Adoption

God’s Awareness & Our Adoption

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God knows every bit of our history and is aware of every turn in our future. Instead of turning away with such knowledge, he reaches down and reaches out anyway.

How to Help Orphans

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Believers are called to find some way to assist orphans. Learn how your family could help through adoption, foster care, respite care, or financial assistance. Why is adoption important? God eagerly adopted us into His family. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will (Eph. 1:5). To …

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14 Questions You Shouldn’t Ask Adoptive Families

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As an adoptive family, we have more random stories of interactions with strangers than we care to count.  For whatever reason, close associates or random passerbys feel inclined to make conversation regarding your family when they realize a child is adopted. In our situation, it is very obvious that we are an adoptive family, and so we have heard it …

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Step Up

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I think family ministry is a big thing.  Investing in your home is critically important for their discipleship and for the sake of the Great Commission. I would be remiss though if I did not make an appeal for men and women to step into the lives of some children who are less fortunate. As Paul served as a father figure …

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He Knows Her Name

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I met Kelly McCorkle (now Parkison) when I was at North Greenville University.  What I appreciated about Kelly as a sister in Christ was that she was such a humble, easy-going friend.  She loved Jesus, she loved others, and she didn’t make a bunch of fuss about it. Kelly has lived a lot of life since graduating from NGU.  She …

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Foster Care Excuses

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Have you ever considered becoming a foster family?  Listen to Randy Harling, President of Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, talk about his own experience and an exciting new partnership to help your family serve in this way.

Legos Can’t Build a Home

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In the ever-increasing drive to impact the families of our community, God continues to deliver experiences that wreck my heart and yet serve as catalysts for greater desperation for the tasks ahead. I keep encountering people whose lives are shattered by what is happening within their families, and these experiences won’t let up.  And I pray that neither will I in my …

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Pure Religion

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While I loved preaching in Kentucky this morning, I sure did miss being with my North Side family! I did get to check out things on Livestream for a bit though and I was worshiping along! So thankful that the South Carolina Youth Advocate Program joined us today to recruit some additional foster homes. The Peak band led us in …

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A Secure Place

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Homes for Hope went amazing Thursday night!  Here is a snippet from an article from the Index Journal: Hopewood Haven Ministries in Greenwood is working to solve a problem brought forth earlier this year in a statewide report on human trafficking. The Office of the Attorney General in South Carolina released in June the South Carolina State Plan to Address …

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The Gospel & Foster Care

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In recent weeks, I’ve been wading in even more concerning foster care.  Our city, state, and country are in desperate need of foster families.

The video above tells a story of a foster family with the gospel as the focus.

If you would desire more information on foster care, we hope you can join us for our Homes for Hope meeting.

Homes for Hope

There are 153 million orphans worldwide.  While that number is overwhelming, there is something you can do about one of them.

Your one life can change one life.

You are invited to attend a Homes for Hope information session which will educate and equip you about how you can help the orphans of this world.

On this evening, you will learn how you can help with:

  • International adoption
  • Domestic adoption
  • Sex trafficking victims
  • Foster care
  • Respite care
  • Financial support
  • Group home support

Please plan to attend.  This night will be a great introduction for many and a tangible list of next steps for all of us.

We will meet at the Family Life Center at North Side Baptist Church on Thursday, November 13th from 6:30-8:00.

Help us provide homes for hope.

Your One Life Can Change One Life

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There are 153 million orphans worldwide.  While that number is overwhelming, there is something you can do about one of them.

Your one life can change one life.

You are invited to attend a Homes for Hope information session which will educate and equip you about how you can help the orphans of this world.

On this evening, you will learn how you can help with:

  • International adoption
  • Domestic adoption
  • Sex trafficking victims
  • Foster care
  • Respite care
  • Financial support
  • Group home support

Please plan to attend.  This night will be a great introduction for many and a tangible list of next steps for all of us.

We will meet at the Family Life Center at North Side Baptist Church on Thursday, November 13th from 6:30-8:00.

Help us provide homes for hope.

