Growing up I wanted to be a wedding planner and a stay at home mom. After I encountered God and gave my life to him - being a wedding planner and a stay at home mom seemed impossible. I immediately felt a call on my life to move to Southeast Asia and work with orphans. Confused and honestly terrified, I set out on my first trip across the world at age 20. It was during my first 6 months abroad that I began to uncover God’s heart for orphans. I had assumed that if God wanted me to work with orphans - that meant building an orphanage. I think a lot of us make this assumption. Regardless of my assumption, as I volunteered at orphanage after orphanage I slowly discovered that orphanages aren’t the solution - families are.
Now, at 23, I’m the Program Director for Africa & Asia at A Family For Every Orphan. When it all boils down though, I have titled myself an orphan advocate. I have a passion for domestic adoption, special needs kids, hospitality, communication and aged out orphans. I’m still exploring what this means for my life but some pretty big dreams are forming and I’m very excited. It’s interesting to me how God gave me a glimpse of my future at such a young age and before I even knew him. I see now that wedding planning is directly related to my inherent need to celebrate family and the desire to be a stay at home mom is obviously linked to my belief that having a committed, available and loving family is so important.
In order for me to work for A Family for Every Orphan, travel to my program areas to check on projects, advocate for orphans, and be a part of this movement to create a world without orphans - I need a team. I need you.
If you’d like to be a part of that team I’d LOVE to connect with you to break down what this looks like. I have an awesome family and church at home that support me in some pretty unique ways and I’d want to make sure you’re a part of that. Just as an example - my father and mother open up their house once a month to hold prayer meetings for me. Because I work in a sensitive part of the world - I can’t always share the best stories. Supporting me is NOT just a financial commitment. I need prayer. I need encouragement. I need a family/community. Sometimes I need someone to pick me up from the airport. Sometimes I need running shoes. All this to say, thank you for supporting the vision of A Family For Every Orphan and myself by reading this.
