Caroline's Promise News

Our journey started 12 years ago, in the spring of 2001, as a 17 year old girl and a 20 year old boy. We had not been dating but a few months when my (now) husband Brian went on a missions trip to Kenya, Africa. He worked with orphans while he was there and came home a different man. He wanted to bring those children home with him. He told me that he wanted to adopt one day. So from the first few months of our dating relationship, we knew this was a calling for our future. For these past 12 years it was always part of our future plans and we just continued to pray that the Lord would direct us when the time was right to start the journey of adoption. In 2007 we had our first son, and then we welcomed our second son in 2010. When our youngest was not even a year old, we began to feel like the Lord was calling us to start the process of adoption. We were led to the country of Ethiopia and sent in our first applications in October of 2011.  We were concerned about the...

This story touched our hearts and we wanted to share it with you. Written by Garrett Tenney, from FoxNews, this article was published on January 23. "At first, the Sterlings didn't believe the email that reached their Missouri home: Five Peruvian siblings were orphans and needed a mommy and daddy. It might’ve been scam. But the five hopeful children whose pictures were in the email weren’t asking for money, just making a plaintive plea that worked its way into the hearts of Scott and Lauren Sterling. When the couple checked into it, they learned the children's parents indeed had both died of tuberculosis. And although they were already busy with two kids -- Scott's 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and their 15-month-old girl -- one night. Lauren couldn’t fight the nagging feelings anymore. “Somebody’s got to do it, and why can’t it be us?” Lauren, 30, said to her husband. It was pretty much decided then that they were going...

The Parker family has reason to celebrate this Christmas.  Tom and Amy Parker and their three children, Grace, Shane and Marta (who came home from Guatamala about five years ago), will soon welcome Jake age 9 and Joy age 10 from China into their family. Jake has a repaired heart defect and Joy is a child with dwarfism.  Because of their ages and special needs, Jake and Joy are considered difficult to place in an adoptive family.  But really, older children and children with special needs are just kids, kids who need a family.   Caroline's Promise is thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of bringing Jake and Joy into their forever family.    Our 2012 South Carolina grant will help the Parkers to pay their final travel and adoption expenses.  If you would like to join us in bringing Jake and Joy home, please consider an end-of-the year gift.   You can give by going to this link and chosing Sout...

  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:19b-20 Dear Staff and Friends of Caroline’s Promise, By God’s sovereign grace and love, a precious three-year old little girl was transformed from Xia YangXue, abandoned orphan to Abigail Ruth Pawlowski, redeemed daughter.  She is accepted, loved, protected, adored, and valued for the beautiful child God created her to be. God’s mercy and grace are a common thread in Abigail’s story.  In His plan, God allowed many people to join in this journey showing Abigail how much He loves her and planned for her to be in our family.  Caroline’s Promise is an important part of her story.  At the end of December, we were praying for wisdom in how to finance the remaining $3000 of Abigail’s adoption expenses.  We were expecting Travel Approval from China within weeks, and we were patiently pursuin...

Here is a story from one of our grant families: "In Aug 2011 we were “matched” with an expecting birth mother in SC who was due with a baby girl in Oct. The match happened almost immediately after our home study paperwork was complete, and we were overjoyed! Long story short, the adoption fell through on Oct 3rd and we were heartbroken. So since October, we have been waiting to be re-matched; the wait seemed like forever because we were hurting so much, and we were definitely discouraging at times. Because of the previous adoption that fell through, we lost a big chunk of our adoption funds which made it pretty much impossible to pursue another situation, even though we would hear of potential situations weekly. So we started looking into foster care within the past month, and came across two separate situations involving toddlers. We felt our hearts drawn to them and we prayed and prayed that if that was the direction that God wanted us to go that He would make it VERY clear by e...

A local couple, John & Suzanne Stack were recently featured on WXII's segment "A Place to Call Home" where they shared about their experience of adopting their daughter, Allie from foster care. The Stacks, who are friends of Caroline's Promise shared with us, "We are so blessed to adopt and honored that God chose us to adopt Allie after raising our own girls. We encourage people who are thinking about fostering or adoption, to first bathe it in prayer and then if it feels right take the leap of faith. The blessings are out of this world, and every child deserves a place to call home!! Age does not limit your ability to love a child for we are in our fifties!" Many people do not realize that adoption from foster care is nearly free and there are many children in our community who need a forever family. Click here to watch the video of the Stack's story!

