India Recap

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen

Ephesians 3:20-21

I started mentally writing this blog on Sunday, June 24, in the midst of all of our return travels.  As I begin to type this, it is Wednesday, June 27.   I have no idea when I will be able to post this, as I have spent the last several days processing my week in India.

People keep saying to me, "Tell me about India!"or asking "So...how was it??" and I have been unsure how to answer.

        -   "Life-changing" seems like the socially acceptable answer
        -   "Amazing!" seems like the obvious answer
        -   "Can't wait to go back!" is the answer my kids do not want to hear

Yes...India was, and is, all of those things.  But that tells you so little of what actually occurred with the Angels and within the 27 of us that travelled there.  So, while there is no way for me to put into words what we encountered over there, I will do my best!

The Lord will give strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Psalm 29:11

India was my first mission trip.  What a way to start with a bang huh?

After 32 hours of flying (including a "9 hour" whirlwind tour of London), this verse was ringing true in my mind.  Even with the physical exhaustion, it was hard to peel my eyes from the streets of Patna.  

Patna is one of the poorest, most populated cities in the country of India.  As we drove the 45 minutes from the airport to the hotel, there was no shortage of sensory overload.  

In the streets, even though there were technically two lanes, there would be a bus, two taxis and 6 motorcycles, going one direction.  Dallas drivers have nothing on these guys!

It was not uncommon to see entire families crammed onto a motorcycle, veering in and out of traffic.  No fear in their eyes (but definitely in mine...and I was on a bus!).  The sound of horns honking is the only way to signify where an individual is on the road.  

                  Surprisingly enough, we only saw one accident.

It's easy to forget about the little things over here.  Like trash cans, stoplights, a solid roof over your head.  All things I have definitely taken for granted...until one of them breaks.  A full trash can makes your house smell...a broken stoplight can put you in stand still traffic for hours...a hole in your roof is an insurance nightmare.  

      How silly we are for being so                         ungrateful.

The first full day in India, we had a 2 hour drive to our orphanage.  We drove through some of the poorest areas in Patna on our way to Paliganj.  As we pulled to a stop, and the doors opened, I think that all of us could feel the weight of what was about to happen.  A year in the making...from a vision God had placed on PT's heart, to the fundraising for the orphanages, God doing abundantly more than WE had envisioned, to this moment.  We were about to put names and faces with the tiny orphans we had been praying for for months.  And the thought was overwhelming.

                    

                 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

                                                John 14:18

This first orphanage was the hardest of the three to walk into.  You could see the skepticism on the faces of the children as we entered their home.  You could sense the hesitation, the hurt, the heavy hearts these children carried with them.  It would have been easy to let my flesh take over...to run, to stand idly by and watch the others, to be selfish.

But I didn't leave my babies and fly halfway around the world to do and be those things.  After all, this trip wasn't about me.  This trip was about these Angels and what God was doing in our hearts.

Over the next day and a half, the stories came flooding over us on how these sweet babies came to live at this home:
   - One little boy was found at 7 months old, in a trash bag, on the side of the road.
   - Two little girls, sisters, were abandoned by their father.  When they were young, their mother died, and when the father got remarried, he chose his new wife over his children.
   - One little girl was found on the side of the road and was brought to the orphanage.  The entire time we were there, her younger brother never left her side.  When we asked about the brother (pictured below), we discovered that he was not staying there.  All of our hearts were heavy for this little boy.  After much prayer, and questioning, we found out on the second day that the pastor had opened up the home to this boy as well!

The little boy in the purplish/grayish shirt is the one I spoke about.
Many of our group tried to get a smile on his face...with no success.
But by the time we left, he was smiling and fist-bumping like a pro!

By the time we left, I think all of us left a little piece of our hearts with these Angels.  While they did not understand English, they did understand that we loved them.  They understood that we were praying for them.  They understood that we have hope for their futures, for their lives to marked with greatness, for them to grow up and be world changers!

"The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;

This is my God, and I will praise Him;

My father’s God, and I will extol Him."

