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Kofi and King with Mama on the day of court 5/2012

The place where Kofi and King lived and Mama still lives
                                                          Uncle Kojo
                                                             
                                                        Michael/Kwami
                                             The place where Michael stays with a friend.

                                                          
    Kofi and King 2021

 Dear Family and Friends, 

As you know our precious sons Kofi and King are originally from Ghana. From the moment we stepped foot on the ground in Accra Ghana, this west African country has become so dear to our family. This October will mark 10 years since we traveled for the first time to meet our boys and bring them home. Our lives were forever changed and God opened our eyes not only to a love like we never imagined but also we became aware of the great needs up close and personal of the beautiful people there. We fell in love with the country and the people. Poverty is a reality for so many as 55% of the population live on $5.50 a day or less. Rural areas where the boys are from lack essential services, employment, resources, and education. Kofi and King have 3 brothers and a disabled mama whom we have supported over these years. It's been 5 years since we have been able to travel and bring much needed resources for the various things like helping one of the brothers enroll in a 2-year plumber apprenticeship, help with another brother's transportation costs and education, rent for mama for 2 years and a few other things. 
We have another opportunity to help meet some pressing needs and I would love to invite you to pray for these initiatives and God's provision to meet the needs. Michael(Kwami), age 22 (our boys’ brother we are closest to) is the sweetest most gentle and loving person. Kofi remembers Michael taking him to a local dirt field to play soccer often. His living situation is not good. He was squatting in an abandoned building (with permission from the owner) until recently when he and his uncle were asked to leave. For now, he has been staying with a friend in this small room.(see pic above)
Last year we purchased a small piece of land in the hopes that God would provide the means to build on the property. Dreaming big, we would love to build a large enough structure to form a duplex by which the family could rent out one side of it generating an income in doing so. This would be LIFE-CHANGING for this family! This would provide a place for several family members to live. Ideally we will help them set up an extensive garden on the land to help with food supply. 
Michael and his family struggle daily with finding enough food to eat, many times only eating once a day. Jobs are not readily available especially in rural areas. Even in the main city of Accra, jobs are hard to find and if you do find one, you cannot afford to live in the area the job is located and can't afford transportation to get there. That is just one aspect and a very simple explanation to a more complex problem than can be explained here. Uncle Kojo is 32 years old, single and works really hard for anything he gets. He is looking to provide for himself anyway he can. He has such a heart for seeing God move in prayer. We pray by phone regularly and he prays the most powerful interceding prayers that moves the heaven and earth.

We would like to help provide Michael and his Uncle Kojo with transportation to be able to drive and earn money with Uber in the main city of Accra and surrounding areas. lt will involve purchasing an economical and gas efficient car. Both of these young men love Jesus and have an incredible faith that sustains them in the most desperate of times. If you would like to partner with us in helping to provide some of these needs for this incredible family, you can do so here. Our first goal is to raise enough money ($8500) to purchase a car. Our second goal would be able to start on the house build. Thank you so much for praying for these efforts and partnering with us in any way God leads you. If you would like to partner with us financially, you can give a  tax deductible donation by using this QR code for Nashville Family Church.





With Love and Gratitude, 

The Boggs Family


                                              

Praiseworthy

10/13/12

 We are home and finally a family of 8!!! PRAISE GOD!



Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name.   Psalm 100:4
God, You are Praiseworthy.  I will give thanks to You according to Your righteousness, and will sing praise to Your name, O Lord Most High. Yes, I will give thanks to You with all my heart. I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You.  You are King over all creation, You are Commander of the wind, and.... You care for me—incredible! You are Ruler of all the nations, You are righteous in all Your deeds, and... You redeemed my life from despair—beautiful! Yes, hear me praise Your name, O God of my salvation.  I will praise You for hearing my cry; I will praise you for pulling me out of the miry clay. I will praise You for setting my feet upon a rock. I will praise you for making my footsteps firm. And I will praise You for putting a new song in my mouth!  In Your courts, I will sing my joyful song to You, O God my Savior. Indeed, I will join the holy chorus: Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise Him sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord.  Yes, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. So today, all day, I will choose to praise Your name.
Psalm 7:17; Psalm 9:1-2; I Peter 5:7; Psalm 40:1-3; Psalm 148: 1-5; Psalm 104:33
Chris Baxter-Respite for the Weary


Update-10/3/12

I can't believe in less than 24 hours I will board a plane to get my babies! I haven't been posting regularly lately I think mostly because these last few months of waiting have been particularily hard. Our flights to get there this time are brutal, so I with plenty of time on our hands, I may be posting from the airport quite a bit in an effort to catch you up. 


