I have no words, just tears right now.
Tears of a broken heart over the great need in Uganda.
And tears of great joy for the hope so many children are experiencing.
I am so thankful for my wife who is in Uganda right now with our son and for the many others from churches all around the world who are pouring themselves out for the orphans of Uganda! May God continue to stir His church and people for the sake of the fatherless!

The video above was done by a church in my neighborhood. They sent a small group of individuals to do some missions and documentary work in Uganda last month. The video footage was filmed and edited by Chris Crutchfield, one of the members who went on the trip, and the photos are credited to Yalonda James.

I’m sitting in the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa waiting for my flight to Dulles to board and can’t help but think of the last 8 days in Uganda. In particular I can’t get my mind off a little boy. My son. My new son. My consolation right now is that my precious wife (and a dear friend) stayed behind with him and will bring him home, Lord willing, by the end of the month!

Here’s a brief scoop on our trip and where things are at for all those who have been praying and have asked. First, let me say thank you to everyone who is praying and helping us along the way! It has been amazing to us how many people have joined us in this adoption. Shawnda and I can’t thank you enough. You are all a part of this journey in a special way, a part of this little boys life in a big way!

I left for Uganda last Saturday, celebrating the 4th of July somewhere over the Atlantic!), while Shawnda and Kim (a friend of a friend from church who has a story all her own!) left on Sunday. The reason I flew separately was a dear friend called hours before we were going to book our flights together and said they would like to donate enough points for two round trip tickets to Uganda! Since Shawnda needed an open ended ticket she was not able to use points but I knew I was only going for a week so that was a huge blessing!

Because I flew through Johannesburg we ended up arriving in Entebbe, Uganda within an hour of one another. Godfrey, our driver, picked us up and we headed to our guesthouse at Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala.

It was so good to be back in Uganda. The smell of gasoline and oil and hot African air somehow felt so good! We couldn’t wait to see our son who we met for the first time a couple weeks ago. Because we got in late in the evening we had to wait until morning to see him.

We went in to wake him up first thing in the morning and he immediately clung to Shawnda, as though he was waiting for her. 8 days later he is still clinging to her. It is one of the most beautiful things to see. She is an incredible mom. We were so thankful to see that he had gained weight and was healthy. He still has a long way to go but the small improvements were very noticable.

On Wednesday we had our court hearing where the judge heard our case. He will give us our ruling in two weeks. So we wait and pray for the 22nd. Our lawyer said everything went well and was very hopeful. We are trusting it in the Lord’s hands. The next day Shawnda and I went in to the US Consulate and begin the immigration process. Once we have our ruling we will get his passport, birth certificate, and other documents to finish the visa process. We are praying and would ask you to pray with us for this to take the least amount of time as possible : ) I would love to have my wife and son home as soon as possible (the other kids would like their mommy to come home soon too!) Right now their flight is booked for July 28th. That would take a lot to have everything by then but we believe it is possible. We are trusting in the Lord’s timing.

There are so many more details that I can share and hope to share in the days to come. Along with the adoption process is the incredible experience of being in Uganda and getting to know this country and people that we have though of and prayed for so long. I hope to write more on that and what God is stirring in my heart soon.

Again, thank you for your prayers and love! I can’t say that enough. I will land in Charlotte at 9:50am tomorrow morning and cannot wait to hug our other four little ones. They can’t wait to meet their brother. Praying them home!

I’m sitting in the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa waiting for my flight to Dulles to board and can’t help but think of the last 8 days in Uganda. In particular I can’t get my mind off a little boy. My son. My new son. My consolation right now is that my precious wife (and a dear friend) stayed behind with him and will bring him home, Lord willing, by the end of the month!

Here’s a brief scoop on our trip and where things are at for all those who have been praying and have asked. First, let me say thank you to everyone who is praying and helping us along the way! It has been amazing to us how many people have joined us in this adoption. Shawnda and I can’t thank you enough. You are all a part of this journey in a special way, a part of this little boys life in a big way!

I left for Uganda last Saturday, celebrating the 4th of July somewhere over the Atlantic!), while Shawnda and Kim (a friend of a friend from church who has a story all her own!) left on Sunday. The reason I flew separately was a dear friend called hours before we were going to book our flights together and said they would like to donate enough points for two round trip tickets to Uganda! Since Shawnda needed an open ended ticket she was not able to use points but I knew I was only going for a week so that was a huge blessing!

Because I flew through Johannesburg we ended up arriving in Entebbe, Uganda within an hour of one another. Godfrey, our driver, picked us up and we headed to our guesthouse at Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala.

It was so good to be back in Uganda. The smell of gasoline and oil and hot African air somehow felt so good! We couldn’t wait to see our son who we met for the first time a couple weeks ago. Because we got in late in the evening we had to wait until morning to see him.

