Truth Pandemic - Get the facts about HIV/AIDS and Adoption

Giving the gift of TIME

I was recently ask what is one thing that is different in Honduras that you have learned that could be a lesson to all Americans?

Well here is a HUGE difference that I see in our cultures. Miskitos and all Hispanics I have met invite EVERYONE into their home, they hug and greet everyone with a kiss, they know everyone by name and know all about their families (sometimes they know a little too much).

I could be walking down the street and have someone come up and just want to talk for 10 minutes, they don't know me I don't know them but it doesn't matter. I can see my pastor drive down the street he honks and stops and ask me about the kids. I can walk in the hospital and they ask me how is Grace. I can go to the store to buy ice cream and the lady calls me by name and knows exactly what flavor I want. I walk in church Sunday morning with 50 children and the women stand at the back and hug and kiss each child.

I met a lady on the plane the past summer. I am learning Spanish and she is learning English through her son as our translator we talked for 3 hours. After, the plane landed I had another flight to catch and she lived in that city so we exchanged emails and decided to keep in touch. Through out the summer we emailed stories back and forth. This time as I am traveling down she has invited me to stay 2 days with her family. I might be crazy she might be crazy but this is the love they have for each other.

All they have is family, all they have is friends, all they have is each other. So they put such a huge emphasis on relationships. They don't have gifts to give ... so they give time!

I think this is definitely something that we Americans could learn to do. I can go to walmart and see the same cashier and just say hey how are you? and nothing more.. but whats really going on in her life? I ride the transit with the same people every day... everyone has their i-pod in and is in their own little world. No one talks. I don't know their names their majors.

I have been going to a Hispanic church in Auburn and I LOVE it, the other night I was brought to tears when the people were talking about how alone they feel in Auburn. How Auburn is one of the top 10 cities to live in , its great for jobs, good neighborhoods, school systems. But this whole community of people feel alone. They are without their families, their friends, and American's do not reach out.

We love our families, our friends, but I pray we will  all start to reach out a little more to the people around us.

SO THIS CHRISTMAS I PRAY YOU GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME!!

November National Adoption Month

47 times orphans are mentioned in the Bible, clearly orphans are the LORD'S heart, He says, " I will not leave you as orphans"

There are 147 million orphans in the world. They are not just some abstract number, each one is a REAL CHILD, a beautiful child, needing love, needing a family.

A few months ago I listened to about 20 teenage girls give their testimonies, of how they grew up in orphanages where they were called by a number, not a name. They went to bed each night all snuggling up together for warmth because there was no heat, they all cried themselves to sleep at night. They watched their friends die daily. These girls were all adopted by a man who now runs a home for the girls when they are kicked out of the orphanage. These girls now call him Dad. One girl said she had no hope and then her dad came it was the first hug she had ever had, the first love she had ever been shown ( at 16 years old). She said that without her dad she would have never learned about her Heavenly Father. She now travels with her Dad and speaks to raise awareness for orphans.
These were not just orphans in a video or a book, they were real standing right in front of me. You could see the love they had for their dad, but even more than that the love they have for their Heavenly Father. It is amazing what a touch, a hug, a kind word, and love can change lives.


I hope that you become an advocate for orphans and prayerfully consider what your role in adoption is.

 

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act. Psalm 37:5

 PICTURES!!!!  I have been looking forward to this day since the day I came back to the states in August. Today was filled with all kind of emotions for me. I woke up excited. Checking to see if pictures were up every 10 minutes. I knew the volunteer from Honduras was home and I was so ready to see pictures of my baby. It was one of the happiest moments I have had in a while to be able to see pictures of Grace.It is a true miracle that a baby at 6 months old literally could not move and now at 10 months old  is sitting and standing in her crib! Seeing her grow and how big she is so exciting!! Only being able to watch her life for the past 3 months through pictures is really hard for me. But, I am extremely blessed to have amazing volunteers who email me updates and I will get to spend a month with her but still I am so ready to be there full time!

So as for being there full time...

God is so good!! To be honest I have been getting slightly frustrating saying "Lord I know this is something that you have called me to do but its not happening there's no way I can move" All donations are amazing ( don't get me wrong a dollar is more than I had) but I did not have enough to even buy a plane ticket yet.  Let me tell you, DO NOT ever underestimate the power of the Lord. He says oh you don't think I can make it happen watch this --- a donation to live for 6 months. 6 months literally. Not just me but Grace and up to 3 more children, rent , food, EVERYTHING. I was in shock and still am. This is the God I know the provider. This is the God I know who says step out in faith and I will make a way. This is the God I know who has the plans who has the answers, who just says to me be obedient.

Little by little progress is being made and I will continue to say I have no clue how all of this will work, I do not have all the answers, nor do I have all the money, Grace is the first Miskito adoption ( so no one knows how that works) BUT I serve a God who knows and I step out in FAITH and say Father lead me!!

For I know the plans I have for YOU!

Today I looked through some old pictures. These are of some mission trips that I took starting when I was 14 through last summer. It is so amazing to me to look back and see how the Lord was preparing me 7 years ago for this very time. You can see I always have been drawn to the children each country I have been too. And from the last picture you can tell I am always very sad when its time to come back to the states. Also, another crazy thing is that He put it inside of me to want to learn Spanish from about the same time. I remember I always loved Spanish class I had this like internal drive that wanted to learn Spanish so bad I even took classes at the college at night. 

I am so thankful that the Lord has (and still is) continued to work on me, and teach me more about Himself, and show me how He sees His Children, to get me to the point where I can go and don't have to leave after 2 weeks.  This just goes to show that His plans are SO much greater than our plans. I don't understand sometime the things that are going on now, but in 7 years I might be able to look back and to see what the Father has been planning right now. I have no clue what He is doing but I know that it is going to be something greater than anything I could ever imagine!! His plans are far beyond my own!!  I would have never guessed as a 14 year old that I would be adopting a baby before graduating college.That I would start a ministry. That right after graduating college I would move thousands of miles from my family and friends to one of the most remote places in Central America and take MORE orphans into my home. All I know is that I am very excited to see the "Future" He has planned for Root Ministry, for my family, and for the people La Moskitia. I continue to pray Father, Your will be done, Your Kingdom come!!