Show Hope Helpers

The unappetizing mess below represents the start of our Black Walnut Ink project. To the left there you see the completion of it. Daniel and the girls collected them on their nature walk, and then we cooked them down all afternoon. It turns out November is the perfect time to do this, since the husks are supposed to be half rotten to make the ink.













After several hours on simmer we ended up with a quart of inky liquid that makes a satisfying, antique brown stain. I found the quills several years ago after a fox took out a goose, and they have come in handy. The girls practiced writing with them for nearly an hour. We think Sapphire writes better with a quill than with a pencil.



Last week Pearl and I were out until midnight on Sunday helping to run the Show Hope table at the Stephen Curtis Chapman concert at a huge church in Lancaster. Show Hope offers grants to families who are trying to adopt, but it also funds orphan care in China. They have some really progressive nurturing centers where they take sick kids and offer them treatment or gentle, palliative care for those who cannot be treated.

Our friend Diane, Pearl, and I handed sponsor cards out to folks who raised their hands just before the intermission when Stephen Curtis Chapman encouraged folks to commit to support the ministry. Then we helped process forms (she was the head envelope stuffer) when those people brought their signed cards to the table. We both enjoyed the whole concert, and Pearl was especially effected by the story and performance of the song "Cinderella" (of course). Afterward we went backstage and met Stephen Curtis Chapman.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy the concert, but I did. The performers had such humble attitudes. During Laura Story's part of the concert, we all just worshiped together, and worshiping with 1,000 people is a treat for someone from a small country church. They each had a neat testimony to share, and it felt like a mini-retreat.

Hope Abounds: Show Hope Help

We've been very fortunate to be helped along in our adoption journey by Show Hope, a movement to care for orphans.  This is the one that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth founded and support, as do many other faithful donors.  I had enjoyed Chapman's song "Do Everything", but I really listened to it carefully on my way to campus one day after we had confirmation that we had received a grant from Show Hope.

You can read the lyrics here. I think I *had* been picking up Cheerios that day. 

The grant is a huge help, especially since the costs are going over the tentative fees that we had been given back in 2010.  There is a federal tax refund for adoption too; we will not get that until we file our taxes in 2013, so everything has to be out of pocket until then.  For the Show Hope grant, we wrote statements of faith and shared our financial details. It was a joy to write up a description of our adoption goals back then, knowing the people reading them would be so empathetic and in tune with our hopes. They sent along a helpful book about creating healthy environments for adopted kids, and a video.  Adoption has been one of the biggest leaps of faith I've ever taken, and through Show Hope God is meeting our needs.

You can read some of the amazing stories of adoptive families and Christians working to serve orphans at the Show Hope blog site.

Here at home we had a chance to celebrate the girls' completion of Operation Overboard VBS held at the church across the street. We got home in time for their pony rides (Sapphire's first!).