Over the past year, we have been reaching orphans in Haiti through our Embrace Mission teams while prayerfully seeking God’s guidance for our ministry.

Our next step is to provide a safe, loving home with experienced, Christian caregivers. We are working with a Godly Haitian woman named Rachel, who has been caring for orphans through her licensed creche, Rivers of Hope Home, for many years. Together, we are preparing to open another home to serve up to 24 children with the same excellent holistic care we provide in our Hannah’s Hope Homes.

Will you join us in our work in Haiti?

Over the past two decades, AGCI has helped improve orphan care in Bulgaria’s government-run facilities by providing much-needed food and clothing, developmental toys, and loving care givers. In 2011, with the support of contributors and Embrace Mission participants like you, AGCI helped the orphans at Varna recover from a devastating boiler room fire and opened a Creative Development Center for the orphans at Kaspichan. We are eternally grateful for your heart for the orphans in Bulgaria.

Give an Orphan a Grandmother’s Love!

All God’s Children International is blessed to work with Ten Talents International in Rwanda. They help to place the lonely in families by reuniting orphans and street youth with extended family members or local foster families. They currently serve boys who have lived on the streets of Kigali in their “Home of Innocence” transition home and in their outreach programs.

Their vision is to expand care for orphans and street children through Acres of Hope, a 7.5 acre property that will eventually include four transition homes.

Learn more about this unique opportunity to help!

My journey to Beijing, China began March 1st and ended with me arriving to my hotel March 2nd at about 11pm China time. I entered my room with the hopes of getting some much needed sleep before seeing the city and meeting up with our AGCI family who is completing their adoption this week. Though sleep evaded me, the adrenaline pumping through me from all of the excitement has made sleep unnecessary for the moment! I got to spend my first morning with our Foreign Service Provider Rocky. AGCI is so blessed to not only be working with such a capable FSP, but one that knows his history, and is one of the friendliest people I could hope to meet!…

…Today we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Following my tour with Rocky I had a delicious traditional meal and then was able to spend a couple of hours exploring this incredible city! Tomorrow we will be able to visit the Great Wall and then we will make our way to Tianjin City for our adoptive family to be united with their wonderful daughter. I am so grateful to join them as they finish the process to bring their child home. I will have more to share as this adventure has just begun!…

…Yesterday was a day filled with site seeing and cultural experiences! After being able to finally meet the family in person, we made the trek to see the Great Wall and make the climb along the mountain side to a couple of the watch towers. To say the wall was impressive would not do it justice. When considering the challenges and technological barriers that were overcome to create such a large structure, it seems impossible. After seeing the Wall, we went to have lunch and take a tour at a cloisonné factory. It is such a beautiful art that has deep roots in Chinese history, especially among the royal families. After this we quickly traveled back to Beijing to take a Hutong Tour. This tour takes you into one of the oldest surviving traditional neighborhoods in order to experience the traditional family life. To wrap up our time in Beijing we went to visit a Tea House where we learned proper tea etiquette and were able to taste a few teas that are typical in day to day life. From there we were able to drive to the province where the family’s child is from…

…This morning was the day! Gotcha Day! The whole reason we are here! Prior to meeting their daughter, I had asked their 4 year old if he was excited to meet his sister? He told me “no, he was excited to bring her home.” He wanted more than a moment, he wanted – and was ready for – forever. I can’t picture a more beautiful thing then what I saw today. The culmination of all of the paperwork, the fundraising, the waiting, and countless prayers, all came together when mom held her daughter for the first time. The rest of today will be mostly down time for the family to get to know each other and rest. Tomorrow the family will continue to complete paperwork here in the Province. What a day and what a blessing this little girl will be to everyone she meets!

The truth is how we define ‘special need’ in the United States and how international countries define ‘special need’ are two different things.  If you took a survey of your friends and neighbors, most would define special needs as a child with major ongoing medical conditions. But in the Waiting Child Special Needs programs around the world, the definition covers a large spectrum of conditions. This includes minor conditions that are correctable such as cleft lip.

Others in the special needs programs have missing limbs, special medical needs, and physical or emotional development conditions of varying severity. One other category of children who are placed into the ‘special needs’ category are older children or sibling groups who are considered harder to place through adoption because of their age.

One of the very established programs for adopting special needs children is through China. The government of China has worked hard to stabilize, simplify and streamline the process of adoption for these special children. All God’s Children International has completed over 450 adoptions through our China program, with the majority of these children having special medical needs.

A big difference in a special needs program is that these children are currently waiting for placement. We work to connect them with a forever family as soon as possible.  When families enter this program we ask them what ages of child and what special needs they are open to. From there we endeavor to connect children who are waiting, to the family who is open to their special needs, age and gender.

Today in China, there are 1,700 special needs children waiting to be adopted. If you would like to learn more about this process, join our ‘Adopting From China’ webinar this coming Tuesday, February 28^th at 11:30 am (pst).  Sign up at: AGCI CHINA WEBINAR 

Unfortunately two of our team mates had to leave us today, they fly out of Taipei tomorrow morning. It was sad as it really did mark the beginning of the end of our special time in Taiwan together. Those of us left piled into the car and headed to the mountains where we were able to see monkeys in their natural habitat. We brought fruit for the monkeys and they would walk right up to us and take it out of our hands! Some were more pushy than others and one almost made off with a cell phone!! I have to admit that the monkeys kind of scared me, I didn’t think they would but when the first one came at me wanting the fruit I was carrying I dropped it on the ground and ran the other way. The monkeys of Taiwan are not for the faint of heart!

