a momma. We recently have had a few mommas that are underage. Due to their age, the gov't here labels it as "s3x abuse" and on behalf of the "child" (momma) try to find and press charges. I so agree and understand that, I do, really. BUT why is it that they do nothing at the time of the report? they do not see if the momma is getting prenatals, or her environment is safe and healthy.........why do they wait til 2-3 weeks AFTER baby is born to start the process? just for DNA? seriously people.

We have our mommas a short time. We not only work on the physical and spiritual side of things,but habits. We had one momma who never had a mom, her dad and brothers, well you get the point. Female hygeine was never taught, she never had a mother. Praise the Lord while here some of her habits have changed. Not only that, she was here only a month and people have noticed a change in her. She is happy and sharing and really starting to think!!! Now she instead of putting things behind her and moving forward, she has to be put back in time. I am rather annoyed............NO.ONE.MESSES.WITH.MY.MOMMAS!!!!

We are hopefully going to start our fundraiser soon. So if you know of any companies who are interested in donating equipement (laptop, ipod;p, kindle, books, jewelry,etc.) anything, please contact me and I will put you to the right person.

We are also working on our framed art and tshirts......so keep watching!! (for the life of me I cannot get this smaller!!! sorry!!!) look below please:

The framed art is as follows: $35US/framed art not including shipping

Choose:
1. Taiwan print to be in : Hakka, Minnan, aborigine (name the tribe)
2. Top left corner to say: Taiwan or family names in Chinese, or family surname
3. Bottom right corner to say: Hakka,Minnan, aborigine tribe, or family surname, or just Taiwan

**the picture above has 1: Hakka print 2.family names 3. Taiwan

Please email me about your order, we have already gotten lots of requests!!!

getting back at it....

2011-07-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I see it has been awhile since I wrote. Let's see, since then, there has been two youth camps (our family went to one and only dh and ds1 went to the other), and many many other things that I wish I could on about here, I can't. But, nevertheless, we can say, things have been exciting!!

Next week we have our first of two meetings for our association. Morning Light Home Association will give us more freedom in fundraising and doing some other community projects for families without too much gov't eyes. While we totally understand the gov't need to be involved, we minister in an area that they don't want the affects of it to be public. Does that make sense? Way back when attempting to start all this, we had the name "unwed mother's home" in our title. We found out later that that was not approved, yet they didn't come out and tell us, it was one of those things that they felt they didn't need to tell us.

I often feel like we are a "bad" dream to the gov't here. First, we are doing a work that they don't want to get involved in. Simple. Unwed mother's to them, are low in society. Social workers have been quoted as saying "if the mom is young, unmarried, pregnant and low income, I will only suggest abortion."-.- That says alot doesn't it. Funny how the gov't knows what we are doing and social workers will say to a momma "go find Deana Pan at this number and address, if she can't help you then come back to us."LOL!!! At times I think they feel we will quickly go away. BUT they can say that in the last two years, they have had less than 5 abandoned babies. We work with the moms and she has a responsibility.

God is so wonderful to us. Each time we feel tired, exhausted, look at the lack of $$, God in HIS goodness shows us at the right time something else. This month alone (yes, I know we are not through July yet) we have counseled at least 2 moms a week. Some are sad stories and really put you into reality. God is showing us, this is why you are here My child. There are women in need, women in crisis, women who say I don't know what to do, no one wants to listen to me, I can't tell my family I am pregnant............the list goes on. As we minister as God wants us to, in other areas, God is bringing up families and friends who are supporting us through material and financial needs. Our financial needs are great, there is no question about that. But God is letting us know little by little that HE is in control. We need to keep our focus on the ONE who holds tomorrow.

At times I have been afraid to post things. I am not one who is going to post baby pictures or momma pictures. I will though tell their stories. I had not posted because I know that there are people who feel they need to be our enemies. But God has been leading me, letting me realize...........All things work together for good to them that love him.....We rely on a God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills....He could sell a few and we would be fine:-).....really, all that to say..........I hope to share more as time allows. God is good, all is done for HIS glory, not done through me but through our mighty Savior Jesus Christ!!!!

WHAT A WEEK!!!

2011-07-08T03:17:00.000-07:00

but not complaining.....I love seeing families together!! I love sitting and chatting and hearing all that God has done for their adoption and all they have learned about their faith via adoption. They love hearing stories of moms and how God is using MLH/CPC in lives here and about the burden God is giving us.

It is things like this that give us encouragement. For our team to see the baby in his/her parents arms, the joy, the tears, the laughter.......how refreshing it is!!

There is a fundraiser blog at: http://livinghopetaiwan.blogspot.com/ so please check it out. This blog will stay because as we get more and more ministries, it will be more and more of our family and ministry together. The other one will be fundraiser blog. I was informed that the group Calling Levi has already sent cd's and t-shirts for fundraiser drawing!! YEAH!!! we have some more coming....if you have anything or know of someone who can help in sending it out, let us know!! The more money we have the more we can serve!!

We have a name for our baby center: Garden of Grace....I can't wait to share all about it. We have volunteer teens for the summer and just had a rundown of everything. So excited!!! GOD IS WORKING!!!

Stay tuned!!

The countdown

2011-06-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Saturday. Sometime this morning, Luke, Joshua and Jeremiah will put our center banner on the front of the church. I wonder if this will bring more attention to the center. Previously we were in an alley, so not like people saw it all the time. Prayers that this will allow those moms who need to see it, to see it. The great thing is: it is 5 blocks from the hospital. While the hospital does not prefer to do abortions, it does first trimester abortions. Who knows, someone might see it and think. That hospital knows us, so we are going to ask about putting up our posters in the ob/gyn section.....prayers please!! any lives we can save!!!

I am nervous.....we don't know how many to expect for Monday morning. Alexia says 20-30....AHHHH!!!.... I have to get up and go through our power point about what is a crisis pregnancy center, who we minister and why...Wuli has the rest:-).

We also have to have our "plans" for the 6months for the gov't. Well, I. DON'T. KNOW!!! We would like to have a speaker from another CPC come and do some teaching in our area......we would like to have someone come and talk about post abortion counseling.

We are starting Morning Light Assoicaition. This will help tremendously as that will allow us to do fundraisers here in Taiwan. So we can fundraise for Hagar's House and/or our babycenter. We will see how God leads.

We see God doing so much. Walking by faith is not easy, but it is the safest. It is a spiritual battle right now. I have read some recently in Proverbs and it talks alot about not envying the rich, watching your mouth (ok, that is my rough translation) and the like......alot seem to point to the situation at hand and say "do what you are doing, don't be mean, just trust in God for HIS riches are more than you will ever know."

So, we will keep going. Please pray for Monday (we have alot to clean up now at church!) and pray that this week we can minister to at least one new mom.....just one new mom......that is our prayer.....will you pray for that too? I will let you know when we meet her:-)

And so it goes.....

2011-06-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it through a year! God has been good by leading us through our trials and fears and showing us HIS promise of never leaving us is always true.

The past weeks have been rather exhausting, emotionally and physically! Really, when you are emotionally down, it wears you down physically. Between the heat and moving, blah!! yesterday, well, I felt like a walking zombie (hopefully didn't look like one!!).

As it happens, RARELY MIND YOU, a momma did not show up for adoption court date. Wuli had been trying to contact her, we even sent her train tickets! yet, no show. I apologized to the judge and she understood as our moms are normally on time and very cooperative. The judge made another court date and all we can do it keep on the mom to come. She hasn't answered our phone calls though.

Why? I don't know. Her reasons could be numerous. I understand her 3yr old was sick and that could be it. Her dad was just diagnosed as being a vegetable, she could be upset about that. Could be she doesn't want to face the fact of adoption. Lots and lots of reasons and could be's. But I do know that no matter what, she needs your prayers!! All of our moms do. Could you stop and pray for moms in the program today? Unfortunately I don't have the freedom to tell you how many and what not, but pray for the moms being counseled by MLH. They are in crisis, struggling with decisions and over all just needing the extra support. So today, pray for the mommas and their hearts!

On a better note......we have fundraisers in the works!! Two or three musical groups are donating cd's for our fundraiser!!! so stay tuned!!! all are going to keep the cpc ministry going!!!soooooooo........if you know of anyone else who wants to help or can help.....let me know.....keep an eye out!!

Movin' on Up!!

2011-06-14T19:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

On the move!!!

There are only a few things that are scheduled (baby appointments and such), but other than that, it is a rare quiet time that we can use to move. The walls are looking bare and boxes are everywhere (hey that rhymed!), and the move begins. I really despise moving.....

We have reached an agreement to finish out somethings with our previous sponsor, though what we thought were things that we could continue to use for the ministry, they have said they will give us a date or two when they want them back. Those items were purchased not donated. So, families who thought their fees were helping the ministry, it only helped to a certain point. Sad, but if they feel like that must be done to make them feel better, I know our God owns a cattle on a thousands hills......HE WILL PROVIDE!!!

This has all been very testing. I will be honest again and say how discouraging it has been and how tiring it has been. There have been times where it is like "what do I do? what do I do?" Trying to keep from making emotional decisions are quite hard for women!! I want to make decisions that God wants us to make.

Yesterday though, as I was cleaning out things, I found something that Luke made for me after I got back from my first trip to Taiwan. We were not "boyfriend/girlfriend" yet, but he sent me a calligraphy of my favorite verses, Isaiah 43:1, 2 "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. "

Maybe it was God reassuring me? I don't know. That frame is sitting in my office now. I found comfort in that first as a freshman at Bob Jones University when our family doctor did test and it said that I had cancer of the lymphnodes. THOUGH at surgery, it was a staph infection (doesn't God have a sense of humor!) But that verse brought special comfort to me then and it still does now.

Recent events have given our staff the feeling that we were drowning, physically and emotionally. All the decisions to make, how will it affect the ministry, where will we get the money, will we have food on our tables this month? etc......money suddenly dropped is no laughing matter. But again and again, God brings that verse in Isaiah to me. Along with I Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." God does not give us more than we can bear, we may not think we can bear it, but we were never asked to bear it alone, and better yet, God has an escape plan:-)...

So, as we go on our next chapter in our ministry to women, please be with us in prayer about our needs. Fitting that this all comes about as our 1yr anniversary shows up!!!

"To God be the glory, great things He has done!"

So much to think about....

2011-06-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

I will be quite frank and say that this past week has been very discouraging. Satan has used more than one way to eat away at me and the whole staff!! In the course of 7 days: Jeremiah (our only man at the office, he is maintenance, driver, helps with outreaches, body guard on long travels or court cases, etc!) has a 3 yr old daughter who fell while playing with her brother and ended up in the ER. She had a humungous gash in her toungue and the doctors only did not due stitches because no one was sure if she would cooperate (I don't think most adults would!!), he ended up eating something bad and has had stomach pains and such for 72hours now, my Noah started his vomitting issues on Tuesday (6/7) and was in the ER for fluids for 8hours, Alexia was at the ER with her 4yr old due to high fever. Wuli so far has not had any major issues with her family, but she would covet everyone's prayers!! Add that will heat bringing on the attitudes. Everyone anxious just to get the moving over with!!
Yup, we move to the third floor of the church over the course of the next few weeks. Praise God we have found some second hand stuff for it. Unfortunately, what we thought were donations or help for the ministry eneded up not being quite what we expected. So we were told that over time, those things "purchased" with their money we either had to give back or we could buy them back. Well, since we are nonprofit too and money is not just sitting their waiting for us to spend, we figure we will give a big hunk back and then go from there. We did have someone say that they would see that we got 3 window unit a/c so I am really praying!! We will definetly be loosing some weight through sweating though!!!

Sometimes when we look at the whole picture, as humans tend to do, it is so discouraging! I have to loook to see how am I going to pay my staff, pay rent and utilities for the momma's home this month. Yes, MLH/CPC now has to find a way to pay for those so we can continue to service women in crisis. We cannot count on it from someplace in the USA as before.

This also puts everyone a bit on edge. Everyone needs to eat and pay bills. Everyone has sat and talked about what to expect and what to do. Words cannot express how thankful I am to our Lord for the team HE has brought to me! We discuss everything openly and freely. It is not my team and my ministry (as someone falsely accused me of saying), but God's. It is because of it being God's that we are where we are at now.....so, the issues we have now, maybe they are just crossroads in this journey of serving our Lord. One thing we know, our Lord does know where the roads are headed and that is comforting. Of course, if He would give me and idea of what is going on that would be helpful:-)

Please keep us in prayer. Pray for wisdom, endurance, strength and ability!! Pray for funds to come in in a timely manner. We need roughly $8000US/month to keep it going!

Young Moms

2011-05-31T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today Wuli and I travelled a total of 5.5hrs, roundtrip, to visit a mom. She is 18yrs old and just delivered. Her aunt called us to ask for help. First, we are so thankful that they heard from us via an Ob/Gyn clinic! We had sent over 100 letters to clinics up and down the east coast with our brochures and news about what we do and all. So thankful that this doctor gave them the information.

First, the mom's mom and aunt met with us. Their decision is pretty much set, but after a bit, the momma came down. She delivered yesterday afternoon. At first, she just sat there starting at the table, wiping away the tears that fled down her swollen cheeks. Her aunt and mom tried to get her to talk,but she wouldn't. She wants baby. She feels the family SHOULD take care of it and all live happily ever after (ok, that part was me being sarcastic!). She did not finish highschool, was working some, but at her age, she could only make 1/3 of what regular minimum wage is. Her mom is a widower, her older brother a police officer. She is the only girl in the family, as in the relatives. AKA....spoiled and did what she wanted to. Boy's family, divorced and both parents remarried, married and divorced, a few times each! He never attempted highschool. She commented he couldn't come visit her because he has forgotten to check in with his probation officer so was locked up (he is 17rys old!).
We got to a point where it was obvious she was not going to talk, nor was she about to be given a chance. I engaged her aunt and mom in small talk while Wuli, who was sitting directly across from her talked to her. In the end, she was continuing to say she wanted to keep baby. She seems to have it all figured out. Wuli gave her her name card and she refused. Tears were flowing and anger and bitterness were setting in.

Our center's goal is and has never been adoption. When dealing with unwed mother's we will have the unwanted babies. Our first opinion is that babies and moms stay together, that is what is natural and what should happen. After counseling and their own personal evaluation, the decision that is made is respected. Our work is to make sure they have the proper information to make wise decisions and resources available to help them with their decision. That is who we are and what we are called to.

Please pray for this momma. We do not know what the final decision is, we do not know if we will even hear from them again. But we showed them that we cared, and the adults could see that. We told them that we just want to show the unconditional love that God has given to us.

We'll see what goes on tomorrow.

It is one of those Mondays.....

2011-05-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

We headed off this morning to a high school in Cheng Kung to teach Worth Waiting For. We taught 5 periods, and probably most of the school. I was saddened by the "lack" of innocence in the younger classes. Really, if it was my kid, I would be flabbergasted! But knowing that these kids come from poor backgrounds, and mostly are tribal children, I was not shocked. Knowing that they also probably have never heard the Gospel, was also saddening to us. But we are thankful that we could get the news of us out there and different areas via internet to reach us.

