Living "on mission" at Halloween

Our family has never really done anything at Halloween. We don't dress up, trick or treat, attend church "alternatives" or pass out candy. We haven't had parties, decorated our yard or browsed the spooky aisles at the stores. Honestly, we have never really seen a reason to. It always seemed like just one more lame reason to spend too much money and participate in a holiday that is focused very much on death and evil. We never judge those who do, in fact just about every single person we know and love participates in some way and we don't have a problem with that, but we have always been content to just turn off the lights and have a family night instead. We never really gave any more thought to it.


Until this year.


This year we did something completely out of the ordinary for our family and it was so much fun and such a blessing that I had to share! 

This year we approached Halloween with an entirely new and fresh perspective. Thanks to an amazing church who is constantly encouraging us to be "on mission" and to live intentionally and after reading an article from Desiring God  that challenged us even further, we are beginning to see that all of life (including Halloween) is an opportunity to advance the gospel. Randy and I started thinking about ways we could be an intentional blessing to our neighbors and this whole Halloween thing seemed like an opportunity that God was literally bringing right to our door step.


I mean, what other night does your entire neighborhood come to your door??!! 


So, instead of hiding out inside our house and let yet another opportunity pass us by, we decided to go out and have some fun and get to know our neighbors a little bit.




First, we got the very best candy in FULL SIZE bars to pass out. We figured if we were going to do this, we were going to go all out so Randy went to Costco and stocked up. (turns out that 160 pieces wasn't even enough, so we'll have to stock up on more next year- yikes!) Then we set up a table outside, decorated it with some pumpkins and put out some "treats" for the moms and dads that would be coming out with their kids. We made caramel apple cider and yummy pumpkin squares- and they were both a hit. We just sat outside in our front yard and would talk to anyone who came by. The kids would immediately see the big candy bars and get really excited and then when we offered some cider or pumpkin squares to them or their parents, they would get even more excited! According to most of the kids who came to our yard, we were the 'best house ever' and even a lot of the parents were surprised that we were out there offering them something hot to drink as they went trick or treating with their kids. Wish I would have thought to take some pictures- it was a lot of fun!


We met many neighbors that we hadn't before and got to see all of the kids dressed up in their fun costumes. It wasn't a huge deal and people didn't really stay for more than a few minutes, but as the night ended (and the candy & cider ran out!) we were so thankful that we made the small effort to be intentional instead of just doing "what we always do." I believe that it's the little things that we do that can show the love of Christ even more than the big things sometimes. 


We didn't have a gospel message, pass out tracts, or play Christian music, but we just wanted to be good neighbors. We "let our light shine" in a very small way on a night that in past years, we have just kept hidden in the dark. We pray that the Lord would give us more opportunities to get to know our neighbors and build relationships with them in the future and that we wouldn't be afraid to do things differently. Being "on mission" is not really about an event or a trip, but about living each and every day as "sent ones" of Jesus Christ. Seeing every moment as an opportunity to love others and be the hands and feet of Christ, building relationships, and looking for opportunities to speak the good news of our savior into their lives. I want to live like that.




In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16








***Note: Just because this is something that our family decided to do this year, doesn't mean that I am saying that you should be doing this too. Let's show grace to one another please? Again, I don't think it's wrong for Christians to participate in some of the traditions of Halloween, so just let that go right now. I have good memories of many fun Halloweens while I was growing up, so I get how much fun it can be for the kids. I am simply sharing the journey that our family has been on and how God is shaking us awake and really causing us to think and see much differently than we ever have before.  :) 

The power of a simple gift: The Shoebox Packing Party!

Every year for almost as long as we have been married, our family has put together shoeboxes for children in need in participation with Operation Christmas Child. Just about everyone we know participates too, so I am sure that this ministry is not new to you either. We have always loved the traditions surrounding the upcoming Christmas season and the collection of the boxes is always before Thanksgiving so it is a wonderful way to begin the holidays as we mean to end- by giving and remembering those in need. Every year we go out shopping together and every member of our family has a specific age child to buy for- it is so funny how we pick the same age and gender every time. We enjoy doing this as a family and usually end up filling maybe 5 or 6 boxes full. 

Until this year.

This year was a little different.

It all started a few weeks ago on Orphan Sunday. Randy and I had brought resources to church and wore our cool shirts to raise awareness and there was a very moving video shown at church about Operation Christmas Child. We had friends over for lunch and watched the Cry of the Orphan dvd and our kids were listening in. It had already been a great day.

