Geography and proximity are not justifications for indifference.
-Jody Landers

Kind of blows the whole idea that "because I was born in America I deserve all of these things" out of the water.

Spring Break!

Over spring break I have several goals for myself... I hope I am not being too lofty by setting them in blog writing:
Goal #1- Spend uninterrupted time driving to Texas with my amazing, albeit, exhausted husband
Goal #2- Write 2 term papers, take a midterm exam, write lesson plans, and get caught up on all undergrad work (not likely to be successful here, but its worth a shot)
Goal #3- Not think about my students
Goal #4- Blog about this book, From Ashes to Africa, but Josh and Amy Bottomly.

"We don't choose the books we want to read, instead the books choose us. The question then becomes whether we will respect the book enough to listen to the secrets that it wants to whisper to us." ~Josh Bottomly

This book choose me, God has always placed upon my heart a desire to help the orphans of third world countries and the orphans of our own countries. Daily I meditate on the plight of the Fatherless and the Motherless all over the world and it breaks me.

I am broken by the injustice of poverty in children's lives.

I am broken by child labor.

I am broken by child soldiers.

I am broken because I know that I cannot sit by ignorantly while God's heart breaks for these same things.

How will I act? Will we adopt children from Africa? Most likely. Will we send funds? Definitely. But what will we do that is out of the ordinary? What will we do that pushes the limits and really says, "This is GOD's will and GOD's work and no one- no one is going to stop it!"?

How will we change the world?

Our African Dream

It is with a heavy heart but a peaceful soul that we are not going to Africa this summer. When we heard that plans were falling through, there was a sense of relief and rightness in both of our hearts. God is teaching us more about being missional in our community and seeking God's guidance even in our plans to further his kingdom. I will continue to post about our heart and feelings for Africa but right now... homework.

I have recently been reading "From Ashes to Africa" by Josh and Amy Bottomly and I am so anxious to share my heart and thoughts with everyone. For anyone who knows me, you know how strongly I feel about adoption and how passionately I am pursuing the fatherless children with my heart. So much of what I feel about adoption and the perception has been so revealed to me in this book. I cannot wait to share all of the great quotes and my thoughts about the quotes...

I know you are on the edge of your seats but you will just have to wait until I turn the last page...

Without Borders

Got this quote from another blogger and I love it... I want to live it...

“We are the rich of the rich. With that wealth comes a responsibility to give. The sooner we view the world as God does, without borders, we’ll be appalled at what people in this world go without. God provides more than enough resources for everyone. We’ve just got to do a better job of sharing.”

Schaun Colin

The Lesser Homes of Colorado Springs

I was considering that in light of the fact that we are still living my parents and have an offer on one house for 3 weeks, I would share some of our more...memorable experiences with all of my faithful blog readers.

Our top 5 worst homes:
1. The home with the Taliban caves littering the basement... seriously, this basement had more nooks and crannies than we knew possible. I think at some point we walked underneath the neighbors home. Less than $85,000

2. The house with the rat feces all over the basement floor and the "conservatory" off the back of the basement. Perhaps the rats entered the basement through some sort of hole in the conservatory. $99,000

3. The home in Old Colorado City that you needed several clean breaths of air in order to view... seriously, who allows the cats just urinate everywhere and never clean it up. $119,000

4. Our first love... from the outside at least. Beautiful 2 story Victorian that was a feral cat den and where upon walking into the kitchen, it was also possible to view the basement. $62,000

5. Townhome with ceiling from upstairs on the floor, all carpet gone and a sneaking suspicion of mold.

We hope that you enjoyed your tour of the worst homes in Colorado Springs, visit us again for the house that we actually buy (trust us, much better than all of these)

Hope for Africa

Plans for our trip to Africa in June are falling into place and I can completely see that this is where God intended for us to be in June. We have numerous fundraisers coming up for local folks and if you want more information on those just let me know.

For those of you who do not know, part of the reason that Ben and I fell in love is because we realized that God had placed the continent of Africa on each of our hearts before we had even met. What a gift it would be for us to take this trip together. Please visit our trip blog here to find out more info about where we are going and what we are doing. I will continue to post here about what God is doing in our hearts and where we know he means for us to be.