Mother's Day

    Happy Mother's Day all you mommies. This morning during time with the Lord I thought what if this mother's day is the last time I was without a child. As tears filled my eyes, I brought it before the Lord. Lord could this be the last year I'm barren? And my flesh screamed....PLEASE!!!
    I realize the hurdles ahead of me and that a time frame of a year is very unlikely. I also realize the Lord has placed this desire in my heart. When he wants to move he will move. A lot of times it is swift.
    My church back in the states has begun studying 1 Samuel. It is the story of Hannah and her walk in a bitter than redemptive story of barrenness. I love in verse 13 the bible says "Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard." The Lord loves to hear our heart. Hannah speaks a vow to the Lord and the Lord gives Hannah a son named Samuel.
    I have a friend that was barren for 10 years and now she has 2 sons. Another friend was barren for 7 years and now has 2 girls. Yet another friend of mine is currently without child and is painstakingly praying for the Lord to bless her with a child. This is a terrible and difficult season of life for a lot of women.
   As I think of my situation and my prayers, my petition before the Lord is a lot of things. First of all scripture is clear about taking care of the orphan.
Deuteronomy 10:18, “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.”

Psalm 10:14, “But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand.  The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.”

Matthew 18:5, “Whoever receives a child in My name, receives Me.”

Matthew 25: 45, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me.” 

James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

 Deuteronomy 14:28-30, “The Levite (priest), because he has not portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

  Deuteronomy 26:12-14, “You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.”

    The bible has a lot to say about caring for the orphan. One over arching theme is to take care of their daily needs. I believe the call is deeper than feeding and clothing the fatherless. Logically, biblically, and even research supports that meeting a child's daily needs isn't enough.  

    Hannah's vow to God points to the missing element of a lot of orphan care. Disciplining children is the real deal. Hannah gave her son Samuel over to the church to be discipled. Fatherless children need that same opportunity. They need a family not an orphanage to have a parent's attention to be brought up in the way of the Lord. 

    Lord continue to make a way for those of us you have called to adopt.  Help us to raise your sons and daughters  into God fearing adults.

  

What's going on?

I have to say I enjoy all of my jobs here. The Lord has gifted me in just the right ways to be able to serve his children. I haven't updated you on my jobs here since my kids from U.A.E left. First of all I should mention that I have moved into an all girls home. I am living with some of the campuses finest. We have12 girls ages 7-18, our orphanage secretary, a teacher from our school on campus, the house parents, and their two children living in the house. I have truly enjoyed living in this house for a number of reasons but lately our one bathroom hasn't been starting off my morning right. :)  I have been praying to get over this issue.
As for jobs, I have been given a lot of responsibility and a bit of decision power that honestly shocks me. I have earned the higher-ups on campus' trust so I'm able to talk about change that doesn't fall on deaf ears. Praise him! My biggest responsibility is taking care of the long term missionaries and the short term missionaries. You Americans eat up a lot of my time....Good thing I love you guys. I handle everything from helping long term missionaries renew their passports, to solving conflicts between Guatemalan staff and missionaries, to being a tour guide during a trip to Antigua. I can't say enough about how much I enjoy this part of my life.
Probably the coolest job I have is homeschooling one of our middle school kids. She wasn't succeeding in the school on campus so the houseparents and us asked to home-school her. The board, director, and principal agreed, so I am now her stay-at-home teacher. This has been a very rewarding experience and a great way to practice Spanish. Here grades have greatly improved.  Woohoo!
There are other little jobs, conflicts, and stuff always happening, but these are the big changes that I forgot to tell you.