So far on this year’s Winter Jam tour, we’ve had great success in recruiting sponsors for children in Holt’s care around the world. But we need to end strong! Less than a dozen stops remain on the 2012 tour schedule, and we have yet to reach our goal of 100 volunteers for each of the upcoming shows in Texas, Indiana and Champaign, Illionis. Volunteers are the key to helping new sponsors get signed up to sponsor a child.
If you live in one of these areas, please sign up today to volunteer. Or if you know anyone who might like to help out, please pass the message along!
The Brown Family volunteered at the WJ show in TN, and got to go up on stage!
Recently, Nick and Mary Leigh Brown, adoptive parents of two boys from Korea, volunteered at the Winter Jam shows in Nashville and Chattanooga, TN. In addition to receiving free entry and a free CD (which all volunteers receive), they got to go on stage with Eddie Carswell, founding member of NewSong!
The Brown Family volunteered at the Winter Jam show in TN, and got to up on stage!
When asked why they decided to volunteer, this is what Mary Leigh said:
For Nick and I, it was really a no brainer to volunteer with Holt’s Winter Jam when it came to Chattanooga – even if it meant an hour drive one way. We absolutely love Holt and love the mission that Harry and Bertha started so many years ago. We are honored to help Holt in such a small way as volunteering at Winter Jam. Holt made us a family. It’s the very least we can do to give back (not to mention get to hear an incredible concert!).
It was at the Chattanooga concert that I looked over the sea of faces spread out on the Holt table – all of children waiting to be sponsored – and it hit me: my boys were once faces in this sea too. After the concert, it dawned on me to inquire if our boys had been sponsored. And indeed, we found out that our older son, Bates, had been sponsored while he was waiting for us to find him and bring him home. My son, my Bates, was once a face on a packet on that table. He was picked up by someone – someone who said they would pray for him and sponsor him until he was adopted. This wasn’t just any child – this was my child!
Someone stood in the gap for him until he was safely in our arms, and that was made possible because someone volunteered at Winter Jam!
When the concert came closer to home in Nashville, we of course jumped at the chance to volunteer again. It’s a small way we can make a difference in the lives of these children, just as someone did several years ago for our son!
The Brown Family volunteered to help new child sponsors get signed up in TN.
If you are on the fence about volunteering – or think, “Someone else will do it, I don’t need to” – please, I’m begging you… sign up, volunteer. I’m pleading with you as a mom whose son was sponsored and received top notch care, including a much-needed heart surgery. Please go make a difference in a child’s life. You may never know whose child you may be helping!
Thanks, Mary Leigh and Nick!
Click here now to sign up to volunteer at one of these remaining shows for the year.
Friday, March 23rd, 4:30PM – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Saturday, March 24th, 3:30PM – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
Sunday, March 25th, 3:30 PM – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Thursday, March 29th, 3:30PM – Yipsilanti, MI – EMU Convocation Center
Friday, March 30th, 4:30PM – Indianapolis, IN – Banker’s Life Fieldhouse
Saturday, March 31st, 3:30PM – Champaign, IL – Assembly Hall
Sunday, April 1st, 3:30PM – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
The 2012 Holt International Omaha Gala Dinner and Auction will take place on Saturday, April 21 at Embassy Suites Omaha – La Vista. Silent auction and social hour begin at 5:30 PM followed by dinner, live auction and program. Dr. David Kim will be the special speaker. The event will benefit Holt programs in Thailand. Tickets are $50 and reservations can be made online at http://www.holtinternational.org/events/.
Available at the auction in Omaha
Among many fabulous items that will be auctioned at the event are a panda quilt, several Nebraska Huskers items and a signed Heisman football!
We are still in need of auction items and volunteers for the night of the event. For more information, please contact events@holtinternational.org.
“Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance” — Jude 1:2
My wife and I adopted our first daughter from Nanning, China at 14 months.
We were told she was a healthy baby, and by all appearances, she was. Then she developed some serious lung issues and was diagnosed with primary ciliary dyskinesia syndrome, a disease similar to — but not as serious as — cystic fibrosis. My wife and I spent many nights at the children’s hospital with Faith. She was so very tiny and seemed so helpless. (I say “seemed helpless” because you should see her now). She is a healthy, happy and well-adjusted young lady and the apple of my eye.