Where it all started


A few days ago my sweet Momma, surprised David and I with money to go out to dinner just the two of us one last time before our lives change forever-back to the place it all started for our adoption journe...Bonefish Grill. Yes, Bonefish is where David took me last year on June 29, 2011 and said he thought we should move forward with this adoption. I've decided I am not very good at reflecting on the past OR sitting in the present and taking it all in. It's good for me to be forced to do that. David on the other hand is good at helping us talk about all those things. It was a great night. Our hearts were so full of gratitude over what God has done for us in the past 15 months. 

Thanks Momma!



In just under a week, we will travel to get our precious boys. Yep, still thinking about the future.

I'm not an orphan anymore...I'm YOURS!

Oh, how I long for that to be the reality for my new boys. I long to bring them home-my home and sweetly bask in the knowledge that they are mine, and they are HOME! I sit here tonight in Ghana longing to see their sweet faces. Yes, I am in Ghana, technically I could see them if I arranged it, but we, as a family, decided that would not be best. Today, I filed their I-600 Visa application and hopefully will be returning again to get them for good in a few months.
When we left Ghana in May after spending a whole week together, every chance I could I would hold their sweet faces in our hands and say, "Mommy is coming back for you, and when I return, I will bring you home, and you will ride on a plane, and swim in the swimming pool, and you will be mine forever." That was also my parting words, as the most difficult part of this journey so far-the goodbyes-promising our return. It was more painful than I imagined. So, you see why I couldn't break their trust in "visiting" them for a few days or more only to leave again without them.
The culture here is so different. I can't explain it well. Parents here love their children, but they are trying to survive, and the hugs, kisses, the I love you's, the time spent together, get lost along the way trying to survive. The emotional attachments seem to be missing. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of sin, disfunction, and "survial of sorts"in America and in my own home but I am longing for the day when I can right this one wrong. No child should be orphaned. And trust me, there are plenty more here and all around the world who need families. I also long for the day that my precious Ghanaian children will know and understand the love of our heavenly father-the only one who can love them perfectly, completely-the one who is abounding in grace, full of knowledge, lovingkindness, mercy, who will rise to show them compassion. I long for the day he will set all things right. One day there will be no orphans anymore.
In the meantime, I rest in my father's love who ransomed me, called me his own, and now I am not an orphan anymore. If you haven't heard this song...you must...Check out this video from Ronnie Freeman-"I'm not an orphan anymore, I'm yours...


Do you know where you stand?


Luke 16:14-18
New International Version (NIV)
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
My head and heart are still reeling from the message shared on Sunday about how God knows our heart. 

No matter where you are spiritually, this message is for you.  It's one of the best explanations of the gospel I have ever heard:
click here to watch or listen to the message...It is the first message entitled: "God knows your heart"-June 3rd, go to the right side of the page and you can listen, download, or watch the video. After the worship is the message. 
To my precious boys...I can't wait to hold you in my arms!



I have loved you for a thousand years

Update on the following post: We had to remove the boys' pictures...we thought we could post following court, but found out we have to wait until their visas are printed and they are on the way home. 

Precious aren't they?


These are their given names by a courageous ghanaian woman who loved her children enough to give them a better life in America. Most people we meet here who ask us if they are ours and if we are taking them to America are very sweet and say something like, "Oh bless you", because you can't just leave Ghana. They do not give people here visa's to just leave if they wanted to come to U. S. 

In the pictures above, we are serving at an orphanage. The bikes the boys are riding are not "ride-able" bikes. They have 4 flat tires, and are terribly rusted. But they fought over time on the tiny rusted, not-working bike they scooted around. That's how all the bikes and play equipment are. Far too much to write here in one post but just a few things on my heart today....
I was surprised by how little the orphans have at the places we visited. (I know one would think-they are orphans...)Yes, their basic needs are met, but they still need so much more. For example, the power goes out here several times a day. They cook all their meals over an open fire with charcoal. The charcoal is very expensive. They need a stove-they want a cooktop similar to a coleman camping stove with a propane tank. They need a generator for when the power does go out. Many of these children need sponsors to go to school. They need momma's and daddy's most of all. 
This trip was about many things. Of course meeting our children, attending court to make them OURS, but also to serve orphanages and love on children and share the hope of Jesus. I thought about evangelism and what opportunites God might give us to share the gospel with the Ghanaians. 
But in my preconceived notions of what I thought it might be like, and what I thought God would have me do-"my agenda" God has gently shown me that it's all about the ORPHANS. Period. Please pray for them and consider if you are to go or to give. 

