Richard volunteered and looked into different orphanages, but he didn't feel led to any of the organizations. Actually, he was very disheartened because many of the orphanages in Seoul have too many volunteers and too much money, and the focus was not on ministering to the children. Actually, at some of the orphanages, there were groups from many different religious organizations all ministering at the same time. He took a break from his search until we arrived in Korea.
He had heard that orphanages outside of Seoul don't get as much support as the orphanages in Seoul. So we decided to find an orphanage outside of Seoul. I pulled a list (about 6 pages) off the internet of orphanages in Gyeonggi Province, which is about one hour from Seoul. There were so many orphanages that I didn't know where to start. After researching a few, I just asked God where I needed to look. At that moment, Steve Morrison of MPAK (Mission to Promote Adoption in Korea) came to mind. I emailed him and he connected me with the international adoptions director at ESSW who directed me to Jacob's House in Pyongtek. We were looking for an orphanage that was around an hour from Seoul and one where the kids were younger than our kids. The children at Jacob's House are all under 40 months. How perfect! I also felt there was some connection because our daughter was adopted from ESSW. I also know that they are a Christian organization.
I called Jacob's House and told them our family would like to volunteer. She asked if I could come during the weekdays because the weekends were all full. I told her my children have school and my husband works so that weekdays were not possible for us. She said there was no possibility of volunteering on the weekends. She then asked how old our children were. She mentioned that they only accept high school students. It would not even be possible for our daughter to volunteer with us. It was looking bad. Then she asked how I found Jacob's House. She wanted to know if we were introduced through an adoption agency. I explained that Sebene was adopted through ESSW, and that I was connected to Jacob's House through ESSW. Then her tone changed. She said, "Oh, you adopted through ESSW. Let me think about this and call you back tonight."
She called back and then said the third Sundays were available for us to volunteer. We could volunteer from 9-12, or 2-5, or we could even volunteer the entire day. We start next month! I am so excited about how God is leading our family. I am overwhelmed at how He has orchestrated every little detail so far. I don't know what this will lead to, but I do know that as long as we follow God, He will show us exactly what we need to do next. This journey of faith is very exciting! God is so very good!