But it was about to get even better.

Well, later on one of our boys came in from playing outside to tell us about a conversation he had with one of the neighbor kids. I guess he asked the boy if he knew that today was Orphan Sunday. (I love that he thought it was like a holiday or something!) The kid said, "No, I don't go to church remember?!" And I guess our son proceeded to tell him all about all the orphans in the world, then asked him why he didn't go to church and then shared with him about Christ! Then the boy finally asked "so is that why you're homeschooled?" (of course I am wondering what in the world he said to him after that!) So Jensen tells him "Well I am homeschooled because they don't teach the TRUTH in school and I can learn the TRUTH at home! Do you know the TRUTH?" Totally his own words and idea of why he gets to do school at home!

Wow! This is our "shy" one who is saying this- the Lord is truly giving him BOLDNESS for Him and it is amazing to see!

So after we talked about this conversation with the neighbor, we knew the Lord didn't want it to stop there. We started thinking and praying about an opportunity to reach more of the neighbor kids and all of a sudden it hit us...
The SHOEBOXES!

So we decided to have a shoebox packing party!

We went out as a family like usual to do our shopping, but instead of buying to fill up 5 or 6 boxes, we got enough to fill 20 shoeboxes!!! Crazy!

We went door to door of the houses with kids in our neighborhood and asked their parents if it was ok if they helped to put gifts together to give to a child in need somewhere else in the world. The amazing part about it was that even the families who are of a totally different religion were very much for the idea. The fact that every parent wants their child to care about someone other than themselves must be universal. And we were excited that it was a total open door to share about WHY we do this in the first place!

We set up a few tables in our front yard (to make it less intimidating than coming into the house if they didn't know us well) and we just piled on the STUFF for the boxes! There was so much fun stuff: toys, games, crayons, hair stuff, and of course CANDY, as well as all the practical things like socks, soap and toothbrushes. Just getting the tables ready made me giddy for what the Lord was going to do! :)

Slowly the kids came and got instructions on how to fill their boxes and then got to work!

Some came from non-Christian homes and others were believers. It was awesome to see the kids working together for a common purpose and greater cause!



 
Everyone was happy and having fun.
Well almost everyone.

 
Elliana wasn't feeling very good that day, but we managed to get through it with the help of a cookie or two. There weren't many left...





We had every kid write a letter to include in their shoebox

and I took a picture of each of them holding their box.

I made two copies of each picture and one got sent with the shoebox gift and the other we will give to the kids to remind them of what they did and to pray for the child who will receive it.

  Although it was only a small thing, we pray that seeds were planted and that the Lord would continue to use our family to reach the nations. Both right here in our neighborhood and on the other side of the world. I am so thankful for the way He is working in my kids' hearts despite all of our failures as parents. And there are many!

20 boxes filled! Yay!

***Thank you to those of you who left comments after the last post. Your words meant so much. We are still seeking the Lord for how to proceed with the next steps to grow our family. We know there are more children meant to join our family, we are just a bit confused and exhausted at the moment. Thank you for praying for us and for the millions of orphans who are waiting...

10 day countdown!

So we leave in 10 days for Ethiopia and we are slowly checking things off our list of things to do!

I'll start with something that WASN'T on my list: experiencing nasty side effects from the oral Typhoid vaccine- yuck! Apparently it is rare for people to experience any reactions to the meds, but lucky me has felt like I have had some type of food-poisoning for several days. Not fun. I finished the last dose already and now am hopeful that the worst is over and I am on the road to recovery. Well it is much better than getting the actual disease I guess!

On to better and more exciting things...

So for those of you who responded to the previous post about "coming to Africa" with us by giving and praying, I wanted to shout out a huge THANK YOU to all of you!!! Several of you responded and I know that there were some issues with the online payment thing, so thank you for blessing us and the children of Ethiopia with your gifts! FYI- I am taking the link down because there were some technical problems, in case you were looking for it.

Speaking of gifts, we sold several more necklaces last week and received a few unexpected checks for the trip, so guess what we did over the weekend? Yep we went SHOPPING! And it was all for the children in Ethiopia! We loaded up our shopping carts full of fun things that we know the children will love- things like balls, crayons, stickers, beads, candy, balloons, bubbles, frisbees and more! Pictures to come soon. It was so much fun to put together little goody bags and sort through all the treasures as we pictured the hundreds of little kids who would be receiving them. We are anticipating that we could be interacting with close to 1,000 Ethiopian children in the short time we will be there- Wow I am still trying to wrap my brain around that!

