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
Thoughts and feelings as we minister to women in crisis here in Taitung. Our prayer is they see God when they need HIM most.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
back in action....
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!
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
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.
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.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Happy Chinese New Year....
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:-):
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Goodness how time flies....
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.
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.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Another in court....
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."
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."
Saturday, December 6, 2008
I am sitting here....
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.
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.
Friday, November 28, 2008
teens....
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.
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.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
God is working!!
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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!!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Paperwork....
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.
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.
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