Our adventure of starting a family and the realization that God has much bigger plans...
Adoption Dinner Fundraiser...A Reminder!
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Just a reminder that our Adoption Fundraiser is taking place next Saturday, December 10th at 5pm. We don't want you to miss this! Click on the picture below for more details:)
When I was about five years into being a Youth Pastor, I met a group of kids that changed my life. Many of you reading this, who know me personally, have probably heard me talk about them numerous times. Nate and I happened to live in the parsonage next door to the church I was serving at at the time, and would routinely come home to a group of boys that I would have described then as "rough around the edges." They dressed mostly in black, had long hair, and sometimes even had black painted fingernails. They loved to smoke, and they loved to skateboard. After a few days of watching them through our window, Nate and I went outside and brought them some sodas. We introduced ourselves, told them I was the Youth Pastor at the church, and invited them to come to youth group. While they politely declined our invitation, we continued to invite them over and over again, attempted to skate with them, and fill them with snacks. Until one day, ...
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again. There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and...
When I was in Seminary, I went on my first Mission Trip to a third world country. I was just two years into my marriage, a young 23 years of age, and I had no idea how the experience would change me. My Dad happened to be taking a team from his church to the Dominican Republic and I needed a cross cultural experience for a class I was taking, so it seemed like a perfect match. That trip not only changed my life, but created this passion to serve in third world countries and was the launching pad for all the mission trips I would get to lead at the churches I was a youth pastor at. By the time I was I reached 40, I had taken 2 more trips to the Dominican Republic, a trip to Costa Rica, a trip to Guatemala, a trip to Africa, and of course 25+ trips to Honduras. There is something about being in a third world country that feels like home to me. I know that sounds strange, but I have often found myself saying, “I’m my best self here.” They are places that breathe fresh life into...
Comments
Post a Comment