Believe

Our family has been blessed to come along side a couple ministries serving orphans in developing countries.

One of those ministries, serving in Ethiopia, is called Bring Love In. I have written about them before. They are serving widows and orphans in a unique way, bringing them together in forever homes. I will share more about our involvement and the ministry at another time. Check out their new on-line store. They are selling really cool handmade leather cuff bracelets. They had 300 made for the first run and they are already SOLD OUT! But more are being made, so if you want one, still place your order - you just may have to wait a little longer.

The other project that we are involved in is coming along side an orphanage in Haiti. As many of you know, Lauren and I traveled to Haiti about a year ago. While there we made some very special connections and have continued to build relationships with these connections via email or phone.

I knew that before I made the decision to go on this Short Term Mission trip that I wanted to stay involved and  help in some way. So, I have maintained my connections and for the past several months, I have been advocating for this small orphanage located in the city of Carrfour. The orphanage is run by Pastor Firmin and his wife. They have 5 children of their own and have taken in 12 children orphaned from the earthquake.

Their home was destroyed by the earthquake and they now sleep in temporary shelters on their house property. Since the earthquake, they have had only one team from the US visit them.

One of the last update I received was heartbreaking. They had been without food for several days and they do not have the funds to enroll the children in school this fall. This is highly concerning because as you all may know, education is the ticket to survival in a developing country.

There are days, especially when I hear reports of families in the community having to give up their children or children starving to death, I feel overwhelmed and discouraged. Honestly, there are days I wish I could just say, "I can't do it" and walk away. That's hard to admit. But a couple weeks ago I spent 10 days in a row with thoughts of giving up. 10 days where I was numb. 10 days someone was waiting for me to respond.

I prayed during these 10 days but still I could not feel what direction God wanted me to go with this project. It became such a weight on my life. I felt like the future of this unknown to the the rest of the world orphanage all in my hands. I came so close to not responding. I wanted to pretend that I did not know about them. I know this sounds harsh but after being unsuccessful with soliciting help from those who do know, I was feeling a little beaten down. Discouragement set in and took control of me.

Just when I was about ready to give up, I read something about fasting. It was at that time that I decided that I had not done everything I could. It took all the strength that I could muster out of poor discouraged little me and I fasted and prayed for Pastor Firmin's orphanage.

I fasted and prayed for 2 days. On the second day of my fasting, I received a call from my contact with an update. This is the same person who had been waiting 10 days for me to respond. He informed me that the orphanage had been without food for 3 days and on the 4th day, they were given food. The day that they ate was the first day of my fasting.

He also had another praise to report: the school principal at the school the children attend has agreed to let the children begin the school year despite not having their tuition payment.

I went from feeling alone in this battle to understanding that God has been there the whole time.

I have heard that the combination of fasting and praying are the only way to unleash certain demons. So I consulted with a very wise and Godly man, someone I can trust will speak straight truth. He said that he believes that fasting and praying does not unleash demons but instead fasting and praying unleashes "UNBELIEF". There is more that I learned from this conversation but that was the basis of it.

Through my feelings of discouragement, I started to lose faith and disbelieve. But through the combination of fasting and praying, I have truly seen miracles.

And there is more...
Steve and I have been discussing a long term plan to help Pastor Firmin and his community sustain themselves. We have some ideas but it will involve a lot of time and resources.

So this week, just one day after the amazing update from my contact person, Steve just happened to share something about this orphanage to someone during a business lunch meeting. This person has asked for more information about the orphanage and will consider financially coming along Steve and I to achieve this long term plan. We have submitted all the information we have and now we are waiting on a response. So, please all you prayer warriors out there, please pray that God will work through this business man's heart to help bring down the financial barrier that is keeping us from accomplishing a long term goal for Pastor Firmin's community.

I share this story about praying and fasting, not to draw attention to myself but only to show you how God really does work miracles when we believe.

I think about how close I was to throwing in the towel on this project. Just think how much I would have missed out if I would have chosen to limit God.

So, my questions to you is, "Are there things that you have thought about turning your back to because it's just too much?" "Are you limiting God to just the things that you can physically and/or financially handle?" "Or, are you trusting and believing in Him to carry out the work that He has planned in advance for you to do?"

Really ask yourself these questions when you are at a crossroads. Because once you turn your back, God cannot use you. Are you allowing doors to close? Or are you persevering through the doors that are open maybe even just a crack to allow God to accomplish more through you?

