I've been away for a while but trust me, I've been very busy on a very worthwhile project! Before I explain what's going on, let me set the scene...
Imagine being at an amusement park, wanting to get on this big terrifying roller coaster. You're nervous and afraid, hoping that someone else will show up and go with you. I mean, this roller coaster is big! Bigger than any you've ever ridden, and it promises a ride like none other. It's intimidating and it feels like it's sitting there just laughing at you.... "Go ahead and get on, I dare ya!" But oh, how you want to get on and ride... how you wish you could be brave enough to conquer the ride. Perhaps even, you've gotten in line to ride and chickened out... defeated by the enormous unknown.
Finally, Someone comes along and takes your hand, promising to go with you. Encouraging you, telling you "You can do this! You can do this! I will help you!" So you determine you can do it with someone holding your hand. You get in line, still nervous by the way! You wait until your turn comes up to get on, STILL nervous! Whew this is going to take courage! Then it's your turn... you timidly put one foot inside the ride... not bad. Then you take the first step to get on the ride... AND THE THING TAKES OFF!!!!! You're trying to get set down, strap in, hold on... all that stuff, but the ride isn't waiting! It promised you one thrill after another and the Person holding your hand it saying "YIPPEE!!!! TRUST ME!!!! IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT!!!!
That is what the last week of my life has been like! I've wanted to do an outreach to churches and bring awareness to National Adoption Month. I want to get churches involved in taking care of orphans. But the task seemed too big, and daunting, and overwhelming...
My friend
Renea, (Renea who took the lovely photo's of Jia!) has a great desire to adopt. She went on a mission trip to Haiti this summer and I believe she left a piece of her heart there as well. She had a desire to hold an open house where community members can come and learn about all areas of adoption. So we've put our two desires together and have been emailing back and forth for a couple of weeks now. We had made plans to meet today and get together a plan.
Earlier this week, my friend
Melinda sent me this email regarding November being National Adoption Month... "Anyway, this may sound ridiculous, but lately I've felt like I need to do something, but I haven't quite figured out what it is yet. " Hmmmm.... coincidence? I think not. So now we have Melinda, Renea and myself and I'm quoting the scripture in Ecclesiastes about a strand of 3 is not easily broken!
So lunch today was amazing! So many thoughts were shared and ideas passed around that Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry was born!
Before leaving work, I had someone call the office asking to speak with "Jia's mom"! It was someone wanting to ask questions about adoption!
The ideas flowing at lunch truly proved God was involved. So many things we're excited about!
We are having an Open House for our community November 8th, National Orphan Sunday, and we were able to reserve the location for that today.
Renea had an appointment with a lady today to go through photo's and they never got to it! Renea had shared with her where she had been all afternoon and the lady is a member of our local quilting bee. She thought their group would be willing to make a quilt to raffle off for money at our open house!
Then Renea called the radio station to ask about advertising costs. They were so intrigued and impressed with our vision they said they would advertise anything we need for FREE! Then they asked Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry to be their guests on Open Line October 26th to talk about our ministry!
We've contacted the lady in charge of the Ministerial Alliance in our community to see if we can be added to their agenda for the October meeting as well. That way we can share our vision with many different Pastors at once and share our vision!
We literally just today got started on this and God had it all worked out! It's all falling into place and I feel like we haven't done anything... other than be obedient... and get on the ride!
Here's how Renea put it..."So it goes.... we've started that movement Joy!!! And so far it feels like a snowball headed downhill! God nudged us all in the same direction, now I feal like he set us all on this same sled and said hang on girls!! This is going to be fun! I can't feel anything but positive knowing we are doing what He asks of us. "
I'll keep sharing as things evolve, but please keep us all in your prayers!
Since Renea is the local photographer... she happened to have her camera along! We got a photo of the 3 founders at our very first meeting!
By the way, check out Renea and Melinda's blogs by clicking on their names in my post!
