Coming all Together
9:13 AM
my excitement is hardly containable... there has been a missing piece to our family for quite some time and that piece is our sweet son Ezra who lives in South Korea. we are happy to announce that we will be traveling in the beginning of November to go "meet" our son. "meet"? yes, this is the first trip of two that we will have to make which just tears me apart. how am i suppose to leave my son once I have just been united with him? we will come home and wait anywhere from 2-6wks for a phone call to go get him. our hope & prayer is that he will be home before the christmas. the korean government takes a hiatus over the holidays and all of january which would means if we couldn't get our visas before christmas we are waiting til February. i'm am resting in the Lord for he knows the plans before us and He is sovereign over all.
i just thought we would share a little bit of why we wanted to adopt.
Adoption Testimony
Tim:
I grew up in a Christian and loving home. Throughout the
years I saw my parents extend themselves to help people that weren’t family and
were barely friends and for me I believe that that is the basis of my desire to
adopt and share Christ love with others in our home.
With my parents worldview as a basis I would say that the
need for adoption became real for me over the years as I went on missions trips
to 3rd world countries. We would travel through slums and minister
to those with no hope. The women would literally beg the adults in our group to
take their kids so that they could have the opportunities that growing up in
India, china, Thailand, the West Bank, and panama couldn’t give. We would see
kids rummaging through trash piles and picking out food and scraps just trying
to find a way survive another day and possibly even supporting their families
through this means.
I know that these
times out of country and ministering to orphans and widows and the destitute
was a building block on why I want to adopt today. I have always loved Asia.
The months that I spent in Asia as a teenager cemented a love of their culture
and people. This is why I have always had a heart for them.
Rachel:
I
never had to live under bridge, beg for money, or dig thru trash for cents a
day; but I was brought up in a home where we loved the least of these. We would
pick up that homeless man on the side of the street and get him breakfast and
drop him of where he needed to go even when we are running late for church. We
were taught to have compassion for the lady waving for help because her
boyfriend had beaten her the night before. We were taught to love and care for
the homeless, the widows, and the orphans at the cost of giving up being
comfortable. Living a normal life with a normal routine wasn’t the goal. For my
family, the goal was serve those around us with no expectation of ever seeing
anything in return.
My mom
says that I have always had a heart for Asia. I would always gravitate to
people of other ethnic backgrounds and want to learn their cultures, but there
was always something about Asia. I remember as a young girl watching a film put
together by a non-profit organization that took care of orphan babies in china.
I cried thru the entire film, in my heart I couldn’t bare the idea that a
parent would not love and care for such a beautiful child who can’t help
themselves. It was at that point that I knew I wanted to do something to help
these babies. It was like God visually showed me His heart and laid this burden
for orphans on me.
I went
on to travel to several Asian countries and my heart and love for the people
grew. The burden I felt also grew. And now several years later I find myself
with the same passion and love for people, which leads us to adopt a child and
provide a forever home for an abandoned child. I know our journey doesn’t stop
here, but until God reveals the next step I’m thankful that He has placed this
desire on our hearts.
Together:
Once we got married, and even before, we talk about our shared
desire to bring an orphan into our home. We have always believed that it was
our responsibility to take care of those who couldn’t care for themselves,
whether that is our 75 year old neighbor, the 20 year old single mother who got
kicked out of her house, or a child on the other side of the world.
We seek to be a blessing because we are blessed. We believe
that the promise and the challenge that God gave to Abraham and fulfilled
through Christ of being a blessing to the entire world should manifest itself
in our everyday lives. We don’t do it for the happy bubbly feelings, or the
weird looks from people in the mall. We do it because it is what Christ called
us to and because he did it we have no choice but to follow his example.
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|| tag our bag || we would love for you to partner with us in bringing home our son Ezra Taeyul Barker. as our last efforts in raising money for our adoption we chose to write the names individuals & families on ezra's carry-on luggage. we thought this would not only be a great way to see the families who supported us and are praying during our travel, but a physical way to show ezra all the people who care, love, and helped bring him home.
|| let's cover his bag in names ||
|| let's cover his bag in names ||
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