Want a really cool t-shirt?

Click on the Valentine button on my sidebar and check out this sweet opportunity. If you would like a very cute shirt for your self plus a shirt and pair of shoes for an orphan in Ethiopia... this is your connection.

Enjoy!

Here is a video that really inspired us as we were praying about adoption.

You will need to go to the bottom of my page and stop my music before you watch the video.

Enjoy!

Exciting News

I sure hope you are enjoying this blog because I am like a kid with a new toy. There are so many things that I want to share. People I want to advocate for, sites that I want to share, books I want to encourage you to read and even questions that I want to ask you. I have a list of ideas! But on to the purpose of this post...

As I've mentioned in my previous 2 posts, I will share some things the LORD is doing in our lives and I want to start with a very exciting one. As our family studied scriptures together over the past year, we were curious as to what God says about our responsibility to the orphan. We discovered that everyone is called to care for them in some way so we knew we had to find out what that looked like for us. After much prayer and many discussions (more than my husband ever wanted to have) we were given our answer. God has called our family to adopt and we could not be more excited. Scared? Absolutely, but completely filled with joy!

So, the big questions are: when and from where. We can apply as soon as our baby is 6 months old, which will be spring. And we were very excited to find out that we are eligible to adopt from Ethiopia. Believe it or not, most countries are not willing to give their orphans to families as large as ours. Seriously? I mean if you have 7 kids wouldn't that indicate that you love caring for children? Oh well, guess they have logical concerns. However, God had already broken my heart for the people of Africa, so our eligibility there is a blessing. I can't wait to step on their soil and love on their orphans.

I will keep you posted on the details as we begin the process. For now, please pray for our family as we continue our wait.

Broken Heart and Opened Eyes

About a year ago, I read the book, A Hole in Our Gospel and never dreamed it would wreck my heart the way it did. The author was a once wealthy business man living in a ritzy neighborhood until he submitted to God's will and became the president of World Vision, moved into a middle class home and started spending much of his time in Africa and other poverty stricken countries. He didn't just give the grim statistics, he painted a picture of what life was like for the millions living in these circumstances. My heart began to break and I just knew something wasn't right about my living in a nice, comfortable home, with my needs being met, simply sending a check to a few local and global organizations to help support these people. God was preparing me to get out of my comfort zone. It was clear that if I truly wanted our family to live the gospel, we had to do something. Knowing the basics of what the Bible said about our responsibility to the poor, I began to dig and search the scriptures for the Truth. What were we to do? I picked out about 10 verses and we began to pray. I listed them on a sheet of paper and gave a copy to each of the kids and ask them to pray over each verse. Then every night we would discuss them during our Bible study time. We began to realize that Jesus had a broken heart for the poor, the widowed and the orphaned. With that new found knowledge, our prayer became, "LORD, break our hearts for the things that break your heart". This is when we saw transformation. The homeless in our city were no longer the ones who were too lazy to get a job and just wanted a free ride. The drug addicts, prisoners and prostitutes were no longer the low lifes who took the wrong path. The orphans were no longer just the product of irresponsible parents. These are the ones that God's heart is broken for. He desperately wants them to know Him. His love, his peace, his protection, his restoration, his mercy, his grace. But, if we truly love Christ, we should want that for them too. How are they to find it?......The church...not the building, ME and YOU that's how! In the book, Red Letters, by Tom Davis, he says, "There's nothing more important on God's agenda than caring for the sick and the hurting the poor and the orphan. There's nothing more rewarding than giving our lives to those who need the most help. I think it's pretty clear that this means following Christ is all about helping the outcast." If you agree with me, the only thing left to do is the same thing my family had to do; ask the LORD, "what role do you need us to play in the lives of the out-cast". Trust me, if you ask that question.... He WILL answer it.

Stay tuned to hear how He answered that prayer for us.

"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 that we know, and holds us responsible to act.."

Proverbs 24:12

Blessings,

Welcome to our blog

Happy New Year!! I have been planning to start a blog for months now and thought new years day would be perfect. So here I am. Most of you know my story, I am a mother of 7 wonderful kiddos and wife to my best friend. We are not the typical family but we love it. I always knew I wanted to be "different" but never dreamed it would come in the shape of being a homeschooling momma to a van load of kids (yes, the vans coming soon). The most important thing about our family is that we are in love with Jesus Christ! Over the next few weeks my plan is to share some really cool things the LORD is calling our family to do. Hopefully, I will be diligent in sharing "our lives" and also be an inspiration to many others.

Check back soon!