2019
Amazing Ten Days in Kenya
How do I summarize ten of the most amazing days of my life? I’m home now, still jet-lagged, but Kenya remains on my mind – the warmth of the Kenyans, the ever-present smiles, the stark beauty of the land, the evocative singing, animals I don’t find in my backyard, the children and the people we met, our awesome team…
2019
Vietnam Connection Trip
I grew up during the Vietnam War. Certain graphic images and military words are etched into my memory: Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh, agent orange, napalm bomb, Viet Cong…and the image of a young American soldier sloshing through a muddy rice field in the relentless pouring rain.
2019
Vietnam: So Much More Than A War
The tank squats low and heavy in the middle of the city at the center of a roundabout, a giant hunk of refuse. Dark, cold metal, it absorbs the tropical light like a black hole.
2018
Final Preparations: A Trip to Vietnam
I applied for the Hope’s Promise connection team trip to Vietnam in June, then I blinked, and here I am making final preparations. Emotions weigh heavy on me as I prepare to take an airplane to a country that is unfamiliar and uncharted territory for me.
2018
Always Held
You slip into the world raw and trembling, aching for tender touch. But instead, the one you most long for walks away.
2018
Thriving Against All Odds
I didn’t recognize the young man I sat down beside. We smiled at each other, and I extended my hand and said, “Hi, I’m Diane, what’s your name?” He smiled and said, “Stanley!”
2018
Speaking Up for the Voiceless
Last week during a break at a church board meeting, one of my friends took out her phone and began to show me pictures of her grandchildren. She took the time to tell me their names, ages and what was unique or notable about each child.
2018
Advocate
More than a million orphaned children live in Kenya. Yet, though I had previously worked in Mathare Valley, one of the largest informal settlements (slums) in East Arica, home to thousands of vulnerable children, I did not fully appreciate the plight of orphaned children until 2005 when I started working for an adoption agency.
2018
A Night Dedicated to Helping Children
The aroma of delectable cuisine greeted hundreds of guests as they arrived at the BAC Appliance Center in Englewood, Colorado on Thursday evening, April 19, for Hope’s Promise Fourth Annual Food Festival.
2018
United in Dependence: praying for orphans and caregivers
The orphan. Vulnerable. Defenseless. Helpless.
Me. Desperate. Needy. Dependent.
Do my feelings of desperation and helplessness help me identify with children rescued from abandonment? How do I respond to my own emotional and spiritual struggles, let alone those of others?