Every summer, three families host a Stand for Orphans® lemonade stand together. Friends and family stop for lemonade, children laugh, and conversations about adoption begin. But the story behind their stand started years earlier with one phone call between friends.
In 2016, Mary Scott Lincoln got a call from her friend Morgan Barry with questions about international adoption. Mary Scott’s brother and his wife had just adopted their daughter from China through Lifeline, and she shared how much joy it had brought their family.
That conversation was a turning point. Weeks later, Morgan and her husband began their own adoption journey through Lifeline, and eighteen months after that, they brought their daughter Leah home from China. Morgan calls it “the greatest thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
The story didn’t end there. After Leah came home, another friend, Lael Anderson, came to Morgan with questions of her own. Morgan walked alongside her just as Mary Scott had done for her, and connected Lael with Mary Scott directly.
In 2019, Lael and her husband started the adoption process with Lifeline, hoping to adopt from China. When China’s program was suspended in 2020, they shifted their search elsewhere—leaning on Morgan and Mary Scott for prayer and encouragement through every high and low.
Years later, Mary Scott shared a Lifeline post about a little girl in Poland with Lael. The Andersons were matched with her for over a year, only to eventually learn that the Central Authority had located a family for the child in her country of origin. It was a heartbreaking loss, but their friends stood by them. Eventually, the family pursued adopting a child from Hungary and welcomed their son home and into their family in 2025.
For eight years now, these three families have marked what God has done by hosting a joint Stand for Orphans® lemonade stand— part of Lifeline’s initiative empowering families to raise support for orphaned and vulnerable children. The best part, they all agree, is getting to share their stories with neighbors and raise awareness about adoption.
Their annual Stand for Orphans is more than a fundraiser. It’s a celebration of friendship, an opportunity to share the beauty of adoption, and a reminder that God always works for our good and His glory.
