Perfect Love

I woke up this morning with the final verses of 1 John 4 on my heart. I love it when the Holy Spirit speaks directly to me. I haven't thought of or read these verses in awhile and yet, this morning I woke to the words, "perfect love drives out fear." I have had some fear this week as I look at our mountain and it's a little silly at this point. God has already moved nearly $30,000 out of the way, so one would think that the last $3,500 wouldn't make me nervous, at all. It does. It's uncomfortable to need to ask for help (again).

The only thing I know to do when I have a need is to begin to give generously to other people, to love them well and to rest in knowing that God loves me more than I love others. My problem this week has been that I have allowed my focus to shift onto our mountain. That's not where it should be. My focus should be on God and loving the ones He places in my path. Allowing Him to use me however He desires. I have never done a post like this one. I have told you all before that I don't share things here with you unless, I'm willing to participate (financially) in the need, so what I'm about to share is going to STRETCH me and STRETCH our family. I have prayed over each of these families and their fundraisers and have wanted to share them with you and so, in effort to be obedient, here we go.

First up is the Love Multiplied iPad3 Giveaway for the Spitz family to bring home their princess Lilianna. I shared this giveaway once already, but this family could really use our help. This is their third trip across the ocean to bring home a little one in two years. They need us. They're obedience and faith is humbling and I long to see this mountain moved. They're busy taking care of their family and the paperwork to get to Lilianna, let's help take care of the finances for them. Lilianna is just precious. Don't believe me, see for yourself...

Then, my friend, Julia started the Mulligan Stew, a giveaway to help too many families and kids to list. Julia began the giveaway on March 9th. I have waited patiently for payday to roll back around (we're on a once a month pay schedule) and am so excited to be able to participate in the Mulligan Stew, today! I have witnessed a miracle happen over on Julia's blog as around $30,000 has come in since March 9th! God is so faithful. He cares about the orphans. Yesterday, I read this post and was overwhelmed by the sacrifice of the Heim family. Too push back from the table and allow others to receive their fill is no small thing, especially when their family still needs $20,000+ to finish bringing home their kids. Just humbling...

Next, there are some local families who have joined us on this adoption journey. The Morton family is bringing home Sam and Duncan. Two 15 year old boys who are close to aging out of the system and becoming unavailable for adoption. They have a serious time crunch. They will most likely travel in June and need thousands of dollars to bring the boys home. They have an 8GB iPod Touch Giveaway happening. We've talked here before about how unlikely it is for older children and boys to be chosen, so the Morton family choosing Sam and Duncan is amazing. Let's rally for them and help bring these boys home.

Another local family, the Pickett's are adopting. I shared with you about how God has tied our family to theirs, but honestly the story has gotten even better. This should probably have been it's own blog post, but I'll just let you head over to Chandres' blog and read the latest part of the story...There's this BOY! My heart truly skips a beat whenever I hear of a family committing to bring home a BOY! The Pickett family isn't doing a giveaway, right now. They, along with the Mortons are organizing an event called Playing Them Home. It's going to be a fun day, filled with SOCCER (another of my favorite things) and helping bring these kids home. Check it out!

Last, but not least, my new friend, Amanda and her family have begun their adoption journey. They are bringing their babies home from Uganda and have a really fun American Girl Doll giveaway happening. Amanda is the real deal. You all will love her and she's so much fun, I almost hate to send you over to her blog. You may not come back. Seriously, they could use our help as they have committed to making this adoption journey a debt free one! Go, Amanda! Where God guides, He provides!

I know, this post has been long. I reigned myself in. There are at least two other families that come immediately to mind. I'll share them this week. Now, I have to go and do some giving. I hope you were able to plow through with me and that each of these incredible stories will bless your heart. I am blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people. I love them and am thankful for the opportunity to journey with them.

"And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 1 John 4:21

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Where is the Ticker?

Some of you have noticed the ticker is gone from the top of the blog. It's coming back. I wish it was gone because we are funded, but that is not the case. It is gone because I needed to re-work the numbers. Plane tickets are more than I originally planned and I thought we owed our agency $5,800 for our last installment, turns out we owed them $6,250. Not a huge deal, but every dollar adds up, quickly.

So, what do we do? We drag our mountain back into the presence of the Lord where we believe it will melt like wax. Will you help us pray? Pray and share our need. That God would speak to hearts and help bring our boys home. We have court on April 10th and expect to travel just a couple of weeks later.

