Help Me Meet My Mother

It’s a funny thing to think that this woman, whom I’ve never met, is actually my mother.

But I’d love to meet her… and I’d like to have your help.  More info after the jump.

You see, I’m adopted.

Twice, actually (if you want to get all technical on me), but I’ll get to that later.

The first time was when I was but 11 months old. My mother had made some poor decisions at a very young age with another very young man.

There was little choice, she had to give us up for adoption.

(The above 2 lines were actually re-written… I realized that what I had wrote was extremely sensitive and emotional subject… and that I still have a lot of issues that are unresolved.  Prayer, perhaps, is the only remedy.)

Apparently she also remarried and had 2 other sons (2 half-brothers…!!! Can you imagine waking up and one day being told you have two more brothers…?)  Even though I do not know their names, I do know mine.

I carry, to this day, my original Korean last name “Lee” as my middle name: John Lee Saddington.  It was (or still is…?) Lee Joon Han.

But I’m not thankful just for the name (it’s a great one too, mind you) but I’m also thankful for her ability to make a choice that is, for all intents and purposes, one step down in difficulty from sending one’s own Son to die for filthy and undeserving people.

She gave me a shot at Adoption #2, or my Second Adoption, an opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and be adopted as a son of God.

Lee Sung Han and I were given new names and new parents.  Two loving parents that gave us everything.  They raised us “right” and helped us grow.

Our new parents watched us take our first steps.  They watched us as we went off to school for the first time.  They watched and nurtured and loved us through our many (and I say many) bad choices.  They took us to countless sporting events and watched us become world-class athletes.  They gave guidance and counsel when we we’re choosing our college majors and saw one become a computer 3l1te hax0r (programmer, for you non-techies) and the other a business process nut job that made far too much money too fast.  They saw us through all of our failed relationships and mentored us on the ones that worked.  They watched us both come to the saving faith of Jesus Christ (all those sunday school classes that they “forced” us to, at times, paid off!). They stood before an Almighty God when one of them left them to be joined to another in Marriage.  They were there during the dedication ceremony of their first grand daughter. They were there there to see both find value and joy in taking their faith journey’s farther, and seeing them graduate seminary (one with 3 degrees and one still struggling)! They were there when one left an insanely lucrative fortune 50 job as an executive for full time ministry. And they will be there when the other (finally) gets married next year.

All of these things, crucial and poignant moments of time for myself and my brother, were witnessed and shared with our new parents.

But our first ones, our biological, never heard a single word.

That is, until, Peter began the “hunt” nearly 8 years ago.  Through various un-ending paperwork, trial and error, a butt load of prayer and a touch of luck he had managed to find her, and through a translator was able to communicate to her life-saving words of redemption.

He told her that we forgave her.  He told her that we loved her.

And to think that the very people that she threw away would be the ones that love her the most.  It’s Holy Spirit-driven, a God-initiated movement, and a Savior’s enabled possibility.

But for all the communique that occured, and all the communication back and forth, it still lacks one thing, the opportunity to give her a big whopping hug.

But God provides, right?

Through no action on my part (and I wasn’t even aware this program existed!) I’ve been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a “all expenses paid” trip back to Korea to visit her.  The OKF (Overseas Koreans Foundation) with G.O.A.L. (Global Oversees Adoptees’ Link) has chosen my brother and I to be a part of a group that will have the chance to meet their birth mothers.  44 fellow adoptees will join us on this trek around the globe, affectionately called “The First Trip Home”.

Not only have they offered to finance the large portion of the traveling and hotel stay, they have been able to “open” all the adoption case files for those chosen participants.  This is often extremely difficult.

But not every expense is covered.

And that’s where I’m humbly asking for your help, in two ways:

Prayer

This may quite possibly be the most emotional experience of my life, save my extremely emotional marriage ceremony and salvation episode.

I’d love you to become a prayer partner with me and my brother as we prepare to travel and meet my mother, and especially for the big day.  Pray for safe travels, and that fear and anxiety would not beat us down.

Financial Support

I’m in need of approximately $500 to $800 dollars to cover additional expenses for the trip.  This is almost nothing compared to when I had to raise $20,000+ for a Campus Crusade mission to Bosnia back in ‘03… but I also had months and months to raise it.

I’ve got only 17 days.

Flight’s out on the 5th of December and I’ll be there for a week, flying back on the 14th of December.

Call me crazy, but in Faith, we’ve already said that we’d go and my amazingly graceful team @ North Point Ministries has given me the green light to go, even despite the crazy number of project launches coming up (HEART me some NPM!).

And, if I raise more than the required amount listed above, the excess will be donated to a family who’s trying to pay for adoption (adoptions these days can cost close to $20,000 dollars).

So, please, prayerfully consider it and check out the donation widget on the right sidebar.

And feel free to blog about it, tweet it up, pass it along… This could be epic.

Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll be blogging and (hopefully) vlogging the entire trip.  Stay tuned.

Human3rror Goes to Korea – Needs Your Help! from John on Vimeo.