Thiele's Tidbits

Unimaginable...

2012-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

In late January, we emailed Experito to notify him that funds were available to build the teacher's home that houses the teacher for the school in Kochgoma. The temporary structure that had been built previously was destroyed in a storm.

The community wanted to build a permanent structure for the teacher. We discussed the typical local home (mud hut), but those who are educated enough to teach would generally have a different expectation for housing. Therefore the one teacher who had been willing to teach in Kochgoma was living in Gulu and making a horrendously long and difficult daily commute into Kochgoma (think huge mud mogles for 60 to 90 minutes each way on a motorbike).

The Koch Goma community began by donating bricks (which they made) to build the new structure.

When we learned they were hand-carrying all the bricks from their community to the school site, we were able to send money in May of 2011 to assist with transportation. Still money was needed for items such as iron sheets (for roofing), nails, cement and some skilled labor.

Below is Experito's always-spirited response to learning of the good news that the school teacher's home can now be built.

Waaaaooohhhh......Waaaoooohhhh....Waaaooooohhhhhh
This is incredible. It is unimaginable. I am at loss for words.I can
believe in the kingdom of God there is enough for every need except
greed.

I had not been on the internet to see your email, because we had traveled to Kitgum. It is

a district north of Gulu, on the border of Sudan.There has been an outbreak of NODDING DISEASE, (a fatal, mentally and physically disabling disease that only affects young children typically between the ages of 5 and 15).

It made people abandon each other in order to avoid the disease. We risked our lives to take some food to some of the suffering families.There was joy to some of these families which we ministered to. Some of them had gone for days without food neither medical help in near reach for them.We discovered there some kids who had passed well to go secondary school.Some of these kids their hopes for further studies had been shattered because their relatives and parents are now helpless.

We picked Daniel one of those kids who had passed well. Our congregation has bought scholastic materials for him as well as a mattress to go to boarding school. We are yet to raise tuition for him to cerebrate joy in school. Justine had gone to Kochgoma with Carissa to make arrangements for

the start of the new term.The teacher of the school in Koch Goma had expressed pain traveling daily long distances to the school. He had opted to halt the services. God has demonstrated a miracle. When all was immovable, God moved.We cannot say enough thank you for your concerted efforts to make Kochgoma a place of praise for God.Thanks to Drea as director for the new breath of energy which is bearing unexpected precious fruits. Our momentum has taken unimaginable levels. Next week it will be work on the staff house .We salute Pastor Steve for his love for us and courageously became a voice for the voiceless.

Hugs and Love to all,

Experito

Glorious...

2011-12-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Before watching video, make sure to scroll down and turn off the playlist.

So this is the first time we have wanted to go on a trip of this sort and didn't raise A DIME!! We have always raised all the funds we have needed, even if just of in the nick of time. However this time we didn't. We sent letters and all the stuff we normally do, but nothing. We bought our tickets through a friends ministry with the idea that we would raise the money and reimburse her. However we didn't. I was totally stressed cuz we had never done that before either. We always raise the money buy our tickets, not the other way around. While I was in Spain, God was doing amazing things, my friend emailed me to tell me that the tickets were covered, they had a big donation. But we still needed the money to cover our stay in India. Ha!!! We didn't have a dime. We don't make hardly any money here in the states, I don't know how we survive, seriously, not with 9 kids. It is only God.

So we kept on going, praying that God would supply. about a week before our leaving I was crying out to God (stressed) about this trip. I wanted to be able to give our team the heads up that we wouldn't be able to go. We needed $1000 and had NOTHING. I had really been meditating on the name of God, "Jehovah Jireh" God my Provider. I don't really resonate with that name, and always struggle in this area. I asked God Sunday morning at about 6 am to please forgive me for stressing and if he wanted to provide, that would be great, we were going to spread His Gospel. However, if he would, would He do it Today! so that we could tell our team if we were going to be going with them or not.

At about 9am Bryan texted me from Church that someone had donated $1000 for our trip. Which is miraculous because we are new there and people don't know us. I know in India they experience things like this all the time (we do too really) but this time it was so much more. When we got to the conference there was a pastor who gave testimony. He said he didn't want to come. God told him to come to the conference and he decided not to. Then the Lord told him again to go. He didn't have a dime to get there, but he obeyed. He went to the bus station without any money and waited. This lady came to him and told him that the Lord told her to give him money for a bus ticket!!! He came to the conference, we met him!!! He didn't even have money to get home! He said that the teaching was such a blessing, God knew that he needed to be there!

Here we were, tickets paid for, and doubting if we should come cuz we didn't have the $1000 for the hotel and food in India. Dumb! This man was BEYOND blessed for what he learned at the conference and had we not obeyed and gone to India, canceled our trip, he would have not been blessed with the teaching and we would have never been blessed with his testimony. However, in India people struggle for so much more. He went with nothing trusting God would provide. Lesson learned (or so I think, I am really just like the Israelites) we had EVERYTHING we needed to get there and didn't trust!!!

India is deep in my. It has been amazing to see my hubby so deeply touched by this too. We can to bless others and got back far more blessing than we gave out. My mind is still overwhelmed by the time there, and I didn’t even really know what to blog. I don't know how I could explain India. It is nothing like the places I have been in Africa. A whole new world that is for sure. The sights, sounds, head bobbling, smells, tastes (all of which I enjoyed a lot, didn't loose a pound) but not too many words to describe, except Glorious. Isaiah says; His Glory fills the whole earth. It seems hard to believe in a place so dark that His glory still fills the whole earth, even the cracks and crevasses in India. However, I saw Jesus, in the faces of lost people. I saw Him lying on the sidewalk, sweeping trash, wading in knee high water and sewage, cooking on a little cart on the side of the road. I saw Jesus usher our bags in at the hotel, drive us to our destinations, preach on a Sunday, I saw him in the face of a little boy holding tight onto a motor bike full of other passengers. I saw Him most every where I looked, sometimes He was recognizable like in the face of our new family in India, sometime He was passed by like the poor old grandma begging on the street corner, BUT He was there!!!! Praise the Lord!

The Ultimate Experience...

2011-10-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Recently my three oldest daughters and I planned to go to a dinner theater. Not the kind with a stage play, the AMC kind of theater where they serve dinner, a new experience, the ultimate experience!

The theater was doing soft runs before their grand opening night, we were their guests. My daughter got us four free tickets off line for an entrée and a movie ticket. We were so excited! We felt like royalty when we walked through the door on the red carpet, the place was lined with employees just waiting to serve us. We went to guest relations, where we chose our seats and were handed a meal voucher. When we turned around to find out where we order our food, there was a fully stocked bar. Exciting to most maybe, startling to me.

The waitress came to order our soft drinks and let me know that we could order food inside while we watch the movie. Now, let me clarify, I am not talking about your run of the mill hot dog, warmed on a spinning rack, or popcorn drenched with artificial butter. I am talking signature items, Chicken Alfredo, Bleu Cheese Wedge Salad, shrimp or gourmet pizza. Once inside the theater we were greeted by an attendant and seated in large, red leather chairs, most of which reclined. The waiter was only a few paces away from the hostess, and was ready to take our orders on his wireless computer pad and send off directly to the kitchen.

Our server explained the call light located on the left of my table was to call him incase we needed anything. He explained that we could upgrade our seats next time to the suite, with fully reclining seats complete with a hot clothe for our faces once the movie was finished. Our food was served in a flash and we settled in, cozyed up, ate and drank in the lap of luxury while watching our movie.

Fancy call light

Meske, Cailee, Me and Coral

Coral and Meske

Me and Cailee

I am not going to lie, it was the ultimate experience! We were a part of the it and it was going to be fun! But it got me thinking. I started to think on what kind of lies we have bought i

nto as a culture. What is worse, what kind of lies have we bought into as Christians? In a world that says, we should indulge, “we deserve it,” or that, “money is no object,” or “everyone needs to have a little fun,” I began to wonder where we have been deceived.

Colossians 2:8 says; See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. This scripture is the essence of the lie that we, as believers, have fallen prey to, deceptive philosophy. Philosophy defined means: credo, beliefs, convictions, ideology, ideas, thinking, notions, theories. It left me begging the question, “What do we as believers believe?”

Do we really believe Matthew 6:19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I wondered, what if? What if we did actually believe that our treasure was in heaven, would we then be so self-indulgent, and callous to the ways of the world? If we truly believed the word of God cautions us against being taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy of this world, then would we be cautious?

“We have prioritized our comforts over the needs of the world around us, and we need to repent.” - Dr. David Platt. The population of India is over 3.5 billion people. Of that number over 88% do not know, or have never even heard of the name of Jesus! In the United States there is one trained Christian Pastor for every 250 people. In the rest of the world, there is one trained Christian Pastor for ever 450,000 people.

We have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to India, to help train, encourage and equip Pastors and leaders so that they can more effectively reach and disciple their people for Christ!

William Burns, a 1800 century missionary to China, said; “I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard.” This my friends is true conviction true belief. This is “The Ultimate Experience”!

2011-06-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Faith! The word is common among the Christian community. We hear about it in our churches, talk about it among friends and small groups, and pray for it in our quiet time with Jesus. It is something that is easily found, but not easily held on to, or so we think.

I was recently in Illinois visiting some friends, when the Lord used something so simple to teach me something so profound. I thought I would share it with you.

Most of us are familiar with the scripture of the mustard seed. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus is speaking to His disciples answering their questions as to "why they couldn't drive out the demon?" Jesus answers with this; "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here, to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

All my life I grew up thinking about that little mustard seed and what could be accomplished with such small faith, which meant, at times, mine was even smaller that that tiny little seed. While this scripture is true, I would like to share with you what I learned about that little seed and why these words from Jesus meant so much to the disciples he was talking to. This is a broader picture.

The mustard plant is a weed.

Weed

- noun [weed]

1. A valueless plant, growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury to the desired crop.

2. An undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted.

While faith is not valueless, or undesirable, the picture Christ may be painting for us is something that should be desirable by all. Below is a picture of one type of a mustard plant.

When driving through Illinois, I noticed this beautiful flower. I was admiring the beautiful farm land and cute little farm houses and of course this beautiful flower. Because we were among farms, I naturally thought this was something that was being harvested. My friend who I was driving with told me it was a weed. "A weed?" I said, " It is too beautiful to be a weed!" "It is unwanted by the farmers," he said, "But they can't stop it. It is wild mustard plant."

Every year the farmers plant their crops and then harvest them. In the winter the land freezes over. Come spring, everything begins to bloom, including the mustard weed. No matter what the farmer does, there is no getting rid of this undesirable weed. They don't harvest it, and what is more, they don't even plant it. By the time weed blooms, the farmer is just getting ready to plant the thawed field. By the time the farmer is ready to plant the field the, the beautiful mustard weed has already gone to seed.

Once the tiny little seed has fallen to the ground, the farmer is ready to plant his own crop. He sprays the little yellow plants with weed killer and begins to sow his beloved crop. Soon the plant dies, but it is only gone for a season. Because safely nestled into the fertile soil lies the seed that will sprout yet another plant next spring. With that small mustard seed, that has been sown, the plant spreads and insures it's existence for yet another year.

I believe we can learn a lot from this delicate plant and it's tiny, minuscule seed. When we sow one seed of faith, when we do as Jesus said and believe Him, that faith, that is the size of a mustard seed, breeds more and more faith. Until what was once only one small seed....

Becomes....Field's of Faith!

Again, He said, "What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable should we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches, that the birds can perch in it's shade." Mark 4:30

I'm Sorry...

2011-03-21T10:11:00.001-07:00

Setting the Stage:

Most of you know I have a lot of kids. All with different personalities and different bents. Some have given me "well earned" gray hair, and some are not even a challenge. They are all beautiful inside and out.

Today I just want to share something that tickled me about my oldest biological daughter Coral. Being the oldest girl should tell you something about her personality. She is a strong, influencing, leader. She knows what she wants and is determined, and enduring. She love Jesus, more than any young girl I have ever known. She has a wonderful servants heart, and whats more, the Lord has a plan for this girls life and she is on the journey of finding out what it is!

I home school all of my kids (yes, I do ask myself "why" from time to time). I am not the best teacher, but we make it work and by God's grace, all my kids read and write and are pretty bright. I use different curriculum to make this school thing fit the different needs of my kids.

Last year I used an online program to school some of our kids while we adjusted to our new additions. It gave me some extra time in the day to work with the ones who needed me more. However this seemed to be a big mistake. The program that I used had underlining messages of, no absolute truth, and there is no real God.

As you may have guessed, this didn't settle well with me. It was fine for my Coral because she seems to be well grounded, but not for some of my other kids who are just learning their identity in Christ. And even though Coral would survive, I would rather have her learning solid Christian values rather than worldly ones at her age.

Ok...the story. This made Coral upset. She wanted to graduate early on the online program, and I was throwing off her groove. She didn't want to return to curriculum "A" because she thought it was not challenging enough and said it was a waste of her time. I decided she would not continue on the online program, so I would mix it up. I didn't return to curriculum "A" but found other programs that would fit. We battled on this one and she ended up hurting my feelings trying to prove her point.We worked it out all then and she apologized.

A year later, (a few months ago) Coral decided, she disliked the new curriculum's I used in place of the online program, and really wanted what she had...curriculum "A"! As you can imagine I laughed at the thought. She proceeded to tell me how wrong she was, and how she just didn't get it then and now she does. "Please mom, please let me use curriculum "A" you were right I was wrong. I will get a better education with this and be able to stay on track!"

So...I got a bright idea. "Coral," I said. "I will switch you back to "A" IF you write me apology letter, and I will post it for the world to see!"

Well, I told you she was determined, she did just that. So here it is world!!! Take notes...this is what it looks like when a 15 year old apologizes publicly to her mother! (I have typed it just as written minus mentioning the name of the curriculum).

Dear Mom,
I must admit I've been stubborn, annoying, and all around awful. I have put you through some hardships. As I think about my heart then, it was evil and impure. It makes me truly depressed. I count the grey hairs I helped produce and feel sorry.

As I write this essay, I feel stupid for what I have said. I feel the need to mention, I love you. Now that I have been put into a less school challenging curriculum, I feel the need to go back to the curriculum, I "claimed" to hate. I understand that you make the right choices and curriculum "A" was clearly the right choice.

To put this paper to an end, I would like you to know you are the smartest mom I know, besides Carol Denny, since you ask her for advice. But still, I think curriculum"A" is the smartest choice yet! Thank you for still loving me.

Love,
Coral

Now, I know what you all may be thinking, "You are so lucky to have a daughter who understands her mother and finally gets it." or "I wish my daughter would write a letter like this one!" I want to encourage you all, you too can have a letter writing daughter...it just takes the right touch and a little bribery, and I am not above that at all. With perseverance and a little grey hair, you too can have your very own apology writing child. But remember there is always someone smarter than you!

My Coral

Parasites, Scabies and More...

2011-02-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

What do parasites, scabies, malaria and an unreached people group have in common?

I just returned from Uganda, Africa where the Lord used disease to bring Himself Glory. The Karamojong Tribe in Northern Uganda are an unreached people group. They are a nomadic people who pillage and steal cattle from the other tribes in Uganda. They are frowned upon among the people because of the havoc they reek in villages. Most Karamojong are not welcomed among any of the people in the market, and churches. They also can't get jobs and are just tolerated at best.

The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

This trip to Africa was like all others. Hard work and planning was the prelude before the actual travel. We needed to fundraise, send letters, and organize garage sales. Originally Bryan and I both planned to go on the trip. We would visit our missionaries in Uganda, cross the border to Kenya and spend time with Pastor Cyrus and the kids at the orphanage. We worked hard to earned money, and had several donations but we just didn't bring in enough for us both to go. We needed to make a decision, put off the trip again, or go with what the Lord had provided thus far. We had prayed for the Lord to show us and he opened the door for just me to travel and that is just what I did.

Once in Uganda, almost a day later than planned, I was greeted at the airport by my dear friend Tonya. We had big plans for my stay, sick babies, visiting ministries, vision casting, and travel to Kenya. We arrived at her house at 5am and slept for a couple of hours and when we woke, Tonya was sick with a fever. I spent the day at a program down the street that cares for sick and dying kids, (pictures to follow).

Day two in Jinja, Uganda started off well and ended bad. Some how I picked up a mean parasite and well you probably know what that means but I'll tell you anyway, vomiting and diarrhea. I pretty much would have rather die, but that wasn't going to happen. It was just miserable enough to beg for mercy and lay in bed and not move. By day four I had recovered and was ready for the mission field, or so I thought. Day 4 also was the start of high fever for Tonya's son, who tested negative for malaria shortly there after.

In the back house lived Aunt Sara and Mama Maria. Maria is Karamojong. She has three children living with her, Phillip, Angela and Longoli. If you follow my blog you may recognize the names of the children (if you want a quick background click here to read the story). Phillip and Angela were Tonya's foster children. Tonya had been caring for Phillip and Angela for a few months while searching for their mother. Maria had been separated from her children for about a year previous to Tonya meeting them. Once Tonya had the children in her custody, and Maria found her children, Tonya starting to form a bond with Maria and helped Maria to form a bond with her children.

Tonya then invited Maria to live with her to make the transition for the kids from Tonya to Maria easier on the children. When I arrived Maria was very welcoming and I was immediately drawn to her. She sat on a mat in the side yard listening to the Proclaimer (a New Testament reading of the scripture in her language).

In between being sick and laying low, I would venture out back with Maria to talk, the best I knew how, using sign language and common threads between women. I invited myself to sit on her mat and hold her precious 2 month old baby girl and she willingly and joyfully excepted.

About day five, we started to make our plans for our big travel to Kenya to visit Pastor Cyrus and his wife Eucbeth. Our ministry has adopted Pastor Cyrus' orphanage and I try to make regular trips out there to see the kids. Day five was also the day Tonya and I started itching! Some time in the morning Tonya was telling me of the bites on her body that she had been complaining about for a couple of weeks. I began to see some bites on me too, but figured that it was Africa, so what else would I expect.

While sitting on the couch one night I saw these tiny, tiny, bugs crawling on me and assumed they were hatching spiders. So I remedied that situation, I got off the couch! If you know me, you know I HATE bugs of ANY kind. Day six, Tonya is really itching and can feel things crawling on her and I can feel things crawling on me, more little spiders! I proceed to pick these buggers off of her neck like a monkey would groom her baby and she did the same. Gross I know, but necessary for the story! So we groomed ourselves and sometimes each other, as needed. After a while we decided to put the bugs in a ziplock bag, and head for Al Shaffa clinic for a twofer, diagnosis of bugs and a malaria smear for Tonya's son who still had a high fever.

The Doctor informed us that we were infested with scabies, a microscopic bug that burrows under your skin and lays eggs (look it up if you don't know), and another negative malaria test. The remedy for the bugs was to treat ourselves with a "poison" lotion, literally, and boil all of our clothes and linen. Easy for people in America, but hard and time consuming for people in Africa. We did what we had to and bought 15 bottles of "poison" and treated the whole compound and ourselves.

Now at this point there are far more stories to tell about wood eating bugs in my bed, toads in my bathroom and the sort, but I will spare you the details in order to keep this from turning into a novel (dangerously approaching one already, I know). But lets suffice to say that the devil was on the hunt to destroy every ounce of hope and every opportunity to share the Gospel with anyone outside of our compound. BUT God determined our steps.

At some point, as I am sure you would understand, I began to get discouraged. I kept asking God why had he brought me halfway around the world to get all of these sicknesses. I could have been sick at home. My personality is such that I began to feel bad for the people who poured themselves and their finances into this trip. Nothing but sick was happening. I couldn't even go love on sick babies in fear I would make them more sick! I kept being reminded that God knew every part of this story already and I had to trust in that, but my plans to travel to Kenya were slowly fading, especially when I found out that Cyrus had contracted a bad case of malaria.

We spent many days at home with Maria. I had brought Maria some gifts from home and we spent time laughing together, clapping at new outfits she would try on and model for us and holding and loving on her babies. One gift in particular struck me. Someone had donated a Bible coloring book. The color book was for kids, with pages from Genesis to Revelation. It was used and some of the pages were colored in, but it was new to them! I had gifted it to Phillip, but Maria was the one who was captivated by it. Then it dawned on me, of course she was her tribe was mostly illiterate! This appealed to Maria because it was story made from pictures!

She began to point at the pictures, loving calling us Mommy, and saying the charters in the story by name. "Mommy, Abraham! Mommy, Jesus! Mommy, Moses!" She knew each one, it was astonishing. Then in her own tongue she would sing! The songs were unfamiliar, but ministered to my soul. I could pick out words like Jesus or Abraham. She new it all. "Mommy, Angel!, Mommy", pointing to the Cross. The words that I once couldn't understand came to light.

