My New Parenting Tool Box

There are many things to learn about parenting an internationally adopted child. Being a mommy to our future son from a Rwandan orphanage requires a different kind of parenting. There are many things that I will have to do differently. I thought I would do a mini series of posts about what I learned at my recent Trust Based Relational Intervention training for children from hard places and the effects their previous life trauma on them.

In this short video by Dr. Purvis, she gives a short summary of the bigger picture I hope to "unpack" and couple with practical tools for my new parenting tool box.

Adoption Training in Texas

Dr. Cross, me, Dr. Purvis

 Last week I was able to go with a few other ladies from my church to Dr. Purvis and Dr. Cross's professional training on how to connect with children who have been adopted internationally or in the foster care system. They are the authors of a wonderful book (that every foster/adopt parent should read) called 'The Connected Child'. I have been studying for this course for 2 months and it culminated with a one week intensive on the Texas Christian University campus. I learned so much! Hopefully, in the near future I will post about some of the things I learned. Our team of 4 are all part of our church's Orphan Care ministry. The hope is not only to learn how to best parent my future child but also to help develop a class for the foster/adopt parents at our church. Here's a little video about the sort of things we were about by Dr. Purvis.

Gladney Center for Adoption, Fort Worth, TX

I also had the opportunity to go to check out Gladney, my adoption agency. It was great to tour the facility and learn all about their history. They have a really nice display area in the front lobby telling their history with the artifacts, photos and videos. Something else I didn't know is that they also have an on site dorm for young moms who are planning to adopt their child to another family. Everyone I met had a genuine passion for their job - from the president to the dorm "mom". It was a very warm and caring place.

me & my case workers

 On Friday, my two case workers from Gladney, stopped by the training to have lunch with me! It was such a thrill to get to spend an hour just getting to know these 2 wonderful ladies on a more personal level. I feel like I have two new friends in Texas :)

Adoption Update
I don't have any new news on the time frame for our adoption. However, a Gladney attorney who just got back from assisting in Hauge training in Rwanda said that it was really good. She was impressed with their commitment to orphan care and their overall integrity. She said everyone was really positive and no one ever seemed down on adopting. Rwanda is trying to implement 1 church, 1 child in their own county and encourage domestic adoption. She also said Rwanda has already drafted some of their Hauge framework and hopefully by the beginning of next year they will have a good idea of an implementation date. Another good thing to hear is that they hired 2 more people to help process the current dossiers, although there is no new updates on that end of things. She did say the nuns at the orphanage are anxious to match families. So hopefully once we get our approval letter from Rwanda we will get a quick match.

Join in praying for orphans. You can go to this site where I am posting from God's Heart for the Orphans (a free prayer guide from our church). I've been adding facts and pictures to each days prayer to hopefully make an even deeper connection for the reader. Go here to check it out and let's pray together for the world's orphans! Together, as partners with God, we can change this global issue.

Please Pray With Me

This Sunday, November 7, 2010, is Orphan Sunday
It's an annual day set aside for rediscovering the importance that Jesus puts on caring for orphans. This virtue has been largely lost among the church today. This has not always been the case. The early Church was known for it's sacrificial care for widows and orphans. They knew that over 40 times in the Old Testament, God has commanded His people to care for orphans. They knew that Christ elevated children to a high place in His Kingdom. Caring for orphans was rightfully a part of the DNA of the young Body of Christ - to such a degree that to be Christian was to participate at least nominally in caring for orphans. It was the rare exception not to be. We need to get back to this principle.

I hope you will join me in praying for just a few minutes each day for the next 40 days on behalf of all orphans! Every morning (@ 6:00am), I will post a different, short 2-3 sentence prayer. You can personalize it as you feel led. I hope you'll commit to praying for 40 Days for our world's most vulnerable children...and together help bring God's heart back into the DNA of the church. Imagine going through life with no parents to speak love into your life, to help you blossom into the person God created you to be. They are often institutionalized, abused, neglected, hungry and forgotten. They are lonely, afraid and vulnerable. They are on the streets, in orphanages, and in OUR very own communities.

Please commit to this simple but eternally impactful action and let's see what God does!!! :) pass it on...

I'm not posting in on my blog. You need to go to http://orphancareprayerguide.posterous.com/. I think if you subscribe there you will get the new prayer each day. You can also download it free from our church's orphan care website here.