Thinking of Korah today

I read a post today from a gal I've never met, who just spent time with the beautiful people of Korah that Nathan, Hannah, and I met back in January. So many things impacted us during our mission trip to Ethiopia, but few left as indelible of a mark as Korah.

I have to admit, as horrible and sad as the situation in Korah is, this post gave me hope. I see what the Lord is already doing in the short time since we were there, and I have hope that the gospel will continue to redeem and impact a community for His glory.

Go read about her experience here.

We can help. It's as simple as providing these kids with a way out of the dump. School and all living expenses (EVERYTHING they need from food to clothing to books) for one child is only $700 a year! Divide that by 12 months, and that ain't much. So little making so much of a difference.

For more information on sponsorship through Sumer's ministry, Project 61, visit their website at www.p61.org.

Join me today in praying for my friend Sammy, for Sumer and her ministry, and for the children of Korah.

(You can also read my post @ Korah here, or read Hannah's thoughts & watch the video here.)

Three months & five stages later

It has been three months since Nathan, Hannah, and I returned from Africa. In many ways it seems like we were there only yesterday. In others, it seems like an eternity ago.

I liken my first taste of Africa and my processing of it these last few months to someone who is going through the five stages of grief. I honestly think while I was there, I was in a state of shock. Being slightly numb is about the only way I could keep from weeping at every moment. I was carried along by the rhythm and flow of life in Ethiopia—the sights, and sounds, and smells. But I didn’t know how to feel. I was overwhelmed by the need and my lack of ability to do anything about it. And I certainly didn’t know how to reconcile everything I was seeing with my life back in America.

Which led me to anger. At injustice. At rich, spoiled Americans. At myself. Some justified anger, sure, but mostly my anger was misdirected. I wanted someone to blame. Surely someone was responsible for all this death and sickness and disparity, and so it must be all those people who don’t know, who don’t care, who don’t do anything. If they would just listen. If they would just care. I was ready to point my finger at anyone and everyone.

And, of course, at myself. Because Africa, like a magnifying mirror, reveals more of yourself than you really want to see. Things you hide well in a land of prosperity--like selfishness, laziness, greed, arrogance-- get exposed in a land of want. When you see a woman who has nothing use her meager supply of water and injera to serve you tea-- you can’t help but think of how often you’ve opened your overflowing pantry and sighed that there’s just nothing to fix for dinner. When you meet a man who walks the 3 miles back and forth to work, works 12 hour days, 7 days a week, all for about $2 a day, and he counts himself as blessed—you can’t help but think of how often you’ve complained you needed “me time” after a day “stuck” in your comfy house homeschooling your well-fed kids and folding enough laundry to clothe an army. When you give a child a piece of gum, and you look back to see them sharing it with 6 other children around them--you can’t help but think of overflowing Easter baskets and Christmas stockings stuffed full of goodies. And you feel fat. Regardless how much you weigh, you just feel like a soft, flabby glutton.

And so I entered the stage of bargaining. OK, God, I can still live in my house as long as I speak up for orphans and bring one home to live in it. I can still have 25 pairs of shoes as long as a couple of them are TOMS. I can still spend hours online doing nothing productive, as long as I occasionally post something thought provoking on facebook. I can still own way more than I need, as long as I donate some of the stuff I don’t really want anymore to Goodwill.

But that leads to depression. Because you can never really reconcile owning anything with having given enough. I think of the story where the man came to Jesus and said, ok, I’m ready to follow you, and Jesus said, only one more thing: go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. The man walked away sad. He could not do it. His heart was not willing. While I certainly believe it’s ok to own things, I can never again rest in a place of, ok, I’ve given enough, I’m good now. It will never be enough. And that can be deeply unsatisfying for someone who wants a simple black & white way to deal with my abundance. It just isn’t simple, people.

