Paying the Ransom

**(see the end of my post for info. about this photo)

I've been thinking a lot about adoption expenses lately. I've decided that every dollar our family has spent on adoption fees has gone to pay the ransom for a child - our child - to come home. Is this "ransom" high? Yes. Does it mean sacrifice? Constantly. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

Jesus paid a ransom for me, and for you, many years ago. It was costly, to say the least! And you know what? The Bible tells us that Jesus did this willingly.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)

So on that note, I bring you to a HUGE answered prayer. We learned Friday that our family was approved for a $2000 matching grant through Lifesong. This means that for every dollar someone contributes towards the "ransom" of our son, they will match it dollar for dollar up to $2,000 (That means a potential $4,000 we don't have to come up with). Praise God!

Here's the letter we received:

December 9, 2011

Dear church, family, and friends of Kyle and Angie Hendren,

Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) is a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless…in their affliction” (James 1:27). The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is astounding… there are over 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone!

God tells us in His word He has heard the cry of the orphaned and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17, 18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for – through adoption. As believers, He adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans!

We believe adoption at its core is evangelism--a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, “visit the fatherless…” but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips, and some to adopt.

Kyle and Angie have sensed God’s call . . . and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt a young man from Ethiopia. As you may already know, international adoption can cost around $25,000 and prevents many godly families from adopting. Lifesong believes God has raised up the Hendren family “for such a time as this…” and we have committed an Adoption Matching Grant of $2,000 to help raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of this child.

This means Lifesong for Orphans will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything the Hendren's raise from their church, family, and friends between now and January 30, 2012 up to $2,000. We invite you to support them financially to make this adoption possible. As a 501(c)3 organization, your gift is tax deductible. *100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs--nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

Will you invest financially in the life of this child? It will be an investment with eternal return.

God bless you for laying your treasures up in Heaven,

Andy Lehman
Vice President

p.s. I trust God will do great and mighty things through this, and all for His Glory!

Please make checks payable to:
Life Song for Orphans
P.O. Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744

*On the memo of your check,
please note Hendren Family # 2317

Thank you for considering making a donation (helping pay our son's "ransom") - especially at this time of the year. Just remember the January 30th deadline, if you'd like your donation to double :o)

Well, that's my way of asking my friends and family to help us with some of the financial piece of this adoption - to let Andy Lehman do it for me. Thanks for the letter, Mr. Lehman, and for doing my dirty work :o)


Now, for some more exciting news:

Ugandan's Orphans Choir

The Ugandan's Orphan's Choir will be performing at our church on the evening of March 18, 2012. Here are the kids that will be touring...and staying in host homes (yep, we get to be one of those homes :o)

Chelsea has been praying for orphans for a few years now, and if you ask her why we're adopting a boy from Ethiopia, she'll likely tell you it's because she prayed that her dad would say yes...again, and God answered her prayer. Well, this next year, not only will she be getting the African brother she's been praying for, but she's also having a special birthday, as the Orphans Choir will be singing on her birthday, and spending the weekend at her house. I'm excited about this...but she's EXCITED about this. God truly loves to hear the prayers of a child, and one of our children is particularly excited lately how God answered her prayers (again) to help her "be able to take care of orphans, too."

**The photo at the top of this post is a picture of a painting we have in our living room. It's been hanging in our living room since 2001 - Sunday, May 13 (Mother's Day), to be exact. It was one of those impulse buys that a certain grieving mother made out of desperation trying to find something meaningful - something she could hold onto - something to give her comfort when she needed it most.

What I didn't realize, however, until this very moment when I Googled the date of Mother's Day in 2001, was that May 13th, 2011 (10 years later) was the day I was in Ethiopia and plans to go to Uganda were cancelled at the last minute...thus allowing me to spend extra days at a certain orphanage in Addis Abba, with a little boy whose mother died a long time ago.

I'm telling you, Kyle and I don't know how to do the family planning thing - at all! We gave that up years ago, and all we know now is that God's plans for our family are better than anything we could have come up with on our own.

PS) A little more info. about our son:

He is the youngest of 7 children. He lost both his parents - his father 3 years ago, and his mother 8 years ago (we don't know the cause of death, but we should know someday soon). His uncle placed him in the orphanage a year ago, and at that time his paperwork indicated he was 7 years old. He has 6 siblings: 9 and 11 year old sisters, and 13, 15, 15 and 18 year old brothers. They are accounted for, living in "other areas", some working and some not. The girls are working as maids and the boys as shoe shines.

It's the law in Ethiopia for siblings to be adopted together (if they are in an orphanage - which in our case, his are not). When we found out how many siblings he had, I'm pretty sure Kyle had to pick his heart, and other vital organs, off the floor!

When I think about our son's siblings, my heart breaks - again. His sisters are maids! His brothers (if they're working) are shoe shines! They're not in school, they aren't having sleep-overs with their friends, they're not being tucked in at night or listening to a bed-time story. Who watches out for them at night?

I wonder if our son-to-be remembers them. I wonder if he ever lived with them. Does he remember his father? These and a hundred more questions fill my mind sometimes, and someday I hope we can help him fill in the blanks of his life. For now, though, I trust that God has a plan for him and I'm honored to be part of that plan.