His Ways

In 2010, I picked which trip I wanted to lead in 2011. I picked the May trip because it was the only trip going to Ethiopia and Uganda in 2011. I love Ethiopia, but I really wanted to go back to Uganda.

Well, you know the drill. God's ways aren't always our ways and we never made it to Uganda. Wouldn't you know that the day we were supposed to fly into Uganda was the same day that the new president was being sworn in and the old president was trying to return to Uganda from Kenya. The road from the airport to Kampala in Uganda was closed and their were riots on the road. So, Visiting Orphans wisely made the decision for the team not to travel and to stay in Ethiopia.

The team was understandably disappointed. We were so excited about visiting some new ministries in Uganda, but God had one place on His heart and that's where we spent a lot of our "extra" time in Ethiopia. Restoration Orphanage. As a team, we painted, we held babies, we bathed babies, we cleaned bathrooms, we sorted through clothes, we played with some older kids who desperately need some love and attention, and we fed some babies that are entirely too small. Actually some of us wept over some babies that are so tiny. It's just not right and when life in Ethiopia is already so hard, those images are the ones that I can't shake. I held one baby that was so tiny, you didn't even know you had a baby in your arms. It just felt like a blanket in my arms. The pictures don't even do justice to how tiny these babies are.

BUT, after just a few days of some good formula and some consistent feedings. They were filling out. There is hope, there is redemption and there is a future for these precious babies. Thank you to Ashli and Sumer for caring and for not turning your back to those in need. The task ahead seems impossible, but then again I know that we serve a mountain moving God and that His ways always prevail!

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42

Adoption Update

Hey Friends!

So if you didn't figure it out and if you're not on facebook, yes we are adopting from Africa... a place that Derek and I both love dearly.

Our kids are excited and Derek and I are once again drowning in adoption paperwork and forms. It is all too familiar as we've done this three times already, but now we're adding the international twist to it. We have completed our homestudy and are now beginning to collect documents for our dossier. Fun stuff!

I could give you plenty of reasons why we shouldn't be doing this....we're old, it costs a lot of money, our kids are all in school and our schedules aren't as crazy as they were in the preschool years, we are finally all sleeping through the night, we are old (did I already say that?), Derek said that we shouldn't jump on the adoption bandwagon (I told him we were already on that wagon), but seriously we're not the type of people to do things because it's the "in thing". We are the type of people to do things though because it's the "right thing" to do.

And so after seeing what we've seen and holding little ones that need homes, we decided that this is the right thing to do for our family. I read this a few months ago, "the key to happiness is not being loved, it is having someone to love." Derek Prince

We think we have a little more love to give and there are plenty of precious children that just need someone to love them.

And so, our journey begins....

Friday News

Do you know what this means for our family?

Hint: Read the tagline on the shirt.

This post doesn't have to do with Ordinary Hero, but they have some incredible shirts available on their website

Sweet Kisses and Football

A personal struggle of mine is work/family balance. I love my work. I love my family. How do you balance the two?

So, last week I decided to stay home from the boys' football game because I had a conference call. Do you know what I missed? I missed Stephen scoring two touchdowns. I was so disappointed. I thought, "This may never happen again and I missed it!" Bummer!

I emailed my team and asked if we could move this week's meeting by 30 minutes. I would still miss about 15 minutes of their game, but I was determined to at least go this week. Our conference calls have been at 8 every week and I pushed this week's to 8:30. So there I sat at 8 pm tonight watching Stephen's game and he made a touchdown at 8 pm on the dot. Sweet kiss from God! I am thrilled that I got to see it with my own eyes and thankful for a mission team that's flexible.

It's times like these that the Lord reminds me that He does care even about the little things. I saw the sun today setting in the sky and I was reminded just how big God is. Then God let me see a touchdown at 8 pm right before I walked out the door and it reminded me how small I am compared to our great big God, but He loves me. Oh, how He loves me!