Broken, 

Karen

So Far to Find You




My heart is flooded with emotions as I sit here in the airport waiting to board our final plane to Ghana to meet our boys for the first time. It's all so surreal that God has allowed us to be a part of something so amazing. I've been thinking about our family and friends over the last few days and how much we have felt covered in prayer. I can't remember another time when we've needed such concentrated and specific prayer. We have been overwhelmed by friends that have called, texted, or messaged that they were praying for us, or that God had layed something specific on their hearts for us and shared it, or about which they have promised to interceed for us. I will never forget, and I hope I am equally as faithful in return.

We arrive in Ghana tomorrow Monday the 21st and will try and give as many blog updates as possible.
We will be doing missions work with Feeding the Orphans(FTO) during the time we are there visiting City of Refuge, as well as a few precious orphanages and strategic partners of FTO. So grateful to be serving and delivering supplies on their behalf. Please check out FTO and the amazing work they do for the destitue in Ghana and around the globe.

Please pray for our first encounter with the boys on Tuesday and immediate bonding. Also please pray  for favor with judge and passing court on Wed. the 23rd. I will update as often as I can.
With Love and gratitude~

Karen
"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6


Just you WAIT and SEE...

This is Jessica, the oldest daughter in the Boggs family. I am about to turn 15 (in 26 days! not that I’m counting). 
As I sit here and stare at the first picture we received of F. and O., I focus on their eyes. I just don’t like looking at it. I see sadness, loneliness, and fear.
They have no idea that there is a family waiting to take them in and love them more than they will understand. They don’t know that there is a brighter day if they just wait a few months. They don’t understand why they are in the orphanage. They are scared. 
I would do anything just to hold them and whisper to them, “It’s going to be okay! Just wait! Soon, your life will be completely changed. We are preparing for you to come home. JUST WAIT! Don’t waste your time worrying. It’s not worth worrying because what is waiting for you is beyond your imagination. We love you unconditionally! We want YOU.”
They have no idea. 
When I think about how much they must be worried and scared, I think of us as children of God. We are dirty. We are abandoned. We are unworthy of God’s grace and love. We are scared. We worry more then necessary. We don’t understand. But, if we stop and listen to our heavenly Father, HE is whispering to us:

“Its going to be okay. 
Just wait. 
Soon your life will be completely changed.
Don’t waste your time worrying. 
It’s not worth worrying about it because what is waiting for you is beyond your imagination. 
Just you WAIT and SEE. 
I am preparing for you to come home. 
I love you unconditionally. 
I want YOU!"
In our heavenly adoption, God CHOSE us in our while we were still sinners, dirty and opposed to God. He loves us more then we understand just like my sweet F. and my precious O. They don’t understand why our family loves them. Just like we are anxiously waiting day by day to bring the boys home, the Lord is waiting to bring us home- our true home. What we don’t understand is that their is SO much more waiting for us yet we waste too much time worrying about earthly things when all that does not matter. That is like the boys worrying about their life in the orphanage when in reality, they will be here, home, for far longer then they will be in the orphanage. 

The Lord has taught me so much in this adoption process and this is one of the lessons He has taught me. Stop worrying about the NOW, its simply not worth it.

Jess(:

Happy Happy Day!


Adoption Update...We have boys!!!

Well, we don't HAVE boys with us yet, but we have found our children and are in the process of making them ours. We can't post their pictures yet, but they are precious brothers ages 6 and 4. We have hope. Hope that there is an end in sight. God has been so good to us. The last week has been such a rollercoaster ride and he has shown himself faithful once again. More to come...

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. - Isaiah 1:17


Everybody's gotta eat right? 

Please join us...
Adoption Lunch Fundraiser
(sponsored by 1seedplanted.org)
Come before or after church anytime between 10:30-1:30pm


Date: Sunday May 6, 2012
Time: 10:30 am-1:30 pm
Location:  229 Franklin Rd. 
Brentwood, TN 37027 (Puffy Muffin Restaurant)  


Click Here for more details
All proceeds from this event will help bring our boys home!