The school counselor was sharing with us about how alot of boyfriends/girlfriends live together. Unfortunately, that did not shock us either. Sometimes, I am saddened that these are no longer "shocking" things to me. It seems like it is happening more and more in the society here. I really do not know what to say at times other than, I am not suprised.

We are so excited, there are some grants that we seem to qualify for. So please keep us in your prayers that we can get them. We will need funding. I hope to get a chipin button done soon, but am at a loss as to how much to start with! There have been many of you who have already given generously and we are so thankful. We also have so many plans in our brains.

First, this week we meet with a new mom, please pray for her. We are hopefully moving our center out soon. We will be moving to the 3rd floor of our church, saving $350US in rent!! hopefully though, that will allow us to have more activities as well. So much going on. The church needs some redoing too, so that will take some time.

Well, hoepfully I can write some more at another time. This blog will be open soon, but I wish I could still see who sees it! But, oh well, we know that we want this blog to reach those who need to see it.

Thank you for your prayers again!! keep them coming in!

BIRTHDAY BASH!!!

2011-05-26T02:48:00.000-07:00

Well, if you followed us on FB, you will see we started out the "cry" for "1st birthday" funds. I will be putting a ticker up soon for Birthday Bash funds. We are hoping to raise some money to cover the costs of things. We will be moving our center to another place soon as well, ok, our church!! 3rd floor, so that is going to need some help, but I think we got that covered. We are excited, yet nervous about what is going to be instor for us. So much to do.

So, how much do you think we should try to raise for the "1st birthday bash"? also, should it be throughout the summer? I am coming on to this a bit late....so....we'll see...... suggestions?

what to do...

2011-05-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

Well, first, I want to say that we have been so encouraged with gifts that have come in here and there for the ministry. There have been somethings that God has used to talk to us, well, at least to me about and emphasize somethings.
As I write this, I am totally exhausted, feeling rather tired and dizzy. Not sure why, though I know that this week holds some special work that needs to be done. It seems like due to some recent events, we have to start this ministry all over again from scratch. But what does that entail? will we have the resources to do that? Who to talk to? where to go? what to do?
This blog will very soon go public. It will be a mix of family and ministry, though we will try to be mainly focused on ministry. We have to get the news out there about resources needed for our work. You all will soon enough hear news, so I am not going to "blow" it:-). Though in Taiwan, the Ministry of Interior is wanting to change the adoption status, meaning, emphasizing domestic. Ministry of Interior has stated that they have plans to have their new regulations made into law to go into affect January 1, 2012. If that does happen, we no longer do adoptions. Ministry of Interior wants to control everything, even those who do domestic and international adoptions. It is sad that no one is considering the children in Taiwan. Taiwan regulations want to keep ONLY healthy infants in Taiwan and the rest go international. That will cause a number of problems, but the main ones I see are: Taiwan society doing away with special needs children or making them an outcast, and what defines special needs (currently ADHD children are special needs). There are lots of things that the gov't has not set up yet, and just wants to go with it. So, this will need lots of prayer!

Here at MLH/CPC, adoption has never been our first ministry. It has been and will always be to the women in need, women in crisis. So, with adoptions soon to be out of the picture, that leaves us without resources. That sounds bad, but everyone knows our resources were coming because of the "donations" via adoptions. So we need to show others around Taiwan that our needs are for women in crisis. Crisis means alot of things to everyone. Crisis pregnancy could be due to age, special needs, health obstacles, number of children, finances, etc. But one thing for sure is that women in crisis pregnancy NEED love and support no matter what. So, that is our goal.
MLH/CPC is soon to be one year old. We are looking to raise money for rent and needs for the cpc and home. We have new future goals, new plans. We also have God on our side. I am excited about what is coming, but I can't share right now. God is working. God can work through you and your community. Please be praying about the future and what you can do.

Ok, I need to get off here, but hopefully these next few weeks I can write more. Thank you all for your prayers!!
****PS...we just got a phone call from an 18yr old,please pray for her!

Life is a gift....

2011-05-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

This is something we all know. Yet, some people take it for granted, ok, alot of people! A quote from Mother Teresa " It's poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." That is something that we really face alot in this ministry. The selfishness of human nature. Weeks ago we had a call from a group that helps single mothers. The social worker asked if we could do pre abortion counseling. Sure! Not a problem! She was so happy because another organization had told her "no! if the client wishes to abort, it is not your position to change her mind, that is against work ethics!" This social worker went on to tell us, the client's boyfriend WANTED the baby, but the 25yr old young lady said "I don't want to give up my job to take care of a baby." That hurt so much. Selfishness. This young momma never showed up to the appointment the social worker set. We don't know if she aborted or not. Selfishness.

We recently have had a 37yr old lady (weird when clients are the same age as you!!) with a great job. She has found herself pregnant and alone. Her boyfriend has left have hearing of her being pregnant. At 37yr of age, she wants to keep her baby. YEAH!! But her biggest fear? Telling her parents. She is not sure how they will take it. She is keeping her job til she gives birth. She will have alot of mouth from coworker I bet. She is coming to our dr for prenatals, but she lives OUT of county. Yes, she travels here by train for her prenatals. Sad that such a happy time should be such a time of keeping secrets.

Please pray with us as we minister to these moms. There is alot ahead, alot of what needs to be done. Some don't get it. Call us "saints" or "wonderful people" and the such. If everyone just helped one person, think of how many people we could be helping? Instruments of God, that is all we are, instruments in the hands of the Master.

Please pray for our Respect Life Rally on 5/14~

Really don't know what to put in the titles....

2011-04-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

anyone else have that problem? I don't know how to title my posts because the posts tend to ramble and skip around.

I have been reading Kay Arthur's book "As Silver Refined: Learning to Embrace Life's Disappointments" and wow, I am learning so much. It seems we get so disappointed in things at times, that we don't see it as it is: a trap from Satan.

There have been things going on here locally due to people's jealousy and insecurity, but most of all, sinful hearts. In the ministry, there is always a spiritual battle. We have a newer coworker, though not new to us, but to this work. We told his wife, be prepared, Satan will try to attack your marriage and your family. Sure enough, something has happened. Disappointment set in. But I was ever so thankful that I could share (AFTER calming down and sleeping/praying about the situation!) that the Bible tells us "God never fails us" God never leaves us, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and HE delighteth in HIS way." A number of nannies are pretty mad at what has happened as well. But I have reminded them, yes, these people who are going around Taitung defaming character, trying to ruin the testimony of the ministry, but God has HIS purpose. Are we angry? yes and no. No: because I know the people doing this don't have Christ in their hearts, no because if I allowed myself to be angry and focus on it, then my life would be extremely miserable and I would have no energy to do anything else. YES: because they are ruining the name and family of God, YES because I really don't want to deal with it:-)

My team is awesome. When these things started, it was really emotionally exhausting. But, we have the ministry God has called us to and to be exhuasted emotionally in uneccessary issues is not that ministry! We will keep going forward as God has called us to. We know that Satan will keep trying to discourage us and get us down. But we cannot and will not let that cause a downward spiral for us in the ministry or our lives. We have kept quiet. We don't go around bad mouthing, gossiping, looking for ways to cause these people trouble. If we wanted to, we could very easily. God has the victory, why worry? why get involved in something that is not glorifying to the ministry? God has called us to do alot, and well, I just don't have time for Satan's problems. Though, fiery darts....they hurt, they burn. As the book described "if an arrow has only punctured at skin level, you can just pull it out. But if it has penetrated through the muscle, you have to cut around to pull it out." How has disappointment set in? We want to keep the wounds on the top layers of the skin, not down to the muscle. Pulling it out is going to hurt either way, but one heals easier than the other. One causes less damage than the other. How have you allowed Satan's arrows to penetrate?

What is awesome is that a person who has heard things, they will let us know in some way how they support the ministry we have! We have had, numerous times, others email or call or stop us and say, "You know so and so is saying this? but we want to let you know, we can see the truth! God will keep you going! We are praying for you." WOW!! yeah, that helps alot!

So, how can we be angry when God works things like that out? "Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not!" PRAISE GOD WE SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR!!!

Today....

2011-04-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

I get to spend the night tonight at the momma's home. I will be teaching a craft as well. I am excited. We are looking to teach macrame plant hangers! I am not talented, but I can do a few knots. We can also use those knots to make the straps for our bags we are going to do (going to do is the key phrase there). The knots we can make little key chains.....really unlimited possibilities here. We hope to be able to sell some at the 5/14 activity as well as on line, and adoptive families can buy some in the future as well.:-)

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to make chocolate candies. We have molds, but going to work on doing the chocolates.

I like to use these times as "therapy" with the moms. There is so much to do to keep them busy really. As it goes "idle hands are the devils workshop." I see it as more along the lines of "idle minds". Our current counselor has been allowed too much freedom and the girls use the computer alot or watch tv. It is sad. We are a Christian home that wants to be different! I like to use these times to talk and chat with moms, such a relaxing time. This is the "family" time we like to talk about.

So,pray that for each knot we make, the moms hearts will open up. Each knot they tie in the string, will release a knot in their heart.

our new momma

2011-04-12T01:40:00.000-07:00

Ah Wen is moving in on the 14th. She is 21yr old and has already had 4 abortions. She goes to her first prenatal exam on the 13th. Her younger sister was our first momma. We really need prayers for Ah Wen. I have spoken with her and explained to her how she needs to take it easy til she is about week 12. Her body has been used to "getting rid of baby" and so her body might naturally do this. She understands. Though her thoughts are to keep baby. She is really immature. She feels that her family will accept this baby because it will be a playmate for her sister's baby. She assumes that mom (aka. grandmom) will keep baby while she works, just like her sister. Her boyfriend feels getting married is just some ritual, you don't REALLY need to get married to have a family. *sigh* we have our work cut out!

This week one of the moms and I did crafts. One mom was visiting home and the other was at school. But praise GOD we have someone who is willing to come once a week and teach crafts (now I don't have to 3 times a week!!LOL!).

We are thankful we have a sponsor for Ah Hui who is our senior in highschool. She graduates in May. Her school is great and allowing her arrive and leave at different times since students are asking questions and making her feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately, her dream of marrying the birth father and everyone living happily ever after is not coming true. Ah Hui needs prayers for peace on what to do, alot of decisions for a 17yr old.

Ah Wen and another mom, Ah Juan plan on keeping baby. They will be doing crafts to sell at Respect Life and on a website. I hope to show you some soon. We hope to do somethings for adpotive families as well. These two moms will need sponsors during their stay at MLH.

God is working! we have been keeping at least 4 moms in there at one time for some time now. But our counselor is getting married in June, that leaves us needing a counselor to stay at nights. Please pray we can figure something out. Anyone know of someone who wants to be a counselor at nights for unwed moms?:-)

Pray with us as we minister to these moms that they may see their needs to change into the image of our Lord. Then as they start a new life in HIM, their lives will be changed forever!
But we with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (II Cor. 3:18)

GREAT NEWS!!

2011-04-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to facebook, we have 7 of the 15 tents sponsored, possibly one more. I will get on the campaign to get all sponsored:-). This will be such a great help to the ministry. Our mommas are going to be working on chocolates to sell that day:p...we will have fun experimenting the next few weeks!!LOL!

If you need information on sponsoring a tent (though many of you here have already said you would sponsor one), here it is:

If you need a tax receipt for this, you will need to send it to our mission agency in the USA. They send us our support the end of the month, so it would need to be there by the 20th I am guessing.

CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE

P.O. Box 219228 - Houston, Texas 77218-9228

**make a check out to the agency with a note in the enveloped stating that it is for Morning Light Home (they are kind enough to separate the accounts for us)

****you MAY send through AGCI but you need to specify what it is for, for MLH Respect Life Day. We send our expenses on the 20th of each month and they send a check usually before the end of the month. So you would need to do it soon if you sending it through AGCI.

If you don't need a tax receipt, you can either paypal me (deanapan@yahoo.com) or you can send a check to my parents and they will directly deposit in our USA bank account and we can get it out here.

Morning Light Home

2509 Naamans Rd.

Wilmington, DE 19810

Thank you again for this gift. What a great help and encouragement to the whole team here!!

I got a weird phone call last night!

2011-04-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

Out of the clear blue, our FIRST mom to ever live at MLH called me. After saying "long time no see", she asked me how many moms were at MLH. I told her 3 or 4. She asked me if we could take one more. I joked and said "who you?" she said "I am pregnant." I about died!! then she realized the dramatic pause was not funny and said "NO NO NO I am just joking!" I reminded her that I was not young and that jokes like that are not funny.
She went on to say that her older sister was pregnant though. *sigh* I know this sister a bit. She has had probably about 4 or 5 abortions. She has had a very "interesting" life shall we say. She was told by so many that she would never be able to have a baby because of her lifestyle and numerous abortions. So, this time, at 21yr old and now pregnant, she feels "I have to have this baby." I asked about the boyfriend. "He is not one that can be counted on." I plain out told her "you all are going to put your momma in an early grave!" I was half rebuking half joking.
Their family is dysfunctional. Parents divorced, but living together. Her 7th grade brother was all but thrown in jail for sexual harrassment, so you can imagine the attitude from him. Thankfully, Patty is back in school and studying. We keep up with her. For that I am so thankful.
Patty came to us at age 15yr old. She had already had a forced abortion and was determined to deliver this baby. She was our first mom, with almost nothing there at the home. I was the counselor, only staff (for baby and mommas) for most of the time she was there. She turned 16yr old right before her birthday. We had her first ever birthday party for her. We have seen her on and off. If she sees us out in public, she will come running up to us and chat. She is as sweety. Her parents though forced her to keep the baby as a reminder of "what she did" and so it won't happen again.
Now this. I told her that we have rules! Church is required! No running off and all....she says she knows and she told her sister all about it. She said something that made me kinda want to cry "I told her that if anyone can help her, Shr Mu (that's me in Chinese) can help." I am thankful that through the fusses (think hormonal teen girl!)and fun she can still think of us and what help we can give. PRAISE GOD!!
Her sister might come to church tomorrow and talk with me. But, we are starting to think "post abortion syndrome"classes are going to be important in our work now. Pray Pray Pray that we can help this mom, whether she keeps baby or not. She can stay with us, we can work with her. She is having many emotional issues right now, as expected when a post abortion woman is pregnant again, no matter how many times.

We may need a supporter for her. Again, I will let you know, but $175/month is the amount needed for a mom. This is really half of what it costs, but we are working with AGCI to keep support coming. AGCI is very supportive of the ministry to women in crisis here.

Please pray. I hope I can let you all know tomorrow what happens!

A non resident

2011-04-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

Smile.......we just could not get a smile out of Miss Chen. But before and after this picture, she was joking and smiling with us and her mother. Looking at this picture, can you believe this is a momma of two boys and divorced.....at age 17? yup! Her youngest turns 1yr old in June.

