from ashes to africa

I spent part of my Spring Break this past week reading this amazing book! Josh and Amy Bottomly have written a very candid memoir about their marriage, infertility, their journey to adoption and their love for Ethiopia. Along the way, they discovered God's heart for the orphan and their own hearts for social justice and to follow God's call to care for "the least of these". They discovered the blessing of adoption and ultimately their son, Silas.
I love to read people's stories. I also love honesty and realness. This book has both! Whether you are adopting from Ethiopia or not, you will love their story and be inspired by their journey. I definitely recommend!

AWAA Families United with their Children over the Last Year

This video is full of families who have adopted through America World from Ethiopia over the last year. It gives me hope that it will, in fact, come true for us some day as well! Enjoy!

What if all lived like this.......

"Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!"

from "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson

More to Give

This family decided they had "more to give" and discovered the blessing of adoption. Enjoy their story....may we all contemplate what more we have to give.

Global Food Crisis - Will You Help?

We are in the middle of a global food crisis. In all of our abundance, you and I may hardly realize it. The fact is, though, it affects the world's poorest families everyday. The current crisis is being called more rapid and devastating than any other in history. The cost of food has increased dramatically and it affects the poor in the most profound way. Here are some hunger facts:

• One person in seven goes to bed hungry every day.
• One-third of the world's population is undernourished.
• There are 25,000 starvation related deaths each day.
• Each night more than 300 million children go to bed hungry.
• More than 4.4 million children die from malnutrition each year. (taken from the Compassion International website)

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Compassion International has set aside Wednesday, March 11 as Global Food Crisis Day. Click on the link below and it will take you to their page where you can do your part to donate to help fight the global food crisis. Donate what you can - big or small - and make a difference!

Just to keep it interesting....

We are requesting an infant of either sex. In the past, this has always meant that we would most likely get a referral for a baby boy. Lately, though, there have been two families (that I know of) who have requested either and then received a referral for a girl. Hmmm.....I guess nothing is certain with international adoption! We are completely fine with either one, so it doesn't really matter. It just keeps things interesting!

Purposeful Waiting

Well, I'm a day early, but as of tomorrow (March 3) we will have been waiting for 5 months for our referral! I cannot believe it. We should be a little more than half way on that wait! I hope the second half of the wait will go as quickly as the first.

While we wait, I have had lots of time to soul search and think about what is next for me. I will be resigning my position at the school I teach at to focus on our family. I have mixed feelings about this....I am more than thrilled to be home again (I was home for almost 9 years when my kids were little) and am excited to be home with our new little one as well. I also have loved my time at Judah and have made lots of good friends there. I will miss my days there.

Ever since we started this adoption journey, I have felt God tugging on my heart to do more for the cause of the orphan. This has sometimes been dismissed by others as "just needing to get my baby", but that's not it. I feel a strong desire to be purposeful and to work towards helping these children - even if it's only a few. I, of course, cannot even put a dent in the number of orphans in the world, but I long for God to use me to make a difference to the few I can help.

After much prayer and thought, I am stepping out to begin an orphan ministry at our church. I do not yet know exactly what it will look like or who will come along side me, but I have a passion and excitement about the possibilities. We are in the baby beginning planning/brainstorming phase and I will be attending the Orphan Summit in April to learn more about how to get started.

I know that many of you reading are also adopting or care about orphan causes and are possibly involved in similar ministries yourself. If you are, I'd love to hear your ideas and stories. If you are local and want to get involved, let me know that, too!

My hope and prayer is that this time waiting will not be wasted. My hope and prayer is that somehow God will use our experiences and our adoption to intrigue others and that they might consider the possibilities for their own family. My hope and prayer is that we will make a difference.