Light and Happy Endings

I never watched the season 3 finale of Downton Abbey. I heard rumors, spoilers, of what may or may not have happened. The penultimate episode of season 3 ended on such a great note, a happy ending. I've decided that is the ending I want. 

So I didn't watch the final episode and I'm not sure if I ever will (at least until season 4 comes out). 

Call it denial. 

I'm okay with that. I want my happy ending!

Sometimes I wish I could fix the endings in real life as easily. If I stay inside, concentrate on my family, block out the rest of the world, then maybe I can pretend away the hard, painful things. If I ignore them they don't exist.

But life doesn't work that way. I only have to take one step out of my front door to find people struggling with hard things. Hurt is all around us. 

And while the hurt and pain can make the world look like an awfully dark place, it also creates a greater opportunity for the light to shine. Jesus did not hide from the painful, ugly things of the world. He walked right up to them and offered a hand. He brought light. He is light.

It is easier to ignore the pain, but as a Christ-follower, that is not what we are called to.

We are to be the light. 

I'm not always sure what this looks like in real life. What does it mean to be light? While the doing may look different in every situation, the motivation I think is the same. I think it looks like love.

Love that comes from knowing Christ and spills out of us as light. Love directed by the Holy Spirit as a prompt to bring a meal or babysit or pray. It means getting out of your comfort zone, getting your hands dirty, and hurting with those who hurt. 

The world is full of darkness. We need to let a little light shine.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no, I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Come on Spring

The weather is slowly warming up. 45, 52, 56

The sun gets in our eyes as we eat dinner, hanging around. Inviting us outside once the dishes have been put away to soak in the last bit of shine before the moon takes over.

After school activities of drawing, monopoly and homework are being replaced. The homework is still there, a big unfortunate for some more than others, but the balls, swings and bikes are starting to steal the show.

The crayons, markers and papers of indoor play will slowly give way to chalky hands and a driveway overflowing with color.

Spring has supposedly been here for over a week, but it's just now starting to feel like truth.

Maybe winter is coming to an end. It's always a little hard to tell this time of year, making the real Spring all the more welcome.

Days like today, filled with sun and outdoor play, make it easy to be content. And yet, I think, they hint of more to come. Taken at face value they are a welcome change, but if we go a little deeper, that is where the real excitement of spring lies.

The freshness, the warmth, the awakening that comes with the changing season give tangible reminders of things to come, when the death of winter will give way to the Eternal. I think these first days of Spring give a glimpse, a sliver of what Heaven will feel like. When the Shadowlands will leave us forever and as C.S. Lewis writes, the dream will be over and the morning will come.

We may speak of the temporal and say "Come on Spring," but deep down, our souls know what we really mean.

Dreams of Silver and Gold

We were waiting. Waiting for the others to come out of the bathroom when she looked up at me and said,

"Mom, when I grow-up I want to wear a gold dress and I want to adopt a little girl from China and a little girl from Ethiopia and I want to buy them silver dresses."

There was more, about the tie she would buy for her husband and the food that she would cook, but it was the first part that I put on Facebook and that I have continued to think about since.

There was redemption in her words.

They say adoption mimics salvation. The sacrifice it takes to make a stranger a part of your family mimics the sacrifice God made to bring us into his.

The unloved finds love.

And if that was not enough, their dirt is washed away, and they find themselves dressed in silver and gold.

We find out the dirty,unwanted orphan is really the royal princess, the daughter of the King.

It's the best kind of story, one that never seems to get old.

Told through music and art, books and movies, and sometimes told in the daydreams of a little girl.

A Dose of Courage and Thanksgiving

We made it to Beijing!

It is Friday morning in China and we are getting ready to start our adventures.

But before we do...

I had a little bit of a meltdown Monday night, the result of fear. The next morning I was reading Deuteronomy 1:29-31:

"But I said to you, 'Don't be afraid! The Lord your God is going before you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you, again and again here in the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. now he has brought you to this place."

And when I look back, I see how He is most definitely the one who has brought us to this place. I see how he has cared for us again and again, many times through many of you. I think of how He provided financially for this adoption, through many of you. I see how He led us to Zak. I see how He has swung wide the doors and gently asked us to walk through.

And I am humbled and so extremely grateful.

So as we get ready to head into our first day in China, I just want to say Thank You! For the prayers, for the support, for the love. Looking back gives the dose of courage needed to move forward.