Many of our friends have asked us to explain a little more in detail about the trip and even now after you read that about being with 1,000 children, you are probably wondering why or how?


Well, the simple answer to why we are going is simply this: to visit & love orphans.


But that may be a little too simple for most folks, so here is a bit of the extended version.


As you probably remember reading about, a few months ago we had the opportunity to attend a conference called the Orphan Summit, put on by the Christian Alliance for Orphans. It was amazing and powerful as I shared before, but more than that- attending the Summit confirmed a truth that the Lord had already laid on our hearts a few years before- that God has blessed us to be a blessing to others. (Read Psalm 67)


We who were once spiritual orphans, were adopted into our Father’s family as His children. Randy and I have seen that we experience miracles in our life when we enter into His plan and desire to be a ‘father to the fatherless’ (Psalm 68:5), ‘defend the cause of orphans’ (Isaiah 1:17), and ‘care for orphans in distress’ (James 1:27).


This is God’s heart for the lost and lonely children of the world. This is His desire for us who have been adopted into His family – that we in turn would show the same grace and love for the lost in this world that He showed to us.


We have known that we cannot sit still any longer and have been seeking the Lord for wisdom and to point us in the direction we are to go.

Which brings us to this point in time.

After several conversations with staff at Children’s HopeChest, much prayer, seemingly random things coming together, and the blessing of our pastor and church staff, we were certain that God wanted us on this trip to Ethiopia. It will be Randy and I and our missions pastor as well as 13 others from all over the country.

The purpose of this trip is to visit and share the love of Christ with orphans in Ethiopia and their care-givers as well as to identify a community of orphans with whom our church family would potentially form a long-term relationship with. And this is what we're most excited about. Read their mission statement:

Children’s HopeChest believes that every orphan around the world has the right to know God, experience the blessing of family, and have the opportunity to develop independent living skills.


HopeChest believes in the power of one community of believers making a long-term, transformative impact on a community of orphans.

Don't you just love that?

We can all make a difference for ONE child in God's strength and power. I love that He is the One who is bringing all of this together!

We will be visiting orphanages that have already been sponsored by U.S. churches, and also unsponsored orphanages that may be a fit for our church to partner with. And I am SO excited about this part too- on our way back to Addis Ababa from Awassa, we drive right through the town of Ziway. And do you know what that means? Yes, we get to stop by the Ziway Lifesong school and love on some of the kids there as well!!!
I hear there are around 700 kids at the Ziway schools combined and then close to a hundred at each of the carepoints we will be visiting. Which when you add those up- it's over 1,000 kiddos!

Watch this short video from Children's Hopechest that highlights the beautiful children of Ethiopia...
It is seriously so beautiful- totally worth the 4 minutes of your day! :)




And so now that I have explained the whys of our trip, I am going to leave you with one more challenge!

We still have room in our suitcases for a few more things for the children in Ethiopia... we are going to fill them FULL, so we need your help!
Next time you're out at T*arget or W*almart will you pick up a few of these to donate?

*Pencils
*Erasers
*Pads of paper
*Markers
*Coloring books
*Colored pencils
*Jump-ropes
*Frisbees
*Balls- soccer and playground balls (we will deflate them to fit in our suitcases)
*Small pumps for balls (important, as we will leave them at each orphanage)
*Balloons
*Hair accessories
*Those fun rubber bracelets that come in different shapes

***We need all items no later than next Wednesday night (the 15th) and the earlier the better! If you live in the area and want to donate some of these items, leave me a comment or email and we can arrange pick up. It's kind of last minute, so if it doesn't work no big deal- there will be many more opportunities in the future! :)


Thanks again everyone for all your support! We will update more on the trip as it gets closer if you'd like to know how to specifically pray! And hopefully I will be able to post a few times while we're there... I am hoping to take a few pictures. You know, just a few.... :)

Come with us to Africa!

*** Edited to change the wording a little & add a picture of BOTH Randy and I, just in case you were starting to think I was going by myself or with Elliana! :-)
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Hi friends!

It has been a crazy busy few weeks around here, with coming home from vacation, a special 2 year old's birthday, lots of random things coming up, and beginning our 8th year of homeschooling this week.

