{"id":151,"date":"2009-08-27T10:19:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-27T10:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2009\/08\/a-story-from-the-fields-matt-melody.html"},"modified":"2009-08-27T10:19:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-27T10:19:29","slug":"a-story-from-the-fields-matt-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/08\/a-story-from-the-fields-matt-melody.html","title":{"rendered":"A Story from the Fields: Matt & Melody"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love it when the dream of rescuing a child becomes reality! In the latest edition
\nof Fields of the Fatherless, I devoted an entire chapter to the
\nadoption stories of two couples. One of those couples, Matt &
\nMelody Monberg<\/a>, just finally passed court, and are on their way to
\nEthiopia in just a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Throughout the two year process
\nthat has brought them to this point, they have faced the ups and downs,
\ntwists and turns, joys and defeats that come with the adoption process.
\nI encourage you to read their last couple posts <\/a>on their blog to get a
\nsense for how God worked miracles<\/a> in the face of uncertain obstacles<\/a>.
\nIt involves a missing government official, a 6-hour drive through the
\nEthiopian countryside, and a last minute court date with a picky
\nadoption judge. <\/p>\n

Matt & Melody also helped organize the
\nEthiopian Formula Drive <\/a>we did back in May that raised over $12,000 to
\nbuy formula for the babies living in the transition home. One of those
\nbabies is Desta Grace, their daughter pictured here.<\/p>\n

\"Picture12\"<\/a>
I had the
\nprivelege of taking Matt to his first orphanage in Russia. But it
\nwasn't until the second orphanage that God grabbed his heart for
\norphans. I remember standing in the snow as the cold winter air was blowing in our faces outside of Neya
\norphanage. Matt, with tears in his eyes (and no socks on, only house shoes), was broken
\nby the injustice and the abuse he saw in the faces of little Russian
\norphans–orphans who were not unlike his own children. <\/p>\n

Matt's
\nbeen on our staff for the past six years, and in that time has
\nsponsored three different children in Russia.  He, and those kids, are
\nnot the same. <\/p>\n

When you allow God to use you as a sponsor<\/a>–as a
\nvoice for an orphan–the journey often takes you to unexpected places.
\nMatt & Melody are just one of the families who have taken up the
\ncall to care for orphans, and now are within weeks of bringing Desta
\nhome to her forever family.<\/p>\n

In the last weeks, they are tidying
\nup all the details and getting ready to travel. I know they would
\nappreciate your prayers and your support. You can find out more about
\nhow you can support them on their blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can give directly to their adoption fund here<\/a>, or come to their open house fundraiser by RSVPing here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love it when the dream of rescuing a child becomes reality! In the latest edition of Fields of the Fatherless, I devoted an entire chapter to the adoption stories of two couples. One of those couples, Matt & Melody Monberg, just finally passed court, and are on their way to Ethiopia in just a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nA Story from the Fields: Matt & Melody - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/08\/a-story-from-the-fields-matt-melody.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Story from the Fields: Matt & Melody - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I love it when the dream of rescuing a child becomes reality! 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}