I can’t add anything further to what my wife and my mom have already stated. I do want to lay an urgent message on the hearts of your readers. This summer, we will be helping again in the bringing of around 50 orphans from Ethiopia to the US for a 2-3 week stay.

We need families who are willing to consider either hosting to adopt or even hosting to advocate for these children. Most of them will be older (6-16 or so). Because of their age, most of them are unadoptable. My wife and I are empty nesters in our 50’s. One of our elders and his wife will return Sunday with their two newly adopted children. They are in their mid-50’s.

If anyone is interested, they can write us and we would be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you for you love for children and for wanting them to know Jesus. That is what matters more than anything else, isn’t it?!

May the Lord’s richest blessings and protection be upon you.

Thank you for your post “My Deliverer”. This has been my prayer in recent weeks for the people of Kenya, especially the women and children that have been affected by the violence there this month. It affects me personally since my daughter, son in law and 3 granddaughters are missionaries there. (They are safe.) I also have friends in Nairobi.

I’ve been posting on my blog about the plight of these people and how they need a deliverer. I have read and reread your post today thinking about how could I say what you have said. What I am going to do this evening is link to this post and ask those who read my blog to go to your sight and read it for themselves.

Thank you for your love and concern for all nations. May the Lord open your eyes anew on your trip. For me, I thought I understood poverty until my husband and I went to Kenya last year. Oh my, how our hearts and eyes were opened!

God bless you and your family while you are away.

A sister in Christ,
Natalie K

I am going to hurridly try to recreate this message. I wrote it once and hit “Submit Comment”, not realizing that I had to enter the Security Code. Yep, I lost it all!

Here goes, again . . .

I was prompted to respond to your message, “The Pincushion” but things were hectic around here and I didn’t. When I read today’s message, “The Deliverer”, I was prompted again and, when the Spirit has to prompt me twice about the same thing, it’s past time to get busy and shame on me!

As I read the Pincushion message and especially the verse, I was so moved that the Lord would send this message through you, just as Jim (my husband) and I were about to welcome our newst grandson into the family. Abraham James Beam was adopted by our eldest son, James and his wife, Gena, on January 1st of this year and the three of them were traveling home to Texas from Ethiopia, with a layover in Washington. As I read the message, Abraham (with the help of his dad) called from Washington to say “hi”. That is all he said as he speaks little English. Image sitting here reading that verse and message and picking up the phone to hear Abraham’s sweet voice. I cried.

Abraham is one of the lucky ones, his deliverer came. As you well know, there are thousands upon thousands whose deliverer never comes.

Abraham was found wandering the streets of Adis Ababa when he was a toddler and was taken to an orphanage where he has lived until James and Gena went for him just a few days ago. The orphanage estimates his age at eleven years.

Abraham came to us through the Texas-based organization, Forever Families. This group’s idea of supporting these children in Africa and other such places is to bring them into our homes through adoption, love them and introduce them to the true Deliverer.

I am so thankful for this organization. Had it not been for them, we never would have known our 17th grandchild and what a loss that would have been for us. Abraham is already a tremendous blessing for our family. He shows love, compassion and maturity far beyond his years. We are so thankful for the blessing of Abraham.

If you don’t know of this organization (just a few Christians who came together to help children of foreign countries) and would like some information about them, there is an article on pages 34, 35 and 36 of the November 3, 2007 edition of World magazine. If you cannot obtain a copy of the magazine or cannot access it on the Internet, I would be more than happy to send it to you.

I will be praying for you, those traveling with you, your pilot and those whose lives you will touch as you travel to Africa.

God speed in all that you do in His service.
OK, here I go . . . gotta remember to put in the security code!!!

Connie Beam (Maypearl church of Christ)