But the biggest thing that is coming up right around the corner is our trip to Ethiopia with Childrens HopeChest in just 3 1/2 weeks! Yikes!!!
We will be gone September 19th- 29th!

We have been busy preparing: getting shots, having meetings, being on conference calls, making lists, selling beads, planning donations, booking flights, and praying like crazy.
It has been full in a wonderful way.
In that way that you feel when you just KNOW you are doing what God wants you to do.
When you know you were created for this very thing.
When you feel like you are going to burst from excitement from the anticipation of all that God is going to do!

Some think I'm crazy, but that's how I get when I think about, talk about, plan about and pray about THIS MISSION. About God's heart for the least of these and how you and I can play a part in the BIGGER PICTURE of the Kindgom of God. Yes, I said that right- YOU and I both have a part in this! His desire for those of us who have been adopted into His family is that we in turn would show the same grace and love for the lost in this world that He showed to us.

So on that note, my question for you is...

Will you join us?




Will you "come" to Africa with us?

You can give your heart to this trip by lifting us and the entire team up in prayer as well as through your financial support.
Jesus said "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

We have purchased our plane tickets and have paid some of our fees to HopeChest, but are still a bit short. We know that God owns it all and that The Lord funds what He favors, so we continue to move forward in obedience and trust that He will do just that in His perfect timing! We are convinced that we are GOING in just a few short weeks because He has called us!

Will you give $25 for the children in Ethiopia?

Your support would be used to help us with the remaining land fees for our trip (about $1,400) as well as be used to purchase donations and supplies for the children & caregivers while we are in Africa. Your gift could help purchase extra food--like meat--for a special meal. Or new shoes and clothes for kids who have no clothing at all. Sometimes it helps with bigger needs--like beds, mattresses, washing machines, and textbooks. Although the need is great, our resources make an even greater difference.


You can give more or less, but $25 is pretty reachable for most of us. And we wanted everyone to have the opportunity to join us. I hope to be blogging a little while we are there and would love to be able to share with you how your gift is being used to help the children of Ethiopia. We really do want you to come with us! :)


THANK YOU in advance for your prayers and partnership. I will be blogging more about the details of the trip soon. There is so much to do in the meantime!


$25 is not a lot of money to most of us, but if 200 people gave that much- that would be $5,000 raised! That's significant! We invite you to put some of your treasure into the lives of orphans in Ethiopia who need our help. Please join us.


Thank you for coming with us to Ethiopia,

Candice & Randy




(I know, it seems like a random picture. But here I'm sporting my 147 Million Orphans shirt and my African beads- even though you can't really see either- I just wanted to share how easy it is to raise awareness just by walking around with a cool shirt or necklace on! So that's why I posted this seemingly random picture of us.)

Praying for India

The organization that we will be going to Ethiopia with, Children's Hope Chest, had a team in India right now. They have actually been there for a week and a half already and will be home in a few days. I have been so distracted these past few weeks that I have not even had a chance to catch up on the blogs that I normally stalk. I have been praying for those that are in India this past week, but I didn't have a moment to actually see what they were up to and read their posts  until this morning. Oh my. Please go to their blog Hopechest India Trip 2010 and read some of the posts right now. It is truly heartbreaking, yet amazing that the Lord has them there for such a time as this. I mentioned a few weeks ago about being excited to read the book Priceless. Well I read it in about 2 days and of course was even more broken for the victims that have been trafficked into sexual slavery and beyond. It is happening all over the world and the team in India is experiencing it as we speak. Talking to women in brothels who have been there for 10 or 15 years and don't even see a thread of hope, visiting the homes of lepers and praying with them,  advocating for slum children in need of food and an education. They are in the battle right now. And knowing them, they will continue to fight long after they have arrived home. Please pray with me for India, all of those who are ministering in the name of Christ there, the hopechest team that will be coming home soon and for the Light to shine in the darkness. We claim the promises of the One True God who is MIGHTY TO SAVE!

God is on the move... Exciting things are happening around here!!!

Remember how I said that I wanted to share something else that happened at the Summit but couldn't just yet because we were still waiting and praying about some things? Well, a few weeks ago we got confirmation about some of these things and now we are ready to begin moving forward!