This experience changed both my wife and I. Were she still in the orphanage, Faith’s condition would most likely have been fatal. As much as the caregivers there do the best they can, the truth is — their resources are limited. My, how the Lord works in wonderful and mysterious ways.
While we were in China, we saw so clearly the needs of these beautiful children. No home. No one to love them. We could do that. And we have, four more times. The Lord has a special calling for us, and maybe for you too.
Often, people ask us about older children adoptions; we have done four of them. My response is always that it is challenging and takes patience. These children have lived without a family, many of them in institutions, much longer than babies. Often, it takes longer for them to adapt to living in a family, and in a new culture. But we also experienced great satisfaction in watching our kids change from being fearful and apprehensive to trusting and confident.
“To whom much is given, much is expected,” I thought going into this. All that has changed now. “Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance” now seems a more applicable verse. What a blessing my children are to me. I cannot imagine life without them.
In orphanages overseas, children with special needs don’t always receive the medical care they need. In the U.S., we have the resources available to us to heal these children. In adoptive families, these youngsters can also find the love, nurture and encouragement they need to thrive.
I would urge you to do what I did before each adoption — pray to God and ask Him what you should do, He will show you the way, and ask if He has called you to do something extraordinary with your life. You won’t regret it. Maybe it’s not in your heart, but you know someone who might listen to Leann’s story and reach out to her. Please pass it on. A blessing like Leann should not be missed.
Thank you for the important role you played in the lives of children in Holt’s care last year. Your dedication to promoting Holt’s mission helped to make the following accomplishments possible for children. I hope the following highlights from the past year will warm your heart and encourage you to look forward to the ways you can help more children find permanent, loving families this year:
The Shaffer-Marks family welcomed Shelby, from China, into the family in 2011.
561 children joined their adoptive families through Holt
311 of those children had special needs
Close to 2,800 children in Holt’s child sponsorship program – whose families were at risk of separation were able to be stabilized and no longer need assistance to thrive
Five of the 10 children from the Philippines Ambassadors trip have been matched with families, two are home with their adoptive families
19,000 people signed up to sponsor a child in Holt’s care – most signed up at a Winter Jam concert
Family preservation services were able to be expanded in the Philippines, India, and China
The Holt Ambassadors Network grew to just over 350 members!
We truly appreciate all that you do as Holt Ambassadors, and look forward to another year of working together to serve children and families.
The following Holt Ambassadors are promoting awareness of Holt’s adoption programs and child sponsorship opportunities in their churches. Please send me pictures of your event, alright? Thanks! If you are interested in connecting with these go-getters about their event, please contact them. If you need printed info for an event of your own, please contact me:
I have a passion for waiting children, but I didn’t start out feeling that way. Just a few years ago, I would often look at the children on Holt’s waiting child photolisting and think, ‘Aw, I hope they find their family, but that family isn’t mine.’ We always said we would adopt children one day. When that day came sooner than we thought, we knew we wanted to adopt a child as young and healthy as possible.
When we started the process to adopt in June of 2008, we were led to the Korea program. I was a tad hesitant – well, maybe “terrified” better describes my emotions. Because we didn’t live in one of Holt’s branch states, we would have to be in the “waiting child/special needs” part of the program – a requirement of Korea’s central authority, which oversees all international adoption from Korea. To me, at that time, a “special needs” child meant a child in a wheelchair, who might not be cognitively or physically able to do “normal” activities.
That was a lot to swallow, especially for first-time parents dreaming of a “perfect” child.
But the Lord, in his faithfulness, put a family in our path to calm our fears. This family told us their story of adopting two children with special needs. Our agency is GREAT, but sometimes a momma just needs to hear from another momma. When the mother of this family told me about her son’s special need, my fears were calmed. We really just needed to hear someone say, “It’s okay to adopt a child with special needs. ‘Special needs’ just means special needs, not broken or defective or never able. Just SPECIAL.”
I knew we could handle “special needs.”
Bates' photo from the photolisting
Early photo of Brodie Brown
I marvel at the way God opened our hearts and our minds and then led us to our Bates on Holt’s waiting child photolisting! Now, three years and two special needs adoptions later, I know of no other way to grow our family than by adopting a waiting child.