Someone had gotten to Maria, long before Tonya or I came along. Someone had told her about Jesus. Her understanding my not have been focused, but it was a start. What joy it was to see her sad eyes come to life, a tool of communication in a kids coloring book. At times we would look out the window to see what she was doing and we could see the color book next to her on the mat and Maria there flipping the pages.

The days went by and our Kenya window closed. I wouldn't be able to visit the kids I so much in Kisii. I kept asking God to make clear for me the reason for all of this illness and the steps he determined for me. Our scabies were gone, Tonya's son received treatment for malaria (even thought he tested negative) and we were all feeling better. Only 48 hours before our return to the states and Pastor Cyrus called and said he was taking a bus to come and see us! Praise the Lord!

Cyrus arrived what a reunion, and with Cyrus we had a perfect translator. Maria had her own tribal language and spoke Swahili, Cyrus' native tongue. He was able to tell her all that Tonya and I wanted to say. We talked about Jesus and how he loved her. We talked about the kids how she would care for herself once we were gone. Tonya had been thinking how wonderful it would be if somehow Maria would be able to go with Cyrus back to his compound and live with them. She asked Cyrus what he thought and he loved the idea.

Cyrus asked Maria if she would come and live at the orphanage with him and his wife. At first Maria was tentative and said that she would do whatever Tonya did. But we explained that Tonya was coming back to the states for awhile and wanted Maria and the kids to be cared for.

Karamojongs are notorious alcoholics and drug addicts. They put their small children on the streets to beg and then spend the money on little food and lots of drugs. They are sober on rare occasions. But Maria had a definite interest in caring for her kids and most importantly, Jesus.

When asking the question to an American, "What does poverty mean to you? List everything that pops into your head." What do you think of? I thought of several things, no food, no water, no shelter, no work, no education, no clothes, etc. But when that same question was asked among the poor, the very objects of poverty, around the world in various different cultures and countries, the answer was astounding. It was NOT based off of material things like food or water or housing. It was based on one thing, SELF WORTH! These people didn't have anything to say about their lack of watter, or food, what they said was, they feel useless, like they didn't matter, their life was meaningless, they had no self worth (When Helping Hurts).

Maria, like most Karamojongs lacked self worth. No one respects her in her culture expect her own. She can't and won't work which creates this horrible unending cycle of poverty and low self worth. It is a vicious cycle that consumes and devours thousands maybe millions of lives around the world. Moving with Pastor Cyrus would provide the Godly model of working, going to church, caring for others, community, and discipleship which brings about WORTH!

Maria, Phillip, Angela and Longoli are all in Kisii, Kenya now. Phillip has started school and has a "smart" school uniform. Maria is being mentored by Eucabeth, Cyrus' wife. Angela is making new friends and Longoli is growing and doing just fine.

(Phillip in his school uniform)

So what do parasites, scabies, malaria and an unreached people group have in common? Answer, God's perfect plan. It is simple, had we have gone to Kenya as planned, we would have missed this opportunity for Maria to move with Pastor Cyrus! God determined our steps, now that is worthy of praise!

(Eucabeth, Phillip, Maria, Longoli, Cyrus and Angela)

As for Maria, will you please join us in prayer. This will be a long road for her, breaking the bonds of addiction, changing her place of living, and learning to trust Jesus for everything. Our prayer for Maria is that she would fall madly in love with her Savior and then return to her people where she can share God's truth and this people group can change status from unreached to reached!

The Source of the Nile

Angela and her new baby

Me and Maria, looking at pictures of my tribe (kids) she was amazed

Rejoicing with Maria over Gods goodness

The untold story of my wood eating beetles, this is the saw dust after one night!

One of the many beetles in my bed

Girls carrying water from a muddy, dirty water bed

Bujagali Falls

Angela getting her baby tied on her back, The African way

This is Harriet. She is over one year old, but the size of a 6 month old. I fell in love over and over with these kids. Harriet suffers from malnutrition and HIV/Aids. She is currently being treated for both.

I had the privelege to love on some really sick babies. This is Harriet.

My other heart throb, Abby. Her mom and dad are young about 13 and are from two different tribes and are cousins and not married. When the elders of the tribe found out about the baby they planned to kill her because she was a disgrace to the tribes. She was recued and brought to Rene, who runs malnutrition rehab center in Jinja, Uganda. Abby is awaiting adoption.

One, two, three...swing

Tonya with Maria and the kids (with one extra)

The slum in Kampala

Cyrus and I having lunch at Two Friends Restaurant

Maria and Longoli, so beautiful

The sunrise over Jinja town from Tonya's balconey

Lake Victory in the morning and the view from Tonya's house

My dear friend Seggy and I, having coffee

Frequent Flyer Miles...

2010-12-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Cara on one of her trips to Teso

Tonya with Angela, who has been living with her and is now healed from her Turberculosis.

We have the privilege of partnering with two of the most amazing young women you’ll likely ever meet. Cara lives in Entebbe near the Nkumba schools, and Tonya lives about 4 hours east in Jinja. Both are in Uganda with Remember the Poor. They pour their lives out for the sake of the Gospel.

Trans-continental trips don’t come cheap! If you have frequent flyer miles that you’d like to donate (or un-used airline gift cards), please email me with the quantity of miles you have available as well as the airline. We have specific need for 4 tickets in late January, and 1 in March. We can use both domestic and international carriers, as some of the travel is within the U.S.

Thank you!

Swell Up and Die...

2010-12-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I would like to update you on our fundraiser and what the Lord has done, but first I would like to share a true story with you.

Acts: 28 1-10 ~ Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

On the way to Rome, Paul faced many life threatening events. In Acts 27 he boarded a ship as a prisoner and set sail for Rome with a centurion, guards and other prisoners. The crew decided to sail and beat the weather in order to deliver their cargo in a timely fashion. They sailed into some hurricane like storm. Paul warned the centurion to no avail. After the crew feared for their lives, Paul shared that an angel of the Lord appeared to him and that no one on the ship needed to fear. All 276 people jumped ship and swam to the island of Malta, all 276 men made it alive, just as Paul promised according to his vision.

In Acts 28, once the crew arrived safely on shore, Paul gathered some wood to throw into the fire. But a viper was hiding in the wood and jumped out and bit him on the hand. I love that the Lord had orchestrated that all eyes would be on his servant Paul. Verse 4 says that the islanders thought that Paul must have been an murderer and was getting what was due him, from the goddess Justice, because he escaped death from the sea. But Paul just shook off the snake. Verse 6 tells us that the people expected him to swell up or fall over dead, BUT “after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

God had all eyes on Paul, everyone watched him, the centurion, the guards, other prisoners and now the Islanders of Malta. Not all of us has had the prospect of sharing our faith through a snake bite. However the Lord has orchestrated the things in lives to be such a witness to Christ. He draws attention to us, our life stories, our up’s and our downs for one purpose, to bring Him glory!

This is the case with a friend of mine living in Uganda. Tonya has been a part of our ministry at The Mission. The Lord moved her and her son Christopher to Uganda and she has been on a wild journey from day one. In just five months, Tonya has had to change her course about five times, move twice, saved a child from witch craft and starvation, has taken three children into her care under the age of nine from different tribes (one tribe being an unreached people group), lost and regained two of her children twice, been sick, feared for her life, been thrown in jail for protecting a neglected child, and has been in two car accidents. There is much more to her story that I can’t go into detail about now but you get the idea, Tonya has been under great pressure and great attack.

Tonya shares a compound with a Muslim couple. They have began to form a relationship and the couple really cares for Tonya and her kids. Just last week Tonya got into a pretty big car accident and had to take care of some personal business. The couple was concerned for Tonya and her family and was waiting for an update once Tonya returned. You see, the Lord has drawn attention to Himself, through his servant. This Muslim family has been watching Tonya get struck by “the viper!” They have been waiting, just as the Islanders of Malta, for Tonya to swell up and fall over dead! How could one person endure such venomous strikes and live?

With all eyes on Tonya, she gave testimony to the one and only, Christ! She has displayed his truths and testified to His name sometimes, without even knowing it. This Muslim couple has been watching. With their gaze fixed on Tonya and the wonder that she has not given up and died, they made a bold statement! “We are tired of this Muslim religion, we want to know about your Jesus!”

This is why we are set on traveling to Uganda and Kenya. This is our heart beat, the nations coming to faith in the one true God! This is why we have garage sales and fundraisers. This is why we ask for your support! Christ glorified is the reason we live! There is story after story of people giving up their “old idols” for new life in Christ. They watch and see that we have victory and no snake bite will take us from praising the TRUE God!

Our sale earned $1097! Praise the Lord! Thank you to all who participated by donating and helping so much. We fought against the rain the whole time, but God is good! We are approximately in need of $2000 more! Will you please pray and ask the Lord how he will use you to “send” us? It is the time of the year where we are all busy getting ready for Christmas and we know that it is the time of the year where finances get tight. Would you please pray and ask God to challenge you in the area of giving, and then trust Him through it?

If only 20 people gave $100, the task would be accomplished! We appreciate all of you. We thank you for your generosity, prayers and love for us and the mission of Christ.

There are two ways to donate, you can send a check to Remember the Poor (with a note “Thiele Travel”)

RTP
PO Box 1013
Lynden, WA 98264

Or you can go online to http://www.irememberthepoor.org/ and click the donate button and donate on line. Make sure you add a note to it, saying “Thiele Travel”!

As for the end of Tonya’s story with her new Muslim friends, we will have to wait and find out what the Lord has planned. Tonya can only do and say so much because of cultural barriers between men and women, but her friends are eagerly awaiting Bryan’s (and my) arrival so that he can ask questions of another man, a lover of Jesus

Blessings to you all. Please know that we are praying for you! Please email us your prayer requests, we would love to pray for you as well!

In the Matchless Name of Christ,

Bryan and Andrea Thiele

His Desires, My Desire...

2010-12-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

This past week we have learned so much about reaching the nations for Christ. Bryan and I were able to attend a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) meeting and it spoke right to our hearts.

“The purpose if CHE is not just breaking poverty or planting churches, though both are accomplished in CHE programs. The real goal of our work is a transformation in the lives and communities that is as deep as the human heart, and as broad as the whole range of the human experience on the world God made. We want Jesus to be recognized as the Lord over all creation, and our development activities to reflect the depth and breadth of the kingdom of God. CHE seamlessly integrates evangelism, discipleship and church planting with community health and development. The ministry is wholistic, seeking to obey everything that Jesus commanded and addressing the whole need of individuals and communities.”

We are planning on taking next steps with CHE to receive their formal training. This is will be a vital tool we use to reach out to the Karamojong people of Uganda and other communities.

Our trip to Uganda and Kenya will be a vision trip. We will be working with our missionaries in Uganda and our pastors & leaders in Kenya to cast vision and explore the possibilities of reaching local communities and unreached people groups with the Gospel of Christ.

As we all know, going to the nations requires the means to get there. While we know that reaching the unreached with the Gospel of Christ is important, we also know that some go and some stay to send the goers, every part is vital to a successful ministry and as the body of Christ, we seek to build the kingdom of God together.
Romans 10: 12-15 ~ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f] 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[g]

We are well aware that this is the Christmas season and money is tight. I would like to present to you:

If 40 people gave $100 (or more) we would reach our goal.

40 x $100 = vision trip to reach the unreached!

Your donations are tax deductible, when you make your check to Remember the Poor. Please do not write our name on the check, but please do include a note, “Thiele Travel”.

RTP
PO Box 1013
Lynden, WA 98264

Or click here and donate online to RTP, please include "Theiel Travel" in your note.

Our fundraiser is one week away! Thank you to those of you who have donated to our sale, we are so grateful.

I will keep you up to date as we move along and God provides.

Blessings
Bryan & Andrea

Help Needed...

2010-11-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sending out a reminder that we are having a DONATION GARAGE SALE on December 16th through the 18th . 100% of your donations, will go to our Uganda/Kenya trip. Remember it is almost the end of the year and ALL of your financial contributions are tax deductable.

Bryan, The Mission and I feel it is vital that we spend time with our missionaries in Africa. We have several ministries that need special attention and our help. We are asking for donations for our garage sale, and financial contributions to make this trip come to fruition and to be successful.

In Uganda, we plan on working with Tonya and another local missionary to effectively reach the Karamojong people. We believe the Lord has provided ways to begin ministry with the Karamojong, to teach them the Word of God, and bring Glory to His Name! The Karamojong are an unreached people group in the 10/40 window. You can learn more about their people on Joshua Project.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
Rev 7:9-10

The Bible says the Karamojong will be represented in heaven! Praise the Lord! This is our hearts cry! We long to serve Christ in this capacity, reaching the unreached of His nations.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

We NEED your help:

We are accepting all donations for our garage sale ASAP! Please drop them off anytime to our house, or call and we will pick them up. (623) 910-4886, most of you know this routine, we have done it before

OR

You can donate directly to our ministry for our trip. Your money will go toward, travel, The Proclaimer (a tool used for translating the Gospel into native tongues), training, and needs for our missionaries and leaders. This is a great time to make tax deductible contributions, before year’s end!

You can send your financial contribution directly to the address below, or online by clicking here:
Remember The Poor
PO Box 1013
Lynden, WA 98264

Include a note “Thiele Travel”
Remember the Poor is a 501 c(3) charitable organization. All donations are tax-deductible. Please include your e-mail address so we may send your gift receipt by e-mail

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for partnering with us in ministering to the nations of the world.

Blessings
Bryan and Andrea

“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” John Henry Jowett

Reaching the Lost...

2010-11-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Urgent: The harvest is ripe the workers are few!!! Matthew 9:37

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to take this time to update you on some important circumstances in our ministries that need immediate prayer and financial attention.

Most of you are aware that we have ministries in Africa. Tonya is one of our missionaries that we sent out from The Mission and is one of the ministries that we support. She lives in Uganda and has been given the opportunity to minister to the Karamojong (an unreached people group) and street children.

Tonya has been facing some trials in the last month or so. It has been hard to send out updates for prayer, because her circumstances change sometimes minute to minute. I think now is a great time to try and update you while there are some things that need immediate prayer and financial attention.

First I will give you some back ground. Tonya has 5 children. 1 biological, 1 adopted and 3 foster children. The African tribe called the Karamojong live in Masses, near Tonya. That is not where they are originally from, but they venture out of their home town of Moroto, to the towns to beg, and earn money.

I am stilling learning about the Karamojong, and don’t want to tell you information that is not true, so I will be vague. The Karamojong are not highly regarded are not liked and looked down upon in Uganda. They also, believe that they own the cattle in all of Uganda, so they steal, pillage. They are sometimes a violent people.

Most of the Karamojong do not work. When they don’t have cattle, the women take their kids to the streets of Kampala to beg. The children are left by themselves to walk up to 15 miles a day, sometimes with a baby on their back, begging for money and food. If the children can’t make the long walk home to the slums, they sleep in store fronts, alone.

This is the story of thousands of lives, including Phillip and Angela. Phillip and Angela were picked up by the police, off of the street for begging and taken into custody.

Tonya finally was able to take in Phillip and Angela to care for them. They have been on the streets for most of their lives, or in custody of the police. She knows that the Lord has clearly told her to advocate for these children. She was looking for the birth mom, in order to make sure there was not a birth mom looking for them. The birth mom was able to find Tonya and her children. Tonya invited the birth mom, Maria to live with them, which she did for about 24 hours. Maria brought her supposed mom, infant and 4 year old son with her. Maria took Tonya to the slums where she lives in Kampala to sign papers so Tonya could have custody. Tonya was welcomed in by the women singing and dancing and praising a foreign god, not our own Jesus. The chief of the town, invited her back to help them in the future.

After about 24 hours, Maria decided that she would take the people she came with and Phillip and Angela with her back to the streets. Tonya tried to argue with her to let them stay, but Maria insisted. When asked if the kids would go back to begging, she said “Yes!” Tonya packed their clothes and loaded them up and Phillip and Angela walked into the night in the pouring rain. This is a note I received from Tonya after the return of her children the first time. I love her words, and I must share it with you. Tonya spent a horrible night sick to her stomach and that is the reference you read in the beginning about sitting on the bath room floor;

Wow sister, that was not, not fun! But I spent a lot of time with Jesus in those moments as I laid on my bathroom floor and I praise him even when satan tries to tell me that none of this is worth it.

I prayed about the slum in Kampala with all those Karamojong brothers and sisters. I was thinking that their rent is $2 a month and their food is no more than $2 a day. The kids are the ones who work, not the parents. But for them there is no other way.... BUT THERE IS.... JESUS!

I am praying in many moments a day about THE MISSION MASESE and about that slum in Kampala. My heart is forever tied to these people because that is what God did through my precious Philip and Angela. They asked me for help as they thanked me for the kids, and that, I believe, was God opening the widow to heaven.

I need help sister. I am but one woman with these huge tasks on my heart. The letterhead paper that the village persons wrote the letter on for me to care for Phillip and Angela says, "Together we can make a difference". I can't stop thinking about that and how with Jesus and just small, small resources we can change the lives of these people who feel so outcast yet God holds in his highest regard.

I remember reading a post that Gwen from 147 million orphans wrote after a visit last year to Masese1 where the Karamojong live that they work with. She said it was different, because when they pulled up there were not kids begging! I pray for the day we drive down Jinja road, the same path that my dear Philip walked with his little sister strapped to his back, to find no Karamojong children on that road working. I know I can pray that prayer with confidence because surely that is God's wish too. He wants justice.... OCEANS of it. He wants fairness.... RIVERS of it. Let us not yearn for the things of this world, but for JUSTICE and FAIRNESS as it is written by THE ONE we claim to know and love so dearly.

These past few days I have found myself homesick. I thought it was for AZ and all the people I love so and miss so dearly, but this morning I realized it was for heaven and the arms of Jesus..... whew, I get chills just thinking about that day. I love you. Come quickly, praying for God to make the path so clear and for his provision for every single need. XO from UG my dearest friend. Oh how I love you and long for the day that we serve his people together, arms linked and in community!

Please understand that the primary concern is for the children. Tonya’s heart is wrapped around these kids, but the heart ache comes when she knows that they are unwanted and are going to be living in conditions that are not suitable for a child. It is hard to imagine, that Angela was once in a warm bed receiving the medication she needs for her TB and now is living in the slum with no food to eat, facing a life of danger in the streets, with a mom she doesn’t know and a language she doesn’t speak.

We have been praying for the Lord to advocate on behalf of these kids and today, God is working miracles! Today Tonya is on their way to pick up her kids BY THE GRACE OF GOD!

This is just in from Tonya, via text:

“I have them, only by a miracle. I think Angela is drunk with alcohol and has a broken leg. They are in the same clothes and looks like they have not bathed. They are weak and limp, please pray.”

“Angela is drunk!! Phillip just told me they have no mattress, and slept on the dirt floor. She knew me and cried and them came back and won’t let anyone near her. She is gyrating and I think someone must have hurt her. We are going to the hospital.”

“Please, we pray we need God to keep showing up.”

Friends, here is the situation. Tonya NEEDS money. Most of you know that she doesn’t not have much support. She stepped out and trusted God for her circumstances. She needs money and support. It will cost money for the hospital and the paper work for the police. On top of that she trust that the Lord will supply all of her needs for food. They are going on faith right now.

It takes a lot of money to serve these kids, and their families.

Please pray and ask the Lord how he wants you to give right now. You can contact me directly if you can donate to Tonya and these beautiful kids, we can get it to her ASAP. Your donations are tax deductible, through Remember The Poor.

If you click here, you go right to the donation page:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=HVaKEdaLqPP6sHnzSMaMQWb9wMX8-yz-zj83LSxXlv6tZH405ZesIA_U6_e&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d9384d85353843a619606282818e091d0
Please include a note in your donation that specifies “Tonya, Uganda.”

Finally, friends, pray for the lost and dying world in Africa and the nations. These people need Jesus and discipleship. They are in desperate need of a Savior, until that time, nothing is going to change. The harvest is ripe, the workers are few! The Karamojong are an unreached, possible unengaged people group. There are no known churches among them. We are praying for the Lord to show us how to reach them. This is what the Lord has commanded us to do! Pray for him to make our path clear and to begin to soften the hearts of the Karamojong to accept His truths.

“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” John Henry Jowett

Blessings,
Drea

More Than Words...