Exodus 15:2

At the end of our second day at the orphanage, we drove straight from there to the airport to fly from Patna to New Delhi, and then immediately from New Delhi to Hyderabad.  No one said this trip was going to be a cake walk!

Hyderabad was going to be different.  You could tell immediately from the second we stepped off the plane.  The airport was fancy...like what you would see in the states fancy.  There was definitely still poverty in Hyderabad, but not quite to the extent that we saw in Patna.  

We arrived at night in Hyderabad, and the city had almost a club like feel to it.  Lots of lights surrounding their banquet halls, and people milling about the streets.  One thing that definitely did not change, was the traffic.  We had one of the locals inform us that if they were to follow the rules of the road, there would be many more accidents...so they chose to ignore the rules!  So glad that doesn't happen here!

Idols were everywhere we looked.  Statues and shrines built to one of the many gods that the Indian culture worships.  There was also a larger Muslim population in Hyderabad then we saw in Patna.

The day after we arrived, we were off to tour the Galconda Fort.  Typically, teams do not get any down time, but the orphanage we were visiting that day wasn't quite ready for us.

Such wonderful history throughout the fort, and after 360 steps to the stop, we were able to see breathtaking views of Hyderabad.  

While Galconda Fort was beautiful, I know we were all anxious to get back on the road to see the orphanage!

This second orphanage was not one that our church built.  It was built by Harvest Time Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  They were unable to be at the dedication, so we stepped in for them.

What an honor to do it!

I have already mentioned that Hyderabad had a completely different feel than Patna.  The orphanages did as well.  The Harvest Time orphanage had 25 angels, a BEAUTIFUL church built across from the orphanage, and a pastor who absolutely loved his calling, and his city.

We were greeted with a huge banner at the base of the orphanage, that listed all of us by name.  We were surprised that they knew who we all were!  But as you can tell from the first picture, they weren't finished.  Each child had been assigned an adult, and had a sign and a flower for each of us.  My little girl was named Ruth.  She was absolutely precious.  Through speaking to her, I found out that she loved math and science (a girl after my heart!) and wants to grow up to be a doctor.  

What struck me the most here, was the fire and passion behind what these children aspired to do with their lives.  They recognized that they had been given an opportunity by being placed here.  They didn't want to settle.  They weren't willing to accept the sins that had been passed on from previous generations.  This was a generation in India that wanted change...that wanted better...and they weren't afraid to tell you.  

The angels here definitely drew their passion from their pastor.  Pastor told us that if a church is built in a city, no one will come.  What draws the people, is the orphanage.  And he has big dreams for what is come.  The second story of the orphanage is currently under construction, and his vision is to finish that floor and DOUBLE the capacity of the orphanage!  That is huge!!

This orphanage fueled us to keep going through our exhaustion, on to our final location.

And this final orphanage is the one that stole my heart.

We visited Thumkunta, the home of Milestone's second orphanage, on Saturday...the day we were to leave India.  Stephen, our liaison, told us that this orphanage was only about 60% complete, due to a shortage of sand.  In my mind, I was disappointed.  How were we to see the home, and the bond, between these boys if there was no home?

God has a funny way of setting us straight doesn't He?  

I couldn't fathom how a "family" could form if there was no central location for all of them to come together.  I was having a hard time comprehending how 50 boys could live together anyway!  Wouldn't there be fighting, jealousy, competition, etc?  God had a lot of work on His hands ;)

We pulled up to the orphanage, and were greeted by 50 young men, ages 9-17.  They had a worship band performing, comprised of members of the pastor's church and his children.  That would have been impressive in itself, but, they were singing songs that we knew!  As I walked up, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of joy...the boys didn't need a completed house to express their gratitude.  

                                       

                           

You can see the progress of the home and the church in the above pictures.  The church (the bottom two pictures) is the first church in the area in 400 years!  That is crazy to think about when in Keller, there are literally 25 churches in a 2 mile radius from Milestone!

It was incredible to see the difference between all three orphanages.  This orphanage was where we dream our first orphans will be in 5-10 years!  The second orphanage, you could tell had passion, but were still in the beginning stages of coming together.  This orphanage...this was family.

