BrentPeak.com Family, Ministry, and Life

Visit Russia and Meet an Orphan

This March, visit Russia and spend time with a Russian orphan! Travelers will choose a child, fly to Russia as a group, meet and spend time with the child in Moscow, sightsee together, and decide whether to pursue the child’s adoption. Travelers not interested in adoption are

Join Steven Curtis Chapman in Changing the World of an Orphan [video]

Become a Sponsor Today! from Show Hope on Vimeo.

Lin Pin-Ching Needs a New Home

Lin, Pin-Ching was a very happy boy....things were finally beginning to be brighter in his world! It had been a rough start in life; his birthmother relinquished her rights when she went to jail, leaving him to a series of relatives who were less than kind to him; then he was finally rescued and sent first to a foster home and then to the orphanage. There he began to settle in and learn the routine. They discovered he needed glasses, and provided them so he could see clearly. They gave him the structure in school he needed to perform his best. When he saw a child being bullied, he came to their defense. Sometimes he was the one in trouble, and he learned from his mistakes. Then they told him a family wanted to adopt him and make him their son....he was thrilled! A family of his own! But then the family found they could not continue with the adoption. Pin-Ching was no longer so happy. Another disappointment in the life of this precious boy.

Pin-Ching was born on September 11, 2001 and has mild cerebral palsy, and walks with a very slight limp. He is also flat-footed. He has some difficulty with fine motor skills (holding a pencil can be hard for him), so he would benefit from OT. His glasses seem to have solved his vision problem. Pin-Ching has a positive attitude, and a great sense of humor! He is able to build relationships with others, and interacts well with his peers.

Pin-Ching has waited a long time for something good to happen in his life. He is more than ready for a family to bring him home and love him. With his personality and sense of humor he is sure to be a joyful addition to one very lucky family! But please hurry...Pin-Ching is waiting!

IAAP would ideally like to have a family that already has a current home study or a home study from a previous adoption so they can send the home study ASAP.  That is the ideal but contact them even if you do not have either of these and you are interested in adopting him.

Just log on to IAAP's site at http://bringinghopetochildren.org to see and learn more about Pin-Ching.

Every child deserves a loving home.

From TheShepherdsCrook.org...

Steven

 Steven is a bright, happy thirteen-year-old boy who loves the Lord and wins the heart of everyone who meets him. He has suffered from very poor health due to a prolonged case of tuberculosis. He has now been treated, but still has residual affects such as decreased lung capacity, poor vision and a very small stature. He can see with glasses and he is about the size of a six or seven year old. He has been living in a local orphanage for over a year now as his family was not providing good medical care for him. Both Steven and his family are happy about the possibility of him being adopted.  He wants to go to school and learn how to work with computers. He has been learning English over the past six months.  He has never been to school because of his poor health, but he is ready and wanting to learn.  He has also tested positive for hepatitis A, but is negative for HIV. He is currently undergoing a full physical exam to get an idea of his overall health at this time. See an attached picture of Steven. Send an email to central_africa@theshepherdscrook.org for more information.
 
Immaculate

This is a sweet, shy girl who has grown up in a small village in Uganda. She is ten years old and became paralyzed from the waist down in July of 2006, following a bout of malaria. No one knows the exact cause for the paralysis. She uses a wheel chair and is incontinent of bladder and bowel. She has been cared for by her aging grandmother who is not healthy herself. Although she loves Immaculate, she has not been able to care for her well and Immaculate has recently suffered from infected pressure sores. Her grandmother desires for her granddaughter to have a loving family to raise her and care for her properly. Immaculate was asked if she wants to be adopted by a family and she does. Although her biggest concern was who would take care of her grandmother. She is scared, but excited at the idea of being adopted. She wants the chance to go to school and learn and to eventually have a job when she is older. She speaks English fairly well, but she is pretty shy. She loves to attend weekly Bible studies in her village.  There is also a picture attached of Immaculate. Please email central_africa@theshepherdscrook.org  for more information on Immaculate.

My Birthday Wish: To Help 2 Orphans Come Home.

My birthday is this Thursday, February 12. I'm sure you probably weren't worrying about what to get me, but I'd like to make a suggestion anyways. We have some friends, David and Julie Duncan and their two sons, who are in the process of adopting two boys from Russia. It would be a thrill to me and them if you could help me raise $1,000 by my birthday to help them get closer to bringing their boys home. All you have to do is use the ChipIn widget below to make a PayPal donation (sorry, it's not tax deductible). I'll give them the money at the end of the week, plus whatever funds come in after my birthday.

You can read more about the Duncan's and their adoption process at http://clanofduncans.blogspot.com.

[UPDATE]

My fundraiser widget ended before the end of the day, so here's a new one if you'd still like to give.  I only hit 8% so far, but at least it's something!

Here's the new widget that you can donate through.

Help Save The Adoption Tax Credit

From AdoptiveFamilies.com...