We are the Armstrong Family. Mark and I were married in November 2000. Even before we were married we talked about adopting one day to add children to our family. How neat it has been to see God grow our family. He blessed us with the birth of our daughter Addison in 2005 and then our son Barr ett in 2008. We continued to talk about adoption but it wasn’t until December of 2009 that we felt God telling us to move forward. We didn’t know if we were to adopt domestically or internationally. We did know that God placed a desire in our hearts to adopt a child that had special needs. One night at church I was talking to a friend who was in the process of a domestic adoption. I told her our heart. The very next morning she sent us an email that her agency had sent out about a little boy in the Philippines who needed a forever family. His name was Moriah and he was 18 months old and was blind. That is where our journey to Moriah began. After several weeks of prayin...

We were thrilled to learn that the kids at Liberty Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC had raised money at their summer Vacation Bible School for Caroline's Promise! They decided to apply their gift to our Adoptive Family Grants. Thanks kids for making a difference!

The Story of One of Our Grant Families uniting with their daughter! "In October 2009 we (Quintell and Christie) were lead by the Lord to pursue our adoption options. We started with our local Department of Social Services where we received foster parent training and then began the home study process in May 2010. While going through the home study process, we felt the Lord nudging us towards private adoption. Unfortunately, our flesh and the fear of the cost of private adoption kept us at a standstill. In early January of this year we received a phone call from a friend in Ohio. A friend of hers had recently adopted through an adoption attorney in Florida and the attorney was looking for home study ready families for a few birthmothers that were due soon. Christie contacted the attorney and a few days later we were submitting our picture profile for birthmothers to review. The week of January 24, 2011 will forever be entrenched in our memory. We weren’t chosen by the first birthmot...

We were thrilled to be able to award this precious family a $3000 grant to help bring their son, Bereket home from Ethiopia! Their story.... In the fall of 2009, the Lord began to grow His love story of our family through a little boy halfway around the world. After finding Bereket ’s photograph on a waiting child list in Ethiopia, my husband and I were deeply moved and began asking God what we were supposed to do. Were we supposed to pray for this child, support this child, or make a way for him to be a part of our family? Removing finances from the equation, we both felt strongly after two weeks of prayer that he was our son and that God would make a way. Basically, since our Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He would just need to sell a few cows! All our paperwork was complete and in Ethiopia within only two months, however, we faced many delays and challenges on the other end slowing our process. Throughout these delays, the Lord brought several people into our path to enc...

We are excited to share this creative fundraiser with you! The Hunt Family felt the Lord calling them to adopt from Ethiopia. There was just one problem…..they didn’t have the money they needed to complete the process! We’ve been amazed at all of the fundraisers they’ve done throughout this journey because they are not only raising money, they are educating an entire community about the needs of orphans. One of the most creative ideas was actually taken from a fellow blogger. They purchased a 300 piece puzzle and invited their friends and family to “sponsor” a piece for $17. Once all the pieces were sponsored the Hunts would have $5000 for the next part of their adoption. The Hunts wrote the name of the sponsor on the back of the puzzle piece and plan to frame it in double-sided glass so that their precious daughter will always know how much she was loved. The Hunts are a perfect example of families who are giving everything they have to adopt! Each week we hear of couples who are tak...

It was the end of January when God surprised my husband Justin and I. In the midst of the tragedy in Haiti we were standing in an Orlando airport watching Haitian orphans slowly being released one at a time to families some of whom had waited for four years to bring their children home. It was one of the most emotional scenes I have ever witnessed. It had been almost two years since Will, the 3 year old little boy we were adopting, had become part of our lives and we were anticipating another year or two before we would actually bring him home. But there we were standing in the airport waiting to bring our son home to South Carolina. It was a few weeks later, while caught in the rush of a crazy morning, that I saw a valentine Will had made in Sunday School the past week. It said "I love my family- Love Will” I knew this was one for the fridge so I found a spot of the door for this paper card, that held so much meaning to me. As I placed the valentine to the fridge I realized it wa...

As with all families adopting, raising funds can be difficult. The Griffin family from Rockingham County is getting ready to unite their forever family and they have found a creative way to raise funds. Have you ever sponsored someone in a walk-a-thon or golfing event? Well, the fundraising idea the Griffin's came up with is similar. Instead of walking or golfing, the Griffin's and a group of their friends are getting sponsors for the volunteer hours they will work to help a local widow fix up her home and yard. The money raised will assist with adoption fees and travel costs for the Griffin family. Additionally, Osborne Baptist Church in Eden, NC is offering an $8,000 matching grant! If you are interested in helping, the event will be this Saturday, June 19th at the home of Rebecca Rhodes. (408 N 2nd Ave, Mayodan, NC 27027). For more information you can contact Clay and Amy Griffin at: clayandamyg@yahoo.com