And just to satisfy your curiosity right off the bat, I am going to tell you that no, we have not started the process to adopt again.
Not YET anyway.  :-)

But for Randy and I, this is something that is just as thrilling and has been just as much of a God-calling on our lives as adoption has been. We have known from scripture that just like Abraham, we are blessed by God to be a blessing to others. He has placed the plight of the orphan, the widow, the poor, and the stranger on our hearts in such a way that we have found it hard to forget. And that's a GOOD thing!

Because God's heart beats for "the least of these." Actually according to Jesus' words, whatever we have done for the least of these we have done to Him.  And if we are true followers of Christ, then I think we should start taking His words a bit more seriously than most of us have been. We are called to get off the couch and get moving. That is true faith. It is a call to open our hearts to those who are so important to God and become an agent of change, an advocate, and to start practicing true religion (James 1:27).

And those of you who know us well know what I mean. This is what we were meant to do and until now have felt as if we have had this dream/vision for several years yet had no idea how or when or through whom it would be accomplished.

And slowly God has been revealing His plan to us and slowly we have begun to take steps in the direction we feel He is leading us.

As we came home from the Summit, we were completely overjoyed about all the things God had shown us and amazed at how many opportunities we were presented with to partner in God's work of caring for the fatherless. We felt like it was exactly the jumping off point that we knew was coming! As I shared a few weeks ago, at the conference we were encouraged to dream big, huge, God-sized dreams and then obediently begin with small steps each day. Well, we have been doing just that. Small steps towards the bigger picture... things like prayer, Bible study, research and phone calls with different organizations, and inviting others to join us on this exciting journey.
And SO much has happened in the past month that we are having a hard time keeping up!

There are many different facets to the vision that we feel God has given us and I won't go into all of them right now. But the bigger picture is that Lord willing, we plan to start a ministry whose purpose is to share the hope and love of Christ through the care of orphans and vulnerable children, both locally and globally. It is a dream we have had for some time, but God is the One who has been fitting all the pieces together more recently to lead us down this path and we are so excited to say OK! :-)

One of the aspects of this ministry that Randy and I will be directly involved in will be the forming of a long-term, strategic partnership for the care of an entire community of orphans and at risk children. We feel strongly that this partnership will unify our entire church body in caring for the least of these and not only transform the orphan community that we partner with, but transform our church community as well. There is a lot more I could say about this, but I am running out of time and there is one more thing I have to share or else I'll bust!

So, it is with great excitement and anticipation that I share with you that:

Randy and I will be headed to AFRICA this September!  

We will be going with another couple from our church to ETHIOPIA on a vision trip with Children's Hopechest.  They are an AMAZING organization and Lord willing they will be facilitating our "community to community" partnership with a carepoint of orphans in Ethiopia. During this vision trip we will have the opportunity to visit several sponsored and unsponsored communities while we are there and our hope is that one of the yet unsponsored communities will soon find a partner in our church. We are beyond excited for this opportunity!

I wanted to share a little part of a letter that Randy wrote to the staff at our church about this opportunity. I thought it was a beautiful summary of what we envision happening with this part of the ministry.

Imagine seeing the face of a child. Beginning to support that child and their community financially. Beginning to pray regularly for that child. Developing a relationship with that child through letter writing. Supporting projects in their community. And then a year, two, or three years later being able to meet that child in their community which has become dramatically different since the time you first saw their picture. What a blessing that will be. What a transforming effect such a partnership could have on a child and a community. And, possibly even more so, what a transforming effect such a partnership could have on the community here at Trinity.


While this is only one aspect of the ministry that we hope to launch, it is an important one and we have much to plan and prepare for. The timing of it couldn't be better as we will have all summer to raise prayer and financial support before we leave in September. Would you consider partnering with us? I will be posting about the different ways you can do that in the coming days and weeks. And trust me, there will be a lot of opportunities! For now I just wanted to get the news out so you can consider your partnership in this mission as well as be praying for our family as we start planning for this exciting adventure!

This is a BEAUTIFUL video of several different orphanages and carepoints in Ethiopia that Children's Hopechest works with. Such beautiful, precious faces will melt your heart. I can't believe in only a little more than 3 months, I will be there. Maybe even meeting some of the very same children. And oh how I pray that this will only be the first of many opportunities in Africa for our family and church family to see lives transformed by the power of the gospel and obedience to the Word!  

Whoo hooo! I am SO excited that God is on the move and we are ready to jump right in and join Him!

If you live in the area...

And have a heart for the city and for lives to be transformed...