2010-10-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking recently about words. We read a moving blog or a great book and leave feeling inspired or refreshed. Our heart is full and we cry or laugh. We tell our friends the story, or share the sorrow. A mean word from a friend can cut like a knife, and a kind word can encourage and build. Words are powerful but here is what I have determined; Words move people BUT truth transforms them!

I am a lover of words. I like to write, I like to share my stories. But more than just sharing words I want people that are reading the words I pen, to be transformed by the power of Jesus Christ in me. If the words that we read do not compel us into some sort of action, then it is just a word, it is stagnant and means nothing.

If what we read does not alter our thinking and leave us different than what we were before, then we have not encountered truth! Truth transforms! It changes us from the inside out.

Psalm 51:6, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

Truth invokes action and empowers us to do the impossible through faith in Jesus Christ. Matthew 17:20; He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Truth liberates us from the bondage of sin and darkness. John 8:30-32; "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Truth purifies us and makes us holy. John 17:17; Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Truth brings forth new life and transformation. James 1:17-19; Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we may be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

When we are transformed by the truth of the Word of God, He equips to do His will. He gives us the desires of His heart, then we are to carry out the action.

Today, I talked with Joshua, a young Ugandan man who has given his whole life to living out the Word of God. He cares for twenty orphans and about five widows. While trying to study at a university, Joshua is the hands and feet of Christ to these people in need.

In our conversation today, I could tell that Joshua seemed discouraged. I asked him what was wrong, this is what he said. "I am down. Like right now when some of my kids are sick, and we have no food. Our house is leaking and the piglets have no food to eat either."

I then asked him how I could pray for him. His response was, "Pray for each kid and me, we need to feel the worth of God." How does one "feel the worth of God?" The answer is through us! We are to take action, and demonstrate that they have value and are important to Christ. We brothers and sisters, are the catalyst of Gods love to them. Oh, how I want to shout that from the roof tops! If we sit complacent as followers of Jesus, we have not grabbed hold of the power of Christ, and have failed to allow His truth to change us.

We don't have to move across the ocean to demonstrate this kind of love and worth. We can do it right from home. One way, is to sponsor a child or a Jaaja (grandma). They are desperate for this kind of care. When you sponsor a child or Jaaja, you show them that Christ values each and every one of them. You also bring hope and a future, through the word of God. They incounter the life transforming truth of Jesus.

Our ministry helps to support Joshua and the kids. You can be a part too, by going to The Mission and clicking on the tab Get Involved .

Words merely rest on a page, but truth will dance in our hearts as it awakens our souls.

It is Well...

2010-10-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Blogging Friends,

It seems like it has been a while since my last blog. I want to update you on my life, with all of our children and craziness, but this is just too good pass up. I promise to write and catch you up on soon. This blog was written by a friend of mine in who lives in Southeast Asia.

I wanted to share it with you, because I feel it captures the essence of why we worship this amazing God. He alone is worthy of our praise. I can clearly remember times hearing and sometimes feeling, "Worship was just not that good for me today," or "I just couldn't get into worship today." While we know that we sing to the Lord, sometimes we forget that worship never was and never will be intended for us. It is intended to glorify Jesus, to bless His name. When we worship, we are filled and do end up "feeling good," but if that is why we worship, then we have fully missed the mark.

I love the lady who has written this note to me, she is an amazing woman of God. I can only pray that the Lord continues to mature me to this place of really seeing and worshiping Him for who He is. Lord may I live my life completely abandoned to You, serving You wherever You go, and however You call us.

Today's service was absolutely awesome. I cried all the way through worship (so what's new :). This was just a tad different however. As we were waiting for the service to begin, the musicians were practicing and the song being sung by a lovely woman was "It is Well With My Soul." Alone, that is a very moving song in and of itself. As they were practicing, I shared with Harry a comment from one of the visiting professors just before she left to go back to the states. She'd seen me with several of our girls and I was sharing a birthday coffee with her and several ex-pat ladies, when another couple of my girls saw me and yelled across the room, "Hi mommy!" I responded with thrown kisses to them and proudly claimed as "mine". When the visiting professor, Carla, said goodbye to me the night before she left, she said, "I think you've found your home." That statement has haunted me ever since and today was the first time I uttered those words out loud - to Harry.

I have no idea of the full capacity of what that statement means. Is God leading us to live in Southeast Asia? Is our calling to young people of high school age? Is our home in Arizona soon to be exchanged with somewhere else God will lead? Only God knows. The one thing I can hang my hat on, however, is this: God knows and if we keep our hearts open to Him, He will lead us and we will not have to stumble along trying to find His way.

All through the service, God continued to "prime" my heart as He spoke to me in so many different ways.

First song up, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." WHOA!! The words are like a love letter from God to us. Every morning He floods us with His new mercies and He provides everything I need. For each new day, He provides His presence to cheer and guide me and He freely gives me His strength for the now, and His bright hope for tomorrow. Tomorrow!!! That means tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day ... for however many days He has numbered my life.

Second song up, "Because He Lives." Because He lives, I CAN face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know HE holds the future, life is worth living just because He lives. His promise to me is that because He lives and reigns in my heart and life, whatever tomorrow brings, I can face it because He will be in it and I have no need to fear. He holds all the my future in His hands and every breath that He gives me will be worth it, regardless of what it holds, because He lives in and through with me. WOW!! What a bargain.

Third song up, "Offering." You may not be too familiar with this one. I'd sung it a few times before but many years ago. The chorus goes like this, "I bring an offering of worship to my King. No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing. Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due. O Lord, I bring an offering to You." When you cling to the promises of God ... that He holds your future ... that you do not need to fear ... that He lives in the future with you - praises to Him just spill out everywhere - almost every orifice on the head for sure. If my ears could cry, I'd have a waterfall goin' on :)

Fourth song up, "Find Us Faithful." Oh my goodness - are there still tears left??!! "Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful." "After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone and our children sift through all we've left behind. May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light that leads them to the road we each must find." Even as I sit and type these words, I am overcome at the desire of my heart that this sentiment be true in my life. That not only my children, but my grandchildren see through our lives and the things left behind that are important to us, that being faithful to God was the hallmark of our life and inspire them to follow in those footsteps.

Last song, "It is Well with My Soul." God what are you trying to do with me, wring me dry!! The enormity of the words from this song still hang in the air. "Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control. That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed His own blood for my soul." "My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in PART but the WHOLE, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh my soul!!" That is the message in it's entirety!!! This is the message that the whole world needs to hear. This is the message I want to share to those who will listen!!

I'm not even sure how to conclude this missal. I guess I just needed to share my heart and I love that you understand it. Thanks for doing just that - listening. I just find that God continues to break me before Him. I think He's still trying to root out of me, Me!! So there's more room for Him. I know He wants to lay us bare before Him so that all we want - we thirst for and cling to - is more of Him. Oh I want that with every fiber of my being and I know He has to do a lot of "house keeping" to make that even possible.

If every fiber of our being could be saturated with Jesus! Isn't that our goal? To live is Christ and to die is gain? I often wonder if I am living my life as Christ would live it for me. I wonder what opportunities I have missed with my Savior due to business and distraction. I wonder what opportunities I have missed to share the Glory of the Lord with a person, who is dying and going to hell.

Jesus would have me be on purpose for Him. Giving my all to this loving savior. He would not have me think of all the what if's, but live as reckless abandon trusting in Him. I don't want to be safe, I want to risk it all. I want to live on the edge, following His lead, and be fully saturated with my Jesus.

Life! Will We Live It?...

2010-09-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days for me. Joyful on one hand and then before you know it SNATCH...the joy is gone.

Today was my daughter Meske's 15th birthday. We decided to surprise Meske and the other kids with taking them to an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch after church. Lately, I have been feeling filled to overflowing. Just that full feeling inside where we just know God is in control, and you just feel the natural joy that comes from knowing Jesus. Today was one of those days.

We drove to Tempe to eat at a wonderful restaurant called Lalibella's Cafe. We had Meske and Eyob help with ordering and we got served the most wonderful dishes of Ethiopian food. We were all hungry and it didn't take any time at all to down the wonderful foods. The children were so Happy to be eating familiar foods. The restaurant owners seemed just as happy. It was so fun to watch our kids interact with the other Ethiopian people. It brought me great joy.

We got out to the parking lot and Bryan had to change our tire. Our new Ethiopian friends followed us out to the parking lot where we continued conversation. We learned that our kids were from one of the same villages as some of them were. The kids had great talk in their own language. We learned of an Ethiopian church near by where the whole family attends. We found that we were believer's and that we shared other similarities, like one of the ladies actually attend a college class with my mother in law this last semester. All in all, the Lord blessed us with great conversation and a friendship worth pursuing.

The guys went inside to clean up and we were saying our goodbyes and promising to come back again soon, when the rug got pulled out from under us. One of the boys of the family at the restaurant decided to come running outside for his dad. We were all standing on the far side of the parking lot. The boy was in between two parked cars and was heading straight across the parking lot when he got hit by an oncoming car! We all saw it coming, but no one could stop it! The driver hit the young boy (3 years old) in the side. His head hit the car and then the pavement.

For those of you who follow our blog, you will know that this is twice in less than a year that we have been involved in an accident involving a car and a young boy. Our driver hit a boy while we were in Africa getting our 3 newest children. The accident was life altering. (To read about that story and Gods goodness click here). My two oldest were with us when it happened in Africa, and now they were with us again along with 7 other of my kids.

At first, it was terrifying. I even thought for a brief moment about how I was going to get away. After I got all my kids in our van, hoping that they didn't see any of it and really worried about Cade and Coral, I realized that I needed to check on the boy. There was loud waling and crying going on. The boys dad was out of control and wouldn't calm down. The boy was crying and looked considerably good for just getting hit. His head was swollen and his back and side several bruised. We called 911 quickly and tried to settle the crowd.

I really can't tell you what I was thinking at that moment, but I am going to try. First, I thought "Why God?" Why would we have to do this again. Like it was about me, it wasn't, it was all about the boy and his family. But why must we endure this again. I was worried about my children having to witness such a tragedy, again. I was worried about the little ones, who wouldn't understand, "Why?"

Secondly, I was thinking, "There is no way, I can help this kid." My stomach was instantly sick and I couldn't get in right frame of mind. If I could have, I would have just disappeared.

Thirdly, I thought, "How will we cope and deal with this? What if the boy is badly hurt or maybe dead, what will we do? These people are always going to equate this horrible tragedy with our coming to their restaurant, how will God be glorified?"

Once I got a grip, I determined that God is good, and I will do what I can to check the boy and his family. God gave me the strength to pull it together so I could assess the boy. The words from my sweet African brother, Pastor Cyrus, rung in my head, "Mom, we pray and then let God work." This time was different. I knew God was in control, we have done this once before and I was going to trust this time.

Now it is easy on the other side of the story to trust when you know all is well. It is a different story to trust when you are questioning what will be. The ambulance arrived and took the boy by stretcher to the nearest ER. We had the opportunity to pray with the dad of the boy and the mom. We prayed with the driver of the car and friends of the family of the boy. My kids were in the car crying out to Jesus, and shouting his name! We were asking God for a miracle, his healing hand.

After the police questioned us all and were wrapping up, I shakily crawled into a bus of crying children. My poor kids. Eyob almost passed out, Cade and Coral were so shook up and the rest of them were so worried for the boy. I got in the front seat of the car and this is what the Lord impressed on my spirit.

James 14:13 -14
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is you life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

I felt as if Christ had spoken right to me. "This is life! Life is just a mist, it is hear and then it is gone. It is not weather this boy lives or dies, we will all die one day. The real question is if he knows Jesus Christ." I understood. Our lives are hear today and gone tomorrow! Life is given and life is taken, it is short. All over the planet, people suffer these kinds of tragedies, and they die and go to hell! We don't have time to waste, because this is life! I felt as if the Lord was showing the Thiele's, that we have no time. I felt as if the Lord was saying, "Life! Are you going to live it?"

Although we didn't now if the boy was going to be okay or not, the picture became suddenly clear. We say we need to live our lives as if this was our last day, but how many of us do that? We need to live for Christ on purpose. We need to live as if we cared that there is a dying world going to hell. This accident showed me, that life is but a breath. We spend so much time wasting time, and now we were all crying over this boy wondering if he were going to live or die. The truth of the matter is, if we cared so much about him, then we would care about his eternal life, not the physical one. Granted this boy was just 3, but the overall message was one that rings clear.

Lets starting living the life we were given to glorify the Lord! Stop wasting time on self and other idolistic things and start doing what glorifies the Lord, LIVING our lives committed to serving Him. There are people dying today of starvation. There are people dying of disease today. Ther are people dying by their own hands to false Gods today. If we love Jesus, we can't wait until tomorrow!

I have called to check on the boy, he is doing fine. A full CT scan and x-rays, there is nothing wrong with him at all! We witnessed another miracle today. God is good! Our children are claiming the goodness of God! And the glory of the Lord was shown in Tempe TODAY!

I pray I do not soon forget. I pray that the Lord keeps it fresh on our minds that life is but a mist, here today and gone tomorrow. Are we willing to risk everything for the sake of the gospel to a lost and dying world? What will we do with life, will we live it?

Delighting to do Thy will...

2010-08-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Our family tends to draw attention. Either positive attention, negative attention, or just plain confused attention (when people try to figure out how Bryan and I made all these colorful children). People often look at us like we are crazy, or just plain called.

Our family also tends to draw a lot of questions like, "Are you done yet? or, How in the world do you do it?

Well today was a good reminder of "How in the world I do it." It is only by the strength of Jesus, that I even make it through the morning half the time. It is not me who does it, it is Jesus that does it all.

I was talking to a friend today about adoption. Adoption is a wonderful blessing, but it is not free from struggles. We tend to think of blessings in this light; smooth, fruitful, paved, or an opened door.

When we struggle, we often think of things in this light; this must be from Satan, the enemy is hitting us hard, or this isn't from God.

When Paul went from town to town, lead by the Spirit, Paul often encountered things like; stoning, beating, prison, and torture. Would we dare to say that Paul must not have been in Gods will if all things happened to him? Or would we say, Paul must have been ahead of God? No, we know that Paul's journeys were absolutely what the Lord wanted and allowed, even though most of the time Paul suffered a lot. However, through his sufferings Paul brought glory to the Name of the Lord.

Adoption is a wonderful blessing, one filled with pure joy and one that is filled challenges. Some days, I have sweet, beautiful, blissful days. Some days I don't. Some days, I am just tired. Not tired of being a Mom to my nine beautiful children, but mostly tired of talking (yes it is true). Some days, I just want to be...not that I don't want to be nurse, teacher, chef, etc.... but some days, I want to go to the bathroom with out talking through the door or breaking up another argument of who stole who's french fry, some days, I want to just be.

I bet that some days Paul would have loved to go into a town that didn't try and kill him. I bet some days he cried out to the Lord, "Lord, for real??"

The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. "I delight to do Thy will." Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same as His. The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word.
Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a center for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ. ~ Oswald Chambers

Not that I can compare my life to Paul's life. I have never been stoned, or even almost stoned. But the journey I am on, is one that is not free from trials and full of blessings. Honestly, I don't want a life free of trials. The more the Lord teaches me, the more I have come to understand that the best place to be is completely sacrificed and dependant on Him. In my trials, and fears, I am just that. We can't do what the Word of God tells us to do independent of Jesus Christ. We must have Christ and trust Christ living through us.

Because we are dead to self and realize, it is not I who live but Christ, then we are able to do the things he has laid out for us to do. We will face trials, struggles, doubts, we will have fears, and second thoughts, but we DO have Christ. And for that reason, it is all worth it!

Christ is what makes our life possible. Christ is the reason we can do this thing called adoption. Christ is what gives us the strength to carry on. Christ enables us to do the things we are commanded to do. Christ, Christ, Christ! May we bring glory to His name!

~ If you keep My commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy remain in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:11

Fetch God...

2010-08-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

"Fetch God?" Doesn't that sound so blasphemous, But, isn't that what we do in a way..throw God a bone? I mean, He doesn't ask for our left overs, He has asked for our "First Fruits." Giving anything BUT our first fruits is blasphemous.

Here are some facts:

30,000 children died today and will die tomorrow of preventable diseases, like diarrhea and starvation. Children like these.

Here is another fact:

Last year, the American Church spent $10billion on church buildings and programs. Buildings and programs like this:

Please understand, that I don't know these churches (I found the pictures on the internet), and while they are hopefully reaching the lost, I just believe that there needs to be equality. So, if a church can spend $10,000 (that is modest figure) on a new sound system, or comfy chairs, or some catchy program should it also be able to spend $10,000 to feed starving children, or house homeless widows? We try to mask it all in the name of Jesus and what we NEED to serve him better but, lets face it, when we reach heaven, I can't imagine Jesus saying "Well done my good and faithful servant, you sure did dial in that worship mix well, and the lights...whoa...I particularly liked the the foyer with the flat screen TVs."

Jesus will however, say something more along the lines of this if we are not careful:

"Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and you name drive out demons and preform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"

Jesus was not speaking here to irreligious people, atheists or agnostics. He was not speaking to pagans or heretics. He was speaking to devout religious people who were deluded into thinking they were on the narrow road that leads to heaven when they were actually on the broad road that leads to hell. According to Jesus, one day not just a few but many will be shocked-eternally shocked-to find that they were not in the kingdom of God after all.

~ Radical by David Platt

My heart is broken today as I sit and think of my sister in Africa, who just watched a 23 year old friend, weighing 35 pounds die of something preventable like starvation. There is NO need in the world for that to happen when we have been given so much. Our thinking is upside down. Instead of worrying about TRUTH we worry about the lies that Satan has spoon fed us in our churches today.

We also see no verse in the New Testament where God's people are ever again commanded to build a majestic place of worship. Instead, Gods people are told to be the temple-the place of worship. And their possessions are to be spent on building, not a place where people can come see God's glory, but a people who are taking God's glory to the world. ~Platt

The Temple of the Old Testament full of riches. Adorned with gold, silver, bronze, and jewels.

The Temple of the New Testament

Katie Davis 21 year, serving the Lord in Uganda, mother of 14, care giver of 100's. Giving her life in such a sacrificial way to love the people of God by adopting, and rehiblitation women.

Our local, Friday night RICE night group, devoted to fasting one meal a week and replacing it with rice and beans, donating the money they saved on a regular meal, in order to support orphans in Kenya.

Cindy and Frank May (not pictured). Founders of Remember the Poor. Father and Mother of 1000's in Uganda and Kenya. Perfect examples of servants who are willing to give up everything and risk it all, in order to spread God's glory among the nations.

Abdissa Layl. Father to orphans in Ethiopia, and Pastor of a church. Willing to give his life for orphans and the Least of These, bring hope to Addiss Ababa.

Cara Murray (in back) and Seggy Hannington (in blue t-shirt in back). Faithful servants in Uganda. Bringing the love of Christ to widows and orphans. Devoted to finding the need and then serving the people of small and large villages, digging bore holes for water and discipling them.

Harry and Ceci. Retired couple not settled with living a comfy retired lifestyle. Living out their faith, in Southeast Asia. They too, are parents and sudo parents to many, adding to the number daily. Discipling students to mighty followers of Christ.

Tonya Brown adoptive mom. Resigned a prestigious career and sold all of her possessions to move to third world, Uganda. Faithfully following Christ to make His glory known among the nations. She currently has three boys, and I am sure there are more on the horizon.

Pastor Cyrus, his board members and Bryan. Pastor Cyrus is 26 years old and runs an orphanage in Kisii, Kenya with his wife. They currently house 23 children and care for 13 street boys and the number is constantly growing. Cyrus is a light to the community, never tiring for the work of the Lord.

Bryan, my husband. Father of nine. Co-Pastor of The Mission, tired of the status quo. Discipling local men to, "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..."

We are the church the temple of the Living God. We don't need to adorn ourselves or our buildings. We must grow weary of serving ourselves and start to burn with passion in serving others. NOT with just our time and talent, but with our money. We need to grow weary of our church buildings being "Well Fed", when they are not eternal. Human lives are eternal.

We need to be passionate to want to serve and stand before a HOLY God who will say to us "Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter My Rest."

Where to Begin, Begining...

2010-07-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

Where to begin? That question has been running through my head for weeks now, and now that I am home it continues to plague my mind. Where do I begin writing this blog? I have so much to share with you, but no place to begin. Where do I begin communicating the needs of this land and people that I love? Where do I begin helping a nation where everywhere you look is poverty, and more poverty. Where do WE begin?

I am going to begin with the Word!

If my people, who are called my name, would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15

The solution is found in the Word, God's promises. If we would humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, turn from wicked ways, then He will hear, forgive and heal!

