This world has lost another amazing person as Dr. Kim Duk Whang, one of the pioneers of international adoption, died this week at the age of 96.
In 2008 Julie and I flew to South Korea to meet the people of Eastern Social Welfare Society, an orphanage in Seoul, and to bring home our son. Dr. Kim took the time out of his busy day running numerous aspects of this large organization to speak to us and to tell us about his heart for the needy and his love for children. Sitting in his office that day hearing him share his story and his vision for the future was awe inspiring and humbling. He even signed and game us a personal copy of a book he wrote about Christianity in Korea.
Dr. Kim started ESWS in 1972 after seeing the need orphans in South Korea had for love and adoption. At the time adoption was unheard of in South Korea. Orphans needed love and care and Dr. Kim stepped in to meet that need. Today ESWS is a very large ministry with offices and locations all over South Korea that helps orphans and needy children find families, get educated and receive love and medical care.
If only we could all be half the man Dr. Kim was our world would be a better place. Because of this man we have a son. Because of this man thousands and thousands of children around the world have families and parents have children.
Dr. Kim loved on orphans and built an organization that will continue this service to mankind and God for decades to come. He was an advocate for children like one this world has never seen.
Do doubt this man fulfilled his calling and did a job "well done". His reward will be great.
Now it's our turn...
http://www.eastern.or.kr/eastern/board/detail.jsp?bt_no=33&c_no=002006001&b_no=32650&page=1
Posted by Brady Speers
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Support the Quinn Fund Today
Our son now has a fund in his name to help other families adopt. His fund has helped numerous families adopt since 2008.
Donate today so a child can have a family! Choose "Quinn Fund" under "designations" on the link below:
https://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=4806&frcrld=1
Donate today so a child can have a family! Choose "Quinn Fund" under "designations" on the link below:
https://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=4806&frcrld=1
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thoughts on Adopting a Waiting Child
When my wife and I first discussed the idea of adopting a child on the waiting child list I have to admit I was a little nervous. With two girls in the family already, everything had to be considered and thought through including the living arrangements, cost of care, our ability to emotionally handle whatever circumstances might arise, and most importantly, could we give the child the chance in life they would truly need? Was God really asking us to consider this option? Were we just being impatient? The bottom line was we knew we wanted to grow our family via adoption and we also knew that if we had a biological child born with medical challenges it would not change anything. Every child deserves a family and deserves to be loved. Even so, we knew we had to be honest with ourselves and make sure that if we adopted a child on the waiting child list that it was truly because 1). We believed we could provide this particular child the kind of home he/she deserved and 2). That we had a sense in our hearts that this child was supposed to be “one of us”.
What helped us process these concerns, questions and considerations was meeting with our social worker to discuss the waiting child list. We worked through a medical condition worksheet that forced us to be real about what challenges we felt would work within our family. It was a very hard process because it went against every fiber of our being to say in a sense that “a child with this or that condition” could be cared for better by someone else. However, it helped us narrow down what conditions and circumstances we could give the proper love to. After our social worker left we had a total peace about what was in front of us and began looking almost daily at the waiting child listings. We knew it would be clear to us which child was supposed to be our child.
The day we saw our son for the first time on the webpage I literally broke down in tears as did my wife. She found him first and sent me an instant message at work. I logged in and she did not even have to point him out to me. As soon as I saw his face I knew which child she would direct me to. I saved an image of that webpage that day and still cherish it over two years later. Just four months later we traveled to Korea and brought him home and it has been truly amazing. He has taught us how to be more loving, less self-centered and the joy of life itself. He has a constant smile on his face and is known as “Mr. Smiley”.
Close friends are always telling us, “It’s like he was always a part of your family” or “I cannot imagine your family without him.”
He is a perfect fit for us and our lives would truly be incomplete without him.
Now we are praying about doing it again!
What helped us process these concerns, questions and considerations was meeting with our social worker to discuss the waiting child list. We worked through a medical condition worksheet that forced us to be real about what challenges we felt would work within our family. It was a very hard process because it went against every fiber of our being to say in a sense that “a child with this or that condition” could be cared for better by someone else. However, it helped us narrow down what conditions and circumstances we could give the proper love to. After our social worker left we had a total peace about what was in front of us and began looking almost daily at the waiting child listings. We knew it would be clear to us which child was supposed to be our child.