So here we go, stepping through the final doors that God has opened to meet and welcome the little boy He has led us to, grateful for His care every step of the way.

The God who Sees

This month, I have been re-reading stories of God's faithfulness.

His faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

His faithfulness to Hagar, the slave who said, "You are the God who sees me." (Genesis 16:13)

And, the same God who was faithful to the patriarchs of old, has continued to care for His children to this day.

My sweet, elegant Grandma died unexpectedly last week. She was saying her prayers when a brain aneurysm ended her life. She was talking to her God in this world and in an instant was in His presence in the Next.

It has been a week filled with tears, remembering, and overwhelming thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for her life and thanksgiving for the care in which our Faithful God carried her home. He saw her. He loved her. He took care of her.

His goodness has been evident through the stories shared of last words and visits within our family.

The God who was faithful to Abraham was so faithful to my dear Grandma.

I am so sad by her passing. I am going to miss her terribly, but her life and death have been vivid reminders to me of God's faithfulness, love and care. And while there is a gaping hole left by her absence in this world, some day I will see her again and together we will praise forever our faithful God who sees us.

Encourage them to Go

This series has taken a little longer than I thought it would. If you have stuck with me throughout, thank you!!

This last one is one of the most important:

#10 Don't Squelch or Limit what God is doing in the lives of your Kids

At Vacation Bible School last summer, the kids were trying to raise money for a local charity. As we were getting read to go to one of the last classes, one of my kids came down with his piggy bank, proceeded to take the majority of the money out and asked if he could give it to the charity that night.

It was a sweet, generous gesture.

Would you like to know what my first thought was?

I wanted to ask him if he was sure he wanted to give that much.

I wanted to limit his generosity because it felt like he was making too big of a sacrifice, you know, so he could spend that $20 on some cheap toy instead.

Thankfully, God talked me down before I talked him down. I ended up encouraging him in his giving. Even though, to my shame, I felt the desire to hold him back.

I was talking to a dear friend whose kids are grown about this topic and asked her what they did to encourage a global perspective in their kids. She told me,

I don't think we did anything specific. But, I do think that as we saw how God was growing our kids' hearts, we tried not to squelch or limit what he was doing. As parents, when we are students of our child's design, and see what their "bent" is, we want to encourage and challenge them to explore possibilities. For example, when our daughter talked about being a missionary when she was in 5th grade, we told her we thought that was great.

Frankly this can be easier said than done. Encouraging my daughter to be a missionary is one thing. But then, watching her become one and be placed in potentially dangerous situations is another. I hope when the time comes I will encourage my kids in what God has called them to no matter what I feel on the inside, even when doing so compromises their safety.

Christians are not called to live a safe life. We are called to obey where we are called to go no matter what.

When we see a call being placed on our kids, let's don't try to hold them back. Instead, let's encourage them to go.

That last sentence was the perfect place to stop, but at the risk of creating a post that is too long I want to add one more thought before I close out this series on global perspective.

You might follow all ten of these suggestions to encourage a global perspective in your kids and one hundred more and there is a chance that your kids will not care in the slightest. We can do all the right things as parents, but in the end our kids have free will. We are not responsible for what they choose. We are responsible to faithfully parent and teach our kids God's truths.

They must choose how they will live it out.

One of my kids had a small excerpt published in our local paper. The topic was "How would you spend one million dollars?" I immediately thought of all the orphans he would help. Instead he wrote this:

"I would buy a Nerf sword and Nerf gun. I would buy lots of toys at garage sales."

It is a hilarious answer and even if the thought of giving money away did not enter his sweet head, at least he was being frugal with his purchases. We do our best to teach and broaden his perspective, but in the end it is up to him to choose.

Thanks again for following along with this little series. If you have any additional ideas to share, please do! I appreciate every comment you have made. So many of you are living this out and I am so thankful for the examples you are to me as we journey on together.

Pray

#5 Pray.

It is one of the simplest and maybe the most profound way you can encourage a global perspective in your child.

Pray as a family for the world.

Does that sound overwhelming? Or bring up questions like How?

I have a few resources that will help:

1. Window on the World is a book that shares over 90 countries and people groups with its readers. We are currently reading through it as part of our family devotions at dinner time. Each page shares the story of a child in a specific country or people group along with a little bit about that country and specific ways you can pray for each people group.