Come down this Thursday night to the FIFUL Block Party!




This is going to be awesome! There will be good food, music, tours of the Leadership Training Center, and a fun kid's corner with games and a bounce house. Our family has been looking forward to it for over a month now! It will be like an open house, so if you can't make it at 5:30- come whenever you can until about 8:00.



Do you live in Fresno and have never heard of FIFUL?



You might remember the Urban Dip we did with a few high school students a while back. I blogged about it HERE. That was put on by FIFUL. Our friends Phil & Rici Skei are an amazing young family who have a huge passion for the city (he is the director of FIFUL) and just have this way of helping you catch that vision. Every time we see them, Randy and I are just inspired to live differently and have dreamed about relocating from our pretty wealthy upper class side of town to some of the poorest neighborhoods in Fresno. Not sure what it all means, but we know that God has used them to get us out of our comfort zone to get involved and start praying about what direction He is taking us!



Well, what can I say except that I LOVE this ministry! They have such a vision and passion to train young people (and some older) to develop God's heart for the inner city and the people who live here. They partner with others all over the city and are making a dramatic impact in the lives of not only those in the poorest urban neighborhoods, but those in the church as well. This is their mission statement:
FIFUL exists to develop leaders who transform (spiritually, socially, economically, and physically) communities (campuses, churches, neighborhoods, and beyond) by loving God and loving their neighbors.

This block party is a fundraiser for the restoration of this old house in downtown Fresno that will become the new Leadership Training Center. We are so excited about this training center and can't wait to see how God is going to use it to transform even more lives for His glory.

So COME and bring the whole family this Thursday night to the block party and be a part of something bigger than just your own neighborhood. Be a part of a city-wide transformation!

Click on this picture to learn a lot more about FIFUL and all that they do.

What next???

I recently stumbled across this video and immediately loved it. It's so simple and full of quotes from some of my favorite people that ever lived.
Watch it. Right now. It's only 3 minutes. But 3 minutes that might just challenge the way you think... and live.



A few years ago Randy and I took the PERSPECTIVES course in our area and God opened our eyes to His heart for the nations. It was almost like we had never really read the Bible and seen the BIG picture before. From Genesis to Revelation- missions is His story. Over those 15 weeks, our hearts and minds were transformed from seeing missions as something that certain people do, to a realization that we are all COMMANDED to obey His words to make disciples of ALL the nations. We learned that, like Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing. It was an exciting time for us as we prayed and truly desired to make His name known among the nations.
There were a few possibilities that we thought maybe the Lord was leading us to, but in the end we felt that adoption was to be the big jump at the time.
Fast forward a year and a half and obviously we feel at peace about the decision that we made, with our sweet Elliana joining our family.

In the meantime the Lord was faithful to provide us with opportunities to serve locally and we soon realized that those of us here in Fresno have a unique priveledge of God bringing the "nations" right here to our city. Not only are there opportunities to reach out to migrant workers and refugees and their families, but there are tons of international students coming to study at the university! Through the international friendship program we have had the blessing of friends from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea. The nations are coming to us! It is an open door to share the gospel and we pray that the students would take the Truth back home to share with their families someday.

And now almost 2 years after beginning the adoption process for Elliana, we find ourselves at a place where we are wondering yet again what God has for us. I watch that video and my heart is stirred again to the point where I can't sleep because I am thinking about the 6,000+ unreached people groups (those who have never heard the gospel). Not to mention the 143 million+ orphans in the world who have no one to call mommy or daddy and more importantly no one to point them to Christ.

We hope to adopt again, though the timing is still very unknown, so what does that mean for us now?

Um, I have no idea!

But I do know that I can pray, pray and pray some more. I will admit that this has not been a super strong area in my walk with the Lord over the years and so recently I have been simply asking Him to change that in me. His Word says to ask, seek, and knock and I will receive, find, and have the door opened- so I have been doing just that. And of course He is always faithful, providing so many opportunities for me to obey and get out beyond my comfort zone.

And that starts today. I used to get frustrated that I didn't know "God's will" for my life- I would sit and pray and wonder what His "big picture" was for me so that I would know how to go about accomplishing it. Well, all that was basically an excuse for disobedience and laziness. He has given me everything I need to do His will TODAY and if I can't be faithful in that, then He certainly will not be able to trust me with the bigger things. And really what does that mean anyway? Are there certain tasks from God that are more important than others?

