Where To Begin?

I'm back from Swaziland, but for some reason I'm having a hard time knowing where to start to tell this story...  The beginning seems like a logical place, and yet I think I need to return to last year's trip...   Since I need a little time to think this one through, I'll start with 7 of my favorite photos and hopefully in a day or so, God will show me how to begin to tell the next chapter in my Africa story...

The first photo is a little boy at a location where we were handing out blankets and beanies...  He is such a beautiful child!  I didn't even remember taking the photo and it's probably my favorite!

The next two pictures are of a child in the community where we spent 3 days...  Something about this child tugged at my heart, he wouldn't play with us or even smile when we showed him his picture on the camera (that always gets the kids to smile).  He just seemed to want to hide...

I'll post more about this little boy in a few days...  His joy was so contagious!

There was something about this gogo (grandmother) that grabbed me...  She looked so stern until she smiled...  When she smiled, you couldn't help but laugh and smile with her!

She wouldn't smile for a picture, but she sure did laugh when you showed her a picture of herself, so I waited until another group member took her picture and did my best to grab those twinkling eyes and squinched up cheeks!

This last picture tells such a story on it's own...  The gogos were all sitting on their mats, outside the worn church building.  Some were wrapped in blankets and others in shawls...  I glanced down and saw these worn feet that have probably walked a million miles, with no shoes, and was captured by the contrast of her feet with the beautiful fabric. 

These women, who give their lives to raise their grandchildren, because the children's parents have all died of AIDS, should all be clothed in the finest shoes and linen...  Some day they will be, with beautiful crowns on their heads and the whisper of their Heavenly Father ringing in their ears...  "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

Back To Africa....

I can't believe that once again, I sit on the eve of another trip to Swaziland!  I'm so excited to see what God has in store this time!  I won't be able to blog from there, but I'll look forward to telling you some great God stories when I return...

I really don't know what we'll be doing there this time, but somehow, that makes it even more exciting...  Whatever it is, it will be perfect!

Have a great couple of weeks!

"Learning To Love A Child..."

During our adoption process, I came across a quote by one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller (probably best known for Blue Like Jazz)...  It was in his book Painted Deserts, he wrote...

"And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home...some summer and some winter... My hope is that your story will be about changing...about learning to love a child...about learning to love others more than we love ourselves...

We get one story, you and I, one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?

And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."

Funny, but when this quote grabbed my heart, I had no idea how God would teach me that life is as much about the journey as it is the destination...

When we first began this journey, I naively imagined falling in love with a child from the moment we met...  I imagined a child that would love us and quickly entrust herself to us...  A little girl who would allow us to do all the things the books said we needed to do, like hug her, rock her, read to her, swing her, play with her...

Gotcha Day - July 21, 2008

 

But what I didn't understand at the time was this...  If all of that happened easily, if we quickly and easily arrived at our "destination" of a happy, well-adjusted 4th child, we would miss the incredible sights of the journey...  Sights that clearly showed us the love of God...  Lessons that taught us so much about what it means to be an adopted child of the King Most High...  Moments that took our breath away as we watched the breathtaking power of our great God...

I am so thankful that God moved us and gave us the courage to journey out...  To risk the comfortable place we'd reached with our family...  To sacrifice the known for the unknown...  It truly has been a journey of learning to love a child and it is a journey that has changed us forever.

2 years ago today, sweet Abby joined our family...  It was a hard day...  It was a hard first year...  I can't tell you how many tears I cried because I longed to hug her, hold her, just be her mom.  But God was with us every step of the way, He never stopped guiding us and He never stopped pouring His wisdom, grace and love into our hearts...

Learning to love a child is about learning to love with the heart of God...  It is a life changing, heart transforming journey...

If God has placed adoption on your heart, don't be afraid to step out in obedience...  It's a journey that you don't want to miss...  And as Donald Miller said, we each get one story...  How will your story read?  And will it impact, maybe change forever, the story of another?

Abby...  we are so blessed that God chose us to be your family.  Thank you for the smiles, the laughter, the joy you bring...  Thank you for opening your heart to us and letting us love you...  You are one special little girl... 

The Power of Love

Some Things Just Take Time...

Something that I've been noticing lately is how critical people in the church can be...  Those who tithe, criticize those who don't...  Those who adopt criticize those who don't...  Those who faithfully serve the poor criticize those who don't...  Even those who have a regular quiet time criticize those who don't...  We can be a very self-righteous group of people...  And if I'm honest, I can criticize and be self-righteous with the best of them.

But something occurred to me as I've considered our journey with Abby these past two years...  She didn't come into our family automatically behaving the way we would want or doing the things we would hope.  She brought traditions, behaviors and ways from her own land and while some of them were fine, some needed to change.

Just because the adoption was final and Miller was part of her name, she didn't magically change overnight...