Sometimes we are consistent in our family devotions and make it through several people groups a week, and sometimes we only make it through one (or less). Consistency is not our strong suit.

2. If you don't want to purchase a book, consider creating your own prayer cards.

The Joshua Project has a webpage where they have already created prayer cards for many of the people groups around the world. All you need to do is print them off and pray!

Compassion International has a list of 52 ways to pray for children on their website (one for each week of the year). If you need the names of specific children to pray for, visit the child sponsorship pages of Compassion and World Vision.

I often underestimate the power of prayer. But the truth is, prayer is probably the most effective thing we can do to make a difference in the world. It is something our young children can do, it is something we can do together as families. We may not see the difference our prayers make this side of heaven, but I believe someday we will be amazed when we hear how those prayers were used to change the world.

Your turn:  How does your family utilize the power of prayer?

It Starts with You

I am hoping to share ten ways to encourage a global perspective with your kids over the next few weeks. Some will get a post of their own, some will be shared together, at the end of each post I would LOVE for you to share your own ideas. The more you share, the more helpful for all of us. Otherwise, you've just got me.

On to #1:  In order to encourage a global perspective in your kids, it has to start with You!

Susie Larson writes in her book Growing Grateful Kids that we cannot teach what we do not impart. This is true in growing grateful kids and this is true in growing a global perspective. The needs of our world need to be important to us, if we want our kids to care. We have to expose ourselves to those needs. To allow ourselves to hurt for those who are hurting.

This is not an easy thing. I would much rather keep my head inside my own comfortable house and forget that the majority of the world does not live so comfortably. I know God calls us to be Jesus to those who are hurting, but sometimes it feels to hard to go where He has called.

The Israelites struggled with this too. During Haggai's time (one of the minor prophets), they were called by God to rebuild the temple. They started the job, but then stopped because of outside pressures. Instead they started building comfortable houses for themselves and abandoned their mission.

In her book, The Missional Mom, Helen Lee writes about this time and this people. She said:

During the sixteen years after they abandoned work on the temple, the Israelites demonstrated that God's mission was not as important to them as focusing on their own lives. They were fearful of their surrounding enemies and culture, but instead of engaging in a battle against those pressures, they chose to escape into their paneled houses and ignore the clear calling God had given them to rebuild His temple. The consequence for this abandonment of their calling, in addition to earning God's displeasure, is that their labors produced very little fruit. 

Ignorance may be bliss, but God calls us to more. He calls us to care for the poor and defenseless. He calls us to "administer true justice and show compassion and mercy to one another." (Zechariah 7:9) And to do that, we need to expose ourselves to our world and learn about the needs.

So how do we do that in a country where affluence appears to be the norm? Here are a few ideas:

1.  Take a Perspective Class. I have many friends who have taken this class and raved. It is a class that "shares how God has been moving, how the global Church has responded, and what the greatest needs in world evangelization are." There are classes all over the country, and on-line classes as well. Visit their website at www.perspectives.org to find out more.

2.  Read books and magazines that revolve around this topic. Compassion International and Voice of the Martyrs both produce magazines with articles centered on the needs of people groups around the world. There are a myriad of books that will expand on those needs and our response to them. Two that have been impactful in my life are The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns and The Missional Mom by Helen Lee.

3.  If you are presented with an opportunity to travel on a mission trip, take it. It may mean sacrifice financially and emotionally, but nothing enlarges your perspective like seeing firsthand how others around the world actually live.

In order to change the world, we need to know what needs changed. But once we start to expose ourselves to the hurts of the world, it is extremely overwhelming. 

But God. 

He knows every need intimately and He knows how we are best equipped to make a difference. He WANTS to use us to change the world. He WANTS us to be His hands and feet. Are you willing to step out? Seek His wisdom, follow His leading and step by step He will guide your feet. 

Now it is YOUR turn! What resources (books, movies, etc.) have had the biggest impact in enlarging your global perspective?

Blessed to Bless

This phrase has apparently been stalking me over the last few weeks. I’ve been hearing it as others speak, and reading it where others have written. All the while those words, “blessed to bless” tumble around inside my head as I move about my every days.

It’s true you know. We have not been given much to hoard and keep for ourselves. Contrary to the “American dream” type of living, that surrounds us.

We have been blessed to bless. And miraculously through the handing out of the blessing, it somehow finds its way back into our pockets. Conversely, when we hoard the blessings they oftentimes slip away leaving us feeling cheated.

