Book Tour ~ Until We All Come Home Review and GIVEAWAY!

"While this book describes my journey, it is really God's story, because there is no other logical explanation for how things ultimately worked out except by God's hand.  I don't know what God will choose to do with what happened or how he will use it--but I know he will use it...if in no other way than to change me, because I have been changed." 

"Ultimately, this is the story of an orphan who found a forever home. This is also a story of a mother who, alongside her husband and daughter, felt a call to adopt a child and remained resolute to make that a reality.  But more important, this is the story of a God who will move mountains for one abandoned child, who will stop at nothing to show how much he loves and cares for the orphan, and who knows each one by name. Soli Deo Gloria." 

These words are from the Prologue to Until We All Come Home, by Kim de Blecourt, whose life...and heart...have been truly changed by her family's experience in international adoption.  That experience began due to their desire to add to their family in the wake of the disappointment of secondary infertility.  It has led, however, not only to a forever family for a little boy from a Ukrainian orphanage, but also to an impassioned ministry of hope for orphans all over the world. 

When the opportunity came to participate on the Launch Team for Kim de Blecourt's book, I seriously debated whether to even apply.  I was already committed to another Launch Team, for a long-awaited book by a favorite author, and I really wasn't sure I had the time or mental energy for another.  But...as I read the intro material for Kim's book, I was hooked.  I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to read a preview copy of this book and participate in its launch.

I read the entire book in less than 24 hours, riveted not only by the drama, intrigue, and suspense, but also by similarities I saw in our stories.  No, I've never adopted a child, internationally or otherwise, but her experiences struck a chord with me. As I said about Kim's post "Why I Wrote 'Until We All Come Home'":

I've never been out of the country, never adopted a child, never been physically assaulted or threatened with arrest or told that I would have to return a child I had come to love as my own to a heartbreaking orphanage in a foreign land.  Our circumstances are very different, but this post resonated with me, nonetheless.  I have known the determination to protect my children whatever the cost...and seen Jesus become my Everything in a whole new way as I realized that only He can truly protect them.  Our family has dealt with post-trauma issues and wondered if life would ever be remotely "normal" again.  And I have experienced that urgency to share "my God in action"...that story of His glory and grace that just has to be shared!

International adoption is rarely a smooth, simple process.  However, it typically doesn't involve physical assault, arrest, or 11 months spent dealing with hostility in a foreign country.  As a former foster care/adoption recruiter/trainer and caseworker for state-sponsored programs, I appreciate Kim's raw honesty about her family's struggles.  

I've often counseled parents considering foster care and/or adoption that they need to be absolutely certain that God is leading them to pursue those paths, because they are not easy roads to travel.  Kim's story dramatically confirms that.  However, the ordeal her family endured to bring little Jake home has not turned them against international adoption...far from it.  She founded the ministry  Nourished Hearts "to encourage, inspire, and create community around those who are adopting or have adopted, provide foster care and/or work in orphan care ministry internationally".  She is an international orphan advocate.  And all of the author profits from Until We All Come Home go to Food for Orphans, a non-profit organization that feeds orphans around the world.   

Photography by Tammi Dryden, More Than Words Photography.  Used with permission.

This book is definitely recommended reading...for the dramatic but true storyline, for the encouragement to become a part of helping orphans around the world, and most of all for the glory it gives to God, the Deliverer who brought them through and continues to lead them today.  




I've been provided with a copy of Until We All Come Home by the publisher to give away to one wonderful blog reader!  It's super-simple to enter...just click on the Rafflecopter link below for instructions and options, as well as opportunities for multiple entries!  


a Rafflecopter giveaway






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