I have news...
It’s with excited nausea in my stomach and bitter sweet tears in my eyes that I sit down to write this letter.
After I’ve poured liters of my own blood, sweat, and tears over the last 7 years for the lost youth of Langley...I’m leaving. The story could be told a dozen different ways and would all be true, but for the sake of time allow me to simply say this:
The Creator looked down on BC and His heart broke for the orphaned children He saw. Over 1000 kids in BC are in need of families to call their own. Lonely. Unwanted. Abandoned. The Great Father wanted His church to raise up and care for his lost little ones, and so he looked over the province and selected the one couple that had decided they NEVER wanted kids, and told them that He was entrusting them with his precious ones.
Yup, that’s right. Corey and I are absolutely convinced that God has commanded us to be parents to the motherless and fatherless. I feel like Mary being told she will carry the Messiah. So through a series of circumstances and bizarre “this has to be God” kind of situations, we are on a new journey. We will be moving to Kelowna where I will be pioneering a new ministry that reaches out to the orphaned youth there. After this ministry is established Corey and I plan on adopting (we are on step 6 of 14). That’s right, I’m going to be a mom.
I know - I never thought it would happen either.
I know you will all have many questions so let me answer a few. Yes, I plan on continuing in ministry even when we adopt. We will be adopting children that are currently in foster care in BC. We want the ones that are difficult to place; the older ones. 5-10 years old is our age range. And yes, you read that right...CHILDREN, not child. We are open to taking in a sibling group. This is still 1 to 3 years away because we want to become fully established and have our support groups in place before entering this adventure.
So why Kelowna? There are so many reasons and it is difficult to say one answer. It is where we want to raise our kids. It has one of the biggest homeless youth populations in BC. It is also a city that has ZERO resources for those youth. It’s become a real problem and the city is desperate for help. Corey has also been transferred and is now working as a full time paramedic in Summerland, which is only a small commute away. This I know: The need is great. Our God is greater. We are willing. He is sending us.
It’s with excited nausea in my stomach and bitter sweet tears in my eyes that I sit down to write this letter.
After I’ve poured liters of my own blood, sweat, and tears over the last 7 years for the lost youth of Langley...I’m leaving. The story could be told a dozen different ways and would all be true, but for the sake of time allow me to simply say this:
The Creator looked down on BC and His heart broke for the orphaned children He saw. Over 1000 kids in BC are in need of families to call their own. Lonely. Unwanted. Abandoned. The Great Father wanted His church to raise up and care for his lost little ones, and so he looked over the province and selected the one couple that had decided they NEVER wanted kids, and told them that He was entrusting them with his precious ones.
Yup, that’s right. Corey and I are absolutely convinced that God has commanded us to be parents to the motherless and fatherless. I feel like Mary being told she will carry the Messiah. So through a series of circumstances and bizarre “this has to be God” kind of situations, we are on a new journey. We will be moving to Kelowna where I will be pioneering a new ministry that reaches out to the orphaned youth there. After this ministry is established Corey and I plan on adopting (we are on step 6 of 14). That’s right, I’m going to be a mom.
I know - I never thought it would happen either.
I know you will all have many questions so let me answer a few. Yes, I plan on continuing in ministry even when we adopt. We will be adopting children that are currently in foster care in BC. We want the ones that are difficult to place; the older ones. 5-10 years old is our age range. And yes, you read that right...CHILDREN, not child. We are open to taking in a sibling group. This is still 1 to 3 years away because we want to become fully established and have our support groups in place before entering this adventure.
So why Kelowna? There are so many reasons and it is difficult to say one answer. It is where we want to raise our kids. It has one of the biggest homeless youth populations in BC. It is also a city that has ZERO resources for those youth. It’s become a real problem and the city is desperate for help. Corey has also been transferred and is now working as a full time paramedic in Summerland, which is only a small commute away. This I know: The need is great. Our God is greater. We are willing. He is sending us.
If all goes according to plan (at this moment we just have one
more hoop to officially jump through), as of December 2015 I will be the Satellite Director of Youth Unlimited Okanagan. I
will need a lot of help and support over the coming year. My
aim is that every step of the way will be saturated in prayer.
So please, pray for us as we go through this huge transition.
We are selling everything and moving to a new city where we
don’t know anyone. We are leaving behind friends, church,
and family. One of my greatest losses is that I will no longer
be able to work with the Langley YU team that have become
like family to me. I’m terrified but trusting. I’ll send out more
news later about how you can financially support this new
ministry, or how you can transfer your current support from
my Langley ministry to the new ministry. I’ll also provide
instructions of how you can transfer your support from my
ministry to the ongoing Langley ministry if that is where you
want to continue investing. Leaving Langley is very difficult.
When I told my teenagers they cried for two hours in the
mini-bus, refusing to leave until I finally kicked them out
because it was late. I’m grieving the loss of everything here
yet am excited about the new thing God has for us.
Please pray that details about renting out our condo goes smoothly, the move goes well, all the right hoops get jumped through, that we find a support group when we get there, that God opens doors and makes the direction clear, and please pray for our kids. I can’t help but cry as I write this. It’s a strange feeling knowing that your kids are out there somewhere right now and that they are probably hurting. They are probably not safe. And between now and when they come to be ours they will have to go through a lot. Please pray for them, wherever they are. We love them even though we don’t know them.
Thank you for taking the time to read, pray, and give. I love you all!
I’ll keep you posted,
- Carmen Rempel
Please pray that details about renting out our condo goes smoothly, the move goes well, all the right hoops get jumped through, that we find a support group when we get there, that God opens doors and makes the direction clear, and please pray for our kids. I can’t help but cry as I write this. It’s a strange feeling knowing that your kids are out there somewhere right now and that they are probably hurting. They are probably not safe. And between now and when they come to be ours they will have to go through a lot. Please pray for them, wherever they are. We love them even though we don’t know them.
Thank you for taking the time to read, pray, and give. I love you all!
I’ll keep you posted,
- Carmen Rempel
Training for our many volunteers!
It's weird, I feel sad that you're leaving here because I won't be able to get together with you anymore even though we haven't gotten together in ... years. But I'll still see you on Facebook, so nothing will change....
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