Exploitation of Our Daughter?

People are emailing asking about this comment that was left on our blog yesterday:

OncologyRN said:
It appears as though you use this adopted spanish child as a means to gain money , gifts, and attention. Why don't you just return her to her country of origin and carry on with your lives. Let her be loved in a place where she is not exploited on the internet daily and her personal medical problems exposed to millions. Be fair and kind to this poor child. She didn't ask to be adopted by your wife and then have you enter her life a few months ago and all of a sudden call her your "daughter" (as if she was yours from the start) . that doesnt give you the right to use her and exploit her as you do ..all in the name of religion..(what a joke!). Please get yourselves jobs and support yourselves, dont beg from internet people and PLEASE leave that poor suffering child out of it all. Let her live her life in peace and privacy rather than exploitation. She deserves that. Wow I am just stunned how you parade all her pain and personal medical issues all over the internet including photos of her in pain. Let the child have a private time to heal. I wonder if those adoption people know what you are doing with the child that was given to your wife. What a shame..shame shame! In the hospital, there is a law called HIPPA, you would be in violation of it had you been caring for a patient in a hospital setting. Be a man, get a job, and leave that poor child to recover and heal in privacy. Stop exploiting her health issues to generate sympathy for youself.and make a living for family. Get a job !!!!!

I thought we would just go ahead and give her a full forum for her viewpoint so everyone can consider her points. Her opinions about our motives are her opinion. She has right to them. She does NOT have a right to be published or heard on our blog... we granted her that privilege because we have nothing to hide and it's a lesson learned for all us as to what you can expect when you live a public Christian life.

Besides stating things that are factually untrue (for the people who ACTUALLY know about us, you'll spot those errors pretty easily), she looks deep in our heart and declares to know our motivation, our purposes and our reasons, all of which are selfish and evil. Much of her motivation is clearly exposed by a single phrase: "all in the name of religion..(what a joke!)". There you find the core, the crux, the heart of her response.

Michelle and I usually just discard this kind of comment, but in light of the last couple of days, we thought we would put this one up, and let everyone consider her points.

We will continue to minister and pray and love and help and support and pour ourselves out for as many people as we are able. That can't be EVERYONE, because that is impossible. I've emailed another family a couple of times today who feel like we've ignored them, and that we can't possibly be praying for, ministering to, and helping all the people that come to our blog as well as care for Abby and our family. You're right, we can't. That is why we are building a community of people who are all doing this together. Because of what was posted in the last couple of days, this family thought we were ignoring them because they are Catholic.

Geez.... can a brutha not getta break 'round here?

No whining... not looking for sympathy or pity. Just wanted to give these comments about exploiting Abby a full voice on our blog so every single blog friend we have can come to an informed conclusion about it.

We get this type of criticism routinely and rarely do we make it public. But Michelle and I talked about it this morning and thought it would be good for US to post this comment and let those who agree, do so, then go find another blog who they think is worthy of their time. If you agree with OncologyRN, then why are you wasting your time here? We aren't worth it.

Perhaps those of you who disagree with her might leave a comment stating what you know about us and our minsitry work so that those who might be "wondering" can have the other side of the story to consider. We get a lot of new readers every week, so there will be people who don't know us well, who might read the comment above and wonder "is that true?" That's okay... it's a natural response.

Michelle and I aren't going to put up a bunch of "look what we do" commentary for obvious reasons, so perhaps your comments might testify to what our ministry, life, reputation, work, advice and efforts are trying to accomplish, and what our motivation is. If it is not clear to those who have known us for a longer period of time, then we truly have been missing the mark.

Now I need to go exploit Abby a little more. She's next to me here in the hospital bed sound asleep. I brought Sami and Landis here to get a visit with Mom... don't worry, we're brainstorming ways to exploit them too.

Blessings,
Brent