Bates and Brodie at home
Bates and Brodie at Halloween
My husband has jokingly (I think) banished me from the photolistings! I could spend hours pouring over those children’s pictures, reading their bios, and praying for them. Some of these children simply need a voice, someone to be their champion…
Nolan - B11_149
Meet Nolan*. Nolan means “champion.” From what I’ve read and seen of Nolan, this kid is a born champion. All he needs is a mom and a dad who will always cheer him on.
Nolan is described as a “cute, resilient preschooler who is smart and a well-behaved child.” “Cute” doesn’t do this kiddo justice. He’s got dimples that will just make your heart melt! Nolan has some physical delays due to his limb differences, which include a missing right hand and forearm, missing/webbed fingers on his left hand, and left clubfoot. I’ve seen Nolan in action on video and he doesn’t let anything slow him down. Just by watching that short video, I can tell that whoever is holding that camera wants to show the viewer how well Nolan is doing. He asks him to walk around, ride a scooter, and put a vest on and off.
I imagine that caregiver praying as they recorded that video, praying for a champion for Nolan.
Nolan likes basketball. Nolan needs a family to believe in him. He needs a loving parent to coach his peewee basketball team while others cheers for him on the sidelines. He needs a family to go out to ice cream with after the game.
Nolan’s smile lights up his entire face. I can just imagine his face lighting up the first time his family takes him to a basketball game!
Nolan will more than likely need corrective surgery on his foot. I think of my son Bates, who was born at 2 lbs with a hole in his heart. He needed surgery at one week old, and again after he came home to us. I picture my son in those very cute hospital scrubs when he had surgery. I feel the warm tears on my cheek as they took him back to surgery. I remember not breathing until they told us we could see him. It was all I could do not to run past that nurse in recovery and scoop up my son. I pray that when that day of surgery comes, Nolan will have a mother and father by his side. Parents who are his champions.
One thing I was afraid of missing by adopting an “older child” was missing the firsts – first steps, first words, first everything. You know what, with Nolan, you will get to experience so many firsts. His first basketball game. His first steps on his corrected foot. His first campout. And you get to experience them all while looking at those bright brown eyes, those round cheeks, and indescribable dimples!!!
I know it’s a scary step, waiting children. Trust me, I was there once. But there are hundreds of thousands of children – children like Nolan – waiting for families. Just waiting for someone to be their champion.
For more information on Nolan, visit Holt’s waiting child photolisting, and contact Erin Mower at erinm@holtinternational.org.
When one event sparks another, then another, a “ripple effect” occurs.
This year for National Adoption Month, Holt International set a ripple effect in motion to help raise awareness and support for the children who need adoption most urgently: older children, and children with special needs. By picking up and running with our initial efforts, you gave momentum to our cause — and multiplied our impact well beyond the reach of that first single “drop.”
Here’s a look at what, together, we accomplished:
On October 11th, Holt sent a special email to 53,000 people, urging them to visit Holt’s National Adoption Month webpage, where they would find prayer cards for 22 featured waiting children. We urged them to download and distribute these prayer cards at church throughout November. We also urged them to print National Adoption Month inserts to include in church bulletins.
Every weekday in November, we featured one of the 22 waiting children on Holt’s blog, and then blasted news of the posts on Holt’s Facebook and Twitter pages. As a result, 1,386 people re-posted — or “shared” — the children’s stories on their own Facebook and Twitter pages. In this way, the waiting child stories went “viral,” reaching a much broader audience than Holt could reach through our own communication channels.
Holt fulfilled approximately 25requests for additional printed information to be distributed at constituents’ churches. Most of these requests came from people who planned to talk about adoption and sponsorship at church.
Twenty-two new Holt Ambassadors joined the group! This places the total number of Holt Ambassadors at 340 (and growing). Our newest ambassadors already have plans to volunteer at a WinterJam concert, promote Holt at church, or share their story in a Holt webinar or on Holt’s blog!
Perhaps the best news, I saved for last. Holt’s waiting child program has received many inquiries about the children we featured during National Adoption Month. We have also received a few applications. And already, one of our 22 featured childrenhas a family! His name is Sam. We featured him on Thanksgiving day.
Thank you for taking the time to advocate for waiting children during National Adoption Month! Without you, our efforts would just be a drop in a bucket.