When we got back to town we did some last min shopping for the home. We got a book case, picked up some storage bins, and bought a drying rack. Each of the women that came on this trip brought something special to give to the women that would come into our home. We had handmade bracelets by one mission team member’s daughters, handmade bags from another member, and hair bows that were hand made by the niece of a another team member. We had donated tooth brushes, pre natal vitamins, deodorant, nail clippers, and journals. Each of these donated or hand crafted items went into the bag and will go to a woman when she enters the home – it will be her “Welcome Bag”. We spent some time this evening putting these welcome bags together. Next we went room to room in our new home and prayed over the space and the women that would come to live there. We prayed for our staff that would be living at the home and serving the women there. In each room asked for God’s grace and peace to reign down in that space. I think this was the most special moment of our day.

We wrapped up the team’s final meal in Taitung with Hot Pot! Of course it was delicious and of course we had a wonderful time talking with all the new friends that they had made. The team’s time in Taitung has ended, but they will carry on to Taipei for Two exciting days of adventure! Thank you again to these women, we are so thankful they came.  Blessings to our new Promise of Life Home!!

The paint is on the walls, the beds have shown up and were made, rooms have been arranged – this place is really starting to look like a home. I walked through the home today and was honestly in tears at how beautiful it all was. I have been so impressed with the team that is here. They have been such an honor and joy to work with – they worked tirelessly for days to complete this task. The Taiwan staff have all laughed and said how they wanted to move into the Promise of Life home.

With the bulk of the work done we decided to take a break this afternoon. Once everyone was armed with a cup of tea, we set out to do some shopping at the Aboriginal Cultural center as well as visiting Hsiaoyehliu – a beautiful rock formation on the coast. It was so fun to see the team relaxing together as we took in the ocean sitting together on rocks.

We enjoyed a cultural dinner this evening of traditional Amis tribal food. All the Taiwan staff joined, beyond the bacon wrapped corn on a stick we ate some deliciously prepared chicken, apparently it was made with champagne (they pulled out all the stops for us) some pork, fish, and of course hot pot. We all laughed as we stumbled to use our chop sticks and practice our Chinese words.

We ended the evening walking around down town and popping into shops. Everyone is still hoping to find the perfect souvenir. As we walked one of the Taiwan staff shared how important it is that we do not pray for God’s hands to do the work and guide us, but rather that we focus our prayers on seeing God’s face and heart – that is the only way we will feel as He does and know what to do. That thought, while so simple, resonated in our hearts and is telling for each of the team members  that come  here to be part of this work and for the Taiwan staff that have committed their lives to living God’s heart in Taiwan.

Yesterday the team really just focused on the home, we got there early and just worked through the whole day. The team is so dedicated and committed to making Promise of Life absolutely beautiful. They have spent hours painting and now even stenciling! Each time one of our Taiwan staff walk through the home they are in awe of the work, love, and effort that is put into each room. The team accomplished all my goals for the day and we are now even starting to paint rooms we did not expect we would have had time to do!

The team members have not only been putting their heart and soul into the work of creating this home, but they have been sealing messages, prayers, and hand prints in the paint. They are laying a foundation of love for the women that this home will bless. We have been talking a lot about foundation on this trip and we have been moved with the foundation that the Taiwan staff laid for us before we got here, of the foundation we are laying for the women of Taiwan, and truly the foundation of this program.

Today (since we accomplished so much yesterday) we took the morning to go to Starbucks – yes there is one in Taitung and it is exactly like any Starbucks from the states. We also went to the Taitung market where the Taiwan staff led us through the endless rows of meat, fish, vegetable, and fruit vendors. We were able to try sugar cane juice and coconut milk. We were given lots of fruit to try, including the “Buddha head” fruit which is native to Taitung and absolutely delicious (if you can figure out how to eat it). We were also able to meet Chen Shu Chu, one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2010.

Work on the home continued today, we are really making progress and now are getting to the point that we just need the furniture to arrive! Pictures are coming!!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for this project – they are all so needed and welcomed. The women on this team are truly an amazing group of women and they have each played such a special role in our project!

On Monday we were able to be a part of the famous Lantern Festival in Ping Shi. It was one of the most BEAUTIFUL and remarkable experiences I have ever had. We let off lanterns for AGCI and Promise of Life and watched them float into the sky along with 1,000 other lanterns, it was so beautiful. The annual Lantern Festival in Taiwan is the second largest festival in the world, with over 100,000 people in Ping Shi enjoying the show!

The next day our team managed to stumble into Taitung during a festival that involved tons of fire crackers, loud music, and little Buddha that ride on people’s shoulders. I am sure we were right in the middle of a parade. The team does not believe me that Taitung is a quiet little town because yesterday was a string of traffic jams (because apparently they can let the fire crackers out anywhere at any time and mostly that happened to be in the middle of the street). There was a very loud and crowded gathering of people across the street from our hotel with food vendors, music and performances – quite a time to be in Taitung!

We have begun to get paint on the walls of our Promise of Life home! Some rooms are already waiting for their second coat. It is exciting to see color in the house and I think that everyone is anxious to get the walls finished and put the furniture in the rooms! We are having a great time and everyone seem to be enjoying the experience. We can’t wait to see the home come together as a beautiful, save haven for women in need.

More to come!