† Mission Statement †

The mission of Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry is to advocate for the orphan as we are commanded by God. We feel it is our responsibility and privilege to educate and assist individuals and families, emotionally as well as financially in their journey through adoption by raising awareness in our community and around the world, enabling Christians to open their hearts and homes to children in need of forever families.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Soles 4 Souls

As we continue to advocate for the orphan and the least of these, check out our weekend!  


My girlfriends that co-founded Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry(JHAM) and I sat at our local shoe store on the main street in our little podunk town Saturday (in the pouring rain!) and collected over 650 pairs of shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AWESOME is the only word I can think of to describe our day.

We partnered with Soles4Souls who provided collection boxes and flyers to distribute for our 'cause'.  They are awesome to work with!  The Girl Scouts in your community can become involved to earn merit badges.  (we only had one girl scout show up but it was encouraging and fun to remind her she will be the ONLY girl scout in our area with one of the S4S's badges!  :)  The local shoe store, Brown's Shoe Fit, is a participating business with S4S, and gave each person that donated shoes on Saturday a coupon for $20 off a new pair of shoes!  Pretty awesome! 


We got our schools involved and the kids at my son's school started collected two weeks prior to the drive.  They donated two full boxes of shoes!
Then we also had the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) collect shoes at the middle school and high school in our local town (my kids go to a country school so the pics you see above is the entire 8th grade class my son is in! lol)

It was so much fun to work with the girls all day and we banded shoes together from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.  Yes, every single pair of those 650+ shoes had to be rubber banded together.  But it was interesting to see just what kind of shoes we got!
Yes, shoes of all kinds!!!  These had never been worn!!!!  (I'm thinkin' that's a good thing!) lol  We figured they might have been bowling shoes.  It was hard to think of how many hundreds of dollars people spend on shoes......  that they never wear.  We had so many people bring shoes that still had tags on them, new soles or were still in boxes.  We as American's are so very spoiled (some are blessed....that's a better word huh?) and don't even know it.  As we banded all those shoes together we thought of where they might end up.  China, Africa, Haiti, Chile, even our own inner city hospitals in Kansas City.  I wonder where they will walk next.  Knowing my shoes have seen the sandy beaches of Hawaii and now they may walk on the rocky ground of Haiti.  One day seeing the sun and having fun, the next day comforting and protecting the feet of a mother who walks miles to bring her child fresh water.

Now that's humbling.
Joy and some of the shoes that people had in boxes.  yep, some people actually save the boxes their shoes come in!  lol  (not me)
Now THOSE are some LOUD shoes! ;)

So....  we made a decision yesterday.  We are responsible for shipping ALL those shoes to a S4S's warehouse where they will be distributed.  Can you imagine the shipping cost of over 650 pairs of shoes?!  Staggering!  We are going on a road trip!  The girls and I decided we are driving the shoes to the main warehouse in Tennessee!  Now, that's going to make for some awesome bloggin' and pictures!  Stay tuned, in the next couple of weeks we're heading out with all those shoes!  Who knows.... we may stop in to say hi to some of you bloggy friends!
That's little Miss Jia (Joy's daughter from China that she brought home forever last summer), the kids were all a big help actually and it was fun to have them around to 'encourage people to stop and share their shoes with us!
Two of Melinda's cuties!  Acel & Meah.  Meah came home forever from China last year too!  I can't tell you how great it feels to work with these girls and do what we do.  Advocating for the orphan and the least of these.  And seeing our kids get involved with us is even more of a blessing!
Me, Melinda & Joy

Joy's mom is always our little angel in disguise too and she was kind enough to buy us all lunch.  Pizza in the trailer (you didn't expect us to sit in the rain all day did you?  ;)  Joy's hubby has a racing trailer that we were able to conduct our shoe drive out of.... nice and dry).  Thanks for the Pizza Mellanie!  But thanks even more for the shoes! :)

Hopefully, we have prevented a lot less of this...
and a lot more of this....

Maybe someday the girls and I can go on one of their distribution trips ourselves and help put all those new shoes on people's feet....

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” 
Hebrews 10:24

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Won't You Help Us?

The following was shared by the Joint Council on International Children's Services.  We believe this needs to be shared, read and others need to stand up and do what they can to ensure international adoptions continue! The children, God's children, need us!  Please pass this forward or complete the steps to share about your adoption experience!  Thanks and God Bless!


We Are The Truth
 
A Campaign and Call to Action
 
 
The outrageous treatment of Artyem by his adoptive family has rightfully resulted in outrage by the Governments of Russia and the United States and all who care about children.  The tragedy has cast a light on intercountry adoption that says it is not safe, the system failed and adopted children cause insurmountable problems.  The heartbreak of Artyem Saviliev’s abandonment has once again elevated a singular incident to a level which may result in the suspension of intercountry adoption.  Suspending adoption, even temporarily, will only cause thousands of children to suffer the debilitating effects of life in an orphanage.
 
You, the community of adoptees, adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, child welfare professionals and child advocates know that the outrageous and indefensible actions of one parent are not indicative of how children are treated by adoptive families.  You know that families who encounter difficulties do not simply abandon their child.  You know that help is available, that solutions are found and that families can thrive.  And you know that suspending adoption does not protect children but only subjects them to the depravity of an institution…and an entire life without a family. 
 
You, the adoption community know the truth.  You live the truth.  You are the truth.
 
Join our campaign to bring the truth to light and help children in need find a permanent and safe family.
 
 
What You Can Do
 
1)      Sign the letter to President Medvedev and President Obama: The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children.  You can sign anytime, but doing so before Tuesday night would help us get the letters to both Presidents before President Medvedev leaves the U.S.   To sign the letter, click here.
 
2)      We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know.  It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international.  Let the world knowyour truth! 
 
 
3)      Tell Your Truth with Video - make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by:
  1. Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org
      • Video should be a maximum of 3 minutes.
      • A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your video. For a copy of the release, click here
      1. Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on our YouTube Channel. 
       
      4)      Tell Your Truth with Words and Photos
      1. Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org.  Send us your stories through:
        • Photos (please do not send more than 10) 
        • Essays (maximum 500 words)
        • A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your story and/or pictures.  For a copy of the release, click here
      2. Joint Council will then compile the stories and pictures, translate them into Russian and post them on our website and/or blog.
       
      5)      Share Your Truth
      1. Joint Council will post, forward and share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.   Joint Council will be updating our YouTube Channel and Facebook page as the stories get compiled and translated, please subscribe to us on YouTubeTwitter and Fan us on Facebook.
      2. You do the same by posting on your Facebook, Twitter, blog and website!
       
      Want to help more?
      • Are you willing to speak to the media about your Russian adoption?  If so, please email betheanswer@jcics.org with the following:
        • Your name(s)
        • City, State of residence
        • Contact Phone Numbers
        • Contact Email
        • Short 4 sentence bio about your adoption
      • Do you speak Russian?
        • We are in need of individual volunteers who can help our staff translate the videos and text quickly.   If you are interested in helping, email Joint Council at intern@jcics.org.
      • Do you live in the Alexandria, VA area?
        • Joint Council is in need of short term volunteers over the next two weeks, email rebeccah@jcics.org if you would like to volunteer.