This mom was referred to us through someone we know. We thought she had a newborn, but after talking with her mom, we discovered baby boy was already 5months old. She was living in the next county with current boyfriend, who was abusive. Grandma brought momma to us with baby. The day before they came, boyfriend attempted suicide with baby in hand! BLAH!! some people!

Momma did not live at MLH, a non resident case. She now lives with her mom and is hopefully going back to school. We are encouraging her to work or go to school.

Thank the Lord, all has been completed and baby boy has a great family that will love him. The mom and grandma picked through THREE families!! what a process, but you could tell how much they loved him. Mom is young, from a single parent family. Birth father is in jail for drunk driving and attempting suicide with baby. When he gets out, he may search for baby. This is why they want baby to go overseas.

So, this is one of our Mommas!

A mom is leaving Friday, but empty handed....

2011-04-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is Ah Hsuan. She turns 16yr old in August. She is such a sweetie pie!!!! She did great during her delivery and her baby boy already has a wonderful loving family. YEAH!!!

We traveled via train 2.5hrs one way to pick her up.Her mom was so upset, not mad, but disappointed in herself and in how she raised her daughter. Her mom started crying while we were there, I think it might have been the first time she saw her mom cry. She just looked at her. On the train back we discussed how her mom is not mad at her, just disappointed in the situation, but her mom loves her very much. Ah Hsuan seemed to understand.
I got to spend some time at MLH while our counselor was on vacation. Ah Hsuan and I walked down the street to buy tea and snacks for the other two moms, a rare time to just talk with her. She met her boyfriend (who is 17yr old) via internet (really wanting me to get rid of the internet at home!!). I was like "WHAT? and you just moved in with him???" NO. They dated for a bit and he wanted her to move in. Her mom...NO WAY....his parents...UM ... NO. But she said that he threatened to leave, aka...acted like a spoiled brat throwing a teenager style tempertantrum. She said that his parents were "afraid" of him getting angry, so they just let him do what he wanted.
So, now, almost a month after birth,counseled much and understanding things on a different level, Ah Hsuan is leaving to go home. Her mother has been GREAT!! calling every few days to check up on her, writing letters every 3 days. Seriously a RARITY we see. Most moms are like, just get your stuff over with and then we will talk.

Ah Hsuan is leaving us on Friday. She will be going back to school in the fall. We will miss her, she has been one of our easier moms! Her mom saw her right after birth and was so happy to see how well we have taken care of her. Please pray for Ah Hsuan and her next steps in life. We would love to get her invovled in a church, but in her area, there are almost no churches! So, we will keep in contact with her via instant message and email. She knows she is always welcome back! We pray she will come for our Respect Life Day in May.

I am hoping I can share more of our moms here. I ask that you don't share any pictures of the moms though!

Would you buy, or do you think people would buy.....

2011-04-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

tshirts or wall hanging or that type with the map or shape of Taiwan on it?

We are looking at some "easy" things for a few single moms to start with. We are looking to find tshirts and in different prints iron on cut outs of Taiwan, and/or Chinese characters. As well as maybe some wall hangings or something.

As most of you are adoptive families from Taiwan, would you buy something like that or do you think families would? We are looking to put up some pictures in the future, hopefully soon, of some models of the products and then take orders. We are praying that we can get two single moms and one of our church moms (young and her hubby is in our MLH work, they started out as unwed and so know where these moms are coming from) to get this going. Alexia will be doing an online store.

BUT....BUT...BUT....what products would you like to see? besides shape of Taiwan, what else? Chinese words for like Love, Peace, Joy.......we have some ideas and will be fooling with them. These would all be done by single moms trying to keep their families fed. We would like to have some pictures up there on our web of moms who you can help out, or meet the moms type........

Suggestions?

Hope I can share more with you all soon!!! keep us in prayers! Satan is working hard at trying to get us discouraged, but we know that God has the victory!

facebook post, reposted

2011-03-27T05:50:00.001-07:00

Recently you all have seen lots of posts from me about needing prayers. We still do. Prayers are an important part of our ministry here. Prayers of protection from the firey darts of the devil. Protection for our team as we get emotionally exhuasted and bring it home to our family. Many times our families deal with moms who cannot just focus on things at home.

God has been moving. We have been doing as it says in Jeremiah "call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not." As we have done this, fellow Christians have complained, misunderstood and caused heartache. But we know that God is pruning our team for the ministry ahead. The ministry that God is showing us is one that will be difficult, not for the faint of heart. As is says in Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." It is the strength of the Almighty King of Kings that has been holding us through.

Our team at Morning Light has had a burden for quite sometime. One of our earlier moms, I helped her escape to the train station. I stood behind the alley of her house as she dropped down bags from the second floor of her boyfriend's house. As she got in the van, I knew quite clearly what happened. "He hit you didn't he?" she wanted to cry, but she had 3 kids with her, she just looked at me with teary eyes and said "I never thought he would do that." She made it to the train station and went back for a time with her parents. I hope to hear from her again, that she is safe and thriving.

This momma made us think and research. In our county, there is no home for single moms. Sure, there are shelters for women leaving domestic violence, places for unwed mothers who want to give their baby up for adoption, but there are only 3 places in all of Taiwan that house single moms and their children. We have felt more and more that God is calling us on this path. This is a scary path because we know no one close by who has done this, and we know that our moms can be emotionally draining, yet we know that God has brought moms to us for the sole purpose of drawing them closer to Him.

In the past few weeks, we have received phone calls on our hotline from moms in their 30's. They are pregnant, escaping an abusive boyfriend who doesn't want her to have the baby, "just have ANOTHER abortion" is the answer. There are women in crisis who have great jobs, those who don't, those who are married but poor, those who are disabled and afraid their child will be too. Crisis, comes in many shapes and sizes, and comes to those in all walks of life. Our recent moms have said they want to raise their baby on their own. YES!!! that is awesome. Most think that Morning Light is soley for adoption, but that is not the case. We are an alternative to abortion. That is raising the child on your own or adoption, but an alternative.

We are in the process of looking for two houses to rent. This in itself is stepping out in faith as we don't have the money and don't have the resources lined up, but we have moms who would move in in a minute! One house would be our home for moms with children. We have plans and will have requirements and classes. The other home would be a licensed 24hour daycare for needy families. How can moms or very needy families raise their children if they can't work? how can they feed their babies if they can't work because they need to watch their baby? many of our moms have been "orphaned" you can say by their families. Single moms still have this stigma in Taiwan, though ones who are single because of divorce, they don't have the "look" as bad as one who was not married.

We still do help with adoptions by referring them through a great Christian organization. But the moms who don't want to adopt, there has been no help for them at all to get on their feet. This is what we plan to do. Of course we know that Satan has not been happy with this plan as he wants nothing less than these moms to either abort their baby or find ways to get them down and discouraged.

So, this is what is happening on the ministry side for us. Tiring? yes! Scary? yes! needed? YES! God knows and is preparing. Please pray for us as we work on this. We hope to have a blog set up so you can see what is going on, ways to help. We are going to start teaching moms some crafts and having an online store to sell them so people all over can support the moms. They will be learning a skill.

We will need financial help. I hate to say that, but we all know it is true. We will need ways to help these moms. Please keep us and this ministry in your prayers. Look for other notes on how you can help!

Thanks!

Deana and the MLH team

.

God is moving!!!

2011-03-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Momma J called today, "I can't stand this anymore, can I come and move in today?" as we talked with her, we looked up the train schedule. She arrives at 1pm. She is roughly 4-5months pregnant. Her boyfriend, now EX boyfriend, has really been causing issues and problems for her and her family. Momma J has had one abortion already for this man, and she says she will not do that again!! my heart breaks for her, yet jumps with joy as we have this opportunity to minister. Please pray that we can support her all along the way and pray that most of all she will see Jesus!

Our hotline received ANOTHER call last night, from a 37 yr old!! (weird when someone calls is the same age as me!!). The story is the same, she already had one abortion because the boyfriend "doesn't want it", so FOR him, she aborted. But this time, she hasn't told anyone she is pregnant. She asks about coming to live at MLH. She wants to raise her baby on her own. We told her just come and we'll work it out. Momma Li needs a sponsor.

We are so thankful for these opportunities to serve HIM. More and more the need for a "graduate" home is looking like a need. More and more, work opportunities for these moms are needed. We have plans, but hadn't jumped on them, but God's timing is more perfect.

So much has been going on besides these moms coming. At times I wish that we didn't have to minister, not that I don't love being with the moms and helping, but that means there are hurting moms, hurting women, women with broken hearts and lives. Each story is different, but each heart is the same. Broken and bleeding and needing God's loving arms to help them. Some people say we are crazy, but God says "Don't be afraid, only believe." That is what we are doing, though it is hard!! I need to go back to writing my thoughts (my therapy!LOL!), but at times just so emotionally exhausted. As I lay in bed at night, my thoughts go to moms we hear about. We would LOVE to just make all their choices for them, but we can't. It hurts when you hear of mom's with a 2week old baby, being punched and abused over formula money! Just makes you want to run out and hug them and bring them back home (though I have 5 babies at my house right now, so that won't work!!LOL!) Moms who have been through abortions, know what it is physically and emotionally, yet place themselves in this position for love. They think that the man will love them.

I could go on, I need to gather my thoughts though before writing. But need some help.....what should be a name for a "graduate" home. A shelter for moms who want to raise their own children. Suggestions?

off to look at some places.

Monday was a busy day......

2011-03-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

(this was written Monday, but not sent til now!!LOL!)

I really don't know if that is good or bad.....Monday's that are busy, tend to mean the ENTIRE week is going to be crazy! With Luke leaving the 17th (til the 26th) for China ministry, I am thinking that it will be crazy!

Our 15yr old gave birth yesterday (3.14)!! yup! you read that correctly! totally unexpected as she had been given three different due dates by three different doctors!! but when baby is ready, nature will take it's course! The baby boy is healthy and quite a handsome little fellow.....she asked us to name him.....so thinking of a name now.

A previous mom, who we had talked to via phone, but when she was to come to visit us, her boyfriend found her first and beat her up (don't get me started on that!!). Well she called the hotline Sunday night LATE to say she had her baby and can we talk with her. She has left the hospital, but is at a friends house. She can't go home with a baby, though she wants to keep it. *sigh* we have no single mom home for her to stay, she can't get much gov't support, she has NO family/friend support for the baby....her and boyfriend split up......her choice seems to be leading towards adoption. But really, these types of things, it is hard!! We meet with her today.

While I was at the hospital with 15yr old, Wuli met with a student....yup a 12th grader, who is 5 months pregnant. Wuli was pretty upset when talking about it. This young girl comes from a single parent family, rarely lives at home, well hasn't most of her highschool life. She weighs roughly 90lbs AT 5months pregnant. She doesn't get 3 meals a day. She asked if we would let her work....when asked why she felt she needed to work she said "how am I supposed to eat then?". She was concerned about working so she could feed herself!!! Wuli assured her SHE WOULD HAVE 3 MEALS and SNACKS while at our place. Oh, somethings just makes you sad. She still feels that the boyfriend will marry her. So, this is so important!! work!!

Our little premie is at 2.8lbs!!!YEAH!! looking good!! so so so happy! God is blessing.

I do have a request, there is a VERY special needs 3yr old boy that is laying in a nursing home. There is no home in our county for special needs children. This boy needs a home. He does not speak, we are getting him a walker so he can get out of bed, but he is normally in a stroller or bed (I visited twice, but it was just too hard!). He is not on oxygen, but on a feeding tube. I can find out any information necessary. But please, if you know of a family who is willing to adopt an EXTREMELY special needs boy, please let me know and we will see what we can do.

Ok, this post was done at two different times. It has been busy today!! please keep us in your prayers.

Deana

Some pictures!!!

2011-03-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!!! I finally have a few minutes to download some pictures from last week and the painting.

As you can see, we mainly need some decorations!! The burgunday couches were bought

in the beginning by AGCI, but the rest of the furniture in the living room was bought with recent donations

and the items in the yellow room (dining room, reading area) were all donations.

We still have curtains to get and pillows, but also need to start doing the upstairs now.

So what do you think?

Keep praying!!

a coworker, Lily, rearranging.....we were about done....that TV was given to us
and is really about to go....we are looking for another second hand one (or cheap new one!LOL!)

we are getting a table cloth, and a lamp, but this area
is yellow and will be decorated in sunflowers!
only one window, so needed a bright color

the final product...I LOVE the black rocking chair!!we will be getting a small table to put
in that corner with the two couches, then a table lamp...but need pillow!!

during the painting.....Denice, we all love our bags!!

the walls are two different colors, I was being bold!!LOL! curatins
we need curtains....what colors do you think?

Gods' proimses!

2011-03-05T00:44:00.000-08:00

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Psalms 37:23,24

Actually, Psalms 37, the whole Psalms is just a splendid Psalms. Says so much. But while in college, there was a Ron Hamilton song based on Psalms 37:23,24 and to this day, when things start going awful and seems like we are down, God brings this song and verse to mind.

We know that our work is one that God has put us in, HE put us on this path. I am so thankful that there are so many verses in the Bible that we can claim that God is with us. But I love the picture that is drawn in verse 24 here, "though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast dow; for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." I don't know about you (I am visual learner!) but this just brings pictures of a child who is learning to walk, or even a parent and a child walking along their way, having a great time. Sometimes the little one runs ahead skipping and laughing, all is carefree, he is going about his way. Then something happens and he stumbles and falls. He sits their crying maybe, whimpering, looking at his wounds. Then the parent comes and gets down, helps brush him off and holds out his hand saying, "it's ok tough guy, come one, get up and lets keep going." I can see in many times of this ministry, God has done that for our center, for each of our staff. That feeling is just a WOW feeling. Do you know what I mean?

The mom I had alot praying for last week, the one who was 20 weeks along and considering an abortion, we met with her on 228, a holiday here in Taiwan actually for remembering what happened on 228 in Taiwan. I can't explain it, so you can look it up:). Anyway, she looked sooooooooo relieved to see us. She looks alot older than 36yr old, but her background and living it rough to survive is the cause. Wuli talked with her while I talked with our doctor. He was happy she came to us. I sat there in the office next to her while he told her "don't worry a bit! I know and trust Deana, she will take great care of you." AWWWW!!!! I love that man.

We met with her again on Friday for her sign a few things and let her know we will find a way to take care of the cost of her amniocentisis, not to worry a bit about anything. Her husband was there. It seems he has been in an accident and has injured his hip. He walked around sorta limping like and you could tell he was in pain. They both felt relieved to have someone help them. Thank the Lord, when they left, we were able to give them a few bags of rice that were 2 kilos each as well as some oil and soy sauce. All were donated items from around the island.

Thursday we traveled 2hrs one way to pick up our 15yr old momma. It was hard. Her mom was really nice and the house was nice. She looked like a good young girl (not saying she isn't!). Her mom in the middle of signing paperwork stopped and looked at us with tears in her eyes. You could tell she was hurting for her daughter. It was not so much shame, but knowing from experience of being a mom, she wanted to protect her daughter from that. The mom said "my daughter had the best, she used to be in competitions for piano, and win,she is a wonderful artist, she excels in school, but why did she end up like this? what have I done?" Wuli and I spent time just holding her hand or hand on her shoulder comforting her that it was not her fault. We also comfortated the young momma who was almost shocked and in tears that her mom would say that.

