Timing is EVERYTHING!

When I first posted about our decision to adopt I mentioned that God had overwhelmingly confirmed our decision.  I feel compelled to share the details, to glorify God & to help others see the AMAZING ways He works.  Just to preface: the events told in the following lines are TRUE (to the T), and totally UNEXAGGERATED in any way. No joking ; ).

Let's start on December 1, 2010...after feeling the burden on our heart for some time, Mark and I decided to take a "leap of faith." We filled out an application to adopt.  We had no plans to discuss it with anyone for a while we were just going to pray and see where God was leading after sending it.

December 2, 2010 (my mom's birthday & the NEXT day!)...I had plans to go to a mom's group that I attend on a monthly basis (GEMS @ Hazelwood Baptist).  I got the kids ready and headed out the door with the adoption application ready to send.  To mail the application, I needed to go inside the post office with 3 kids... so of course I pushed that until after my mom's group!

Finally, dropped the kids off, sitting with my friends and eating at GEMS.  Time to relax!  NOPE... not today!  There was a devotional given about the Christmas story after we had our brunch.  Great story, we've all heard it many times right?  But for me, on this particular day, this old familiar story seemed to grip my attention.  The pastor explained that there are NO COINCIDENCES and that God had orchestrated everything that came to pass in this story.  I agreed, God has EVERYTHING under control and He doesn't wait for a coincidence to make things happen.  

What happened right after the devotional was a coincidence right?  NOPE!  Two of my friends that I have met through this mom's group announced that they were ADOPTING!  Me (thinking): What?!!!  That is just crazy timing...no way.  I have an adoption application in the car and we have been praying for months for some kind of clarity!  My heart was pounding and I had goose bumps all at once...it was like something physically hit me.  (Remember: I told you at the beginning that this is not an exaggeration!)  So we were supposed to be having a fun gift exchange, but I couldn't even breathe because of God's timing, so I shot straight over to Kristin & Lydia to bombard them with questions (sorry girls, you missed most of the gift exchange too ; ) ). Who, what, when, where, how, why???  I almost forgot to mention that both of these girls have 3 kids like me and both of their youngest child is the same age as Brogan! Hmmm, what a coincidence!  Can God be any clearer than that?  


Mark and I hadn't decided for sure where because we wanted to make sure this was what God was leading us to.  Both of the girls I mentioned  are adopting from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa (which, besides being in Africa, is very close to Ethiopia).  I was thinking China or Africa from the beginning. So after this amazing confirmation from God, I had to call Mark and tell him about what happened.  I also realized that I forgot an important piece of info on the application, so I couldn't send it just yet.  It was nap time...also known as VICTORY, so I got the mail, mostly junk.  I grabbed the Star Shop Local, a small newspaper excerpt, and thought to myself, "That would be so cool if there was something about adoption in this paper."  I just thought it, I didn't expect for it to actually happen.  I opened up the paper and to the left were the recipes that I always check out and to the right was an article about, YEP, you guessed it, ADOPTION!!!  Are you getting the theme of NO COINCIDENCES yet?  This particular article was about specifically adopting from Ethiopia.  So I begin reading it of course.  Before I even finish reading it, the phone rings.  It's Mark, the first words out of his mouth (no kidding) are: "So, where do you think we should adopt from?" I am staring at this article and I said NOTHING.  I responded, "I don't know, what do you think?"  Guess what he said..."ETHIOPIA!"
The funny thing about the application is that we couldn't even go through that particular agency to adopt from Ethiopia, so we were spared the money for that application and decided on another agency.  God can put people and things in our life at just the right TIME to speak to us. And that day He really SPOKE!

So, my friends & family, I tell you all this not to be dramatic, though it is hard not to tell it in such a way, but I tell you all for the GLORY & PRAISE be to God for being who He is and answering our prayers.    The title of a book I was given (at GEMS !!!) a couple of years ago keeps popping in my head lately..."If You Want to Walk on Water, You have to Get Out of the Boat." Cling to your FAITH and never give up PRAYING!

