What Can I do to Help Haitian Orphans?

Hey Everyone --

With all the headlines over the past week concerning inappropriate methods of helping relieve the orphan crisis mounting in Haiti, I was pleased to receive this email that outlines a legitimate and well-organized plan to help.

I have had the privilege of attending several meetings of the Middle Tennessee Orphan Alliance, as a representative of my church, and have been made aware of the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Haitian Orphan Response Team (HORT.)

Please read the following email from Jen Gash (President and Founder of Sweet Sleep) and pray for this initiative and how God might be leading you and/or your church to be involved.

... Several CAFO partners and multiple US disaster relief experts have come together to create an initiative called HORT, Haiti Orphan Relief Team. The 15-member team deploys for Port-au-Prince, Haiti on February 14, 2010 to implement a short and long-term strategy for displaced and orphaned children in the wake of last month’s devastating earthquake.

HORT is comprised of disaster response specialists as well as leaders from non-profit organizations that are members of the CAFO. I have agreed to serve as the deputy logistics director.

The team will create a communications infrastructure with a radio command system which is used by FEMA. Team members will train Haitian church leaders and orphanage directors to use the system to communicate their needs and to provide updates on their situations. Additionally, our team will be using a GIS mapping system to chart the coordinates of each orphanage and Christian church we can learn of. This infrastructure will become the basis of a permanent network that will provide immediate and long-term assistance where and when it’s needed most.

The specific mission is to support the churches of Haiti to care for orphaned children. This will be accomplished by pairing U.S. churches with Haitian churches, to provide ongoing resources and support. HORT will collaborate with and train Haitian partners to sustain this effort beyond the deployment period. The mission goes far beyond today’s immediate needs of Haiti’s orphans as HORT establishes a network of support for these children for years to come. The Haitian churches which link with orphanages will later be linked to churches in the United States who will walk alongside them in rebuilding a sustainable Haiti and strong children.

HORT partners are: CAFO, World Orphans, UNC School of Public Health, Together for Adoption, Sweet Sleep, and Orphan Lifeline. Information on HORT can be found at www.haitiorphanrelief.org.

There are probably lots of questions people will have about the long-term. I would suggest they go to www.haitiorphanrelief.org for answers to these questions. I would also encourage people to make donations at this site which will go toward the initiative outlined above. In the future, Haitian churches will be matched with US churches who are interested in long-term ministry opportunities to walk alongside their brothers and sisters and children in Haiti. People can also keep up with the happenings in Haiti on our website www.sweetsleep.org and go to our blog or the link on the home page in the next few days and beyond.

I would greatly love to have everyone’s prayers for this work---for the details, planning, fundraising, travel, health, safety and execution of everything involved. I’ll keep you posted over the next 11 days…oh, my.

Appreciate you!!

Jen

Jennifer Gash, President and Founder, Sweet Sleep

Note: Sweet Sleep’s relief work for Haiti has provided orphaned children with 6,034 pieces of bedding; 2,111 Bibles; more than 5,400 lbs of food; 5,574 articles of children’s clothing and shoes; over 7,400 medical items; 12,236 baby wipes and 16,268 diapers. Thank you for helping Sweet Sleep bring hope and love to these little ones! For more information on how we are caring for Haiti’s children, and to find out how you can be a part, go to www.sweetsleep.org

Follow Jen on Twitter as she serves in Haiti: http://www.twitter.com/jengash

We are going all the way back to August for this post. I don't think we have too many followers left, but just in case- I have wanted to post so many pictures of the girls' "firsts" with our family but just haven't stopped to do it. Well, tonight is the night to catch up! Enjoy!

(btw, the pictures loaded backwards- so it goes from january 2010 back to august 2009)

Our first snow of 2010!

They are all bundled up and ready to do some sledding.

Cuddled up in their new hand-made blankets from Aunt Beckey.

So many presents to open and they stopped here to check out the I Spy books for a long time.

First peek before they see the presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

Halloween: We are all about Disney Princesses in our house.

Karis is cracking us up all of the time. When I got these pics developed I couldn't stop laughing at her pose.

Carving our pumpkin, pulling out the guts- yuck!