Here’s an update on some of the things your fellow ambassadors are doing to promote awareness and support for Holt’s mission. I know I must be failing to mention many of your efforts, so please leave a comment to let us know what you’re up to. We’d love to cheer you on!
Mark and Nancy Gauch Searcy helped lead an adoption information seminar at their church on November 27th. They lined up guest speakers, held a Q&A panel, and shared information about Holt’s adoption programs. “It was a huge victory and we are so excited to see how God is going to continue working through our church,” writes Nancy.
Shannon Medling started a ministry at her church in Murfreesboro, TN. The ministry is encouraging children to pray for other children who are waiting for a family of their own. “We are printing out prayer cards and handing them out to families to pray for that specific child,” writes Shannon.
Mary Leigh Brown helps find families for Holt’s waiting children by blogging about them on her own personal blog. The personal touch that Mary Leigh adds is proving to be quite powerful. After Mary Leigh wrote about “Robert” and “Peanut,” they were soon matched with families! Two more children — “Hayden” and “Hallie” — have families interested in them as well! When you get a chance, check out Mary Leigh’s blog — someshadesofbrown.blogspot.com — and help her advocate for children by re-posting some of their stories!
Patrick Galvin, professional public speaker and “chief galvanizer” with Galvin Communications, shared his story about adopting his daughter in a recent China program webinar. Thanks, Gavin, for sharing your experience with prospective adoptive parents as they prepare for this life-changing decision!
Holt's bulletin insert/flier for National Adoption Month - get it here.
National Adoption Month is in full swing, and Holt Ambassadors are leading the charge to advocate for children who need homes. This November, Holt’s focus is on educating the public about a shift occurring in international adoption – a shift in the profile of children who need families. As more healthy children are finding families in their birth countries, children with special needs and older children – especially boys – are now at the “front of the line” for adoption. In adoption parlance, we often call these children “waiting children,” as they typically wait longer for families. By educating the public during National Adoption Month, our ambassadors are changing that trend!
Throughout the month of November, we’re also working together with ambassadors to advocate for individual children.
Every weekday throughout November, we’re posting a story on Holt’s blog and Facebook page about a different waiting child. As readers feel led, they can download the child’s prayer card to guide prayers for them, or place a flier in their church bulletin – as well as share the child stories on Facebook and Twitter.
The following Holt Ambassadors are using these resources and other printed info in their churches:
Susan Patrick
Nancy Gauch Searcy (FL)
Rob Hofmeister (IL)
Margaret Lamont (SD)
Julie Neaman (MD)
Jennifer Nix (AL)
Isabelle Young (CA)
Mary Beth Picker (AR)
Joe and Amy Yoder (OH)
Shannon Melding (TN)
Danette Morgan (IA)
Karyn Healy (TX)
Kathy Cormier (FL)
Diane Gastiger ( IA)
Did I miss anyone? If you’re planning to promote or are currently promoting Holt at your church – and have any questions – please contact me (by leaving a comment below, or sending an email).
Some of the earliest memories I have are of wanting to help children. At the time, I don’t think I even knew the word “adoption.” What I did know was I wanted to be a mom to children who didn’t already have one.
In 2002, I married my husband, Taylor, and within a year, I became pregnant with our first child, Ben*. We began trying for our second child shortly afterward, but after 2 ½ years of trying to conceive, we began fertility treatments. As we were leaving our first session, the nurse said to us, “Don’t worry, we will get you pregnant.” At that moment, we realized: it’s not a fertility clinic’s place to “get us pregnant.”
I had brought up the idea of adoption to Taylor before. After deciding against fertility treatment, we returned to the idea, long on hold. Our journey began in 2007. Shortly thereafter, I finally achieved my childhood dream. Through adoption, I became a mom to a child who needed one.
Our beautiful daughter came home to us from Ethiopia at age 19 months. The first 6 months home were really hard. But once we reached 6 months, things started getting easier, and we realized: we could do this again. After 9 months home with Leah*, we began our second adoption, this time with Holt. Thinking we wanted our daughter to have a sibling with the same heritage, we applied for Holt’s Ethiopia program. Holt then asked us to consider their Uganda program. The majority of the children, however, were of an age that we did not feel comfortable with – either older than our eldest or about the same age as our daughter. We decided to stay with the Ethiopia program.