We find ourselves still needing $3,500, about $2,000 more than the original ticker showed. We're just going to start again with a new ticker. The LAST one! When it's full we'll be done. Praise God! The end is in sight. As humbling as it is to ask for help, again. We need you. We can't do it without your help.

Thank you to each one who has already given sacrificially. Do you want to know how much we will have raised when it's all said and done? I think you'd be amazed at how big this mountain actually was. We've been chipping away for a year, now, and while I would have loved for God to just move it all at once, it has been a blessing each time another stone was kicked over. Every time one of you gave and another piece of the mountain fell our hearts have been encouraged. You inspire us to give more generously and to love more freely.

Thank you!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Blog Hopping!

Well, I've never been a part of a blog hop before, but I'm excited about this one. It's all adopting families, so if your an adoption junkie (you know who you are) this is just the blog hop for you! I can't wait to read new stories and make new friends. I hope you have fun checking out the other blogs and I hope you find new journeys to follow and families to encourage. You all are some of the best encouragers, I know!

Here's how this works, at the bottom of this post will be pictures with links to other adopting families blogs. Please, read their stories, leave them a comment and follow along.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Go Blog Hopping!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

A Confession

I'm going to write this post, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to share it. We'll see...

In November, we met Joseph for the first time. Many of you watched the video and commented about how calm I looked. I was not. I strive to be real here. I don't want anyone to walk into the doors of an orphanage and feel the way that I felt and think they are alone, because I was too afraid to be honest.

We knew what we were walking into. We had videos, first hand reports from families who had met our boy. We had read the medical reports. I knew, he was going to be tiny. I knew, he was severely delayed. I knew, the report included the diagnosis of autism. I've cared for enough children to know what that means, in regards to giving and receiving affection, but nothing, NOTHING prepares you for that moment. The moment when they hand you a child, your child, who has been broken by all that life has handed him.

Here's the TRUTH. I wanted to hand Joseph back and run out the door. My first thought, when I saw our precious boy was, "What have we done? I can't parent this child." You know what? I can't parent Joseph. The Jesus that lives, moves and breathes on the inside of me will empower and equip me to be Joseph's Mommy. It's not my job to heal all those broken pieces, but to love Joseph well, to show him Jesus. Please, don't misunderstand me. I love Joseph. He IS my son. April 10th will be a beautiful day when our family gains two new sons, but I needed to tell you the truth.

It was a totally different emotion I felt five days later when I had to walk Joseph back down that long hall and hand him over to his caregiver (I had to, because I'm not sure Marty could have). My heart broke and it hasn't been the same since that day. It's amazing to me now. God proved Himself strong in my weakness. I didn't hand Joseph back and run out the door. I finished that first visit. I cried out to God. While I tried to process what I was seeing, our sweet six year old, trapped inside a toddler's body. I smiled and held my boy and loved on him, even though I was terrified.

I got back to the hotel room and looked at Marty prepared for the worst. Only to have him say, "He's our boy!" He was so excited. I spent the couple of hours we had in between visits praying and reading my Word, allowing my faith to rise up. By the end of our afternoon visit I knew Satan had tried to use my fear against me. He would have loved for me to look at Marty and say, "This is too much. We can't do this." and walk away from Joseph.

What a tragedy that would have been. How sad my heart would be, if I had to look back, now, days away from court and realize that I had let go of one of my sons. Why am I sharing this? I simply want to tell you, that you are human. I am human and only the Jesus on the inside of us gives us strength and wisdom to do the really hard things in life. I'm hear to tell you that JOY comes from obedience. God told us, Joseph was our son, I'm so glad we walked where He called. Thankful that both our boys are coming home and that ultimately, "Love Wins!" (So take that Satan!)

I didn't share this for fear of judgement. I don't know why I allowed Satan to put me under a yoke of condemnation. I won't walk that way. I won't live that way. God has set me free. He is my judge and my advocate. Please, know I don't share this lightly, but in the hopes of encouraging someone else on this difficult journey.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Love Multiplied Giveaway

You all know by now that I cannot miss a chance to be a part of a God story or to share it with you and let you be a part, too. For the past week or so, I've been working (well, my friends have done most of the work) with some other Reece's Rainbow advocates on something BIG! I'm so excited to finally be able to share it with you!