We have been blessed to bless.

So how do I teach my kids this lesson? In a me-centered materialistic society, how do I help them learn and live this in their every days. I won’t pretend to be an expert because I’m not. But I have a thought, one focus that might help.

Several years ago, after watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire, I kinda lost it for a day or two. The movie had a profound effect on me. It made me want to do more. In the aftermath, I wrote this:

I want to be intentional about teaching my kids about the world and the orphans and the kids who are hurting. Maybe if they grow up with that awareness they can do something to change it. Maybe that is one way I can do something. So here are the goals I have for my children: To give them an awareness of the needs of the world around them; to grow compassion for those needs, and a desire/will to act on those needs and make a difference.

Honestly, I kind of forgot I had even made that goal until I was reading back through my moleskin notebook and rediscovered it. But I think there is a kind of magic in writing goals like that down. Even if you don’t revisit the actual written goal, pen to paper somehow indents them a little firmer in your heart. Looking back, I can see evidence of that goal's indention in how we've lived our lives.

Not that we are doing it perfectly, or even consistently. We struggle with materialism and wanting a comfortable life every day. Often our choices reflect the "American Dream,"way more than a "Blessed to Bless" attitude.  But, it is something we are aware of and trying to teach our kids. We are trying to teach them a global perspective with the hope that they will live lives of compassion and make a difference in the lives of those who are hurting and vulnerable. We hope that they will live out the phrase, “blessed to bless” as they grow.

With all that in mind, I am planning a series of posts over the next few weeks on ways we have intentionally tried to encourage a global perspective in our kids. I know for a fact that many of you who actually read my ramblings have the same goal for your families and I hope that you will add your thoughts and ideas along the way so we can all learn from each other.

One last thought, I recently read the following post on the Lifesong Blog, written by a high school student in Illinois. She writes on why we have been blessed to bless. It is well worth the read.

We have been blessed to bless. May we all live this out, in practical ways, to the glory of our God!

The Cover and Title Page

Our minister on Sunday reminded us that we were created for another world. This one is just the "cover and the title page;" the preview to the movie.

I heard Chip Ingram ask a question on the radio today, "Are we spending our lives or investing them?"

It is a question I need to ask myself every day: Am I spending my life on this world, that lasts but a moment, or am I investing my life in the world to come? 


Lord, help my live my every days with an eternal perspective, remembering how short life is and what's coming after. Help me to live for the world to come.

Then Aslan turned to them and said: 

"You do not look so happy as I mean you to be." 

Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often." 

"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?" 

Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them. 

"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended:  this is the morning." 

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were  so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. 

All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page:  now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read:  which goes on forever:  in which every chapter is better than the one before.

excerpt take from The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

A Glimpse of the Forest

I was looking through an old moleskine notebook this week. I love my moleskine notebooks because they are thin, lightweight and I can carry one around in my purse. Or leave one on my nightstand, or on the coffee table. Wherever I find them, they make me feel like a writer. The writings that fill their pages are typically a hodge podge of thoughts I don't want to forget, or conference notes, or blog post ideas, or book quotes, or vacation murmurings, or names of people whose names I am trying to remember.

The hodge podge creates a treasure-seeking kind of experience when you look back. You never know what you might find.

Proverbs 16:9 says, "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Three years ago I wrote of an experience that led to some soul-searching that led to a goal. Today, three years later, I see more clearly how the person I am becoming was being shaped by those experiences. I read my plans and reviewed my steps and feel the truth of that verse.

It is exciting to see the past intersect with the present. It is exciting to dream how those experiences may continue to mature and impact the future. Because most of the time, I don't see it. I think it's called the "can't see the forest through the tress" phenomenon. This week offered a chance to climb one of those trees and glimpse a little bit of the forest.

Which reinforces one more reason why I love my moleskine notebooks.

"We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!" 

1 Corinthians 13:12 The Message

Made for More

Like many of you, I have a bucket list.

And one of the items on my bucket list has been to attend a Coldplay concert.

Last night they were in Chicago and Kory and I were in attendance along with 20,000 plus others.

To say it was AMAZING is putting it mildly. Frankly to put the experience into words is near impossible.

Visually, Acoustically, everything was CRAZY good.