And I am finally accepting that. There is no easy answer. Really, I’m finding we here in America have a lot more in common with my new friends in Ethiopia than I originally thought. Our countries, yes, different indeed. But we are all people, created in God’s image, and in desperate need of the gospel. And redemption. What Africa wears on the outside, laid bare for all to see, we hide underneath layers in America. They wear physical disease, hunger, poverty, and need. Here, our layers of “stuff” hide emptiness, brokenness, despair, and a hunger that is never satisfied deep within our hearts. Their need is easier to identify, but ours is still there. Underneath it all are human beings with gaping wounds and fatal bleeding. We need a remedy. We need to be rescued.

And with my acceptance comes hope. I believe in a Remedy. I believe in a Rescuer. I serve a King who loves Africans and Americans. I believe He will use me, if I will daily seek to obey His leading in my life. I will not prescribe to you what you need to do, and what that will look like for you. I will not pretend there is an easy solution or that one need in one country is any greater than another need in another country. But for me, I cannot forget what I have seen, and I am now responsible for it. Under the veil of earthly things is a spiritual reality, one we sense when we close our eyes and stand still long enough to feel. We were meant to live for so much more than the American dream.

And so I will not doze off in the sleepy shire, I will engage in the battle. I want blisters on my hands and fatigue deep in my bones and scars on my heart from all I’ve seen and experienced---because too much is at stake. Lives are at stake. Physical and spiritual. I don’t want to cling tightly to anything, save Jesus. I want to spend myself—my life, my time, my resources—with reckless abandon. So that one day, when I stand before Him, I have nothing left. Nothing wasted. Nothing squandered.

I used to be anti-short-term mission trips. I just didn’t see the need to spend thousands of dollars to go somewhere for a few days where you would barely scratch the surface of the need but potentially leave with some sort of self-righteous satisfaction that you at least “did something”, returning to your life of complacency the other 350 days of the year. It seemed to me a bad use of resources that could be better used in the hands of someone who worked there long term as well as a hindrance to seeing the daily mission we are called to here.

But I have changed my mind. Go. Let the two worlds that are America and Africa collide in front of you. Spend the money, because in God’s economy, it’s a drop in the bucket. Like the woman who poured the perfume on the feet of Jesus, offer what seems excessive. When I asked an Ethiopian pastor who ran a local orphanage what I should tell my friends back at home, he said, "Tell them to come. Come and see. It means so much that you would get on a plane, leave your families behind, and come be with us and spend time with us.”

Why would that surprise us? After all, we were created for community. It is the greatest gift we can give as we seek to share Jesus.

So go and see. Serve. Share. But don’t wait to engage in the battle until your feet hit African soil. Start today. Start here. Because too much is at stake.

Join me in this conflicted state, where my sin and my obedience wrestle daily. Choose to live with eyes open. Stop spectating. Suit up, and get on the field, where you strive for the goal but often meet resistance and sometimes fail. It is not funner. It's harder. At times it feels like a burden. But it is what is true. What is real. And it is worth it, because it is where Jesus resides.

**I am blown away by the response I have gotten from this post. It means so much to know I am not alone in this process and this journey! As many of you have asked, YES!, feel free to share this post with others. All I ask is that if you do so, please be so kind as to link back to my blog, preferably, instead of copying the post itself. And please leave me a comment or email me and let me know--I'd love to meet you and visit your blog as well! Thank you again, and may God use all of it for HIS glory!

Hannah's thoughts & the videos

our team with Sammy

Below are Hannah's words about her experience at Korah. Following are the videos that Dave & Erica created from our trip...enjoy a glimpse into the week that changed my life forever.
**Note: Before you start the video, scroll down and pause the playlist at the bottom to stop the music.

We live in a three bedroom, two bath, full kitchen, living room, and a family room. We have a TV, computers, and an Xbox 360, anything and everything they could dream of having, including a bed. And they live in a trash dump. Plain and simple, nothing to it. You can’t spice it up or make it sound better than it is. It’s a garbage dump. And people live there. It smells like something rotten and sour. They have to sleep there, find there food there, and it’s disgusting.

Yet they have so much joy. Joy over the smallest things. Like a bottle of Coke. Or a plate of enjera that they have to share with, like, six other boys. And they’re all making sure that this person had enough or that person is finished or that we don’t want any, before they take the last bite.