Water

You hear about families in developing countries walking miles and miles to fetch dirty water for drinking, cleaning and bathing. This water contains bacteria that can cause diseases and death in children. But without water, we can die too. It's an unfair predicament that millions face each day.

Samson's birth family does not have access to clean drinking water. When we talk about his life before he joined our family, the fact that some people live without a clean drinking source is unthinkable to him.

He asks me questions like, "Well, why don't we give them some of our water? We have plenty." It's not that simple but yet he does notice our abundance.

And then just a couple days ago, he asked, "If my birth family doesn't have clean drinking water, why don't they go somewhere that does?"

Based on our conversations and all his questions, what he wants for his birth family more than anything is to see them some day have access to clean water.

This past summer when we got together with my friend Tanya and her sons, Samson's buddies from his orphanage, she told me about a triathlon that she was part of to raise money for a water project in our boys' home town Mudula, Ethiopia.

Samson was born in a village outside of Mudula. At this time I am still unsure of whether this fresh water project will reach his particular village but after communicating back and forth with one of the organizers of the project, I have learned that there is a strong chance that his birth family's village will benefit.

When completed, this project is said to reach 10,000! That's 10,000 people who currently drink from an unsanitary source; that means hundreds of women and girls who no longer have to walk for hours to fetch water from a stream but now can spend that time in school instead; that means diseases and death will be cut down dramatically. And for children like Samson, this is a big wish come true!

If you are interested in financially coming along side this water project, go HERE to make your donation. I like my friend Shannon's idea and that is, to challenge each of you to give the amount that your water bill is each month. Is it $50, $100, $200? What are you willing to pay to have clean water each month? Can you donate that amount today?

His First "First Day"

I just returned home from dropping Samson off at his first day of preschool. As you may recall, he went to preschool last year but didn't start on the first day of preschool so this is his first "First Day" of school experience.

Last year my emotions were filled with excitement for him. I was persistent and fought for him to be in preschool last year. So, when he was finally able to start in October, I was ready to let him go and experience a world outside of our home. I was not nervous or sad really. Just excited.

This morning I learned that there is something about being there the first day of school that can trigger different emotions.

After we pulled into the parking lot, we watched a father walk his son hand in hand across the street, stop for a moment in front the school bell for a photo opportunity and then proceed into the school.

Then, we watched another mom and dad escort their son into the school shortly after. I thought to myself, two boys Samson doesn't know but will soon be his new friends.

We found his locker right away and as he was taking off his jacket, I looked towards the door of the preschool and saw another dad who was familiar to me holding his apprehensive son's hand. Upon seeing Samson, the dad said, "Look! There is Samson!" in hopes to bring comfort to his son.

As we approached the sign in table outside the classroom door, we were warmly greeted by another familiar face, the preschool teacher. We watched on while yet another little boy signed his name with his parents standing along side him.

I know this family enough to know that this is their first child they would be sending off to school. I could see on her face that the mother was at peace about letting go of her son. The father, on the other hand was trying so hard to hold back his emotions. I almost lost it myself when I heard him choking back tears as he came away from the sign in table with his son and gave him one last hug before he vanished into the classroom.

Inside the classroom, I snapped a couple pictures of Samson with each of his teachers. He took one quick look around the room, gave me one last hug and was off to do their first project for the day.

His teacher handed me a note as I left the classroom. When I walked out, I ran into a family I know bringing their son to preschool. The dad was taking all kinds of pictures and had a huge smile on his face, obviously so proud of his son.

There were so many sweet moments, watching proud fathers with their sons, taking pictures, giving them one last hug before their first day, comforting them. Watching these fathers is what stirred my emotions this morning. To see their love and care for their sons in action was so touching. There were a few moms there too but it was the fathers who were nervous and emotional. I tried to be strong and thought I was doing a good job holding in my emotions until I got to my van and read this note from the teacher:

"I gave  you a little wink and a smile as yo entered my room today.
I know how hard it is to leave and simply walk away.


You've been together for several years. You've been a loving guide.
But now the time has finally come, to leave your child by my side.


Just know that as you drive away and tears may start to flow,
I'll love your child as I would my own and help your little one to grow.


Know your child will be safe and loved as we work and learn each day."

