Caroline's Promise News

David and I were blessed to attend a screening of the new movie Fireproof. Remember "Facing the Giants?" Well, Fireproof is from the same group of people. We LOVED "Facing the Giants". But, there were parts that were honestly a little cheesy. "Fireproof" is MUCH better. If you grew up in the 80's you'll remember Kirk Cameron from the tv show "Growing Pains." Well, he is one of the main characters in "Fireproof." The storyline is about marriage and the music is great. I can't think of one married, engaged or dating couple that I would not reccommend this movie to. By the way, it's not really for kids. It will be in theatres beginning September 26. If you get the chance, please go and see it. It will eventually go to dvd but the more people who see it in the first weekend, the greater chance that it will stay in theatres for a while. And people need to see this movie. Promote it with your email list, church gr...

Let me share our experience with a birthmom that decided to parent. When we met with this first birthmom the agency had told us up front that they were not sure what she was going to do. We had the choice of not accepting that case, but in the end we prayed about it and were at peace with it. The meeting went well and all seemed good. She said, “If I place my baby I want you guys to be the parents.” What we heard was "She wants us to be the parents! GREAT!" What the agency heard was: She is really struggling with this because she said "IF". There was never a moment when the agency led us on to believe one way or another. They always said we really don’t know what is going to happen and try not to get your hopes up. In the end she decided to parent and it still hurt to hear that, but not as bad as if the agency wouldn’t have been looking out for us and trying to protect us. We went into it knowing that we were just going to take it one step at a time. It was almost ...

As I sit and think about why domestic adoptions are viewed the way it is I feel it is in large part due to the media. You may not realize that less than 1% of all domestic adoptions fail. That is such a small statistic and yet people hold onto that fear as though it happens all the time. The other reason is that there are so many people that try to do private adoptions with lawyers who don’t know what they are getting into. I strongly recommend using an agency that you trust and that has a good track record of placements. We looked around at different agencies and felt like when it all comes down to it they are trying to protect us from being hurt and yet at the same time care for the birth family. One thing that I LOVED about our agency is that we were not matched right away with a birth mom . That way the agency could get to know her and work with her before she picks a family for her child. In that way they were protecting us from the chance of heartbreak should she decide to paren...

I receive a lot of "free" magazines but I rarely take the time to read them. My Mom gives me her People magazines when she's finished and I confess - I ALWAYS read them. I'm not sure why. There's usually nothing real educational in there. Tonight it "hit" me that People has written a lot of articles lately about adoption. First it was Brad and Angelina. Their clan comes from all over the world - but they're a family. It's beautiful to me. This week in the September 8th edition there's an article about Sheryl Crow and her son Wyatt. Just a few years ago this same magazine would have said "Sheryl Crow and her adopted son, Wyatt". It's a pet peeve of mine when someone says "These are David and Lisa's sons, Kendall & Cameron and their adopted daughter, Caroline." I'm sure most people have no idea that it bugs me. Why can't people just say, "These are their kids - Kendall, Cameron and Caroline"? Bu...

My husband and I decided to adopt after we learned that there would be challenges in us conceiving a child. After waiting 9 months we learned that there was a grandmother that wanted to meet with us. We were elated! We rushed down to Matthews North Carolina so that she could get to know us better. As I sat there listening to her talk about how her daughter had given birth to a little boy that was across the street, and how proud she was of him and her daughter I realized something. I realized that the price of my dream of being a parent was going to cost this other family an incredible amount of pain. To see her first grandchild placed in a stranger’s home with just the mere promise of letters and pictures just didn’t seem right. It was the most heart breaking and joyful time in my life, and it was then that I accepted the call from God to minister and love on this family as he would have done. We can’t just avoid domestic adoptions because of the fear that the birthmom shouldn’t have ...

How exciting it was to see an article on the family trip that Caroline's Promise took to Guatemala this summer. Several of the students, parents and a teacher went on that trip. You can read the article online at http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/09/01/article/jones_students_connect_with_guatemalan_orphans We're making plans for 2009 mission trips! If you'd like to be added to the email list and receive info as it comes available, email us at info@carolinespromise4u.org.