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