Inspiring people to take a step to change the world is an incredible task. This is a task that Stellar Media is honored to be a part of. A former local church began a campaign to encourage members to become involved in Lubbock adoption and foster care. The main focus was while “we are not all called to do the same thing, we are all called to do something”. The outcome of this sermon series was that many children found their forever homes. This led to a new ministry for the church being born. The video for Foster Life showcases two families who answered the call to Lubbock adoption as well as touching on ways others can support foster and adoptive families, ensuring that there is one less orphan.
So in November of 2013, we started a series called One Less Orphan. We learned of the crisis that is affecting our community in Region one. Which is Panhandle, basically in Texas, this is Lubbock and Amarillo and the surrounding towns.
We said that 622 kids were in foster care just in our region. 622 and 338 of those were waiting for adoption. 338 waiting for a family to say, I choose you. This series stirred the hearts of many people.
We challenged everyone to action. We're not all called to do the same thing, but we're all called to do something. Well, since then, a lot has happened. Many families accepted the challenge. As a result, many lives changed forever.
Here are a few of those stories. It was not really something that we had ever really considered. We actually found out that some friends of ours were doing it and not long before we were. And I said to Caleb, That sounds like a horrible idea.
Why would anyone want to do that? That just sounds really hard. Like, why would you put yourself through that? And then not long after that? I remember just feeling like a stirring in my heart. Like something God was asking of me. I didn't know what it was.
So I came to the place where I just kind of surrendered to whatever it was that God was asking. Then you started the One Less Orphan series in November. The water works came on for Haley. And my heart broke, for sure.
And so we decided that's definitely our next step like that. That's what can fill this void that we're feeling. We plugged in with an agency and started going through the classes, and everything's going great. We finish up, get certified.
And then there's this time where they start sending you kids and they are sending you profiles. There's this one little girl we submitted on and became a finalist and got the chance to go down and meet her. And so we met her in September and got to spend a weekend with her.
And it was just just amazing. I mean, just this precious little girl with. The huge smile and still in hand, I believe, were there in Houston. And a month later, they brought her to us. We finalize her Lubbock adoption in June of 2010 and 15.
Support for foster families comes in a variety of ways. I've hosted some events for foster and adoptive families that you could volunteer for.
We have always loved going to those events because we see other families that look like ours, and that might not seem like a big deal, but it it is. So we have we've enjoyed that too. We felt so supported by Eli.
There's been times that we've just opened our mailbox and had a gift card and a card just saying like, we appreciate you. And I think what's great about that saying, we appreciate you and and we see you. And we felt really loved.
You know, I think before Greg and I even met, Lubbock adoption has always been on our hearts. We always wanted to either adopt internationally, locally, you know, whatever. And we knew that, you know, our plan was we would have a couple of biological kids and then we would pursue Lubbock adoption.
But the Lord had different plans for us. Back in, I think it was 2013, 2014, you lifted the one less orphan series. And probably the most important thing that they were able to do for us is give us tangible things that we could do.
You know, there's a piece of paper that said, here's your next step. Here's the number to call. There were a lot of different organizations that were able to meet at the church, and we were able to go to a meeting and talk with people who worked for these organizations and get some information.
And I think the thing that our private Lubbock adoption experience had in common, I think with a lot of foster and adoptive experiences was just that we didn't get to have a lot of expectations. I think when we would have our heart set on one thing, something would come up and and we would get moved in a totally different direction.
So I think that it helped us, I guess, to just be OK, not knowing what was going to happen. It was really important for us, I think, just to have a group of people around us who understood what we were going through and who were supportive, you know, family and everybody and friends and coworkers were all very supportive when we decided that we wanted to go through this process. But it was a big deal having people in our lives who had actually gone through it before. If anybody's afraid to take the next step in orphan care.
I would just say, find out what your next step is because a lot of times the scariest part is that you don't know what to do. If you can just get some information about the process, maybe find out that some of the things you're afraid of aren't really that scary.
It makes the process that much easier. Not everybody does the same thing, but we're all called to do something. We truly believe that. So take just a second and think. Wow, hundreds of stories exist.
Now it's time for us to support those stories. Foster life is a new life ministry for those who are on their journey of fostering or adopting. We would like to invite you to be involved. For more information, visit the Lubbock adoption and foster life table in your campus lobby.