When God Hurts Your Feelings

Crazy title, I know. This post is written from a very raw spot that God is continuing to heal. I thought the wound had been healed, but over the last month, He has shown me that the complete healing hasn't come...maybe it never will.

I think about Joseph being thrown in jail, about Job losing everything, about John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ and then losing his life. These stories make me realize that my story doesn't even compare. But on some level, I think their feelings must've been hurt. They must've wondered why God's plan was unfolding the way that it was.

A couple of weeks ago the theme in our Bible study was "You have to move past your devastation with God". This surfaced all types of emotions, one being infertility. If one more person tells me that when people adopt, they end up getting pregnant, I just might cry. We've adopted three times and we're not pregnant. We've been "unprotected" for 15 years (okay, that's too much information...so sorry). God has chosen to create our family in a different way and deep down, I'm okay with that. Deep down, I believe in the sovereignty of God and I know that the three children living in our house were ordained as ours from the beginning of time. Their adoption stories are some of the best around and I love to share them with anyone that's willing to listen.

And so I'm okay until someone who doesn't even want to be pregnant gets pregnant and says, "We weren't even trying". Or I find out that a 14 year old girl is pregnant. Or when I read a verse in the Bible that says, God closed her womb. Honestly, that hurts my feelings. I don't understand why God closed my womb and continues to allow this place of infertility to be a wound that continually gets opened. I thought I was over this...honestly, I don't want to go back to the newborn stage...it was hard!!!! But sometimes I just wonder, why God? I cannot listen to the song Blessings by Laura Story and not cry. In many ways I guess our infertility is a disappointment in our lives. But yet that very disappointment gave us three wonderful and beautiful blessings!

And so...the healing begins again. For whatever reason, the Lord has allowed this place of deep hurt and longing to surface again. Seriously, I'll be 40 next year and Derek will be 45. We don't need a newborn and we're not praying for one. I am counting my blessings...naming them one by one, because I know they are straight from God's hands.

They didn't come easy and they didn't come cheap. They came with lots of paperwork and lots of anxiety. They came with tears as we tried to adjust to 3 children under 3 wondering if we had completely lost our minds and if maybe we were infertile for a reason. :) But "stinky Satan" as Elizabeth would say would like to steal my joy and make me focus on what others have and what I don't. It's jealousy and envy...it's sin! And I am determined not to linger in the sin or stay in the pit.

This is the life God chose for our family and it's a good life. Let the healing begin...again.

Philippians 3

¹⁰ I want to know Christ better. I want to know the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings. I want to become like him by sharing in his death. ¹¹ Then by God's grace I will rise from the dead. ¹² I have not yet received all of those things. I have not yet been made perfect. But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for.¹³ Brothers and sisters, I don't consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But here is the one thing I do. I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. ¹⁴ I move on toward the goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is Christ Jesus himself.

Blessings

Have you heard the song Blessings by Laura Story? If you haven't, you need to. It's probably one of the best songs I've downloaded on itunes in awhile....

Here is my favorite section of the song

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

This is where God has me hanging out right now...dealing with some disappointments and trusting that His plan is perfect.

I'm reading a book called Honor's Reward by John Bevere and here's what jumped off the page, often God will send us what we need in a package we don't want.

Has that ever happened to you? I was just moving along through life and God grabbed my attention and said, "Hey Alicia, we have some things to deal with. You thought it was all good, but there's some cleaning up and healing in your life that needs to be done." I was not expecting that.

But oh the blessings that come on the other side of that. Really, I don't need to say it....she says it so well....

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

Blessings....sometimes they are prayers that get answered. Sometimes they are the prayers that don't get answered. Either way, blessings come, because He is faithful!

Three Rules of Obedience

1. Do what you're told.

2. Do it immediately.

3. Do it with a good attitude.

Thanks James MacDonald. We are implementing these in our house this week!

I wish I could say that it's only kids that struggle with this, but even as adults, we don't always want to do what we're told. Sometimes God has prompted me to do something and I've done it but I haven't had a good attitude or a happy heart and so it's not obedience...it's just compliance.

I still have much to learn....