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}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

We Love our Hair

Did you grow up on Sesame Street?
I did!
I love how they have always shown kids of every color on their show!
You never realize how important that is until you have a daughter or son from another ethnicity as you.

 I watched this video before the girls came home and loved it!
I showed it to them today and they have watched it over and over.
They've been running around the house all morning exclaiming, "I love my hair!"

At 4 and 6, they are already getting strong messages about how their hair is "nappy" or they need to put chemicals in their hair (that is the one they hear the most).

I love how this video celebrates the uniqueness of their hair and how it is awesome, just the way it is!




We started looking through old pictures and finding all the fun ways they have styled their locks.

 

{fro}

 

 

{braids with "mesh"}

 

 

{2 strand twists}

 

{puffs}

{different style braids with "mesh}



 

{corn rows}

 



 

 

 

{2 strand twists with yarn, which is perhaps my favorit yet!}

 

{their super cute 'do (yet, incredibly hard to take out) when we met them over a year ago}

 

 

{their current hairstyle (needing to come out) corn rows/pigtails}

 

Styling their hair has definitely been a learning experience for me. I  have a lot more to figure out!

We are so blessed to have so many women surrounding us that can do their hair.

I have a board on Pinterest here, that I collect pictures of different hair styles for future use.

 

My prayer is that our girls would always see how beautifully, and wonderfully made they are.

That they would see their hair as a unique gift!

 

Arkansas to Africa {Part 8-Lots of Talk}

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}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We came home from Haiti with a stirring in our hearts to do international missions.

We really wanted to do something with orphan care.

We especially wanted to do work that aided in family preservation.

We felt like God was pointing us towards Africa.

That was all we had at the time. 

We also felt incredibly stuck.

We had invested 2 years time in waiting for a referral (match) with not much forward progress.  We didn't feel like God was leading us to stop pursuing adoption, and we didn't want to either. 

If you have ever been around international adoption much, you know how hard it is to move homes during the adoption process, let alone countries! Everything (home study, USCIS approval, etc.)  is tied to your address. So, in our minds, we needed to wait until our adoption was finalized, before pursuing international missions.

So, we chatted, and dreamed, read books and piddled around researching on the internet; but mostly we just talked about where we felt God was leading us. We would sit around with some of our favorite friends (who just so happen to be moving here soon, eek!) and talk, talk, talk about our futures and life overseas.

In the meantime, we switched adoption agencies, and the country we were adopting from. We received a referral and over an 8 month time period, passed court and then lost the referral. It was devastating. 
And then, we were connected with 2 little sisters who were 2 and 4. They were paper ready and had been waiting for a family for quite some time. God did some amazing things to confirm that He wanted us to pursue the girls. We excitedly and nervously, I might add, started the process to adopt them.

During this time, David went out to dinner with a man that was mentoring him at the time. David shared with him that our family felt called to do some type of orphan care overseas. But, that our adoption was starting over at square 1. We were kinda at a stale mate. And then his mentor said some simple words, that were life altering for us. He asked, "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."

So we did.........

Quote via Pinterest {here}

Stay tuned for Part 9 next week!

Linking up with Casey Wiegand and Oak & Oats.

Meet Anna {Malawi Monday}

We are ecstatic to have Anna join us at Esther's House!

Anna will be here for one year as our Director of Health and Wellness. 

Health care is a huge issue in Malawi, and we can't wait to see the lives she will impact with the gifts God has given her!

We want you all to get to know her and let you in on what she'll be doing here in Malawi!

>> How do you feel God has prepared you for the work here? 

I finished my degree as an RN at the University of Arkansas in May. I was able to work at Highland Oncology during my Community Class and gained a lot of practical experience. I also worked as a camp nurse last Summer which built my confidence as we administered assessments and diagnosis. 

>> How did you hear about Esther's House?

I read about Esther's House on our churches' website, but didn't know much about it. We had a night at church for our College Ministries where different people came and spoke to us about missions. Kristin Copher came and spoke about Esther's House. I was interested as it sounded like a good long term option for medical missions.

>> What made you decide to come to Esther's House?

I took a Community nursing class my last semester of my senior year. As I learned about American Health Care and the inflated costs of care, something didn't set right with me. Also, during the time, the hospitals I was wanting to work with weren't hiring. I felt God was drawing me to overseas medical missions. The doors leading to going overseas kept being thrown wide open. Also, it was a good season in my life to try something like this, as I had nothing physical holding me back in the States. 

>> What will you be doing at Esther's House?

I will be caring for the orphans, staff, community kids and widows that are in Esther's House programs. I am also going to be working for the next month in the Ntcheu District Hospital so that I can get my certification to open the Kwataine Clinic in Madzanje Village (where EH is located). I hope to be working 2-3 mornings a week at the Kwataine Clinic and seeing patients from the villages surrounding Esther's House. Having access and transportation to get to a hospital is a huge need in Malawi, especially in the rural areas. We are excited that we will be able serve the people in the villages surrounding us. 