"There are no great acts. Only small acts done with great love."
~Mother Theresa

And so today I am thinking about my day differently. Instead of being disappointed that the Lord has not sent us to the other side of the world just yet (long term), or frustrated that He has not made it clear about how to mobilize others to care for orphans... I am choosing THIS DAY whom I will serve. He has given me 3 boys to teach school to this morning and a baby girl to love on and play with as well. Not to mention a God-fearing husband to bless and serve. It is my (and Randy's) responsibility to disciple our children and teach them about God's heart for the nations today. And to pray that Christ will reign in their hearts throughout their lives. I think I am beginning to see that that is the bigger picture. That those "small acts done with great love" are actually the most important. My true hearts desire is not that I would have done some great thing in my lifetime, but that Randy and I would leave a lasting legacy of God's faithfulness not only to our children, but to generations to come. That they would not forget the Lord or what He has done like the Israelites did so many times, but that His glory and name would be known throughout many generations until He returns!
Would you pray that with me today?

Haiti

The earthquake in Haiti has caused indescribable destruction and tragedy.

So many are suffering and thousands and thousands are dead. More orphans than anyone could count. Everything in ruin. I can't even begin to imagine or understand what they are experiencing.


It is impossible to see the pictures or the news and be without tears and the feeling that we need to do something.

So do something.

PRAY.
Or should I say continue to pray.

Pray for the people of Haiti. Pray that somehow God would show them a glimmer of Hope in this nightmare they are experiencing. Pray for families to be re-united. Pray for strength and endurance for the help and rescue teams and that the supplies would reach the people. Pray for the missionaries and the orphanges there to show Christ's love to those who have nothing and for grace to make it through another devastating day.

Pray for the children who are crying out for lost parents.

And most of all pray for God to be glorified in even this. That with much suffering would come much overcoming and victory for His kingdom.



And secondly GIVE.

There are SO many ministries and organizations that are helping with relief work. We are even having a hard time figuring out where it will be best put to use. But the bottom line is there are so many suffering and not enough $, water, food, and supplies to go around. So it is our resposibility and privledge to serve the Lord by giving to further His work in Haiti.

If you're not sure where to start... here's a few suggestions for starters (all reputable Christian organizations):

Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center

Heartline Ministries

Food for the Hungry

Samaritan's Purse

Holt International

God's Littlest Angels (orphanage in Haiti where our friend's son Jeremy was adopted from)

World Wide Village

Feed My Starving Children

Love a Child

Compassion International


Haitians are crying out to God like never before... yet He has and will always be there. Even in the midst of this tragedy.

Pray with me for lives to be changed by the grace of God.

That was fast. I'm baaaack. :-)

Ok, so maybe all I needed to do was let go of some of the pressure I was feeling about everything and just blog what came to mind.

So today I want to direct you to someone else's blog actually.

Someone who I don't even "know" in real life, but who has chosen to be open and real about what God is doing in her life and who has impacted me greatly. She will probably never know that. But that's ok- Jesus will.


She is an amazing writer. Amazing. I cry almost every time I read her blog.

And yet, that is not what has impacted me.

It is her life. Her life lived in extreme devotion to Christ. And it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

It is the life of a young woman- 20 years old... living in Uganda....

Who has adopted 14 children.

And who is in charge of the care of 400 more.

Those of you in the blog-world probably already know who I am talking about.

Because once you read her blog, you are impacted. You don't forget and the more you read the more you long for your life to be lived with that same kind of passion and faith and closeness to Jesus.

Her name is Katie. And she is an ordinary college-age girl who has chosen God's path for her life and not looked back. She is just one example of many who have taken God's word seriously and chosen the abundant life. You may have noticed the button on my sidebar.
Amazima ministries is how Katie and her team help to feed and clothe those 400+ children in Uganda.

So if I have you curious now, go on and go to her blog.

I dare you to read and not be moved.



More than that, I challenge you to read and ask yourself "what am I doing to further the Kingdom of God and be Jesus' hands and feet?" "Am I living this abundant life that Jesus talked about so much and that people like Katie are living everyday?" "How can I pray for Katie and the orphans today?" "What can I possibly do to make a difference... when there are 143 million orphans and counting?"

These are all questions I have asked myself and am still wrestling with.

