I don’t typically post on Saturdays, but I wanted to give you all a chance to get to know John McCollum and his family a little bit before we dive into our Q & A session on orphan care next week. If you missed yesterday’s post, we started a discussion about orphanages and whether or not they’re the best thing for children.

(And if you’re looking for details about the Read-a-Long–we’re doing Jen Hatmaker’s book, 7–click here. More info coming up next week!)

I always smile when I think about the first time I met John and Kori McCollum and their three kids. Because it was at an orphanage outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They were spending most of their summer vacation in Cambodia and Thailand, visiting and encouraging all of the Asia’s Hope orphanages. And we were there with a small team from our church for just a week, visiting the Asia’s Hope orphanage we sponsor.

The funny thing is that John and Kori live about 10 minutes from Gabe and me, yet we met on the other side of the world. After we all got back, the four of us had lunch and got to chat about what was going on in our head and hearts.

They’re great people with huge hearts for orphans, but enough of me talking. I’ll let John share his (their) story.

Me: Hey there, John. Tell me a little about you and your family. How did you get involved with orphan care and with Cambodia?

John: First of all, Marla, let me just say that it’s great to have the opportunity to talk with you about these issues. I know that you have worked tirelessly to advocate for orphans, and that many of your readers have provided you moral and financial support. So, thanks!

Me: You betcha. It’s my pleasure. Truly.

John: Well, my wife Kori and I were high school sweethearts. We’ve been married for 18 years. We live in Columbus, Ohio with our three kids, all of whom were adopted. Chien, 14, is from Vietnam. Pak, 13, is Korean and Xiu Dan, 6, is from China.

We adopted Chien in 1998 while Kori was working as a mechanical engineer, and I was working at a small graphic design and marketing firm I had just started. Our trip to Vietnam changed our lives for a lot of reasons. First, it introduced Chien to our family. Also, it planted the seed in our hearts that would eventually grow into full-time, vocational orphan care and advocacy.

Me: Oooh, I love this story. Sorry. Go on.

John: To be honest, neither of us had any specific interest in Asia prior to Chien’s adoption. We knew we wanted to adopt (we’re not infertile, as far as we know), and at the time, Vietnam was a relatively easy program to apply for. So, we did it. But during the adoption process God really drew our hearts to Asia, and then sealed the deal when we went to pick up Chien.

After Chien’s adoption, we couldn’t stop thinking about Vietnam. We couldn’t forget the people we met, especially the orphans and street kids. We began to believe that God might be calling us to full-time vocational missions work in Vietnam.

Me: Can totally relate.

John: We spoke with our church, we approached various missions people in our denomination, and none of it really panned out. It seemed like the doors just weren’t going to open for us.

Meanwhile, God had plans to bring our son Pak into our lives. He was born in the U.S. to a young Korean woman, and came rather suddenly into our lives. In fact, he was born the day after Chien’s first birthday, and was in our family the day after that. Later, in 2006, we would travel to China to adopt Xiu Dan.

So, anyway, in 2000 the youth pastor at the church we were attending approached me and said, “John, I know that you and Kori are really in love with Vietnam. Would you ever be interested in Cambodia?” To be honest, I didn’t know much about Cambodia, except that it was next door to Vietnam…

Me: Well, that’s something. I can’t tell you how many people thought we were in Africa over Christmas.

John: … and that it was desperately poor, having been beat to shreds by a brutal civil war. I said, “Well, sure. Why?” He told me about a pastor from a church in our denomination about an hour away from Columbus. “He does something in Cambodia. Not sure what it is – you should call him.”

I called the pastor, and basically invited myself along on his next trip. He graciously allowed me to come along on what was pretty much a run-of-the-mill short term missions trip. But while we were there, God gave us a vision to move beyond a once-a-year visit evangelism and teaching gig. We met so many amazing Christians in Cambodia – they had everything they needed for successful ministry – the organization, the passion, the gifting, the spiritual authority – everything but money. And we as American Christians had the converse – money, and a willingness to help, but very little else to bring to the table.

Me: I hear ya. It’s been hard for us knowing that our biggest asset is something as dumb as money, but it was soooo encouraging to meet some unbelievably awesome Jesus-serving people in Cambodia and Thailand.

John: It seemed pretty easy at first. Let’s make a commitment to fund a small project, and then we’ll go back to America and ask our friends to donate. So, that’s what we did. We agreed to help a church in Phnom Penh rent a building for ministry to college students. It was something like $700 per month. Not a very big commitment. So, we set about raising funds, and before long, enough people had given that we had to start thinking about get serious. We incorporated as a non-profit in 2001.

