mommy's perspective

conversing with some of our beautiful orphan girls in our children's home

"Since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory." Romans 5:1-2 Bible, NLT

Undeserved privilege.... That is where i stand and in that undeserved privilege i walk daily.

This trip was another example of Him giving me an undeserved privilege to share and show love to these precious people.

And since my laundry is mostly done and my last bag is unpacked i thought i would share from mommy's perspective.

When the plane landed in Bombay... i felt an overwhelming since of "we are home"... i don't know if it was because this was our first family only trip (though we have gone to Haiti as a family but with a maw maw, great maw maw, and a lot of other people) or if i would have felt the same way if we would have landed in any other country. But the feeling of home and peace stuck with me the whole time.

As some of you know i was born for this... it is like God created me to live somewhere else. Every trip i go on i don't want to go home... i want to live there....i want to open my home up to women and children and show them love... i want to rescue the hurt, the lonely, the fatherless. So coming back to the US was and is hard for me... though i know if and when God wants us there He will make it clear.

story telling at the Gonagonla Children's Home

Details:

Travel - Traveling with an almost 2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old can be challenging but my boys did so well! Jeriah was somewhat restless on the 15 hour flights but mommy chased him around the airplane for a while to get all of the energy out. Elijah slept well and played games and watched movies on the plane tv system for most of the time.

Us in the Bombay airport waiting to go to Hyderabad

Health - As i said in the other posts Jeriah did have an ear infection and they both came with colds but that healed up and they were healthy the rest of the trip. i did bring lots of clorox surface wipes, antibacterial wipes and soap. i am sure they did end up eating dirt a few times but what is a moma to do... their boys. i thank all of you who were praying for my boys health... i know God answered your prayers!

me putting ear drops in jeriah's ears

Schedule - We had a pretty busy schedule. We had alot of traveling to do to get to the places we had to be at. The first couple of days we had meetings with all of the caretakers and leaders of our Children's Homes. I also had a chance to encourage widows (being a widow means a whole different thing there) and encourage women. We had great conversations, these are some amazing women who have been through some difficult circumstances. We gave meals and gifts to them as well.

We also visited 5 of our 15 children's homes and had other meetings throughout Andra Pradesh. Which included a lot of travel via train, jeep, and a rickshaw drive. The boys did so well sleeping on the jeeps and trains or looking out the windows: there is always something interesting to see out the window in India.

elijah watching sheep and picking his nose

(he seemed to do that more in India than usual - i guess because all the dirt in the air - poor thing - eats them too... any mom suggestions on how to stop that habit let me know)

At the children's homes we delivered gifts and translated their sponsor letters. Many of the older ones can read English now and helped translate the younger one's letters to them. We also played and they had prepared songs and dances to show us. At one point all of us joined in the dancing. Elijah enjoyed his new "friends" and has prayed for them throughout this week. He says he misses them.

the Hard day - It was the middle of the trip and we didn't know till we were on our way but 2 of the children's homes we were to visit had chickenpox spreading through... so the boys couldn't play with the kids. Elijah was tired of not playing and being couped up in the car. He also didn't have a nap that day. We had walked a lot but wherever we went we drew a crowd. At the end of the day i ended up on an Indian roof holding my 3 1/2 year old who was having a total temper tantrum. Not that temper tantrums are rare for a 3 year old, he probably would have had the same reaction if we would have done the same thing to him in the U.S. Good thing the next day was a train ride... he throughly enjoyed those.... plus it gave him time rest and play.

Help - I was sooo thankful to Jessie who came along to help us with the boys. She is the daughter of our main partner and like a sister to us. I was also thankful for her new hubby who so graciously let us borrow her from him. I know they missed each other greatly! She was such a huge help and allowed me to really spend time with others.

Friends - Jonathan and i have accumulated a wealth of friends that pray for us as we pray for them. It was so good to see so many of them. Many of them traveled a long distance to see us. Steeven and his wife are very dear to us and like family to us. Here we are with Gabriel (Steeven's brother) and Beulah on their 13th wedding anniversary!

i had been praying for a friend, Timothy, and his wife to have babies.. she had not been able to have children and they had been married for a long time.. many teams that had come had prayed for them as well. on this trip i had the privilege of seeing their little miracle baby boy. My God is soooo BIG ...nothing is impossible for HIM.

my boys and i in our Indian clothes :)

my sweet girls and their hina

Thank you to all who prayed for us! Thank you to all who sponsor these precious children too. It is heartbreaking to think of where they would be without your generosity. There are over 200 children that we need sponsors for in order to adequately care for them. It is just $30 a month - think if you fast 6 grande lattes a month you can change a child's life forever. %100 of the money goes to the child.

God keeps teaching me this = we only have one life to live. live every moment for things that really matter.