Francesca Battistelli has a beautiful song called Motion of Mercy and every time I hear it, I feel like she is singing to me.  About 10 years ago I was completely poor, weak, and bankrupt spiritually.  I was selfish and unsatisfied with my life.  I loved being a wife and mother, but there was no purpose or passion for ministry.  It was important for me to keep my life simple and comfortable- really only choosing to do things that were convenient to my needs.  I had no idea what it meant to give myself away. In all honestly, I wasted so much time, energy and money on things that have no purpose or meaning.  It makes me [sniff] right now thinking about the lost years.

I love that God pours His mercy on the most hungry and thirsty of His children.  He created a purpose for me and I just needed to open my heart and listen to His calling.  His mercies saved my life.  I had no idea what God had in store when we made the decision to adopt Zoie.  He had a plan already made and was waiting [ever so patiently] for us to set things in motion.  He knew our speed would be super slow, but He never stopped pouring mercy on our family.  Adoption changed our lives, but the next part of His plan – caring for the fatherless was the missing link in my life.  I will be forever grateful to Him for connecting me with Visiting Orphans ministry.  The ministry He has waiting for me has radically changed my life.  The words … I was empty before now I’m drawn to compassion now take on a whole new meaning.  God give me strength to give something for nothing
I wanna be a glimpse of the Kingdom that’s coming soon.  That’s the motion of mercy … Changing the way and the why we are. That’s the motion of mercy … Moving my heart.  I went on my first mission trip when I was 41 years old and I pray I can dedicate the next 41+ years to serving and living for the lost and loving ‘til it hurts … No matter what the cost.

I’d really love to hear how God has started the “Motion of Mercy” in your life?  I pray we can continue to support and encourage each other in blog land to keep loving Him big!!

This is a personal video I took sitting next to the Nile River in Uganda alone- just me and God.  It’s emotional for me to listen again to my prayer and thankfulness how God changed the way and why in my life.

 

“Motion Of Mercy”

I was poor I was weak
I was the definition of the spiritually
Bankrupt condition
So in need of help

I was unsatisfied
Hungry and thirsty
When You rushed to my side
So unworthy
Still You gave yourself away…

[Chorus]
That’s the motion of mercy
Changing the way and the why we are
That’s the motion of mercy
Moving my heart

Now I’m filled by a love
That calls me to action
I was empty before now I’m drawn to compassion
And to give myself away

Living for the lost
Loving ‘til it hurts
No matter what the cost
Like You loved me first
That’s the motion of mercy

God give me strength to give something for nothing
I wanna be a glimpse of the Kingdom that’s coming soon

What a fun day serving lunch to the hundreds of Karamojong kids that Katie Davis’ ministry, Amazima feeds everyday in Uganda.  It was amazing to see the growth of the new playground and church. I’m grateful I’ve had the opportunity to see the before and after. The Karamojong kids are bused daily to Amazima to eat and worship with Pastor Patrick. They all get to hear the good news of God’s love for them.  This particular tribe is considered the least of the least in Uganda.  I know that Christ would have personally spent time with this community- loving, touching, blessing, feeding, healing, and serving.  The opportunity to go and love big on a mission trip will change your life.  It gives you purpose and a joy to love one another in a radical way.

If you are interested in joining me next year to Uganda and Ethiopia- apply now to my Simply Love trip with Visiting Orphans.  We only have limited space available.

Lunch Time Fun:

 

We have never had a house guest stay with us for 2 weeks, but it was such a gift to our family.  I think we were all nervous on Day 1.  I had butterflies in my tummy hoping Worldu would feel welcomed and at home in our house.  This was his first adventure in America and I wanted it to be a memorable and wonderful experience.  Also, we were taking him to family camp and had no idea if he would enjoy being around our crazy family [in one room] or understand the craziness of the camp counselors.  Roger and I met Worldu two years ago and already knew what an incredible person he was, but we really wanted our kids to bond with him, too.  My kids did an amazing job making him feel like part of the family.  I watched them each bond with Worldu and made friendships that will last forever.

We took Worldu on an Ozark adventure and did all the touristy things.  We were happy to know he already went on the “Duck Ride” in Oregon with the Cornish Family!  That crazy Duck is not fun in hot 105 degree humid weather.  The kids enjoyed go-carts, nightly ice cream runs, and movies.  The best part of the 2 weeks was watching Worldu be a kid at family camp.

Worldu made a commitment to the Lord at camp that He would “believe” in the promises, truth, and love that God has poured over his life.  God took him off the trash dump for a special purpose and He will never send Worldu back there.  We talked a lot about what the word Believe means in Amharic and in English… as well as in the Bible.  As a statement and marker of his experience at the Cross Talk with Joe White, he wanted to get a tattoo of the word Believe.  You can’t see them under his jacket, but Worldu has several tattoos that testify his faith in God. Roger and I were at a loss of where to take him… neither of us have any tats. We quickly found out, asking around town, that the best tattoo artist was Mikey.  I felt like I was in an episode of Ozark Ink!  The entire family joined Worldu for his Believe tattoo.  It was a celebration of his commitment to the Lord.  God cares and loves the fatherless with all His heart!

