Two things I like

A good snack

    The strange places my cats chose to nap; a fallen bathing suit box, or earth friendly bag.

HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can barely believe this story I'm about to tell you.  Each time I tell it, I still can't quite believe it.

 So, tonight I brought to bible study a picture of little Sasha, the little orphan with no family.  My girls fell in love with him,  and raised $22 that night for him, while brainstorming many ways to raise money (the girls in my group are super cute).  We decided to do a walk-a-thon, garage sale and collect coins from everyone we know.  I told them my heart was kind of broken while picking Sasha, because there are so many children on the site that need homes.  I told them there was a particular girl named Anna who stole my heart, and is in an orphanage which is described as:

"Regrettably, this orphanage is one of the poorer ones, with very little outside aid and very little hope.    All of the children are tiny and undernourished.  These children are immediately transferred at 4, and have little chance of survival where they are sent.  All of our waiting children need families, but these have a critical need.  Please consider  adopting her soon!"

We decided that once Sasha got adopted, we could fundraise for little, really little, Anna.  We ended the night each praying:

"God, please be with baby Sasha right now, alone in his crib, give him extra comfort tonight Lord, and bring him his own mommy and daddy to love him, amen." -we each prayed, as we also prayed for each other.

I promised the girls as I left that I would email them the link for a picture of Sasha to show their parents. When I got home, I logged onto www.reecesrainbow.org, clicked onto children 0-2, and scrolled down for Sasha, but where was he!?  I can't find him.  I became panicky!  I saw all the other 30 babies, but no Sasha.  Then, I read that Sasha was adopted this very night, during the two hours of small group.......are you kidding!?  SASHA WAS ADOPTED TONIGHT!?  I mean seriously...so I got down on my knees and praised our father in heaven.


Please don't think of this as a coincidence.  Out of 147 million orphans in the world, do you know how hard it is for a child with Down Syndrome to get adopted?  These kids aren't flying off this adoption site.  Isn't this next verse so true.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"   EPHESIANS 3:20

I kind of love that these high school girls are working together to help orphans.  That is so God.  Many people would imagine that they don't have alot to offer orphans being that they don't have jobs, money, very much extra time and are you so young.  All they have is a love for God and His holy spirit guiding them, but isn't that more than enough!  That is so God to use people who wouldn't seem effective in huge ways.  God is so God and wants to use us, any of us for His purposes.

I would like to present you with Anna.  This sweet precious, daughter of God is the next little girl to find a forever family.  All our money and effort will go to her. 

PLEASE!!!

-PRAY FOR HER to find a loving mama and papa, a family all her one. The one she deserves.

-PLEASE DONATE!  Seriously, that is what makes a differences for many families being able to adopt or not.  So far, we still just have our $22!  Let's make it grow and get her out of that nasty place!

Why am I blessed?

So has God ever called you to do something?  And as soon as He does, it sounds pretty amazing, but then even more scary than amazing?

Me too.

Every time.  Anytime God asks me to do something, I am immediately thrown into this mind battle where I am choosing between my own comfort and not stepping out in faith, and trusting God, taking a deep breath and that first step...

I am trying to get used to the fear that creeps into my heart as soon as God guides me to his will.  The only thing that helps me move forward, is remembering that when I DO choose to trust him and do the crazy thing he's telling me, I experience a waterfall of blessings that I can't begin to describe.  Then, I start to realize what faith is.  Then I start to realize what my life should be about.  Then I see who God is.

For instance, the first time God told me to go to Mexico with friends to an orphanage.  I loved that God would ask!  Then I was freaked!  And stressed!  "No God, this is too stressful, what if everyone hates it, what if we all die in gun fire, what if I can't organize everyone and everything, what if..."

Well, God kept pressing it on my heart, despite my fussing, and on the way home from Mexico, every single one of us felt dirty, sweaty, and like we had the best, most blessed and fun day of our lives.  We were filled up with the good things in this world, we were filled up with God.  We were forever changed.  And I was afraid of what?

So then this other time, this past summer, He asked me to lead a high school bible study.  "Great Idea!"  I first thought!  Then, while driving to meet the youth pastor a couple days after I sent my inquiry email, I realized God had made a mistake!!!!  A HORRIBLE MISTAKE!  How could he ask me to do this!??  I don't have time for this, nor do I even want to!  I don't know these girls, I don't know what to say to them, and I'm pretty sure I am feeling nauseous right now! (none of this is an exaggeration of how I was feeling on my way to Starbucks.  And can I just say I am usually never an anxious person, I mean, never, which is why this is so strange.)

Well, I made that meeting.  I said I might want 9th grade, she said she needed me in 11th.  Before the first night of bible study, I was pretty sure I couldn't do this, and even more sure that I didn't even like high schoolers.

Fast forward six months to tonight.  Two of my amazing, beautiful girls just left my house after dinner with Andrew and I, while we discussed God, His goodness, how they want to serve him in their lives, and how we can serve him in our group.  We decided to;

1.  Organize and take little lunch sacks of food, toiletries and bible verses to some of the mexican immigrants in need of work.
2.  Serve a meal at "Bread of Life" soup kitchen next month
3. And lastly, fund raise, for the adoption fund of Sasha.  Who is Sasha?  Check him out, this little boy is in great need of help! We're thinking of doing candy sales, and anything else we can think of!  (If you have an idea, please share!)

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/newsite/waitingchildgallery.html
Go to children 0-2, and scroll down a couple to Sasha!  Many families have a heart to adopt children with down syndrome, but don't have the fiances for the huge cost!  So, we are going to raise money any way we can, so that Sasha can have his own loving mommy, and caring papa.

