Bring Love In

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

This verse speaks to my heart - as I know it speaks to Renee's.
To me (and I'm sure Renee would agree) it means:

go
do something
love on orphans
stepping out of my comfort zone
being thankful for what I have and the fact that I am NOT an orphan
snuggling my kiddo often
being change
loving others with passion
making a difference
making a dent
sharing the love I have been given and blessed by with others

Yes, Renee and I have decided to journey to Africa together. However, that certainly doesn't mean we have the whole trip planned out and scheduled - ready to go. It's a work in progress. We just knew God was calling us both there and we felt we should go together.

That being said, I have been praying that God would open doors and show us where we should go in Africa. That he would provide a way to love on the children and use our photography to help bring awareness to all of the amazing (and sadly the tragic) things that are happening there. I have been praying that whatever we end up doing there and whoever we end up working with would be right. Does that make sense? I want it to be a well thought out trip - not just some random visit to Africa. I am praying that it would have great meaning to both Renee and myself. I'm praying that it would stretch us and teach us and break us. I am praying that it wouldn't be some fleeting moment of a trip - that it would be continual, even after we arrive home. That we would be able to share our hearts with whomever we come across in Africa. Praying that God would use us and that we would be open to him using us in ways where we feel strong, but also in ways we feel weak. You get me? In any case, I've been praying.

Recently, I finished reading a book called No Greater Love by Levi Benkert. It's a story about a husband and wife that felt God calling them to do something greater than themselves. Here's the jist:

"Levi Benkert was playing with his children in the park when he received an urgent phone call from a friend asking him to drop everything and fly to Ethiopia to help organize a rescue orphanage for children destined to be murdered as part of a tribal superstition known as "mingi killings." Moved by his friend's story, Levi packed his bags and left for what he thought would be a short two-week trip. But upon meeting the children, Levi knew there was no turning back. Six weeks later, Levi, his wife, Jessie, and their three young children sold their home and all their belongings and relocated to Ethiopia indefinitely.

No Greater Love documents Levi's journey-from the challenges he faced establishing and running the orphanage to finding adoptive homes for the children."

Towards the end of the book, Levi (the author) talks about the organization/community they created in Ethiopia called Bring Love In. I wanted to know more, so I searched for their blog and found Bring Love In here. 

From Levi and his wife, Jessie:

"Bring Love In is a community (not just an organization) that exists to show the love of God by giving families to children who have none. We are based out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we couple orphans and widows from within local Christian church communities, to create new forever families here in Ethiopia.

Bring Love In is passionate about creating new families, not just temporary families, but real, lasting, permanent families from orphans that we get from the overcrowded government orphanages in Ethiopia. We place them in a new family led by a widow who would otherwise not have anything herself.

We are not just creating new families, but families that raise up future leaders for Ethiopia. Leaders who will stop the cycle that created the orphan crisis in the first place."

The gist? Uniting widows and orphans to create new, forever families in Ethiopia. When I read this I thought, how beautiful! What an amazing thing to do! It brought tears to my eyes, to think that these sweet children no longer had to live in orphanages, but were being brought into a new family.  A FAMILY. I have one of those...and it means SO MUCH to me. I can't imagine what it means to these sweet orphans.

While reading the Bring Love In blog, I also came across this video, which of course, brought me to tears. Again. I get teary easily in my old age :)

My heart lept out of my chest. This was it! This is what I had been praying for.

Renee and I send videos, music, quotes to each other and exchange emails on a regular basis. I sent this particular video to her and without mentioning much, asked her to let me know what she thought. I waited and hoped it would speak to her as loudly as it spoke to me.

It did.

I contacted Levi and let him know a little bit of our story, our hope, and our hearts. I asked if it would be a possibility to travel there in 2013 and work with them (in whatever ways needed), love on orphans, meet widows, and take photographs. Fingers crossed, I hoped and prayed he would write back.

He did.

...yes, we'd love to have you. 
...let us know your travel plans.

And so it begins...


- Michelle

Our Red Threads

It's been my turn to share on here for a while now. Michelle has been patiently waiting and sweetly encouraging me to write again so here it goes..... Last week we got together for a little powwow about our trip to Africa, have I mentioned how much I love her? Our relationship is covered in the Lord's goodness. I don't even just mean covered, I mean drenched in His goodness. 

The first night Michelle and I met was in fall 2006. Thinking back on that time feels like it was a lifetime ago, we were different people then. 
I can remember my excitement when we found out she was pregnant, how fun to have a new friend who would also have a small baby at the same time as me. I remember the day she found out Lyla wouldn't live, we all sat at my parents table, without any words, as the pain enveloped her and Tim's broken hearts. I remember holding my healthy newborn baby weeping, crying out to God for healing, for a miracle, for anything but this to happen. I remember rubbing my hand over Lyla's small casket after it was finished being made. I remember seeing Michelle as she greeted family and friends at her baby's funeral. I remember weeping in her arms and feeling strength beyond measure holding her together. I would have never guessed that only a few years later I would be lying on her couch waiting while people at the morgue prepared my husband's body for viewing. 

Sometimes the hardest circumstances can bond two people together in a way only God understands. Only He can make something beautiful grow from immeasurable pain. That is the exact nature of our friendship and Africa is just another chapter in it. 

The day before I realized Michelle and I both share a common pull towards the children there, I was at the library with my daughters. My oldest daughter picked up a book displayed on the shelf and asked me to read it out-loud. I opened the first page and read "An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."  My eyes filled with tears as I continued to read the story about a king and queen who lived in a beautiful city, had everything they could ever want, yet they each had this increasing ache/pain in their hearts. Doctors and wise men came from all over the kingdom trying to find a cure but none could be found. Then one day a peddler comes to the castle, he gives them red spectacles to look through, it reveals an invisible red thread coming out of their hearts, tangled in every direction all over the castle. They know the only way to find the cure is to follow it, so they pack their bags and go on a journey. Finally they find where the thread leads, they enter a small hut in a village far away from their home and find a baby. They ask who the child belongs to and as you can guess the answer is, she is yours. 

I can't understand this pull Michelle and I are both experiencing any more than I can explain the beauty in the way our lives have become tied together. I only know they are both gifts from God. My prayer today is that we would more deeply embrace this tug on our hearts and have the wisdom to discern where to go from here.

<3 Renee