So, since we keep asking and God keeps providing, we’re going to ask again!  HopeChest’s partner in India has a whole list of rescue missions and is just waiting for the funds.  Today God brought in enough for these ten girls, plus enough to get started on the next rescue on the list.  Yay!  HopeChest was planning on running the fundraiser through Monday, so we’re going to continue raising money and seeing just how many rescue missions we can fund!  Wouldn’t it be incredible if we set out to fund one rescue for 10 girls and end up funding 2?  Or 3? 

People are getting really creative with ideas for raising money to fund rescues.  If you think about it, it’s your chance to live in an action thriller movie.  These courageous, highly skilled Indian agents are doing reconaissance, nailing corrupt officials, raiding brothels, and saving innocent little girls and boys under cover of darkness.  We pay $10 to watch movies with that kind of action.  We read gripping novels in our beach chairs about these kind of covert activities.  Now we can join in the excitement!  By writing a check, having a garage sale, auctioning some items on eBay, or holding a fundraiser, we can fund covert missions for God!  I love a good thriller, so I’m in!  One of my friends is raffling off a Coach purse.  A pretty, pink, Coach purse for the lives of some little girls.  Duh, no brainer, and so very cool and creative.  If you want to pay $20 for a chance to win the purse and save a child, visit her website here.  If you want to help fund a covert mission, click here.

I lack the kung fu and numchucks skills to BE a covert operative and raid brothels in the name of God.  I’m not even sure if I spelled “numchucks” right.  The only reason I’ve even heard of those things is because of my deep love of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Michaelangelo in particular.  But I CAN serve God by finding Michaelangelo some money for his numbchucks.  Nutchunks?  I am a not-so-covert operative – I am an OVERT operative for God, boldly flapping my lips and waving wildly at people to flag down some money so the truly sneaky people can get these precious ones to safety.  Join me?

My favorite story from the day is of one of my Adacar sponsor moms who called me asking if there was still time to give.  Her daughter had accidentally hit a button on the computer which caused my blog to pop up.  This sponsor mom read about what we were doing and thought, “Oh, I wish we could help, but we don’t have any extra right now.”  The mail arrived, and there was a surprise $500 check from a grandmother.  She immediately thought of the kids in India!  When I thanked this sponsor mom for choosing to spend her gift money on school fees for a child she’d never met, she answered, “How could I not?”  Wow!  I LOVE that!!  She had such joy and excitement in her voice, and that’s just it.  When we choose to give, not only does the recipient feel blessed, but so do we!  We are filled with joy and exuberance, and it’s such a fulfilling act of worship to God, who gives so generously to us.  Last Wednesday was such a special day.  I loved asking BIG and seeing my God respond even BIGGER.

Now, we’re asking God for $4884 in the next two days.  The HopeChest team in India has identified 12 kids in need of school fees, at $407 per child for tuition, uniform, and supplies.  School starts on Thursday.  That’s 2 days from now, and if they don’t have the money, they don’t go to school for another year.  Many of these kids are children of the women working in brothels in the red light district of Delhi.  Their mothers brought them to Asha Ministries to get them out of a life in the brothels.  Would you please join us in praying for these kids?  Would you consider giving toward their education?  As we saw with Bosco, if everyone gives a little, it adds up quickly, and all of a sudden, God saves a life, rewrites a future, and uses US to do it!!

Okay, so to give, click HERE, and put “India School” in the notes section.  The money goes through HopeChest to the team on the ground in India right now.

To read posts from the HopeChest team in India, click HERE.

To read more on the kids needing school fees, click HERE.

Getting involved in the one-day campaign to save Bosco’s life back in the fall changed my life forever.  You never know when a simple act of choosing to give could change yours.

Joy:  I fought back tears of joy as the kids greeted us with a song and beckoned us into the church.  The people here worship with their whole bodies, and I love it.  Songs dissolve into everyone praying separate prayers out loud, arms outstretched to the Lord, someone speaks, then more dancing and singing and drumming.  Though we worship in different languages, we praise the same living God and our worship together is powerful.  We introduced ourselves, and Martin shared a message about the joy of the Lord.  Sarah followed with songs, and the Holy Spirit so clearly spoke through Martin and sang through Sarah, because even though they didn’t discuss what they were going to do, the sermon and songs lined up perfectly as if they’d had a production meeting beforehand!

