You're Invited!

For those of you who are local, I wanted to invite you to HeartCry's annual Pasta Dinner and Silent Auction. You might remember that this event last year raised $30,000 to make a house a HOME for the children at Danny Feeney Memorial Orphanage! The theme of the night is 'Be Love...' and there will be food, fun, fellowship and opportunities for you to 'be love' to others. There will be both a silent and live auction and there are so many super cool things to bid on--vacations, artwork, handicrafts from mission trips, nativity sets from around the world, sports memorabilia, Delta flight simulator hours, and the list goes on!

The goal of the evening is to inform and educate people about needs--local needs (Fayette Youth Protection Home, Department of Family and Children Services, Gracie's Closet, etc.) as well as needs around the world (Liberia, Romania, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Thailand, Ethiopia). A portion of the night's proceeds will be used to improve the ORR field team house in Liberia! We are in need of a new generator, and eventually it would be a huge gift and blessing if we could have running water!

WHAT: HeartCry's Pasta Dinner & Silent Auction

WHEN: Friday, November 5th at 6:30pm

WHERE: New Hope Baptist Church

551 New Hope Road

Fayetteville, GA 30214

COST: $8

Leave a comment or send an email if you'd like a ticket, or you can always buy one at the door.

I will be there with my Liberia/ORR stuff, and would love to see you there!

Change of Scenery

[The beautiful sunset over the Sound from Day #3. I had to get outside sometime! This is the backyard of the house I'm staying at!]

I've spent this past week doing something I haven't done...ever. I've been sitting at a desk, in front of a computer, in an office, from 9-5 for the last week. By day #3, I declared, "I'm not very good at this." And it was true. It was bright and sunny outside, with a predicted high of 67 degrees...and I was sitting inside, at a desk, in front of a computer. Enough to make this woman go crazy!

I'm up in Seattle until Friday, having my taste of life in the ORR office. I know I just made it sound like some form of torture, but it has also been good. I've been working on, and have almost finished, some new stuff that will provide kids with fundraising tools, and connect them with the kids that we serve in Liberia and Benin. There's been some good brainstorming, but that's been a struggle for me as well. We will be sharing about ORR tonight and tomorrow, so you can be praying for those events. And then it's back in the office on Monday morning. But with Monday comes a lunch date with my long-lost friend Rachel, and dinner with a couple who I originally spent time in Liberia with back in 2007. That sounds like a decent Monday! So as I stay snuggled up in my bed this rainy Saturday (yea, it's after 2pm and I'm still in my pjs and haven't done much more than fry two eggs and do lots of reading), I just wanted to let you all know that I really do appreciate each and every one of you, and thank you for joining me in this adventure!

P.S. Deb and Elena have been in Liberia for a week now! After tackling issues with vehicles, the generator and the internet, they were able to get to some kiddos late in the week and report that everyone is looking really good! Praise God!

Prayer for Deb & Elena

These are two of my most favorite people in the world. That's us, above, two weeks ago in Seattle. Deb is on the left, and Elena's on my right. Deb and Elena are my friends, encouragers, prayer warriors, roommates, coworkers, sources of laughter, partners in crime, beach bum buddies, rummy on the porch opponents and the two people that keep me (somewhat) sane when I'm in Liberia! After a short time at home to rest, fundraise and to visit with family and friends, they left this morning to head back to Liberia.

You can be praying for them--for safe travels, for flight connections, baggage arriving, adjusting back to life in Liberia (heat, rain, no a/c or running water, daily stresses, etc.), and for carrying the workload on their own while the rest of us remain at home for more rest and recuperation. I know their return will be full of joy and frustrations, wonderful reunions and hesitation...but they can really use all of our prayers. Join me in praying for two of the best prayer warriors I know! I'm looking forward to hearing from them once they get in Liberia and get settled, and I know that God has something great in store for them during this new season! Love you girls!

Send Me!

I have spent the past 5 days being a part of New Hope Baptist Church's "Send Me!" Missions Conference. Over 20 missionaries and organizations participated as the church celebrated the past 10 years of missions at New Hope, and anticipated the future. It has been a fantastically busy week!

The conference kicked off on Wednesday night with an international dinner, followed by a parade of nations, special music and Dr. Emir Caner really challenged the church. On Thursday, the missionaries had lunch withthe senior adults and Thursday night was a youth event with the Matt Papa Band and Dr. Caner. On Friday night, I had the privilege of sharing with a women's Bible study class over dessert and coffee. Saturday's International Bazaar was a great afternoon of fellowship and fun! We (well, a few good men)recreated an African village--complete with a mud hut, chickens, a well, a typical African school setting, a Land Rover loaded with medical supplies and a bush church. It was AWESOME! It was so much fun to share with people about Liberia and about ORR's ministry. The conference wrapped up today with another challenging message this morning, and then a luncheon for all of the missionaries. We just couldn't stop laughing at our table--all kinds of T.I.A stories were shared amongst us.

