You really never know how things will turn out when you are faithful to what God wants you to do. But in the end, it’s always worth it.

Last October Laura and I officially submitted our paperwork to start our adoption process. We felt that God was calling us to adopt a child for a long time, but finally we felt that the time had come to actually start the main process. We really felt that it was a calling rather than a response to not having children of our own yet. Shortly after we completed our home study where a social worker basically does an interview of us and evaluates whether the way we live is consistent to being an adoptive family. We got through the initial process very quickly since Laura already knew the ins-and-outs since that’s what she does at Bethany Christian Services.

Once the home study was done and we got approval from Korea we started to think about how we would ease into telling our families about it. Of course we had mentioned to our families that we were interested and we got those general responses like “oh, that’s a good thing to do” and expected comments like “you should have your own children first.” From the time a home study is completed, families usually have at least a year before receiving a referral (when you are matched with a child and they provide detailed information of the child) so we planned on breaking our families in over the course of the year.

Now I must admit that we did get pressure from our families to have our own children first and both parents started pushing us to get tested to make sure there aren’t issues with getting pregnant. So to appease them we were in the process of going through those tests. We never really thought that there was anything wrong with us, but thought that it just wasn’t time for us since we felt that we were to adopt first. Nevertheless, my tests came back fine and we were in the process of getting Laura tested.

Everything changed on Christmas eve…

Keep reading here: http://www.jasonjeong.com/adoption/

Related posts:

1. The Adoption Journey

Instead of lavish gifts or restaurant dinners for my 31st birthday, I want to make a difference for 31 families. I want to protect the children of those 31 families from becoming orphans due to extreme poverty and treatable diseases. We can protect them by simply providing them with clean water! The goal is for people to give $31 and raise a total of $3,100 to serve 31 families in Cambodia!

100% of all the money raised will be used towards this water project and all donations are tax deductable through my non-profit, Orphan Epidemic.

Click here to make a donation! And check the progress here!

I’m not arrogant to think that I’m going to end the orphan epidemic by myself, but I’m starting somewhere and doing something. Help me make this a birthday that makes a difference!

Here are some FAQs:

How exactly will the money be used?

The money will go towards two things. The first will be towards building a well and some money will go towards building biosand water filters. Money will NOT be used for travel expenses, administration, or anything internal for Orphan Epidemic. A partner that works at ground level will be helping us with the water projects to avoid any additional costs.

Why Cambodia?

As I have recently been to Cambodia (last fall), I have seen first hand the brokenness of the country (Khmer Rouge being recent history) and of the people. The country uniquely suffers from extreme poverty (including the lack of clean water), insufficient medical care for majority of the country, and social justice issues (it’s a primary location for sex trafficking, brothels, and child labor). But I have also seen many workers with great hope that God will redeem the country and there are great opportunities to show what Christ is all about.

Where can I get more info?

Go checkout the Orphan Epidemic website!

Orphan Epidemic works to prevent children from becoming orphans by addressing the root causes of extreme poverty and treatable diseases. Clean water is an initiative that engages both of these issues.

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There are over 145 million orphans in the world. Over 2 million more are orphaned each year because of HIV/AIDS.

You read those numbers and you can’t help but be taken back.  And that’s where it usually ends. Sure you may even think that there’s something you can do about it, but what have you done?

Think about this. Each of those 145 million orphans have a name. They have a face. They have a story. They are real children. Perhaps it’s those very statistics that shock us also de-humanize these orphans. They get lost in the numbers.

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We are nearly done with our home study portion of the adoption process and it feels like we’ve been in the process for a very long time! There’s been lots of paperwork and talking with people to say the least. There’s lots of “white space” too. There’s plenty of time to wait for things to happen such as paperwork processing and appointments, but the best thing about the wait is that I’ve had the opportunity to really learn about adoption in a deeper way. I’ve been reading tons of material on everything from the theology of adoption to how Muslims are working in orphan care and adoption. To say the least, my perspective has certainly broadened and really do see adoption in a different way than I had seen it at the beginning of my adoption journey. So, for the remaining course of our journey, I will be sharing with you the things I’ve learned about the doctrine of adoption, the history, and about the worldview on adoption. Most of all, I hope that you will truly come to understand what it is to be adopted by God.

Related posts:

1. Our Adoption Story Update: God’s Ways Are Higher

Can you believe it! A Chimp taking care of a puma orphan! Nature is a reflection of the character of God!

Read the article here!

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Here’s a quote from an article by South African, Bilal Randeree:

Each year, millions of children are orphaned due to war, famine, and diseases. In poor communities, when parents die or a surviving adult is chronically or terminally ill, children face having to care for themselves and their siblings. Losing one or both parents is traumatic for any child in any situation.

