This is Noro Noro … a gifted Ethiopian singer performing with her adopted brother in a video celebrating family – “Don’t live your life looking back!”

Have you ever committed to doing something out of your comfort zone and then wished you could back out?  My son, Michael asked me to speak at the Pirates Dig A Well Silent Auction gala this month and I accepted.  I made a promise that even though my hands sweat, my heart pounds, my tummy flip flops… I would start sharing my passion to help orphans anywhere, anytime, anyplace.   But, actually having to get up in front of a crowd and do it is another thing.  Well, I wrote my little speech and when the host, Tony Orlando (yep, the real one) introduced “Roger and Carl Gibson” I froze.  Wait, my name is not Carl, but before ducking out the back door to search for Carl, I went up to the stage on my shaking legs.

For the next few minutes I shared about why digging a well in Ethiopia is so personal to me… here’s my actual speech (minus the crying I did when I talked about Korah)

I’m so honored to be ONE of the moms of a High School Pirate digging a well in Ethiopia.  Three years ago, we adopted our beautiful princess, Zoie Senait from Addis Ababa, the capitol city of Ethiopia.  She was 6 months old and weighed only 7 pounds.  She was sick and malnourished and her tiny body was starving for clean water.  She was born in a community that lives on a massive dump called Korah.  There is no water source there… only the run off from the dump.  The water is infested, diseased, filthy, toxic and is not meant for human consumption.

The problem of not having clean water is all over the world…

BUT, tonight THIS is about bringing clean water to Chucko, Ethiopia where Pirates Dig a Well is helping build a water well in a tiny village who has never had this luxury.

I’m traveling in 19 days to Ethiopia and will have the incredible opportunity to hold children in my arms that are desperate for clean water.  Because of your generosity tonight, I will be able to give them HOPE that they will have the gift of water from Branson, MO.

You can make a difference tonight!!  Every penny you donate is going to change the life of all the little Zoie’s living without clean water in Chucko.  This is YOUR well being dug… We are all in this together. Pirates Dig a well and the Branson High School students are changing the life of a baby, mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa… a family.”

Whew… I did it without passing out!  The event was so much fun and they sold every single item they had to bid.  Their total as of today, for the well project: $9,125.00!  My crazy readers, if you want to donate to their well project (partners with Dig Deep project) every penny will make a difference.  Donate Here and check out their awesome campaign page- Pirates Dig Deep!  You can buy the super chic tees on my friend, Julie Pitt Neal’s blog.

I want to personally thank April Fiesler, who rocked this event with style and organization!!  To all the High School students that participated in the event… you made a huge difference in Chucko!!

I want to know what your most nerve-wracking moment was you did for a purpose?

Pirates Dig A Well Blog- run by teens!!

Where Are They?

Football season is wrapping up.
I don’t really like football, but Jeremiah likes it, so we listen to it in the car, and sometimes watch a game on tv.
Those guys are unbelievable. If I were forced to wear tights and run a ball in 20 degree weather while being chased by a group of huge sweaty men I would crumple up into the fetal position and cry myself to sleep.
But they are tough,brave, enthusiastic and domineering. They don’t cry when they get creamed by a 400lb linebacker. They suck it up. Because they’re men.

We’ve been watching Band of Brothers. I really like that series. It’s not just entertainment for entertainment’s sake, it’s true and real and emotional and raw. The interviews with those men make me want to cry, because they were passionate about the cause they were risking their lives for.
They didn’t complain, they carried on for the cause. They gave everything they had to give, and some gave their lives.
They knew the risks and trudged on, because they knew the reward was greater than the risks. They didn’t make excuses. Because they were men.

In America we love to celebrate manly men- men that will stand up and fight-for freedom, for the ball, for justice, for peace.

But something I’ve come to notice as these months of researching and reading and waiting pass:
In the defense of orphans, where are the men?
Historically and Biblically, it is the women who are nurturers, the care-givers. Men are protectors and providers. They hunt, we gather. They fight, we stand behind them. They go out, we keep the home fires burning. But in the war for orphans, the women seem to lead the armies. Why is that? Is it not a worthy cause?
Where are the fighting men who will do whatever it takes to rescue abandoned and abused children?
The brave men who will stand up to a society that says 2 kids is enough, that Christianity is a white religion made to comfort old ladies, and that the orphan crisis is not our problem ?
The broken-hearted men who will cry out to Christ on behalf of dying children?
The men who will ask God to show them the way, to lead them through unfamiliar territories and provide for their families against all earthly odds if they choose to obey Him?
The pastors who will preach James 1:27 and Luke 10:27?

Where are they?

I’ve seen wonderful, Godly men raise their hands in worship of our Savior during church, men who lead their families in love and reverence of God, then say they could never afford to adopt.
I’m not judging them, because I used to feel the same way, but the God we worship is the same One who CREATED THE UNIVERSE! He made everything from nothing!!

He parted the sea, and turned water into wine, and raised the dead!!