Speaking with the pastor's wife, she informed us that many of these boys have been living together for the last 5 years.  When the boys first came to them, they couldn't speak English, nor could they even write their own names.  Now, they are fluent in English, and they are at the top of each of their classes.  She radiated pride for these boys and what they have accomplished...and her happiness overflowed into all of us!

These two boys stole my heart in India!  On the left, is Akiel, and on the right is Bruce Lee (yes...that's right).  Akiel grabbed my attention first, with his huge smile and chivalry.  During worship, everyone climbed into chairs and our team dispersed through the crowd.  I was on the end, where there wasn't a chair.  Akiel looked at me, looked at his friend next to him, and told his friend to move so I could sit.  I smiled and said it was okay, but he was insistant.  He climbed into the chair (with his friend!) so that I could have a seat.  When I had to get up a few moments later to help pass out bags, I asked him to save my spot...he eagerly agreed!

**** This is a side note, but one worth mentioning.  I mentioned the pastor and his wife briefly at this location, but they were phenomenal!  They had so much love and hope for these boys...and you could tell in how the boys responded to them.  At one point, I was helping to blow up soccer balls, and the pastor's son came over (he couldn't have been older than 12) and asked if these were for the orphans.  I said yes, and his face broke out into a huge smile.  He thanked me and said that these would make the orphans so happy.  I almost cried. ****

Akiel and I started playing soccer during free time.  He didn't quite understand the sport, so we took turns kicking the ball and then racing after it to see who would win.  Bruce Lee came over during this, and decided he wanted to play.  Competition heated up a bit, and Bruce Lee would kick the ball away so that we could play...then Akiel would run back and kick Bruce Lee's ball away.  After a quick talk about sharing (always a mom!), we agreed on Monkey in the Middle....which we proceeded to play for 20 minutes.

When it was time to leave, you could tell that all of us were having a hard time pulling away.  This was the last time we may see some of these boys, and we were about to get on a plane and leave India completely.  

I helped make sure that everyone got on the bus, and then climbed into a van with the Caswell's and the Wilson's.  The boys immediately surrounded our vehicles to say goodbye.  I opened the window to see Akiel and Bruce Lee frantically searching the bus to find me.  I stuck my arm out the window right as they turned to the van, and their faces lit up and they reached their arms out to me as well.  We yelled our goodbyes and we pulled away.  

For the next 5 minutes, our van was completely silent...occasionally interrupted by a sniffle or a deep sigh.  Our hearts were full and empty all at once.

"Life-changing" is one of the answers that we (students and leaders alike) have been saying.  When one of my friends challenged myself and PT with what that meant, he explained it like this:

"Here, in America, we are so privileged by what we have.  We have a lot of 'stuff.'  Definitely not hurting for physical things.  In India, these orphans have been living on the streets, begging for food, for a place to sleep, for clean water.  But what they have that we don't have, is a fullness spiritually."

This trip took us to an entirely different level of what it means to be spiritually full...to lay hands on others and pray, to hear the Holy Spirit speak of what is to come for these angels, to see hope for the future, to put your faith into the unknown.  To understand, by seeing first hand, Matthew 6:

³¹ Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ ³² For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴   "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.

That's the best way I can explain how this trip changed us all.  I know for some of you, that was overkill, for others of you, you still can't grasp what I wrote.  I completely understand...two weeks in, and I am still processing!  But one last thing I do want to say, is thank you to everyone who prayed for us while on the trip, and for those who provided financially for my trip.  You were a huge catalyst in the success of our India trip...so thank you.

Some things are hard...

Okay, want to know what is hard?  Blogging when you don't have a computer.   So if you would like to read more blog posts, please, buy me a computer ;)

What else is hard, is when your darling baby reverts back in his sleeping patterns.  Is this just boys?  Rea never did this.  When she started sleeping through the night, she SLEPT through the night.  Nolan was sleeping through the night at like 10 weeks, and then at 6 months, decided he was over it and was back to waking up every two hours.

Last night, was one of those nights.  Between this lovely storm....

    ** which side note, I should say woke both Jordan and myself up at 5 am with the thought of "wow, we love storms" to "Oh no, our windows are open" and finally to "J has got the car....zzzzzzzz".  Fun.