We went in to wake him up first thing in the morning and he immediately clung to Shawnda, as though he was waiting for her. 8 days later he is still clinging to her. It is one of the most beautiful things to see. She is an incredible mom. We were so thankful to see that he had gained weight and was healthy. He still has a long way to go but the small improvements were very noticable.

On Wednesday we had our court hearing where the judge heard our case. He will give us our ruling in two weeks. So we wait and pray for the 22nd. Our lawyer said everything went well and was very hopeful. We are trusting it in the Lord’s hands. The next day Shawnda and I went in to the US Consulate and begin the immigration process. Once we have our ruling we will get his passport, birth certificate, and other documents to finish the visa process. We are praying and would ask you to pray with us for this to take the least amount of time as possible : ) I would love to have my wife and son home as soon as possible (the other kids would like their mommy to come home soon too!) Right now their flight is booked for July 28th. That would take a lot to have everything by then but we believe it is possible. We are trusting in the Lord’s timing.

There are so many more details that I can share and hope to share in the days to come. Along with the adoption process is the incredible experience of being in Uganda and getting to know this country and people that we have though of and prayed for so long. I hope to write more on that and what God is stirring in my heart soon.

Again, thank you for your prayers and love! I can’t say that enough. I will land in Charlotte at 9:50am tomorrow morning and cannot wait to hug our other four little ones. They can’t wait to meet their brother. Praying them home!

I sat up late the other night here in Uganda listening to John Piper’s second message from the Advance09 conference last month in Raleigh, NC (listen here). These messages have moved me deeply. They have brought back so many emotions and passions that God had put in my heart over the years. It is bringing back memories of college when I first heard that there people in the world who have never heard the name of Jesus. I remember sitting in Missions 101 and thinking that simply could not be true, and if it were true that something must be done, immediately. When I did realize there really are thousands of people groups, millions of individuals, who today have never heard the Gospel, the sense of urgency and need to go overwhelmed me. I almost quit school that day to go overseas.  I feel a taste of that now. The need still remains twelve years later. There is an urgency that will not go away, should not go away, until every nation, tribe, and tongue has been penetrated by the gospel!

One thing the Lord has been using to re-awaken my global perspective and passion is the plight of the orphan worldwide and our own adoption journey to Uganda. Though Uganda is far from being an “unreached” nation (praise God!) being in Africa and in a different culture altogether reminds of those people groups that have yet to even hear the name of Jesus, let alone have a Bible in their native tongue.

God’s heart burns for these peoples. The bible screams with God’s call to all tribes and tongues to bow down before Him and experience everlasting joy! We have been commanded and called to “go” to them. We have been given the mandate and model by Christ and the apostles to make disciples of every ethnic group on the globe. When we do that and local churches are established in every people of the world the end will come. Jesus will return (Matt 24:14). He has a mission for us to accomplish first. What an awesome task. What an incredible joy and privilege to go as His instruments to the lost of the world and be a part of God’s global mission. We were made for this!

Check out Joshua Project for more information on how we can reach the unreached.

I just watched a great message by Todd Phelps from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, NC. They recently adopted an orphanage in Uganda and sent a team over to meet the kids and begin plans for the future. Todd shares some of the story of how God led their church in this direction. The sermon video also has some great footage and testimonies from some of the children at the home. You can watch Godfrey’s story above.

One of the most powerful things he shared in his sermon was this statement:

We care about what we see.

It often takes going overseas to open our eyes to the reality of poverty and real need. I believe in that more than ever as I am personally experiencing that right now as my wife and I are in Uganda adopting (I wish I had video and photos to share but those will come). But, if you can’t go right now, then the internet is an amazing tool that allows us to see video and read personal stories of individuals who can go.

When we go and when we see we cannot help but care.

God created man and woman to live as a family. Together with one another. And together in His presence. It was a good setup. Unfortunately, in the fall we are introduced to sin and death and the brokenness of relationship with God, the family, one another, and the creation.

We see this breakdown in the story of Cain and Abel. Almost immediately after the fall the first family experiences brokenness that few of us have experienced. Jealousy. Envy. Deceit. Murder.

That was only the beginning of what was to follow. Families are not only broken by the sinful actions of man and peoples but by disease, natural disasters, death.

Take Uganda for example.

Decades of war. Thousands of children abducted by the LRA. The HIV/AIDS pandemic. Severe hunger and poverty. 2.3 million orphans left fatherless (more than any other nation in the world today).

We know in our souls this is not right. The need for gospel-justice is more apparent than ever before. The fatherless need a father. When it comes to the orphan crisis caused by the fall, God’s response is to “place the lonely in families” (Ps 68:6-7). Will that be our response?