It is really neat to watch how God continually provides servants for His Work here!

Anna, you are "most welcome"!

And the Winner is......

Maegan K.!

Yay Mae! So glad you won!

I will shoot you an email to get your mailing address!

Thanks everyone for entering and making it fun!

Thanks for celebrating with us this week!

We are in the hot (hot, hot, hot) dry season currently. 

Yesterday some rain came through and stuck around all night. 

We are relishing in this cooler, wet, gray weather. Enjoying it while it lasts!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

One Year Anniversary {GIVEAWAY}

It is hard to believe that one year ago today, we loaded up our:

4 nervous and excited kids

12 bursting tubs

6 waayyy oversized backpacks..

....and got on a plane to move to Malawi.

You know how you kinda forget details after a long trip?

Well, I kinda forgot how we left on a Tuesday and didn't arrive to our new home until Friday night (whew, just broke out in sweaty palms thinking' about it)

I thought it would be fun to celebrate our "One Year in Malawi Anniversary" by doing a little 

giveaway "doo-dad"! 

I have some Malawian pretties to gift someone!

1 yellow wrap bracelet + 1 set of handmade stationery!

There are many ways to participate and you can actually earn up to 12 entries!

deets ~ This giveaway is sadly only open to those residing in the US/Canada.

These goodies will come to you in December when our sweet missionary "partners in crime" head back to the States. The giveaway starts today and runs until Saturday, October 18 at 12AM Central Standard Time.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Arkansas to Africa {Part 7 The Trip}

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}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

During the years we waited for a referral (match) for our adoption, we had the opportunity to go on a trip.
We had been sponsoring a little boy through our church who lived in an orphanage in Haiti.
Our church was going to take a short term missions trip to do some work at his orphanage and we were offered the chance to go! 
A trip to Haiti to love on orphans (when my momma heart was SO ready to complete our adoption) + the fact that David's cousin/some of our best friends were going too, sealed the deal. 

The idea of going to Haiti sounded so adventurous until the departure date grew near and the reality of leaving my boys for a week, as we left the country, started becoming a reality. I had some major anxiety leaving them. I think I cried every plane I got on and used the "barf bag" as a hyperventilating mechanism.

But, once we got to Haiti, I was instantly in love. The sounds, sights, and people intrigued me. I had never experienced anything like it before. The whole experience was shocking to me, in a good way.

We spent the week painting the orphanage and building a cistern. 

I am not sure how much of a help I was as I spent most of my time playing with the kids. Looking back, it probably wasn't the best idea that I poured so much into the kids that week and then left. 

I know better now that it isn't the healthiest thing for the kids, but at the time, I was naive and just soaking it all in.

That week, we slept on concrete floors, had no running water/electricity, showered in the ocean, and ate crackers and peanut butter, but as we laid down each night to sleep, we were SO filled with joy.

David and I both had a "click" in our hearts that something like this is what we were made to do;

that we wouldn't be content doing anything else.

Something in us changed during that trip. We both felt like God was saying that adoption wasn't the end game for us. We felt like he was calling us to dedicate our lives to orphan care.

As we were leaving, with many tears on my part, we were different people.

We didn't know where we would go...

We didn't know when we would go....

But, we knew that we had both told God, "yes" we would go........

Stay tuned for {part 8} next week!

Linking up today with Casey Wiegand and Oak + Oats.

>>We are having a give away this week to celebrate our "one year anniversary" of living in Malawi. It will run Tuesday, Oct. 14- Saturday, Oct 18! Click here to enter!<<

Life Currently

I have seen these posts going around lately and think they're fun!

Thought I'd record how life is "currently".

 

 

 

>> reading Beth Moore's Whispers of HOPE  devotional book on prayer. SO good!

>> watching Duck Dynasty, Season 6

.>> trying to continue getting up before my kids to spend time with Jesus and exercise. So hard to do (not a natural early bird), but always so glad I did. Three weeks in, takes 6 weeks to form a habit, right?!

 

>> eating PB&J and mangoes! So happy it is mango season again!

 

>>pinning Recipes from scratch that I can find ingredients for locally. Trying to skim over all the "pumpkin recipes" out there to prevent my "Fall envy". My recipe board can be found {here}. I pin a ton of school activities to use with my tutoring class which can be found {here}.

 

>>going to a new village yesterday and today to enroll new orphans in our community program.

I love my job!

>>loving the three little boys we got to enroll yesterday. The help we are going to be able to offer their family is going to make a huge impact on their daily lives!

>>discovering I need a little bit of "alone time" to get through my day. The 30 minutes my kids spend quietly playing in their rooms after lunch is my little slice of heaven. It is just what I need to re-group and recharge for the afternoon!