"Ruby" continued

We have had a crazy busy last couple weeks and I want to share soon some of the things our family has been up to but first I need to share something that happened already a few weeks ago.

If you have been following my blog, you know that the name "Ruby" continues to come up, almost to the point that our family is a little "spooked" by it.

If you have been following my blog, you also know how passionate I am about drawing awareness to human trafficking. I hadn't blogged about human trafficking specifically for a while, so I sat down to write a blog post about provocative dress and how it feeds to human trafficking.

I thought I would start with searching the Internet for this topic. I started to google "provocative dress human trafficking" and then I wondered if I wasn't going to get a bunch of stuff I really didn't want to see, so I backed spaced over those words and typed,

                                    "modest dress human trafficking".

The very first link that displayed in my google search was for a website called...

                                   "Ruby Eyed Okapi".

Not kidding!

Ruby Eyed Okapi is a website designed by a group of women who share the same passion that I do and blog about things like modest dress and purity. They also write book, TV show and movie reviews.

That blog post I sat down to write? I never even started because these women do an excellent job putting the very thing I have been thinking into words.

Check out the website for yourself!  Show it to your teenage daughters!

One of my favorite posts is the bikini post.

I was visiting my sister a few weeks ago and brought my girls and niece to the mall one evening. While we were passing store fronts, I was horrified to see full size posters of young teenage girls dressed provocatively. I have seen this before but now I'm paying more attention.

One store caused my jaw to drop more than any other. It appeared to be a store just for teenage lingerie. The full sized banner at the front of the store was advertising a push up bra on a 15 year old girl with the words, "Check out (whatever the girl's name was here) and her new look!" The model was wearing nothing but underwear and a push up bra!

What kind of message our we sending to our teenagers?! I know the message it is sending to at least one teenage girl:

My teenage daughter recently shared with me a conversation among girls her age where one girl told the others that when she turns 18 her mom said she can get a breast enlargement. Then the girl went on to say that if she ever ended up pregnant after being raped, her mom said that she would get an abortion.

Do you think that she may increase her risks of getting raped with a breast enlargement? Do you think plastic surgery of this kind is contributing to our sex crazed culture? Do you think that our sex crazed culture creates more of a need for prostitution?

If so, then provocative dress does feed into human trafficking. Many women and boys are forced into prostitution because of the demand for sex. This demand is increasing at a rate that by the end of 2011 it will surpass the #1 illegal money making industry in the world, which is drugs.

With three daughters, I am convicted and I admit that I'm not completely innocent. I know first hand experience as a mom how hard it is to say "no" to the culture. But that is our job as a parent. We do have a say in what our children are wearing when they leave the house! Take a stand moms for what is right!! Don't let your girls leave the house not covered up!

Up North

Our family's favorite vacation spot is "Up North". A couple weeks ago, we rented a cabin on a small lake for four nights. We went boating, hiked, fished, kayaked, canoed, ate, saw eagles, heard wolves howl and went alpine sledding. Minus the extreme humidity for 2 days, its was total bliss!

Freedom

At the U2 concert, one of the first things Bono said as we all cheered and raised our hands in praise for him, was "We can celebrate our freedom here but in many places in our world ...."(I don't recall his exact words but you get the idea)

Before the concert, Steve and I were sitting on a ledge outside the gates. There were volunteers running around with clipboards asking for signatures for different causes. They were causes that dealt with injustices in different parts of the world. They were causes fighting against and drawing awareness to very heartbreaking situations. Steve and I gladly signed our names because well, they just merely asked for a signature, that's it and we thought the causes warranted a voice to be heard.

But each time someone approached us, they had the look of that fear of another rejection. Then each person looked surprised when we agreed to sign their petition. One volunteer even told us how this job was much more difficult than she expected and thanked us over and over.

All three petitions that were going around were backed up and approved by Bono himself. They expected close to 58,000 people to attend the concert. Outside the gates, we were among several hundred (maybe even thousands) U2 fans waiting to enter the gates. After each petition signing volunteer left us, we watched them go from person to person, facing rejection after rejection. In fact most people waved them on before they had a chance to speak one word to them.

I was blown away by watching this!

Do they not want to know how bad things are in other parts of the world?

I turned to Steve and said, "Wow! People really don't have any idea what's going on in the world, do they?"

One petition was for the UN to draw awareness of the famine that is affecting more than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa. This is close to my heart because included in these 11 million people could likely be Samson's birth family.

