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Fall 2008 Enewsletter

NOTE FROM PAUL PENNINGTON
Executive Director, Hope for Orphans

Seasons Greetings from the Hope for Orphans team, and welcome to our November 2008 newsletter. We hope our quarterly newsletter will serve you well as you continue to seek God's will in reaching and meeting the needs of orphans. This newsletter, like all of our materials, is written specifically for you, our local champions, who have a heart for the least of these among us and want to see God's love and message of hope taken to children across the globe. We are honored to partner with you and we are blessed to be able to serve you in this way. The prophet Isaiah said, "And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday." (Isaiah 58:10 NASB, emphasis mine)

At Hope for Orphans, our mission is "serving every church to reach every orphan." It is our prayer that the tools from our ministry and our partners will indeed bring such glory to our Lord that your light will rise in darkness.

Blessings,
Paul Pennington

In this issue:
	Media Campaign: Christian Ministries Join Hands to Reach Millions with God's Plan for the Orphan For the third straight year, FamilyLife, Focus on the Family, and Shaohannah's Hope are teaming up with numerous other ministries to reach out to the Christian community with the news that God has a plan for the more than 130 million orphans living in our world. This year's media campaign will run November 17-24 with the theme "You are God's Plan for the Orphan." As part of the media campaign, there will be a week of special radio broadcasts on FamilyLife Today (click here) and Focus on the Family from November 17-21. For more information about this year's media campaign, or to learn more about how God might want to use you in the lives of orphans, visit CryoftheOrphan.org.
	Summit 5: Christian Alliance for Orphans Announces Summit V The Christian Alliance for Orphans has announced that the fifth annual Adoption and Orphan Care Summit (known as Summit V) will be held at Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas (in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metropolitan area), April 30-May 1, 2009. If you are (or would like to be) involved in adoption or orphans ministry through your church or profession, you won't want to miss what promises to be a wonderful event. Visti Summit V for more information.
	Organization Spotlight Lifesong for Orphans: Key Orphan Care Ministry Undergoes Name Change Life International has changed its name to Lifesong for Orphans, a name it believes more accurately reflects its mission to "bring joy and purpose to orphans." "Our name, Lifesong for Orphans, is inspired by Isaiah 61:1-3 where God says He wants to replace ashes with beauty, give joy where there is mourning, and instill hope where there is despair," says Lifesong's Vice President Andy Lehman. "In a beautiful and descriptive way Isaiah 61:1-3 shares how God turns adversity and struggle into strength and victory! That's really what we are about--helping to turn despair into strength, joy and victorious living! A 'lifesong' for the children, if you will." While the name has changed, the mission has not. Lifesong for Orphans' purpose is to care for the basic physical needs of orphans. It also seeks to give ongoing support to orphans through education, discipleship, and other means to help them make successful transitions to adulthood. Lifesong accomplishes its mission and purposes by empowering and equipping "those uniquely positioned by God to make a difference in children's lives," says Andy Lehman. Lifesong for Orphans serves local church orphans ministries and individuals in several vital ways, including the following: • International Orphan Care Lifesong invites churches and Christian businesses to become actively engaged in the lives of 1400 orphans served by Lifesong in Ukraine, Zambia, and India through their "Adopt an orphanage" program. This program enables Christians to build long-term relationships with children and staff within the indigenous orphan care initiatives through short-term mission trips, letter-writing sponsorships of children, and other opportunities. Lifesong also creates in-country solutions to the orphan crisis by mobilizing indigenous Christians to come alongside children, providing them Christian training and discipleship, quality education, transitional housing, and job skill training as they move into adult living. • Church Adoption Funds In addition, Lifesong helps churches establish and launch adoption funds as a ministry to their congregations, helping find the money to launch the funds, and providing ongoing administrative support to facilitate and operate the funds at no cost to the churches. Lifesong's model works well as it enables churches to actively support adoptive families with little to no administrative burden to themselves. • Adoption Grants and Loans for Individuals Lifesong also offers matching grants and interest-free loans to adoptive couples. The matching grants are an exciting way to encourage couples' churches and support systems to contribute financially as well. The interest-free loans are designed to help couples maximize their stewardship through the use of the federal tax credit for adoption. The loan is repaid according to a reasonable, agreed-upon schedule, and as those payments are made, the money is freed up to help other couples as they begin their adoption journeys. Lifesong's ministry to adoptive parents has helped facilitate over 500 adoptions, and you can read some of their stories on their Web site . Lifesong firmly believes that each member of the body of Christ has some unique and special gift to bring to the orphan. Some will adopt, some will provide care, and some will give of their financial resources. "Now is the time to bring joy and purpose to the orphans in our world," says Andy Lehman. "We might not all be called to adopt, but we can help those who are called. We may not all be able to care for the children around the world, but we can help the indigenous Christians who are on the ground in those countries. We can do more together than we can do separately!" For more information about Lifesong for Orphans, please visit their Web site at LifesongForOrphans.org.
	Update on Vietnam Adoptions The 2005 Memorandum of Agreement, required by Vietnamese law to authorize all adoptions, expired on September 1 of this year. Prospective adoptive parents who had received a formal referral by that date will be able to complete their adoptions. Both the United States and Vietnam are committed to reaching a new agreement, which will allow new adoption cases to open. According to the Joint Council on International Children's Services, the Vietnamese government issued a formal diplomatic note to the United States government in early September, which in part requested that both governments begin negotiations towards a new Memorandum of Agreement regarding intercountry adoption. For up-to-date information on adoptions out of Vietnam, visit jcics.org/Vietnam.htm.
	Update on Guatemala Adoptions As of January 1, 2008, all new adoptions of Guatemalan children are subject to Hague Convention Requirements. The Guatemalan Congress also established a Guatemalan Central Authority, which oversees intercountry adoptions and provides safeguards for children and families in the adoption process. As of the end of September, Guatemala was processing adoptions by US citizens on a limited basis. However, the National Council on Adoption (CNA) put a temporary hold on all new adoptions as of September 29, partly in order to finalize some of the cases in transition. For up-to-date information on Guatemalan adoptions, visit jcics.org/Guatemala.htm.