In Awe of Him,
Holly

Why Ethiopia?

We have been asked this question several times?  And the answer that immediately comes to mind: Why not?   Most of my life has been spent thinking about my dreams, my goals, my future. It wasn't until I prayed that God would tell me what He wanted from my life.  That's when it started... a burning in my heart to do something more, to make a difference for Christ.  I had no idea it would lead to adoption.  I just knew that I had to do something different.  The sad thing is that I knew about poverty and suffering in the world for a long time.  I was aware that millions were starving to death and dying from Aids and the orphans it leaves behind, but I managed to always look the other way.  Is this what Christ would do?  No!  So how can I help all of those people?  I can't, I'm not Him, but I am supposed to be His hands and feet... so I may not be able to save the world, but to one I will mean the whole world!  
John 14:18  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  

-Mark

This video was made by another family adopting, but we loved it and it fits our thoughts & journey perfectly.

Isaiah 26

Isaiah 26: 3-4

3 You will keep in perfect peace
  all who trust in you,
  all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

4 Trust in the LORD always,
  for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

I heard this verse on the radio today right at the time when I needed it.  Everything is progressing so quickly we don't know what hit us.  I know it is all in God's timing though.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon we will be having our home-study conducted.  A social worker will be coming to our home for 2-3 hours to evaluate us.  We would appreciate your prayers.  

On a lighter note, Grace drew a picture today of our family plus one "African baby girl," she explained.  Grace & Lane are very excited and understand that there are kids that need families in the world.  They talk about the kids in Africa a lot & sometimes want to send them the dinners I fix that they aren't particularly fond of ;0.  We have shown them pictures etc.  They understand that the baby will have darker skin as well and that God looks at the heart and so do we.  We also explained to them that they will be older when the baby finally arrives home.        

Ask, Seek, Knock...

Those three words seem so simple.  In fact, knowing and explaining our faith seems pretty easy too, at times.  It isn't until we actually have to live out those words or instructions that they become real to us.
The reality is easier said than done!  It is easy to encourage others to be patient, faithful, obedient, etc.;  but as the tables turn back to me I understand why a deep-rooted relationship with Christ and encouragement from family & friends is so vital.

ASK
About 9 months ago God started stirring my heart & Mark's heart, but separately.  I heard an amazing woman speak about the millions of orphans in our world, especially in Africa.  I have never been the same since.  Mark was touched by a man with a disability, yet this man was serving God in a tremendous way.  Mark prayerfully decided to start saying yes more often.  That led him to do the prison ministry, Kairos.  He fell in love with this very important ministry and has continued to serve there.  When we realized one another's nudging from God we were forced to ASK... Lord, what is it that you are leading us to do?  How can we serve you better?  How can we serve others in Your name?

SEEK
Before we knew it, we were starting on a journey in search of those answers.  We started praying and searching...we felt that God was leading us into missions somehow.  We had NO CLUE how, when, where, etc.  We met with great mentors and friends along the way and they have been praying for us and guiding us as well.  Long story shorter, we decided to go on a mission trip since Mark had never been on one before.  That led us to the Dominican Republic (see earlier posts).  As the months have passed since our amazing trip, we have continued to seek out various avenues that we felt could have been where God was leading us.  We were recently able to attend the National Missionary Convention in Lexington, KY.  We knew there were going to be many important leaders in the world of missions & we were able to meet many of those amazing followers!  What an eye-opening part of the journey that was for us.  We had been praying to God that we were open to whatever it was that we were seeking, as long as it was HIS will, not ours.  We knew we would love to work with children and we were drawn to organizations that centered on kids. We found places that we would be interested in, but we wanted a place that would best suit our family.  We were excited but overwhelmed.  Nothing felt like it was clicking for us in our hearts though.  Since then, we have been continually praying for guidance.  FINALLY, we feel God has led us to the answer, but not the answer we were expecting...