Even though we decided not to go with the Uganda program, our hearts still went to those older children. They just seem to wait so much longer than the younger ones. Most families want babies. Older kids seem to have such a slim chance at a family. So, a few days later, I asked to see the files of Holt’s waiting children from Uganda. I wanted to see their faces. I wanted to know who to pray for. It makes everything so much more real when I see a face – not just a number or statistic or a file, but a face.
Both my children stood at my side as I opened file after file. Still, none of the children fit the age range with which we felt comfortable. They were either between our two children or older than our oldest.
But after opening seven children’s files, we opened Jacob’s*.
Ben – who looked at the previous seven without saying a word – instantly said, “Mom, we need to adopt him. He’d be perfect for our family.” He then promptly left my side to go play. I realized then that God had other plans for our family – a plan that didn’t include another journey to Ethiopia.
Taylor and I prayed a lot and discussed Jacob’s file at length. Jacob was only 9 months younger than our eldest. This gave us a lot to think upon – two boys only 9 months apart in age. We realized they could either be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. We thought about the time constraints we might face if they chose to be involved in different activities within the same season. We thought about the cost of sending them to college that close together. But in the end, we agreed: we wanted to adopt this boy with the amazingly sweet, mischievous smile.
First and foremost, we felt it was God’s will for our family to adopt Jacob. We also decided that Jacob needed a home more than we needed the “easy” way out. We realized that things may be harder for us for a while, but not near as hard as a lifetime spent in an orphanage would be for Jacob.
I can still hear the sweet voice on the other end of the phone telling us he was ours.
At the end of August 2010, we left our home to meet our son.
In the last year, I’ve been asked more times than I can count the difference between our two adoptions. “Which one was easier – at 19 months or 6 years of age?” I’m often asked. That’s not an easy question to answer. Both have been the hardest things I’ve done in my life, yet both have brought the most blessings as well.
But in some ways, it is actually easier adopting an older child.
Because Jacob was 6 years old when we adopted him, we could talk and reason with him in a way we couldn’t with our 19-month-old. Although Leah knew that everything in her life was different, we couldn’t help her through that. We were not able to reason with her. In Uganda, the orphanage staff was able to prepare Jacob for the change about to happen in his life. They walked him through the idea of adoption while still in familiar surroundings. He knew we were coming, and why, and when we met him, we were able to talk to him. When we shared photos, he understood what we were showing him.
Jacob has always been able to tell us what he needs. That doesn’t mean it’s always been easy to meet his needs, but he’s at least been able to express them. Younger children can’t express themselves quite so easily, and we sometimes struggled to understand our daughter’s needs.
I don’t mean to paint a rosy picture. This last year has been hard, but it’s been beautiful to watch Jacob start to come out of his hard shell – and become a child in the truest sense of the word.
Jacob had a need to control every aspect of everything around him, including our family life. Jacob has a huge fear that something bad is going to happen to me when he’s not by my side, which can be a bit suffocating. He needs to know every person we talked to on the phone. He needs to know exactly what the next day will be like. He doesn’t handle changes well, whether in our usual schedule at home or in the seating arrangement in his classroom at school. To Jacob, change means something bad can – and will – happen to him. Jacob’s way of dealing with stress is very worrisome. But all of this pales in comparison to what we see slowly emerging within him.
We see a little boy learning to be a child and to lose the fear that developed over four years in orphanage care.
The first five years of a child’s life, the parents lay the foundation. Before we said “yes” to adopting an older child, we were told we needed to understand this concept well. We missed out on building that foundation. Someone else helped build his foundation, but it has lots of cracks in it. It’s not built on solid ground. It’s shifty. Our job is to help him repair that foundation the best we can. We can help repair the big cracks that we see, but what worries us the most are the hairline cracks that are not visible to the naked eye. The little things that we don’t understand about all he’s endured up until now. The things that maybe he doesn’t even know, but that cause him to act and react to stimuli in certain ways. We feel these are the hardest things with an older child adoption. But these are also what make it the most rewarding – to see your child grow and make sturdier his foundation in life.
I’m often asked, “If you did it again, which age would you choose?” To this, I can honestly answer, “Older.” Jacob so longed for a family, and when we first brought him home, he would repeatedly ask, “Why didn’t you come sooner?”
Our heart truly goes out to older children that wait for families, and wonder – like Jacob – why it’s taking so long.