You can make a difference for children in the U.S. and around the world by contacting your Senator and Congressional representative now! Urge them to support "The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005," legislation to make the tax credit permanent. Unless legislation is passed, the adoption expense tax credit that allows many adopting families to take a credit of up to $10,000+ against their federal income taxes is scheduled to expire in 2010.

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 305; Rep. Wilson, Joe [SC]) on January 25, 2005 and the Senate (S. 246; Bunning [KY]) on February 1, 2005.

Last year, legislation to make the adoption tax credit permanent passed by an overwhelming majority in the House, but stalled in the Senate, making bipartisan support in the Senate imperative if this legislation is to become law this session.

Here's how to alert your Congressional representatives that you want their support for this legislation that helps so many adoptive families and children without homes:

1. Find the name and Washington, D.C. mailing address of your Representative and Senators at www.congress.org. To find e-mail addresses, click through to the Senator's or Congressperson's Web site. 
2. Next, log on to http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find out whether your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation. On the thomas.loc.gov opening page, under "Search Bill Text 109th Congress (2005-2006)," search by bill number for H.R. 305 or S. 246. Then click on "Bill summary and Status." On the page that comes up, click on "Cosponsors," "Text of Legislation," or "All Congressional Actions" to follow the progress of the bill. 
3. If your representatives have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, send them your request that they do so. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on it to be available in the future. Emphasize that the tax credit truly results in more children finding homes. Tell them that this is so important to you that you will be following the bill's progress through Congress. 
4. INCLUDE A FAMILY PHOTO: While e-mails are valuable, a written note with a picture of your family or your children will be most effective. If sending e-mail, you'll actually want to avoid attaching a photo; the large size of the message and the attachment could, potentially, mark it as junk or harmful e-mail. 
5. If any of your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors, write them a thank-you note. Again, letters sent by snail-mail with photos of your children will receive more attention.

Click here to view the most updated list of co-sponsors.

SAMPLE LETTERS

Personalize the letters below with your own experiences:

SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR:

The Honorable FIRST NAME LAST NAME
U.S. Senate
OFFICE ADDRESS
Washington, D.C. ZIP CODE

Dear Senator LAST NAME:

My family and I are your constituents in NAME OF TOWN. We request your support of S. 246, The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005.

The adoption expense tax credit that this legislation would make permanent is very important to my family and me. Without this significant financial help, we would not have been able (or would have found it very difficult) to adopt our beloved son (or daughter), NAME. I include a photo of my son/daughter.

As you may know, adoption expenses can easily exceed $20,000, a significant sum to most families. (Or, if your expenses were more, say so.) Without the adoption expense tax credit, we would probably not be able to adopt another child.

I truly believe that the adoption expense tax credit results in many more children without homes finding new, loving families like my own.

I urge you to co-sponsor S. 246. This legislation is so important to me that I will be following its progress through Congress. Thank you in advance for your support of this legislation that truly serves children who need new families.

Sincerely,
YOUR NAME

SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE:

The Honorable FIRST NAME LAST NAME
U.S. House of Representatives
OFFICE ADDRESS
Washington, D.C. ZIP CODE

Dear Representative LAST NAME:

My family and I are your constituents in NAME OF TOWN. We request your support of H.R. 305, The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2005.

The adoption expense tax credit that this legislation would make permanent is very important to my family and me. Without this significant financial help, we would not have been able (or would have found it very difficult) to adopt our beloved son (or daughter), NAME. I include a family photo.

As you may know, adoption expenses can easily exceed $20,000, a significant sum to most families. (Or, if your expenses were more, say so.) Without the adoption expense tax credit, we would probably not be able to adopt another child.

I truly believe that the adoption expense tax credit results in many more children without homes finding new, loving families like my own.

I ask you to co-sponsor H.R. 305. This legislation is so important to me that I will be following its progress through Congress. Thank you in advance for your support of this legislation that truly serves children who need new families.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

We Can Never Do Enough, But We Can Always Do Something!

In case you haven't noticed, orphan advocacy has really been burdening me lately.  As I said the other day in this post, it's not so much about adoption for me anymore, because the term 'adoption' seems to put the emphasis on me and take it away from the status and need of the child.  I've thought of myself as an 'adoption advocate', but now I think I'll go with 'orphan advocate.'

Anyways, I've been spending a lot of time looking for opportunities to channel my passion for orphans, and I'm finding that God is opening my heart to them in a variety of ways.  In the past, I never had a desire to do more than adopt a child from China.  I wasn't interested in other countries, or in other ways of helping orphans.  Now, I think I'm ready for anything.  I really have no idea where this is going, but I can't wait to see!

There is so much you and I can do.  Here are a couple options I discovered today.  Maybe you're interested in one of them?  Go ahead, click on them!

• Partner with local agencies to help orphans and foster children in your area.
• Go on a mission trip to minister to orphans around the world.

Get involved!  Because we can never do enough, but we can always do something!