Blessed friendships

We just had the opportunity for a quick trip to San Diego county to transpire.  My brother and his wife brought Eyerusalem down to their house for a week and instead of just picking her up half way, we decided, and were invited to stay at their house for a few days as well.  We had a blast.  We spent some time paddle boarding, which is something that the kids and Heather have been wanting to do for a while and spent hours just hanging out at the beach playing in the waves.

In the course of 4 days we packed a lot in.  In fact we didn't even get home till midnight last night because we were so busy.  We took the opportunity as we were driving to make the most of the food stops that we were going to need to take.  So, rather than stopping at a fast food joint, (which we just don't do) we contacted lots of friends.

On the way down south we were able to get together with the Rinehart's and the Oakes.  Both of these families we were able to meet while we were in Ethiopia.  They live in SoCal so getting to see them doesn't happen very often.  However, we were able to get together with them and some of their friends, have a BBQ dinner and let the kids all go swimming for hours.  The kids had a blast and loved being able to see some friends from Ethiopia.

Then, we were able to just relax and hang out with my brother Justin and his wife Keary.  They treated us well, served us good food and we were able to just relax and hang out.  We have not had much time with them since they moved down south a few years ago, so it was super fun to be able to just talk, drink some coffee and hang out.

While on the way home we made plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Meeting my cousin, Meghan for breakfast our kids were treated to free drinks from the kind Starbucks employees.  They saw all of our kids, asked if they were all ours, (twice) and then decided that we have enough expenses and we should be spared the expense of most of our coffee.  One of God's small provisions throughout the trip.

We then hurried across town.  Well, actually, can anybody really hurry in LA traffic?  We met with our close friends Matt and Danielle who used to live by us and have since moved.  It was great to get reacquainted with them.  Plus, our two little kids were able to go swimming in their clothes, which helped clean the mud off of them from the mud pies they had made at Starbucks earlier.

Finally, we made a stop for dinner with the Unruh's whom some of our kids had spent time together in the transition house in Ethiopia.  We met them for dinner a couple of months ago in San Francisco at an Ethiopian restaurant, but have you ever tried to have a conversation with other adults at a restaurant when there are 19 kids running around?  Yeah, it is about as hard as it seems.  So, being able to send the kids outside to go and play and eat while the adults eat "quietly" inside was a much better option.

After an exhausting drive, Heather and I were talking on the way home.  We were amazed at how refreshed and blessed we were to be able to meet with so many people.  We were so encouraged and supported by all of our friends and family as we were able to pray with them, be real with them and see the ways that they are living radically for Christ.  We thank God for the times that He gives us to be refreshed.

How will we go?

This is maybe the biggest of all questions.  

The real, honest answer is, only through Christ and His Church.  

There is no other way.  We can't do this on our own accord.  We know this full well.  There is too much standing in our way.  We have tough housing issues to figure out.  We are in housing debt and don't know how we can eliminate it.  We also have a lot of outgoing expenses and monthly expenses as we transition our lives to Kenya.  

If you are thinking that it costs a TON to move a family of 8 overseas and then to be able to live, well then you are absolutely right.  It does.  Let us throw out some rough numbers.  AIM, our sending organization develops numbers based on years of experience and the area that you are traveling to.  They have determined that our "outgoing" expenses that we will need in whole prior to leaving are: $66,000.  This includes costs for items such as, air travel, baggage fees, training expenses, insurance, furniture and a car.  

We also have to raise all of our monthly support.  AIM requires us to be fully 100% supported before we can leave.  Our monthly target is $7,767.  This is not all going to our salary, but like all things gets divided quite a bit.  It covers insurance, 401K, rent, living expenses, savings for return trip, etc.  We are grateful to be going with a reputable organization, who looks at all of the expenses and makes sure that we are taken care of as a family.  

Looking at the numbers makes me smile.  The numbers are over and above anything that we alone can possibly do.  It is only with Jehovah Jirah, God the Provider, that this can be accomplished.  Only with Him, performing a miracle on our behalf can this be done.  The beautiful thing is that it CAN be done.  He has prepared us for this.  

