An Amazing Adoption Conference!

Jambo (hello) from Kenya!
We are so busy here - we have adoption workshops every day! I am teaching on God's Heart for the Orphan, Jennifer is teaching on Spiritual Warfare in Orphan Care, and we are both leading an interactive exercise (The Tree) in identifying and solving problems locally. Others are teaching on economic development and empowerment and holistic child development.



The Children's Officer from the Adoption Society (the government agency that approves all adoptions) came to speak, as well as Kenyans who have adopted. There were 300 adoptions in Kenya last year, 190 from International families (but not the US), so only 110 adoptions by Kenyans! We are praying for that Kenyan number to multiply by ten next year and by hundreds or thousands in the next 5 years!

The quality and passion of our Kenyan leadership team is humbling and wonderful! The conferences are opening people's hearts to the idea of adoption and God is spreading the seeds like crazy! So many of the participants have given amazing testimonies of how the conference has opened their hearts and minds to adoption that they have never considered before.

Several comments that the participants have shared:

"I never thought about adoption and that I could love an orphan as my own. But now I'm wondering, maybe I can"

"I've been waiting all my life to have someone challenge my thinking that way"

One of the leadership team is a pastor that I served with last year. Pastor Mercy reminded me of our last night in Kenya last summer; how we sat over dinner and my daughters and I shared our vision for Kenyans adopting Kenyan orphans and now it is coming to pass! Jennifer and I are overwhelmed by God's heart for these orphans and vulnerable children and so incredibly blessed to be a part of this.

On the way home from our workshop today, the team was talking about planning a nationwide adoption fair where all orphanages and children's homes would have children available for adoption along with the government agencies with all the paperwork forms and counseling to get the children adopted. It is absolutely incredible to be a part of this team!

These are families with vulnerable children who received food from the church (and us) during our visit.

We also fed young children at the church with some of the funds from the North Coast children's ministries. The children were so adorable and were so blessed by the meal!

We have another workshop tomorrow, then Friday we travel to the slums, to several orphanages to feed children. Saturday is another workshop and Monday we are attending the first day of training for DCPI (Dynamic Church Planting International) at our host church. I still have a burning passion to get DCPI to include training for children's ministry leaders in their church planting curriculum and will be sharing my passion with the DCPI founders who will be here in Kenya on Monday ;) They will be a captive audience!

Please continue praying for travel safety and good health while we are in Kenya and for God to continue to open hearts and minds and homes to Kenyan orphans.
Blessings!