Life Unexpected

My Coach, April Diaz, and I and of course...Africa in the background! Over the course of my life I can point to certain chapters that I would consider to be “defining.”  They are times where I have seen my soul be awakened, challenged and changed.  They are moments that I couldn't have wished for or created on my own.  They are points in time that have been critical to shaping my heart.  The past 10 months have been one of those defining chapters. Last Fall I found myself feeling restless.  I was in the middle of my 10 th year at our church as Youth Pastor.  We had just brought home our son Biruk from Ethiopia after a 3 year journey of waiting.  I was in the middle of a maternity leave, attempting to figure out not only how to be a Mom, but how to be a “working mom” with a paid professional job.  I was struggling with so many fears in my personal life.  And honestly…I was struggling to feel valued and validated.  That October, I received an email that would change the cou

A few weeks ago I was listening to the radio, when all of a sudden the host began to talk about raising money for a clean water project in a third world country.  Having just returned from a trip to Mozambique, Africa, where a good portion of our time was spent looking at clean water projects, I was immediately intrigued.  The radio DJ began explaining that for just a few dollars a month, you could bring clean drinking water to a village in need.  He then began to "put it into perspective" to his listeners.  "Imagine this for a minute," he said.  "Imagine taking a cup of water, going outside, putting some dirt in the cup and mixing it around, and then, imagine serving that dirty water to your child.  Can you imagine what that would be like."  His co-worker gave her two cents for a few minutes, but their voices became faint as I found myself back in the middle of a remote village in Africa. I found myself wishing that the only problem with the water a