Every Life is Precious!


This is Faith. A precious child being rescued by Adeye at nogreaterjoymom.com from an orphanage in Pleven, Bulgaria, where children are systematically and purposefully starved to keep her small, weak, and unable to do anything but lie in her own urine and feces. I am changed after reading this, I hope you will be too. Read her full story HERE.


Often I'm an all or nothing girl. I find the things I want to share here are one of 3 things. They are either intensly personal-things like exposing my fears, chanllenges and sin, sharing something I'm learning or that God is showing me, or extremely shallow and of no value to anyone. It's strange for me to blog in the first place because I often wonder(much like twitter and facebook) why anyone really cares what I have to say anyway. I suppose I will forge on because I'm guessing you might appreciate the connection, encouragement, and information just like I do when I read other blogs. So I will get over myself, the idea of making mistakes here on the blog, and the fear of what you think of me and strive for the connection anyway.

An update on the ADOPTION front...we are WAITING! It has taken alot longer on this leg of the journey-waiting for our referral (getting matched with our children) than we thought it would. But if we've learned (experientially) anything thus far it is that nothing goes as you expect in international adoption. Came across this great quote: Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life." - Simone Weil

Contrary to what I thought, waiting is not exactly passive. It's active and passive. It's the development of further trusting God's sovereignty, timing and provision. I Love Sue Monk Kidd's explanation:
"I had tended to view waiting as mere passivity. When I looked it up in my dictionary however, I found that the words passive and passion come from the same Latin root, pati, which means "to endure." Waiting is thus both passive and passionate. It's a vibrant, contemplative work. It means descending into self, into God, into the deeper labyrinths of prayer. It involves listening to disinherited voices within, facing the wounded holes in the soul, the denied and undiscovered, the places one lives falsely. It means struggling with the vision of who we really are in God and molding the courage to live that vision."  -  SUE MONK KIDD, When the Heart Waits

How do I love the folks over at 147 Million Orphans?

  Let me count the ways...
147 Million Orphans mission is 3-fold-first to raise awareness about the worldwide orphan crisis, to help those children with food, water and medicine, and lastly to aid families who are adopting with fundraising.  We are offering a special discount on selected 147 shirts to help raise money for our adoption. To check it out click here!

From https://www.147millionorphans.com/

STATISTICS … DON’T GET CAUGHT UP IN THE NUMBER, BUT IN THE CHILDREN !!!!

  • Did you know there are hundreds of millions of  children worldwide who have lost one or both parents.
  • Every 14 seconds an AIDS death leaves another child orphaned.
  • Approximately 88 million orphans live in Asia.
  • Approximately 45 million orphans live in Africa.
  • Approximately 14 million orphans live in Latin America & the Caribbean.
  • Approximately 1 million children live in public care in Central & Eastern Europe
  • More than 800,000 children pass through America’s foster care system each year.
These statistics do not even include the UNKNOWN children living orphaned both here and abroad that go uncounted, unnoticed and unloved.
James 1:27 “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for the orphans and widows in their troubles  and refuse to let the world corrupt us.”

 

Love this song... "Blessings"

