So, here’s the update on Adecar.  First…WE RAISED THE FULL AMOUNT NEEDED TO BUILD A KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As I added up the weekend’s tally and received the last check, I realized that we had what we needed to get the kitchen facililty built and burst into tears.  I felt really stupid, but then everyone else started crying, too.  Some of the best tears I’ve ever shed.  Thank you to all who bought merchandise, bid on auction items, or just plain wrote much-needed checks.  Thank you.  This kitchen will have a place to prepare meals for the over 300 orphans living in Adecar, a locked food storage area, and a covered pavilion for community gatherings and Bible teaching.

Now about those 300+ orphans.  We made a good dent this weekend.  At Saturday night’s event, I think almost every couple left with an orphan in their hands.  It was such a privilege to watch as families looked through the faces and chose orphans to bring into their homes.  Some even left with sponsorship packets for their neighbors.  We saw about 40 orphans sponsored.  What a blessing. 

The Children’s HopeChest team brought sponsorship packets for about half of the orphans living in Adecar.  Once we find sponsors for those 150+ kids, then we get the other half.  So, I have a little over 100 orphans in my living room.  They each have a story, a tragic one.  They each need a family.

God says that He sets the lonely in families.  I watched it happen this weekend.  I had a woman tell me that she was looking for two girls who were siblings.  The packets weren’t organized that way.  I thought it would take forever to find.  The very first two packets that I set my hands on were two sisters.  Thanks, God.  I wanted to sponsor a boy Elliott’s age, so that they could grow up together, writing back and forth, and someday meet.  I found George.  He was born in 2007, same as Elliott.  His profile says that he enjoys dancing, singing, music, and cooking, and his personality can be described as active, extroverted, friendly, and curious.  Yep, George and Elliott.  Two peas in a pod.

I watched as one couple chose orphans for each of their four children, matching genders and ages.  They are having their children contribute financially to the sponsorship.  What an incredible experience for them, to grow up learning about the impact that they can make in the life of a peer.  One couple sponsored a child, but couldn’t get Julius out of their minds.  They’ve contacted me and are taking him as well.  At one of the Swaziland launches, Menzi kept following me around the room.  Everywhere I looked, I kept finding his packet.  Finally, I picked him up and carried him from person to person.  The next night, I found out that a family to which I’d introduced him is praying about sponsoring him.

These kids are becoming real.  They started as a barrage of African faces, pictures of strangers peering through plastic covers.  Now they are George, Julius, Mary, Florence, Betty, Amos.  The names and faces go on and on, spread out on my living room floor.  They each matter to God and they matter to me.  I feel the burden of being their voice in America.  If I don’t speak for them, who will?  It’s a burden that I willingly accept and humbly lay before the Lord.  Show me how to speak for these kids.  Give me the creativity to find them sponsors.

Let me know if you want to sponsor a child in Adecar, Uganda.  By sponsoring a child, you’re changing the course of that child’s life, helping to change the course of the entire village of Adecar, and you’re also changing the course of your own life.  $34 a month, $408 a year.  At Karts for Kids, I was tremendously touched by the person who told me that he figured it out, and the new flat screen TV that he wanted cost $34 per month.  And instead, he left that night with an orphan in his hand.

I’m not asking anyone to give anything up, and I never want to make anyone feel guilty.  I’m just sincerely excited about what we can do, what a gigantic difference we can make, when we wake up and do something.  We can be Waking Giants!  Alex and I are on this fabulous journey.  Our hearts are broken, but bigger than ever.

Hey, I kept a bunch of Ugandan paper bead necklaces for anyone who missed Karts for Kids and still wants to buy a necklace.  I’ve got necklaces, and I’ve got orphans.  Any additional money that we raise right now is going to food.  We can’t have a kitchen without that.

Anyway, I know I’m rambling.  I haven’t even started on the fabulous weekend that we had with the HopeChest team.  I can’t believe it’s real that I get to be on a volunteer team with the most amazing orphan advocates in the world.  We had 10 people packed into our home and spent all weekend talking orphans and Africa, and also laughing till I snorted…a lot.  I love my new friends.  I love my new life.  My heart and my life are very full.  I am thankful.