And it would be easy to go on and not think about it anymore. You know, because I don't actually live in Africa, and I'm not 20 years old, and I have 4 kids (oh wait that isn't an excuse since she has 14!), and we have a mortgage to pay for, yada yada yada! EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES!

What does following Christ look like today right here in Clovis, California?

I'm not quite sure. Yet. I know of a few who are doing just that right here and I am inspired by them as well.

But as I continue to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, I'll let you know what I come up with. :-)

For now, read and be moved into action my friends!

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

An update of sorts...

Wow- I can't believe it has been almost 3 weeks since I updated. A lot has been going on and we are finally starting to wind down from all the busyness of the past month. Warning:this might end up being a long one!

First, since I know this is what most everyone wants to hear about anyway, I'll start with the adoption news.
Yeah well that would work if there actually was news to talk about. Hmmmm.

Basically since I posted last about our I600 being finally at the Korean embassy, we have not heard anything else. For some odd reason we seem to be the only family who did not receive a tracking # for our paperwork. This means that we cannot call the visa-info line in DC to check and see if she's had VI scheduled. This is both good and bad. Bad because it is frustrating trying to anticipate when we'll get that travel call (usually anywhere from 1 to 10 days after VI), but good because I am not calling every single day just to get the same negative answer that it has not been scheduled. Right now our agency has had a huge slow down with families getting VI's and very few travel calls this month as well.
Also, another factor that we weren't really anticipating is that after she has had her visa physical the doctor may require us to sign something called a class-b waiver that basically states any special need that he thinks we need to be made aware of. We obviously know her special needs based on her check-ups and nothing he finds would change our minds about adopting our precious girl. The agency has no idea whether or not she will need one and said it all depends on the doctor who examines her. Please pray that we will not need to sign that waiver as it could potentially add up to another month to this wait. Only a few weeks ago I was hopeful that we could see a May travel call... now I am praying that we will hold our baby before July. :-(

There are so many ups and downs on this journey and I am thankful that no matter what our God does not change. I am clinging to that right now. And I know that He will bring our beautiful answer to prayer home in His perfect timing.

Speaking of our baby girl...
We received an updated medical report a few days ago and she is doing so well! She is now 9 months old and 15.3 lbs and 25 inches- still growing steadily at about one pound and one inch per month! The report says that she is a cute and small sized baby. (we knew that already!) She is rolling over, creeping, grasping large objects, responds to name, imitates sounds, babbling mama and dada, prefers mother, and is shy of strangers. She is now only 2 months delayed (pretty normal for a preemie born 2 months early) compared to the last months when she was 3 months behind- so she is catching up!
I have been praying that we would travel before she turns 10 months, but I'm not so sure about that now. Sigh.

On to other news!
Our Jensen has joined the track team at school and WOW he is good! It has been awesome to watch him run and work so hard at his meets- he does not give up!
The first meet he got 1st place in the 800 meter out of all the 4th graders.


He also got 3rd place in the long jump- he jumped over 11 feet!




Last Friday was his second meet that qualified him to run in this week's area championships.
He got 2nd place out of 24 4th grade boys, and it was 100 degrees outside! He amazed me that he could run a half mile in three minutes and 4 seconds. We prayed beforehand that he would be like Eric Liddel and that he would "feel God's pleasure when he ran." I think it worked!




Last week Austin, Nathan and I joined some families from our homeschool group and got to go on a little service trip to Gleanings for The Hungry .

They are a division of YWAM and have an awesome ministry! Basically there is so much wasted food here in America so they "glean" the leftovers to distribute to people in other countries without food. For instance all the fruit we see in the store has to look perfect or else it won't sell right? Well what do you think the packing houses do with all of that perfectly good fruit that just doesn't look as perfect, but tastes the same? Instead of throwing it away, some of them donate it to Gleanings and then they have volunteers working to dry it and package the dried fruit all summer long to send to hungry people in over 40 different countries- pretty awesome huh! And that is only one part of the ministry.

In the off-season they put together a dried soup mix with vegetables and beans and send that off as well. This is what we participated in- and it was fun! The cool thing is that they are working with YWAM missionaries all over the world and giving them an access to share the gospel with these other countries by meeting a felt-need.
And they are right in our backyard- only an hour away!

I defnitely want to go back with Randy and maybe try to make it a regular service opportunity for our family to participate in. What a great way to keep our family involved in world-missions while we can't physically GO somewhere at the moment.







Ok so that's all I have time for now. Be back later with more pictures of course!