by Laura Song

 We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Our Glorious Reality

David & Heather Platt are in China right now bringing home their precious daughter.  David is the pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham Alabama and author of the book Radical which heavily influenced our decision to adopt. His blog entry yesterday deeply impacted me and so many others.
From David Platt:
I am reminded as we go into tomorrow that the initiative for adoption obviously resides with a parent, not with a child. A child does not choose to initiate adoption; instead, a parent chooses to adopt a child. The same is true in spiritual adoption, as well. The Word is clear that in our sin, we were once children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), alienated from God (Colossians 1:21) and totally unable to save ourselves from our sin in order to become His sons. Talk about special needs. Our minds were blinded (Romans 1:21-23), our emotions were disordered (Romans 1:26-27), our bodies were defiled (Romans 1:24-25), our wills were distorted (Romans 3:10-12), and our relationships were broken (James 4:1-4). We were slaves to sin (John 8:34), lovers of darkness (John 3:20), morally evil (Genesis 8:21), and spiritually lost (Luke 19:10). And the good news of the gospel is that God saw our need and initiated our adoption: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:3-10). Understanding this biblical foundation of spiritual adoption is critical for understanding the proper motivation for physical adoption. We have a tendency in our day to romanticize adoption, envisaging cute children around the world (both domestically and internationally) just waiting to be adopted. Obviously, they are all cute in their own ways, but they are also needy…needy…and many of their needs are great. As a pastor of a church that is, by God’s grace, captivated by an adoptive culture, I have talked and prayed with countless parents who have fostered and/or adopted children with challenging needs. And the only sustainable motivation for these parents is the glorious reality of the gospel. What do you do when the child you adopted has fetal alcohol syndrome and can’t ever seem to sit still without throwing a tantrum? What happens when that child’s birth mother was addicted to crack cocaine and as a result, he or she has permanent brain damage that affects their behavior for the rest of their life, and in turn their teenage years turn into a living nightmare for you, for them, and for your entire family? What happens when the years that child has spent in an institutional orphanage by themselves causes them to not know how to even begin to receive love, so that every time you try to show love, they resist it? What happens when the child you adopt is dangerous? Mere altruism will not sustain you in situations like these. Only the gospel will. Because in the gospel, you are reminded on a daily basis that there was a day when you were a child of wrath, filled with evil desires, totally unable to control your sinfulness, and desperately in need of Savior, and God reached down His hand of mercy past the depth of your wickedness in order to adopt you as His own. When there was no initiative to draw you to Him, He initiated a relationship with you. So now, when you see a child with minor or major needs, you reach out to that child, simply because you realize you are that child. I can’t improve here upon the words of my friend, Russell Moore, who wrote a wonderful book called Adopted for Life. He wrote:
Imagine for a moment that you’re adopting a child. As you meet with the social worker in the last stage of the process, you’re told that this 12-year-old has been in and out of psychotherapy since he was three. He persists in burning things, and attempting repeatedly to skin animals alive. He “acts out sexually,” the social worker says, although she doesn’t really fill you in on what that means. She continues with a little family history. This boy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all had histories of violence, ranging from spousal abuse to serial murder. Each of them ended their own lives. Think for a minute. Would you want this child? If you did adopt him, wouldn’t you watch nervously as he played with your other children? Would you watch him nervously as he
looks at the knife on the kitchen table? Would you leave the room as he watched a movie on TV with your daughter, with the lights out? And then Dr. Moore writes:
Well he’s you. And he’s me. That’s what the Gospel is telling us.
My goal is certainly not to paint a grim picture of adoption, and many children in foster and/or adoption situations are perfectly healthy. But adoption is not easy, and children are indeed needy. It’s important to realize, then, that we adopt not because we are rescuers. No, we adopt because we are the rescued. And in this way, the gospel uniquely portrays, compels, and ultimately sustains adoption.
To follow the rest of the Platt's adoption journey, click here http://bhglobalblog.org

The Glorious Transaction

I love the devotion from Sarah Young Jesus Calling-written(from scripture) as though Jesus is speaking to you:

From Jesus Calling...
Thankfulness takes the sting out of adversity. That is why I have instructed you to give thanks for everything. There is an element of mystery in this transaction: You give Me thanks(regardless of your feelings), and I give you Joy(regardlesss of your circumstances). This is a spiritual act of obedience-at times, blind obedience. To people who don't know me intimately, it can seem irrational and even impossible to thank me for heart-rending hardships. Nonethless, those who obey Me in this way are invariably blessed, even though difficulties may remain.
Thankfulness opens your heart to My presence and your mind to my thoughts. You may still be in the same place with the same set of circumstances, but it is as if a light has been switched on, enabling you to see from My perspective. It is this Light of My Presence that removes the sting from adversity.
(Ephesians 5:20; Psalm 118:1; Psalm 89:15)

Something is Missing...


For the first time since we started our adoption journey in July, I feel like something is missing, or someone is missing. It feels like our family is incomplete, not exactly like it does when our college guys are not at home...something more. How can I feel like I am missing someone I don't even know yet? But I do, and they are precious to me, they are mine.
As I observe in the breath-taking beauty that is the autumn season-my favorite, I am ever aware of the here and now and the not yet in so many ways. I praise you Lord for creating a heart in me that leaps this time of year. The coolness in the air, the beauty in the colors I love, the evidence of God's glory in the majestic trees, the fragrance, caramel apples, apple pies, hot spiced tea, hoodies, sweaters and cute boots, chili, getting cozy on the couch with my favorite throw, football, fall festibals(as Annie used to say), chocolate chip pumpkin muffins...all of it.
Just one thing is missing...well maybe two.