What it did for me was to show me how selfish I am when I have so much and how generous and giving they are when they have nothing. It just about killed me to see the way they live. This trip to Ethiopia was one full of tears but the one most impacting thing that made me cry the most, as soon as I got in bed, was the trash dump.

Outcasts

While in Ethiopia, I experienced many things for the first time. I saw many things I had never seen before. But I think for every single one of us on our team, there was one experience that stood out among all the others. One that impacted each of us more than any other thing we saw, seared images in our minds, and wrote its story on our hearts in a way that we will never forget. The day was Friday. And the place: the trash dump of Korah.

Because the Bible was written 2,000 years ago, sometimes it is a challenge to interpret the scriptures. We have to try to take the literal meaning of the passages and make them understandable in our context, or at least learn enough about the context in which it was written that we can make correct application now. Like--who is a “Samaritan” in our culture?....What does it mean to “take My yoke upon you”….who are the “widows and orphans” in our day?

One thing I realized quickly on my trip: in Africa, there no need for interpretation of these types of passages. The application is obvious. Literal widows. Literally, millions of orphans. And literal lepers. Outcasts. It’s 2010, but it felt like stepping back in time.

Korah is a town that built up around a leper hospital on the outskirts of town. The hospital was built far out from the city, over 75 years ago, in order to offer treatment but to keep those with the disease away from everyone else. Even now, they are still seen as cursed and treated as outcasts. There is a stigma that goes with being from Korah, living in Korah. And located right in Korah is the trash dump.



We fell in love with Korah for several reasons. For one, our work project was at the school located in Korah, Bright Hope School. We drove there daily, and saw the poverty and affects of the disease, both physically and socially, on the people. But our greatest connection was Sammy. Sammy, our translator, became a dear friend during our trip—and Sammy is from Korah. He was saved through a Young Life missionary who reached out to the dump kids almost 10 years ago, and his life has become all about serving the people of his community, and specifically, the kids in the dump. He understands, because he lived in the dump for 8 years.

Janet (from our team), Mike, Tagesey, Sammy, & me

So we asked Sammy if he would take us to the dump. We knew it would be difficult, but I don’t think any of us were prepared for what we saw. It’s frustrating to try to describe it, because you really have to see it (and smell it) yourself to fully grasp the disparity of the situation. Landfills here looks like parks by comparison.

When we pulled up to the dump, it was literally mounds of trash that appeared to be moving. As my eyes focused, I realized it was people and animals walking, and sifting through the trash. We walked up the hill to the actual dump. The smell was the most horrible I have ever experienced. It seemed to almost tangibly fill the air, like a thick cloud. And there was no where to get away from it, no matter which way you turned your face—it surrounded you. Even breathing through your mouth didn’t help. It felt like you were ingesting it. When the garbage trucks would drive through every 5 minutes or so to dump a load, they would stir up a dust around you, clouds of filth. It was awful.


Sammy took us and began introducing us to his friends. Some would not let us shake their hands because they had been digging, instead they would give us their arm. Others put their hands out, and we embraced them, asked their names, and thanked them for letting us come visit them. Men, women, children…all walking and digging. We were definitely a sight, with our white skin, so some stared with curiosity and some with distain. Others approached us and wanted to talk to us. When a truck would come, though, many would run over to get first dibs on the load that was being dumped. The ground was covered with a soft compost of garbage, trash of all kinds. When you looked down on the shoes of those who had been walking on the heaps, they were covered with the grossest gunk. To think that some of these people slept there was horrifying.

Sammy gathered about 100 of the kids from the dump and we walk across the street to an outdoor restaurant. We ordered sodas and platters of traditional Ethiopian food for them. We sat and talked and got to know them. We told them why we had come, to show the love of Jesus and to hear their story. They asked us to please tell people on America about them. How they live. How they have no way out. How they need a helping hand.


And many told us of their love for Jesus. How He had saved them and they had a hope and a future in Him. In a place where people were living far beneath their worth, as image-bearers, there were leaders who were living among them, sharing God’s message of love and acceptance.

