What a blessing our last MOPS meeting was! We had an amazing "Marriage Panel" that were so open and honest. I will try and get the "book list" up real soon that Cedric and Karen gave to us.
Then we had another special guest, Norma Rhodes from our Church. Norma works with Koinonia Family Services. Their Mission is to provide the highest quality treatment foster care, adoption and family service programs available for children, youth and their families whose special needs can be met through services delivered, supervised and supported by professional agency staff. You can learn more by clicking on the link above.
Norma brought with her a special woman who has an amazing heart for reaching the forgotten children. Her name is Becky and she is a part of "The Forgotten Initiative"- here in Bakersfield. She also brought her sweet son Levi who she and her family recently adopted. What a beautiful little boy! I think he stole all of our hearts.
Becky informed us that there are many things that we can all do to help show a child that they are loved...Foster care and Adoption are the more obvious ways but Becky brought to our attention other ways we can help as well:
-Make Journey Bags: Children often come into foster care with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Journey backpacks are backpacks filled with personal items for them to use when they are abruptly taken out of their home.
-Welcome Home Baskets: When young adults age out of the system, they often are unequipped to set up their homes. Welcome Home Baskets are filled with household items designed to help them begin living independently. Our prayer is that these baskets will be a stepping stone into building community for these vulnerable young adults.
-Birthday Club: any children in foster care feel unloved, but we as the Body of Christ can change this. Birthday Club is a program designed to encourage these children through letter writing.
-Mentoring: TFI desires to go deep as we connect the Body of Christ to the needs of the foster care community. all of our initiatives have one common purpose, to glorify the Lord and be His hands and feet in an effort to reach the individual. The most effective way to share Jesus is by actually stepping out and into the lives of the forgotten. TFI is committed to educating, equipping and supporting the mentors to meet the needs of the foster care community.
Take a minute to watch this quick video.
Take a step of faith, say a prayer and trust God to guide you to help in some way
with this amazing ministry.
Find them on FB:http://www.facebook.com/tfi.bakersfield
Becky's blog:
http://wearefullofjoy.blogspot.com/
TFI Website:
http://www.theforgotteninitiative.org/
Thank you for the opportunity to share my heart with the MOPS moms at Olive Knolls. What a blessing it is to be a voice for the fatherless. And thank you for sharing the information and links for The Forgotten Initiative - I know the Lord is going to work mightily through His people to love His little children.
ReplyDeleteAmen! God is doing great things in this city and it starts with people like you!
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