It was an exhausting day that day. Pray for momma Yu as she has one more month before baby is born. She is in our house and pray she does well. She was studying cosmetology in school, so she brought her "head" with her!!LOL!!

God brought these women to us for a reason. Pray that we can be bold and speak as we ought to speak and that we can show them and their family the love of God. Keep our ministry in your prayers. God is doing things!

Well, God is just amazing!!!

2011-02-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

If you have followed my facebook, you would have seen the call for action for prayer for a mom. I will post it here as well.

The mom is 36, low income, husband needs surgery, 4 children and pregnant with #5 (a boy more than likely). She had originally gone to one dr for an abortion, and he sent her on to our dr, Dr. Li. He saw the healthy baby and told the mom about Morning Light Center and how we could help her. Later he told me that he spent alot of time talking with her. He said he could see a change (for the good) in her face and body as a whole when he said she had other options.

I am almost in tears as I write this!! God allowed us to meet her and she will meet us again on Friday. She will have to do an amniocentisis, which we will probably look into paying for (after subsidy there will be $75roughly left over to have to pay.)

This though comes to a part where we push for "ministry" in our work. We are a center that works with women in crisis no matter the situation. Unfortunately, some places around the world feel that if we can adopt overseas that we should send them on to someplace else. After all, have bills to pay. Now, that doesn't sound nice, but that is the feeling we get. But, nope, God is our boss and we will serve HIM faithfully til the very end. This actually makes mom number 2 recently that is in her 30's! So, see, we don't work with just underage girls!

The painting has left me soooooooooooo sore today!! They are finishing it up, I will wait til it looks all nice and the rooms put back together before pictures:-).

We have some plans coming up due to some possible changes. I will hopefully get things typed up and written out more, but they will be just keeping us going independently and strong! For example:
1. support for rent: 350US/m*12= $4200US for one years rent for the momma's home!!
2. total support for center : $760US/m*12= $9120US for one year

Of course adding them up together looks scary!! But if we look at it in bits and pieces, for example $2100US will pay for 6months of rent for the momma's home! looks better that way doesn't it.

We also will be making a sponsor a momma program so that others can have a part in helping out mommas, no matter if the momma is giving up baby for adoption or not, we don't want to have her to feel she ONLY has abortion as an option.

Some ideas for fundraisers that you or your family or Sunday school or homeschoolers coop, somethings that can be done to help:
1. Read a thon (or somekind of a thon): I read this on another blog about a family doing this for supporting education in Haiti. Their children were getting sponsors for either books completed or reading time. Like $1US for every 15min of reading. Then at the end of the fundraising period, things were tallied up and sponsors sent money. I think this is awesome for a class or homeschool family or co op! I might try to get this worked out with my kids
2. Baby Bottles: have empty baby bottles that friends and family or churches or offices can put change in, when filled up then you can collect them.
3. Garage sales/yard sales (though with the USA cold weather right now, that is last from your minds I am sure!)

These are just some ideas, maybe you all could think of some more? I will be quite frank with you and say that for MLH and Crisis Pregnancy Center, after figuring up a conservative (well, based on current situation) budget, we will need approximately $75,000US to run everything. I am looking at grants....but no idea where to start!!

Ok, well, I will get off of here for now and get somethings done. But keep us in prayers. We don't know what the Lord has in store, we aren't going home on furlough this year now because of the work here. God is in control!

Deana

Painting today....

2011-02-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I can download pictures yet, but will try to do before and after..... we have a few teens helping us out (helping out should be interesting.....). So excited!! YEAH!! our mom did not move in, decided end of April. But we have had a number of donations and SO THANKFUL!!! I will revamp our list when I can.
Today is technically a holiday......but ministry never takes a break:-)

**Please pray for a mom, Wuli and I will be going to meet with a mom in about 40 min. She is 20 weeks along, this is baby 5(healthy baby!), married, low income, husband needs surgery soon, really a woman in crisis. So thankful that God placed this woman at our doctor and that our doctor has a heart to not do abortions (though he does do them). This is the 2nd woman he has sent for preabortion counseling. Pray that we can do more of this but also pray as this is a big responsibility! We are the link between life and death for these babies......that makes me have heart palpitations! Wow!!! we really need prayer!

Today was awesome!!

2011-02-23T01:34:00.000-08:00

Wuli, Alexia and I went to Orchid Island. Now this is a first for all of us. Alexia is not fond of airplanes, so we had to reassure her after we got on it that SHE WILL SURVIVE! LOL!! The plane was a 20 seater (I think!) anyway, it was small and LOUD!! Only a 20 minute ride, after we got there, man, my stomach was at the bottom of my neck...ya know that feeling? PRAISE GOD coming back was much easier! Still laughing over the pilot (who I could see very clearly from my seat---only three seats away from him!) leaning over and back and forth to see while we were in the clouds.......goodness....it was like a Taipei taxi but in the air!!LOL!!

We taught our Worth Waiting For program today. The school counselor was SO happy to just talk with us. It is a small island. Junior high (7-9th grade) has 136 kids, Highschool has 48. Wuli and I taught the junior high (while watching the goats feed on the grass!!LOL!) and Alexia was volunteered to teach High school.

What to say.........Orchid Island is an island (think of an island of Hawaii I guess), where the culture is TOTALLY different. Most of the kids in junior high and highschool live in the dorms and only go home on the weekends. This schools served 4 villages. Premarital sex is quite a normal issue, abortion is a rarity. They are encouraged to have the baby, and then they get married. It is custom for and almost mandatory so to say, for mom to stay with baby for one year. So many girls take care of baby one year, and then they might go back to school.
Unfortunately, due to the extreme boredom, they find other activities to occupy their time: internet and pornography. We discuss that some in our lessons.

This island is funny, they are like "the Taiwan people"....LOL!!! they don't claim themselves as Taiwanese. We have had two moms from this island,so we are making a path.

We first though, met with the Dept of health. First, there was no one there. Originally to begin our meeting at 10:40am, to explain our home, services and a report of the past year, but no one was there!!! Finally around 11am, someone came up to ask (by this time we were making phone calls to figure out what to do now!). The head of the woman and children's social services in Orchid Island came upstairs and asked about when we were to meet. She was like "well, I am the only one....." I quickly said "One is enough, we can have more time to share with you then:-)." She said she was moved that we would think about having the meeting even if she was the only one. We went ahead and started! We went from one to about 10!!! WOW!! they were so happy to hear what we are doing. We took out our fetus models to show what we use to teach and counsel with and that was a big hit.

It is 5:30pm. We have been back for 30 minutes and Wuli and Alexia are catching up on phone calls.

There have been some things and situations here that have just been emotionally draining! Sadness, discouragement and wounds that have been made. We thank God for prayers from others who support our ministry. We thank God for wisdom He has given us so far to get things out and the open and make things right. It seems that after we had a big meeting on Monday and got somethings out, that God was like "ok, now let's get down to business!" We have a mom moving in on the 25th, one on 3/2. Tomorrow at 9:30am we have a meeting with a possible case. There have been a numerous numbers of phone calls for schools setting up our Worth Waiting For!! So excited about what God is doing!

Our translation of post abortion devotional (from Ramah International) is halfway done!!!YEAH!!! God is so good.

Oh, 2/28 we are painting! Furniture is here......we will see what else we need. I know for sure that there will be a need of $600US for redoing some electric issues for the summer.

Keep us in prayer!

the meeting went well....

2011-02-21T01:41:00.000-08:00

I really think alot of things got out in the open and cleared up to a degree. I could feel prayers being offered on our behalf.

It was looking good that, wow, we all prayed and got things out in the open and somethings got a bit uneasy, but overall I felt God was glorified in this. Then within the hour, we had two moms we have been counseling call to say they were wanting to move in and set up plans to do that!!YEAH!!!

Ok, then this afternoon, personal attacks were coming from where I would least expect it. The wounds are still open and oozing. But I do know that we all are humans, and humans are great at ASSUMING things and not looking into things. I am not mad at people, but rather disappointed. Satan is just using selfishness to kill the desire to serve. The desire to serve is overcome by a desire to want.

I am proud of my team. We have been through thick and thin. We can sit and pray, cry, share and all together. My team knows that things are looking good. Sure, we aren't sure if we will get the support we need much longer, but we are looking into options. God is good. When HE closes one door, He opens another.

I am excited that we have two moms to minister to. We may have another move in in April. We are planning to paint on 2/28, even though one mom will be here already. Pray for Momma A as she is older, worked at a pub and has one 5yr old and has had an abortion before (she knew it was a girl, that's how far along she was). She is due May 12. Pray that God will soften her heart and she will adjust well. March 2 we pick up a 15yr old....yup.....a 15yr old who is due March 26th.

God is moving. Keep praying! Thank you all for your prayers.

need prayers....

2011-02-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

We will be having a meeting today with everyone. One problem that often comes about in CPC's and our ministry is lack of unity and wounded hearts. We need to have a big meeting today with everyone to just get it out and get God back in our work.
Please do pray for us us. 9am here in Taiwan is our meeting. please, if you see this pray for us. I will come back with some words later.

Well, this week has been interesting......

2011-02-18T01:47:00.000-08:00

and next week seems to be B.U.S.Y!! but that is good right?

We just had a team get together idea minute!!!I don't know what to call it....we are planning events and had a brainstorm! So excited. We normally have Respect Life activity around Mother's Day. This year we are looking at having a "talent show". From song and dance, to essay, to poster presentations. We really want the locals to get involved. Our topic will be "Give Me Life" or just "Respect Life" and have kids write essays and paint posters to represent their idea of respect life. We will have awards.

What does that sound like? I am excited!!

Yesterday\s post was rather depressing. A massage and goodnight's sleep helped alot. Things look better today. God is good, as always.

Keep our ministry in your prayers. We really need more independent support. Any idea on how to get that other than sounding like beggars:p?

My favorite verse......

2011-02-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 43:2 "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. "

Right now I feel like I am drowning. Ministry has so many ups and downs. Ups are: we have had a numerous amount of phone calls and counseling this week so far, so thankful that God is opening up ways for us to minister to moms. A local organization, who a year ago (well, even 4months ago) would MAYBE give us the time of day if we asked, but though they work with unwed mothers, they seemed to ignore us. UNTIL now they need us:-)....God has a great sense of humor. So thankful that they have come and asked us about things and how they can be part of it all, even transferring cases (they have a young momma they want to transfer over). So had a good talk.....
Downs: you all know that AGCI is working hard getting Hannah's Hope registered/licensed. Technically we are not doing anything illegal. You all have seen the house, the gov't says the bathroom/bathing area is not big enough. Plus there are lots of little things that are down right annoying. Mainly "well,if we let you all slide by as the first one of it's kind, then others will want to start doing similar work and we just have to have high standards set". Yeah I see it, I GUESS.....who else is going to jump on this bandwagon and be a glutton for punishment!!LOL!! Now some people here who were deeply invovled are very discouraged and basically want to go another way, that, well, it is easier, and smaller, but still won't give us what we need in the gov'ts eyes. Just lots of stuff. I am tired of feeling like I am swimming against the current. And I am tired of feeling like people think I am imposing or dictating things..............that is not what I am doing! my team at MLH/CPC is getting exhausted.
Other than saying "no discussing these things at all" in the office, I can't control these.

Blah.....just a BLAH!! day..............sorry to sound so depressed. Yes, I know Satan is doing a happy dance over all this too. Seems like this licensing stuff is just putting undue pressure on everyone.......something has just gotta break!!! please pray that it gets all done and sorted out...............

As to the mom going to jail and her 2yr old.......her little one will go into foster care. I wish wish wish we could take her for those 2.5months, but that is not feasible.........pray though that when she gets out, she will be able to find the support she needs.

Things lookin' good!!

2011-02-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

First....PRAISE THE LORD!! our premie has gained back her weight and over her birth weight, ok, like 10 grams, but THAT IS GOOD!! we saw her after services today and my, she just looked so small. But though she has an IV for nutrition and fluids, the tubes for air in her lungs was out!! she is doing really well. The nurses said "she just needs to gain weight!" So pray as she does and each day is a victory! Pray as we work with AGCI to find a family who will take a premie so small and all.

We may be on the road again! Traveling to see that 15yr old. Her mom likes the sound of our ministry more and more. But we may make a few visits! We have a 26yr old mom who called our hotline from the same county. She was 9 weeks pregnant and her family was insisting abortion. The reason? She is disabled......she has only a few fingers on each hand. Of course her family says she is not fit to be a mother and WHAT IF the baby is mishaped like you? Her boyfriend? Well, they are living together.....I get the feeling of .....if the baby is fine, they might keep it and get married.....if not, who knows. BUT she is not going to get an abortion!! Whew! and talk about the tears at our office over this........

In this ministry, there are many many things that are discouraging. Somethings tend be a bit um, beaurcratic it seems. Some people tend to think "unwed mother ministry" instead of "ministry to unwed mothers." Is there a difference? I feel there is big one. Where do you put the ministry? First? or last? To many it might sound the same, but in my hear there is that difference. Ministry is first. Actually we should say "minsitry to women in crisis pregnancy", not unwed mother's specifically. We have had the families who have had 7,8, even 13 kids and ask for help. Or should we say "ministry to women in crisis" period?

Last night as I was laying bed, it was not late, it just takes me forever to get to sleep, I got a phone call. I called her Momma S on facebook. She said "Shr Mu (title for pastors wife), I might not get up in time for church tomorrow." She was one of our former moms, is a single mom and her boyfriend left her recently because "he couldn't be with a woman who gave his child away"....yet the man was abusive (had many reports) and was useless beyond the defintion of the word!! seriously glad he left. BUT she has to go to jail. She originally was working to "pay off" the jail time, but with the boyfriend gone and no one to watch her 2yr old, she couldn't work anymore. There is not special daycare services for women like this.

Momma S started to share "Shr Mu, I have been so mean to HanHan (her little girl), but she is being so good. I am so sad I am leaving her for two months. I just don't want to get to close to her right now and hoping that will make it less painful.But Shr Mu, I have just been mean to her and hit her and it makes me sad." Then she started crying. In my heart I wanted to cry. I tried to assure her her feelings were normal, but cautioned her on her actions. I have not heard from her today and praying I do as she was at the beach yesterday when she called.

Our ministry goes on after moms "leave us". I guess we could say, we are normally one of the few that know of they harships and adoption. They will come back knowing we don't judge and we can help in anyway, we will. That is "ministry" first. I am not saying we are all "holier than Thou" type or better than the next. This is what God has called us to do and we do it. Tiring yes, but knowing that we can be a light for God, used by Him. An instrument in the hand of the Mighty Conductor.

Keep praying for us.....

Back to Work!!!!