This post is long and I could go on and on about the dump. Instead, I will invite you to read Erica’s post here, for another perspective on the visit and a bit of a challenge. Sometimes it’s nice to see it through another’s eyes. Then, my next post will be Hannah’s perspective, as well as a video from our trip.


Micah 6:8 tells us:

“He has told you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: Do justice. Love mercy. And walk humbly with your God.”

Make no mistake, we are commanded to do justice. It is part of the Kingdom life we experience and flesh out now, mirroring what Kingdom life will be like one day in His presence, when all things are made right and whole. And people—children--living in a trash dump…that is not just.

Would you pray for them, for my new friends in Korah? For those kids in the dump? For those leaders, like Sammy, who share the love of Jesus with them and are fighting for them, speaking up for them. We as a family, and as a church, are praying about how we will get involved. Would you join us?

Orphans

Isaiah 1:17 says,

“Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless. Plead the case of the widow.”

Isaiah talks alot about true worship of a holy God, and how much of the time, our offerings are meaningless to the King because of the spirit in which they are presented. We practice religion on the exterior but do not allow a holy God to lay claim on our very lives in a way that transforms our hearts and changes how we live. And how we love.

If I read this literally, and just take it at face value, then I have a responsibility. I am to defend the cause of the fatherless. It is part of how I worship and serve my King. I think it was John Piper who said, "If you are a Christian, then orphans are your thing.” Isaiah is just giving us a picture of the heart of God, and telling us to have the same heart. Jesus loves the underdog. After all, He loved us, when we were without hope and long before we were loveable.

There are 147 million orphans in this world. 147 million. Million. That thought is staggering to me. I know there are many children in this country who are without parents. They need loving homes, and I support and encourage domestic adoptions in this country.

But for me, who had never been to a third world country---I had no idea how overwhelming the need really is. Many of the ministries we served in were orphan ministries. There are just so. many. children. In this country, (though you may argue about how broken or needy our foster care system might be) at least we attempt to care for a child’s basic physical needs. We see it as basic rights for a child to have clothes, be fed, be warm, and get an education.

Not so in Africa. There are so many orphans, and even those with one or two parents are often so poor they still do not have their basic needs met. They are stuck. They cannot go to school because they cannot afford the books and uniform. Instead, they beg on the street or shine shoes or dig through trash or sell gum to make enough for their family to buy bread for the day. There is no way out, unless someone helps them.

In the intro to Isaiah in the Message, it says, “The impressive art of Isaiah involves taking the stuff of our ordinary and often disappointing human experience and showing us how it is the very stuff that God uses to create and save and give hope.” I love that! Because while it may sound like my only possible response would be despair, it was in fact, hope.

I saw leaders who were sacrificing much and making a difference in children’s lives by educating them, feeding them, and giving them a hope for a future and a hope in Jesus. I saw teachers who were enthusiastic about their jobs to educate these young ones—they made me want to be in kindergarten!! I saw children who were eager to learn, quick to embrace, and full of life and love. I saw a legacy of love, where hearts and souls were being told their worth in the eyes of their Creator. It was beautiful.

Now that I am home, I am wrestling with how I am to obey Isaiah 1:17. Adoption is one way, for sure. Sharing their stories, telling of their need—another way I am seeking to obey. I want to love as Jesus loves. Care about the things that Jesus cares about. Here and in Africa. Pray with me, would you? Ask God how He will use you to defend the cause of the fatherless. Let’s speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Let’s share the hope we have with everyone we meet, because we know the greatest need is Living Water, and there are plenty here in our own country with that thirst. Let’s watch, and let’s see just how He uses ordinary people like us as He “creates and saves and gives hope.”

Nathan with some kids from Peter's school in Kechene

the Shubins with Peter, who runs two school centers for poor kids...
he was once a World Vision child...saved through Young Life...
now ministering to hundreds of kids...our God is a God who saves!

Hannah having lunch with some kids
from the trash dump in Korah

Nathan plays with some street kids
who are part of our friend Ephrem's soccer ministry

Hannah teaches some kids on the street to thumb wrestle


our Tomoca coffee girls...read here how we met...
we saw them several times, gave them some things...
do you see the shirt on the right??? "Love with abandon..." : )

Sweetly broken.