Is this why it matters to me? Yes, I suppose so.

I also believe that stories of injustice come to life and seem real when we put faces to the stories. millions of people starving to death for example, doesn't pull at our hearts as much as the picture of a family with the story of how the parents sold 2 of their 5 children standing in the picture so they could feed the remaining 3.

In regards to the hundreds who would not sign the petitions, well, I can't judge them by their actions mostly because they just don't know. They are disconnected from the rest of the world.

So, maybe since I know and understand, maybe it's my job to educate. Maybe it's my job to tell the stories to those who are so far removed from what is happening in the the world.

I have many stories to tell, most shared second hand. But let me start with this one. The sample story I described above, is not a sample. I've described a real family and real circumstances. Would it make a difference if I had a picture of this family with their 5 children?

A family of 7 will soon become a family of 5 if their situation doesn't change soon. (To my knowledge, the family is still in together.)

This is a real family: father, mother and five children, 9 years old and younger. The youngest is 3 months old, the 2 year old severely malnourished and on the brink of death.

When I asked how does a family decide which two to sell, I was told that they will sell which ever 2 someone will take for their slaves.

This family lives in a developing nation. They are so desperate that they will sell or may even end up giving 2 children away just so the rest of family can survive.

Up the street from this family is the town's "middle class". "Hidden" in the open are domestic child slaves EVERYWHERE!

I bet the people waiting outside the gate for the U2 concert hadn't heard about this family of 7. They don't know the stories. They don't have a face to put on the injustice.

Steve and I have decided that it's time to step up the anty (is that how you spell it??) and start educating people. Like really finding ways to be the voice against injustice. So this is one of my purposes for sharing this story with you today.

This family of seven attends a local church. The pastor of the church and his family are already struggling to support their own 6 children and several other orphans that they have taken in.

I'm working on helping this pastor so that he doesn't have to continue to watch family after family give up their children. He has recently visited this family of 7 in their home (if you want to call it a home). The two year old is weak, does not walk or talk. She is not expected to survive.

I have been thinking this over for several days, trying to think of a way I could help this church and its community because I know I can't do it alone.

So today I come to you with a request. First, please pray for freedom of oppressed people all over the world.

Then, if you feel led to make a contribution to my pastor friend, please leave a comment with your email address and I will send you details on how you can help. I will not publish your comments.

I know that if you feel God leading you to help this particular pastor, that you are walking out on faith and not by sight. I know this is a lot to ask. But if you are interested, I will share more of the story, where this community is located and pictures.

Thank you for your time!

U2

I am a huge Bono fan! Some people think of him as no more than a rock star. What they don't know about him is his love for ALL people around the world.

In the early 1990s (I believe), Bono travelled to Africa for the first time. Actually, he travelled to Ethiopia. He was so struck by the poverty and the devastation of AIDS, he returned to the US a different person than when he left.

He set out on a mission to help with the AIDS epidemic and alleviate poverty. He set up the non profit, ONE campaign (go check it out if you are not familiar with it) and was spearheaded the talks with the US government that resulted in forgiving Africa's debt and providing life saving medications for AIDS victims in Africa.

And, the coolest thing about him is that he is a Born Again Christian. And the other 3 members of his band are also Christians!

Back in early May when we attended Lauren's orchestra concert, someone was selling raffle tickets for the U2 concert. Steve bought 2 tickets for $10 per ticket.

I left that night thinking, "Well, that was a donation going towards a good cause."

Several weeks later, I had already forgotten about the raffle tickets when Steve and Avery arrived home from somewhere. Steve had just taken a call on his cell phone and Avery shared the news that we won the tickets to the U2 concert!!

They were prime seats, worth $250 per ticket and selling on-line for $500 per ticket!!

So, this past Saturday, Steve and I attended the most amazing and incredible concert we will probably ever attend in our life here on earth.

Just a glimpse into our evening:

Mehaber

I don't have much time for words but wanted to post these sweet pics from the Mehaber last weekend. We had an amazing time meeting new friends and reconnecting with those we already knew and have a special place in our hearts.

This young man in the orange remembered Samson from the orphanage. The first time the two have seen each other in almost 2 years.

These two have stayed in touch since home. They connected again like brothers at the Mehaber and were inseparable.

Ethiopian dance lessons!