My heart still hurts saying goodbye to Worldu… he’s back home with his family in Addis Ababa.  The Yates are so blessed to call him son.  Thank you for allowing us the honor of hosting Worldu and we can’t wait to have him come back to visit next year.

What statement of your faith would you want tattooed and where would you show it off?

 

 

 

We’re often told that God has has a reason for allowing bad things to happen. It’s usually little comfort when trudging through seemingly awful circumstances. But it’s the hope and trust in what God is doing that carries us through, especially knowing we would never otherwise make it on our own strength.

But every once in a while, God shows us those reasons, and it is such a gift that it makes it impossible not to share with everyone.

It will be five years ago this December when we were expecting the birth of our firstborn, a little boy whom we decided to name Logan. His due date was December 10th. A Christmas baby.

Logan, however, had different plans. I was induced and delivered him on September 16th, a day after a middle-of-the-night rush to Labour and Delivery revealed that Logan had died in utero.

We held him, we prayed over him, and with tear-stained faces, handed him back to God.

We had just had our baby shower. We knew it was traditionally a few weeks early, but we wanted to have it over a three-day-weekend so that more out-of-town guests could come. While in the hospital my husband privately coordinated with friends and family to have all of our gifts removed from our apartment before we returned home.

Three days after coming back to an empty house I was admitted to the hospital with a heart rate of 32 beats per minute. To shorten a rather lengthy story, odds were really good that if I had carried my pregnancy to term my heart would not have made it. At that point it became glaringly obvious  why God had me deliver when I did. Although we could not understand why we lost our little boy, we were at least comforted with the knowledge that it was necessary for him to arrive early in order to save my life.

And so life went on. Our original plan was to have one birth child and adopt the rest. We had our birth child, for the little time that he was here with us. On the anniversary of his stillbirth, we were introduced to a woman who had foster-adopted through a local agency and were given their contact information. We were ready to move forward.

In fact, our living situation further encouraged growing our family. We had the opportunity to move from our one-bedroom apartment into the only two-bedroom unit in our building by the beach, graciously offered to us by the building’s owner. We moved, cleaned, and painted, leaving the spare room empty, a physical reminder of the hole in our family that we were seeking to fill.

My husband and I attended our foster-adoption orientation on October 6th. There we learned a number of things: Healthy, newborn babies were rare, so don’t expect one. The younger the child you want, the longer you will wait especially if you want a girl. And don’t expect a “Christmas baby.” For some reason the adoption agency gets a high rate of parents starting the adoption process right before Christmas, expecting their child to be home before the holiday. Interesting. All good things to know.

As much as we would have wanted a newborn, our hearts were open to whatever God had planned for us, so we embarked on our paperwork journey believing that we would probably end up with a sibling set of toddler (or older) boys.

For those who know me, it is no surprise that I finished our entire adoption packet in three weeks. I’m a paperwork junkie, and if there is one thing that I do well, it’s details. Besides, I had it in my head that the faster that I got my part in the adoption process completed, the faster that God could do His work in bringing our child (or children) home.

By mid-November (a month into the adoption process) our social worker finished our home visit for the homestudy, and I was left with nothing to do but wait for her to write it up and start the search process.

When pregnant mothers unpack their baby shower gifts, decorating and preparing the nursery for their babies, it’s called “nesting.” When a woman who just started the adoption process starts pulling out the gifts she received from the baby shower of her stillborn child, it’s called “crazy.”  But I just had it on my heart to put the crib together, to pull out the blankets and bottles and clothes. To have everything washed and to finally start filling that empty room. I’m not a very patient person so I needed to be doing something to help with the adoption process. And that was that was all I had at the time.

Our social worker was still working on writing up our homestudy, so we received calls from her from time to time asking for clarification of this or that. So it wasn’t a huge shock to have her call me early in December (2 months into the adoption process) while I was putting the final touches on our “spare room.” Before answering her call I remember looking around and thinking it finally felt like it could be a home for someone.

What was shocking about the call was that our social worker relayed that a healthy, negative-tox, newborn baby girl was relinquished at the hospital and she wanted to ask if we were interested in adopting her!

A relinquishment is when a birthmother did not make an adoption plan and relinquishes the baby at the hospital. Rarely are healthy babies reqlinquished nowadays, and even more rarely was our adoption agency the one that was called in such instances. As such, we were informed that time was of the essence, so we needed to make a decision fast.

My head was spinning. I had just finished putting away the baby clothes in the dresser of the spare room. The baby clothes that would have never have fit a toddler. I called my husband, who was teaching, so that we could quickly discuss the situation. Up until this call we had had our minds wrapped around having toddler boys. However, we were totally open to what God had planned for us. We decided to let our social worker know that we were interested in learning more and wanted to know how we should proceed. I hung up with my husband and was ready to call our social worker back.