My Right-Hand 6-Year-Old

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It’s hard to imagine that it has been six years since you were born.  While I wasn’t physically by your side at that moment, God was, and he had been preparing your forever family for a long time. This morning I tried to imagine the setting of your birthdate.  I tried to visualize the rough conditions and the unsure health status of …

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My White Daughter’s Black Baby Doll

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My white daughter’s favorite toy is a black baby doll. Here’s the story: Amanda was taking our three children through the international hoarders’ Mecca that you might know as Walmart.  With just a couple of items to purchase, the boys had convinced Amanda to take a quick trip through the toy department.  As they passed by numerous items, Gloria began …

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Stuck in the Orphanage

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I was his father.  He was my son.  But at the time, we were just learning each other.

I was in Ethiopia getting ready to bring my son home from the orphanage.  We had many obstacles in his life to combat, but we really had faith that God was going to do some special things in his life.

When I called home to tell Amanda about our first encounters, I told her of how Eli was so handsome, funny, and energetic.  I told her that the nannies called him the “bus driver,” because all the bus drivers in Ethiopia were short, fat, and assertive.  Not sure if that was a good thing at the time or not.

She then asked if there was anything else that she needed to know.

Well, there was on thing for which she needed to prepare herself.

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This Child Isn’t Coming Home

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I was blessed to gain some true men of God as brothers when I was in college at North Greenville.  Out of those relationships, the Via family became very near to me.  I have told you about Josh Via and his family’s quest to bring their daughter home.  Through many crazy adventures, their daughter came home even when it didn’t …

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Too Old to Adopt?

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Randy was nearing retirement when he became burdened for something he never saw coming. At his age, his children were out of the home, he had “served his time” in the church, and he was eagerly awaiting the payoff of hitting the golf course everyday. Everywhere he turned though, he became increasingly aware of a problem in our world.

There were too many orphans in the world.

Some of them were orphaned because parents became ill and died. Some were orphaned due to selfish neglect on the parents‘ part. He really wanted to see someone do something about it, but, “Honestly,” he said, “I didn’t want to be that one.”

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My Colorblind Daughter

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My baby daughter Gloria is colorblind.  At a little over 4 months, we can see the signs of it and we are confident.  You may be thinking it’s too early to tell, but it’s obvious.

She doesn’t see any difference between her two brothers.

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There Are 2 Travis Agnew’s…

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There are 2 Travis Agnew’s.  No, for real.  There are 2 of us.  I’m not doing some type of preacher illustration, there are two of us out there.

So, let me explain.  Years ago, when I decided to start blogging, I tried to get a domain name and realized that travisagnew.com was taken.  By whom, I wondered.  I went ahead with the .org and continued upon my trek through life’s uncharted waters.  Then I was talking with a college student one day who said he heard me speak somewhere.

He then tried to find me on the world wide web.  He said I had changed my appearance a lot.  He then asked me when I lived in Wisconsin.  I was perplexed.  I was pretty confident that my looks have not changed that much and that I had remained in South Carolina in recent years.  Curious, I began to do research and I was shocked at what I found.

Here’s what I discovered:

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“Did You Adopt Him from Chile or Something?”

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Our family is different.  We understand that.  We have embraced that.  We wouldn’t ever, ever change that. While statements we received early on in our family pilgrimage used to shock me, they no longer shock me anymore. At lunch the other day, a random elderly woman pointed at my son with a darker complexion and asked, “Did ya’ll adopt him …

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The Frustration with National Adoption Day

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I was appreciative of a text message this morning from a dear friend telling me they were inspired by an article in this morning’s Index Journal.  I still have only read the short version on the website and not read the entire article, but I was interviewed earlier this week concerning adoption.

Honestly, it took me a moment to realize why I was being interviewed for two reasons: 1) There are plenty of other families that do more than us for the cause of adoption, and 2) I forget that Eli is adopted.  In fact, I don’t like talking about it when one child is distinguished as the biological child and one as the adoptive child.  God brought both of our children into our family.  Different ways, but they are both our sons.

I went along with the interview because today is National Adoption Day, and I figured, if our family could inspire others to adopt, that’s a good thing.  That’s worth it.

