Caroline's Promise News

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...

Attention South Carolina readers! (And North Carolina! And Georgia and Tennessee, and anywhere close by!) We have a great opportunity coming our way next weekend! "David Wimbish and the Collection, an indie/folk band from Greensboro, N.C., is coming to Southern Wesleyan University in a concert, March 9 at 8 p.m., to help Haitian children realize the dream of a better home. The benefit concert for Okipe, a children’s home in Haiti will be held in Newton Hobson Chapel and Fine Arts Center on the university’s campus in Central. The concert is being hosted by Southern Wesleyan’s Student Government Association. Admission is a $5 donation at the door. Starting the night off will be a performance from Southern Wesleyan students Carissa McKinney and Eric Moxley, along with Palmer Dill, a Southern Wesleyan religion graduate. Proceeds from the concert will go towards construction of a children’s village in Haiti, which will allow the children to live in smaller, family-oriented grou...

October Baby is the story of Hannah, a 19 year old struggling with physical ailments and emotional upheavals. Deep inside herself Hannah has struggled with feeling unwanted. She has always felt something was missing. Early in the film Hannah discovers she was adopted after a failed abortion attempt. Her subsequent search for her birth mother and to know her life story fills the remainder of the film. This is a pro-life film but it goes beyond the obvious anti-abortion message. It is also a story for adoptive parents and adopted teens or young adults; helping us understand one other. It’s a story of family reconciliation and the loyalty and commitment of a friend. It is the story of healing from miscarriage. But most of all it is a story of forgiveness and the redemption and freedom that it brings. The film shows us how the lives of so many have been affected by this one abortion, Hannah, a clinic nurse, Hannah’s birth mother, her adoptive parents. All of these ...

From Deuteronomy to James orphans are mentioned sixty times. They are one of God’s great and constant concerns. He even defines Himself by His promise to them: “Father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Psalm 68:5-6 Are we concerned about the same things God is? He is concerned with the fatherless, are we? Jesus, as he did the work of the Father, was drawn in compassion to the needs of those around him. His heart was stirred and he acted. Is this true for us? It isn’t easy. Our compassion can be locked up tight by fear; fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of our own shortcomings, of moving out of the comfortable place we are in. What adventures in the kingdom of God is fear robbing you of? In 2 Timothy we are told not to have a spirit of fear but to go boldly out proclaiming God’s word, boldly being His hands...

Join Caroline's Promise for a night of interactive engagement in God’s call to reclaim hope for orphans. Come for an hour to be engaged locally, globally, prayerfully and more. Walk away with the vision of Caroline’s Promise and tangible ways to link arms with this ministry and others working in the Upstate. Shop for resources, fair trade items, dessert, and coffee in our international market. Visit us at www.carolinespromise.net under The Engage Event badge to reserve your space today.

Millions of children worldwide have been abandoned and abused. Twenty-six of them live ten minutes from my home. In a small shelter they wait with other kids ranging from age one to twelve. Some go to extended family while others enter the foster care system. Others return to parents sometimes only to return a second time to the shelter. This year we decided to invited the kids over for a Harvest party on Southern Wesleyan University’s campus. Students found out about the kids and the excitement grew. Soon lady bugs, Alice in Wonderland, pizza delivery guys, punks, and even Bonnie and Clyde made appearances in our dorm to hand out candy. The kids decorated trick-or-treat bags, intro- duced themselves, enjoyed hay rides and ingested way too much sugar through pumpkin cookies and candy. And what we hoped would happen did. The kids laughed, the students were moved, and something started. Students keep asking, “When can we see them again?” And that asking is turning into weekly visits to h...