2011-02-09T00:16:00.000-08:00

And has it started with a bang!! My family came back a day late as to avoid the traffic, but I got a phone call that morning. I really don't know how much I SHOULD share here, please remember that information here at this private blog I really don't want it to "get out." many of you know why. My team and I look at this as a ministry, not just "cases".

I am sharing this with you because we covet your prayers. We had a phone call on the first day back at work of a mom who can't take care of baby girl. Baby was born at 1.6lbs!!! YUP!! Wuli and I visited the baby, Ah-Huei, and really I was trembling....the nurses (who know us well!!) asked if I was ok......I have seen premie babies as you know....BUT NONE LIKE THIS!!! she was so small, with way too many tubes come from places. She was born the end of January at 26 weeks old due to premature rupture of the membranes(aka...moms water broke early). She is so small, but so cute!! currently her only problems are her lungs as mom was unable to hold off delivery.

Please keep mom and baby in prayers. Mom had to go to work very soon after having baby. She is a single mom of a kindergartener, baby's father has left. Mom works day by day. Very hard life. We are so thankful that God allowed us to have an open line of communication with the hospital. We were the first ones they called. Praise God!!

We had a phone call today...........the mom of a 15yr old girl called today, the 15yr old is 8 months pregnant! yup, you read that correctly!!! 8 months pregnant!!! Alexia took the call......lots of emotions. Please pray was we have a follow up call tomorrow.

As I have mentioned on facebook, Chinese New Year I feel was hard for many moms. They were surrounded by family and friends. Many of the moms carried secrets of having a baby with them, some may have gotten looks of being "one of those girls" and such. They may have seen family members with babies, the possibilities are endless. Normally, big holidays like this and birthdates are hard for moms, for years......... I have had 3 moms contact me, that is what made me think of all my mommas........broke my heart! So, please send a little prayer for MLH mommas....

Ok, lots of catch up to do.......bye for now

Almost Chinese New Year here...

2011-01-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

and the feeling is in the air. Seems like everyone is feeling the "vacation here I come" feeling:-). In Taiwan, we get a week off. Chinese New Year is 2/2. On New Year's Eve, 2/1 it is the "reunion meal". So everyone needs to be at home, or with someone, no one should be alone. The children are allowed to stay up til midnight, and New Year's Eve, everyone is supposed to be in new clothing. At midnight you can hear fireworks and firecrackers all around. Children line up (well, this is traditionally, but not everyone is like this now) at midnight and one by one the older family members (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc) give them red envelopes and the children will say happy new year or some Chinese idiom with meanings of blessing. The red envelopes have money in them and the money is to be in even number (like you can give $20 or $26 but not $25). Even money numbers are given for happy occassions. Candy is eaten ALL THE TIME......pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds, nuts in general are eaten (not sure why so don't ask me!). Everyone just shoves their face..................eh.....sounds like Christmas doesn't it? except Christmas has the wonderful meaning of God's gift to us. Chinese New Year unfortunately is filled with worship at the temples, people fighting to get to be the first inline to put their incense stick at the temple pot, etc. Luke though likes to preach on Chinese New Year (traditional customs) and the Passover. He has researched 10 points that are alike. Very neat.

This year will be year of the Rabbit. So we are thinking that maybe we'll have lots of little ones come through MLH?:-). I don' t know.

Recently, we had a mom bring a baby that was a week old. Sad situation, baby is healthy though. Still working on paperwork, so please pray. She is separated from her abusive husband for almost 3 years, and the baby is not his. So we have to do DNA and all that stuff. She was in hiding from her family cause no one knows she had a baby.
Also pray for Miss Liu as she is not going to have an abortion, but is not sure about keeping the baby because she is handicap, physically (missing fingers, that is all). She has a job til April. So she might come here then. We got another phone call of a mom that might come in April as well. So we need to get the house fixed.

Oh, we have been having fun with looking at colors for the rooms!!! Our ladies are having fun. Our kitchen/dining room area will be in mid shade yellow and all decorations will be sunflowers:-).....keeping it bright and cheerful!! One of the mom's room will be a lavendar on the wall, and then different shades will be used to sponge print flower shapes......trying to keep it nice......so happy to be working on this!! Keep the needs in prayer please. We hope to start painting the living room, dining room and one mom's room Feb.8, that week........will definetly show pictures!!!

Ok, off to do some work. Thank you for your prayers!

Deana

So Monday begins.....

2011-01-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

      Well, so far it is not quite noon and all is quite. I am expecting this week to be quiet as next week is Chinese New Year. Last week ended rather busy, so we'll see how this week goes.
      We had been asked to move from the current MLH place. Someone from the USA had gone through it and deemed unlivable. Funny, the Taiwanse go through and say, "I've seen worse." I wrote 2 pages of why I think we should not move and if there is financial struggles, then moving would not be a great option. Yes, alot needs to be done. We are not trying to make it the Naruwan:-)......I am not the greatest decorator (my mom is!!LOL!)..... but we can make it nice. We still hav 3.5years on that rental contract.
      The biggest thing I see will be to get another electric box. Currently (and this was known when we did the place), the bedroom on the top floor, the a/c units and the electricity for them are wired to the 2nd floor box. Which means, when the 2nd floor water heater is running, you can't run the a/c on the top floor. Crazy? yes, but it has been like and workable. But it will take probably $600US to get it all up and running smoothly. But right now we do not need the a/c unit, plus we fill up the 2nd floor bedroom first:-).
     I will try to get pictures of before and after. Show everyone the living room that we are going to work on so there is a great feeling as soon as you walk in the door, and the last feeling when you walk out. If the other rooms aren't as spiffy, that is fine, just first and last impressions are the most important!!!
     The 28th our banner runs. Currently we have a Ms. Wang and a Ms. Liou we are counseling with. Please pray for them.
     The reason I ask that those in the adoption process or on the wait list not be on this blog is because I don't want them counting up things or wondering if it their mom or if the next one is their baby. There had been some issues with that before and that is why facebook is rather quite now. So this will be private for a long long long time:-)

Love ya all
Deana

back in action....

2011-01-23T04:50:00.001-08:00

I have not posted on here in 2years........so much has happened. But due to the nature of the ministry, I have to have this password protected.
Hope you all can understand.....I will be using this as a way of journaling the ministry started years ago and see how God is working, and how you can help!!
pray for us please!

Fight For Life

2011-01-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

As director of a Crisis Pregnancy Center, often I hear many stories. My team and I have heard many that sound the same, and quite a few shockers. Just when we thought we had heard it all, or had gone through it all, someone comes around and brings us back to the reality of the war we are battling, a fight for life.
We have counseled a few young women who have told us their decision was not to abort, only to call them back a few days later to find, they did. They had fallen under the pressure of family. We had one young mom who had called us a few times, we had a number of phone counseling. We had confirmation through family that she was indeed pregnant. While out of town at a seminar, her family called us to say she had had an abortion. That caused a long period of silence among the team as this young mom was over 24 weeks along.
Recently, we received a phone call to meet a young couple, boyfriend/girlfriend, at our doctor's clinic. They wanted an abortion and a social worker was going with them, but could we meet with them. Two of our staff members met them at the clinic and talked a bit with them. Our doctor told the young couple, they had to receive counseling from me first before he would take their final decision. So our staff came back with this young couple.
We did all that we normally do. Discussed fetal development, determined she was 7-8weeks along in pregnancy and showed her pictures of the baby at this stage. I noticed they did take interest in that and looked at it all rather eagerly. But it seemed then that a cold heart set in. "I had a cousin who was unmarried and pregnant. The whole family ostricized her, said cruel things to her. My parents, even to this day will say 'you better not embarrass us and end up like your cousin'." This was said through tears as this 21year old university student sat their tearing to peices the tissue in her hands.
She was a rather pretty young lady, dressed fashionably. Her fingernails were well done and manicured with blue and white sparkly fingernail polish. She came from a well educated, middle class family. Her parents were not divorced, their marriage, in her eyes, was wonderful. She was the oldest, so the pressure was on. Her parents, as both her and her boyfriend commented more than once, are very traditional. If they found out, they would make her transfer to a university at home, she would not be able to see her boyfriend, she would have no freedom, nothing.
Her boyfriend, while saying he wished to save more money to marry, seemed to feel inadequate. His story was sad, growing up in a single parent family, just him, his 2 brothers and dad. The pains of hunger were common for him growing up, the pains of no parent seeing him through his ups and downs or just being with him was still, at age 23, a deep set pain. He started working as a dishwasher in 6th grade to help pay for daily necessities. In 11th grade he had to drop out due to lack of finances and start working. His dad's health was not good and his brothers were out of county working. He was working and taking care of his dad. To him, now was not the time to have a baby. He wants to save money so when his girlfriend finishes college, they can get married. A baby now was not in the plan.
No matter what we said, they both still felt sure their decision was right. Of course, in my heart, I knew it was their decision, but I also knew this one decision could have an impact on the rest of their lives. The decision of abortion often leaves a deep wound, often open and bleeding, but the pain does not show itself till emotions have boiled over in the relationship. Research will tell us that chances are, this couple will not be together in a few years. This secret though, they will share for a lifetime. Often, it is a secret that eats away at them til the grave.
We prayed with this couple and talked with her about coming back after the abortion, when she was feeling better, and talking with us. Lots of things changed after the abortion, emotions they did not know were there, suddenly appear. They left knowing that we did not judge them for their decision, they know we are here for them to talk to. They left, hand in hand, headed towards the clinic. My staff and I just stood at the door.
After they left, I went back to my office, sat on the sofa and cried. I knew that I had lost this fight for life. My team member, Alexia, who was with me during all of this, sat beside me. She sat and cried. We both just sat in silence. This was the first time that this type of situation had come to us. We had done all we knew to do, but Satan still had a strong pull on this young couple's heart. They were blind to what was going on, blinded by Satan's lies of "this will make it all better."
We know that we will encouter many more situations like this. This was a way of preparing us I guess. We can rest in the assurance that this young life was ushered into the arms of the Heavenly Father. We know that Satan is working overtime, but we can have peace that the victory belongs to the Lord. Satan will try in many ways, as we have seen numerous times, to discourage us, to kick us while down, but we know that our Heavenly Father is their with His strong arms to pick us up, and walk with us hand in hand down the path He has chosen for us. The prayer of my team at our center is that we can keep strong and fighting the good fight.

Happy Chinese New Year....

2009-01-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

Today is New Year's Eve...........we aren't able to make it to Luke's families house cause well, we have 4 kids (not ours.....and well....one is 20yr old is that a kid?) not to mention our family. So we decided to stay home. But Luke's family will be coming on day 3 of Chinese New Year. Day 2 one of our "girls" is coming to our house with her family for dinner. Traditionally, day 2 is when the married women go back to their families house. This girl, well, young lady, Wendy, feels we are her family. Her dad and 2 brothers don't call or anything, she doesn't have any new numbers for them, so it has been decided for her to come "home". Granted we see her every Sunday and sometimes more, but still, she considers us family more than her own family.

We have many ministries. Alot of mine is with the teens who have come through our house and the unwed mothers we have come in contact with. At times, we just shake our heads at some of them. One of our girls, came from an alcoholic family, really a broken torn up family. Yet the few times she has gone back, she still gives them money, still feels "bad" for them. I guess it is just hard for me to understand how they have been treated so bad by family, yet they turn soft around them. It will be something I can never really understand, but just gotta be there for the mess afterwards.

It is now that I need to share somethings with my readers. Some things are sorta changing at Morning Light, yet things are getting better. One thing that will change alot is adoptions. After 8months or so of prayer, seeing advice and counsel and watching God open doors when we asked and God answering prayers in some pretty specific ways, it has been decided that we go under an agency. I know WHAT ????? some of you are saying, WHY??? Well, the more we have been doing all the work for adoptions, the more we have researched, the more realize that having an agency behind us will help us in many ways:

1. it will take alot of work off of us......not that I don't mind answering questions, but now the families can ask the agency and the agency ask me in say one big email, or after a number of cases, they can pretty much answer themselves...............currently, I am the main one trying to answer all the questions from every case we have and everything together and set.................folks, this is time consuming and in someways, I have seen it affect my family and my children as well

2. the agency is a wonderful Christian agency with a great doctrinal stand and we feel is not exhuberantly priced as some agencies are

3. the agency is not adoption ministry only, but for children's home and unwed mothers; they have children's home for the unadoptable children and ministry to those that otherwise are forgotten

4. having a Hague Convention approved agency (though Taiwan is not Hague country.....Taiwan isn't even a country by most countries termsLOL!!) this will help us have a bit more push behind us we feel; we feel that this will be best in the future as well

The agency we have been talking about is All God's Children International. They are in the beginning with us and the Taiwan program. We are taking it slow mind you as the program is still in the very very beginning stages. We ask that you pray for us as we work with them and pray for them as they have stepped out in faith to support us and this program. We feel that God is beginning to do wonderful things, we just need to be ready. Any questions about the program can be directed to them, but I do not know how many apps they will be taking. We will only take so many cases at a time. So, please be patient.

I leave you with this picture of baby A, Anna (our 6month old dd) Baby J and Baby C who were ALL AT MY HOUSE last weekend..............we discovered that 4 infants is way past our limit:-):

Goodness how time flies....

2009-01-01T02:20:00.000-08:00

Well, goodness, I can't believe how long it's been since I have written. Life has been ...... can we say ...CRAZY!!!

We had court on the 29th for a baby. I think it went well, though the judge proved that th courts here don't know much. She asked me why we didn't TECO the state laws. I said according to last court time, we didn't need to. "Taitung has never done an adoption internationally before"..... *sigh* Then we had to explain a few things. She said she would do her best to get it done and if anything else was needed she would let us know.....I don't know what that would be??! weird

We are now waiting for court for baby C on February 5th. Pray that will go fast!!!
Also pray that paperwork and approval for baby J will go smoothly and that bio mom will do something unusual and cooperate for a change.

We have some unwed mother's ministry stuff coming up this year. God has a great year planned and I pray we can handle it!!!

Keep praying for us.

Another in court....

2008-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

Baby C had his paperwork enter the court yesterday . So, now the wait begins for a court date. He is already AIT approved, meaning, USA immigration says he can go to the USA as he meets the standards of an orphan. Now we just need to get him through the courts here. Please pray that we get a court date quickly. The end of January is Chinese New Year. So January only has 17 working days in it here in Taiwan. If we don't go to court BEFORE then, that we can handle. But would like a notification of court date BEFORE then.

In January we will be sharing some good news of things going on here. We are really excited, yet scared at what the Lord is doing here in Taitung. We need prayer..............God has plans and we want to be prepared "don't be afraid, only believe."

I am sitting here....

2008-12-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

waiting for a mom.........one of our to be adopted babies, the mom wants to see him. She is not changing her mind, and her family has no idea she is sneaking out to see him. She called the other day to say the court appointed social worker was at her house, but she wasn't there just her mom. When the social worker asked if they were willing to allow him to visit when he was older, the grandma said NO.....they want this basically erased from their family history.

