Show Hope is thrilled to be a Champion Sponsor at the Christian Alliance for Orphans 9th annual Orphan Summit this week!  From seeing ministry partners, to seeing friends, to gaining knowledge and insight into the global orphan care movement, Summit is truly one of the highlights of our year. We are particularly glad #Summit9 is in our own backyard this year (in Nashville, TN) because it gives us a unique opportunity to have our entire staff here. We’ve been busy planning which of the incredible sessions we’re attending, and getting ready to meet the thousands of you who are registered.

Whether you’re joining us from a few miles down the road or from across the world, we hope that you’ll take this opportunity to engage with us! Here’s a quick breakdown of where you can find Show Hope this week:

THURSDAY

Breakout Session I (11am-noon): 
So You Want to Change the World? - Scott and Kerry Hasenbalg – Room 2132
We all want to be effecting in Kingdom work while thriving in our personal relationship and responsibilities. However, many of us are weary, heavy-laden and lack joy and peace in our lives. By digging into spiritual truths as well as practical applications, we can overflow with hope in our ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Multi-Racial Family – panel feat. Melissa Wheatley – Room 2103
Real families, parents and children share their stories and respond to your questions about being a transracial family from a biblical worldview. Share in the wisdom and collective experiences of both adoptees and adoptive parents in transracial families.

Breakout Session II (2-3pm): 
Ministry is a Family Thing – Mary Beth Chapman and Emily Richards – Room 2132
Mary Beth Chapman and her daughter, Emily, will share what it is like to be involved in orphan care and adoption ministry together. For Mary Beth and Steven, their involvement with adoption advocacy and orphan care efforts has become more than a ministry they are passionate about–it is part of the legacy they are passing on to their children.

Breakout Session III (4-5pm):
Innovative Adoption Funding Solutions & How the Church Can Respond - panel feat. Kathy McKinney – Room 2132
This workshop will equip churches and families to overcome one fo the biggest barriers to adoption: money. Learn creative solutions to the funding hurdles, both big and small. Explore specific examples and “case studies” of how God has provided through churches and individuals to meet the financial needs of adoption.

General Session (7-8:45p):
Steven Curtis Chapman will close the first night of Summit with music and worship.

FRIDAY

Prayer Meetings (8-8:30am):
Orphans in China Prayer Focus – several staff – Room 2004
This prayer time is an opportunity to gather with others who share your particular passion and focus in the world, joining together to ask God to act decisively for the fatherless.  

Breakout Session V (2-3pm):
God is Love: THe Nature of the Father and Our Identity as His Children – Emily Richards – Room 2140
Whatever your involvement with adoption advocacy, orphan care, or foster care may be, it is often helpful to pull the scope back from what we are doing to remember why we are doing it. The aim of this breakout session is not necessarily neat answers or practical steps; rather, the intention is to create space so as to be reminded and reflect upon the great love that God the Father has for his children and how a love so entirely transformative in natures dialogues with our lived adoption experience.

Additionally, the Red Bus will be parked out in the parking lot and open to the public! You’ll also want to stop by our booth in the Brentwood Baptist Church Atrium (by the main doors). We’ll be giving away prizes, flyers, and magnets each day!

We look forward to seeing you. Can’t join us in Nashville? Watch the live webstream here.

Show Hope is thrilled to present Andrew Peterson and CALEB’s Spring 2013 “Light for the Lost Boy” tour (#LFLBtour)!

As Peterson embarks on his second tour as a Show Hope artist, he is honored to share evening after evening about the ministry’s sponsorship program. “One of Show Hope’s biggest needs is sponsors and they need people willing to step up and give so that these children can find homes,” he shares.

“For me to get to work with Show Hope and to be a small part in building the kingdom in this way, to show these children the love of Jesus, is profoundly moving,” Peterson continues. “It’s a small price to pay for a blessing that big.”

CALEB (made up of Caleb Chapman, Scott Mills, and Will Franklin Chapman) will once again be joining Andrew Peterson on the road. CALEB just finished recording their first full-length album, and you won’t want to miss the live debut of their new songs!

The tour is a fantastic opportunity to hear critically-acclaimed music, learn more about Show Hope, and become a Show Hope sponsor to impact the lives of orphans around the world! The Light for the Lost Boy tour begins this Friday and runs through May 4 in Osage Beach, MO.

We look forward to seeing grant families and meeting new and long-time Show Hope sponsors on the road this spring! For tickets, visit http://www.andrew-peterson.com

4/12 Knoxville, TN
4/13 Guntersville, AL
4/14 Mt. Pleasant, SC
4/19 Ellicott City, MD
4/20 Deerfield, MA
4/21 Ipswich, MA
4/26 Nashville, TN
4/27 Kingsford, MI
4/28 Corydon, IA
5/2 Houston, TX
5/3 Plano, TX
5/4 Osage Beach, MO

“Our family’s journey in adoption began long before my wife and I met, as God placed the desire to adopt in her heart as a 12-year-old girl. As she grew up, God continued to nurture this compassion for the fatherless. Nine years into our marriage and one son later, the Cambio family grew as we adopted our two beautiful daughters out of foster care. We later had another biological son and we thought we were done adding to our family. God had other plans …

“Two years ago we started our paper work for an international adoption. This was a test of faith concerning finances, but as Philippians 4:19 says, ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.’ The cost of international adoption was daunting, but this is the scripture I clung to but as we took each step of faith.

