Arkansas to Africa {part 10 We are Theirs}

I have had several people ask me, "how in the world did y'all wind up in Africa"?

Most of the time that ends with me stuttering around and giving some kind of a lame answer.

Not because there isn't a really good (non-lame) answer,
but because it is hard to know where to get started.

Sooo, I thought I would begin to share the story that God wrote for us.
It is a looonng story that spans many years.
But don't worry, no chapter book today!
 I will give it to you a bit at a time!

If you want to catch up to speed, you can find:
Part 1 {here}
Part 2 {here}
Part 3 {here}
Part 4 {here}
Part 5 {here}
Part 6 {here}
Part 7 {here}
Part 8 {here}

Part 9 {here}

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Can't believe I am on part 10 today of our story today! Am I long winded or what? 

I think I will be wrapping this up here soon...but then again, I am not sure! 

Each week I sit down to write and see where the God leads.

A few weeks after last weeks dinner, we found ourselves in a living room surrounded by other families and single adults who had a passion for Esther's House and were praying about moving to Malawi. It really struck me that God had been preparing so many other hearts, not just ours. 

We ate and got to know one another. We shared our stories and shed some tears {public speaking is always awkward for me, especially if it involves something personal}.

I remember clearly that we met on a Friday night and our file and our girls' file was going to court 3 days later on Monday in Africa. That night, our timeline was asked about several times, and we still didn't have a clear answer.

This was October, and we were given some time to all really do some soul searching and make sure we could look our board in the eyes with 100% confidence and say that we felt God was telling us to move to Malawi.

In November, right before Thanksgiving, we found out that we passed court for our girls!!! The girls were officially ours and we were theirs. Just typing those words out brings back so many emotions! We also told our board we were 100% in to serving at Esther's House. We didn't know how it would all work out, but we all trusted that God would work out the details.

We began the paper work to turn into Homeland Security and the US Embassy for our girls AND we also tackled our lengthy application to work with Pure Mission. You could say that we were drowning in paperwork, but all those years in the adoption process had trained me to fill out paper work like a boss, so we tackled it with excitement and anticipation!

At that time, we estimated that we would be able to travel to bring our girls home in February and then hopefully move in May. We sent out this Christmas card to all of our friends and family letting them know our BIG news. Christmas was filled with gifts of pink jammies,  purple snow suits and baby dolls for little sisters.

But, what we should have learned by this point was that adoption timelines are as fluid as jello, we would soon learn some news that would change up all our plans......

Stay tuned for Part 11 next Friday!

Today I am linking up with Casey Wiegand and Oak + Oats.

Same? or Different?

I've had lots of conversations lately about how we are different.
different culture,
different ways to raise children,
different roles of men and women,
different languages,
different taste buds,
different fashions,
and the one you can't quite escape...
different shades of brown

Sometimes I feel like the focus is on how different we are.
It is so easy to focus on the differences.
{This is a world wide, century old problem, not just a "here" problem.}

But, in reality, there is so much more "same-ness".
I don't think we adults catch it as much as the kids do.
Kids just have such  a way of simplifying things, don't they?
You have a ball? Let's play. We're friends!
But us grown-ups, we forget that lesson.
We forget the same-ness, only look at the differences until their magnified disproportionally.

We're all descendants from Adam, brothers and sisters.
As believers, we all have the same Holy Spirit residing in us.
As mommas (all around the world), we love our children and want what's best for them.
Little boys love watching construction equipment and want to hear an "atta boy" from their dad.
Girls, no matter where they are from, love giggling together and knowing they are valued.
All children have a longing for love and family.
Worshipers of Christ desire to bring Him glory and to know they are a part of God's Story.

 

 

 

So much same-ness

It's all about perspective, and looking for what we want to see.

And getting that we are all human.

Same, yet uniquely and wonderfully made.

And when what we have in common becomes our focus instead of how different we are....look out world!

Arkansas to Africa {Part 9- Stepping Out}

I have had several people ask me, "how in the world did y'all wind up in Africa"?

Most of the time that ends with me stuttering around and giving some kind of a lame answer.

Not because there isn't a really good (non-lame) answer,
but because it is hard to know where to get started.

Sooo, I thought I would begin to share the story that God wrote for us.
It is a looonng story that spans many years.
But don't worry, no chapter book today!
 I will give it to you a bit at a time!

If you want to catch up to speed, you can find:
Part 1 {here}
Part 2 {here}
Part 3 {here}
Part 4 {here}
Part 5 {here}
Part 6 {here}
Part 7 {here}
Part 8 {here}

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So last time I posted, I left off with some words that David's mentor had challenged him with...
 "What are you doing about it? Are you pursuing what God is asking you to do? or are you just talking about it? God is not held by space and time. If this is what you feel like God is calling you to do, then step out and pursue it, He'll work out the rest."

Pretty soon after this conversation, God gave us an opportunity to step out in faith. David's mom purchased our "soon to be girls" some dolls that were made by Nehemiah's Wall. Nehemiah's Wall is a support mechanism for the work being done at Esther's House. We had heard of Esther's House, as the missions pastor at a large church in our area (also where we both grew up going to school) had co-founded the orphanage. We knew it was in Malawi, but at the time, could probably not point out Malawi on a map. David decided that night he was going to call Doug (missions pastor) the next day and see if Esther's House might be a good fit for our family.

The next day rolled around and David got ready to call Doug. I nervously started having second thoughts. Would anyone think we would be an asset to their ministry? Would our indefinite timeline cause us to be looked over? Oh my goodness, are we really going to do this? [Insert butterflies and nervous laughter]

By that evening, we had connected with Doug and had a future date set to meet up for dinner and talk about the ministry at Esther's House and our family. 

We counted down the days until that meeting. 
We met at an Italian restaurant with Doug and his sweet wife and talked about the vision of EH, our family, our background, strengths, education. We left feeling very much like EH was exactly the kind of ministry we were looking to serve in. Orphan care, widow care, feeding centers, sustainable projects for the surrounding communities, family preservation.

To us, it seemed like our dream job...but would they feel the same about us? 

I LOVE these beautiful water-color map prints from Jessica Illustration etsy shop

Linking up today with Casey Wiegand and Oak + Oats.