And the same is true for Christians...  Just because we are eternally adopted into God's family and we have a name change to 'Christian', we don't transform overnight, it takes time.

Abby had to get to know us and love us, she had to learn what it meant to be a part of a forever family and she needed to learn some of the ways of our culture (like you don't slurp your soup out loud!). 

And the same principle applies to us, as Christians.  We don't get to know God overnight...  It takes time for His character to influence ours...  It takes time to grow to love Him, to know His ways and to obey Him...  It takes time for His Word to shape our hearts...

Patience and a WHOLE lot of grace has been essential on the journey of Abby learning to be a part of our family...  I think we need to show that same patience and grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ.   No doubt God shows it to us every moment of every day.

Africa!

In just a few days, Heart for Africa will host 20,000 children and adults at the stadium in Swaziland...  10,000 blankets have been donated, 20,000 beanies have been knitted for the children, it will be a day when the children hear about the love of Jesus.

Here is a link to the blog of the lady who is coordinating the production for the whole event, she is a great writer with an amazing heart for God... http://masiswaziland.blogspot.com   (I've also put a link to her blog in the right hand column under favorite Africa blogs.)

I didn't feel called to go with the 300+ that will be there for the big event on July 23, but I will leave with the follow up team on July 26!  I can't wait to go back...

If you want to watch God do some amazing things, be sure to follow Masi's blog above...

Beach Trip

So before I post the photos from our family beach trip, I've got an Abby funny...  For the trip, I bought Abby some of her own books, she's reading great now and I thought it was time for some chapter books.  We found some she thought she'd like and she loved them.

The other night, she was finishing up one of the books and she said, "Mommy, I really like this book, but it has a bad word in it."  I tried to be calm, but inside I was livid...  A bad word in a child's book.  I was picturing walking into the local bookstore and having a good old fashioned rant...

"Abby, what kind of bad word?"

"You know mommy, the 'sh' word..."

At this point I'm flabbergasted...  Really?  The 'sh' word in a 2nd grader's book...

"Abby, are you sure it was the 'sh' word?"

At this point she leans in and whispers...  "Mommy, they said 'shut up'"

Ohhhhhh...  The 'sh' word!  I love innocence!!

So now for the beach pictures...

A couple of weeks ago, our family (29 of us) went to the beach...  We had to try a new place because our usual location is on the Gulf and we were worried about the oil and the beaches.  But we LOVED our new location and we had a blast...  (These are a few of my favorites!!)

(I just love seeing those sweet China angel faces as part of our family!)

(The boys with their grandmother...  YIKES...  My babies are growing up!)

It was truly a great week!!

A Great Man Passed By...

It's funny, on sad days, the things that leave lasting impressions on your heart...  When my grandfather Pop died, it was a young State Trooper who pulled over at an old grocery store, removed his hat and waited for the funeral procession to pass...  12 years later, I can still see that young man standing by the side of the road, with his hat held over his heart.  I wish I knew who he was so I could thank him for honoring my grandfather in such a humble way.

And then on Tuesday, just a little over 12 years later, it was the honor and respect of strangers, on the side of the road that grabbed my heart...  My uncle, my grandfather's best friend, went home to be with Jesus and I will never forget the images of so many cars pulled over or the picture of a father, holding the hand of his young son in their front yard, waiting as another great man passed by...

I know these people didn't know who was passing, but if they had, they would have been glad they took the time to show respect and honor for a grieving family today...

I have been blessed in my life, to have my heart touched by some amazing men, but my grandfather and my uncle are unrivaled with the legacy of faith they have left behind for all who knew them... 

These two men loved Jesus with all of their hearts and that love overflowed on everyone who knew them...  They both breathed the Spirit of Jesus into the air, everywhere they went...  There is no telling how many lives were impacted, maybe even completely transformed, because they made Jesus so very real...

One of the most special things that my aunt and uncle always did for me is that they would come to see us, when we were in town...  They didn't wait for us to come to their house, they were so graciously understanding of how hard it was to get around to see everyone and they made a point to see us...  I will never forget, when we brought Abby home and I went to see my grandmother, they made a point to come and meet the newest member of our family...  They loved her before she ever arrived and that love overflowed onto her that sweet afternoon..

I have so many great memories of times spent with my aunt and uncle...  Trips to the beach and to the mountains...  Sweet conversations about our faith...  Christmases and Thanksgivings...  Easters...  Weddings...  Births...and even Funerals...  Summer afternoons on their screened porch on an old metal glider...  There are so many memories that flash across my heart as I think about my aunt and uncle...  My life has been so blessed by an amazing family...so full of laughter and smiles...  grace and unconditional love...

Uncle F...  I will miss you SO much... Thank you for all of your prayers for me and my family...  For sweet talks and lots of smiles and hugs...  But most of all, thank you for the imprint that you left on my heart...  The imprint of the love of Jesus...  I hope you're having peaches and watermelon with Pop and Jesus right now!