Well, I am so sorry I was not able to post updates while we were in Africa. The internet is spotty at best, and usually unavailable. Erica had better luck and was able to post a few times--check out the mission trip blog here (if you haven't already) and you can read a bit about what we did on our trip.

It will take me days, even weeks to process all that we have seen. I will try to figure out how to share it all with you here, a little at a time. (My poor husband had to get it all in about a 3 hour session this morning---like drinking from a fire hose!)

For now, know we are home. We are resting, recovering, and trying to slowly enter back into routine. But we will never be the same. Honestly--I am wrecked. Thank you for your prayers while we were there and even now that we are back in the US...they have upheld us and encouraged us through it all. I look forward to how God will use this experience for His glory even in the days to come, even though the trip is over.

And let me say, for the record, we will go back. Never have I ever seen anything like the orphan crisis evident there, and frankly, evident in much of our world. The need is so great. And the people there so grateful that we care enough to do something about it. I am so encouraged in our decision to adopt and can't wait to see who God will choose for our family. Those of you adopting...navigating red tape...waiting...sacrificing financially---hang in there! It is a beautiful thing you are doing, so do not grow weary. We are cheering you on from here!

More to come...a few pics for now...

Day 1 in Africa: Sunday

Ok, so I will do my best while I am here to post some of the highlights of our day. There so much, so I will do my best narrowing it down. We are 8 hours ahead of FL here. We arrived late Saturday night, exhausted and pretty much ready for bed. We are staying at the Ethiopian Guest House, run by Mike, who has also brought a team from his church in TX here this week. It feels like the lap of luxury compared to our surroundings. We feel blessed to stay here. I’m not getting much sleep but it’s not because of the accommodations—they are wonderful. The staff is so friendly and fun to get to know.

In the morning, we loaded up and headed to church. The drive to church was my first view of Addis Ababa by daylight. It was surreal. I don’t know how to describe it, but here are some things I saw as we drove along:

• streets that reminded me of Chinatown in NYC, except amidst the building were shacks
• lots of goats, donkeys, and stray dogs
• kids playing impromptu games of soccer
• people sleeping on the side of the road
• kids begging at the car window every time the van came to a stop
  
• no stop signs, no stop lights, no speed limit signs (they may be here, but I didn’t see any. And I thought NYC driving was crazy…)
• federal police in blue camis with machine guns
• a kid peeing on the side of the road, for all to see
• lots of people walking, walking everywhere

Church at Beza International

We attended church at Beza—it was awesome. It was an English speaking service. The pastor from their sister church in TX was here—he spoke briefly about the outreach efforts in the states. (He mentioned Acts 29, so we’re still trying to figure out that connection.) The sermon was preached by a Pastor Carlson, visiting from Wheaton Christian Center in Wheaton, IL. This struck me as funny, since my brother in law is a pastor in Wheaton…and I came all the way to Africa to hear a pastor from Wheaton. The message was great—all about the effect of praise and how God can use it to impact others with the gospel.

Entobo Mountain

After New York syle pizza for lunch, we headed to Etobo Mountain. This is an HIV/AIDS colony. There are over 3,000 who live there. With the virus, they are considered outcasts, so they all live together on this mountain. There is a fountain there that some believe have healing properties. It is quite a difference to even contrast being in the heart of the city and being on the mountain. Even more back in time.

We visited their little shop, there Tamara sells jewelry that the ladies have made out of coffee beans. Tamara’s program equips them to earn an income, giving hope to people who see their disease as a death sentence, which of course we know, it isn’t. The program also offers meds and children’s activities. We split up, and some of us went to homes, and the rest of us got out a parachute to play with the kids. It was a blast—the kids loved it. Part of me was disappointed to not go visit a home, but the Lord provided a neat opportunity, through Hannah.