A beautiful October wedding for one amazing couple. The girls were all flower girls in this wedding.

The beautiful couple.

We took A and K for their first hair cut and stylin' 8-)

The day we dedicated the girls at church. They are wearing their Ethiopian dresses.

A little after school fun.

Karis' "Shape Bakery" at preschool.

A and M's school has this great bulletin board featuring pictures of all the students from different countries. Ansley thought it was pretty special to have her pic up there.

Mal's first day of 1st grade!

Karis' first day of preschool.

Ansley's first day of Kindergarten.

We Have Room at FBCH this Sunday

Hey everyone --

I am really excited that the Weimer Family (aka @kirkweimer, @heidiweimer, "Kirk and Heidi plus 9," etc.) will be sharing the story of their adoptions as a part of our Sanctity of Human Life Celebration this Sunday in the Living Room at First Baptist Hendersonville, where I am currently leading worship.

The Weimers were your regular middle-class family with three beautiful children, until they decided to adopt 3 older children from Ethiopia. And then they adopted three more! Their blog was one of the first that we saw after we had decided to adopt. At the time, we were seeking to adopt an infant girl. After seeing their blog and watching the homecoming of their first 3, we realized that we had room ... so we adopted two older children. And the rest is history.

Check out We Have Room, their ministry's Facebook page, here. And then watch this video for a taste of what you can look forward to on Sunday morning.

Here are the details. The Living Room is the modern worship service at First Baptist Church Hendersonville. (Directions here.) It meets in the Wilson Fellowship Hall (near the Family Ministries Center) at 9:15 AM. Heidi and Kirk will be sharing their story toward the end of the service. They will also be participating in a more informal Q/A time immediately following the service. If you live in or around the Nashville area, I hope you'll come out and be inspired by the Weimers!

A Little Mini-Fundraiser for Haiti -- Hope Rising

I am pretty certain that the disaster taking place in Haiti has affected me in ways that I will never be able to fully describe. The pictures of the hurting people and the lack of resources and medical attention is horrifying. The faces of the children are unforgettable.

We have some friends, Brandon and Nikki James, who are currently serving as missionaries in the Dominican Republic with an agency called New Missions. You can check out Brandon and Nikki's blog at www.unclinchedfists.com. Theirs is a powerful story. Although the Jameses are several hundred miles away from Port au Prince, New Missions has been faithfully serving the poorest of the poor in Haiti for over 27 years. Their work is phenomenal.

New Missions is currently accepting donations for their relief programs in Haiti -- a reconstruction fund to rebuild their schools and mission buildings; a rice fund to provide food for those who have none; and a medical fund to help with those needing medical treatment after the earthquake.

If you feel so led to help, visit their site and make a donation. As an added incentive, if you will message me, or comment on this post, letting me know you made a donation (honor system, people!), at 8 AM CST Friday morning (1/21) I will randomly draw a name and send that person a new copy of my favorite recent worship CD, "Hope Rising" by Fee. I think it is appropriately titled for this project!

Thanks!!!

Jason

MLK and Promises Kept

It has been a while since we updated. Sorry for that, to the few followers whom we may have left ... We plan to post some pictures soon and do a "real" update.

In the meantime, things are going pretty well. The girls are making great strides in their adjustment, Ansley in particular. She is finally relaxing into our family and, after 7 months, we are finally beginning to learn about who she really is -- she has masked her personality for so long. We are so thankful for her progress. Karis continues to amaze everyone from her doctors to her teachers, showing the social and cognitive skills that would be considered "advanced" for children who have lived here their entire lives. Mallory is like having a third parent in the house. Sometimes that is a great thing and sometimes, well ... not so much :) She is really doing awesome, though, and has led the way in teaching us all about forgiveness and love. What an incredible kid!

Today we were all home for the MLK holiday. We told the girls his story and read them part of his speech before bedtime. It is funny how deeply personal it becomes when you read "I have a dream that one day ... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers," and then you realize that dream is literally being realized right in your very own living room! I had to explain to Ansley and Karis why Mommy and Daddy were crying.