And then it occurred to me. It was December 10th. One year, to the day, of our son’s original due date. And I wept. From that moment forward I knew in my heart that this was the plan that God had for us all along. This is why we had our baby shower early; we were going to need those baby things, just not when we thought we were going to. This was why I rushed to get the paperwork completed so quickly. This was why I was putting together a crib and washing baby clothes when everyone around me was rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. It wasn’t just a child that God had planned for us. It was this child, and everything needed to happen exactly when it did in order for us to receive her.

We had to submit our homestudy for her, along with several other hopeful parents. And our social worker had to pull an all-nighter just to write ours up to be considered. It took three days before we heard that we were chosen to be her forever family.  When we asked what we were supposed to do next, she said “Come pick her up.”

And that was the day we met our daughter. She was six days old, healthy, and beautiful. Although she was African American, she had a full head face of freckles. I have freckles, myself, and I loved the fact that she did too.  Although they have long since faded, I like to think that God placed those freckles on her for the sole purpose of allowing me something about her to which I could immediately bond.

Her birthmother had 2 weeks to change her mind. Those two weeks ended on Christmas Eve. When we awoke Christmas morning we knew for certain she was here to stay. On the very day that God’s son was born, so was our family.

Sometimes God gives a reason for why bad things happen. By walking in faith and obedience, when one child was taken away, another was given. If Logan were to have lived, we most certainly would have adopted. We just wouldn’t have adopted this little girl. And this little girl was so clearly the one whom the Lord wanted for us to have.

We called her Zoe, which means “alive,” not so much for the fact that she was the living of the two children with whom the Lord blessed us, but because without the hope that lived within us during this whole experience we never would have known her.

Last February, we met Mercy and prayed for God’s healing. I was so excited to see what God had done in her life for the past four months since we had served in Korah. Taylor and I decided to go to Great Hope Church on Sunday morning. It was a blessing to worship with the community in their world. One of the things I asked the Lord, was to make us invisible.. I didn’t want to be a distraction to the church family. We were definitely the only “Ferengi” in the neighborhood! We joined the prayer service and had an incredible time to pray for our sisters and brothers in Korah, as well as my team heading back home. I was amazed by the different worship style I was accustomed to in my church. I have the honor of attending James River Assembly and feel the freedom to pray outloud, but this was unlike anything I was used to. The congregation of Great Hope pray loudly and with great passion and emotion. I loved listening to the words in Amharic praising the one true God. He was alive in this place of worship!!

The best part, I noticed to my side, a beautiful woman in a red sweater (I recognized it immediately) was Mulu, Mercy’s mother. She was deep in prayer and worship, so I didn’t want to disturb her. Finally, after an hour of starring at her… I decided to go over and hug her, so I quietly crossed to the other side. I know she did not see me. In fact, one of the things I had prayed for was that Taylor and I would blend in… I didn’t want to distract anyone from worshipping by our presence.

I put my arm around Mulu and she still didn’t look at me. I will never forget the expression on her face when she finally opened her eyes and saw me standing there next to her. She literally screamed in joy and hugged me falling to the ground repeating my name “Kari”… crying. I started crying and held her close to me. She was trembling and praying to God saying… amesege’nallo’ (thank you in Amaharic) over and over again. She told her friend, sitting next to her to run get Mercy. We just held on to each other and worshipped the Lord like two sisters. I had no idea what the pastor was saying for 2 hours of service in Amharic, but I know his words were filled with truth, hope, love, and encouragement. I was so blessed!

We spent the morning with Mulu and Mercy. She took us to her home and prepared a special coffee ceremony. It’s very humbling knowing how very little this precious mother has, but she wanted to share coffee and bread with us. It was surreal seeing my photo album and Mercy wearing the ring I gave her in February to testify of her healing … all symbolizing change and hope and miracles. I loved watching my niece and Mercy become friends quickly. They are two teenage girls with very different lives, but equal passion for the Lord. Mercy looked simply radiant and singing again at a local church in Korah. God healed her body completely in February and was celebrating life by giving back to her community.

I am once again reminded how very little I know about deep worship. I was standing with a community that has felt unimportant, lost, persecuted and hopeless for over 75 years, but God sent them a Savior who radically changed their lives. He sent them Great Hope Church and Project 61… as well as many wonderful ministries directly serving the people of Korah. I’m grateful to call them my family and my friends. It was very difficult to leave Korah that day, but I know that God will direct my steps and open doors I never dreamed possible. I just have to keep walking forward in faith.

Mulu later told me that surprising her at church was exactly what it will feel like when Jesus returns… we never know the time or day, but we believe He is coming. It will be a surprise, she told me. I will never forget my BIG surprise and will long to return again to serve His precious people in Korah.

What is your favorite verse to share the excitement of Christ returning again?