For the first few years, we had a bit of a scattershot approach to our work, funding everything from medical clinics to outreach to military officials. When the opportunity came to start our first orphan home in 2004, I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for. Over the next few years, we narrowed our focus to residential orphan care, and expanded to Thailand, opening our first home there in 2005. Today, we operate 23 homes in Cambodia, Thailand and India, providing comprehensive care for about 600 kids. We have about 150 indigenous staff – moms and dads, teachers, nurses, cooks and administrators.

The co-founding pastor served as our full-time Executive Director until February 2009. After he left the organization, I took the directorship, and I closed my design business shortly thereafter. I love what I do, and can’t wait to see what God does with this ministry over the next few years.

Me: Thank you so much, John. I love how God works. Looking forward to having you address some questions and concerns about orphan care next week on the blog.

If you’ve got any questions for John, feel free to ask him in the comments. He’ll respond as he has time. Thanks!

So… yeah, today (Thursday) has been a little bit less than awesome around here. Our fam has kind of been through the wringer lately. So no big Read-Along Introduction post with snazzy graphics and brilliant reading schedules. But that’s okay. That will give me more time to nag you to join us. And for you to get the book. (I’m thrilled that so many of you are in already!!)

And in the meantime, I want to get started on a little series of posts that I think are important. About orphanages. And whether they’re really helping kiddos or actually doing more harm than good.

A week or so ago, I got a facebook message from my friend Heather. She and her family have recently returned to Texas after spending time in Haiti. She was getting ready to post a link to an article about orphan care in Cambodia and wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt me by it.

She said she thought the article raised some valid questions, but that she didn’t want me to think that she and Aaron thought that our work in Cambodia was wrong, or “anything less than beautiful.” Then she said a bunch more nice stuff that made me go “awwww…”

I messaged her back and thanked her for being so sweet to think of my feelings. I read the article, and it made me sad. Because there was so much truth in it. So much. But it also gave me hope, because I knew that “our” orphanage in Cambodia was exempt from all of the red flags the article raised. Not exempt because they’ve been granted some special status, but because they truly want what’s best for these kids, and they’re doing this orphan care thing right.

And they’re not the only ones doing it right.

And there are lots of good, right ways to help orphans. And there are lots of good, right ways to keep kiddos from becoming orphans. Because that would be the best-case scenario, no?

There are also some very sad and dangerous things going on around the world in the name of “orphan care.” Exploitation of children for financial gain. The tearing apart of families. Emotional abandonment stemming from a revolving door of volunteers. Exposure to child predators. Awful stuff like that.

And I think it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by all of this and think, “So are orphanages good or are they bad?” And the answer is so much more complex than that.

I talked to John McCollum, Executive Director of Asia’s Hope, and asked him if he’d be willing to answer some questions and address some concerns about orphanages and if they’re really in the best interest of kiddos in Cambodia. He said absolutely. He also pointed me to another site that warns people of the dangers of Orphanage Tourism.

One thing is for sure. Caring for orphans is a biblical mandate. We just want to make sure we’re really, truly caring for them like Jesus wants us to.

So, here’s what I’m hoping we can do here on the blog next week:

1. If orphan care is something that matters to you, I’d love for you to read the article and browse the site.

2. If you have personal experiences to share or know of some organizations that are doing this thing right, tell us about them.

3. Have questions or concerns? Share them in the comments.

John will be on hand to answer your questions and address your concerns as we go. (And tomorrow he’ll be sharing his personal story on the blog–good stuff.)

Sorry about that. Fancied myself a yell leader for a second there.

It’s Read-A-Long time again, friends! Isn’t this exciting??

Disclaimer: I started a post about this two days ago and then a completely different one in my head today and then we had some, um, family issues tonight, and I need to get my rear in bed in about two shakes. So it’s all going out the window.

No drumroll. No pep talk. No guilt trip. No I-dare-you-to-read-this-book. Just this:

7. We’re reading 7. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker for long. Quite possibly the best book I’ve ever read. And I’ve already read it twice. And I can’t wait to read it again with all of you.

It’s good, friends. G-O-O-D. And real. And gut-honest. And pee-your-pants hi-larious. And convicting.

And hopefully, by tomorrow, I’ll have a fun little read-along graphic ready to go and an excerpt from the book to share and some details about when we’ll start and when we’ll finish and what days we’ll be discussing what we’ve read.

Do me a favor?

1. If you think you’re up for the read-along, let me know you’re in. (we’ll do a more formal introduction soon)

2. If you need some more convincing, tell me that too, and I’ll see what I can do.

I. Am. So. Excited!

Yeah, the scrooge would be me. I don’t know what to say. I just can’t help it. I’ve tried to examine my heart and see if there’s anything buried deep inside that keeps me from enjoying this holiday.