Since the concert ended, I've been wanting more and I have spent a good part of today trying to figure out why exactly I've felt so moved

One of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis came to mind. In Mere Christianity he says:

"... when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or think of some foreign country, [or listen to great music]...are longings which no marriage, no travel, [no music] can really satisfy... If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world... Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."

Last night at the concert I felt that yearning again, that "suggestion of the real thing." It's kind of thrown my whole day off as I've processed the moment. I feel it often when I listen to Coldplay. I would guess that you feel it too.  Maybe with Coldplay or maybe not, but with whatever kind of music moves your soul. That desire for something more.

I was not made for this world. Most days I am immersed in the things of this life. But then a song plays, or I read something, or go to a concert and I feel that hunger. A craving that will never be filled in my lifetime. I can try to fill it with more music, or other good or bad things but I will only be frustrated when the temporary fix rubs off if I expect to keep the hunger pains at bay for long.

But, if I accept the longing, the ache and let it remind me of what is to come... then I can, as C.S. Lewis puts it, "make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."

Last night surrounded by thousands of people I had the thought of Heaven and what it would be like to be surrounded by people and music: amazing, soul-moving, gut-wrenching music, praising Jesus.

It is going to be Awesome.

Coldplay left me wanting more, but I believe the "more" I am really wanting will never be filled in this lifetime, the satisfaction and fullness I am looking for, is waiting for me in the next.

The Telling of a Story

God is an exciting author and sometimes He gives us a glimpse at how perfectly He is weaving our stories together. I imagine in Heaven when all has become clear we will be AMAZED at how the plots of our days on earth twisted and came together.


When we first got the e-mail, making us aware that little boy existed I honestly did not think life was going to change. It took me 24 hours to tell Kory about it and even that was a passing, "I got a funny e-mail yesterday" kind of conversation.

A year before I had peeked at the waiting kids on our agency's website, feeling an itch, but not knowing where to scratch. A couple months after that I felt completely at peace with our family the way it was. I thought that IF adoption was in our future, it would be years down the road once our kids were older.

That was where I was. I thought we were done expanding our family for the near future.

And then we were asked to adopt again.

We were never opposed to the idea. We just didn't know if it was right. But as the days turned into a week and then two, the thought of little boy grew in my mind and wouldn't leave. We started to talk about it. I would ask what Kory thought about little boy, if anything. We discussed the logistics, the cost, the emotional impact.

Then Suhn asked to see her baby pictures, and we found a picture of Suhn and little boy together.

Just the two of them.

A picture of our china babies together, in China, waiting for our family.

We found out they were from the same city in China. They both spent the majority of their pre-family life at Angel House in Beijing. They even lived their together for a short time. They also happen to have the same special need.

It still took us a month to actually start the adoption process. Kory is making a job change in a couple weeks and was in the midst of sharing that news (because why make one huge, life-altering decision when you can make two at the same time). But, when I saw that picture it felt pretty clear where we were heading. 

When we called our agency to see if they would even be able to find His file, it took ONE minute to do so creating one more open door for us to walk through.

Yep, this is one story that has me hooked!

I can't wait to see the plot thicken as we bring little boy home and watch his story intersect with Suhn's and ours. I am sure it will have its share of conflict, as all good stories do, but in the end I am praying for a happy ending of EPIC proportions.

Don't forget to check out our T-Shirt fundraiser with Wild Olives. You can get the details here. But the main detail you need is to remember to use our code: KAEB629 when you check out. Thanks!!

Living in Saturday

Today is Good Friday. The day we remember the sacrifice. His death.

With the rising and setting of the sun comes Saturday. I was reminded in my reading this week of the grief His disciples must have felt on that first Saturday. Trying to process his death. Questioning WHAT in the WORLD just happened. Scared. Confused. Hurt to the very CORE. Unaware of the HOPE Sunday would bring.

We are living in Saturday.

I read posts like this or this and I hurt. I am exposed to gritty stories of HARD, painful life experiences. I look into the eyes of the orphaned; I am told their stories of loss and I hurt. I see my brokenness surface over and over and I see that brokenness affect the people I love.

I catch my kid's looking for me as they perform for the church during the Easter program and I remember a girl in Ukraine who looked for me. I think of the millions of kids all over the world who have no one to look for. No one to advocate for them, pray for them or even remember them. And I hurt.

