Alex’s parents have been visiting us.  Yesterday, on their last night, we made the Columbia Restaurant’s signature salad, piled into the golf cart, picked up pizza, and met my parents over at Lake Peachtree, where we ate pizza and salad, played with Elliott at the park, and watched the sun go down over the water.  It was perfect. 

After dinner, I excitedly presented our moms with the “Love Goes Around” necklaces from JunkPosse, an early Mother’s Day since we’ll be in Africa.  As I was explaining how these necklaces help support and restore victims of sex trafficking, my sweet hubby pulls out a third white, heart-shaped box.  For me?  He gave me the JunkPosse “Heart for Africa” necklace!  Oh, how I wanted it so much.  And now, wherever I go, everyone will see how much I love Africa.  And my husband!  Happy Mother’s Day to me! 

After we all put on our new necklaces, we wandered over to the park, and as Elliott was playing, the ice cream truck pulled up.  As he slurped on his bubblegum-flavored popsicle, our parents spend time praying over us on our trip.  Wow.  I’ll never get over the incredible gift of having two sets of parents who like each other and have a common bond in Christ.  Elliott smeared blue and pink all over his mouth and peered up at us all bowing in prayer (Um, yeah, I peeked.).  I love that he has a mom, dad, two grandmothers, and two grandfathers who all pray together!  Our sweet moms are going to call each other each morning at 6:30am to pray for us while we’re on the trip.  Grateful.

I’m so excited for Slash to come into this family!  People keep asking, “Have you heard anything?”  “It’s getting close, isn’t it?”  No and no.  It’s discouraging, but this morning God reminded me that Slash will become part of our family at the perfect time, God’s time.  Waiting is full of all kinds of argh, but God has a lot for me to do while I wait. 

While I wait, I get to dress up in funny costumes with Elliott and march around banging on drums.

While I wait, I need to kiss the top of Elliott’s head about 150 times a day.

While I wait, I have about 300 orphans to hug in Uganda.

While I wait, I have about 260 orphans for whom to find sponsors.

While I wait, I want to get deeper into Scripture and fall more and more in love with Him.

While I wait, I get to graduate up to high school with my big 8th graders.

While I wait, I need to help abolish the sex trade.

While I wait, I need to see Adecar’s kitchen built and work on the next steps of the community development plan.

While I wait, I get to help my church embrace Africa and orphans.

While I wait, I have blogs to write and friends to encourage and brand-new high school girls to text and a husband to kiss and a 3-year-old with whom to work in the garden.  I have sweet tea to brew and bread to bake and loads of cuddling to do with Spike the dog.  So, I’m thinking maybe a healthy mix of saving the world, time with family, and nervous breakdowns at the feet of God.

I’ve wanted to blog for days, but I’m running so fast right now that I feel like I can’t sit down and write what I want to write…so instead I’ve written nothing.  Lame!  Okay, so I’m just going to write SOMETHING. 

Uganda in a week!  So excited.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for staying with our sweet (and occasionally sour) Elliott, so that we can go share some love with our Adecar kiddos!  We’ll be working in several villages, and spending a good chunk of the trip in our Adecar.  I get to meet our two sponsor boys, George and BOSCO!!  I just felt like he needed all caps.  BOSCO!  He’s not from Adecar, but he lives in nearby Ngarium, so I’ve been told I’ll get to see him.  Oh dear.  Bosco, get ready for Hurricane Melanie.  I’ll try to hold back a little.  I’ll try. 

It seems like everywhere I go, friends give me bags of craft supplies, toys, medicine, or toiletries to take with us.  We’re taking 6 duffle bags stuffed with things for the kids.  I’m feeling a mixture of elation at all the wonderful gifts and how much fun it will be to play with the kids…and sadness knowing that it won’t be enough, that we can’t bring enough to meet the needs of each child.  That’s going to be hard.  So, I’m preparing for a week of joy mixed with pain.  Painful joy.

Joy often is painful, you know?  It’s not like happiness.  You have to be happy to have happiness.  You do not have to be happy to have joy.  I have joy in hearing that Indian Rescue Mission rescued a 13-year-old girl from sex trafficking this week…as I ache for the 15-year-old girl that they had to leave behind…and the 2 million kids in sexual slavery…many of whom are raped 40 times a day.  Joy.  Pain.  Joy in God’s healing, deliverance, and saving grace.  Pain in the horrifying reality of the evil world in which we live.

I love our Adecar kiddos.  I can’t wait to meet them, and also spend time in a few other villages.  Can’t wait.  God has called Alex and me so clearly.  Last night in our amazing small group, we were talking about how God calls people to different things, different places, and I laughed.  If someone told me that they needed me to work in the nursery at church, I would freak out completely.  Oh crap, no, no, no, not me.  But Africa feels right.  My heart is there.  He’s called.  Can’t.  Wait.

I’ll blog during our trip.  We’ll take lots of pictures, but we may not be able to upload large files until we’re home.  So, we’ll do our best to capture each day in words and get it posted.  I have a feeling the words I know aren’t going to be enough.

I need to see for myself.

