And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming!

I do not think I will be blogging daily, but will definitely be blogging more often. Sadly, I was sick last week and spent a lot of my days becoming intimately acquainted with the new (to me) loveseat in my room. But, I am back.

As far as some direction (now remember a couple posts back about God only giving us one step at a time?), I got a teeny little piece of direction today. I was talking to a friend at church explaining a little of what I had been feeling about wanting to do more. She had also been through Grace Adventure, which is a two month long workshop I am starting this week. She told me that when we begin this workshop we will be asked not to make any life-changing decisions until we complete the program. So there is my Step One--I am to go to Grace Adventure, but not make any life changing decisions at this moment in time. Pretty simple, huh? Well, God's directions are not always complicated...although I do hear that this workshop is very challenging spiritually, so it is not going to be easy. So please pray for me during the next two months, but in particular the next two weeks as I will be doing a good part of the training then. A few of the friends who have previously gone through have told me that their lives fell apart just prior to going. One friend got extremely sick while there. Well, my life has not fallen apart, but I was sick last week--extremely sick Wednesday. For one thing, people's lives have changed dramatically as a result of this conference, so the devil does not want that to happen so he tries to use whatever he can to try and keep people away and to discourage him from going. However, even when people experience challenge just prior to going, the Lord uses that to bring them to the place spiritually where they will best benefit from this experience.

So yes, I am very nervous about going, but also starting to get excited about what the Lord is going to do in my life! Part of the conference will be learning more about how the Lord has made me--and the unique heart that He has given me--something important to know before making important life-changing decisions! Well, I do already know some things about the heart that God has given me--I have a heart for orphans, adoption, and children with special needs. However, I can always stand to learn more about how the Lord has gifted and motivated my heart. In the meantime though, I can continue to live from that heart right now while praying and waiting on the Lord to reveal His further direction.

I am excited to be spending tomorrow through Wednesday at my college's missions conference--getting to meet and visit with missionaries and maybe discover some potential future places to serve! However, I will not be committing to any ministries at this time...but it never hurts to look into possible future options...and meet other people who share my passion for missions!

I was also talking with a close friend tonight about what the Lord is doing. I realized that while the Lord is not leading me to make any decisions until the end of March or later, as far as what country/ministry I am to serve with long-term, there are reasons why He causes us to be uncomfortable with the idea that other people are suffering and I am sitting here doing nothing. Some of it in my case was to motivate me to use my time wisely. There are things that I can be doing to get the most out of this time of waiting and spiritual growth. I can clean and organize my room and go through the things that I am not using at the moment--I cannot take it all with me overseas and have to go through it sometime. Why not while I am between jobs and have extra time to do so? Then when God does move me, I will be ready--and sometimes He does not move us until we take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves. Spending some time reading God's Word is also very useful as I cannot expect Him to direct if I am not spending time with Him. No, I have not done so well at the Bible-reading plan--I still intend to read through the Bible this year--but I think I was attempting too much at once--especially when I will be gone for so many days out of this month and the next one--so definitely read my Bible daily--but not 15 chapters or so every day.

Speaking of which, I need to get off this computer. So what will I be doing now to help me move towards God's plan for living my life to the fullest?
~ Have a short quiet time
~ Locate the contents of the package that I need to mail to my son in Ethiopia tomorrow. He is finally getting a Bible! I am so excited for him!
~ Go to bed in the next 30 minutes or sooner so that I can wake up in a reasonable hour and have possibly a little time to straighten my room before I leave.

So there I have it--little steps--but necessary ones. Spend time with the Lord. Continue to live out my heart for orphans and adoption-starting with the boy who calls me "Mom". Get some rest. Get organized.

Day One of Project LIFE: My newest blog!

Day one of my living life to the fullest and fulfilling God's plan for my life to help to rescue orphans so that they can LIVE!

My new blog is up and running! Click HERE to meet Amanda, Anna, Kathleen, Nana, and Sargent! If you feel so led, please donate to their adoption grants. Anna and Sargent especially could use some money in their funds. Amanda, Kathleen, and Nana were on the Angel Tree this year, and have at least $1000 apiece in their funds. However, Anna's grant is empty and Sargent only has $5 in his. Many families would love to adopt a child, but international adoption is expensive--$20-$30,000. While many people can afford the cost of clothing and feeding one more baby, most do not have such a huge chunk of money at their disposal. Therefore, large grants are important to helping these children to find their families.