While in Africa, I was overwhelmed with the amount of suffering and poverty. My eyes couldn't take it all in. In fact there was no where to turn and look to get a moments relief. At one point my soul was grieving and I gave up. "Lord, this is an impossible task. As far as the eye can see there is suffering, hunger, thirst, disease, disaster." The Lord reminded me that this is not my task, it is His task. What ever He calls us to, He equips us for!

We are called by His name, to feed the hungry, care for the widow and orphan, and to Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matt 28 18-19). Jesus, teaches us in Matthew, that on the day of judgement He will separate the sheep from the goats. Those who gave Him food, drink, welcomed Him, clothed Him and visited Him will enter His rest, those who didn't, won't (Matt 25). Then James goes on to reminds us that faith without deeds is nothing.

If the God of the bible is true and we call ourselves followers of Christ, how then, do we disobey His word? For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Hebrews 10:26

It seems so simple doesn't it? To live is Christ. In other words, It is not I who live, but Christ in me. If that is the case, why don't we live as Christ did? Simply Christ! If the Son of Man didn't even have a place to lay his head, why are worried about our next vacation, or our 401K, or how we are going to spend our money on Christmas? If we are Christ, then we have His knowledge, and we know how He wants us to live, then why do we go on sinning?

All these questions and more have been rolling around in my mind. Please understand, that it is I, who am challenged with these questions, I am just communicating my thoughts to you. I heard a great message this weekend that called this kind of living, the kind where we accept Jesus, but don't do what His Word says; Vampire Christianity. It is the kind of Christianity that says, "Give me some of your blood Jesus, so that I am saved from hell and I'll see you in heaven." We are warned about this kind of Christianity...it is simply idolatry and we make ourselves the idols.

James 1:22 ~ Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says, is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But a man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- he will be blessed in what he does.

Meet my friends, the Doers. The young boys that you see above, understand the meaning of doing rather than just hearing. The scripture says that if we just hear, we deceive ourselves. But the man who looks intently in to the law that gives freedom, continuously, not forgetting what he heard and applying it...will be blessed. Again, simple text that the Lord intended for us to understand and obey. Joshua (on right) understands enough to abandon self and obey. He is just 23 years old and has given his life for the Mission. He has taken on the task of caring for widows and orphans in his community. He has no job, no support, no food, no electricity, and no running water. He and his friend have heard the word of the Lord and decided to actually do the word of the Lord. Simple faith that requires, according to the Word of God, action.

Joshua takes action for faces like this one. An orphan, unwanted by the worlds standards, but a child of God. Doers, give their lives for the sake of the cross. They give their lives, because Christ gave His, the ultimate sacrifice. Doers, seek God's glory and make it known to the nations, for the purpose of glorifying Christ and Him alone. They don't make up excuses as to why they can't, or what they are waiting for, they hear and then they act.

James 1:27 ~ Pure and genuine religion in the sight of the God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to not let the world corrupt you.

Widows, like this beautiful Jaaja (grandmother). She is alone, and up until she met Joshua, she lived by herself in a house that was falling down, sick and in need of medical care. Today, she is making crafts to sell, and is helping to care for the orphans. When I met Jaaja, I was overwhelmed with love for her, you can see the Love of Jesus in her eyes.

Joshua and his friend, currently care for 2o orphans and a handful of Jaajas. They live in a home with no electricity not because it is not wired for electricity, but because they can't afford it. They all cram into this this tiny house and pray for the Lord to deliver food.

This is what the Lord had in mind when he said in Acts 2:42~ All the believers devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, and to prayer....And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need....And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

We are those apostles! We are to supply our brother Joshua, with his needs.

So where do we begin? How do we begin? It's simple, we hear, then we do. We are all called, it is all of our responsibility. If we call ourselves Christian, then we must stop idolizing ourselves and start Seeking His face and turn from our wicked ways...SO THAT... He will hear from Heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land.

Back with the Kids in Africa!

2010-07-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hi honey, please update everyone for me. The internet is so...slow here in kisii town. We arrived last night (early morning) safely. The bus ride was uneventful, but of course different and a little nerve racking, but all was well. It is good that we have Seggy to travel with it makes things much nicer and I fell safe with him around. The kids were so happy to see us of course and everyone here misses you a lot, all have asked about you and Coral and Cadenn.
We had a board meeting this morning and you should see what they have done with the place, it is amazing to say the very least. It is clear that God's hand is in everything and we are only His vessels, because this is really impossible without Him. I can't wait to show you the pictures of the kids and the new building and houses. We visited the Chief, David, this morning and he was so happy that we kept to our word and came back. He really trusts us now. He said that usually most people never return but make empty promises. We are going to pass out our gifts this evening and that should be real fun.
Justin, should have died, but he looks amazing. His leg is almost healed and he is now going to school. There is so much to tell you, but I don't have the time here because it is slow. I am praying for you and I miss you more than you know. I have resolved that I don't like going without you, and want you to be with me always. I would do it again, but I don't like it. We work much better as a team :)
Please share this with our faith family. You can copy and paste this message and send it to The Mission in my contact list, that way everyone even Mary will get the update.
Be praying, a man drownd in the river here yesterday and they have not found his body yet. He fell in while washing his clothes and did not know how to swim. The kids have grown, and they are so beautiful. It is hard to hold back the tears when you see Gods goodness all around and how well they are all doing. Papa's feet are all healed too! That is a miracle.
Well, my love to you, all of our kids and our faith family, together we are making a difference in the lives of the least of these, it is a huge blessing to us. Talk to you soon. We will head back to Uganda wed night or thurs morning. I will call you tomorrow. xoxoxox

Africa Bound...

2010-07-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Faith Family,
There has been a lot going on in the last couple of weeks that I will attempt to explain in this email.

First, Cyrus has received his money for the purchase of a new car! He called from Nairobi and said that he was in the process of picking up his new 4x4! Praise God for His provisions! He is good. I also talked to Justin on the phone (the boy who was badly burnt). He is doing much better. He is still in need of medical attention, but is beginning to walk now.

Secondly, Tonya and her son Christopher, and Howard and Celest, are getting ready to leave for their missions. Tonya is moving to Gulu, Uganda and Howard and Celest to Indonesia! The both leave in within the next couple of weeks! Please pray for them as they embark on this journey that the Lord has placed them on.

Lastly, God has provided for Andrea to accompany Tonya & Christopher to Africa! They both leave on July 15 and Andrea will stay until July 26th. They will be spending time in Nukumba, and Andrea will visit Kisii, with Seggy and Cara, and hopefully Gulu where Tonya will eventually be living. Andrea will be taking supplies to the orphanage and is only allotted two 50 lb. bags. She will also be able to take extra things for those of you who have sponsored children, if you want to send a special something to your child.

There are many needs, so I will list them below. Please pray and ask the Lord how he would have you minister and give.

Prayer For:

1. Cyrus and the kids at the orphanage in Kenya. Pray for protection and needs to be met in Kenya, and for God’s glory to be made know in the nations. Pray that all the children are sponsored.

2. Howard and Celest leave for Indonesia on July 12th . They need prayer for their visas that are in transit so they can leave. Also, that the things they shipped ahead will actually make it to Indonesia. Please pray that they adjust to their surroundings and the culture around them. The weather is hot and humid, so pray for adjustment there as well. They know that the Lord has called them for such a time as this, please pray for the people they come in contact with, that the Lord would prepare a way to minister to them and ultimately change lives for Christ. Howard and Celest, will have a blog that we can follow while they are away.

3. Tonya leaves for Minnesota on July 11th. Pray for her as she spends time with her son Cory. Pray that the Lord will continue to settle her heart on matters, also for provision in Africa and safe travels. Pray for Christopher and Tonya as they adjust to their new surroundings and begin the ministry that the Lord has called them to. Pray that the Glory of the Lord will be spread in Uganda through the lives of Tonya and Christopher. Pray for financial support of them both and their ministry.

4. Pray for Andrea as she travels with Tonya to Uganda. Pray for her traveling in Africa to Kisii and Gulu. Pray that the Glory of the Lord be made known to everyone she comes in contact with. Pray for the her travel back home as she will be alone. Also pray for the money she needs while in country.

Financial Needs

1. Cyrus in still in need of about $800 for medical needs for Justin. He is required to make frequent trips to the hospital for care and needs medicine to treat infection and promote healing.

2. Tonya is in need of monthly support. She currently has no monthly support and continues to trust God in providing for her. We have been entrusted with caring for Tonya and her needs. Please pray and ask the Lord what you could sacrifice and give to support her monthly. This is a big undertaking BUT with Christ all of things are possible. We have figured that Tonya will need approximately $1,000 per month to support her and Christopher. This will help them with the needs of the ministry as well as their basic needs. Also, she needs a digital point and shoot camera, so she can take pictures and send us updates.

3. Andrea is still in need of a few things for Africa. She will need about $300 to cover the cost of visas in and out of Uganda and Kenya, the luggage charges, public transportation and food.

4. We need donations for the Orphanage. Clothes, jackets, peanut butter, educational stuff like flashcards, 20 piece puzzles, books on letters and goodies for the kids. Money for donations is always excepted.

These are our immediate needs. Thank you for your faithfulness and love and concern for the Mission, the Lord has called us to. You are all such a blessing to us. We only have less than two weeks to get these things together for our trips. If you have donations for the orphanage, please get them to the Thieles before July 13th. This sounds like a lot, but our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He who has called us is faithful and He will do it!

One time or monthly donations to Tonya can be made to:

Remember the Poor
PO Box 1013
Lynden, Washington 98264
623-203-1700
Or you can donate on line to:
http://irememberthepoor.org/make-a-donation
Please write in the memo: Gulu,Tonya

We love you dearly and it is a blessing to partner with you in serving Christ locally and around the world.

Bryan and Andrea

Urgent Prayer and Action Needed...

2010-06-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Friends,
This is an urgent prayer request for one of our orphans in Kisii, Kenya. We visited Pastor Cyrus and the kids in February when we went to get our children in Ethiopia.

Justin is a 14 year old boy, whom I love like a son. I fell in love with his servants heart and his love of Jesus.

Two days ago, Justin was in doing his chores before bed. He was in the girls dorm and lit a lantern because they don't have electricity. The match caught the mattress on fire, and then caught Justin on fire. Cyrus was in a different dorm, and could hear the screaming coming from the dorm. Justin was in trying to put out the fire. Cyrus ran in and got him out. Justin was burnt badly. There are pictures below.

Please pray for his healing. Also, Cyrus needs money for the hospital bill for Justin. There are some major needs in this orphanage. First there is no electricity, therefore they have to use matches and lanterns and that is how this fire started. They need a generator to eliminate this problem. Also, they need a car. Pastor Cyrus had to carry Justin on his back for 6 miles and no one came to help. He carried Justin to the police station and after awhile they gave Cyrus a car to take him to the hospital. They have desperate needs.

You can help! By donating to Remember the Poor all of your donations will go toward Justin's hospital bill and to bring him the medical treatment he needs.

Pastor Cyrus said this was truly a miracle. He does now know how the flames were put out other than the hand of God. Justin could have been consumed by the flames and they are rejoicing over God's goodness. Oh, we of little faith. Cyrus said they truly witnessed Jesus yesterday.

I will keep you posted as we are updated of Justin's status. Thank you for your prayers and participation.

Justin in the frontJustins legs and burns

Justin and Fred together.

Prayer and Fasting...

2010-06-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Friends,
This is a MUST watch. We need Jesus more than we need anything else! God's church must wake from it's slumber.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

2010-06-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

My Hubby who loves me

Adoption

Kenyan kids holding water on their heads

Goats for hungry children

Hard boiled eggs and smiley faces

Hearts full of joy

My baby, gently cradling a baby

Sweaty little boys at the skate park

The freedom to lift our hands in worship to a Holy God

Brotherly love

Red carpet events and my beautiful girls

The looks on the faces of my children when they are talking to loved ones for the first time, in Africa.

The love of special friends

My babies learning to blow bubbles with their gum

Enjoying Ethiopian friends who want to make the transition smoother

Eating with our hands

Ethiopian food

Being a mother of many nations

Gangstas

The blessings of dear friends

The Mission and big praise from little people

An obedient heart

Deny, Self, Others...

2010-05-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Lord is just blessing us lately with the fruit of our labor. It is wonderful how sometimes He allows us little glimpses at the result of hard work and obedience to His word. This fruit doesn't have anything to do with me, but the parents of this young lady who's story I am going to share with you.

This is Paulyna. She is pictured with my son only because I don't have another picture of her alone. This story is about her...not him, but they look cute together any way (just a side note).

For the past several months we have been learning that God demands radical obedience to His word. He wants us to obey everything He has laid out before us. He wants us to be doers of His word not mere hearers of his word. He wants us to be examples of this faith in Jesus to our children and to teach them as they grow to be obedient to Him and His word.

Paulyna just turned Sweet 16! Most children at this age are focused on themselves. As parents we either example a life of self service, working to seek recreation and entertainment, or we teach them to serve others, sometimes we do both.

Paulyna has been a perfect example of what her parents have exampled to her this past week. I want to share with you how.

Paulyna was going to celebrate her birthday as most teens do with a party. However, she wanted to do things differently. She struggled with having a party to serve herself. She wanted to celebrate, but how could she have a party complete with decorations, cake, presents when there are so many people in need around the world?

By her parents example she thought through the cost of this party. She could spend the money on this festive day...or she could help people in need. People who only eat one meal a day, have no appropriate clothes to wear in cold weather. Children who don't have moms and dads to love them, whose living conditions are substandard. She thought through the sacrifice of forgoing serving herself and what it would cost her to give it up for the glory of Lord.

Paulyna started planning her Sweet 16 birthday party with these people in mind. Pastor Cyrus and his wife Eucabeth are a young couple who have given their lives in service to Jesus Christ. They live in Kenya, way out of town in a small village. They serve their community and care for 22 orphans. They give ALL they are for the glory of the Lord.

After thought and prayer, Paulyan decided that she would have a birthday celebration. She would have cake and food. There would be games and swimming. All of her close friends would be invited to share in the fun....BUT...something was going to be different. Instead of excepting gifts as most teens do, Paulyna decided to give it up for other children like Justin and Phinny...

And for Bereket and Dianna...

And for all the other children of this orphanage. They may not know Paulyna, they may be forgotten by their parents or by loved ones, but they are not forgotten by God. By the grace of Jesus Christ that is evident in Paulyna's life, she gave up what could have been used for new games, i pods, clothes, movies or a number of different things to serve OTHERS!

On her birthday invitation she included a note that said:

Please NO gifts, money only to be donated to Remember the Poor.

Paulyna raised $110 by denying herself for the Glory of the Lord!

I am so proud of her! She has not only blessed the life of these children in Kenya, but the lives of the people around her. She has taken what she has learned from Jesus and put it into action in her life.

I love you sweet Paulyna. Your obedience will be rewarded by blessing!

Then Jesus went to work on His disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Matthew 16:24

Juicy, Juicy Fruit...

2010-05-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the contrast.

Fresh summer fruit is finally here. You go to the store and you buy a variety of yummy fruit. Peaches, oranges, plums, and pears (my favorite). You get home from the store, so excited for your yummy, healthy purchase and can't wait for your first BIG bite! It is hard for you to decide which one you want to sink your teeth into first, but you choose the big, delicious peach. You take the time to wash it off, pat it with a paper towel, and take a smell, because it is gonna be good. You stand over the sink, just so you won't make a mess when you take that first taste. Then you open wide, trying to fit as much in your mouth as you can....and.....its.....DRY! DRY?? All this preparation for dry, not a drip of juice? What a disappointment.

I am not partial to dry, yucky fruit. I enjoy the opposite, what about you? I like when I sink my teeth into that fruit, and I can't contain the juice. I like when it spills down my chin, and drips onto the floor, or my shirt. I like that slurping sound you have to make when you eat it to suck up the juice it is spilling out. I love when I have friends, or my kids eating juicy fruit all together and we all make the same noise, enjoying every last bite, leaving us wanting MORE juicy fruit!!!

How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1: 1-3

Following the Lords instruction in our lives produces a life, like fruit in season! The promises of Jesus say that if we obey Him we produce yummy, juicy fruit. Others can see it, smell it and taste it! Our leaves do not wither!

I want to share with you a story of fruit. Not to boast but to encourage. I was so blessed by what I will share with you that it brought me to tears. Sometimes we wonder if what we are doing is producing fruit. Did we hear God right? Should we have done things differently? Are we walking in His will? We can all ways do the fruit test.

I was at the Dr. the other day with my African boys. It was a doctors appointment gone bad. Lets just say, that I didn't take into consideration that we were visiting a female doctor and I had boys with me who are only used to seeing male doctors, especially when it is a full physical. After the physical we checked out and started across the parking lot to the car, while I was trying to think of what I was going to say to my mortified boys. Right as we were getting ready to get into the car our doctor came running out. "Mrs. Thiele, come back, I forgot to check the boys hearing and eyes!" We turned around and went back in.

As my boys were getting their eyes checked, which was going equally as bad, a nurse came up to me and said, "When you are finished here, there is a lady who wants to speak with you," pointing in the other direction. I turned and looked to see beautiful lady with a baby on her hip. At first I thought I may recognize her until I finally realized, that she was a stranger and I didn't know her at all. I put a smile on my face and greeted her with a big "HI."

She walked up to me and introduced herself. "Hi my name is Jamiee, you don't know me, but I know you." Well that is always interesting right? I responded, "Your face looks familiar." Jamiee went on, "You are the lady that has had all the garage sale fundraisers for your adoptions. I have been to them and talked to you there." "With that she points to the baby on her hip (this is the juicy, juicy part) and says, " This is my adopted daughter and we are trying to adopt her bother as well! You and your husband have inspired my husband and I so much that we decided to adopt!!" CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? My God is so great! My God is so good! The fruit of obedience is sweet! Who would have ever thought that God would use our adoption garage sales for something other than rasing money AND then set up the perfect time and place to meet up with some of the fruit??

Jesus, totally caught me off guard. He took a day that I could have lived without and turned it into a day that I could not live without! He showed me that obedience to His word (no matter how hard, or how people look at you) produces a "Happy man, that is like a tree planted by the water and bearing fruit in season!"

Praise the Lord! His promises are true!

Answered Prayers...

2010-04-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

We have prioritized our comforts over the needs of the world around us, and we need to repent. ~ David Platt

These are just some of the faces of Africa. They are praising the One True God. Even in there sickness, disease, hunger, and thirst, they are praying and praising Jesus. These sweet faces pray for us every night. They pray that the Lord would provide for us, so that in turn, we can provide for them. The Lord has answered their prayers.

Meet Norah. She is vibrant 6 year old girl with a sweet heart and great disposition. Norah has big dreams for a bright future. She is a good student and a good help around the orphanage. She needs some one to love her. She needs someone to be the hands and feet of Jesus to her. Showing her that they care for her and her needs. Norah wants to stay in her native country, Kenya, to grow up and effect change. She prays that the Lord would provide the money for her monthly needs of food, water, medical care and schooling. The Lord has answered her prayers.

Diana is a shy but sweet girl. When we first met her, she didn't stand out in the crowd, she hid behind the others. She is 7 years old and strives hard in school and around the orphanage. She wants to get good grades so that she can get a good job when she grows. She loves to sing "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus." She prays for the God meet her where she is. She thanks him for what He has done on the cross for her sins. She asks him to bring only what she needs to carry her from day to day and to provide her with a hope and a future. The Lord has answered her prayers.

Today, I sat on the phone with a good friend. She has sold ALL of her possessions, and is getting ready to move her and her son to Uganda, to serve the "least of these." While we talked she filled me in on all the needs of the people she is moving to serve. The conversation left me in tears. The need is for a school. While there is no water in this village in Uganda, there is a great need for a school, over their need for water. You see the children have to walk to go to school. On the way the girls are kidnapped and then rapped. Therefore the parents are not sending their children to school and they in need of education, so that they can break the cycle of poverty. We have been praying for God to supply all the money so that they not only can have a school in their village, but so that they can also have water. The Lord has answered our prayers.

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack." 2 Cor 8

Don't miss this!

The Lord has supplied all the money for food they need

The Lord has supplied, all that she needs for medical care and education

The Lord has supplied all they need for hope and a future

The Lord has given us all we need, in order to supply what they lack!

The Lord has answered ALL of their prayers...

...the answer is YOU and ME!

We are the answer! We have the abundance that would supply their needs...it is in our cable bills, our car payments, our big houses, our boats, our hobbies, our vacations, our closets, our china cabinets. The excess is in our sports tickets, Starbucks coffee, upgrades in our homes, pedicures & manicures, restaurant bills, our animals and cell phones.