Okay, so God, I can plan and plan and make my little lists and accomplish my little checklist, but I can’t control the weather.  I can’t make airplanes take off and land on time.  I can’t make sure everyone comes.  And I can’t force people to respond.  I can’t.  I am finite, and this little finite creature has done all she can do.  And so I trust.  I trust You, because You gave me this passion, this plan, in the first place.  I trust You, because You love orphans more than I do.  I trust You, because I am not enough.  I trust You, because You are worthy of my trust. 

I’ve got butterflies.  I may not sleep tonight.  But my God is a big God, and I cannot WAIT to see what He does tomorrow.

I love heroes.  And this week, I’ve realized that my real heroes don’t have capes or tights or gadgets or masks.  They don’t fight evil robots or vampires or Lord Voldemort.  But they do fight bad guys.  They don’t defend the people of Metropolis or Middle Earth or Sunnydale.  But they do defend people.  My heroes are orphan sponsors.  My heroes fight injustice.  They fight poverty.  They sacrifice some of their own needs and wants to invest monthly in the life of a child.  My heroes beat back the darkness in the lives of kids who need them.  They rescue the fatherless from hopelessness.  They don’t wield a sword or a stake.  They wield the power of God.  They heal, they love, they are God’s hands.  My true heroes hug orphans.  Hug them with their letters, hug them with their sponsorship dollars, hug them with their arms.

Superheroes are my favorite.  I’m privileged to know a bunch.  And after next weekend, I’m gonna know a whole lot more.

This verse has just hit me today.  Hope and joy and peace are totally related to our trust in God.  Yes!  This is so true!  I’m butterflies-in-the-stomach about Karts for Kids next week (Yes – NEXT WEEK!  Eeek!), but my God, the God of hope, really has filled me to the brim with joy and peace.  I trust that this event was His idea and is in His hands, and I am truly overflowing with hope, hope for what He’s going to do, hope for the kids whose lives are about to change, hope for my community to get to be part of God’s plan.  I’m bursting with hope!  And there’s such a peace knowing that the result is completely out of my hands.  I’m not saying I do nothing and sit back and wait for God to handle everything.  I’m working hard, I’m doing everything that I can do, but at the end of the day, at the end of my work, at the end of myself, I can put my trust in the God of hope.  The God of hope! 

In the face of terrible tragedy, my God is the God of hope.  My God is the God of hope in Haiti, where children cry out for parents who will never wake up.  My God is the God of hope in Uganda, where empty bellies rumble and familes are ravaged.  My God is the God of hope in America, where what’s good becomes the enemy of what’s best and we unintentionally become slaves to our belongings.  In utter devastation, the God of hope. 

Tonight I am overflowing with hope, filled with joy and peace, trusting in my God, my God of hope.

I imagine a Friday night when the people of Peachtree City pile into their golf carts and race to Adecar’s aid.  I imagine a Saturday night when the people of Canton gather together to make a difference.  From north to south, I imagine Atlantans rising up together to fight back poverty and change a village.

Three hundred and sixty-five orphans.  Three hundred and sixty-five.  3-6-5.  They have nothing.  Nothing.  But soon, that will change.  And by God’s grace, we’re going to change it.  Imagine what a difference we can make in the village of Adecar when Atlantans come forward to sponsor 365 orphans.  When we raise $8,000 and build a kitchen and meeting facility in the heart of Adecar, a place where kids can find food for their bodies and the Word of God for their souls.  Where there was tragedy, there will be dignity.  Where there was devastation, there will be education.  Where there was suffering, there will be rejoicing.

From north to south, Canton to Peachtree City, we get to watch God change a village in one weekend.  We get to be His hands here on earth, to stand in the gap and say, “No more.  I will not let poverty take these children.  I refuse to watch and do nothing.  I cannot save every child, every village, but I can save one.”  Let this be your legacy.  What did I do with my life?  I got to help God save a village.