What happens is that a family will commit to a child through RR. The money in the child's fund becomes available to them at the time they travel--which is a huge part of the $20-$30,000. Would it not be amazing to have a huge sum of money in each of these five children's funds so that all the adopting family has to do is go through the homestudy and dossier process, receive a travel date, and just hop on a plane and go get their child--and not have to worry about all the travel expenses?

There are a few other ways you can help make this happen for these children. If you feel so led to advocate about any of these five, I would love to hear from you as well. I would also love to feature guest bloggers over on my new blog who have adopted from Reece's Rainbow--particularly families parenting a child with CP, FAS, or Down Syndrome--although if you have adopted any child with special needs--I would love to feature your story on how adoption has changed your life and the life of your child!

Join me--and help give LIFE to a child who needs a forever family!

Uncomfortable

Is God able to use me to accomplish His purposes? This is one of the most important questions I can ask myself. I know now that the calling He has placed on my life is to rescue the children--but what exactly is that going to look like?

Last week I was relaxing on the loveseat in my room reading blogs and I became distracted with discomfort. I know I am called to go overseas and work with orphans...but I am not doing that at the moment. The same day, I was reading a devotional on the "Boss Your Heart" Bible challenge that I am attempting this year. The devotional was about taking one step at a time. I realized God is probably not going to tell me to get on an airplane tomorrow, go to such-and-such a foreign country (or maybe a children's ministry in the US) and work with the children. Often He gives us one step at a time and we do not get the entire picture at once.

I just have a tremendous desire to get right in and start working with those children that I am called to--the orphans--but know that God is taking me through a time of preparation for that--and if I miss this step--I will be less effective. I am also realizing that there are things that I can do right now to help to rescue the children--it may not involve legally adopting one right now--but I can advocate, pray, and do what the Lord is calling me to do now.

Now for a little secret--one year ago I became "Mom" to a 10 year old Ethiopian boy. I have not legally adopted him yet--and I do not know what the Lord is going to do with this yet. For now, I Skype with him when I am able to and send over little gifts and love and pray for him. I am hoping that I can visit this year--but am praying for direction. This is all that I am comfortable sharing on this blog--but if you would like to know the rest of the story thus far--leave me your email (and tell me a little about yourself and how you found my blog) and I will send you a link to my Ethiopia blog.

I am also wanting to do more to advocate for the children listed on Reece's Rainbow. I will continue to post here and on Anastasiya's blog. I also have a new blog in progress where I will advocate for 5 other kids. I am a prayer warrior for two "Other Angels" on RR--Sargent and Anna. Sargent has Cerebral Palsy and Anna has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I also sponsored three little girls who all have Down Syndrome as part of the Angel Tree--Kathleen, Amanda, and Nana. All five of these precious children need families. I will post a link on my sidebar as well as a grab button when I get that page up and running. It is up--but no posts and I my site header needs help.

Please excuse my ramblings...as I attempt to get some thoughts out in the open. I also had two New Year's Resolutions. The first was to read through the Bible. I was going to do the 90 day challenge--but fell behind. I am also about to start an intensive workshop called Grace Adventure (something that the Lord is calling me to do that will get my heart in the right place to better serve Him) and will not have enough free time every day to read 10-15 sections of the Bible each day. Therefore, I am going to try and do it in four months instead of three. YouVersion--the program I am using has a catch-up feature, where if I miss too many days, it adjusts the start and end date of the plan.

My second resolution was to do "Project Life" where you take a photo each day and document it. That pretty much failed. However, I am going to do my own kind of "LIFE" project. I know what the Lord is calling me to do--rescue the children--but what am I doing to get from where I am now, to my ultimate goal of starting a children's home overseas. Also, what am I doing right now to help rescue the children who need rescuing right this minute? I am going to journal these things--and how the Lord is helping me to live "LIFE" to the fullest and to bring "LIFE" to those who are perishing, whether physically and spiritually.

Yes, it is a good wake-up call to feel uncomfortable living my life and wasting my time while there are people dying around the world...but God does not expect me to save the world...Jesus already came to do that...nor does He expect me to do it all on my own...but He does expect me to play a part in rescuing the children. My job is to find out what I am supposed to do this day, and to do that...and to leave the results to God.

Finally, I want to share on the power of prayer. I started praying for some of the children on RR--that the Lord would give them families--and not just any families--born again Christian families. The Lord answered that prayer for three little ones and I am praying for the same for the five that will be the subject of my newest blog.

So, please join me on this blog, and on the others, as I pursue LIFE to the fullest, and take the steps that God is calling me to do.