(Copied my post from the Our Compassion journal site. I felt it to be relevant to my other friends and family who will be reading this.)
Wow. It has been some time since I have blogged, er, journaled on the OC. This new format is funky to say the least. A-n-y-w-a-y...
We haven't heard from our sponsored child, Petronila since we visited in February. We hope to hear from her soon. We sent a gift to help with her brother's health problems and are eager to find out his status as well. It sounded like, from our clinician perspective, as though he has tuberculosis. We ask that you pray for John Jeremiah, please. I just want to say again how impressed (...maybe a better description would be 'amazed') we were with the family of our sponsored child. They are such a strong Christian family with a Biblical foundation. They have avoided the usual pitfalls of prostituion, drugs & alcohol abuse, etc., despite the destituion. The father, Domingo drove to meet us at the gathering place. He so wanted to meet us, the sponsors of his youngest child. He must have prayed with us for a cumultative hour, constantly thanking God for us. We were/are so humbled to be a part of that...and continuing to be able to sponsor Petronila. You could tell they are filled with the Spirit and wanted to share their love of Christ to the world. I wish we could enroll their other children to be sponsored.
The words of my amigo, Pastor Ottoneil still reverberate in my head: "Please tell the world about the needs here in Guatemala." So many of our friends are involved with care of those affected by poverty, HIV/AIDS, etc. in more visible and notable locales around the world (such as Africa). We must be diligent and have the faith to support our Central American friends. Not to take anything away from the needs elsewhere, but we must not underserve countries like Guatemala. Please continue to give, even if it hurts. Jesus endured much more than we can ever imagine (Hebrews 2:9), so how could we not step out and believe that He will care for us when we contribute?
We are also still waiting for a referral from the Philippines. We are adopting 1-2 toddler boys ages 2-5 for those that did not know. The Filipino ICAB (Inter-Country Adoption Board) approved us on February 22nd, 2010. The waiting game should last 12-18 months per our agency director. However, the newest projections are 18-24 months from approval to match and "Gotcha! Day". Until we get the call, we are preparing and mobilizing adoption fund raisers as we are rather short from a financial standpoint. (Note: I am not blogging, er, journaling [can't get used to that] this strictly to solicit donations.) If you would like to donate to our cause, please email me at pharmcats@triad.rr.com, purchase some coffee from our Just Love Coffee store https://www.justlovecoffee.com/TeamCrawford, OR (under construction) visit our web site for our Show Hope t-shirt sales.
Lastly, I want to mention our (His) church ministry dedicated to orphan care and adoption/foster care, 1:27 Now. The founders and leaders asked me to join them in the cause as they knew my burden for orphans. I am the technology leader, currently re-designing our main page on the church's (http://www.calvarynow.com/) website as well as expanding our resources. We exist to serve adoptive and foster care families as well as provide opportunities to serve these families and orphans directly. Our website portal http://www.127now.com/ is still under construction. Please pray as we hope to make a push to finish and start equipping families and providing a voice for the 140+ million orphans in the world. They are all His children, as you and I are; created in His image, no matter the color, etc.
Goodbye, my OC friends!
Scott Crawford
I John 4:4
PS If you are an adoptive family or involved with foster care, consider attending the Together for Adoption conference in Austin, TX on October 1st-2nd: http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?page_id=11
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