In case you aren't aware of our whole adoption story... We started with $100 in our savings account as God asked us to pursue adoption.  In just over a year, God had provided all $60,000 that we ended up needing through His body, the church.  To every single dollar, God provided.  We did not go into any debt, and somehow He has continued to provide as we added three children to care for and feed.  He has shown us that He is faithful.  He has shown us that He is the provider.  He also has shown us how He uses his people to accomplish his will.  We were beyond blessed once we released our pride of trying to do it all alone, and letting others come alongside us as God led them.  

We ask that you pray and seek God about how you can be a part of our journey.  We can't do this alone.  We need lots of prayer support.  We will be needing financial support.  

For those of you that have asked, donations can be made directly to AIM here.  All money goes to our "outbound" account until we leave.  

Why? Why don't we stay home.

The answer to this question is tricky to answer.  It can have several different levels.  The short answer is, "because God has called us to go."  However, that answer doesn't usually seem to suffice and needs more explanation.  The long answer would take a very long time to explain and I am not going to do it here.  So, that leaves an answer somewhere in the middle that I can hopefully explain.

Over the years God has been working on us.  He has been molding us, reshaping our hearts and our desires.  He has been leading us in smaller ways, in preparation for leading us in bigger ways, such as our adoption or moving to Kenya.

The simple answer to why we are going is this.  There is a group of people, who have never heard of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus.  They haven't heard that He has paid the price for their sins.  They haven't heard that they can find true peace in Him only.  They haven't heard because nobody has been able to share it with them, in a way that they can grasp it, understand it, and apply it.  This group of people needs somebody to go, learn about them, love them, and understand their culture and be able to tell them about this Jesus in a way that they can understand it and cherish it.  This is what we are called to do.  We are choosing to be obedient to the call, and live radically as followers of Christ.  It is that simple really.

"But people need to know Jesus here as well."  True, they do.  However, we are going to leave the needs of the local people in the capable hands of the local church.  The local needs are the calling of many followers of Christ around here.  This is good, and needs to be continued.  While at the same time, there are people who have yet to hear this good news and need a chance to hear it.  We are going as an extension of the local church to show God's love across the world.

I have been in East Africa four times now.  There is an overwhelming peace that comes over me when I am there.  Though I have never had a house there, I feel home.  I have a house here in the states and yet, after flying across the world back to my house, I no longer feel home.  Kenya is where God has been preparing me to go.  He has been preparing our whole family to go and we are excited as we embark on this journey.

What?

What will we be doing?

As we look back at our lives we can clearly see the hand of God sculpting us and preparing us to do His work in Kenya.

When we went to AIM's candidate week we were asked separately where we visioned ourselves in Kenya.  We expressed a vision of planting churches amongst an Islamic people group in a tropical area.      "Great, we have a perfect fit for you," was the reply to our amazement.

We are going to be a part of a small team, whose vision is to see churches planted and sustained among the Digo.  The team leaders have been missionaries with the Digo for many years.  We have been getting different training so that we can fill different roles on the team.  Adam went to Florida last year to learn how to train others in developing biblical stories that are told, retold and spread.  Also, sometime this next winter Adam is planning on going to Lesotho to learn about Farming God's way.  This is one of the avenues that the team is looking at using to assist in building bridges and ultimately building God's kingdom.

It is amazing at how God has been preparing us for this.  We both grew up in the city and now we live on a little farm.  In the last five years we have learned so much about how to grow things, raise animals and live a more sustainable life.  We raise and slaughter our own chickens, we grow enough food that we are able to eat from our own yard most of the time.  We have been learning how to live more simply.  We have raised goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, and ducks.  We have failed a lot at what we have done, but we have learned a lot as well.  Like, I have learned I will never try to raise turkeys again.  They are too stupid.  Seriously, we lost ten of them one year because they each followed each other into a hole in the ground that they couldn't get out.