The day we saw our son for the first time on the webpage I literally broke down in tears as did my wife. She found him first and sent me an instant message at work. I logged in and she did not even have to point him out to me. As soon as I saw his face I knew which child she would direct me to. I saved an image of that webpage that day and still cherish it over two years later. Just four months later we traveled to Korea and brought him home and it has been truly amazing. He has taught us how to be more loving, less self-centered and the joy of life itself. He has a constant smile on his face and is known as “Mr. Smiley”.
Close friends are always telling us, “It’s like he was always a part of your family” or “I cannot imagine your family without him.”
He is a perfect fit for us and our lives would truly be incomplete without him.
Now we are praying about doing it again!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
ChildLink Story about Our Little Quinny
Our son was featured in the recent ChildLink newsletter published by Dillon.
http://www.dillonadopt.com/PDFs/CL-archive/FINAL%20ChildLInk%20Newsletter%202-10%20REV.pdf
http://www.dillonadopt.com/PDFs/CL-archive/FINAL%20ChildLInk%20Newsletter%202-10%20REV.pdf
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Great Adoption Resource
This is a great place to start in terms of learning all about adoption. We read this front to back more than once!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Feedback From Dillon About Haiti
Love your blog and really appreciated your mentioning Dillon and our Haiti program. However, I hope you don’t mind my contacting you to clarify your understanding of the current Haiti orphan situation. Dillon has been greatly overwhelmed with calls and inquiries over the past week since the earthquake with families interested in adopting from Haiti. We have been so overwhelmed that we created the screening form so that families could place their name on a waiting list to be contacted later when adoptions from Haiti might resume. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that might take place or if the requirements to adopt from Haiti might even be relaxed so that more families might qualify to adopt.
The reality about the Haitian orphans who are entering the US right now, which the media is not clearly stating, is that these children already have adoptive families. These children had already been identified as orphans and had been matched with a family in the US prior to the earthquake. However, children who may have been orphaned because of the earthquake won’t become available for international adoption for at least 1-2 years as every effort will be made to first locate a family member within Haiti to care for these children.
Would you mind joining us in educating families about the true realities about Haiti’s orphans and what families can realistically do to help?
· Families can donate through Dillon to assist Gladys in caring for the children who she has taken in as a result of the earthquake along with the children who were already in her care
· Families can donate to another charitable organization of their choice.
· Families can also consider our other country programs where there are many other children available for adoption who have also been orphaned because of some type of “earthquake-tsunami-trauma” in their lives.
· Families can pray for comfort and healing for the Haitian children who have been traumatized by this tragedy and pray that they will be reunited with family members quickly.
· Families can place their name on our waiting list if their heart is really set on adopting from Haiti with no guarantee of when they will be able to begin the process to bring a child home.
We so appreciate your concern for all children suffering in the world and support of our work to make a difference in their lives. We hope you will join us in encouraging families to look at all of their options that are available to help the children affected by the Haiti earthquake.
The reality about the Haitian orphans who are entering the US right now, which the media is not clearly stating, is that these children already have adoptive families. These children had already been identified as orphans and had been matched with a family in the US prior to the earthquake. However, children who may have been orphaned because of the earthquake won’t become available for international adoption for at least 1-2 years as every effort will be made to first locate a family member within Haiti to care for these children.
Would you mind joining us in educating families about the true realities about Haiti’s orphans and what families can realistically do to help?
· Families can donate through Dillon to assist Gladys in caring for the children who she has taken in as a result of the earthquake along with the children who were already in her care
· Families can donate to another charitable organization of their choice.
· Families can also consider our other country programs where there are many other children available for adoption who have also been orphaned because of some type of “earthquake-tsunami-trauma” in their lives.
· Families can pray for comfort and healing for the Haitian children who have been traumatized by this tragedy and pray that they will be reunited with family members quickly.
· Families can place their name on our waiting list if their heart is really set on adopting from Haiti with no guarantee of when they will be able to begin the process to bring a child home.
We so appreciate your concern for all children suffering in the world and support of our work to make a difference in their lives. We hope you will join us in encouraging families to look at all of their options that are available to help the children affected by the Haiti earthquake.
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