Our friends, the Bentleys, are moving to Ethiopia. Would you consider partnering with them?
Here is their story:
“LEARN TO DO
RIGHT; SEEK JUSTICE. DEFEND THE OPPRESSED. TAKE UP THE CAUSE OF THE FATHERLESS;
PLEAD THE CASE OF THE WIDOW. – ISAIAH 1:17
Adoption…what’s
your first thought when you hear that word? Overwhelming, expensive, crazy,
paperwork, complicated, life changing, love, emotional…so many other feelings
and emotions that can be added to these but for us adoption has become the
catalyst leading us back to Ethiopia.
Isaiah 11:6
“…and a little child shall lead them.”
In 2008 our eyes and hearts were opened to the
cause of the estimated 163 million orphans in our world today. While we found
this statistic overwhelming, it began to ignite the fire in our heart when we
started to place a name and face to the “statistic”, even asking the question of
what if that was Parker or Clayton, our two biological boys…IF THAT WAS ONE OF
OUR CHILDREN! That’s a game changer and fueled the fire already blazing in our
hearts for these children.
After bringing
Selah home in 2011, our hearts continued to be broken for these precious
children we had seen and loved on during our time in Ethiopia. God had
deposited something in us during our two trips to Ethiopia. Our expectation of
coming home and getting back to “business as usual” wasn’t something that was
going to work. We soon realized that this journey God had us on was far from
over and in many regards just beginning.
Our Adoption Video: http://vimeo.com/25647030
In late 2011,
we began to seek God for direction and peace over this unsettled heart for
Ethiopia. With open hearts to God’s best in our life, we started to pursue a
number of opportunities around the world. It was quickly clear that God had
placed this fire in our hearts to do something more in Ethiopia.
God has called
us to Ethiopia, to serve Him by serving others, specifically the orphans and
vulnerable, while working to educated and empower them through sustainable
development. As you can imagine, there are a many challenges in moving a family
of five to one of the poorest countries in the world…we couldn’t be more excited
about the opportunities!
Over the past
few months God has been knitting us together with Ethiopian and American
organizations that are working with the people of Ethiopia.
-CHILDRENS HOME. It’s not right for children to
be neglected on the streets. God has opened up the opportunity for us to
partner with a local organization in Addis Ababa to open a children’s home. The
home’s purpose will be to partner with the Ethiopian government by rescuing
vulnerable and destitute children who have been orphaned and/or abandoned. A
final goal will be to try, if possible, to reconcile and/or reintegrate a
child(ren) back into the community by placing them with family members and/or
parents if found, or through domestic adoption.
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT. Ethiopia has a strong entrepreneurial pulse but is oftenlacking
the right tools to address the opportunity. Our desire is to leverage our
gifts, education and entrepreneurial experiences to help with practical and
holistic strategies for sustainable development. We are currently working on
ideas to take woman off the streets from the commercial sex trade and create
sustainable business through vocational job training. Other ideas include
simple job and skills training/education with the goal of empowering people with
local resources.
We want to
make a lasting difference in Ethiopia and are committed to this calling.
WILL YOU STAND WITH
US TO GIVE A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS?
I have goosebumps!!! Beautiful!!!!
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