Mom is her now, baby is playing as any baby does. She is putting him to sleep, I think it is good for her. Now he is awake;-)

Some will say that we shouldn't allow this, the mom to come and visit. But if she wants to, I think then she needs to. We are not taking the baby and forgetting the birth mom all together, she does need to cut the cord so to speak. For some it takes time, for some who had planned on giving baby up early in the pregnancy, it doesn't take as much time. For moms to see baby is healthy and fine, that is a step for them.

Well, that is about here on our end. Baby C got AIT approval, so we are going to enter the courts as soon as we get the papers.

Ok, off to answer some questions.

teens....

2008-11-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

in case you didn't know, we also have a 14yr old boy at our house...................this is his second time here. He had been doing pretty good, but something has snapped (probably hormones). Fourteen yr olds are just aliens in human disguise.

I flipped last night. We got ANOTHER call from his teacher. Previously his teacher wrote in his book that all his teachers have complained about his excessive talking and disrupting class, even though they have told him to stop. Well, now parents are complaining!!! Just great. Between his bad mouth (cursing) and his lying, not too mention using the money that he "finds" in the middle of my living room floor..............now his teacher says he was poking girls waists. He says she poked him first..............it was innocent................so he says......not like the teacher said (he was standing there when she called)...............I really don't need this!!! he has worked off the money he took (though he doesn't think taking without permission is stealing), now DH has decided no basketball til after exams this week......which means he is with me---gggrrrrr!!! His mom is not in town much, so that doesn't help. I really don't know what to do with all the cultivated bad habits.

God is working!!

2008-11-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

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Our 3 babies in waiting for their forever families.........keep praying that the paperwork and court dates get done quickly so they can go home!!!

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As I sit here and type, my boys are watching TV (some weird Japanese program, but it's in Chinese). P, our newbie nanny is feeding baby A and baby C is in a portable rocker type thing in front of me. He is trying to sleep I think (either that or pooping!!). My Anna is sleeping. We start homeschooling soon (I hope I don't get distracted!!)

We recently had someone put our site and information on her blog that she runs for unwed mom's needing to find homes for baby. We had some comments about our adopting to Christians only. They had really good things to say about the big name Catholic organizations here, but about the Christian ones, we are brainwashing kids and tricking moms to sending their kids to our "cult" or whatever. I wrote back and said that we never forced anyone to ask us to help them, the moms do it on their own. I did have good comments back then, but it was kinda funny.

We are working on some information packets so when we get our house going we can send it out. Yup, a house!!! We found one and hope by end of December have it up and running. Pray as we need resources to get cribs, beds, furnishings..................God has broughht us this far!!

Paperwork....

2008-11-22T01:36:00.000-08:00

I always get nervous around paperwork time. I just feel that I am missing something and going to mess something up or cause things to draw out longer. And with the infants in our care right now, we want them out ASAP!!:-) Not that we don't love them, but for them to with their forever family and the family experience all the firsts, though I can handle experiencing the first sleeping through the night.

All the paperwork we have for our 3 current cases our out there, relying on the mail system and the court system. Unfortunately, neither are reliable!LOL!!.........our courts here don't have family court so we kinda just line up I guess. Technically the law states 2-4weeks after registration to have a court date, not have court appearance, but a date for court appearance. So, fun, it is out of my hands though. Here is where you prayer warriors come in handy:-)

I may post beginning of the new year some things that are happening resource wise for Morning Light Home. They might be considered good, and might not for some. But God has been opening doors.

Keep praying for our cases.I hope to post pix sometime soon.

Where do I begin?

2008-10-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am hesitant on posting things here. Should I be? I am afraid that posting things on here, if there is a mom or baby, everyone on our waiting list will start getting the "check the email every 5minutes" syndrome thinking it is a referral for them. I do hope that you all allow me to post here in freedom.

If you walked into our house right now, what would you see? Well, I have 3 infants napping, but all different spots. Baby J is in the big boys room on a mat on the floor, Baby A is in his portable cribby thing they have here, and my Anna Joy is in our room in her daddy's arms (where she is usually!!LOL!).............my friend is afraid I may hand over the wrong baby, that I might hand over my baby to someone !!LOL!! I THINK NOT!
My living room/dining room.......where we are most of the time........currently has a walker, 3 strollers, one portable cribby thing and a Taiwan style bouncy/cribby thing ( I seriously don't know what they are called). We are having to rearrange the furniture not to mention our schedule.
On Monday, our Baby J will go back to nanny and we'll get baby C for awhile................ .ahhhhh....... the joys?? I guess we could say that............

If we had a home for them to stay at with a nanny...... would there be more? who knows......sometimes the idea of doing this work scares me at what it can be and how God can grow things overnight.

Pray for a national coworker who would be willing to stay at a house.............. Momma J stayed here for a few weeks, but it was a bit rough on our family. She was easy to get along with, but obvious she is "mom" to her own mom.......... that happens in alcoholic families alot, the kids have to bear more responsibility than they should. BUT if we had a worker, single or widowed, who would be willing to stay at a house and help, that would be awesome!!! and so helpful.......... so pray for that............. God will do great things..................are you praying for that?

We have been busy....

2008-10-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

Not ignoring you all!!!
October 8th, we needed to go get a 7month old who is in the process of being adopted. He was here not more than a week and started getting sicker than when we had picked him up (he was really congested on the 8th). The nanny called a 2am to take him to the ER and he was admitted right away with acute pneumonia. We PRAISE THE LORD that after a week in the hospital, he is now better than when we brought him home. God is doing great things!! Please keep praying for him and the adoption to go through.

October 30th, Momma J had her baby boy. She has had it rough. Her own mom was drunk that AM, but sober enough to come to the hospital later for the surgery. Momma J needed to have a c/section. She is resting and doing well.

All of this has given us a foot in the door with social services. The hospital social worker knows us well now:-)......and she might be referring a case to us for abortion counsel, or not to abort. The social worker was asking lots of questions about our work or beginnings of work with unwed moms and she says there is a big need for a home. God is opening doors. Please do pray that the social worker can convince this needy mom to at least just talk with us about her choices and not to abort.

Please do consider supporting our ministry. God is working in Taitung Taiwan!!!

Congrats are in order..

2008-10-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

This gorgeous hunk just celebrated his first year of being with his forever family!!

And this beautiful princess after waiting way too long, the family finally got the final decree!!! they changed household registery and all...............they live here so it was a tad different, but still SHE IS THEIRS!!

Just an encouragement to say YES IT CAN HAPPEN AND WILL!!!! Congrats to the forever familes who are celebrating.........praying we can add more soon!!

Hi again

2008-10-15T20:00:00.001-07:00

Baby A....... keep praying his adoption goes smoothly.......we are probably a little over half way

Again, it has been awhile. I have been so busy and recently under the weather. I have had some headaches, either due to stress or due to the weather.

This was on my desk the other day......not my idea of an assistant! Though if he can translate and type well.....maybe!!LOL!

Let's see:
***Momma J's funds are just about there. We were given funds from a wonderful artist who is raising money for us. We haven't put that in our little badgy thing there. Momma J is due with a baby boy Nov. 15, but will need a c/section. She will probably have baby first week of November. She just turned 20yr old, so she can legally sign papers herself.
***After some interesting situations, H family's baby was moved closer to us. He is doing well. You can check out Sarah and David's blog to the left. Baby Josiah is a great baby (great in disposition and size!!LOL!)
***We are still asking you for prayers in another families situation. USA immigration rules for orphans are, well, annoying to say the least. This family has a sibling group they are wanting to adopt, the parents want them to adopt, but because there are two parents, though legally divorced, they can't. Please pray we can get some gov't officials in our area to have a soft heart.
*** We are still working on registering. Some things have slowed us down, but our fire is still burning. It breaks my heart to get phone calls from gov't social workers saying "are you all registered yet? we have a kid"...........AHHHHHHHH!!! there is NO rule that gov't social services cannot go through private independent adoptions, none at all, just something they prefer to stay away from. So please pray we get things moving.
*** Please pray for us as we minsiter to those who are in great need. As I talked with one mom who just gave her baby, she just wants to talk. She came to see her baby, who is a month old and in care and ready for adoption. It was hard to see her struggle when he started crying. I was trying to imagine what she is going through, and well, I can't understand. I know when the thought of my baby being in someone else's arms goes through my mind, my heart aches. This mom, she showed some emotion, but not a tear when she was visiting or when she left. We met at our church, a neutral point. She said tht now that she is looking for a job, she won't be thinking so much of baby. But I wonder...............how emotionally hard she was towards this from the beginning? If her neighbors asked if she was pregnant, thus the belly..........No,just gained alot of weight. She was made to keep it a secret, made to stay home except for dr's visits. If baby came home, she'd have to move out...............so, how emotionally detached was she? I have just been wondering this. But she definetly needs prayers. At least she knows she can trust us. God is planting seeds!!
Keep praying.

Sure has been awhile....

2008-10-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to begin. Though Momma J is now at our house. She came this past Wed. She is fitting in fine. We have been to the dr once so far. She is severly anemic so we are working on that issue. Today, while the rest of the crowd was out of the house we just chatted. Learned alot about her. She comes from a poor poor family. She has been getting onto my kids about wasting food or taking too much food. Her family doesn't have regular meals and so she is eating well here:-)........

I do ask for prayer, there are just some issues I can't get into, but do ask for prayers and our current cases. I know that God has brought this all to us, God has a reason for everything, but sometimes, it is hard to see it. There is so much we'd like to do and we want to make a decision according to God's will, not an emotional one.

We were asked this weekend if we'd take another 8th grade boy. We haven't decided what to do. We have felt called to work with teens and also unwed mothers. We feel led to do this. We know God will provide. Luke and I are praying about all this. It is quite a jump..............everyone thinks we are crazy....... maybe we are?LOL!!

Well, I hope to post more often. It has just been a whirlwind around here. Please keep our adopt a mom in your prayers. We have $300US more to go for our goal!!

2008-09-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we had another contact. Though, since I am extremely busy with 3 right now, dh is away and honestly, I just couldn't deal with things, I called a pastor and his wife. See, I "found" this contact on the internet. An unwed mom, with a 4-5 month old baby. My heart was hurting for this mom and child. The pastor and his wife are American Chinese who pastor a church here. They recently started the adoption process of a cute little baby girl born in June. Well, they have friends who have been wanting to adopt a baby boy. They contacted the mom and will meet with her on Tuesday. I really feel God worked that out.

There are times when this work gets really exhausting. Caretakers are needed......what do we do? not just anyone, but one who feels that taking care of infants in the process is a service that is well needed. We need a building, land would be even better, but a building of some kind. I'd love to have the $500,000US+ to buy two houses and renovate to make it into a small family size children's home. But God hasn't planned that yet I guess.

We are working ahead on what God has planned for us. I wish we could just pick these kids up and send them to their forever families right away. I wish they didn't have to wait in care of a temporary mommy for 3-6months. I wish gov't would cooperate.

I was reading on a blog that Stephen Curtis Chapman made a statement that if 7%of the Christians adopted one child, that the children needing forever families crisis would be over. WOW!!! How are you helping?

where do I start...

2008-09-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Well, my beloved has been gone for over a week now...........he is in China ministering in case some of you readers don't know. I am so ready for him to get back, but we are all getting along great on a schedule of how mom wants things!!

Anyway, please do pray for our work here with unwed moms and adoptions. AIT (American Institute of Taiwan) is trying to pull the "I am the gov't I know more than you" trick.......when in reality..........they are trying to just save themselves and extra work. I understand Chinese just fine people!!! If they had told me back when that we couldn't do what we are now doing, then we would have not proceeded this way. But you know what, the man specifically said "privates are ok, they just take longer." I talked to a lawyer today as well, there are somethings that he just made me feel better saying. So, we are going on. God has brought this to us, things come up to learn from right? The main issue they are saying we are not of orphanage status. An orphanage status makes things a whole lot easier, but not necessary.

Well, please pray for the following:
H1 family: AIT is causing issues for them, technically there is no reason their case doesn't fall under an orphan, but again AIT is struttin' their stuff.

H2 family: they need a foster family here fast please pray for their family

R1 family: we have probably 85% of the stuff done, haven't registered yet, but trying to get things done and well, again AIT is causing stress..............

Momma J has not come yet. I am not sure why, though they know that dh is away, so that might be part of it.

Pray for wisdome for us as we continue to do what God wants us to do for the sake of the little ones.

we got the air conditioner!!

2008-09-05T09:25:00.001-07:00

Well, dh and I went to pick one out. They were a little cheaper as our main hot season is over now, so we got one. They are coming to install it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mom J is not coming til the 15th or so, so this is all working out perfectly!!!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Thank you all so much for your help with the a/c fund.............it is amazing how much you all have helped. I'll get pix for you all as evidence!!LOL!

OH, Momma A had her baby tonight. The dr (a friend) asked (sorta told really) me to be in the room. It was a different angle for me!!LOL!! usually it is me laying on the table, not standing there saying "you can do it" "good job"..............it was a happy yet sad time for me..........happy that this little life came into the world screaming, that a family will have a new little one someday to love...........yet sad to see this young unmarried mom have no one else support her. Her family didn't even know she was at the clinic to deliver. Granted, her family is kind of "you made the problem, you fix it." But she had no one there when she needed them. Her mom was to be coming over later, but still.........................Sad to see how things went................sad to know that she is giving up her baby.....................but she loves him enough to give him up..........this one loved baby!!!

where to begin!

2008-09-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Life has been quite hectic. I really need to get into a schedule of sorts especially since we home school.
YEAH!!!! I took a case in to register for court date today. I am so relieved. Please keep that case in your prayers!!

One of our former foster daughters has moved back for a year and will be helping out some. We can see in many ways the problems she faced and moving back here at this particular time is all in God's timing. The boys are enjoying having P back.

We have Mom A at the clinic for an induction today (readers don't get antsy please). She should have baby boy tonight sometime. Her family seems non supportive and won't be at the hospital with her. I took her in today and was with her while they set stuff up and all and will go back later today. I am thankful that she was fine with me praying for her and the baby during this time. I sat by her bed thanking God for this new life and that all will be healthy. Please pray as we use this as a witness time to her.

Mom J (thank you all for the $150 so far.......any others:-) )....will be coming Sep. 15th probably. The 14th is Moon Festival and a time for families to be together. Her mom decided to wait til after this holiday to bring her here. That is fine, though Luke will be in China then.......actually just starting his 2 week ministry trip!!AHHH!!
We are in need of maternity clothes. I know shipping is expensive, but if you have some or know of some, please contact me. We hopefully will have a family or two coming before February for adoptions and maybe they can bring some stuff.

I met with an organization that works with abused women and unwed mothers. Mom J was their original case, but since she wanted to stay in Taitung, they kinda just let her do her own thing. The organization came to us and asked about her, what we can do for her, etc. They seemed ok with it all. We are a family style ministry, not......here's a bed.......but here's a home away from home.