We had a wonderful day as a family today playing in our home and helping with some friends’ wedding, but it ended on a very bitter note.  Right before family worship tonight, I read a tweet from a dear friend that read:

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How to Fix Lethargic Worship

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(Whenever I am trying to remember how big God is and if he can handle my current problems, I look at this picture and remember: God is good.)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe

3 and has gathered them from the lands-
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.  – Psalm 107:1-3

How to Fix Lethargic Worship

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.

In Psalm 107, the psalmist expresses praise to God based upon his faithfulness in the past. He reminds the worshipers that God is always good and deserves our gratitude.  He had rescued them from the hands of their enemies.  He had rescued them from their circumstances and gathered them back together again.

Have you ever felt in worship that you were just going through the motions?  You stood up and sat down when you were instructed.  You mouthed the words to some songs on a screen or in a hymnal.  You left the same way in which you entered.  The best way to describe your worship was lethargic.

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.  God has shown up all throughout your life. When you have called on God, every time he delivers.  The only proper response is worship.  Each new day is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to us.

When we were in the middle of our adoption process, I was forced to remember this fact often.

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1 Year Home with Eli

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It’s hard to think that we celebrated Eli’s 1 year being home anniversary yesterday.  We took the boys up to Dollywood this weekend to celebrate our wonderful year and had a great time.

It’s impossible to use words to adequately describe how God has moved over this last year.  Last year, I placed our son in the hands of his mother in an airport with him crying in terror that he was being left again.  This year, they are inseparable (actually, they were inseparable within two minutes, but that’s another story).  Last year, my son couldn’t walk or crawl on all fours.  This year, he was running up hills at an amusement park.  Last year, my son didn’t want to eat any type of food and only knew one word.  This year, he asked to pray over his fajitas, chips, and salsa at La Hacienda.  Last year, he was afraid to get buckled in the car seat.  This year, he begged to get strapped in a roller coaster (see below).

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Homes for Hope (What a Year!)

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Homes for Hope was started at North Side in 2010. After a message on orphan care in December 2009, we were overwhelmed with the response of families wanting to help out. The interest was so great that Jeff Lethco told me to figure out a way to organize this so we can help people regularly.  The mission behind Homes for Hope is to make orphan care simple. If you have ever attempted to get through the paperwork attached to orphan care, you understand that sounds like an absurd statement. We can’t make orphan care easy, but we can make it simple. Our goal as a ministry is to provide logical steps in the 5 major ways to get involved.

James 1:27 commands us to care for orphans: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…” There are many ways to help rescue the 143,000,000 orphans in the world. Here’s how our church is assisting people:

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“Boy, Don’t You Know That There Are Orphans in Africa…”

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Eli came home on May 1st.  It is hard to believe he has only been home a year, because I can’t remember what our family was like before he was here.  I can honestly say that when I look at those two boys, I see my two sons.  I don’t see one biological and one adopted, I see the two Agnew boys.

Yet there are still moments when I say something that reminds me how much he is mine.  Sometimes if he gives me a look or I have a flashback of our time in Ethiopia, I remember for a moment what it was like when we were strangers.  More often than that, I find myself forgetting that he hasn’t been with us all the time.

Which brings us to what happened last week.

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A Different Look

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Week 2 of leading worship on crutches.  If that poor stool can make it through today, it can make it through anything!  This cast has made me realize I’m a bit more of a dancer than I realize I actually was 😉

Today, we continued on through Ephesians as we studied:

A Different Look (Eph. 4:17-32) – As a Christian, we are called to lay aside the old self and have a completely different look.  We are no longer to live in our former ignorance, but we are to shine differently than before.

Today’s message was great.  Amazing how God’s Word, written years ago, still has so much power for us today!  The point Jeff ended on was so powerful.  He taught how Paul taught in Ephesians that we are to get together before we try to get holy.  You would think you should get holy before coming to church, but this progression teaches us to get around each other in order to make us holy.

