Zambia!

The date is set! February 2nd I will be leaving our home in Dallas and flying across the world to Zambia, Africa for 12 days! This new country already has touched my heart, as it is home to the 80 orphans whose names and faces I have learned in the last 3 weeks. I can't wait to meet them face to face. To sit in the dirt with them, to laugh and play, to let them braid my crazy, weird, straight American hair. What a joy it will be to put real live faces with the names I have already come to care about. I have read their stories- now I want to live their lives with them.

 

The best part is that I get to keep coming back and visiting twice a year. In my other travels, I knew I was saying goodbye for a long time, if not forever. Here in Zambia, I can't wait to build lasting relationships... heck, I see some of my best friends here in the States only twice a year!

I'll also be praying and looking for a few children that God really lays on my heart, as I have family members that would like to sponsor a little girl. And Jake and I want to sponsor a child as well. I'm afraid I'll come back to the States asking Jake to sponsor 25 children, but that's what makes me so excited about this "job"... I get to serve these orphans all year long, 8-5, 5 days a week! Could it get any better??

In the weeks ahead I hope to share some of what we'll be doing in Zambia. We have SO much to do in preparation. And once I'm there, I'll also use this blog to update my friends and family about our travels. I can't wait! Thanks for following along!

Check out everyorphan.org to learn more.

Book recommendation

Looking for a GREAT book recommendation?

Just Monday my boss came in and laid a book on my desk. "Have you heard about Katie?" he asked.

And let's just say, all week all I've wanted to do is learn more about Katie and her amazing story in Uganda. Jake and I fight for the book every night to read and I even stayed up past my bedtime devouring it last night after Jake fell asleep.. ha!

Katie also has a blog outlining her adventures since 2007.  As of today she is a mother to 13 Ugandan orphans and her story is amazing. Check it out if you are ready to be challenged and to follow along as one 22 year old American girl shares the adventure she is living. It won't leave you untouched.

These last 10 days have been nothing short of wonderful. What a joy it is to hear stories, to look at pictures and to learn names. Names of children that I get to meet face to face in only a month! I really want to pinch myself sometimes. This "job" continues to bring such joy and it's only just begun!

This week our dear friends Mike and Cindy are in Haiti! As you may know, Haiti hits close to home for me because I was there 4 months after the earthquake in 2010. I can still see mass graves and destroyed buildings in my head. Yet I also remember the heart of those at Mission of Hope and the positive changes they were bringing to the people of Haiti. Mike and Cindy are blessed to go serve at the same Mission of Hope I visited 19 months ago. Check out my experience here. 

I so wish they could update us on their trip but I'll just have to wait patiently until they get home this weekend. As the week has progressed, I think of them often and say prayers for their trip, safety and the experience of a lifetime they are having. These trips define your life. I hope it leaves them changed... that their hearts won't ever be the same and it's just the beginning of their giving... giving of themselves to those in need.

We are all called so differently.. some of us to other countries, to the workplace, to our own homes and neighbors... yet we are all called to give. And with that giving comes joy. The joy I can't wait to see on Mike and Cindy's faces once they are back on American soil and we can take them to dinner to hear all about their trip. Nothing compares to sharing these stories with your loved ones and friends. Nothing compares to the joy of giving.

Big news!

Well folks, I have some exciting news to announce and news that will probably change the future of this blog a little bit. As of this week, I have started what I like to call  a "dream job". I've been volunteering with an organization called Every Orphan's Hope for several weeks and in mid November they asked me to join them full time, starting in December. I seriously had tears in my eyes when the invitation was given and couldn't have been happier to accept. After all, I'm doing what I love and I get to come to work every day knowing that my efforts are making a difference half way around the world. And you know what is the craziest blessing of all?? I'm REQUIRED and PAID to travel to Zambia twice a year as part of my job description! Could it get any better than that? What an answer to prayer this job has become!

So what do I do on a daily basis? Well I'm in the process of working that out but I'll be in charge of donor and sponsor relations. I get to give sponsors updates on their children, communicate with the homes in Zambia to receive those updates, and ultimately make sure that our sponsors have the relationship they desire with the children that they have come to love. I get to be on the front lines and see these relationships develop and I can't wait! I also have been given the freedom to do a little business development, which is another thing I'm very passionate about.

This blog will stay true to its history... I'm here to bring to light, what others are doing around the world and in our country too. Yet, now I will also have a front seat to wonderful stores from Zambia and will love to share those with you too. Hold on to your seats.... this girl is pumped about this new opportunity and won't let it leave me unchanged!

If you want to learn more about Every Orphan's Hope, check out this video:

http://vimeo.com/30296319