South Africa has almost 4 million orphans, children who have lost either a mother or a father or both. There are an estimated 1.8 million orphans in South Africa infected or affected by HIV and/or AIDS. These orphans are living in poverty, and some have lost both their parents and live alone. Most of these orphans in South Africa are between 7 to 17 years old. Even with the expansion of antiretroviral treatment access, it is estimated that by 2015, the number of orphaned children will still be tremendously high.

Many orphans suffer from malnutrition and are forced to drop out of school. They have no money for food, shelter, healthcare, education and clothing. These children face a future of neglect, abject poverty, despair, and often suffer physical abuse. They sometimes seek refuge on the streets, begging or are coerced into crime for survival.

This guy really telling it as it is. Perhaps what he is talking about is moving you. Perhaps the cause for orphan care really breaks your heart.

Here’s the deal though, what’s the difference between orphan care between Christians and countless so many others doing the same thing? You see, the excerpt above comes from a Muslim who is dedicated to orphan care. There are countless number of people who are doing the same thing as Christians (and it’s not just in orphan care but in all kinds of social justice causes)!

So what sets Christians apart? What’s the difference?

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In the last couple weeks I’ve been able to work with many village children and children in a particular orphanage. I’ve also visted a couple other orphanages in Phnom Penh. What’s interesting is the different between all the children.

It’s common for people to talk about how the support of orphanages only perpetuates the need for them. More effort is being made to provide resources to the extended families of orphans so that the orphans can live with them.

There is still hope in orphanage though. At the Center of Peace, the children seem far better off than those children with families in the villages. The children at the orphanage are happier, better educated, well mannered, and socially healthy. Much of the children’s progress has to do with the director of the orphanage. Her name is Bophal Yos. As an orphan herself, she made it through college in a country where the average education level is 5th grade. She has so much love. All 70 something kids call her “mother”. She’s legally adopted two of them because they were abandoned by their families. It’s truly an amazing place to experience. These kids know Jesus. They know Jesus as the one and only God.

Orphan care ultimately isn’t about providing them a good place to live, but an opportunity to embrace the hope of the Gospel. It’s about living out the Gospel with these orphans.

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Keep up with my pictures from Cambodia via my Flickr photostream!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonjeong

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We had the opportunity to go and worship with the children at a local village just outside of Phnom Penh. The local missionary we are working with has established three locations where he has service with the children. To get to the village we had to cross two major rivers that come from the north that go through Phnom Penh. We traveled north east of the city for about 30min by van on dirt roads most of the way.

Poverty outside of Phnom Penh is rampant and only 15% of the country’s population have electricity let alone any other utilities. Rain water is collected in these villages using a piping system to channel water from the roof into large jars. This rain water is far safer to consume and use than any running water found in the rural areas. Most the people there eat at most 2 meals a day consisting of primarily rice. When the river floods, they have access to fish and fish is relatively cheap. We had purchased some bread at $0.25 a loaf to take to the children, but even the bread is a luxury.

I did have the privilege of preaching to these kids and it was certainly a humbling experience! Preaching to kids always reminds me of how complicated I’ve made the Gospel of Christ and how difficult my own language is. The culture in the US almost seems to prompt us to use great organized and well constructed messages rather than communicating a simple message. Still exploring these thoughts…

The first service we went to consisted of about 120 kids and some adults. I preached about the hidden treasure in Matthew 13, but found that the even the concept of treasure is foreign to these kids so the next two messages was given from the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14.

What broke my heart about the people was not so much the level of poverty, but the lack of hope. For the village people, the future consists of today. Their outlook is not more than the day they live. Without even the pursuit of hope, what should be done?

An interesting note about the country is that it’s a women dominated culture. Women have more say in a family and I was told that even men make a legal contract, if the women of the family don’t agree, the contract is void. Of course I’m over simplifying this idea, but it’s clear that men don’t play the role that God intended.

Cambodia is among the poorest countries in Asia filled with a devastated history of deception, injustice, abuse of powers, and corruption. But now the country is on a rise. The condition within the city is drastically improving. While economic conditions are improving, the spiritual condition is grim. Much of the country is dominated by Hinduism with a country’s God as a 5-headed Cobra. It’s a country in spiritual bondage.

The rest of the day was spend resting and preparing for the rest of the week. Finding good food hasn’t been difficult as the missionary that is helping us is really working hard to give us a good experience. His philosophy is to work hard and to play hard! He and his family really want us to experience the good things of the country along with the not so good. His desire to for us to capture a vision of the country of what could be and not to be just burdened with what it is now.

My reflections continue and look forward to the other things that God is going to reveal. May my heart break for the things that break the heart of God.

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Headed to the airport right now and thinking about what aspect of God I will encounter through this trip! Throughout the trip I’ll be blogging and posting pictures via Flicker!

Here are some prayer requests:
- We would be faithful in doing God’s work
- each person on the team will have an intimate God encounter
- illnesses, problems, and being uncomfortable would not be a distraction
- my wife Laura, who will be home alone with my dog Oscar

I have a layover in Tokyo and Bangkok so perhaps I’ll get online there!

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