My heart breaks for us! We are caught in the lie of our possessions dictating our identity. We are caught in the lie that we are blessed just to be blessed. We are caught in the lie that if we live this way then we are legalistic and emergent, not saved by grace but by works. We have MORE in order to supply their lack. And we give because we LOVE JESUS...and because we have been saved by grace and grace alone this is just evidence of the fruit of JESUS in our lives. Because we LOVE Him so much we LOVE the least of these and we risk it ALL!

Oh brothers and sisters in Christ...LET US BE A PART OF GODS ALREADY ANSWERED PRAYERS! Let us live as if this were not our home!

My last thought is, we are not to compare ourselves to others. My heart is for what the word of God says. I want my heart to break for what breaks His and through this blog I share it with you. The Lord says to give from the heart...give of what we have and sometimes from what we don't have, NOT only from our abundance but from our sacrifice. Sacrifice of TIME, MONEY, and TALENTS. The money I spend for my monthly cable bill will sponsor one of these children you see above. What could your abundance and sacrifice supply?

Angel...

2010-04-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Lord uses many different ways to speak into your life. Sometimes He speaks to your heart personally through prayer and reading His word. Sometimes He uses pastors or sermons or bible studies. Sometimes He uses Angel's.

This is my new friend Angel. I don't know that I will ever see her again this side of heaven, but I must share this story with you.

The past few months in the Thiele household, have been...well let's just say interesting. If I were honest, I would say challenging and tiring and I would allow you a peek into our controlled chaos. With the beauty of adoption and parenting for that matter, come challenges and with nine kids, 5 from foreign countries, I am wiped out. I know that it will get better, but it is times like these the Lord uses the Angel's in our lives to bring refreshment and encouragement for a weary soul.

Every year on Easter we go to the park and hang out with friends and family. It is such a wonderful part of our year and we look forward to having the opportunity to catch up, and meet new people. After we ate lunch we were all just sitting around talking and I looked up and this lady was tromping across the field, like she was on a mission. My first thought was, "oh no...what did my kids do", as they were all following her closely behind. Once she reached us, my friend Seggy and I stood up to say hello and this is what came of our conversation.

Angel: "GIRL...There is Jesus ALLLLL....over this place! I have met the NATIONS today! I looked over and saw the anointing of the Spirit on these children and I had to come to meet you. I have heard that there are people touching the nations..but I had to come and see for myself."

Drea: Speechless

Angel: "Your beautiful kids told me the story of what is going on in your house and I just had to come and say Praise the Lord! God is GOOD...ALL the time! What you and your friends are doing here God has blessed!

Drea: still speechless

And then she started to prophesy

Angel: "You may be feeling like your body is going to fall apart and you are walking around with your shoulders dropped (acting it out for me, leaning up against things to prop her up), BUT I am here to tell you to hold your head up...GOD is going to give you strength...He is NOT done with you yet. He is going to bring MORE...BE READY for it! It will be by HIS might, not your own, so TRUST Him! He sees that you and your friends are willing and obedient, He is going to use you all to reach the nations for HIS Glory! So keep strong, be encouraged, God loves you and your obedience to Him, you will be blessed! "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Cor 2:9, He is going to use this ministry and He is going to increase it!"

Drea: crying... and still speechless

Angel: " I have goose bumps all over, I had to come and meet you..The glory of the Lord is in this place. Praise Him for what he has done and what he will do in the future...SO HOLD on...He is not done!"

This is obviously paraphrased, but pretty close. However, the actual words she said were far more beautiful than that. She prayed over us later when I took the picture. We were all in awe of the goodness of God in this. Angel was sent as a messenger of God to share the truth with His weary people. He used Angel to speak truth into our lives.

I am grateful for Jesus, I am grateful that he uses just everyday people to touch lives. I am grateful that he uses us to do the same thing. I was just recounting this encounter with Seggy today...Angel said things that she didn't know about it...this was a confirmation that we are walking in His will.

Thank you Angel, for stepping out in faith and sharing the love of Jesus with our group. Thank you Jesus, for using Angel for that drink of cold water...till we meet again friend!

Where Are You...

2010-04-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

Where are you?

You who are fortunate enough to know what it means to be saved?

Where are you who have been washed in the blood of the Jesus Christ?

Where have you been?

Can't you see that we are in agony?

Didn't Christ command you to come to us?

The world is perishing in its darkness.

Thousands are dying in the flames of HELL.

Have mercy, and come to us;

We beseech you to come!

We are clad in the rags of ruin;

Totally bankrupt only God can help us now!

But will we also have a chance to hear His voice?

His peace and His salvation,

Will we also have access to them?

Where are You?

WHERE ARE YOU BEARERS OF LIGHT?

We call out to you, but there is NO ANSWER,

Have you fallen asleep?

WHERE ARE YOU?

I Will Come To You...

2010-03-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Many people have asked me how they can be involved in caring for orphans and giving to the poor. There are many ways to live out the James 1:27, call to care for widows and orphans. While everyone is called to "care" not everyone is called to adopt. Sponsoring a child is a way to "adopt" with out bringing a child home. There are 147 million orphans in the world, they are all waiting for the promise parents.

This is Purity...her name reflects her personality. She is a sweet 7 year old girl, living in Kisii, Kenya without a mother or father. She is a total orphan. She is hungry with out a big variety of food, or resources. She walks about 1/4 of a mile to get water several times a day, and about 2 miles everyday to school. Her diet consists of a cup of millet for breakfast, no lunch, and posho (cornmeal) and beans for dinner. She lives without heat, or electricity or any modern conveniences. There is no running water or indoor toilets and she lives on a mud floor.

Purity needs a sponsorship to provide her three meals a day, medical care and education so she can go to university. When we invest in a young child, they have the opportunity to grow properly and break the cycle poverty.

Justin, as you can tell by his smile, is a vibrant young man. He lives under the same conditions of Purity. He is 13 years old and dreams of being a pilot when he grows up. He is a great student and good helper around the orphanage. He loves to sing worship songs with the other children and is a leader. He desperately needs a sponsorship so he can receive proper care and education, in order to fulfill his dreams.

Justin and Purity once lived in homes under the care of their parents. They once had someone to look after them supplying their needs. They were not concerned for their future. Like our own children, they didn't have a care in the world. Disease, poverty and hunger changed their circumstances. Their parents died leaving them to fend for themselves.

Now, with the help of Remember the Poor, The Mission, the orphan ministry in Kenya, and You, we can bring hope to the hopeless. Your sponsorship will provide your sponsored child with, three substantial meals a day, medical care, and education. We can change the world together, one orphan at a time. Please pray and ask God how you can provide for the needs of these children, and the love from a parent that they deserve. Click here, to minister to the "least of these."

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." ~ Jesus ~

Comission vs Omission...

2010-03-13T23:24:00.000-08:00

We going through the book of James. The Lord has taught us so much on our journey to be more and more like Him. Tonight, once again, He showed me something profound. David Platt puts it far more eloquently than I do, so if you rather hear it straight from him Click Here. If not hang on while I attempt to share my heart with you.

In James 4:17 says: So, for the person knows to do good and doesn't do it, it is a sin. This sounds like a simple scripture. I tend to think of this scripture as a compare and contrast scripture. For example..the opposite of good is bad. So of course if we don't do good and do bad, it is a sin. What stood out to me the most, was that it is not that clear cut.

The 10 commandments lay out rules to obey. Thou shall not kill, thou shall not covet, thou shall not lust, etc. We sometimes think that if we do not do these things, then we are not sinning, this can be referred to as commission.

However there is another aspect to obedience, and that is omission. In other words...there are things that the Lord clearly lays out for us to do and if we don't do them we are disobedient. For example, if I ask my children to pick up their toys and clean up and they do not...it is disobedience. If I ask my son to be home at 10 and he returns at 11...that is disobedience. We must obey Jesus, in the same way. He has asked us to live in way that is different from the world, focused on others and not self. He has asked us to trust Him, not man. He has asked us to care for the poor, widowed and orphaned. He has asked us to make disciples of all nations. He asked us to sell our possessions and give to the poor so that our brothers and sisters would not have need. There are many things, that as followers of Christ we are asked to do and if we do not...we disobey Christ. There is no other way to look at it.

Although works do not save us, we are saved by grace and grace alone, they are necessary. James says "Faith separated from works is dead." If we love Jesus we will obey His commandments. That poses the next question..how do give? The Lord leads us in many ways. We not only give financially, but we also can give of our time. The thing that we must not do is compare ourselves to each other. All of us are called..it is in what capacity that differs. Like the widow and the Pharisees. The widow gave her last money and the Pharisees gave of their abundance and wealth. The widow was commended and the Pharisees, condemned. Why? The widow was obedient and her heart was lined up with Jesus'. The Pharisees were not. It was not the question of how much she gave, it was a question of how she was obedient to what the Lord asked her to give.

We should be obedient to what the Lord has called us to do individually, not compare ourselves to each other. Our heart needs to line up with what Jesus. And what He wants from us individually, will differ. We can also ask the Lord how wants us to give, and in what capacity. He will be faithful to show us and give us ideas and convict our hearts. We just need to be obedient to what He calls us to do.

Yard Sale for Remember the Poor

2010-03-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

We are having a yard sale today, March 11th through Saturday March 13th to help support Remember the Poor. Come on out and join us for the fun.

If She Were Mine...

2010-03-02T23:03:00.000-08:00

This is Dorothy...she is an orphan in Kisii, Kenya where we went to visit before picking up our children in Ethiopia. Dorothy is three years old and was found abandoned in the near by woods of Kisii, alone and starving. Government officials brought Dorothy to Pastor Cyrus, knowing that he had compassion for orphans and would care for her like his own.

Today Cyrus called me to let me know that Dorothy needed lots of prayer. She is sick with fever and possible Pneumonia. It is the rainy season in Kenya and they don't have the money for medical care, let alone food, or transportation to get to the hospital. As Pastor Cyrus was giving me the update on little Dorothy, my eyes began to fill with tears. My heart ached and here is why:

I am a mother of nine. If one of my children were sick with suspected pneumonia, I would be taking her to emergency ASAP. If Dorothy were my child, I would not have to wait until tomorrow to have her seen by doctors. If Dorothy were my little girl, no amount of money or medical expenses would stand between her and a cure. If she were mine, she would be on antibiotics, safe, warm and in my arms. I would comfort her when she coughed, monitor her temperature and feed her warm soup. If Dorothy were my little girl, mommy would be just a call away and she would not have to sit in a damp, cold dorm, with no electricity, and no heat. I would cradle her in my arms and tell her that it was going to be alright and that Jesus loves her.

But...Dorothy is mine, and yours. She is entrusted to us by Jesus Himself. His word says, that if we love Him, we will love Dorothy and 149 million others like her. He says if we love Him, we will love our neighbors like ourselves. He says if we love Him we will obey His commandments. His commandments say; To care for widows and orphans in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Jesus says; If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well, be warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

Dorothy is mine. If you are a follower of Christ, she is your too. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ. God has allowed us to work on His behalf, sharing God's glory with all nations. Dorothy not only needs our prayers she needs sponsorship, which will afford her food, clothing, medical care and education. If you are interested in sponsoring Dorothy please leave a comment on my comment page and I will send you details on how you can become Christs hands and feet for Dorothy.

Disposable Paper Bowls...

2010-02-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

Who would think that the Lord would use disposable paper bowls to speak to me. You know, the kind bowls that you use when you have a whole bunch of people over and you don't want to do dishes?? The kind that you use and then throw away?

This is Pastor Experito.

Pastor Experito is from Northern Uganda and he is visiting in the US for a short while. We had the privilege of hearing his testimony tonight. He is an amazing man of God.

This is our Radical Small Group .

We meet together weekly to encourage one another and to allow God to challenge our way of thinking and our way of life. We have been meeting together for several months to watch the David Platt Radical Series and the Faith Works Series. The Lord has given us many opportunities to live according to His word by caring for the poor, orphaned, widowed, oppressed and lost. As a group we decided to have RICE night every time we meet. The idea is to skip a meal and eat rice, and what we would have spent on a pot luck dinner, we put into our rice night money jar and donate to Remember The Poor , which in turn goes to our Kenya ministry to orphans. We have devoted ourselves to hearing the word and then practicing doing the word.

Now, I am not bragging by any means. I am proud of the people that attend our RSG, and how they have been committed to fasting a meal and giving to help support Pastor Cyrus in Kenya. In the past several months we have been able to provide Cyrus and his family along with 22 orphans, food, clothes, medicine, school fees and uniforms, a computer, camera and bicycle. Just one night of skipping a full mean (we still eat) has provided all of this and more for our new family in Kenya. However, just when I thought I have learned a lot (and proud of it)...the Lord not so gently reminds me that I have far more to learn.

I know to some this sounds like a great accomplishment. Cyrus is being blessed and the kids have warm new clothes, but just yesterday I received a call from Cyrus to let me know that as of right now, they are out of food. They have no money to buy any food and they are hungry. Strange thought...no food. I mean surely they have something to eat...NO, they have nothing. I was sick all day....my brother and his wife, and all those precious orphans have no food, "Lord, what am I going to do about it? I have limited money as well...nine children, one salary, how are we going to help feed all these mouths? There must be more I can do."

Then tonight Pastor Experito came for a welcomed visit. I was so happy that the Lord saw fit to interrupt our normal group night so we could hear from our new friend from Uganda. Little did I know what was coming next...CONVICTION!

Experito, came right in and we prayed for our rice as we always do and began to serve it in disposable paper bowls. All was well, until Experito realized that once we were done eating, we took our bowls and threw them in the trash. He immediately turned to one of the ladies in our group and asked what we were doing with the bowls. She said, "Oh...they are disposable." It was then that truth pierced our ears. Experito said, "You want to do something big? You must start with something small. This money you spend on bowls that you throw away, could be used to feed starving children. Why don't you take the money you throw in the trash, and put it in the jar on the table. You can use regular bowls and wash them."

Now, I don't know how that is resonating in your soul...but just typing those words are hurting my heart. How do I come off thinking that I am better than any of the starving people in Africa, or China or South America? How do I think that I am so doing my part by having rice once a week? Silly me! Am I so comfortable that I have NOT a clue of the poverty around the world? YES! I mean, I just returned from Africa. The smell of poverty is still in my nose. Have you ever smelt it? It is real. It is a stench I will never forget AND I have the resources to end it! We have the resources to end it!

James 5:1 is a warning to the rich. It says:

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers who you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people who do not resist you.

Again, I don't know what how the word of the Lord hits you here, but it penetrates me to my very core.

I have heard people use the "guilt" clause, for a way of justifying their same old life, "status quo" so to speak. Anytime the Lord presses us with cutting words, we flee and claim "guilt" and "legalism". I am guilty of the same thing. We don't want to be challenged to the point of feeling uncomfortable. We want our luxuries and want to justify our way out of it by saying, "guilt is not from the Lord."

HOWEVER

I want to beg a different look at guilt. Could it be that the "guilt" we feel is "conviction" instead?

Lets say I went to Best Buy. I am looking at the little digital cameras and want one really bad. I mean they are so cute, and it would fit in my purse...I would hardly notice it was there because they are so small. But they are a lot of money, and I don't have that kind of money. Well...I could just sneak it into my purse...no one would really notice. Okay, I'll do it....swipe it and run.

Once I got home, stealing that little camera began to eat away at me. I began to feel guilty and just can't stand myself, so I call a sister in Christ and tell her what I have done. She says to me...Drea, you feel "guilty"? Sister..."guilt", is not from the Lord, that is "legalism".

Would my guilt be legalism, or conviction? I think we all know the answer. It is so easy to justify these things away, when it is not blatant stealing. However, would it not be stealing from the Lord if we did not use our resources to benefit HIS kingdom. I mean they are His to begin with right? So instead of giving them back to God (I am not talking here about our 10% tithe) we steal food out of the mouths of orphans and clean water from tribes, and buy a new car, or clothes we don't need, maybe some little trinket at the store to decorate our home, instead. "Well the Lord did bless us as Americans, we justify. I don't need to feel guilty that I buy stuff. I do give."

The Scripture says that our things will testify against us. That when we stand in front of our judge, the moth eaten clothes and the rust eaten gold and silver we possess will speak about what we have done with Gods resources. Even the disposable paper bowls. Friends I am guilty of this very thing. I am not pointing a finger at you...all ten of mine are pointing right at me. I'm just saying that we...brothers and sister have ALL the God given resource we need. We don't need anything the bible says but food, clothing and shelter. Let us stop the stench of poverty and starvation. Let us give everything that God has given us.

Let us stand together before a Holy God...with nothing!

If Only We Would...

2010-02-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

This is a post from a God fearing and obedient woman of the Lord. I adore Katie. She is an amazing example of how we should obey God and follow Him whole heartedly. I want to share her post with you. It says it all.

2010 years ago, Jesus changed the world.

I bet, if we would let Him, He would do it again today. And EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I would like to invite you to go with me on a journey. Almost exactly 2 and a half years ago I stepped out of my life of comfort to go on a journey with my Savior. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what this journey was going to look like. I HAD NO IDEA. And I am so thankful, because it has indeed been more than all I could have ever asked or imagined. It is a journey in which I learn a little more every day about God's awesome nature and his extravagant compassion. It is a journey on which I strive each day to give a little more of myself to Him and a little less of myself to, well, myself. I have been opened to ways I never could have imagined to see Jesus's heart for the poor, and His grief over those who neglect them. I have been shown that the way I was choosing to live my life before this journey was not only intolerable, but impossible for someone who claimed to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, for the record, I do. This journey has not only changed my perspective, it has changed my priorities. And the best part is this: it is FAR from over.

Recently I have been blessed to listen to the preachings of a man named David Platt. More accurately, I have been blessed to listen to the preachings of a man named Jesus, read to me in all their truth and might, through my computer screen by a man named David Platt. This man articulates beautifully all the God has opened my heart to in the past 2 and a half years and says everything my heart desires to say. The Truth is bold, in your face, and even frightening. IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.

So here is my request. I am begging and pleading with all of you to take 8 hours out of your life to watch David Platt's Radical series. (I am pretty sure it is supposed to span over a period of 8 weeks, but if you are like me you are going to want to watch them all back to back in a day!) Then, after you have been completely blown away, I am asking to really pray about and consider leading a small group in the study of these sermonsas well as the Faith works series that goes hand in hand with it. I believe that if we truly listen to and believe and grasp this word, it will change our nation and the world.

There are tools and all the info you need at www.radicalsmallgroups.com and all questions may be directed to radicalsmallgroups@gmail.com

I am excited to watch this spread, these Truths are compelling and life altering ... It's time to put our faith into action!

My Boy...

2010-02-21T22:41:00.001-08:00

While all of our children are amazing, I want to share with you in particularly about my son Eyob. God's hand is upon this child, and most definitely is a part of his heart and life. I just want to share with you some things that he has shared with us in these past few weeks since we have been home. Just a reminder he is only 12 (well 13 in America, but 12 yet in Ethiopia).

Mom: "How many kids do you want when you grow up Eyob?"
Eyob: "As many as the Lord wills."

Mom: "Eyob, are you afraid to leave your brothers in Ethiopia?"
Eyob: "No Mom, God will protect them."

Dad: "Eyob, I think one day you will be a pastor...you are so smart!"
Eyob: "No, I want the Lord to send me where ever He wants." (He explained he wants to travel and teach others about Jesus).

Today at church...The teacher was talking about something that we should do as believers...
Eyob: "Amy, if we don't have Jesus in our heart first, then none of this matters."

"Mom, a man can give gifts with his body...but unless he welcomes another with his heart, then he is not welcomed."

We sometimes have no idea what the Lord has in store for us or why. When we obey God, He uses us to fulfill His plan. He will accomplish it with or without us, willingly or unwillingly (like Jonah and the whale), but He would rather use us willingly. I have no idea why the Lord has called us to adoption of many children, but I do know this. He wants them to know Jesus. He wants to use them for His glory..and already has. God is good, all the time.

James 1:27, is not just for the widows and orphans, it is for us as well. Yes, the verse speaks about caring for the widow and orphan in their distress...but it also talks about keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. When we do what the Lord has commanded we are blessed. Although nine children seems like a lot, (and it is) God has provided everything we have needed. I do not presume to say that our children are blessed as much as we are. They have already changed our lives, and God has taught us more then we could have ever imagined. I have heard over and over, how blessed these children are and how they have been given the opportunity to new life...while this is true, I would argue, that we are more blessed than they AND we have also been given an opportunity to new life.