A little girl, about 2 years old, attached herself to Hannah while we were playing. She dragged her to her home, and her mom invited us in. It was such a honor. I grabbed Nathan and our friend Tacabe to translate. Blinne’s mom’s name was Marta. She offered for us to sit on the mattresses in her 10 by 10 room. She asked if she could prepare tea for us. All I could think of, as I accepted and watched her prepare the fire, was how few matches she had and how willing she was use one for us. I did not see any food. We chatted a little, and I asked her if she had heard of Martha in the Bible. I told her that her hospitality reminded me of Martha’s. She said she had been living there for 10 years. We were interrupted and told our group had to leave, and we had to go before tea was done. I felt horrible. I did not even have a gift to offer her. Once I was back at the van, Erica gave me a box of Ritz bitz she had in her bag, and we took it back to Marta. She had tears in her eyes as she accepted them. Hannah tears up every time she thinks of little Blinne. We saw one toy rubber ball in the house. So little.

The kids and I are still processing the extremes we are experiencing. I wish I cold say we have resolved it all in our hearts, but we haven’t. We are just praying that we will see people as Jesus sees them, with His eyes, and that they would see Jesus in us and we would be ready to share our hope in Him.

I’m sorry this post is more informative and not very eloquent. Not much time before we leave today. Just wanted you all to know a bit of what was going on here. Thank you for praying! More photos when I have time to upload...

We're on our way to Africa!!

We have been supported, encouraged, prayed over, and now officially SENT on our Reckless Abandon mission trip to Ethiopia!! As I type, I am sitting in the Amsterdam airport, waiting to board our final plane to Africa.

So far, so good. Already we have seen God's hand of favor, and we're not even in Africa yet! The kids are doing great and enjoying the adventure of traveling out of the country.

It's sinking in...when we arrive it will be almost 11pm in Ethiopia, so it may not be until morning that I really begin to grasp our surroundings. Please pray--for our team, for my kiddoes, for continued good health, and ultimately, for the Lord to be glorified through it all. I'll be back on as soon as I can!

Reckless Abandon 2010!!

"Africa -
Once you see it, you will never be able to un-see it,
and once you see it, you will be responsible for it,
and for the self it reveals back to you."
Shauna Niequist

Most of you know this is primarily a blog dedicated to chronicling our adoption journey. It does, however, also provide an outlet for me to talk about my thoughts and daily family life. I hope you don't mind if I tangent a bit today and tell you about something else exciting going on in my family's life!

Our friends, the Shubins, who we met this summer, were a huge part of how God directed our family to adopt from Ethiopia. Dave and Erica have been planning for months to lead a mission trip to Ethiopia, a country that has left a mark on their hearts and souls. We at LifeBridge Church got excited when we heard their heart for this country, because we are excited to see how God will use our church to impact a country halfway around the world. As our young church plant grows, we are prayerfully considering how God will use us for global impact. This mission trip will help us discover how we can be used and shape that connection.

I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of that process for our church. There is so much need in the world, and we as a church need direction and guidance and wisdom as we seek the specific areas and projects we will partner with long-term. I want to be a part of that discovery and development. Therefore I am planning to go, Lord willing, using funds from my direct sales business and local fundraising efforts.

Joe and I also determined, through much prayer, that we would like to begin passing on this value and opportunity to our children. After discussing it with our kids, we all decided to allow Nathan and Hannah to go on this trip as well. They are currently fundraising to cover their expenses.

Sooo....tomorrow is a Facebook-athon to raise money for our team. Here's how it will work:

Thursday December 17,2009 from 12:00am-11:59pm we're asking that you donate your facebook status (or write a blog post) to our cause. I'll have a paypal button up on our mission trip blog as well as this blog, all you have to do is copy and paste the info below. In other words spread the word and let the Lord work as He will in the hearts of His people.

Reckless Abandon Ethiopia - to unrestrained give of oneself without caution for the cause of another. Will you send us to Ethiopia to help build a chicken house? To sing and play with sweet orphan babes? To play soccer with the street kids? To be Jesus with skin on to those we meet? To show love in a tangible way. If everyone on my friends list donated $5 we'd be fully funded. Will you consider donating? Every dollar helps. http://recklessabandon2010.blogspot.com - Thank you for your support, check back often for updates!