The need for adoption is both a result of the fall and a way to bring healing to the broken lives of orphans here in the US and around the world. As we provide families for the fatherless through adoption we reflect God’s glory and we restore what was broken. In this, we find some of life’s sweetest rewards and treasures.

Read Part 1: Adoption in God’s Story: Creation

The potential to impact the lives of millions of orphaned children is huge when you look at the passion of those in the 18-34 year old generation.
Singles like Renee and Katie have moved overseas to spend their lives serving the fatherless.
Artists like Aaron Ivey and Steven Bush are using their gifts to raise awareness.
An increasing number of couples in this age bracket are stepping out in faith to adopt even when they can have biological children.

Along these lines, Adam Smith writes a telling column about the 18-34 year old “hipster” generation in Relevant titled, Who Are We Trying to Impress? Here’s a choice section that makes me thankful for the ones I mentioned above who are really making a difference, inspiring others, and don’t care who they impress.

Our generation, the 18-to-34 set, tend to share a common characteristic. We are remarkably self-satisfied. We are socially aware, politically sensitive and culturally savvy, and we like this about ourselves. The question it raises, however, is if all our sensitivity, savviness and awareness has led anywhere. Certainly, social justice campaigns abound within our generation. One would be loathe to be identified within the subculture without a keen passion for grassroots, countercultural movements. However, where have these movements led? Is ours a generation that is quietly changing the world, or is social conscience just one more accoutrement of fashion for us? An accessory we wear with our Chuck Taylors and horn-rimmed glasses? It seems we’re out not just to change the world, but to impress. The question is, who exactly are we trying to impress?

Of course, one can’t take an entirely pessimistic view of our generation. Many of us are involved in amazing, world-changing endeavors. As a generation, we tend to be remarkably tech-savvy, relish working in teams, show amazing talent at multi-tasking and celebrate diversity. It’s a powerful pastiche that lends us the possibility to do remarkable things and—perhaps more than any other generation—see our world changed in practical and lasting ways. There are 75 million of us, and we have at our fingertips a world connected in such a way that we have more opportunity to impact the globe than at any other epoch of world history. Many of us are doing just that. Groups like Invisible Children, Blood:Water Mission and Kiva have harnessed the passion we feel for justice and the enormous potential provided by technology to make a tangible difference in society and culture.

However, what is troubling is the veneer we often put on our efforts and our culture. We seem so intent upon creating an impressive display of cultural and political awareness that the culture and politics we tout become secondary to the style in which we tout them. When our love of music becomes a race to beat each other with knowledge of obscure bands, we’ve lost our love of music. When our political engagement boils down to who has the best screen-printed swag, we’re not engaging politics. When our passion for social justice isn’t coupled with actual knowledge of the issues we’re fighting for, it’s just posturing. Once again, who are we trying to impress?

Read the whole article here.

Adoptive-dad and worship-leader, Aaron Ivey, (along with bandmate, and fellow adoptive-dad, Steven Bush) have just released a new album, “Between the Beauty & Chaos.” I highly recommend it.

The songs center around “God’s faithfulness and beauty, and the church’s response to injustice, poverty, and orphans. The 10 song album reflects a heart for the Kingdom of God here and now, between the beauty and the chaos.”

That is some good stuff to be singing about!

It is hard to pick out a favorite song but a few that I really love are “The Name”, and their versions of “It is Well” and “How Great Thou Art.”  The most powerful song for me is “Amos Story” – about their son they are adopting in Haiti. If you know Haiti you know that not many adoptions are happening. Their son is there waiting for them. They are able to go visit but they are waiting on the government to process paperwork. It has been a long and incredibly difficult process. I know only a small taste of that as we wait to bring our son home from Uganda. I love these lines:

“I’ll find a way to get you here if it takes every breath,
another sunrise hits the ground and its a dark lonely sight.
Light years away, I hope you know there is somebody searching for a way to get you here.
I will get you here!”

You can buy the album on iTunes and Amazon. Be sure to check out Aaron’s website, including the justice section highlighting ABBA Fund and some other great organizations making a difference.

“It seems chaos is everywhere.  Tragedy, hunger, brokenness, and darkness can be found around every corner.  From our backyards to the shores of distant countries, the need for the Light of Christ has never been more apparent.  And with this hope that we have in Christ, chaos becomes beauty.” – Aaron Ivey

I want to point out two great articles in the latest Family Life Hope for Orphans newsletter.

Johnston Moore writes about affording adoption in a tough economy here.

“Three important steps people can take in affording adoption in these times: trust, ask, and be creative.”

Jason Weber writes about what you can do when your church leaders just don’t “get it” here.

“The most important role you have when there are leaders who don’t get it is to pray. Remember, God is in the business of changing hearts – we are not. How faithful have you been to seek Him and ask Him to mightily intervene in hearts on behalf of children?”