This past week has been refreshing and it's always so great to just be able to share about Liberia, ORR and the needs of the children that we serve. I have made new friends, connected with new prayer warriors and it's exciting to think about how everyone can come together and impact people all over the world for Christ! Here are some photos from Saturday.

A super huge thank you to everyone at New Hope who participated, planned and prayed for the conference! I know that God was stirring hearts, opening eyes and calling others to GO!

[And P.S. my suitcase arrived on my front porch on Friday morning! YEAAAA!]

Update!

I'm beginning to feel ashamed to show my face around here. It's hard to blog when I'm home--you all don't really care about the happenings on this side of the ocean, do you? Between that, and my mind and heart being all over the map, it's hard to come up with a concise thought to share.

So, I'm begging for mercy. Let's start over. For real, this time, I'm going to start blogging more regularly...whether you want to hear about things on this side of the pond, or not. I just tell myself that you want to hear about America too.

I've been home for almost 3 months now. That's pretty hard to believe! My foot is still healing. It's been hurting alot this past week or so, but I think that's just from over-use and not being able to wear my Chacos. You can be praying for continued healing for my foot, and that my lost suitcase (thanks Delta!) will be found, because it contains my comfy Chacos...along with other important things--like my winter wardrobe.

I spent all of last week in Seattle, Washington with my ORR family (that's the whole gang above!) in our new offices. Everyone is home from Liberia right now, so this was literally the first time in 3 years that everyone has been able to be in the same place at the same time. We had a week of teaching, prayer, worship, hanging out, refocusing, counseling, lots of meals together, plenty of laughter, some sunshine but mostly rain, and a silence and solitude day-trip to Mount Rainier (pictured above). We also said bittersweet goodbyes to two field team members (Matt & Mariel) and three office staffers, but we welcomed three new field team members. God must be up to something, because our family just keeps growing! You can pray for us as we go through this season of changes. Pray for me, as I stay home for a few more months--that I would just soak up this extra time at home and that I would use it constructively and creatively.

Today was the start of a 5-day missions conference at my home church. I got home from Seattle on Sunday and hit the group running to get things together for the conference (um, yea, stayed up until 3am). I'm looking forward to reconnecting with people and connecting with new people, while sharing about Liberia and ORR's ministry. You can be praying for the rest of this week--lots of events, interactions and opportunities.

Now that I've tackled the blog update, it's time to begin my newsletter update--which is LONG overdue! Love you all!

Help Orphan Relief and Rescue Win $10,000!

Help Orphan Relief and Rescue win $10,000! Jake traveled to Liberia this summer with Orphan Relief and Rescue. He is in a local radio station's talent competition, where the winner gets $10,000 for the ministry of their choice...and he has chosen ORR! Here's where we need your help! The first part of the competition is based on number of views his song has on YouTube. You can watch up to 100 times from one IP address per day. So, while you're sitting at your computer, pull up extra windows, stick your computer on mute and keep watching the video! You have to watch it all the way through to count. Right now, he's a few thousand views behind the person in first place, but the videos with the top 5 views will perform for judges on September 4th for the $10,000. So, we need to make sure Jake is one of those Top 5 videos and the YouTube competition ends August 20th! Jake is super talented, and what a blessing and honor it is that he wants to use his gifts and talents to glorify God and help ORR and the children that impacted his life this summer! Please help spread the word! Thanks!

I'm Back!

[Beautiful day in Destin!]

I've been soaking up the sun, sand and surf in Destin, Florida for the past week, and now it's time to get my blog updated. I enjoyed my five days of sitting on the beach under my umbrella reading my book with the waves crashing and the sand between my toes. I have REALLY missed the ocean since I've been home, so I was absolutely loving it--moon boot and all!

In other news, I finally was able to get behind the wheel of a car today! It was the first time I had driven a car since June 25th (the day I broke my foot), and the first time driving on American roads in 6 months. It was wonderful and freeing--but it's back to the land of speed limits, stop signs, traffic lights and laws. Now my only problem is that I need to find a car that I can use while I am home for these few months. If you have a no-fills, dependable spare car that I can putz around town in, let me know!

And in even bigger news, today was my first day of trying to wear a shoe on my broken foot! I used my time in Destin to transition from crutches to strictly moon boot, and today decided to try the shoe. After church and lunch, my foot was ready for a rest....but it was awesome to be able to get round, even though I was slow and hobble-y. It was great to be able to do the 'Liberian church sway' in church today too! I still need to take it easy, and just continue to be aware of the pain, but I am hoping that my foot will continue to heal and I can become more and more mobile!

[Feels great to have my slippers back on BOTH feet!]

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and my foot!