Oh friends! I urge us to consider our ways. What are we living for? Are we really living for Christ? If we were to be honest with ourselves, could we say that we are ready to give ALL to Jesus, even if it went against all of our logic and rational? Would we follow Him into the desert? Would we follow Him beyond our reason? Would we love the "least of these"? God wants more than a willing heart...he wants an obedient heart. He wants doers of His word, not just hearers. I am not saying that everyone should adopt...but I am saying that everyone should care...

How?

Isaiah 1:17-20 - Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Friends, lets wake from our slumber! Lets learn to do right, lets defend the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow, together. If only 7% of professing Christians obeyed these commandments...there would be NO MORE orphans in the WORLD!

" If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best fromt he land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For he mouth of the Lord has spoken.

I'm just a girl...

2010-02-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I have received all sorts of comments like, "How do you do this", or "Wow, I could never do this, you are wonder-woman. You are an amazing woman of God."

This is a very real post with very real emotions. Maybe not something you may not want to hear from a woman you have been following for so long. A woman that you think is doing this amazing work of God. YES, the work is amazing, but the woman is not, she is just a girl obeying her father.

As you noticed these past few days have been silent..well almost a week now. In fact, my last post I could only muster up a few words and then point you in the direction of a woman, I 100% agree with...I hope you had time to read her post. I have been Amening it ever since. This road has been a major challenge already and doesn't look very hopeful for a quick end.

Adoption is a blessing...but it does not come without a cost. It is not something to be considered lightly, however it is something to be taken seriously. I believe that what the Lord says about adoption is true...I believe He is serious about what He says about widows and orphans. I believe that if we believe that God's word is Spirit breathed, then we must take it all as seriously as He does. However, I also believe that just because the Lord calls us to do something does it mean it won't be hard. The road is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult, but it is best to obey.

The past 4 weeks have held serious emotions and serious challenges. Even when we arrived in Kenya, Satan had set out to destroy, kill and annihilate us and discourage us at the very least. He has thrown us off by a horrible accident in Africa involving our van and a 7 year boy...God healed him. He has tried to discourage and scare us with demonic encounters...God has the victory. He has tried to make us second guess what we were doing and why. He almost succeeded, until I picked up on his schemes. He has worked hard to take our focus off of Jesus and turn them to our stresses and distractions. Only through God's strength are we able to withstand.

Yesterday alone, I woke early, tried to get quite time to prepare myself for what was ahead, I failed. My almost 5 year old from China, who has only ever one time in her little life with us pooped in her pull up did, with a BIG mess everywhere and a bath at 6:30am. Served 9 children breakfast, including our EXTREMELY picky Ethiopian children who only want bread and bannanas, dispite all of our efforts to make Ethiopian food. I was a short order cook for all 3 meals including snacks ( I can't blame them). Then proceeded to my boys room where all 4 boys reside. Picking up trash off the floor (that is where the trash goes in Africa), wiping pee off of the toilet seats and floors, separating drawers because Eyob and Christopher can't share, then back to the bath room to find poop toilet paper in the trash can, doing yet another lesson in shint-a-bit (for those of you who think that I am cursing, I am not, that is the word for going to the bathroom...fitting I know) anyway, a lesson that provided full re-enactment of going to the toilet, wiping and NOT throwing the poop toilet paper in the trash BUT in the toilet and then flushing it!!!!! (I know that this may be TMI..but it is a reality that I must share). Then off to the girls room, which was pretty decent, only to find out that the girls bathroom smelt like a sewer...you guessed it more shint-a-bit lessons with re-enactment, then scrubbing the poop off of the ornately decorated trash can where the poop, was you guessed it, was in the ornate flowers with toilet paper stuck to it. Now I know what you are thinking...DREA THROW IT AWAY, but I scrubbed it instead. Then down stairs for lunch, where I battled my little African children, they can't eat dabo (bread) for breakfast lunch and dinner AND they must stop telling me NO. Had a MAJOR power struggle with Meskerem, who doesn't take no for an answer...however I won. Then the kids were off to play outside, while I cut my dads hair and took care of his prescriptions by phone. Once the kids were in, I broke up a brawl...YES that is exactly what I mean brawl, not the likely participants...Meskerem and Eyob (brother and sister), complete with blood and broken lip...dealt with 14 year old attitude (no it does not differ just because you came from a different country). Found the phone number of an Ethiopian restaurant owner so that he could translate EXACTLY what I wanted to say to her about nailing her brother in the lip with a flashlight and scratching his skin off with her nails AND not responding to me when I call, SO THAT there was NO misunderstanding....and let me tell you this was only around 2:30 we still had half the day to go. Discouraged...is an understatement to say the very least.

All of this to tell you, when I signed up for this, I did not get any wonder twin power activate ring, or cool red, white and blue leotards. When I spin in circles, it means that I am about to lose my mind, not become a super hero. In fact, sometimes I dream of taking the form of an ice burg, or ball of fire, or maybe an eagle so I can fly away...but it does not work...ever. The last few days I have questioned God...reasoned with him, dreamt of what tomorrow will bring, I have been scared to death, convinced myself it will get better, praised God for three little African beauties, thought of how I could reverse all that we have done, and then come to grips that the Lord did tell me to do this and then resolved to the fact that I am just a girl...obeying her Father. It is a strange reality, but it is true...NONE of this has been possible because of me or anything that I have ever done. It is only possible because God said, I obeyed, and HE alone equips us with what we need to follow it all through. He equips us with Himself.

That is why Paul could with stand and continue to pursue Christ vigorously...He was equipped with Christ and His Holy Spirit, he was obedient and wanted to bring the Lord glory no matter what the Lord allowed...alone he would have failed and retreated from God's mission.

2 Corinthians 11:24-31 "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying."

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

So one may ask..."Drea, how do you do this. I wish I could do ________ but I just can't, I don't have the time, or the resources, or the patience or the _________. You must be wonder mom. You are an amazing woman of God."

I don't feel amazing, however I do have an AMAZING GOD!!! This road is not easy, but we are all called. We don't have to wait for the heavenly phone to ring...it is in scripture, we must obey and then know that the One who called all of us is faithful and He will do it!

I must remember that I am just a girl...obeying her Father, and my Father is God!

This Sums It Up...

2010-02-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post in a few days, don't worry I will, BUT I must say...this blog sums it up!
Click here...The Journey

A Warm Welcome...

2010-02-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Our van heading to the airport

Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sue surprised us all from Cali

Cailee and Grandma Sue...Surprise

Chloe, looking and waiting for us

Cyilea watching and waiting

Our Friends

The first sighting of the new kids

Tears of joy

Trevor and his "boy" Cadenn

Three best buds

Me and my Papa...Mom was there in Spirit

Sami meeting Papa for the first time

Gramie and Sami

Cindy, Coral and Meskerem (a true miracle...Praise the Lord)

Seggy and the kids...He feels right at home

Bryan on the phone with Ron, who organized the whole van idea...he is looking for the surprise that Ron told him is in the parking garage.

Not a cute cry, but not an ugly one either...choking back tears...God is so good.

Me and my girl Mimi...

My little guys...boy are in trouble

The gang in front of our new 15 passenger van...Praising God

Me and my cousin...

Me, Zona and Lisa...Zona's aka..BFL she did well hiding the van from everyone including my kids..she even lied a bit to keep the secret, so out of her character...but she done good!

Thank you sweet friends for loving God the way you do. Thank you for you love for us and the way you live your lives to honor God. You all mean the world to us, wish you were all there. We are praying for you all, you have been the biggest blessing in our lives.

We Are Home...

2010-02-05T22:52:00.000-08:00

Our first meeting

Never before in this orphanage, have kids met at a worship service..or with flowers, truely a blessing.

Our first sighting of them, the kids were chanting Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

Bryan introducing his new family

Other kids, some from the orphange, some from the neighborhood

Pastor Abdisa

Pastor Bryan

Abdisa and his wife praying over the kids and us

David, Erica, Nicole and the gang, what a blessing and honor to have them all their for this wonderful day...we love you guys

Our new friends we stayed with, at a dinner celebration

Me and Samuel...or Sami

Coral and Meskerem

First ice cream...and it is cold

Building Legos back at the house...getting to know eachother

My friends, God is good and this trip is a testimony to His greatness and faithfulness. Not just because we are home with our children...but this whole trip has had God's hand in it. As we were recounting His goodness we truly realized just how deep, how wide, how high His love is for each and every one of us.

Our kids did great on the flight home...there were some unruly children...our kids were not one of them. They had a TON of firsts on the plane home and did great. We didn't even get to sit next to each other and had to split up into pairs or threes and they just adapted.

Once we landed in Minnesota, the children were so happy to be in America. There was snow on the ground and Eyob was really wanting to go outside to touch it. Much to his disappointment, we didn't of course, but we looked out the window a lot at it. I called home while we waited to board and everyone was able to talk on our cell phone.

We slept most of the way to Arizona, so the ride went quick!! When we got to that familiar ramp..we could see our friends and loved ones with signs and could hear them cheering from a mile away, seriously. We were all excited...glad we prepared the kids for it a head of time, they might have thought there was a fire or something.

We were so excited to see all of you who came to airport. What a total blessing, more than you will ever know on our side. Or kids were so excited to see all of this for them..or they prob. thought, their new parents were really something. There were so many people that I just didn't expect..new friends, old friends, newly healed friends, out of state family out of country friends...to see your shiny faces was the best thing for us!! I am so glad that we could rejoice together over the goodness of God in bringing these children home, this was priceless something I will not forget.

We collected our bags and decided we would take a group picture at the car!! WELL , God showed up yet again. For those of you who don't really know us but follow our blog, I will explain. We have nine kids...plus us makes eleven. If any kid has a friend, then add that on. Just with the number eleven, we have a serious car problem. Our car only seats eight. So...three of us don't fit. My solution, was to pray. Mind you, it sounds like a serious woman of faith..but I really did not have any other alternative, so prayer was it. I thought, God can do anything right. Since being in Kenya, I really learned that God can and will do what pleases Him, so I prayed and trusted that he knows. What was the worst thing really? Bryan and I would drive two separate cars...no biggie. While we were in Africa, we needed a bigger van to tote all of us around in and every time we would get into one, we would joke how we needed to take it home with us.

When we walked to the parking garage, I could hear all of the co motion going on and didn't know why. Suddenly I saw it...WE HAD A 15 PASSENGER VAN WAITING FOR US!!! Our friends are amazing!!! Ron and Zona had the idea to get this van...I still don't know all of the details...but some how they got my "adoption update" email list and emailed our friends and family and explained what they were doing and asked if anyone would like to chip in....I don't know who did yet, but I know several of you did! The car or bus rather is amazing...it seats us all with room for three more, STOP...I know what you are thinking, but give us time to settle in a bit, before you go and add on to our family!

We CAN'T BELIEVE THE GOODNESS OF GOD! We can't thank you enough for your prayers and donations. I still am sitting in awe of my friends and their obedience to Christs call to care for the orphans of this world. THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you friends for loving us so much...and for loving our kids so much...It leads me to my key phrase for the past two weeks...ONLY GOD!!! Who could do this better?...ONLY GOD.

I know all of you played a part, but ONLY because of GODS goodness and HIS desire to care for the least of these could this be accomplished...ONLY GOD would be able to pull this off. This is the blessing to us and to you...God desires to bless when we are obedient to His word. Because the Lord put His desire in our hearts and in the hearts of our friends...He was given glory, and made all things things fall into place...ONLY GOD. He loves Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel...it is evident in His handy work. We are grateful and humbled at the hearts of his servants...thank you dear ones...we are truly blessed.

I am posting some pictures that probably showed up at the top...I will post our comming home pictures tomorrow, this is just a little something to keep you looking. Until tomorrow..USA time.

Chow ...

2010-02-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

This is our last post from Addis...it is bitter sweet that is for sure. We have been so blessed to spend the time in Kenya with our brother Cyrus and his family and then here with our new friends Levi and Jessie. God is most certainly good all of the time! Our time here in Addis has been wonderful. We are parents to new 3 kids and that is such a blessing. I am sitting here in the living room and my heart is full. Thank you so much for following and being a part of this incredible journey. We can't wait to see you at home..and for those of you who are not close, we look forward to keeping you posted as we settle in and posting the pictures that you are wanting to see. Chow as the Ethiopians say. We are so thankful for you...see you soon!!

Oooops ... time warp anyone?

2010-02-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

Good thing Zona is so smart and observant. We DO NOT land Thrusday...we DO land Friday at 5:03pm...ALL other info is the same. Sorry if that messed you up, but I am happy if that helped :) I was hoping for a time warp...leave at 1:50 US time, travel 27 hours and land at 5:03 the same day...I don't think so :( SO FRIDAY it is! Yesterday was our farewell party. It was such a sad and happy event. We arrived at the Thomas Center, the kids were so happy to see their friends. The other were welcoming us with a song. We worshiped and then Abdisa delivered a message on Col. 1, walking, working and wisdom. Loved it, we need to walk in Christ, work and be fruitful in Christ and have wisdom in Christ. Great message. What I noticed is that Paul didn't say have wisdom in Christ, have wisdom in Christ, have wisdom in Christ. We actually must walk and work...wisdom is not enough. Once we have the knowledge, we are responsible to act...walk and work! When we look at the children we will leave behind, it is more evident that we need to walk and work. There is a beautiful little girl we will leave behind, her name is Sisay she is 13 years old. I had the opportunity to talk with her yesterday. She waits for a family and no one adopts her because she is older with 2 other siblings. Meskerem is her good friend and Sisay is sad that she is leaving. Sisay wants a family to love her. She doesn't want to stay in the home while everyone else leaves and she stays. She love science and she loves to pray. She wants to be a doctor and a preacher when she grows up...she wants an opportunity to be a child with a mom and a dad. She needs a family to love her and afford her the chance to make her dreams a reality...she needs a family that LOVES Christ to not only know what the bible says BUT to walk and work! Please pray for her. I loved loving on her and talking to her. She is such a beautiful child of God, all of our hearts broke. Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel spent time crying and missing their family at the Thomas Center. We must remember that God is good...but he is waiting for us to be his vehicle. The song they sang when we entered...God is good, He helps people like us. Today is a long day as we wait to catch our plane. We are so excited to see our kids and our family and friends. We thank you for all of your prayers and support. You all are such a blessing to us and we thank God for you. Please be praying for safe travels...Sisay, and how we all can walk and work toward Christ! See you soon!

A slight change in plans ...

2010-02-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

The Thiele's will be coming back on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5th. Same time 5:03 pm on Delta/Northwest from Minneappolis. Slight mistake on the day. We thought it was Thursday the 4th .... but we were wrong. Oops!

Goodness, Faithfulness, Love ...

2010-02-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the Embassy and we are OFFICIAL!!! Praise the Lord. The kids were so excited to get the paperwork done, everyone started clapping and then hugged and kissed eachother. Even Abdissa was so excited. What a blessing to be there all together and praise God all together! I will try to answer questions that are being asked then best I can. Are the children nervous? Yes a little bit, but with each passing day they get better. We asked Eyob if he was scared to leave his brother and he said, "no, God will protect him." The faith of a child. Yesterday we took Meskerem to get her hair done and she looked a little sad, however she didn't say that she was. I know that there will be an adjustment for all fo them, day by day...but God is good and he is faithful. They are excited to fly and get home to meet the rest of the kids and extended family and friends. How are we adjusting to all of us? Great...they are so loving and touchy just like us. The kids have been great all together, Levi and Jessie's kids have played well with all of us. There is a bike here and all of them have been trying to ride it, they have never been on a bike but they are determined. What is the food like? YUMMY....I love it. I have not been sick once, neither has anyone else...God's Grace. We have eaten almost everything and have had NO problems. I even use the sink water.... There are a lot of firsts for everyone still, but this morning when I got Meskerem dressed..she was so excited and said, "Mom, the clothes are beautiful, thank you!" Tonight we go to a farewell party and then to a cultural dinner with dancing and food from all the different cultures in Ethiopia. We are so grateful for Levi and Jessie and how they opened their home to us. They are amazing people of God and have extended such love to us..and of course we just click! Love how the Lord knows we don't every have to worrry (that is specifically for me). Coral is going to get her hair done here, you can get braids for about $10 here, so it is a steal of a deal. We can't wait to get home and see all of you. We are praying for all of you and love you dearly. Blessings until tonight!!!!

Another Day in Addis ...

2010-02-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today was another great day in Addis. The people are so nice here and you do feel really safe. Even with the beggers and the people that approach you in the street, you feel safe. We went to the Thomas Center (where we should have met our kids for the first time), and saw where they slept and played. It was so cool because above their beds were their pictures that said "congratulations, and welcome to the Thiele Family". Everywhere we went the workers and friends would congratulate them. The kids loved their new clothes and PJ's...they were so cute in them. They brush their teeth for ever and they are clean. Today was many first's for the kids...they used a straw for the first time, soap dispenser and hand dryer. They also had ice cream for the first time, pizza and a shower. It was very cute to see them chatter in Amharic after a new first...with big smiles on thier faces. Last night after I got Meskerem showered and dressed...she gave me a big hug and three kisses on my cheek...so sweet. Today she held my had alot and hugged me. Bryan gave her a coin earlier today, when we went to the store there was an old man begging, she told me to hold on and went and gave it to him...I just love her. She also sings and sings...perfect huh?? Eyob is like REALLY good at soccer...so we will have to sign him up.He is very out going and not afriad to talk and try stuff. His smile is great and he has a lot of friends. Samuel, is shy but goofy. He is so cute and likes to play soccer too...Christopher you better brush up on you soccer skills...these kids are going to teach you how to play. We are all tucked in for bed. Tomorrow is another big day. I am going to try to post pictures tonight, but no promises. Zona, the kids sizes are almost right. Meskerem...just as we thought 10 Eyob... shirts are perfect 8-10 but the pants are too short, he needs a 10 Samuel...almost perfect size 6-7 good, but pants he needs a reg. 6....6 slim area too tight. Okay friends...we love you lots and miss you tons. We can't wait to see you all on Thursday night!!! Blessings, from Ethiopia.

Only God ...

2010-01-31T08:17:00.001-08:00

Today was full of God’s grace and mercy…only God can orchestrate something as perfect as this…only God! This morning Dave, Erica and her group met us at Levi’s and Jessie’s house at about 10am. Abdisa came shortly after and we all headed to church to meet our kids and for Bryan to preach. Jessie joined us, and God’s timing was just perfect. We drove out to the poorest part of town, sort of remote, with only dirt roads. We passed mud huts, and shacks. Poverty was abundant, including the witch doctors house. Abdisa took the time to show us how people lived and explained that there was no running water or electricity. The children around the neighborhood looked hungry and thirsty. The church was just off the road and was a make shift building with a play ground and a sanctuary made from big sticks and tarps. When we pulled into the compound all the children from the orphanage were standing in a group chanting “Welcome, Welcome, Welcome,” and clapping their hands. Immediately we could see Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel in the mix of children holding flowers to give to us. We walked up and they came forward, scared and with BIG smiles on their faces and greeted us with hugs and flowers. Eyob was so excited to see Cadenn and Coral. He gave us all big hugs and told us we were welcomed. All of us were SO nervous, and there was not a dry eye among us. My hands were shaking as I greeted my daughter and my sons…ONLY God could put this together. What follows is amazing. We all walked into the church and they sat us up front of everyone, our whole group. Abdisa announced, “Halleluiah! God is good today is a good day. Meskerem, Eyob, and Samuel have parents today that have come for them. Welcome Bryan and Andrea! God bless you all.” The worship team was singing native songs and everyone was clapping their hands in joyful celebration of God’s love. After the worship team sang, Abdisa had us all introduce ourselves. When it was our turn, all of us got up and Bryan introduced his new family…ONLY God! Abdisa asked us to sing some songs and some of us took turns leading them in worship. This was much different than Kenya, where most people speak good English, hardly anyone knew what were saying, so Abdisa translated. After song, Bryan preached about a 40 minute sermon with translation…on God’s love and James faith without deeds. Everyone there said “Amen”, they understand what deeds are. They know that they are saved by grace, but they also know that we can’t say we love God, if we don’t show love to our brothers and sisters. Abdisa was passionate and was preaching like a Southern Baptist Preacher. Our kids constantly smiled and checked us out. You could see the excitement in their eyes, and the fear. But God is good and they listened intently…ONlY God! After the sermon, Abdisa added to Bryans teaching, translating for us now. He was saying that the love of God was shown in our deeds to be obedient to hear God’s word and come to show the love of Christ to them. That Jesus was glorified in our actions. That Paul taught grace, and James taught deeds, and one with the other is dead. The love of God in us is evident by what we do, and they could see the miracle of God today in these brother and sisters that traveled over 20 hours to come to Ethiopia to love the needy and share the love of Christ with them. They were all so thankful, “Amen, Amen, Amen”, they repeated over and over, then came the trilling of tongues and everyone shouting praises “Hallelujah, Amen”….ONLY God. Abdisa then called our children forward, we came too and he wanted to pray over us. His wife came out and hugged us and began the prayer because she was one of the primary care givers at the orphanage. She was beautiful. She prayed over us all, who know what she said but it was good. Then Abdisa began to pray. He prayed a blessing over each of our children. He was speaking Amharic and it was anointed. My children, Eyob especially were moved to tears. My heart was full and we were all crying, tears of joy, and tears of praise….ONLY God! After the prayer Abdisa announced God’s goodness that He would put together such a beautiful word from the Lord, and then follow it by these precious children gaining parents. He thanked us all and invited the congregation to greet us and shake our hands. The administrator of the church came up to us and introduced himself. He expressed his gratitude for the sermon and told Bryan he was so happy he preached on that subject, that the people could see the evidence of God’s truth in this group of people. ONLY God could make this come full circle. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN when you pick up your children. We met our children in a worship service…giving glory and honor to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! ONLY God could make this such a smooth transition…ONLY GOD!! Today I praise the Lord of this earth for our family. I praise Him for orchestrating such a beautiful worship service and bring a beautiful family together. The kids are home with us now. We went for an Ethiopian lunch where they all ate well. We enjoyed soda and laughter. Then we went to Kaldis (just like Starbucks) for some ice cream and coffee, it was the first time they had ever eaten ice cream…what excitement. Once we were done we came home. Thank God for play dough, it is a great thing to bond over. Right now, I sit in the living room, listening to the laughter of all 9 (Levi and Jessie have 4) children playing a game of football…ONLY GOD!!! Tomorrow we are off to the Thomas Center, to see the others meet their children they way we were supposed to meet ours. We will spend time at the Thomas Center playing with the kids and then I think we will go to the beauty salon for some special treatment. Our children are so beautiful. I was watching Bryan earlier staring at them with tears in his eyes. God is so good, we are so grateful…ONLY GOD!!!