“I’ll never forget the night my wife answered the call from our social worker telling us that we’d been matched with a precious six-year-old girl from Ethiopia. Although there was tremendous joy in our home in the days that followed, there were also many financial hurdles to overcome. When we received our court date in Ethiopia, we were still $2,300 short of the funds needed to pay for the first trip. Did I mention we had less than two weeks to make travel arrangements, as well as to find the money?  The next day, God blessed us with exactly the amount we needed from our precious church family. We rejoiced that we could now travel for our court date, but we fully understood that we still needed to raise money for the second trip to Africa to bring our daughter home.

“God continued to make a way for us, and two days before our first trip to Ethiopia we received a letter in the mail from Show Hope. With trembling hands my wife had her friend open it and read the letter that was inside. It was an emotional moment of tears and shock when my wife’s friend read the enclosed words that our family was to receive an adoption aid grant from Show Hope. In that instant we realized that the Lord had used the gifts of others through Show Hope to make it possible to bring our daughter home. Not only had God provided, but He had done so gloriously! We were in awe!

“When you allow the Lord to use your life you don’t always get to see the results of your giving, your time, or your prayers. We must give with open hands and trust the One who is calling us to release what we have so that He can touch the lives of individuals we might not even know. We will never be able to thank the many Show Hope sponsors who gave to make it possible to bring our daughter home. Feeling the arms of my little girl around me reminds me over and over again of the sacrifices given so that we can share in the joy of her life. We are so thankful and grateful for Show Hope and to those who donate every month. As the green patchwork of the African landscape receded behind us on our trip home, all I could think of was how God had provided for us each step of the way. To those of you who give to Show Hope, thank you for the role you played in God’s master plan for our family!”

-David Cambio

Do you want to help make miracles like this possible? Become a Show Hope sponsor today!

For adoptive families: How have you seen God provide through others throughout your adoption journey? Leave us a comment with your story of hope!

Are you ready for our second 10 Year Celebration giveaway? Follow the easy steps below to win a Show Hope 10 Year Celebration prize package including: a pair of premium level ticket upgrades, a signed event poster, and two Show Hope t-shirts.

1) Click here to download our 10 year logo sheet.
2) Take a photo of you holding up the logo sheet.
3) Share your photo to our Facebook page with your anniversary wishes by April 7!
  3a) OR share your photo to Twitter/Instagram with the hashtag #SH10yr and tag @ShowHope.

Questions about the giveaway or the event? Leave us a comment!

To celebrate our 10 year Anniversary, Steven Curtis Chapman is taking you “Inside Show Hope!” Meet our staff, learn fun facts about the Chapmans and our ministry, and celebrate with us! We’ll be releasing a new episode of “Inside Show Hope” every two weeks, so check back often for new videos. Enjoy!

Episode 1 of this brand new series introduces you to Jaimee Marks, our Sponsorship Liaison.

We hope you enjoy meeting Sabrina through this month’s Sponsorship Update Video! Sabrina is one of several children under care at a Show Hope Special Care Centers who has been diagnosed with biliary atresia, a condition which affects the liver. Each month, you are making a life-changing impact for hundred of children like Sabrina through your Show Hope sponsorship.

To extend the impact of your sponsorship, we invite you to do three things:
1) Share this video on your social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. We encourage you to include a sentence or two on what you love most about being a sponsor.
2) Sign up for our monthly prayer updates. www.showhope.org/pray
3) Invited a friend to join you at Show Hope’s 10 year Anniversary Celebration this Memorial Day! www.showhope.org/10yr

Show Hope is turning 10 this year! Since we awarded our first adoption aid grant in 2003, we have been humbled and blown away by all that God has done through your prayers, support, and financial gifts!

On Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-26, 2013), Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman will host Show Hope’s 10 Year Celebration. Come meet the Show Hope staff at our Open House, enjoy a family picnic with food trucks and inflatables, and finish the weekend with our 10 year anniversary concert, featuring Mark Hall of Casting Crowns! It’s going to be an incredible weekend of fellowship and hope! Learn more and purchase tickets >

But there is something you can do NOW to help us celebrate as well. Help us spread the word about our ten year anniversary. Complete the steps below, and you’ll be entered to win a $50 gift card to the Nashville restaurant of your choice and a Show Hope t-shirt to enjoy when you visit us in May for our anniversary festivities!