KNOCK
We are at the threshold of a long process called adoption (looking at what we know so far, it will take around a year).  We have always wanted & discussed adopting (since Grace was a baby).  We somehow knew it was in our future, we just didn't realize the future time had come.  We have already started "knocking" to see if this particular door will be opening more.  So far,  God has overwhelmingly confirmed to us that this is the "mission" He has planned for us at this time in our lives.  We will continue to press on and "knock" as long as the door keeps opening up for us to add on to our family in this avenue.  It is hard to even express how right this feels and how excited we are to have another blessing to our family.  We have always talked about adopting.  We know that God has answered our many prayers (even though He is leading us on a mission a little different from what we thought).  So what now?  We have sent in a heap of paperwork so far and will be hoping for a home study soon (that's when a social worker will come and evaluate our family).  We have decided to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia.  We would appreciate your prayers for our family (including our baby) throughout this journey.

Our Home Visit with Junior!

One of the most important and special things we did all week was to visit our sponsored child's home. We were able to go to Junior's home again Monday afternoon after missing them that morning.  He and his family were home this time!  We were so humbled to be able to meet Junior and his family, as well as see where he lives.  Junior has an older brother, Fernando, and an older sister, Mireya.  They all three looked a lot alike.  Their home was very small, probably the size of our garage (on my Pictures post).  It was very nice and well kept.  They seem to take good care of what they have.  The home was simple with curtains for doors and concrete floors.  We were able to bring them a bag of food (as I mentioned in the last post) and a bag of gifts for Alexandra and the children.  We brought them some toys that Grace & Lane had picked out for the kids as well as other toys.

 As I mentioned before, they had not smiled much, and this visit was no different.  They were grateful for everything, but still in mourning for the loss of their father/husband.  Alexandra gave us a picture of her late husband and said he would have been glad to meet us.  We chatted a little and then prayed with them as a family (with a translator).  It was very emotional and something we will always remember.

One of the quotes that really opened my eyes to do more is this: "Don't fail to do something, just because you can't do everything.  -Bob Pierce (founder of World Vision)

And another I like... "None of us can help everyone. But all of us can help someone.  And when we help them, we serve Jesus."  Max Lucado

Our someone is Junior & his family.  Who is your someone?

Let the Work Begin!

Monday through Thursday went something like this... Breakfast at hotel, bus ride for an hour into Villa Tapia with a devotional on the way, work/VBS/home visits, lunch, work/VBS/home visits, back to Santiago to clean up, dinner, fellowship, & bed.

We were expecting to begin building a stone wall/protection fence around the center, but when we arrived they had already finished laying the stone.  So our group started putting up the metal chain fence on top of the stone and cementing it to stay in place.  That took about a 1 1/2 - 2 days to finish.  Then we were busy Wednesday and Thursday putting on a VBS for two groups a day of at least 75 kids in each group.  They were taught by science experiments tied in with Bible lessons in the church by Dave Lafon (a.k.a.- Professor Puff-a-lup-a-gus).  Then they went to their normal classrooms along with their teachers and did crafts.  We had some neat crafts, one including a duffle bag they decorated and then later brought home goodies in it.  We came bearing candy, bubbles, games, and toys!  There is such a blessing in giving!

On Monday we also started visiting homes in the village.  We broke the group in half so some worked while others did home visits.  We had to keep the visits to just the kids that had sponsors within our group and some that had sponsors from Crossroads Church, in Avon.  Mark and I went first with the  morning group.  We were blessed to witness and be a part of visiting the children in their homes.  In every home we were warmly welcomed.  We brought each home a big bag of staple foods.  We had a translator, Yunior, with us at each visit.  All of us were able to chat and pray with our sponsored child and his/her family.  Each child received many gifts as well.  It is a pretty big deal to be able to meet your child and their family that you are supporting, not many have this opportunity.  It was definitely something that we will never forget!