God is Good...

2010-01-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

Making Chapati...sort of like a tortilla

Abel and his mom...please continue to pray for healing for him

One of the board members with Pastor Cyrus and Corals crazy glasses

Phiny, me Justin and Brien after we passed out their clothes

Little Lucy, Pastor Cyrus' daughter

Dorothy and chocolate..YUMMY

The kids when we first met them, it was strange, because we were so stressed from the accident, but they were waiting with loving arms.

FREDS BIKE!!! Praise the Lord, now he gets to bike 12 miles a day to school rather than walk.

Praise the Lord!! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angles, Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters about the heavens! let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created!

First, I want to say Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you SWEET CAILEE!! We are so blessed to have you as a daughter, and we LOVE you more than words can say. We pray you have a VERY blessed day!!

Love you Chris, Chloe and Cyilea...You are so precious to us.

We are in Addis and loving it. The Lord has healed, and He has restored! Praise Him!

Today we went the NGO bizarre! So much fun! We met with Dave and Erica and their group and just had a great relaxing time. We were able to meet with other ministries and network and of course meet new friends.

AND.....Abdisa was there. He is our in country representative, who heads up the orphanage! He met with Erica the night before and asked if Bryan would preach on Sunday at his church. So when we met today (unexpectedly) he was so overjoyed and praising the Lord. He asked Bryan to come tomorrow to Bulbula and preach and lead worship! What a privilege it is to be in a foreign country and be asked to speak! We are so excited.

AND...Abdisa said that we will be able to meet our kids tomorrow instead of Monday!!!! They will be the church service, and will meet them during our worship hour!! We will be able to take them home tomorrow after the church service!! Praise the LORD!!!! God is so good. Not only will the Shubins be there, our new friends will be there as well! What an experience we will never forget. Just this morning Abdissa said that Eyob told him that his family was here and that he was so excited!

I am nervous and excited. Tomorrow at church. Please pray for our kids and us. Please pray for a good transition. We will have more time together and I know that the Lord is in control.

Tonight Pastor Cyrus called and the children sang for us over the phone! "Farewell, farewell, farewell...we will never, never forget you!" What a joy!

Okay friends, i know this is short and sweet, but we need to get to bed soon tomorrow is a big day!! I will try to post pictures now.

All of our blessings!

Jamba...Bisimono... Hello and Goodbye from Kenya

2010-01-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

JAMBA….BISIMONO…. Hello and Good bye from Kenya! We obviously have not had internet connection so it has been silent, but we are alive and well. Actually I am typing in the Airport awaiting our fight to Addis. It has a been a long….4 day journey to say the very least. We have had some ups and downs and even downer (that is my new word), then up…and down again. However before I begin, I must praise the Lord for our safety and for the miracles He has preformed. Before we left for Africa, we had prayed over and over aging that the Lords glory would be shown to everyone we meet. Also that the people would see Jesus not us. We prayed for Gods will in everything. I had to be reminded of this the very first day in Nairobi. Our travels were long of course but we arrived in time into Nairobi. Pastor Cyrus was an absolute joy to meet. We found him holding a big yellow sign that said WELCOME BROTHER BRYAN, SISTER CORAL, BROTHER CADENN, AND SISTER ANDREA Welcome to Kenya. We were immediately warmed and greeted by big hugs and smiles. We rented a car in advance from a Christian organization and the driver and Ginny (a missionary) were there to greet us also. We arrived late so we drove to the worst part of town and there was our hotel.. Ginny warned us to stay with Cyrus and to hold on tight to our things…we were not to walk in Nairobi, we would be robbed. As you can imagine, we were not comforted. However, God is good and we were protected. We had a good night’s sleep and early the next morning we were off to the village. The drive was long about 8 hours. Cadenn sat up front with the driver, Evans, and Coral and I in the middle and Pastor and Pastor Bryan in the back seat. The towns were beautiful, and poverty overwhelming. I have seen poor, or so I thought…nothing could touch this. Kisii is thick with green and trees. There are huge banana trees, pineapple bushes (no they don’t grow on trees), tea farms, canopy trees, pine the whole gamete. The beauty of the rolling hills could not distract us from the lack of resources such as housing, food, water and clothing. About 30 minutes from home, we were coming down one of the hills at about 80 klm, that is 60 mph. when we would have to learn quickly what truly leaning on God meant. In Kenya, you drive on the left side of the road. Everywhere you pass there are people and children, walking to get water, or going to school. It seems the children know not to cross, or at least look both ways. There was nothing to prepare us for what happened next. There were three little boys on the right side of the road waiting to cross. Just as we were coming up on them at about 60 mph., one little boy ran out in front of the car. Evans stopped as hard as he could without rolling the van and we hit the boy, straight on, on the driver’s side going about 55 mph. Water from his jug splashed all over the window shield. His body flew to the left shoulder of the road and there he lay. His head was split open in several different spots, and I knew he was dead. Cyrus told Bryan that the boy was gone…no way he survived. We began to stop and Pastor told Evans to keep going. Cadenn, Evans and I were the only ones to actually see the boy get hit, and I was hysterically crying out to the Lord. Confused and listening to Swahili being shouted, I didn’t understand what was going on and why we would leave this boy. Cadenn was traumatized to say the very least, and in a shock like state..he didn’t even remember where we were going. We drove to the police to report the accident and then to the police station. Evans was immediately taken into custody, we were left by ourselves in the van crying and begging God for healing for this boy. This is where the miracles begin. First we are white skinned deep into Kenya, and we were not questioned as would have been normally. Secondly, sometimes the government will do more than just question, they will detain, arrest and interrogate. None of that happened. The reverse actually. The cousin of the fathers boy, actually came up to the car and saw us praying and crying and told Cyrus, that the boy was alive because we are pastors. Cyrus, told us that we needed to pray and then “Let God work”. The police came and released us and told us to go home. Cyrus arranged to get us to the village safely. We were all so sick to our stomachs, and Cadenn had broken down by this point. The ride to the village was sickening and I wanted to quit. How were we to go on and smile and be welcomed by the kids. The children were there, and the first thing we did was to gather the children and all, hold hand and sing, Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. The next miracle, they do trust Jesus. Not like I thought I did. They really trust. They pray ask for healing and then leave it with God. I trusted God could heal, but would he? What about my boy, what did he see? It would forever be an image in his mind, mine too for that matter. Did I really trust God? I don’t think so. All my logic was too strong and way more powerful than my Jesus, sad to say. Once we sang, Cyrus left us for the police station. The poor kids not understanding our tears, sat staring and wondering. Cyrus did return with Evans, the police released him, yet another miracle. We ate and were comforted by our new friends. Cyrus, kept telling us the boy was doing better, although I didn’t believe what he was saying. Not that I thought he was lying, but I thought he was trying to comfort us with empty words..especially Cadenn. By night’s end, we received a call from the cousin again, saying the boy was alive and being treated. He thought that he would be fine. Again, I didn’t believe, I didn’t receive the call and I knew Cyrus was so worried about me and Cadenn. That night Ginny called, and told me that this was a “demonic appointment” meant to discourage us and to drive us away. It was working. I could think about was to get on a plane to Ethiopia, and wait for our kids. No ministry, no orphanages, just hide. I was so sick, I couldn’t eat, couldn’t hardly talk…neither could Cadenn, or Coral. Ginny prayed for us that night, asking the Lord to heal the boy, Abel, and to bind that roaring lion, who only seeks to devour, kill and destroy. That night we slept better than I expected. I was worried for nightmares for the both of us…but God prevailed. The next morning, we ate with the precious children, and had to do business concerning the accident. Cyrus left us with our new friends, and we tried to relieve our minds by playing with the children. I have far too many details to share with you about the kids, and will at a later time. The next few hours were spent at the government officials office, and the police station. Cyrus always escorted us to safety a ways away from where the discussions took place because he didn’t want any problems with us. When we didn’t stop for the boy, it was the best and smartest idea, another miracle, we would have probably been mobbed by the people standing by. Cyrus knew this and decided that there were plenty of people to get the boy to the hospital, we would run and get the police (no 911 in Kenya). We got a call from the boys father saying that he was fine, and that were welcome to visit the hospital. That it was because we were pastors and praying for a miracle that the boy was still alive and healing. Now, logic….we hit this little (I mean little) 7 year old boy doing about 60 mph. He only stood at the top of the grill. We hit him so hard he flew to the side of the road. I knew he would be dead or die soon. The MIRACLE…the boy is healing well. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding”….is truer than it has ever been before. I can believe, but I can’t. Our God is MIGHTY to SAVE…HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE! We went to visit Abel in the hospital (which in its self is a sad site) however, he was pretty battered, swollen face and eye shut, but ALIVE and talking and taking food and drink. Cyrus talked to him and he responded. Of course I just sat and cried as I watched him sit up in bed and half way wave to us. Mama by his side looking as worried as I would be if it were my son. Cadenn found healing as did I and Evans. Thank God He is bigger than we, I had him dead for sure. He WAS VERY ALIVE. As if we didn’t have enough excitement, Coral began to pass out in the hallway of the hospital…it took several of us to keep her eyes opened, so that she wouldn’t hit the ground. All I could think of was I didn’t want them to try and check her in. Today we got another report from the father…they are sending Abel home tomorrow…THANK YOU JESUS. It just showed me, that we depend way too much on our selves, if I have a headache I take an advil…if they have a headache, they pray. This was out of my hands…I would have stopped, I would have made very wrong choices…God was in control. Since then we have heard of many stories of a person hitting someone and then being mobbed..or worse killed…God is faithful to finish His work to completion. We left the village today…with a whole other set of drama nothing in comparison to the above story, which I will spare you all the details until I arrive, let’s just suffice to say we knew we would be in a major spiritual battle, but we never dreamed it would be like this. We are in Addis now with our new friends and relaxing…thank you so much for all of your prayers. I am still trying to process the greatness of God… Tomorrow we will meet up with Erica and Dave and do some stuff around town. Then hang out a bit and have a coffee or something. We are far more exhausted than we thought we would be, so we will see how the day turns out. Good news is we can be online here. I will try and upload some pictures later…for now, I am tired and must sleep. Blessings

Not quite there yet...

2010-01-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
2 Corinthians 2:14

Is that not beautiful? Through US...He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him. Thank you Jesus that you would give all of us the opportunity to know you and then to spread the lovely aroma of you to the lost and dying world.

We are in Detroit. Soon we will be on a plane to Amsterdam...we are right behind you Erica! This is sort of like a dream...our kids are waiting and only a few days separate us from them. I cried this morning when leaving. I was fine, but then looked at the faces of the four children left behind and they were wanting their mommy but desperately trying to hold it together to show their excitement for their siblings coming home. I was so proud of them and how they put on their happy faces and waved good bye. I did just fine too, until I rounded that corner, out of their sight, and cried. Why?? Why was I crying? Maybe after this long anticipation, it became SO real. Maybe, I am getting older and just don't like leaving my babies. Maybe I am hormonal for all that matter :) Never the less, I cried just for a moment. Then cried again a couple moments later when I thought of the sweet little brown faces that are going to greet us in Ethiopia, and call me mommy.

My heart is bitter sweet. Excited to meet our children, Pastor Cyrus and all the beautiful people we will encounter. Yet anticipating sorrow. Sorrow to leave behind 147 million minus 3 orphans behind. Sorrow to see a hungry nation, with a lot of loss. Excited to share the love of Jesus with them! Sorrowful to only be able to help a few.

Lord, You love these people...send your workers, the harvest is ripe!!

I sit in Detroit...my husband sprawled out on a stretch of three stuck together chairs, my son gazing out the window at the enormous bird we will be boarding, my daughter sitting and wighting in her journal. I sit, waiting... waiting... waiting.

I think the Lord is waiting... waiting... waiting... too, for his workers. The ones that profess His name with their lips. Waiting for them to take the first step of faith... waiting for them to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him to all Ethne...all nations! He most certainly does not need us to accomplish his purpose, but He would Love to use us, if we are willing.

We are privileged to be on this journey with you. I am praying for you and the journeys you are on. May we all spread the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ!!

See you in Africa!!!

Three Days and Counting...

2010-01-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, we have three days until we are on that big bird flying to Kenya...then Ethiopia. I can't tell you the mixed feelings I have about this. First of all..is this real? I mean we have waited so long (a year) and I can't believe in just a few weeks, I will hold in my arms the children that the Lord presented to me in a dream, for real! That just amazes me. God is amazing.

Secondly, I have done this before. The adoption of an older child..or children is so different from adopting a toddler. Part if it heart breaking, the other pure joy. The question our daughter of 11 years (at the time) got asked a lot was, "Are you excited?" I wanted to yell, "NO" of course she was not excited. To be taken from yet another home and find herself with strangers again...not to exciting. It is just about as exciting as it would be for me to be lost, by myself in a foreign country not knowing the language, or where to go. I think the thought of a mother and father is exciting in a way, but at the same time scary. However God is sovereign and He knows the plans He has for us...plans to prospers us and to give us hope and a future. I am nervous to meet them, yet ecstatic all at the same time. Pray that they will feel right at home.

Thirdly...I can't get my mind off Haiti. Call me crazy..but I find myself asking God to bring more kids into our house and we haven't even got our three home yet. I mean really what is a couple more. We have already decided, we are not saying no to God...so with that said, well you know...Yes! I would love to take in as many as the Lord allowed. I can't stand the thought of all these little children, so traumatized from a devastating earth quake, and not having parents, or worse yet, watching them die. What is my life for, if I am not about the work of my Father...if he says yes, then I say Amen!

We have only 3 days...3 days between us and Africa. Oh Lord, may they come quickly. We received new pictures of our sweet babies...I just knew I needed to share them with you.

Meskerem

SamuelEyob

Our Journey to China...

2010-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

In light of our trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pick up our three children Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel, I thought I would share with you, our journey to China, to pick up our daughter Cyilea almost three years ago. It is a little long, but well worth the watch. We also adopted our daughter from Russia, only 4 weeks before we traveled to China. God certainly blessed us in more ways than one. My mom was able to meet our two daughters before she went home to be with Jesus. I am still in awe with what the Lord is able to do through us...I am still giving Him praise and Glory!
For those of you who are still waiting for your referrals and to pass court...May God Himself the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless until the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it!! 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Enjoy!

Ready, Set, Go...

2010-01-04T22:48:00.000-08:00

It started with a dream...a dream of three children in need of a dad and mom. We prayed and prayed, Jesus gave us confirmation and we stepped out and trusted, scared to pieces. The Lord was faithful and provided every step of the way!

Today we got our confirmation on our Embassy date in Ethiopia, February 2nd!! We are so excited. What once seemed impossible is right in front of us and is a reality. Only by God's grace are we able to adopt these three beautiful children. Only by God's grace were we able to raise the support needed to bring them to their forever home. Thank you Jesus, and thank you to all of you who prayed and donated!

Speaking of reality...we are going to have NINE children!!! Wow..that just hit me, again!

We have been so blessed on this journey, in more ways in one. Not only are Bryan and I going to Africa, our two children, Cadenn and Coral will be making the long trek with us. They are SO EXCITED!!

We are going to depart Phoenix on January 23 and head straight to Nairobi, Kenya where we will meet Pastor Cyrus. He is the pastor of a ministry our small group has just adopted through Remember the Poor. We have raised money for this ministry by fasting and having rice instead of a meal on our small group nights and we had a bake sale where we raised even more. We are so excited to be able to spend time in his village, getting to know the him and his wife better and meeting the orphans he has living with him. We will be in the highlands of Kenya for three days. From what I understand, there is no electricity and most of the houses are made of mud and hay...this will be an amazing trip that is for sure. We are not promising we will come back!!

After a short stay in Kenya, we are off to Addis Ababa, where we will meet up with our friends David and Erica!! Erica, made a trip to Ethiopia this time last year, where she spent time with our babies. She and two other friends, got to take pictures and love on our children for an hour or so. We have been praying that she would be able to see the kids, we didn't know that it would work out perfect! This is what you call full circle. The Lord orchestrated us being in Addis at the same time!! That blows me away.

Also, in Addis, we will be spending time with our new friends that run a ministry there called, Drawn From Water. If you have time, stop and visit their blog. They have so graciously invited us to stay with them in their home while in Addis, Praise God!! We are excited to serve along side of our friends (both sets).

February 1st we meet our children for the first time. Boy, I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I am just going to prepare myself to let the tears go, no sense in holding them back right? We have waited soo....long with many obstacles...He is faithful.

We will depart Addis on February 4th for home!!! We would LOVE to see you at the airport on our arrival to welcome our kids home!!

Please be praying for all of the details that must take place. Also please be praying for our kids and their siblings we are leaving behind. We will be gone on Cailee's birthday as well, so we will celebrate before we leave!! We will also be taking a lot of donations with us, so pray that they all arrive safely along with us. Also, pray for the ministries we will visit and the people we will encounter. Pray that they all encounter the Glory of God. The Lord is good and I know he has this whole thing in His hands. What a true blessing to be on this journey with you!!

We will be "trying" to update our blog while we are in Africa so stayed tuned!

One of the dorms in Kenya.

The children praying before they start their day.

Crops in Kenya.

And if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

Isaiah 58:10

2010 The Challenge...

2010-01-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

Another year gone...where does the time go. This year was full of ups and downs of course. It was also full of spiritual growth and Jesus lessons that I would never trade. During some of the hardest times in our lives, God is growing us into the women and men he desires us to be.

This year our family asked God to grow us in the area of giving and sacrificing for the sake of others and, he did just that. Some times it was easy, and others really hard, but all the time it was good and beneficial.

Through various avenues, we have been challenged to do things differently this year. The challenge that I am going to post is something our family and about 30 of our friends are going to pursing over the course of 2010. Please join us, together we can change the world!

We are committing ourselves to 5 specific challenges:
1. To pray for the entire world
2. To read through the entire word
3. To commit our lives to multiplying community
4. To sacrifice our money for a specific purpose
5. To give our time in another context

Pray for the entire world

Through the emphasis of prayer we will pray for the entire world using Operation World as our guide. By clicking on the link you will connect with their home page. Then click "Today" at the top of the screen where you will find the days prayer guide. If we pray through each day of this prayer guide we will have literally prayed for the entire world in 2010! You can also order a hard copy of this book at amazon.com. There is also a children's rendition of this book called Window on the World and be bought on amazon.com .