We have decided that our unwed mother's ministry will currently stay private, as in nonregistered. It is our adoption ministry that will be registered. We are praying for a house to rent or allow us to use........the latter would be best!!........but again, resources...........that is so difficult................I'd like to do a walk a thon, or Christmas sale or something here for funds for a home and the ministry there..................but then again, we need helpers.............we know God is in control. Please do keep praying.

We need your help!!

2008-08-26T02:51:00.000-07:00

We got the call.........Mom J, the 19yr old is coming to stay with us. Honestly, I am a tad nervous about this, but we know that God has worked this out.
Ok, so, we need someone to "adopt" Mom J................any takers? we have paypal if you don't need a receipt, or I can get you information on how to get the support to us. She is 5.5months pregnant and her mom is tired of hearing all the gossip in the village. Sad I know, but we are praising God that HE opened all this up for us. We made it known that she will be required to go to church services.....not an issue! We will be using her as a guinea pig for our program!!LOL!!
Seriously, need your prayers and support on this one. Please pass it around. We need at least $500US to support her so that is does not cause a burden on us or on her family. Her mom is the only one working, no dad in the picture, and her two younger brothers are still in school..............her 18yr old sister is already married!............

Please do pray about helping us!!

2008-08-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't go into too much detail about things, but God is moving right along. I love to see how God works things out. It is so awesome. I have had some people interested in supporting or partially supporting a mom, that is great!! We will need one supported SOON!!!!

Mom J is 19yr old and her mom is becoming embarrassed of her growing stomach. Due to some health issues, and the fact that she was already 5months along, she didn't/couldn't get an abortion. They have approached us and will give us a decision this week about her staying here. She lives at a village out of town, so it would be good for her to be near the hospital to give birth. She will turn 20yr old before birth. Can you help support Mom J? Can you support this mom when alot of her family and friends have left her?What can you do?

There is a kindergarten near here for sale...........my heart wishes for it, but financially.......we can't buy it. I have a FATHER in heaven who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if he wanted us to have it HE would.....it is a little over 1million US......it is a great size, has buildings, water,electric....etc......and room to play outside!! a great place.........but God would bring the money to us if HE wanted it. Will you pray for us for the next step?what and where God would have us to buy.....
Current Prayer Requests:
1. the rest of the paper work needed for registration
2. a social worker needed for registration
3. maternity clothes for moms
4. the current adoption cases and unwed moms---wisdom for what to do

thanks

Never a dull moment

2008-08-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a rather exhausting one. I told my dh, in our work, sometimes, being busy is not exactly a good thing.
Mom A we'll call her, contacted us about giving up her baby for adoption. Actually, our ob/gyn made the referral. I talked with her via phone last Friday. She said she hadn't been to the dr in a while because of no money. Well, we made an appointment and took her in. Much to my suprise, the nurse said "any pains? you are at 39weeks you know." I about fell off the chair!!! I was not quite expecting her that far along (and she sure doesn't look it.........man, I always look like I am carrying triplets by 39 weeks). So, dr told she HAD to come next week and I assured him,we'll bring her. So, now we are on stand by in case she goes into labor. She is 24yr old, unwed and the baby's dad refuses to accept the baby is his and won't have any responsibility. That's how it is alot of the time unfortunately.
Wednesday, we get a phone call from a pastor's wife. She has a 19yr old girl from their village (and church) who is about 6months pregnant. Actually, we thought that last month they went and had an abortion. WE PRAISE GOD THIS BABY IS ALIVE AND WELL!!! She is due in November. The father has changed cellphones, left town, that type. The family says they can't afford to keep baby. PLUS, 19yr old's mom is a tad embarrassed that her daughter's stomach is getting bigger. So, obviously, not alot of people know about the pregnancy. They went to an office here in town about a place to stay. See, our county has no unwed mother's home, so the office was going to send her someplace else. The girl's family didn't feel comfortable with that. We brought up the idea that she could stay here at our house, so they are going to give us a decision next week.
Between those and previous girls have problems all at once, it has been a rough week. But we know that God is in control. HE has HIS reasons for all this happening at once and pushing us to rely more and more on HIM.
If you want to support a mom for Morning Light Mom program, it is $500US/mom.....you don't have to support all of it, but part of it is fine. This will take care of from the time they come til birth and maybe some help after birth. Please email me and let me know.

two more goin' HOME

2008-08-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

The D family has really had lots of set backs with their boys and things they were told they needed at the last minute, even an issue of something written wrong by the US Immigration!! But alas, I got this email today:

"Everything is finally official. We’ve been approved to take our sons home with us!! Now the problem is getting home. The travel agent said the soonest she can get a seat for all of us is Sept 8th, almost 3 weeks out! We are going to call American Airlines tomorrow and see if we can arrange something with them directly. All I can say is, please be praying for us. "

So they really need prayers to get HOME. I can't imagine waiting 3 more weeks!! Goodness.......so please pray that they can get home.

The D boys ages 7 and 5.....ain't they cute!!

Update on God's working...

2008-08-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see. Someone told they were proud of me jumping right back into all of this work right after having a baby. I guess I saw it as no choice. It's not like the world is gonna stop cause I had a baby:-).
We hopefully will soon be getting the a/c put in. Why? well, today we met with a 19yr old (will be 20yr old in October) unwed mother. We are counseling her, though she came with her pastor's wife. They are from a village outside the city. We found out that the family and pastor's wife had gone to the one and only unwed mother office/service in our county. They could send her to a home run by an orphanage that does overseas adoptions. But mom was afraid 19yr old wouldn't settle in. Luke piped up that well, she could stay at our house (Luke rarely does things like that so when he does, I don't take it lightly). So, we will see her next week and go from there. We will put her in the Morning Light Mom's program, so we will need some sponsors............anyone? please contact me if you are interested.

Thursday (the 21st) I meet with a 24yr old mom to take her to a long overdue prenatal appointment. She is also unwed and deciding what to do. She is due soon though.

As you can see, God is really working and showing us more and more..........these people who most ignore or give the cold shoulder, you need to talk to them and help them and their children.

I have more to write, but need to get things ready for church tonight.

oh.....by the way.....

2008-08-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

Morning Light Mom that is what we have decided on, though we'll have to see how it translates into Chinese. But that seems to be the name for our new adopt a mom program.
I am preparing (kinda slowly) information for Morning Light Mom program. But you know, this would be a great great program for ladies Sunday School groups to be in. What is better than a group of Christian women, supporting and praying for an unwed mother and her needs? If you want information on this program for your ladies Sunday school class, or any class please contact me.

And on we go...

2008-08-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

We are working on paperwork for 3 different cases, but one is wrapping up. Hopefully next week the D family can take their boys home. But they will need prayer as the boys are older boys. An adjustment for both sides.

We are praising the Lord that the H family's little has been released. The bio mom has signed the release for adoption forms and had them notarized, as well as the Chinese adoption agreement. The H family is in the homestudy process................keep them in your prayers.

Another H family should be getting papers TECO'd and sent here for registration. Praying hard it gets here quickly and we can happily go to register for them.

Those are our 3 cases we are working on. In the midst of all this, we are working on registration. *sigh* that is another whole story in itself. The people in charge here don't tell you ALL you need to know right away. AND the gov't here in our county hasn't done anything like this before, so after we turn in our paperwork, then they will compare it with other counties then see if we need to change anything.......................I sure hope they don't make me mad!!LOL!! I can sortakindainaway see them looking at the format, but please don't look at other offices and compare us with them. PLUS we met last time with Mr. Yang and Ms. Wang........when I called the other day, Mr. Yang said just take the paperwork to him as Ms. Wang has left social work. They have quite a turn over rate.........that is like the 3rd person who has left since we have been pursuing this registration stuff.

I still haven't heard back from the 19yr old unwed mom...........if I can find her number, I MAY call her. That would be a weird call "so, did you get your abortion?"......no, I won't say that but you know what I mean? I will be hopefully getting some papers to my ob/gyn that he can hand out and asking him to write a letter or something to the other ob/gyn dr's about our service. Wouldn't it be great if I could meet with them all for lunch and discuss all this? hmmm........

well, just keep prayin' for us............oh, midAugust we will be looking at a/c's thanks to all those who gave. It is still open for giving:-)

Our next project should be office/counseling room furniture and computer, fax, phone...........

ok.......that's all for now

Need to be covered in Prayer.....

2008-07-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

we are working on paperwork for 3 cases, one is very pressing and the others are, well, pressing. We have a family to come pick up two brothers. They arrived last night, but are staying with friends near the children's home where the boys are at. There are some knots in paperwork that need to be straightened out. PLEASE keep us in prayer. This case has been long and the gov't has really not been too cooperative, kinda doin' it their way when they haven't done one before!!

The other cases, I am not concerned about, but please pray that all goes quickly and smoothly so these kids can get home.

We had another family get their FINAL DECREE!!!YEA!!

I checked up on another case with an unwed mother..............*sigh*.....she NOW wants to keep baby, but social worker and church members do not feel that the baby is going to be well taken care of. PLEASE PRAY we get news ASAP that mom has changed her mind. We are not trying to take baby away, but we are working for best interests of the baby and well, mom can barely take care of herself, let alone baby (and big sister at that!).........so please pray.

There is another unwed mother we were supposed to have heard from last week, but haven't. I am kinda disappointed. Her pastor's wife went with her to the ob/gyn (my dr actually) for her to have an abortion (the 19yr old) and my dr persuaded her not to do it, but adopt it out. My heart fears she went someplace else................so please please please pray for this young mom.

ok, our current visitors are gone, but we have more coming. We have been busy non stop (well, Luke more than me) since July7th...................and will be til August 13th. Our church has children's VBSAugust 11-13th..................i need a vacation!!LOL!!

Please continue to keep the office needs in prayer. We are going to try to use part of our church as an office for our ministry (preferrably that way)...........so please pray!!

Here I am:-)

2008-07-23T02:23:00.001-07:00

Well, thank you all for your patience in the long time between posts. On July 3rd, we gave birth to Anna Joy Pan. Our only girl!! My dh is more than excited about having a little girl to spoil, and her 3 big brothers are enjoying her. Though much to their disappointment, she doesn't do much right now. Though her oldest brother can get a smile out of her here and there. So, while I am on my "rest" time, we are also having to rearrange things and look into our ministry, first our home and our church and community. So..............as we adjust to all this, please have patience.

Some things to update you all on:
1. YEAH!! we have the money for the a/c..........you all are great!!! my dh and the Chinese here in Taiwan are amazed at how fast you all move:-).......when we pick it out and install it, we'll put pix up.
2. Registering process: right now this is the biggest priority........a social worker has informed us that suddenly, the courts (not sure if local or all country) are saying children under the gov't care (as in parental rights have been terminated and the gov't is the guardian) must go through a registered adoption service or children's home, NO PRIVATE ALLOWED!! this means that basically, we can't get referrals from social services until we have that piece of paper saying we are registered. We are basically stuck at this: AN OFFICE SPACE!!! the gov't here has rules on the size and number of rooms for an office....crazy in my opinion, but we aren't going to fight it. We are praying to find one as cheap as possible (or free)...........but there is a possibility of one but it is $400US/month..........we are trying to get our friend to explain to landlord we are NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION to see if it can be like cheaper.Either way we are looking for sponsors............................ok.........I see it as something that can be done a few ways: 1)a number of families or churches or businesses to support us for rent for at least a year...it could be say 4 families or such for $100US/month or how ever to split it up........or 2)we have another chip in button to raise 6months of money as soon as possible.......... We will keep you informed so please do keep this in prayer.............we'll let you know soon of what is going on.............
3. ok.......there seems to be a tie between two names..............I know, the contest hasn't been completed yet.....give me another week or so to get things together and we'll pick a name of those who voted and you'll get a t-shirt:-).........so......which name do you all think? Morning Light Moms or Hearts and Hands...........someone....let me know!
We have gotten a few phone calls about unwed mother's needs. Please keep these all in your prayers. God is working, please keep the prayers coming. Please keep current cases in your prayers too. Paperwork is so overwhelming, simple really, but needing to have things in English and Chinese and stamped by TECO...........my, makes your head spin:-)

hard parts of this work....

2008-06-23T19:16:00.001-07:00

This week, we had to inform a family that the bio mom changed her mind. This mom had been wanting "help" for adopting her son out to a family months before the birth. Sw's had talked to her and everything was going great. The family was ready and even sent stuff for baby.
After mom had baby, then she decided she wanted to take care of baby for one month. Weekly, two sw's would visit. Now that baby is almost one month old, she has decided to keep baby. Heartbroke, anger, and a bunch of other emotions run through my heart and mind (as well as sw's)...................we don't know why it happened, but God allowed it to happen.
I feel the family is taking it better than me! I was able to visit bio mom and I feel it will be best for baby to be adopted out. We have learned alot from this case, DON'T LET MOM'S TAKE BABY HOME after birth!!! I think we will look at each case individually, but still, not allow as much freedom in that area.
Please pray for that family as they mourn this loss. Please pray for us as we continue to work to get babies into home of loving Christian families.

We had something else happen, a family that is adopting brother's found out there is a younger sister! the sw asked the mom and the mom won't allow baby sister to be adopted overseas. Weird, i know..............a baby she gave birth too and abandoned in the hospital 6 months ago, she wants to have "visitation rights" even after child is adopted domestically. She was told she can see baby until she is 6 yrs old......................there are things I'll never know why they happen, but they do............. God is in control of it all................very hard to remember and keep at the forefront of our mind!!!

Well....

2008-06-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

I got a call today.....I don't know if I shared here that a sw mentioned that Social services was wanting to contract with someone/organization to do adoptions. SW loves how we do things and asked how far along we are on things..........well.......not much further than before. Mainly cause no one will tell us the next step.
Well, I emailed and faxed someone, the legislature's wife, and emailed the man in charge of women and children department. The legislature's wife, Phoebe, is so cute. She speaks PERFECT English. She called today and said she got me an appointment next Wed with a few people in Social services.....news to me.... oh, they'll call you soon......I didn't mention that I am due with baby ANY DAY NOW. But at least we are one step in the right direction. I gave her a great thank you for doing that and she says, "you guys are helping the children of Taitung, I should be the one to thank you." WOW!! Now, let's hope we hear from Mr. Chen about this supposed appointment we have.
Please do keep the D family and the case in prayer. Things, well paperwork that should've or could've been done really wasn't and could cause a bump in the road. Mainly cause we are not power of attorney, kinda helping the power of attorney along. The POA goes to the USA in July, I will not be going anywhere with newborn in tow..............that is leaving it up to social workers..... and we all know how social workers are!!!LOL!!
HEY check out our 1/3 of the way there on the A/C for a nursery.......you all are great....... oh, Hearts and Hands are winning, but there were some other ideas for names as well.
Please do keep us all in your prayers.

Help Morning Light

2008-06-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

a poll.....

2008-06-20T21:16:00.001-07:00

Ok, there is a poll for a new name for Adopt a Mom. Please let me know what you think.