I don’t have much to say.  I’m just restless.  My injustice-crusading spirit is at war with my comfort-loving body.  Inside, I want to DO!!  Go out, make a difference, do more do more do more.  But my body is really comfortable on the couch, sweet tea in hand. 

Looking forward to getting on African soil, my arms around African kids, my tears dried by the African sun.

Here I am, donning my cape.  Into the battle I go.

I wrote last week about sex trafficking.  My heart and mind are still swirling around this horrible reality.  This week, Children’s HopeChest has launched a couple of initiatives to help, and I want to pass them on to you.

First, here’s an incredible look at what’s happening in Moldova.  http://www.hopechest.org/sex_cafe-in-moldova/

Are you as pissed off as I am?  Then here’s how you can help.  http://www.hopechest.org/support-moldova/

Are you overwhelmed with the $400/MONTH price to help one person?  It’s a lot.  Think about getting together with a group of friends, maybe a Mom’s Club, Sunday school class, office, small group, neighborhood.  I’m getting together with my fellow Warrior Girls (We need satin jackets with our names embroidered on the backs, don’t you think?) to sponsor one victim.  If 16 people get together, that’s $25/month.  A huge group of people are CAUSING this problem, so we need a huge group of people to FIX it.  But just one person can start making a difference…and that could be you!  Start asking people to co-sponsor a girl with you. 

Here’s one more fabulous way to help restore the lives of orphans and trafficking victims, and it involves buying really pretty jewelry.  http://www.adoptionfathers.com/2010/04/11/supportyoungmothers/  The necklaces are made by JunkPosse, which, next to the paper bead necklaces made by Ugandan widows, is my favorite jewelry maker.  A great Mother’s Day gift!

After talking about Frannie Channie’s Crazy Love chapter 8 in group last night (I’m not sure how he’d feel about my nickname for him.), I’m thinking a ton today about how this life is temporary.  My home is temporary.  My family is temporary.  My stuff is temporary.  I love my life and my home and definitely adore my family and I like my stuff…but what am I doing in my life for the kingdom of God, the forever, ETERNAL kingdom of God?  I want to hold everything up to that standard. 

Today, I’m comfortable.  Life is good.  Life is easy.  I have a house with a decent roof and too much food in the fridge.  It’s easy to focus on this temporary world.  It’s easy for me to get distracted.  I like this temporary world too much.

For other people, this world is a nightmare.  Today, boys are stolen and forced to fight and kill.  Girls vanish and end up in sexual slavery.  Babies cry for food they’re never going to get.  Children suffer from illnesses that they can’t prevent and they can’t treat.  Mothers and fathers lie in huts waiting to die.  And on and on and on and on and my prayer today is that they would know that this world is temporary.  That our God has a better place, with no pain, and it’s waiting for them.  That He is preparing rooms for them in His house.  This life here on earth is temporary.  Jesus experienced their suffering; He conquered pain and death.  Their pain here is temporary.  I pray that the hurting victims of this world would reach out to Jesus and be filled with the peace that comes from knowing that this isn’t all there is.  There’s so much more.  And the last will be first and the meek will inherit the earth and things will be so incredibly good.  I pray that they would feel comfort.

At this moment while I type, a young girl is being prepared for sexual slavery.  Her entire world is about to shatter.  At this moment, evil people are exchanging money.  Someone is preparing to defile her, to rob her innocence, and break her spirit.  She will never be the same.  At this moment. 

What if she was your daughter?  What is she was my daughter?  To what lengths would I go to find her?  To stop them?  How many people would I beg for justice?  How many calls would I make?  On how many doors would I bang until my knuckles bled? 

Nothing would stop me.  Nothing would silence me.  I would search for her, cry out for her, claw at anyone who stood in my way.  Until I collapsed, I would not stop seeking her, saving her, pouring myself out for her.

The little girl being broken as I type is terrified.  Alone.  Friendless.  Hopeless.  She’s not my daughter.  But she’s God’s daughter.  He loves her fiercely.  And He’s commissioned you and me to save her. 

In the time it’s taken me to write this post, several other young girls have lost their innocence.  Several other evil people have had their way.  Every 2 minutes a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation, and 2 children are sold every minute.  What would I want others to do if this was my child?  What does God want me to do for His child?

I am shattered for these children as the world looks the other way.  That’s a good place to start – total brokenness.  Now where to go from here?  Some friends of ours who we love and respect work with Love146, an organization committed to eradicating child trafficking.  Also, Tom Davis’ new fiction book, Priceless (available on Amazon for pre-order), handles this issue and Children’s HopeChest has an ever-expanding ministry to protect young girls from falling victim to trafficking.

Don’t do nothing.  How’s that for a double negative?  DON’T DO NOTHING!  We’ve done enough of nothing.  That’s why this despicable industry exists.  It’s overwhelming.  For me, too.  Start today with spending 5 minutes praying.  Just ask God, “What can I do?”  Visit a website.  I think the first thing we all have to get over is the instinct to cringe, squeeze our eyes shut, and put our fingers in our ears.  As I type this, I’m staring at pictures of my middle school girls.  Laughing, happy, innocent, beautiful.  What if it was one of them?  What if it was my daughter?  Or my son?  Let’s open our eyes, absorb the pain, and trust God to lead us into action for this precious kids.