 

>>enjoying Our board member, Doug, brought us some goodies when he came in September, and one of those was UNO. We hadn't played that game in years, but are having so much fun spending a little time together in the evenings playing. The perfect game all 6 of us can play together!

>>thinking about how, as we hit the one year mark living in Malawi next week, that it really does feel like home here. Everything is slowly coming together and we are feeling our "new normal".

>>feeling excited that we are going to have a couple days of "family time" this weekend! 

>> listening  to Asher having an imaginary conversation with her dolls and the EH kids playing outside my window.

 

>>thanking my husband, that he took the kids yesterday for the afternoon, allowing me to get outside the walls and get some work done. Thankful that we are a good team!

 

...starting the Jillian Michaels "yoga" video lately. Who knew Yoga could be SO hard?!

What is going on with you currently?

 

Widows {Malawi Mondays}

"learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

 

I love, love, love that here at Esther's House, we seek to serve the orphan AND the widow.

I love that some of our widows care for the orphans in our program.

It is such a beautiful picture to me; the Bible being played out in front of our eyes!

 

 

 

We have 67 widows and 3 widowers in our program here at Esther's House.

They come to worship on Saturdays and receive spiritual food from our Malawian pastors, along with a big feast of nsima, goat, and greens.

 

 

 

Esther's House provides assistance to these men and women by doing roof repairs each year before rainy season sets in.

We provide fertilizer to be used in the gardens that will help produce their crops and sustain them throughout the year.

 

We also are able to provide health care and other physical needs such as: blankets, sugar, oil, soap, candles and matches throughout the year

.

So thankful that God allows us to serve these men and women!

 

YOU can have the opportunity to be involved in this ministry too!

We need sponsors to partner with our widows which enables us to continue our widow ministry!

Sponsorship is only $20 a month, and has a HUGE impact in these men and women's daily lives!

You can sign up here.

 

Please feel free to comment or email me (ourmustardseedlife@gmail.com) with any questions1

 

 

 



Arkansas to Africa {Part 6}

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}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We closed on the sale of our rental property and signed on the dotted line with our adoption agency the same day.

We announced to our friends and family that we would be adding 2 siblings to our crew!

It was a joyous day!

Let's just pause a minute and look at our BABIES!
Oh my goodness, they are itty bitty!
Ok, moving on......

The next few months were a frenzy of paperwork, notaries, fingerprints, background checks and excitement.
I tackled it like a boss, I might add!
The timeline from start to finish was estimated to take 18 months.
We read over the "foreign adoption risks contract" and chuckled.
I mean, God  had clearly called us to adopt and provided for it in every way.
I figured we were smooth sailing!

But almost immediately there were hiccups, changes in plans, timeline adjustments, and complete stand stills.

God taught me pretty quickly that just because He called us to something, didn't mean that it was going to be easy.

He brought me back to His Word and reminded me of Abraham, Sarah, Paul, Mary, and His own Son Jesus. People throughout history who were following Him as best they knew how and had trials, leeenggthy timelines, and frustrations. I learned during this season of my life that every time a "delay" in my timeline popped up, that it didn't necessarily mean a door was being shut and I should bail.
Following God meant I should keep following Him until He said stop or changed the game plan. Hardships do not equal being out of God's Will which I realized was part of my thinking.
During this time, God also taught me about His deep love for me. How He pursued me and sacrificed it all, in His adoption of me.

So we continued waiting and praying for 2 long years.
During this time, we had the opportunity to go on a trip, that would change the direction of our lives....

Stay tuned for Part 7 next week.....


Linking up today with Casey Wiegand and Oaks + Oats.

Simple {Microwave} Apple Crisp

Ok, so I admit it, we may have a little Fall envy going on right now.

Spending our whole lives in the States; 

Fall equaled football, sweater weather, vibrant leaves, bonfires, pumpkins and apple cider.

As we adjust to life "South of the Equator", we find ourselves gearing up to endure the hottest part of the year, although our internal clocks say we should be heading into Fall.

To remedy our slight Fall envy, we decided to bust out some Apple Crisp the other night.

The benefit for our family this time of year, when the sun is nice and hot, is that we have plenty of solar electricity....which means we can run our microwave almost as much as our little hearts desire!

This recipe {from my mother in law} is simple, yummy, and finished in the microwave in 8-10 minutes.

4c. apple slices

1 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. butter or margarine

1 t. lemon juice

Put apples in a 8" square microwaveable baking dish. 

Mix remaining ingredients together. For this recipe, we doubled the ingredients for the topping.

Crumble over top of apples.

Cover with waxed paper (we don't have, so we didn't cover).

Cook on High for 8-10 minutes.

We munched on this treat while we burnt our pumpkin candle and pretended like it was Fall for the evening.