Need a place for your spring cleaning??

So, as you may or may not know we're working hard to get out little man home. 

We need to do a little fundraising this time around too- and as you may or may not remember, last year we had a yard sale (ps sorry for the rainbow colored blog posts back then..what was I thinking?!)  for our Ethiopian adoption.  It went amazing well and God totally blew our socks off with how big He showed up.  

We're having another yard sale to benefit out little man! 

So, if you are needing a spot to drop off all your spring cleaning items, we'll gladly take them! If you're local (Fairfield, Vacaville) we'll even pick up :)

We will begin storing things this weekend in preparation for a yard sale the end of May!

So, if you want us to take your trash and let it become someone else's treasures, we'll gladly do it.

We're ready to watch God show up big again! 

Thank you for being a part of HIS story for our life!

$27 for 27

So Justin's birthday is this week. He's never been much of a birthday fan, I mean like never wants to really do anything never has an answer when I ask what he wants for his birthday.  Well this year was different, a few weeks ago he told me instead of doing anything or getting him anything he wanted to raise money to build a well.

The statistics are alarming, and half of the world doesn't have clean water-it's a luxury we take for granted. So this week, in honor of Justin's 27th birthday (and because I know he probably won't ask you) I'm asking if you can give $27 to clean water. We can make a difference together! Let's do this.

"Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Your donation will help change that."

-Charity Water

Please go here, and see how you can help:

http://my.charitywater.org/justins-birthday

 

So, not really how I intended this to go...

So coming away from Rwanda, I needed to process a lot. Ok, let's say still processing a lot. There will be times when Justin and I are talking and it makes me remember something I heard or saw, and that provokes a story or a memory.  I hope those never go away.  I hope that years down the road parts of this trip that I tucked away pop back into my mind and cause me to think...cause me to act.

Today I want to attempt to share with you what I saw and felt the day we visited the orphanages, because lots of people have been asking, and I think maybe it's because we're adopting and our children our living in an orphanage, maybe it's because the images we usually have of orphanages are somewhat similar to that movie Annie.  I don't know how well I'll do with that because much of that is still in process.

When we arrived at the orphanage I saw the very familiar "blue gates" the gates I've seen in so many "Gotcha Day" videos, the gates mentioned in the book I bought for our boys, the gates I've heard about over the last few years.

I remember feeling very anxious, how would I respond, praying that God would use this to open my eyes even more.  I had been "prepared" in a sense.  I've read countless books on adoption, attachment, the results of institutionalism, etc.

Wathcing those things played out before my very eyes...heartbreaking. 

It made me desperately long to go get our little man more than ever. 

I used to wonder why God choose me to be born where I was...

Now I know. 

It's so that I can share what I've seen.

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act." 

-Proverbs 24:12

Photo Cred: Rachel Wurzbach

“We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.”

 – David Platt

Change is coming. 

Unspeakable Joy

I've tried several times to sit down and write about my trip to Rwanda.  I felt like I needed to do it quickly while everything is fresh in my mind...but the more I waited the more I remembered.  Little things, but things that had a big impact on me.

I have a feeling there will be several blog posts over the next few weeks with things that I learned, things that I saw...

I've read many many books about orphan care, attachment, missions, you name it. I knew the statistics, I knew the effects of institutionalism...seeing it is completely different.  The statistics I read about now had faces that belonged to them.  Powerful.  I held them, I tried desperately to make eye contact with them, made it a point to touch them, their arms, their faces, talk with them.

We went to a revival one day in a community where a church is being built.   We sat on the ground where one day a building will be.  As we sat I watched...people just kept coming and coming, some walked miles and miles and miles, some with babies on their back, I saw old men with canes walking, everyone was coming from near and far to hear about Jesus.  They were calling villages out, telling them to come and hear, and people just kept coming.  Children climbed into the trees to be able to see what was going on, you could feel the presence of the Lord.

The pastor (a local man) began to preach, he told his story, he spoke to the people in situations similar to what he had gone though.  He began calling people out, telling them to trust God with their lives, quoting scripture, then he said these words "God tells you not to worry about what you will eat!"

Ouch.

Goosebumps

We've all heard that verse before, but in all honesty how often have you ever worried about what you will eat.

These people, that was a true and very real concern.  Some people eat once maybe twice a day.

I remember the feeling of tears in my throat. You know that feeling? Where you know you're trying not to cry?

"Do not worry about what you will eat or drink"

Matthew 6:25

If I could sum up my trip quickly, I'd say I've come back with a passion stronger than before to 

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

    for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹ 

Speak up and judge fairly;

    defend the rights of the poor and needy"

-Proverbs 31:8-9

They're God's children too. 

They may be "poor" compared to what we in America have, but they have a joy unlike anything I have ever seen, and a kindness to strangers that is unbelievable. 

The pictures below were taken by my good friends Becky Fisher and Rachel Wurzbach

they did an amazing job at capturing the pure joy of the people of Rwanda...