We all experience the hurt. Some more than others. Some in huge, unbearable doses. It is always there. If you haven't felt it, you will. The hurt is inevitable. Some try to hide from it or find ways to avoid or ignore it, but eventually, it finds us all.

The hurt is an undeniable truth of living in Saturday.

But there is one big difference between us and His disciples that first Saturday.

We KNOW the HOPE that comes with Sunday.

We are LIVING in Saturday, but Sunday IS coming.

We HURT in the now; but we live, by HIS grace, for the day when the hurt will leave FOREVER.
And, because of Sunday, the hurt we experience is bearable, the JOY deeper, and the PEACE overwhelming. Life can overflow with purpose. The LOVE of Jesus, who lived in our hurt, can be shared, RELISHED and overflow to ALL who wish to receive it!

PRAISE God for the empty tomb and the HOPE of Sunday!

Then the men asked, "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 

He isn't here! He is risen from the dead!  

Luke 24:5b-6a 

The Discipline of Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is not so much a feeling I feel when I’m feeling thankful...

Instead, it is an intentional act. Or better yet, an intentional thought process. It takes discipline.

The more I practice it, the more I am rewarded with that feeling I feel when I’m feeling thankful. It’s a good feeling. Like Grandpa says, it can make a person feel almost selfish it feels so good.

A thankful person is one who remembers where all good gifts come from. And even if the circumstances of life don’t feel good, a thankful person is one who trusts that God is in control anyway. Even when life is hard, there is always something to give thanks for. The person who finds that something and gives thanks for it, in all circumstances, lives a joy-filled life. I believe that is true.

I want to live that kind of life.

I want my kids to live that kind of life too.

Thus begins my quest to live a more thankful life.

I bought a little notebook the other day that sits on my bedside table. The goal is to record five things I’m thankful for every night before bed, so that I can end each day on a thankful note. I started this little practice two weeks ago. And while I’ve only actually written in it, ahem, three times, I have found my days are interrupted more often with thankful thoughts and the intention to add these little praises to my notebook.

I’m still hoping to get more consistent with the actual recording process. A notebook filled with reasons to be thankful has to be a motivating read when I’m finding it hard to find things to be thankful for, right?

Yep, I think so too.

Today I am giving thanks for fall colors, a working vehicle, the God who hears me, a Starbucks gift card, and Focus on the Family podcasts.

What are you thankful for today?

There She Goes

She's officially off to Africa. My sister and aunt extraordinaire has left the country and is on her way to Zambia where she will live for the next year teaching art and music at Lifesong's school. She will be loving on kids and putting her vigorous auntie training (provided lovingly by her 11 nieces and nephews) to good use.

I am so excited to see God work in her and through her. I am so excited to see her live out this dream.

But I will miss her.

A lot.

Which I'm trying not to think about.

So let's move on.

If you are interested in following along on Leslie's great adventure, she will be blogging here (hopefully with more frequency than she's blogged the last 6 months, hint, hint).

You can also follow along with the McB family here. They arrived in Zambia today. Leslie will be living with them for the first two months until their guest house is complete. Then she will move across their yard.

Leslie, I love you. I'm praying for you. And I can't wait to see the adventure unfold.

Glory to God, for "great are his purposes and mighty are his deeds." (Jer 32:19)

Great and Noble

I recently discovered the following quote attributed to Helen Keller:

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.

This so resonates with me. I want my life to count for something, to accomplish something great and noble.

I've been told by experts that motherhood is a "great and noble task." This can be a hard truth to believe when I find myself drowning in the day-to-day mothering duties that fit the description "humble tasks" like a glove. You know the drill... diapers, dishes, laundry, etc., etc., etc. hardly great and noble if taken at face value.

I know parenting our kids and sharing Jesus with them is great and noble, I do, but it is far too easy to get lost in the monotony of the daily grind. I sometimes struggle to feel significant, but I've learned a little secret this summer.

Honestly, it is something I've known, I'm sure you know it to, but sometimes I need an idea repackaged or rephrased in order to embrace it again and let it change me.

Want to know the secret?

I intentionally dedicate my duties to the Heavenly Father who sees all, as an act of worship.

If I catch myself grumbling because I have to wash bedsheets for the umpteenth time that week, or wondering what's the point of sweeping the floor again. I try to stop myself "Lord, I'm so tired of doing the same things over and over again, but I will do them again for you."

It is a small thing, the task itself doesn't change, but the significance does.