All this to say, I couldn't imagine my life without my little 11th grade bible study, or without the amazing girls who have touched my life a million times more than I touched theirs.  I seriously look forward to it every week!  Its so fun, and we are so close now.

All this even more to say, that I can't wait for the day, that when I experience the fear that accompanies God's call to action, I can overcome it with joy and anticipation knowing that God is pretty smart, knows what He's doing, and is in the business of blessing lives!

Ok so seriously, contact me if you want to donate to the sasha fund, please!!

*UPDATE!  The next Wednesday I brought his picture to small group, and we each lifted him up in prayer.  When we got home, he was adopted.  Before I left, he wasn't.*

Happy Birthday Miriam!

Last night at the orphanage, Miriam turn 12 years old so we celebrated with singing, then dined on cake.  While we ate, all the teen girls asked me every detail of my proposal and why I don't have children yet.  :)

extra pizza

"Are you hungry?  Would you like some pizza?"

Last night was the last night of Urbana.  The first night we got here, we asked each other, "What are we even doing here?"  Last night, New Years eve 2009 as we sang out with 17,000 other people praise to God in English, Spanish, Swahili and Hindi.  It was a different kind of worship for me, I think for all of us.



You know when you look at some one differently, when you get to know their heart more.  How you desire to hear someone speak more often when you realize how deep their wisdom is?  Maybe you were so busy speaking you never listened before, too busy with other things to realize how unique and special they were.  We "look" at God differently, because we see him more fully. His character, his movement and his heart.

Each day at Urbana, we experienced God more deeply for two reasons.  They may sound basic--because they are.  Our recent connection with God, which has been overwhelmingly altering, joyful, etc., includes no secret steps or rituals.  We didn't learn a secret prayer.  It's so easy that we often just overlook it.

1. The bible (I know, hold on, don't tune out yet.)
2.  Seeing what God is currently, right now doing globally to save lives.  To help the 24,000 people who die a day from poverty.

OK, so the bible--I know, basic.  But I guess Andrew and I just kind of stick to the New Testament, maybe some Psalms or proverbs, right?  Well, what stuck out to us was hearing seminars spoken by these amazing people, who do great things for God, and each one claims sections of the bible that I NEVER pay attention to as their own ministy section of the bible.

examples
-Abner who runs a Latino outreach in urban LA starts every bible study studying the story of Moses.  How Moses didn't feel like he belonged with the Egyptians where he lives, or with the Hebrew, the land of his heritage.  Abner says that the immigrants who have moved to America from Latin America feel like God understands them when they read this story.  When it says that Moses brother had to speak for him because Moses who is said to "not speak well," Americans imply he has a speech impediment, the Latinos understand it differently, and know how it feels to "not speak well" in the land they live.

One speaker claimed the book of Amos for his ministry, another found inspiration in Hosea when sent out, "Chosen People Ministries" point Jews to their Messiah throughout the old testament, especially Isaiah.  Ruth Padilla, a missionary in Costa Rica speaks of Joseph constantly to the people she's ministering to.  Daryl McCarthy shared from Ezekiel which shot straight through Andrew and my heart.

Andrew and I look at the Bible with new eyes, and consequently God.  He knew what he was doing when he put those "weird" books in the bible.  That's why the bible is the living word of God, and why it's for every person.  How he can speak to the heart of each person on this each despite their country, nationality, or position.  So now we're paging through it, and loving it.


NEEXTTT, we see what God's doing.  In America we don't really see people dying of starvation. We don't really see poor people very often.  But we saw them this week, and we saw God seeking them. There is a section called"Global Connections" center in Urbana.  Name a people group, anywhere in the world, and there is a ministry set up to meet their needs.  We saw thousands of college students sign up to do all sorts of things around the world.  Indian slum ministries to Afghanistan outreach, Italy to Bolivian prostitutes, China and Russian Jews.  Many organizations set up to save the overwhelming amount of slaves in our world.  Children used as sex slaves in southeast Asia behind locked doors, raped for pay.

Us?

Well, I got in trouble for bringing my camera in.  Yep.  I was kindly told that many of the people who run these ministries work in a very sensitive areas, in countries where Christianity is outlawed, and if their pictures get out on the internet they could be in danger.

Well, since I don't want to add to the 480 Christian martyrs a day, I tucked my camera away.

I was shown in God's word his desires for the people in the world, met examples of people living in constant service like Jesus risking their lives to help the poor and oppressed, and saw what God is doing globally.  It's just sad to see how much people are needed to go and serve, to be willing to give up comfort for doing what is desperately needed.  We live in a real time world, where people live and die each day without knowing Jesus.

"If you don't serve the people around you in your community, you have no business being a missionary. An over the ocean plane ride doesn't change people, or make people more spiritual."

Andrew and I are praying that God will open our eyes, and give us courage to serve the people we interact with or see on a daily basis.  Tonight we ordered a medium pizza, but could only eat half.  While driving around town, the snow lightly falling outside in the 17 degree weather, I felt sad thinking how our pizza would go bad in our hotel room without a fridge.

"God, show us someone hungry, so we can share this with them."  My thoughts, 'you know, if I saw more hungry people, I could do this more often, we probably won't see anyone.'

Then we saw him sitting at a bus stop, at 11:30 pm, while it snowed.

"Let's give him the pizza"
"But, what if he's not homeless, we could offend him"
"Well, we could just ask, or something"
"But we already passed him"
"Let's just turn around."
"OK."

"Excuse me, sir.  Are you hungry?  Would you like some pizza?"

"YES!  Oh, thankyou," he sputtered through his thick speech impediment as he limped excitedly towards us.

"Oh THANK YOU!  God bless you, thank you!"

And we drove away and cried.