I often used to wonder why a city guy, turned country was doing some of the things I was doing.  I now know.  God has been using this opportunity allowing us to live on a farm for the last 5 years as training.  We have learned a lot and God has been preparing us to be used by him in a different culture.

He is in the details....

Over the next week or so I am going to answer some of the what, where, why, and how questions.  

Where are we going?

Somewhere along the coast of southern Kenya, in East Africa, lies clusters of villages.  The villages are south of Mombasa and they dot into Tanzania as well.  It is a place that the Digo people call home.  The villages are mostly fishing villages and a lot of the food comes from the sea as well as agriculture from the area.  

It is to one of those Digo villages that we are headed.  We aren't quite sure of the exact location yet, but we will be along the coast of southern Kenya.  It will likely be a village with a lot of dirt roads, and maybe some inconsistent electricity.  We will probably use solar.   

This is where God comes in to the details and this story gets really good.  

About 14 years ago, Heather and I were in Nairobi, Kenya.  We were far from the coast and we had not traveled to it.  We wanted to buy some souvenirs, and thought that a painting would make a great one.  We came across a beautiful painting.  We loved the colors, we loved the picture and we bought it.    There were tons to choose from, but we like this certain one.  I didn't really know why.  We just did.  In fact, my aunt who we were visiting asked us a few times, "Are you sure you like this one, we haven't even gone to the coast?"  

"Maybe we will some day," was our reply.  And the seed was planted.  

We have had this painting hanging in our house and have looked at it for 14 years.  Today, I looked at it again, yet this time I saw it a little different.  

Today, I realized that this picture is going to be by somewhere that we call home.  

Focused on Kenya

It was a few years back, while we were a couple of months into our adoption process, still only planning on adopting a (single) baby boy that God gave me vision and a focus.

Our three children were inside the house, asleep.  Heather was at a meeting.  I, Adam was left alone.  I grabbed my cup of coffee, my Bible and headed outside to sit by a nice wood fire and spend time with my Father.

I was worshipping, praying and studying God's word.  It was then, in the stillness, as I watched the wood slowly burning down that I heard God speak to me.  No, I don't think that it was audible, though it could have been.  It was very clear.

"This is just the beginning of your journey.  I have much more planned for you." 

God, what does this mean?  I wrestled with this question for months.  It was a couple of months before I even told Heather.  Does this mean we are supposed to adopt more than one child?  Does this mean we are supposed to plant a church?  Does this mean we are supposed to leave our land and go and tell others the good news of Jesus Christ?

Eventually, through time, He has shown me that the answer is yes.  Yes to all the above.

You see, God has called our family to give Him complete control.  He calls us to follow Him at all costs and be willing to do what seems unimaginable.  To be willing to be counter-cultural and maybe even unwise, {according to worldly wisdom} and to be willing to move our family of 8 across the world to the coast of Kenya.

As I wrestled with the question, God clearly spoke to me once more.  It was in the stillness of the night, somewhere between the consciousness and the unconscious sleepy state.  I was at work, and I knew that God was calling us overseas.

"Are you willing?  Are you willing to give all this up that I have given you?  Are you willing to sacrifice?"

Yes, God.  I am willing.  We are willing.  I am willing to quit my career that I worked so hard to get.  I am willing to give up my retirement and the security that goes with it.  We are willing to give it all up for your sake.

It has been a few years now.  We have gone through our adoption process.  When we decided to adopt our three children, we knew that God was calling us back there.  That was always the "real" question for Heather and I.  How does adopting three kids affect our call to Kenya?  The week that we decided to adopt our three children, we went to Africa Inland Missions (AIM) US based headquarters and were approved by them to be missionaries.  I believe that God plans on using our family to further His kingdom even more so now with our large family.

Since then we have patiently waited on God's timing.  We wanted to stabilize as a family and let God lead us.  Through this time, He has sharpened our focus and refined our vision.  And now, our new journey officially begins!