The act of worship can even transform the act of folding underwear into something great and noble. Amazing!

Worship gives significance and purpose to the mistakenly mundane, every day tasks of motherhood, making them great and noble. Not because of what we do, but because of Who we do it for.

Unleashed - a book review

If you page through my copy of Unleashed by Erwin Raphael McManus, you will find underlined phrases, stars and even a handwritten exclamation mark or two. That will be your first hint that the message in this little book resonated with me. And, based on my graffitied pages you might make the educated guess that I wanted to remember and maybe even share parts of what I read.

Your guess would be correct.

In fact I’m going to share a little of what I read with you right now…

"All of us, it seems, are susceptible to choosing a life defined more by security and safety than faith and risk. I’m convinced that all of us struggle with the tension of wanting to live a life of unimaginable adventure and at the same time maintain a world that is fully under our control. The problem is that faith when fully ignited moves our lives entirely out of our control completely into the hands of God…You don’t need to go find faith; you need to unleash it."

If this quote moves you, then you should read Unleashed. And if it doesn’t… you should probably read it to.

Throughout the pages of this book, Mr. McManus calls Christians to leave the safe, domesticated “Christian” world that we have created and wholeheartedly follow and embrace the “barbarian” call Christ created. He reminds us that the call of Christ is not safe, "God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life."

I found Unleashed to be well-written and thought provoking and would highly recommend it.

***DISCLOSURE NOTICE: A free copy of this book was supplied to me for the purpose of review by Thomas Nelson Publishing. No monetary exchange was given. All comments and wording in this review are purely my own.

Summit VII

My head is still spinning trying to process Summit VII.

It was overwhelming. Over 1500 people coming together to

talk, network, inspire, learn, and advocate for the orphan.

the topics were many

poverty, adoption, church adoption funds, global initiatives, foster care

and the need,

orphans, street kids, poverty, injustice, human trafficking

the need breaks my heart.

It steals my breath and SCREAMS, YOU MUST DO MORE!

On my own, the need is paralyzing. Thankfully I'm not on my own and it is not up to me to rescue. I am called to obey, one step at a time. He may or may not call me to do "great" things (by the world's standards) to alleviate the need.

That is His job, not mine.

He simply asks that I listen to His voice and obey His call, big or small, whatever that may be.

Interested in a few sound bytes/links from the Summit? Here you go -

• When our children look into our eyes do the see how precious they are? - Karin Purvis is a rock star. Go to Empowered to Connect to find helpful resources and videos if you are the parent of a child from a hard place.


• Poverty alleviation is not about us coming and rescuing the poor, it is about us coming together with them and working toward a closer relationship with Jesus. We must walk humbly with the materially poor as Christ transforms us both. - Brian Fikkert, co-authored the book When Helping Hurts. Kory's thoughts on Brian were this, "I like listening to smart people and I like listening to funny people, but I really like listening to smart, funny people." We are planning on buying this book, it is a paradigm shift we all need.


• We are not called to save the world, we are called to be a light. - Kristen Welsh, a favorite blogger of mine and founder of Mercy House. You can find her blog here.

I don't feel like it.

"If we do only what we feel inclined to do , some of us would do nothing forever and ever...The proof that we are rightly related to God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not."

-Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Feelings are deceitful. They cannot be trusted. They tend to blow things out of proportion and distort the truth.

I question my calling simply because I don't feel inspired.

Or, I act rashly because I do feel inspired and don't want to wait.

They make it hard to know what to do. I can't make a decision based solely on my feelings... can I?

Sometimes I do. Especially in the little things.

I don't feel like dusting so I don't. I don't feel like talking so I don't. I don't feel like getting up...

This may be okay on a Monday, but if I let my emotions rule, life can quickly spiral out of control. Pesky feelings.

On the other hand, feelings make life richer. Moments are held tighter. Relationships go deeper. Life is more colorful when we let emotion shade our vision.

Emotions are God-given, it's good to acknowledge them, as long as we don't live by them.

God give us His word and His spirit to help discern what's real and what's not. I'm thankful for that, especially when my emotions are out of control. When they cloud the truth and fog everything I see. When that happens, I try to take a step back, remind myself that feelings can't be trusted, pray for discernment to see the truth, and act on that truth.

Whether I feel like it or not.

I just wish it wasn't so hard to do.

***I just read this post on Michael Hyatt's blog, it felt like a good thing to share. :) ***