We were up!  Mark and I grabbed our bag of food and bag full of gifts!  We were walking up a big muddy hill to get to our sponsored child, Junior's, home.  We were stopped by a neighbor before we walked too far.  The neighbor explained to us that Junior's mother, Alexandra was not home.  We were saddened to find out that Alexandra and her children had just lost their husband/father only 4 months ago.  He was killed...there was some misunderstanding.  Jose' would have been 31 (my age) on September 30.  When we signed up to sponsor Junior, we did not know this information.  We knew that his father was a farmer.  Knowing the family needed financial help then,  made us aware of how much more they need it now!  I am so glad God led us to pick Junior when we signed up for a child.  Jose' died right about the time that God started stirring Mark and I to want to go on a mission trip.  This particular mission trip led us to Junior & his family.  I pray that God will lift them up and comfort them through this terrible time.  I know that God can use us to help them and lighten a financial load that they have...we are blessed to do so!      

We're Finally Here!

We arrived at Hotel Aloha Sol in downtown Santiago late on Saturday night (9/4/10).  It was a nice place with a lot of cultural characteristics.  Now to get all 40+ bags off the bus!  We filled the lounge with all our gear.  The staff their brought us all welcome glasses of their special fruit punch.  It was yummy!  We finally settled in for the night with anticipation for the next day.

Sunday came quickly.  We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel before leaving to finally see the village we were going to be driving to every day.  It took an hour to drive on our bus to Villa Tapia.  We saw many interesting things along the way throughout the week driving there.  I noticed there was trash any where you looked.  The only place that I didn't see any were in the nicer areas of the city, but that was it.  One day we saw a little car pulling a dead horse along the highway... Not your every day sighting in Indiana.  Half of the population seemed to drive mopeds.  We saw a guy somehow fit 4 children with him on his.  Then there was the man riding with a small washing machine on his moped!  You name it, they were selling it.  On every street there was someone selling things ranging from cell phone covers & chargers, puppies, shoes (hanging from tree branches as a display), baby chickens, and many types of food.  It is a largely populated city, so it is hard for many to find jobs, so they sell whatever they can.

After our first long, interesting ride, we finally arrived to The Manantial de Vida y Amor Child Development Center started by Mission of Mercy & diagonal in same courtyard was the Church.  The Center is a safe, nurturing Christian environment where children's basic needs are met.  They receive medical check-ups, education assistance, and opportunities for healthy social & emotional development.  Most importantly, through a program of Christian education, they are introduced to Christ and given the opportunity to develop a lifelong relationship with Him.

We were greeted by the villagers with huge smiles and great excitement!  The women greeted us with hugs and a kiss on the cheek. The children had worked on a program for the church service that morning.  They were amazing in front of such a big crowd.  I included a video of an 11 year old, Giannabel, singing in my Photos post.  She had a neat and outgoing personality, as you can see.  Throughout the week she and I grew a special bond.

One of our group leaders, Mark's friend, Brian Correll, preached with our interpreter/Mission of Mercy Coordinator, Dimos.  He did an awesome job!  The seats were filled, so there were many people standing in the isles and in the back...there were even people watching through the windows from outside.  Maybe some were curious to see "Americanos! : )"  When the service had ended we were flooded by children and villagers in the church's courtyard.  We were thrilled to have such a greeting.  The women and children love to have their pictures taken...most don't own a camera or have many pictures of their own, so they loved to look at ours.

While having fellowship with them, Mark recognized our sponsored child, Junior.  We introduced ourselves with an interpreter and explained we were sponsoring him.  His mother was nice but we noticed she didn't smile much as all the other people and Junior was extremely shy (which was totally fine).  We were to visit their home later in the week to bring them gifts.

Once the crowd diminished, we enjoyed our first lunch of many: beans, rice & chicken.  We toured the center and planned our work for the next day.  The rest of the day was full of fellowship and rest.