But I got nothin.

So I’m pretty sure it’s just my practical, pragmatic nature (except for the parts of me that are outrageous and spontaneous) that balks at celebrating something just because everyone else is. And spending money on frivolous, pointless things when there are bills to be paid and mission trips to take and orphans going hungry.

I didn’t give much thought today to Valentine’s Day as it pertains to my husband and me. He helped me get all this free e-book stuff together (you just missed it–doggone!) and whatnot, and shoot if that wasn’t gift enough for me. Because Valentine’s day = mushy = dumb = let’s skip it, please.

My new friend Jolie (read her blog–you’ll love it!) even offered to keep our girls while we went on a V-Day date (her husband is a medical resident who works a bazillion hours a week and certainly doesn’t get time off for Hallmark holidays). I said thanks, Jolie, but no. We (I) hate Valentine’s Day. But come on over and we’ll have an Un-Valentine’s Party!

Well, then I invited my friend Pam to join us, but she was already having dinner with our friends Sean and Megan. So then Pam says, “How about Jolie and I watch all the kids, and you four (me, Gabe, Sean, Meg) go out?”

Well, Meg said thanks, but no (because she’s a fellow awesome V-day-hater but nicer), so we decided to all get together for pizza and Bezzerwizzer. SO MUCH FUN!

But, as I was waiting for Gabe to get home so we could leave, and he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late, I got this little uncomfortable feeling in my belly. “That little stinker… he BETTER not be buying me flowers or something… I DO NOT WANT TO CELEBRATE THIS DAY!”

So, what does Little Miss Scrooge do? She logs in to our bank’s website to see if there was any action on the check card in the past 20 minutes.

There was.

My heart sank, and I shook my head. Kroger. $30 freaking dollars. For flowers that WILL DIE IN TWO DAYS. I feel sick all over again just thinking about it.

I knew he was going to be home any minute, and I had to figure out how I was going to act both surprised and pleased when I was neither. “Be sweet,” I told myself. “Be grateful. He loves you. A lot. He just wants to make you happy. You are so blessed. DON’T BE AN IDIOT.”

He pulled in, and I tried to act cool. He had something behind his back. I could tell that he could tell that I was on to him.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “When you didn’t come and didn’t come, I looked online at our checking account.”

“I knew it! I can’t do anything without you knowing!”

And he pulled out a single rose from behind his back.

My eyes got all big and my mind raced. They did NOT charge him $30 for a SINGLE ROSE. Tell me they didn’t! Please tell me they DIDN’T!”

And then he pulled out something else. A $25 Amazon gift card.

Oh my stinking word. Six square inches of pure love.

And I hugged him and told him I loved him and that I was so, so sorry for being such a scrooge and that I didn’t get him anything and he reminded me that I’ve never gotten him anything and that he has never NOT gotten me something and I was all, “Really?? You get me something every Valentine’s Day??”

I am such a loser.

But instead of moping about it, I’m just going to wrap things up here at my little computer, head upstairs, and pull a trick or two out of a book I once read (you have until noon Wednesday to leave a comment for a chance to win one, by the way).

Wink, wink. And sayonara!

EDIT (Thursday, February 16): Congratulations to Jan M, Beth L, Santos S, Becca S, and Tsh O, our five lucky winners!

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. One of my favorite things about having written an e-book is that I can give it away for FREE any time I darn please, and it doesn’t cost me a DIME.

So let the FREE begin!! From now (10pm on V-Day Eve) through 11:59pm EST on Valentine’s Day, The Husband’s Guide to Getting Lucky is YOURS. FOREVER. For FREE.

(Not married? Well, hold your horses for just a little teensy bit, because next month I’m releasing my first-ever (e-)book that you don’t have to be married, knocked-up, or a mama to read.)

FINALLY.

Can I get an AMEN?!? And a HALLELUJAH?!?

Now just click that pretty little heart, follow the instructions, and you’ll be reading your free e-book in no time.

And as a special thank-you to all the love and sharing I’m anticipating today, I’m giving away FIVE copies of Is That All He Thinks About? (like, an actual paperback book that I will send you in the mail) to five random commenters on this post. Woo-hoopity-hoo!!! And yeehaw!!

All you’ve got to do is say, “pick me!” or “I love free books!” or “my husband rocks!” or “woo-hoopity-hoo-doo-woo!” Or whatever. (Husbands, feel free to comment on behalf of your wives.)

Happy Valentine’s Day!! (one of my least favorite holidays EVER, but who asked me?)