It's nice to be back!
Bringing the mission field to our home this Christmas....As we have a heart for missions, but cannot travel overseas for a mission trip we will bring the mission into the family and local church.
Lord willing we will be bringing children from Latvia to our ranch this Christmas and they will be part of the Ryan clan for a period of time.
We agree to help cover the cost of airfare and other incidentals and provide these children with an intimate view into life inside a family. As a family we will be working on raising money for the cost of hosting these children. Any donation is a tax write off. Our Goal is $2,500 by the end of November.
Being included as a member of our family and receiving unconditional love will give these orphans HOPE for a better future. Most of these orphans just crave to sit down at dinner with a family. Learning they do have a Father, a heavenly Father gives an orphan the promise they are never alone. Many orphans have never heard of Jesus, or had the opportunity to be mentored. We will be introducing the bible into the orphan’s life by providing one in their own language and using a variety of resources to share the gospel message with them. Reaching these children while their hearts are more likely still open to hearing the message. To orphans, the idea that they are being chosen to visit America is a huge boost to their self-esteem and self-worth. To be “chosen” is in itself a gift. Once here, being treated as equal members of the family is pouring into them the message that they have value, created in the image of God, created for a reason. Many orphans have no concept of prayer. We feel it's important for them to learn that prayer can be done anywhere and they can pray no matter where they find themselves. We hope this is instrumental to instilling hope into their lives as an orphan. We will be praying for them and hope you will join in prayer with us.
Good memories are few and far between for orphans. Participating in activities and taking trips with our family are making good memories for orphans who have none:( Hosting allows orphans to see things they have never seen and likely will never see. We can't wait to bring them along on all the crazy Ryan adventures and are fortunate to share our ranch life with them.. horses and all:). Creative play are also new for most orphans. Additionally, hosting allows older siblings the ability to relax, and be a kid instead of having to be in the protective parental role that they are in the orphanage. Hosting provides a critical opportunity for orphans hoping for permanent adoptive families. Hosting focuses on older orphans, sibling sets and special needs children. These groups of orphans have about a 1% chance at international adoption because most families interested in adoption are interested in babies and toddlers. Hosting highlights these often overlooked children. Once in homes, host families and surrounding friends and family come to realize what we already know… they are just normal children, with the same hopes and dreams as all the others, but without the resources, opportunities and support needed to reach those dreams. We pray we can advocate for these children while they are here. We hope by Hosting it will provide a means of introducing churches to orphan ministry by putting a face and a name with the word “orphan.” No longer simply a word in James 1:27, it often times ignites the church to further orphan ministry. Sometimes, something as simple as meeting and interacting with an “orphan,” will be the catalyst to opening hearts to a focused ministry that supports orphans, whether through sponsorship, mission trips to orphanages, host program or adoption. This will be one way we will be advocating.
We will be adding these children into our homeschool days and helping them with their English language. No matter where you go in the world, being able to speak the English language represents a level of respect. An asset an older orphan could have is the ability to speak the English language fluently. Such ability will typically lead to a better job.
Our own children aren't "ours," they're God's, given to us to train, love and eventually return to Him. In His eyes, they're no different than the 147 million orphans worldwide. And according to scripture, our responsibility to these children is no less. If you would like to help orphans here is your chance to partner with us. We will be posting throughout the journey #orphanhostingatryanranch and would love for you to be apart of what the Lord is doing. Just as our children's lives aren't ours, neither are our own: They're His. We spend years living for ourselves and intricately planning the direction we want "our" lives to go, living as if our money, time and future are truly "ours." Every breath we take... He's temporarily lent us.
We invite you to walk beside us on the heart wrenching, unpredictable and joyful journey that is orphan hosting. Yes, we're nervous, and like you we have dozens of unanswered questions. Will there be problems? Most likely. Will it rip our hearts out to send them back? Absolutely. Will we ever adopt? Only the Lord knows.. While we don't have the answers, we DO have a faithful God, an amazing Christian family and a community of friends with a Christ-like love for God's children. As we step far, far outside our comfort zone, we're learning more about ourselves, our creator, and the potential each of us wields to change lives forever...following His lead...doing His will.