It reminded me of the post I wrote about Martin Luther King back in April of 2008, more than a full year before we brought the girls home. God specifically told me these words, which I wrote in the blog that day: "This IS his plan for our family. The attacks of the enemy WILL NOT prosper. Every obstacle standing in His (and our) way WILL BE REMOVED. God WILL be glorified. And EVERYONE will see it together." And then to see that promise fulfilled in the eyes of two little girls who have their forever family.

Do me a favor. Go back and read that post. (At the time we thought we would be getting a girl and a boy):

http://abeautifultapestry.blogspot.com/2008/04/glory-revealed.html

It is a fantastic way to honor the legacy of a great man who helped make it a possibility to do what our family and so many others have done. But it is also a reminder that God keeps His promises.

Every time.

Happy New Year!

What an amazing year this has been! Last year at this time we were hoping that the coming year would bring our children home from Ethiopia. We didn't even know who they were, but we wanted them here before 2010 came! Well, they are here and we are grateful!

This year has taught us so much. We have learned to trust God more through our adoption journey than during any other season of our lives. We have been blessed by so many of you who have carried us through the waiting times, the delivery of our girls and then "held up our arms" as we have struggled through some very rough months.

We want you to know that the last month has been one of the best times for us as a family of five! God has heard your prayers and answered them in a big way!

We have shared that Ansley has had the most difficult time transitioning from Ethiopia to our home. In the last three and a half weeks though, we have seen a different child- a more content, joyful, and peaceful child. What a praise that is! What a miracle!

We wanted to tell you all Happy New Year and thank you for the way you have supported and loved our family through this entire journey. You have blown us away with the ways you continue to reach out to us and we are so grateful! Much love to you!!!

(btw- more posts to come from the holidays we promise-really 8-))

He Has Been Good ...

Each year at Thanksgiving, our church does a special worship service called "He Has Been Good." We come together to show our thankfulness to God for the things he has done for us this year. During the service, in addition to a toy drive for underprivileged families, different church members are highlighted to share the story of how God has been good to them this year.

Here is the video that was shown this past Sunday night of our family's adoption journey. Props to our church media staff, especially Chad Conger and Keith Holloway, for their fantastic work.

Enjoy .... and feel free to share with others!

Egly Adoption Video from Jason Egly on Vimeo.

Meet the Grinch, get a haircut, and help us pay for our re-adoption expenses!

Great Clips at Glenbrook in Hendersonville has graciously chosen to donate a portion of their proceeds from every haircut this Saturday (November 14th) to our post-adoption expenses!

(What are post-adoption expenses, you ask? Well, although the Ethiopian courts granted us custody of Ansley and Karis, they are here in the U.S. on a Green Card, as permanent residents. But they are not U.S. Citizens. And while the US government recognizes our official custody of them, we have to "re-adopt" them through a US court. This is just a formality, but it is what gives them the ability to apply for a Social Security Card and obtain American birth certificates, etc. The court costs and attorney fees are around $1000.)

Come by, get your haircut -- there will be appearances by the Grinch and Suds (the mascot shaped like a shampoo bottle), from 9-3.

ALL CHILDREN 10 AND UNDER WILL RECEIVE A TREAT BAG WITH SPECIALLY PRICED $8.99 HAIRCUT!!!!

Thanks to Megan at Great Clips for setting this up for us!

The Glenbrook Shopping Center is off of Exit 6 (New Shackle Island Rd) on Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Blvd in Hendersonville. The Great Clips is across the parking lot from Target, next to Wolf Camera.

The Green, Green Grass of Home

From the very beginning of our adoption journey, we have been covered in prayer. Our church family and friends have prayed us through the application process, prayed us through the fundraising adventures, and prayed us safely home from Ethiopia with Ansley and Karis.

Since then, life has taken over. Our blog posts got fewer and further between. The adoption was complete. Right? From the activity on our blog, most would answer, "Right. The Eglys are home now. Everything is just perfect. Sweet little fairy-tale ending. Two orphans united with their forever family. Check."

A friend of mine (Tim Goonan) said it best this morning. He said so much focus goes on the front end of adoption, but that's only a matter of months. Once the adoption is complete you wake up one morning and realize that the second phase of adoption lasts FOREVER. Like when you've rented an apartment your entire life and then you buy a home. You're excited to get a riding lawn mower and cut the grass, until you realize you gotta cut it every week for the rest of your life!