Sorrow:  As I spent time with the kids, I noticed many who were sick.  Yellow eyes and light hair from malnutrition, scars, sores.  The sponsored kids are identified because they are the most vulnerable ones in the community.  I feel a heaviness and trepidation, because Greg said tonight that the further north we go, the more malnutrition and famine we’ll see.  The men have moved south where there are jobs, so the farther north we go, the fewer men we see.  Guess what’s farther north?  Yep.  Adecar.  Oh dear Jesus, can it get worse?  Adecar has triple the orphans that we saw today.  Tonight my heart is filled with Nabukalu and our time there, but my love and concern for Adecar is brimming near the surface, ready to well up.  I’m not ready.  I never will be.  Please God, fill me with Your Spirit, because I am broken and at a loss for words or deeds without You.

Happiness:  Today we passed out beads and elastic string and the kids made necklaces.  In my head, I was picturing quiet craft time with the girls while the boys played soccer.  Wow, so not how it played out.  All the boys wanted in on the fun, so it was CRA-ZY!  It was so cute to the see the kids walking around with their bead necklaces, painted nails (yep, the boys, too!), and pillowcase dresses (just the girls J) that Megan made.  My overdeveloped sense of fairness wanted everything to be equal, but it was impossible to keep track of who had what.  We did our best, and I just have to let it go. 

Frustration:  I’m learning a lot about dealing with hordes of children desperate for affection and attention and any trinket that I have.  I made a lot of mistakes today and hope to do better tomorrow.  I just want to freely give things away, but when we’re dealing with this many kids, we have to have ORDER!  I vow to be more orderly tomorrow.  Straight lines, one at a time, like they do for lunch.

Contentment:  After the chaotic giveaway time, I wandered around and helped some of the girls with their necklaces.  I loved stringing beads and tying them around their necks.  They craved the attention and seemed to understand the word “beautiful.”  I told each one how beautiful she was.  It’s true.  Such beautiful children of God.  I sat down on a bench, drew one girl onto my lap, and put my arms around as many as possible.  I’m such a toucher.  At home, this freaks a lot of people out.  Here, these sweet children crave affection.  They want to hold hands, hug, and sit close next to me.  Visiting them isn’t just about what treats I hand out or what games we play.  I provide them with something so much greater, something they desperately need.  My physical presence.  Money and food meet their physical needs, but my actual person, wrapping my arms around them, rubbing their backs, holding their hands, drawing them close, meets a deep spiritual need.  It’s unquantifiable, but urgent.  Some people have challenged me that I can do more good by sending the money it takes for this trip rather than going myself.  After spending time with these kids, I can now say that they are wrong.  The kids don’t just need my money.  They need me.  And I need them.  I need them so badly.  Holding them makes my soul sing.  The sound of our bus rumbling to life when it’s time to leave has become my least favorite sound.  No one wants to leave.  The kids crowd in for one last touch, one last smile.  They reach their hands up to us like we reach our hands up to God, craving the touch from our Father.

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 one of the organizations that I’ve learned a bit about is Abba Fund.  Today, this fabulous org is on my heart.  When Alex and I felt the call to adopt (the emotional equivalent of being slammed into by an 18-wheeler), we were able to start right away.  God blessed us with the ability to start writing checks.  So we did.  A check here, a check there.  Someone needs our credit card.  Four or five someones need a stack of money orders.  Adoption isn’t cheap.  It makes me chuckle a bit at the people who made comments during our jag with in vitro, “In vitro’s expensive.  Why don’t you just adopt?”  Just adopt, eh?  There’s nothing just about it.

We “just” wrote another couple of big checks this week, and today, when Abba Fund popped up in the iFast58 prayer list, I had to petition God, to shout for those whose wallets are keeping them from their children.  Abba Fund provides help for those called to adoption who need financial assistance.  Imagine if you felt God calling you to your child but lacked the means to bring him or her home.  Adoption is an exhausting world filled with the unknown…and that’s without the unknown of where the next payment is going to come from. 