Pictures

Our first Day in the D.R. 

Eating breakfast before attending church.

The little boys we sat behind at church.  They thought we were funny because our Spanish wasn't the best ; )

  Enjoying the church service the children put on for us.

This is my special friend, Giannabel, 11 years old!  She is the little girl singing in the video.   

Mark & I standing in front of the church in Villia Tapia.

The children's center is right behind it.  This is where we worked every day.

This is what we ate every day for lunch: rice with beans in a special sauce, one piece of chicken, and plantains (a type of banana grown in that area).  

Beautiful tropical fields on our daily hour drive from Santiago to the village of Villa Tapia.

Steve & Harry (part of our team) putting up the fence for the center.

After the fence was put up, we connected it to the stone wall with cement.  Go Ladies!

nter;">

Dave Lafon (Professor Puff-a-lup-a-gus) led VBS with the kids by performing science experiments with a Bible lesson!  He brought artificial snow for them!  

All the guys just sitting around while the women work...ha ha!

All the women doing all of the hard labor! ;)

Kids in the classroom getting ready for a craft.

Mark found a dead tarantula!

Our AWESOME interpreter & new friend, Perla (she is studying in Norway to be a missionary in Ethiopia)!  

I spent a lot of time in this classroom!  

Proud to show off her new backpack!

Mark teaching the kids a game!

Cramming as many kids as possible in the van to go home.  It's the church's van.

AWWW!

Mark, Holly, Sheli, Brian, Jessica, & Adam

Giannabel picking a toy.  Every team member took the maximum limit of suit cases so we could bring toys, candy, crafts, etc.  

I miss them already!  Our last day with the kids.

Yason followed Mark everywhere!

Sporting the Crossroads bandanas!

My new friend & fellow teacher, Ivelisse!

The preacher of the church presented a plaque to Brian & Crossroads Church.

The whole gang in front of the children's center before saying goodbye.

Mark and Yunior our other interpreter for the week. They're exhausted from souvenir shopping.  

Bringing all those extra suit cases was worth it!  This picture shows some of what we were able to leave for the center and the church.

Dominican Republic 2010

What an AMAZING journey we had!  We knew God wanted us to go on a mission trip.  He kept putting in our hearts.  We prayed for God to lead where.  He opened the door to one of Mark's customer's, Brian, who just happens to be a former missionary raised in Africa (BTW-he is wrote a book about his life in Africa- powerful stories!)!  Mark inquired about a mission trip Brian was leading...it was already full.  We kept praying.  A couple of months later, a call from Brian...two spots opened up for a trip to the Dominican Republic. The timing was perfect, we can't explain it, we just felt it was right.  


Finally, time for the trip!  We flew from Indy to Miami and then Miami to Santiago, Dominican Republic.  As soon as we landed within the mountains and hills of Santiago, I was already in tears.  God was moving in our hearts already!  On the plane ride to Santiago, there was another passenger in our row of three sitting next to Mark.  His name was Robert.  We started talking with him while we sat on the runway for 2 extra hours because of a storm.  Robert was flying to Santiago, where he grew up.  He now lives in Jacksonville, Florida where he and his family have a restaurant/grocery store.  He was flying back home for a funeral.  His 27 year old brother had accidentally shot himself playing with his gun. He left behind his wife and two children.  Robert was still in shock and kept saying, " I just can't believe it!"  We got to know a little bit more about him on the flight.  He and his wife are the same age as Mark and me.  They also have three children.  He asked us why we were going to the D.R.  We explained our mission trip and what we were going to do.  He gave us some tips upon visiting the large city of Santiago.  What a sobering experience that flight was, to say the least.  When the plane landed, Mark asked if we could pray for him.  He agreed.  When we stepped off the plane we said goodbye with hugs of compassion.  Here came the tears.  God had only just begun...