When someone says that to me, I want to jump up and down and scream:

He can provide! He can provide! He WILL provide!

If we will just.let.Him.
If we will just.obey.
If we will give.it.over.

Fear of the financial costs of adoption is the #1 reason Christian families don’t adopt.
Satan’s lies are working.
When we say that we can’t afford adoption, what we are really saying is that we believe God is insufficient, powerless, and uncaring. And He is none of those things!

“Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” Ps. 54:4

“But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me.” Ps. 55:17-18

“So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” Heb 13:6

“There should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord you God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you…” Dt 15:4

“Perfect love drives out fear…” 1 Jn 4:18

Our lives are not our own.
We Christians like to say that.
It’s not about me.

What if Jesus would have made the same {lame} excuses we do?
What if He had not chosen to adopt us as sons and heirs?
What if He had sat back and decided we weren’t worth the trouble?
What if He had said:
“Oh, gosh, I just don’t know. I mean, we don’t really have the room for all of them here, and we could never afford it. What would it do to our savings? And what would our retirement look like? And they look nothing like us-what would everyone think? We may not get invited to parties anymore. We might have to move to make room, and that’s not really in our schedule right now. It’s just too much work, I mean, they don’t even speak the same language, and they are so dirty! They’ve done some pretty bad things, and that’s a lot of baggage to deal with. I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment.Some of them are sick- some even have HIV and AIDS and man, that’s just too sad to deal with, so we should just leave it to someone else, because surely someone else will come along and save them all. It’s not really our problem, I mean, they’ve done it to themselves. ”

Think about this:
If you are a believer, you have been trans-racially adopted!
Where are the Godly men who will lead the armies and fight for the souls of 147 million lost children who will never know the Savior they love and claim to live for if they don’t show Him to them?

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.” Acts 4:32-34

For a man’s perspective, read this

Bricker Blog

I loved turning 44 and letting you know a few days late!  My birthday came with the snow and my kids had a free day home to play.  I have thought a lot about the amazing things I got to do last year.  God gave me the opportunity to travel back to Ethiopia and Uganda and Haiti to love orphans.  I’ve dreamed since I was a little girl that I could grow up and be a missionary.  I finally feel like I’m growing into the woman God created me to be.  I confessed to my hubby on the way to church, Sunday that I’m secretly praying we can serve full time on the mission field.  I laughed when he said, “how about part time?”  Can we really serve missions part time?

I want to challenge myself this year to serve full time for orphans in ministry minded projects right here on my blog.  I’m going to keep praying that God allows me to serve full time… will you join me?  I want this to be the best year of my life.  That’s my birthday wish.  I have no idea what God has planned, but I’m really hoping for an adventure.  The verse I’m clinging to this year is 1 Cor. 13:13  Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

I’m praying everyday for my 365 Day adoption miracle, but due to my incredible list of guest bloggers… I’m sharing it on my facebook this month.  I want to make sure you are taking the time to read each guest post and leave them a comment.  I want to hear what you think about my guests.

OK- I want to know what your wish is for 2011 (share with me)

My bday get together with VO MO team!

For several years now really God has been stirring my heart. He’s telling me that, as my blog friend Heidi says, my life is not my own. Well, I guess Jesus actually said it first (sorry, Heidi). For a long time after this began, I was educating myself: reading amazing books, inspiring blogs, having meaningful conversations…immersing myself in the topic of social justice–a topic that was close to God’s heart. How do you know that, you may ask? Well, God mentions it over 2,100 in His Main Book, for one. For another, even when it’s not mentioned specifically, His character REEKS of it. So, I can say with confidence that God cares about justice. And compassion. And generosity. And so this is where I stayed for a long time. In some ways, I would say far too long. But I trust God. I trust that he knew me. He knew that I still needed to be broken a lot more in order to better understand broken people. I needed to understand desperation and not making it on my own. I needed to understand the hope and love that comes from the Body of Christ stepping in and providing for my family’s needs when we couldn’t. So even though I feel a little sad and ashamed about time lost, I know that this is better. His plan is always better.

Another meeting and several conversations later things are beginning to crystallize. While we don’t have an official mission statement yet, we know that our deepest desire is two-fold. First, we desire to help African families (and orphans) both here and abroad. Stateside, we desire to help ease the transition for families (or individuals) coming over from various African nations by plugging them in to services available, driving them around, helping kids enroll in school, connecting them to other Africans in the area, and offering friendship and love by welcoming them into our families. Abroad, we are exploring possibilities with existing NGOs and churches as well as thinking through “adopting a village” by providing various kinds of support to Africans in need. Second, we desire to help educate and provide experiences (see above) to wake up the church to God’s heart towards the “orphan, widow, and foreigner.” Realizing that we have been blessed to bless, we want to encourage Christ followers to stop learning and start doing. Stop hoarding and start giving. For it is when we refresh others that we will be truly refreshed. And more than that–LIVES ARE AT STAKE!!!