Here’s how you can win:
1) Take a photo of yourself with “10” somewhere in the photo! Get creative…craft a 10 out of kitchen utensils, make a human 10 with some of your friends, hire a sky-writer…you name it.
2) Post your photo to Show Hope’s Facebook wall and include the message “Happy 10th Anniversary, Show Hope! www.showhope.org/10yr”
3) Alternately, you may post to Twitter or Instagram. Be sure to mention us (@ShowHope) and tag your photo #SH10yr

The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on March 1, so get your photo in today!

Thank you for your continued support of our mission and ministry as we celebrate our first ten years of growing the movement to care for orphans and look forward to the next ten years of transforming lives!

Today, we invite you to meet Dante. As we mark the beginning of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week (February 7-14), we wanted to highlight a child with a heart condition who is currently under care at a Show Hope Special Care Center. Dante was diagnosed with irreparable CHD when we was admitted to our care as an infant, and was not expected not to live more than three years. We are thrilled to celebrate Dante’s fourth birthday this weekend!

Dante attends pre-school five days a week at the orphanage, and his teacher says he is a very good student. His nurse, Erma, shares that Dante has a great vocabulary and is active in spite of his heart condition. In fact, he recently won a class award for running! He also loves to assist the nurses and Dr. Steve as they do rounds and check on the other children in his care center.

Mikey and Rebecca first met Dante while they visited Jiaozuo at the end of last year. Rebecca shares, “Dante quickly caught my attention because he immediately smiled and waved as we glanced into his nursery. His smile was a familiar one, reminding me of one of my sweet Maria’s Big House of Hope preschool kids who also has CHD. During our latest visit, we had the opportunity to spend a bit of time with Dante in his preschool class, which he attends daily with his friend, Debbie.

“That day, the kids were learning how to use scissors. As a teacher, my initial reaction is to want to see what they are doing and join in, so I picked up some paper and together we started cutting. Each time his scissors would snip the paper apart, a huge grin spread across Dante’s face. Then, he picked up the next piece for me to hold while he cut. We shared lots of laughs as we did this until there were no large pieces left.”

Please join us in prayer for waiting children with CHD, like Dante, to remain healthy enough to join forever families and receive life-saving medical care. Thank you to the sponsors and donors who make his care possible! We encourage you to leave a birthday greeting for Dante in the comments section below!

“Imagine 50 acres of land and 10 million blooming flowers. Rows of red, yellow, pink, fuchsia, coral, orange, gold, blush, and white racing out ahead of you like ribbons in the wind. At times, the intensity is so great it’s helpful to divert your gaze to the monochromatic blue of the Pacific Ocean nearby. The prospect of exploring something so vast is overwhelming. You have a desire to get up close and personal with each bloom, but that’s not possible. You love flowers, so walking away is not an option.

“This was my Easter morning at the Carlsbad Flower Fields in California. I had seen the fields on TV and in photos, but nothing prepared me for their enormity. Immediately, I envisioned an entire show of these flowers. Choosing which blooms to paint would be a challenge. So I approached the task, one flower at a time.

“Now imagine the 153 million orphans of the world. Children who, through no fault of their own, are parentless. Red, yellow, black and white, from every nation. The enormity of the problem is overwhelming. It would be easier to look away. How can you make a difference, how can you get up close and personal with each child?

“For me, walking away is not an option. Maybe, together, we can transform lives, one child at a time.

“Adoption is personal to me. Mine is a life that was forever changed when the Walker family took me home to be in their family. I will always be eternally grateful for the sacrifice my biological parents made, and the commitment my parents made all those years ago.

“The flowers in my upcoming show represent hope. These new compositions are infused with color and passion, and are meant to bring joy. I will donate a portion of the sale of each painting to Show Hope, helping transform the lives of orphans by helping families with their adoption costs.

“One flower at a time. One child at a time. It’s personal.”

-Dyana Hesson

Dyana Hesson is an artist and Show Hope Advocate. For several years, she has used her talents on behalf of the world’s waiting children by holding gallery events to benefit Show Hope. Dyana often invites local adoptive families and Show Hope grant recipients to speak at her shows. Through ticket sales, silent auctions, and the sale of her art, she has raised more than $11,000 through her annual fundraisers.

Are you interested in using your passions and talents to transform the lives of waiting children? Become a Show Hope advocate today!

photo by Sandi Bradshaw

Wendy is a very vibrant and energetic little girl who was admitted to our care at just 4 days old. We rejoice that she just celebrated her second birthday!

Wendy recently moved to one of our first floor nurseries where she has really come out of her shell. She has become great friends with past focus children Weston, Judah, and Quincy. Being around the older kids has been great for Wendy’s speech development. She has gone from babbling to repeating many of the words that the older children are saying, including the names of anyone who walks in the door. Although she is still hesitant when a new person enters her room, she is quick to warm up when she sees the other children interacting.

Please join us in praying for Wendy and our medical staff as they seek wisdom concerning care for her complex diagnosis. We pray she remains healthy during the wait, and will be able to join a forever family of her own.

Wendy was featured as our January prayer focus child. View past prayer focus children, or sign up for Show Hope’s monthly prayer email. Our February prayer focus will be emailed out this week!