Read through the entire word

Together we will read through the entire word of God. You can download a reading schedule by going to Gateway Bible . This will also be accompanied by scripture memorization. Our group is memorizing the 1st chapter of James to begin with. However you can memorize a different scripture every week.

Commit our lives to multiplying community

We will commit ourselves to a small group that is intentionally sharing, showing and teaching the Word while serving the world together.

Sacrifice our money for a specific purpose

For the next year we will look at our finances as a family and community of believers with a specific need of the world in mind. We will set a cap on our lifestyles so that we can free up as much of our resources for the sake of the glory of Christ in His church, among the lost, and among the poor.

Spend our time in another context

As we continue to spend the majority of our time sharing Christ and making disciples in our local area, we will commit to give 2% (one week) of our time of our time in Gospel ministry outside our local area for the sake of Gods glory around the world.

Share your story...if you decide to join us in this challenge, I would love to hear from you as the Lord transforms your life, by His Word and by His grace. I am so excited to get started, I am praying for you as we launch into 2010!

Model taken from The Church at Brookhills

Out with the Old, In with the New...

2009-12-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

I want to share with you my video of my families Christmas this year. A lot was changed, old traditions were broken and New traditions were created. I to share our story about the Joy of the Lord in our hearts this Christmas. This year we decided that it was going to be about Others.

The old traditions were about us and our 6 children. Of course we made Jesus the center, but we spent the day doing presents, eating yummy food and being with our family.

The New Traditions this year: we decided to be with and to serve others instead of just us. We also decided to cut our Christmas spending. We exchange a few small gifts with our kids, and took the rest of the money that we would have spent on family and friends, and donated it to ministries that needed the money instead of us.

We spent until 10:15 am at home, then we were off to a local mission. Each year Valley View Food Bank spends Christmas serving others. We got together with our small group and decided we were going to make New Traditions together this year and join Valley View Food Bank, and a local church to show the Love of Christ to the local community. Our group of about 35 adults and children, headed up the toy section of the project. We arrived at 10:45 am and served until 4:00 pm. As you will see from the video below, we didn't miss out on a thing, rather we were filled beyond full. Thank you Jesus!

Remember to scroll to the bottom of my blog and pause the music before you watch the video.

Drum Roll Please.....

2009-12-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

I will love You , O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God , my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised

Psalm 18:1 - 2

WE PASSED COURT TODAY!!! Praise the Lord!!!

We got the verbal confirmation, not the written, but it is on it's way. We are SO excited as you can imagine. So what happens next?? Our kids will be transferred to the Thomas Center immediately, which is a staging area for kids waiting for their families. We then wait for an Embassy date (we should recieve it in a week), which our agency thinks will be February 2nd! We would travel the week before that, so the end of January sometime!!

As soon as we hear back from the Embassy, we book travel...Erica, our prayers may have just been answered!!!

Well, I don't know if I should laugh or cry...I think the emotions are close, so maybe I will do both. It has been such a long wait, but well worth it. Please pray for the kids as they have yet another change...please pray for their older siblings too as they will go through changes.

Today we are legally parents of 9 children so, with permission...I introduce to you our children... Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel (now I will really cry)

Meskerem

Eyob

Samuel

Thomas Center, their new home for about a month

Nannies in training at the Thomas Center

Ethiopian Countryside

Thomas Center

Thomas Center Play yard.

Deliver Us...

2009-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

Greetings to you this wonderful Christmas Season. Our family is so excited to be celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

I thought I would take just a moment to update you on the progress of our adoption of Meskerem, Eyob and Samuel. Our court date was rescheduled from November 23 for tomorrow. Please be praying tonight for our paperwork will be processed smoothly and for the older siblings that are releasing parental rights of the children. As we sleep tonight court will be in process, Ethiopia is ahead of us by 10 hours.

Providing everything goes smoothly, we will prepare to travel within 4 – 6 weeks, to bring our babies home.

Bryan and I look forward to keeping you posted tomorrow, as soon as we know any information. We trust in the Lord’s perfect timing. I read a quote from Beth Moore this morning that I would like to share with you. When she prays she says, “Deliver us from everything but your glory, Lord. Deliver us from evil, Lord, and from temptation but do not deliver us from Your prized glory.”

I tell you this only because in my flesh, I tend to pray for things and outcomes that I would like to see. For example, I would like to see my children in 4 – 6 weeks, so I pray for a smooth court date and speedy paperwork processing. There is nothing wrong with praying for those things. But most importantly than my timing, is the Lords timing and His glory. And if bringing Him glory in this situation means to wait even longer, then I gladly wait (notice I didn’t say patiently, although that would be a goal too).

So, I ask you to join Bryan and me in praying for God’s glory to be revealed and to made known through this court date tomorrow, whether or not it goes smoothly or rocky.

Boy, do I want to meet these sweet children that the Lord has so carefully placed in our lives. This wait is so hard. It is like a child at Christmas time. They pick up the packages, shake them a little bit, try to feel it under the pretty wrapping paper….THEN…..they wait. The days go by so slowly, all they can think of is opening that prized package. That is Bryan and I. Our children wait day after day for a family to love them and care for them. We wait day after day to hold them and tell them everything is going to be ok. It is most certainly an ache. BUT, “Lord, deliver me from evil, and from temptation but do not deliver me from Your prized glory.”

Thank you sweet friends for your faithfulness to go before Christ lifting these precious children to Him. He is faithful and we will soon hold them in our arms. Bryan and I pray your Christmas will be a wonderful celebration of life!

Misunderstood...

2009-12-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

The poor will always be with you... Matthew 26:11

All scripture is true and God breathed. However some scripture is misunderstood or misinterpreted. The poor are among us and true they will always be with us. However this scripture could be easily misunderstood. One thing it does not mean is that the poor will always be with us so we don't have to be responsible for playing a part in their lives. Another thing it does not mean is that the poor will always be with us so we will never be able to reach them all and therefore we become apathetic to those in need. It does not mean that the poor are to be considered less than we who are not poor.

In fact it is the quite the contrary. The poor will always be with us BUT we still do have responsibility! We should not have the mentality that we can't save the world rather the attitude of obedience to what ever it is the Lord calls us to. We should guard ourselves from apathy and become sympathetic and have compassion.

When Jesus said the words " The poor will always be with us", it was not to exclude their needs. It was not intended for us to make excuses as to why we are not actively helping the poor. It was to make the point that the lady with the alabaster jar filled with perfume who decided to use it to wipe Jesus feet was not wasting her resources. The Pharisees were condemning her for wasting something that could have been used to sell in order to make money to give to the poor. They were making fun of her in a sense and were saying in fact,"You are wasting your time and money. Don't you know that Jesus would appreciate it more if you sold that perfume and not anoint his feet with it?" It was then that Jesus, said that the poor would always be with us....to make the point that she was doing exactly what she should be doing. Sacrificing something of importance for the Glory of the Christ.

Jesus was always found outside the gate. Outside the gate is where Jesus is today and where we will find Him. Outside the gate is where the diseased, poor, widowed, orphaned, lost and oppressed are. It is where we will find the ones who need Jesus and the life saving salvation He gives and we all need to receive.

All through scripture Old and New Testament God refers to the poor. Poor in spirit and poor financially. This is an important matter to God. All through scripture God tells those of us who are rich to not turn our back on the poor, but rather to give. To what extent do we give is the next question? Well, the Lord is teaching me that we need to give in accordance to Gods word. God has showed our family that obedience is better than sacrifice. That when we really ask God what should we give, He is faithful to show us. We are not always ready to obey. Jesus has shown us that He has not called us to an impossible task, that we have been equipped to live this out.

I wanted to share a few pictures of our trip to Mexico with a ministry called Casa de Amor. This ministry builds houses for those who don't have suitable living quarters. They have a process of inviting a family to Church and then family has the opportunity to apply for a house. Not all applicants receive homes, but with the help of local churches houses are being built, lives are being changed. The house is not the most important thing about the ministry....the Gospel is! With the building of these homes, Christ is exampled and the Gospel is shared, the Kingdom of God is built.

The poor will always be among us...but that doesn't mean we should just accept that and move on. It is a challenge to move into a stance of obedience according to scripture. Jesus exampled a perfect life worth imitating to us. He became poor...he suffered along side with...He gave everything for us. The bible says if we love Jesus we will obey His commandments. If we are His disciples we will obey His commandments. We will love our neighbor as ourselves. If we love Jesus we will be like Him. Yes the poor will always be among us, this is a great opportunity to love our neighbors, to suffer along side of, to give all that the Lord has given to us.
Christina and I crammed into the back of the truck.
Our sleeping quarters...sand as far as the eye could see.Brett and Christina getting ready for the big day.

Reading the Bible with a local neighbor.

Their outdoor kitchen.

My new friend and I...She was so sweet. We just clicked. We also had the same favorite Bible verse...Psalm 83.

The Family we were building for, a single mom of two small children.

Putting the roof on.

Bryan and Brett...holding up the walls of the house.

Jesus is always the center of what we do...

Inside the small little home. No finished walls, no running water or bathroom. No kitchen. Only a 11 x 22 house with two small windows. Their is no heat, or electricity, no carpet on the floor, just cement with four walls.

Bryan trying to stucco the outside walls. It is a lot harder than it looks. Thank God that we had a professional with us to finish the job.

Beautiful girls that we were able to share the Love of Christ with, along with some goodies such as hand me down clothes and treats.

Casa de Amor uses NO power tools or electricity. They want to make sure that one gets hurt for one, but that it is easy to duplicate. The locals learn to help themselves and don't need to go buy fancy tools to do it with. Good sweat and hard work built this house.

We prayed over every part of this project from the laying of the foundation to the key ceremony.

Me and Guadalupe...She was so grateful for her new home. Although in America, it is something that we keep our tools in at best, to her it was a start at a new life...and a mansion.

We were guest of Calvary Chapel Tucson, and were given the great honor of committing the house to God and presenting the keys to the family. We also were able to take an offering of cash to get her started with a few things she needed.

Pastor Brett blessed the home and prayed with Guadalupe and her family. We had an translator to help her and us understand. She kept saying that Jesus truly blessed her and that she knows that this is true love. That we were good servants of the Lord.

With the left over material we built a little porch. We had the kids and Guadalupe put their hands in the wet cement and we wrote their names in it.

There were several houses being built this weekend for other families, but this was our crew!! Everyone including the kids helped. No one really took a break. Lives were changed for the Glory of God. We were Jesus with skin on!

Tada....

2009-12-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a big day for our daughter Cailee. She has had braces almost as long as she has been in the US, 3 1/2 years...a long time. Yesterday she FINALLY got them off...and boy are they beautiful.

For those of you who don't know, these braces were a huge blessing. Cailee and Cyilea had just come to their forever home with us. My mom had ALS and was living with us too, I was her care giver. Money was tight. Two new children...a really sick mom, a family of 8 plus mom and dad, money was tight. Cadenn was already in braces and Cailee was too. We needed to get her established some where. I took her to our orthodontist to have her teeth checked out.

I had done this braces thing before and know that they would want a start up fee...which was around $400, which might I add, we did not have. I prayed...I gave God all my great ideas. "Lord, if they would let me make payments on the down payment. If they would not charge $400, but maybe $200...that would be great. Lord, I don't know, do what you want, if we can't afford it, we can't afford it, we will save."

Once we got there, it was worse than I thought. The Dr. would have to remove all her old braces because they didn't use the same kind. Then he laid out the plan of action, 2 more years of all of this and she would be done. The Dr. took us to the financial department to work out the money situation.

Of course I was nervous, I was going to have to tell them we will have to wait for awhile, in the mean time the braces will just sit on Cailee's teeth. He thanked us for our business and motioned to the finance lady to follow him. When she returned she printed up all of paper work...it was just as I thought. $400 down, monthly payments for the rest of the two years. BUT THEN....

She said that the Dr. so loved that we were willing to open our home to yet another child in need that he wanted to show his appreciation to us. Because we were willing to step out and love on children he was going to love on them too. He wanted to do Cailee's braces PRO BONO...FREE!

Tears streamed down my face of course, and of course I couldn't contain them. All my great ideas gone, God had GREATER ones.

We are truly thankful for our Dr. he has blessed our lives.

Before....

Getting ready...and so excited

Taking them off...

The first braces free smile...

Tada...

What a beautiful smile...

Her first look in the mirror...

Advent Conspiracy...

2009-11-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

You are invited....

2009-11-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hi friends!!

With Christmas just around the corner we thought we would do some things a little differently this year. I want to share briefly what we will be doing.

A few of my friends and I got together and talked about what we could do to serve the poor, orphaned, widowed, lost and oppressed this year. We have been going through the David Platt Radical series http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/radical, and by Gods grace, it has changed our perspective on the way we give and spend our money year round and on the holidays.

This year, we wanted to raise money for others that have nothing. They are not interested in stuff at Christmas time…but they are interested in clean water or a day’s meal. They are interested in feeding their baby, or a loved one. This year we decided that there is nothing more precious than giving to others who would otherwise go to bed hungry, thirsty, naked and without the things that are so common to you and me.

We will be having a HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE GIFT AND BAKE SALE! Now is the time to Save The Date! 100% of all proceeds will go to Remember The Poor ministries in Uganda.

You are invited to a Holiday Open House Gift and Bake Sale
When: Saturday, December 12th

Time: 11am – 7pm

Where: The Thieles Home

Come Enjoy: Homemade baked goods and candies for sale,
Refreshments and free samples so you can taste the
goodies you would like to purchase, Handmade Gift
Items, Door prize, and raffles.
Selections are limited, so come early for all your
Favorites. We will also acept donations for
Remember the Poor.

We are excited to share this day with you as we remember and give to the poor.

James 1:27 ~ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep ones self from polluted from the world.

Dare To Trust...

2009-11-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Christ’s call is to feed the hungry, not the full; to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the devil’s clutches and snatch them from the very jaws of hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus, and make them into an Almighty Army of God.

But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor State, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, clothes, silver croziers or gold watch-chain crosses, church steeples or richly embroidered altar-cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches… ~C.T. Studd

C.T. Studd was a wealthy English athlete who emphasized a life of faith and who gave away his entire inheritance, a good portion of it to George Muller’s orphan-care ministry! He started his mission work in China, and a wife and two kids later he moved to India to continue reaching the unreached. Finally, nearing retirement, he settled in Africa. His church did not support his decision. They said he was risking too much, and told him to wait (for someone else/younger to go?). This is a portion of the letter he wrote the church:

Too long we have been waiting on one another to begin. The time for waiting has passed. The hour of God has struck. War is declared. In God’s holy name let us arise and build. The God of heaven will fight for us. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of Christ, and the gates and minions of Hell shall not prevail against us. Should men such as us fear?

Before the whole world, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God. We will venture our all for Him. We will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man, and when we come to our position we realize the battle is already won and the end of the glorious campaign is in sight because we will have the real holiness of God. Not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts, we will have a masculine holiness. One of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.

~C.T. Studd

David Platt shared these quotes from C.T. Studd’s biography, a biography that’s suddenly at the top of our to-read list! To have your socks knocked off and watch the whole message by David Platt, click HERE. Select the 9/27/09 “Faith Risks” video

Hallelujah Night...

2009-11-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

We had a great night of fun our our churches Hallelujah Night. What made this night so special is that not only did our church offer an alternate night to Halloween, by inviting the neighborhood, we also were able to talk to our neighbors about Jesus. There were skits, and music. Two bands played, our band played about 5 songs to about 5 people, Ha Ha (funny but true). We sounded great, but no one would know! Then the youth band came on, Coral was in that one, she rocked. I love her voice.

The Youth kids decided to fast all day to prepare to share Jesus with those who came for the Hallelujah Night. They watched a Ray Comfort video, which teaches people how to share Jesus. Showing them that they are sinners and are in need of a Savior. The kids had tracks and candy and would approach people and ask them a few questions. They had such a good time and are ready to do it again in other settings.

All and all we had a great time with Jesus, friends and fun!!

Grammie with Colton and Branson

Rachel, Chloe and Jillian

Cyilea Kitty and Chloe Tiger

Cute little Kitty

Amy wit da fro...

PaPa wit da fro...

MaMa wit da fro...ah ha...ah ha...

Big Daddy wit da fro..

Cade and Colton

Lil Chris...Where's da fro??

Cailee with all ten of her orange fingers

Coral and her girl's

Yes..the hair is semi permanent red...I don't know what I was thinking.

Our Bands awesome electric guitarists!!

Patty Cakes on drums

Us singing to 5 people...great fun!

Grammie and Chloe

Colton...The Stone

Remedy...

2009-11-01T07:10:00.000-08:00

Remedy - [rem-i-dee] noun :
Something that cures or relieves a disease or a bodily disorder; a healing medicine, application or treatment.
verb:
- to cure relieve or heal, to restore to the natural or proper condition, put right.

Remedy...something that today, many of us desire, some more than others. David Crowder has a song out called Remedy this is what it says:
Here we are
The broken and used
Mistreated , abused
Here we are

Here You are
The beautiful one, who came like a son
Here You are

So we lift up our voices and open our hands, to cling to the Love that we can't comprehend
O lift up your voices and lift up you hands, to sing of the Love that Has freed us from sin

Here we are
Bandaged and bruised
Awaiting a cure
Here we are

Here You are
Our beautiful King
Bringing relief
Here You are

You are the one who has saved us, You are the one who embraced us.
You are the one who has come and is coming again
You are the remedy

He is the remedy
You are the remedy
Let us be the remedy.

It is interesting to me that as believers we hold the cure, the Remedy to all of our sickness and disease right in our hands. Most of us are grateful for that Remedy..we say all the time to other believers, "I don't know how we could do death, or cancer, or ALS, or..... with out the Remedy (Jesus)." Truth is, we can't do it. We would be lost, hopeless, desperate. The Remedy gives us hope, and strength.

We are so happy that we have the Remedy to cling to in time of trouble. We encourage our friends at church to cling to the Remedy when they are facing a giant, something bigger than themselves, foreclose on a home, loss of a job, death of a loved one. We know, and can access the Remedy at any time, he lives in us.

My mom died of ALS...a slow life taker. She died a new death every day until she had nothing left of her body and all she could do was blink. Her mind worked perfectly but she was imprisoned by it. I would have given all I had everything I owned if the Doctor said....I have the cure for ALS. I would have given it to her first...THEN we would have both ran around to everyone we knew...people with and without ALS and told them of that cure. The cure that would make you walk again, talk again, LIVE again!! We would have shouted from the roof tops "We have the cure...We have the Remedy!!!"

Nothing would have stopped us...it is too important...we would have gone until the whole world had heard....or would we?

We, Americans especially, we have THE REMEDY!! WE have JESUS CHRIST, THE REMEDY! We know he heals all of our diseases, cures all of our illnesses, comforts the poor, places the lonely in families. He is the Father to the fatherless, causes the blind to see and the lame to walk. He alone is The Remedy. Why don't we just keep Him to ourselves?

To suggest such a thing sounds like blasphemy right? Then why do we do it? Why is the American church sitting in pews...and not out shouting from the roof tops, "We have the cure...We have the Remedy?" Are we scared? Do we not want to count the cost? Are we afraid of becoming sick if we mingle with the diseased and dying world? Are we afraid, that The Remedy will cause us to sell all of our possessions in order to give to the poor, orphaned and widowed? Do we think that what we are doing now is working? If it doesn't affect us directly, do we care?

The song above said that "He is The Remedy." Then it said "Let us be the remedy!" We are to be the remedy...just as Peter and Paul, healed the lame, cast out demons, fed the hungry. We are the cure!! We have the resources!! We are the Remedy with Christ in us!!

What then do we do?? We start caring, and stop hoarding The Remedy. We take courage. We remember that we know the cure, WE HAVE THE REMEDY.

We remember we have The Remedy for world hunger (30,000 children will die today of hunger or preventable disease like diarrhea), we have The Remedy for the lost and dying. We have The Remedy for the lonely and fatherless. THEN... We stop spending our resources on our selves...more clothes, more food, more stuff...and we start spending it on the lost dying world, that is crying out for The Remedy! "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them, and listen to their cry." Psalm 10:17. When we love the lost and poor, touch them, and feed them, we show them The Remedy is Christ. We can encourage them in death, disease, the loss of their home, and loss of a job. We can be The Remedy..The hands and feet of Christ!

We all have something in common with the world. We all would do anything to have the cure. We all want The Remedy to death and disease. We all would give everything, all we had to save our loved one.

Let us be The Remedy through Christ, The Remedy is us. Galations 2:19 - For it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives through me.