We're thankful for the work of orphanages....

Above and Beyond Orphan Ministry is focused on bringing children into forever families. However, while the children wait, we are so thankful for the loving souls that dedicate their lives to being that safe home for these precious children. All over the world, people have given up the comforts of their own life, laid aside the conveniences and freedoms most of us enjoy everyday and have sacrificed for those that don't have a family. We want to do everything we can to support and encourage these people when we come across them. Some friends of ours brought to our attention, this fundraising/storytelling dessert evening this Sunday evening (Aug. 28) at Sonrise Church in Cloverdale. We have put the caption below. It sounds like they have had an amazing journey and there is much we can learn from them. If you are free to attend, please do so and encourage these faithful labourers.

The founders of Nathan's orphanage (Beautiful Gate Lesotho) are coming to Vancouver and we are involved in hosting an evening of support & awareness for their work. 

Please join us in celebrating Beautiful Gate’s 10-year anniversary and hear from Ray & Sue as they describe their incredible journey of the past decade at a benefit for this very special Children’s Care Centre in Lesotho, Africa. Please join us for dessert on August 28^th from 6:30 – 9pm at Sonrise Church in Cloverdale. Please see the attached invitation for details or visit www.mohaleproject.org .

In a recent email to friends and Beautiful Gate supporters, Ray reminded us of the incredible impact Beautiful Gate is having:

Ten years ago our eyes were opened to the needs of 7 desperately vulnerable babies (5 who had tested HIV positive) in a corner of a hospital ward in Maseru. Our simple but faith-filled response to care for them was the birth of Beautiful Gate Lesotho. We believe that journey has been extensively documented through our newsletters over the years but I highlight the following: nearly 300 abandoned and orphaned children have come through our gates in that time and over 160 been adopted or are in the process of adoption to Lesotho and many countries around the world; over fifty have been reunited with families; we have had to lay to rest over thirty babies; currently we house around 60 under the age of 7 at our center, awaiting reunification or adoption.

We have also seen the building of a care center with 12 buildings including 3 baby houses, a clinic, a chapel, offices, garages and workshop, shop, skills training building, a pre-school  and 2 soon-to-be-completed apartments, totaling R14,000,000 in value. The fact that this has all happened in faith through the support of thousands of adults and children, churches, businesses, schools etc. in a country where it’s not easy to get things done, is surely a miracle. The hope and second chance given to hundreds of tragically abandoned or neglected children and the inspiration given to literally thousands of people worldwide has been awesome to witness.

We hope you are able to join us in hearing about Ray and Sue’s 10 year journey. For tickets, please feel free to contact us or Tina at tfiletti@hotmail.com.  If you know of anyone else you may be interested in this event, please pass the invite along.

We hope to see you there!

AJ & Carol

Two Canadian families receive adoption grants!

The first two adoption grants have been dispersed in Canada by ABBA CANADA’s  sister-organization, My Adopting Story. You may be wondering, what’s the difference between My Adopting Story and ABBA CANADA when it comes to giving grants for adoption? It’s kind of like Tim Hortons and Wendys. They both do similar things, are under the same umbrella (share the same store front), but they are two separate organizations with a few differences. Above and Beyond Orphan Ministry is affiliated with ABBA CANADA. We raise our money for adoption grants through ABBA CANADA. A family applying for a grant submits their application to ABBA CANADA and they make the grant decisions and disperse the funds. The money you donate for adoption grants through ABBA CANADA is given to families, based on the family meeting ABBA CANADA’s criteria for a grant. Still confused, send us an email and we’ll clear it up!

Anyhow, we are so excited to share the comments from the two couples that received grants:

You can visit My Adopting Story to read their full stories. The joy in this is that people read their stories, their hearts were touched, they gave towards the adoption process and now two children will leave behind a life of doubt, uncertainty and loneliness and join a forever family that will love them and provide for their needs. It’s exciting and it’s God’s heart for these children! We are excited that we’ve been given the legal clearance to disperse grants as well! The fundraising has begun, donations (tax-receipted) are being accepted and we are accepting applications from families looking to adopt a child into their family. We also want to let you know that when you give to this ministry, there is no administration cost being deducted from your donation. The money you give will be used to provide adoption grants to adopting families. We are currently providing the time and resources needed for administration.

