that said, i don't think i've ever gone above and beyond with what God's given me. cut to september 2011, and i started to wonder what god had in store for the rest of my life. i am somewhat envious of my husband's relationship with god and the strength of his faith. i think it's pretty common that someone who's survived some hard knocks in life would have a stronger relationship with God than someone who's coasted gloriously down the river of life. jeremy's faith floors me, and rescues me and my own doubt, and that's a big reason why i love him with all my being. so back in 2011 i said a little teeny tiny prayer to God - i asked him if he would wreck my heart and show me my purpose beyond music and living a good life.
he brought back into my life two women who will forever change it. erica and kelly introduced me to The Raining Season, an organization that runs and funds an orphanage in Sierra Leone, West Africa. this orphanage houses 96 kids who now have a chance at life. food, education, healthcare, clothing, shelter, and love. love from their caregivers, from their American sponsors, and from Jesus. the short story is i was touched by the intimacy of this organization, and jeremy and i decided to sponsor a couple of kids - a sister and brother. then in November, in one of the most ironic events of my life, i was sitting in a casino in Las Vegas and got a call from kelly. struggling to hear her over the ringing of slot machines and shouting of the tv's, i heard her ask if jeremy and i would be the forever family to three little boys at the orphanage. brothers, 7, 6, and 4. uhhhh...what's a forever family? "a program we introduced for the kids without families who want to adopt them. there's an adoption ban in Sierra Leone, so none of these kids can be adopted internationally. so we want to match them with an american family who will support them as long as they need it - visit once a year, skype every week, email, and send school supplies/clothes/etc." forever family? as in forever forever? "well, as long as they want you in their lives." huh. so a couple of weeks later i had scared myself into saying no. jeremy was kind of leaving it to me and my heart and had made it clear he'd support my decision. pastor pete at crosspoint church was doing a whole series of sermons on fear. and getting out of your comfort zone. stepping out of the white picket fence that surrounds your comfortable little life. the random daily devotionals that land in my gmail every morning seemed to have a freakishly similar message - take a risk in the name of God. but my job was a little uncertain! we had just started a business! how can we afford a yearly trip to africa? how can my gentle heart handle the poverty and sadness of a third world country?
i texted kelly to see if we could go get coffee that afternoon. i was going to tell her we couldn't be a forever family right now. she never texted me back...not for a few days at least...which was very unlike her! by the time we did talk, my heart was saying yes to being a forever family at jeremy's prodding. we decided - we are a family that takes risks. we don't want the easy life for us. we don't want the safe, predictable life for us. we want something extraordinary, Godly, hard, beautiful! and it seemed this provided that opportunity.
we said yes. i asked jeremy if he'd ever thought about adopting these boys if it was a possibility...but it wasn't. then on february 10, 2012 we found out the ban was lifted. suddenly, it's a possibility. after a lot of conversations, prayer, more prayer, and a few more conversations, we decided the dude with bright red hair and the girl with the easy life were going to be the parents of three brand new African boys!
so...this is our journey. how it started with this little tiny prayer, a little post on facebook asking for sponsors, a couple of black bean salads at calypso cafe, a phone call in a casino, infinite dinners at Chuy's, and three beautiful, handsome, precious, incredible, smart, talented brothers in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Melissa - this is so amazing :) I'd seen some posts on Facebook but nothing really clicked until your posts today & your link to this blog. So happy for you & your precious new family! Can't wait to follow your story.
ReplyDelete