Lord willing we will be bringing children from Latvia to our ranch this Christmas and they will be part of the Ryan clan for a period of time.
We agree to help cover the cost of airfare and other incidentals and provide these children with an intimate view into life inside a family. As a family we will be working on raising money for the cost of hosting these children. Any donation is a tax write off. Our Goal is $2,500 by the end of November.
Being included as a member of our family and receiving unconditional love will give these orphans HOPE for a better future. Most of these orphans just crave to sit down at dinner with a family. Learning they do have a Father, a heavenly Father gives an orphan the promise they are never alone. Many orphans have never heard of Jesus, or had the opportunity to be mentored. We will be introducing the bible into the orphan’s life by providing one in their own language and using a variety of resources to share the gospel message with them. Reaching these children while their hearts are more likely still open to hearing the message. To orphans, the idea that they are being chosen to visit America is a huge boost to their self-esteem and self-worth. To be “chosen” is in itself a gift. Once here, being treated as equal members of the family is pouring into them the message that they have value, created in the image of God, created for a reason. Many orphans have no concept of prayer. We feel it's important for them to learn that prayer can be done anywhere and they can pray no matter where they find themselves. We hope this is instrumental to instilling hope into their lives as an orphan. We will be praying for them and hope you will join in prayer with us.
Good memories are few and far between for orphans. Participating in activities and taking trips with our family are making good memories for orphans who have none:( Hosting allows orphans to see things they have never seen and likely will never see. We can't wait to bring them along on all the crazy Ryan adventures and are fortunate to share our ranch life with them.. horses and all:). Creative play are also new for most orphans. Additionally, hosting allows older siblings the ability to relax, and be a kid instead of having to be in the protective parental role that they are in the orphanage. Hosting provides a critical opportunity for orphans hoping for permanent adoptive families. Hosting focuses on older orphans, sibling sets and special needs children. These groups of orphans have about a 1% chance at international adoption because most families interested in adoption are interested in babies and toddlers. Hosting highlights these often overlooked children. Once in homes, host families and surrounding friends and family come to realize what we already know… they are just normal children, with the same hopes and dreams as all the others, but without the resources, opportunities and support needed to reach those dreams. We pray we can advocate for these children while they are here. We hope by Hosting it will provide a means of introducing churches to orphan ministry by putting a face and a name with the word “orphan.” No longer simply a word in James 1:27, it often times ignites the church to further orphan ministry. Sometimes, something as simple as meeting and interacting with an “orphan,” will be the catalyst to opening hearts to a focused ministry that supports orphans, whether through sponsorship, mission trips to orphanages, host program or adoption. This will be one way we will be advocating.
We will be adding these children into our homeschool days and helping them with their English language. No matter where you go in the world, being able to speak the English language represents a level of respect. An asset an older orphan could have is the ability to speak the English language fluently. Such ability will typically lead to a better job.
Our own children aren't "ours," they're God's, given to us to train, love and eventually return to Him. In His eyes, they're no different than the 147 million orphans worldwide. And according to scripture, our responsibility to these children is no less. If you would like to help orphans here is your chance to partner with us. We will be posting throughout the journey #orphanhostingatryanranch and would love for you to be apart of what the Lord is doing. Just as our children's lives aren't ours, neither are our own: They're His. We spend years living for ourselves and intricately planning the direction we want "our" lives to go, living as if our money, time and future are truly "ours." Every breath we take... He's temporarily lent us.
We invite you to walk beside us on the heart wrenching, unpredictable and joyful journey that is orphan hosting. Yes, we're nervous, and like you we have dozens of unanswered questions. Will there be problems? Most likely. Will it rip our hearts out to send them back? Absolutely. Will we ever adopt? Only the Lord knows.. While we don't have the answers, we DO have a faithful God, an amazing Christian family and a community of friends with a Christ-like love for God's children. As we step far, far outside our comfort zone, we're learning more about ourselves, our creator, and the potential each of us wields to change lives forever...following His lead...doing His will.
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