It's a sweet story of an orphan girl, who's finally going to become the Princess that God created her to be. Her life has already resulted in the rescue of two other orphans. The best part is those orphans-no-more will be her sister and brother, when she comes home. It's a HUGE thing for a family to commit and adopt 3 orphans in 2 years, but that's exactly what the Spitz Family is doing. We've promised to help them, as they follow God in bringing home their Princess Lilianna.

We've organized a great giveaway, with a TON of prizes and it's being hosted on my friend, Colleen's blog. So head on over, read Lilianna's full story and check out how you can help. There's an iPad, some gift cards and some other great prizes.

We're calling it the Love Multiplied Giveaway! The love for Lilianna has already multiplied and resulted in her family bringing home two other children. Let's see if we can multiply our love for their family and their FAITHfulness to this one child and raise $15,000!

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Let's bring Lilianna HOME!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Celebrating WDSD!

We just really have good people in our lives. Over the past few weeks, we've watched as our grant grows, day by day, dollar by dollar. $10 here, $20 there, more frequently than it ever grew during a giveaway or fundraiser. God is FAITHFUL. His people are FAITHFUL. I have no idea how to respond anymore to the overwhelming support that you all continue to show our family. It is the most humbling and remarkable thing I have ever been a part of.

"Thank you," seems inadequate, but it's truly all I have to offer. If you haven't looked up lately, check out our ticker, we're getting so close! God is handling the giant! He's doing it because He's faithful. Julie brought home a paper from Church recently. It said God is FAITHFUL, that means He ALWAYS keeps His promises. Isn't it fun to serve a God who ALWAYS keeps His promises. I think about how often I fail the people I love and I'm thankful that God never fails.

Thank you for being His hands and feet to our family.

Today, we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day! We celebrate the fact that our boys were born with one extra copy of their 21st chromosomes and because of that 1 little chromosome, God is allowing them to become our sons. We have a lot to celebrate this 3-21! We also have a lot more to accomplish. There are still so many children who wait to be celebrated. If you don't do anything else to recognize World Down Syndrome Day, would you head over to Reece's Rainbow and check out the kids who are still waiting to be chosen. The ones who long to be celebrated. Next year, you could have your own extra chromosomes to celebrate!

Maybe Brent could be your reason to celebrate! Your long lost son, waiting on the other side of the ocean.

Or how about Mitko? He's waited a long time to be celebrated, chosen, adopted...

Or maybe Tanner? Tanner has a lot of cards stacked against him. His age, his hearing loss, his extra chromosome, but I know, God has a family, who's been waiting for a son, like Tanner, to CELEBRATE!

There are so many more. All waiting to be chosen. I know, you love them, because you love Jesus, if you didn't you wouldn't be so good to our family. Will you share their pictures and their stories and ask God if He is wanting you to CELEBRATE life with one of these precious littles?

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Our Highest Calling

What is our highest calling? According to Jesus it is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

The words of Jesus bring two pressing questions to my mind, "Who are we loving?" and "How are we loving them?" Do we love God? Sure. Most of this country professes Christianity, we believe in God, we love God, but do we really love HIM? Are we loving Him with ALL of our heart, soul and mind? I don't think we are. What would the world we live in look like if we were loving God the way He's called us to love Him? We were created to love, worship and serve our Creator. I know, that's not popular in some circles, but it is ABSOLUTE TRUTH! Here's what our love should look like...

"Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." Ephesians 5:1-2

Love like that. What does that look like? It's a love that spends itself for the least of these. A love that sheds tears and blood, that spends it's money, it's time, it's talent, it's rest on behalf of the defenseless, the widow, the orphan. A love that's extravagant, it's not just giving a little bit of ourselves, but spending our lives in service to God. I'm tired of walking on the edges of love, of just getting my feet wet. I want to love like Jesus. I want to be extravagant in my giving, sharing, loving. I want to walk in my highest calling.

Do you want to walk with me? Will you walk with me? I'm going. I'm going to walk wherever He leads. I'm going to love whoever He places in my path. I may even seek them out. I'm going to give until it hurts. I'm going to make much of Jesus. I'm going to shine a light that points to the love of Jesus. For the King and His glory, I'm going to Do Something and I'm not going to stop when it gets hard.

No turning back...

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy