Ordinary Update!

Ordinary Hero Dinner update that is : ) I promised and I am determined to get this post done before my head hits the pillow tonight.

So, last week our sweet friends Jodie and Eric headed to Nashville with us to attend a benefit dinner for one of my very favorite organizations, Ordinary Hero. We looked forward to this for several weeks and it was everything we hoped it would be. The dinner was great, the speakers were very inspiring, my crazy hubby bid on a Toby Mac autographed guitar and won it (more on that later), we got some really cool new t-shirts, but the highlight of our night was getting to sit down and chat with Kelly, the founder of Ordinary Hero. She was every bit as beautiful in person but it was her heart that I admired so much. This woman is being the hands and feet of Jesus.... a true servant's heart.

Last year I mentioned in a post that you can read HERE, how Shawn and I dreamed of having an organization similar to Ordinary Hero. For about two years now we have had many conversations about the things we would like to do with our time, our resources and our lives. The only problem was, we didn't really know how to do what we really wanted to do. Basically, we knew where we wanted to be, we just didn't know how to get there. That's when we we received a dinner invitation from Jodie and Eric that would change our lives forever. We shared our heart's desire for ministry and they shared theirs. Basically, God had laid the same exact desires on our hearts..... the only difference, they actually knew how to execute a plan to put these dreams into motion. Thank God that He didn't provide us with the brains to know what to do... our ignorance just gifted us with an amazing set of friends that we might have missed out on all together.

Anyhow, we have spent the past few months sharing dreams and brainstorming ideas. Setting short term and long term goals. Building vision statements and mission statements (well that was mostly J and E, because remember their the smart ones). Going to meetings to share our vision and seek wisdom from several mentors that we admire and respect. And most of all, we've been doing lots of praying!

So, the purpose of us going to the OH dinner was to steal, I mean borrow, some wisdom from them. And of course, we also love to support their amazing ministry any time we get a chance.

Here are a few pictures from our very exciting night. (Jodie and I were trying to keep our cool, but we totally thought we were at a celebrity dinner)

This is Jodie and her sweet husband, Eric.

This is me and Shawn wearing clothes that we usually only wear to weddings and funerals..... this was so much fun! I didn't even have spit up or snot on my dress.

I'm not sure if our men were just as happy as we were to be there, or if they had some kind of inside joke going on... they just look like they been up to something to me.

Both of our oldest kids play guitar and love Toby Mac, so we knew we had to bid on this guitar in the silent auction. Well, we won! This is just funny because we came to this dinner to learn more about caring for orphans and first we won a guitar and then look who we met.....

Country singer Brian White and his actress wife, Erica. See I told you this was a celebrity dinner.... and they were two of the speakers. And yes, my cowboy has his guitar hanging on his shoulder in this picture.

And here's the real celebrity, Mrs. Ordinary Hero, Kelly Putty. After the dinner was over and she had graciously talked with pretty much everyone there (250 folks), she sat down in the back corner and poured out lots of advice to us. Wow, our heads were full but let me tell you, it's a wonder we even slept, we were so pumped about all that we had learned. If you are not familiar with Ordinary Hero, please check them out HERE. They advocate for children all around the world and they are changing lives ..... one person at a time. Thank you Kelly for your investment in the lives of others, including the four of us. : )

So, the big question.... where are we in all of this? Still brainstorming, seeking guidance and praying. But, we are on the move. We will hopefully be a legalized non profit organization in just a few short weeks and at that point we will begin sharing our vision more publicly. We are establishing relationships with ministries that we hope to partner with and we are laying out plans for some new things that we are really excited about. Our main focus will be on advocating for orphans. We hope to educate on caring for orphans and adoption, which is one form of orphan care. Our main objective is to bring justice to those in need, on a local level, as well as globally. BUT, we aren't capable of doing this on our own, and wouldn't prefer it that way if we could. That's why we will need YOU to join forces with us. I've said many times lately, the number of orphans, widows, and the least of these is so great that in order to bring them justice the church will have to link arms and go in together to wage war for them. It's time..... are YOU ready? Please pray for our organization and I will keep you updated in the upcoming months. We hope to have a blog up and running very soon and then we can share ways for others to get involved.

In a few weeks I will share our scripture inspiration for the name of our ministry and all the bird emphasis around our lives lately will make much more sense.... until then.... tweet, tweet!