Birthdays and Goodbyes

On Sunday, January 21st, our beautiful son Boaz turned 2 years old! 

It's hard to believe that he was referred to us when he was just 9 months old... 

Our very first glimpse of this sweet little one... and the referral picture we received late October, 2016.

We spent his entire birthday with family! 

My sister and brother-in-law hosted us all for a lunch where we celebrated not only Bo's special day, but Brad's and my Jan. 4th birthdays, my mom's Jan. 9th birthday, and Nikki's Feb. 13th birthday! 

We also had the privilege of attending Luke's sister Dawn's church, Imago Dei in Peoria. It was a blessing to have the opportunity to worship with her church family as well as participate in praying for her as she was commissioned! 

Dawn flies this week to the Philippines to spend a year working as a clinical aftercare fellow with the International Justice Mission! We've blogged often about IJM and have been Freedom Partners for a number of years.  We love the ministry and work of IJM and were excited to support Dawn as she pursues this opportunity!

This isn't the first time she's served in the Philippines. Dawn served in Manila for 3 weeks over her January mid-term in 2011 with her Taylor University Junior Practicum class writing case histories for an organization working to liberate women enslaved in prostitution. 

Dawn received her undergraduate degree from Taylor University and earned her Masters in Social Work from Illinois State University. For the past four years, Dawn has been employed as a direct care worker in a residential treatment center for boys between the ages of 6 and 18 who have experience profound physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse.

As a fellow with IJM, Dawn's role will be restoring survivors to safety and strength. She will be responsible for providing clinical supervision to the Filipino case workers already giving direct care services to the rescued survivors. 

What is Cyber Trafficking?

(Mature viewers only) 

                                        

 Cyber sex trafficking in the Philippines is the new wave of extreme evil perpetrated against victims from around the world via the Internet. IJM has had a successful victory in ridding child trafficking rings in brick-and-mortar brothels in the Philippines and now are taking on the new and challenging battle of rescuing and preventing children from being trafficked online. 

Dawn's responsibilities will include providing therapy cultivating partnerships with local after care providers and managing the grants that help fund their programming. Dawn roots the heart of her work in her faith. She believes "God is the God of love, justice, and peace: no person was created for a life of exploitation, abuse, or hatred."  

Isaiah 58:6 has become a charge to Dawn: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke." She continues to live out this verse wherever God leads her to go! 

Thank you for praying for Dawn! Her desire is to be useful to the IJM team and to take some of the strain off them... to help them to feel refreshed and supported through her service with them. 

Dawn with interns and fellows heading to the Philippines on Thursday

This is an unpaid fellowship: Dawn will donate her time and skill set for a year and is responsible to raise $20,000 to cover her travel and living expenses. "It's humbling to ask for help," Dawn admitted. But the whole point of her needing to ask for help, is that this work is so much bigger than any one person. It will take millions of people around the world to put a stop to this type of exploitation. 

If you are willing to partner with Dawn to take a stand against cyber trafficking in the Philippines; if you want to say "no more!" to children being robbed of their innocence and youth, please consider contributing to her financial support! 

For easy giving, and to find out more about Dawn's heart for this mission, please visit her page at Continue to Give.

As we were driving home from Morton, I asked the kids if they had all given Aunt Dawn a huge hug, "because you're not going to be with her again for an entire year..." From the back of the suburban Isaac blurted, "What?!" 'Not quite sure how that detail was lost on him, but he was a little shocked and emotional on the drive home! They love their aunt and believe she's a hero for fighting slavery. 

Our family has the privilege of supporting several missionaries who are close friends. We use their countries and ministries in our Geography and Bible studying in our homeschool and enjoy face-timing them throughout the year. While we'll all really miss Dawn, we're thankful that technology brings people closer!

It's an honor to see our sister continuing her life of service overseas. When Jesus left His earthly ministry, He left His Spirit in believers to carry out and fulfill His ministry! As Christ-followers, our mandate is to tune our hearts to His; and spend our lives in service to Him & for His Glory! May we all be encouraged to serve Him wherever He leads!