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You’re Not An Orphan Anymore

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8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider …

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The Difference 6 Months Can Make

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Today is a day to celebrate.  It is exactly 6 months since the day Eli and myself landing back at GSP airport.  6 months.  6 pictures (because a pictures says 1,000 words, right?).  Watch the difference 6 months can make: Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, …

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On Behalf of All Black Men…

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A few weeks ago, I was riding Obie and Eli in the Walmart buggy while Amanda was grocery shopping.  As I attempted to keep them occupied, we ran into some friends.  The boys started to hand out the high-fives to our friends when an older black man that I did not know came up and insisted on getting high-fives himself and then walked off.

One minute later, he came back and interrupted the conversation by pointing to Eli and asking, “Sir, excuse me, but are you mentoring this young boy?”

Before I got to respond to this funny question as this stranger pointed at my tiny 2-year-old, Eli looked up at me and tried to get my attention by saying, “Daddy?”

This man stated, “I’m sorry, is this boy your son?!”

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I Forget My Son Is Black Until We Are in Public

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I don’t how to say this in a politically correct way, so I’ll just say it how I see it: I forget my son is black until we are in public. I’m not exaggerating.  I’m not trying to be spiritual.  It’s just the way it is.  When I go home at 5:00 today, I will have two boys run to …

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Eli’s Love for Air Conditioning

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Eli has been home for 5 weeks last Saturday, and yet pictures like the one above keeps our family grounded. Whenever I see my son crawl over to a vent and stick his face or his feet over the air and squeal in delight, I remember.  I remember how stuffy it was in his cramped room in the orphanage.  Eli …

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Back from Ethiopia

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I’m not going to lie.  The trip back from Ethiopia was the most physically and emotionally grueling experience I have ever had in my life.  I knew a 16 1/2 hour plane ride from Addis Ababa to Washington, D.C. with a 2-year-old (who was learning to trust his father) in my lap would be difficult.  What I didn’t expect were …

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Last Update from Addis

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It was another great day in Addis Ababa.  This was the first full day I got to spend with Eli.  Much needed I think for the both of us. Started the day when the head nanny to invite me to pray with them to start the day in the baby room.  As they started at sunrise, everyone dropped to their knees …

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To Arbegona and Back

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I can’t begin to express how appreciative I am to all of you for your love, prayers, and support.  I honestly believe the reason Eli has had such an easy time bonding with me is the huge amount of prayer warriors joining us.  You’re amazing! The last two days have been some of the longest of my life.  I have traveled in some …

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One Child’s Trip Back to Russia as an Orphan

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The state of adoption in our world is in crisis. First off, you have this boy in the picture above who was an orphan once, taken into a home, and then orphaned again by his adoptive mother sending him back on a one-way plane to Russia.  The only thing worse than being orphaned is being orphaned twice. Second, Ethiopia is …

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Travel Dates for Eli

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The above pictures are new ones we received of our son, Eli.  A gracious woman who was in Addis Ababa last week picking up her son snapped some pictures of Eli and sent them our way.  He has grown so much from those last pictures.  It is so great to see him grow in size, while he is still an …

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“Coming Home” – New Solo CD Coming Soon!

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I have some pretty exciting news this morning: I am releasing an album in a few weeks.  While the final details are still being worked out, I’ll give you what I got right now. Back when we accepted the call to adopt, I wrote a song for our coming son.  Without ever seeing his picture or knowing his story, I …

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Update on Eli (Getting Closer)

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We did receive on update on Eli yesterday.  With our agency, families pass through court in groups and then also travel together.  Group 91 to Ethiopia was processed through court yesterday, and we were not on the list.  While that is sad, it seems very sure that we are going to be in the next group.  The next group will …

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Where is Eli Right Now?

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A couple of nights ago while I was reading Obadiah a book at bedtime, I pointed to the corner of Africa where Eli lives.  Since that time, every time we open that book up and turn to that page, Obie points to the corner and says, “E-ya, brubba, E-ya.” Yes, that is where he is for now, but hopefully, he …

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The Church: More Than a Building

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What a great day with North Side today!  Week 7 0f 8 in the True[ish] series and we got to the doctrine of the church.  It’s been great to see all these weeks grow upon each other – I have learned so much!  Jeff’s message was great and reminded me of why I am so thankful to be a part …

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