Our new baby girl and a renewed passion for the orphan.....

Some exciting news at the Hull house, we just welcomed our first child into the world! This also explains the absence of blog posts over the past month, as it was quite a journey! However, she is safely home and we are learning how to be parents, which easier said than done, for those of you who know!

During this whole experience, I had a deeper revelation of adoption. You could say I experienced the call and importance of caring for the orphan at a whole new level in a few different ways. For those of you who are parents, you know that something unexplainable happens when you realize that God has just entrusted you with a life, a soul, a child and you are responsible and at the same time blessed to carry that responsibility. In that moment, you experience a deep love for this new child that can’t be explained. You have a strong sense of wanting to provide for, protect and care for this child. I felt so deep in my soul that this child deserves to have the best chance at life, to be protected, to be loved, to be wanted and accepted. I couldn’t imagine anything less for this precious gift from God. My heart was broken in a whole new way for every child that doesn’t have someone to feel this for them.

At the moment of her birth, our little girl was struggling to breathe. There was no family time alone in the room just after, as we had envisioned. Instead, Addison along with a very concerned dad were rushed off to the NICU where a team of nurses frantically worked on her, inside her incubator. You can imagine the feeling of watching this, powerless, being unsure if this was a life or death matter, etc. Throughout the night I stood watching, through the glass of the incubator, a little girl, a precious life, that I had grown to love so much in only a few hours, fight for every breathe. She flailed her arms and legs at times and it broke my heart to see her lying there, with no one to hold her. As far as she knew, she was fighting alone inside a glass box. She just looked so alone. I couldn’t touch her or hold her. I wanted her to know it would be ok and that she had so many people just outside that loved her so much. It was in that moment, there in the NICU, that my mind started to picture the babies around the world, with no one on the other side of that glass incubator. I started to picture babies, fighting for their lives, with no one to hold them after. I saw those same helpless babies, only they really were alone. The aloneness that I saw in my baby girl that night, was a reality for millions. It broke my heart at a whole new level.

How can any baby start life like that? How can they start so alone and then continue through their years alone? How can any child who has only known the aloneness that I saw that night, have any chance at feeling accepted in life? I experienced a renewed sense of passion and calling for what we are called to do. I felt a piece of God’s heart for the orphan. Why are there so many references in the bible to caring for the orphan? Could it be that God looks down on each child, in their aloneness, and feels what I felt that night, but a thousand times more? When God gave us our instruction book for life, the Bible, did He continue to remind us throughout the pages to “care for the orphan” because it’s something that just can’t be overlooked? It’s just that important to Him. Every child needs to know the love that our baby girl felt when she finally came out of the NICU.  Children need families. It’s why this ministry exists. Did this touch your heart? Would you take a minute and invest into a family’s adoption. Would you help bring a child home to a loving family? Any amount helps, but please pray about what God would have you invest in the life of a precious child. Donate Here.

Considering adopting? Attend our first one-day info seminar....

This Saturday, August 6, at Southgate Church in Langley (#120 - 5501 204th St.), we are hosting our very first one-day adopting information seminar. This is a free event, we just ask that you bring $5 to cover the cost of lunch, which will be provided. This is very exciting for us, as we see another piece of this ministry come together. We have a few couples signed up already and we have lots of space if you are considering adoption or maybe even have some questions about the process and what it could look like for your family. Our goal is to host these one-day seminars regularly and work through materials that have been provided by some of our ministry partners, such as Focus on the Family and Family Life. Please email tamara@southgatechurch.ca to register or if you have any questions. We look forward to meeting you and supporting you through your adoption process, any way that we can.