It's overwhelming. Thinking about his words, I want to carry the analogy further ... I thought, the first time you mow your new yard, you realize it's full of ruts and rocks and roots. It's bumpy. How did I not see that when I looked at the grass the first time? It looked so smooth and lush! Now I'm thinking about bringing in a bobcat and completely uprooting the whole lawn! The realization that there are going to be hours and hours of digging up rocks, smoothing out the rough places, raking, aerating, finding more rocks, busting them up, and hauling them off. It's overwhelming. It's exhausting.

We were fooled those first three months by how well our girls were adjusting. The grass looked green. We are not going to have all those issues that other adoptive families have. God has spared us. This is going to be easier than we expected.

Then ... BAM!! My mower just hit a boulder. It broke my blade. It bent my housing. It cracked my frame. And upon closer inspection, THE WHOLE YARD IS A ROCK PIT!!

Our girls are hurting. We knew they would be. But we had no idea how badly. The pain runs deep. It affects EVERYTHING they do. Especially Ansley. Everyone she has ever trusted in her 5 1/2 years on this planet has hurt her. Why would we be any different? Why should she attach to us? It's almost as if her life's ambition is to keep people at an arm's length ... or further. It's self-preservation. It's all she knows. And it's NOT HER FAULT.

As Shelley wrote in the previous post, we have experienced a darkness these past few days like none other. Things were so bad we were on the verge of feeling completely hopeless. For the first time in my life I more clearly felt the presence of the Enemy in my home than I did the presence of the Lord. I felt within myself the capacity to do things and say things that I am ashamed to admit and that I never thought I could be capable of. It scared the Hell out of me. Literally. (Sorry if that offends you. There's no other way to say it.)

And that's when Shelley called upon you to pray. And pray you did.

Almost overnight we felt the confidence of Hope and the presence of the Lord. Ansley's demeanor has taken a significant turn for the better. There is still a long way to go, but considering where we were, this is nothing short of miraculous.

This is a spiritual battle. Duh! Of course it is! Adoption is the analogy Scripture uses for our salvation more than any other and it is the picture of God's grace here on this earth. The enemy does not want adoptions to be successful.

And just like how a person coming to know Christ is saved but not instantly sanctified, so is an adopted orphan rescued but not instantly healed of all the hurt and pain. Sanctification takes a lifetime of walking with the Lord and learning to listen to Him. Healing our hurting children is likewise going to take a lifetime of love and acceptance and having people like you personally carry them to the Throne of God in prayer.

Our family is also benefiting greatly by counseling from The Babb Center -- an awesome Christian counseling center here in Hendersonville. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Please keep praying. It's working. But we have a long way to go. And one day, we'll invite you over to walk through our lush, green lawn that your prayers are currently smoothing, sewing, cultivating, aerating, and fertilizing. Heck ... we might even let you mow if you want.

Calling on you for prayer

I have wanted to write something for a couple of weeks now. I have wanted it to be something positive and inspiring.

I want to be honest though, and positive and inspiring is just not where I am right now.

If you have been around us for a few minutes lately you know that our family is really struggling.

We need your prayers.

We feel that Satan has a great presence in our home and it is downright scary. He has brought us to an all time low point. Ansley is not attaching well and helping her feels impossible. Karis and Mallory have been sick. The medical/dental bills are really piling up, along with the re-adoption costs. We are feeling very overwhelmed with the needs of our three girls.

Please pray for the darkness to lift from our home. Please pray that Jesus' life, light, peace and spirit will fill the walls and rooms of our home and our bodies. Please pray for Ansley's heart to heal- for us to know how to help her even when we are exhausted from helping her. Please pray for our weary souls, hearts and minds. Please pray for me and Jason to find time every day to let God speak to us through his Word. Please pray for our girls to enjoy being with each other and for the offenses to be forgiven. Please pray that our marriage would remain solid and that we would take time to minister to each other. Please pray for God to continue to meet our financial needs as He has done so many times before.

We are very grateful for your prayers. We will try and do better with our updates. If you can, please leave a comment-it will really encourage us to know who is praying. Thank you community for your love and patience-