For more info on our facebook-athon, go to Erica's blog here. For more details on our mission trip to Ethiopia, visit our missions blog here.

Thank you for helping us spread the word! We appreciate your prayers and support!

Why Ethiopia?

So I’ve received a few questions and thought I’d begin by answering the big one first:

Why international adoption and why Ethiopia?

I have to confess, I almost cheated on this one. I’ve heard and seen wonderful explanations on blogs and websites articulating far better than I ever could the reasons to adopt, to adopt internationally, and to adopt from Ethiopia. Beautiful, eloquent and heart-wrenching. The statistics are staggering when it comes to the need just because of the sheer number of kids who are orphaned & abandoned. I figured, no one would mind if I did a little cut and paste. : ) Because, truly, they are good reasons.

But you didn’t ask why they adopted from Ethiopia. You asked why we are adopting from Ethiopia.

Well, the short answer is, because God said so. But that’s probably not good enough for some of you. : )

As I mentioned before, Joe and I have always been open to adoption, but never felt the Lord give us clear direction or a specific timeline on how to proceed. So we decided to remain open and see how the Lord might lead. Honestly, the whole thing was slightly overwhelming to me as to how to even begin adopting, and with all the other things on our plate, I decided He would have to give us clear direction through a person or agency or association, and we would go from there. I actually thought if we ever did adopt, it would be a domestic adoption—connected to a specific child we met, perhaps while serving a local orphanage.

Instead, God brought us a family. The Shubins moved to Florida from Arizona a month ago (you read that right--we've known them for 4 weeks). Originally moving to Tampa, they changed their rental agreements last minute so they could live in St.Pete and be a part of LifeBridge Church. This is after Dave had attended twice and the rest of the family was still in Arizona! We fell in love with their four kids: Skyler, Nicole, Olivia, and Silas-their youngest, whom they adopted last year from Ethiopia. (Link to Erica's blog here.)

Silas

We heard their story, felt their heart for Ethiopia, and caught their excitement and vision for all that God could do though a small group of people dedicated to loving and serving the people of this country. As a church, we were moved. Another couple, already planning to adopt internationally, decided to adopt from Ethiopia. Our church mission trip, which had been originally planned to Guatemala but had to be canceled, was rescheduled to Ethiopia in January of 2010. And we began paperwork to start an adoption assistance fund & ministry in our church, where we as a church can support families who are feeling called to adopt. In a short amount of time, our church was developing an international arm of ministry to a specific country in specific ways.

And all the while, we felt God moving in Joe and myself. As soon as we met Dave and heard that they had adopted, Joe and I knew it was no accident that they were becoming a part of LifeBridge Church. To have someone who had “been down that road” and had a heart to help others walk that same road, seemed too good to be true.

Let me add something else to the mix. When Joe and I felt called to plant a new work, I thought we’d end up overseas. Our heart had been broken for the poor and we longed to be a part of bringing justice to those who live in abject poverty. We were ready to abandon everything and just go.

But God led us to stay in the U.S. and to plant a church in this country, which is the 5th largest mission field on the planet. Quite frankly, I was bummed at first. It seemed easier to me to go to a country where these trappings and trinkets wouldn’t be there to distract me from my contentment in Jesus and Jesus alone. Where I would be “on mission” every moment instead of getting sucked in to the rat race, and the desire to accumulate things would seem silly and trite. A place where I would always know and tangibly sense…this is not my home…my home is in heaven.

Why did we come to Florida to plant a church? Because God told us to. Despite what we thought, he wanted us here and we know we are in the center of His will.

And why are we adopting from Ethiopia? Because God told us to. I wish I had something more for you to sink your teeth into, but all I can say is, it is our family’s way of loving the world in a tangible way. We will serve in soup kitchens and play with orphans and visit retirement homes right here in this county. But our family will seek social justice for the poor in this world-- as God commands us to-- in a more permanent and sustained way through adoption. We feel God is using us locally. This is how He will use us globally.

It isn’t everyone’s reason. It isn’t everyone’s story. But it’s ours.