If you don’t feel God calling you to adopt, that’s okay.  He doesn’t call everyone.  But he does call us all to care for orphans.  Maybe that means that you help make someone else’s adoption possible by giving a donation to Abba Fund.  There is enough money in the world to place every adoptable orphan in a home.  It doesn’t have to be your home, but maybe you can help fill someone else’s.  Visit www.AbbaFund.org.

I didn’t get to post all my videos from Ethiopia, but this one is especially important.

Many people ask us, “Why do you do this orphan ministry?” This video is the best answer I can give them.

WATCH: http://www.vimeo.com/8105860

Please share this video with your friends online, along with this simple message…

Watch this video to see one of the many reasons I’m involved in orphan ministry with Children’s HopeChest. Find out more and become a HopeChest Partner today at http://www.hopechestpartners.org/.

Thanks so much!

Tom.

I love safety and comfort.  I love investing in my son and my marriage and feeling the quiet joy that comes with margin, but when my focus is on maintaining and not growing, I get bored, and I get useless.  Every day I hold out my hands to God and open them, palms up.  “God, it’s Yours.  My life, my son, my marriage, our adoption process, our stuff…Yours.”  And so if everything is God’s, then what does He want me to do with it?  Do I hoard it or do I share it?  We are blessed with so much love in our house.  I want to take it out, share it, add to it.  I don’t want to get so wrapped up in staying safe that I fail to see what’s outside of my little realm.  I don’t want to be a hunkerer. 

When I give up hunkering, life gets really exciting.  Where will God take me next?  I can’t wait to find out where He’s going to take me and what He’ll have me do.  Following God truly is the most exciting adventure I’ve ever had.  The first step is opening my hands and releasing my white-knuckled grip on my life. 

God, don’t let me hunker.  Save me from my own notion of safety, and let me feel safe in Your arms, not in my stuff.  I hold Your blessings with open hands and acknowledge that You are Lord of my children, of my marriage, of my home, and of my life.  Take me on an epic adventure and use the little bit of love in my heart to do mighty things for Your world.

Okay, back story.  Elliott has been going to weekly speech therapy for about six months after his dubious frenulectomy (It’s just fun to say.) .  His speech is delayed, and he either has apraxia (some befuddled wiring of the brain) or he’s just stubborn.  Could go either way…both screwy brains and stubbornness run in the family.

Last night, I read Tom Davis’ blog about raising money for kitchens in Ethiopia (see my post from yesterday).  Alex and I didn’t really think much about it, we just had a twenty second chat, picked a number, and got on board.  This morning at speech, Elliott’s pathologist, Jan Williams (LOVE HER!), said that she thinks we need to back off a bit and drop Elliott to every other week.  Yeah, last night Alex and I started giving a monthly gift to Children’s HopeChest for kitchens in Ethiopia.  This morning, by dropping from weekly to every other week speech therapy sessions, we are saving THE EXACT AMOUNT that we pledged last night.  How cool is that?  We stepped out to help, and God immediately opened up the funding. 

Yeah, I’m not taking any credit for this.  God’s like the cool kid in school and I’m just trying to hang out near Him, maybe try to imitate Him and wear what He’s wearing.  I am having THE BEST TIME watching what He’s doing.  I can’t wait to see what’s next.  I mean, look at me.  I’m writing in all caps.  Sheesh.  Very exciting.

Today’s news out of Ethiopia is not new. Millions starving. Millions without food or water. Millions trapped in extreme poverty.

Millions is a concept we’ve accepted in our news reporting. If everyone in Colorado Springs was starving, we wouldn’t quite get to “millions.” Hard to comprehend.

Here’s what I know. CHC’s kids don’t starve. They don’t drink dirty water. They are protected from abuse. They are sheltered from child labor. They are put through school to help develop their potential. Our kids are numbered in the thousands. And guess what? I’ve got 5,000 more who are waiting for a home.

This Christmas, CHC is going to launch a dynamic campaign to bring 5,000 new children into our CarePoint’s throughout Africa. But with today’s news of “millions” starving in Ethiopia, we’ve got to step up our plans a bit. I need to get the feeding centers up and running as soon as possible.

To read more, click this link:

http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2009/10/urgent-millions-starving-in-ethiopia.html