We want to show you that although adoption of older children has it's challenges, when families are prepared and offered resources, these children can thrive. The following story is from a Caroline's Promise family that has experienced the trials and joys of adoption. "With all of my children - the boys were from Russia adopted in 2003 and the girls from Kazakhstan in 2005 - there were different issues especially during the first year. As with all kids, their adjustment periods were different lengths; but it probably took between six months to a year to work out most of the issues. Their actual adjustment processes were also different. Matthew who was 6 1/2 at the time of his adoption had some of the same behaviors as the little boy in the news. He bit me several times, he hit, and if I recall correctly it seems like he spit some. Some of these issues, in my opinion, are the result of not being able to communicate. Six months after being in a new country he had lost his ...

"My life's greatest privilege and joy is being the mother of my beloved adopted daughter , Lexa , from Kazakhstan. The fact that God chose to entrust me with such and amazing and lovely creation makes me feel so loved by Him that my heart could just burst. But, let's face it, parenting a child, whether adopted or biological, isn't easy. Prior to adopting, I was exposed to many of its challenges through my involvement with Caroline's Promise and other orphan-support organizations. As a single adoptive mother, I did not go into the adoption process with rose-colored glasses about the pre and post adoption challenges. I knew that I would need the support of others to successfully raise my adopted child. Like many adopted children, my Lexa has some degree of speech delay. I really did not realize how verbally behind she was or the social impact of that delay until I enrolled her in day school last fall. I was terribly disappointed by the manner in which the school ...

As part of the Christian Alliance For Orphans we wanted to share with you their thoughts on the story of the 7 year old boy sent back to Russia by his adoptive mother. Here is their post: "The Internet is abuzz - from Yahoo News to NPR to the Daily Beast - with the tragic controversy surrounding a single mother from Tennessee, who sent her adopted Russian son back to Russia, solo on a plane, claiming that he was acting out in ways she could no longer handle. The mother certainly merits the sharp criticism she's earned, and, if we can find it, compassion and prayers as well. She clearly lost grip on the reality of what adoption represents: that is a permanent intertwining of lives, a sacred commitment. Her choice was like that of a new mother imaging she could simply reverse motherhood by taking a crying newborn back to the hospital - just as, sadly sometimes happens. The story highlights a number of important issues. A few of these are: The vital importance of thorough unders...

We are so excited to share with you our third and final part to " A Love Story "; the journey of Sonia joining her forever family: the Bowers. Parts One and Two were written by mom, Emily. Today we have the honor of hearing from dad Michael. We trust you will be touched by his story: "I would be lying if I said that I have never had any doubts, questions or struggles with the idea of adoption. Questions and doubts such as: How can we afford international adoption? How will this affect our home and our children? What will others think? How can we afford international adoption? (I know I mentioned this already but this was just the truth.) What country? If we can only adopt one child, will it make a difference? ( Yes, I asked this question.) How will others accept or reject our adopted child? 100 more questions, at least. But since Sonia's arrival into our family, the questions and doubts seem further and further in the past. She has been a champ adapting to our crazy...

Today we continue our Love Story with the Bower family . Our last post highlighted the wonderful change that could be physically seen in Sonia once love had a chance to grow on her through her forever family. This post is going to look at Emily's personal journey , bringing home a child and the process of that child becoming a daughter. In Emily's own words... "Today I felt like a mom. A really proud mom of four. I had read and talked with several friends that told me before traveling that there are two kinds of adoptive moms: the ones who fall head over heels in love upon first glance, and then there is the majority, the ones who grow to love their children over time. Please do not get me wrong, I felt extremely protective of her from the moment I saw her picture. I knew in my heart she was the one for our family. I knew she was a "Bowers", I could see it in the way she furrowed her little brow just like her dad! I knew she was the perfect fit for our family ...

A few months ago, we introduced you to the Bowers family who were adopting from Rwanda . Because of your generosity , Caroline's Promise was able to give them a grant to help with the cost. We wanted to give you an update on their journey, now that sweet Sonia is home . And we just had to show you pictures of this precious, precious little girl! "Adorable" doesn't even come close to describing her. Here are the Bowers: The Bowers family has generously allowed us to share with you their love story , uniting Sonia to her forever family and we want you to savor these snapshots of their journey. This is Part One , told by mom Emily : "Here we are, all home, all together. There must not be a better feeling in all the world. It has been an amazing journey and the best part is, it is really just beginning. The adjustment and transition has been as smooth as we could have asked for. Though it was hard to be gone for so long, it was a great way for us to all be toge...

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...