es para ti...

*this is long...really long...


i have been waiting for the perfect moment to sit down and write this blog.  i know that people have questions about our recent announcement of partnering with ROOM as missionaries in costa rica...and even if there are no questions...there is quite certainly some clarity i am still seeking within this call.  clarity that i know God will continue to give as his plan opens up under our feet.  at first i was scared that i did not have all the answers.  what am i going to do?  how can i help? what if my spanish is even worse than i think?  but then i was reminded of how even paul used words that were not exactly clear such as "perhaps" and "wherever" when he addressed the church of corinth (16:6).  so then i sighed...thanked God for where he has us now...and decided to write.
i don't have all the answers.  but before january i didn't even know that costa rica was in our future!
the best metaphor i can use for this situation is to think of a puzzle.
our family has been doing quite a bit of puzzles lately, much to my own chagrin...even though i do get sucked into them...  whenever we are working on a puzzle each person takes a certain part of the picture. i work on one corner, kyle works on another, harper sorts out the edge pieces, oliver jack runs by with a sticky hand and unknowingly to the rest of us manages to steal key pieces, calvary refuses to work because there are too many pieces and too many workers, and finley distracts us with other puzzles.
when kyle and i finish the parts that we are working on we know that we do not have the full picture.  there are still other parts of the puzzle to be completed.  i only have one specific element of the picture complete and kyle another.  to get a more complete picture we have to combine all of the separate parts.
this is the clearest illustration i can even think to have for where kyle and i are now! we have parts of this puzzle figured out.  we have realized that the past 2 years were a section of the puzzle....before that, my time pursuing a degree in spanish although never used and honestly not very good at it and my time teaching spanish by default of a series of strange circumstances are another section....kyle's time serving on mission teams, learning valuable skills that will be useful in any arena, his love for worship, his countless hours dedicated to coaching and teaching children are another section.
and then, once the picture of costa rica is in place, it will fit in with a bigger picture.
we can see that the puzzle is coming together, but those borders that harper is looking for are not going around just the call of costa rica.  and those pieces that oliver jack keeps stealing and hiding will always eventually be found...even when we don't believe him when he says he has the pieces and it is not until he opens up his little hands with that sneaky grin that we realize that pieces are even missing...and even though finley keeps distracting us with things that are good and fun and sweet...the puzzle will still get finished.  it is our job to stay focused.  and not to be discouraged or overwhelmed by the volume of pieces and the unknown like calvary...to look diligently to the one who knows the complete picture in order to guide our hands at finding the pieces...oh me!  i cannot even imagine trying to put a puzzle together without a picture of what the puzzle is intended to be!
and in this situation, only God knows.  only God knows what he has in store for us in costa rica.
we are grateful for the call.  our hearts are so ready to serve, connect, and build a program in costa rica like ROOM is ministering through in honduras.
currently, ROOM is assisting 27 orphanages in honduras!  that is HUGE!  prior to tara's family moving to honduras, they were only able to assist 4 orphanages.  in one of our first conversations tara briefly introduced me to her vision for ROOM in costa rica and basically stated that ROOM has made contact with 6 orphanages in costa rica and would love to do so much more than they are currently able to do.  in order to reach and assess the needs of these orphanages they would need to plant a missionary family there.

the cool thing is how God works...as they were praying for a family to fill that void and become a missionary family that would help pioneer the vision, God was speaking to my heart and kyle's.

one morning before i was going to meet my friend traci for a playdate with our kids i called kyle just to chat.  during the conversation i told him, "i really feel like God is calling us into missions...to somewhere like costa rica"  he immediately made fun of me for choosing costa rica and i thought that the only reason costa rica came to my heart was because of my general love of spanish culture.  but God placed those words on my lips and in my heart because later that morning as I shared with traci the stirring we have had she said, "where do you want to go? costa rica? or india?".  he placed costa rica in my heart.  and now it is there and every day my love for this country grows and grows.  our love for children has only grown as we have loved and cared for our own children.  knowing them makes it impossible for me to see the suffering of children and not want to do something to minister to their pain.  in costa rica we will be able to put our hands to action and serve children that are hurting and in need of their most basic needs.

the five basic needs which we will be partnering with ROOM to provide for the orphanages in costa rica are:

1. gospel materials.
2. clean water
3. food and nutrition
4. clean living spaces
5. personal hygiene

along with these 5 basic needs, kyle and i will be able to assess other needs that become urgent and particular for costa rica.  

afterall, we are all instructed to "look after the orphans in their distress" (james 1:27) and for us that means answering the call to move to costa rica.  to leave behind our home, our families, our jobs (well...kyle's job) and move to a different country to learn a new language, a new culture, and a gain a deeper understanding of what it means to serve.

for others, it may mean to support, through sponsorship, the work that is being done.  

i have never had a more resolute understanding of what it means to be part of the body of christ than i do right now!  the picture is so clear to me and it is beautiful in its completion.  

romans 12:5 says so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

we all work together to be the body of christ.  the job is too hard and the vision is not our own.  we have all been instructed to take care of the orphans and for each of us that means something different.  we cannot all seek to have the same job or else the body is incomplete.  the hands cannot do the work if the heart is not pumping.  the eyes cannot see if the brain is not translating the images.  we are all uniquely intertwined and connected and intrinsically important.  

there is work to be done and we can accomplish so much more together through God then we could ever dream to do alone. 

the following pictures are from the work in honduras and prayers for what i hope will be done for the children in costa rica...

this picture is of street ministry in honduras

Thanks to Dr. Hernandez, Dr. Jensy, and Dentonics of Monroe, NC, ROOM's dental program just took a huge step forward: cleaning teeth and filling cavities, good prevention for lots of orphanages here!

Another abandoned baby arrived today to the public orphanage as we were leaving

filling in nutritional gaps

repairing and creating safe living environments

this is just a portion of some of the work to be done.  the stories of abandoned children, the image of sick babies, the sheer number of children living in orphanages is heartbreaking...and although i cannot become their mother, i can show them love.  

i can stand in the gap for them.

i can hold their tiny bodies.

i can read them a story.

i can play tag.

i can take them to the doctor.

i can give them clean water and healthy food.

i can answer yes to the call to help God's children.