Caroline's Promise News

  Is adoption right for me & my family? • Is adoption God's "Plan B"? • What is God’s Definition of Mother and Father? • These intriguing questions along with many others will be answered. Call to register today. We hope you join us! 8 8 8 - O N E - C H I L D WANT TO KNOW WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT ADOPTION?   Goodwill Baptist Church 3110 Piney Grove Road Kernersville, NC 27284 November 14th 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PLEASE REGISTER AT: WWW.AWAA.ORG/EVENTS “As an adoptive parent and one who has experienced the miracle of adoption first hand, it’s so exciting to see how God is using the message to inspire, inform and capture the hearts of many families to experience this miracle as well.” Steven & Mary Beth Chapman

We are the Mullis family from Kernersville, NC and we are adopting a baby boy from the country of Ethiopia ..... Even as I write that sentence I cannot believe it is true. Adoption has been a dream in our hearts for a very long time. We have three biological children ages 8, 9 and 11 and, in my head, I echo some of the very thoughts and statements I hear from others... “Why, with three healthy biological children, would you want to risk the unknown? How are you going to handle the issues of bringing an African child into your white, middle class family?  How are going to afford this? Do you really want to go back to diapers and bottles?” Some days, I am very confident in my answer to each and every one of these doubts, other days, I am a puddle of confusion. One thing I have come to know is that God has a heart for adoption and God has called our family to answer this call. When we began praying about adding to our family this way, the Lord continued to place people in our p...

“I have not ceased to be amazed at God's provision during this adoption. He seems to interrupt these long waits with blessings that leave me in awe of Him. Thank you all for entrusting us with a grant from Carline's Promise. Michael was just speechless when I called to tell him that we had received the grant. I have been thinking a lot about the blessings during the wait and I want to record some for you, perhaps it will encourage others with whom you come into contact. We began this adoption journey bright-eyed and full of excitement as we thought about adding a precious child to our family. As the months wore on and all the paperwork had long been in country, it seemed as if all the fervor died down and it became so easy to lose the focus on why the journey was begun in the first place. Then, God would intervene in a very noticeable way and we would once again be in amazement of Him. *One of the greatest blessings has been seeing other families within our church begin t...

People often wonder, “Am I really going to make a difference on this mission trip? I’m only going to be there a few days.” I will admit that I have often wondered the same thing. It wasn’t until a recent trip to Guatemala that I realized you CAN make a difference in just a few short minutes. On my trip to Guatemala I was able to see how I could physically make a difference in a little boy’s life by just spending a few minutes with him and his mother. While at the school I entered a classroom and happened to spot a smaller, somewhat frail little boy. He was holding his arms in a bent, contracted way - almost appearing as little wings - but with big beautiful brown eyes and a grin that immediately touched my soul. Through an interpreter I was able to find out that he was born this way and as he was getting older it seemed to be getting worse. I sat down in the floor with the boy and had him grip my fingers. His right hand was noticeable weaker. He appeared to have a form of cerebral pa...

I met a little boy at church on our last day in Uganda. We danced together to the music that preceded the service and then sat down to listen to a concert. I put my arm around this little boy and he sat as close to me as possible. After a while, in the spirit of our previous dancing fun, I removed my arm so that I could clap to the music, hoping he’d join me. Instead, he immediately grabbed my hand and wrapped my arm around him again. This happened several times, until I finally stopped trying to move my arm. This sweet little boy just wanted someone to hold him, to show him love, to make a connection with him. I had to leave that church service early to catch my flight back home, but before I left I made sure that that little boy knew that I loved him and that God loved him – the hands of Jesus reaching down to hug one of “the least of these.” Being the hands and feet of Jesus does not stop now that I’m back from Uganda, however. There are still people in need, both around the worl...

Have you ever wondered how God might want to use your church on behalf of the orphan? Then we have a conference just for you! This conference is a a powerful, interactive one-day event that will help a team of passionate people from your church live out God's invitation for orphan ministry. It is scheduled for Saturday, October 17 from 9:00am to 4:30pm at First Baptist Church in Simpsonville, SC. (First Baptist Church is located at 3 Hedge Street, Simpsonville, SC 29681.)  There is a $20 registration fee per person which includes lunch and a booklet. If you are interested, please call (800) 358-6329 or visit www.hopeforoprhans.org to register. For more information, contact Martha-Marie Smith at (864) 650-6985.

What a beautiful day! Starting with our boat ride across Lake Victoria and the short fun ride on “boda bodas” which is similar to (dirt bikes/motorcycles) on village paths. We led VBS with songs of worship with the kids and teachers. Chuck and I led the story of Esther and God’s plans for her and her people and how God directed her path for a great plan. David led the children in learning the Creation Story. The bottom line was - God made everything, including you. It is good! By the end of the lesson the kids were eagerly calling out “The bottom line¨. You should have seen the kids worshipping in song. It was worship for us! Our timeframe was to leave Bethany by 1:30; we had plans back at the guest house, but God had other plans! As we were preparing to leave and get in the boat, dark clouds began to roll in. We gathered under a meeting shelter by Lake Victoria to wait out the storm. We know God’s plans are certainly better than ours! What started out as a delay, turned into our own...

Greetings to our dear friends and family in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ! I can only say that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is alive and well here in Uganda. The nine of us have had the opportunity to experience and grow in ways that only God can afford. We are being stretched and pulled and tested and torn in ways that only by the Grace of God will we survive. There are children here going hungry; one child we met is in the third stage of malaria…do we understand all of these experiences we have seen? No! What we have come to understand is that God’s hand is at work. We are all aware that much of what we are experiencing will never be understood. We have come to realize that it is the act of obedience of being here that we are afforded the opportunity to see, hear, taste, smell and touch Jesus in a new way. In Galatians 6: 9 we read about how we should “not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good.” Acts of giving aren’t like pebbles dropped in a pool that make...