....And this lovely face, I was awake every two hours last night.

Let's be real for a minute folks.  I love to sleep.  Not like, hey I enjoy a good 8 hours.  No, no.  I'm talking, I am 16, sleeping is my job, and if everyone would just leave me alone I would sleep for 12-15 hours a day kind of love.

              That did not happen last night.


And while I love that beautiful little face...and this beautiful little face (which I was also greeted with around 3:30, when he had to go to the bathroom....), no sleep makes for a grumpy mama.

I know, I know.  First world problems.  (hashtag, winky face, lol....)

If those are the worst things I have going for me, I definitely have no room to complain!

Speaking of not complaining, I am about to leave for India!  I think my children are becoming very aware that that means mom will be gone for seven days.

Usually when that happens, you get a lot of acting up from kiddos.  Where you are so excited to able to get away for a couple of days...just for the hope that maybe they will be calmer when you return (and we all know a week with grandparents, means that's not going to happen).  My kiddos have instead turned into comedians 95% of the time, and tears the other 5%.

Reagan has turned to "dance" as her humor.  And for anyone who didn't get to see the video (or just wants to see it again to laugh) this is what I'm talking about:

Don't tell her I posted that.  She hates that I share it with everyone.  I tried to convince her that it's good because maybe someone is having a bad day, and she made them laugh.  She wasn't buying it.

This was probably one of the more random blogs I have written, the next one will flow better....blame it on the Tweedles above ;)

But trust me, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Convicted Mama

So, let's be honest.

I get more excited for summer than my 6 year old does.

Boys and girls...I am 29, work, and am the mom of 3 kiddos.  What does summer hold for me??
                                                                         

        

                                             

       A whole lotta this.  Turns out, I am not         as fun as kindergarten.  Whaaaaa...??!  

         I know...I was as shocked as you are.                                                                    

If we had cats...this would probably go on at our house too...

Soo...I felt convicted to do something this summer.  Playing on pinterest, like all good, "creative" people do, I found this woman's blog: Power of Moms.  She created a summer camp of sorts for her children, and her kids claimed it to be the "best summer ever!"

I brought it up to Jordan, and he thought it sounded like a good idea.  Well, June is pretty much shot.  Between VBS and my mission trip to India (yahooooo!), June seemed like a bad idea.

But then again, in June, summer is still awesome!  You get to sleep in (yea right...my kids are up at 6:15!), lay around at the pool (if we had one), play in the sprinkler (aka hose), and run around like a crazy person!  July is when the boredom hits.

After Jordan gave his approval, I took the idea to the kids.  The general layout of the day looks something like this:

-- Wake up, take showers, eat breakfast.

-- Do daily "chores" -- each "chore" they complete earns them $.25
      * Read for at least 20 minutes
      * 20 minutes of house clean-up (of chores that they decided they could do)
      * Physical activity (whether this is going for a walk, doing a "mommy led bootcamp/yoga", etc.)
      * Bible Study
      * Writing (they will each get a journal to write in/color a picture)
      * Extra Activity (playing a game with each other, doing a craft, etc.)

-- After these are completed, we will have lunch and do nap time (a mom can dream right??).  Then we will move on to our afternoon activity:
      * Move it on out Monday -- Field Trip day!
      * Tacky Tuesday -- arts and crafts
      * Wet Wednesday
      * anyThing goes Thursday
      * Friend Friday + Family movie night

We brainstormed a bunch of ideas, and I was surprised at how excited the kids were!  We decided to do theme weeks: Week 1 - Castles, Weel 2 - Weather, Week 3 - Sewing/Fabric, Week 4 - Dinosaurs, Week 5 - Cooking.

Each Saturday we will go to the library to pick out books on our topic, and then we will take a field trip that relates to our topic on Monday, etc.  The kids were so pumped; I even got a "This will be the best July EVERRRR!" from Reagan!

And I definitely do not want to let these faces down ;)

It's a Small World

Are you singing the song?  It's a small world after all....??