To make this a great contest:-) (and like I have time, but hey)............ leave a comment that you posted and I will write the name and draw a winner out box. Make sense? Winner will get a Morning Light Ministries t-shirt......yup....we have them:-) I'll try to get a picture of them soon. The poll will close on the 27th.

a case update!!

2008-06-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

The D family is getting take their boys home in July!!!!
The sw just called and the final decree came down.............this has been almost 2 months, or a little over in waiting. This case has taken WAY too long. The main reason? there is a new judge in that area who has never done international adoptions before and so she was being overly cautious.
Now, we have paperwork. I was not the power of attorney, but the D family's friend. So this could get complicated. Paperwork looks overwhelming, but in reality it's not. Just if the gov't cooperates (which is probably the most difficult to deal with), it can go smoothly.
Pray that they will work together for getting the boys passport, so we can then get the physical, so then they can have their appointment at AIT. Plus, we need to pray that AIT can make the appointment.
Lots of little things at the end...........................but the boys, ages 6 and 4 are going to a home after being in a children's home (also their first international adoption) for almost 4 years now. So happy for the D family. Please do pray that this case can go smoothly. I am concerned the paperwork will be difficult to get.

Some recent things....

2008-06-17T18:55:00.001-07:00

Well, we have been brainstorming here. With this recent contact of Dr. Chen, and hopes of more contacts in the next few months, some issues have come up.

1. Fundraising. We are in DIRE need of getting a/c set up on our 3rd floor for when the time comes for a caretaker to move in. This will cost at least $1200US-$1500US. So, fundraising for this is necessary. This is probably our biggest need right now. Are you able to help? whether you are or have adopted through us, or have a burden for a ministry like ours, you can help. You can have a garage sale, or get your church, Sunday school or neighbors to have a garage sale. Then the funds can be donated to Morning Light. That is one way to get involved. There are many other ways, and I am sure you can think of some.

2. A member on our advisory committee discussed with us last night the idea of trying for 501 c3 position in the USA. This will be helpful to us and to others as well. This may even help in registering here in Taiwan. Please be in prayer with us about this issue. We are looking to God's leading in what HE would have us to do.

3. Still looking for caretaker/teacher/coworker. This will be so beneficial to our ministries here. If you know of a young lady who is interested and can get support on her own, please let us know.

Again, please keep praying with us and for us. As we work to get children into Christ centered, God fearing families, Satan is not going to be happy about it. So please give us extra cover.

Dr. Chen

2008-06-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with a Christian doctor south of us. He met a missionary lady we know, and asked her if she knew of anyone who helps with adopting children, preferrably Christian. Well, she told him of us.
Now, I don't like using the phone at all. BUT Dr. Chen speaks WONDERFUL English and when he heard me say "we only adopt to Christian families" he was so cute to say "Hallelujah". He was so happy to hear about this and feels we can work well together.
So, we are just praising God right now for how HE brings things together. Children are special to God and HE has plans..........................please do pray for us!!

On another note, the bio mom of E and I is signing papers the sw said. So their new family can start working on everything now. Praying for them to be home before Dec. 1st (my goal, hopefully it is God's goal!!!).................Also, the T family turned in some more paperwork and we are praying hard that this is the final paperwork needed for finalizing the adoption of A. It has been an unusual 1 yr + long adoption process. VERY VERY UNUSUAL!!...............also, waiting for the finalization papers on the boys for the D family. Those waits for that finalization paper are like the wait for those last few days of pregnancy (ask me how I know!!LOL!!)

Baby L

2008-06-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

There's a new baby:-)
NO, not ours!! Baby L was born last Tuesday and went home with her new family on Monday (yesterday). This case was different as the bio parents are married. She could not go to an overseas family right away. According to USA immigration, this would not make her eligible as an orphan. The L family are missionaries in Taiwan and will be here for awhile. SO, as USA immigration rules, after completing adoption here, they raise Baby for 2 years and then she is considered "abandoned by her biological family" and eligible for USA citizenship and the such. Anyway, that's how it goes. We are so thankful to our Father in heaven for bringing this baby and the L family together.
AIN'T SHE CUTE!!!!

Children see.Children do

2008-06-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

Kids learn alot more than you think......

Friday's prayer requests....

2008-06-06T02:07:00.001-07:00

Just some things that you all can be praying about:

E and I waiting for bio mom to be contacted and sign the papers, then we can begin to get them to the H family.
E has a hole in his heart that is not shrinking, please pray dr's know what's going on and he can get to the USA and see a dr fast
Baby B is with bio mom who wants to take a month to decide about adoption or not. Please pray that mom makes the right decision (which social workers and ourselves all feel adoption is really best in this situation)
Baby J is really sick, please pray the dr will not admit him to hospital as he doesn't have insurance and well, there is a financial need there for medical bills
Baby J has a brother A who we are all concerned about. Please do pray that God will intervene in this child's life. God has so far and it is neat to see who has been picked to take care of him so far, pray that mom will see she can't take care of A.
Mother C I was to meet with today needs prayer for wisdom. She approached social services about adoption, but didn't show up for the meeting (at her house). Pray we can see her next week or that things work out for the benefit of the baby
Pray for us as we decide what to do about registration. It has it's pros and cons, and we don't want to be gov't run or controlled as we are a Christian nonprofit organization.
Pray for adopt a mom program..............we have had a few interested, please pass the news around!

We are so thankful for all that God has done and will be doing with our work. Please do keep us in your prayers!!

God keeps brining them

2008-06-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

I am never sure how much I should share here as there are many families waiting to adopt that might get the "Is that mine?" idea. So please, be patient!!!
I got a phone call yesterday from our foster agency social worker (SW) asking if she could give my number to gov't sw about adoption......um.....YES!!!
So, this AM I get a phone call "can you come with me at 10:45am to visit a mom consider adoption?" yup....dh decided to drive as this place was in a village about 20-30min away by car. He didn't want his 37weeks+ preggo wife on a scooter going over mountain roads......gee.....why not!!!
Had a good talk with the social worker about things and our work. She was happy to hear of this. Anyway, we got there at one house, no signs of anyone there. So we go down the mountain to her house. A man, who I am not sure was sober, opened the door. No, she isn't here. She's over at such and such a village.
Great, she won't answer phones, took baby with her and all. SW said she knew about us coming though. Ah, the joys of this work.
Anyway, we'll try next week. Mom is 27yr old, not married. Bio father is in another county working. He sends her about $90US/month to live on....oh, she has a first grader as well...............never a dull moment.
So, please continue praying that we can visit this mom and talk with her about her options and what's best for the baby. It was her decision or opinion to give baby up for adoption, so pray that she goes through.
Thanks

New program.....

2008-06-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

We have decided to launch a new program. "Adopt a Mom" is mentioned to the left. Ok, not a spiffy name....but if you think of another cool and enticing name, let me know. We are praying that through these "scholarships", we can help these mom's who usually have no one around to help.
We have heard of mom's, once found out they are pregnant, the dad splits, the mom's parents are embarrassed and so she has to fend for herself. It is sad, but ever so prevalent in today's society. Only recently has Taiwan started any programs. In our county, there are NO CHRIST CENTERED programs for this. Can you help us start it? It doesn't have to be a one lump some of $300US. It can be monthly donations for "adopt a mom" or it can be a one time offering. We can put together a few sponsors for one mom. You can get updates if you wish. Allowing the mom to know she has support is half of the battle.
Please consider this program. Remember, she may or may not choose adoption, but entering in this program, she won't be choosing abortion!! She will get knowledge and skills and support to have her make wise choices. And we will incorporate the Bible and making wise choices now and the future. Write me if you are interested!!!***oh, it can be tax deductible too!!!** panshrmu@yahoo.com

2008-06-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is JerHow.....our first case....I love update pix.

He has been through alot his first 3 years, but it is obvious how he is growing and being loved so much by his new family. He went to the USA in October 2007.

Ain't he a cutie pie!!!

Had a baby born!!

2008-06-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

No, not mine:-)
A mom I had contact with via the internet.I have only seen her pix on her blog and had contact via instant message and email........never even heard her voice.

Anyway, because she is married (she is 20yr and her dh is 21yr old), this had to be a domestic one. USA immigration wouldn't consider the baby girl and orphan since parents are together. So, this baby was/is being adopted by a missionary family here in Taiwan. She must live with them for 2 years before being considered abandoned by her biological family. That's the USA immigration laws.

So, Baby girl was born June 2, 2008 at 6:27pm...........2,526grams (5.5lbsish) and 47cm (18.5in) long........very normal for Chinese babies. I sure hope I get some pictures:-)

2008-06-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

**this is a post from a family adopting from Taiwan....I think it gives you a good example of stuff being done or not being done here......**

These are the number of adoptions from Taiwan by US citizens that have been completed in the past several years.

2006 -187

2005 -138

2004 -107

2003 -104

2002 -48

Most adoptions from Taiwan are by Dutch families in the Netherlands (663 total from 1990 -2005).Most adoptions were infants from orphanages.
There are 32 orphanages in Taiwan, 4 of which have contracts with American adoption agencies

Right now, Taiwan is the 14th most densely populated country in the world. It was #2 in 1997.The size of Taiwan is 13,892 square miles, a little less than Delaware and Maryland combined, although it holds over 23 million people.Their population growth rate is .30%, which has slowed from .80% in 2000.
The population increase and density has slowed in recent years. Partly because of young women choosing careers and education and waiting until later in life to marry. Another part is due to efforts by the government to promote 1 or 2 child families. They have a slogan '1 is not too few; 2 is just right'. Also, young couples are seeing children as many Americans do (as expenses) and having only one or two, as they feel it is what they can 'afford'.

Taiwan is a small place with many people. Family size is decreasing. Many pregnancies are being terminated and many babies are being given up to orphanages. Orphanages are full. Child abuse rates are high. Foster homes are fewer than needed. Case workers are fewer than needed.

Taiwanese families in general do not adopt. It is an Asian cultural system tied to family blood lines. There is the fear of nonacceptance by other family members for the child is not blood and the fear that the child will turn 18 and look for its blood family. Fear.

Unwed mothers and single mothers are socially unaccepted. They are discriminated against. They are not hired for jobs, cannot find child care, cannot find an apartment to rent, and receive no support and ostracized from family. So most choose abortion. The option of placing the child up for adoption is only available if they can find an organization to take care of them until they give birth.There is a need for an unwed mothers and children's home in Taiwan. While there are a few in some parts of he island, there are none in some sections of island. In Taitung County, there is no unwed mothers home, no children's home.

The Pan's are trying to change that.They desire to see a home for unwed mothers so the women may choose life for their child, a home that will meet their physical need for shelter, food, clothing AND provide for their mental, emotional, and spiritual needs to empower and educate them for their future. A home that values the life of the mother AND the child.

2008-06-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Baby J.......2months............pray we can get papers signed and start the process this month. Bio mom turns 20yrs old end of June. In Taiwan, if mom is not 20yr old, then she has to have her parents sign............problem is, bio mom never told her mom she had this baby!!! (check out Sarah and David blog link to the left)....
.

those ups and downs....

2008-06-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

Can I just say I want to scream right now!!!
Today we were to see a baby boy, mom had already decided on adoption. She asked if she could breastfeed for one month, she goes back to jail in August anyway.
Mom had scares up her arm from cutting herself, and she had the alcoholic deep scratchy voice. By looking at her, the lifestyle she lives is quite obvious.
Well, social worker and I get there and mom is wishy washy. She kinda was feeling what if the family was bad, or how would she know how the child is doing. I answered all her questions and assured her that the adopting family was willing to send pictures to her so she can have peace about her decision.
After that she seemed ok. Well, the her 15yr old son steps in. He doesn't want baby brother given away. His attitude and smirks made me want to smack him one!! Mom said she is going to think about it.
So, I had to write the adopting family and explain current situation. That is so hard for me to do. I know that technically we should wait till all papers are signed for adoptions, but really, I am one that prefers to have things lined up. Meaning, I want to make sure I have a family and all things covered and questions answered. It is not my fault the mother is probably going through hormonal problems after delivering.
So, I ask that you all pray for this case. We really need God to work on this mom's heart, to open up her eyes and see what is going on and how this baby needs a stable home.

Stories.....

2008-05-31T00:47:00.000-07:00

I will be writing down stories in a book myself, and for my thesis, but I figured I might write down somethings here. Stories to let you know what we deal with.

Baby B
I got a call back in March or April was it from social services, well private foster agency, here. "Mrs. Pan, we gotta case for you," those words always get my heart pumping.
The social worker went on. There was a 40 yr old mom, in jail for selling her bank account, all personal information, to scam artists. She got caught in some problems. BUT one of her problems had appeared not long after she was put in jail. PREGNANT! She contacted social services and didn't want baby. They asked her to think about it for a month, then they'd help.
Well, she did and they did. They called me.The more I learned about the story, I shook my head. Bio mom is 40yr old, with 15yr old son and 6yr old son. The youngest is in foster care cause mom is in jail. Not to mention, mom did drugs and alcohol BEFORE going to jail. We are so thankful that she was in jail during pregnancy, God was protecting baby.
Her legal husband, who is not the father of the baby, is in another county, working (I think). But he drinks til he passes out. SINCE it isn't his baby, he is willing to sign off release forms. After all, according to the courts, they are married so it SHOULD be his.
The bio father? um.....the mom is not particularly sure. But thinks it's the one with a wife, grown kids and grandkids.......we'll stop there!
These are stories that, well, are normal. We are so thankful that God has brought these cases to us. We didn't go searching, but people came to us. This child will go on to be adopted and grow in a great loving Christian home. Not a family full of drugs and alcohol, not a family that doesn't want him. But a great family.
Pray for us as we work with mom's like this. Pray we can get a foot in the door of their heart and help the parents as well.

2008-05-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what exactly to post and how much, but here it goes.

I will be working on somethings for future projects, but let me tell you what is going on: Our primary goal is to work with unwed mother's. We are working on some classes to do with them. If anyone knows of classes or programs, please do contact us.I would gladly pay to have them translated into Chinese so I don't have to:-)
We hope to give unwed mother's support that they need, and the education to make wise decisions. What decisions? Mainly taking care of the child or allowing the child to be adopted. We counsel in both and allow the mom to make the decision. That's the only way to go, in my book. If they keep the baby, well, then we can be there for questions, support (not financially), and help with taking care of a baby. If they go the adoption route, we have evangelical Bible believing born again Christians who have gone through our application process and are waiting.
These are the current goals of our ministry. Funny, many people think we are crazy. Yes, I am almost 37weeks preggo myself, and I was out buying diapers for a mom that just had a baby (who is up for adoption, but has a family) and people were like......"you are pregnant and still helping others?? are you crazy?"......today I heard a song on the Christian internet station I LOVE to listen to..........the chorus went something like "when the world tells you not to, by God, you've got to!!"......that's how I feel alot...............

My First Post....

2008-05-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

We are attempting something. This blog will be about the ups and downs and the needs and praises for our unwed mother's ministry and adoption ministry in Taiwan. God has laid it on our heart for some time, and HE is moving things right along. So, be patient, enjoy and comment if you wish:-)
Deana