Help Bring Mattie to Her Forever Home!!

I want to tell you about some friends of ours. The Ponters are a precious family who goes to our church. Because of their huge hearts they are making plans to adopt their 10th daughter! (Yes, you read that right!) This newest daughter is thirteen and from China. She was adopted last year by a family in Ohio and when that didn't work out she has ended up in foster care in Birmingham for the past two months. The Ponters were contacted about adopting her and they said that, of course, they want to bring her into their family! They are truly amazing people!

Even in these unusual circumstances, the Ponters will still have to shoulder the cost of the adoption. I have realized in the last few weeks that even though we are not all called to adopt children into our homes, we can all participate in "helping to care for orphans" like it says in James 1:27. I would like to give you the wonderful opportunity of helping the Ponters bring Mattie home! Giving money is really the easy part, so if you could give even a little bit (or a lot!), we could all see a life changed forever! (And ours might be changed a little too!) No amount is too small. We can give to them since they have given a forever home to so many girls!

Ways to give: You can donate by clicking on the Paypal link on this blog (at the top of the right sidebar), you can hand me the money when you see me, or you can send your donation through the mail. If you are writing a check make it out to Corley Ponter, but mail it to me at: Jenipher Patterson; P.O. Box 625; Decatur, AL 35602. I will collect all the money and give it to them on April 24. The amount collected will be a surprise for them! Thanks!

I will be collecting the money until Easter Sunday morning, April 24, 2011. I would like to present the money to them after church that day. There is no better day to do that than Easter Sunday, the day that reminds us of the new life that is possible for all of us through a relationship with Jesus Christ! Easter is the day to celebrate our new life in Christ, the day we were adopted into God's family, so that is the day that we can celebrate Mattie's new life of being adopted into her forever family with the Ponters! Thanks for giving!

The Ponter girls!

These are the 7 who live at home now. The adult children are not pictued.

A Little Background Info

You may be wondering how I began to think about doing fundraising for the Ponters. Well, I have a sister and brother-in-law who adopted an awesome 5-year old son from Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda, Africa in May of 2010. Also, in the last month my youngest daughter and I have attended two adoption events. One was to hear Gwen and Suzanne from 147 Million Orphans speak at a local church here in Decatur, AL. They each told their adoption stories. The next week we attended a gathering at our friend Lisa's house. She had one of her friends, Sally, share how their family has adopted three boys. It was also an event to collect cloth diapers for orphans in Africa, which was very cool!

Anyway, these things added together have put orphans on my mind, but after praying, neither my husband nor I felt God calling up to adopt. At the diaper collection Sally shared that even though we are not all called to adopt into our homes, we can all do something to help with orphans and adoptions. We can raise awareness, raise funds, sponsor a child through a monthly subscription, etc. She said it is like the great commission, which we are all supposed to obey. God doesn't call each of us to be a full-time missionary, but we are all commanded to participate in some way, maybe praying, maybe giving our money, maybe hosting an event where a missionary speaks, etc.

After the diaper event, I felt God telling me that instead of adopting there was something else that I should be doing. I didn't know what at the time, but I knew that was what He was saying to me. I talked with the Ponters a few times at church and after realizing that they still had the burden of the cost of adoption on them, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought "that's it!" I can do some fundraising for them! Now I am a very ordinary person, just like you. Some weeks I can't even get to the grocery store! I am very excited to see how God will bless the Ponters with our combined efforts! So ready or not, here we go!


A picture of the Patterson from Christmas 2010.
Jenipher, Kate, Neal, and Meg