If you weren't, you are now ;)

Well, since you're singing that song, feel free to watch this video.  If you haven't seen the Muppet movie, it's super cute.  Nolan LOVES this song that they sing at the beginning....and it was super cute.  Until he sang it every day, all hours of the day, for the last 3 days.

May it now be stuck in your head :)

Answered Prayers

I know that some of you may be sick of pregnancy/delivery posts and you may even be thinking, surely other things have happened since the delivery.  And they have...

- Reagan has lost 6 teeth (4 since the delivery).  We are going to start calling her "Toothless"

- We are no longer: Jordan, Stefanie, Reagan, Nolan, and Grayson.  Nolan has dubbed us: Batman, Captain America, Catwoman, Spiderman, and Jack Jack.

- Grayson has started smiling and cooing a lot.  Not like it should surprise anyone that we have another talker on our hands.

- Nolan is on the back swing of his "after baby tantrum" cycle.  We are slowly returning to our normal, sweet boy.

- Reagan has 5 weeks left of Kindergarten (!!!!) and is starting to read small chapter books.  She couldn't read at all at the beginning of the year.  Super proud :)

- Grayson is officially sleeping through the night.  He has rarely slept less than 5 hours a night (maybe like twice), but is now sleeping an average of 8.5 hours a night...straight.  Sorry to brag...but with a third one, I'm grateful!

But really, I wanted to talk about all the prayers that were answered during our pregnancy/delivery.  Praying, standing on the Word of God, and BELIEVING what we were saying/reading, played a huge part in the success of our pregnancy.  (Apparently I'm into dashes today...sorry)

- Being anemic, we prayed for my blood levels to be high enough that I would not have to deliver in a hospital.  Four weeks before my delivery my iron level was checked, and I was at a 12.7.  I needed to be over a 12.  My iron has NEVER been that high.

- We prayed for a good sleeper...see above ;)

- Rea and Nolan LOVE Grayson, and are incredibly sweet with him.  We prayed that baby #3 would transition easily into our family, and the relationship that Rea and Nolan have already built.

- We prayed for a pain free labor...see birth story parts 1-3 ;)

- Since we were praying for a pain free labor, we started praying that we would have a sign that I was actually in labor.  We prayed for one of three things: 1. My water would break.  2. My first contraction would be so painful that I would know without a doubt it was time.  3.  The Lord would literally speak to me and say "It's time.  Go now."  Just so you know, my water has never broken for a labor.  It broke for this labor.

- Jordan works two jobs...one at Starbucks from 4:30am - 12pm, and one at the Melting Pot in Addison (about an hour from our house...hour and a half from the birth center) Thursday-Saturday night.  This was a different week...it was the week of Valentine's Day.  He was working EVERY night (and every morning).  We prayed that Jordan would be home when I went into labor.  The day I went into labor, Jordan was called off for the night, because they weren't busy enough to have as many servers as they did.

- We prayed for a fast labor, but not so fast that I would deliver on the side of the road (since it is 40 minutes to our birth center, no traffic).  We did not want to be like this lady who delivered in her car!!  My labor did not speed up until we got to the birth center.  Even then, I had time to update my facebook status AND upgrade my Spotify account before the labor kicked in!

- Prayed for a healthy little baby...Grayson is a champ!  Look at this face!  So in love!

 

Big Girls Don't Cry

My sweet, sweet baby girl turns 6 today!  Am I seriously old enough to have a 6 year old?!?!

This isn't a post with a lot of detail, but pictures to take you through the years of my baby Rea's life. 

Looking at how small she was when she was first born (6 lbs 15 oz!) brings a tear to my eye.  She and I started out with a rocky life together, but she has blessed me beyond measure! 

She has so much life, and so much love to give, it amazes me every day that God chose her to be my first child.  Surely, He was mistaken, and meant to give such a beautiful, obedient little girl to someone else!

She is only 2 in the above picture, and you can already see how much she wants to pretend to be like mommy!

And here you can see, even with the exhaustion, she has quite a bit of sass to her :)  She doesn't get that from her mom, AT ALL......

Fishing with daddy after a long night of camping with a family.  She was a pro.  

Love her so so much!

