The expansion underway of Kids Alive’s model of care demonstrates God’s whole (perfect) love which “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). The mention of family to a vulnerable child can at once provide comfort or trigger fear. Thus, a model of care developed for the whole child must embrace family. Family represents a child’s story. These stories twist and turn with complexity, at some points anchored by connection to a trustworthy family member, and at other points trembling from neglect, abuse, or abandonment. Some children live in the reality but without knowing the details of past chapters to their stories. Kids Alive seeks to piece together a child’s past with the beginning of a new chapter marked by peace. Family strengthening represents a significant development in the global strategy of Kids Alive International, one which has just begun. Read More

Kids Alive’s model of care continues to expand to reflect more of God’s whole (perfect) love which “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Trauma in a child’s life instills fear and harms physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and relational development. A model of care built for bringing whole love to the whole child must reach into these areas of child development. Read More

Homeward means both anchor and aim

Bound from a base and for a destiny

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[Pictures and highlights from our last weeks in Peru appear at the end of this post below the salutation].

We close our time in Peru with the Apostle John’s concluding response to Revelation of Jesus Christ and promise of His coming (Rev 22:20):

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

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Convergence. For our family this concept testifies how life and calling meet together as marked by God’s fingerprints. While transition brings much vulnerability, God’s kindness remains a constant in our lives. We give thanks for His victory that makes it possible in the whirlwind of transition to both stand firmly in one place while stepping forward to a new place.

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[Be advised that this post contains a very disturbing yet miraculous story]. Eleven years ago this morning, we heard our newborn daughter cry. Piercing and penetrating, Victoria Grace’s cry signaled a miracle. Despite a “birth defect not compatible with life,” her cry declared that she was alive. But her cry also pointed to her grave condition. Due to the deformation of her head and brain, her cry sounded different, a reminder of her approaching death. Victoria’s cry was life and death, and our King heard.

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Memory is an amazing function of the human brain. Its capacity to enrich life abounds. Tragically, in a fallen world, the memory of past trauma haunts and hurts survivors as lasting evidence of the enemy’s aim to steal, kill, and destroy. Yet the redemption and renewal of the mind in the New Creation opens the door to new memories and healing from past trauma. Research indicates that new pathways in the brain connected to new behaviors require hundreds of repetitions. One leader shared at our missionary retreat in January that doing so in the context of play drastically reduces the number of repetitions required to take on these positive changes. Simply put, the natural play of children reminds us as older children that play plays a critical role in healing and the renewal of our minds. We already have some very special playful memories to share with you from the first two months of 2019!

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In 2018 we have encountered many challenges in the ministry, but God’s grace has answered each one. So we close 2018 and open 2019 by giving thanks for a few of the many gifts of this season.

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KA Peru’s new Country Director recently commented, “I’m sitting here smiling about the success of the last few days.”

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Sometimes doors close. As I write this blog, the plan was for me to be settled into a hotel in Bonito, Brazil, resting and preparing for a large conference that begins tomorrow, where I would have had the privilege to address around 1000 child welfare officials and workers in Brazil with the hopeful message of trauma-informed care, including some of our own family’s story of loss and redemption with our daughter, Victoria Grace.

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