A "Baker's Dozen"

Those of you who have been my blog readers for awhile may remember hearing the name Jenny Groothuis once or twice before … if not, you can read about her in a post from 2006 here and a post from 2007 here.

She and her husband Brad have been uniquely gifted and led by God to raise a very large family. They currently have ten children – six biological, and four adopted from Liberia – all under the age of twelve years old. They are now preparing to adopt three more Liberian children, each with special needs (two with Hepatitis B and one with a damaged esophagus from swallowing lye.) Jenny can cite a number of ways in which God specifically confirm this adoption to them, but I found most compelling of all these words below which she shared on her blog recently. Raising a “baker’s dozen” is not something to which God calls everyone, but I love to witness His amazing and imaginative plans for His children. Please pray for the Groothuis family as they incorporate these children into their home and begin to teach them of the healing love of Jesus Christ!

We will have a baker's dozen! Some people may ask, "What is with all
the kids?!" By 2010 AIDS alone is predicted to leave 25 million
children orphans just in Africa. Then there is civil war, poverty,
addictions, etc. also leaving children world-wide with no parents.
Someone told me they were concerned that we were re-creating an
orphanage in our family. Obviously they had never been to an
orphanage in a developing nation. The point is to create a family, a
Daddy and a Mommy, with Jesus in the middle of it all. I want to
leave with a quote from Melissa Fay Green in her book about orphans
in Ethiopoia with "There is No Me Without You":


"Who was going to raise 12 million children? That was what I suddenly
wanted to know....Who was teaching 12 million children how to
swim.....Who will tell 12 million bedtime stories....Who will wake in
the night in response to 12 million nightmares....Well, as it turns
out, no one. Or very few. There aren't enough adults to go around."


Love, Jenny