I am constantly amazed by her every day, and cannot wait to see what God has in store for her.  She is going to do big things for the kingdom of God and I am honored to call her my daughter!  Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

The Grand Finale!

The much anticipated (maybe not, but I will pretend like it is!) part 3!

So the last post, I left it where we had to get baby out.  Honestly, this was the first time I had PAIN.  Jordan and I (and several others) were praying that we would have a pain free labor.  Up until this point, I was aware of my contractions, but they didn't hurt.  When I was told that I HAD to get my baby out, I became fearful...and as soon as I did, I realized that I then believed it was my job, on my time, to get this baby out...and I was overcome by the amount of pain I felt.  I knew I had to refocus, but I was having an incredibly hard time!

11:15ish - I feel my next contraction starting, and Donnellyn reaches over and takes off my oxygen.  I hear her say, "Alright sweetie...take a big deep breath and push with everything you've got."  I take a big deep breath and start to push.  I feel like I am pushing for EVER.  I have to stop and catch my breath.

** I don't remember a whole lot here, but I know that I was almost in tears because I didn't feel like the baby was moving down at all.  I was worried the baby wouldn't come out and something would be wrong. I remember saying, "Come on baby, you have to come out!"  Inhaling again, and pushing...and screaming.

11:20pm - I hear the words I have been waiting to hear!  "I can see your baby's head!  And look at all that hair!"  Donnellyn tries to get me to look, and all I want to do is push one more time and HOLD the baby!

11:21pm - Probably one of the coolest parts for Jordan, is with this next push, he gets to catch the baby.  As I push, Donnellyn directs him on where to place his hands and how to guide out the rest of our little one.  As he guides out the baby, Donnellyn then helps hand the baby directly to me, and asks Jordan if he wants to tell me what we have.  I open up my eyes and see the huge smile on his face and he says, "We have another little boy!"

Having delivered my other babies in a hospital, there were two major differences I noticed and was unprepared for.

#1.  How long it would take for Grayson to cry.  Because he was still attached the umbilical cord (at a birth center they wait for the cord to stop pulsing before they cut), he was still receiving his oxygen from the cord rather than having to use his lungs.  In the pictures, you can see my concern (especially since he came out purple!), then my relief when he finally cries, and my concern again as he doesn't cry again for several minutes.

#2.  The rush of hormones after.  Because I was all drugged up with the other two, I don't remember much.  This time, my body was shaking so badly I needed three people to help me to the bed.  This is coming from the girl, who after having an epidural and delivering Nolan, 10 minutes later got up by herself and went to the bathroom!

Back to the story....right after the delivery, they noticed I was losing too much blood too quickly.  Grayson was handed to Jordan and I was moved to the bed to be monitored.  Within moments, I received two shots of pitocin, 2 glasses of water, and a pill to slow the bleeding.  By the time it became manageable, I had lost 2.5 times more blood than Donnellyn wants.  I had to drink several more glasses of water, 2 large glasses of chlorophyll water, and a protein shake.  Only then is when my color started to return.

Donnellyn and her staff were wonderful!  While they fixed me up, one of the assistants went to IHOP and picked Jor and myself up some food.  We sat on the bed enjoying pancakes, while Donnellyn did Grayson's newborn exam.  I love the "old school" way they weighed him...even though he HATED it.  He hates being naked...so unlike a boy, right?? After this, they prepared an herbal bath for Grayson and me.  It was only when he got in the water that he uncurled from the fetal position.  Grayson will be my water baby for sure!

We climbed back into the bed for Donnellyn to check my vitals.  When she declared I was good, we were essentially free to leave.  She wasn't kicking us out, don't get me wrong.  We could have stayed all night, but we figured, why not sleep in our own bed??  Jordan took the two older tweedles (who had FINALLY passed out sometime around 2 am) to the car, and then came back for Grayson and myself.

When J and I climbed into bed, around 4:45am with Grayson sleeping in the crib next to us, it finally sank in that we were a family of five.  And we are incredibly blessed!

P.S. Here is a video I put together of the pictures that Erica took!  The song, Unending Love, is the song that was playing when Grayson was born :)  Perfect.